Condescending or Passionate, with a side of Alienation

The other day I was talking to a coworker about something and he jokingly (I think) said I was being condescending. Later on that day I was reflecting on what he said, trying to analyses my habits to see how much truth was in what he said. It got me thinking about how there is a fine line between being condescending and being passionate about something. It's pretty hard to confuse the two when you are being positive but when talking negatively about something, what matters more, what you say or how you say it?

Remember "Mastery" by Stewart Emery? My favorite part is the bit where he talks about living with so much mediocrity. My Kung Fu journey certainly has made me less tolerant of mediocrity and I try to surround myself with as much quality as possible. So while on the quest to expect more from myself and others I can sometimes be outspoken on my opinions. If I think something is bad or lacking quality I'm not afraid to say so. What worries me is, at what point does voicing my opinion make me sound like a jackass. Is it just the way I express it? The words I choose and the level of enthusiasm? Or is it a matter of how often I give opinions?

When it comes topics like art, music, movies and food it's often a matter of preferences. That's not always the case though, some things transcend preferences and fit squarely into good and bad categories. For example, McDonald's food is bad. I'm not saying I can't enjoy a quarter pounder now and then but there is now denying that McDonalds food is lousy. Its cheap, low quality and it really doesn't even taste that good. At the office we often group up to go out for lunch and I have one co-worker who's top choices are always A&W, McDonalds or KFC. Therefore I hardly ever go eat out with this person.

Something that really baffles me is how uncomfortable some people get when confronted with enough enthusiasm. I'm mostly talking about the positive, happy, I LOVE THIS THING kind of enthusiasm. I think people tend to get alienated if there is a big difference in passion levels. If you really like something and you share it with someone who can't identify with it you might just drive them away.

I don't really know where I'm going with this. Just something I've been thinking about. It's important we try to stay aware of the way we effect those around us and the way we carry ourselves less we be misinterpreted. Its now time for bed, falling asleep at the keyboard...

Healing

I've been trying to take things easy lately to give my various aches and pains time to heal. I think its been helping, my ankle feels better. Still thought I've been really down about some of the recurring problems I've been having. Both legs from the knees down keep bothering me now and then. I never used to have these issues before, its like it started happening overnight. Now I'm always paranoid about making things worse. Maybe I need to start working on strengthening certain muscle groups.

On a positive note, my physiotherapist started a new laser treatment on my finger and it seems to be helping. Back in may I hurt the index finger on my right hand and its been giving me issues ever since. I think I badly bruised a ligament. It was a couple of months before I could even close it enough to make a fist and it hurt like the dickens making contact with anything. Even now I cant close it all the way and still have some pain punching things. Obviously not being able to hit anything solid with my right hand gets in the way of Kung Fu activities. The new laser treatment has made a noticeable difference. Today was my third session. I'm hoping that after a handful more sessions that the discomfort goes away permanently.

New Things

I had another great time at our annual tournament last weekend. Everything ran very smoothly, judging was fun and so was competing. The dragon and lion dance was flawless yahoo! I'm happy with the way my sword form has come along and with my results in the competition. Winning the black belt grand champion felt pretty good. Thank you to all the people who helped the tournament happen and Mrs. Csillag for organizing the pizza party afterward.

Unfortunately I think all the dragon dancing has been rough on my legs. I've been having mild ankle problems the past couple weeks and after the tournament its really been bugging me. Its clicking and hurts to run on so I'm going to try and give it some time to heal. I was testing it on Fridays class and I definitely think I should take it easy for a bit.

I tried something new on Wednesday. I went to a fencing lesson for the first time. I've been interested in trying it for awhile now, I think it looks fun. I started looking into and lo and behold Edmonton has a fantastic fencing club coached by an Olympic gold medalist. The coach's name is Jujie Luan and shes a legend. My first class was certainly interesting. I was pretty much just thrown right into it. Jujie was very busy and trying to fix one of the electric scoring lanes so I didn't get much instruction. Her son taught me four basic parries, the lunge and then I was fully geared up and in a lane with an opponent. My partner explained the basic rules to me and gave me some pointers. We stabbed each other for awhile and I started to get the hang of it.

I felt a little out of place and awkward since I didn't know anything about anything. Kind of like my first day of class as a white belt. The hardest part of trying something new is stepping through the door for the fist time. I'm glad that the hard part is over with. I had a good time though and learned a lot. I am going to take more lessons until I have a better idea if its something I'd like to continue with.

