Five or Six

   Am I only using five harmonies? Or four, or three or two or one? Yikes!!

   Thursday's IHC class I paired up with Sehing Burke and she pointed out some foot work ( or lack of ) at the beginning of my Tiger hook form. And low and behold, I was more concerned with what my hands were doing than the fact that I even had feet. From my hips down were just along for the ride apparently. The "macho macho man" part of me was only thinking about making the weapons look good, not Kung Fu. The weapons were pulling me along, no power just flash. If this had been a real "combat" situation I would be speaking to you from the great beyond. That is not mastery. 

   With the banquet less than a week away, I know revamping my whole form is a non-starter. But that doesn't mean I can't tweak it a little right now. We still have three actual demo practices to go, and I have seven actual days to make the most of my "tweaking". Slow down, engage my hips, think about what I am doing. Mindfully do my reps, pick something, improve it, apply it, repeat.

   This points out one of the priceless benefits of the IHC. I may have never noticed this lack of eye for detail on my own. My awesome team mates ( not just Sehing Burke ) take their responsibility seriously and handed my a golden opportunity to become a better martial artist. Thank you team, you are the best!!

 

 

Push Ups  27537

Sit Ups  26151

Sparring 800

1609KM    1887.37 km

Acts of Kindness  1600 Recorded 

Hand Form  556

Weapon Form  640

Mastery recited  20

Hittin the Mark

   Been spending the last little while trying to hit my mark in the song for the banquet. I've got a few "landmarks" in my section that should coincide with where I am in my form. I only have 24 seconds on stage to do my form and I need to make every second count. And I need to make it count so I don't creep into the time of the person following me (Sihing M Ward). A couple of times we have nailed the transition between us and I really want that to happen on stage. So this means I must be consistent with my timing not just for my sake but for hers as well. Practice practice practice. Thankfully Sihing Ward seems to be very adaptable to my timing, thanks Michele.

  

Push Ups  27516

Sit Ups  26151

Sparring 740

1609KM   1855.78 km

Acts of Kindness 1553 Recorded 

Hand Form  540

Weapon Form  600

Mastery recited  20

My Place

   Last night I had both the privileged and responsibility of attending an event that I take great pride and am very humbled to be allowed to be part of. This yearly event re-affirms my beliefs and responsibilities as a Black Belt. It reminds me that I am not alone in my journey, that I have the most amazing support group imaginable. The lineage, the history, the traditions, the expectations, the acceptance, it can all be overwhelming at times. But this group of people have got my back, always. They want me to succeed as much, if not more, than I do.

   I take being a black belt very seriously. Every day I ask myself (internally) whether or not what I am doing or saying furthers my path to mastery or diminishes it. It is hard, there is no denying that, but it is hugely fulfilling at the same time. I make errors in judgement, a lot, I accept that. The thing is did I correct/learn anything from it? If not, why not, if yes, carry on Daddyo. It is a constant struggle that is mostly self imposed. The company I keep, the foods I choose, the use of time, all within my control. So am I doing right or wrong by my choices, that is my constant question of myself. 

   Reaffirming my responsibilities as a black belt give me a chance to re-access who I am. Good or bad, my truth is right there in front of me, I cannot and will not hide from it. I am not perfect, but knowing that and accepting that allow me to realize that I am working towards trying to be a better human. There is no giving up on myself, I am only here for a blink of an eye, so I must make a small ripple in the pond of my time for the good of my existence. Being a dad, husband, son, uncle, friend all come with very similar responsibilities to being a black belt. They overlap all the time. So I must make good choices, not easy choices. Sometimes these are the same but usually they are not. But I am willing to put in the work because the reward/enlightenment is so much greater. 

   So being a black belt is amazing, if you let it be. Last night reminded me of that, and I will do my utmost to never tarnish the ideals that it represents.

 

 

Push Ups   27160

Sit Ups  25451

Sparring 640

1609KM  1827.20 km

Acts of Kindness Recorded  1525

Hand Form  537

Weapon Form  560

Mastery recited  20

 

Been a Minute

   December 19, seems like forever ago. 17 days ago today in fact. Wow, feels weird being away from the Kwoon for this long. Tomorrow will be like a home coming of sorts, I really miss this place. 

   What have I been up to in this huge break I ask myself? Other that the standard holiday stuff, it has been all about basement renovations. Our home is not big so maximizing space is a must and the basement has been a "stuff" collector for years, almost to the point of being unusable. Yikes!! That is not Mastery. That is pure laziness and procrastination on my part. Every time I went down to the basement, I was both mad and embarrassed with myself. This is the basement of someone who just plain and simply does not care! So we took action (we - Deb, Kody and I). Five days of sorting, building, tearing down, throwing out twenty+ year old stuff, cleaning, just plain old hard work and voila! We now have a usable basement. New dart board and surround - done, new shelving along east wall - done, bins of really old wires and cable - gone (mostly), a full load of stuff to the dump - done. Am I done, nope, just getting started!! And boy does this feel good! Now to go through the donation pile (books and DVDs mostly) and finish some electrical, heater duct work and hang some long forgotten pictures and poof... time to reno the "office/spare bedroom" upstairs - this is another huge job but now I am motivated by the basement reno, so I will carry on while I have momentum. 

