December 15, 2014

Everybody needs somebody, sometime.  Training partners are sure important.  This week in a review of Kung Fu curriculum, performing shadow techniques was just not working.  I am sure I looked a little goofy, trying to hide on the side of the pickup truck performing an arm bar on an imaginary assailant, out of view of the passing heavy equipment. Fortunately with Kung Fu, there are zillions of things that can be improved on while solo. I will be continuing with shadow techniques probably until into the New Year when I hope to return. Also working on increasing the number of pushups and situps with fewer reps.  I have noticed a great lag in my endurance that I hope to change over the next couple of months.  Currently in Dawson Creek, likely here until Christmas.

December 8, 2014

Staying aware with what is right with your body.  That is something I am realizing lately.  Some of the reasons for the major slides in peoples health I think is really because body change is generally very gradual.  It is easy to forget how a healthy body feels, and to make matters worse, the body is very good at adapting and working the best it can under the worst of situations.  I am working through that right now.  Where I am getting a little extra time due the job circumstances I am putting time into kicks (which have really slid on me in the last 6 months) and horse stances.  I also was kept up all night because I had forgotten the transition on a particular form that I have completed probably a couple thousand times.  How does this happen?  Anyway, come 2 am It finally came to me, and I have been practicing that transition several times a day.

Currently still in Dawson Creek, where the job is taking much longer than expected.  I will probably be here up to Christmas.

Can't wait to get back training with you all.
P.S. - Sent my rope dart into the hotel TV, so I will be taking a break from that for now.

Vince. 

November 30th

Where would I be if 8 years ago if I hadn’t taken the chance and dropped into the Kwoon for my first class. Well, I get a good taste of where I would be every fall, when after a long duration away from a regimented training regime I find myself struggling with joints that aren’t supported properly due to lack of muscle, cardio that is weakened, more prone to sickness due to an improper diet regime, loss of flexibility, strength loss, among other things.

But this also gives me an appreciation for what I have in this lifestyle. It gives me the motivation to climb back when I return from a work season, because quite frankly, I haven’t forgot that this is important to me.

Currently writing from Dawson Creek, in -32 degree weather.  This week I intend on focusing on the horse stance in my “Hotel training regime”.

Success....right in the nick of time.

Calling all nerds

Alright, I concede.

I have been bullied and beat into a submissive Googly pulp trying to get a video posted to my blog site.  Ironically the topic I was yammering about was regarding the tools available for having success in the I Ho Chuan.  I admit.....I need help at this.  Next time I am at the Kwoon, I am bringing my laptop, and I am wrangling one of the nerds on the team to help me out.  Nerds....one of the sharper tools in the tool box.

Tooling Around

If you walk into my garage as of late you are likely to close the door and cause a shovel to fall off the wall.  It will nearly brain you except you step narrowly out the way.  That same shovel will flip the switch of the grinding wheel. Stepping to avoid a death by garden spade, you will probably trip over and spill a gas can.  Grabbing in desperation you will reach out to the work bench and land your hand in an old tub of rusty bent nails.  The bucket, being the cap of the massive junk heap will cause a catastrophic fault resulting in a slide of epic proportions knocking hammers, hacksaws, screw drivers, and drill bits onto the grinding wheel.

Sparks.

Projectiles

Previously mentioned gas can.  

Now explain to your wife over the smell of burnt hair that you need more tools….and probably a tetanus shot.

I have been given more than enough opportunity to be successful this year.  Certain Sifu’s that will remain unnamed have done so much to try to help me in my success and I am so grateful for that.  There are I Ho Chuan members that are blazing forward with these tools and putting them to tremendous use.  There are students that have cooked up a new solution for success, and showed off the recipe for those that can’t bake worth a darn.  Here it is, here are the tools and here is how to use them.  Still I find myself sawing off my arm with a reciprocating saw and jamming the hammer claw in my eye.

So this morning, I hopped out of the truck and looked at the orange hue of the horizon.  I have been witness to the eastern sky laying down some pretty brilliant sun rises the last five days.  But only today did I snort in a deep lung full of air, hold it, and exhale in Kung Fu fashion.  I am going to take one tool at a time, and master it.  And it is going to start with a video blog. If by next week I don’t have a video blog up, I hope you all hold me to the task.

Blog post

On route along hwy 2 south on Sunday I was passed by a fella about my age on a bike travelling around 150k.  He looked confident and in control, travelling between the slower traffic with certainty. T-shirt fluttering, tore jeans, beany helmet, pipes rattling.

Only five minutes further down the road, the bike was in a crumpled heap, flocks of cars pulled over, ill equipped bystanders offering whatever minimal aid they could contrive.

This accident follows another that occurred only a month prior. Along the Anthony Henday later at night the same scenario, however the speed was less and the young fella was standing at the time we came to find him.  Both accidents hit me very hard.

Seeing this reassures the finiteness of life.  Perhaps if we knew the length of time each of us had we would allocate our commitments differently, make our decisions with greater certainty, and come to realize what really is of most importance to us. Everyone say's, live your life to the fullest, but really hasn't defined what that is.

I really like to think back to the two questions of, where am I, and what am doing.  Taking this moment I have found so beneficial to staying aware and in the moment.  Staying in the moment forces the additional question of;  Why am I doing this?

When I tack this on I reassure myself that I am not just doing things for the sake of routine, but actually doing something for a purpose. 

I very much believe that my life has a purpose.  If you don't believe this, you at least have to believe that your life has an effect.  How can we expect to get fulfilment in our life if we do not keep ourselves accountable for wasted time?

Currently I am bouncing around through jobs this August, recently returning from a very long week in the Smoky Lake region, back down to Sylvan lake for a small job, then up to Athabasca. Continually posing the question, where am I, what am I doing, and why?  Had a chance to cheer my wife on at the Mud Hero for a couple hours on Sunday also.

Vince.