Random Olympic thoughts

A couple of scattered thoughts that went through my mind during the Olympics:

-I was not up at 5:00am to watch the Canada Olympic hockey…..but I should have been. 

-If Kung Fu were an Olympic sport can I say I’d be in Sochi right now?

-Why is Canada proud of its coffee, and humble of its athletes? And why am I proud of that fact?

-Jean-Luc Brassard, fast forward to Alex Bilodeau.  Two eras of skiing. Equally cool.

-Why is it OK to scoff at an unsuccessful athlete from the comfort of my sofa?

-If he wanted to compete, would Chuck Norris be banned from the Olympics because of an illegal dose of Awesomeness?

-I wonder if Canada is bringing home more homeless dogs than medals?

-I wonder what a crazy carpet would do on a bobsled track?

 

Can’t say I didn’t warn you.

 

vincekrebs@blogspot.com

My first, and most important personal goal

Unfortunately, I was unable to take in the first I Ho Chuan meeting for year of the Horse.  But I am picking up some items in the blog posts. Sharing of our person goals seems to be one item that was discussed. I am not going to dump a list on anyone reading, but am going to address each one in an independent post.

Back in the day things seem so simple.  You crawl into the old pickup truck, ride next to dad for a few hours down a dusty old road to a clear cool lake, hop in the boat…..and fish.  It’s that simple.  At four years old, the only concern is why the boat isn’t in the water faster, or why do we have to eat something before heading out?

Now, having both a six and eight year old boy I’ve realized the tremendous effort that is required to put a fishing trip with the kids in motion. There is a complex assembly of items that would baffle a Franklin expedition, an organization of personnel that would stifle a drill sergeant, and an allocation of time more extravagant than discovering E=MC².  Often when contemplating a family camping trip or even fishing for the day, I sit back and just ask myself, is this worth it?

I will never forget the times we shared on the water just passing time and stories, times on the dock when a lady had a film canister of maggots (fishing bait for perch) stored safely in her bra.  Well, film canisters have a habit of opening at the worst of times.  Or the time when the boat flew off the back of the truck in Westlock and we didn’t realize it had gone. We chalked all the horns and flashing and signalling of passing vehicles to think the people of Westlock must be drunk, or crazy.  I could go on and on.

So here is the revelation. My Dad is awesome.  The sacrifice and headaches he endured to get me out to the water is difficult to realize.  It is one of so many things that make him the best dad a guy could ask for.  As such, in the busy of keeping up with my I Ho Chuan requirements, my first personal goal is to get out fishing with my dad at least three times this year.

Malicious Toys

In the toy department…. that is where it went down. That little six sided devil innocently sitting in a non-threatening box.  Staring out of its clear plastic container, its sides in perfect harmony looking most like a colorful Christmas ornament than anything.  It certainly did not look dastardly.

I took it home. I tried to make it my friend.  I even approached the relationship slowly by only moving one side, then cautiously moving it back to its perfect position.  And with an eye for the details unfolding with a single move, I made two moves, then carefully rotated the squares back.  My confidence ever growing, I took a chance and made three moves from the perfect harmonies of green, white, yellow, orange, blue and red. 

And that was it. 

That beautiful colorful, harmonious children’s toy turned instantly into a six sided devil.  A sneaky time wasting puzzle that has 43 quintillion possible combinations with no apparent solution.

The Rubik’s cube.  There is no better way than that to explain life.  Ever trying to restore  balance.  Like the Rubik’s cube, complete one side, or maybe two, and the other four turn to  complete disarray.  Restore order to one of the remaining sides and the puzzles harmony is broken on the other.

Those of you that own a Rubik’s cube understand why sometimes for months the Rubik’s cube will sit on the shelf at the state of your highest accomplishment.  That is when you have partially solved it, got further than you have ever made it before, scared to make another turn for fear of completely ruining the partial balance you have created. But here is the catch, it is not perfect, and it never will be without attempting to move forward with it.  That means trying it, with odds highly in the favour you are going to get it wrong and turn it to shambles.

This past year I recognize that there have been many failures with my I Ho Chuan attempt, but there have been successes also.  For me to move forward I have to be sure to reflect on the past couple years and determine exactly which patterns of success are worth duplicating. I have to assume that the upcoming year will be the same as the previous and adapt to that.

Scheduling around a career that has no schedule can lead to failure.  Similar to saying “well I am pretty busy now, but Saturday should open up, I will do it then” is not a good option.  Habits have got to be daily

This year, I really feel I know what I have to do to succeed. It won’t be easy, but anything is possible with this group.  I am really looking forward to working with every member of the team this year and draw on all your strengths for inspiration.  Bring on the year of the Horse!

And yes you probably will see me a time or two with a Rubik’s cube in my hand, attempting to solve it without ripping and removing stickers or looking towards the internet oracle for a solution.

Lost presence, NOT due to alien abduction

Time and Space.  It’s as miraculous an invention as life itself.  If it’s not kept, it passes by all that much quicker.  One day molds to the next and the next.  Routine, whether it is good or bad eventually becomes what you believe as normal.  I am looking back at this past summer in reflection and am asking what has happened? If you are away and do what you can to stay involved from a distance there is a fulfillment.  I have now realized the most important thing when you are away for long periods, over and above pushups, situps, form repetitions and personal goals is blogging.  In the past I did not see people face to face, but still felt part of the group moving forward.

