I'm getting buried out here.

I think winter is here forever, just get used to the inevitable everyone! Although the unwanted snow keeps coming, it does give me an opportunity to do acts of kindness for the seniors in Stony Plain. The two driveways our our group keeps up belong to some really sweet seniors. Sometimes when your out there shoveling and it's snowing and blowing up the back of your jacket it's hard to feel warm and fuzzy about doing good, but when a senior citizen opens the door and hands you some home made treats and says thank you so much, it puts a face to who your helping, and I realize all over again why we do this every year.

This week I feel like I fully realized the vast scope of what I need to be working on in order to be ready to test for black belt in October. Sometimes I think other people have more faith in me than they should. I don't know if I will be ready. There are days that I drive home and I think of all the homework in my backpack and the grade point average I want to maintain, the dinner to make, the kung fu class to teach, the kids to put to bed, my dwindling numbers on physout and all the training I should be doing every night and all the time I want to spend hiding my head under a pillow and it seems insurmountable. I know that all the others who are part of the UBBT or Sihings preparing for black belt are in the same boat, but I guess I felt sorry for myself this week. I suppose I just pull up my socks and keep on keeping on. The snow will have to melt sooner or later, and thats probably all thats got me feeling like I need a vacation right now.

Showing up

It's reading week, which means I have no school for a week, yahoo! My biggest goal is to catch up on my requirements that I fell behind on while studying for my midterms. Today I did a whole bunch of nothing, it was pretty great. My workout kept getting postponed throughout the day for other, less important, but easier things. Why is it so hard to get going? Once I got down to the basement and turned on some music, I had a great workout and an hour flew by. I think the key to success in my training is going to be showing up. You can't help but get better when you show up. Just making yourself drop for pushups isn't that hard after you've made yourself get down there. How many times have I been dead tired and didn't want to go to class but I went and had the best class I've had in weeks, or had a light bulb turn on in my head about something. It's not hard to workout for an hour or practice techniques for an hour, it's getting there that's the hard part, and really thats the easiest part when you think about it.

fuel

I have been doing a detox since last thursday, not the kind where you don't eat or you take a supplement, just a super clean eating kind of detox. I have given up coffee, it was really hard, especially during exams right now but it's done. I have noticed that I don't have the up and down tired times of day that I am used to. I have been feeling not so great the last few weeks so I wanted to give myself a jump start. Its funny how long it takes for it to occur to me that I don't feel well because of what I'm putting into my body. We're fueling a machine after all, and if you feed it junk then it's going to perform like junk. Every cell in our body is constantly working to do the job it's meant to perform and we persist in making it as hard for them as possible, it sounds crazy but we still do it, especially me. I will be working harder to make better choices for myself so I can train at my maximum potential

Feb. 8th

The week is off to a slow start training wise, I haven't felt very well for the last week so I'm just keeping up right now. I had a great time at the Chinese New Years banquet, although I don't see a lot of it being in the basement getting the kids ready to go on stage, and myself as well. My little group of black dragons did well, I was really proud of them.

It was nice to talk with some of my training mates in a more informal setting, there is a really great group of Sihings and I'm excited that we're all going for black belt together. Not too much else, see you all next week.

This week

It's been a pretty good week, I've been able to make it to open training and the fitness class on Saturdays. Thanks to some fellow Sihings I've learned more of Lou Gar this week too. My shoulder/elbow/wrist tendinitis finally seems to be getting better, I just have to be careful not to push my shoulders too much, which means my reps are a little low in that area, but I think I'll be able to catch up soon. I've had a setback with my feet, did some 360 jumps in a form I was practicing and I guess my feet weren't ready for it. The "trigger finger" condition I had in my hands is completely gone now, I'm really happy with that. I was supposed to start a supplement regime by January 15th, but that goal has been pushed back while I continue some reading. I got an interesting book called Stop Pain, it's about chronic pain and inflammation, so I'm hoping by the time I'm done it I'll have a better idea of where I should go regarding joint and muscle repair. The Chinese New Year banquet is this Saturday and I am last minute involved with the sparring demo. I am excited to be a part of it, but nervous because I really haven't sparred much in the last few months... gotta get on top of that sparring requirement! That's it for this week! Train hard everybody.

right here, right now

Today I went to a memorial service for a friend. It was a really great experience, it was supposed to be a celebration of his life and it was. Many friends stood up to talk and share stories about him. Something that almost everyone said was how Dennis was always living in the moment. We talk a lot about living in the moment, being mindful of everything we do. It really got me thinking about not just applying living in the moment to my training, but to the things in my life I feel like I have to endure. The commute to and from school for example. The roads have been terrible the past few weeks and it was taking me over an hour each way, every day. We've all been stuck in traffic and know how excruciating it can be. I have been trying to think of it in other ways. Really, I have been forced into sitting and listening to music or whatever I choose to think about for 2+ hours a day. Thats actually kind of cool. I always feel like I am rushing from place to place during the week and here I have 10 hours a week to chill out and gather my thoughts. I've seen so many people in accidents the past few weeks, I can think about how grateful I am to still be ON the road and safe. Something that was said today that hit home for me was that happiness is right here, right now. It's not waiting for you in some distant place in the future. So I will strive to find happiness and gratitude right here, right now, wherever that may be.

Do you really think you could take me?

I'm sure that everyone that trains in any kind of martial art has encountered a wise guy or girl that says something along the general lines of "ooo your in kung fu... do you think you can take me?" or " well, don't make her mad, she'll kick your butt". If you've never met someone like this, you will, it's inevitable. I don't know how many times big guys ask me if I seriously think I'd be able to defend myself against them. I sometimes wish that I didn't know better and I could take the guy out. Most people don't realize that martial arts aren't just about fighting, or that they should be about more than that. How does the saying go? With great power comes great responsibility. Part of becoming a martial artist is having control over the urge to take down the goofball who's mocking you with fake karate chops in the air while making Bruce Lee inspired sounds. While it would be super impressive to take someone out, it's not about proving you can beat up every guy that challenges you along the way. I would rather change the way people see martial arts by being humble and kind and striving to be the kind of person I would look up to. That being said, this is still pretty funny.