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