Friday, July 13, 2018 - Still really annoyingly hot! The super hot heat wave ended a week ago or so, but it is a lesser heat wave that has continued all week. The weather people keep saying it is going to break up in a day or two, but then it doesn't. It has been over a week and a half now. 6:30 - no techniques practice tonight as Ms. B had other school commitments. So, Ms. M and I started right away on two person practice. We worked on Plum Blossom vs Cross Pattern at this time. 7:00 - Ms. M had to go do something for a bit. So, solo practice. Ng Lun Ma and Ng Lun Choi. Then Ms. M came back and we went back to practice. More Plum Blossom vs Cross Pattern, then some Spear vs Broadsword. Also Golden Leopard vs Tiger. We also did some practice of her curriculum level TCC. 40 form. She was doing part of Fist under elbow differently, so I asked our instructor. This is why it is good to practice with others, because I was doing it wrong. Now I know better. We also did Ping Kuen. Turns out we are at the same place in how far we have learned that one. No room for two person staff. It was now past dark and we couldn't as easily do it outside. The twice a year school sale is happening tomorrow, so the big room had all sorts of sale stuff in it. 9:05 School closes. 2 hours and 35ish minutes Saturday, July 14, 2018 - No classes today because it was sale day! I didn't need to buy anything. But I went ahead and re-upped my membership. It isn't due for 3 or 4 months, but I wanted to lock in the current prices. Also, one gets a bit of a discount for signing up on sale day. They had seminars scheduled, but I didn't sign up for any this time. One was board breaking, glad I did it for one test, but not particularly keen on doing it more. The other was an interesting form, but I am learning 4 forms at once right now. AND getting my whole TCC curriculum re-memorized after the layoff. AND the three other form and two half parts of two other forms I have learned in the last 6 months. I am full up on forms right now. No room in my brain or practice time for any more. The main thing about this form was it focused on Jau Sang Ma (lively horse) footwork. But my instructor said we can work on that footwork in Ping Kuen and he can sh me some drills. He showed me a couple of drills and they were very similar to the footwork drills we have been focusing on in stick fighting class. And the stick fighting instructor had mentioned to me that there will be a continued heavy focus on footwork in classes for the foreseeable future. Afterwards, went out with several fellow students. They wanted to take me out to a belated birthday lunch. We hung out for about 4 hours. Thai Food, frozen yogurt and then a tea place. My fellow students are the best! 0 hours working out Sunday, July 15, 2018 - Rest day. Although I am going to go out to dinner with my former long term instructor. She isn't an instructor any longer, so the "no-fraternization policy" no longer applies. I am so glad to still be in touch with her. Looking forward to it! 2018 Week 28 = 10 hours and 58 minutes 2018 Total Hours = 359 hours and 02 minutes
Monday, July 16, 2018 - Ran out of time- will finish this later. 6:30 - Solo practice. Buddha Palm. Can't remember what else for sure. I want to say probably spear part of spear vs broadsword. Yeah, I think that was it. 7:00 - Stick Fighting class. Which was also other weapons today. Just me and the one other more advanced student. So we did a lot of defense against a weapon when unarmed drills - both stick and knife. The one move hurt my thumbs though. taking the impact while trying to control the opponent's weapon hand. Otherwise, lots of fun! 7:30 - solo practice. Mostly CLF today. Ping Kuen and 3 section staff. Cross pattern side of Cross pattern vs Plum Blossom. Jeez, what else? I really do have to write these down right after or I forget. 9:00 - No instructor seminar. They always have the night off after working extra hours the last Saturday on school sale day. So, school closes. 2 hours and 30 minutes Tuesday, July 17, 2018 - 6:30 - my two person practice partner was a no show. No FB message when I got home earlier. She usually is pretty reliable. So, solo practice. 