Knight of Pentacles

 I'll admit, some of these numbers are rough estimates.  I have been training/practicing but I just kind of abandoned keeping track of exact numbers around the end of November.  It just, didn't seem like a priority and it was kind of getting in the way of me JUST DOING THE THING. This year I'm going to basically follow the same  program as the IHC, but with a few tweaks:  -I'm not going to keep track of my kms or my acts of kindness.  I think the last couple of years have proved that those requirements are not an issue for me.   -I will journal at least weekly, but not publicly.  There are lots of things that I need journaling to do for me, and I can't necessarily expend the mental effort making them kung fu related or fit for public consumption.   -I will be focusing less on reaching a seemingly unobtainable and highly intimidating goal for push ups and sit ups, and more on keeping track of my consistency. I know that the point of ...

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...

 These last couple of weeks, as EVERYONE is aware, have been hot.  Last week was our first really hot week of the summer, and it was brutal.  My crew was working outside, the whole time, and it was miserable.  Headaches and nausea and fatigue.  By the end of last week we were all completely worn out.   This week is not ~quite~ as hot, but close, and we were doing better.  And it made me think of something from last year.  There was a job my previous company was doing in the attic of a 4 storey apartment building.  The attic spanned the entire structure with a gable roof and when the sun hit it the space got HOT.  I didn't work on the project, but I was friends with the superintendent and he told me many tales of the woes of trying to cool the space down so our people could work.  They tried fans, air conditioners, personal fans around necks, cooling towels, everything.  At first we were cycling workers through bi-weekly....

 

 This year's Canada Day Demo and celebrations was a blast.  We went to the Pioneer Centre, we did our Lion/Dragon dance (next year we really need to warm up first, I thought I was going to DIE....AGAIN), then we did our Team Demo.  It was a success!  After helping bring the Dragon back to the van I raced back to my family to enjoy some festivities. If you guys haven't tried that foam thing, you should totally do it next year.  It's like being in a CLOUD (with lots of screaming, some half-naked, children). Frankie had just hit the target on the dunk tank when WHOOOOOOOSH! FIGHTER JETS!!!!!  EXCITING!!!!! It was a really good time, and I was reminiscing about what happened at Canada Day the year before, and realized that I hadn't blogged about it at the time, so here's the story: It was my first year on the I Ho Chuan team and my first Canada Day Demo.  We had been practicing our weapons/forms and the Dragon/Lion for WEEKS and anticipation was high....

I have to confess, I've felt a bit...un-enthusiastic about everything lately.  Not that anything is bad, but I've felt drained of joy.  This family vacation was much needed, and it was a great time. But I've had troubling thoughts.  Thoughts about what I'm doing and why I'm doing them.  About what I'm devoting my time to.  I've even had thoughts about quitting the I Ho Chuan.  Not this year, but perhaps not signing up for next year. Taking a break.  Not for good, but, I told myself, maybe until Frankie is a bit older and needs less care and attention.   Being a parent is hard, and requires a lot of physical and mental effort.  I told myself that maybe if I could pare down my responsibilities outside of that it could be easier. But, I realized 2 things: 1. It would not be easier.  The things that already take up my time would be no less frustrating.  Being a parent and having a full time job is a slog no matter how you book-end ...

 So, I'm on vacation with my family and my in-laws in Drumheller right now.  And I'm appreciating having extra time.  Normally my days are hectic from the moment I wake up at the ass-crack of dawn, to the moment my head hits the pillow at hopefully-8:30pm.  It seems like my family is always rushing to something: work, swimming lessons, birthday parties, grocery shopping, Kung Fu class, and it's nice to slow down for a bit and say "What do we ACTUALLY want to do today?" I even brought my butterfly swords and have been working on my SUPUs and forms. It's just really nice.   Song of the day: Walk the Dinosaur by Was (Not Was) https://open.spotify.com/track/5ZG3fDXiAzC1tfXbk2TR3R?si=4454530eefa14403

 I follow this person on Instagram who has fantastic "word of the day" series and the one from last Wednesday was particularly striking for me: JUSTING (juhs-ting) 𝗻𝗼𝘂𝗻: The habit of telling yourself that just one change could solve all of your problems, which leaves you feeling perpetually on the cusp of a better life, hanging around the top of the slide waiting for one little push. "Resist the stagnant trap of Justing where dreams linger in the "if only".  And instead let each small step you take towards your goal be the catalyst and momentum for the change you wish to see. A reminder that t rue transformation is born from YOUR courage and determination, not waiting for the perfect moment." I have been very guilty of Justing, and find it a hard habit to break.  But lately I've been trying to focus not on SINGLE things that will fix all my problems, but taking small steps towards my goals and celebrating them as progress. I think that's one of...

