Different strokes

I finally feel like my ping pong game is really coming together.  The first week of lessons was really great,  I felt like I was learning things and I was hitting the ball really hard.  Then after we got past that, we moved onto some of the more complex stuff, like the more complex strokes and putting spin on the ball.  To be honest, it was really frustrating.  I couldn't hit a forehand loop drive if my life depended on it.  Don't even get me started on the backhand cut.    Now I've finished learning all the strokes and I feel a lot better.  Sure, I'm probably not getting as much rotation on my forehand as I could be, but I can tell that the topspin is there.  So the foundation is set.  If I compared myself to a diamond, which I do regularly, I'm still raw and uncut.  It's going to take quite a bit of practice for me to really shine.  Luckily, there's still plenty of time until 2016.