Tournament

I'm excited and a bit nervous for the tournament this weekend. It snuck up fast this year. Its always a fun time, I always have a great time judging and helping out. Its a fantastic event for everyone to come together and show their Kwoon spirit. Always a big motivator to see everyone pitch in to make everything happen. The only thing that could make it better is having more students competing.

Every year I have that hesitation, that doubt, the question, do I really want to compete? And every year I do and am glad for it. It's a great opportunity to show your hard work and to boost your confidence. Even if you don't win a medal you've overcome the biggest hurdle by just putting yourself up in that ring. When I'm in a tournament, especially doing forms, I don't really think of it as competing against others. I tend to feel its more a personal challenge, like I'm testing myself in front of a crowd.

Tournaments are probably one of the biggest influences I've had that helped relieve my fears of public demonstrations. It really does help getting comfortable performing. For those of you struggling with demo's or even speaking in public, you should be signing up for tournaments. Orange belt to blue belt I used to go to the Ging Wu open tournament, and occasionally Cheney's. They were always positive experiences and it was really cool getting to compete against people of all different styles. For those of you who have never been to an open tournament I highly recommend it.

Aches, Pains and Story Tales

Again I find myself guilty of not blogging for far too long. I've had plenty to talk about lately but always seem to get sidetracked when it comes to putting electrons on the screen. Today I set a mini goal of GET STUFF DONE, which includes this post. Groceries have been purchased, bills have been paid, mild cleaning accomplished and laundry is spinning, time to journal.  As a bonus I get to write while listening to a brand new record which just arrived in the mail!

A couple of weeks ago I hiked the Skyline Trail in Jasper with Sifu Robinson and a couple of his friends. It was a great time had by all. It felt great to be back in the mountains breathing fesh air and sweating on rocks. It was also my first and probably last multi day backpacking trip of the year, which makes me kind of sad. I definitely didn't get out as much as I usually do. It was a pleasant trip down memory lane as I had hiked this same trail before in my teenage years. The only bad of the trip: I positively destroyed my right knee. It was the first time I've ever experienced knee problems to that degree and it has me worried. I hope it was an anomaly caused by a combination of overdoing it and extra weight. The first day might of killed it since we hiked about 22km with 600m of elevation gain.
 In all the trip was around 46km long which pads the numbers nicely.

My knee and calves were out of commission for the first half of the following week. I felt decent enough for some dragon dance practices by Thursday. I was only mildly wounded before the dragon dance demo which by the way went very well. Kudos to everyone for coming together for the practices and the awesome performance. I am quite proud of having been the head for three performances now without completely screwing up and ruining everything. After the dragon dance demo I was surprised to find my left leg was really hurting. This time it was the outside of the leg below the knee all the way to my ankle. My lower legs have been touchy since then so I've been trying to take it easy and let them heal. Thank you Sihing Donohue for the vet wrap, I'll have some on for the next practice.

Oh and I pulled a muscle in my bicep throwing elbows at Fridays class. All in all I feel awfully broken these days and its annoying. I decided today to try and book a physio appointment to have the legs and my finger looked at. I've never been to a physiotherapist but work covers it and now is a good a time as any.

Lots to do

So far Tai Chi seems to be going alright. I'm slowly starting to see a bit of progress. I've come to realize that learning by the end of the I Ho Chuan year is unrealistic. There is a ton to learn but I'm going to try my best. It will take some serious practice time to even just remember it all much less have good technique.

We've left demo practices by the wayside for a while but we can't forget what we went through last time. I hope everyone has been practicing to be ready for the next one. We will be trying to organize some more demo opportunities for anyone who still needs the public performances.

The Week that was

Hmmmm what to write about... I'm at a bit of a loss. I got a throat infection and had a sore throat most of the week. I also lost most of my voice which made the incessant phone calls at work a bit of a chore. The antibiotics seem to have done the job and I'm feeling better. I went for my first round of golf of the year. I usually only get out golfing 3-5 times a year. I bought my first set of clubs last summer and have been trying to get into it a bit more. The round went pretty well, I sank a couple huge putts and it felt awesome. I walked the course which was good for about 4km.

Hurray! Landmark event at Fridays class! I finally ended my sword form. I've reached the point where I don't want to add anything else to it. Now I just need to perfect it. I also reserve the right to completely change things if I can come up with something better. On the downside I also managed to pull or strain a muscle in my leg. I've been hobbling around all weekend and super sore.

