Knight of Pentacles

 I have been blessed with excellent genetics.  It's always been easy for me to be very active, and I gain strength and flexibility quickly (when I work on it).  It had gotten to the point where I kind of took it for granted. So, imagine my surprise, when around the time I started Kung Fu I started getting foot pain.  I was getting it just walking around, but also I noticed that my toes weren't bending as far as I wanted them to during bowing in.  And when I tried stretching my toes regularly, the pain got worse.  Weird. Well, it turned out that the culprit was the fact that I had spent the previous decade tromping around construction sites in very protective, but not flexible and probably too tight, steel toe boots.  Not only that, I wore them outside of work, too.   Apparently, feet can lose flexibility and strength if you don't let them, ya know, flex.   And shoes with narrow toe boxes can cause your toes to slowly bend together, causing bunions. Plus, in the winter I wor

 I didn't want to miss blogging this, so it's a little late, but here is my list: 1.     1. L ast year’s banquet and the feeling of comradery then 2.   2.  This year’s banquet and the deepened feeling of comradery now 3.   3.  The amusement Shawn and I feel watching the black belts sort themselves out at the beginning of IHC classes. Because not everyone gets to see them try to sort themselves properly, so I think we’re pretty privileged. 4.   4.  Everyone getting together to build the cardboard lions for the Li’l Leopards class.   That was a great day. 5.   5.  Nigel running my little Frankie around inside a cardboard box.   And then standing there while Sihing Burke addressed the group with important instructions, with a giggling box. 6.   6.   The TORRENTIAL downpour after the Canada Day demo, and the chaos afterwards, because I had left my purse with my phone and car keys in the van that took the dragon back to the Kwoon, and had to retrieve them before going back

 What a night!  What a year!!   Tonight was filled with interesting emotions for me, I can only imagine how it must have felt for some of my teammates.  There were laughs (Jordan wins that prize), and tears (Dammit, Michelle!) and so many faces beaming with pride.   For me, thinking of last year's banquet, which was my first, and the beginning of my first year in the I Ho Chuan team.  Not really knowing what the year would bring, but being pretty hopeful that it would bring some positive effects. Well, my expectations are blown away. My numbers, while not perfect, are a very good start.  I think back to a conversation I had with Todai Ferris when I was thinking of joining the team: She said something along the lines of: "It's not so important that you actually achieve 50,000 push ups and sit ups, but that you don't give up.  And if you only do 20,000 in the year, then that's 20,000 more than you did the year before." (Sorry if I grossly mis-stated you, Malinda