Dragon Dance Practice

I had a great time this Saturday at Dragon Dance practice. It was one of the most motivational days at Kung Fu I've had in awhile. It was fantastic to see so many people turn out to put together a dragon and lion dance. There was such a lively ambiance in the room. I can see why everyone keeps telling me to come out on Saturdays more often.

I tweaked my knee the night before and about 1/3 of the way through practice it was starting to hurt, making me limp a bit.  I decided to power through it and by the end of practice it felt fine, so that's a relief. The dragon dance and demo practices have really been driving me lately. I really enjoy the team aspect and the freedom for creativity.

Expatriate

It's been a long time since my last entry. Lately, my lack of journaling seems to be stemming largely from my inability to express what I'm thinking. I've been mulling things over lately, collecting thoughts, many of which led to half written, unintelligible discarded drafts. Thoughts and ideas come by and I store them away. They start as hazy, vague outlines, and take time to become fully realized. Next thing I know, I've spent all my time thinking instead of writing. Time to start putting things on paper.

Topic of the day is how I've felt so confused lately about what community means to me. I feel divided among three different homes. The first is Stony Plain. The place of my childhood, teenage years and, at the youngish age of twenty six, where I've lived most of my life. The second is Edmonton where I've lived for the past six years or so. Where I've gone to college, matured into adulthood and met most of my current friends. Lastly there's my place of work in Sherwood Park. Honestly it's far too early for me to have any feelings for Sherwood Park. I'm only a year and a half into my first genuine career and my job has me working all over the province more than it does in Sherwood Park. Therefore I'm mostly indifferent to Sherwood Park. Nevertheless I do spend the majority of my week there and that takes a toll.

My condo in downtown Edmonton is a base camp for frequent journeys to the East and West. I've been living away from Stony Plain long enough that I've become disconnected from it. My sense of community in Stony Plain now comes from Silent River and my parents house. My parents place is an acreage about eight kilometers West of Stony so growing up I always had a slight rural disconnect from the town. As Silent River becomes more and more involved in the parkland community, the harder it is for me to feel like I'm part of the parkland community. I can't hop out the door and be at class in a few minutes. I can't shovel a seniors driveway after breakfast, before heading to work. I don't have the luxury of acting on impulse anymore. Most of everything I do in Stony is planned and so damn deliberate.

As this very moment, reading what I just wrote, I realize I should have said I have four homes. Don't think I've forgotten you dear readers. The community of the Kwoon is the most powerful of them all. I didn't mention it earlier because, really, you could say that the Silent River community IS my Stony Plain community.

There's no question that Edmonton is where I belong right now. I like it here. I love living within walking distance of an amazing Thai restaurant. I love the proximity of so many cultural, artistic and social venues. I cherish my freedom and the oh so accessible ability to go wherever I want, to do anything I want, whenever I want. My social life and activities with friends is very important to me. Edmonton is where I want to live right now. Still in the background of my consciousness there is the distant call of a rural parkland life. I can see myself eventually ending up there. But that would be for when I decide to settle down and adopt a more domestic life. The family, wife, kids and a dog idea.

This post has gotten out of control and I'm going to have to continue it later. Until next time.

Dragon Dance

Last Thursday I spent my first practice learning how to dragon dance. I quite enjoyed it. It was even more fun than I was expecting. Its also a lot trickier than I thought. Knowing which direction to move isn't always intuitive. Being aware of everyone else and knowing how to adjust your own direction and speed is very important. I can definitely see how it would take a fair bit of practice as a team to make it look smooth.

I have yet to learn the lion dance. I've never made a great effort to learn the lion dance, not really sure why. I'm oddly nervous around the lions, like they are something to be revered. Fragile and holy. They make me feel brutish. I'm uncomfortable even handling them much less being in one.  Its all very silly I know. I'm going to have to learn...

Jasper

I spent the weekend camping in Jasper. Its the first time I've been out camping this summer. Seems to be harder and harder to get people together for trips. It felt great to be out in the woods again. Saturday was spent swimming at lake Annette and some light hiking. I managed to get a wicked sunburn on my shoulders and back from the beach.

The weather was perfect Saturday but kind of lousy Sunday. The mosquitoes at the campground were absolutely terrible so we tried to spend as little time there as possible. We visited Maligned lake Sunday and I was amazed at how high the water is everywhere. The boathouse at the lake was underwater. I've always wanted to canoe across Maligne lake and camp on the sites there, hopefully I will be able to do it this summer.

