Merry Christmas folks. I've been busy and don't have a whole lot to say. I was hoping to have my requirements for next year ready to post but due to my emails not reaching him because of some unknown gremlin Sifu Brinker has only just received my first draft. Hopefully we get them hammered out sooner rather than later.
Other than that I don't have much else to say. I'm looking forward to hitting the ground running on the 1st.
See you next year.
Ben Davies
Silent River Kung Fu
Stony Plain Alberta
www.silentriverkungfu.com
Monday, December 28, 2009
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Doing well...not that it helps
I've always been one to enjoy my own misfortune. If you can't laugh at yourself, what's left in life? Well, this is pretty funny. I'm now making twice what I was, but I now have less money. I had been getting paid daily, in fact, and now I'm pretty sure that I won't get paid until Jan 1st at which time my check should be sizable, even more so than all the bills due on Dec 30th. Really, at this point, I'd be better off with making less faster to cover my bills, but in the long term this should be best. The only thing I'm worried about is whether I'll be able to register in time for an event which takes place at the end of January and towards which I've been looking for a year. If I don't make it, I will be a thoroughly unhappy camper.
This has pretty much been my fail month. In a fall/winter wrought by disappointment and things exploding in my face, this is arguably the worst month of them all. The only thing which has gone right this month is the sandwich I had yesterday. It was delicious.
The thing which amuses and infuriates me is that I keep on doing things which should be great but have ended up just making things worse, at least for the short term. The things which have gone well are few and far between, while everything else unravels around me. I haven't even been able to get to the kwoon on even a semi regular basis, nor has my blogging been up to snuff, and the list goes on. The part which irritates me the most though is that it doesn't matter. That's all anyone says, when I happen to remark on my current state of dissatisfaction. I'm not sure what I would actually be happy to hear, but I'm sure it would be something constructive, like perhaps a solution. What I'm not a fan of is 'it'll be better later' or 'it'll all work out' or 'it's no big deal'. The first two are fair enough, I mean it's just a person trying to sound sympathetic and give you some hope, but I already know things will be better in the future. The last one though 'it's no big deal' annoys me. I know that having my plans continually dashed isn't a 'big' problem. I know that my blogging isn't a big deal (let's face it, the world doesn't change based on my blogs...yet). I know that not being able to get to the kwoon is not a big deal. I know that all my problems are not big deals. No lives depend on their outcomes and they don't have far reaching implications which cannot be solved in January and when I'm old and toothless I won't be muttering about how December 2009 was where my life went wrong. I know that my problems are not big to the world, but they're the problems I have and they're plenty big enough for my purposes.
Even my 'what the Ubbt has done for me' won't go right. I know exactly what I want to say, I have figured it out but how to say it is giving me some trouble. When I sat down at my computer tonight I had big plans for the next editing of it, but instead I typed this. Why? Because this is just what I had to say.
Ben Davies
Silent River Kung Fu
Stony Plain, Alberta, Canada
www.silentriverkungfu.com
This has pretty much been my fail month. In a fall/winter wrought by disappointment and things exploding in my face, this is arguably the worst month of them all. The only thing which has gone right this month is the sandwich I had yesterday. It was delicious.
The thing which amuses and infuriates me is that I keep on doing things which should be great but have ended up just making things worse, at least for the short term. The things which have gone well are few and far between, while everything else unravels around me. I haven't even been able to get to the kwoon on even a semi regular basis, nor has my blogging been up to snuff, and the list goes on. The part which irritates me the most though is that it doesn't matter. That's all anyone says, when I happen to remark on my current state of dissatisfaction. I'm not sure what I would actually be happy to hear, but I'm sure it would be something constructive, like perhaps a solution. What I'm not a fan of is 'it'll be better later' or 'it'll all work out' or 'it's no big deal'. The first two are fair enough, I mean it's just a person trying to sound sympathetic and give you some hope, but I already know things will be better in the future. The last one though 'it's no big deal' annoys me. I know that having my plans continually dashed isn't a 'big' problem. I know that my blogging isn't a big deal (let's face it, the world doesn't change based on my blogs...yet). I know that not being able to get to the kwoon is not a big deal. I know that all my problems are not big deals. No lives depend on their outcomes and they don't have far reaching implications which cannot be solved in January and when I'm old and toothless I won't be muttering about how December 2009 was where my life went wrong. I know that my problems are not big to the world, but they're the problems I have and they're plenty big enough for my purposes.
Even my 'what the Ubbt has done for me' won't go right. I know exactly what I want to say, I have figured it out but how to say it is giving me some trouble. When I sat down at my computer tonight I had big plans for the next editing of it, but instead I typed this. Why? Because this is just what I had to say.
Ben Davies
Silent River Kung Fu
Stony Plain, Alberta, Canada
www.silentriverkungfu.com
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
What have I got to say?
I've been busy with trying to figure out exactly how to answer what the Ubbt has done for me, but I just can't stop writing. So here's an entry to tide y'all over til it's done.
Well lately life sucks, which is nothing new. But as I like to say, "Life happens, live with it or don't". So, how am I addressing my current status of broker than broke? I've got a new job lined up with double the pay. (Side Note: If you're waiting for an applause signal, this is it) I'm more or less pleased with where I'm sitting as of today.
One thing I am less than pleased about was having my car go into the ditch. The ensuing adventure
would have been a great day unto itself were it not for the 5'4" of witty, dark haired reasons for my car to be wisking me into cafe in Edmonton. But apologies were issued, discussions were had, and the preordained time and place has been re-ordained to next week, same bat time, same bat place. (Side note: Adam West is the best Batman of all time)
On a funnier note; my car cost me $400 dollars, my roommate's cost him several thousand dollars to the point where he has to make payments which I hope are not $400 per month. No, they're probably $1-200 dollars a month (I hope). Yet whose auto hasn't failed too start nigh a once? The fancy, expensive one which has even been plugged in? Or the 1989 red lunch box with wheels which got left in a snowbank over night? That's right loyal reader(s), the owner of the car whose muffler "makes [me] look like I have a sense of humour" (~My father's co-worker), can now make fun of an expensive car. It's not that I am happy that my friend's car is as impotent in this weather as a chihuahua guard dog in the arctic, but that irony makes colours brighter, the air sweeter, and flavours more vibrant.
Ben Davies
Silent River Kung Fu
Stony Plain, Alberta, Canada
www.silentriverkungfu.com
Well lately life sucks, which is nothing new. But as I like to say, "Life happens, live with it or don't". So, how am I addressing my current status of broker than broke? I've got a new job lined up with double the pay. (Side Note: If you're waiting for an applause signal, this is it) I'm more or less pleased with where I'm sitting as of today.
One thing I am less than pleased about was having my car go into the ditch. The ensuing adventure
would have been a great day unto itself were it not for the 5'4" of witty, dark haired reasons for my car to be wisking me into cafe in Edmonton. But apologies were issued, discussions were had, and the preordained time and place has been re-ordained to next week, same bat time, same bat place. (Side note: Adam West is the best Batman of all time)
On a funnier note; my car cost me $400 dollars, my roommate's cost him several thousand dollars to the point where he has to make payments which I hope are not $400 per month. No, they're probably $1-200 dollars a month (I hope). Yet whose auto hasn't failed too start nigh a once? The fancy, expensive one which has even been plugged in? Or the 1989 red lunch box with wheels which got left in a snowbank over night? That's right loyal reader(s), the owner of the car whose muffler "makes [me] look like I have a sense of humour" (~My father's co-worker), can now make fun of an expensive car. It's not that I am happy that my friend's car is as impotent in this weather as a chihuahua guard dog in the arctic, but that irony makes colours brighter, the air sweeter, and flavours more vibrant.
Ben Davies
Silent River Kung Fu
Stony Plain, Alberta, Canada
www.silentriverkungfu.com
Sunday, November 22, 2009
What the Ubbt has done for me
My last entry was written while in a terrible mood, but I'm in a better mood tonight.
What I said about the ubbt having contributed to me having a rotten time of late was true, but it's mainly to do with having had a horrible time all around. I probably gave the impression that I considered the Ubbt a waste and that is just not the case! Here's the all important why:
It is true that the self analysis brought on in large part by the Ubbt has left me with a bad taste in my mouth, but such should be the case with everyone. If you aren't horribly dissatisfied with your flaws something is wrong, and if one says they aren't they are probably self deluded or lying to you. The ubbt's ability to make me see the worst in me is a double edged sword, it also makes me see how to change. Flaws give us flavour, it is true; however, who wouldn't rather have a perfect cake rather than one baked by the clumsy kid for a science project?
Doing the ubbt has, above all else, forced me to apply liberal amounts of kung fu to my everyday life in new and creative ways, which is how I noticed all those flaws which have had me in a perpetually bad mood. Passing the test would be great, but failure is far more useful in many ways. Like I always say, the only real failure is to quit, all else is simply a lesser success.
Useful lessons I've learned:
Always wear a watch; time is Time and I don't have enough for silly metaphors
Doing one thing at a time takes too much time; doing everything at once takes too much everything.
Failure isn't an option for you, but you're an option for failure.
I've been working on this since Sunday, and what was supposed to be an easy article has kept me busy until tonight, so I think I'll post this part and post the rest later.
Ben Davies
Silent River Kung fu
Stony Plain Alberta, Canada
www.silentriverkungfu.com
What I said about the ubbt having contributed to me having a rotten time of late was true, but it's mainly to do with having had a horrible time all around. I probably gave the impression that I considered the Ubbt a waste and that is just not the case! Here's the all important why:
It is true that the self analysis brought on in large part by the Ubbt has left me with a bad taste in my mouth, but such should be the case with everyone. If you aren't horribly dissatisfied with your flaws something is wrong, and if one says they aren't they are probably self deluded or lying to you. The ubbt's ability to make me see the worst in me is a double edged sword, it also makes me see how to change. Flaws give us flavour, it is true; however, who wouldn't rather have a perfect cake rather than one baked by the clumsy kid for a science project?
Doing the ubbt has, above all else, forced me to apply liberal amounts of kung fu to my everyday life in new and creative ways, which is how I noticed all those flaws which have had me in a perpetually bad mood. Passing the test would be great, but failure is far more useful in many ways. Like I always say, the only real failure is to quit, all else is simply a lesser success.
Useful lessons I've learned:
Always wear a watch; time is Time and I don't have enough for silly metaphors
Doing one thing at a time takes too much time; doing everything at once takes too much everything.
Failure isn't an option for you, but you're an option for failure.
I've been working on this since Sunday, and what was supposed to be an easy article has kept me busy until tonight, so I think I'll post this part and post the rest later.
Ben Davies
Silent River Kung fu
Stony Plain Alberta, Canada
www.silentriverkungfu.com
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Rant
So, this week's entry is about what the Ubbt has done for me.
Well, probably the biggest thing is that the goals and journaling have given me a bit of a framework to analyze my life. I spend all week, every week, thinking about what I should write on this page. It may seem like I don't care about, and I tend to act like I don't, but I actually really do care. When I say I have nothing to write, that isn't entirely true. I always have something I wish I could write about, but it's usually stuff I don't want to write about on here.
Most of my Ubbt has been spent in introspection and I haven't liked a lot of what I've been seeing in myself. Prior to the Ubbt I had the attitude that everything will work out in the end and so it's no big deal if I it doesn't work today. I can always try again later, or just wait to try. Now though, everything is getting a sense of immediacy, so I'm always stressing about how far behind I am on my requirements. It is not a fear of failing the Ubbt which is driving this sense of immediacy, but more a sense of things needing to be done. I've flipped from wanting to leave tough things until later to wanting to go after them first. Yesterday is a past today, and tomorrow is the coming one, but the only one that actually gets things done is Today itself. If I put something off until I've burned through 10,000 tomorrows, it'll still eventually have to be done Today.
Now, as I said, my motivation is not fear of failing, I have no fear of failing since in my mind, I already have. Even if by some miracle I manage to fulfill all my requirements in time it will not be enough. I have already failed on the only scale that matters: my own. I find myself conducting my life in a symphony of mediocrity, reluctant to 'break on through' (as a friend would put it). It's a weird little wall I have. I can often use kung fu as a ram to get though it, like with the vegetarian challenge which I've caught much flak for doing. I can truck along with no real trouble because of the little angel doing push ups on my shoulder and shouting slogans about never quitting and such. This is easy, as are my other personal challenges, such as the month I went with no pop nor anything from a can. Other things lately, though, are seemingly impossible. Push ups, for example, I can't seem to get done. I should make clear, I enjoy push ups. I feel great at every stage of doing push ups. The warming up my arms and loud mental Hu-ah! I do before dropping to the floor and then the burn of trying to do the best push ups ever, and then the smooth soreness of thereafter. The past few months though, I get excited about the prospect of doing push ups but then the little devil on my other shoulder kicks the angel in the ribs and starts off lecturing me about why I shouldn't, or why I can't or blah blah blah. These don't bother me, I do a lot of things much harder than push ups for absolutely no reason other than a whim. What hits me as demotivation is the prospect that it won't change anything. I'll still just be me after I've done them, having accomplished nothing, and will still be just as depressed. On the other side of the coin, I could do an exercise in futility and try escapism; use a video game, tv show, or what not to forget how unhappy I am for a short time. This is why I say that I cannot but have failed the Ubbt. Let's be honest, folks, that there is a ridiculous reason not to do push ups. Which is exactly what I say to myself before realizing I've already started playing the game. It doesn't help me in any way to watch family guy or play Demons Souls, but it will help me to do my push ups (or what not) and will probably make me feel a lot better about myself. Yet in a quest for temporal respite, I make things worse rather than make things work.
Of course though, I can't change the things that make me unhappy. I have an odd fear that if I change myself too much then people will disapprove, and since I don't seem to be particularly well liked, that would be bad. It's odd that this would bother me though, since most of the people I might bother in some manner are generally people who are fairly mediocre and I'm not sure why I hang out with them aside from that no one else seems to want to hang out with me. Also, I think it would be really awkward to tell them I consider them to be utterly mediocre. I do my best, of course, to gain higher quality friends but I fail and all I ever seem to be to people is a friend of convenience with a quick wit and assortment of little one liners. Never seeming to be a particularly close friend, and definitely never a best friend, with the prospect of any real connection, especially of the more than friends variety, seeming as unattainable as proof of Sasquatch. The frustrating part though, is that no one ever tells me what it is that they don't like about me.
I guess I haven't really said anything about what the Ubbt has done for me so much as ranted about my general state of loneliness and self-loathing. But alas, now I must go to sleep so as to be well rested for the tomorrow, which will hopefully turn out to be a less meaningless today.
Ben Davies
Silent River Kung Fu
Stony Plain, Alberta, Canada
www.silentriverkungfu.com
Well, probably the biggest thing is that the goals and journaling have given me a bit of a framework to analyze my life. I spend all week, every week, thinking about what I should write on this page. It may seem like I don't care about, and I tend to act like I don't, but I actually really do care. When I say I have nothing to write, that isn't entirely true. I always have something I wish I could write about, but it's usually stuff I don't want to write about on here.
Most of my Ubbt has been spent in introspection and I haven't liked a lot of what I've been seeing in myself. Prior to the Ubbt I had the attitude that everything will work out in the end and so it's no big deal if I it doesn't work today. I can always try again later, or just wait to try. Now though, everything is getting a sense of immediacy, so I'm always stressing about how far behind I am on my requirements. It is not a fear of failing the Ubbt which is driving this sense of immediacy, but more a sense of things needing to be done. I've flipped from wanting to leave tough things until later to wanting to go after them first. Yesterday is a past today, and tomorrow is the coming one, but the only one that actually gets things done is Today itself. If I put something off until I've burned through 10,000 tomorrows, it'll still eventually have to be done Today.
Now, as I said, my motivation is not fear of failing, I have no fear of failing since in my mind, I already have. Even if by some miracle I manage to fulfill all my requirements in time it will not be enough. I have already failed on the only scale that matters: my own. I find myself conducting my life in a symphony of mediocrity, reluctant to 'break on through' (as a friend would put it). It's a weird little wall I have. I can often use kung fu as a ram to get though it, like with the vegetarian challenge which I've caught much flak for doing. I can truck along with no real trouble because of the little angel doing push ups on my shoulder and shouting slogans about never quitting and such. This is easy, as are my other personal challenges, such as the month I went with no pop nor anything from a can. Other things lately, though, are seemingly impossible. Push ups, for example, I can't seem to get done. I should make clear, I enjoy push ups. I feel great at every stage of doing push ups. The warming up my arms and loud mental Hu-ah! I do before dropping to the floor and then the burn of trying to do the best push ups ever, and then the smooth soreness of thereafter. The past few months though, I get excited about the prospect of doing push ups but then the little devil on my other shoulder kicks the angel in the ribs and starts off lecturing me about why I shouldn't, or why I can't or blah blah blah. These don't bother me, I do a lot of things much harder than push ups for absolutely no reason other than a whim. What hits me as demotivation is the prospect that it won't change anything. I'll still just be me after I've done them, having accomplished nothing, and will still be just as depressed. On the other side of the coin, I could do an exercise in futility and try escapism; use a video game, tv show, or what not to forget how unhappy I am for a short time. This is why I say that I cannot but have failed the Ubbt. Let's be honest, folks, that there is a ridiculous reason not to do push ups. Which is exactly what I say to myself before realizing I've already started playing the game. It doesn't help me in any way to watch family guy or play Demons Souls, but it will help me to do my push ups (or what not) and will probably make me feel a lot better about myself. Yet in a quest for temporal respite, I make things worse rather than make things work.
Of course though, I can't change the things that make me unhappy. I have an odd fear that if I change myself too much then people will disapprove, and since I don't seem to be particularly well liked, that would be bad. It's odd that this would bother me though, since most of the people I might bother in some manner are generally people who are fairly mediocre and I'm not sure why I hang out with them aside from that no one else seems to want to hang out with me. Also, I think it would be really awkward to tell them I consider them to be utterly mediocre. I do my best, of course, to gain higher quality friends but I fail and all I ever seem to be to people is a friend of convenience with a quick wit and assortment of little one liners. Never seeming to be a particularly close friend, and definitely never a best friend, with the prospect of any real connection, especially of the more than friends variety, seeming as unattainable as proof of Sasquatch. The frustrating part though, is that no one ever tells me what it is that they don't like about me.
I guess I haven't really said anything about what the Ubbt has done for me so much as ranted about my general state of loneliness and self-loathing. But alas, now I must go to sleep so as to be well rested for the tomorrow, which will hopefully turn out to be a less meaningless today.
