Thursday, January 31, 2019 - 6:40- got to school late due to rain. Made it take longer to get to work. Also, was going to skip TCC class anyways. I am still coughing from my cold and so partner work would be rude. I don't want to accidentally cough in my partner's face. Did part of Ng Lung Ma. 7:00 - skipped most of Advanced CLF class to practice 54 exhibition Gim form with Ms. S and Ms. W. An instructor watched part of it and was happy with how it was looking. I must admit, I had serious concerns about whether we could get it looking decent in time after last weeks practice, but am feeling better about it. This practice made a LOT of progress! 7:45- The instructor from Advanced CLF practice knew I was practicing for the exhibition, so he let me join the class late when my exhibition practice ended. Partner drills of techniques. Can't remember what sash level offhand, but one of the more beginning ones. 8:00 - TCC private lesson. Review and corrections of 9 dragon spear, Buddha Palm, Small Circle Fast form and Wind Chasing Fan. My instructor thinks I will be ready to test in March, which is the next time our GM comes down for advanced testing. 8:30 - Solo practice. TCC. For gods sake, it was only last night and I can't remember what specifically! I think I was working on the tournament version of the spear and Small Circle Fast Form. 9:00 - School closes. 2 hours and 15 minutes.
Friday, February 1, 2019 - 5:00- Well, a fellow student had set up this time to practice two person TCC material. But he didn't show up or contact me. He is supposed to be preparing this materials so he can test. So, solo practice. Worked on full version of Ping Kuen. I had only been doing tournament/ exhibition version, so I needed to get back to the full one. 5:30 - Two person spear vs broadsword practice with Ms. M. Fitting in some time because we have exhibition practice today and next Friday during our normal two person practice time. It was a good productive session. 6:00 - Weapon forms class - stick form. We also did some application two and three person drills at the end. This is a new thing that has been added the last few weeks to weapon forms class. I really like it and hope they keep doing this! 6:30 - well a little after. I FORGOT the class had been moved to this time. I went to use the restroom and started to grab my stuff for techniques practice and then remembered "hey dummy- stick fighting class is going on!" Sheesh, I geared up, joined the class and apologized to the instuctor for being late. It actually wasn't stick fighting class today though. It was staff fighting class. TOTALLY new! They had talked about adding other weapons to this class, but hadn't until tonight. I loved it! Some beginning drills, but not totally new. Stuff from various forms, but applying it in drills. Then we did a little light staff sparring. I should add that it was single ended staff sparring techniques, not double ended. It was awesome! 7:00 - Techniques practice with Ms. B and Ms. M. Did everything twice. I missed a few minutes though. I had to leave mid way through and go schedule a make up lesson with my CLF instructor. Then I rejoined them. I started to feel my cold, my energy still isn't up to full from the cold. Also, still coughing a lot! 8:00 - Exhibition practice. The Chief instructor watched some of us students and gave us advice on improving for the exhibition. 8:35ish? Did a little more exhibition practice with some of my partners. Not all my partners could be here for the practice session above. We were missing one of three in both my CLF and TCC exhibition form. Then, Ms. M and I practiced Plum Blossom vs Cross Pattern two person form. 9:00 - school closes 4 hours Saturday, February 2, 2019 - Work day/ Rest day Sunday, February 3, 2019 - rest day 2018 Total Hours = 684 hours and 06 minutes 2019 Week 5 = 10 hours and 30 minutes 2019 Total Hours = 46 hours and 12 minutes
Monday, February 4, 2019 - Got there later than usual. Rain storms making for alternative route to work that is longer. Plus, the rain conditions also make for more time to get there. 6:50ish - Ng Lun Ma 7:00 - Group CLF class. focus on a classic CLF combination. Wok - Dik -Yuk! (Tiger claw- front snap kick with throat chop - palm strike upper strike to chin) 7:30 - Solo practice - More Ng Lun Ma and then Ng Lun Choi. Haven't done these in a few weeks and that isn't good. They are new and it doesn't take long to start to forget them. Sup Ji Kau Da, Tournament practice of Ping Kuen and dagger techniques. TCC - tournament practice of Small Circle Fast form. Exhibition practice of 54 Gim. 9:00- feeling tired. Still not full energy from cold I had. So, I studied the script for the TCC spear form. Trying to solidify when I am supposed to do a upwards throat stab and when I do a straight out solar plexus stab. 9:25ish- school closes 2 hours and 35 minutes
