Scattered Points

Paraphrase of the Day:  “Traditional farming methods use 10 times less water, 10 times less energy and produce 5 times as much biomass per acre as does modern mechanized farming.”  — Vandana Shiva

Back at kung fu practice today, after a week and a half off due to a bout of sickness.  In the beautiful world of crazy coincidences (and also in the world of there are no accidents) one of our Shi-Bo just so happens to be visiting the Bay Area and just so happened to be out walking at night last Tuesday and just so happened to cross the road in front of the kwoon and just so happened to see the class practicing Sun Style Tai Chi and chose to come in and watch.  And, since she is our Shi-bo, she trained with Sifu and our Shi-Gong Sun Jian Yun a decade ago.  Really awesome, she’s staying here for a couple of months and will be joining us for classes and already she has been an outpouring to couple with Sifu and provide observations and illumination.  She only speaks Mandarin, which makes for some fun listening, observing, and waiting for one of my classmates who speak Mandarin to translate for me…

I bought the soundtrack to Wall-E (DRM-free digital music, woo!).  Very interesting soundtrack, very different from most other soundtracks.  There are some 38 tracks on the album, and each cue is very short, most only about a minute or three.  Which, in thinking about it, makes perfect sense, given the mostly dialogue-less nature of the film — the music is what does some of the speaking.  Each cue truly does relate to a scene or chapter in the film.  Very nifty, and cool for the great musical range of the many cues, including a couple (EVE, and the sort-of reprise in Define Dancing) that are truly very beautiful and instant shiver-material.

Railway tracks have a particular smell to them, it turns out.  Maybe it’s the (probably nasty) oils they put into the ties to weatherproof them.  Discovered this today while walking home, and interestingly I found it a pleasant smell, likely as it brought back many pleasant memories from my youth.

A couple of weeks ago I bought six copies of The Art of Possibility, and gave a copy to each principal and each associate in the office.  The office manager saw me do this, and we had a small conversation and I’m now scheduled to introduce it to the office as a whole tomorrow at the staff meeting.  Ordinarily I think I would hide out and not tell anyone about this, so that if it doesn’t turn out no one would know.  But here I lay it out, I’m brining what’s in this book to the office, and taking on altering the disempowering conversations that are inadvertedly created on a daily basis.  And out of seeing those conversations return our work and our environment (and most importantly our experience) into the realm of creativity, inspiration and excitement.

current possibility:  living life full out

Also…

… and this may be obvious, but if you do some no-handed kip-ups, and you don’t do them very often, you should expect sore neck muscles the next few days…  (totally worth it, though!)

All caught up

A great week at work, veryverybusywithlotstodo andohwehaveanewhireandIneedtotrainherwithbrandnewmaterial andbythewaywehavetomeetwithalltheseusersanddolayoutsanddesignthemandrunthembythePMatStanfordtoo andohdon’tforgetthoseothertrheeprojects andyouneedtosetyourselfupatyournewstationafteryourmove. Feels good to be in action.

And speaking of action, getting back into Kung Fu after a week ‘off’ is always amusing — the ancient Chinese addage of “miss one day, lose three days” certainly applies… it takes me a few days to get back up to speed. But back up to speed I am now, after a week and a half of class, teaching, working on the new sooper-seekret set and a good chunk of climbing (more on this in the next paragraph). On friday for our practice, Evan and I went to the volleyball sand pit where he works and practiced Tai Chi on the sand. Two things: one, sun in the late afternoon is H O T ! ! (we ended up wearing our socks) and secondly, it is a very interesting experience. It really was great to work on the spins in sand, there’s much to be gained when you can spiral into the depths if done non-optimally. As I practiced this morning I could tell I got something from that practice, and I think I’ll suggest we do that again sometime soon.

