Psst...Pass it on.

    Ten years. March 1, 2014. That is my actual time frame actively learning the 2000+ year old Martial  Art of Kung Fu, and I haven't even scratched the surface of the vastness that is Kung Fu. Sure I have loved the Martial Arts my whole life, but from the sidelines mostly as an observer. A dabble here, a try and see there, never committing until I started at Silent River Kung Fu. And that brings many feelings to the forefront of my mind. Here is something that currently occupies my mind.

   First and foremost is teaching. What am I passing on to those around me? Are my words and actions truley what I want others to see and learn from me? In particular, the kids classes. When asked to lead a class of any sort I go into full on panic mode! I try to fine tooth comb every move and every concept. I know this is impossible and the class will and must change to suit the moment but still I plan. I draw up diagrams, I write summaries of my objectives, I discuss my plans with those around me, but I feel it is never enough, how the other instructors do this so easily baffles me to this day. I know time and experience will help me with this immensely, but I am not a patient kinda guy. I want perfection  NOW!! 😄

   Come crunch time in class I feel the presence of Mastery looking over my shoulder critiquing me. Am I teaching a school objective or a Don objective? Do these coincide in any way with each other or have I ran the class into a abyss that only I understand? Am I falling into the "do as I say not as I do" category, man I hope not!! I really hope the young students are getting out of this what I am getting from them trying to follow my "lesson". 

    What I mean by all this is, as I teach I learn. Their reactions to what I am telling them to do shows me what I actually understand about what I am teaching. Every victory they make I make, every error they make is mine to own, mine to learn from, mine to correct, utterly humbling. 

   So what is my legacy I ask myself? When I am gone, does my incredibly limited knowledge of Kung Fu die with me? As I age (we all do!) this starts to take the forefront in my thoughts. Not only do I ask "where am I, what am I doing", but I have added "what will I leave behind?". This causes an urgency in what I do. Average is the death blow to legacy, as the Tragically Hip once said "Besides, no one's interested in something you didn't do". https://youtu.be/4mXuHL_uxhU?si=lx6fArTvh74TdA1l

   Just yesterday while babysitting my granddaughters I covertly asked some questions of the oldest of the two. To my delight, I saw Maisy's face twist with thought. We where talking about kicking and punching and I told her I learned Kung Fu to learn how to kick and punch so I would never have to actually kick and punch. The look on her face was priceless. Maybe she thought I was off my rocker or maybe, just maybe, I gave her a nudge into her first step of learning the ancient art of Kung Fu. That right there could be a tiny or huge piece of my legacy.

   So I pass on what I have learned and  I learn about what I am passing on as I pass on what I have learned. I strive to do justice to the lessons I have learned so Kung Fu has a chance to live on to the next generation and so on. I try every day to live the life that a Kung Fu lifestyle demands, which is both easy and hard at the exact same time. 

   And if you are reading this blog please do the same. The true spirit of Kung Fu can only live on if it is passed on.

 

 

 

 

P/UP 16047

S/UP 15795

SPAR 450 min (unchanged)

1609 KM  839.65km

AOK  780 recorded

HAND FORM 250

WEAPON FORM 240

MASTERY 16

Unfocused and Overwhelmed

     This past week has been dismal for me. No focus at kung fu, no focus on my training, lack of energy, not feeling 100% - more like 40% or less, and then there is the icing on the cake, the north American wide cyber attack on our in house computer system (CDK) at my work. It has been a crap crap crap week. I honestly can't think of one step of progress I have made this week. Mentally and physically I am spent. 

