Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish

After the passing of Steve Jobs a whole surge of videos and such a gone viral over the internet including his 2005 speech for Stanford University. This speech delivers some pretty powerful messages and over all has reminded me that we are the ones who shape our own destinies.  

Breaking my cycles

This last week has been kinda helter skelter for routine I've been trying to make sure that I get a minimum of 100 push up done before I head to work and then another 50 or so when I get home just to kind of get out of work mode so I can get back into working at home mode. The only problem is that lately I have been sleeping in so it's been about 50 if any. I have to force myself to get of bed even if I am tired because doing my push ups in the morning wakes me up and makes me have a much better day. Also I have to get to sleep at an earlier so that it is easier to get up.

Year so far

I have dropped the ball severely on my blogging this year. In doing so I feel I have really let my teammates down and I've let myself down. I basically skipped out on half a years worth opportunity to grow in my Kung Fu and in all aspects of my life really. I had lots of time to think without the daily distractions I usually have about my Kung fu and my life while I was at the ocean and decided that I have been coasting and taking the easy path this last couple months. Fortunately for me I still have time to change how I age been doing, well everything and pull something good out of this year.

So I've been feeling kinda down and out lately. Partly work, partly my girlfriend is working in Saskatchewan, mostly travel lust though I think. I'm feeling better now I decided that instead of wallowing in self pity i would do something to make someone else happy. Moral of the story making others happy makes me happy too.

Catastrophe adverted

With a little rest and proper care I managed to prevent an injury that probably would have taken me out for a couple weeks. Friday I felt a bit of pain in my knee so that night it was iced and wrapped, which is out of character for me usually it's just forget and go. Saturday I was having an awesome tai chi class where everything was flowing and I was getting my six harmonies. I was literally buzzing with chi until bam my knee buckled and I was done. Luckily went home iced and wrapped and took an anti-inflammatory and rested. Sunday was another day of relaxing this time at the beach and the water seemed to heal up everything. So now Monday no pain. Still taking it easy but for once I properly took care of an injury.

It's a beautiful day in the market place

This weekend I was finally able to make it to the farmers market and it was awesome. Everything about the market feels so alive especially in contrast to the supermarkets. It's also nice to learn about your food from talking to the people who produce it as opposed to just reading labels,which is a habit we got into after our 100 mile diet last year. All in all good day with spent with family in the market even though I was recovering from a pretty bad cold.

State of mind

Today we met up today as a UBBT team which was the first meeting I was able to attend for this year. It was a much needed kick in the butt. I've been making to many excuses and letting things slide to much, such as my blogging for about two months. Luckily there is still time to change my mind set to get more out of the UBBT and out of myself plus when people know where I am at and how I am doing they can give those little nudges that I sometimes need.

forgot to mention that I am psyched to start learning to wind surfing tomorrow!

Reboot

I am unbalanced I have decided. Not mentally but in life, I have a hard time finding even a moderate balance between work, kung fu, freelance and well just plain old living. Time for myself is the first to go, a habit I picked up in college when my choices were homework, food showering or sleep and I could usually only pick two on a lucky week three. The last week or so  I have been working to fix this and have been making improvements. I managed to make a trip to b.c. where my phone was rendered useless, which was such a good feeling being so disconnected. An even better feeling was doing my forms on a mountain in the middle of nowhere with the sound of a river flowing nearby. Also I have started a new and proper routine for training so hopefully it goes well and I can keep up with it my inability to keep routines is one of my biggest short comings.
But now I am tired, a little hungry and ready to go home for the day

"You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You're on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who'll decide where to go..."

    — Dr. Seuss (Oh, the Places You'll Go!)

Recovery is not fun at all

A couple years back I was doing something stupid and ended up tearing all the ligaments on the inside of my left wrist. It sucked as it pretty much made any flexibility in my wrist non existent. I went to the doctor and was told that all I could do is slowly strengthen it and I did and it was mostly perfect up until a couple weeks ago and BAM!!! Re-injured and the worst part is that I can't think of what I did to injure it? Suddenly my ability to push ups was cut to pretty much zero. I've been slowly working it up and stretching it out with progress but it's slow, and well I can tend to be impatient sometimes so I want it healed now. Unfortunately it's not going to happen and I don't want to put myself back at all in the recovery process so for now it's slow and steady wins the race.

I think the Old Spice Man is trying to kill me!

Sounds like I'm being overly dramatic but sadly i am not. Everyday we lather, scrub, wash and spray potentially deadly chemicals onto our bodies. I say potentially since there are about 50,000 chemicals in use that have not been tested.

But don't take my word for it check out what GOOD magazine has written about it as well as natural replacements.

http://www.good.is/series/no-more-dirty-looks/

Happiness Is Sunshine

It's so warm out comparatively speaking. The snow is melting and the sun is shining and I can drive through puddles (one of my favorite past times in the spring). With the rising temperature, I have noticed a rise in my energy levels. Now it's time for less time inside in front of the computer and more time outside. 

