not quite the eye of the tiger

It seems to always be feast or famine.

Either I am too busy doing fun things to blog about them, or my life is boring and I can't think of anything to say.

Blogging on a regular basis is much harder than I thought it would be.

Today I actually have something to talk about, and just enough time to say it.

Saturday I went to my first kick boxing tournament in Lethbridge. It was just a light sparring tournament - nothing major, but I was really nervous about it.

The worst part turned out to be before the tournament even started. After registering we had to wait for an hour and a half. All these tough guys standing around trying to look relaxed while they sized each other up. It made me feel really tense, but once it was time to fight, I relaxed right away.

There was only one other woman there, so we just had one two-round match. It was totally thrilling when, 10 seconds in, I realized that it was possible for me to beat her. I didn't, but it was a close match. I lost a contact lens, but just kept on going. I felt good about my performance, and could really see what I did wrong - much better than in class.

It turned out that it was her first tournament, too. She was really nice, and we chatted a bit afterwards.

Because there were just the two of us, they gave us the first and second place medals. I think of it as my participation award.

It was a really great experience, and I can't wait to get in the ring again.

If only I'd had the confidence to try something like this 10 years ago. Ah well, I'm having fun now!

shopping with the enemy

I went to Walmart on Friday.

I had to buy a wedding present for friends who were registered there.

It was probably the 3rd or 4th time I've ever been in that store.

It makes me feel weird, like I'm afraid the employees and other shoppers will suddenly recognize me as an interloper and kick me out, or take me in the back and brainwash me into a loyal Walmart consumer.

I know it's not just Walmart with less than sparkling business ethics. It's just that they are the biggest and most visible, blatant example of what's wrong with our consumerist society.

I fully understand that my avoidance of Walmart will not fix anything, nor wash my hands of any guilt. That's why I try to avoid shopping in general, buy fair trade products when I can, and send the odd annoying letter to companies who need a kick in the pants.

I must confess that I did buy some kitchen implements for myself while I was there (I'm not completely immune to the shopping bug).

I also saw nuns there. I did

n't know there were nuns in Medicine Hat.

Now I do.