Tuesday, February 5, 2019- 6:30 - Two person practice with Ms. B. All two person stuff she needs for her next test. 9 star, 2 person staff, Golden Leopard vs tiger. Both sides. 7:00 - Ms. R had a private lesson. Ms. M and I can't do our usual two person practice this coming Friday, so we did some Broadsword vs Spear two person practice. We got through the sequence without any major hesitations or stops! That is progress! 7:30 - Exhibition practice of Ping Kuen with Ms. M and Ms. R. 8:00 - My private CLF lesson got moved to Saturday. Because this time we had an exhibiton practice session. Our Chief Instructor (my TCC instructor) reviewed the adult students exhibition stuff and gave corrections. 8:30 - Practiced corrections with partners for exhibition. I think I did some other solo practice after that too, but I can't remember what. 9:00 - School closes 2 hours and 30 minutes Wednesday, February 6, 2019 - Evening shift/ rest day
Thursday, February 7, 2019 - (Tai Sifu is back from paternity time off! Yay!) 6:30 - last half of TCC class. Tai Sifu teaching it. But I am writing this on Sunday, and I can't remember what we did. I have been so focused on the exhibition all week. 7:00 - skipped some of Tai Sifu class, because of TCC exhibition practice with my partners. Practiced exhibtion 54 gim with Ms. S and Ms. W. Chief instructor reviewed and gave corrections at the beginning of this practice. 7:35-7:40ish? - joined Tai Sifu Class late. Partner drills for applications. Tai Sifu left and the usual other instructor took over at one point. 8:00 - TCC private lesson. Went over Tourament versions of Small Circle Fast form and 9 dragon spear. Then, review and corrections of full version of Small Circle Fast form and Buddha Palm. We got about halfway through double gim. 8:30 - practice of corrections learned in private lesson. Particularly double gim. Particularly one section that I am struggling with. 9:00 - school closes 2 hours and 30 minutes Friday, February 8, 2019 - 6:30 - Stick fighting class. We had a brand new student tonight, so no staff practice. I was a little bummed, as the staff was new and really fun. Also, I love the staff as a weapon! But I am also fine with stick fighting. Lots of footwork drills, which I still really need. So, all was good. 7:00 - Tai Sifu TCC class for those of us with a particular membership. Just me and Ms. M tonight. The other usual person in the class forgot! (I found this out later.) But it was kind of cool because we requested and got Tai Sifu to show Ms. M square and circle pattern. So now we can practice it on our own, which we both really wanted. I knew them already, but our school policy is that one can't practice something with a partner until an instructor teaches them first. So, now we can practice all the pattern forms our school has in the curriculum! Also, in the lesson, I asked about some sticking points I have always had with circular pattern and got some really good clarifications that helped me a lot. Stuff about changing directions. So, I was really happy about that. 7:38ish - Techniques practice with Ms. M and Ms. B. Ms. B knew we had this lesson for TCC, and would have a shorter session. This was because this class was a make up class at an unusual time- due to Tai Sifu being out on paternity leave. So, we went through each teqnique one time. We got through all the hand techniques and the stick ones. Stopped about halfway through the dagger ones. So, we only didn't get through one level and a little less than half of another level. Pretty good! 8:00 - Dress rehearsal with all the adults - instructors and students - for exhibition tomorrow! 9:00 - school closes 2 hours and 30 minutes
Saturday, February 9, 2019 - 10:00 - advanced push hands/ moving step class. various drills and a a few stationary matches. No moving step matches as most of us were doing the exhibition later this day. 11:00 - Sparring class. We got some new students showing up! Yay! New adult serious students! Started with some heavy bag workout drills. I really love this instructors bag workout drills! Then some partner drills. Followed by a few light power matches. My mind is remembering the exhibition later more than the specifics of the drills right now............. 12:00 - a little rest and then some solo practice. I know I did both full and tournament versions of 3 section staff. I did the over and under flowers 3 times- 4 rotations each time without hitting myself!!! Yay!!! They are slowly, but surely getting better! This was about half an hour of practice. Then I did some Sup Ji Kau Da. Maybe something else? Again, my mind is on exhibition, so my memory is more caught up on that. 1:00 - Stretching class 1:30 - Make up CLF private lesson. Went over tournament materials. Discussed a few mental hiccups I was having about the exhibition. Finished with review of some of Sup Ji Kau Da. 2:00 - a little rest and then some more solo practice this hour. Some tournament and full practice of TCC Small Circle Fast form. Mind really on performance and can't remember what else I did this hour. 3:00 - school officially closes. but performers for exhibition stayed or showed up. I spent some time stressing out. Ms. R texted Ms. M and said she was hung up in traffic. Ms. M said she might not make it in time, although Ms. R later said she didn't say that, just that she wouldn't be there by 3:00. Ms. R had another commitment far away and was caught up in in traffic. I was very anxious about not having our lead person