I'm going to Jackson

Actually, I've already been. We drove over Friday evening for the biannual Jackson throwfest that we attend every year, said hey to some folks, and then went downtown to this place called Hal & Mal's, which we also hit every year. It's a great little restaurant/bar, and we started going because they brewed their own beers. Alas, they stopped a couple of years ago, and buy some locally brewed stuff instead. The atmosphere is still fantastic, though, and the food is really good. The place was PACKED compared to when we usually go; we had to park about 3 blocks away and walk up. Charlie had a friend that was singing in the "auditorium" next door, and the band that they were opening for was apparently kind of big, though we had never heard from them. So we watched them for a bit, and then ate, and went back to the hotel to sleep.

Saturday we woke up early and went to one of the meeting rooms and worked out for a while, as Charlie and I were testing for our new ranks that morning. The test went relatively easily; I was worried, as I seemed to not be able to not messing everything up when we'd driven down to Houston a couple of weeks ago, to work out with Charlie's instructor. I felt good during the combos, great during the one steps, and fantastic during the forms. The testing panel chided Charlie and I as we were getting ready to spar that it was to be a "friendly" sparring match. Charlie and I just smiled, and we actually did take it pretty easy. Great match, too. Afterward, one of the panel members said he'd hate to be our friend.

So Charlie and I now have some blinged out new black belts, with our names, in Korean, on one end, and Tang Soo Do Moo Duk Kwan on the other. Gold bars indicating our rank sit below our names. We likely won't wear them much, as we prefer the plain belts, but they'll be there if we need them. Our dan certs are also the size of a small table. Ask me to see it the next time any one is over.