Another omnibus post

Wicked days.

Saturday afternoon worked some more on Sifu’s book, taking photos and writing captions. That sounds kind of mundane in print (web?), but there was so much concept spoken about these sessions are more like a workshop that just so happens to produce something that will be printed. On Sunday during Tai Chi I practiced with the intent of focussing on the main concept discussed on Saturday and wow, there was just this difference of how the set felt and how things linked together. I am so going to continue to play around with that over the next couple of weeks, both in the solo form and testing it with a partner.

It’s official: Rev and I have started working on our demo/skit for next year’s FC FNL show. And if you think I’m going to reveal what it is here, well, you’re out of luck, it will be revealed with the proper fanfare at the show itself. We made excellent progress working on it, and I think it will really rock the house.

Tuesday at Kung Fu we finished Gung Gee, which is really a good long set, with some interesting moves to complete the set. I pushed hard all night, and am rewarded with a good feeling of used muscles today. It’s a fun set (and wow, just realized I know three Hung Gar sets now), quite different feel from Tiger Crane. We’ll practice for a few more weeks, then Steve’s promised us we’ll learn the Butterfly Swords. For which I have already bought my pair — a very nice set crafted based on Sifu Lam’s personal design. I think I’ve gotten to the point where I’ve been spoiled by good quality weapons and have a certain desire to keep using good quality equipment…

On Monday at work during lunch we began watching a series from Channel 4 called The Perfect Home. I think the title is a bit misleading, or at least it doesn’t convey well the intent of the series and differentiate it from some round-the-world-romp to find the most outrageous home. Instead it’s based on a book by Alain de Botton (who produced and is in the show), and is actually more of an investigative documentary. The first episode delved into the nature of the ‘generic’ home as it currently stands, especially the ubiquitous subdivision (the show focuses on Britain but it applies equally well over here across the pond). It’s a great premise: rather than starting with anything else, let’s investigate if the very context and foundation upon which the general idea of the standard developer home is what’s appropriate, and if it even achieves the aim of this context.

The show was a bit broad, with a meandering path and some rather unfocussed transitions from one place/statement to the next. The author is making a case for a certain type of home (not necessarily a style, I think, though it could come across that way) and fingers several possible impetuses for the current abundance of retro-pastiche fakery that is at the core of standard housing developments. It was a great watch, and we’ll check out the next two episodes over the next couple of weeks.

Continuing with the wickedness in media, on Tuesday I caught (happened to be returning from a job site and heard it in the car) KQED’s Forum program and heard an interview and discussion with Jack Kornfield. Now, I know of Jack from a little Buddhist inspiring-quotes type book (there are more than just inspiring quotes or maxims as some are more like inquiries) that I had bought years ago (for a rather amusing reason, now that I remember). Who knew he lived in the Bay area? It was a great show, discussing transformation and being from inside the practices of Buddhism — really great stuff. Good food for thought, instructional, inspirational.

As I said, wicked days. Met someone new and talked for several hours on Saturday, took another Arch Exam on Friday, ontologically working through some things that I know will bust open a lot, got a new camera and am playing with it before our upcoming hike to Half Dome (and trying to figure out if it’s overly grainy or not, and if I can manage not having highlights blown out — the perils of cramming so many pixels on the small photo sensors). And started practicing Iron Palm again.

Oh, and reading previews on the WotC site as the days count down until 4th edition comes out…