I'm excited to be teaching a seminar at bootcamp this year. It's been awhile, I think the last thing I taught was my pole form. One day I would like to see a field full of Kwan Dao's but some might call that unrealistic.

Sifu Jesse Wetter

Tai Chi

I attended my first ever Tai Chi class on Saturday. I had fun, it was an interesting change of pace. The first half of the class I felt a bit awkward but I was comfortable by the end. Taking an hour to cover two moves really drove home how much I need to learn. I'm way behind the eight ball, I should have started Tai Chi ages ago. It will be a huge challenge to try and learn the entire form by the end of the I Ho Chuan year.

Pessure Release

With the Canada Day demo done and gone, the hectic practice schedule has come to a screeching halt. While I certainly enjoyed the craziness and excitement of preparing I'd be lying if I said I'm not a bit relieved. Between work, which has been nuts, and the dragon dance/demo I was starting to get a bit stressed. Much of the weight was released as soon as Master Brinker said, "Good job". I was extremely happy with our performances. It went great and I'm proud to be a part of it.

Now that we all have some more free time it is important to make the most of it. With the extra freedom I see opportunity. I have many things that I need to start focusing on. I'm hoping to finish version two of my sword form soon. I want to finalize it so I can start perfecting it. I am very close to being finished. Another big one for me is I need to learn Tai Chi. I should have started ages ago but the Tai Chi class schedule does not work well for me. I've put it off far too long, partly because I'm afraid I'll be awful at it. At least what I've been doing with the sword should help a bit.

I am happy to have a check mark next to the three public performances.So much to do so little time left in the I Ho Chuan year.

Upcoming Demo

I can't believe there is only one week left until the July first demo. We have a lot of work to do in a short amount of time. I'm happy to see some new faces in the demo, glad to see people stepping up. We are going to need everyone at the practices this week to finalize things. The dragon dance is coming along nicely. We are short on time there too but things are going well so far.

It's been a crazy couple of weeks for me. It was my fathers birthday last weekend as well as fathers day. Today was my moms birthday. Between work, Kung Fu and family activities I feel like I've just barely managed to keep everything under control.

Parade v2

Yet another parade under our belt. Again I had good time, I think everything went well. It was much shorter than the Stony Parade so I didn't destroy my shoulders this time. That wind definitely made it a lot harder to swing the dragon around, it was acting like a kite. I think our improvised dragon dance for the demo went better than the one in Stony, having a bit more practice certainly helped. I liked how we ended the demo by banging out some pushups, a circle of pushups is always inspiring.

Thanks Sifu Wiebe and Lindstrom for the BBQ. It was a refreshing treat after all the hard work. I'm now starting to get very excited and nervous for July 1st. There is lots of work to do and only a few weeks to do it in. The demo will see a fair bit of change, I'm hoping a bunch of new people will jump in. Things may be a bit hectic but it is certainly rewarding.

Parade

Thanks to everyone who helped make the parade and demo a success. I think we were a big hit with the dragons and lion in the parade. One of the benefits of being the head was I got to see the faces making the Oooos and Ahhhhs. The kids really loved it. I had a lot of fun in the parade and I know I'm not the only one. I heard at least a couple of people new to the dragon dance say how much they enjoyed it.

My shoulders are still really sore, I definitely wore them out yesterday. Those double articulations sure are tiring. The demo went off without a hitch too. I think everyone looked great. Now I'm excited to do it again next week end. Hope to see the same turnout in Onoway.

"Not Good Enough" has far more potential than "Good Enough" Part 1

I'm guilty of missing a couple journal entries. *Sigh* it was going so well before. Time to get back into the action. I said I would make an entry about this awhile ago, it seems especially relevant now since we've been talking about mastery and mediocrity. This topic will be spread over a few journal entries.

I wanted to talk about the environment we live in and how we are bombarded by mediocre influences. Things like media, entertainment and food choices. I also want to touch on more obvious influences, like friends, family and work.

Lets start with media. If there was a god of mediocrity it would be television. A modern opiate for the masses. Now when I say television is fantastically mediocre I'm not talking about the shows necessarily, I'm talking about the experience. What you are exposed to when you sit down to watch television for a few hours. There are many high quality shows out there but the problem is they are surrounded by a sea of crap. Familiar with the saying 1000 channels and nothing on? When you flick on the tele its 95% filler. You can thank televisions evil cohort Advertising for most of that filler. So why do so many people sit through stuff they don't actually enjoy?

