Parade

Saturday marked another Farmers Day parade with Silent River lion dancing down the street. It was by far the most time I've spent in a lion. It was exhilarating, nerve wracking and  exhausting. Mostly I was just trying not to step on the feet of the head or get to far behind. I definitely felt like like I was a few steps behind all the time. The biggest moment of panic was when we went to do a wave, which I have never done before. I wasn't sure what to do exactly so I just copied the head, hopefully it looked alright. 

Despite the bit of nervousness I had a great time. It was a lot of fun and I am glad to have had the experience. Being the tail sure gives the back a workout, mine is sore and stiff today. I was surprised that my shin is still aching from the bit of jogging I did. I smashed it pretty hard with my meteor hammer a couple weeks ago. It left a wicked lump and bruise which I manged to make even bigger while sparring during the pandamonium. Guess its not done healing yet if I can feel it while running.

Lion Dance

Fridays class was the first time I've been in a lion. It was pretty cool, I'm sure I had a big grin on my face. I was quite surprised at how little I could see as a tail. I was trying not to be Casper but bending over as far as I was I couldn't really see the feet of the head, which meant I had no idea what was going on. I'm guessing I just need to try and bend over but keep my head up. I tweaked my lower back and it was bothering me most of the week. Hunching over as a tail was a bit painful. It was neat playing around in the head, it was bit more awkward to hold up than I was expecting. Its pretty hot under the lion. I'm already a pretty sweaty guy once I start moving. I can only imaging how much I'd be sweating after a lion dance. Might have to waterproof the inside of one!

Sleet on the Beach

Monday was not exactly what I call beach friendly weather. It was the second night we've played volleyball. It was cold, windy and halfway through the first game sleet started to fall. It didn't last very long though and the sun eventually came out for a bit. I played in sweat pants, a fleece jacket and wool socks with no shoes. It was weird. Even with the bad weather we had a great time.  Our team is going to win the award for most laughter by the end of the season, I guarantee it. The first night we played I think we baffled the other team with our joking around and laughing fits. I've really been enjoying it.

My hands are blistered up pretty good from practising the meteor hammer. The index finger on my right hand just got a new one in a different spot as another one was healing. I am going to have to start taping up my hands or something so I can continue practising without losing all my skin. I've got to pick up some medical or athletic tape. I slowly feel like I am making progress. I'm still not very consistent with pulling off moves but I am getting better. I still don't have a complete form yet but I finally have some pieces. I feel comfortable enough now with the basics that its time to start putting the pieces together. Still a long way to go until I'm demo ready but I will get there.

I have a meeting with my realtor this Sunday. House hunting is about to get serious. I'm excited but also not looking forward to the extra stress. It's been a bit chaotic lately, I could use a vacation.

House Hunting

Things sure have been hectic lately. Work continues to be nuts, I've been working longer hours than usual. I've been working so franticly to get some projects out that by the end of work day I feel thoroughly drained. Its not helping me stay motivated, I'm not getting enough practice time in. I ran through some forms in the living room today, felt good, wish I had a bigger living room...

I'm not sure if I've mentioned it before but I have a goal of buying a house this summer. I'm looking for a place in Edmonton right now, I've been spending a lot of time searching listings. This will be my first time buying a place so I'm a bit nervous. I'm even more excited! The idea of actually having a place to call my own, a place I can do anything I want with, is pretty neat.

I am definitely looking for a Kung Fu friendly home. I get excited every time I see a picture of a big back yard or a large stone terrace. I think its funny that I'm looking at pictures scoping for good meteor hammer swinging areas. Really I just want a bi-level with an open basement that has 10'-12' ceilings, that exists right? I might be dreaming. I have also contemplated getting a big lot and then building a free standing structure such as the one below... some of you might recognize it.

