I Will Be The Stream

So, I went to aikido class last night.  I was looking around the room during the quiet meditation part before class starts (yes, I realize that this means I was not quietly meditating but it is what it is) and the diversity in the room struck me.  The instructor is French and my classmates included a Singaporean Chinese man, a Filipino man, an Indian woman and a Colombian woman.  Yes, there were a few other white Americans besides me as well, but in my white-bread corner of the universe, anything beyond the most token of cultural differences is not easily come by and I really love that the martial arts program in my neck of the woods draws from such a broad base.  Unfortunately, I was having another of my why the HELL am I studying this style because I just SUCK at it kind of evenings, but I am stubborn to a fault and have decided to give it a little more time before I quit in disgust, assuming that my classmates don't give up on me before then.  I would have made tracks long since if not for their encouragement, even though I am convinced that some of them think I must be the most clueless moron ever to attempt the study of aikido.  Even those who are aware that I'm actually decent at taekwondo, incidentally.

Ironically, Tuesday happens to be the evening in which there is a high belt taekwondo class immediately before aikido, and the evening's logistics dictated that I could be efficient and take both, so I did.  The taekwondo class actually went well: I earned another of the stripes I need and am now looking squarely down the barrel at the test for my Brown belt (God help me this is getting real...only two belts between me and Black.)  At least I can find my ass with both hands and a flashlight in one of the two styles I study, anyway.  Pazienza.  I really hate it when I suck at things...it's the type A in me, I'm sure.