Tae Kwon Do! ... Or Not

   I was pretty excited about starting Tae Kwon Do next week at school... until I got an email from some lady who called herself "Master ---(insert name here)".

   In this email, the peppy "Master" told us that we would need to sign a health release, buy a uniform, and... wait for it....

   Get a mouth guard.

   "A mouth guard? Really!?" screamed the Optimist, "She must be kidding."

   "She isn't," muttered the Pessimist, seriously dissatisfied with the turn of events.

   "But...but..." the Optimist whimpered pitifully, "All I was looking for was some good exercise and spiffy ninja moves. This sounds more like--"

   "Like signing up to have someone kick you in the face and throw you around every week? No way," the Pessimist rolled her eyes, "I always thought that Tae Kwon Do was such a gentle sport."

   "You did?" asked the Optimist.

   ...

   "No."

   "Oh," she said, "Do I have to take this class?"

   "You have plenty of credits, and you were only taking Tae Kwon Do because you could. I think 'fun' was the word you used to describe what you were expecting."

   "Was it?" asked the Optimist, perking up a bit, "You know, my dear alter ego? I can be really dense sometimes."

   "Tell me about it," said the Pessimist, as she removed Tae Kwon Do from the schedule.

   The Optimist sighed and said, "I wonder if there's another class that would be fun instead..."

   The Pessimist simply glared at her, "Or you could spend the term being shockingly academic and continue exercising at home."

   "There's always that," she said.