16 of 52 Juggling Act

So as usual I am late with this posting, my diet posting is behind as well.  Honestly I feel like a juggler on a high wire.  I get steady and I am tossing situps, pushups, tai chi broadsword, the tei hua form, journalling, eating right, etc and they are just flowing nicely then, work gets busy (jiggles the wire) my mom gets sick, (jiggles the wire), or for example dragon/lion dancing practice gets added to the items to be juggled list ... oops! Dropped that one!  I do not seem to have enough hands, time or skill to juggle all these things while balancing on a high wire. 

So today I am very frustrated with myself and with all the commitments and responsibilties that I am dropping, and failing to accomplish/complete.  I hate disappointing myself and other people. 

15 of 52 July long weekend

To continue ... the July long weekend is a tough place to start diet tracking online although I did stick to the portions limits I can't say I ate healthy, just well.

So in the last few days I have heard from several people that my husband and I constantly interrupt each other.  How rude on both our parts!   So I will be concious of this and note in my acts of kindness for the next little while the opportunities to NOT interrupt his stories or talk over him when I think he is taking to long to get to the point.   Never realized I was doing this I just thought HE was rude ... its all a matter of perspective I guess.  

Enjoyed my opportunity to participate in the demo,  kind of scary but I didn't embarras myself or Silent River Kung Fu. 

Was in the parade as the back end of a lion which was fun but I was behind Sihing Chesel and he has really long legs so I think our lion looked a little funny with big long strides in the front and frantic catch up steps in the rear. Oh well it was a good time and everyone involved was really great! 

14 of 52 Boot Camp

Sore, tired and rejuvinated that would describe me after attending the bootcamp on the weekend.  The different classes were awesome, really enjoyed the day until about 5 o'clock at which point my cup runneth over and I reached saturation point.  Supper was a nice rest and then Sifu Harrigan finished up with the Military Combatives which if you really want to know about well then maybe you should have been at bootcamp.  Sifu Lindstrom you were totally correct about the muscles that would be sore so I guess I was executing the moves corrrectly because I'm hurting in all the places you said I would.   Personally I have been really busy recently and I have been going thru my kung fu somewhat by rote ... doing it but not with the attention that it deserves, the boot camp brought back my spark so thanks to everyone for their part. 

13 of 52

The last few weeks have been really busy, at work we are in the process of switching accounting packages, what should have been a fairly smooth process has had a number of bumps. 

Dean and I have a dance event coming up the first weekend in June so we have been practicing like crazy ... realized due to the journalling of hours that I spent more time on dancing than I have on my Kung Fu in the last two weeks.  Amazing though I still have kept up on my Kung Fu numbers, what took the hit was my weekly journal (missed 2 weeks) and my healthy diet, for example on Tuesday  I had a dry old piece of cake for breakfast, no lunch, a bag of chips on the way home at 9:30 pm for supper all chased with alot of coffee!  And now I sit here ... a Tim Hortons breakfast sandwich at 10AM and since then lots of coffee.  I am HUNGRY!

12 of 52 Pandamonium

Pandamonium was awesome!   Lots of participation, lots of numbers for those of us in I Ho Chuan, and lots of fun.   I got there at 5 am and had an opportunity to practice my nunchuk form many many times with Mr. Krebs, my tai chi broadsword with Sifu Langner and many reps of Kempo 1,2 &3, spear and stick 1, 2, & 3.  Sihing Robinson kept us motivated by yelling car everytime someone drove past or parked and then pulling off some fancy flying and spinning kicks on the heavy bags.  That man has more juice than the energerizer bunny, he just keeps going and going! 

My hubby arrived just before 8 AM and we set up the tent and the tables outside for the barbeque which was up and running on time for the pancake breakfast at 9 AM.  Sifu Masterson and her volunteers had the whole outdoor thing running beautifully and even the weather cooperated.  

By Tai Chi class at 10 AM my knees were aching badly and I was loosing steam but the class was incredible ... definitely more chaotic than usual so it made it hard to focus ... but hey that’s good practice as well.   A number of us who know the whole tai chi long form ran through the whole thing several times and the energy in the room was smokin!

 It was the most fun I have had in a long time.  I prefer to train with other people ... alone it seems to me that something is missing.  Since my girls have been gone to China (we used to train together) practicing my kung fu became alot more solitary and somewhat two dimensional as a result.   So for me this event was a great experience .  I will see you all there next year!

We had some sad news this week ... my cousin Kim who is 47 passed away.  He was an epiliptic and suffered with grand mal seizures his whole life.  One of those seizures finally did him in.  The hubby and I are driving home and the radio is talking about what would be the title of a biography about the lives of some of the famous people in the world.  Now admitedly they are trying to be funny and picking all kinds of strange titles for some of the more eccentric famous people in the world.   My husband asked me what would be the title of my biography and what popped to mind was a line from a song (it might be the title not sure) 'Lovin Every Minute of It'.   Despite any whinning that I may do, or the struggles that I have faced, in reality my life has been blessed.   One of my personal requirements this year is writing down 5 things to be grateful for everyday,  it really makes you appreciate all the little things that make your life worthwhile.  So Kim I am grateful that you have been in my life for the past 47 years,  I am grateful for the opportunity to understand eplipsy and the impact it can have on life, I am grateful for the opportunity to see a person overcome a challenge like this,  I am grateful for the opportunity to share my grief with others on my blog, and I am grateful that writing this allows me to grieve/cry for someone who is loved and will be missed.

Sifu Beckett

10 of 52

I learned alot at the I Ho Chuan meeting ... listening to other people talk about their different methods of accomplishing the requirements always makes me aware of how unique people are.  All of us have different situations and priorities that influence how we work our Kung Fu into our daily life.  Some of us are morning people and roll out of bed and before they leave for work they have made serious inroads into getting it done.  Me I do what I can during the day and finish up at night (night owl here).   Not perhaps what Sifu had it mind but hey it works for me. 

For those of us who are hitting a wall when it comes to motivation I think we are all a little down from the weather ... I know I have gotten outside to work on my forms a couple of times but then it snows yet again!  Its kind of depressing I know!  Apparently this weekend April 21st and 22nd is supposed to be in the teens and sunny ... really looking forward to that.  My new neighbors can start wondering what that woman is doing in her backyard with a wooden sword/spear/stick.   I wonder how long it will take them to ask ... its kind of funny.