Whee! Yesterday i was graduated to the green belt. Nice little exercise that one, including an insanely difficult kick (turning horizontal circle kick :-S), but I managed - and I remembered the previous two forms and managed 50 sit-ups and 10 push-ups on finger tips .. after 1½ hours of training, mind you.

I felt somewhat bruised after that, felt a strain in the left thigh, which has me a little worried. I think I'll hold the kicking to a minimum the next couple of days.

But not lying still though :o). I'm going to an introductory Aikido lesson today. I've been wanting to try it out for a while now - we do a little Aikido on Saturdays as part of the self-defense bit, and I find it quite useful. Also, I've been sort of at a stand-still at Kung-Fu, and my groin has been acting up lately, so I'm considering taking a break from the Kung-fu, if the Aikido-thing is as good as I hope.

On another note, I'm about to sell my part of the apartment to Kimie and buy Leah and Carsten's apartment on Frederiksberg. It's a little larger, better kitchen, larger livingroom, closer to work and overall an upgrade over my present living quarters.

The sale should take effect July 1st, and I'll be a tenant of Kimie's until I can move into my new place - hopefully sometime in August, but we'll see.

Just as short update: I am now the proud owner of a yellow belt with two stripes as I was graduated this afternoon - smooth sailing all the way. After that I was taught the form for green belt, which is a nice little exercise requiring a lot of high kicking. Hope I get to practice it a bit in Bahrain next week

..from that infernal cast. Of course I forgot to take that photo of the dead skin, but we're probably all better off without that image on the retina. The hand is even stiffer than it was three weeks ago, and basic chores are somewhat painful, but it's one of those "good pains" - for now. Doc said to do some simple exercises the next two weeks and I should be fit for fight again.

Speaking of which, yesterday was the annual club championships at the kung-fu school. I participated in the forms category (people call it 'Kata' - which of course is Japanese) and I thought I did a pretty good job - but at least three did better, so no prize for me, but never mind that -it was a good event and everybody enjoyed themselves.

As an experiment it was a mixed event of young and old. The kids were unable to retain concentration for the full duration, but they sure are skilled - and the benefits of starting at a young age really shines through when you see one of those little buggers do an effortless split - an exercise I haven't mastered yet :o(

Grr.. last Thursday i fell and sprained my right wrist when doing some sort of artistic jump-turn-and-kick movement. Even though I was quick to get it cooled, elevated and compressed, as they say you should, my right hand swelled to double size. Now, I wish I had taken a photograph of it, but my mind was elsewhere at the time for some reason.

The swelling has subsided now, but it still hurts when I apply any kind of pressure to the joint - like when brushing teeth, tying shoelaces, opening doors and pealing oranges. But on the upside it doesn't hurt when I move my arm, as was the case Friday :o)

Having an immobilized extremity makes you wonder, how you would ever survive without it. I for one am very right handed - about the only thing my left hand does better than the right, is lift a fork to my mouth. Being without it for a day was a bit of an experience.

Trying to open a jar of marmalade proved almost impossible. Buttering the bread was possible, but certainly not a pretty sight. And cutting the cheese - well I just gave up on that. That was when I decided to call in sick. The rest of the day was spent feeling sorry for myself and watching cheesy series on TV.

Above letters are pronounced "goong" and "fu" - meaning "achievement"/"ability" and "male" - so there's today's topic.

Well my abilities have been recognised last Thursday, and I'm now a yellow belt + a white stripe. 10 push-ups, 25 sit-ups and the first Kata (一黄 = one yellow) was all it took :o). I received a stripe for my belt which I spent a good hour sewing on - not impressive craftmanship by any means, but it looks neat from a distance.

And as you may have noticed from the header, I've been looking into learning a little chinese (mandarin), but that's just difficult. First of all, words are formed from about 20 initials and i think 30 or 35 ending sounds - not all combinations are valid. Now, mix that with 4-5 different intonations and you got your work cut out for you. Oh and the letters. There are no clues what so ever as to pronounciation hidden in those strokes. one initial + one ending = one syllabul = one letter. 20 x 30 x 5 and then halved and you get 1500 different letters to learn :o(

I found a pretty neat website http://www.chinesepod.com/ with chinese lessons which I'll give a try. It's american - so you get things explained over and over - but the sound quality is very good and dialogues are mixed between Jenny (native Chinese), and an american, Kenn, so you get two pronounciation examples - really nice! To get full benefit from the lessons, you have to sign up for an account. A reasonable fee, but I think I'll freeride a bit before signing up and see if I really want this.

On another note, these are good times for fans of FCK. 1-0 against Manchester United in Champions League Wednesday and yesterday a 3-1 victory over the rivals from Brøndby.

