On Tuesday night we started out loosening up with a bit of Tai Chi and then we worked with sticks for a while, sort of a continuation of our class from last week. Mostly we worked on defense against sticks, what to do if attacked. I think this makes a lot of sense. Personally, I don’t really need to learn how to hit someone with a stick as I'm pretty good at that already. What I need to learn how to take them away from some A-hole who is trying to whack me with one. And that is exactly what we did. I was working with Leroy and it is cool since we are just about at the same level, I might be just a tad a head of him but I have never sparred with him so I’m not sure where he is at in that regard.

So I now can take a stick away even using only one hand.

I was late to class on Thursday night because I had a gig at one of the local health care centers that was opening up a new wing for childhood psychological treatment and of course they wanted crazy old me to be the background music for the reception. I must say that I was really impressed with the new facility and really glad that I was able to play for them, and not only because it paid well.

When I got to class the second hour had already begun and they were working on Sword Hands and I jumped right in and started working with Jeff. Jeff is a nice guy, he started out at the same time as Jim and I and would be a Black Belt now except that he had to take some time off to take some career related classes. What is really cool is that he came back and when he did he brought his son with him.

Bruce asked me if I would like to help him with his next video and of course I am pleased to be able to do what ever I can to help. It is going to be on healing techniques so that should be great. That is one of the things I have been looking forward to the most since I learned that Quan Li K’an had a healing aspect to it.

The Kata Video I have been working on is coming along, I now know where I am going with it so things are moving right along. Bruce gave me an Apple G4 loaded with video (and audio) software so now what I have to do is learn how to use it. A pretty steep curve for me but once I get into it I think it will be really useful and much more versatile than the Windows program that I have been using, if slightly less easy to use.

Well, we have the next week off as the Public Schools have Spring break.

More later-

GrumpyGriz

Feb. 14^th 2008

Dang have I been busy lately! I didn’t quite realize how much work was going to be involved in putting out this video. We shot the katas from two different angles and through the magic of digital video software I was able to stitch them together and do a front view with a side view inset and vice versa. It is really neat what I can do compared with what my options were 20 years ago.

ON THE OTHER HAND… everything takes time especially when I have to teach myself as I go. But I’m getting some great results and the video may not be quite as slick as if I had been able to tape it in a private studio but it is going to be somewhat close to professional quality.

Keeping in mind that this video is geared toward younger students trying to learn the katas, here is the format. There is a 12 second “title” at the start of each kata/segment and then while showing the front view of the kata I voiceover a short introduction with a few mentions of what is new in this kata, some pointers on technique and perhaps why this kata is important… basically filling up time while the student sees the first view of the kata. Then I go to a slideshow of all the individual moves and stances with a verbal description. And then a front view, then a side view and then a view of the front with the side view inset.

I have considered adding a “critic’s corner” to the end of each segment, with a brief analysis of how the performance could have been improved, but perhaps that is getting a bit to into it and should be left to their individual teachers anyway.

All this with original background music.

But it is really eating up the memory on my computer so now I am transferring a bunch of stuff from my hard drive to DVD and storing it. It is probably a good idea just to do it anyway since I haven’t backed-up my files for a while.

Tonight at class both Bruce and John were absent so it was up to Paul and Ashley and Adam and Jim and myself to take care of business. I was teaching two young gold belts with Adam supervising and jeepers! Those kids were all hopped up on Valentine’s day candy and squirrelly as can be. But since I’ve been working on the video I didn’t have to go back to look at the paper and see how the kata is supposed to be, I was able to go right through it with them on the first time through.

During the second hour we worked on our own katas and we were introduced to Po ‘en, one of the 4 katas that I will have to know for testing in about a year and a half. Adam talked us through Quan Ga and then showed us Po ‘en and  it looks like there is some really handy stuff in it. Quan Ghe is being phased out for the adult levels but we still have to know it to be able to teach it to the junior Black Belts.

At the end we worked on ground fighting skill which was cool, it has been a couple of years since we did that, or at least when I was at class. Because you’ve gotta figure, in a real fight how often does it happen that you might get knocked down, shoved from behind or loose your balance? ALL THE TIME! So what to do if you are on the ground is really important.

