A Mish Mash

There have been so many good things happening!  So many that I need to jot these all down so I don't forget.  Hopefully this will be enough to come back to another time and expand.  And apologies if these little tidbits don't make much sense for the reader, but they are just snippets for myself to return to.

Here we go...

1. I love teachers that are able to just sit back and let you come to all the wrong conclusions.  To some, this might seem like an uncaring teacher...but I see this as someone who really wants you to work through it and figure it out on your own...knowing that this will then stay with you, rather than jumping in to make every little correction, and ending up with a student that really doesn't understand why they are doing what they're doing.  I want to try and do this more in my own teaching.

2.  The biggest thing that I took from the kindness project is awareness of how connected (or not) I am to the individual members of the IHC team..and vice versa.  It made me wonder how I can get to know some of my team-mates better and how they can better connect with me.  And that's through my blogs.  We don't otherwise see each other in the same social circles, nor work circles.  This was an eye opener for how important my blogging is for both my team mates and my instructors.

3. Working on progressing with my 6 Harmonies has been difficult.  I think I've gone from one extreme to another, both, oddly enough, resulting in the same chunky effect.  But working on a particular part of DMH (step into open X with snap punch) I suddenly found myself expanding my "vocabulary".  I was doing a "1. 2. 3."  But then I started doing a "1 aaaand 2".  The "aaaaand" was my transition.  Why this verbalization helped, I don't know.  But it suddenly felt like I was doing the techniques, flowing through to the next, feeling harmony, etc.  Finally, a blue belt, and I think I maybe figured out 1 single 3 step section.  At least for now.  I'm pretty sure it will break again at some point.  Hahahahaha.

4.  I want to stop saying "I've been doing it all wrong".  I haven't been.  I've been doing it just fine for my level, ability, understanding, brain capacity, etc, etc.  It's just that now, for whatever reason, I can see how to do it different.  This is progression.

5.  Demo Prep.  I'm calling our fan form attempt on Thursday a "delightful disaster".  🤣  Working as a team with a partner has really brought with it many challenges that have been really beneficial.  Thursday brought some new ones.  Walking onto the "stage" on your own can be difficult enough...trying to find a spot to start where you have enough room to finish...not running into anyone or having them run into you.  Add a partner and you suddenly can't enter how you normally would want to.  I can't speak for my partner, but I felt like what I thought was good, wasn't, because I hadn't really considered my partner and where they would end up moving.  At times I recall feeling like everyone was right on top of us for some reason.  Lol.  I also didn't consider the fact that all these people moving around, with weapons swinging, would cause all kinds of breezes and winds....that we've learned are not conducive to a successful fan toss.  Even while at the Kwoon, as soon as the furnace kicks in, we need to be mindful of where we are because any little current will sweep our fans away when we are tossing them.  Hahahaha....well...lesson learned.  We can only improve from here.

6. Lion dance in the cold.  This was today.  The stick did not slip out of my mittened hand, to Sifu Rybak's great disappointment.  But I did learn that mittens are actually kind of heavy when thunder drumming and they got in the way of my clicks at times.  And don't ask me why, but drumming causes your touque to slowly slide off your head.  Just food for thought to all the drummers.  But a fun dance as always!

It's Been Good

So I was having a hard time maintaining consistency.  So I reached out to a team-mate to see if they wanted to have some scheduled morning training times together. And the last few weeks have been awesome.

We've been making alot of headway with our weapons form and I'm really starting to feel like we'll be ready come the banquet.  We are connecting dots and finding things in other forms and techniques as well.  And having this huge accomplishment under our belts right at the start of the day has made me feel like I've already conquered the day and everything else is icing on the cake.

And having some set days and times pre-planned is definitely holding me accountable.

So yeah, things have been good.