I wonder if I can fit in my fridge...

This heat wave is really kicking my butt. My primary directive the past few days has been to keep as cool as possible. It doesn't help that the AC in my office at work broke yesterday, when its 28 degrees in the office I should be allowed shorts! My condo is sweltering and I haven't been getting much sleep because of it. Stupid lousy weather isn't making it any easier to exercise. Here's hoping we have a surprise blizzard. Alright I gotta turn off the computer, its too hot.

Ganza

I'm taking this week off from work for the annual Improvaganza put on by Rapid Fire Theater. Improvaganza is a improv comedy festival where teams are brought in from all over the world to compete against each other in "whose line is it anyway" style battles. Its always a good time and a bit of a tradition for my friends and I. One of my friends living in grand prairie decided to take the week off to hit up the shows and visit. I figured it would be a good a time as any to take some vacation days.

So my June mini vacation will be spent around Edmonton. The plan is to catch up on some chores, do some biking, play some squash and go to at least a show a day. I've got tickets every night through to Saturday so I'll be absent from classes this week including missing the I Ho Chuan (nuts). I'm writing this between cleaning sessions. Just finished my bathroom, next up is the kitchen!

Hotel Jesse

The past few weeks have been a hurricane of social activity. One of my friends works in Nicaragua on a rotation of two months away, two weeks back. When shes in town, she usually stays at her parents or my couch. On top of that another friend of mine who lives in Grand Prairie was visiting the last couple weekends with his sister. All of the people mentioned are good friends with myself and my roommate so we have a blast together.

When people are in town we try to make the most of it and do as much together as we can. These moments are a treat for me. I am making an effort to be more social. Even now I can feel the effects of decay on my social life that came from my time in school. For awhile I felt like I was losing friends because I stopped doing things. Say no enough and soon you might find yourself not being asked at all. Between my easygoing introverted attitude and a lack of effort I've found it hard to establish the same life I had a few years ago.
 
My couch and I have enjoyed the company of late but having a revolving front door has a way of throwing a wrench into routine. My class attendance certainly waned and I'm hating myself a little for that. I need to figure out how to balance better and binge less...

Post Pandamonium

After a 7 hour shift at the Panadamonium yesterday my body is sore just about everywhere. I had a great time and its always a pleasure to be part of such an amazing group of people. I was glad to be there at the end, it was fantastic to see everyone bring up their energy levels to cross the finish line sprinting. I think its safe to say it was a great success.

Since my muscles were yelling at me all day I decided to take in a flick. I went and saw the Avengers and then hung out with some friends, chilled and played some board games. Overall the weekend was  great success.

I've got blisters on me fingers

It felt good to be swinging the old Kwan Dao around on Friday. An hour is a long time to be swinging it around, I've got some wicked blisters on my thumbs. I felt like I made a lot of progress in the last I Ho Chuan class. Unfortunately I've forgotten a fair bit of my old form. I've been trying to piece it together with mixed results. I think I've got about 65 percent of it back but there's still a lot of gaps.

So far my approach has been to just try and remember moves but now I think I'm just going to remodel the form. Instead of worrying about remembering every detail I can take this opportunity to recreate it. The positive side of this is I can cut out some of the stuff I didn't like as much and make the form shorter. It was a bit too long before. The forgotten parts are mostly the in between moves. I remember most of the highlights.

I've definitely lost a lot of finesse with the weapon. It will take me a lot more practice to get my strength and control back to where it used to be. The expansion is going to be a lifesaver for me to get more practice time in.

My week

Last week was a good week. I played a few games of squash and it felt fantastic. After an hour and a half of squash on Wednesday I had pretty much worked the stiffness out of my knee. Then my whole body was super sore for the next couple of days, a feeling its missed.

I also found out that we were accepted for a grant I applied for to sponsor the Pandamonium. It should take week or two for the check to make it through accounting and into my hands. I was hoping to have it in time for the Pandamonium but it might be just a little late. Either way we have $500 to put towards the event and the charities.

I was down in Conklin for a day of work and it got in a fair bit of overtime. It was the first time I've been down there. There are some huge plants out in the middle of nowhere, it was strange to see. I slept until one pm yesterday and it felt great.