7:00 - Forms practice with Ms. R and Ms. M. Ms M is starting to join our practices. We got a lot in today. Ng Lun Ma, Where Ms. M and I are in Ping Kuen, spear, staff, broadsword, formal exercise, Siu Moi Fa, Small Five Animal and Sup Ji Jit Fu. We were starting on solo Golden Leopard vs Tiger, but it was then time for my lesson. We found a few discrepancies in what we were doing, so got answers from several instructors. Which is part of why it is good to practice together - to find these things and fix them. 8:00 - CLF Private lesson. Ms. R and Ms. M stayed for the beginning of my lesson, because we went over the two person hand form- Plum Blossom vs Cross Pattern. We got about halfway through it. Ms. R needed a refresher as she hadn't done it in awhile. But she does have years of practicing experience with it. She was my partner during the lesson. We got good tips and corrections. I hope it helps my practice with Ms. M. she said what my instructor said was very helpful to her. Then went over and learned a few new steps for the 3 section staff and Ping Kuen. 8:30 - Went over what I learned in my lesson to solidify it. I did far better with the 3 section staff than Ping Kuen. But I studied a video clip when I got home and I think I have it now. 9:00 school closes 2 hours and 30 minutes Wednesday, July 18, 2018 - Evening shift/ rest day
Thursday, July 19, 2018 - 6:30 - Last half of TCC class 7:00 - No Tai Sifu class - His seminars that were supposed to go on on sale day=last Saturday = had to be cancelled. The seminar got moved to this time today. I didn't sign up for the seminar. My plate is full. So Solo practice. Focus on TCC today. Buddha Palm and Wind Chasing Fan. 7:30 - my lesson got moved up a half hour, since I wasn't in Tai Sifu class. I started learning the Nine Dragon Tai Chi Spear form tonight. So, hmmm. I actually am not super excited to learn this one, but I am keeping an open mind. I love the spear, but not sure I like it in TCC. I had to learn a long weapon for my curriculum, that came down to the spear or staff. I am not crazy about the staff form, so that left this by default. I had fun learning it tonight, but I don't know, it just doesn't seem very TCCish. But I think I could be having a very narrow limited view of TCC. I need to ponder it more. (I got to choose forms from different categories for this level. It isn't set in stone. So, I choose a short weapon, a long weapon, a hand form etc.) This is the last form I need to learn for this curriculum level. This is part of it being done at an exhibition by the Sifu of the Mira Mesa location of my school. Who, IMO, makes anything look good. Then he reviewed my Buddha palm and Wind Chasing fan. I had a good night tonight. My instructor did not have a lot of correction and said my TCC was looking good. I told him that was because I have a great teacher. Because I do. I have always been blessed with the best of a group of great instructors. 8:00 - took a break. Actually, did what my work calls outreach with regards to some fellow students getting library cards. Then some solo practice. Worked on what I just learned for the spear form. Wrote it down, but not sure I got some parts right. Then 54 Gim. That went pretty well. Memory is pretty good on it, a sticking point or two, but not much. Then sone Small Circle Fast Form. 9:15 - School closes 2 hours and 30 minutes (ish)
Friday, July 20, 2018 - 4:45ish? - solo practice. TCC What I just learned of 9 dragon TCC spear - lots of time on that. 48 combination form. CLF - spear side of Broadsword vs spear and Shaolin 5 Animal. 6:00 - weapon forms class. Bot Gwa Butterfly knives. Good review as I haven't done this one in awhile. Avoided it because it hurt my thumbs,but my thumbs didn't hurt with it tonight. So, yay, it's an indication that they are slowly getting better. (Been doing physical therapy on them for several months now.) 6:30 - Ms. B is on vacation, so Ms, M and I went straight to two person practice. Long time working on Plum Blossom vs Cross Pattern. We made it through the entire form tonight! Got some help from Tai Sifu when we were stuck on one part. Also worked on Broadsword vs spear. Writing this, we did! Did a little 9 star as well. 8:00 - TCC private lesson. This is a make up lesson for the time my instructor was on vacation. Worked on continuing to learn the 9 dragon TCC spear. Also, he detailed out and gave some corrections on my Buddha Palm form. 8:30 - Went through Ms. M's material for her curriculum level for TCC. Our drilling each other to get the complete names for 8 pieces of brocade is working. I almost have it all down now- almost. All that which one is the 100 diseases vs which one is the 5 diseases and 7 injuries? 