Journal of Aaradia's MA Journey

No. It isn't so easy on an HMO (my type of health insurance) to go see that type of Dr.

I have done physical therapy for my knees several times. But a full on physiotherapist (from descriptions here) seems like a different thing. And not so easy to get to see.

Right now, I have been focusing on trying to get my acid reflux/ post nasal drip/ cough issue sorted out. Lots and lots of tests to rule out scary stuff, but no solution yet. Still working at that one.

 

Sunday, November 20, 2016 - Day off/ Rest day


Monday, November 21, 2016 - 5:00 - stretching and warm up. TCC 24 form.

5:30 - Two person forms practice with Ms. M. Both two person staff and Golden Leopard vs Tiger.

6:30 - Stick fighting class

7:00 - Joined Ms. M's make up lesson to have her instructor review how our two person staff is coming along. I think this may be the first time he has looked at it. Good tips.

7:35 - Talked about two person staff with both my partners at the same time. We all talked about it a bit - Ms. M, Mr. R and I. Then I had to get a problem with my streaming service fixed. It is linked to my Debit Card. My bank issued me a new card, so I had to get that on file. It took awhile.

8:00 - techniques practice with Ms. B. yellow and green sash techniques.

8:30 - talked to Tai Sifu about something.

Then, solo practice. CLF - Dagger, double dagger, stick and dagger techniques. TCC 40 form. a bit of kicking practice, not much. I lagged on that. (10 minutes?) spining rear with advance and walking rear. A bit of snap kicking on the kicking board.

9:40ish - school closes (4 hours)

 

Tuesday, November 22, 2016 -

6:39 - Stretching and warm up

7:00 - Solo practice- in no particular order. TCC 48 combination form. CLF Kicking practice. Yellow and most of the Green sash kicks. Almost an hour of kicking practice. Brown sash 3rd degree (15 minutes) and blue sash tecniques (10 minutes).

9:00 - School closes (2 hours and 21 minutes)

 

Wednesday, November 23, 2016 - Worked a day shift due to holiday hours for Thanksgiving holiday extended weekend.

6:35ish - Stretching and warm up

7:00 - Solo practice. CLF - Purple and Brown sash 1st degree techniques. Weapons forms practice. Spear and staff. Did detailing and then finished by doing the forms full on.

TCC 108 long form, 48 combination, Fajing and 54 Gim. Just focusing on the Gim corrections I have recently received, so I didn't do the full form.

Overdid the kicking practice yesterday, and my left knee was bugging me a lot, so unfortunately, no kicking practice.

9:00 - School closes (2 hours and 25 minutes)


Thursday, November 24, 2016 - Thanksgiving Holiday/ Rest day

Friday, November 25, 2016 - Day off of work,but school closed. Both due to Thanksgiving holiday weekend. I was a particlarly lazy person today. Didn't get anything (chores) accomplished that I intended today at all. Just was bumming around the house playing Warcraft and all.

 

Saturday, November 26, 2016 -

11:00 - Sparring class. Dang it, it is always something. I injured something just inside my left shoulder blade.

12:00 - Advanced TCC push hands/ moving step class. Gods I love this class! Regular instructor back from the China trip.

1:00- I was lazy and wasted way too much time. A little rest after two hours of combatives classes is ok. This much time- not ok. I need to get better and more disciplined abput this. For one thing, I can stretch while resting after the class. And then I need to make the rest time shorter.

1:55ish - TCC Weapons forms. Gim - 32 on both sides and 54. Double gim. Then some kicking practice. Triple front kick, spinning rear and walking rear. About 15 -20? minutes?

3:00 - school closes (3 hours and 5 minutes)



Sunday, November 27, 2016 - rested/ Day off. Back still hurting inside the left shoulder blade. So frustrating!

 

Well ok. My OCD got in the way of my log. I missed some time, then obsessed on that. And ended up quitting it because I was frustrated that it wasn't EXACTLY perfect. I got so obessed with going back and fixing it, then procrastinated because there was no way I could go back and remember all the time I missed.

It's hard to explain to non-OCD people.

Anyways, I did find the log very useful. So I am starting again with the new year.

 

Sunday, January, 1, 2017 and Monday, January 2, 2017 - School closed due to New Year's Holiday. Legal holiday was on the 2nd. Rest days.


Tuesday, January 3, 2017 - Been dealing with leg issues and recovering from a cold that is giving me breathing difficulties, so no sparring.

