A couple of things
For one, yeah, the whole not sleeping at night thing finally paid off. Paid off in a BAD WAY. I got sick, and lost my voice. Which isn't so good. But it really wasn't very sick (I went to the doctor), so it's not too bad, either. I did get a day off, where I finally caught up with some sleep, which I think I needed. And I got to go to the doctor, where he decided (which I had anticipated), it was just a mild throat infection with a slight sinus infection on top of it. So back to Amoxicillin it was for me, and trying to get further towards a proper sleep cycle.

I've still been going to kung fu, though, because exercise is GOOD for you. I had a few long talks with Sifu, about training in the old days, and stuff like that. Well, I'm thinking it got HIM thinking, because yesterday was a different type of class. Entirely. It was more traditional kung fu, which I haven't seen him push in probably a few years. And it made me smile. He picked out two independed moves from the first form (moves which he said most people don't do right), and spent pretty much all of class working on them. These are BASIC moves. With elementary stance work in them, so it was a lot of stance practice on top of practice for the hand movements. He would tell everyone to get into position by counting, "1!" Then he'd check, make sure everyone's stances were proper, and low enough, and then, "2!". Repeat. A LOT. The second part of the form was only two stances. Moving from a horse to a slightly different horse, then to a bow and arrow. By the end of it, people's legs were shaking, a decent amount of groaning could be heard, and more than one person collapsed in pain. Ooh, I loved it! I was helping a newer student learn basics, so I couldn't practice with the others. But I have been through it before, although it's been a while. There's just something about that type of practice - when everyone in the room is pushing hard just to stay standing, you can FEEL the effort and pain in the room. Especially when you hear the whines and groans to go along with it, there's just a tangible tension in the air. THAT is kung fu. For your information, kung fu actually translates, roughly, to "hard work". And yesterday, I think people actually got a good taste of it. It makes me want to push myself further during my practicing at home. And yes, I'm getting some strange new muscle definition. Mainly in the legs, but it's rather interesting. Be a few more weeks before I get to the point where my legs aren't hurting EVERY DAY. Maybe months.

And I FINALLY made space to copy my pictures over from the camera. I've been going through them, but I need to pick out a few and format them for web-friendly use. Understand, each of them are at least a meg in size. Some two. Plus the videos. That's not so web-friendly. But I'll probably go through and put some choice shots, along with a recanting of my adventure, a bit at a time. Very soon, I promise!

Pretty much all my time lately has been kung fu and work, although I'm thinking that I'm missing the guitar a little too much, so perhaps play this Sunday for the holiday. Yes, it is Easter this Sunday! If there ever was a holiday, this would be it. So I think that's good reason to pick up the guitar.

Anyway, I think tonight will be play time, to go out and see a movie. I haven't seen a movie outside my place in a while. Just kung fu movies, while I practice. For purely motivational purposes, of course. Speaking of which, there's one I got that Justin and I watched over the weekend that isn't kung fu but Muay Thai, but the guy in it is incredible. I highly recommend it - it's called Ong-Bak, and it is GOOD. I may have to loan it to Sifu. But the main character played by Tony Jaa (it's a pseudonymn, but it works) performs some seemingly superhuman acts. And there are no wires, no computer effects, no stuntmen. It's like a young Jackie Chan on CRACK. If you can find it, check it out. If you can't (which wouldn't be surprising), talk to me. Maybe I can arrange a viewing.

Okay, and that's enough for today. Random link? Okay, okay. Yeah, I'm still on my crazy kung fu kick, so it's going to bleed over into the random link today. A decent page on what proper training is, and comments on how people today use it (or don't).
- posted by Pootenheimer @ 2:59 PM | 0 comments