Great to really bad (well not really bad but bad).

This weekend went from being a great weekend to becoming a bad weekend in a short period of time.

So I will start with the good. On Saturday after open training, we went to a movie and then went for dinner after. The movie was highly entertaining and the meal was awesome. On Sunday, we went to the in-laws property and were helping them clean up some dead trees. The weather was perfect and things were going well until....

The bad. There was a dead tree that was hung up on some other tress and while working around it, it slid down and hit me. Do you ever get that feeling of dread because you think it could be bad and then you get confirmation that it is bad. I will spare you the gruesome details but I now have 10 stitches in my head and am supposed to stay fairly inactive for the next few days.

I have to admit it sucked and I keep trying to figure out how it happened but I don't think I will ever know. The one thing I learned is always be aware of what is happening around you and never take anything for granted. Oh yeah, I have a really hard head.

Good to be back at the Kwoon

I got back from our trip late on Tuesday and it is nice to be home again. Although I enjoyed myself, I missed being home, I missed being at the Kwoon and I missed being able to train. Kung Fu has been one of the things that has been the most consistent in my life for the last 3 years and I look forward to being able to get back to it and getting back into a normal routine.

While away, I did not get much training in but I was able to keep up with my physical requirements and I was able to get in some extra workouts.

Anyway, it was great to be at Class again.

Checking In

I am currently sitting in a hotel room in Moncton and have a few minutes to check in. We have travelled through 4 provinces in the last 4 days starting in Ontarion and ending up in New Brunswick. Along the way we have hit Ottawa, Gatineau, Laval, Montreal, Quebec City, Edmunston, Halifax and Charlottetown with a return to Moncton. We plan to drive to Nova Scotia tomorrow to make it 5 provinces in 5 days and then hang around Halifax for the final 3 days.

Training has been going okay considering the whirlwind travel schedule so far as I have only missed one day of my scheduled workout routine. I plan to make it up in the next couple of days and it should be easier now.

Well that is it for now. see you all soon.

Beta version (3/4 of).

It has been a busy week preparing for the I Ho Chuan class as we were to have a Beta version of our weapon form complete. I did have one ready but the form is not complete yet and there are lots of things I want to improve such as my stances and my transitions. I have the next part planned out mentally and the transition finally worked out so now it is time to work on improving/modifying what I have while working on the final sequence.

The next thing i need to start working on is my hand form. This year i am attempting to create my own unique form and it has been a challenge so far. Mostly because i have been focussing on my weapon and partially because I know how i want the form to look in my head but am struggling to transfer that to my limbs.

This Friday i will be heading to eastern Canada to visit with the wife's family and we will not be back until May 1st. This will represent a unique challenge as i always find it hard to keep up with some of my training requirements while away. Hopefully i will be able to keep up with my daily workout schedule at a minimum while maybe getting some form reps in here and there.

Lion Dance

Saturday was the start of the Lion Dance Seminar and it started out a little unexpectedly. Sifu Brinker had to leave early so I was asked to finish the first "class". I have to admit that I was a little nervous about this as I wanted to ensure I did the lion dance justice while hopefully getting the basics covered so Sifu Brinker can continue moving forward next week.

Hopefully those that were their got something out of the day as I look forward to seeing where this seminar takes all of us. I am eager to always learn new things about the lion dance and am continuously trying to improve my skill set.

The lion dance not only helps with your physical improvements, but the mental ones as well. I tried to emphasise this point and explain some of the benefits that I have noticed since I started to lion dance.

You guys had some really great questions and showed great improvement by the end of the first hour. I look forward to seeing what you look like after the next one.

My Blog

What to write about?

Every time I go to blog, I ask myself this question. It is not like I have a shortage of ideas bouncing around in my head but being able to articulate them and express them is where the struggle comes in.

As I am sure all of us try to do with our blogs, we are trying to get our thoughts, our feelings or our emotions into them. Maybe we are hoping to convince someone to come around to our way of thinking. For me it is just trying to express my frustration, my excitement or what my plan and goals are.

This is something that I have struggled with since the beginning and I have let it control my blogging consistency. I guess it may also be due to the fact that I usually don't like to share what I am thinking or how I am feeling. Therefore trying to express them in a blog is even more of a struggle.

I usually feel like I have a great idea or a subject that I am passionate about but I also feel like I never get that into my blogs. Maybe I need to rethink of how I compose my blogs.

Hate to Love (or the Other Way Around)

I am starting to develop a love/hate relationship with my weapon this year.

First off, I do like the weapon that I have chosen as it feels good in my hands. My biggest issue is I have 4 sections of moves that flow together nicely but its connecting these pieces together that I am struggling with.

I want transitions between sections to make sense like it is one continuous movement and not 4 forms put together to make one form. I know that all I need to do is spend more time working on the transitions but i also need to work on the content at the same time.

So if you see me kneeling on the mats staring into space, you will now know why.