I had a bit of a brain fart on Tuesday. My daughter’s school had a two hour late start and I dunno, for some reason I equate 2-hour late starts with Mondays and so I went through the whole day thinking it was Monday, which is why I missed the Tuesday night QLK class.  But there ya go, the ravages of age have left me crippled.

Last Thursday I taught the young White belts for a few minutes with Ashley and then Bruce called me over to pick my brain about Bassai Dai, which I had to do as a green belt. He was teaching it to Lucas and was having trouble getting started. So I ended up working on that for both hours and we got all the way through it. It is amazing that some of it comes back so clear with just a little reminder and other things are just like hearing it for the first time. I think that my brain was so occupied just trying to keep up with all the changes that Bruce kept making and the pressure of having to earn such an advanced kata in just 4 months. But most of it is still there, and it is a constant dance of death. One neck break after another from various positions; a great series of options. The kind of kata you could spend a lifetime on and still discover more.

The Tuesday before that was Caucus night here and so there was no class.

The Thursday before that I worked with Ashley and the White Belts, and during the second hour Bruce, Paul and I shot some retakes for the video. I felt that it was worthwhile getting a better version of the first kata, Chun Ji, since it is so important as a base for all the other katas to build on.

______________________________

Feb. 21^st, 2008

Geez, I have hardly been online this month. I have been really remiss in answering my Email and keeping up connections. But life offline has been really busy.

I have a guitar student now, someone who heard me play at a local venue asked if I gave lessons and I told her what lessons would be like with me and she was still interested.

You see, I don’t like teaching guitar. I taught myself how to play and I think that anyone can do it if they put their time and energy into it. So my lessons are geared toward getting the student to the point where if they REALLY do want to play guitar, they can take off on their own.

I know it is bad business but I really aim to get them to be able to teach themselves rather than trying to teach them note-for-note renditions of songs and coming for a lesson each and every week month after month, year after year.

So, a few months and they are outta here.

I also play at least twice a week at some of the local coffee shops, delis and various other places.

And the video is coming right along. I got together with Master Bruce Miller yesterday and we took a look at what I had done and he had a few suggestions but seemed really pleased with what I have been doing. He thought it was at least as good as some of the so-called “professional” DVDs for sale out there. He thought that the idea of a “critic’s corner” was a good one, to offer a few suggestions of how each performance might be improved. But he also said that no kid he has ever seen has been able to pull off a “perfect” performance and it is a bit different for each student, no matter what their age. (I don’t know if this is true in other styles or not but I Quan Li K’an we take into account that everyone has a slightly different body and also that they are individuals and will want to stress some aspects of a kata more than others. We try to get them to the point that they know that this is okay and can pick and chose what they want from a kata in the senior ranks, eventually designing their own kata.)

Now that I know where I am going with the DVD I should be able to finish it up in a few more weeks.

On a sad note, my Brother-in-Law has died and we are traveling out to Green Bay this weekend for his funeral. He was a carpenter and did really good work, took his time and did a lot of it by hand. But he has been sick for some time now, his second kidney transplant had gone into rejection and he felt terrible all the time and didn’t eat enough and just got weaker, had to go into a nursing home and finally crashed on Tuesday night.

So we get to make a 7 hour car ride with the kids and stay at my father-in-law’s farm house with another family with kids. The place is nice… during the summer when I can get out and away by myself if I need to. But it is just one of those things in life that one has to do so do it we will.

At class on Tuesday night we worked on Tai Chi for the first 20 minutes and then worked with swords for the rest of the class. It was one of the first times we have done anything with weapons and it was really quite interesting.

Really what we were working on was defense against swords and by extension, all clubs and sticks. There was only one attack that Bruce didn’t have a defense for and he showed us what it was and said that in that case, just get the heck out of the way.

A couple of interesting facts. The tip of the sword may have a lot of velocity but it is difficult to develop a lot of force- physics- it is the end of a lever. It is much easier to push around the end of a lever than nearer to the fulcrum.

Also- the baseball bat looks/seems like it should be a good weapon but it is really quite slow and clumsy. If you stand there and get hit by it you really have earned it. The principles used to turn aside a sword are similar and applicable to staffs and sticks. The use of Sword Hands is the key.

