The following is a series of short blogs that I posted on my old wushu-related website in the first half of 2000. I compiled them together here for context and ease-of-reading.
Thinking about competing at Nationals
April 22, 2000
I’ve been considering what I will compete with at Nationals. For sure I’ll do my individual nan quan form. Heck … it seemed to serve me well at Regionals … might as well milk that form for all it’s worth. =) I’ll probably also try to get my nan dao back in to shape by then too. It’s been a long time since I’ve practiced it but hopefully I’ll be able to remember most of it. I’m also considering learning nan gun (southern staff) since that’s pretty handy to know. Plus is doesn’t have that jump-inside thingee that can re-injure my knee like the southern sabre does.
And as for non-compulsory-type events, I was thinking of either finishing up with some of the Bagua I started on Thursday, or learning a new form, like double sabres. My friend Piglet says that double sabres seem cool and it’s hard to argue with logic like that. 😉
So … what about the rest of you? Know what you’re going to do yet? Or are you one of those people who doesn’t decide this stuff until closer to the event. Yeah … I think I am too … but for some reason I want to do half-way decent this time. When I went to Nationals back in 1998 I flubbed up pretty bad and I don’t want to re-live that experience.
Starting Double Broadsword
April 23, 2000
Today I started learning some double broadsword. It was depressing to see how incredibly uncoordinated my left side is. I spent most of the time just trying to get the basic wrap down, and afterwards the gripping muscle on my left hand was all swollen up from being over-used.
Also worked on some nan quan with Jerry. And after class Peter, Charlie, my teacher, and I all were shooting the breeze about various wushu stuff. Some interesting developments about who is showing up at Li Jinheng’s tournament in September, which I posted in news.
More Double Broadsword
May 3, 2000
And so begins my double sabre form. Today’s class was brutal. I think we did about an hour of just conditioning stuff today. I was gasping for breath left and right. After the brutality subsided a bit I worked on some nan quan with Jerry (who is a really fast learner) and then did some double sabre basics. Towards the end of class my teacher showed me and Jerry the beginning of the form. Not too much .. just the opening and a couple initial moves. Sure is fun to do though.
After class I did a little bit of staff and nan dao … kinda going over it in my head. I need to revisit that form one of these days. Well .. technically I guess I was “revisiting” it tonight, wasn’t I?
Anyway, sometimes I have so many things on my plate I don’t know what to eat first. I think I’ll stop writing in this journal and actually go take care of things that need taking care of.
On a bright note, I got my home hubbed DSL thingee working. So now I’m all hooked up and super-connected. (or whatever)
Visiting Wushu Link and Jet LI
June 28, 2000
Goodness, I’m becoming pretty prolific here, aren’t I? Or rather .. that’s not quite the right word. I guess I’ve just been busy updating stuff. I finally got fed up with the way this site was falling in disrepair and thought I’d do somethign about it.
I put up some videos, hoisted up a few other things and hopefully I’ll be able to update this with some regularity in the future.
This past weekend was pretty good. I got to hang out with some friends from U.C. Irvine Wushu, got to train at Wang Jien Tien’s class in the blistering heat (thanks so much to Woody Wong and Wang Jien Tien for the opportunity) and got to hang out with Jet for a bit too.
Our office had a field trip to his house so that a bunch of the people who worked on his official web site could finally meet the person they had slaved over a computer for. It was lots of fun. Lots of pictures (which I’ll post as soon as I find that cable for my digital camera), some autographs, a Q&A session for an hour or two followed by lunch.
After that Pat and I went back to the house for a meeting with Jet and his posse about the site. All in all it was a good weekend. This weekend should be fun too. Joe Scarcella is in town and it’s a long weekend. A winning combination, to be sure.
Also going to work with Jeff Luan on his nan quan (and other stuff). Need to get that guy in competition shape.