Influenced

Hey team, this weeks blog is a short one, and is about the influence of pop culture on society, and how it introduces us to new things

In Social Studies, we have began learning about the French Revolution. Now, this is the first time I've ever learnt anything about the revolution in school, yet most of the stuff we're learning, I've already learned. It came to my attention that pop culture, whether intentionally or not, teaches us.

Kung Fu isn't exactly something that, by itself, is open to the world, as is anything truly. It originated in China, found its way across the world, and was slowly built up in a few places. Yet if you ask nearly anybody if they know what Kung Fu is, they will have heard of it. Because of culture and modern technology, people are more aware of things like Kung Fu and whats happening around the world today, and it introduces people into the art. I'm sure not a lot of us would be studying Kung Fu as an art if it wasnt for what we saw on a book, or through a screen or in an ad, and I found that interesting.

The Usual Review

Now that the Rooster is out and the Dog is in, I think the time is appropriate to look back on my Rooster year.

Every year should be our best year, just as how every day we go to sleep better then when we woke. I didnt quite see this in every aspect of this year. I found that my numbers lacked, my blogging routine was abysmal, and commitment wavered. Yet my Kung Fu still received improvement. It came to my attention that my year, whilst nowhere near what I wanted it, wasnt bad. But it was in comparison to my Monkey year that made me frown upon it. And with that said, I realized how good of a year the Monkey was.

I went into the Monkey year with several problems with my emotional state, and I was very unstable throughout the year. Several times I had to leave the mats and sit in the changeroom and try to control my breathing, and myself. However, throughout the year I fought against these issues, and by the end of the year, I was more or less in control of my own mind again. After that hugely successful year, it was difficult to come into the Rooster. What I had been working to overcome the last year and a half was beneath me, and I had that sense of loss. Not the kind of loss as one feels when they lose a loved one or prized belonging, no. But a loss of the path, of direction, of clarity.

I didnt know what to do going in to the year, because I didnt feel as though I were fighting for something anymore. My Kung Fu felt almost... unnecessary. I struggled with this concept. Kung Fu was necessary, it was the way of life I had adopted, so why did it feel like I didnt need it?

Because I had given it a purpose. I used the Kwoon and the forms and the people as a method to cope with one of the biggest impacts I had on my life, and with the support I received, I took that impact down. But without that purpose, what was I to do? I needed a new purpose to apply my Kung Fu to. So for a few months, I tried, to no prevail, to find something else I could dedicate my training and practice towards, and yet as much as I looked, I found nothing. And then, while we were on the other side of Canada on our family adventure, I found it.

But I hadnt had found it for the first time. I rediscovered it. Throughout this trip, being in the same vehicle with 6 others takes it toll, and frequently I would walk off on my own. It was on one of these walks, I was giving thought to the matter, when I realized it was under my nose the whole time. Kung Fu didnt need a constant challenge to overcome, a new obstacle to face when the next was in the past. Kung Fu's purpose was to improve you, and no one else. It was to make you a better person every single second of every day, and to give you a life of improvement. And I didnt have to give up on my old challenge. My state of mind, I realized, will deteriorate to what it was if I don't continue to build it and defend it.

It was rather late in the year that I started putting this new thought process in the form of my Kung Fu, but its in motion now. Now its there for this year, the Dog year, and thats why my Rooster year was indeed my best year. The Monkey was my best year when it happened, but now, the Rooster is my best year. And in 365 days, the Dog will be my best year.

Dungeons and Dragons: A Lego Story

Hello fellow IHC members. This weeks blog (spoiler alert) is about how unpredictable life can be.

I spent this Friday evening at the Ward household with a few others. Logan had decided to set up a lego based Dungeons and Dragons, and I must say, it was rather entertaining. However, it also taught me that anything can happen, at any point of time, from when you least expect it to when its least convenient. Sometimes its a good outcome. Sometimes its not. Either way, you gotta role with it. The game started off pretty simple. Protecting the king, getting him into the country safely, etc. Then we got hit by a giant rock that came out of nowhere. Gotta say, that threw a wrench in the plan. Next thing I know, we were tracking bandits to try and save the kings chancellor.

First lesson learned: check your surroundings. Very unfortunate for our party when our only alli and guide through the land was crushed by a trap we didnt bother looking for. Then a few bandits hopped out of nowhere, surprised us and all but we still kicked their butts. So here we are, lost in the middle of nowhere. Oops.