Thursday night during the first hour I worked with my daughter Maura and Jeff, they are both Low Green belts. Jeff is an adult and so I got to go through both versions of the kata. John was supervising and it is always great when he teaches. He doesn’t say much but when he does it is something that matters. He has a great store of knowledge and experience is also a really cool guy.

During the second hour we started almost before the students from the first hour had left the gym. Maura started fooling around hiding behind my back and John and Ashley and Adam started trying to get her to use some “Mouse” techniques to take me down and of course she (age 7) was really hesitant and afraid of hurting me but it didn’t take just too long and she had me on the floor and was kneeling on my cheekbone while bending my small fingers the wrong way. And John kept adding new and wonderful little painful bits for her to try out. She really didn’t hurt me but she could have and I explained that it was okay when we were in class or if someone was trying to hurt her.

You see, that is why I started all this in the first place. I want my girls to be able to take care of themselves. Shortly after we started my niece was raped and it made it all the more important to me that my girls be able to handle some situations. Certainly it doesn’t protect them from every situation but it can’t hurt.

During the second half of the last hour Bruce worked with Jim and me on Empi, the kata that is being substituted for Bassai Dai at the adult High Green Belt level. Bassai Dai is being moved up to 1^st Dan level and while I won’t be tested on it we are still going to be working on it. Empi has some really useful stuff in it!

Currently Reading The Underland Chronicles, Books 1-4: Gregor the Overlander, Gregor and the Prophecy of Bane, Gregor and the Curse of the Warmbloods, and Gregor and the Marks of Secret (BONUS BOOK INCLUDED: Gregor and the Code of Claw) By Suzanne Collins see related

DEFENDER!

I am not ashamed to admit that I really enjoy reading young people's literature! The Underland Chronicles are pretty cool!

I am also reading "Wuthering Heights" (Shudder!) but I am ashamed to admit that!

Tuesday night class didn’t happen, which was a disappointment since my friend from Tennessee was in town. I called the community education office just to make sure that there would be class and they said their would but when we got there the person who was supposed to be there to open the door never showed up. But my friend and I went west to visit with another mutual friend and it turned out to be a good night anyway, with a fair amount of talk about Martial Arts and other subjects as well. Master Bruce was out of town anyway but it would have been nice to have one of the senior belts give my friend a bit of an overview of what Quan Li K’an is about. Bummer.

Last night I got to lead the stretch and warm-up. The seniors said I did okay since I remembered everything. After break I got to assist Ashley in teaching the white belt kata and one-steps to the kids. Ashley has a lot more patience than I have. She corrected me once when I was suggesting a more adult version of a move but I guess it was just the way I learned it. So there is one thing I learned! It all went pretty well.

During the second hour John started out asking us first Dans about teaching and what we thought about the reasons for the way things are done. One question he asked was “Some styles have their new black belts go out and establish new schools and then have to send their old school 10% of the profit. We require ours to teach under supervision for a minimum of one year (and usually longer) before they test for their second Dan and if they pass they are free to teach wherever they like and get to keep any and all profit they make. Why do you think that is?”

There are a few correct answers but basically it boils down to the fact that we are knowledge-based, not profit-based. We want to make sure the material is taught correctly and we want to make sure that the style continues to improve.

After the Q&A session we worked on the kata that we started last week, Kwang Gae. It will still be taught to the junior black belts and so the adults have to be familiar with it. The adults will be learning Po eun and Bassai Dai for testing and besides Kwang Gae we must also familiarize ourselves with Empi since it will be replacing Bassai Dai as the High Green belt kata.

Jim and I are already familiar with Bassai Dai since we were the first Green Belts to be required to do it and I totally agree that it should be moved to the Black Belt level. We started learning it two months before we tested for our Low Green belts and still just barely made it through when we tested on it. That is six months of fairly hard study on one kata and I think it helped me to better understand everything that came afterward but is too much for a 4 month testing cycle. I have been through Empi and I think that it will make a suitable replacement and has some things in it that don’t necessarily have to be lethal, while Bassai Dai is just one neck break after another. Bruce has also improved his understanding of Bassai Dai since we learned it so there will still be a lot to learn.

