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
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
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
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