Side note: push ups are getting better for numbers but I need to be working on my forms more, especially with tiger challenge coming up. I also got ahead on my kilometers due to getting a exercise bike for the apartment. Balancing all my goals is been pretty tricky and I to get back into the good routine I had at the beginning to be able to achieve them all. And I need to fix my diet it has been very inconsistent and no where near as good as when I was doing the 100 mile challenge last year.

Your life is defined by its opportunities...even the ones you miss.

I've been thinking a lot about my strengths and weakness lately. It started with just me as a martial artist but now is encompassing all aspects of my life. I have also been thinking a lot about being on the UBBT team and realized that I forgot that it is a probably the single biggest opportunity I have been given to take my weakness and improve on them. It's easy to get caught up in the numbers forget why we are doing this at all, well for me at least.

That being said I am making it so that by the end of march I will have not only caught up but gotten ahead on both my push ups and sit ups which have fallen behind.

crossing over

I had an epiphany yesterday. It occurred when I was on top of a mountain sitting on a chairlift with the sun shinning down on me. I had been in the moment completely for pretty much the whole day. Nothing mattered but what I was doing at the exact moment. Maybe it's the fact that if my mind strays I could horribly injure myself or other people but every time I strap into my snowboard and start riding i just get completely into the zone.

This is awesome but I need to learn how to be this engaged in everything I do in life. My epiphany was that I needed to make a more conscious effort to be more in the moment especially when it comes to my training.

You Call That FOOD?!?!?!

So last night I was out with a friend on a fun photo shoot and it was getting late. I had only eaten some rice that day and she had pretty much nothing to eat so needles to say we were hungry. I was alright to get home and make something (most likely more rice) but she wanted to stop and well being past 10 pm nothing was open except Mcdonalds. I usually make a point of not eating their food but I was hungry and feeling kinda lazy and the main reason she offered to buy me some and I have a hard time saying no to free food. Big Mistake. I ordered a double cheeseburger and large fries total calories was something like 820 the majority of it coming from this super tiny burger. Seriously make a panther fist and the burger was probably smaller. Also it tasted horrible.
It did reinforce why there is usually a weight issue associated with fast food. Most often these burgers are being offered for super low prices usually around $1.39 making it cheap and highly accessible. And In comparison to planning and making dinner, it's a whole lot easier to just run well I mean drive down to your local burger joint and voila instant supper no effort. I know there is no easy solution to the fast food dilemma but it's a huge problem here in North America.

This week has been not so great my physical numbers have been down and I've been fighting off being sick. To make up for it I did an intensive work out today followed up with an hour of stretching/yoga and I feel so much better. Lesson of the day is that I need to add a better stretching program when I'm not in class. Another good thing this week is that we got a stationary bike in the apartment

The secret of hapiness

Sitting next to me is my cat Shinobi and she is now very content. The reason for this is her favorite thing probably in the apartment, a wicker basket with a little bit of foam lining. Earlier today she spent half an hour playing with an elastic band and for a brief time she even managed to entertain herself with a crumpled piece of paper. We could learn a lot from animals if we took the time to pay attention to them. They learn to make to with what they have in life where we in our mass consuming culture are always looking for the newest better gadget or toy.

planned

So I finished my first goal of the year by achieving my Sihing rank on Wednesday night, which many will probably agree, is about time. Another thing I'm working on is a planned trip to Nicaragua at the end of March where me and a group of about 20 other people will be installing bio filters into homes as well as other humanitarian work such as delivering school supplies and helping out with a local orphanage. I was hesitant to write about the trip due to the fact that it's not 100% a for sure thing. First off as the date grows closer there seems to be many things that are still not planned and the other thing is that I have to raise about $2000 to go, though that is a lot less of a concern things usually work out for me. So fingers crossed that everything works out and that in a couple months my blog entry will be written on a nice sunny beach.

Another thing that happened this week is that I was asked if I would volunteer my time teaching photography classes at the Africa Center which is an inner city after school program to help kids stay out of trouble and give them a place to get their homework done and get some exercise and meet other children. This is also in the planning stages, but I am going to try and make it work out since it is a great opportunity to give back to the community and share my knowledge.

distracted

It's impossible to be bored these days. I mean truly bored, the type of boredom where you really stretch you imagination to just have some escape. Almost everywhere I go there is always a t.v., a radio, a computer or worst of all my phone there to offer me distractions. When I realized this I began to make a conscious effort to escape from technology if even for 15 minutes and just allow my mind to wander and think about any problems at hand. Most often this is in the shower where even if i wanted to I could not bring in my phone. As an experiment try leaving your phone behind, after the initial separation anxiety and panic feeling of being cut off, it's pure bliss when you realize your not being interrupted every five minutes by the incessant buzzing of an incoming message.