Results

I got my MRI results back this weekend and its good news. Turns out the cartilage in my knee isn't damaged. I just had a bad sprain to a ligament. Since the ligament was stretched, the fix is to start exercising it so it can tighten up again. I'm happy to hear that exercising it is safe. I've been experimenting with it the past week or so and the aches and pains I was getting made me decide to lay off it until I knew what was up. I was really worried about making it worse.

In celebration I tried playing an easy game of squash with a friend today. The leg was pretty stiff and I didn't run very hard but by the end of the match it felt pretty good. I'll be sore tomorrow but in a good way. Now its time to get back into the swing of things!

Hotel Room and a Laptop

I'm writing this from a hotel room in Red Deer. I'm out of town for the week in training seminars for work. With work on the brain I realized I've never posted about my new job. Since coming back to Kung Fu I've been asked, "where have you been?" a lot so I thought I should maybe explain a bit. This may prove yawn worthy.

I graduated from N.A.I.T last May with a diploma in electrical engineering technologies. The engineering is thrown into the official name to make it sound fancier. It means I am an electrical technologist. It was a two year program and I disappeared from kung fu sometime in my second year so I could focus on school. After I graduated I got a job as a designer for FortisAlberta.

For anyone unfamiliar with the company, they are a large electrical utility. They own approximately 60% of the distribution power lines in the province. My job entails designing and managing the construction of power lines all over the province. It's kind of a mash up of civil/electrical engineering, surveying, land, material ordering and project management.

So far it's proven to be interesting and very challenging. There is so much for me to learn and I like that. I think its important for me to be challenged, to always be thinking. I dread the day I start going through the motions. Its both comforting and depressing to see so many people I work with having 20-30 years in with the company. I am still in a bewildered state. Adjusting to the change from dead end job to actual career. So for the past 10 months work has been a dominant force in my life. Therefore I'm sure I've been talking about it more than people would like and glazed eyes are all to familiar.

I'd be lying if I said that this hasn't interfered with my kung fu. As I'm adjusting to my new found state I'm remembering the other more important parts of my life, parts like Silent River. These other parts are starting to get the attention they deserve and it will only get better.

Inspiration

The I Ho Chuan class Friday and the meeting on Saturday gave me a motivational boost. It reminded me of what I can do instead of what I can't. I tested the knee out today doing some forms to see how it does. It seems to hold up alright so long as I take it slow and avoid putting too much weight or strain on it. I'd like to say thank you to all my wonderful teammates for reminding what this is all about.

Update

My knee seems to be getting better. Walking and moving around normally only causes mild discomfort now. Although It still hurts pretty good moving it around sideways or twisting. At least it seems to be healing and I have an MRI on the 29th if it is still giving me trouble by then.

Earlier in the week I watched a video about bill C-10 and how the conservative government is trying to push it through. Thats the big "hard on crime", create mandatory minimum sentences, invest 15 billion dollars into convicts bill. I did some research on the matter, decided its idiotic and in a moment of inspiration sent a mass email to all the Canadian senators. I wasn't expecting anyone to read it but to my surprise I've had seven or eight of them write back to me.

The ones who responded all agreed with my perspective of course. I don't think they would write back otherwise. I thought it was rather neat to be getting emails from senators.

Diagnosis

I visited my family doctor yesterday after being referred there from whatever orthopedic doctor looked at my chart. He ran some tests by pushing and pulling my leg around to see what hurt. The test ruled out the ligaments as the problem. He is fairly certain I tore my medial meniscus cartilage. That's the cartilage in the knee joint that lies between the tibia and the femur. The cartilage kind of acts like a shock absorber.

There are different kinds of tears and I'm not sure which one I have. Depending on the severity of the tear, it may heal on its own or require surgery. My doctor said there is probably a piece of loose cartilage in my knee moving around which is causing the pain. The sensation of my knee giving out in one direction would be caused by the missing piece of cartilage. There is now a gap in the cartilage where the bone slides so instead of stopping where it used to it skips off/over it.

Anyway, I'm booked for an MRI to find out how bad it's torn. I'll probably have to wait a couple months before I can even get the MRI. There's pretty much two scenarios for the treatment. First:the loose piece of cartilage will dissolve and my knee will heal on its own by the time I get in for the MRI, this could take a few weeks. Second: my knee doesn't heal on its own by the time I go for the MRI, which probably means I have a serious tear and will require surgery. Not much I can do for in the meantime except baby it like I've been doing.

