Sunday, July 09, 2006

Judo, My Stupid Car, and Floors

Hi. Sorry I haven’t written for a while. I’ve been busy.

When school got out, I wanted to get away from the internet for a while because I spend way to much time on it at school. Therefore, I took a week off. On that Thursday, we did Judo for karate. It’s when we to throws on the mats. First, we practiced rolling. Then, I paired off with Sempai Amy and five kinds of takedowns and throws. When working with each other, we always had to keep on adjusting and fixing out gi because we had to undo the knots on the sides. We didn’t actually throw each other. We only practiced to up until that point. It took me awhile to trust her because she’s smaller than I am and thought she wasn’t strong enough from keeping me from dropping on the mats. However, by the end of class, I had my full trust in her.

After class ended, we all went to Sensei Mary’s condominium near the dojo to welcome her into her new condo. However, my car didn’t start up. Therefore, I had to get a ride by Sempai Linda. Then, I called my mom and told her that my car broke down and that I was at Sensei Mary’s condominium. To my horror, mom wanted to pick me up right away because she had to go to bed because of work. In addition, she needed the address of the complex; however, nobody was with me at the time. I didn’t want to walk in there with my cell phone because I was afraid I would get in trouble. They had me talk to my mom outside on the landing instead of inside. Before talking to her, they said to put my phone on vibrate, so it wouldn’t go off in Sensei Mary’s condominium. Anyways, my mom talked to Sempai Linda and Sempai Amy. We figured out that someone could give me a ride home instead of her picking me up. After that, Sempai Kirk took me home with Sempai Scott in the back seat.

However, I'm unconfortable with a black, 36 year old from college who wants me to visit him at his place. That guy gives me the creeps because he's old enough to be my young dad and it looks like he’s interested in me. I think the guy is desperate and wants company. I think that if I go to his house, which I will never will, he can do any thing to me like raping me. Therefore, I’m haven’t responded when he called and text messaged me. I wish he could get the hint and leave me alone.

Then, on the next Friday my dad called saying that he needed help right away for work because the crew only consisted him and Steve, he needed more helpers. Therefore, my brother, sister, and I took off towards the Washington coast. It was a 10-hour drive. Yuck! Way too long. First, we went to the tiny town of Ilwalco that is smaller than Three Forks, Montana. Ilwalco is right off the coast and a 20 min. from Oregon. The motel was all right and mediocre. It had two queen sized beds and a cot. My brother and dad shared one bed, my sister and I shared another, and Steve, the other crew chief, slept on the cot. We worked for about two days in the Grey Harbor College staining the floor. It was my dad and Steve’s first experience staining a floor.

First, we cleaned the floor with rags. Second, my dad and Steve applied the stain with scrubbers. We had to wait for four hours so the floor can absorb the stain. Third, we had to remove excess stain by mopping, squigiing, and vacuuming it. I had bucket detail that meant that I had to fill countless buckets full of water and put TSP in them. I had to dump the dirty water that contained down a storm drain outside. When we did this process, it was about 12 AM, so, it was dark and cold. The next day, we had trouble putting the sealer on the floor. First, my dad used a scrubber to put the sealer on the floor, but that was excessively much because there were many spots that turned milky. They figured that the floor was too porous to do that. Therefore, my sister and I had to scrub the floor with rags to get the excess off. Then, my dad figured out that we only could apply the sealer with a wet rag and a dry rag.

2 comments:

Ben, aka BadBen said...

Lizzie,
Be forceful (but polite) when talking to the 36-yo creep. Make sure he knows that you aren't interested, and be confident of that fact when you talk to him.

That kind of stuff pisses me off. My own daughter dealt with this same issue with 30-45 y.o. guys for a while. For some reason, now that she's almost 26, the problem has pretty much gone away. I think that some guys see 18-22 y.o. women as particularly inconfident, vulnerable, and maleable, and try to take advantage of them for that reason.

Just remember to talk confidently and forcefully back to these guys, and they will leave you alone. (They will then try to find someone else more vulnerable, sad to say).

Happy trails,
Bad Ben

PS:
I still remember my Dojo Kun:

-Be humble and polite
-Train considering your physical strength
Practice earnestly with creativity
-Be calm and swift
-Take care of your health
-Live a plain life
-Do not be too proud or modest
-Continue your training with patience

Lizzie Woolley said...

Supergroup said,

"That sounds like alot of hard work! I'm sure that your muscles were pretty sore afterwards.

Well. I guess you could consider it an investment in your karate training. If ever you have to defend yourself with a mop or sponge.. you will have an advantage from all that experience."