9:12 - School closes Shaolin 5 Animal form: So I took a break from my 5 new moves a week goal. I needed time to get what I am learning so far in my head better. I was getting confused. The last few weeks, I think I added about 7-9 moves? Maybe? Can't remember. Anyways, this week I added 7 more moves. I am a bit under the halfway point. But I am giving myself a break. After all, I told myself I wasn't in a hurry this level. I will go at whatever pace I need to, be it slower. 4 hours and 22 minutes Saturday, July 21, 2018 - Work all day/ rest day Sunday, July 22, 2018 - rest day 2018 Week 29 = 11 hours and 52 minutes 2018 Total Hours = 370 hours and 54 minutes
Monday, July 23, 2018 - Oh Yikes! We just started another awful heat wave, just after the last one ended. 6:25 - Solo practice. Spear side of spear vs broadsword. Went to put spear away, and got sidetracked from working out - chatting with another student. 7:00 - Stick fighting class. 3 people. Between the heat wave, and vacations, and the time change............not building up the class yet. Oh well. This was more of a weapon sparring class than stick fighting, which was fine by me. We worked on ore drills that built on last weeks drills. Hollowing out the mid section and having the hands in certain guards. We started with the stick, but mostly did the fake daggers today. After the hollowing out drill, we added some hand moves to go along with it - blocks and controlling the weapon arm. Super fun! 7:30 - Did Da Lu and pattern practice with Mr. L. 7:50 ish - Solo practice. TCC 9 dragon spear. I got permission from Tai Sifu to look over the scripts of the advanced forms I am learning. That helped a lot tonight. But learning to read scripts is a skill in and of itself. It will help me with getting better at Chinese terminology for sure. So, I was taught almost half of the form in two days last week. It isn't a long form though. I learned 21 out of 48 moves. Spent a lot of time on this today. Spent a little time on 3 section staff too. 8:30 - moved into another room and continued practice. A brief review of the new part of Ping Kuen I learned, but mostly TCC. Lots of time on the 108 long form. Also some time on the double gim. 9:55 - School closes 3 hours and 15 minutes
Tuesday, July 24, 2018 - Still in the midst of the horrible heat wave 6:30 - Two person staff practice with Ms. B. Also some Golden Leopard vs Tiger two person practice. 7:00 - Forms practice with Ms. R and Ms. M. Ran through most of the forms material up to black sash. Formal exercise, Siu Moi Fa, Sup Ji Jit Fu, Small Five Animal, Solo practice of Golden Leopard vs Tiger, Stick, Staff, Broadsword, and Spear. Got a lot in today! 8:00 - Private CLF lesson. Started working on Plum Blossom vs Cross Pattern with Ms. R there as my partner. My instructor helped me with this really tricky part of the form. Then learned another flower for the 3 section staff. This was the up high and behind the back one. Going to see if my thumbs can take this one- start just a bit at a time and see how it goes. Then learned another couple of steps. Reviewed the whole part I have learned so far and also reviewed Ping Kuen. Not a lot of new steps this week, which is fine. I am on the verge of feeling overwhelmed with new moves. 8:30 - practiced what I learned in lesson. Also, the TCC spear form and Small Circle Fast form. 9:00 - school closes 2 hours and 30 minutes Wednesday, July 25, 2018 - Work evening shift/ rest day
Thursday, July 26, 2018 - 6:30 - Last half of TCC class 7:00 - Tai Sifu CLF class. Well, it was a rather large class for the first time in awhile. Lots of intermediate students, so we couddn't cover some of the higher level material. So we went over detailing some lower and intermediate level forms and techniques. first two levels of techniques and kicks. Formal exercise, Siu Moi Fa, Stick and staff. 8:00 TCC Private lesson. Reviewed and learned some new steps for the spear form. Reviewed and detailed something else, can't remember what. 8:30 - worked on spear form to get what I learned in my lesson in my brain. 9:00 - school closes 2 hours and 30 minutes