Obviously this throws a rather large wrench into the majority of my requirements so I'm going to have to be strategic. The past week I couldn't do anything at all but I'm beginning to think it might be alright to start doing certain exercises again.

Another boo boo

Last night I took a kick in the side of the knee while my leg was at the worst possible angle for it. After dropping to the mats for a bit, with some help, I got up and hobbled home. I would like to say thanks to everyone there for helping out. I'm borrowing a tensor bandage and an ice pack from the school. I was lucky to be giving Sifu Robertson a ride there because he drove me back home.

Today after lots of ice and ibuprofen it definitely feels weird moving my leg a certain direction. It feels like my knee has way less support than it should to the inside. So I went to the Royal Alex to get it looked at. The doctor confirmed there is more movement than normal to the inside but wasn't positive what it is. She suspected a sprained or torn MCL but made me an appointment with orthopedics to get it looked at again. Meanwhile I'm supposed to stay off it and keep a tensor on. I used my McNeil cane to the hospital and got a nice comment on it. Who knew? Its good for beating people and healing!

So it looks like I'm down for a bit. Obviously I'm a little peeved right now. I just hope it heals fast.

Gym

I took the first step towards one of my requirements tonight. One of my personal goals for the IHC this year is to supplement my training by going to the gym at least 100 times this year. Tonight I visited Grant MacEwen and signed up for a membership. Cardio equipment at the gym will be one of my biggest resources for the 1000 mile journey.

It's my first time seeing their facilities and I like the look of things. My membership gives me access to the usual fitness equipment as well as a pool, gymnasium and squash courts. The squash courts are the biggest bonus for me because I love the sport and it is absolutely fantastic for the body. I think I read somewhere that it's the healthiest sport around because it burns a ton of calories, increases coordination and dexterity. I will definitely be counting squash games towards km's. Now I just need to find people to play against...

When I say I want the gym to supplement my training I mean I'm going there for very specific reasons, mostly strength training and cardio. Obviously I prefer Kung Fu to be my primary source of exercise. I also don't want to bulk up like a gorilla and lose what flexibility I have. I'm going to have to come up with a dynamic workout routine and really focus on stretching more. My flexibility needs lots of work, especially in my hamstrings. I'm starting to suspect that many of my issues with certain techniques and forms can be traced to the tightness in the back of my legs, mostly around the calves.

I've never liked gyms to be honest and I get bored easily unless I am doing some sort of activity. That's why I've always played sports and been outdoorsy! You get exercise AND entertainment.

Ouch

So far its been a bit of a slow start in a few areas. My body isn't what it used to be so my fitness level will be an obstacle for awhile. Last weekend after the banquet I did a few hundred situps/pushups as well as some weight training. As a result I was so sore for the next few days that I couldn't even think of doing another pushup.

All the pullups in the black belt class paired with a little kwan dao training killed my biceps. I woke up this morning to the aching itch in my arms. So it looks like I'll be slowly increasing my numbers as my strength and stamina increase. I can already see the results!

After the Banquet

Last night was absolutely fantastic! I missed last years banquet and I had almost forgotten how fun it is to be part the most important day of the Kung Fu year. It was inspiring to see everyone working together so well. Congratulations again to everyone promoted! I hope to be up there next year. As part of the I Ho Chuan I'll be working on my second degree requirements all year.

Still inspired from yesterday I've spent my lazy Sunday doing pushups/situps and contemplating all things Kung Fu.

Hello World! I'm Back!

This blog has grown a bit dusty. I can't believe my last post was over a year ago! As depressing as that is I'm even happier to be back! It's a new year and I've signed myself up for the ultimate resolution. I will be taking part in Silent River Kung Fu's newly revamped, UBBT inspired, I Ho Chuan class! That means I'll be working hard all year honing my mind, body and soul so that I may emerge as an improved human for 2013.

My mind's been getting more of a workout than my body these days, busy running the counter at Cafe Me while my soul makes the rounds serving customers with a bit more indifference than he should. Body is in the back, asleep, on a pile of neglected routines.

This is going to be a challenging year. I expect the beginning to be brutal but things should get easier once I hit my stride. Getting started I may need help with motivation and inspiration until I become self sustaining. Fellow teammates: feel free to chastise me if I'm dragging my feet.

Good to see you all again. You all look lovely.