Ceremonies and Stuff

I have been a student of a Korean sword form known as Gumdo for over two years now. Those who know me well know of my passion for "Star Wars" and my desire to learn swordplay a la "Star Wars" movies. I originally considered fencing but it wasn't as appealing, Kendo but it was expensive what with all the armor and all. I happened upon Gumdo through a friend whose son attended a school that taught Gumdo. I went in for a trial lesson and two years later I'm a black belt!



I actually took the test on a cold morning back in November. I passed though I had some rough spots here and there. I think the combination of being nervous and trying too hard to do a good job on the test led to my difficulties. Be that as it may, I was very excited once the test was over. The belt itself is a regular black belt, but they send it to Korea to be embroidered. It has my name in English and Korean. It will also state (again in English and Korean) that I am a 1st Dan in Gumdo (which is the first level of Black Belt). Because of all this fancy stitching, my receipt of the belt was delayed. The first black belt ceremony in our school was scheduled for December and unfortunately, my belt had not arrived by then. The next one was this one in April; the belt arrived weeks ago but I'll officially get it this weekend. I'm so excited!

I'm also excited because I'm following in the footsteps of my family in terms of our theatre activities! I have acted in several Hindi plays before and I have loved being part of our theatre group here in DC called NatyaBharati. I served on the Executive Committee for three years. I have worked on many productions and now, I am finally ready to direct a play! I translated and adapted a Marathi play and I'll be directing it this summer and fall. It's currently scheduled to be staged in October!

I've been doing a lot of pre-production work on it over the last few weeks. I have selected music, done preliminary set designs and started gathering sound effects. My next step (most important of all) is getting a cast! Auditions will be held in July most likely and that's when I'll start rehearsals. I think it would be a fascinating thing to maintain a kind of production diary blog on this site and that's what I'll do once I start moving further along into the process. I'm really looking forward to it.

Formula One is in Melbourne this weekend! Honda has been looking quite strong in the practice sessions thus far and who knows, maybe this could be Jenson's race. I guess depending on how Qualifying turns out tonight, we could have an interesting race. Still and all, I have only two things to say.... Go Schumi and Go Kimi!

Dad is back home and getting better. He often talks about his business trips to Italy and how wonderful the food was. He didn't get a taste of authentic pizza while there and we've always searched for a rough equivalent but we were hard pressed to find one. My good friend Heather introduced me to Don Corleone's in Sterling! Decorated with movie posters and original paintings of scenes from the movie, the place is a taste of authentic Italian Pizza. They use a true wood-burning brickoven which just makes the pizza taste divine! There's nothing like it! If you have a chance to go I recommend going immediately and trying it. Once dad gets a little better or once he and mom are in the mood for it, I think I will order a couple for them to try. It's bene!