Friday, July 27, 2018 - 6:30 - Techniques practice with Ms. B and Ms. M. Seemed to take longer than usual as my TCC instructor had to find me a bit past 7:30. That almost never happens. I lost track of time. Anyways, we did get through all of them. 7:35- TCC private lesson. Last make up lesson from when he was on vacation. Review and corrections. I wasn't ready to learn more steps of the spear. I have learned like 3/4 of it or so in 8 days, after all. Worked on what I know of the spear, Buddha Palm, and Small Circle Fast Form. 8:00ish? - Two person practice with Ms. M. Plum Blossom vs Cross Pattern. VERY good practice session- made lots of progress with spacing and other things. Then spear vs broadsword. Then we worked on her upcoming TCC test. 40 form and some pattern and stationary step push hands. 9:00 - School closes 2 hours and 30 minutes Saturday, July 28, 2018 - 10:02ish- just a tad late for TCC class. Did a lot of 32 Gim work. Then some push hands. 11:00 - sparring class. 12:00 - Advanced Push hands/ moving step class. 1:00 - Stretching class 1:30 - rested. Sort of done for the day, although I did do some 3 section staff. Not a lot. Tired from all the classes and the heat. 2:25ish- left school. A few of us celebrated a fellow students birthday at a good restaurant and tea and talk afterwards. 3 hours and 45 minutes Sunday, July 29, 2018 - Rest day 2018 Week 30 = 14 hours and 30 minutes 2018 Total Hours = 385 hours and 24 minutes
Monday, July 30, 2018 - And it is still awfully hot! When will it end? 6:25 - Solo practice. 3 section staff. Practiced what I know of the form and the two new flowers. My instructor was free and stepped in and helped me. Ng Lun Ma. 7:00 - Stick fighting class. Which really was knife defense class again, which is fine by me! More drills on hollowing out, but then adding moves to control the weapon hand. A little bit of matches whee one person had the fake knife and the other person was unarmed. Eh, I didn't do all that great. Got stabbed right in the middle of the face missing a block. I'll get better. Just need more practice. It was lots of fun. I am really enjoying it. Still only three people in class thought. The time change for the class has not brought in more students yet. 7:30 - Solo practice. CLF - Ng Lun Choi. Cross pattern side of cross pattern vs Plum Blossom. Spear side of spear vs broadsword. Wooden Dummy. Yikes, haven't kept up on it the last few weeks and I was forgetting moves. I do not know the form well enough to take tie off of it like that! Although last week I couldn't. Because it was out of commission as they replaced the wooden dummy with a new one. DANG! The spring for the movable arm is REALLY strong. I better stay out of the way properly for that thing! TCC - Wind Chasing Fan, Double gim, Small Circle Fast form, 108 Long form, spear, and 48 combination form. I am really close to having the 108 down fully again. Only had to look at the sheet with the moves like twice. And one I had right, but was doubting myself. My knee, the left one, has been acting up the last few weeks. But I think it is feeling better? 10:00 - school closes 3 hours and 35 minutes
Tuesday, July 31, 2018 - (Still too darn hot, but better than it was.) 6:30 - Two person staff practice with Ms. B. Did the other side for the first time. 7:00 - Forms practice with Ms. R and Ms. M. Our memories must be better, because we are getting through a lot! There are still some memory glitches, but that is why we are practicing together. When one person gets stuck, the others help out. If we are all stuck, or not remembering the same thing, we get an instructor. Formal exercise, Siu Moi Fa, Sup Ji Jit Fu, Small Five Animal, solo golden leopard vs tiger, Stick, Staff, Spear, Broadsword. What Ms. M and I know of Ping Kuen and 3 section staff. Also, Ms. R and I did what I know of Shaolin Five Animal before Ms. M joined us. Whew, actually going backwards on that one. I was about 15 moves behind where I was- just couldn't remember. Just too busy with everything else I am learning and so this one is taking a back seat. 8:00 - Private CLF lesson. Started with some two person practice with Ms. R joining the lesson again. Then onto 3 section staff - review, corrections and learning a few new steps. Had just a couple of minutes left, so learned a few new moves of Ping Kuen. My instructor is focusing on 3 section staff more than Ping Kuen, which makes sense. It has all new moves, while Ping Kuen is mostly memorizing a new sequence of moves I already know for the most part. 8:30 - chatted with Ms. R a bit and practiced (with her help) what I just learned in my lesson. 