Good times
Life goes on. Make sure you pay attention while it moves by - because everything going by? That's your life.

So I'm a little more pensive now, for some reason. Things have been going okay. I've gotten back in touch with a couple of the women who vanished mysteriously. Seems like they have just vanished from everyone, being busy with life. So I don't hate ALL women. Mostly. For now. But I think I'm still going to keep a good distance for the time being.

Work's been cool. Learning new stuff, starting to actually get opportunities to show my skills in various ways. I'm looking forward to making a difference. And my side business (which I'll just call "my business" from now on) is on the verge of a new development. I'm just finishing up a class I took online and over the phone that took two months. I'm quite excited to get moving onto the new stuff. I think it should be very interesting to see how it compares to how I've been doing so far.

And kung fu is excellent, of course. I've neglected to mention the fact that we have several people in our full contact class now, and that many of them (I think six) are actually competing in a tournament that's going to be on the weekend of the 11th. And Sihing? He's fighting the champion. But of course. So he'll be in the title match. Should definitely be interesting. I'll give more info as I find out. I'm not competing, myself, but I'm training with everyone. So my skills are coming back up to a decent level. It's been too long since I've really trained. I'm actually gaining muscle weight again.

That, and Sigung is coming! He'll be in this weekend. Buck Sam Kong. Sifu's Sifu. He'll be giving some workshops. Not just that - but I'll actually be having my next test. Under Sigung! That's right, it's my next level. Phase 2. Completion of the forms I've learned as a full group, with Sigung's blessing (if I pass). Next step is Phase 3, which only Sihing has completed. So if I can get that far, then I'll definitely have accomplished something big. For now, Phase 2 will do. Which is most likely going to require me to demonstrate Gung Gee for him. Which is STILL the hardest form I know. Ugh. But hopefully it'll go well.

And I've found something out interesting, in the lines of physical activity. I don't know how many of you have ever gone OUT to a movie with me. But I have a tendency to not walk down rows, having to avoid ten people's knees to get to my seat. No, I take the DIRECT path. Which is usually straight over the front rail. Occasionally over the first row of seats, as well. And sometimes, the top of that front rail is five feet off the ground or more. So vaulting it is not something seen too often. That type of stuff I do in lots of places, when I get the need or chance to. Well - I just found out that all of that has been categorized as a sport. Called Parkour. So since it's a sport, I'm going to have to learn the rest. The basics, since I appear to only practice some of the more advanced techniques. The basics are learning how to land properly (from a height), as well as learning how to roll correctly (which is used in conjunction with a landing from a higher height). Perhaps when I get a decent amount of practice down, I can get some video of it. Maybe put it on YouTube. Who knows.

Okay, more pensive stuff. I actually got this quote from a video I found about Parkour. But it works for anything. "We do not stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing." I like that quote a lot. It makes me feel a little less guilty about enjoying getting a new toy or two every now and then.

Speaking of which - the car has been keeping the smile on my face. I've learned how to drive it a little more effectively. And I'm comfortable enough now with a manual gearbox to not panic too much when I pull away from a stop. Even at a slight incline. The thing that does worry me is how easily the thing can reach a three-digit speed. It feels almost casual. ALMOST. But not quite. The rush from hearing the engine scream as it climbs at that pace is unreal. I've had a few experiences already that are memorable. Most of which involved witnessing another silly driver driving by at a reckless rate of speed. Which, of course, made me curious to see just how fast they were driving. So I had to catch up. Which meant I had to go FASTER. Over the weekend there were three.

The first of these was a little white Japanese car - I think it might have been a Nissan. There were three or four guys in it, most likely teenage. It blew through the light traffic on the BA as I was headed west. So I latched on behind them, punched it up to around 99 or so and caught up. Just from watching, it was disturbing to see how bad of a driver the guy really was. He seemed to not have full awareness of his surroundings, as he was not exactly driving optimally. My exit was right around there, so I just punched it again and got out of there.

The second and third were both 4 wheel drive vehicles. I was taking a little road trip with Nick, going out to see what's south of Bixby. And I'll say this - it's really pretty! Especially in the fall. A good cruising road. On the way there, we were just pulling out of Bixby when we got behind an SUV. After Bixby, the speed limits go up a bit. The SUV picked it up speed and was going rather fast. The speed limit was about 65 (I think), and he was definitely going over that by more than 10. We just kept up with him, enjoying the scenery. Then we pulled through a little podunk town, with a speed limit around 35 or so. The SUV seemed to ignore it - perhaps he knew that there aren't any cops there, or something. I obeyed the limits of the city, and so he was way out in front when we got back out of the limits. I looked at Nick and said, "Let's catch up to him." It didn't take too long - I put the little Honda up to around 110 or so. Which is a record for me. And I'll say this - when you're going that fast with the top down, the wind noise is unreal. But the rush was crazy. Eh - I'm not TOO crazy. There weren't any other cars around, and it really was in the middle of nowhere.

The third one was a pickup on the way back. I had pulled behind a couple of slower cars, and was thinking about passing them when the truck blew by all of us at a crazy rate. So, of course, I had to catch up to him. I did about the same as I did the first time, and caught up without issue. I DID consider trying to pass him to see what he'd do, but I think there's a line around pushing the limit, and passing him would be crossing that line. But all in all, it was an eventful weekend, and I got my fix on seeing what hitting triple digits was like. I don't plan on making it a regular event, but it was definitely a rush. Although many bugs were killed in the process.

And now it's officially Halloween! Don't get scared. I went and saw Saw 3 over the weekend. The first Saw is actually very good, in my opinion. And 2 isn't too bad, either. 3 is probably not as good as either, but it wasn't BAD. Although I will say that all the gore the left out of the first one and the second one they put into the third one. And then doubled it, just to be sure. Yes, it's VERY gruesome and violent. One scene in particular made me a little perturbed, and it usually takes a good amount of gruesomeness to make me irked. This did it. So you're now warned. Although if you haven't seen the first Saw - I recommend it! It's a good Halloween flick. Most of the violence is implied but not shown. There IS some, but it's not overly done. I liked it mainly for the new angle they used. It's refreshing to see a new idea in an American horror movie. That doesn't happen much anymore.

Okay, enough blog for today. I need to get some sleep. Work in the morning, and such. But yes! Random linking first. The idea of superficial judgement turns my stomach. And the fact that I find myself doing it unintentially makes me sick, as well. I wish we didn't judge people on visual things. But it happens. And the images we're given don't help that. Oh! And bonus random link. Since I was looking for fun scenic routes to drive, I found one in particular. It's about 3 hours away, but if you're willing to do that drive (especially before fall's over), you might check it out.
- posted by Pootenheimer @ 11:37 PM | 4 comments