For climbing we visited the Sunnyvale gym — my last outing there left me none to impressed.  The owner of Coyote’s in Ottawa made me wonder if it was due to the fact the gym at that time had just opened (so in a flurry of rapidly putting up routes the routes were somewhat bland).  While the geometry certainly will never be back up to par with their old Santa Clara location, the climbs were pretty good this time round.  Certainly good enough for my forearms to feel it for the next week — something about 60′ high climbs, I think.

I also has me a 4e core book set, and have been reading through those, we played in Eberron last week for the first time in a while, haven’t seen Kung Fu Panda yet (and have heard it is worth seeing), been playing in new-found freedoms, thinking I’d like to seek out some new music (any suggestions anyone?), starting to work on the Northern Shaolin book again, got some car repairs/maintenance done, waiting for my camera back from a repair under warranty, and I could use to schedule some time to do a bit of cleaning up in my apartment.

Paraphrase of the Day to end this post:

“It’s like those fish at the bottom of the ocean — you bring them up and pow, they would explode.  But they never notice the pressure, they’re born into it.  We’re born into some things, and some other things and pressures end up being constant as well, so much so that we don’t even notice we have it.  When they’re removed, all of a sudden we have this experience of ‘wow’, we didn’t even realize what we were under or that there was some other way to be.  I guess that’s similar to the expression ‘weight lifted from one’s shoulders’, suddenly there’s an expansive feeling.”  — Unknown

Le Long Weekend

Sunday evening I wondered to myself “hmmm, self, I wonder why I’m feeling a bit sore.” Then I realized I’d practiced Kung Fu for nearly _six_ hours that morning/early afternoon. Starting with a run that included being pulled up and down stairs by a Kishu. I gotta say, those dogs are fast! Plus the new set Rev and I are working on is one heck of a full-body workout. Great stuff.

Rewatched a couple of old films this weekend, and enjoyed seeing them again. Did not go to see Narnia again yet, though. (and haven’t seen Ironman yet either…)

Caught up on a whack of email to friends. Studied. Continued to work on darkrooming my photos (I’m getting there, about 2/3 of the way through) (also, yes, I think I just made up a word there). Watched the weather go one way, then the next. Read the HG Blitz! rules.

I’d call this overall one leasurly weekend!

And here’s a fun link:  1200fps Mentos and Diet Coke

Another omnibus post

Wicked days.

Which one to root for?

Jackie Chan. Jet Li. Together, in one film. Could I possibly not go on opening night? I choose not! So thusly, I did, heading out with a bunch of friends to see The Forbidden Kingdom last night.

Story wise, it wasn’t really a success. It is at its core a simple story, which is all well and good, but the telling of the story (or the execution of the story) is where the film lacked. Heavy handed in some places, holywood cliché’ed in others, and oddly expositional in yet others. A beautifully woven yarn this was not.

As a kung fu piece, here the film was much more successful. Yuen Woo-Ping was the fight choreographer, so, hey, you know the fight quality is going to be there. Of course the highlight of the film was the Jackie vs Jet duel, a prolonged, classic, scenery-damaging contest of great length and great technique. Mmmmm. (Interestingly, it wasn’t very later-style Jackie-ish, ie, not prop- and stunt-driven — I think that was the intent in hiring Woo-Ping, but it still surprised me that there was almost none)

Really, this film was one great long Kung Fu geek-out for me. Mostly internally geeking out, I only had one outburst (wherein I exclaimed “Hey, I know that set!” — the protagonist was doing, I’m pretty sure, Tong Bi Quan). Guan Daos, Ma Bu, great staff action… and the opening/title sequence was brilliantly done, a very nifty effect and idea. It’s a film that isn’t taking itself seriously, which really worked for it.  The sense of camraderie for the two J’s was evident;  I think they had a great time making this film.

Overall it really was a very fun film for me. Fortunately, I had already practiced earlier in the day and did not feel entranced to go work out for a few hours afterwards…

Eclectic Update and QOTDs

Definitively didn’t have to worry about warming up for kung fu this weekend… with temps up in the high-twenties-C even in SF it was plenty warm for practice Sunday morning. Welcome to summer!