there. Ms M has a much more relaxed attitude and had us practice just the two of us a few times and I felt somewhat better after that. Anyways, Ms. R showed up and all was well! Then we ran through our form with the three of us a few times. Also ran through the 54 gim with Ms. S and Ms. W once. 4:00 - Chinese New Year exhibition! I felt good about both performances! It went better than I expected. I will get video of it later, and I am going to practice breaking down my performances. Write up what I see and then present it to both my instructors and have them critique my critique, so to speak. I am trying to develop my eye for seeing things, and they will tell me how well I did with that. I am also happy to get that video because I could only watch part of the exhibition, and it wasn't the best view. So I am excited to get to see the whole thing clearly. 4:50ish???? - Exhibition is done! Hung out a bit, ordered some food from the local Mediterranean place. Went home and had an adult beverage, ate my food and was a bum, playing World of Warcraft and just goofing around on my computer. (Pretty much my idea of a perfect day!) 4 hours and 50 minutes or so. Kind of hard to estimate this day. Wasn't working out the whole time, but was there for about 7 hours. It was a long day! Sunday, February 10, 2019 - rest day 2018 Total Hours = 684 hours and 06 minutes 2019 Week 6 = 14 hours and 55 minutes 2019 Total Hours = 61 hours and 07 minutes
Monday, February 11, 2019 - 6:40ish - I am kind of lagging getting started promptly the last few weeks. Solo practice. TCC Double Gim, 9 dragon spear, and Buddha Palm. 7:00 - CLF group class. Lots of drills and details and discussions of leopard fist strikes. 7:30 - Solo practice. CLF - full version of Ping Kuen. Full version of 3 section staff. Did over and under flowers 3 separate times without hitting myself in the head! I spent lots of time on these because I have been doing a lot of tournament version, but was forgetting the full version. Sup Ji Kau Da. Shaolin Five animal. Been forgetting this one as I haven't practiced in in awhile. Too busy with tournament an exhibition stuff. But it is annoying as I had just gotten the whole thing memorized and now I am forgetting it! Worked on just some moves at the beginning. Going to add a bit more each week. Just like before, but hopefully parts will come back to me faster now? 9:30ish - School closes 2 hours and 50 minutes Tuesday, February 12, 2019 - 6:30 - Two person practice with Ms. B. All two person stuff for her level and next test. 7:00 - Forms practice. We have new people asking to join us! Go figure! So, normally it is Ms. R and Ms. M and I. Ms. T joined us two weeks ago. She joined us again. Now Ms. P asked to join. Ok! So, because Ms. P is brown 2nd degree, we did all the stuff at her curriculum level first, so she didn't have to wait around while we did stuff she doesn't know yet. Then we did the same for Ms. T's level. She is brown 3rd degree. Then Ms. M and Ms. R and I did some black to Senior black level forms. Overall, Formal exercise, Siu Moi Fa, Sup Ji Jit Fu, Small Five Animal, Ping Kuen, stick, staff, broadsword spear. We did part of Ng Lun Ma, but that is when my instructor came up for my lesson, so we didn't finish it. We also did part of the Hand Breaking Fan form. Ms. M is starting to learn it, so we went up to what she knows. It's kind of weird that people want to join us, but it is cool! 8:00 - CLF private lesson. As usual lately, Ms. M stayed for details and corrections of our broadsword vs spear two person form. Then we went over my tournament stuff. Hey! This makes 3 days in a row I have done the over and under flowers without hitting myself in the head! Finished with working on Sup Ji Kau Da. I was taught more moves. 8:30 - spent some time chatting. Practiced the new part I just learned of Sup Ji Kau Da. 9:00 - School closes 2 hours and 15 minutes Wednesday, February 13, 2019 - Evening shift/ Rest day
Thursday, February 14, 2019 - 6:30 - last half of TCC class. I came in as they were finishing up the 24. 32 Gim, 40. 7:00 - Tai Sifu/ Advanced CLF class. Tai Sifu taught the first part, then the usual Full time instructor took over for the latter part. 2 person drilling of techniques- Brown Sash 1st degree. 8:00 - My TCC instructor is on vacation for a few days, so no Private lesson. Solo TCC practice. Ran through all forms in mostly a format style for my next test. I say mostly, because there were a couple of areas where I did stop and go over them again. But mostly I stuck for format mode. I think I did some TCC tournament practice too? Definitely did so with the spear, but not sure if I did the hand form. Did some CLF tournament practice too. Techniques, hand and weapon form. This makes 4 days in a row (of practice) that I didn't hit myself in the head doing the over and under flowers! Yay! 9:00 - school closes 2 hours and 30 minutes Friday, February 15, 2019 - I had a root canal done in the morning. It wasn't too bad, but I just didn't feel very good. Just beat. I REALLY did NOT want to go in, which is extremely unusual for me! I decided to listen to what my body was telling me and took the day off. Rest day.
