the_gneech (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
the_gneech) wrote2003-03-02 11:19 am
the_gneech) wrote2003-03-02 11:19 am
Chan-tastic ;-P
After the morning encounter with Spanky the Wonder Scale and then a bout of stretching and weight lifting, I headed over to the school, because students from a local Karate dojo came over as guests for a sparring session. I don't have a belt yet (I just completed the first quarter of my white belt curriculum on Friday), so I wasn't allowed to participate, but I was allowed to observe, and even that was quite a learning experience.
First of all, I was impressed with the skills of not only the advanced students, but of some of the other students at just above my own level. Second, I was impressed with how good-natured and orderly everyone was; everybody was genuinely friendly, and they were all doing their best to help each other improve -- whether they were working on striking or blocking.
The thing that impressed me the most, however, was watching the forms actually come to life. It's one thing to watch somebody repeat an obscure-looking stance up and down the length of the room -- it's another thing all together to watch somebody USE that stance in a fight and see how it really works. I felt that little light bulb over my head pop on several times.
I stayed for about an hour total; when they broke up into smaller "workshop" sorts of groups so the Karate students could teach some of their moves, while the Qi Elements students could teach some of ours, observation from the sidelines was not that useful any more.
So then, Laurie and I went to watch Shanghai Knights again. I was pleased to see that it was even better the second time around than the first, because you could watch for detail instead of spending your time just trying to follow the action. And the Jackie Chan / Donnie Yen fight was still worth the price of admission!
We rounded off the evening by heading over to Toys'R'Us so I could pick up something I've been eyeing for a while now: 12" figures from the Jackie Chan Adventures animated series. They're on sale for $10 a piece, how could I resist? I got the "Adventurer" Jackie, who's wearing vaguely-safari-like khakis and comes with a shield (the "rooster talisman shield" from the first episode of the series), a spear, and a set of nunchaku. I thought about getting the "Training Jackie" (who's wearing a traditional Kung Fu uniform), painting a dragon tattoo on his face, and saying he was Verdhaven (the NPC monk in my D&D game who runs around saying, "Bad day! Bad day!" whenever confronted with undead), but decided that probably wasn't worth the effort. And besides, what would I do with him? I've already got a 12" Jackie Chan staring me in the face.
Today, I must draw. I feel like getting around and climbing a mountain or something, but the weather's not quite nice enough for that yet. All the mountains around here are still covered with snow and mud.
-The Gneech
First of all, I was impressed with the skills of not only the advanced students, but of some of the other students at just above my own level. Second, I was impressed with how good-natured and orderly everyone was; everybody was genuinely friendly, and they were all doing their best to help each other improve -- whether they were working on striking or blocking.
The thing that impressed me the most, however, was watching the forms actually come to life. It's one thing to watch somebody repeat an obscure-looking stance up and down the length of the room -- it's another thing all together to watch somebody USE that stance in a fight and see how it really works. I felt that little light bulb over my head pop on several times.
I stayed for about an hour total; when they broke up into smaller "workshop" sorts of groups so the Karate students could teach some of their moves, while the Qi Elements students could teach some of ours, observation from the sidelines was not that useful any more.
So then, Laurie and I went to watch Shanghai Knights again. I was pleased to see that it was even better the second time around than the first, because you could watch for detail instead of spending your time just trying to follow the action. And the Jackie Chan / Donnie Yen fight was still worth the price of admission!
We rounded off the evening by heading over to Toys'R'Us so I could pick up something I've been eyeing for a while now: 12" figures from the Jackie Chan Adventures animated series. They're on sale for $10 a piece, how could I resist? I got the "Adventurer" Jackie, who's wearing vaguely-safari-like khakis and comes with a shield (the "rooster talisman shield" from the first episode of the series), a spear, and a set of nunchaku. I thought about getting the "Training Jackie" (who's wearing a traditional Kung Fu uniform), painting a dragon tattoo on his face, and saying he was Verdhaven (the NPC monk in my D&D game who runs around saying, "Bad day! Bad day!" whenever confronted with undead), but decided that probably wasn't worth the effort. And besides, what would I do with him? I've already got a 12" Jackie Chan staring me in the face.
Today, I must draw. I feel like getting around and climbing a mountain or something, but the weather's not quite nice enough for that yet. All the mountains around here are still covered with snow and mud.
-The Gneech