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.

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.