Feb 9th, 2017

I have finally unwound from Chinese New Year and settled in to the year of the rooster.  Its always a bit of a crash after all the excitement but kind of nice as well.  So far the numbers are good,  I am slowly adding move by move to both my forms and starting to feel some flow.  Because these forms are slower its easier to feel the good and bad that's happening when you are learning something new.  I might not know why this particular move is feeling awkward ... lots of times its the timing ... or my shoulders are up but I am taking the time to discover how each sequence should feel when its right.  I have the advantage of Sifu Melanie Beckett (daughter who studied in china for five years) to clarify for me when I can't figure it out on my own.  So I have my own expectations that these forms are going to be stellar ... no excuse when I have access to that much knowledge.  I can hardly wait for the  warm weather that is coming next week ... I can practice on the back deck without worrying about damaging light fixtures, cats or drywall.

We need a house/cat sitter Feb 28th to March 12th, however I live out on an acreage about 20 mins south east from Spruce Grove (ten minutes from Devon).  If you know of anyone who would be interested in making a few extra dollars and hanging out with a couple of cats please let me know.

Rooster Year

First I would like to say thank you to everyone who helped with the dirty tasks at the Chinese New Year Banquet, clearing tables, scraping dishes and repacking, loading and cleaning.  It went like silk and that is thanks to all of you!

I have started my new forms and its pretty exciting, a sword in my hand is a good feeling.  Not sure why I like them so much but I do.   Youngest Sifu Beckett is teaching me the Tai Chi Straight Sword form. So far doing 5 to 10 reps of what I know is pretty easy but this is a pretty long form so the learning curve is going to be lengthy.  Watching the video I must say its beautiful and I hope I can do it justice.  As usual for the first week my tracking and numbers are looking good, every year I get better at this part of the process ... journaling, writing things down, keeping up on my numbers.  Maintaining this is the key and my goal for this year (again)!