This year has been different.  Here is the circumstance.  Pulled out to work for a stretch, returned when possible back to the kwoon in the spring.  Faced with the disappointment of a board break that was unsuccessful, brought in question and doubt.  Following this, headed back out to work and was faced with camp life in northern Alberta with no internet, aside from very patchy coverage on my phone, no realistic way to follow journals or blog. A couple weeks enveloped in work and routine had become behaviour.

Here I am in Drumheller currently, and realize one season of not paying attention to time and space has become an issue for my Kung Fu.  I am very far behind in everything, but seeing the end of the season approaching perhaps there is a renewed sense of urgency.  I am not even close to where I was hoping I would be at this time of year.  It makes me nervous to even return to the Kwoon because I feel very far behind.  So, for those of you that I run into hopefully in a couple weeks or so; upon my return, please have patience with me.  The time is short, but I will get back in the game.

Thanks again to those texts and words of encouragement from some of my teammates, they were very much appreciated.

Post Run Thoughts

The Death Race is one of those strange circumstances where the memory of the misery is quickly erased by the memory of the experience.  Why do people come back time and time again and why are longer and more grueling races cropping up every year offering more pain, and more misery than the others.  Thinking more on this my blog is quickly going to deviate from its original content.

The most common question, Why run the Death Race?  One answer may be “because it’s called the Death Race”.  Similarly to Sir Edmund Hillary’s response “ because it’s there” in response to climbing Mt. Everest.  Is there an element of this attitude of self-servitude in all we seek to accomplish? To achieve something others have not, to belong to a club exclusive. While there is a select few of humans that run marathons, there is an even greater few that stick with the martial arts for longer than six months, a blue belt even less, a black belt scant few, never mind a seventh degree. 

Training in the martial arts I understand why I do it.  There is a list of reasons a mile long.  Most important to me, is seeing the positive value it has within my life, including my health, my confidence, my control, and my relationships.  But pondering on the Death Race, and really thinking about why every race coordinator is shooting for the title “toughest ultra-marathon in North America!” I begin to investigate a little further.  I believe that challenges in these forms are filling a void in many humans for the wrong reasons.  There is an ongoing attitude that my accomplishment because it is exclusive diminishes yours.

Why then do I run to the back to pick up a broom from a toiling black belt.  Is this exclusivity, not contradictory to what I just wrote.  No.  Because I am not picking up the broom to save the black belt toil, or because they have earned the right not to do such tasks.  I pick up the broom because it is a training opportunity and the black belt gives me the broom because they recognize there is a far higher value in an accomplishment that is achieved under the dome of humility and respect. 

An accomplishment achieved without arrogance; An achievement valued on its merit as to how it fits into serving me in my life.  This is a good approach and seems to be what I observe more often in Silent River martial artists and less so in other activities. It is probably why it seems so exclusive, (not by choice) because it tends to remove arrogance and fails to fuel many peoples need for recognition and status.  This is ironic because martial arts currently have belt and ranking system, and tends to cause a misnomer that mastery is driven by these negative factors.

This is probably why I enjoyed running on a team with 4 Silent River team mates.  The race never defined us, the experience did.  Thanks to everyone, it was a wonderful experience this year.

On another note, thanks to everyone from the I Ho Chuan that have been checking in on me, and just keeping me in the loop.  I really appreciate that!

Until next week.

 

Vince.

Closet Weapons

I have jumped onto blogger and looked back towards my last post.  Whoaaa!  Way behind here.  First an update.  I recently came from Lloydminster down to Medicine Hat, then back to Grande Prairie, and now in Weyburn Saskatchewan.  It has been extremely long drives, and tight time lines to get back and forth across the province dealing with equipment break downs and foul weather. My schedule will be to complete work here this Wednesday, drive to Grande Prairie to pick up a trailer and on to Grande Cache for Death Race check-in on Friday.  Following that, back to a small job in Redwater, up to High Level, then back to Grande Prairie.  I won’t be likely around the Kwoon any time soon, which is a shame.

One issue I am running into this year;

Walk to a park with a Katana, and you get some very strange looks and potentially a ticket for public mischief.  True, some of the problem can be avoided with a switch out to a bokken, but I really would like to get some reps in with my weapon.  I hate being in the closet with weapon practice, but the truth is, being in various unfamiliar locations across the province, it is very difficult to find a location that is private and safe for weapon practice.  Any thoughts on this?

vincekrebs.blogspot.com

An uplifting photo on the road

This week I have spent in Medicine Hat, previously in Lloydminster, scheduled to move straight to Grande Praire, then back to Weyburn Saskatchewan which will run me right to the Death Race weekend located in Grande Cache at the end of the month.  Pheww. After enduring a flooded worksite, and problems with contractors over the last weekend, it has really caused me to take a step back and remember what matters most to me.  It is easy to get distracted in the work environment. 

Just when I thought I had reached an all-time low, a rainstorm goes over, lights up an awesome rainbow and all of a sudden my perspective changes.  At first thinking this was a sign I needed pizza, then looking closer and realizing this had a lot more significance to me than I initially thought. I snapped a shot of it outside my hotel door to remember it by.

 

 

 

 

vincekrebs.blogspot.com