Why do people willingly expose themselves to heavy doses of mediocrity? Because it's easy. The most dangerous part of mediocrity is its appeal. It lures you into its stagnancy with promises to never hurt you, trying to hide the fact that it won't ever help you. There are ways to enjoy shows and filter out the junk. The first barrier of the filter is you. You need the ability to recognize when you are not being exposed to something meaningful and you need the willingness to seek out something better when that time comes.

I do believe its healthy to have entertainment time, we can't always be productive. Why not make the most of your entertainment time by actually being selective? Might as well only expose yourself to high quality entertainment if you have the option. We now have the technology to help with this. Things like PVRs, Netflix, DVD's and the internet. If you have a show you enjoy, you can watch it without all that filler. Think of the time you can save!

This same thing can be said for music, books, video games and radio. Mediocrity sells. I don't think anyone can deny that. Often the most popular or best selling stuff out there is blatantly average. Some people will argue that this is an elitist. stuck up attitude but I don't think so. I think people just like to grab onto whats within reach. Why get up for good when you have ok right next to you? The thing about an excellent anything is: it isn't for everyone.  Something excellent has a chance to fail, sometimes it can be uncomfortable, its far more susceptible to taste, it can be hit or miss. But oh my when it hits it hits hard. Isn't it more fulfilling to traverse over mountains and valleys then to trudge endlessly over plains?

To be continued...

Practice Crunch

Seems like we are getting back into the old hectic demo practice schedule. There is always a lot of positive energy in the air when everyone is working hard to put something together. Exciting times! I finally feel comfortable with my sword, still have lots to learn but at least I have enough basics to work on a form. So far my form only has about twelve moves but I think there is enough there for the demo. I will try to add a bit more before show time but I think I officially have version one down.

Can't believe Pandamonium is already next weekend. It really snuck up fast and I'm a bit behind on my fundraising, I'm going to have to step up my game.I'm excited for Saturday and I think it will be interesting running one of the night shifts.

Demo Memento

I was out and about all day, got my taxes out of the way. I wish it wasn't 10 o'clock already, here I am blogging before bedtime again. Therefore this will be short and I'll save the good topic for next entry. I'm excited to see the demo ball rolling again. I liked the feeling of anticipation that was in our meeting on Friday, I believe there is eagerness in the air.

The demos in last years I Ho Chuan, especially  the dragon dance, was a huge motivator for me. I loved the team spirit we developed and the crazy schedule we were running on. I'm very much looking forward to see what we can do this year. Lots of people have already taken the initiative in leadership, which is great. Ms. Gibbons you are doing a great job organizing the upcoming demo, keep up the good work!

Three for no Money

Oh no I'm a day late again! Going to have to make another post this week. Sneak preview of the topic for my next entry: it will be about mediocrity and how we are constantly surrounded by it.

I'm going to cheat a little on this entry since I just got home from work at 8:30pm and I'm bagged.This entry is going to be about the dragon dance and the household object choreography, I'm going to copy what I wrote here into the I Ho Chuan forum. Three birds with one stone!

First up is the dragon dance. I think it would be awesome to have two dragons going, especially since we are going to have an infinite stage this year. You can count me in. Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays work for me. I do want to learn how to lion dance so I could see myself in either a dragon or a lion if I actually learn it well enough to not suck. The logistics of filling up two whole dragons, plus backups, is certainly daunting. I think we might have to open it up to none I Ho Chaun members to get the extra numbers. Also, remember the stage will be huge but we will still need to be able to practice with two dragons in the kwoon.

I think doing a fight demo with household objects would be a blast, I'm all for it. We can setup a scene where everyone is going about their business using their stuff and then everything goes crazy with awesome and comedic results. I call dibs on extension cord, or maybe cables as my weapon. Does anyone have a short broken extension cord I can use? There is a good chance I'll wreck it so I'd rather not destroy a working one if I don't have to. Remember guys, whatever you pick still has to be safe to use. We cant have rolling pins and lamps falling apart and flying around the kwoon. Make sure your object is sturdy enough to survive what you want to do with it.

