Getting control of my time is a constant challenge lately. It seems like I always have work backing up on me, no matter how much or how hard I work. It's constant balancing I do between cooking and office work. The more office time I spend, the less I cook, and the more I cook, the faster the voicemails and emails back up on me.

Tonight, however, I got everything wrapped up and when to martial arts. My instructor recently changed the uniforms; students are still in all black, but he decided that assistant instructors (me) will wear white tops and black pants. So after many years of an all-black uniform I'm back in white, the color I wore for Yoshukai (in high school). Feels good, and it's pretty cool to have a half-and-half uniform, too.

Class tonight was catchup and review for me: we went over the new black belt forms, very kung fu/tai chi in style and movement. They are challenging, but not super difficult. Most of the work is in making my legs and arms move in a fluid motion rather than the hard crisp way I'm used to. The forms and techniques are all related though, and maybe that's where some of the challenge comes from; it's like trying to learn Italian when you've been studying Spanish for years.

I'm going to try to schedule time going forward so that I can get out to Issaquah Tuesday mornings for more black belt training. I really need to make this a priority. I notice a significant improvement in my mental clarity when I am training regularly.