Ben Davies
Silent River Kung Fu
Stony Plain, Alberta, Canada
www.silentriverkungfu.com
Monday, November 9, 2009
So Apparently, It's The End of the World
I stole the title for this a really clever piece of prose which none of you have ever heard, but should you ever be exposed to it, you'll remember this blog and say, "Wait, that really was a clever title."
People make very little sense sometimes. For example, this morning my boss told myself and the fellow I'm working with that he'd like us to leave the radio off because his wife is sick and asleep in the next room. I'm helping a contractor renovate Bill (my bosss)'s kitchen. This would be a very considerate thing to do, and makes sense doesn't it? She needs her sleep, we're in the kitchen, and the noise from the radio will make it hard to sleep. It would be inhuman for us not to sacrifice such a minor thing to help her. But there's a problem, children. We're doing demolition.
for safety, I will state what should be obvious. That involves hammers and a lot of sporadic loud noises. However, ever though we're trying to be quiet, the work requires that we make a lot of noise.
So you see, Bill's request was rendered kinda pointless wasn't it? Yet he still made it thinking it would help, and we still agreed as if it would. Then as soon as he was gone we started working. I we didn't do it, we'd have nothing to do and Bill would be paying us to sit around going "So...um, what else happened this weekend?"
My point so far is that people don't always make sense. This is one of the main reasons for the real point of my blog, Women Vex Me To No End. I know it's not all that interesting when compared to my usual topics such as 'My Beef with Vegetarianism', or classics like 'I have nothing to write, what do I do?' but I'm 19 and single, so I think I'm entitled to a little angst now and then.
Here's why they don't make sense to me.
Women should be logical once one considers the psychological arc of the hormones and the fact that women, especially those my age, are culturally pressured to be white and black at the same time. By this I mean that they are taught by the media and such that they have act promiscuously to be desirable, but at the same time taught by others that promiscuity isn't respectable. They are therefore forced to compromise between dignity and desire. For the enjoyment of biologists, will refer to desire as R and dignity as K.
R selected women are easy to understand in the romantic sense. You meet them most often in social settings such as bars and one can use trial and error to find one to hang out with.
K selected women are harder because they're often shy.
When I go out to club such as the Union Hall (Side Note: My friends made me do it) or Oil City I mind my own business, and hang out with the friends who drug me there or watch them fail miserably at befriending women. They are trying to meet women, I am going out of my way not to because if nothing else, meeting a girl there would probably result in me having to return there far more often than otherwise. Logically, they should have a higher instance of success than I. Turns out we both failed. My friends succeed only in making fools of themselves while a procession of women come up to me. Suffice to say, my friends hate me sometimes and we all leave the same way we came in: alone.
It isn't a bad thing that girls want to dance with me, or in some cases use far more overt methods to gain my attention; it's a nice little confidence booster. Rather than judging the product by the packaging, though, I'd like to meet a girl, get to know her and then say to myself, "You know, she's awesome, I should ask her out on a date." So goes my strategy for finding a nice, K-selected girl.
Now so far, we have data supporting the theory that I'm considered attractive to at least a portion of ostensibly intoxicated R selected females in clubs where I don't fit in.
I have female friends, of both the R and K groupings who compliment me on various things on a regular basis (side note: they're probably just being nice), and if nothing else, the fact they like to spend time with me is a sizable compliment in and of itself. It is from this group I'd like to find that 'special someone'. many of them say that they would rather be friends with a guy first and date him second. Well, score for me right? Nope.
Turns out I get turned down. This is fine, a guy's gonna get turned down. What doesn't make sense is when they seem to really enjoy hanging out with me and then I turn out to mean absolutely nothing to them. What in tar-nation is going on when you ask a girl who is always smiling around you out and rather than a simple, No let's just be friends, you start getting ignored by her and told by her friend that she's confused. Well it seems we both are.
Maybe I'm over simplifying but if you like someone, you communicate and probably spend time with that person, whereas if you dislike someone, you ignore that person. Ergo, if you're being ignored they probably don't like you. I can understand needing time to think, after all she had only been broken up with her ex for several months. Now though, she is back with her ex and not talking to me. Wait, what? Suddenly he's a changed man and all the errors which she dumped him for are fixed and I'm suddenly no longer worthy of hanging out with. How does that work? Hanging out with me implied an affinity for my company, but ignoring me implies she doesn't like me. What changed? Asking her out shouldn't considering how many of her friends have asked her out. So what the devil?
The saying no made sense, I expected it and went with the plan of no risk no reward and asked her out anyway.
But anyway, I digress. Back to the point, which isn't my frustration with one girl in particular, but at the fact that in order to find a girl who's personality I like I'd rather just wait until I meet one who impresses me and ask her out instead of drawing from the proverbial deck of contact cards and hope I get black jack.
It would be easy if people were logical and honest, rather than trying to be manipulative. If I tell someone I like their shirt, one can put money on the fact that I like that shirt, not necessarily the one in it, and the same goes for dislike. If I want to say something, I say it. I don't try to manipulate the situations to try to hint my intentions. Manipulation is the same as lying. I don't get why people, who generally seem to be female, insist on manipulating people. Honest
People make very little sense sometimes. For example, this morning my boss told myself and the fellow I'm working with that he'd like us to leave the radio off because his wife is sick and asleep in the next room. I'm helping a contractor renovate Bill (my bosss)'s kitchen. This would be a very considerate thing to do, and makes sense doesn't it? She needs her sleep, we're in the kitchen, and the noise from the radio will make it hard to sleep. It would be inhuman for us not to sacrifice such a minor thing to help her. But there's a problem, children. We're doing demolition.
for safety, I will state what should be obvious. That involves hammers and a lot of sporadic loud noises. However, ever though we're trying to be quiet, the work requires that we make a lot of noise.
So you see, Bill's request was rendered kinda pointless wasn't it? Yet he still made it thinking it would help, and we still agreed as if it would. Then as soon as he was gone we started working. I we didn't do it, we'd have nothing to do and Bill would be paying us to sit around going "So...um, what else happened this weekend?"
My point so far is that people don't always make sense. This is one of the main reasons for the real point of my blog, Women Vex Me To No End. I know it's not all that interesting when compared to my usual topics such as 'My Beef with Vegetarianism', or classics like 'I have nothing to write, what do I do?' but I'm 19 and single, so I think I'm entitled to a little angst now and then.
Here's why they don't make sense to me.
Women should be logical once one considers the psychological arc of the hormones and the fact that women, especially those my age, are culturally pressured to be white and black at the same time. By this I mean that they are taught by the media and such that they have act promiscuously to be desirable, but at the same time taught by others that promiscuity isn't respectable. They are therefore forced to compromise between dignity and desire. For the enjoyment of biologists, will refer to desire as R and dignity as K.
R selected women are easy to understand in the romantic sense. You meet them most often in social settings such as bars and one can use trial and error to find one to hang out with.
K selected women are harder because they're often shy.
When I go out to club such as the Union Hall (Side Note: My friends made me do it) or Oil City I mind my own business, and hang out with the friends who drug me there or watch them fail miserably at befriending women. They are trying to meet women, I am going out of my way not to because if nothing else, meeting a girl there would probably result in me having to return there far more often than otherwise. Logically, they should have a higher instance of success than I. Turns out we both failed. My friends succeed only in making fools of themselves while a procession of women come up to me. Suffice to say, my friends hate me sometimes and we all leave the same way we came in: alone.
It isn't a bad thing that girls want to dance with me, or in some cases use far more overt methods to gain my attention; it's a nice little confidence booster. Rather than judging the product by the packaging, though, I'd like to meet a girl, get to know her and then say to myself, "You know, she's awesome, I should ask her out on a date." So goes my strategy for finding a nice, K-selected girl.
Now so far, we have data supporting the theory that I'm considered attractive to at least a portion of ostensibly intoxicated R selected females in clubs where I don't fit in.
I have female friends, of both the R and K groupings who compliment me on various things on a regular basis (side note: they're probably just being nice), and if nothing else, the fact they like to spend time with me is a sizable compliment in and of itself. It is from this group I'd like to find that 'special someone'. many of them say that they would rather be friends with a guy first and date him second. Well, score for me right? Nope.
Turns out I get turned down. This is fine, a guy's gonna get turned down. What doesn't make sense is when they seem to really enjoy hanging out with me and then I turn out to mean absolutely nothing to them. What in tar-nation is going on when you ask a girl who is always smiling around you out and rather than a simple, No let's just be friends, you start getting ignored by her and told by her friend that she's confused. Well it seems we both are.
Maybe I'm over simplifying but if you like someone, you communicate and probably spend time with that person, whereas if you dislike someone, you ignore that person. Ergo, if you're being ignored they probably don't like you. I can understand needing time to think, after all she had only been broken up with her ex for several months. Now though, she is back with her ex and not talking to me. Wait, what? Suddenly he's a changed man and all the errors which she dumped him for are fixed and I'm suddenly no longer worthy of hanging out with. How does that work? Hanging out with me implied an affinity for my company, but ignoring me implies she doesn't like me. What changed? Asking her out shouldn't considering how many of her friends have asked her out. So what the devil?
The saying no made sense, I expected it and went with the plan of no risk no reward and asked her out anyway.
But anyway, I digress. Back to the point, which isn't my frustration with one girl in particular, but at the fact that in order to find a girl who's personality I like I'd rather just wait until I meet one who impresses me and ask her out instead of drawing from the proverbial deck of contact cards and hope I get black jack.
It would be easy if people were logical and honest, rather than trying to be manipulative. If I tell someone I like their shirt, one can put money on the fact that I like that shirt, not necessarily the one in it, and the same goes for dislike. If I want to say something, I say it. I don't try to manipulate the situations to try to hint my intentions. Manipulation is the same as lying. I don't get why people, who generally seem to be female, insist on manipulating people. Honest
Monday, November 2, 2009
Vegecontemplation
So, I'm well into month three of being vegetarian and I'm looking forward to Nov 24, when I can eat meat again. I have developed a stance on being vegetarian:
Let me start off by saying that I have developed an immense respect for the inconvenience of being vegetarian. I dislike it mainly because so few things are vegetarian when one goes out.
To me, die hard vegetarians appear to be some of the most disciplined people around, presuming that they refuse any and all meat.
Now, as for whether I agree with being vegetarian; I don't see a problem with other people being vegetarian and I can respect their decision. On the other hand, I can see no moral or philosophical grounds to back it up.
Animals are raised so that we can eat them. We protect them, we care for them, we give them great lives (compared to the wild) and as a result of our symbiosis, our food-animals are extremely successful species. if we stop eating them there will be no reason to raise them and they'll be extirpated or worse, extinct. So removing the demand for the existence of something whose existence is dependent on demand seems counter productive. Of course, if someone doesn't feel right having one cow die to feed several people but is fine with several shrimp or vegetables dieing to feed one person, I'm not going to argue.
The argument about land to food ratios on the other hand, irks me. Everyone always says it takes less land to raise crops than animals. Yes, it is true, but they're leaving a lot out. First of all, not all land is suitable for agriculture, but almost all land is suitable for grazing, so pasture land isn't the reason for food shortage. Also, grazing is rather unobtrusive to the environment whereas agriculture requires the wholesale obliteration of everything which used to live there. Rabbits can live next to cows, but not next to crops. Also, agriculture leads to soil erosion, sometimes on massive scales, to unbalanced ecosystems, and often requires irrigation. I'm not trying to say that raising meat is great and agriculture is wrong, I'm trying to say that I don't see any valid reason to be vegetarian nor any valid reason to be morally/ethically/philosophically in favour of either method of food production except for this one: "Because I want to."
If someone says they are vegetarian because they just want to be, I'm totally down with that. I'm always in favour of people following their inclinations. If you want to wear pink, wear pink, if you feel like not eating meat, then don't eat meat. You're not hurting anyone. I just don't like it when people tell me that eating meat is wrong without being able to address those points I've raised.
In conclusion:
I respect vegetarians; however, I personally disagree with their philosophy. If you can find flaw in my views, then please bring them up, I'd hate to be evil while trying to be good.
I recommend that everyone go vegetarian (with no meat, not even shrimp) for at least 3 months and try to live like usual, going out a lot and such if that's how you roll.
Most importantly, follow your inclinations. If being vegetarian does it for you, then I wish you all the best, but it isn't for me.
Ben Davies
Silent River Kung Fu
www.silentriverkungfu.com
Stony Plain, Alberta, Canada
Let me start off by saying that I have developed an immense respect for the inconvenience of being vegetarian. I dislike it mainly because so few things are vegetarian when one goes out.
To me, die hard vegetarians appear to be some of the most disciplined people around, presuming that they refuse any and all meat.
Now, as for whether I agree with being vegetarian; I don't see a problem with other people being vegetarian and I can respect their decision. On the other hand, I can see no moral or philosophical grounds to back it up.
Animals are raised so that we can eat them. We protect them, we care for them, we give them great lives (compared to the wild) and as a result of our symbiosis, our food-animals are extremely successful species. if we stop eating them there will be no reason to raise them and they'll be extirpated or worse, extinct. So removing the demand for the existence of something whose existence is dependent on demand seems counter productive. Of course, if someone doesn't feel right having one cow die to feed several people but is fine with several shrimp or vegetables dieing to feed one person, I'm not going to argue.
The argument about land to food ratios on the other hand, irks me. Everyone always says it takes less land to raise crops than animals. Yes, it is true, but they're leaving a lot out. First of all, not all land is suitable for agriculture, but almost all land is suitable for grazing, so pasture land isn't the reason for food shortage. Also, grazing is rather unobtrusive to the environment whereas agriculture requires the wholesale obliteration of everything which used to live there. Rabbits can live next to cows, but not next to crops. Also, agriculture leads to soil erosion, sometimes on massive scales, to unbalanced ecosystems, and often requires irrigation. I'm not trying to say that raising meat is great and agriculture is wrong, I'm trying to say that I don't see any valid reason to be vegetarian nor any valid reason to be morally/ethically/philosophically in favour of either method of food production except for this one: "Because I want to."
If someone says they are vegetarian because they just want to be, I'm totally down with that. I'm always in favour of people following their inclinations. If you want to wear pink, wear pink, if you feel like not eating meat, then don't eat meat. You're not hurting anyone. I just don't like it when people tell me that eating meat is wrong without being able to address those points I've raised.
In conclusion:
I respect vegetarians; however, I personally disagree with their philosophy. If you can find flaw in my views, then please bring them up, I'd hate to be evil while trying to be good.
I recommend that everyone go vegetarian (with no meat, not even shrimp) for at least 3 months and try to live like usual, going out a lot and such if that's how you roll.
Most importantly, follow your inclinations. If being vegetarian does it for you, then I wish you all the best, but it isn't for me.
Ben Davies
Silent River Kung Fu
www.silentriverkungfu.com
Stony Plain, Alberta, Canada
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Getting Murphed
I've come to refer to incidents of Muprhy's Law as 'Getting Murphed'. A lot of that has happened lately, to the point where I'm just happy my car is still running and my left eye is still in tact. Side note: the right one is too.
I haven't had much time to do anything since I've been job hunting and broke, so I probably won't a Halloween costume.
I'm really looking forward to Ubbt 7 though.
So I walked to a restaurant called Annie's today for lunch with my family; not having shaved in a few days I was rather scruffy and wearing my trench coat. This is itself is nothing of note. A middle aged man, complete with comb over, looked terrified when I walked in, and stared dumbfounded as I, rather than robbing the place, took a seat and waited for my peeps. It was comical.
Ben Davies
Silent River Kung fu
Stony Plain, Alberta, Canada
www.silentriverkungfu.com
I haven't had much time to do anything since I've been job hunting and broke, so I probably won't a Halloween costume.
I'm really looking forward to Ubbt 7 though.
So I walked to a restaurant called Annie's today for lunch with my family; not having shaved in a few days I was rather scruffy and wearing my trench coat. This is itself is nothing of note. A middle aged man, complete with comb over, looked terrified when I walked in, and stared dumbfounded as I, rather than robbing the place, took a seat and waited for my peeps. It was comical.
Ben Davies
Silent River Kung fu
Stony Plain, Alberta, Canada
www.silentriverkungfu.com
Saturday, October 17, 2009
My beef with push ups
Push ups are a great exercise, however, like with most things one gets what they put in. As with most things in the martial arts, there is a proper and an improper way of doing them.
I can't help but wonder if I'm the only one who has noticed, but over the course of the ubbt, I'm been noticing push up technique going downhill. It's like people aren't caring about quality so much anymore, but quantity. Am I the only one who still think there are only black belt push ups and not push ups, nothing in between? I've even heard people tell other that bad technique is acceptable if you're doing a bunch of them. "Who can do 1000 perfect push ups?" I'll tell you who, a black belt can. Maybe not today, but a black belt will train under they can rather than make silly excuses. If you can only do one perfect push ups, then just do one. Maybe tomorrow or the day after you'll be able to do two, and then four and then ten, a hundred, and so on.
Sure, when you're pushing yourself, your technique will degrade. Right now I can't do more than 60 real push ups before my technique breaks down. However, no matter how many bad push ups I do, if someone could read my mind they'd just hear "61. 61. 61. 61. 61..." since like I said, there are black belt push ups, and not push ups, and I only count black belt push ups.
If you sit down and are doing poor push ups when the set is only 20 or 30, what does that say about your kung fu? It says you don't care. You don't want to do the push ups, you just want them done.
When told to do 20 push ups, a regular person will do his best to do as little as possible, so that he can be lazy while being able to say he did 20 push ups. A martial artist, on the other hand, will 21 or die trying. Not because he wants to show off to those next to him, or look good for his instructor, but because he has decided that he wants to do them.
I kinda wish I a microphone right now, so I could drop it Chris Rock style and storm off stage. I guess I'd need a stage too.
Ben Davies
Silent River Kung fu
Stony Plain Alberta
www.silentriverkungfu.com
pseudospectacular.blogspot.com
I can't help but wonder if I'm the only one who has noticed, but over the course of the ubbt, I'm been noticing push up technique going downhill. It's like people aren't caring about quality so much anymore, but quantity. Am I the only one who still think there are only black belt push ups and not push ups, nothing in between? I've even heard people tell other that bad technique is acceptable if you're doing a bunch of them. "Who can do 1000 perfect push ups?" I'll tell you who, a black belt can. Maybe not today, but a black belt will train under they can rather than make silly excuses. If you can only do one perfect push ups, then just do one. Maybe tomorrow or the day after you'll be able to do two, and then four and then ten, a hundred, and so on.
