Just numbers

   With all the noise going on out there right now, I sometimes forget about recording my numbers in my journal. My bad. With all the distractions life is trying to throw at me to side track my training, I have fallen a little behind on several requirements. Again, my bad. So without further ado, here are my numbers and requirements as of right here, right now.

1- No Quitting 👍 Check

2 - 50000 pushups   19122/50000 average of 136ish a day👎

3 - 50000 situps       19480/50000 average of 139ish a day👎

4 - master 2 forms 1000 reps

        hand form         376/1000 average of 2.6 a day👎

        weapon form    313/1000 average of 2.2 a day👎

5 - 1000 rounds of sparring  

                                 950/1000 average of 6ish rounds a day👍👍

6 - 1609km              1214.50/1609 average of 8.6km  a day👍

7 - 1000 acts of kindness

                                 612/1000 average of 4.4 a day👍👎 (can always do better here)

8 - mend a relationship - always trying to improve here.

 9 - journal once a week 👍👍👍

10 - at least 3 public appearances - soon I hope!!

11 - lion dance - again, soon I hope!!!

12 - Tiger challenge 👍 Check

.

13 - Miss no meetings  👍 Check

14 - Excel in core curriculum - not for me to judge but trying my best

15 - Organize, lead and participate in all school projects - doing my best to be as involved as possible

16 - Memorize "Mastery" - I read it constantly, starting to sink in

17 - Adopt a driveway 👍

       annual Kwoon maintenance - coming up

       raise $20000 as a team - tough one right now, we should brain storm

       participate in all projects 👍

18 - personal requirements - see below↓

Personal Requirements

7 requirements here.

1 - juggling - still fun to do, started sharing this with my Grand daughter ( almost 11 months old! ), she just stares at me 😁

2 - weight control/loss - still struggling here, but I feel the struggle is worth it.

3 - Spanish - I don't think my brain will ever let me speak it "well", but I am catching more words and phrases, Hurra

4 - projects around the house - all I can say is , "thanks Covid", we have already tackled some big ones

5 - Being neater - if  "hoarders" has taught me anything, it is, do I need that or want that? Big difference.

6 - flexibility- I will never be Gumby but thanks to Sifu Becket's seminar, I can almost touch my toes and my hips feel "looserish".

7 - kicks 10000/year of each of the 4 basic kicks

                          2457/10000👍👎 - not feeling a lot of improvement, need to "kick" it up a notch.

 Nuf said

See you all soon!!!!!!

Great Day

   Of course this blog is going to be about the Tiger Challenge ( June 6, 2020 ), it was way too great of an experience to not blog about. So many things happened that I can only describe as eye opening. Where to start.....

      First and foremost a enormous THANK YOU to all the Sifus who made this happen, especially Master Brinker. You and your instructors collective commitment and dedication to your art, school and students is inspirational in every way. The drive and passion you all show towards Kung Fu and Silent River is second to none. Thank you.

   So what did I learn yesterday? To much to blog about without boring you so I'll condense it to one thing and keep this as short as possible.

  Biggest thing was my hand form. I have mostly been learning the Lao Gar form through the videos provided and I thought I was doing okay. Well... yesterday I managed to take away all the excuses and 😕. What!! So my number one excuse has been practice space. Our living room is fairly small and our backyard has very uneven ground so I have been doing the form in chunks and, obvious to me now, pulling and shortening my moves. For yesterdays Tiger Challenge, I used my work's tire storage facility. It is large, open, dry, warm, even and smooth ground,well lit, everything a person needs to truly do their form to the best of their ability. After doing the form a few times to get a "feel" for the space, you know, really open up and extend the form to it's true potential, some GLARING problems showed up in my form. It almost shocked me to feel some of the things I was doing, and now I was in a panic to try and fix them before the challenge started. But as with any form, you fix one thing, 2 more problems show up, arrrggg! So now it was time to show my form in the challenge and first one wheel fell off, then the other, so on and so on. Humbling to say the least. So I have decided this morning to take the form back to square one, slow it down, assume nothing, and fix each issue as it rears it ugly face. I am absolutely grateful for the opportunity and wake up call that the Tiger challenge has given me. Now to take that opportunity and apply what I learned from it.

  Time to move it, till next blog, adios Mis amigos and Mis amigas

Mental bubblegum

   As I sat here this morning and thought about what I wanted to blog about, I realized my mind was all over the map. Dozen of ideas, none worthy of print. I guess that leads me to where I am at right now. So many ideas, so many thoughts, so many plans, so little time. Being a 7 stripe brown belt, this year seems to have 1/2 as many hours as previous years. I know it is all in my head, I  know I need to prioritize my needs versus my wants. Problem is, I have fallen into the "where do I start " trap. Gumption, a little word I picked up from Robert Pirsig, I need more of this please. So I know blogging is a priority and I really do like blogging, so this is step one of my gumption for the day. Baby steps, one at a time, one foot after the other, etc.... Step two, get my numbers in for the day, step three, pick a task and DO IT! Ignore the anxiety that the day brings and work towards chipping away at the stone holding me back. Time to get a move on................

Infinite thought, the past is a great teacher

Nafudakake


   Admit it, who has heard of that before? Not me. But I'll tell you who, Master Brinker. 

