HIIIIIIIAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!

If I asked someone to use as many adjectives to describe me as possible, I would be willing to bet that 'aggressive' and 'confrontational' would not be at the top of that list. This morning I attended an hour long women-only seminar on an introduction to seido karate. I thought it'd be a fun way to get some exercise. What I did not realize was that we had to SHOUT as we did the exercises!

People who know me know that I don't shout. When the leader of the seminar (I don't know what they're called, master?) made each of us individually do some crazy combination of shouting and punching and kicking, I laughed and said I don't have any aggression right now. But she was insistent on me doing it by taunting me! I thought about it, and said to myself, what the heck, I know I sound and look ridiculous but who cares what other people think. Sometimes I should just stop caring about making a fool of myself and see it as a challenge to try something new. So I went with the flow. I yelled a hundred HIIIIAAAAHHHHHH's as I kicked and elbowed and punched. At one point, everyone was gathered around watching me get picked on as the main karate lady held up a pad and made me do a set of kneeing her (the pad) in the groin as hard as I could as I HIIIAAAHHHHHed. Everyone was really supportive and applauded when I was done. It felt good to try even though it's out of character for me.

All in all, it was a fun experience. Intimidating, but a bit empowering and exhilarating at the same time. For those of you that need to get out some aggression, I highly recommend taking these classes. As for me, I rarely feel aggression, I'm not sure if it's a negative thing, I prefer to let things go and just be at peace. I don't think it necessarily means that I'm passive, I just don't like to let things bother me if it really doesn't matter. But I guess if I were in a life-threatening situation I can't just be like la-di-da-la-di-da and hope the person goes away. Although I have wondered what my reaction would be if I did get cornered in a dark alley. I wouldn't be surprised if I tried to talk some sense into the person. Maybe that will throw him off......

So after the seminar, I went with a couple of girls to brunch in the west village and then got our nails done! It felt SO great to get my nails done, it's been months! I guess I felt guilty spending money on my nails after I quit my job. I love the rare self-pampering days :)