Food journal entry 13

no breakfast
pizza sub with extra veggies for lunch
chocolate milk

met up with friend for a beer
2 croissants and bowl of rice with chick peas and teriyaki sauce for supper
water throughout the day
dream tea before bed

food journal entry 12

Indian Buffet
Pakora
Naan bread
butter chicken
curried lamb
vegetable dish
rice
chai tea
water through out the day

food journal entry 11

2 pieces of pizza - breakfast
2 bowls pasta - supper
chocolate milk
dream tea

Food journal entry 10

2 eggs with cheese and chocolate milk at 1:30 am

lunch
steak sub extra meat and cheese

supper
bowl of soup

2nd supper
6 pieces of pizza
chocolate milk

dream tea

water throughout the day

One week down fifty one to go

The first week of UBBT 8 is over and I am in a good routine. Routine was my biggest down fall last year I never got into a really good routine that I stuck too instead I jumped around trying to figure out what worked and well nothing really did. This year though I think I have set one up I can stick to especially when it comes to my daily goals.

On a side note all this snow has shown me how willing people are to help each other. I personally had strangers help me push my car out of being stuck twice this weekend even though they could have stayed in their warm cars or homes. Also everywhere I drive, down side roads I see small bands of people helping each other out.

Food journal entry 9

breakfast
2 pieces french toast

lunch
1 piece of steak

1 rum and coke
1 ceaser

supper
2 bowls of stew
1 cup of tea

water

Food journal entry 8

toast and dream tea at 2:30 am

2 eggs and toast for breakfast

ribs
baked potatoe with butter and pepper on it
4 pieces of homemade bread dipped in vinegar
ceaser salad
3 glasses of jhuice
1 glass hot chocolate

Food journal entry 7

Lunch
2 bowls of pasta 1 with basil pesto sauce one with just butter and pepper

Supper
Steak
Mashed potatoes
Salad with vinaigrette dressing
2 glasses of juice

Water throughout the day

food journal entry 6

Only ate once today and that was 3 bowls of Macaroni with home made white cheddar sauce so good!! oh and lots of water throughout the day.

New Year, New Goals

Hello fellow team 8 members. This year I decided to do what I should have done last year and post my requirements which I'm off to a good start on this year. Posting everyday to my photo blog and keeping my food journal everyday. Also the annual 1000 push ups and sit ups for New Year's gave me a bit of padding that I plan to ignore and pretend I don't have that way I wont get behind thinking that I have a fall back.

Anyways best of luck to everyone on there new year and new goals and here are mine.

Physical:
50000 push ups
50000 sit ups
1600 km walk, run, bike, swim
1000 reps kempo
500 reps any other form
relearn lau gar
relearn tai chi form
practices yoga minimum once a week
qi qung minimum once a week

Career:
52 photoshoots
26 design pieces
52 personal website updates
4 self promotional pieces
Be a part of 2 art shows

Personal:
15 minutes meditation a day
1000 acts kindness
20 books (10 fiction 10 non fiction)
learn to wind surf
learn to back flip
learn to sew and make 3 pieces of clothing
go sky diving
Start a photo blog and upload a photo a day
Fund raise $2000
eat 50% local and remove 75% minimum of processed food from my diet
keep daily food journal
2 date nights a month with Chelsey
travel to 5 new places
study a new language
Achieve my Sihing Rank

Food journal entry 5

Started off eating good

Lunch
Spaghetti squash with spaghetti sauce
Salad with beet vinaigrette dressing
6 shrimp
Roast deer stew (left overs from last nights potluck)

Supper
2 bowls home made soup

But the after Kung fu I was starving and we stopped at Chelsey's moms house and they ordered food in.

2nd supper
2 pieces of cheese bread
2 pieces of hamburger pizza
1/4 quesidilla
Some fries

Food journal entry 4

Potluck last night but I ate pretty good

Breakfast/lunch
1/2 cup rice with basil presto sauce on it

Supper
Roast deer
Large salad
Pita and homemade sauce
5 chicken wings
Spaghetti squash

Glass of wine
Harvey wallbanger
2 beers

Food journal entry 3

baked chickpeas
large salad with homemade beet vinaigrette dressing
cabbage rolls and 1 pita
2 cups of hot chocolate
2 roast beef sandwiches
4 glasses of water
1 hot toddy

Food journal entry 2

Bread pudding 1 small piece
Canned peaches from Chelsey's auntie from bc
2 pieces of home made
pizza left over from last night
Water
1 double burger with cheese some fries
1 cup green tea

Food journal entry 1

New years and I work part time at a bar so a couple drinks in this one

1 ceaser
3 rum and cokes

turkey on pita sandwich with mustard and mayo
rice with basil pesto sauce
2 pieces of home made pizza (cheese tomato sauce turkey and homemade dough)
lots of water
2 glasses of orange juice