Sure, when you're pushing yourself, your technique will degrade. Right now I can't do more than 60 real push ups before my technique breaks down. However, no matter how many bad push ups I do, if someone could read my mind they'd just hear "61. 61. 61. 61. 61..." since like I said, there are black belt push ups, and not push ups, and I only count black belt push ups.
If you sit down and are doing poor push ups when the set is only 20 or 30, what does that say about your kung fu? It says you don't care. You don't want to do the push ups, you just want them done.
When told to do 20 push ups, a regular person will do his best to do as little as possible, so that he can be lazy while being able to say he did 20 push ups. A martial artist, on the other hand, will 21 or die trying. Not because he wants to show off to those next to him, or look good for his instructor, but because he has decided that he wants to do them.
I kinda wish I a microphone right now, so I could drop it Chris Rock style and storm off stage. I guess I'd need a stage too.
Ben Davies
Silent River Kung fu
Stony Plain Alberta
www.silentriverkungfu.com
pseudospectacular.blogspot.com
Monday, October 12, 2009
I has Interwebs Again!
Hurray! Although I'm sitting in a corner of my new basement surrounded by coils of wire, on the floor, I have internet access.
So, to address my blogging. My new plan is to post entries every Sunday night. Rather than doing what I have been and musing for a week about what to write and then only getting half done before I'm called away and having to delay posting sometimes by several days, I'm going to write them early and set the publishing date for the appropriate time.
Anyway, not much else to say at 3:26 am...so this'll have to do for tonight.
Yippie!
Ben Davies
Silent River Kung Fu
Stony Plain, Alberta, Canada
www.silentriverkungfu.com
So, to address my blogging. My new plan is to post entries every Sunday night. Rather than doing what I have been and musing for a week about what to write and then only getting half done before I'm called away and having to delay posting sometimes by several days, I'm going to write them early and set the publishing date for the appropriate time.
Anyway, not much else to say at 3:26 am...so this'll have to do for tonight.
Yippie!
Ben Davies
Silent River Kung Fu
Stony Plain, Alberta, Canada
www.silentriverkungfu.com
Saturday, October 3, 2009
I Like To Move It Move It
So, I moved into my new place. For nearly twenty years I've lived with my parents and that ends today. No big deal though, I'm only going a few miles down the road to Spruce Grove. I'll be living with 3 friends and it should be a blast. We have no internet, yet, and so for the next bit I'll have to find new and exciting places for my blogging.
I don't have anything too interesting to say, unfortunately. But I have been doing a lot of reading lately. The Seven Military Classics of ancient China is a lovely omnibus of works such as Sun-Tzu and Tai-Kungs Six Secret Teachings. Well, I guess I'll post the blogs and get back to it.
Ben Davies
Silent River Kung Fu
Stony Plain Alberta
www.silentriverkungfu.com
I don't have anything too interesting to say, unfortunately. But I have been doing a lot of reading lately. The Seven Military Classics of ancient China is a lovely omnibus of works such as Sun-Tzu and Tai-Kungs Six Secret Teachings. Well, I guess I'll post the blogs and get back to it.
Ben Davies
Silent River Kung Fu
Stony Plain Alberta
www.silentriverkungfu.com
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Why am I the only happy one?
I've been stressed lately. Last week was deplorable and culminated in perhaps the worst weekend I've ever had. I'm rarey sick and rarer still do I get angry or sad. I was all three at once.
The sickness is a minor, but annoying cold, but the rage was brought on by Bell Mobility. In place of a long, neurotically detailed rant I'll just say that they have the worst customer service I've ever seen, bar none, and their tech support is non-existent.
The sadness was elicited by day spent with a girl for whom I have a strong affinity, to say the least, going horribly, Horribly sideways. Following this things went even more awry with a girl with whom I am good friends.
Strangely, at the end of it all, I was relaxed. I don't mean calm, I mean utterly relaxed. This isn't bourn of giving up in any way, but from the reaffirmation that regardless of how things go, it's always for the best.
Now, in the middle of my typing, my friend has started chatting with e over the internet about committing suicide. I'm one of his 3 friends, he's unemployed, recently came out of a bad relationship and has self esteem too low to measure.
What am I supposed to tell him?
If I tell him people aren't annoyed by him I'd be lieing.
I have no idea what to say and so I've been making little jokes interspersed with attempts at wisdom.
I cannot, however, shake the feeling that I should be saying something else.
He's basically my antithesis so how do I relate to him? I'm an optimist, hes a pessimist (obviously). He's obnoxious and I try to restrain myself. I'm confident and secure, he is insecure. I'm fine with myself and life regardless of how bad it gets while he expects his life to be some sort of picket-fenced ideal.
It's always been easy for me, if something is broken, I either fix it, or move on without a second thought. When I failed my first black belt exam was I sad? Ya, I nearly cried, but I saw it for what it was, an excellent experience which I'm glad to have had. I've mastered the 'mood-shift'. I can decide to be happy.
He can't though, and unlike my eyes which see shiny rainbows and unicorns, his just see sadness and darkness. How do I relate to that?
What is kung fu doing for me tonight? All I can do is tell him to buck up and try again but I think the only real useful thing I'm doing is being online. Beyond that, I'm useless.
Well, on the bright side, I'm sure he isn't actually going to kill himself, so it should all be fine in the end.
In fact, he seems happy now, he found some ice cream.
Ben Davies
Silent River Kung Fu
Stony Plain, Alberta, Canada
www.silentriverkungfu.com
The sickness is a minor, but annoying cold, but the rage was brought on by Bell Mobility. In place of a long, neurotically detailed rant I'll just say that they have the worst customer service I've ever seen, bar none, and their tech support is non-existent.
The sadness was elicited by day spent with a girl for whom I have a strong affinity, to say the least, going horribly, Horribly sideways. Following this things went even more awry with a girl with whom I am good friends.
Strangely, at the end of it all, I was relaxed. I don't mean calm, I mean utterly relaxed. This isn't bourn of giving up in any way, but from the reaffirmation that regardless of how things go, it's always for the best.
Now, in the middle of my typing, my friend has started chatting with e over the internet about committing suicide. I'm one of his 3 friends, he's unemployed, recently came out of a bad relationship and has self esteem too low to measure.
What am I supposed to tell him?
If I tell him people aren't annoyed by him I'd be lieing.
I have no idea what to say and so I've been making little jokes interspersed with attempts at wisdom.
I cannot, however, shake the feeling that I should be saying something else.
He's basically my antithesis so how do I relate to him? I'm an optimist, hes a pessimist (obviously). He's obnoxious and I try to restrain myself. I'm confident and secure, he is insecure. I'm fine with myself and life regardless of how bad it gets while he expects his life to be some sort of picket-fenced ideal.
It's always been easy for me, if something is broken, I either fix it, or move on without a second thought. When I failed my first black belt exam was I sad? Ya, I nearly cried, but I saw it for what it was, an excellent experience which I'm glad to have had. I've mastered the 'mood-shift'. I can decide to be happy.
He can't though, and unlike my eyes which see shiny rainbows and unicorns, his just see sadness and darkness. How do I relate to that?
What is kung fu doing for me tonight? All I can do is tell him to buck up and try again but I think the only real useful thing I'm doing is being online. Beyond that, I'm useless.
Well, on the bright side, I'm sure he isn't actually going to kill himself, so it should all be fine in the end.
In fact, he seems happy now, he found some ice cream.
Ben Davies
Silent River Kung Fu
Stony Plain, Alberta, Canada
www.silentriverkungfu.com
Friday, September 4, 2009
Wallawalla
So, my friend's father competed in the Iron Man Triathlon. It was his first time doing so and therefore my freind Dylan felt it was important to be there, in Penticton.
Problem #1: Dylan doesn't drive
Solution #1: Davies does drive
Problem#2: Davies car is not reliable enough for a road trip
Solution #2: ?
I told Dylan that if he could find a car, I'd drive it. The weekend of the trip rolled around and still nothing. The day before rolled around and still nothing. Then at noon, day of, I finally speak with him and find out we have a vehicle. The thought then occurs to us, that w should try to find a third person. We call up our friend Erin and she agrees. Our departure is set for midnight.
Solution #2: Erin has a good car
Erin however, is appalled by what she finds when we are leaving. She has a duffel bag and more kit in her trunk. Several sets of clothes, blankets, pillows, swim suit and numerous other 'just in case' items. Dylan and I are of another mind. It is 13 hours there, a few hours and then 13 hours back. We figure all we need is what we're wearing, a car, and food money.
Problem #3: Davies and Dylan pack "like guys"
Solution #3: Erin.
To ease her concerns, Dylan and I who are of similar size, take some of his spare clothing.
The drive there is a pleasant mix of nice scenery and moments of stupification. Moments into the trip, our road map is in pieces, several of them, which complicates navigation for the entire trip. We also waste approximately an hour on 'detours' such as missing our turns. We arrive at around 2 o'clock in Penticton and meet up with Dylan's father's Irish girlfriend. We sip, without a hint of irony, on some Starbucks while we wait for him to run past us. Erin and I sit aside while Dylan and...Irish Girl (what was her name again...?) act excited about the situation and take pictures of Dylan's dad (I'm bad with names, don't judge me) runs past. Following these seconds of excitement we explore Penticton (Nice town by the way) and have dinner at a Japanese restaurant. As the sun is setting we decide to go for a swim at Penticton's rather pleasant beach. We arrive (in swimsuits Erin forced us to bring) just after dark and frolic around a bit as we wait for the time when Dylan's dad will run past again and then finish.
When all is said and done, he took 16 hours + a few minutes to finish the Iron Man. We then left around midnight and drove to Kelowna to find a hotel. By the time we actually arrived at the hotel in which we spent the night, it was 3 am. In those 3 hours I learned the following.
I love cookie dough ice cream...or whatever it was that I bought in the Mac's store where we got directions to a different hotel wherein we had planned to stay. That hotel was closed, and so we ended up staying at the Comfort Inn across the street. This Comfort Inn impressed us; not only was it the cheapest room we had found, but the lady behind the counter was terribly helpful and even phoned around for us to see if a cheaper room could b found. One hotel offered a room for one dollar less, but that hardly counts. She upgraded our room for us from one bed to two and we crashed. the room was surprisingly nice, with furniture, sizable beds, flat screen TV and a fridge in which to store my remaining ice cream.
In the morning we departed and headed towards home. The subject of the Radium hotsprings had been bounced around over the first day of the trip and during a stop for some liquid fuel for the car and ourselves, Dylan mentions he saw a sign 'Radium Hotsprings 125 km'. So we figure this sounds good and we drive....and we drive until the sun is setting for the second time on our trip and we are concerned that, engorssed in a discussion of physics, that we have missed the turn. We pull into a visitor information center, which is closed. A nearby trucker, however, proves most helpful in directing us. A relatively short distance later, we see a sign 'Radium Hotsrpings 126 km <--'. Glaring at Dylan only momentarily, we turn and head up a dark, winding mountain road. After what we're almost certain was more than 126 km of driving, we begin to discuss turning around. I catch a glimpse of an LED sign further up the road and decide that before we turn around, I want to know what it says and so continue driving.
"Wolf on road
Do Not Stop."
The sign cycles the message in 2 or 3 languages and, predictably, this begins to dominate the conversation. My companions reconsider their decision of turning back and we are once again all three in agreement. We go to the hot springs. It's growing late and none of us want to be driving all night through the mountains. The plan? Sleep in the car in the hot springs parking lot. We arrive 15 minutes before they close at 11 pm and hunker down to snooze. at 11:30ish an suv pulls in, engine trouble made both obvious and audible by it struggling to turn over and the driver hopping out to peer under the hood. I walk over to see if they need a hand but am proven unnecessary. I ask what happened and he says they broke down about 5 km down the road, got help from a man who pulled over, and rolled their vehicle back here. I mention that based on the LED sign farther down the road, that it is good they made it back here. In the morning, the couple who turned out to be from Washington, don't seem to be up yet; once we return from breakfast though, they are. We therefore offer them a lift into town. Allow me to set the stage for this:
2 American tourists are broken down a few km outside a mountain town. They meet three 19 year olds, two are unshaven (the other is female), two of them look like punks, one in a chain-adorned black tench coat and the other with multichromatically highlighted bleach blonde hair and face full of metal (the third wears glasses, which is arguably worse). Upon being offered a ride into town, the two hop into the car as relaxed as if they were old friends.
The five of us scroll through the introductions, and it turns out the couple are on their honeymoon. Erin and I resist the urge to make reference to "The Perfect Getaway". We continue to chat as we drive them into town, they talk to a mechanic, and we drive them back to their SUV. We then part ways and head into the hot springs.
When we leave, the couple is present only in the note tucked beneath Erin passenger side wiper blade, writ in blue pen upon a scrap of lined 8.5 by 11. It has their names, their phone numbers, and "We live in Wallawalla, Washington, if you're ever in the area you can stay with us."
Following the collective 'awww' from the studio audience, we drive off towards home, planning our next road trip...perhaps to Wallwalla.
Ben Davies
Silent River Kung Fu
Stony Plain, Alberta, Canada
www.silentriverkungfu.com
Problem #1: Dylan doesn't drive
Solution #1: Davies does drive
Problem#2: Davies car is not reliable enough for a road trip
Solution #2: ?
I told Dylan that if he could find a car, I'd drive it. The weekend of the trip rolled around and still nothing. The day before rolled around and still nothing. Then at noon, day of, I finally speak with him and find out we have a vehicle. The thought then occurs to us, that w should try to find a third person. We call up our friend Erin and she agrees. Our departure is set for midnight.
Solution #2: Erin has a good car
Erin however, is appalled by what she finds when we are leaving. She has a duffel bag and more kit in her trunk. Several sets of clothes, blankets, pillows, swim suit and numerous other 'just in case' items. Dylan and I are of another mind. It is 13 hours there, a few hours and then 13 hours back. We figure all we need is what we're wearing, a car, and food money.
Problem #3: Davies and Dylan pack "like guys"
Solution #3: Erin.
To ease her concerns, Dylan and I who are of similar size, take some of his spare clothing.
The drive there is a pleasant mix of nice scenery and moments of stupification. Moments into the trip, our road map is in pieces, several of them, which complicates navigation for the entire trip. We also waste approximately an hour on 'detours' such as missing our turns. We arrive at around 2 o'clock in Penticton and meet up with Dylan's father's Irish girlfriend. We sip, without a hint of irony, on some Starbucks while we wait for him to run past us. Erin and I sit aside while Dylan and...Irish Girl (what was her name again...?) act excited about the situation and take pictures of Dylan's dad (I'm bad with names, don't judge me) runs past. Following these seconds of excitement we explore Penticton (Nice town by the way) and have dinner at a Japanese restaurant. As the sun is setting we decide to go for a swim at Penticton's rather pleasant beach. We arrive (in swimsuits Erin forced us to bring) just after dark and frolic around a bit as we wait for the time when Dylan's dad will run past again and then finish.
When all is said and done, he took 16 hours + a few minutes to finish the Iron Man. We then left around midnight and drove to Kelowna to find a hotel. By the time we actually arrived at the hotel in which we spent the night, it was 3 am. In those 3 hours I learned the following.
I love cookie dough ice cream...or whatever it was that I bought in the Mac's store where we got directions to a different hotel wherein we had planned to stay. That hotel was closed, and so we ended up staying at the Comfort Inn across the street. This Comfort Inn impressed us; not only was it the cheapest room we had found, but the lady behind the counter was terribly helpful and even phoned around for us to see if a cheaper room could b found. One hotel offered a room for one dollar less, but that hardly counts. She upgraded our room for us from one bed to two and we crashed. the room was surprisingly nice, with furniture, sizable beds, flat screen TV and a fridge in which to store my remaining ice cream.
In the morning we departed and headed towards home. The subject of the Radium hotsprings had been bounced around over the first day of the trip and during a stop for some liquid fuel for the car and ourselves, Dylan mentions he saw a sign 'Radium Hotsprings 125 km'. So we figure this sounds good and we drive....and we drive until the sun is setting for the second time on our trip and we are concerned that, engorssed in a discussion of physics, that we have missed the turn. We pull into a visitor information center, which is closed. A nearby trucker, however, proves most helpful in directing us. A relatively short distance later, we see a sign 'Radium Hotsrpings 126 km <--'. Glaring at Dylan only momentarily, we turn and head up a dark, winding mountain road. After what we're almost certain was more than 126 km of driving, we begin to discuss turning around. I catch a glimpse of an LED sign further up the road and decide that before we turn around, I want to know what it says and so continue driving.
"Wolf on road
Do Not Stop."
The sign cycles the message in 2 or 3 languages and, predictably, this begins to dominate the conversation. My companions reconsider their decision of turning back and we are once again all three in agreement. We go to the hot springs. It's growing late and none of us want to be driving all night through the mountains. The plan? Sleep in the car in the hot springs parking lot. We arrive 15 minutes before they close at 11 pm and hunker down to snooze. at 11:30ish an suv pulls in, engine trouble made both obvious and audible by it struggling to turn over and the driver hopping out to peer under the hood. I walk over to see if they need a hand but am proven unnecessary. I ask what happened and he says they broke down about 5 km down the road, got help from a man who pulled over, and rolled their vehicle back here. I mention that based on the LED sign farther down the road, that it is good they made it back here. In the morning, the couple who turned out to be from Washington, don't seem to be up yet; once we return from breakfast though, they are. We therefore offer them a lift into town. Allow me to set the stage for this:
2 American tourists are broken down a few km outside a mountain town. They meet three 19 year olds, two are unshaven (the other is female), two of them look like punks, one in a chain-adorned black tench coat and the other with multichromatically highlighted bleach blonde hair and face full of metal (the third wears glasses, which is arguably worse). Upon being offered a ride into town, the two hop into the car as relaxed as if they were old friends.
The five of us scroll through the introductions, and it turns out the couple are on their honeymoon. Erin and I resist the urge to make reference to "The Perfect Getaway". We continue to chat as we drive them into town, they talk to a mechanic, and we drive them back to their SUV. We then part ways and head into the hot springs.
When we leave, the couple is present only in the note tucked beneath Erin passenger side wiper blade, writ in blue pen upon a scrap of lined 8.5 by 11. It has their names, their phone numbers, and "We live in Wallawalla, Washington, if you're ever in the area you can stay with us."
Following the collective 'awww' from the studio audience, we drive off towards home, planning our next road trip...perhaps to Wallwalla.
