Mother's Day!!

   I start today's post with a Huge Happy Mother's day to all those wonderful women out there. All the mothers, grandmothers, great grandmothers, sisters, aunts, etc....., thank you and enjoy your day, you've earned it!

   My mom, Vickie, has always been a driving force in my life. When we talk about "eye for detail" in Kung Fu, mine comes from her. She has taught me to ask the 5 W's and to not settle for 1/2 answers. Sometimes my insistence for detail can drive people crazy ( sorry wife! ) but that is who she taught me to be. And I LOVE her for it. She is a major example in my life of what I should try to be. I have never sworn in front of my mom, she deserves and gets manners, I have never kept her waiting, being on time and not wasting hers is the least I can always do for her, I have always given her the respect she deserves and always will. She has poured her live into my sister and myself and I owe her more than I can ever repay..... So today is all about her.

Love you MOM.

   Also, my wife ( Deb ) gets a enormous Love you and Thank you today for not only being our kids mother, but for putting up with the biggest child of all, ME.

Love you WIFE



Numbers

Sit ups    16459
push ups   16910
sparring   232
1609km   603.33
AOK   436
lion dance   0
hand form   108
weapon form   195

personal

moving along at a steady pace, all good

Day 90 - I like to analize - progess/perspective

                                                                Numbers

Push ups 15460/50000 = 30%
Sit ups   15214/50000 = 30%
AOK   406/1000 = 41%
1609km   543km/1609km = 34%
Sparring   232/1000 = 23%
Weapon Form   189/1000 = 19%
Hand Form   103/1000 = 10% ( Yikes ! )

Amount of year gone ( already ) 90/365= 25%   4/7 on track, better change that!

Personal requirements

   Out of the 7 I wrote down for this year, 2 are moving along nicely, 3 are weather dependent ( so just starting to awaken ), and the last 2 I was planning for a late summer - early fall kick off ( so good? ).

Overall - getting there.


   Will I keep going after I finish my requirements? I sure hope so. I am really enjoying the morning routine that this has created. Before the I Ho Chuan and the "requirements", I always seemed to have an excuse not to do things. Now I have a reason to push away the sedimentary lifestyle I seem to have adopted and opt for a better "life". Not to say I was wanting for more before this year long journey, but once I started on it, I realized how much more is achievable by wanted action instead of purposeless inaction. So many of my fellow I Ho Chuan  team mates have giving me advice and guidance that it is becoming hard to thank them all. So a great big blanket "THANK YOU" to those of you that I have had the pleasure so far to interact with.

   Time to get at it, morning routine that is, so chow for now........



     Go   Team   Pig   !!!

Too much yak, not enough smack

   This is a phrase Master Brinker uses in class once in a while, and I couldn't agree more, but I need to apply it at home right now. I need to get moving and stop analyzing/contemplating everything. I'll keep this short so I can do just that. Body feels good, mind is ready, so whats holding me back? Me I guess.

   Numbers
push ups   14049
sit ups  14270
sparring  212
1609km  664.95km
AOK  379
Hand form  97
weapon form  180

   Personal requierments..
Looking good, really enjoying some of them, others await mother nature to smarten up.

Tired

  I have been finding it hard lately to keep my "numbers" going. I have a fairly good morning routine and it seem to be working good for me. But I find excuses are starting to creep in on this routine. I have been fairly successful at ignoring the excuses but it is getting harder as my old bones look longingly at the easy chair and gravitate towards it. This is my first big "hurdle" so far because there is no really good reason not to get it done. So I will keep this blog short and do just that.... get it done.

   Numbers

Sit ups   12834
Push ups   13025
AOK   347
1609km   613.85km
Sparring   182
Hand form   94
Weapon form   142

   Personal Numbers
Starting to move along at a better pace now that Spring has sprung.


PS.....

   I am feeling a need for some Lion Dancing.... just saying.


Go Team Pig!!

disability - charity

   On Thursday night of this week ( I Ho Chuan class), I "tweaked" my shoulder. I don't know how I did it. I didn't think anything of it at the time till I woke up Friday morning. WOW! I haven't felt pain like that in a long time. I couldn't lift my arm without searing pain and there was absolutely no strength. Being a bullheaded male, I carried on with my day and like nothing was wrong, or at least I tried to. Big mistake! By Friday night I was worse than ever. I have had shoulder injuries before similar to this so I grabbed my trusty shoulder sling and figured I would give it a few days and see how it felt. By Saturday morning I was exhausted from 0 sleep the night before ( sorry wife ), and my shoulder seemed to be sharing its pain with other body parts, that's me - I love to share. I cinched down my shoulder sling, took some Tylenol, and promised myself I would try to take it easy on my arm ever though I had a ton of things I needed to get done. Going about my day with my arm in a sling was difficult to say the least and it got me to wondering.....

