New York City – Well, it’s unofficial, but I passed my blackbelt test! 10½ hours yesterday covering pretty much everything I’ve studied for the last 7½ years, teaching a couple of classes, and I was done. A little different than our school’s standard blackbelt test which usually is done with a small group and spread over 3 days, 6 hours or so per day; since I was testing on my own, my instructor condensed it into one day, plus I’ve spent the last week in 4+ hour sessions with him each day, so he’d already had a chance to drill me on a lot of things. Tomorrow night is the official ceremony, so hopefully afterward I’ll have some pix to share with you!

Now, hmmm, where to go to celebrate…