Ben Davies
Silent River Kung Fu
Stony Plain, Alberta, Canada
www.silentriverkungfu.com
Thursday, August 20, 2009
That Sounds Like A Challenge
Since joining the ubbt, I've become a fan of setting challenges for myself. For example, for the month of July I didn't drink any pop, nor did I eat anything from a can. Now, as of Aug 24, I will be beginning the 3 month vegetarian challenge for the ubbt. It should be fun I think, but I'll have to call up some of my vegetarian friends for some good recipes.
In other news, I'm learning a new broadsword form and thus far it is an amazingly fun time. I'm looking forward to tonight when I learn more of it.
Another new thing is some friends are trying to get me to move in with them. It sounds like fun aside from it costing money while my parents' house is free.
Ben Davies
Silent River Kung fu
Stony Plain, Alberta, Canada
In other news, I'm learning a new broadsword form and thus far it is an amazingly fun time. I'm looking forward to tonight when I learn more of it.
Another new thing is some friends are trying to get me to move in with them. It sounds like fun aside from it costing money while my parents' house is free.
Ben Davies
Silent River Kung fu
Stony Plain, Alberta, Canada
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Victory through Control
It has been said (by Tai Kung, I believe), that a victory through battle is no victory at all; a conflict should be won long before violence erupts. This is as true for individuals as it is for armies.
However, one must be ready should they fail to avoid violence; therefore, we spar. This blog entry is about sparring tactics, but I want you to think of it in a more general way.
First, to get your brain pumping, think about board game tactics. Go is the greatest strategy game I've seen, with Shogi in second and Chess third. Since you may not know what the first two are, I'll use Chess as my example.
A good chess player doesn't move his pieces into strong positions; rather, he moves his oponent's pieces into a weak position. You see, there are a finite number of possible moves in chess, and so one can predict what their oponent is going to do several moves ahead, and if one moves properly, can force their oponent to make certain moves.
Sparring is the same way. One has a finite number directions to move, strikes to launch, and targets to hit. The secret to predicting your oponent and projecting a few moves ahead is in having an undrstanding of what you can force your oponent to do. A strike to the head, for example, must be dealt with. Depending on the strike, there are a small number of ways to deal with it. If you know the finite list of moves they can use, you can be prepared for it.
Everyone has a pattern, and it is always logical.
This knowledge allows for executing some impressive techniques which otherwise be relegated to dreams and movies with bad acting. For example, I've been working on a technique to flank my oponent. It relies entirely on forcing them to react to me in such a way that I can put their guards where I want them. So far, it seems to be unstopable if the first technique lands. Of course, things rarely go according to plan and as soon as the technique lands they can counter with the same principles.
An example of these prinicples would be the effect of throwing a strike towards the head. At least one arm always moves to defend and at least one foot remains essentially stationary. Of course, this is based on what most oponents I've faced do, not a solid rule.
I'll leave it here for tonight before I sagway right into writing a manifesto.
Ben Davies
Silent River Kung fu
Stony Plain, Alberta, Canada
www.silentriverkungfu.com
However, one must be ready should they fail to avoid violence; therefore, we spar. This blog entry is about sparring tactics, but I want you to think of it in a more general way.
First, to get your brain pumping, think about board game tactics. Go is the greatest strategy game I've seen, with Shogi in second and Chess third. Since you may not know what the first two are, I'll use Chess as my example.
A good chess player doesn't move his pieces into strong positions; rather, he moves his oponent's pieces into a weak position. You see, there are a finite number of possible moves in chess, and so one can predict what their oponent is going to do several moves ahead, and if one moves properly, can force their oponent to make certain moves.
Sparring is the same way. One has a finite number directions to move, strikes to launch, and targets to hit. The secret to predicting your oponent and projecting a few moves ahead is in having an undrstanding of what you can force your oponent to do. A strike to the head, for example, must be dealt with. Depending on the strike, there are a small number of ways to deal with it. If you know the finite list of moves they can use, you can be prepared for it.
Everyone has a pattern, and it is always logical.
This knowledge allows for executing some impressive techniques which otherwise be relegated to dreams and movies with bad acting. For example, I've been working on a technique to flank my oponent. It relies entirely on forcing them to react to me in such a way that I can put their guards where I want them. So far, it seems to be unstopable if the first technique lands. Of course, things rarely go according to plan and as soon as the technique lands they can counter with the same principles.
An example of these prinicples would be the effect of throwing a strike towards the head. At least one arm always moves to defend and at least one foot remains essentially stationary. Of course, this is based on what most oponents I've faced do, not a solid rule.
I'll leave it here for tonight before I sagway right into writing a manifesto.
Ben Davies
Silent River Kung fu
Stony Plain, Alberta, Canada
www.silentriverkungfu.com
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Kung fu
Sorry for the long delay in posting. I've noticed something rather curious over the last couple weeks: if I don't blog, I get terribly scatter brained...more so than usual that is. Evidently journaling makes a big difference.
Sifu Brinker asked us to write something of what kung fu has done for us. I feel somewhat at a disadvantage when writing such a thing since I've been doing kung fu since....4 or 5 or so. I can't really remember a time when kung fu wasn't in my life to some extent.
The biggest thing I think it has done for me is confidence; after sparring with so many talented martial artists, it's hard to be intimidated by random idiot #37.
Walking down whyte ave the other night with two friends, both of which are also training in martial arts, a fellow tried to pick a fight with us. We politely declined and kept walking. Being that he wasn't armed, I figured that the worst that would likely happen if he followed us is that I'd get beaten up. Big deal. I had no reason to feel afraid since I have confidence not only in my ability to absorb a hit and act accordingly, but also in my ability to outrun and outmaneuver drunk people.
Don't misunderstand, I'm not arrogantly assumig that I'm a big bad nineteen year old ninja, who is invulnerable (Side note: that's why I don't carry much in my wallet), but I'm confident that although I'm sure I couldn't outfight everyone, I've become clever enough to make sure I make it out of almost anything alive.
This even carries to things that have no chance of doing any physical harm. When I'm deciding if I should do something which intimidates me, whether it is talking to a girl (Side note: sad but true, sometimes they scare me), or taking up a personal challenge, kung fu pops into my head to fight a philosophical duel with whatever excuse I have not to do it. Kung fu is often the only thing that pulls me not only through a challenge, but into it.
For example, for the month of July I decided to not drink pop and not to eat anything out of a can. I would never even have had the idea were it not for kung fu driving me to push my boundaries and improve myself. Every time I told people they looked at me like I was crazy and ask 'why'. Telling people you've simply decided to undertake a personal challenge for nothing other than the satisfaction of doing it tends to enhance the crazy looks, but telling people it's a challenge for kung fu is a great way to deal with it. I've used kung fu as a motivational crutch many times.
I think I'm writing in circles to real end though, so I'll switch gears and bring this to an end with this paragraph which I think sums it up nicely:
When people find out that I do kung fu, they're sometimes quite impressed, or sometimes they voice the fact that they're unimpressed. Regardless of what they think, they always have an opinion and it's usually not accurate. The general view seems to be that training in kung fu should allow me to punch through brick walls, survive sky diving without a parachute, fly, dodge bullets, and possibly incinerate the english with lightning bolts from my eyes William Wallace style. Kung fu though, does not itself allow me to do anything, I can punch through the boards because I can, and so can everyone else on the planet; I can put my body through punishment because it can take it; I can work a 16 hour construction shift because I have stamina.
Kung fu does not magically allow me to do these things, it lets me see my potential to do them.
Ben Davies
Silent River Kung Fu
Stony Plain Alberta, Canada
www.silentriverkungfu.com
Sifu Brinker asked us to write something of what kung fu has done for us. I feel somewhat at a disadvantage when writing such a thing since I've been doing kung fu since....4 or 5 or so. I can't really remember a time when kung fu wasn't in my life to some extent.
The biggest thing I think it has done for me is confidence; after sparring with so many talented martial artists, it's hard to be intimidated by random idiot #37.
Walking down whyte ave the other night with two friends, both of which are also training in martial arts, a fellow tried to pick a fight with us. We politely declined and kept walking. Being that he wasn't armed, I figured that the worst that would likely happen if he followed us is that I'd get beaten up. Big deal. I had no reason to feel afraid since I have confidence not only in my ability to absorb a hit and act accordingly, but also in my ability to outrun and outmaneuver drunk people.
Don't misunderstand, I'm not arrogantly assumig that I'm a big bad nineteen year old ninja, who is invulnerable (Side note: that's why I don't carry much in my wallet), but I'm confident that although I'm sure I couldn't outfight everyone, I've become clever enough to make sure I make it out of almost anything alive.
This even carries to things that have no chance of doing any physical harm. When I'm deciding if I should do something which intimidates me, whether it is talking to a girl (Side note: sad but true, sometimes they scare me), or taking up a personal challenge, kung fu pops into my head to fight a philosophical duel with whatever excuse I have not to do it. Kung fu is often the only thing that pulls me not only through a challenge, but into it.
For example, for the month of July I decided to not drink pop and not to eat anything out of a can. I would never even have had the idea were it not for kung fu driving me to push my boundaries and improve myself. Every time I told people they looked at me like I was crazy and ask 'why'. Telling people you've simply decided to undertake a personal challenge for nothing other than the satisfaction of doing it tends to enhance the crazy looks, but telling people it's a challenge for kung fu is a great way to deal with it. I've used kung fu as a motivational crutch many times.
I think I'm writing in circles to real end though, so I'll switch gears and bring this to an end with this paragraph which I think sums it up nicely:
When people find out that I do kung fu, they're sometimes quite impressed, or sometimes they voice the fact that they're unimpressed. Regardless of what they think, they always have an opinion and it's usually not accurate. The general view seems to be that training in kung fu should allow me to punch through brick walls, survive sky diving without a parachute, fly, dodge bullets, and possibly incinerate the english with lightning bolts from my eyes William Wallace style. Kung fu though, does not itself allow me to do anything, I can punch through the boards because I can, and so can everyone else on the planet; I can put my body through punishment because it can take it; I can work a 16 hour construction shift because I have stamina.
Kung fu does not magically allow me to do these things, it lets me see my potential to do them.
Ben Davies
Silent River Kung Fu
Stony Plain Alberta, Canada
www.silentriverkungfu.com
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Think It Through And Come Out The Other Side
Originally, I was writing an entry detailing a series of adventures but as I thought about it a better topic arose. What shouldn't one think about?
I out with a friend who seemed down and I of course inquired as to why. She said her grandmother was in the hospital and dieing at 97. "At least she had a good run" was probably not the right thing to say, but it was all I had. I told her that I could empathize though, since my grandfather had died that morning. She was depressed, I was not. Why? I know for a fact I have the capacity to feel how she did, but why didn't I? Later, during the festivities of the night she remarked that she didn't want to think about Grandmother and would rather be distracted. I therefore did my best to do so rather than mention what was running through my head and now onto my blog. The reason I am not depressed over the death of my grandparent they way she is is that I accept it. Any time he walks onto the stage of my mind I don't immediately call for curtain close, I let the thoughts come and think the through until I come out the other side and into whatever I'd rather be thinking about. My friend, meanwhile, did not want to think about her grandmother because she doesn't want to accept the possibility of her death.
Sifu Olsvik told me a long while ago never to attach negativity. Don't think to yourself 'I hate this fat on me' because you accumulate negativity, instead think positively 'I'm going to get fit'. I expect it is the same with thoughts. The thoughts which try to enter our minds are turned away by an 'Authorized Personell Only' sign, and putting hate and sadness to them will only make them bring that hate and sadness back with them the next time and the next time and the next time. Conversely, you can accept the thought and let it speak its piece. You don't need to offer it tea or invite it to stay the night, but allow it its moment.
I see the same thing in some students. They try in vain to do something and get down on themselves when they don't entirely succeed. They talk about how they're weak and out of shape and how much self loathing/pity they have and how they yearn for years past when it would have been so easy. They take dispairaging thoughts and offer them the guest rooms while shoeing the encouraging and the ambitious out of their mind. For what?
Avoiding the things which make you sad will not make you happy
Lamenting the passing years will not bring them back
Stay in the moment, looking instead to what you still have at your fingertips
Ben Davies
Silent River Kung Fu
Stony Plain Alberta, Canada
www.silentriverkungfu.com
I out with a friend who seemed down and I of course inquired as to why. She said her grandmother was in the hospital and dieing at 97. "At least she had a good run" was probably not the right thing to say, but it was all I had. I told her that I could empathize though, since my grandfather had died that morning. She was depressed, I was not. Why? I know for a fact I have the capacity to feel how she did, but why didn't I? Later, during the festivities of the night she remarked that she didn't want to think about Grandmother and would rather be distracted. I therefore did my best to do so rather than mention what was running through my head and now onto my blog. The reason I am not depressed over the death of my grandparent they way she is is that I accept it. Any time he walks onto the stage of my mind I don't immediately call for curtain close, I let the thoughts come and think the through until I come out the other side and into whatever I'd rather be thinking about. My friend, meanwhile, did not want to think about her grandmother because she doesn't want to accept the possibility of her death.
Sifu Olsvik told me a long while ago never to attach negativity. Don't think to yourself 'I hate this fat on me' because you accumulate negativity, instead think positively 'I'm going to get fit'. I expect it is the same with thoughts. The thoughts which try to enter our minds are turned away by an 'Authorized Personell Only' sign, and putting hate and sadness to them will only make them bring that hate and sadness back with them the next time and the next time and the next time. Conversely, you can accept the thought and let it speak its piece. You don't need to offer it tea or invite it to stay the night, but allow it its moment.
I see the same thing in some students. They try in vain to do something and get down on themselves when they don't entirely succeed. They talk about how they're weak and out of shape and how much self loathing/pity they have and how they yearn for years past when it would have been so easy. They take dispairaging thoughts and offer them the guest rooms while shoeing the encouraging and the ambitious out of their mind. For what?
Avoiding the things which make you sad will not make you happy
Lamenting the passing years will not bring them back
Stay in the moment, looking instead to what you still have at your fingertips
Ben Davies
Silent River Kung Fu
Stony Plain Alberta, Canada
www.silentriverkungfu.com
Thursday, June 18, 2009
You Must Be At Least --This-- Tall to Ride....
I started working on this entry a month or more ago and have been stewing and stressing over exactly how to word it. The topic of this entry is censorship, and case in point, I was censoring myself to ensure that this entry is written well and doesn't alienate or offend or otherwise displease anyone. Why wouldn't I want to do such things? Of course, it is because it is in my best interest for people to enjoy reading my blog.
If I were to post something edgy, provocative and risque such as, for example a steamy video of a <>, what would occur? Sifu Brinker and Master Callos, who might for the sake of argument be opposed to <>, would immediately remove me from their respective websites, I would be thoroughly chastised and perhaps removed from the Ubbt. However, would the law be brought into it? Doubtful.
It is simple cause and effect, I can post or say anything I wish, but I must be willing to face the consequences of such actions.
Bill 44 was recently passed in Alberta with rather disappointing results. Topics such as censorship and gay rights were addressed with it and it will be treated as a human rights issue. Human rights legislation infringing on the Charter of Rights and Freedoms where it states under Fundamental Freedoms:
(b) freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication;
Some reviews of Bill 44:
The teachers oppose it because it regulates them
The gay/lesbian community organized two protests against it.
I haven't heard of any groups other than the Tories (the currently dominant political party) being in favour of it.
A few things go through my mind when I consider this. One is how very <> I am. Personally, I find government imposed censorship insulting in the extreme. I can see only one reason for it: Either your opinion is too worthless to be said, or you are too worthless to say it.
I often think of censorship using theme parks as an analogue. Just as not everything can put into my blog, such as a <>, not every patron can experience every ride. Everywhere you see signs saying your child must be --this-- tall to ride just like every forum and medium of communication has a little sign saying your brain child must be --this-- tall to ride. It's not that your child isn't super cute, it's that he'd be hurt. On the other hand, if they said no purple people because they simply don't like purple, that would be wrong.
Maybe it's the punk rocker in me, but I have a healthy dislike for being told I can't do something and having legal rights usurped. This may be do in part to a sentiment imparted by German friend of my father who lived under Hitler and said that you never know what's about to happen, and it always happens quickly. When Hitler rose, Germany changed quickly, and a month before the Berlin Wall actually fell, no one would have expected it to do so. I'm not saying Premier Stelmach is fascist nor am I trying to equate the Tories with the Nazis in any way , but I do think every time a freedom is taken it's a teeny tiny goose-step in the wrong direction.
So to recap, if you say or do something idiotic, people think you're an idiot. Do something ignorant and people will think you are ignorant. The notion that people need to be punished legally rather than socially for being idiotic or ignorant is just that, idiotic and ignorant.
Hoping the Tories collapse into unpleasant chaos,
Ben Davies
Silent River Kung Fu
Stony Plain, Alberta, Canada
http://www.canada.com/Controversial%20Bill%20passes%20through%20Alberta%20legislature/1654390/story.html
http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/charter/1.html#anchorbo-ga:l_I-gb:s_1
If I were to post something edgy, provocative and risque such as, for example a steamy video of a <
It is simple cause and effect, I can post or say anything I wish, but I must be willing to face the consequences of such actions.
Bill 44 was recently passed in Alberta with rather disappointing results. Topics such as censorship and gay rights were addressed with it and it will be treated as a human rights issue. Human rights legislation infringing on the Charter of Rights and Freedoms where it states under Fundamental Freedoms:
(b) freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication;
Some reviews of Bill 44:
The teachers oppose it because it regulates them
The gay/lesbian community organized two protests against it.
I haven't heard of any groups other than the Tories (the currently dominant political party) being in favour of it.
A few things go through my mind when I consider this. One is how very <
I often think of censorship using theme parks as an analogue. Just as not everything can put into my blog, such as a <
Maybe it's the punk rocker in me, but I have a healthy dislike for being told I can't do something and having legal rights usurped. This may be do in part to a sentiment imparted by German friend of my father who lived under Hitler and said that you never know what's about to happen, and it always happens quickly. When Hitler rose, Germany changed quickly, and a month before the Berlin Wall actually fell, no one would have expected it to do so. I'm not saying Premier Stelmach is fascist nor am I trying to equate the Tories with the Nazis in any way , but I do think every time a freedom is taken it's a teeny tiny goose-step in the wrong direction.
So to recap, if you say or do something idiotic, people think you're an idiot. Do something ignorant and people will think you are ignorant. The notion that people need to be punished legally rather than socially for being idiotic or ignorant is just that, idiotic and ignorant.