Easter

I had a pleasant Easter. Spent time with friends and family, ate too much. Got some chores done, put my summer tires on and cleaned the inside of my car.  All in all pretty good. I signed up with some friends for beach volleyball with the Edmonton sport and social club. So for most of the summer I will now be playing volleyball on Monday nights. It should be fun. I haven't played volleyball since high school, going to be interesting to see how many skills I've retained. Its going to be pretty casual, I expect the will be more laughs than spikes.

Purple

It's been awhile since I journalled. I am pretty disappointed in myself for doing this yet again. Shortly after my last post I was sick for about a week, then the following week I was out of town for work. Unfortunately I didn't get much done during that time, the numbers definitely took a hit. Since then I've been trying to catch up. I've been trying to watch what I eat more, keeping track and weighing my self every day. I've been weighing myself in the morning right after I wake up, which I hear is the most accurate way to do it. Over the past two weeks I've lost about six pounds, I think anyway. My weight seems to fluctuate up to 7lbs during the day so I am hoping a consistent morning measure is accurate.

I've really been having a hard time getting practice time in with the meteor hammer. The only times I've been practising are on Fridays and Saturdays at the kwoon. Sometimes Fridays don't give me much practice time either. I'm not getting the hang of the weapon as fast I was hoping. I was expecting it to be a challenge since I've never learned a weapon like it before, and hinged weapons aren't my strong point, but its been harder than I expected. I knew I was going to have a slow start but I'm further behind the eight ball than I would like. The weather is finally good enough that I can start going outside. I'm going to start hunting for areas that are dry enough. Somewhere where I'm not going to get arrested. I hit myself in the side of the leg twice yesterday at practice which left a large, sore bruise. So far its the worst I've hurt myself with the hammer so I suppose I can't complain.

Ugh

Not much to say this post. Progress with the meteor hammer has been pretty slow. I am having a hard time being consistent. Even when I think I have a technique down I'll still mess it up 1/4 of the time. I'm hoping that will go away with more practice. Right now basically all of my practice time is at the kwoon on Fridays and Saturdays, which isn't that much. It will be nice when I can start practising outside. I was sick for most of the weekend which was a downer.  Friday during class I felt like I was fighting to throw up most of the time. Not quite a 100% yet but I am feeling better. Hopefully next week goes better.

Sneaky Pushups

My car and computer are fixed! Its much nicer typing this out on a keyboard instead of a phone. A little less than a week ago I discovered a private area at work that I could do push-ups and sit-ups in. It's in our electrical/server room. While I was investigating, our IT guy spotted me and asked me what I was doing. I confided that I was looking for a private out of sight area to do some exercises. He seemed intrigued and gave me permission to use the room. Now its our little secret, I asked him not to tell anyone without my permission.

The floor was filthy so I brought a yoga mat and laid it down for the sit-ups. Whenever I need a break from the desk I wander over to my secret room to do some push-ups. So far its really been helping the numbers. I've been getting 200 done a day at work alone! I'm still a bit behind but I'll catch up in no time at this rate. I'm really happy I managed to find a good place, its the only place in the entire building that has a door that isn't locked or a common area.

Annoyances

It's been a frustrating couple of weeks. My computer still isn't fixed so this is yet another entry from my phone. I decided to wait until today for this blog so I could use my work computer. Turns out that the version of internet explorer we are forced to use is so out of date that I can't get blogger to load properly and I cant write anything. So that was a wage of time.

I brought my car into the shop today to have it checked out. Turns out I need all new rear brakes and I have a broken spring. So I'm not driving my car until the spring is fixed. I am going to call around to some wreckers tomorrow and see if I can find something. If not I have to order from Toronto and the soonest they'll get her is Friday. Meanwhile I'm relying on rides. I might just rent a car. Going to be an expensive week.

Hurt my shoulder last week and couldn't really get any push-ups done. It's feeling better now so I'm back at it, still can't do as many in a row as usual without feeling a bit of pain. I stayed for the San Shou class on Friday which helped pad the sparring numbers. That class is great for getting the sparring rounds in.