Nov 16, 2024

This past week flew by on me.  Even though we didn’t have any formal classes, my dad was here visiting and suddenly it was today. We spent the day driving to Saskatoon to bring him home and now I’m finally settling in for the night at my Aunts.   This is just a quick checkin, but I am actually feeling really good this week. 😁

Strides

So the inevitable happened. I’ve been using an app called Persistence ever since I joined the I Ho Chuan as a yellow belt. It's been a great tracking tool where I can set my goals with rep numbers and what not, and I can easily add numbers throughout the day as I do them. It tracks them how I want them tracked...meaning a daily total that was also added to a yearly total. It would also indicate whether I was behind on numbers or ahead. All in all, it's been a really advantageous tracking tool.

But disaster struck when I recently upgraded my phone. At the kiosk, I told the rep that I would set up all my apps and transfer my data later on. Turns out that some apps do not get backed up in that matter. And once you "skip" that in the setup, you can't easily go back. So I found myself having to manually add certain apps. Not a big deal really. Except for when it came to Persistence. It turns out that somewhere along the line the app discontinued it's availability in Canada. I was only able to continue using it as long as I had because it was already on my phone and I was sort of “grandfathered in “. But now that I was starting as a new download, I couldn’t access it. My numbers were gone. And not just from this year, but from the previous three years as well. Damn.

Good news is that I had a recent record in a blog.
Bad news is that it wasn't 100% current.
Bad news again was that I would still have to figure out how to track moving forward.
Bad news again, again...once my app was gone, I was randomly recording, or not recording, numbers all over the place. A real muck mess. But I've accepted the fact that I was less than diligent during my search for a new method, and those numbers are gonzo.

I won't dwell on it....and will instead, continue with my story.

In terms of tracking, I knew I wanted to continue using an app. Although I do love a good spreadsheet...it isn't my ideal platform. I became accustomed to a certain lifestyle with an app, and I wanted to find something that would give me the same benefits I had previously.

My research had me reviewing many, many different tracking apps. The list that I reviewed and tried is as follows,

Clickup
TickTick
Google Tasks
Todoist
Habitica
Habit
Trello
Way of Life
ATracker
Coachme
GoalsonTrack
Hive

None of these made the cut for various reasons. Some were far too pricey. Some didn't offer any flexibility. Some were more akin to a To-Do list. Some wouldn't allow exporting. Some could only be accessed on a phone and wouldn't sync between devices. Etc, etc.

I finally settled on an app called Strides. So far it is giving me all the features that I am looking for. And a few that are icing on the cake...one being that it syncs with my watch and I can quickly add reps on there as well. Another being that it predicts my end number based on my current pace.  Kinda cool.  The only downfall I can see right now is that it isn't free. But it's still on the lower end than the other paid ones.  And I do like that it offers a one-time lifetime payment as well...rather than paying monthly/yearly forever and ever. So for now, I've paid for a month (roughly $6) and will give it a good test. If I like it, I will likely do the lifetime purchase, which works out to 2 years of the annual anyways.

Anyhow...I thought I'd share all this as I know it's a struggle to find a good tracking system and we all seem to want something a little different.

I'll let you know how it's going at the end of the month.

Also, my numbers below are just a screenshot from the app.  Easy peasy.

Big Changes

Not many of you know this, but I'm going through a pretty big life change at the moment.  My current employer is entering retirement, and the business, as it stands, will not continue in its current capacity.  

As of Monday I have transitioned to working from home, as the offices are downsized.  My final day as an official employee will be November 29.

I am so grateful for the time I've spent at Interlab.  The owners have been the probably the best employers I've known and have become close to me like family.  Their philosophy has always been "family first".  I recall them, at one point, telling Suncor that they'd "just have to wait" when Nathan was sick as a baby.  The opportunity to work for them came at the exact moment I needed them.  And they allowed me to pursue a fulfilling career, without having to sacrifice being a mom.  And I wish them all the best.

Having said that, I've decided not to pursue future employment in this same capacity.  I intend to spend more time on teaching, Kung Fu, my home and my family.  It's a bit scary, but also very exciting.

I'm looking forward to spending more of my time on the things that really matter.  And I'm so grateful that I'm fortunate enough to be able to do so.