Hoping the Tories collapse into unpleasant chaos,
Ben Davies
Silent River Kung Fu
Stony Plain, Alberta, Canada
http://www.canada.com/Controversial%20Bill%20passes%20through%20Alberta%20legislature/1654390/story.html
http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/charter/1.html#anchorbo-ga:l_I-gb:s_1
Friday, June 5, 2009
The King of Weapons
I've had spears on the brain lately, aside from political rantings of course.
I was looking over the lyrics for Reise, Reise (arise, arise) by Rammstein
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDTYGpnMdL4 song and lyrics
The song is about using spears for fishing and fighting. Leave it to Rammstein to write an awesome song on such a subject. I know that personally, I've always found the duality of weapons like the kama, nun chaku, etc. interesting being that they are for farming and multi-tasked into weapons, but the spear is in a class all its own.
It is the only weapon used by every people on the planet for hunting, fishing and fighting.
Even other primates are using spears! Call me a nerd, but I find that exciting news.
The spear is such a simple weapon at its core: a long pointy stick, but has evolved into relatively complex weapon systems involving large infantry formations such as phalanges and the use of performance enhancing accessories such as the atalatl. It grew into such weapons as the trident/tiger fork, halberd, pike, lance, and so on.
I could go on and on, but I think the links I've provided will do a better job.
Ben Davies
Silent River Kung fu
Stony Plain, Alberta, Canada
www.silentriverkungfu.com
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6VRT-4N3XDTT-1&_user=10&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=3e71833d8e3c5f228535010f7b7d72d7
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/22/AR2007022201007.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-562236/Orangutan-attempts-hunt-fish-spear.html
I was looking over the lyrics for Reise, Reise (arise, arise) by Rammstein
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDTYGpnMdL4 song and lyrics
The song is about using spears for fishing and fighting. Leave it to Rammstein to write an awesome song on such a subject. I know that personally, I've always found the duality of weapons like the kama, nun chaku, etc. interesting being that they are for farming and multi-tasked into weapons, but the spear is in a class all its own.
It is the only weapon used by every people on the planet for hunting, fishing and fighting.
Even other primates are using spears! Call me a nerd, but I find that exciting news.
The spear is such a simple weapon at its core: a long pointy stick, but has evolved into relatively complex weapon systems involving large infantry formations such as phalanges and the use of performance enhancing accessories such as the atalatl. It grew into such weapons as the trident/tiger fork, halberd, pike, lance, and so on.
I could go on and on, but I think the links I've provided will do a better job.
Ben Davies
Silent River Kung fu
Stony Plain, Alberta, Canada
www.silentriverkungfu.com
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6VRT-4N3XDTT-1&_user=10&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=3e71833d8e3c5f228535010f7b7d72d7
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/22/AR2007022201007.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-562236/Orangutan-attempts-hunt-fish-spear.html
Monday, June 1, 2009
The way
So obviously, I'm rather late with this posting. In my defense I started on my entry Tuesday night, but being about a topic I vehemently oppose I worded it ways which I probably shouldn't and so have been re-writing it over and over. I'm still not done the entry, so I'm going to post about something utterly unrelated until I've finished it.
The way.
Everyone is always talking about the best way, or things in or out of their way. But what is their way, and why is it so very important?
As I move through life, I try to keep my way as fluid as possible, taking a lesson from the Nordegg River. One rule governs it: if an opportunity presents itself, I have to take it. I've lost count of how many times I've been late for class because I was compelled to stop and help someone out of the ditch or take them to fetch gas for their starved engines. On one hand, I have given up some time, but in the scheme of things, I have really given anything up, or have I simply traded it? Who knows what I might gain from meeting this person? Yesterday, on my way to symphony I met one of the double base players, how? I started chatting with a random stranger as we walked toward the Winspeare center. Even if I gain nothing though, I've been on the other end and being stuck or stranded or broken down is not fun. If I don't stop, who will? And if minutes of my time saves hours of theirs, shouldn't I?
A fellow I know, both as a school teacher and the father of a close friend, told me something once which has stuck with me. This was years ago and his son and I had been hanging out, and when it came time for us to return to our homes his father drove me to mine, which was a half hour or more out of his way. As I stepped out of his vehicle I thanked him for going so far out of his way, to which he shrugged dismissively and said that depends on how you define his way.
It's entirely true. Friday night a comrade from kung fu asked for a ride to his home which is one the opposite side of the next town in the opposite direction from my destination. Oh well. Without hesitation I told him to hop in, we hit a coffee shop and were on our way.
Logically, this would be out of my way since it tripled my drive time to get home, but I did arrive at home, so going past his house in clearly on one of the possible paths to mine.
So, in short. The shortest path between two points is a straight line, but getting caught up in that will make you miss the journey.
Ben Davies
Silent River Kung Fu
Stony Plain, Alberta, Canada
www.silentriverkungfu.com
The way.
Everyone is always talking about the best way, or things in or out of their way. But what is their way, and why is it so very important?
As I move through life, I try to keep my way as fluid as possible, taking a lesson from the Nordegg River. One rule governs it: if an opportunity presents itself, I have to take it. I've lost count of how many times I've been late for class because I was compelled to stop and help someone out of the ditch or take them to fetch gas for their starved engines. On one hand, I have given up some time, but in the scheme of things, I have really given anything up, or have I simply traded it? Who knows what I might gain from meeting this person? Yesterday, on my way to symphony I met one of the double base players, how? I started chatting with a random stranger as we walked toward the Winspeare center. Even if I gain nothing though, I've been on the other end and being stuck or stranded or broken down is not fun. If I don't stop, who will? And if minutes of my time saves hours of theirs, shouldn't I?
A fellow I know, both as a school teacher and the father of a close friend, told me something once which has stuck with me. This was years ago and his son and I had been hanging out, and when it came time for us to return to our homes his father drove me to mine, which was a half hour or more out of his way. As I stepped out of his vehicle I thanked him for going so far out of his way, to which he shrugged dismissively and said that depends on how you define his way.
It's entirely true. Friday night a comrade from kung fu asked for a ride to his home which is one the opposite side of the next town in the opposite direction from my destination. Oh well. Without hesitation I told him to hop in, we hit a coffee shop and were on our way.
Logically, this would be out of my way since it tripled my drive time to get home, but I did arrive at home, so going past his house in clearly on one of the possible paths to mine.
So, in short. The shortest path between two points is a straight line, but getting caught up in that will make you miss the journey.
Ben Davies
Silent River Kung Fu
Stony Plain, Alberta, Canada
www.silentriverkungfu.com
Friday, May 22, 2009
Games Afoot
So, some things are afoot.
Tomorrow is the San Shou meet. It should be amazing since I've never had the chance to work with other schools, nor have I done traditional San Shou. I am quite giddy.
There is now a black belt sparring night forming on wednesday nights and I couldn't be happier. It is rather rare that we get to spar each other so I feel it is necessary.
Dave McNeil's seminars are coming up and I am soooooo glad that I managed to get enough money together to attend them all. I feel assured he won't disapoint.
Well, I have practicing to do.
Davies out.
Ben Davies
Silent River Kung fu
Stony Plain Alberta, Canada
www.silentriverkungfu.com
Tomorrow is the San Shou meet. It should be amazing since I've never had the chance to work with other schools, nor have I done traditional San Shou. I am quite giddy.
There is now a black belt sparring night forming on wednesday nights and I couldn't be happier. It is rather rare that we get to spar each other so I feel it is necessary.
Dave McNeil's seminars are coming up and I am soooooo glad that I managed to get enough money together to attend them all. I feel assured he won't disapoint.
Well, I have practicing to do.
Davies out.
Ben Davies
Silent River Kung fu
Stony Plain Alberta, Canada
www.silentriverkungfu.com
Saturday, May 16, 2009
A Spare Moment?
Finally a spare moment to write my blog!
Due to one member having family business to attend to we have delayed the canoe trip. Sadly, this delay may stretch to August or longer.
I've been thinking a lot about trying to out maneuver my opponents when sparring and parrying/deflecting in place of blocking. Blocking dissipates energy into both parties and forcing recovery time. On the other hand, if I deflect I have no recovery time while they do.
Ultimately my goal is to get their back either by getting behind or, preferably, by spinning them.
I'm really looking forward to my next sparring matches to try out some new techniques.
I'll write more tomorrow when I have more time.
Ben Davies
Silent River Kung fu
Stony Plain, Alberta, Canada
Due to one member having family business to attend to we have delayed the canoe trip. Sadly, this delay may stretch to August or longer.
I've been thinking a lot about trying to out maneuver my opponents when sparring and parrying/deflecting in place of blocking. Blocking dissipates energy into both parties and forcing recovery time. On the other hand, if I deflect I have no recovery time while they do.
Ultimately my goal is to get their back either by getting behind or, preferably, by spinning them.
I'm really looking forward to my next sparring matches to try out some new techniques.
I'll write more tomorrow when I have more time.
Ben Davies
Silent River Kung fu
Stony Plain, Alberta, Canada
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Pirates vs. Ninjas
Time for another adventure. This coming week I'll be canoeing from Rocky Mountain House to Devon. It should be an awesome experience. Doing situps and pushups in the middle of said canoe shall be rather nice. Our origional plan was for a hiking trip, but when we looked at a map we noticed the serpentine North Saskatchewan and couldn't resist.
In other news: Tiger Hooks.
I'm working on making a musical form with my tiger hooks. It will be delicious. I might go with One Winged Angel II, or some Samael, or I may use some Apocalyptica.
Ben Davies
Silent River Kung Fu
Stony Plain, Alberta, Canada.
www.silentriverkungfu.com
In other news: Tiger Hooks.
I'm working on making a musical form with my tiger hooks. It will be delicious. I might go with One Winged Angel II, or some Samael, or I may use some Apocalyptica.
Ben Davies
Silent River Kung Fu
Stony Plain, Alberta, Canada.
www.silentriverkungfu.com
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Move
Yesterday, I stumbled across the song Move by Thousand Foot Crutch. I hadn't listened to it in months but suddenly had an urge to. My love of art, especially music is no secret but this song in particular is important to me. I can't say it is an exceptional song to any real extent but I can't think of any more appropriate song. The only reason I even bother to remember the song's name is because I first heard it, stumbling across it on youtube, last year, the same night I found out Travis had died. In fact, I was listening to it when I read the email informing me of it. When ever I listen to it I'm compelled to stop and just listen, and reminisce. It's odd to me how well it seems to fit.
After listening two or three times I looked up from my laptop at the dark screen of my television and had to watch Kung Fu Panda, yet another thing which reminds me thoroughly of him.
I think the time around his funeral have over taken all others in defining and redefining who I am. It wasn't only his passing; two weeks to the day after his funeral a relative was buried, and two weeks following that my aunt lay before me in her casket.
Up until Travis's funeral my girlfriend (at the time) had always said I must be a robot, I didn't seem to have emotions. Before her, a good friend of mine said I have but one setting, mild bemusement and variations thereof. At the funeral though, she saw something rare, I cried. I don't mean that I let myself cry, in fact, I tried not to. Such a powerless sadness was something foreign to me. I cannot recall a time when my emotional controls had been so thoroughly demolished. They haven't come back up since, I'm not sure as to why, nor am I sure I want them to.
When I took off my belt that day something changed. I'm not sure if something was shed, gained, or simply changed but I did not leave the same person.
Before, I had been of the notion that caution was always the best path and that flying under the radar was a good doctrine to maintain. I thought it was caution, and wisdom, or such is what I told myself. Looking back, it was fear.
That day, standing up and stepping out of line, not singling myself out so much as doing what no one else happened to be doing, I learned to master my fear. In that moment there was nothing but the now, and as the seconds counted down I knew I couldn't delay, nor could I divine by any means the ramifications of my plan. I only had one chance and only seconds to consider it. At that moment, I was stepping off the edge to trust in the angels. I remember how hard it was to undo and fold the belt because of how much I was shaking. I expect most people thought my weak knees and unsteady hands were from pent up sadness; rather, it was terror.
I have never regretted it, in fact, I count it as being pivotal to my progression. The total realization that I am not a black belt because of some strip of dyed fabric around my waist, no I am a black belt because that is the colour of my soul and I should be demonstrating my rank rather than simply looking the part. If someone needs to see a belt to know my quality, that is already a failure on my part.
I'm not sure where I wanted to go in this entry, but I am glad of where it took me. I think I'll leave it here.
Ben Davies
Silent River Kung fu
Stony Plain, Alberta, Canada
www.silentriverkungfu.com
After listening two or three times I looked up from my laptop at the dark screen of my television and had to watch Kung Fu Panda, yet another thing which reminds me thoroughly of him.
I think the time around his funeral have over taken all others in defining and redefining who I am. It wasn't only his passing; two weeks to the day after his funeral a relative was buried, and two weeks following that my aunt lay before me in her casket.
Up until Travis's funeral my girlfriend (at the time) had always said I must be a robot, I didn't seem to have emotions. Before her, a good friend of mine said I have but one setting, mild bemusement and variations thereof. At the funeral though, she saw something rare, I cried. I don't mean that I let myself cry, in fact, I tried not to. Such a powerless sadness was something foreign to me. I cannot recall a time when my emotional controls had been so thoroughly demolished. They haven't come back up since, I'm not sure as to why, nor am I sure I want them to.
When I took off my belt that day something changed. I'm not sure if something was shed, gained, or simply changed but I did not leave the same person.
Before, I had been of the notion that caution was always the best path and that flying under the radar was a good doctrine to maintain. I thought it was caution, and wisdom, or such is what I told myself. Looking back, it was fear.
That day, standing up and stepping out of line, not singling myself out so much as doing what no one else happened to be doing, I learned to master my fear. In that moment there was nothing but the now, and as the seconds counted down I knew I couldn't delay, nor could I divine by any means the ramifications of my plan. I only had one chance and only seconds to consider it. At that moment, I was stepping off the edge to trust in the angels. I remember how hard it was to undo and fold the belt because of how much I was shaking. I expect most people thought my weak knees and unsteady hands were from pent up sadness; rather, it was terror.
I have never regretted it, in fact, I count it as being pivotal to my progression. The total realization that I am not a black belt because of some strip of dyed fabric around my waist, no I am a black belt because that is the colour of my soul and I should be demonstrating my rank rather than simply looking the part. If someone needs to see a belt to know my quality, that is already a failure on my part.
I'm not sure where I wanted to go in this entry, but I am glad of where it took me. I think I'll leave it here.
Ben Davies
Silent River Kung fu
Stony Plain, Alberta, Canada
www.silentriverkungfu.com
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
*Sigh*
I've gotten regrettably little done today, spending most of it fixing my sister's old laptop to salvage her data and then trying in vain to upload a video clip to facebook. I shall notarize here that I am rather frustrated with facebook. Case in point: one's upload speed should never read
( infinity KB/sec) -- 25 minutes remaining
It almost makes my head hurt to contemplate on how many levels that is stupid.
Now, having given up on uploading for the time being, am trying to draw, which never goes well. I have decided that I would do well to have at least mediocre artistic abilities and I have always enjoyed drawing. In elementary my schoolwork was done quickly so that I could spend the remainder of class drawing some manner of thing on the back. And then I stopped.
I'm not sure why I never went back to drawing. I took art and cartooning in school but ever since I've been loath to put pen to paper.
I'm afraid I don't really have anything else to say tonight
Ben Davies
Silent River Kung fu
Stony Plain Alberta, Canada
www.silentriverkungfu.com
( infinity KB/sec) -- 25 minutes remaining
It almost makes my head hurt to contemplate on how many levels that is stupid.
Now, having given up on uploading for the time being, am trying to draw, which never goes well. I have decided that I would do well to have at least mediocre artistic abilities and I have always enjoyed drawing. In elementary my schoolwork was done quickly so that I could spend the remainder of class drawing some manner of thing on the back. And then I stopped.
I'm not sure why I never went back to drawing. I took art and cartooning in school but ever since I've been loath to put pen to paper.
I'm afraid I don't really have anything else to say tonight
Ben Davies
Silent River Kung fu
Stony Plain Alberta, Canada
www.silentriverkungfu.com
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
All you need is love
Picking up where the last entry leaves off, I spent Thursday trying to locate the problem in the wiring of my car. Interestingly, the wire which we tweaked to keep the car running has naught to do with the car running, in fact, we unplugged it and the car kept running. Ergo, we have no idea where the problem is, but my car is still running so that counts for something I guess.
From here my week only became more surreal, going out with a friend of mine that night to a Real Mackenzies concert and not getting to sleep until around 5 am and then booking into the U of A for a 10 am Spoken Word choir practice which was probably the oddest and funniest practices I've ever attended for what is shaping up to be a very memorable set for the poetry festival on the 24th. Evidently the plan is for me to recite Katy Perry's 'I Kissed A Girl' on stage. All alone. What's more, I have to look serious the whole time I recite that ridiculous piece.
I spent the rest of the day on whyte ave for the most part and ate tasty ramen with my pal Dylan. I must admit, it was delightful to roam about in the rain until I became inclined to move on and drove down to New City where I met up with friends, got to bed late again and ended up getting up at 4 pm on Saturday to attend a gathering of sorts until I left to go to Silent River for midnight to kick off the forms marathon.
12-2
This shift was high energy and highly organized, comprised of Sifu Robertson, Sihing Finnamore, Sihing Lillienscold (Sp?), and myself with the addition of the Youngs for the last half an hour. During this shift we had each person taking a turn doing doing a form and then cycling out to stretch, rest, or do push ups. This is how the 2000 were accomplished. I was very impressed by the Sihings and the Youngs. Good job!
2-4
The Youngs, Sifu Bryant, and myself. This shift has much less focus on push ups, although we put in an effort. Much of the time was spent with either Sifu Bryant or myself giving the Youngs advice on their forms while the other cycled through over and over. Over all, I think this was the best shift I attended in terms of solid value and I am thankful I attended it.
On a lighter note, around 3 am there were loud drunk people outside, and oh how we laughed.
4-6
I was only there until 5:30 since I was beginning to crash and needed some food. This shift is where all order seemed to have left and it became 2 hours of people working on forms rather than doing them per se. Don't misunderstand though, a lot of hard work was done.
6-8
I came in a half hour late on this one but it seemed, unlike the first two shifts, to be three people doing their own thing rather than 3 acting as a single unit but it was still not as disjointed as 4-6. Sifu Brandi Beckett has beautiful kung fu and Mr. Crebb (Sp?) is coming along nicely; they are both a pleasure to work with.
