Sunday, January 31, 2021

Long and Short

    A couple of thoughts today.


   The Bjorkquist clan did our short demo videos for Chinese new year yesterday ( Sat Jan 30). What a blast that was. We laughed, we smiled, we goofed, WE HAD FUN. It was chilly ( -12ish ), the ground was sloped and unforgiving ( back alley cement parking pad, frozen and cooold ), but the sun was out in all its glory and we where gung-ho to get this done because it felt like a DEMO! Oh how I miss doing a demo. The pressure to perform without error, the lightning fast adaptation ( or lack of ) when you do mess up and the self analysis that it brings, what an awesome gauge as to where I am at this point in my training. Good or bad, here it is. People walked by on the path behind our house, every one of them smiled at us, though some did look a little confused as to why a family of 3 was standing outside with their weapons ( nun-chucks and tonfas ) and no coats on. Silly Canadians. Amazing what is socially acceptable now that may have raised an eyebrow just a short while ago, Covid, the new social equalizer, anything goes, just don't breathe on me and stay 2 meters away. My other thought on this is how unforgiving a video of oneself can actually be. While it did provide comic relief for my wife and son, apparently I do some very weird facial expressions and make some funny noises when I do my forms, who knew?

   As to the video we shot yesterday, it really highlighted ( for me ) the need to connect with the earth, to ground myself. Lately I have really been trying to concentrate on the connection between my heel to the earth and the energy that it brings to my center then the form. Too often I don't ground myself  between moves, moving to quickly to the next move without solidifying the move I am currently doing. My wife, my son and now the video all graciously highlighted this for me in an unpleasant light, thanks team "pick on dad", love you. So what am I going to do about that, why train more of course. I have recognized a problem, I know the solution, now I just need to connect the two. Train train train, choo choo.... whoops, wrong train. 

   Long year Rat, short year Ox. So I don't know if anyone has done the math but boy is the year of the Ox a short one compared to the year of the Rat. Year of the Rat 2020-21 was and still is 383ish days long, Year of the Ox 2021-22 is only 353ish days long. Did we lose time, mathematically yes, 30ish days. I guess this means same numbers in less time, sweet, that means more dedication to Kung Fu. This is a good thing! As this is a grading year for me, I am always looking for promps and prods to move me along, less time is a good one. Is this the carrot or the stick? Both I hope, I like carrots ( usually in cake form ) but I need the stick.

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