New Morning Pains (Good Ones)

   Sil lum seminar. For those of you who have never been, that is truley unfortunate. This time around we are again proving that I do not know everything. Yesterday's class we worked on isolating muscle groups that I was unaware could be isolated. And this morning my body is laughing at me saying "gotcha Mr know it all!".  My Glutes feel like they were hammered by a drunken Thor. And it is awesome. I had no idea I could inflict so much "ouch" on such a small area, on purpose that is. 

   The best thing is I can repeat all of this at home or in my office at work, something that would never have crossed my mind to do. So thank you Sihing Jackie Kohut, you passing on your knowledge and experience to me is deeply appreciated.

 

 

Push Ups  6085

Sit Ups  5338

Sparring 425 min

1609KM 433.89 km

Acts of Kindness 400 recorded

 Hand Form  110

Weapon Form  100

Mastery recited 12

Shifting

    I had a master plan for the summer. I needed one because it is going to be a multi faceted monster with multiple responsibility's for the next seven to eight months. I won't rehash the details but life has decided to throw an extra curve ball into the mix. 

   My Mom is now having to face up too some major lifestyle choices. She had a huge health scare this last week and a half, hospitalized for almost a week. She is home now but will most likely spend the rest of her life tied to an oxygen machine. She is unhappy about this but I know she understands the alternative. 

   So my focus has shifted. SHE is my focus now. She will resist, she will deny, she will mostly do as she pleases, she will put on a brave face, but she is my Mom and I owe her everything. So if my mind seems detached sometimes, it is, this scares the crap out of me. 

   Anyways, Kung Fu was great this week, some meaningful interaction with some fellow students, learned some stuff about myself via instructing others (balloons on heavy bags are hard to pop). Now to catch up on reading everyone's blogs.

   

 

Push Ups 5635

Sit Ups 4888

Sparring min 400

1609KM 388.03 km

Acts of Kindness 350 recorded

 Hand Form 100

Weapon Form 90

Mastery recited 12

CIrcle Sparring

    In Tuesday night's black belt class we did some sparring. Not just regular sparring, circle sparring. I have never done this before (to my recollection at least) and it was.....interesting. 

   Take two opponents, one in a normal sparring ready position, and the other in a hula-hoop on the floor. Objective, to "knock" your opponent out of the hoop and claim it for your own. Rules, limited but flexible (we are all friends here), only request, try to not be a neanderthal, use technique not brute force. Outcome, chaos.

   Within seconds of starting I had already ran through my bag of "tricks" to limited success. I started to resort to the neanderthal approach, and not surprisingly, it did not work! Too say I got repeatedly tossed and thwarted would be like saying a tornado is just a bit of wind. As I tried to adapt I'm guessing I was making it pretty obvious to my opponents cause my success rate bordered on a big fat chunky zero. Showed me a few things..

    I am mainly defensive when it comes to sparring, I tend not to attack. I poke and wait for a response. Usually to my detriment. 

   I have problems adapting to my opponents plan of attack. If it doesn't fit my "expectations" I retreat. Usually to a hail of kicks and punches.

   So I need to spar more, much much more, with different opponents and different skill levels. I need to come in with confidence and more than just a one or one two combination. And I need to spar more, much much more (I know I am repeating myself - shows how obvious the solution is). 

   So while I am grateful for Tuesday's lesson, I am disappointed in my lack of progress when it comes to sparring. I need to spar more, just in case I hadn't mentioned that.

 

 

Push Ups  5600

Sit Ups  4888

Sparring  325 min

1609KM  349.25 km

Acts of Kindness 295 recorded

 Hand Form  85

Weapon Form  86

Mastery recited  6

Last Moments of Ahh

    Let the games begin. This last week away from the Kwoon was the last bit of the calm before the storm. The next four(ish) months are going to be exciting. We have weddings, trips (Vegas baby!), football games (go EE!), hockey play offs (go Oil!), family get togethers, milestone birthdays (I'm turning 55 - OMG!!), yard construction projects, and of course, a ton of Kung Fu. Thankfully I had the opportunities this last week to get a lot of forms work in. Kody and I worked on Mlong Kuen many times and each time we did, dozens of questions popped up. We muddled through and came up many things I was doing/not doing wrong/right. It was a great experience working with him on my forms, great memories for me. Even though I am feeling refreshed from the time off, I miss the Kwoon and the people there. I am looking forward to everything starting up again tomorrow. 

   A couple of things that really are going to stand out over the next while, outside of Kung Fu that is, are work and the football season. 

   Why, well lets start with work. 

   I have been at Competition Chev for just over 25 years and this year there have been some major internal changes. We have had firings, retirements and departments consolidations. Most of this was long overdue. Simply put, my responsibilities at work have almost doubled. I knew this day would come and I was mostly ready for it but the work load at the moment is quite difficult to manage. Within a few months I WILL have it all hammered out so it is run my way and then it should all fall into place (I am knocking on wood right now😀). 

   Now for the fun...

   Last year Mr Larry Thompson (Thompson Bros Construction's former owner) bought the Edmonton football team and promised big changes to the once proud football team. Well over the past 30+ years Larry has bought hundreds (no exaggerating here) of vehicles for his former company from Competition Chev and recently his advertising team approached the dealership to look into Competition Chev throwing some large sponsorship dollars back his way. And we did!!  I am totally stoked about this as the dealership has mostly withdrawn from community involvement over the past decade. Covid really didn't help that out either. 

   And so now it is falling upon me to be the "cheerleader" spearheading our direction in this - hooah! I am so unbelievably excited to be part of this!! Between getting us involved in the local community sports teams, supporting local charities, getting my staff excited to be apart of something special again, I am a whirlwind of ideas and plans. Even thinking about this gives me goose bumps. My "team" at the moment is Bennett Polack and me. Great thing is Bennett is as excited about this as I am. He has a vision for the dealership that involves our wonderful community out here and that is LONG overdue. 

So anyhooo, that is where I am at. So if I seem distracted, I AM! And I am savoring ever second😁

.

 

Push Ups  5272

Sit Ups  4763

Sparring  min   260

1609KM  311.60 km

Acts of Kindness  260 recorded

 Hand Form   77

Weapon Form   70

Mastery recited  6