   The biggest drain on me right now is the cyber attack. It is going to be a living HELL on me once they get it up and running again and this is consuming my every thought. Once this nightmare is resolved by our service provider, I will be putting in some very long days in the near future to get my inventory caught up and working properly again. So if I seem distant over the next little while it is most likely because I am running stocking policies and procedural scenarios in my head.  I pride myself on my inventory's exactness and organization, almost $1,000,000 with over 14,000 individual parts with less then .001% variance. I do my best to keep it pristine and accurate. This cyber attach has decimated years, no actually decades, of hard work and it is demoralizing. I will be getting pressure from multiple sides once it is operational again by people who have NO idea what they are talking about and think any monkey can do what I do, but se-lä-vē. I will take each Hydra-nightmare scenario as it appears, chopping it's head off and moving onto the next adventure.

   So I will breathe, I will focus, I will endure. I will deflect the anger and the rage and frustration with humor and understanding and of course Kung Fu! The alternative is unacceptable.

 

 

P/UP 15297

S/UP 15225

SPAR 450 min

1609 KM  795.10km

AOK  740 recorded

HAND FORM 225

WEAPON FORM 200

MASTERY 15

Summer or Not, Carry On

    As the weather gets nicer (ish), the outdoors calls. Indoor sloth turns into outdoor mayhem. So many projects to do, so many events to go to, there needs to be many more hours in the day just to get it all done. Prioritize then execute. But do I choose the 100 small things or the 5 major things? I make lists of "todo"s and pick and choose what I can actually accomplish.

   And then there is my training. There are days when it is either the weather or circumstances that limit or utterly destroy my training schedule. So I adapt, but it doesn't always work. It frustrates me but at the same time I am very fortunate to have this problem. Being busy is being involved. Football games, hockey games, family commitments, house chores, dog time, cutting 3 different lawns, family time, etc....,and of course Kung Fu. It is all things I really enjoy so I make the time for each. My life is full, and I cherish that because I know it will not always be this way. Life will change, I will change, life is inevitable.

   So I may complain about being busy, but I wouldn't change it for the world. 

 

P/UP 14707

S/UP14625

SPAR 440 min

1609 KM 753.39 km

AOK  700 recorded

HAND FORM 200

WEAPON FORM 195

MASTERY 14

Sneaky Aha Moments

    Reviewing my week just now, I was looking for Aha moments. These are essential in my training as without them mediocrity seeps in so I must be mindful of them. Que Tuesday's Black Belt class. There were two undeniable moments in that class that AGAIN have altered my thought process on the way I do certain things. 

    One was a transition in Eighteen Temple Motions. Just a simple adjustment on where to transition from one stance to the other changed the entire "mood" of  Eighteen Temple Motions, and to boot it was right near the beginning of the form. Now I am looking at my other transitions differently, advance or retraction, linear or circular, expansion or contraction, what am I trying to accomplish? Amazing how so much thought can go into something that I thought was so basic as a "simple" transition. 

    The other was about release of power. Without going into to much detail, think Bruce Lee's one inch punch. We spent a good portion of the class on this and some truly amazing insights revealed them selves. I need to spend some considerable time on this one as I need to really "feel" this one. My feet, hips, torso, shoulders, hands, head are all giving me different feedback, and I need to make them work together to truly appreciate the Six harmonies of this. 

The next thought I tried to convey was impossible for me to put into words - wow that never happens!

    Needless to say, this Aha moment has me appreciating some of the complexities of our martial art. 

 

 

 

 

P/UP 13957

S/UP 13895

SPAR 320 min (unchanged)

1609 KM 712.64 km

AOK  660 recorded

HAND FORM 160

WEAPON FORM 170 (unchained)

MASTERY 13

Six Days

    Whirlwind, chaos, monumental stress, self-doubt, then elation. That pretty much sums up the last six days for me. But I will cherish every moment because of the support I had around me. Here is the story of my six days of "fun".