Saturday, February 16, 2019 - Normally, this is a Saturday I work, but I took the day off because of Tai Sigung Seminars! But they didn't start until later, so I went in to practice. 9:33ish? - Two person practice with Ms. R. Yay! First time we have been able to do this in almost two months! Between both our schedules, both of us getting sick, it has been too long! Started off with the one side of Plum Blossom vs Cross Pattern and it went pretty good considering how long it has been. Same thing with Broadsword vs spear with me on the spear side. Was rougher with me on the broadsord side. I had JUST learned the ending last lesson she joined in on. And then not done it for almost two months. Considering all that, and how long it has been since she practiced these forms regularly (years) it went ok. We got stuck, but WERE able to figure out the sticking points without having to get an instructor. 10:00 - Advanced Push hands/ Moving step class. Usual instructor was not there, so another instructor filled in. It was a great class! Not the usual set format of first half limited step. We did some, but moved to moving step drills earlier than normal. All drills today, not matches. 11:00 - First half of sparring class. I had permission to just join in the first half. Bag workout drills. I tried to hit softer on the strikes, due to my thumbs not liking hitting hard. Could hit full force for the kicking drills though. Then we drilled kicks with a partner - power thrust kicks. 11:30 - left sparring class to drive to the Mira Mesa location for Tai Sigung seminars. I left very early in case there was traffic, or I got lost. Didn't want to chance missing any of this once a year seminar. 12:30 - CLF Tai Siguing Seminar. Stick and Staff techniques. Drilled various techniques solo and with a partner. I teamed up with my main two person partner, Ms. M. We went a little over time on the stick, and so didn't cover as many staff drills as Tai Sigung intended. This was a bit of a bummer, but the seminar was great. And he have us handouts with the couple of drills we didn't get to. It is always good to drill with a partner, and to learn from Tai Sigung, but there wasn't really anything new in what we were taught. I chalk this up to having regular instructors that are fantastic and very detail oriented. They do a good job of passing along their teachings from Tai Sigung. The staff had drills for both single and double ended techniques. This was great as I have only learned drills for the single ended, so the double ended was new for me. The drills we didn't get to are on a handout Tai Sigung gave out. so I will be able to learn them from that. 2:00 - TCC Tai Sigung Seminar. First off, it isn't important, but I was a tad annoyed. Since I knew we would be mostly doing push hands, I asked at the front desk if I should wear my TCC uniform shirt or the T-shirt. We usually wear the t-shirts for combatives. They said the T-shirt, but when the seminar started, everyone else was wearing the jacket! I felt out of place and silly. I had the uniform shirt in the car, but it was too late to get it. Next year, I will bring both into the school and be prepared. Anyways, we started off with him giving a talk on meditation. And we did a bit of standing, seated, and laying down meditation mixed in. Then we moved to moving step push hands drills. Some good new drills! Although one of the drill had a part that was similar to what I had done in advanced push hands/ moving step class earlier in the day. But most of it was new and really great! It is kind of hard to describe the drills here though. I could show someone in person much easier. 3:30 - Seminars ended. 4 hours and 57 minutes Sunday, February 17, 2019 - Rest day 2018 Total Hours = 684 hours and 06 minutes 2019 Week 7 = 12 hours and 32 minutes 2019 Total Hours = 73 hours and 39 minutes
Monday, February 18, 2019 - Day off of work due to President's Day Holiday. 4:15 - Two person practice with Ms. M. Fit this time in because I had had to cancel last Friday, our usual practice time. Worked on Plum Blossom vs Cross Pattern and Spear vs Broadsword. Also, we put into practice a tournament version of the Spear vs Broadsword. I am kind of proud of it because I didn't wait for an instructor, I just came up with one myself. Ms. M liked it and it turned out to be about the perfect time (1 minute). So we worked on that and the full version. I don't know exactly how long we practiced. My estimate is an hour or an hour and 15 minutes or so? It was a productive session. 5:30ish? - After that solo practice. Worked on all my tournament stuff. Yay. Another day of 3 section staff without hitting myself in the head. Ng Lun Ma and Ng Lun Choi. Back to working on Shaolin Five Animal. Backtracking on that one as I forgot and am getting it back. So I didn't do all of it. Ping Kuen and Sup Ji Kau Da. Hand Breaking Fan. I also ran through my TCC test format. I did stop and fix a couple of things, but less than last time. So, almost a full format style, but not quite. At 7:00 - I went to group class. The instructor went through talking about tournament season. The class was mostly yellow sashes, so she took us through a tournament technique for yellow sashes, detailing out what the key parts are for a good score in tournament. 