Sorry for the whiny post. Things have just been getting to me lately and I felt like venting. On a brighter note I finally feel like I'm starting to get the hang of the meteor hammer! I made some good progress at Fridays class.

From the phone

Friday night my computer broke. So this blog is frustratingly being typed from my phone. I also cut my thumb and have a bandaid on so my phone typing is slower. Therefore I'm going to keep this one short. Fridays class was a lot of fun, I'm sporting bruises on my forearms and bisep from the elbow block techniques. I felt exceedingly proud to be sporting new bruises, which I find to be kind of hilarious. I like how us martial artists wear bruises like badges of honor.

I watched the UFC fight and was disappointed by just about every fight. I don't really follow UFC very much but when I  do catch a fight they never seem to be all that great. At our table was a friend of a friend, who I don't know all that well, throughout the night he kept throwing out random martial arts advice. Now I  am  95% sure that this guy has no martial arts training at all so I felt a bit awkward sitting there  listening to it. Nothing he said was particularity wrong mind you. He told my one friend that you should punch with your first two knuckles, true enough. He talked about how he does lots of push-ups and the benefits doing them, which again I agree with so I didn't say much. He told my friend that he  owns a punching bag and encouraged him to come over for a bag workout, yeah fine..

Then he  told my friend how  he could teach  him some punches and kicks. At this point I really began to feel  uncomfortable . Having  someone, who I'm pretty sure  knows very little offer to teach my friend while I, a guy with 10 years  of experience , sits there  listening  did not seem appropriate. I don't know if it's justified for me to feel annoyed . Basically I think it bothered me because i felt like this person was  acting like a poser. I don't think this person knows I train and  I never spoke up to say I do.  I felt like if I did it would be only  to stroke my ego and to  say if you  if you are going to listen to anyone you should listen to. Anyway it was an odd experience.

They talked about wanting to join a place called the Panther Gym in edmonton but that it was too expensive. I don't know anything about panther gym so I had no opinion to give. Then my friend mentioned he was thinking of joining Krav Maga. At that point I couldn't keep quiet anymore and told him that he would be better served joining pretty much anything but Krav. From what I've seen, it's essentially a glorified "self defense system" that teaches you moves to beat other moves. I saw an interview with an instructor who teaches Krav Maga in edmonton. At some point in the interview he said something like, "we only spend our time working on techniques that work" and that they only spend time working on techniques. Then he showed some demonstrations. It only took me about 10 seconds of watching this guy move awkwardly to know he didn't know what he was doing because he had no fundamentals.

I guess I'm kind of ranting here. It just really bugs me how ignorant people are of martial arts in general. How they are so quick to jump onto things MMA related or whatever's being advertised with the most hype. I guess that's why it's so important for us to promote our art.

Hammer Time

Fridays class was the first time I've swung my meteor hammer in a couple years. I didn't kill myself so that's good! In fact I didn't have any accidents at which I think made Sifu Rybak a bit jealous since her feet were taking a beating  . I made my hammer a couple years ago but never really practiced with it much. It might be just a little bit to heavy, I'm a bit nervous about accidentally hurting someone. Also, when I spin it the centrifugal force is strong enough that its difficult to hold onto without the rope slipping in my grip. Sifu Robinson loaned me his meteor hammer, which is a bit lighter, I might practice with it until I am comfortable moving to the one I made.

Miss Gibbons showed me some moves and tips which were great to get me started. I have a lot of learning to do. It's both frustrating and invigorating to be back to square one on a weapon. I have never really learned a soft weapon like the meteor hammer so its very foreign. I'll be looking for help wherever I can find it.

Back when I first made my hammer I brought it to Hawrelak park a couple times and awkwardly tried to find a discreet spot to practice. I was surprised to find that there inst really any spot in the park that is hidden from view of passerby's. I'm going to make a point of finding an outdoor secret practice area this summer.