9:00 - School closes 2 hours and 20 minutes Wednesday, August 1, 2018 - Evening shift/ rest day
Thursday, August 2, 2018 - 6:30 - last half of TCC class. 24 form and pattern push hands drills/ practice. 7:00 - Tai Sifu Advanced CLF class - Went over Purple Sash level kicks and techniques in great detail. 8:00 - Private TCC lesson. Went over and detailed what I know of spear form and learned some new moves. I am abut 8 moves from learning the whole form. Getting the details down will take quite a lot of time past that though. I am enjoying this form more than I thought, because it really is teaching me a lot about moving in TCC. Transferring the principles to a long weapon and all. 8:30 - kept working on the spear form. 9:05 - school closes 2 hours and 35 minutes
Friday, August 3, 2018 - 4:52 - Solo practice. CLF- 3 section staff. Felt a little discouraged as I hit myself twice with it. Practice was going good until the second hit, then I was just emotionally over whacking myself. That second time was in the temple. Seems like every bit of progress in the form exacts an inch of flesh. It was a long tough week at work, the heat is miserable, and I just wasn't in the mood to whack myself. I talked to my CLF instructor and he showed me some things to help and just overall talked me into a better mind set. He is really great. Ng Lun Ma and Ng Lung Choi. 6:00 - Tai Sifu special membership TCC class - Did some pattern practice. Tai Sifu worked with each of us to give some hands on advice for improving. It was really great and helpful. Then went through the 40 form. 6:30 - Techniques practice with Ms. B and Ms. M. We added something tonight. Well, I think we have done it once or twice before, but we are going to do this regularly now. We are taking one level and taking turns describing the attack scenario, the specific targets and the focus on what that technique is supposed to be teaching us. Make sure we are keeping all our details sharp and not forgetting them. We did pretty good overall, just a few details. Like we need to go look at the video clips to remind ourselves of whether a few snake strikes are to the eyes or the throat. Then we went through doing all of them. Just one repetition tonight because A. the self test took a bit of time, but mainly because B. Still really unbearably hot! I have no idea when we ended. Lost all track of time. Afterwards, Ms. Banks (and my CLF) instructor reviewed our two person practice. Mostly for Ms. B as she is preparing for her black sash test next. We did one side of the two person staff and one side of Golden Leopard vs Tiger. Afterwards, Ms. M and I practiced two person stuff. Started off with Broadsword vs spear. Got an instructor to help us figure out a distance issue we were having with a move - a move that is repeated several times in the form. Got that worked out! She still doesn't know the whole thing yet, but we are not too far off from the end - 3/4 of the way through? Then two person staff and lots of work on Plum Blossom vs Cross Pattern. We know all of one side on that one, but it has a long ways to go. Yet, we are making good progress each practice session. Then we practiced some stationary push hands to prepare her for her next TCC test. She is really new to push hands. 9:00 - School closes 4 hours and 8 minutes Saturday, August 4, 2018 - Worked all day/ rest day Sunday, August 5, 2018 - Rest day 2018 Week 31 = 12 hours and 38 minutes 2018 Total Hours = 398 hours and 02 minutes