I have a few other ideas if anyone is looking for something. Piano bench (any bench really), leather belt, large wooden spoons, frying pans/pots, brooms and mops (Sifu Robinson), rolls of duct tape around the arms like iron rings, bmx bike, hockey stick, football helmet. Driving around with my ipod on random today even gave me an idea for a song! I'm throwing this out there, "Good Morning Aztlan" by Los Lobos. It has a good pace, not too quick, and its lighthearted enough to fit the silly theme. Here is a link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0vHWnwYuus

Stress

I've been exceptionally busy at work lately and under a lot of stress. I have a couple of large projects which have been eating up a lot of my time as I strive to reach unrealistic deadlines. This business also has me out of town more than usual, I'm going to be in Red Deer for most of the coming week. The past few weeks have been nuts and I don't see it ending anytime soon. I'm hoping things will settle down a bit in a few weeks.

The reason I mention this is because, for the first time in awhile, I feel like my work life is actually interfering with my training. During the week I've been going home feeling drained and its taken a toll on my motivation. I've had a harder time staying engaged but I realize I haven't been handling it as well as I should. One thing I've learned is that no matter how tired or lousy I feel, going to class, doing those extra pushups or banging out a few more form reps always makes me feel better. That's an amazing thing about this Kung Fu business, it makes everything else easier.

On a side note, I ordered two books on the Jian sword and they arrived friday. I've only looked at them a little bit but I'm exited to have new learning material. One of the books called "Sword Imperatives: Mastering the Kung Fu and Tai Chi sword" looks to be very promising. In anticipation of the books arrival I had an excited practice session in my living room on Wednesday night. I went pretty hard and I guess my bare feet didn't like the hardwood, I now have a nickel size blister on the bottom of each of my big toes. Fridays class did the final number on the toes and I left the kwoon with less skin than I came in with. They've been a bit sore.

Burnt

This blog is a day late. I was snowboarding in Jasper all of yesterday. I didn't get home until late and went straight to bed when I got home. It felt great to be out in the mountains again carving some snow. It was a beautiful warm day and I managed to get a really good sunburn on my face and neck. My nose is as bright as Rudolph's. My legs are a bit sore today, always a good feeling. Now I'm trying to decide what the equivalent "kilometers" for a day of snowboarding would be.

With April being the Diet cleanup month I'm pondering what to do. I usually eat fairly healthy but there is of course lots of room for improvement. To be perfectly honest, I find calorie counting, blogging about meals and reading recipes about as exciting as watching paint dry or doing my taxes. I'm sorry but I'm definitely going to be a bit of a stick in the mud on this subject. A couple things I would like to work on would be to try and cook better meals more often and to eat more veggies/fruit while reducing meat portions. I am seriously considering getting a blender and trying the smoothie thing.

I love good food and pretty much every weekend I go out once or twice with friends to a restaurant. My favorite and most visited restaurants are the ones that use higher quality ingredients. I'm talking using ingredients that are grown and farmed locally in a more natural and responsible fashion. Some of my favorites are Culina, Sugarbowl, Blue Plate Dinner and  Three Boars. Blue Plate makes the best veggie burger I've ever had, I actually like them more than most normal burgers.

Progress

It's been a busy Sunday, almost forgot to blog! The past week felt good, I was nice and sore for the majority of it. Feels nice to have that ache in my legs. I feel like I'm slowly but surely making progress with the sword. I still have a long way to go, I'm worried about having an actual form together in time since I'm not even comfortable with the basics yet. Brandi Beckett recommend a couple books to read and I have some videos to work off.

Bought a ton of groceries on Monday and I've been eating a lot of fruits and veggies this week. I'm trying to cook more often. Trying to keep and establish routines. I'm really bad at being consistent with a lot of things. Need to always be mindful so I can stay on track.

Back

I spent most of the past week out of town in Conklin area. It was a great experience for me to get out and work with some guys from a different department. I got to see some neat technical stuff and work with my hands for a change. I think the last time I wired anything was in school, which was a awhile ago. Working long days and having to be social with the people I was working with made for a week without a lot of numbers. Going to have to get my act together!

I Ho Chaun Blogojournal Sphere

One of my goals this year is to try and be more engaged with the journaling of other team members. Last year I was guilty of sporadically reading other peoples journals. I would go through periods of not reading anything at all and then I'd binge read to catch up. Every now and then I would find myself in an awkward situation where I felt ignorant of another members training. It was also pretty rare for me to leave comments.

