When I started working in New York after college, my mom insisted that I take up a martial art to learn how to defend myself from all those, you know, serial killers and every imagined danger on earth. That was fine with me, because I ended up loving it. I found it utterly ridiculous that someone so desk-bound like myself was learning how to deliver round house and 360-degree kicks (which I never quite managed. I think I could do like 300 degrees at my peak). And I would laugh and laugh in sparring matches, while the 17-year-old boys in my class would wail on me and my tae kwon do gear.
Confession No. 1: After I learned a super-groovy self-defense move where you take your opponent’s hands off your shoulders and topple them over, I’d come home and practice on my parents. (And if you’ve met them, you know they’re tiny and I’m like an adopted giant from another species.) They were the best, because they go down immediately. It was like magic. And they looked so cute when they fell down on the bed! This move really works!
Confession No. 2: When I got fitted for my gear, we all tried on different size helmuts, and while my real size was an X-LARGE, I lied and ordered a LARGE….because I just felt it was more feminine. Jees. Does everyone need to know about the largesse of my Korean noggin?
That is all.