Second lesson learned: kindness kills, but so does aggression. Finally, we came across a small village, which actually was just a farmer, his family and a blacksmith. After *kindly* persuading them to let us stay the night, we asked them about the bandits. They didnt seem like that, but oh well. We tried again in the morning. That also didnt work. Then, one of the, for lack of better term, more aggressive members of our group decided to threaten the villagers. Bad idea. Long story short, not a lot of villagers survived that incident. Not exactly in the moral code, and it definitely wasnt our finest moment. Oops. Either way, we continued on our trek.

Lesson 3: you can actually tame giant spiders. We came across a split in the road. After a short investigation, we decided to go right first. We came across 2 rather large spiders, and an orc stuck in a tree. After a bit of teamwork, we managed to kill the first spider. As the second one approached, one of our teammates had the ridiculous idea to attempt and tame said spider. Which, after rolling a perfect 12 ( 2 sixs, what are the odds) the spider managed to get tamed. Unpredictable, but beneficial. So we cut down the orc, and somehow convinced him to fight with us. We went back to the fork in the road and went left this time

Lesson 4: dont poke the werewolf. We approach this rather large tree, and boom. Theres a werewolf. Ill save you all the finer details, but let me say. That werewolf was very good at fighting. He beat us all up pretty good, even took a bite out of one of our guys. But the giant spider definitely helped. Turns out werewolves dislike spiders. After a while, we managed to best the werewolf creature, and continue on our way. So we went back to the cross roads, and went straight

Lesson 5: swords are sharp. (As are spears. And axes.) We finally found the bandits lair. We managed to put our heads together and come up with a brilliant stealth attack, which involved climbing towers, throwing dwarves and goats, and charging a spider into a gate. We went through the castle rather efficiently, it being nighttime. We retrieved the chancellor and finally got to the end, where a bunch of armoured dudes attacked us. And let me say. It was very difficult. They carried very sharp weapons, and we received quite a beating. But, like in every good movie (or game), we eventually won. So, it was time to get the chancellor back to the castle.

Lesson 6: don't hoard things. So remember back in lesson 4 when I mentioned how our teammate got bit by a werewolf? Yea, it would have been best to pay attention to that. On our ride back, he turned into a werewolf. And bam. A high-speed horse werewolf vs 4 other warriors fight broke out. Little did I know, back in lesson 4, I found a rather shiny, fancy looking stone that I decided to keep. Turns out this was the werewolf stone and it drastically increased the werewolves powers. Once again, not my finest move. It was a very difficult fight, with lots of jumping from horse to horse and trying to stab this crazy werewolf.

Eventually, one of our teammates rolled a perfect 12, the second in the game, and we finally beat the game, after almost 8 hours. Its still one the highlights of the week, and it goes to show. Always be ready for anything.

New Semester

Well, its been a while since my last blog, so its probably a bit rusty, but here goes

At the meeting on Saturday, a constant theme that came up throughout the hour was "starting / starting over" and how its easier to keep going then to stop and restart. I started thinking about ways of how I could have less "starts" in my life and more "keep goings". And then I realized that sometimes starting new is just a part of life, and the example I want to use for this is schooling. Highschooling, to be precise.

As I'm sure everyone knows, the year is divided into 2 semesters, half of your classes in the first semester, half of them in the second semester. We just started our second semester of the 2017/18 year on Thursday, and for the first few days you think "holy cow this is different". I went from Construction, Biology, Math and Phys ed to English, Social, Marine Biology and Chemistry. And its like "starting again". You think, man, I barely remember the start of last semester, how am I going to get through to the end of this one? And this looming sense of doubt starts to creep up, which for me, is very similar to the doubt I receive when I "restart" IHC requirements I've dropped the ball on. Can I do those 50k pushups? Can I truly blog every week? Its a lot to take in all at once. Just like thinking "man, can I really pull my mark up? Can I do well in this class?"

I learnt from the past these negative thoughts are usually true. I struggle with my requirements. I stuggle with my marks. But thats only because I let them be true. Because I've settled for "good enough." But getting better isnt about being "good enough". Its about being better. And once you start getting better, then youre already on your path to improvement. So I've decided that while some things, (like school) you have to start over, but as long as you keep your chin up and keep truckin on, you can keep going. And when it comes to things like blogging, you just can't let yourself stop. Thats been my problem in the past, and I'm definitely going to fix it for the future.