   The float for the parade was I task I took on willingly, no one forced me to do it, I gladly accepted the "job". I knew it was going to be a challenge as I had never done something like this before. Sure I had helped decorate a trailer that was all built and ready to go, but NEVER from absolutely scratch. Of course I had some grandiose ideas in mind as to what I wanted to do, I wanted to build benches and weapons racks and so on, I wanted to decorate with flags and banners and with dragons everywhere to celebrate the year of the Dragon. In my mind this was going to top any float in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. But then reality woke up and slapped me upside the head, it is May 27th and the parade is on June1st, that is six days including the day of the parade!! Yikes, how in the world am I going to get this done?

   Step one, get the trailer to somewhere I can work on it in my free time, you know, those minutes I have just "floating" (float - haha - get it?) around. That was Monday. The trailer was pulled out of the pit it was in and was now in a heated well lit easily accessible area, time to get moving. A quick paint job to cover the rust, which by the way was everywhere!!. Then a quick inventory of wood, measure the trailer, draw a "plan", OMG it's already 8:30Pm, neither Kody nor I have even eaten supper, time to call it a night.

   Tuesday. Busy with "life" from 6:30am till 8:30pm. No working on the trailer today. 

   Wednesday. I leave work a few hours early, it's not busy there so my boss hints for me to go work on the float, Thankfully Kody has some time to help me out today. We start at 2pm ish and go hard for a few hours, cutting wood for benches and starting to lay turf to prevent slivers. I break away for class, then right back at it for a couple of more hours. It is starting to take shape, I think.

   Thursday. Between Kody and my parts driver Jerry (thank you for your help Jerry) it is a flurry of building. Again I am allowed to leave work early to do as much as I can in the short time left. Between the three of us the turf is laid and the benches are 75% built. Then I am off to class. Back at 7:30 with the IHC team. A little chaotic but a ton gets done, great job team 👏😅, I can now breath a little. But there is still a lot to finish up.  

   Friday, it's Kody and I for about 5?+ hours. Checklist time. Benches assembled and safely secured check, turf on and trimmed check, Dragon platforms done and installed check, covers for benches on and stapled check, odds and ends overlooked and addressed (there was a lot!) check, re-trial run of trailer to truck fitment  check, truck sign attached to grill of truck done and check, I think we are 95% ready.

   Saturday. I'm at the trailer for 6:30am ish.  Make sure truck is fueled, washed and ready check. A final walk around to check for safety issues or obvious flaws, none found check. Off to Kwoon to load Lions and odds and ends, back to the trailer, everyone is there are ready. Off to the marshaling spot and then.......

Parade Time!!!!!

 

   Now I'm driving a truck and trailer full of people in a parade. Problem is I am not a trailer guy, this is a first for me, one of many over the past six days, white knuckle all the way from start to finish, I am a puddle of nervous sweat the whole way, kids EVERYWHERE on the road, OMG!!!!!! I would hate to think of what my blood pressure was, I have driven in white out blizzards that were less stressful than this. But we made it, I let out a few shaky breaths and take a moment to relive the adventure. But not too long, I totally forgot that we are now doing a demo, out comes my insane laugh, hahahaha. 

   Demo done, off to the Kwoon to unload Lions and such, apparently I am driving to fast, whoops sorry, my mind was in reset mode. Unload done, off to storage to park the trailer with the intention of disassembly to be done by Kody and I over the next week. Nope! A hand full of awesome team members unexpectedly and immediately jump right into taking the float apart. An hour later we are done, I am in awe of these people, thank you sooooo much. Kody and I do go back later and finish up some stuff but the help we had earlier turns a four hour job into a one hour job. 

   So that's my story. I tried to keep it short, I just wanted to get this done in word before it starts to fade.

 

Big Big shout out to Kody, I bet you put in 15-20+ hours of work on the trailer, I would never have had this done in time if not for you, thank you.

To everyone else who stepped up to make this float awesome, I thank you as well, every hand that helped in any way was greatly appreciated. Great job team.

 

 

P/UP 13077

S/UP 13015

SPAR 320 min

1609 KM 669.45 km

AOK  600 recorded

HAND FORM 150

WEAPON FORM 170

MASTERY 12