7:30 - back to solo practice, some of what I wrote at 5:30 happened here. I just can't remember when I did what. I did finish be really working on TCC Small Circle Fast form a lot. Some stretching too. Also, talked to my CLF instructor about my knee issues and some ideas on stretching to get the imbalance in my quads fixed. I think my knee problems may very well be due to extremely tight quads. It's worth a try. Part of this stemmed from the fact that I studied video of my CLF performance at the Chinese New Year and was very unhappy with my performance. My stances were WAY too high, among other things. So I - like an idiot- pushed too hard too fast today and tweaked my knee. I did back off when I felt this. Sigh- I can't fix this in one day. I need to have a slow, safe methodical approach. 9:55ish estimate - School closes 5 hours and 40 minutes
Tuesday. February 19, 2019 - 6:40 - Had trouble finding my partner. Two person practice. Two person staff, Golden Leopard vs Tiger, and 9 star. 7:00 - Forms practice. Ms. R had a lesson during a large part of it, so Ms. M and Ms. T and I started off. Small Five Animal, Siu Moi Fa, Sup Ji Jit Fu, butterfly knives. Ms. R joined us about 7:40 and we did spear, stick and staff. Then Mrs. R and Ms. M and I did Ping Kuen. 8:00 - Full hour lesson. The second part is a make up lesson for next week. My instructor will be out of town for a couple of weeks. Started off with the tournament version of Broadsword vs Spear with Ms. M there. My instructor liked the tournament version! Then we talked about the analysis I sent him of my exhibition performance. He largely agreed with my analysis and we talked about how to improve. Then review and corrections on my tournament materials. Then review, corrections and a few new moves of Sup Ji Kau Da. He said I am about 2/3rds of the way through that. 9:00 - practiced new moves of Sup Ji Kau Da. 9:10ish? - school closes 2 hours and 30 minutes.
Wednesday, February 20, 2019 - Normally, this is a day off as I work an evening shift. But I took the last couple of hours off of work, so I could attend our first tournament preparation class. 6:00 - Solo practice. I wrote this too late though. I can't remember what. I am sure I did a lot of tournament versions of stuff to prepare for the class. 7:00 - First Mega group/ tournament preparation class. Well, it was a big turnout, which is good. This class had no performances. We were broken into groups by rank to really detail out our tournament materials. I chose to do CLF instead of TCC as I think that material is less ready for tournament. We worked on techniques and hand form tonight. Lots of good details, it was an excellent class. But I wish we had done some performances. Unlike past years, there aren't very many of these classes this year. Something I am actually not too happy about. I did talk to instructors about that. 8:00 - Solo practice. Again, I am writing this after too many practice sessions, so I can't remember what exactly. I did get in a good long stretching session at the end. Also, I had tweaked my knees on Monday, particularly my right one, so I am having to take it easy in some ways while practicing this week. 9:45ish - school closes 3 hours and 45 minutes Thursday, February 21, 2019 - 6:30 - Last half of TCC class. Again, my memory is lame, I can't remember what we did. 7:00 - Tai Sifu/ Advanced TCC class. Tai Sifu taught the first part of the class, and the other instructor took over. This seems to be the pattern lately for this class. We did partner drills based on some moves in forms. Then we did some forms. Particularly excellent details tonight! Formal exercise. I think that was it because it was particularly detail oriented. It is possible we did one other form, but I don't think so. 8:00 - TCC Private lesson. Detailed out my tournament forms. 8:30 - practiced what I was taught in my TCC private lesson. My entries are lame right now, because I think I also did some bit of a little CLF- but not sure. 9:00 - School closes 2 hours and 30 minutes