At the end of class we had two people spar in the center for 30 seconds (Kevin and I started) and then the others watching had to pick one good thing and one bad thing that we did. So it was a lesson in critical analysis. Then we played one round of “Defender,” a new game that John wanted to introduce. We pretended that the inner circle of the gym was surrounded in hot lava so you couldn’t step out. My eldest daughter was the princess and Lucas was the bodyguard. She stood behind him and kept her hand on his shoulder so he would know where she was. First he had to defend my daughter from Kevin and keep him from hurting her and not let her or himself step in the hot lava. Lucas could defend or attack, whatever it took. Then he had to defend them against Kevin and Ashley, which didn’t go so well and he eventually threw himself into the lava to save my daughter. Very noble but not terribly effective. It was an interesting exercise in what it might be like defending someone who has no experience in Martial Arts.

All in all it was a good class.

More later-

GrumpyGriz

Catching up on recent events...

Here is a picture of the Black belts who were present on the night I tested. I am in the front row, looking at the camera. Master Bruce is behind me, wearing the black top.

Thursday the 3^rd of January we had our first class after the holiday break. It was my first “official” student teaching, although I have helped out a few times before, unofficially. I worked with an (approx.) 20 year old guy who was visiting named John Paul. He said he liked it and might come back again. Bruce was supervising and went through the adult meanings with us once and then I was on my own, pretty much. John Paul had it down fairly well for his first time and so we went through some one-steps as well. By the time class was over I had him doing his kata and his one-steps. Probably not well enough to pass a test, but at least he was remembering them.

The second hour we worked again on katas for about half an hour and then we sparred for about 15 minutes and then we worked on what to do about 4 simultaneous attackers. Bruce has been saying some things about the mentality of a warrior and how sometimes there are times when you don’t really think, you just do. That was what this exercise was about- divide the pack and keep moving.

On Sunday Bruce and I went out to a local gym that wasn’t being used and taped a video of my three daughters doing the first 10 Quan Li K’an katas. The idea is to put out a training video for the reference of those trying to learn the katas and also for those trying to teach kids QLK. My girls did well and most of the katas were done on the first or second take. Afterwards I took everyone out to dinner at a local Chinese restaurant.

On Tuesday the 8^th we worked on moving in on and then around an opponent. The idea is to move in on the center line and “tie up” their hands with a relaxed but firm hand, and then step around behind them and take them out. We also worked on a really neat relaxed move to use when someone tries to push after you have “tied up” their hands. It was based on our “Push Hands” exercise.I wish the Tuesday class was longer, it seems that we are just getting into something when we have to stop.

On Wednesday Bruce, Adam, Ashley and I went 45 minutes north to Camp Ripley, a military base, and gave an overview of Quan Li K’an to some of the people there. There were only 5 people there but they seemed to really enjoy the material we presented. Now they are hoping to start a class there or at least to be able to come down to St. Cloud sometimes. They were all really great guys; I just wish there had been more. Afterwards we went out for Chinese again.

Thursday the 10^th I got to teach again. John Paul was back and he seemed to remember quite a bit, especially the one steps.

During the second hour we worked on a heavy hands exercise that was kind of cool- you start by having one person stand behind another and place their hand between their shoulder blades and they try to elbow the person behind them and the person with the hand on the back tries to sense which way the attack is coming from and respond. The key here is to stay relaxed, maintain contact and not to switch sides before you are sure which way the attack will be coming from- better to go back to the center before committing to one side or the other. Doing it with the eyes closed is even better.

We also learned about fa shing (Not sure how that is spelled, pronounced “Fah Shzing”) which is a way of striking that uses wave motion instead of brute strength. It did seem to be me that I was able to generate enough force to really do some damage with not very much effort on my part. Then we learned about combining that with a ji strike and what the implications of that might be. It was an interesting class but they always seem to go by too fast and while it did give me loads to think about I always want more.

I wasn’t able to go to the Tuesday night class because on of my daughters had a school music program that she was a part of and I always love to go and hear that stuff. They are very lucky in that they have a wonderful music teacher who is very good at getting the kids to have fun and also maintain a modicum of decorum and not get too wild and crazy. It must be tough to do that year after year and still pick interesting material and not to get repetitive and dull.