Warm weather aside, kung fu was great. Practicing with Evan last Thursday, testing some of our tai chi positions/structure I was remarkably linked, so much so that it surprised me. For Sunday I brought along my nice finished waxwood staff and did the Nine-Provinces Eyebrow Height staff set a few times — something I hadn’t done for a while.

Also amusing was while I was teaching my class on Friday, I had us doing some simple sparring drills (any two punches) and as we faced off it was real instinctive for me to reach out just to touch my partner’s hands/arm — to connect to them so I could feel their movement. Very tai chi-ish, I had to keep reminding myself to set up more traditionally. My partner had also done a bunch of wing chun though, so it was kind of natural for him to want to make that contact as well. Very interesting to see that develop out of the blue (and interesting to see where it goes too, over time).

Been riding my bike to work again, nice to get that out and going and stop using the car. Studying away for my upcoming arch exam. Enjoying my new lunches. Working on new rules for Silhouette. Getting ready to update some standards at work and CAD to go with them. Seeing friends. Discovering things.

A while ago I bought some new laundry soap from Mugwart Maggies, have used it a few times now, and damn am I ever impressed. A soap that a) has no harsh chemicals and is made from vegetable soap (ie, 100% biodegradable) b) smells mighty fine (I ordered unscented) c) cleans like a charm and d) costs less than the regular petrochem stuff from the store? Rock on.

The following are quite amazing:

“Any fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius - and a lot of courage - to move in the opposite direction.”

“Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen.”

“He who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead; his eyes are closed.”

“Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.”

Who spoke them? Albert Einstein. Very cool.

Buidings, Bikes and Blazerunner

A whack of stuff!

Reflections on Power

The word power is an interesting one, possessing many definitions (over 30) spanning precise meanings in physics to the metaphysical.  In the world of being, the word power is often collapsed with the idea or meaning of force.  Yet really force is what is present when power is not.  Power is effortless, achieving intentions without force or struggle.

The same thing arises in the martial arts.  One can be very forceful, but true power comes much as the old Chinese saying “one pound moves a thousand pounds.”  The soft power of an Iron Palm break, or of a tai chi practitioner’s strike or push, both examples of this.

It’s no wonder to me (and I find it very interesting) that many of the great masters of old are remembered as being wise and calm, and why there are great stories of masters from such places as Mt Wudang or Mt Song and the Shaolin Temple.  When you put those two together, or when one leads to the discovery of the other, well, it just seems natural what would arise inside that:   Effortless Power in both realms.

Lectures and Swords

On the way home from kung fu, I caught City Arts and Lectures on KQED, in conversation with Eric Schlosser (author of Fast Food Nation).  It was an interesting talk (about an editorial he had in the NY Times) and there was something about how he spoke that I really enjoyed.  I only caught a small chunk of it, and I thought I’d be able to grab the show online when I got in, but alas no downloads nor transcripts are available, and the last broadcast times will be during kung fu this tuesday, and then in the middle of the morning on wednesday.  Hmm.  Early morning rise to listen, then back to sleep?

I began teaching straight sword this morning, and promptly made a mockery of the teaching process with a rather scattered set of points, introductions, background, techniques, concepts and movements.  Fortunetaly I have patient students!  I’ll… clean it up for next week.

Earlier, Sifu gave some very good insights into the transmission of the arts, and also about watching the masters (especially in an internal style) and how then to translate that into our own movements, movements for beginners, and more.  I rounded off the day practicing #6, #7, #1, #9 and #8, which felt great!

An amusing and thought-excercising QotD:

“There are over 2 million cars standing in front of red lights with their engines going. Then we have over 2 million times approximately 100 horsepower being generated as they are idling there, so that we have something like 200 million horses jumping up and down and going nowhere. Now, we have to count that in our economy when we begin to get down to what is the efficiency of the economy.” — Buckminster Fuller