Apparently my new DSL and a working phone line are mutually exclusive, so given the choice I opted for internet rather than phone. It will be back on the 16th when the VoIP transfer comes through. Only cell phone if you need to get in contact with me :-(

Yesterday I volunteered to become webmaster for the Kungfu club. It's half off of the monthly training fee (DKK 300 -> DKK 150) and since I only need to do minor updates to the site this is quite a bargain! Of course, those who know me will know that I probably can't resist making a few changes - the design is a bit out-dated, and it would be neat with some more user interaction.

Other than that, I've got a busy schedule these days. Lots of Birthdays (including Kimie's!) and a trip to Norway and a polterabend just to mention the most pressing appointments.


What else... oh yeah! You should seriously check out this link www.crypticsea.com, the Bridge Building Game. Given a budget of $X build a bridge across a gap strong enough for a train to pass. The bridge is of course subject to the usual rules of physics (eg. Gravity) and building a successful bridge is actually a bit harder than you would think.

I know, It sounds a bit nerdy and the graphics are ... well, uninspiring, but the game play is extremely catching. You start out with a "is that it?!?", progress to a "wtf? Why doesn't that work" and you end up spending hours refining your design and cutting costs in order to beat your colleagues. In the end you might even gain some bridge engineering expertise (ok, -understanding).

My third week of Kung Fu training is halfway over, and as promised, here's a progress report:

I chose to check out the local kung fu academy as an alternative to going to a gym. I did this for three reasons: 1. To get into shape (yes, round is a shape, just not a very nice one for humans). 2. To be challenged. I'm sorry, but the challenge of pushing weights, running or swimming is merely a matter of pushing your limits - you don't learn anything from it (hence I get bored with it very quickly), and overall it's pretty useless - apart from the excercise part, of course (oh, swimming may also help avoid drowning). 3. Because it's situated just around the corner and training hours are work-friendly 18.30 - 20. just enough time to get home, get a little to eat, pack the bag and off to the kwoon. The local gyms are not much farther away, yet so far that it's a mental barrier. And with gyms being open from 6AM to 21PM everyday, it's easier to "go tomorrow". Kung fu is monday, wednesday and thursday - twice a week minimum, so there's no room for slacking.

Ok, so much for justifying myself. Training is part set pieces, part self defence / fighting. I guess this shouldn't be surprising, but I admit I hadn't thought about this aspect when I signed up - but it's actually very good. It's not so much throwing people around as in "regular" self defence, but more block-and-counter using hands, feet, elbows and fingers - whatever it takes to bring the other person down. There's a lot of focus on hitting vulnerable points, such as eyes, temples, throat,neck and crotch. Unfair? Well maybe, but if you need to use it, it's probably because the other guy doesn't have your best interest at heart so why should you care.

The style is adapted from the various shaolin animal styles such as the Crane, the Tiger and the Snake. There are 10 fixed sparring excercises and otherwise free sparring which reminds me somewhat of wing tsun. For the more advanced students there are weapons excercises using sticks, staff and sword.

To "advance" (getting belts of different colours) you need to meet certain requirements. You start out at a yellow belt. To get a yellow belt with a white stripe you need to know and demonstrate the first kata (to sifu's satisfaction) and be able to perform 10 push-ups on finger tips. The katas are a series of moves composed into a tai chi like excercise and consist of blocks, strikes and kicks. Some of the stuff requires a finely tuned balance. From yellow it's on to green, blue, brown and black (I think) at various levels (stripes) - which should take roughly 5 years in all.

Oh, and then there's the physical /gymnastical / tenderising part of training. We start the warmup with 30+ situps and 30+ pushups + varius kicks. The first day of training I could've gone home after warming up - I was that beat. It's slowly getting better (I guess the body needs a little time to figure out, that it needs to be able to do this on a regular basis) but it's pretty hard - and if you don't stretch properly after training ... 'nuff said. And yes, there is even one of those torture instruments to help you spread your legs really wide.

So to sum it up: Basically it's going pretty well. I've learnt the first kata and the 10 pushups on finger tips is almost there. The muscles have slowly begun adjusting to the training and have come out of their regression (tiny, hard lumps that refused any contact with the outside world) and I expect the next couple of months to bring lots of progress.

I attended my first Kung Fu training session today. I'm kinda busted as I write this. Hurting muscles I didn't know existed. But it was good, the other Bruce Lees seemed like a nice bunch and things were sufficiently slowed down, that even my poor physique was able to keep up - sort of :-/

Training is 2-3 times a week + individual practive Saturdays .. should be able to get me a nice six-pack in a couple of months. Further progress will be reported here :o)