Friday, February 22, 2019 - 6:30 - Stick Fighting class. Lots of footwork drills. 7:00 - This is a little different. Ms. B and Ms. M, whom I normally do techniques practice with at this time, were helping Ms. B prepare for her next test- black sash. Ms. M was running Ms. B through a format in the big room, with a lot of chaos all around. When I joined, I pulled up a chair- like the Sifu's do when watching a test. I put on my "Tai Sigung" face. Ms. M and I pretended to be Tai Sifu and Tai Sigung. We did the things that can be unnerving during a test. We talked to each other, acted like we were heatedly discussing something, pretended to write things down, and even got up and did some moves - pretending to argue about a point during the test. By Tai Sigung face, I stared very intently, without expression. Mine and Ms. B's instructor came up at one point, he thought I was upset because of the fake arguing a point. We let him know what we were doing and he laughed and thought it was great. Another instructor came by later. He had no idea what we were doing, but he looked at me and said my expression looked like Tai Sigung! He said this out of the blue! HA! Success!! 8:05 - Two person practice with Ms. M. Lots of Broadsword vs Spear. Both full version and tournament version. Cross pattern vs Plum blossom. Some square pattern. We were about to start circle pattern when the school closed. 9:00 - School closes 2 hours and 30 minutes
Saturday, February 23, 2019 - 9:35 - Two person practice with my CLF instructor and Ms. R. Broadsword vs spear with me on the broadsword side. Ms. R was a bit late, and my CLF instuctor didn't have anything going on, so he filled in working with me on it at first until Ms. R showed up. He did help us out a few times during our practice. We were having trouble remembering it- me particularly. 10:00 - advanced push hands/ moving step class. Class is building up in numbers again! Somewhere around 8 or so people? Various drills with a partner, followed by a couple of matches. I managed to get in a match and I was fairly happy with it. 11:00 - Sparring class. Usual pattern as of late. Drills on the heavy bags. Today was kicking drills. Then partnering up with more drills. Followed by light power matches. Much sadness! As I took off my chest protector, one of the straps snapped away from the body of it. Rest in peace! It was the first chest protector I ever had. Can't say I didn't get my money's worth as it lasted about 14 years. 12:00 - rest. Chatting with fellow students and resting. 12:40 - Solo practice. Sup Ji Kau Da. 1:00 - Stretching class. The instructor had us doing our various kick based crane stances with balance today. Usually she has us able to touch a wall. I did really horrible balancing today. 1:30 - I ended up listening in on the Lion Dancing lesson. They did a back to basics with a lot of history and beginning step one basics, including basics of drumming. It was really interesting. I won't be lion dancing. No way I can hold someone or jump on someone to stack up. But learning about it was still interesting. Someday, I may want to learn the drumming and other percussion though. After that solo practice. TCC - 9 dragon spear, both tournament and full version. Small circle fast form- just tournament version. CLF tournament techniques and tournament 3 section staff. My streak of practicing without hitting myself in the head ended today. Was a week and a half to two weeks though. My knee is feeling a bit better than earlier in the week when I tweaked it. 3:20ish - Instructors were staying late working out, past when school closed. I think I left about this time? 5 hours and 5 minutes Sunday, February 24, 2019 - Rest day. I spent most of the afternoon hanging out at an Italian restaurant with my long time former instructor and some of her other former students. Good times! Woo! Just added up my hours for the week! Most hours in a very long time! Even with my tweaked knee! 2018 Total Hours = 684 hours and 06 minutes 2019 Week 8 = 22 hours and 00 minutes 2019 Total Hours = 95 hours and 39 minutes
Monday, February 25, 2019 - 6:35ish - Solo practice. TCC - worked on my current curriculum level materials to prepare for my observation with Tai Sifu at 8:00. An observation is where Tai Sifu comes in to give corrections and let the instructor and student know where they are at with regards to preparing for their next test. What needs to be worked on and all. It was weird, I had a bit of a panic during this practice. It was like all of a sudden, I got a growing bundle of nerves. I had felt so calm thinking about testing until now. Suddenly, the idea of testing became very real and all the old stress and anxiety about testing came up with gusto! Feelings of imposter syndrome, not wanting to disappoint my instructor or Tai Sifu, basic insecurities............. I found a friend, who is also now an instructor to help me work through it. We have helped each other with various anxieties and issues in training over the years. She helped and I went back to practicing. 8:00 - Observation with Tai Sifu. And, there was no anxiety in the actual observation. He observed my double gim and the first part of Buddha palm. There were a few details in the corrections, but mostly it was about extension, posture, and taking bigger steps. He said something like "the biggest thing for improving your martial arts is a couple of inches." As in, a couple of inches lower in stances, raise the knee a couple of inches higher in my crane stances, turn a couple of inches more, extend a couple of inches. So, just a few inches is my catch phrase - mantra - when practicing for the near future. 8:30 - Back to solo practice. I went through what we covered in the observation and wrote down the corrections. Did a move and went "what was I told here?" Wrote it down, next move - same. And so on. I think I did a little stretching too? Tai Sifu talked to me little more after the instructor seminar was done. He said if I worked hard, which he knew I would, I could be on track to test in May. 10:00ish - school closes 3 hours and 25 minutes