6:40 - Stretching and warm up. Then solo practice. Some techniques and forms for CLF. Can't remember exactly what though. Took it slowly pace-wise with a lot of resting times, due to ailments.

Did some TCC 40 form practice with Ms. Rn. (Using two letters now to differentiate between other Ms. R that I practice with.)

About 1 hour and 40 minutes of practice time- best estimate with all the rests.


Wednesday, January 4, 2017 - Evening shift/ Rest day.

 

Thursday, January 5, 2017 -

6:30 - last half of TCC Class.

7:00 - Tai Sifu CLF class. We have a Chinese New Year's demonstration coming up at the end of this month. I asked a question about groups and if they pace to be in sync with the person at the head and he said yes. Then, it turns out he started talking about this because the class is going to be doing the stick form. And he put me as the front pace person. Yikes! I didn't ask about that to be the person in front. I was just curious from watching past demo's. Actually, I think he put me in there because I was the highest ranking person in the class that night.

Anyways, I choked and forgot things I know at first, but settled into it and did better. My classmates told me that everyone made mistakes, so not to worry. See, I couldn't see that as I was in front most of the form- except when we changed directions.

We mostly practiced for this, but did some formal exercise afterwards.

This will be a learning experience.

8:00 - Two person practice with Ms. M. The instructor organizing the exhibition, who is also my TCC instructor and Ms. M's CLF instructor, came in and watched and gave some input. He said to keep practicing both until next Friday and then he will decide which form we should do. He seems at this point to think the Golden Leopard vs Tiger looks better. Which may be true, but we felt he couldn't really judge tonight as our staff was worse than usual.

The floor in the big room gets this weird moisture coming up from the underground. It is some cement type floor. And it gets slippery when it rains, which it was doing this night. Also, the humidity was making it hard to slide our hands with our staffs. I hadn't experienced that before. It was weird.

8:30 - TCC Private lesson. Working on the 54 Gim.

9:00 School closes (2 hours and 30 minutes)

 

Friday, January 6, 2017 -

6:30 - Weapon forms class. Started the Chau Sot Staff form. Here is some video clip I just found of some student doing it at one of our tournaments. This would be an intermediate level student.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25uF8yy6ong

7:00- practiced two person staff and Golden Leopard vs Tiger with Ms. M. Her normal practice partner this time on Fridays was not in. I was still not physically able to run through all my forms at format speed. We did about an hour of two person practice, then went through all the solo hand forms. Lots of resting in between due to my issues.

We decided after practicing two person forms that the instructor organizing this (who is also Ms. M's CLF instructor and my TCC instructor) is right and that probably we will need to do golden leopard vs tiger instead of the staff. We are just further along in that form together. We have a rhythm and a flow to it that we don't have yet with the two person staff. And we still get stuck in a couple of places with the staff too.

9:20- school closed (2 hours and 50 minutes)



Saturday, January 7, 2017 - Worked all day. Rest day.

2017 - week 1 total - 7 hours
2017 Total - 7 hours and 00 minutes


Sunday, January 8, 2017 - Rest day.

 

Thanks Brigid! I never intended to quit completely. My OCD just did weird things to me and I quit while I sorted it out. You are very kind with what you said.

Monday, January 9, 2017 -

6:30 - Stick Fighting class - It was a back to basics sort of class. I never mind that. You can't get enough of the basics.

7:00 - CLF Private Lesson. Finished my review of all techniques by doing double daggers. Next wee, the plan is to start reviewing my tournament forms.

7:40ish - rested a bit. 9 star two person practice with Ms. D.

8:00 - Techniques practice. Double Daggers. Yellow and Green sash techniques.

8:30 - Cane techniques. TCC practice- Fajing, 48 combination and 54 gim.

9:55 school closes (3 hours and 25 minutes)

 

Nice to know I am not the only one with memory issues, Heraclius!

Tuesday, January 10, 2017 -

6:40ish - Stretching and warm up.

7:00 - Solo practice. CLF - Stick and dagger Techniques. Really taking time and focusing on details.

Well, dang it! and here are my memory issues, because I waited too long to write down what I did. So, I can't remember exactly what, I will just say I practiced solo, no classes until closing. I think I took about a half hour break in there talking to another student too.

9:00 - School closes (1 hour and 50 minutes)


Wednesday, January 11, 2017 - evening shift/ rest day



Thursday, January 12, 2017 -

6:30 - last half of TCC class.

