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Every now and then I go out and do stuff. Most recently, my youngest son (the Apple) and I participated in our first Taekwondo tournament.

The Apple signed up back around October or so, and really took a shine to it. After he'd been in it a couple months, he told me he wanted me to take it, too... and who can say no to their youngest child when they ask you to sign up and do something with him? So about the middle of January, I took my first class.

We did all right in the tournament. The Apple finished fourth in his group for his patterns, but unfortunately lost in his first round match for sparring and did not place there. He's a bit skittish about sparring, and since he's a bit short, standing back does not help him out.

I placed second in my group for patterns and surprisingly finished third in sparring. I say surprisingly, because I've not sparred before, and due to the low number of participants in my age group, I was paired up against individuals with significantly higher level belts than myself.

All things considered, we rather enjoyed ourselves. It was a good experience that I am sort of looking forward to repeating.