Man, I have been BUSY
Yes, BUSY. The whole weekend was chock full of things I had to do. Most of it was involved in helping a Catholic middle school retreat called ERIS, that a friend of mine started several years ago to raise money for a friend of his for medical expenses. It's kept up every year since, and each year we find a new cause to donate the money to. I won't say too much about it, other than the fact that we did a few skits, and apparently I make a good Satan. I guess throwing a little kung fu into the mix might enhance the evil. Or something like that. But yes, the kids seemed to like the whole retreat (it was for a day), since some of them admitted it was the best day they'd ever had in their LIFE. Which I think means they liked it. But it's all run by young 'uns, college kids, and the occasional old fart like me. But it was fun.

So Sunday was a little bit of relaxing, sleeping to recover from Saturday, mostly. And lion dance practice, which we're starting again, to get ready for the tournament in May. Which, sadly, coincides with TU's graduation. I should talk to Sifu about planning his tournament a little better in the future. I've already been lined up to help with his tournament, though, so I think that's the plan.

Lately it's been mostly kung fu, and I went ahead and got Season 3 of 24. Man, I had forgotten how much I love that show. It's not for everyone, and a lot of people think it's unrealistic, but I happen to think the opposite. I think it's believable, it's just coincidental that a guy has so much bad happen to him in one day. Or, by now, three days. Not all in a row, naturally. Some people do have rather bad luck. But the way the unroll the plot line is exquisite, and it's easy to get sucked in, if you don't resist. Kind of like Naruto... But yes. I like the characters a lot. That, and Elisha Cuthbert is one of the most attractive actresses on the planet. I guess you could say I'm a fan. I do think one reason I like the show so much is because even if you're having a bad day, they're having a worse one, and it makes everything seem so much nicer by the time the credits roll.

And yesterday was the second day of our schedule of pain at kung fu. Sifu's training us rather hard. And by hard, I mean pain raised to the power of insane. So far it's only four people each class, and not always the same four, although Justin and I seem to be regulars. Sadly, I had to miss Saturday, but Sifu wasn't there, so I don't think it was as bad. Because he was definitely there yesterday, and I'm STILL sore from it. I learned a few things. One of these things was that after three hundred crunches in a row, it's not your abs you feel so much. It's your neck. Since it takes a decent amount of time to do three hundred crunches and you're always pulling your head up with each one (not with the hands), it's more exposure to exercise to pull your head forward than you normally ever get. So yeah, there was that, the fifty pushups was kind of a relief from the rest of it. Sifu's bumped our horse stances (before and after all the other stances) to two minutes. The first one is doable. After doing a minute of each other stance, the final horse isn't quite so easy. It's thirteen minutes of continuous stances, and even Sihing admits that's probably the hardest part. I'm still quite sore, which means my muscles are worked, which means they will probably get stronger (and perhaps more developed), which is COOL. I'm thinking I may start feeling sorry for any of the other students who spar with any of us, the ones going through this training. Especially anyone going against Sihing.

As an aside, God of War continues getting better, as it progresses. If you like gaming at ALL and have a PS2, you need to check it out. But it's not for kids. 'Nuff said.

Lately I've realized how much I've missed playing guitar, which has inspired me to play more. I do have a lot of stuff I've recorded, but I'm too shy to post any of it. Nothing with words (yet), but just stuff I start messing with and say, "Hey, not too shabby, maybe this could turn into something." I think perhaps I need to invent a time generator, put that on the top of my list of things to do. Then I'll actually have TIME to do all the things I want to do. You know, rock star, kung fu master, brilliant computer geek, etc. As it is, I have to focus on one thing at a time. Although I've started putting a little bit more time into the brilliant computer geek thing. I'm working on coding up the Karatsuba algorithm to use for my thesis, to try advancing it beyond where it was. It's been almost a year, and I sorta miss it. So back to the drawing board! Err, coding board. Screen. Whatever.

And taxes are due TOMORROW. So if this is news to you, it might be time to file an extension. I've got mine out of the way, which is a pleasant thing to reflect upon. Ahhh... yes. Random link! Okay, here we go. Some things scare people. And for some reason, if it's really scary, it tends to be believed more. Why is that? Here, an example. Do you believe it? Careful with how easily YOU believe things.

P.S.: The weekend was TOO FULL. More pictures this weekend.
- posted by Pootenheimer @ 4:37 PM | 3 comments