7:00 - Tai Sifu CLF class. First part of class we practiced our stick form for the exhibition performance. Then, we did formal exercise, 9 star two person set, and the Chau Sot staff form.

8:00 - Two person staff practice with Ms. M.

8:30 - TCC Private lesson. Still working on the 54 gim. Also asked for help on a part of the 48 combination where I was having trouble remembering his corrections.

9:00 - school closes (2 hours and 30 minutes)

 

Friday, January 13, 2017 -

6:30 - Most of the regulars in the weapons class, including me, missed it and will miss the next couple of classes as well. Why? Because we are in the Chinese New' Year's exhibition on January 28. And rehearsals are scheduled at the same time. It's a bit of a bummer, but ok because those of us missing weapon's class know the weapon being taught now.

Most of the time was spent doing the group stick form. I am the pace person at the head of the group. It's hard to say how well it went for the group, since I can't see a lot of the group most of the time. It was a bit chaotic for sure. We don't know the exact number of people who will be doing it. A couple of people we think are doing it weren't there. They will have to be there the next rehearsal to be part of the performance.

For me personally, I messed up a couple of places, but overall did ok. I asked for feedback about the pace and was told it is good. The messing up is just getting used to the nerves. I did perfectly fine on my own several times this week - including right after this practice session.

I was told there are a couple of people not trying to keep pace with the group. And I saw this out of the corner of my eye with, well one person who is sort of known for things like this.

Also, Tai Sifu was calling out things when we practiced before in his class. But he wasn't here and the instructor leading it didn't know the calls. So I was asked to do it. I was like "well I haven't done it before, but I will give it a try." LOL- what else can I do? It was ok. Sort of weird to make the call with the group, have us pause and then yell again for the group to start the next sequence. Like I had to do this double call. I verified with him later that he will be doing the calls during the performance.

After that part, we all did a mock performance. in the sequence we will be doing it. Well, in the sequence the students are performing. I am not sure if the instructors will be doing their performances intermixed or after all the students. I suspect the latter.

7:00 - 7:30 - didn't do much.

7:30 - Forms formatting. Haven't done this in a few weeks with various health issues. I did most of it, but not quite all. Did everything but wall bag, second side of golden leopard vs tiger, and the Dahn Do form. Breathing is getting better, I think the cold part of it is gone, but the sinus issue is something I have to get under control. I think I will be looking into natural remedies as well as continuing to hope the Dr's will fix it. So far, they haven't helped. And I have been trying to get their help for years now.

8:30 - Golden Leopard vs Tiger practice with Ms. M. This is what we are doing in the exhibition, so we have a bunch of extra practice sessions the next couple of weeks to try and make it a great performance!

9:10 - school closes (2 hours and 10 minutes)

 

Saturday, January 14, 2017 -

10:00 - Two person practice with Mr. R. I asked to start off with Golden Leopard vs Tiger, due to being part of the exhibition. We worked on it so much, we lost track of time and didn't' get around to the staff! It was great, as always. I am very fortunate that Mr. R takes the time to help me with this. He doesn't need to.

11:00 - Sparring class. LOL! I got whupped a lot today. Some days you do better than others, this just wasn't my day. All good, learned a lot and had fun. I also got clocked in the head several times- one time kind of hard. And on a day where we were using tournament rules, so no head contact was supposed to happen! Still, we can go close to the head. And the bad tendency is if you know no contact, you don't protect yourself, even though you are supposed to. My head protection was getting better, but it was bad today. It needs a lot of work.

12:00 - push hands/ moving step class. Not much to say except I LOVE THIS CLASS!!!!! During moving step - we drilled pushing against the dead angle and hook-pull-push.

1:00 - rested. And goofed off talking to fellow students. Next time, I am going to at least stretch. And try to lessen the time. A break after several hours of combatives is fine. But not this long!

2:00 - spear form. I am trying to emphasize the forms I am weakest at right now. Then I did some TCC. Worked on 54 Gim and started on 32 gim. Flute form.

3:00 - school closes - (4 hours)

2017 - week 2 total - 13 hours and 46 minutes
2017 Total - 20 hours and 46 minutes


Sunday, January 15, 2017 - Rest Day

 

Monday, January 16, 2017 - MLK Jr. Holiday.

5:10 - Golden Leopard vs Tiger two person practice with Ms. M. We meant to do more, but ended up just working on this. At one point, something was off and we couldn't figure it out, so I asked my other two person partner, who is more advanced than either of us, to look. He was very helpful. I am trying to develop the eye for things that he has.