Tonight (the 17^th) we worked on katas again for the 1^st hour. One of the guys from our seminar at Camp Ripley named Jim showed up at class and I taught him for the first hour. He seemed really impressed by what he saw at the seminar and was really gung-ho on what we were doing. It is really great to see that level of enthusiasm and it was nice to be able to get him started. I got him through his kata and also taught him my basic repertoire of 6 one-steps.

During the second hour. For the 1^st half of class we did katas and Jim and Kevin and I started learning one of the katas that we need to know. It wasn’t one that Jim and I will be tested on but it is one that we teach to children at the black belt level.Then we worked on floor drills. WOW! DO I EVER SUCK AT FLOOR DRILLS! But I guess that for my level I am doing okay, considering the lack of practice at it in the past year. Hopefully we will keep at it. During the last 15 minutes of class Bruce had us doing something like what we had been doing back on the 8^th of January, where we would collapse into our opponent and tie their hands up while strike with our elbows. Bruce wished he had had more time but we always have to quit just when we are getting going. He wanted to get more into the leg aspects of it.

I have been working a lot on the kata video for kids- I have been breaking it down as a slide show at first and talking through it slowly and then moving it into a slow motion version of the kata and then finishing with a real time motion version of it. The only serious problem so far is that my youngest daughter, who did the first kata, didn’t do it very well. It is really an important kata, as they all are. But this one is especially important because it is what all the other katas are “built” from in a manner of speaking. Unfortunately, my dear daughter displayed just about every bad habit you can have in her version and I didn’t call her on it because I thought it was more important to get through as much as we could when we had the gym to ourselves. But now we will have to try to do a retake at class next week. What I would really like to see is her doing proper front stances, punching from the hip and not looking around but at the opponent she is supposed to be fighting. She is only 8 but I know she can do a better job and forcing her to do it might help her develop better habits along the way. She is a bit over confident and it might be healthy for her to realize that she is going to have to buckle down and do it right if she doesn’t want me to give the assignment to he next oldest sister. Playing the sibling rivalry card is playing a bit dirty but I am willing to do it if it gets the results I need and also might help her to learn it right.

At any rate, I think the video is going to be pretty good and a really good addition to the videos that Master Bruce already has available. I hope that it will be a really valuable resource for those who are learning and also for those that are teaching, a great reference to have on hand.

I’m happy to say that an old friend of mine who is into Martial Arts will be visiting his family in Minnesota in the next week and hopefully we will be able to get together and hang out and talk about it all, and that maybe he can come to class with me at least one night and see what it is that we all get up to in QLK.

Well, that is it for now! Sorry I haven’t been able to get to this sooner but I have been really busy lately with a bunch of projects, both MA related and otherwise. I hope ’08 is going great for everyone and I’ll have…

More later-

GrumpyGriz

A New Belt!

TUESDAY NIGHT- We worked a bit on the Yang Short Form and concentrated on the “Grasp Sparrow’s Tail” sequence and once again I was paired with Brent. He is good to work with and has a great sense of humor. But often we spend time figuring out what Bruce is talking about and I don’t feel that I get to practice the applications enough once we have got the gist of what Bruce says. Bruce doesn’t mind repeating the instructions and demonstrating but then he goes off to help other people and we find that one or the other of us hasn’t quite got it or misunderstood. But at any rate, it is starting to sink in and I am beginning to remember more of the moves as the year goes on. I wonder if I will be able to get through it by myself before the school year ends.

Then we worked a bit on some Dragon style sparring techniques. I may be reading a bit into it here but I think that perhaps Bruce wanted to give me an edge in my sparring with Jim at the testing on Thursday. Whatever the reason, it was interesting and I hope I can incorporate some of it into my performance on Thursday night.

Bruce has been asked to return to England for a seminar on healing and I really wish I could go with! But there is no chance of that this time, my finances are stretched to the limit and we just had a $1500 car repair that broke the bank. Fortunately I have some gigs coming up that will help pay for it. What a terrible time of year to go broke, but the cold weather here in Minnesota really takes a toll on any equipment that isn’t kept in a heated garage. And then there is the cost of gas, food and everything else that seems to be going up, up, up! And of course the holidays mean buying a few odds and ends for the kids. But such is life.