  Disability. I have 1 appendage that is not working properly. So what. I know it will get better. I still have the rest of my body functioning properly. My thought on this was.....

  What if this was a permanent condition? How would my life change if I lost the use of my arm?
How do other people cope with a major change like that in their life? Is this sympathy or empathy I am feeling? 

  This has been a bit of an eye opener towards disability and the way I react to people who have a disability. To be on the other end of a disability and rely on other people to help me is humbling. Having to ask for help was actually a little embarrassing at times. I felt like I was imposing on people at times and I was constantly explaining my injury so people didn't think I was lazy. I had never imaging what this would be like if it was permanent.

  Well I am very glad to say that my shoulder has seemed to be repairing itself and I can get back to being my annoying self.

  BUT, this experience has made me feel restless towards our charities. Part of our requirements in the I Ho Chuan is to raise awareness and money for our charities. With the school not doing Pandamonium or the Tiger Challenge this year, how are we going to make up the gap in fund raising? I can only guess as to how much money and awareness those 2 events have raised in the past, but I imagine it was a lot! This is my 1st year in the I Ho Chuan, so maybe there is a plan in place that I am unaware of but I would like to raise the question anyways. I am 100% willing to do my bit and more, but at what I don't know.

  What is our plan for fundraising this year? Should we get together as a team and brainstorm? What have we done in previous years? Maybe I am jumping the gun but I would rather ask now than down the road and miss out on an opportunity that may be ripe for the picking.

  Any thoughts fellow PIGS?


Numbers...

Faltered a little with illness and an injury but here they are anyways

Sit ups  11544/50000 23%
Push ups  11675/50000 23%
Sparring  122/1000  12%
1609km  542.35km/1609km  33.7%
AOK  317/1000  31.7/5
Hand form 86/1000 - ouch!  9%
Weapon form 142/1000  14%
Amount of year gone 19% - time flies!!
Personal requirements moving along nicely











 

Back to Basics - Strength in Family

   This last month has been a roller coaster ride from the pits of Hades itself for my family and me, but I think the ride has finally come to it's end. It is time to take the book of Me and write my next chapter. It's time for me to start to really focus on re-aligning this years journey in the I Ho Chuan with the goals I have set for myself. This is going to start with some of the basics. Stances, breathing, eye for detail, repetition, repetition, repetition, repetition, etc......

   Spring is here and as I write this, I hear the birds chirping outside the window and see the sun start to rise. It's good to be alive, beautiful, peaceful. Now to take advantage of what I have, not to waste it. Time to start long walks with the family. Time to start working on the yards ( love this ), time to get involved with living again. Golf, bike rides, picnics, building "stuff" outside, connecting with friends and family close and afar, road trips, all possible. Bring it on life, I can't wait.
   

Numbers

sit up 10354
push up  10514
AOK  293
1609km  483.99km
form hand  81
form weapon  127

Eye Opener

   This week my numbers have taken a hit. I have excuses but they are just that, excuses. This is something I need to change, I can't let myself believe that my excuses are okay. Justifying my excuses only strengthens their hold on my ability to succeed. Time to "kicky smack" them to the curb and get back to my routine that was serving me so well.

Mar 28, 2019 ( Thur ) Beta Form......

   Wow was that an eye opener! Seeing some of the forms that others have created, OMG! This is my first year in the I Ho Chuan and I can tell you it has been an eye opener. In "Mastery", Stuart Emery talks of opening yourself to the Masters, to learn and embrace their Mastery, to not be jealous of what they can do verses what you can't. I was in awe at some of the forms presented that night, truly humbling. If this was the "beta" version, I can't wait to see the 1.0 version. Time to drain the old water in the sponge of my mind because I need to soak up a whole bunch of new reality. Thank you for allowing me this pleasure of being able to learn from such amazing individuals, it has shown me the path I need to take verses the one I thought was correct.

Numbers.....

Sit ups  9059
Push ups  9245
1609km  370.15
AOK  268
Sparring... need to kick start this with maybe some Saturday action in open training
Lion Dance... same as above
Hand form/weapon form ... progressing okay, time to ask the instructors for advice
Personal... really enjoying my progress on some of these, especially the juggling

Many more thoughts to discuss but I'll cut this off here.

Thanks for reading, see you at the Kwoon.....