Tuesday, February 26, 2019 - 6:40ish? - I was looking for my two person partner, but she was off doing instructor things. Helping a student buy sparring gear. So I did some solo practice. I can't remember what. She joined at about 6:52 or so. So we just ran through both sides of the two person staff. 7:00 - forms practice with Ms. R and Ms. M. Ms. T and Ms. P did not join us. Ms. T is really nice, but somewhat inconsistent. Oh well, she knows she is welcome whenever. Same with Ms. P. We got through a LOT. Not in this order. When it is us three, we take turns calling out what form to do next. Spear, Broadsword, Staff, Stick, hand breaking fan, Formal exercise, Siu Moi Fa, Sup Ji Jit Fu, Small Five Animal, Ping Kuen. 8:05ish- solo practice. Sup Ji Kau Da. Tournament version of 3 section staff. I think I did other things too, but can't remember what. Mostly Sup Ji Kau Da and 3 section staff though. 9:00 - School closes 2 hours and 20 minutes Wednesday, February 27, 2019 - Evening Shift/ Rest day
Thursday, February 28, 2019 - 6:30 - last half of TCC class. Detailing out of several moves. 24 form. The detailing had some talk about bigger steps and how to do them to get lower stances. So, this isn't only a me correction thing. My TCC instructor, who is the second in charge at the school, had told me this. I had told him that I had reviewed my exhibition forms and been unhappy with my stances- them being too high. He told me that that was an issue with most everyone at the exhibition. So, I think this will be a theme in teachings in classes and people's private lessons for awhile. Getting students stances lower. 7:00 - Tai Sifu class. He was there the entire class. Detailing out and drilling techniques with a partner. Sheesh, I can't remember what sash level those techniques were. 8:00 - TCC private lesson. Went over the stuff from the observation. Then, review and corrections of my tournament version of the spear. 8:30 - Practice of corrections from lesson and observation. 9:00 - school closes 2 hours and 30 minutes
Friday, March 1, 2019 - 5:30 - Showed up for the Tai Chi class for those with a certain membership, but it was cancelled at the last minute. Tai Simo is sick. So Tai Sifu couldn't make it in. So, Ms. M and I did some Broadsword vs Spear two person practice. We did both tournament and full version. Good session! I am happy with our progress! It's coming along better and quicker than I would have thought. I didn't want to do this form for tournament this year. I wanted to do the hand form because I didn't think we could get good enough to be competitive in time. I thought we would do better with the hand form. But I am thinking with two months more to go, that we CAN be competitive in time. It is good to have a partner who pushes you past your perceived boundaries. If one CAN get this form looking good, it is a better form to do in tournament. It is both harder to do and more flashy looking. It is a very pleasing form to watch and definitely more difficult than the hand form. 6:00 - Weapon forms class. First week of the Chau Sot single ended staff form. This class is finally building up with more participants too! Like the stick, they are adding two person drills at the end of the class. It used to be only learning the form and discussing applications. I love that we are drilling applications for weapons too now in this class! 6:30 - Stick Fighting class. More matches, less drills today. Mid level speed and then full at the end. 7:00 - Two person practice with Ms. M. Ms. B couldn't be in this weekend, so we are getting more two person practice time in. Cross Pattern vs Plum Blossom, more Broadsword vs spear= tournament version. Then we had time to work a bit on our older curriculum materials. We did a lot of Golden Leopard vs Tiger both sides. My partner has not been doing this with other people, while I have, so she was rusty. But remembered much better after a couple times of going through it. We also did a bit of both sides of the two person staff. 7:30ish? - I joined Mr. B's lesson as a partner for golden leopard vs tiger. Ms. M listened in by the instructors invite (her instructor). Lots of good corrections and input on improving this form Afterwards, Ms. M and I did some TCC circular pattern. And we ended up with the same instructor looking at part of our tournament two person and giving input and corrections. Particularly good and productive night of practice! 9:15ish- school closes 3 hours and 45 minutes Saturday, March 2, 2019 - Work all day/ rest day Sunday, March 3, 2019 - rest day 2018 Total Hours = 684 hours and 06 minutes 2019 Week 9 = 12 hours and 00 minutes 2019 Total Hours = 107 hours and 39 minutes