8-10
It may be noted that exactly 0 push ups were done during this shift, and this is because I was busy doing forms the full two hours. I ended up in the nice, sunny parking lot getting odd looks from passerbys and a loud "hallo!" from my former boss who lives nearby. Over the course of this shift I converted many of the forms I know, including weapons, into empty hand tai chi to gain a better understanding of their flow. This was very enjoyable and the data I gathered will send ripples through my kung fu. Thanks to Mr. Crebb for staying behind as long as he could, it was very considerate. I then left to have caffeine with a friend
12-2
I don't recall the exact time I arrived, I think it was around 1:20 or so. I had left my cell number with Sifu Wilsonin case people from the next shift were no shows. She passed it to Sifu LaRocque who rang me when one of her shift-mates played the invisible nonja. Mrs. Prince headed off and Sifu and I had a dandy time with our forms until only Sifu Terry Beckett showed for the next shift.
2-4
I could only stay until 2:30ish due to family commitments until I had to leave poor Sifu Beckett alone and learn how Mr. Crebb felt earlier. awww.
Over the course of this, mainly during my actual shift 8-10, I realised that I have been thinking wrong. My biggest criticism for most people is that they look too stressed doing kung fu and need to relax to let the techniques flow out of them rather than try to be an Austrian Death Machine and out speed/out power everyone. When I slowed my kempo down I realized that I was throwing the techniques rather than experiencing them. The thought then came to me of when I am happily walking down streets in the rain, or rocking out on a crowded dance floor, that feeling of separation between my mind and body where my body can be unleashed fully and I can sit back and experience every detail of it. For some reason the next thing to enter my mind, which is prone to tangents, was the song All you need is love along with memories of Sifu Olsvik telling me to maintain my inner smile. I tried to maintain my inner smile, which isn't hard since I'm a smiliey person but the Beatles were still singing in the back of my mind. Then my paradigm shifted, rather than trying to analyze my technique while being happy was wrong, it was causing my mind to be disjointed and travel in too many directions. I lacked focus until it hit me that I rather than trying to master a technique, I should instead love it, and it will master itself. Bam! My already seemingly excruciatingly slow techniques halved and halved again in speed but felt fast and I could feel, without trying to focus, every nuance. With this better, stronger, faster eye for detail I found new dimensions to my kempo which I really must explore.
As for my adventure from 5:30 to 6:30. It was intended as a quick walk to Timm Horton's for a muffin and a drink to tide me over until 10. But on my arrival I found the doors locked (I found out later they open at 5 on weekdays, 6 on weekends) and so I turned back to fetch my car but then reconsidered, saying to myself, 'Haven't you always wanted to walk through a drive through?'. So I turned back again to try my luck at walking through their drive through. While waiting for the crosswalk though, I was passed by a purposeful man walking on the edge of the traffic lane before me. Both being polite, we greeted each other and he then asked if it was Spruce Grove on the horizon, which I confirmed and then followed by asking where he was going.
"To my car," he said with a dedicated, but exasperated tone
"Want a ride?" I, his fellow pedestrian inquired
"Sure."
"This way." I lead him back to my car outside of SRKF.
We discussed all manner of thing as I drove him to the scales by Acheson where his car had broken down on him. He introduced himself as Tom and said he too had trained in the martial arts and so on. I dropped him off and by the time I got back, Tims had opened and I had a delicious muffin and ice cap before returning to kung fu. My motto? When God hands you adventure, take it.
So after leaving the marathon I went to my great grandmother's birthday party which was as dry as any family gathering aside from my crazy cousins and cute old great grandparents.
Following this I played Designated Driver for my friend and it was 5 or 6 am, after I had returned home and sat on my computer checking various things that I realized wow. I should get to bed. In all I was up for around 38 hours and was still going. I felt triumphant and hit the hay.
Eternally Adventurous,
Ben Davies
Silent River Kung fu
Stony Plain, Alberta, Canada
www.silentriverkungfu.com
From here my week only became more surreal, going out with a friend of mine that night to a Real Mackenzies concert and not getting to sleep until around 5 am and then booking into the U of A for a 10 am Spoken Word choir practice which was probably the oddest and funniest practices I've ever attended for what is shaping up to be a very memorable set for the poetry festival on the 24th. Evidently the plan is for me to recite Katy Perry's 'I Kissed A Girl' on stage. All alone. What's more, I have to look serious the whole time I recite that ridiculous piece.
I spent the rest of the day on whyte ave for the most part and ate tasty ramen with my pal Dylan. I must admit, it was delightful to roam about in the rain until I became inclined to move on and drove down to New City where I met up with friends, got to bed late again and ended up getting up at 4 pm on Saturday to attend a gathering of sorts until I left to go to Silent River for midnight to kick off the forms marathon.
12-2
This shift was high energy and highly organized, comprised of Sifu Robertson, Sihing Finnamore, Sihing Lillienscold (Sp?), and myself with the addition of the Youngs for the last half an hour. During this shift we had each person taking a turn doing doing a form and then cycling out to stretch, rest, or do push ups. This is how the 2000 were accomplished. I was very impressed by the Sihings and the Youngs. Good job!
2-4
The Youngs, Sifu Bryant, and myself. This shift has much less focus on push ups, although we put in an effort. Much of the time was spent with either Sifu Bryant or myself giving the Youngs advice on their forms while the other cycled through over and over. Over all, I think this was the best shift I attended in terms of solid value and I am thankful I attended it.
On a lighter note, around 3 am there were loud drunk people outside, and oh how we laughed.
4-6
I was only there until 5:30 since I was beginning to crash and needed some food. This shift is where all order seemed to have left and it became 2 hours of people working on forms rather than doing them per se. Don't misunderstand though, a lot of hard work was done.
6-8
I came in a half hour late on this one but it seemed, unlike the first two shifts, to be three people doing their own thing rather than 3 acting as a single unit but it was still not as disjointed as 4-6. Sifu Brandi Beckett has beautiful kung fu and Mr. Crebb (Sp?) is coming along nicely; they are both a pleasure to work with.
8-10
It may be noted that exactly 0 push ups were done during this shift, and this is because I was busy doing forms the full two hours. I ended up in the nice, sunny parking lot getting odd looks from passerbys and a loud "hallo!" from my former boss who lives nearby. Over the course of this shift I converted many of the forms I know, including weapons, into empty hand tai chi to gain a better understanding of their flow. This was very enjoyable and the data I gathered will send ripples through my kung fu. Thanks to Mr. Crebb for staying behind as long as he could, it was very considerate. I then left to have caffeine with a friend
12-2
I don't recall the exact time I arrived, I think it was around 1:20 or so. I had left my cell number with Sifu Wilsonin case people from the next shift were no shows. She passed it to Sifu LaRocque who rang me when one of her shift-mates played the invisible nonja. Mrs. Prince headed off and Sifu and I had a dandy time with our forms until only Sifu Terry Beckett showed for the next shift.
2-4
I could only stay until 2:30ish due to family commitments until I had to leave poor Sifu Beckett alone and learn how Mr. Crebb felt earlier. awww.
Over the course of this, mainly during my actual shift 8-10, I realised that I have been thinking wrong. My biggest criticism for most people is that they look too stressed doing kung fu and need to relax to let the techniques flow out of them rather than try to be an Austrian Death Machine and out speed/out power everyone. When I slowed my kempo down I realized that I was throwing the techniques rather than experiencing them. The thought then came to me of when I am happily walking down streets in the rain, or rocking out on a crowded dance floor, that feeling of separation between my mind and body where my body can be unleashed fully and I can sit back and experience every detail of it. For some reason the next thing to enter my mind, which is prone to tangents, was the song All you need is love along with memories of Sifu Olsvik telling me to maintain my inner smile. I tried to maintain my inner smile, which isn't hard since I'm a smiliey person but the Beatles were still singing in the back of my mind. Then my paradigm shifted, rather than trying to analyze my technique while being happy was wrong, it was causing my mind to be disjointed and travel in too many directions. I lacked focus until it hit me that I rather than trying to master a technique, I should instead love it, and it will master itself. Bam! My already seemingly excruciatingly slow techniques halved and halved again in speed but felt fast and I could feel, without trying to focus, every nuance. With this better, stronger, faster eye for detail I found new dimensions to my kempo which I really must explore.
As for my adventure from 5:30 to 6:30. It was intended as a quick walk to Timm Horton's for a muffin and a drink to tide me over until 10. But on my arrival I found the doors locked (I found out later they open at 5 on weekdays, 6 on weekends) and so I turned back to fetch my car but then reconsidered, saying to myself, 'Haven't you always wanted to walk through a drive through?'. So I turned back again to try my luck at walking through their drive through. While waiting for the crosswalk though, I was passed by a purposeful man walking on the edge of the traffic lane before me. Both being polite, we greeted each other and he then asked if it was Spruce Grove on the horizon, which I confirmed and then followed by asking where he was going.
"To my car," he said with a dedicated, but exasperated tone
"Want a ride?" I, his fellow pedestrian inquired
"Sure."
"This way." I lead him back to my car outside of SRKF.
We discussed all manner of thing as I drove him to the scales by Acheson where his car had broken down on him. He introduced himself as Tom and said he too had trained in the martial arts and so on. I dropped him off and by the time I got back, Tims had opened and I had a delicious muffin and ice cap before returning to kung fu. My motto? When God hands you adventure, take it.
So after leaving the marathon I went to my great grandmother's birthday party which was as dry as any family gathering aside from my crazy cousins and cute old great grandparents.
Following this I played Designated Driver for my friend and it was 5 or 6 am, after I had returned home and sat on my computer checking various things that I realized wow. I should get to bed. In all I was up for around 38 hours and was still going. I felt triumphant and hit the hay.
Eternally Adventurous,
Ben Davies
Silent River Kung fu
Stony Plain, Alberta, Canada
www.silentriverkungfu.com
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
A Day of Adventure
Those who know me know that I love adventure and I'm an optimist. An excellent combination if I do say so myself. It came in handy yesterday when, while driving downtown, my car died.
Like anyone would, I tried out some new exclamatories but I knew I had at least one great turn of events in my favor: I got it parked on a side road rather than having it die on Jasper Ave. This was at 5:00, the same time I was supposed to meet a friend downtown. So I called Troy, my friend, and informed him with a smile that my car was dead and we were to have an adventure.
A little about Troy. I met him about a month or so ago and he is currently one of most enjoyable people I know. He's ridiculously nice and well mannered, but also even more eccentric than I. I tend to conform more or less, I wear a mass produced trench coat and mass produced clothes to mass produced social scenes. Troy, on the other hand, attends the same scenes and also wears the mass produced, but this is where he deviates: he wears skirts. The first time you see men wearing floor length skirts it takes a couple minutes to get over but then you realize that at least his outfit is coordinated. He calls it a kilt, but it's still a women's kilt. Needless to say, we had a good time while I tried to explain my car to my no-car towny friend.
It was 45 minutes to an hour after my car quit that I, having no tools and little idea where to begin if I did, finally gave up and called my dad. Then we went to an internet cafe called Naked. I don't know why it is called Naked, it just is. Walking in it is suitably dark to protect the delegate eyes and ivory skin of the gaming crowd, with a stage at the far end, table along one wall and computers against the other of the deep, but narrow room.
On our way there we had met up with a third, named Ian, and decided to play chess. First round, Troy vs. myself, and I use a risky strategy in which I make a miscalculation and lose my queen and the integrity of my whole kingside formation. I lost, but that's ok. Next is Ian and I; he resigns when my zone control is well over half the board, I've taken his queen and the rest of his pieces are more or less trapped. We start again and it is going well, we're about even for the most part but then my father phones me and I scurry back to my car. An hour later we have it running and spend an hour driving it home.
Lesson: be careful about wishing for some excitement when you're bored.
Ben Davies
Silent River Kung fu
Stony Plain, Alberta, Canada
www.silentriverkungfu.com
Like anyone would, I tried out some new exclamatories but I knew I had at least one great turn of events in my favor: I got it parked on a side road rather than having it die on Jasper Ave. This was at 5:00, the same time I was supposed to meet a friend downtown. So I called Troy, my friend, and informed him with a smile that my car was dead and we were to have an adventure.
A little about Troy. I met him about a month or so ago and he is currently one of most enjoyable people I know. He's ridiculously nice and well mannered, but also even more eccentric than I. I tend to conform more or less, I wear a mass produced trench coat and mass produced clothes to mass produced social scenes. Troy, on the other hand, attends the same scenes and also wears the mass produced, but this is where he deviates: he wears skirts. The first time you see men wearing floor length skirts it takes a couple minutes to get over but then you realize that at least his outfit is coordinated. He calls it a kilt, but it's still a women's kilt. Needless to say, we had a good time while I tried to explain my car to my no-car towny friend.
It was 45 minutes to an hour after my car quit that I, having no tools and little idea where to begin if I did, finally gave up and called my dad. Then we went to an internet cafe called Naked. I don't know why it is called Naked, it just is. Walking in it is suitably dark to protect the delegate eyes and ivory skin of the gaming crowd, with a stage at the far end, table along one wall and computers against the other of the deep, but narrow room.
On our way there we had met up with a third, named Ian, and decided to play chess. First round, Troy vs. myself, and I use a risky strategy in which I make a miscalculation and lose my queen and the integrity of my whole kingside formation. I lost, but that's ok. Next is Ian and I; he resigns when my zone control is well over half the board, I've taken his queen and the rest of his pieces are more or less trapped. We start again and it is going well, we're about even for the most part but then my father phones me and I scurry back to my car. An hour later we have it running and spend an hour driving it home.
Lesson: be careful about wishing for some excitement when you're bored.
Ben Davies
Silent River Kung fu
Stony Plain, Alberta, Canada
www.silentriverkungfu.com
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Secret Agents
I have new, perhaps even happy news. Two friends and I have gained representation as extras in movies. We're not sure how it will turn out but if nothing else it will be an experience and a way to build a resume.
The past few days have been quite enjoyable. On Sunday I had a nice long brood about the current state of my affairs, my always being the instigator of socialization with only the rare occurrence of someone calling me and so forth. Events however, seem to be shifting. I was called yesterday by a friend wanting em to accompany him to Calgary for an interview with the talent agent, and a few phone calls later three of us were going, all with interviews. Once there, highly interesting opportunities were readily available (though I'm not holding my breath on being accepted). In addition to this I've begun corresponding with Thomas Trofimuk regarding my writings.
I am quite excited by the sudden onrush of activity which seems to coincide oddly with my brooding.
The impossible goal I was trying to accomplish, by the way, is still unaccomplished; I need better materials.
Ben Davies
Silent River Kung Fu
Stony Plain Alberta, Canada
www.silentriverkungfu.com
The past few days have been quite enjoyable. On Sunday I had a nice long brood about the current state of my affairs, my always being the instigator of socialization with only the rare occurrence of someone calling me and so forth. Events however, seem to be shifting. I was called yesterday by a friend wanting em to accompany him to Calgary for an interview with the talent agent, and a few phone calls later three of us were going, all with interviews. Once there, highly interesting opportunities were readily available (though I'm not holding my breath on being accepted). In addition to this I've begun corresponding with Thomas Trofimuk regarding my writings.
I am quite excited by the sudden onrush of activity which seems to coincide oddly with my brooding.
The impossible goal I was trying to accomplish, by the way, is still unaccomplished; I need better materials.
Ben Davies
Silent River Kung Fu
Stony Plain Alberta, Canada
www.silentriverkungfu.com
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Tomorrow Never Dies
I feel an odd excitement about tomorrow; the kind of calm, confident, excitement that I always get before doing a form. Waves of tension rippling through my body as every muscle sounds off they're all ready to roar, and that dull sort of head ache as my brain forgets all distraction to tighten its grip on the body's leash, holding it at bay until the signal given. SNAP! Everything surges and the world disappears into the kind of peace only trouncing invisible ninjas can bring.
The reason I'm excited about tomorrow is that I'll be attempting a simple, but impossible task. Failure, therefore won't be a problem, but success would be....amazing. I'll post on here if I succeed.
In other news, Happy 50th to sifu Beckett! Here's a poem about kung fu for you
Already alert, awaiting his turn
To take the world, and make it upturn.
Fists, feet, fire at the ready, hate to spurn
Fire fights fire, loose the dragon, let it burn.
Contents can't cool, in the Cauldron they churn,
Staying state of stirring, release they yearn.
Assume an awesome athletic pattern,
Drills, done daily, Kung Fu's Logos to learn.
Present precise pathos, triumph to earn,
Deadly, demonic demeanor so stern.
Senses, slyly searching, targets discern
Fast, flashy fists like a courtroom adjourn,
Retrospective relaxations return
Loving, laughing, living now my concern
Ben Davies
Silent River Kung Fu
Stony Plain, Alberta, Canada
www.silentriverkungfu.com
The reason I'm excited about tomorrow is that I'll be attempting a simple, but impossible task. Failure, therefore won't be a problem, but success would be....amazing. I'll post on here if I succeed.
In other news, Happy 50th to sifu Beckett! Here's a poem about kung fu for you
Already alert, awaiting his turn
To take the world, and make it upturn.
Fists, feet, fire at the ready, hate to spurn
Fire fights fire, loose the dragon, let it burn.
Contents can't cool, in the Cauldron they churn,
Staying state of stirring, release they yearn.
Assume an awesome athletic pattern,
Drills, done daily, Kung Fu's Logos to learn.
Present precise pathos, triumph to earn,
Deadly, demonic demeanor so stern.
Senses, slyly searching, targets discern
Fast, flashy fists like a courtroom adjourn,
Retrospective relaxations return
Loving, laughing, living now my concern
Ben Davies
Silent River Kung Fu
Stony Plain, Alberta, Canada
www.silentriverkungfu.com
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
An Exercise in Perspective
I've been trying to decipher why I am such a confusing, seemingly contradictory person. I've concluded that the issue is my perspective.
Take a moment to glance over your computer; what do you see? Is it nothing more to you than a portal to the currents of informative fluid? A fishbowl with whole worlds inside? Or perhaps you might see the dried aftermath of your friend's dog splashing coca-cola across it. I could go on and on about my computer Robert Pirsig style, or the Java express cup beside it, or the tacky lamp of from a some forgotten era of atrocious, yet oddly charming decor. I love that lamp.
When I consider my computer, the most important detail in not that I live so much of my life through my fingertips; with the cup, the drink it held no longer matters; with the lamp, it's soft glow isn't why I love it. My point is that the actual purpose I have these things for is so much less fascinating than what the object is and what it represents. The coins in No Country for Old Men come to mind.
I can look at anything and be fascinated. I look work around a strip mine and Thermal Power Plants, and I consider it all to be quite pretty. However, though I can be amazed at the masterpiece that is a computer or a cup, I don't care about them. They could all be gone, and I wouldn't feel particularly bad, though definitely inconvenienced. I could be gone, and the world wouldn't lament. Everything is insignificant.
