Institute...yeah

I actually went to Institute last night. Yeah, that's right, me...moi...yo...I. I even received a text from someone just before class started, and when I told her where I was her response was "which one? class? who bribed u? this isn't the ej freelove i know going to institute." Yeah, for some reason I've always had this beef with wanting to attend institute.

Actually, it was mostly the fact that I have always felt uncomfortable at the institute building downtown. I have been working to overcome this and have done so by preparing for the lesson every week, regardless if I go or not. The Institute director, has been sending out an email with a link to the talk that will be discussed, and I have done my best to read it and be prepared, just in case I manage to make it to class. There have been times where I have actually been driving and about to turn on the street, and have received a phone call that led me away.

Last night, I actually made it and stayed until eight. I got a phone call that helped me to decide that it was time to depart. But that's not the point. I went to Institute, and not only that, but I was prepared and read the talk ahead of time. I have been making the goal to participate at least once during a lesson to be supportive of the teacher. I try not to force, but follow the Spirit and share when prompted, but when you're prepared, you can almost always feel prompted to participate. It's been very rewarding to prepare for the class even if I don't go, and last night was good for me.

I played tennis twice yesterday, once by myself (or with the Tennis Twist), and once with my friend, Brian. He called at the end of Institute, so we met up to play. I really needed to drill yesterday, so working with the Twist was good for me. I still need a lot of work on my backhand and such, but it is coming along. Brian and I played at Wallenberg park until the lights went off at 1015. It was way fun and I totally lost track of the time.

We did the usual warm up of serves, played a set, then just hit around and kind of did this progressive hitting thing. Usually, you do a similar thing to warm up, but we kind of did it a bit differently, but building up the intensity. He's improving rather quickly, and it's great to see! I need some competition to help get me ready for the season!

I must confess...as I was leaving the club yesterday, Ken (the Club Pro), stopped me in the parking lot and chit chatted a bit as he was driving away. It kind of stroked my little tennis ego a bit, that fact that he had observed me drilling over in my little corner of the club. =)

ej