almost there

Hey ya, hey ya, how ya doing?  I'm doing very good, I am.  Another great day. Beautiful day today. Love it.  Kids have been kicked outside, dogs not allowed in, and I'm doing some chores around the house. Clean out the chicken coop, fight with the dog while he's trying to eat the chicken poop.  Uhh, dogs. Weird man. Never seen an animal get so hell bent on eating poop before.
   Anyhow, nailed Long in class. Sifu was happy with the progress I've made. So, I'm happy. It's nice to have that form, no longer looming over my head. Yup, over that obstacle. Great stuff, indeed. Onto the next challenge. Not sure yet. I think I'm just going to continue smoothing out techniques and forms.
  You know it's funny man. These escrimas were flying Thursday night before class. I smoothed out these parts that needed work. Now, I'm stubblinging on completely different parts of the form. Haha. Oh never ends.  But, that's cool. Challenge accepted. This just re-enforces in my mind that these forms are their own personal entity. Each form, like us is unique and differs from one person to the next.  As soon as one part of the form has been addressed, another part rears its head and is like, hey, look at this part over here. What about this part? And you're like, oh, right, now this part of the form sucks. Well, looks like I got to do some more work there.
   My journey here, in the I Ho Chuan, is quickly coming to an end.  I'm excited to be done, and kind of disappointed I'm not continuing with everyone on I.H.C. But, all good things must come to an end.  I'll be back, I'll have to do this again to get the black belt, so when that day comes,  I'll be back. Maybe IHC will be on an easier night for me to make it? Then I could make it. One can only dream.....But, to the next class. To the new members, I would like to say this to you guys.
   I Ho Chuan is going to push you mentally and physically. These last two years has been some of the greatest challenges and overcomings I have faced before. If you are like me, maybe one day you'll be thinking to yourself, what did I get myself into? Maybe you're down and out, thinking, man, did I just make a mistake? I thought that numerous times. But, I had to remember why I was there in the first place. Because good enough is just not good enough anymore. Feelings of self doubt and thinking you just can't do it are part of the process. One must question what they are doing in order to see, just what great things you are achieving. And you won't even know you're achieving these amazing things. A lot of the "ah ha" moments I have had were direct results of IHC. If it were not for the IHC, I know for a fact I would not be the martial artist that I am today. And I have so much more to learn. I know so little, and I like it like that. Just constant reminders to ask for help. Constant reminders to push harder and harder. If I wish to achieve my dreams, I must remember the lessons I was taught in IHC. Like it's just fine, to make mistakes and fall apart. As long as we graciously learn from our mistakes. Something, I'm still working on. But, IHC made me see that realization. IHC as a program to the intense martial artist, is like feeding unlimited amounts of nitrous to a race car. Now, you are going to fly. Just be patient, and it will come.
   Listen, the main thing I can say, is enjoy your time. Have fun with your training. Talk to your class mates. Build a friendship or two. Just have fun, and boy, the results will blow your minds.

   Me? Well, I'm off on a different part of my journey today. I'm still focused on the demo and Chinese New Year, but, yes, I'll be off doing my own thing come February.  Focus on a different challenge that I want to do. Oddly enough, this is something that I don't know if I would have the courage to do, if I didn't join I Ho Chuan first and foremost. So, again, another reason, why the IHC program is so successful. This personal challenge does depend very much on finances, but, if I can financially swing it, I going to enroll in a few wrestling camps over the next six to eight months. Not saying I am going to get picked up by a promoter, or anything like that. I'm not even saying, I'm going to be any good at it at all, but, more importantly, I want to try. I simply want to take wrestling camps off of my bucket list. And who knows, maybe by the stroke of luck and the skin of my teeth, I might just make something of another childhood dream.  Who knows? But I'll never know unless I try.  And truly there is no try. There is only doing. So, if I can financially swing it, I'm there. If, not, well, nothing really changes. I continue with training. One way or another, I'm going to be stronger, faster, and more fluent with the language of my body and how it works. And above all, I will still be able to continue towards my black belt.  And that, folks, is exciting all in its own.

And if nothing else happens, I'm going to have fun. And to me, that's ninth percent of why I do everything that I do. I enjoy it. I am passionate about training and becoming stronger and faster. I am passionately about learning about how I am internally and what I can do when I feel like my tank is empty. So, I'm looking forwards to a exciting new year no material what happens, I hope you are too.

Have a good day
Mr.Duncan