I was asked during a troublesome but ultimately beneficial conversation with an important mentor months ago whether I felt I was somehow unique or special. I do not, I am the same decaying organic matter as everything else. But for a moment, wonder with me what the nature of the word 'special' really is. If it is mere abnormality, then what is normality. Can anyone tell me what a special person is? Can anyone caught up in the 'disillusionment' fad explain to me why one 19 year old cannot shake the foundations of the Earth? Could a single unfortunately designed curve in a single road in Sarajevo have decided the course of the 20th century? What would the world be like today if Gavrilo Princip's pistol had proven unreliable? Everything, down the priming caps of two small bullets is of earth shattering significance.
But wait a moment, didn't I say that everything is insignificant, but now I've said the opposite. Do you see my dilemma? Anything could come to play a determining role in our future. It is a special person who changes the world so profoundly, but it could be anyone: you, or I, or that annoying "gangsta" down the street who doesn't know how to dress himself. Anyone. This implies that we're all special, which makes 'special' the new 'mediocre'.
I'm not sure if I have succeeded in communicating the sheer level of oddity in my thought process, but I tried.
I'd be lying if I said I didn't stand by the conclusions which have come out of my mind, such as condemning the practice of terminating pregnancy with the kind of religious zeal which makes other patrons in the restaurant not wish to sit near you anymore, yet at the same time I have a hard time with the ethics of prohibiting it even though I'm morally in favor of such prohibition.
Rather than continuing down this winding goat path through the mountains and valleys of my mind, I'll just cut right to my point. My perspective is fragmented and I look at the world as though through several pairs of different eyes and I really need to find a way to unify them in order to reach my full analytical potential.
I'll close with the reason I'm so relaxed, even to the point of seeming unappreciative of the gravity of some situations. If I fail to change the world, to fight ignorance and indifference, and/or to feed the masses it won't matter, because I do not matter. I am but one man and even my death would not draw great notice nor would it end my goal. 6 billion humans and rising, I'm sure there are more Mes out there to take my place, more on the way and no matter how many fail the law of averages says one will succeed, and that's all I need to know.
Ben Davies
Silent River Kung fu
Stony Plain, Alberta, Canada
www.silentriverkungfu.com
Take a moment to glance over your computer; what do you see? Is it nothing more to you than a portal to the currents of informative fluid? A fishbowl with whole worlds inside? Or perhaps you might see the dried aftermath of your friend's dog splashing coca-cola across it. I could go on and on about my computer Robert Pirsig style, or the Java express cup beside it, or the tacky lamp of from a some forgotten era of atrocious, yet oddly charming decor. I love that lamp.
When I consider my computer, the most important detail in not that I live so much of my life through my fingertips; with the cup, the drink it held no longer matters; with the lamp, it's soft glow isn't why I love it. My point is that the actual purpose I have these things for is so much less fascinating than what the object is and what it represents. The coins in No Country for Old Men come to mind.
I can look at anything and be fascinated. I look work around a strip mine and Thermal Power Plants, and I consider it all to be quite pretty. However, though I can be amazed at the masterpiece that is a computer or a cup, I don't care about them. They could all be gone, and I wouldn't feel particularly bad, though definitely inconvenienced. I could be gone, and the world wouldn't lament. Everything is insignificant.
I was asked during a troublesome but ultimately beneficial conversation with an important mentor months ago whether I felt I was somehow unique or special. I do not, I am the same decaying organic matter as everything else. But for a moment, wonder with me what the nature of the word 'special' really is. If it is mere abnormality, then what is normality. Can anyone tell me what a special person is? Can anyone caught up in the 'disillusionment' fad explain to me why one 19 year old cannot shake the foundations of the Earth? Could a single unfortunately designed curve in a single road in Sarajevo have decided the course of the 20th century? What would the world be like today if Gavrilo Princip's pistol had proven unreliable? Everything, down the priming caps of two small bullets is of earth shattering significance.
But wait a moment, didn't I say that everything is insignificant, but now I've said the opposite. Do you see my dilemma? Anything could come to play a determining role in our future. It is a special person who changes the world so profoundly, but it could be anyone: you, or I, or that annoying "gangsta" down the street who doesn't know how to dress himself. Anyone. This implies that we're all special, which makes 'special' the new 'mediocre'.
I'm not sure if I have succeeded in communicating the sheer level of oddity in my thought process, but I tried.
I'd be lying if I said I didn't stand by the conclusions which have come out of my mind, such as condemning the practice of terminating pregnancy with the kind of religious zeal which makes other patrons in the restaurant not wish to sit near you anymore, yet at the same time I have a hard time with the ethics of prohibiting it even though I'm morally in favor of such prohibition.
Rather than continuing down this winding goat path through the mountains and valleys of my mind, I'll just cut right to my point. My perspective is fragmented and I look at the world as though through several pairs of different eyes and I really need to find a way to unify them in order to reach my full analytical potential.
I'll close with the reason I'm so relaxed, even to the point of seeming unappreciative of the gravity of some situations. If I fail to change the world, to fight ignorance and indifference, and/or to feed the masses it won't matter, because I do not matter. I am but one man and even my death would not draw great notice nor would it end my goal. 6 billion humans and rising, I'm sure there are more Mes out there to take my place, more on the way and no matter how many fail the law of averages says one will succeed, and that's all I need to know.
Ben Davies
Silent River Kung fu
Stony Plain, Alberta, Canada
www.silentriverkungfu.com
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Thank you Sir, may I have another?
There are so many things running through my mind which I want to write down, it contrasts beautifully with a short while ago when I first began blogging publicly and had to basically write about having nothing to write.
I had a lovely blog forming in my brain but now it is replaced by something making me giddy. My previously horrible day is now marvelous.
Everyone runs into situations where they are faced by something so abrasive to the fiber of their soul that they cannot help but be compelled to action. These can be things like bottled water wasting our natural resources and being an around bad idea (now banned from SRKF) or they can be little things which don't really matter, for example, some being wrong on the internet.
The other day I was on youtube, mainly watching Henry Rollins videos when I came upon a clip, a rant about pseudo-science, whose description made my sensibilities hurt. I read through the whole thing carefully multiple times, saying aloud to myself, "This cannot be, the irony is too perfect." at this point, ladies and gentlemen, the author's ignorance is palpable, leaving a taste like the scent of brakes burning in the back of my mouth. I couldn't resist my compulsion, so I started writing a message.
Understand that from my perspective, the piece of writing had no redeeming qualities; therefore, I had no positive feedback with which to temper the bad. In the past, any time I have put myself in such a discussion, it ends badly, with me coming off too aggressively when in reality I'm just overly blunt. However, this time was different, watching all that Henry Rollins must have paid off because in my message I basically called him a waste of skin in regards to writing but did it in such a way that he thanked me! That has never happened to me before so I feel triumphant, and I blame it on a change in my writing style and the fact that the user seems like a thoroughly reasonable sort.
Rather than doing it my old method which was to walk in and say, "You're wrong, all wrong; here's why..." I tried something new; I tried to open his mouth BEFORE shoving a fist full of opposing data down his throat. So as not to come off as arrogant I opened the message by making clear my status as amateur and then, rather than attaching my arguments to him, ie. "You're wrong." I targeted the writing itself, ie. "It is wrong." I then proceeded to politely tell him what a waste of perfectly good words the piece was and closed by voicing my hope that he can back up what he said, inviting him to change my mind rather than telling him to change his.
In response I was thanked for my message and informed that though he posted it, he did not write it. Therefore, it was a good choice on my part to address the piece itself rather than attaching it to the him. He also said I can expect a rebuttal within the week, giving him time to produce something well thought out. I am looking forward to it.
It's the little things, not fancy cars, which make life happy.
Ben Davies
Silent River Kung Fu
www.silentriverkungfu.com
Stony Plain, Alberta, Canada
I had a lovely blog forming in my brain but now it is replaced by something making me giddy. My previously horrible day is now marvelous.
Everyone runs into situations where they are faced by something so abrasive to the fiber of their soul that they cannot help but be compelled to action. These can be things like bottled water wasting our natural resources and being an around bad idea (now banned from SRKF) or they can be little things which don't really matter, for example, some being wrong on the internet.
The other day I was on youtube, mainly watching Henry Rollins videos when I came upon a clip, a rant about pseudo-science, whose description made my sensibilities hurt. I read through the whole thing carefully multiple times, saying aloud to myself, "This cannot be, the irony is too perfect." at this point, ladies and gentlemen, the author's ignorance is palpable, leaving a taste like the scent of brakes burning in the back of my mouth. I couldn't resist my compulsion, so I started writing a message.
Understand that from my perspective, the piece of writing had no redeeming qualities; therefore, I had no positive feedback with which to temper the bad. In the past, any time I have put myself in such a discussion, it ends badly, with me coming off too aggressively when in reality I'm just overly blunt. However, this time was different, watching all that Henry Rollins must have paid off because in my message I basically called him a waste of skin in regards to writing but did it in such a way that he thanked me! That has never happened to me before so I feel triumphant, and I blame it on a change in my writing style and the fact that the user seems like a thoroughly reasonable sort.
Rather than doing it my old method which was to walk in and say, "You're wrong, all wrong; here's why..." I tried something new; I tried to open his mouth BEFORE shoving a fist full of opposing data down his throat. So as not to come off as arrogant I opened the message by making clear my status as amateur and then, rather than attaching my arguments to him, ie. "You're wrong." I targeted the writing itself, ie. "It is wrong." I then proceeded to politely tell him what a waste of perfectly good words the piece was and closed by voicing my hope that he can back up what he said, inviting him to change my mind rather than telling him to change his.
In response I was thanked for my message and informed that though he posted it, he did not write it. Therefore, it was a good choice on my part to address the piece itself rather than attaching it to the him. He also said I can expect a rebuttal within the week, giving him time to produce something well thought out. I am looking forward to it.
It's the little things, not fancy cars, which make life happy.
Ben Davies
Silent River Kung Fu
www.silentriverkungfu.com
Stony Plain, Alberta, Canada
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Form is nearly done
So, my form is 'done', by which I mean it is to the point where I have a beginning, middle, and end. Some revising will have to be done before it reaches its final incarnation, however, and that may be a while yet.
While showing it to Master Brinker the point arose of balancing the form, by which is meant having the right and left sides equally represented. The form was slightly unbalanced, and the more I looked at it, the more unbalances appeared; therefore, I've structured it in similar style to Long, with the first and second halves mirroring each other. My form is balanced, and now I've reached my 28 move goal. There are two glitchy spots right now, but I'm confident I can have a satisfactory solution in the near future. One criticism I received upon showing the form to a colleague is that the form contained an awful lot of sidekicks. This comment pleases me, considering the form is supposed to center around sidekicks.
Ben Davies
Silent River Kung Fu
Stony Plain, Alberta, Canada
www.silentriverkungfu.com
While showing it to Master Brinker the point arose of balancing the form, by which is meant having the right and left sides equally represented. The form was slightly unbalanced, and the more I looked at it, the more unbalances appeared; therefore, I've structured it in similar style to Long, with the first and second halves mirroring each other. My form is balanced, and now I've reached my 28 move goal. There are two glitchy spots right now, but I'm confident I can have a satisfactory solution in the near future. One criticism I received upon showing the form to a colleague is that the form contained an awful lot of sidekicks. This comment pleases me, considering the form is supposed to center around sidekicks.
Ben Davies
Silent River Kung Fu
Stony Plain, Alberta, Canada
www.silentriverkungfu.com
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Choking....On Deliciousness
The past week has been terribly exciting for me, but it would make for a boring read were I to drone on about how much fun I have creating story elements and small works of art.
I've noticed more and more over the past while that I'm biting off mouthfuls of tasks for which I am extremely enthusiastic. The problem is that rather than chewing said mouthful, I try to eat up another task. To be fair, I enjoy bouncing from one thing to another and back again, but it is a thoroughly unproductive operating procedure. My only hope is to yet again increase my level of organization and set deadlines for myself. I think my best option is to meticulously plan out my week in advance, accounting for the entirety of each day rather than my current method of simply planning out appointments where I am accountable to someone else. In addition to this I'm going to have to categorize and prioritize my various research/production plans based not only on fun, but also on value and the availability of materials. Near the top of my list will be the construction of a shop where in I can assemble things like small robots. I think I'll start with the week plan this coming week.
As far as Kung fu goes, I'm still currently working on polishing up my empty hand form, but I should be moving on to my next task within the week.
Ben Davies
Silent River Kung fu
Stony Plain, Alberta, Canada
www.silentriverkungfu.com
I've noticed more and more over the past while that I'm biting off mouthfuls of tasks for which I am extremely enthusiastic. The problem is that rather than chewing said mouthful, I try to eat up another task. To be fair, I enjoy bouncing from one thing to another and back again, but it is a thoroughly unproductive operating procedure. My only hope is to yet again increase my level of organization and set deadlines for myself. I think my best option is to meticulously plan out my week in advance, accounting for the entirety of each day rather than my current method of simply planning out appointments where I am accountable to someone else. In addition to this I'm going to have to categorize and prioritize my various research/production plans based not only on fun, but also on value and the availability of materials. Near the top of my list will be the construction of a shop where in I can assemble things like small robots. I think I'll start with the week plan this coming week.
As far as Kung fu goes, I'm still currently working on polishing up my empty hand form, but I should be moving on to my next task within the week.
Ben Davies
Silent River Kung fu
Stony Plain, Alberta, Canada
www.silentriverkungfu.com
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Final Destination?....Maybe Just a Campsite
So, I was wracking my brain as to where to take my form next. I'm on move 14 and can't think of what should be next, and then it occurred to me:
A. I should be doing like Master Brinker continually advises and stop trying to eat my own head, and instead just blitz it and make it awesome later.
B. If I can't see where it should go next, perhaps it doesn't need to go anywhere else.
Therefore, I think I'm going to cap my form where it is and work on perfecting it. I can always add to it later. That's the beauty of it being mine ~taps finger tips together schemingly~
I think I'll show it to Master Brinker on either Friday or Saturday. Either way I'm going to tape it during open training.
I was intending to build it to be taught to green belts, but I think I have succeeded much less than desired in this regard. I'm confident that green belts could learn it, but it might be 14 moves of pulling teeth. On the other hand, the only way to really find out is to try teaching them...I'll see what Master Brinker thinks.
Ben Davies
Silent River Kung Fu
Stony Plain, Alberta, Canada
www.silentriverkungfu.com
A. I should be doing like Master Brinker continually advises and stop trying to eat my own head, and instead just blitz it and make it awesome later.
B. If I can't see where it should go next, perhaps it doesn't need to go anywhere else.
Therefore, I think I'm going to cap my form where it is and work on perfecting it. I can always add to it later. That's the beauty of it being mine ~taps finger tips together schemingly~
I think I'll show it to Master Brinker on either Friday or Saturday. Either way I'm going to tape it during open training.
I was intending to build it to be taught to green belts, but I think I have succeeded much less than desired in this regard. I'm confident that green belts could learn it, but it might be 14 moves of pulling teeth. On the other hand, the only way to really find out is to try teaching them...I'll see what Master Brinker thinks.
Ben Davies
Silent River Kung Fu
Stony Plain, Alberta, Canada
www.silentriverkungfu.com
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Tenacity
Kung fu movies. Have you ever noticed how they always involve violence? It's never, "Wow, watch how kung fu changes this person to someone so peaceful and serene." nor, "Watch how it helps him with relationship issues." It always involves some villain with a bad hair cut getting clobbered.
The movie Run Fat Boy Run, on the other hand, has a lovely little message about not giving up and pushing through all obstacles with extreme prejudice, no matter how mundane they appear. It is also hilarious, so I recommend it.
In other news, I've taken up playing Shogi ( http://www.japanesechess.org/ ), which is a terribly addicting chess-style board game. I'm hoping getting back in games like Shogi, Chess, and Go will help flex my strategy muscle.
As for the push ups, I'm still trying to reach 1k/1k/1 day. I feel bad about effectively wasting last weekend. I could have done, nay should have done, many more than I did. I will redeem myself this coming weekend.
I know I can't currently do 1k/1k on a week day, being stuck behind a wheel all day, and being rather certain that hopping out to do a set when my machine isn't moving. So far I'm setting my weekday goal for 500/500. If I work my but off, I'm confident I can make this on most days, with 200/200 being my minimum. I need to work on my speed, which has been my biggest short coming regarding my training.
One of my requirements for myself is to do 100 push ups per set, once I can do that I'm going to work towards compacting those sets into a time frame as close to one minute as possible. This is surely a long term goal!
Ben Davies
Silent River Kung Fu
Stony Plain, Alberta, Canada,
www.silentriverkungfu.com
The movie Run Fat Boy Run, on the other hand, has a lovely little message about not giving up and pushing through all obstacles with extreme prejudice, no matter how mundane they appear. It is also hilarious, so I recommend it.
In other news, I've taken up playing Shogi ( http://www.japanesechess.org/ ), which is a terribly addicting chess-style board game. I'm hoping getting back in games like Shogi, Chess, and Go will help flex my strategy muscle.
As for the push ups, I'm still trying to reach 1k/1k/1 day. I feel bad about effectively wasting last weekend. I could have done, nay should have done, many more than I did. I will redeem myself this coming weekend.
I know I can't currently do 1k/1k on a week day, being stuck behind a wheel all day, and being rather certain that hopping out to do a set when my machine isn't moving. So far I'm setting my weekday goal for 500/500. If I work my but off, I'm confident I can make this on most days, with 200/200 being my minimum. I need to work on my speed, which has been my biggest short coming regarding my training.
One of my requirements for myself is to do 100 push ups per set, once I can do that I'm going to work towards compacting those sets into a time frame as close to one minute as possible. This is surely a long term goal!
Ben Davies
Silent River Kung Fu
Stony Plain, Alberta, Canada,
www.silentriverkungfu.com
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Two Weeks Notice...of Possible Awesome
Well, this week my big training day, Saturday was instead eaten up by an event called Wordsworth. As much as it pained me to train less than usual that day, I must say it was worth it. Among the assorted lessons I learned there, one of the more interesting was breathing exercises. One particularly entertaining exercise was the making of a sound scape. For those not quite as artsy as others, I'll explain what this entails, and I assure you, it is much better than it sounds. The sound scape consists of a group of people making sounds with no set plan. Think of it like the vocal version of trance techno.
