Privileged

   Privileged. 

   Recently I had the luck of being able to read about the life of Master Margie Hilbig. Before reading her book, all I really knew about her was she was Canada's first female black belt and she was a part of our lineage at Silent River. But she was sooooo much more. From her nightmarish childhood in Nazi Germany, to being an orphan after the war, to her travels across Europe as a teen, her immigration to Canada in the early 1960s, her founding of her schools in Calgary then Edmonton, her marriages and heartbreaks, her battle with cancer, she was an amazing human being. Her pioneering spirit is deeply inspirational, her heart, her compassion, her drive, her willingness to be exactly what she wanted to be, wow! I truly wish I could have met her and possibly trained under her. I can see why Master Brinker talks so fondly and highly of her.

   This brings me to my here and now. You never really truly know who the next "Margie" will be. She was a force of humanity that is unmatched but....is there someone in your life right now like her and you just don't realize it? Can you ( or me ) see what or who is probably right in front of us? Can you or I be the next Margie? I know, pretty deep questions but worth thinking about. All I am asking is to look at the people in your life, friends, family, teachers, yourself, are they someone that drives you towards greatness? How can you make an everlasting mark for the good of humanity on history if you are not constantly being all you can be? Find those people in your life that inspire you and cherish them, learn from them, remember them, for they may only be in your life for a limited time.
   To me, one of those people was my Dad, Robert Doran Bjorkquist. I miss him terribly, he passed away Mar 12, 2019,  and I look back constantly and think of all the times I wasted not asking his advice, not sitting down and chatting, not hitting the golf course with him. I am now and forever holding myself to his standard, he was one of those people in my life that fits into the "Margie" category for me. Miss you Dad.
   As for the now, there are several people that inspire me, that drive me, that make me want to succeed. I won't embarrass them by naming them here but I will let them know in my own special way, thank you for being a "Margie" in my life.

Random Stuff

   No one topic today, just a jumble of thoughts/feelings.

   Back at the Kwoon. Oh how I missed this place. Working out at home definitely had its advantages; no driving, comfort of home, etc, but just one class back at the Kwoon and the disadvantages came screaming to the forefront. Biggest one was the difference a 1/2 hour at home versus a 1/2 hour at the Kwoon is. At home, you can hide behind the camera, do lazy stances, put in 1/2 efforts, etc. But in person for real, oh no you can't! The first 1/2 hour class back at the Kwoon showed me the toll the last 3 months has had on my training. It felt great and bad at the same time, I love it! Now I can see where I thought I was at versus where I am actually at, and that is 3 months behind where I would like to be. Very motivating.

   First missed class. While June 18 was my first class back at the Kwoon, it was also the first I Ho Chuan class I have missed and I am pretty ticked at myself. I know better than this! We only have a finite amount of classes every year in the I Ho Chuan and missing one class just can't happen, even if it was "only" a non-mandatory class ( they are all mandatory to me! ). Missing it was totally my fault, no excuses, and it will not happen again, sorry team.

   Annual Kwoon maintenance week is coming up in a few months, and I thought I would start the conversation about this. Of course it will be different this year with the new restrictions but it still needs to happen. Some things I see are;
    There a 2 empty holes on the east lawn where a tree and shrub need to be replaced
    The building needs a good pressure wash ( I have a good pressure washer for this )
    The inside of the Kwoon is spotless at the moment ( thank you Sifus! ) but I'm sure we can find something to help/clean
    We should clean the eaves every year since Sifu Tymchuk was nice enough to do this last year and the mess he found, oh my!
    Tanaramma clean?
   Anything else so far?? Lets keep the conversation going and give some elbow grease to the place we all love.

   Tai Chi. Who would of thought, I love it! The free Saturday classes have proven to be very entertaining and beneficial. The balance and stamina required are shining a light on some of the Kung Fu moves I do, and do incorrectly. It is really helping me "feel" my flow and energy ( or lack of ). I'm hooked. Thank you Sifus and Silent River for this, I never would have taken the time to do this if not for the online classes, I am excited for in person classes to see it done and taught without a video screen. Truly eye opening.

