Forms!

From the left: Tom, Daniel, Bernard, and Charlie (ambushed while talking before lunch)



Last night I had my first Chinese lesson with Jimmy (YES! My keys are working again! Oh, but now it’s stopped, I guess they aren’t all the way dry yet? Most of them are working though, what a nice surprise). Like I was saying, the first lesson with Jimmy— I made a lot of progress. We practiced some Chinese tongue twisters to drill the tones, and he taught some more vocabulary (informal phrases, body parts, directions, also “so,” and “because ”). I can finally put together some simple sentences on the spot.

Today has been pleasant. My sickness is almost gone, the sun is shining, and training was a lot of fun. I don't know why, but the master never motioned for Chi Gong today. We just (such a thrill to use the j key ^__^) stayed in the main hall and drilled applications, including an exciting hand-catching drill I hadn’t seen before. One person punches, and the other rotates his target shoulder back and snags the incoming arm. We got do to some improvisation after the snatch, which I really enjoyed. Back in Washington I had loads of fun with that sort of free play, but here it’s a rarity.

Many of you have already seen it, but here’s a video I shot of my basic forms— like I say in the clip, the more I thought the less I felt like waiting.



One of these days I’ll ask Jimmy to film some stretching, and perhaps some drills too.

Edit: Anomaly, we actually did a little push/sticky hand playtime this afternoon. The master won (who could’ve seen that coming?), but I faired passably in an exercise similar to one we always practiced in Walla Walla. We also punched pads. I felt real improvement in my relaxation, the strike had more shock to it than the blunt force I'm trying to get away from. It's been a successful day.

My hands paid the price for those good strikes. Bear in mind, the pictures (the flash) make it look much worse than it is, and I probably won't do striking like this until next week, at the earliest.