It's late and I'm sleepy
Yes, sleepy. I have been losing sleep periodically over the past week and a half. It's because I'm a busy guy. What can I say?

So I thought I'd write a bit of blog before crashing to bed tonight. I've decided to get back into guitar a little more. The whole thing with me changing choirs has helped spawn some of it. I learned how to play a new song! Actually, an old song (the second one on their playlist). It's a good song.

Lately I've been a teacher a lot. Guitar for one, and kung fu for another. And also my side business stuff - I help teach people on a forum I use. But tonight was a big kung fu night for me, for teaching. I taught two classes. The beginner class first, which was pretty big, and then the intermediate/advanced class. Normally Cory handles warmups for the first class, but he seems to have injured his eye at a tournament this last weekend. So I took both warmups. There are several crunches, pushups, that type of thing in our warmups. I got extra tonight, which might be why I'm especially exhausted. But I think I taught a few people some good stuff. I felt useful, which is a good feeling for me.

Yes, there was a tournament this last Saturday. I actually competed in it, in the forms competition for adult black belts. Sifu was a judge, and he gave me a 9.8 (which is quite good). However, it was a karate tournament, and karate judges tend to not like kung fu as much. I got 9.5s across the board from the rest of the judges. I had several complements on my form, so I think I did okay. A few people made the comment that I got robbed, but it's okay. Maybe I should make up a karate tournament-ready form. One that involves a lot of screaming, jumping, and kicking above the head. Since it appears that's what it takes to get good points. Not that it has anything to do with actual EFFECTIVE manuevers. Eh, I'll just keep working on improving my forms.

Speaking of tournaments, there's another one coming up this next weekend. A big one, in Plano (by Dallas). Sifu's going, Cory's going. I was thinking of going to support, but Sifu made the comment that perhaps I should compete. I don't know if I should - I'm almost burnt out, and I think it might be an idea to take a weekend off. Imagine that. It's something I have to figure out, since it seems lately I've been around kung fu more than Sihing, so Sifu seems to be counting on me more. I respect him, so I try to help him where I can. I'm just trying to figure out if this is something I need to do or not. It'd be a four hour drive each way, leaving Friday night, coming back Sunday evening. A bit of cost for gas and hotel. I guess I'll have to sleep on that one.

Okay - random interjection of something funny. If you're a nerd, you'll find this funny. If you're a bilingual nerd, you'll find it especially funny. It's fitting with the latest pirate craziness. (Although I STILL don't especially like the new movie.)

In 1588, invasion was beginning.
Drake : Ahoy, me hearty! What happen?
Mariner #1: Oh my! Somebody set up us the invasion.
Mariner #2: We get flag signal.
Drake : What!
Mariner #2: Main mast turn on.
Drake : It's you!
Pedro de Valdes : Como estáis vosotros caballeros!
Pedro de Valdes : Toda vuestra flota está perteneciendo a nosotros.
Pedro de Valdes : Estáis en su camino a vuestra destrucción.
Drake : What you say, matey?
Pedro de Valdes : Joer! Que no tenéis oportunidad de sobrevivir hagad vuestro tiempo
Pedro de Valdes : Ja Ja Ja Ja....
Mariner #1: Well, I never!
Mariner #2: Captain!
Drake : Avast mateys!! Take off every galeon!
Drake : Yarr!! You know what you doing.
Drake : Move cannons.
Drake : For great justice.
Drake : ARRR!

Oh yeah, good stuff. In other news, I've started learning Tai Chi. I'm adding it to my skills to balance out kung fu. Soft and hard, yin and yang. So forth. It's very interesting! It's similar to kung fu, but at the same time, VERY different. I think it'll help me learn a lot more, though. I was influenced to start learning by a particular gentlemen who gave a workshop a few weeks back. Yes, the one who made me spin around on the floor many times. You can get an idea of what he does here. And although it might look almost fake, the guys he's playing with are not faking it, believe me. It's a lot easier to believe it when you're the one he's throwing around. I'm starting to learn from Sifu, but in time I'll be visiting him to get additional training. Good stuff, indeed.

Oh! Related to kung fu, there's a movie coming out. September 22nd in the U.S. It's with a certain fellow named Jet Li. You may have heard of him. This is his last martial arts movie. Not his last movie, just his last martial arts epic film. I think it looks quite good. You can check for yourself. (Although I think this trailer is better.) And yes, I'll be going to see it midnight on release (or earlier). But you know what? I'm too impatient, and the movie looks TOO GOOD. So I bought it. Yes, that's right. I went ahead, found it on DVD (online), and bought it. It's on its way. The movie was already released in China a while back, so it's out on DVD there - it's legit. I'm going to have a good kung fu movie night when I get it, so if you're interested, let me know. It will be luscious!

Goodness! That's a lot of stuff to write about. And I wanted to make it quick. Oh well. Seems I already put a lot of links in today. But I still have a RANDOM link! Again, one that I got from Nick. He's just full of splendid randomness. Did you ever play Pac-Man? Probably. Did you like it? Probably at least a little. Were you good at it? Did you learn the tricks to playing? It's a complicated game, you know. Don't worry, there are some people who can help you out. Oh! Bonus link. I want this.
- posted by Pootenheimer @ 12:26 AM | 5 comments