Monday, August 6, 2018 - 6:30 - Solo practice. Still in a massive heat wave, so I was not pushing myself hard. Solo practice of Ping Kuen. Got stuck on new part and had an instructor help me remember. Solo practice of Spear side of spear vs broadsword. 7:00 - Stick Fighting Class - Back to stick today, instead of knife defense. Continued drilling on the hollowing out, but with added defense and counter attacks. Doing defense stick vs stick instead of weapon vs empty hand, but it is the same concepts being used. Drills today, no matches. Still only three people. 7:30 - Two person TCC practice with Mr. L. There is improvement for sure. Our spacing in Da Lu is improving. Not sure how long we went= 20-25 minutes??? After that, solo practice. CLF - can't remember. TCC - 108 Long, 48 Combination and Wind Chasing Fan. A few minutes of stretching at the end. 10:00 - School closes 3 hours and 30 minutes Tuesday, August 7, 2018 - GEEZ- still ridiculously HOT!!!! Affected my pacing for working out for sure. 6:30 - Two person practice with Ms. B. Two person staff and Golden Leopard vs Tiger. 7:00 - Forms practice with Ms. R and Ms. M. What Ms. M and I know of Ping Kuen and 3 section staff. Formal exercise, Sup Ji Jit Fu, Small Five Animal. Staff, Stick and Spear. 8:00 - CLF private lesson. Again, Ms. R stayed for practicing two person stuff for the first part of my lesson. Finished up the one side of reviewing and detailing Plum Blossom vs Cross Pattern. Then 3 section staff review, detailing and learning a few new moves. 8:30 - More practice on 3 section staff- especially new part just learned. Also flowers practice. 9:10 - School closes 2 hours and 40 minutes Wednesday, August 8, 2018 - Evening shift/ rest day
Thursday, August 9, 2018 - 6:30 - Last half of TCC class. Came in on the 24 and joined in. Then some drills on getting to the body instead of getting wrapped up in arm play in push hands. Then a few matches. 7:00 - Advanced CLF class. Tai Sifu wasn't there, so the Full time instructor that fills in taught it. Focus on forms today. And then drilling some staff basics. Finished with Yellow and Green sash kicks. 8:00 - My TCC private lesson got moved to later tonight. Practiced TCC spear and Small Circle Fast form- mostly spear. Somewhere in this time I took about a half hour to talk to a fellow student. Also, an old student who left a few years ago is back! Yay! Saw her during advanced CLF class (she wasn't in the class) and took a moment to welcome her back! She had the same instructor as me back when I was a beginner. My first instructor. And now we share the same CLF instructor again! 9:00 - TCC private lesson. (Yeah, this is normally past when the school closes.) Reviewed, detailed and learned the end of the spear form. Reviewed and detailed the double gim. Although my instructor was pretty happy with my double gim form. 9:40 - school closed 2 hours and 40 minutes
Friday, August 10, 2018 - STILL in a heat wave! 6:30 - Techniques practice with Ms. B and Ms. M. Well, more like a self imposed quiz than practice. We went through Brown Sash 1st degree techniques by taking turns describing the concept of the technique, the moves and the targets. We would speak up if we thought something was different than what the other person said. Mostly we were in agreement. But, like last week, we will check the streaming service to make sure of the correct answer. We are just making sure we are keeping up on the concepts and intention, and not falling into the trap of just doing memorized moves. Like, we all did understood it when learning it, but that - as we focus on other things - we remember!!! That took 35 minutes. Afterwards, Ms. B didn't want to go through the techniques. As we are primarily doing this for her next test, we did other things then. I mean, Ms. M and I will still stay up on the techniques, but maybe not practice them as much as now. Too many things to work on! All three of us went through the 40 form (for Ms. M's upcoming TCC test.) And a couple of repetitions of the 8 pieces of Brocade- again taking turns quizzing on the exact full names of each move. Then, Mrs. M and I did two person practice. We mostly focused on the new material we are learning - Plum Blossom vs Cross Pattern and spear vs broadsword. Then we ran through two person staff and Golden Leopard vs Tiger. I finished of by working on the TCC spear form. Took some time in between this for resting and chatting. Just hard to keep a tough pace in this never ending heat wave. 9:04 - School closes 2 hours and 15 minutes (or so)