  

Just numbers

   With all the noise going on out there right now, I sometimes forget about recording my numbers in my journal. My bad. With all the distractions life is trying to throw at me to side track my training, I have fallen a little behind on several requirements. Again, my bad. So without further ado, here are my numbers and requirements as of right here, right now.

1- No Quitting 👍 Check

2 - 50000 pushups   19122/50000 average of 136ish a day👎

3 - 50000 situps       19480/50000 average of 139ish a day👎

4 - master 2 forms 1000 reps

        hand form         376/1000 average of 2.6 a day👎

        weapon form    313/1000 average of 2.2 a day👎

5 - 1000 rounds of sparring  

                                 950/1000 average of 6ish rounds a day👍👍

6 - 1609km              1214.50/1609 average of 8.6km  a day👍

7 - 1000 acts of kindness

                                 612/1000 average of 4.4 a day👍👎 (can always do better here)

8 - mend a relationship - always trying to improve here.

 9 - journal once a week 👍👍👍

10 - at least 3 public appearances - soon I hope!!

11 - lion dance - again, soon I hope!!!

12 - Tiger challenge 👍 Check

.

13 - Miss no meetings  👍 Check

14 - Excel in core curriculum - not for me to judge but trying my best

15 - Organize, lead and participate in all school projects - doing my best to be as involved as possible

16 - Memorize "Mastery" - I read it constantly, starting to sink in

17 - Adopt a driveway 👍

       annual Kwoon maintenance - coming up

       raise $20000 as a team - tough one right now, we should brain storm

       participate in all projects 👍

18 - personal requirements - see below↓

Personal Requirements

7 requirements here.

1 - juggling - still fun to do, started sharing this with my Grand daughter ( almost 11 months old! ), she just stares at me 😁

2 - weight control/loss - still struggling here, but I feel the struggle is worth it.

3 - Spanish - I don't think my brain will ever let me speak it "well", but I am catching more words and phrases, Hurra

4 - projects around the house - all I can say is , "thanks Covid", we have already tackled some big ones

5 - Being neater - if  "hoarders" has taught me anything, it is, do I need that or want that? Big difference.

6 - flexibility- I will never be Gumby but thanks to Sifu Becket's seminar, I can almost touch my toes and my hips feel "looserish".

7 - kicks 10000/year of each of the 4 basic kicks

                          2457/10000👍👎 - not feeling a lot of improvement, need to "kick" it up a notch.

 Nuf said

See you all soon!!!!!!

Great Day

   Of course this blog is going to be about the Tiger Challenge ( June 6, 2020 ), it was way too great of an experience to not blog about. So many things happened that I can only describe as eye opening. Where to start.....

      First and foremost a enormous THANK YOU to all the Sifus who made this happen, especially Master Brinker. You and your instructors collective commitment and dedication to your art, school and students is inspirational in every way. The drive and passion you all show towards Kung Fu and Silent River is second to none. Thank you.

   So what did I learn yesterday? To much to blog about without boring you so I'll condense it to one thing and keep this as short as possible.

  Biggest thing was my hand form. I have mostly been learning the Lao Gar form through the videos provided and I thought I was doing okay. Well... yesterday I managed to take away all the excuses and 😕. What!! So my number one excuse has been practice space. Our living room is fairly small and our backyard has very uneven ground so I have been doing the form in chunks and, obvious to me now, pulling and shortening my moves. For yesterdays Tiger Challenge, I used my work's tire storage facility. It is large, open, dry, warm, even and smooth ground,well lit, everything a person needs to truly do their form to the best of their ability. After doing the form a few times to get a "feel" for the space, you know, really open up and extend the form to it's true potential, some GLARING problems showed up in my form. It almost shocked me to feel some of the things I was doing, and now I was in a panic to try and fix them before the challenge started. But as with any form, you fix one thing, 2 more problems show up, arrrggg! So now it was time to show my form in the challenge and first one wheel fell off, then the other, so on and so on. Humbling to say the least. So I have decided this morning to take the form back to square one, slow it down, assume nothing, and fix each issue as it rears it ugly face. I am absolutely grateful for the opportunity and wake up call that the Tiger challenge has given me. Now to take that opportunity and apply what I learned from it.

  Time to move it, till next blog, adios Mis amigos and Mis amigas