 How to Create a Creative Musical Form By Kat Thelwall *Not all points are at all recommended T-1 year (immediately after Tiger Challenge 2023 -Decide you want to do a creative musical form for next year.   Get all excited about it and create a Spotify Playlist with potential songs. -Forget about it for months. T-5 months -See the requirement for the Tiger Challenge, and think “yeah, I’m gonna do that musical form.   It’s going to be awesome”.   Listen to a few of the songs on the playlist.   Add a few more songs.   T-3 months -Think about doing the musical form.   Decide you have enough time to do something awesome if you start right now.   Listen to the playlist, take some songs off. T-2 months -The instructors are starting to remind us of the Tiger Challenge.   Get all excited about the musical form again and try to start looking for inspiring examples of musical forms on Youtube.   Don’t have much luck, but ther...

I almost forgot it was Sunday!  It's going to be a busy week prepping for the Tiger Challenge, so I'm happy to have an extra day on the weekend to work on stuff.  My musical form is coming along, and everything else is too, I suppose.  It's good to have a deadline to kick my procrastination to the curb.   "To achieve great things, two things are needed: a plan and not quite enough time" Leonard Bernstein But I suppose that's why the Master Instructors pepper events throughout the year, to give us milestones to keep the momentum up.  It's a plan that works well. Instead of song of the day, here is one of my favourite inspirational musical demos that I've found: https://youtu.be/cxFj6JlXpfs?si=Vq-YfNZsClaHLHif Man, the 80s were a golden age of dramatic flair.

I don't really have a lot to say today, except that it was a pretty good week.  I've been getting much more consistent at doing all of my requirements, especially compared to this time last year, and that feels good.   I managed to make it to open training this last Saturday and had some good progress on the Butterfly Sword form work with Shawn. There was kind of a funny moment when Malinda was asking me about what I was going to do for my Musical Form "Probably just my Butterfly Sword form" Said I. "Oh, then what are you doing for your weapon form?" Said she. "........F*#$" Said I, forgetting that I had signed up for ALL THE THINGS. No matter, I have formulated a backup plan, and have a number of good tracks from which I'm trying to choose. Song of the Day: Nature of Inviting by IAMX (Currently one of the top runners) https://open.spotify.com/track/21ZmaNd8OvfxAD2URJRcXt?si=d429df1ea2cd4ee4

 When I was signing up for the Tiger Challenge this year I looked long and hard at the Musical Form option.  And then I hit <Yes>.   I've never done a musical form before, and I'm not particularly musically inclined.  But I'm doing it. So, I'm hoping that I could get some input from the team: -How long should the form be? -What do you think goes into a good musical form? -Any other advice you think I should know? In other news, I have been going to one of those isolation float tank places in Edmonton for a few years, Modern Gravity.  Last year I got a monthly subscription, but I have not been able to get out there and my 1-hour floats are piling up and starting to expire.  If anyone's been interested in trying out a float tank experience, these guys are top notch.  I'm offering anyone who wants one to take one of my floats.  I'd rather see you guys use these up than have them just expire. Check the place out at moderngravity.ca If you'r...

 My Husband made his triumphant return yesterday!  YESSSS!!! It's good to know that I can do things without him, but dammit, I missed having him around.  Besides being my best friend, and a great dad, he's also a hell of a cook, and I am not. So, life should get back to "normal".  I managed to make it out to the gym today and went for a run, did a bunch of work on my kung fu.  I'll be back at the Kwoon this week, with bells on. Song of the day: Bennie and the Jets by Elton John (Fun Fact: I once re-wrote the lyrics to Bennie and the Jets for Benjamin and got everyone to sing it to him for his birthday.  He cried) https://open.spotify.com/track/5Wj1rJnCLpMHdLaxsFtJLs?si=6b3364af6b774a8f

 So, I have an idea for the lack of blog posts.  But, I need a consensus from the TEAM.  Because as a team, we should be able to keep ourselves accountable, rather than relying on a parent figure. After Sifu Brinker's talk with us last Thursday, I made a spreadsheet with the entire teams blog entries for the (lunar) year so far. It paints a pretty clear picture or who is ahead, who is behind, and who is just about grazing the almost minimum for blog post.  My proposal is, we make this spreadsheet public.  It would be an easy, visual way for all of us to see how we're keeping pace with the bare minimum of this requirement. I know that not everyone is motivated by numbers, but at the very least, this is a way for us to measure how we are living up to this, obviously rather important metric. I also recognize that there could be many points of view that I had not considered.  Which is why I'm opening it up for debate. So, what do you guys think? Song of the day...

 I've had a rough week.  Actually, first, I'd like to amend something I said during the meeting at the beginning of the month.  I said that my daughter can be difficult.  That was wrong of me to say, especially as her mother. Frankie is not difficult, she is very vocal about what she does and doesn't want to do.  It's very difficult to get her to do something when she doesn't want to, especially when you can't think of a logical reason why she needs to do it.  She stands her ground when she knows she's right, and I'm trying to respect and encourage that, while also trying to maintain my own sanity. These last 2 weeks while Ben has been gone have been tough on both of us, and she's wanted to spend as much time as she can glomped on to me.  I'm an introvert, and need time by myself to recharge, so I'm finding it really hard and it's been wearing down my mental health. We have had good moments and bad moments, and this has been an educationa...