Saturday, August 11, 2018 - 10:05ish- a little late for TCC class. Darn it. I need to get there on time! Anyways, great class! Detailing out the 32 Gim and the TCC Sabre. Then some push hands at the end. 11:00 - Sparring class. YAY! The class is building up again- good turnout. Especially considering the STILL awful heat wave we are experiencing. 12:00 - advanced push hands/ moving step class. Again- Yay! This class is getting larger again too. Slowly building up. No matches today- all drills. Which is fine. I need the drills. 1:00 - skipped stretching class. Hated to do it, but I am having some back issues again and decided I needed to not do this class to recuperate. I did talk to the instructor later in the day about my back issues. I seem to get back spasms whenever I make a long effort to build certain flexibility. She gave me some tips. Hated missing the class, but I knew it was the smart thing to do. Rested and chatted and had to go do a quick errand and then come back to the school. 1:30 - Did some more talking, but it was all MA related. Part of it was asking advice from my CLF instructor. It is a little to involved to explain here, but he helped a lot. Then some training. TCC spear. Ping Kuen - having trouble with the newest part still. Most of the Wooden Dummy set. I have regressed with that one. I need to put more time into practicing it. Mostly the 3 section staff though. And mostly flowers. I did the part where you flower and transition to another flower right away. And I did it several times WITH the actual wooden 3 section staff.............WITHOUT whacking myself in the head! Progress! 3:04 school closes. 4 hours and 29 minutes (ish) Got Mediterranean food on the way home. Washed it down with Henry's Hard Grape soda. About to play some World of Warcraft. Except for the heatwave, this is my idea of a perfect day! Sunday, August 12, 2018 - rest day 2018 Week 32 = 15 hours and 34 minutes 2018 Total Hours = 413 hours and 36 minutes
Monday, August 13, 2018 - 6:30 - Solo Practice. CLF - solo practice of Spear vs Broadsword (spear side) and Cross Pattern side of Cross Pattern vs Plum Blossom. Ng Lun Ma. 7:00 - Stick Fighting class. This class is not building back up like the other combatives classes are. Just two of us tonight. Good class though, and I really like working with the other student in class. 7:30 - TCC pattern practice with Mr. L. Had Tai Sifu there for a bit for input and he seemed to think it was coming along well. 7:25 - Solo practice. CLF Ng Lun Choi- well most of it. I asked my CLF instructor to help with a part I was stuck on. He helped me, but then I don't know. I ended up doing something else without finishing it. Distracted? Ping Kuen. TCC - spear form, part of 54 gim. Got stuck and couldn't finish it. Really annoying as I had the whole thing a week or two ago. I need to look at the video and see where I started forgetting part of it. 48 combination. Wind Chasing Fan. Trying to remember to have proper peng energy in my arms and not collapse them too much. I forgot to look at the clock when the school closed, so this is an estimate/ educated guess.... 9:45ish school closes 3 hours and 15 minutes
Tuesday, August 14, 2018 - There has finally been a break in the heat wave. It is still hot, but not god awful horribly terribly hot! 2nd day of a bit of relief. 6:30 - Two person staff practice with Ms. B 7:00 - Forms practice with Ms. M and Ms. R. What Mrs. M and I have learned so far of Ping Kuen and 3 Section staff. Formal Exercise, Siu Moi Fa, Sup Ji Jit Fu, Small Five Animal, Staff, Stick, Spear, and Broadsword. Less sticking points most every practice. I was particularly happy with how Sup Ji Jit Fu went today. I had a brain lapse in Siu Moi Fa, but I usually don't with that form, so I ma not worried. I just blanked out for a minute. We got a lot in in an hour. 8:00 - CLF private lesson. Started off with review of Plum Blossom vs Cross Pattern - with Ms. R joining in on this part of my lesson. Then review, detailing and more steps taught of 3 section staff. Then a review of Ping Kuen. 8:30 - Mostly review of new part of 3 section staff learned. Then some Ping Kuen practice. 9:00 - school closes 2 hours and 30 minutes Wednesday, August 15, 2018 - Evening Shift/ rest day.
