Borrowing from Peter to pay Paul

I think I've just been suckered into the next great phase of my financial life. For a couple of years I have had two dinky credit cards; one Visa and one MasterCard, mostly for the purpose of building up a payment history. Thankfully, my Visa card was there for me when I lost all that money refinancing the house, and it picked up a lot of those expenses. Unfortunately, this has caused me to have to 'carry a balance' on that card.

Lo and behold, the angels came down from heaven, and bespoke, "Be not afraid, for I bring you tidings of great joy."

Well, not really. NextCard popped up on the Internet, and said, "Hey you. Transfer your balances and we'll give you a cheap rate."

In 20 seconds I had filled out the application and in 10 more seconds I was approved. Isn't technology an amazing thing?

So I am transferring both of my dinky credit cards onto this slightly larger one with a lower rate and no fees, and cutting the old ones up. I'll be saving myself $120 per year in membership fees, which is a nice thing; but I keep waiting for NextCard to hit me in the back of the head with the next great smiting.

There is always a "But" when the angels or speaking or the Internet fairies are giving me things.

Halloween night I decided to step up and take my taeguk test. It went fairly well, but I was suprised that once again, Master Kim was basically picking on me during the test! It made me feel good, even though I made some small mistakes. After my first form, he said, "Wow, who's that girl? That was pretty good."

I was glad I had made an improvement. Then, in taeguk 4, I lost focus after the sidekicks (because they hurt) and put the wrong step in the top of the trigram. I corrected it on the other side, but he required me to repeat the entire form. He also joked that I ought to break both my legs, since the one with the sore knee was kicking better than its healthy mate. (Largely because the sore one only hurts when it's bearing weight, not when it's flying through the air.)

I also had to repeat taeguk 6, for a similar reason. I snapped the sidekick out there, and then lost focus, inserting a punch instead of an elbow strike. Doh.

7 and 8 went without mishap, though, since I was terribly determined not to lose my place again.

I feel good about the results, though. I didn't feel embarrassed by my mistakes, but rather smiled, shrugged, and happily repeated them. Master Kim lectured last week that forms ought to be enjoyable; and if you don't enjoy them, you have to ask yourself why you're doing them. I think it's obvious from my testing that I enjoy them very much. I'm enough of a performer that I have a GREAT love of showing them off.

I think my forms have improved a lot since I started, too, which makes me feel good. I like to be able to see the progression toward perfection happening; and I like to have feedback from Master Kim and Forest on that progress. I think I'm in good shape to compete this Saturday.

Don't worry, I'm not going to compete in sparring, just forms; and I won't select a form with jumps in it. I think I'll do taeguk 7, or maybe taeguk 6, since that shows off my roundkicks so nicely.

I was a little disappointed that I missed trick or treating, but Kathy took the kids up to their grandparents house in Lansing, anyway, so they had lots of companionship and fun. Kirstin seems to have really enjoyed herself.

Yesterday I had my first physical therapy appointment, which was torture as expected. I hobbled out of there in lots of pain, but with great hopes that they will be helping to make it feel much better in the future. I have another appointment today, which I am somewhat dreading; but I'm remotely interested to see what we will be doing today. I may be a physical therapist myself someday, and it's intriguing to me to see their work.

After my painful therapy gig, which took most of the morning, I drove home, gave Forest the van for the day, and settled myself on some nice soft pillows. I had been warned that I would want 'rest time' after my initial visit, so I'd planned for an afternoon of lollygagging around. Soon I was entrenched in a pile of cusions, ice packs, and blankets, staring into space with grim, dark determination. "This, too, shall pass," chants my mother's voice in memory.

I blocked her out by playing the longest video game session of my life.

My brooding was interrupted by the men who came in to install our satellite dish late in the afternoon. They impressed me by climbing all the way to the peak of our roof, and planting the dish there. It's really not visible from the ground, so doesn't detract from the appearance of the house, such as it is. Someday I'll paint it all nicely, or put real siding on it, and knock off the mud room in favor of a sturdier, better looking alternative.

In the meantime, at least our satellite dish doesn't bother me.

It's amazing, all of the sudden we have hundreds of channels, rather than our previous 3. I am a little overwhelmed. Kirstin already requested to watch cartoons, and as a special treat, she, Forest, and I ate our sloppy joe dinner in front of 'Pinky and the Brain.' It was pretty cool.

What I really like about the dish service is that I can program it to block any channels I want from Kirstin's eyes. Heck, I can password-protect the entire thing if I don't want her to watch it without permission. I think that's pretty cool. Kirstin hasn't had a constant TV habit at any time in her life. If she's lucky she gets to watch one show per week, and maybe a Saturday morning cartoon or two. She watches movies sometimes, but spends most of her time playing in her room, playing outside with her friends, reading, or working on homework. I like it that way.

We shall see how this all works out, I guess. As Forest pointed out, if we don't use the service, we can always cancel it.

Forest and Kirstin were both home early, so we had some time to relax together, eat a nice dinner at home together (a rare occasion) and get ready for Yeffy and Reagan's party. They had a casual get-together on a Halloween theme, and Forest and I were pretty excited about dressing up. Forest wore a Godzilla mask to be a lizardman wizard named "phlibb", with a human arm in his pocket for snacking. I dressed in a plaid miniskirt, high heels, and a black leather jacket, and painted my face like Darth Maul's, so that I could be 'Darth Mary Sue'. We had a good time, but had to leave relatively early to put Kirstin to bed. It was so much fun to see everyone!