The big stuff and the little stuff

I was in a big slump last week and I finally made a really big decision that I have hummed and hawed over for a long time now. I'm going back to school. This will be a big change for me and my family. I won't be working and my kids might have to be in early morning child care. It's kind of scary but in an exciting, top of the roller coaster kind of way. I am happy with this decision, and I feel good that I am working towards a career for myself.

The forms marathon was good, I did 99 forms in my 2 odd hours at the kwoon. My knees are really feeling it today. It was cool to be a link in that unbroken chain of forms. This reaffirms that it really doesn't take long to get in 5 forms a day.

We grappled in San Shou this week. We learned a mount escape and then our challenge was who could reverse positions fastest. I worked with Mr. Krebs and also fought him for my challenge. He got out of my mount in 15 seconds which kind of bummed me out, I figured there was no way I'd beat that. So on the bottom I couldn't pull off the mount escape we learned, but then for the first time I actually remembered something WHILE I was rolling and thought, hey, he's all tied up here so I trapped and rolled... and there it was 13 seconds! So in a very unsportsmanlike manner I jumped up with a big yahoo and my arms in the air, after which I apologized to Mr. Krebs for doing so. It was awesome to actually pull something off. So what if it's the first thing you learn grappling! So until next week, cheers.

I'm glad I went

It's been a catch up week for me, my numbers aren't 100% caught up from vacation but I'm getting there.
I have missed a lot of my san shou class in the past month and a half. I hate to admit but doing traditional san shou with a bunch of guys took it's toll on me and I took a class off. I was gone for two weeks and last week I finally went to class. I had a terrible day, I was so sore and I didn't want to be there. I've never had a bad class but this one was exactly what I needed. Lots of sparring drills with a partner to get warmed up before our matches. My partner made me laugh and I felt looser than I had in a long time. I guess if you don't fight it sounds weird to say how relaxing it can be to punch and kick someone and especially to take those hits too. Getting a little banged up was just what the doctor ordered.

The honeymoons over

So it's back to business as usual after having a week off of kung fu and 2 weeks off work. What a vacation! The time off was good, now that the old aches and pains are coming back I can see where they are originating. Good in a weird kind of way I guess. I had my first physio appointment today. I'm pretty stoked I actually made the appointment and got there after thinking of doing it for so long. I may have overwhelmed her with everything I want fixed though, it was kind of funny, at one point she ran out of paper. Maybe I just talk too much.
So I've noticed the "honeymoon" is over for a lot of people in regards to the UBBT. We are past the point where the excitement of starting isn't a big motivator anymore. Now we are starting the uphill climb. I'm feeling it myself, especially after taking a week off. At the beginning you couldn't read the blogs fast enough, there were so many. This is the part where I tell myself how happy I'll be when I look back and see how far I've come. I don't think anyone who puts that much time and effort into training and being a better person for a whole year can look back and think, huh maybe I should have just stayed where I was.

Warm places

So I'm headed to Mexico tomorrow morning and I'm trying to cram in as many requirements as I can tonight. I think because so often I am going for numbers I have let some of my technique slip a little. Someone brought it to my attention and I've been thinking about it ever since. If I get 5 reps of kempo in and they suck then what was the point? Because I know I will be practicing this doesn't fall under the "practicing wrong is better than no practice at all" category. So I'm back to the basics once again, I seem to be ending up there a lot My mantra right now is mindful practice! I'll be blogging late next week, see you all then!