THURSDAY NIGHT- All right. I’ll start out by not keeping anyone in any kind of suspense. I got my Black Belt.

Here is a rundown of how things played out. I did my kata and thought it went okay, there was no questions from the panel which means they all understood what it was that I was doing. I felt that one or two of the moves may have gone better in practice but under the pressure of testing things always go a bit whacko.

Sparring with Jim went very well. I don’t think that I actually did any Dragon techniques but I was certainly thinking about what Bruce had said Tuesday night and I did seem to dominate the match. One thing that really worked well was moving into him when he was trying to set up a combination therefore taking away his momentum and destroying his attacks.

Sparring with Adam was a short serving of life in Hell but we got through it okay. I got in a few good shots but he kept making me aware that I was leaving my groin unprotected; he must have tapped it 4 times in the 2 minutes that we sparred. That being said, not all of those groin strikes would have had any sort of force behind them that would have found crippling enough to make me stop and I did get in a few shots at him and so I didn’t look like a complete loser. But on the other hand, a few of those strikes would have been really bad if they had had power behind them and it really showed one area that I need some serious work in. But it wasn’t enough to keep me from passing.

Adam is really good at sparring and been at it for a long time and is a third Dan, not to mention half my age. Let me see, did I leave out any other excuses? Oh yeah, I didn’t sleep well the night before and the dog ate my homework, the sun was in my eye and my allergies were acting up.

Okay, so what is true about that is that Adam, a third Dan, IS really good at sparring and HAS been at it for a lot longer than I have, IS half my age and I DIDN’T sleep well the night before. But other than that I really don’t have any excuses. But like I said, it wasn’t enough to keep me from passing.

For my board breaks I did a hammer strike and an axe kick and they both sailed right through and since two breaks was all I was required to complete the panel more or less suggested that I not bother with my other two, mostly since we were running out of time. But that made my daughters happy as they wanted to break a few boards when we were finished.

My two youngest daughters both tested and passed, although my middle daughter (11) only got one stripe due to her lack of power. But at least she passed. For her next level she will really have to develop some power if she wants to pass. My youngest daughter (7) did really well considering that just yesterday she was still not doing her kata right. But we worked on it a bunch before the test and got her doing her turns in the right direction and she pulled it off with only the slightest hesitation. Actually she did it better than the adult that was testing at the same level and didn’t get his turns right. Her sparring was really good for her first time and she remembered all her one-steps.

Bruce said that there was no question that I had done well enough to pass, so I guess that everything was okay. He kept the promise that he made to me almost two years ago when he said that he would see me through to getting my Black Belt. I do feel that he has given me a lot of personal attention that other students didn’t get but I also feel that he has been honest and wouldn’t just let me pass because I am a friend. He has a vested interest in making sure that QLK keeps getting better and better and wouldn’t let personal friendship get in the way of the style improving itself. And by that I mean that by “getting me through” he made sure that I was good enough or better. And I did work really hard on it so I really feel good about earning my rank.

My parents really enjoyed coming to watch and were able to see why I enjoy doing this so much. We all went out for a treat afterward. They were pleased with how their grandchildren did and I think they understand my feelings about having daughters learn to take care of themselves if they are ever threatened physically.

SO… Jim, Kevin (9) and I all passed and became Black Belts tonight. It was quite a feeling to have all the other members bow to us and the applause was really great. One of the comments that I liked the best was right after we all bowed out I heard Master John say “just think how many new teachers we now have!” Because that is one thing I have really been looking forward to, I really want to pass some of this stuff on.

I am really looking forward to the next year or more of student teaching and working on two Katas and getting ready to spar two opponents. Then I will be licensed to teach Quan Li K’an anywhere I want to. I don’t have any plans to set up my own school; I would like to keep helping out in St. Cloud as long as they keep it going there.

Have a great Holiday Season and If I don’t write anything until then, have a wonderful New Year.

More later-

GrumpyGriz