6.13

 With the year of the snake coming up, that means that the dragon is coming to and end and with it are all of the numbers and requirements from the past year. Overall, I'd say it wasn't that great of a year in regards to the I Ho Chuan for me. When it came to my numbers, most of them weren't the best. For blogs, my consistency sucked. For my personal requirements, Only one got completed. The whole year was somewhat of a "meh" year for me. I believe the biggest part of that was my personal requirements, and how I felt detached from them fairly quickly. That's why I have completely revamped my way of thinking for this year. Instead of thinking of a few things that I would like to accomplish, I instead focused on some goals that I was already working towards. With this approach, I already have a plan in place that I know will work for me, all it needs now is the year to progress to achieve these goals. For this year, my requirements are as follows: 

1.  Save money. Simple enough as is.

2. Lose weight. I plan to lose roughly 25 pounds by this time next year. 

3. Pass my final two years of NAIT. Again, simple enough as is.

All three of those are goals I've had for at the very least a few months now, so they are something I know I am invested in.

48400 push ups

48400 sit ups

1160 M'long Koon

1160 Hockey Stick Form

1724 Kilometers

6.12

 My weight has been an issue for quite awhile, going back to before I can remember. I was always the big kid growing up, for both my weight and my height, as I used to be taller than nearly everyone my age. As I continued to grow, my weight grew with me, and then it began to outgrow me. This past August I reached the highest weight I ever have, and ever want to be again at 295 pounds. I realized how heavy that was for my body type, and knew that something needed to change. I knew that my calories consumed would need to go down, calories burned would need to go up, and the food I eat would need to change. After I made those changes, I started to notice my weight going down. Right before the holiday meals came, I weighed in at 275 pounds. 20 pounds on 4 months was a good start, and I still have a long way to go before I'm happy with it. I specified before the holidays because I am currently up to 280 pounds, so it was a little bit of a setback.

44540 push ups

44640 sit ups

1085 M'long Koon

1085 Hockey Stick Form

1583 Kilometers

6.11

Not much to say for this one, so just a numbers post this time. 

33165 push ups

33165 sit ups

845 M'long Koon

845 Hockey Stick Form

1225 Kilometers

6.10

 I'm now out of school and back to work, just in time for preparation of the first snow. Although I already miss a few things about NAIT, it is good to be back at work and using some of the things I learned over the past 8 months in the real world. This also means that my days are going to get longer, being back at 8-5 for now and then 8-7ish once Winter Rush hits. It is definitely weird that I've technically already completed half of my post secondary schooling before I turn 19, but that just means less time spent in school later and more time in the field, which should be good. With that being said, my overall schedule for Kung Fu isn't likely to change, at least until the rush hits. 

27720 push ups

27720 sit ups

750 M'long Koon

750 Hockey Stick Form

1063 Kilometers

6.9

 Last week I had a bit of a scare with my van, as when I got out of school for the day I saw this giant puddle under my front bumper.

When I first saw this, I started to panic, as I still needed to get back to Spruce Grove from NAIT. After panicking for a few seconds, I calmed myself down and started to run through some diagnostics. First thing I did was find out what fluid it was. I dipped. my finger in it and it turned out to be oil. It wasn't worst case scenario, as I keep spare oil in my van at all times. Following that I checked my oil to see where it was at. I've known for awhile that my van likes to consume a little bit of oil between oil changes, which typically occur every 5000 kilometers or 6 months. Since I did my last oil change 5 months ago in March, I have gone just over 8000 kilometers, so more than I would typically do. When I checked the oil, it was right around where I expected it to be, which was good, but confusing. Now I have a big oil leak from an engine that wasn't leaking oil. Weird. Finally I called my Dad to get a second opinion on what to do, and I ended up getting the vehicle over to he dealership to get a quick inspection, which revealed nothing of concern. 

I think I handled this situation better than I would've without my training in Kung Fu & in the automotive field, as the Kung Fu helped me calm myself and the automotive knowledge helped me do quick diagnosing.

6.8

 Last Monday was my first public demo of the year, as I had been working for all the previous ones. It was good to get back into a performance, as I definitely felt a bit rusty. My weapon form felt fairly good, but it could use some refinements. Being in the dragon again was fun, but I definitely felt it for awhile after. Doing both back to back also showed me that my cardio isn't quite where it needs to be, which is good to know. 

19390 push ups

19390 sit ups

565 M'long Koon

465 Hockey Stick Form

787 Kilometers

6.7

After missing the last two demo's, I will finally be able to participate in one on Canada Day. I am really looking forward to this, as I have missed participating in the demos. The practice on Thursday showed me that I need to get my stage confidence back, as I messed up my hand form in different ways every time. The first time was the worst however, as I did the wrong section of form that would've ended at the part I don't know yet. But the rest weren't as bad, just stumbling in a few places. Overall I'm feeling good about getting back into demo mode, and getting ready to perform again.

19040 push ups

19040 sit ups

478 M'long Koon

478 Hockey Stick Form

692 Kilometers