So far I've been doing much better this year. I've been reading a lot more and trying to make a point of leaving more comments. I'm trying to make a routine of reading the group blog during breaks at work. My internet is so locked down at work its one of the few things I can actually get access to.

I'm going to be out of town in Conklin and Lac La Biche for the next few days. I'm disappointed that I won't be able to make classes this Wednesday. The combination of being sick and out of town for work lately has been interfering with my plan to go to the Monday/Wednesday classes.

Martial Arts Dance Fight

I have this pet peeve.I don't like it when people forget the style of martial arts I practice. I have friends and co-workers who I have repeatedly told, "I practice Kung Fu" and they still ask me how Karate practice is going. While I cannot really blame the average person for their ignorance of martial arts styles, it's still pretty annoying how people consider them interchangeable. I was trying to explain my sentiments to someone, searching for a good analogy when I came up with this.

"It's like telling you I'm a salsa dancer and every Monday you ask how my break dancing is coming along. Sure they are both styles of dance, but they are completely different."

Then I came up with a brilliant idea. I bet it would be fun to come up with a list of martial arts styles and their equivalent dance styles. Bonus fun for pretending I know anything about dance. So here it is. Beware of random and loose interpretation.

1. Karate A.K.A. Popping and Locking: start stop start stop, look Maw I'm jerky.

2. Tae Kwon Do A.K.A. Ballet: lots of jumping around and showing off your legs.

3. Jiu-Jitsu A.K.A. Modern Dance: weird awkward poses. On the floor a lot.

4. Judo A.K.A bad Ballroom Dancing: you are awkward, can't lead your partner and drop them often.

5. Capoeira A.K.A Break-dancing: Obvious. Actually contains break dancing.

6. Tai Chi A.K.A Liquid Dancing: Who needs bones anyway?

7. Ba Gua A.K.A Tango: So many circles, very little throwing up.

8. Sumo Wrestling A.K.A Moshing: Thanks for spilling my drink dude.

9. Wushu A.K.A Swing Dancing: Look at me I'm an acrobat!

10. Aikido A.K.A Bad Square Dancing: Take your partners wrist, now do-si-do and fall to the floor.

That's all I could come up with. Remember people, promote knowledge of your art and try to diminish ignorance.

Sick

I've been sick all weekend and motivation is down. I think I got the same bug that my roommate has. I'm getting a bit behind in numbers so I plan on kicking it up a notch next week. I've been very busy with work lately and on the road a lot. I spent a few days in Whitecourt last week, I was there the day after all the excitement happened. While staying at the hotel with little to do I started working on a customized spreadsheet to keep track of my numbers. I've never kept track of numbers electronically before so it will be a shift. I'm going to try and be more organized this year.

Now that we don't have regular Tuesdays and Thursday practices (well Thursday looks like it might be on again) I find my schedule is up in the air. I can't remember the last time I was at regular Monday/Wednesday classes. I'm going to try and go to those classes more regularly.

New Weapon

The weapon I've chosen to learn for this years I Ho Chaun class is the Chinese straight sword (Jian). I picked up my sword last Friday from the stock at Silent River and was delighted by the quality of the weapon. It seems pretty sturdy overall and is surprisingly heavy. The blade is fairly stiff and doesn't bend easily, giving the weapon a very solid feel. No Wushu floppiness here. As some of of you might be able to guess, I'm not a fan of light floppy Wushu. A sentiment that is reflected in my Kwan Dao usage. It's also very pretty with engraving on the blade that reminds me of the Green Destiny.

I'm excited, giddy even, to have something new to learn. I suspect a steep learning curve, its a lot different from what I'm used to. For the last couple of years I've pretty much stuck to two handed long weapons. I've done a bit of reading and watched some videos to try and get an idea of the basics. I've also been playing with it on and off throughout the weekend and I can tell I'm in for sore wrists and forearms. It is pretty tiring to swing around only using the one hand. From what I've seen I think the weapon is all about the footwork and body rotations.

Just the presence of my new toy sitting on my dresser has been enough to keep me excited all weekend. I'd be holding it constantly if I couldn't resist the urge to draw it and fool around every five minutes. If anyone out there has any knowledge they can share with me about the weapon I'd appreciate it.

Since I was so awful at journaling last year I'm very determined to not repeat my mistakes. This is an important entry for me since it is the first I've made this year and I am going to try hard to make it a Sunday routine. I give permission to everyone to give me hell if  my journaling starts to slide.