Year of the Horse

Here we are one week into the new year. The banquet was fantastic, everything went off with out a hitch. I greatly enjoyed showing off the fruits of my labor. I didn't totally screw up the dragon dance so that's good. As usual it feels a bit weird going back to a normal schedule after the past few manic weeks. Here are my personal requirements for the year:

1. Lose weight. I would like to get my weight down to about 195lb and lose 2 inches at the waist. Basically I just want to burn off fat and put some muscle back on. I don't care so much about the number on the scale so much as the love handles.

2. 2000 front thrust, side heel, roundhouse and spinning back kicks. I want to improve the quality of my kicks.

3. Learn to Lion Dance.

4. 1000 repetitions of Ma Long Khun and meteor hammer

5. Practice ALL of the curriculum techniques and combinations until I have every one memorized by name and have no doubts about my proficiency with each one.

I'm going to give a quick explanation of each of these. The lose weight goal is pretty self explanatory. To accomplish it I will need to focus more on my diet and exercise routines. The kick goal is because some of my kicks not where I would like them to be. A large part of that is due to flexibility, which I need to work on. I had learn to Lion Dance on last years list but I became the head of the dragon and changed my goal to learn to dragon dance. This year though I would like to learn the lion dance so I doubt I can be in the dragon this year.

I chose meteor hammer as my weapon form this year and I'm excited about it. I think getting practice time in will be a challenge, especially in winter. I basically can't practice it at all in my place, I don't have the room. So I will have to get my practice time in at the Kwoon until it warms up and I can start going outside more. I'm already worried about getting version one ready on time, I have a long way to go. Lastly the curriculum requirement sounds a bit vague so I'll clarify. It's a back to the basics requirement. I want to focus more on mastering the curriculum. I've always been terrible at associating the names of techniques with the actual technique. I want to have each one forever memorized by name by the end of this year.

Anyways, those are my goals for the year. I was excited to see so many new faces at the meeting yesterday. It should be a good year, I look forward to working with all of you!

The Journey

The other day I was browsing Wikipedia and came across an interesting article about the poles of inaccessibility. A pole of inaccessibility is a location that is extremely challenging to reach due to its remoteness from geographic features that provide access. This pole is often the furthest point from coastlines. Basically they are the parts of the world that are hardest to get to. The people who are most interested in these areas are of course explorer and travelers.

Now why would an explorer be interested in trying to reach an area whose only interesting characteristic is the challenge of reaching it? For just that of course, the challenge. It's about the journey, not the destination. I am fascinated by the human drive to push ourselves to our limits, to see how much we can take and accomplish. Reading the article made me think about the I Ho Chuan year and the challenges we set for ourselves. The way we set goals and strive to reach them for as much as the final result as the path towards them. I like to think of ourselves as explorers in our own way, searching for self improvement.

Banquet

It's that special time of year again. With only two weeks left until the banquet, there is still lots of work to be done. Every practice matters at this point as we try and prepare ourselves to look our best. I am really happy with how far we've advanced with the Lion/Dragon dance and the demo. Its always inspiring to see the whole team working hard together. Kudos and thanks to everyone making it possible. The new years banquet is a great way to show the results of the I Ho Chuan year.

As usual at this time of the year I have become paranoid about hurting myself. All the dragon dance practices, especially having them back to back, has been rough on my ankle and shin. On Saturday the pain in my lower leg was really getting to me. I think everything should be alright though so long as I make sure not to overdo anything.

Tai Chiathon

The past week I have been practicing a lot of Tai Chi. I think i might have overdosed on Tai Chi because last night I dreamed about doing it. I dreamed I was practicing and critiquing myself as I went along. Maybe I actually learned something while sleeping. That would be pretty awesome. Now that I finally know the entire form I can start working on the finer details. I look forward to fixing my bad habits and exploring the finer points of the form.