   In live stream class #9, Master Brinker started to take us on a tour of the Kwoon. I almost jumped up and cheered when I saw this. Yes!! I have been hoping for this for years.
   I love tradition, heritage, lineage,  the whos - wheres - whys, etc. So much greatness has come before us and yet as a society we seem to have forgotten that. We get so wrapped up in the now, in ourselves, that we just assume things will work themselves out, that someone else will "fix" it for us.
   The past is so important to the here and now and the future. Everything we have and know comes from someone in the past thinking and planning something. Think about it. Did cars just magically appear on the roads? Did the roads just magically appear from the Earth. Did the food you eat spontaneously appear on your plate, the phone in your hand, the Doctors treating you, the heat in your house, schools, space travel, etc......No. Greater minds than me figured these thinks out. All the knowledge I have comes from the mind of the collective past. Mathematicians, Doctors, Authors, Engineers, Farmers, Explorers, Teachers, the list goes on and on. But now a days if we need to figure something out, "hello Google", "hey Siri". What a cop out. We are letting someone else figure it out for us, using their mind, not ours. Imaging your world WITHOUT your computer, start to think for yourself and feel your mind grow. (insert sad face emoji here). Sorry, but the old guy in me started to rant and shake his fist and say "kids these days.....". Back to the point.
  
   How about the Kung Fu you practice?

   Where did it all come from? How did it get to our little corner of the world? Why do we practice the style we do? What do our badges represent? Why black,why "past masters", Why, why, why??? So many questions. I have spent years reading and asking questions, and believe it or not, the answers are all there to be answered, just ask the Masters of our school. Yes, by a real person, someone who has put mountains of thought into the answers before you can even think of them. Never be afraid that your question might be a silly one, as my Dad always told me, "there are no stupid questions, only stupid assumptions".
   Our school is steeped in tradition and heritage and lineage, everything possible is done for a reason, not by chance. Ask questions, explore your Kung Fu, be PROUD to be a part of THIS school.


P.S. My questions where rhetorical questions,  if I have an actual question I need answered that I can't figure out on my own, I ask!

P.S.S.  I am very excited for the rest of the journey through the Kwoon, got my popcorn ready, easy chair warmed up, eyes and ears wide open.

Derailed

   Okay, so maybe not a train wreck yet but the MoJo train is Waaaaay behind schedule. I compared my current numbers to last years numbers at this time and it was a bit of a shock. To much thinking about Kung Fu and not enough doing Kung Fu is all I can say. So many excuses, none worthy of mentioning. If I keep talking about it maybe I will do something about it, right? Let's hope so, no, check that, let's do so, not hope so. Here is a brief summary as of today, May 17, 2020 at 6am.


Numbers

Push ups        15661/50000

Sit ups            15100/50000

Sparring          493/1000

1609km          949.50km/1609km

1000 AOK      459/1000

Hand Form      315/1000

Weapon Form  273/1000


Personal Requierments

Juggling - comfy with 3, can't seem to do more, for now

Weight loss - nope

Spanish - nope

Complete major projects around the yard/house - this is where I am spending all my time, I am being a bit obsessive about this right now but Mother Nature is finally working with me and not against me so I must take advantage of this time. I must manage this time better so I still allow for Kung Fu time.

Flexibility - Sil Lum seminar with Sifu Becket - life saver!! I  could actually touch my toes last week! Thank you Thank you!

Kicks - moving heavy bag outside finally so this should "kick" into high gear.


   Well that is enough about that, time to do not talk.

But I thought

   Spring!! Sun!! Nice weather!! ABOUT TIME!! Now I can really focus on so many different things, Most importantly, our yard is finally usable as an outdoor Kwoon. This means space to do forms fully, not kicking walls or chairs. This means getting to freak out the neighbors when we go out and start swinging our weapons around and doing forms. This means adaptation..... waaaa?
   What I mean is our yard is not flat and our dog loves to dig little holes ( part gopher I think ). I went out yesterday and started to do Lau Gar, interesting experience. Marked my spot to start, got into the moment, started, then..... sidewalk ( trip) - gopher hole (stumble) - slight height change in grass (almost fell over backwards) - sun in my eyes.... grrrrrrrrrrr.
   But I thought this would be so much better!!! Outside, more room, fresh air, you know, perfect! But what is with all these obstacles?? Whoa, step back Don, think about it, are these really obstacles or are they opportunities? Am I stumbling and tripping because of the yard or...... am I over committing to my stances? Am I just doing the form or am I feeling the form?
   Time to slow the form down a little and "feel" my connection with the earth. To "feel" my footwork before planting, before sliding, before committing. I am actually now really excited to go out and adapt to this, what an unexpected opportunity to advance a little, thanks Covid!


P.S.

Number and recording of...

   I must admit that for some reason this year I am having a hard time keeping up with recording my numbers in my book. This is actually causing my a lot of grief. I know I am falling behind on some of my numbers because I am not "seeing" my progress and I am "assuming" my progress. STOP doing this Don! I get why recording my progress is so important, so here is my public kick in the butt for that, bad Don, get on it!!


P.S.S.

   Anymore thought on a Demo for the Tiger Challenge?
   My family and I ( I haven't told them yet, surprise family!! ) are going to do short videos on our hand and weapon forms so that if a techy person wants to compile these at least we are ready. We will try to keep them as short as possible like last years demo, about 45 seconds or so.

Examples of Mastery

   I'm going to keep this blog pretty short and simple.

   The 3rd paragraph of Mastery by Stewart Emery talks about not resenting the Masters in your life for their accomplishments and successes but to learn and grow from them.
   This past couple of weeks, various members of our great school have been posting about their "green thumb". From gardens to decks to re-purposing items to home made chocolate, absolutely stunning!
   This has left me to wonder, why not me, how did they learn to do this, what is stopping me from doing some of this earth friendly self improvement and involvement?
   Time to get off the bench and LEARN from these great examples, they have planted the seed in my mind, time to let it grow.


Go team Rat