Thursday, August 16, 2018 - 6:30 - last half of TCC class. Came in while the 40 form had been started, so I joined in. After that, it was pattern practice. 7:00 - Tai Sifu CLF class. Went through and detailed kicks and techniques for yellow, green and blue sash levels. 8:00 TCC Private lesson. Review and details/ corrections for 9 Dragon spear, Small Circle Fast Form, and Wind Chasing Fan. Also talked and got advice about fitting in everything in my practice sessions, and training attitudes towards testing and just overall. My instructor was very helpful and had great advice on tips for training and mental outlook. Seems somehow, in my proclamations to everyone that I was not in a hurry and was going to take my time, I found myself in a relaxed great frame of mind and have been on a roll with my training. In short, I am the opposite of what I proclaimed. In not being in a hurry, I am learning at a faster rate than ever, both in details and just learning new forms. My training is in a really great place. And so somehow, I am not that far off from my next TCC test. The trick is to stay in this relaxed focus good place mentally without stressing myself out thinking about testing. So, my lesson ran really long! 8:54 - practiced a few details just learned for Wind Chasing Fan form. 9:00 - School closes 2 hours and 30 minutes.
Friday, August 17, 2018 - Sigh* Back to a heat wave. 4:45ish - Solo practice. Buddha Palm. Was mixing it up with bits of Ping Kuen at first, then like "that isn't right!" Yikes! 5:15ish? - Went to be two person push hands partner for someone's test. Then watched the Sash presentation. Back to solo practice. Ping Kuen (which I did not mix up with Buddha Palm!) 3 Section Staff. Chatted a bit. 6:00 - Weapons form class. Butterfly knives. Good class, I am a bit rusty as I haven't been practicing this lately. I think the class may have run a bit long. Not sure, but one of my techniques partner's was waiting for the class to end, so I think it did run late. 6:35-6:40ish? (guestimate) Instead of practicing techniques,. Ms. and Ms. Banks and I continued the quizes on concepts, targets and details of techniques. We did two levels today- one new and a review of one we did before. The thought is, as we keep grilling each other, the time spent on a level of techniques will get shorter. Purple and Brown 3rd degree. 7:25 - Two person practice with Ms. M. Plum Blossom vs Cross Pattern, spear vs broadsword, 2 person staff, Golden Leopard vs Tiger and 9 star. My thumbs are able to take hitting harder with the two person staff- not full on, but definitely harder than before without hurting. We didn't do a cross section of her upcoming test, because she was the person who's test I helped out with earlier this day! Yay for her! 9:00 - school closes. Well, I didn't get nearly as much practiced today as planned. Just didn't push hard today. Stuff going on - personal stuff - the heat - my mood. I just wasn't in the mood to do it. Still got in lots of good practice, just not as much as I hoped to accomplish. 3 hours and 45 minutes Saturday, August 18, 2018 - Work all day/ rest day Sunday, August 19, 2018 - rest day 2018 Week 33 = 12 hours and 00 minutes 2018 Total Hours = 425 hours and 36 minutes
