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