You've come far, young padawan

After a whirlwind five years of training, CB has achieved her Black Belt. I can no longer use the tag line "it's a black belt thing" when she does not understand my idiosyncrasies. From now on, "it's an intermediate black belt thing" :)

CB has been training particularly hard under the scrutiny of our Sensei for the last few months and did a great job on the night of her test. I'm always amazed at the progress people make in the months leading up to their black belt. CB describes, correctly so, that at some point you just decide that you are ready and almost invariably within a few months of that, Sensei calls you out. This, of course, is followed by your thesis and months of [extra]intensive training.

Congrats CB. You were ready for the Kool-Aid and you embraced it (note to readers: CB HATES that phrase. I'm teasing her - which means I love her).