Knight of Pentacles

I am also taking my leave from the IHC for the year of the Snake.  It's been a very enlightening last 2 years, and I've loved it.  I've learned something from each and every member of the Dragon team that I will cherish forever. And who knows?  I might be back in the future.  But right now, I have other priorities that need tending to. So, I'm going to enjoy the flurry of activity and nerves and camaraderie that is BANQUET DAY.  Come see me at some point, I have a thing for each of you. 

 I'm sorry I've been so absent lately.  Long hours, fatigue, and family obligations have taken front seat.  But I am still here, and I have still been training. I've been thinking a lot lately about energy work and internal forms.  We had a family trip to the Stony Plain Library on Saturday and I came across a book on Qi Gong and I've been devouring it since then.  There's a lot of stuff in there that directly applies to our Kung Fu or has even been directly taught to us in class, which makes sense because it's part of the same school of philosophy (I'm not sure that's the right word, but I'm sticking with it).   One of the things I'm working on right now is really trying to listen to...my body, the universe, everything.  Really slow down.  Like someone says in Tron: Legacy - "Knock on the sky and listen to the sound" I had also signed up for a 10 day silent meditation retreat a while back, and it's suddenly coming up fast.  I'm...

 I really like the thing the instructors are doing right now where they give each of us personal notes on things we need to work on.  I feel like each person benefits from the personal notes, and to hear the notes that everyone else gets.  You never know what nuggets of wisdom are going to resonate with you. So here are some notes I've received lately and need to remember: -Intensity is key.  Intensity does not equal speed, but speed can enhance it.  Work on my intensity for the movements and then let the words sit on top. -Intent and Intensity.  Intent does not always have to be "smash badguys".  It can be chopping wood, swirling leaves in the wind, moving branches out of the way.  The main thing is the your visualization must be well established in order to transfer the intensity to the viewer. -After kicking in a form, consolidate your body before transitioning to the next move. -Panther hands are a strike, not pawing at someone -Make sure I'm ...

  I've been having a sad the last little while.  Like, everyone has ups and downs and sometimes the changes in latitude are small and sometimes they are big.  This downward spiral was a big one for me and to be honest I didn't handle it very well.  There wasn't even any one thing that made it so bad, but everything adds up eventually.  I realized that a big part was not making it to Kung Fu for a loooong time, and I tried to train on my own, but the effort was sporadic. I remember seeing an interview with Ann Hathaway once where they asked her how she got so slim and fit to play Catwoman (#askhermore!).  She responded that there was no magic bullet, she just did the normal things that no-one wanted to do: eat well and exercise more. So, I started doing the boring things that I had been avoiding: eating better, drinking less alcohol, exercising when I could, talking to my friends, going to a therapist.  It's been slowly getting better. And then I went t...

I've been trying to write what I thought was going to be a great post about how I keep my goals in the crosshairs, but the words aren't coming together properly, so I'll just do a quick update. Work has been a priority for the last little while, and my attendance in class is taking a serious hit.  So, I've been trying to work some Kung Fu into my evenings.  It's a work in progress.  We're supposed to be starting up a job on the West end of Edmonton ~sometime~ soon, where I'm (95% likely) to be stationed for the foreseeable future, which would be fantastic.   I have de-coupled my push ups and sit ups.  Trying to keep them matched was making it hard.  De-coupling has proved useful, I just need to ensure I track them properly. I'm at a wedding in BC next week, so I'll miss Wednesday's class, and IHC on Thursday. Originally, I was going to drive out, and fulfill one of my personal requirements along the way: Climb to the top of a Mountain.  But the d...

 In Construction, summertime is a race.  There are a lot of things that either can't be done, or would be prohibitively expensive to do in winter.  So, as soon as the weather gets above 0 things need to move FAST to finish up outside, or be able to close up a building before winter hits.  Things like rain, tremendous heat, or administrative/supply delays can impact a schedule quickly, so the easiest thing a company can do is increase the man-hours to try and claw back time lost. We're currently 6 weeks behind schedule on our Sherwood Park site.  The Superintendent is authorizing unlimited overtime, and has been trying to get us to work 6am to 4:30pm every day.  This means that I leave my house at 5:10am, and get home around 5:10pm.  And when I do get home, I'm sore, sticky, dirty, and sour. Now, don't get me wrong, I still love my job, and the overtime is great.  But I've been finding it harder and harder to get the energy to get to Kung Fu w...