The environment of the event was especially enjoyable since everyone treated everyone else as though best friends regardless of whether or not they knew each others names or had ever met. Also, there an effective ban on negativity. That it, no one insulted each other and feedback was kept positive, though always constructive. It was the perfect atmosphere for productive writing, relaxed within the constraints of a tight structure. It is the atmosphere everyone claims to desire in all situations, and yet it is so very rare.
But let us not forget the slant with which this blog is written. In the spirit of kung fu, I'll adapt the techniques I learned to make my punches stronger, my overall attacks more psychologically debilitating, and of course, just to improve my all around humanity.
The training techniques of the martial arts center around cultivating discipline and respect, which are the two greatest tools for getting what you want in life. Peace and creativity are also great assets, ones which are often neglected. I had heard it said to many times to count that we must be creative, but how often do we try to build on it? How often have you considered creativity a weapon to be forged?
One of the writing exercises taught is known as flash writing. One goes and does something, such as kung fu, for a time before a signal is given, such as an alarm, and he/she then immediately begins writing. No editing is allowed and it doesn't matter what it written. I believe it was Thomas Trofimuk who said,"Give yourself permission to write ----, it might be better in two weeks."
I think this applies to kung fu just the same. Never throw things out and don't worry if what you are creating seems horrible right now.
Ben Davies
Silent River Kung Fu, Stony Plain, Alberta, Canada
www.silentriverkungfu.com
The environment of the event was especially enjoyable since everyone treated everyone else as though best friends regardless of whether or not they knew each others names or had ever met. Also, there an effective ban on negativity. That it, no one insulted each other and feedback was kept positive, though always constructive. It was the perfect atmosphere for productive writing, relaxed within the constraints of a tight structure. It is the atmosphere everyone claims to desire in all situations, and yet it is so very rare.
But let us not forget the slant with which this blog is written. In the spirit of kung fu, I'll adapt the techniques I learned to make my punches stronger, my overall attacks more psychologically debilitating, and of course, just to improve my all around humanity.
The training techniques of the martial arts center around cultivating discipline and respect, which are the two greatest tools for getting what you want in life. Peace and creativity are also great assets, ones which are often neglected. I had heard it said to many times to count that we must be creative, but how often do we try to build on it? How often have you considered creativity a weapon to be forged?
One of the writing exercises taught is known as flash writing. One goes and does something, such as kung fu, for a time before a signal is given, such as an alarm, and he/she then immediately begins writing. No editing is allowed and it doesn't matter what it written. I believe it was Thomas Trofimuk who said,"Give yourself permission to write ----, it might be better in two weeks."
I think this applies to kung fu just the same. Never throw things out and don't worry if what you are creating seems horrible right now.
Ben Davies
Silent River Kung Fu, Stony Plain, Alberta, Canada
www.silentriverkungfu.com
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Futility is no excuse for failure!
I'm listening to some accapella polka while I write this, so I can't help but be infected by its catchy cheerfulness despite the fact that I am nearing my second failure in as many days. I, like many others, set a goal to do 1k push ups and sit ups on Chinese New Years day. Unfortunately yesterday was a failure and today, though looking better, is likely to be counted another failure. Both will be logged as zeros. Until I succeed in doing 1k/1k/1 day, it will be zeros. 1000 or 0, nothing in between! I could use my new job as an excuse, and it is an obstacle to be sure, but such would cheapen my failure. Failure, like an expensive spice, makes one's success taste that much more delicious. This success is shaping up to be perhaps a little too seasoned; good thing I'm a fan of deliciousness.
I've spent the past two days getting accustomed to a new job: operating a skid steer. I've been pushing snow around an area south of Keephills known as Pit 3. I began by clearing around where the poles for new power lines will be set and having finished that, my new task is to break new trails in the next section of land. This though, rather than open fields, is wooded and rugged. The land is so beautiful, full of birch, pine, and an assortment of other lovely plants and fauna, each one a work of art. My little bobcat bounces through it, and the damage I am paid to work seems almost humorous in its insignificance. Even on the fourth or fifth pass small trees stand defiant. Unfortunately, nothing stops the dozer. A mechanized armada of progressively heavier equipment will follow behind me to tear the land asunder, strip the rock bare of the soil and life it has hoarded for millenia, the funeral mound of those who came before. The rock will be blasted and drag lines will pace the site, grave robbers of impressive stature. Thereafter the abyssal black they dig will brighten in the boilers to power the offices of the Green Party.
Ben Davies
Silent River Kung fu
Stony Plain, Alberta, Canada
www.silentriverkungfu.com
I've spent the past two days getting accustomed to a new job: operating a skid steer. I've been pushing snow around an area south of Keephills known as Pit 3. I began by clearing around where the poles for new power lines will be set and having finished that, my new task is to break new trails in the next section of land. This though, rather than open fields, is wooded and rugged. The land is so beautiful, full of birch, pine, and an assortment of other lovely plants and fauna, each one a work of art. My little bobcat bounces through it, and the damage I am paid to work seems almost humorous in its insignificance. Even on the fourth or fifth pass small trees stand defiant. Unfortunately, nothing stops the dozer. A mechanized armada of progressively heavier equipment will follow behind me to tear the land asunder, strip the rock bare of the soil and life it has hoarded for millenia, the funeral mound of those who came before. The rock will be blasted and drag lines will pace the site, grave robbers of impressive stature. Thereafter the abyssal black they dig will brighten in the boilers to power the offices of the Green Party.
Ben Davies
Silent River Kung fu
Stony Plain, Alberta, Canada
www.silentriverkungfu.com
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
I'm so very excited, having finally purchased a combat ready cane. I wanted to study cane fighting for years now, but this is first good opportunity I've had and, quite frankly, it has made me giddy. There is absolutely no way to make this not awesome. The cane is not only a charming weapon, but eminently practical. I'm rather partial to the notion of having a weapon which can be carried anywhere with various qualities of replacement available everywhere.
At face value, the use of the cane seems similar to a bokken, but with a hook for grappling. The various possibilities are seemingling endless and this excites me. It may seem that I'm making a fuss over very little, and yes, I am, but I rarely get excited at all so I deem it forgivable.
True, the masterfully crafted cane I've purchased did cost a fair chunk of change, it was still humorously less than goth/punk ones designed only for fashion. I will also note that it is much nicer looking as well.
I'll have to play with it more.
Ben Davies
www.silentriverkungfu.com
At face value, the use of the cane seems similar to a bokken, but with a hook for grappling. The various possibilities are seemingling endless and this excites me. It may seem that I'm making a fuss over very little, and yes, I am, but I rarely get excited at all so I deem it forgivable.
True, the masterfully crafted cane I've purchased did cost a fair chunk of change, it was still humorously less than goth/punk ones designed only for fashion. I will also note that it is much nicer looking as well.
I'll have to play with it more.
Ben Davies
www.silentriverkungfu.com
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
And They Shall Know No Fear
Failure, it is a word much despised by most and loved by none. To me, failure seems a nigh unattainable thing, since regardless of whether one 'wins' or 'loses', they have gained.
When I failed my first black belt test, I never saw it as a failure to succeed; rather, I saw it as succeeding less than I would have liked. The journey counts for as much, in my opinion, as the destination, and even if you never reach the top of the mountain, you've at least had pleasant hike in your attempt. The only way to truly fail, to gain nothing, is to not try, to not pull on your hiking boots and have at 'er. To quit, give up, or otherwise hold yourself back is the worst thing one can do to themselves.
One never grows by holding back, technique and muscle aren't built on a couch.
If you set out to accomplish a goal and fall short it doesn't mean you're horrible, it does mean you have room to improve and something to work towards. Good for you, recycle that goal and get back to work. As long as one is moving forward, day by day, they will improve and become more successful.
There is no good reason not to try. Some folks procrastinate, waiting for a more opportune time, while others are lazy, seeming to detest being productive citizens, perhaps they are simply afraid to fail.
Fear of failure is, I think, one of the worst phobias. People naturally avoid their phobias, which is easy for spiders, snakes, and heights and one loses nothing from avoiding such things which cannot be made back somewhere else. The process of avoiding failure, however, bears marked resemblance to avoiding success. Why? Because they're essentially the same thing. Only very rarely in life is success guaranteed, and even then it's usually nothing big.
Failure, like snakes and spiders, should be respected for its venom, but not feared without reason. A fear of failure, of exposing one's weakness and limitations, is as a festering wound, and will most certainly destroy you if left untended. Illogicality exceeded only by lethality.
8 days into the ubbt it seems my first hurdle is overcoming such a nonsensical fear of failing. By failing to be public, a cycle I'm attempting herein to break, I have ostensibly quit the ubbt. In fact, I've done so twice or thrice in the past week. A fear of failing, appearing weak, sapped my gumption and that same fear of perceptible weakness kept me from seeking motivative aid. Doesn't make much sense does it?
My fears were supported, after a fashion, by a perceived inability to anything good enough, and at each turn it seemed all anyone could see were the short comings. Taking action to any end became more a forced march toward a predestined doom of those eyes which dissected me. I have never been the one to need compliments, and would much rather have constructive criticism any day. How can I address a problem I do not know? My trouble was not that I was receiving an unending stream of the constructive, but that I did not see it as such, it seemed my flaws were targeted rather than identified and at every turn the words 'You can't do it' rang in the back of my mind. How could I affirm people's doubts in me by seeking aid? This is not to say I thought people wanted me to fail, but it seemed no one saw the positive, always the negative. Each time I tried to break my little cycle that feeling of doom crept in, that no one would see it as anything but a failure, and so what s the point of doing what is doomed? At least if I didn't do it at all I wasn't doing it wrong.
On the other hand, I couldn't quit, because quitting is dumb. My refusal to quit was the only thing keeping in the game, but left me in a most uncomfortable limbo between quitting and not doing. The difference? I kept trying to break my cycle and fully intended to succeed...eventually.
It took a repetitious series of conversations between Master Brinker's boot and my rear end to jump start my motor and get into gear. Now I'm rolling in the right direction, upping my pushes, upping my sits, upping everything.
The only discernible method for besting this pesky flaw of mine is to become more engaged in the public aspect. The only way to stop hiding is to stop hiding and to this end I'm committing to spending at least 3 hours per week (156 hours this year) in the Kwoon. It is a requirement for sihings, why not for me?
This experience has put the PCP (Praise, Correct, Praise) rule in new light for me. I never really cared for the praise part, and was perfectly content to simply be corrected until I fixed the error, and was told to fix another. When teaching, I often neglected to praise students. However, upon re-evaluating the recent past it seems that there may be something to the rule other than simply keeping the student's confidence up. I've had many students tell me that they love constructive criticism when I have caught myself being too hard on them. This seemed to me to counter the PCP rule, since they didn't seem to need confidence boosts. Of course, other students needed confidence boosts and I acted accordingly with PCP. Now though, I think even if the person doesn't seem to need a confidence boost, complimenting them at least sets a positive mood for the coming onslaught of corrections. It shows that I'm there to help them along rather than simply tell them they're wrong. This is also a strike in favour of keeping on friendly terms with students, which also keeps the relationship positive. Certainly, the student might be confident now, but if all one does is correct them, then they can quickly be misconstrued as a negative force when the student's confidence falls. I say 'when', rather than 'if' because everyone loses steam at some point.
When I failed my first black belt test, I never saw it as a failure to succeed; rather, I saw it as succeeding less than I would have liked. The journey counts for as much, in my opinion, as the destination, and even if you never reach the top of the mountain, you've at least had pleasant hike in your attempt. The only way to truly fail, to gain nothing, is to not try, to not pull on your hiking boots and have at 'er. To quit, give up, or otherwise hold yourself back is the worst thing one can do to themselves.
One never grows by holding back, technique and muscle aren't built on a couch.
If you set out to accomplish a goal and fall short it doesn't mean you're horrible, it does mean you have room to improve and something to work towards. Good for you, recycle that goal and get back to work. As long as one is moving forward, day by day, they will improve and become more successful.
There is no good reason not to try. Some folks procrastinate, waiting for a more opportune time, while others are lazy, seeming to detest being productive citizens, perhaps they are simply afraid to fail.
Fear of failure is, I think, one of the worst phobias. People naturally avoid their phobias, which is easy for spiders, snakes, and heights and one loses nothing from avoiding such things which cannot be made back somewhere else. The process of avoiding failure, however, bears marked resemblance to avoiding success. Why? Because they're essentially the same thing. Only very rarely in life is success guaranteed, and even then it's usually nothing big.
Failure, like snakes and spiders, should be respected for its venom, but not feared without reason. A fear of failure, of exposing one's weakness and limitations, is as a festering wound, and will most certainly destroy you if left untended. Illogicality exceeded only by lethality.
8 days into the ubbt it seems my first hurdle is overcoming such a nonsensical fear of failing. By failing to be public, a cycle I'm attempting herein to break, I have ostensibly quit the ubbt. In fact, I've done so twice or thrice in the past week. A fear of failing, appearing weak, sapped my gumption and that same fear of perceptible weakness kept me from seeking motivative aid. Doesn't make much sense does it?
My fears were supported, after a fashion, by a perceived inability to anything good enough, and at each turn it seemed all anyone could see were the short comings. Taking action to any end became more a forced march toward a predestined doom of those eyes which dissected me. I have never been the one to need compliments, and would much rather have constructive criticism any day. How can I address a problem I do not know? My trouble was not that I was receiving an unending stream of the constructive, but that I did not see it as such, it seemed my flaws were targeted rather than identified and at every turn the words 'You can't do it' rang in the back of my mind. How could I affirm people's doubts in me by seeking aid? This is not to say I thought people wanted me to fail, but it seemed no one saw the positive, always the negative. Each time I tried to break my little cycle that feeling of doom crept in, that no one would see it as anything but a failure, and so what s the point of doing what is doomed? At least if I didn't do it at all I wasn't doing it wrong.
On the other hand, I couldn't quit, because quitting is dumb. My refusal to quit was the only thing keeping in the game, but left me in a most uncomfortable limbo between quitting and not doing. The difference? I kept trying to break my cycle and fully intended to succeed...eventually.
It took a repetitious series of conversations between Master Brinker's boot and my rear end to jump start my motor and get into gear. Now I'm rolling in the right direction, upping my pushes, upping my sits, upping everything.
The only discernible method for besting this pesky flaw of mine is to become more engaged in the public aspect. The only way to stop hiding is to stop hiding and to this end I'm committing to spending at least 3 hours per week (156 hours this year) in the Kwoon. It is a requirement for sihings, why not for me?
This experience has put the PCP (Praise, Correct, Praise) rule in new light for me. I never really cared for the praise part, and was perfectly content to simply be corrected until I fixed the error, and was told to fix another. When teaching, I often neglected to praise students. However, upon re-evaluating the recent past it seems that there may be something to the rule other than simply keeping the student's confidence up. I've had many students tell me that they love constructive criticism when I have caught myself being too hard on them. This seemed to me to counter the PCP rule, since they didn't seem to need confidence boosts. Of course, other students needed confidence boosts and I acted accordingly with PCP. Now though, I think even if the person doesn't seem to need a confidence boost, complimenting them at least sets a positive mood for the coming onslaught of corrections. It shows that I'm there to help them along rather than simply tell them they're wrong. This is also a strike in favour of keeping on friendly terms with students, which also keeps the relationship positive. Certainly, the student might be confident now, but if all one does is correct them, then they can quickly be misconstrued as a negative force when the student's confidence falls. I say 'when', rather than 'if' because everyone loses steam at some point.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
A Good Beat
There is a lot to be said, in my opinion, for ambiance. Changing the enviroment can change how people act/react, with one of the most readily manipulated factors being music. You will never hear Dethklok when the Microsoft puts you on hold and you won't be seeing Jason Statham fighting to Alvin and The Chipmunks.
Proper choice of music can also be useful in martial arts training. Personally, my favorite training music is Disturbed, the Indestructible album in particular. Music is a good way to take your mind off the pain in your muscles of the boredom of Horse Stance marathons. Moving to a beat is also a useful way of pacing yourself and when running seems preferable to simply trying to will myself to go faster. When running I'd suggest tracks like Rammstein's Links 2, 3, 4 ( Left 2, 3, 4) which has a well paced beat for running in time with. In fact, Rammstein has made a large amount of great training music such as Tier (Animal), Mann Gegen Mann (Man Against Man) and Sonne ( The Sun). Sonne in particular is quite poetic, and being about a boxer, quite appropriate.
When selecting a soundtrack for my gleeful misery, I generally look for music with the following things in mind:
1. Obviously, it must be music in which I can lose myself and that I can stand listening to on repeat when I want a nice, stable tempo. The tempo and mood should also fit with the style I'm practicing. Crazy Frog and Thai Chi do not mix.
2. It should be something with an inspiring sound, for example Europa by Globus, which makes excellent use of a choir and symphony. Good lyrics are a must, as there is little worse than hearing anything involving gats and hoes while trying to throw a scissor kick.
Poetry of any kind can be useful, since that is all good lyrics are. I've lost count of how many times I've sung Lady in Black, Unsterblich (Undying), Eisbar ( Polar Bear), or Ejnoy The Silence quietly to myself while training.
Ben Davies
www.silentriverkungfu.com
Proper choice of music can also be useful in martial arts training. Personally, my favorite training music is Disturbed, the Indestructible album in particular. Music is a good way to take your mind off the pain in your muscles of the boredom of Horse Stance marathons. Moving to a beat is also a useful way of pacing yourself and when running seems preferable to simply trying to will myself to go faster. When running I'd suggest tracks like Rammstein's Links 2, 3, 4 ( Left 2, 3, 4) which has a well paced beat for running in time with. In fact, Rammstein has made a large amount of great training music such as Tier (Animal), Mann Gegen Mann (Man Against Man) and Sonne ( The Sun). Sonne in particular is quite poetic, and being about a boxer, quite appropriate.
When selecting a soundtrack for my gleeful misery, I generally look for music with the following things in mind:
1. Obviously, it must be music in which I can lose myself and that I can stand listening to on repeat when I want a nice, stable tempo. The tempo and mood should also fit with the style I'm practicing. Crazy Frog and Thai Chi do not mix.
2. It should be something with an inspiring sound, for example Europa by Globus, which makes excellent use of a choir and symphony. Good lyrics are a must, as there is little worse than hearing anything involving gats and hoes while trying to throw a scissor kick.
Poetry of any kind can be useful, since that is all good lyrics are. I've lost count of how many times I've sung Lady in Black, Unsterblich (Undying), Eisbar ( Polar Bear), or Ejnoy The Silence quietly to myself while training.
Ben Davies
www.silentriverkungfu.com
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