Ahem

Two and a half hours of "projecting" (i.e. shouting) to make myself heard by the graders tonight, which has caused quite a relapse in my sore throat. I can hardly speak, but chances are I will improve enough to have to go to work tomorrow. Interestingly I found out that T has also been poorly while I've been away with very similar symptoms to me - so maybe its not something I picked up on the plane but something I was already incubating before I left.

As the man at the front T took plenty of opportunity to stand and watch tonight, unfortunately I couldn't really do the same so had to work hard even though it wasn't me who was grading....generally the standard was pretty good although some of the younger ones were struggling a bit with the kwok sau thay and chum ku.

T has decided we're going to go back to the old syllabus (the one that I did!) which I think is a good decision. He's also given me a copy of the chinese names and flowery translations of everything on the syllabus (like "mantis grasps cicada", "white crane demonstrates wings" and "spiritual tiger presenting claw" (that's the one that I rather more prosaically think of as "that one where you rip their face off")). How enigmatic I will sound once I've learnt all the new names...

Cat Stance

We had the fire doors open in the training hall yesterday morning during the kids classes. Just after we'd started training a cute cat wandered in and sat to watch us for a while, much to the amusement of the kids. I was surprised it didn't run away- my own cat at home seems to freak out when I practise - generally he will hide behind some furniture for a while and then after he's screwed up his courage leap out and attack my ankles, almost always managing to draw blood!

My new training regime started yesterday too, so after the kids T and I did an hour and a half of training together, going over choy li fut, kwok sau thay, some throws and chum ku in detail. Lots of little subtleties for me to think about.

(I've resisted the lolcats for a long time, but today I have weakened. Let's call it a birthday treat)

JCVD

Guilty secrets revealed - but it seems I wasn't the only one to watch Kickboxer when it was on Channel 5 the other night! The whole class at Kung Fu had a bit of a discussion about it yesterday. The consensus of opinion is that his reverse spinning hook kick looks pretty good (if you can get past the whole eighties/trousers pulled up to the armpits thing), but he over uses it.

Got down business after that, working on the real deal rather than that showy film stuff. Chum ku, kwok sau thay and li pi.

Staggered down to Tai Chi loaded up with all the pads and sticks, since T is away for a couple of weeks I'm taking the classes which means I have to lug the kit about.

First off we went out into the garden and did the Yang style long form. The pub next door to the training hall was having a seventies karaoke evening outside, which was more than a little bit off-putting, but I did manage to block out "Dancing Queen" and "I Believe in Miracles" etc enough to get through the form, actually better than I normally do. Maybe a sound track is what I need.

Then I used the last of the light outside to teach the final bit of the pole set, before we retreated indoors and went through the 2-person sword - one of my favorites. Might have gone better to a bit of "Firestarter" or something though....

The Great Outdoors

Very warm for Thursday evening's classes - so hot in fact that some people had called T and told him they weren't coming because it was too hot - honest, if nothing else. The real problem is that the windows of the hall we train in don't open, so it's not only hot but very close.

Chum ku, char chuan, the beginnings of a wing chun 2-person set and then some kwok sau thay in the class, with some bokken afterwards. Talked about what we'll do over the holiday period in terms of classes which usually get fairly small because everyone with kids is away. It looks like we'll just run the Monday night classes through August and encourage those who normally only come on Thursday to swap to Monday just for the month. And I'll take the classes when T is away, which will be a first for me.

The Tai Chi class was in the garden, which was really nice, both for the fresh air and for the fact that there was quite a lot more room than when we're indoors, which given that we went through sword and then pole was a good thing. We also learnt a neat application for part of the Yang form that I haven't seen before involving breaking an arm and then some ribs. Tai Chi's not quite the gentle hand waving that so many people think it is.

The Comeback Kid

Despite finding breathing a bit of a challenge on occasions, I decided to venture to Kung Fu on Thursday night, thinking that the Dan Dien breathing and general "chi" cultivation would do me good. And sure enough after the first couple of minutes I was fine (although I seem to have pulled something in my left thigh - quite how I did that during my days on my sickbed I don't know).

Went over the first section of the Choy Li Fut Celebration set with the Orange sashes, then through some Wing Chun (Chum Ku) with the Blues. We were then supposed to go through some bokken/miao dao with the whole class, but T and I had brain fade at first and couldn't remeber which sequences were in which set until after the class had offically ended (although most people stayed on in the hope that we would recall it eventually). What is it with the bokken sets?

Arrived at Tai Chi just in time to go over a portion of the straight sword set that I've always been a bit rusty on. I really want to find an opportunity to practice the whole set in a vast space so that I can really do it justice. My garden isn't really quite big enough (not to mention I'd probably impale at least one of the kids), but I can't really do it in a park 'cos I'd probably get arrested....

After sword we did some more Hsing I, including a new two person drill for practising "pi". Woke up this morning to find my forearms covered in bruises, which hasn't happened for a long time.

What's next?

Kickboxing and Kung Fu on Monday night. More hook kicks in kickboxing, they seemed to flow a little easier than they were doing, but to get them right I think I need to do about 4 hours practice every day - maybe I should give up work and become a shaolin monk?

In Kung Fu I got to teach chum ku to the blue belts, which is a bit of a promotion for me, at that level I'm usually only allowed to supervise stuff that they've already been taught by T. Later on we were even talking about me teaching stuff to brown belts when we've got a few new ones.

After the class we went through biu jeet again, think I've got the hang of the changes now. Then I started learning the final set on our syllabus, which I think is called char chuan. I like it so far....

Must Try Harder

Just 5 including me and T at Kickboxing Monday night - cue a fairly intense hour of training including lots of elbow strikes and plenty of pad work. Discovered fairly early on that Sunday's run had left me with a bit of a groin strain, but gritted my teeth and worked through it.

Then Kung Fu, worked on Chum Ku and the Mantis 2-person set, then char chui 2 and the first stick set. During the sparring I was being so cautious because of Thursday's incident that I ended up getting hit by one of the beginners - there's a middle ground somewhere between passivity and attack that I need to find!

After the beginners had left worked on 2-person Butterfly Knives, Mantis 6-punch and Li Pi. It's starting to take some kind of shape I think - how long 'til my grading?