Anyways, we are trying to get it looking good for the upcoming exhibition.

6:30 - Stick fighting class. Nice! My CLF instructor filled in and taught this class - for the first time I believe. First, she emphasized gearing up quickly, which I really appreciated.

This used to be emphasized a lot, but hasn't been lately - which annoys me. When people gearing up slowly cuts into MY learning time, it bothers me And some people for this class take WAY too much time gearing up. Glad she talked about it.

In the class, I was teamed up with a fellow student where this was her first stick fighting class. I hoped she liked the class.

7:00 - CLF private lesson. Well this was nice! I actually had her looking at my TCC. See, my TCC instructor is thinking I should do one form, but at my sash level, I was concerned I should be doing another form. You CAN do any form at my level, but my TCC instructor was suggesting I do the one at the sash level below my current level. I was worried that despite them saying you could do any level, the judges might hold that against you. The form at my level that I know is the Fajing form, but that is always subject to iffy judging. My TCC instructor was not super strict on which one I should do. So I asked her as she was my previous TCC instructor. She looked at both potential forms. It was just nice to have her teaching me TCC. My current TCC instructor is great, but she was my TCC instructor for over 10 years and took me through from beginner to advanced. So it was just fun and nice to have her teaching me some TCC again.

Anyways, got good feedback on my forms, but ultimately it did not help my decision. She said both were close in my execution of them and I could do either.

Well heck! I told her that I wasn't used to this. Both my TCC instructor and Tai Sifu had said it was my choice, but in the past, she would tell me what form to do and I would do what she said. She said she has mellowed out a bit, which is true. And I was like " so is this what happens when you get advanced? You have to make these decisions yourself, your instructor doesn't tell you what to do?" And she said yes. Well, phooey. I don't want to be a grown up MAist. I want to be told what to do! I am going to practice both for a bit longer and then make my decision,

We then did just a bit of the Butterfly knives set, as that is the weapon set for tournament. That one is set in stone. I am not advanced enough in CLF to get to choose what to do. It is the weapon at your curriculum level.

7:40ish - A bit of kicking practice. I have to kick lower on one side, due to my groin/ hip flexor strain, but it felt good to get back into kicking at all. About 15 minutes. Just Yellow sash kicks. Slow easy pace.

8:00 - techniques practice with Ms. B. Blue and Purple sash techniques.

8:30 - rested a bit.

8:40ish? - Solo techniques practice. Brown sash 3rd degree techniques. Yellow sash techniques.

9:24 - Stretching.

9:43 - School closes. It was a good productive fun night of practice! (4 hours and 43 minutes)

 

Tuesday, January 17, 2017 - Battling a headache tonight..........

6:30 - Two person forms practice with Ms. M. Started with practicing golden leopard vs tiger for our upcoming performance. Then some two person staff.

I thought we practiced a bit over an hour, but timing it from when a class got out, I think it was closer to almost an hour and a half.

8:00ish - TCC practice. Ran through the 40 with Ms. R. Double gim. Timed myself to get a rough idea of how far into it a minute and a half is. Our tournament is in the beginning of May, so I consider myself to be in tournament season. So, it is time to figure out my tournament forms for TCC. I now need to figure out how to close from there. I will talk about this with my TCC instructor next lesson.

Also practiced Fajing form and tournament version of the 48 combination. After tonight's practice, I still can't decide which one to do for tournament.

9:00 - School closes. (2 hours and 30 minutes)

 

Wednesday, January 18, 2017 - Evening Shift/ Rest day.


Thursday, January 19, 2017 -

6:30 - Last half of TCC class

7:00 - Tai Sifu class. Practicing group performance of the stick form. Yikes. My mind just went blank at one point. It scares me. That I will do that during the performance. I did ok except for that one time. But I hope I am getting my nerves out of the way in practice so that I do well during the performance.

8:00 - Two person staff practice with Ms. M.

8:30 - TCC private lesson. Went over how to adjust the double gim for the tournament version. Talked a bit about the hand form. I still am having trouble deciding what form to do. We also talked some mental/ philosophical stuff. Mostly centering around how to get my mind to let go and not think too much during a performance.

Yes, I bring this up a lot- both with this and my CLF. It is something I need to figure out how to do to get better, but my OCD brain is really having trouble with it.

I am hoping some of the things he said in this discussion will help.

Finished by working on 54 gim.

9:00 - school closes. (2 hours and 30 minutes)