Missed Comments - Time Zones

    I want to apologize to those who have commented on my blogs and never got any type of response from me. I never realized there where even comments there until today, I never thought to look. My bad for not using this platform properly, I will adjust my settings (hopefully correctly) so I see the comments. I'm not really a computer guy so this will be an adjustment for me as well as I usually stay away from our laptop unless I absolutely need to be on it. And because of this I have missed some real gems, So consider this a blanket response, thank you for your comments. Again, my bad for under using this platform.

   17 to 20 seconds. Demo for Canada Day. Find my favorite part of my weapon form and make it fit in this time frame. Sounds easy enough. But for some reason, every time I do the form, it morphs a little here or there. I have some moves I really like BUT, they are separate from each other and other moves connect them. By condensing the time, I am forcing some move together that don't belong with each other. It is proving to be challenging, and fun. Luckily I have all this week off work so I can work work work on this until I have a final product that not only fits the time constraints but looks wicked and mean.

Acceptance

    I am having a hard time accepting that I am getting old. My body and my mind battle constantly over this. My mind says "just do it!", then my body answers back "take that old man!". One week my knee is sore, next week my back, this week it is my wrist and shoulder, constant and persistent, never ending, aggravating. How I miss youth and the ability to bounce back like it never happened. We all get older, nothing can stop it, so I need to stop complaining about what hurts and focus on what doesn't, like right now, my earlobes feel great.

   I just read a book by Ray Bradbury called Dandelion Wine. It was a great read, I highly recommend it for those who like to contemplate life and death. It helped me with my thoughts on these subjects, with acceptance as to who I am and what I am doing to myself as I age. Legacy, family, savoring life, all richly painted in this book. 

   So I will listen to those who wish to give me their sage advice, my Doctor, my Wife, my Mother, my Instructors, their wisdom is golden. This is not to say I am retiring to the front porch and a squeaky rocking chair, no chance there, no way no how. It just means a kind of armistice between my two opposing personalities till I can "just do it" without the "take that old man", a warm happy place where pain is kept at bay. 

   Well thanks for hearing me out, be good.

P.s  I miss all the discussions about smoothies. I didn't pay a whole bunch of attention to it while it was there but now that it has disappeared, I miss it, Reason I say this, I could used a few suggestions for inflammation and blood pressure. Your knowledge means so much more to me than the online gibberish that just wants to sell me their "stuff".

Separate but Connected

    Tai Chi. Mlong Kuen, Two Kung Fu forms I am learning. Lots of similarities, lots of differences. I hadn't realized that one was trying to impose itself on the other. Thanks to a little question here, a little self reflection there, and some expert advice, AHA, now I can see and feel the separation I need to make both achieve their intended purpose (I still have years/decades of practice to do though!!). 

   At the beginning of Mlong Kuen, we do a double arm "uppercut" with an "stretched" stance. In Tai Chi part 3 near the end, we do a hop/turn double arm temple punch. Similar but very different. In Wednesday's Tai Chi class, this move felt too aggressive to me, to "shouldery", for some reason. Thanks to an insight by Sihing Burke, a bulb came to life in my noggin. She mentioned the whole Mlong Kuen move thing. And then I saw it. I was doing the Mlong Kuen stance with the Tai Chi double arm temple punch. And I was aggressively snapping my wrists, over-reaching my center, trying to compensate/correct for the incorrect stance. While the combination of the two felt powerful, I knew it was out of place in my Tai Chi. By correcting this grievous error I was making, the move fell back into place, making the next moves reconnect with the intent and flow that thousands of years of design was meant to be there. Then Sifu Dennis confirmed this, cementing it in my mind. 

   And now I am looking at other forms, to see if this is isolated (not!) or a reoccurring theme. I am hoping for the best but planning for an awful lot of work, cause I suspect I know the answer already. 

P.S. hopefully I spelled Mlong Kuen correctly, I forgot that messages disappeared after seven days since the last time I had asked. My bad.

So Many First Times

    Farmers Day parade June 3 2023. It was so cool to be a part of this. I witnessed so many firsts for my fellow Kung Fu'ers and experienced a few myself as well. First, Todia Mike Kohut, your creativity never ceases to leave me in awe, you rock sir. Todai Kat Thelwall, your first lion dance, really? You did amazing. You are now a veteran, welcome. Young Todia Wolschlager on the gong, way to go young man! Young Todai Hoffman, future Buddha maybe?? Ran with the Lion like you meant it, sweet moves! So many first for so many, great day. 

   My first revelation (?) was with my weapon. Not a walking in a parade with a crowd of people weapon. I was constantly shoulder checking, thinking about the pointy end and where it was pointing. A couple of time I accidentally stabbed the pavement with it, whoops. I wanted to swing it around and show it off a little but there were way too many ways that could have gone very wrong. Next year, something small, dull but fun, suggestions? 

   Another first was the demo after. I accidentally(?😏) buried the tip of my Tiger Fork in the ground on my very first move, neat, squishy. But this totally messed up my next move cause I was still grinning from stabbing the ground. As well I had made the choice to go barefoot for my demo because the ground was too tempting not to run my toes through it. I had the foresight to do a broken glass check before hand but left the twigs where they lay. Oops. Halfway into my form, my toes picked up a twig making it look like my toes were having a smoke 😅. Again I lost focus, grinning like a fool but soaking in every moment, lovin it. Would I go back and change this goofy series of events, absolutely not!!

  So to sum it up, great day, great opportunity, great experience.