That time of year

I was really quite excited for the pandamonium this year, as I had to miss last years, due to being out of town. I wasn't disappointed with the day. It was full of fun, excitement, activities, Kung Fu and awesomeness. Whether it was trying to occupy small children, doing forms on the mats, getting "kicked" into the dunk tank or running 10k at 10:00pm, I felt there was always something to do. I didn't get involved as much with the charities as I could have this year, and I'm am disappointed with myself for that. I feel I could have got connected more, and plan on getting more into the charities in the upcoming years. I'd also like to thank everyone who helped wake me up by hitting the target on the dunk tank. It was fairly refreshing and a good experience. Despite losing circulation in my fingers for half an hour. And nearly getting killed by anticipation. But other than that it was fun.

Trying to post again

Recently, I stopped posting. One Sunday I merely thought "Meh, I'll get to to it tomorrow." And that attitude carried of for a couple months. I've had plenty of great blogging opportunities I missed, and I'm working on getting back into it. I really want to be better at blogging than last year. That shouldn't have to be a goal though. Getting better than the person you were yesterday, or last week, or last month, or whenever, should be a daily habit. Whether you get better at Kung Fu or just a kinder person in general, the person who goes to bed better than the one who got out of it, they made use of their day. They changed their life for the better. I want to be that person.

Using it for the right reasons

Today the Kohut's started out with some chores around the house. While doing one of these chores, which involved digging through the closets and drawers of our rooms to find clothes that fit us, my brother and I came up with a clever little contraption that was basically a time bomb. But instead of an explosion, it sent little toys every where, which happen to be a pain in the rear end to clean up. The first time this little machine was used, was when Nate threw it into my room. It only had a few objects inside and didn't go off that well. I made adjustments to the contents, which proved to be effective, as it took him several minutes to collect the little scattered peices. This was contiued, caused fighting and chaos, led to creation of more "weapons" (one of mine, which I'm quite particularly proud of, contains the wrappers of Easter candy, shredded into a bottle. It's still my secret weapon, as Nate doesnt know what I've made)
Now, the cut of the jib. We, two brothers, bundling with creativity, used it to make each other's lives harder. What if we used it for something more...useful. We could be coming up with ways to make pandemonium money or raise awareness, but today we spent it coming up with ways to irritate each other. Honestly, our sister is the only one who avoids these conflicts, but that must be because her rooms upstairs. Right? Something I now realize I have to work on, even though throughout the years teachers and parents alike having said "Start using your creativity to its full potential", I now know I have my work cut out. Finding out how to make world peace? Not there yet. Finding ways to help with my community and what's around me? Let's get started.

What a year can do to you

So, Spring Break has arrived. Hooray! With that is a houseful of family, so it's probably best I post now. Tonight, I can't put it in words how happy I felt. Everyone showed the progress they had made in the little time we've had so far, and everything was great. I decided not to put my fancy releases at the end in my 1.0, as they have not reached performance level, but they are definitely the focus of the 2.0. I'm personally excited for the demo, as the amount of energy that it produces from its participants is breathtaking... It's got to be one of my favorite parts. Performing in front of a crowd can be difficult though, and it wasn't till today, before class, I noticed something. Correction, Someone helped me notice something. Now, I don't remember the whole conversation, so Mr. Regier, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, but as everyone sat outside, waiting for the black belts to finish their class, we were talking and the conversation about performing the version one was brought up. I asked if he was ready, and his reply was "Well, I guess I'm nervous. Aren't you?" And it was then that it dawned on me, that, despite of the small feeling of what's going to happen, I didn't get the stage fright, nervousness or anxiety I had last year. To say, last year I was holding a wooden sword which wasn't moving in my hand at all, and I almost dropped it. This year, I had 2 little hollow aluminum weapons that I was flipping in my hands (plus they are slippery to start with, don't get me started on when they get wet.) yet I felt more confident about not dropping them. It must have been the Chinese New Year performance that got rid of those "anti-performance" feelings😜

Itching to get out

So, my family started Spring cleaning today, meaning..... SPRING!!! This is one of my favorite seasons, as it ends a good winter, and starts a great summer. Besides the whole cleaning part, Spring is like the bearer of good news to me. The birds are out, the bugs aren't, the trees are budding, the grass is turning green, the snow is melting, and I get to go outside more often. I haven't used our yard to its maximum Kung Fu benefit in the past, and I want to change that this year. My Kama's will basically be outside most of the time they're in use. I'm am, to say, paranoid, of accidentally dropping my these little weapons. Inside our house, I fear I'll be throwing them or accidentally dropping them and breaking one of the many things that have worked their way into the Kung Fu area, yet some of the only places outside with no snow are driveways or sidewalks, where if I drop my kama's, I'm scared they'll break. So thank you, my yard, for no roofs and breakable things, and soft landing spots for my little buddies. Hope everyone's excited for the season as me😁

What goes flying up...

So far, I feel that everything is coming along nicely in my form. Sort of. I got through what I had, and realized, this is too short for a 1.0, I have to get in a couple more moves. The problem? I ran out of ideas on how to use little pointy hooks of doom. I must have gotten advice from at least 10 different people, ranging from parents to sifus. Finally, I got my form a couple more steps ahead, and I thought, okay, now time for a fabulous ending. And, once again, my creative juices stopped flowing. It took three days to come up with a good ending. And I didn't even come up with it myself, I saw it in a video. Now, the thing is, this "final move" is rather complex, and was preformed by a man who has been practicing kama's for his whole life. But hey, I saw it on tv, I can pull it off, somehow. This move requires having both kama's in one hand, throwing them up in a spinning arc, and then catching them individually in each hand. Without losing your hand. I have started and been practicing this move, and I can guarentee that in the year, what goes flying up... will be caught by Simon.

Frustration

So, I haven't been to an IHC class since before the banquet. The first class after the banquet I had just recovered from a fever, and my parents told me no school no kung fu. I missed Monday-Wednesday, so I missed kung fu. Thursday, though, I got sucked it up, went to school, thinking "Kung fu tonight, Kung fu tonight, Kung fu tonight!" All day. I was so excited to see everyone with their new weapons, and then, my parents told me I should stay home. I put up a fight, was a rotten child, whined a bit, but I still couldn't go, as I was sick. I started to get frustrated. I went through school, I got better, I was fine, yet I was restricted by wiser folk who know more about what you should and shouldn't do when your sick than I do. So I missed kung fu, and a cranky Simon went to bed.

I went to class Monday and Wednesday this week, and it felt great. Now, all week, in my head, I was getting excited for IHC Thursday. I couldn't wait. I knew after school Thursday would be tight, as I had a running practice from 2:30-3:30, a haircut in the city from 4:30-6:00, an open house welcome thing at the highschool from 7:00 to when ever, then kung fu from 8:30 - 9:30. I was sure I could get to everything. But throughout the whole open house, I was checking the time, and I felt I rushed some areas that I should have looked around more into. Even with my high speed go-through, we finished late. I was greatly dissapointed by not going to kung fu, I was in my shut down mode I mentioned in my last blog. Learning to control my attitude when I'm frustrated is another one of the many things I have to work on. All in all, I'm that much more excited for next week IHC. And crossing my fingers nothing gets in my way this time.