   And as a bonus, I now have way more room to practice my Kung Fu, like about 10 square feet more, sweeeeet!

 

..

    See you all back at the Kwoon tomorrow!!👍😁, bring on the banquet!!

.

Push Ups 26926

Sit Ups  25051

Sparring 640

1609KM  1763.34km

Acts of Kindness Recorded  1505

Hand Form 530

Weapon Form  550

Mastery recited 19

Getting Organized

    A new calendar year brings the need for me to take a breath and organize myself. There is a Chinese new year banquet, holidays, work events, family events, house stuff, so on and so on, all of it needs a certain level of planning to make sure I get the most I can out of each "event". I need to maximize my time by planning for each so I can squeeze as much as possible out of each moment, savoring it if you will. My wife laughs at me sometimes because of my "lists" and over planning, but that is just me. Take for example a really cool event my wife has presented me with...

   April 30, 2025. Las Vegas. Park MGM Dolby. Sammy Hagar: The Best of All Worlds concert. 

   OMG!! Totally unexpected, totally blindsided me. Back story time (short version). I'm a huge Sammy fan, have been for decades. Loved his music since I was in my teens (long long ago). Then he had a tour with his new "band" this last year but didn't come to Canada (sad). Then I found out about his temporary residence in Vegas. Cool! It was even on my birthday (May 1st)!! Super cool!!!  I mentioned it to Deb, well here is where my wonderful wife played me like a fiddle. To keep it simple, on Christmas day she proved just how amazingly crafty she is by giving me tickets for the show on April 30. It took me a moment to process just how much I love this woman. Anyways, I'm going off topic here. 

   So I add this to my list of things I need to maximize every moment I can out of. I cannot let moments like this become mundane, average, common place. Life is way to short to be a spectator. Life drips with adventure just begging to be taken advantage of. So I must make sure I am present during these times. And for me that means planning ahead, not reacting but pro-acting. 

   And I get the chance to do this because Kung Fu has helped focus my ability to live in the moment by giving me structure and guidance. And to further this idea, teaching has "forced" me to be engaged and hyper focused. I owe it to myself and everyone around me to be "on" every time I step on the mats. 

And for this to happen, I must plan and organize myself. So Chow for now, I am going to start planning Vegas😀.

Push Ups  26926

Sit Ups  25051

Sparring 640

1609KM  1743.96km

Acts of Kindness Recorded  1480

Hand Form  530

Weapon Form 550

Mastery recited 18

Blurry Brain

   Not sure why but lately my mind has been very scattered. Life just seems to be passing by, me just watching as it goes.  Even events that should make me smile are just meh. Not sure where this funk has come from but I don't like it. So even though it is early and everyone in the house is still asleep, I am going to get off my butt and go do some Kung Fu, meaningful repetitions not just maintenance.

Push Ups 26376

Sit Ups 24351

Sparring 640

1609KM   1726.47 km

Acts of Kindness 1450 Recorded

Hand Form 530

Weapon Form 550

Mastery recited 18

Warm Ups

   Every once in a while I get to do the kid's warm up and for that I am grateful. I do still feel the same stress as if it is my first time doing a warm up regardless of whether or not it be in front of the kids or adults. I'm just not a big fan of being the center of attention, I tend to get inside my own head almost immediately. What to do what to do......? Do I cardio this one? Do I make it a fun one for the kids? Do I go hard or do I vary my pace? Sometimes I am given a set of objectives for the warm up by the lead instructor of the class, sometimes it is all spur of the moment. And I love every moment of it. 

   Warm ups challenge me to think outside of my box. If I find myself being predictable, I tend to lose the class and I can see their mind wandering. If I go to hard, I notice a few starting to give up and just stand there.  I need to alter as I go, think on my feet (or butt if need be). To keep the students involved, the warm up  needs to be fun and challenging but still Kung Fu. I need to push and guide at the same time. I know the warm up is not the time to teach but at the same time, minor corrections during dynamic repetition are easy to do. It's a great time to push their horse stance, increase their sound focus, get them to breathe deep, and so on. And at the same time, it forces me to do all the above as well. I can't expect them to do something I am unwilling or unable to do. So I push myself and I usually find myself really enjoying it. 

   

Push Ups 26376

Sit Ups 24351

Sparring 640

1609KM   1694.34 km

Acts of Kindness 1450 Recorded

Hand Form 515

Weapon Form 500

Mastery recited 18