Monday, March 4, 2019 - 6:30 - Solo practice. Buddha Palm. 7:00 - Group class. Class was fine, but I found the antics of two teens disruptive to the class. The instructor had to keep dealing with it. The two - one in particular - were VERY rude to the instructor. I did let the Chief instructor know about it after class. Very annoying. And I will also probably check in with both kids instructors when I see them next. The worse one has the same CLF instructor as I do. so, when he gets back in town............ 7:30 - Solo practice. CLF - Part of Shaolin Five Animal. 3 section staff, full and tournament version. Focusing on the tournament version is hurting my memorizing the full version. It just happens when learning new stuff at tournament time. I know this, but it still frustrates me. Full version of Ping Kuen, same issue. TCC - focused on corrections from Tai Sifu observation. Buddha palm, the beginning part where I got corrections. I think I did do the whole thing too, but not sure. Double Gim. Tournament Small Circle Fast form. Full and tournament spear. Good long stretching session at the end. That is what I remember, there may have been more. Some stretching too. 9:30ish - left early as my knee was really bugging me tonight. I am trying to stretch throughout the day to fix the issue. But I think I overdid it today and it rebelled. 3 hours Tuesday, March 5, 2019 - 6:40ish- my two person partner had instructor stuff to do again. So I wasted a little time, then warmed up with a bit of something. I think Buddha Palm? She came out and joined me about 6:50ish. We did both sides of the staff and one side of Golden Leopard vs Tiger. Then it started raining. 7:00 - forms practice with Ms. M, Ms. R and Ms. T. We were inside, due to rain, but fortunately the big room was not crowded. It usually is during rain, because no one can practice outside. But I guess fewer people showed up tonight due to aforementioned rain? We all pushed the pace harder than usual and got the following done in about 45 minutes - Formal Exercise, Siu Moi Fa, Sup Ji Jit Fu, Small Five Animal, Stick, Staff, Spear, and Broadsword. Then Ms. T left and the rest of us did the fan and Ping Kuen. I struggled with Ping Kuen tonight. Also Sup Ji Jit Fu. Just mixing up different forms with each other. Otherwise, it was a good practice session. 8:05ish? - My CLF instructor is still out of town, so solo practice. Shaolin Five Animal- part of it. I am back to it, but forgot some of it so am regressing some. It just isn't a priority right now with TCC test and tournament coming up. Tournament version of 3 section staff. I think (?) I did tournament hand and weapon form too? Knee was better than yesterday. 9:00 - School closes 2 hours and 20 minutes Wednesday, March 6, 2019 - Evening shift/ rest day
Thursday, March 7, 2019 - Got a late start today. Was not feeling well since last night with sinus headache. 7:00 - Advanced CLF class- Went over details of basic moves of single ended staff. It is this little exercise or mini form. Not really a form, but a small sequence of core basic moves= 7 of them. Then, started in on stick form. Did not get all the way through it. 8:00 - Private lesson got moved until later, so solo practice. CLF - Ping Kuen, part of Shaolin 5 animal. TCC - tournament version of Small circle fast form. 8:40 ish- TCC private lesson. Working on Tai Sifu corrections of double gim. Also, of course, corrections by my instructor. The Tai Sifu corrections are coming along, I am stepping bigger, but the steps don't flow great, they are a little clunky and awkward. But I am making progress. Then we worked on Buddha Palm. Then the 9 dragon spear. I need to remember to add the Tai Sifu corrections to all my forms, not just the ones he reviewed. The instructor said my balance was better with the posturing corrections. It is that, but it is also that I think my balance is better because I got my ears cleaned. Had MAJOR earwax removed and I think that was affecting my balance. 9:10 ish - Stretching session. Also some stance work. When I did some stretches tonight, I used a rolled up matt in front of me. I noticed how much lower I could get. So, it reminds me something some instructors have said in the past. My issues are not always flexibility per-se, but strength. So, need to get back to stance training. Slowly and carefully. Horse stance/ Sei Ping Ma - 45 seconds Bow stance. Ding Ji Ma - 45 seconds each side Crane stance - only 15 seconds each side 9:32 - left school. Could have stayed later, but it was enough considering how lousy I felt for earlier in the day. My knee is definitely starting to get better from this last bout if it hurting. Yay! 2 hours and 32 minutes
