Why

I'm in disbelief of the senseless act of violence that had occurred in Newtown. What happened? Was there signs? Could this have been prevented? 

Many of these questions will never be answered. We will never know what was going through the mind of the perpetrator. 

My prayers and thoughts are with all that are affected by the events that will forever change many people's lives. 

We have to start looking at the root cause of these incidents. Guns don't kill people, people kill people. We need better education and support in the school for our children. Many children slip through the cracks because there isn't enough resources and personal to help them.  They get pushed on without the proper tools and supports to deal with life. 

We need to refocus our attention and resources. Government needs to put more money into prevention not cures.

We have fought many fights for our children. Many do not know what we have done to support them but if we didn't they would have slipped through the cracks of our school systems because they are not prepared to deal with special needs, especially what they can't see. 

It is easy to explain and have people feel for someone who has a physical disability but its a different story when someone has a mental disability.  There is a societal stigma about mental illness that we need to change. The sooner the better. 

Why? We failed. 

www.wchoy74.blogspot.ca

Process

I saw this photo the other day and I speaks very loudly to me and maybe to many members of the I Ho Chaun team.  Thank you to Master Brinker and the other Sifu's for forging the path and process for us to follow.

Time to relax

Nice to have a lite bit of time today. No meeting to prep for or any extra reading. I'm been mentally drained the last couple of weeks with every thing on my plate. Being mentally exhausted sure drains you physically.

Somedays I find it very difficult to motivate myself to practice Kung fu when you're drained mentally and physically.   The last couple of days I feel run down and slightly under the weather, hope I can shake this in a day or two. 

Training as been slow lately but I'm getting a few push ups and sit-ups here and there. Enjoyed breaking boards at class the other day, haven't done that in a while.  I always get an adrenaline rush breaking boards.

www.wchoy74.blogspot.ca

7/11/12

Had the privilege to participate in two Remembrance Day ceremonies, one arranged by the high school and the other one by the Legion. 

I always feel very thankful during this time. Looking at what I have and where my life is and wondering what it might be like if these veterans hadn't giving so much for our freedom. Many perished in the line off duty, those that come back carry a heavy burden that not many people can understand. All this so I can have the freedoms and privileges I do. 

I hope society doesn't forget about all the sacrifices made by past, current and future members of our armed forces. 

www.wchoy74.blogspot.ca

11/9/12

I managed to save my big toe nail by draining the blood and pressure built up underneath the nail. Everything  looks good now and the nail doesn't look like it will come off.  Bonus! 

Now, I hurt my little toe on my left foot.  My body was here at the Kwoon but my mind wasn't.  We were using the heavy bags and I forgot where is was. Kicked the base and OUCH! Did that hurt.  I've drained it a couple of times now but it's still black under the nail. So I'm thinking that its not going to reattach itself. 

This just goes to prove that sometimes we go through life in auto pilot don't really remember how, what, or why we are doing something. But in the end it's done but it really doesn't mean anything. 

Like our training, mindless training is not effective and most often wasted.  Intense and focused training will generate greater results in a shorter time frame. 

Remember that the next time you bow in for class. Where are you and why are you there. 

www.wchoy74.blogspot.ca

11/8/12

Just finished 3 nights of budget deliberations, there's lots of balancing that needs to be done when we're dealing with a $45 million budget. Many things to address; what services level do we want to provide, what service levels do the residents expects, how are we going to fund major projects, how much do we need to put away so we're financially sustainable in the future.

I found that prioritizing the budget and making decision about what needs to be addressed now vs later is very similar to my journey in Kung fu towards mastery.  I few weeks back I prioritized my goals and responsibilities to see where they all fit into my journey and how I would accomplish them.

My path towards Kung fu mastery may be slowed a bit but I can see the parallels as I travel down the paths of mastery in my other facets of life.

www.wchoy74.blogspot.ca

big toe

It looks like I will be losing my right big toe nail in the coming weeks.  On Tuesday evening I had 45 minute gap from when I dropped the boys off at basketball practice and my meeting at the TLC.  I decided that I would go for a run around the track; I haven’t run since I detached my retina.  Maybe it was the nearly new runners (I think I have only worn them twice before) or the length between my last runs but I injured my big toe. 

The 45 minutes of sprinting, running, jogging and walking around the track seemed ok.  I felt great, was only winded when I sprinted but recovered quickly.  However, when I finished, I noticed that my toe was hurting.  After removing my sock I can see that it was black under my nail.  I was driving that toe into my shoe and with every step I was compressing it.  I will have to exam the way the runners fit my feet and my technique to why this happened and why just my right foot and not my left.  Am I compensating because of another injury?  Was it because the track direction was clockwise?   Regardless of why this happened, the more important thing is this is another step towards mastery: building on what I have and making it better.  Looking forward to my next run.

www.wchoy74.blogspot.ca   

update

I haven`t posted in a couple of weeks, I`m not sure what to post about these days. 

Things a have been crazy busy and I have given Kung Fu very little time.  I`m still able to push out a couple hundred push ups and sit ups daily but that has been the extent of my commitment to my training and the I Ho Chaun team (sorry guys, you guys did an awesome job on the demo).

I went through and read Mastery again this week.  I`ve been trying very hard to find a comfortable balance in my life with all my commitments.   Reflecting on Mastery, the more I surround myself with individuals that are liked minded (municipal government) the less I`ve surrounded myself with Kung Fu. 

www.wchoy74.blogspot.ca

Judgement

I have been working on my judgement the past couple months. I'm getting better but a long to go to get to a state where my better judgement will become natural and ingrained in how I do things.  For example, I love food and I always tend to eat more then I need. I have started to eat and order less food but I still tend to over because I finish the plates of my children. I have a problem food out, I think this comes from living in a country where we didn't have enough to eat when I was younger.

The past couple of weeks, I have been thinking about everything and what I have on my plate. And I'm exercising better judgement and not taking on so many things. I have already given up some of the things that I taken care of in the past for my Rotary club but there is still many things that I can not let go at tis time.  Another thing is to prioritize my commitments and allocate time to do them.
I would like to apologize to my I Ho Chaun team members, I should have not taken a spot on the team without fully understanding the commitments and time required to complete the task. I have not been a good team mate and many of our failings as a team are because I wasn't committedt to you guys. I'm Sorry!

My family is first, then my office as Mayor, third is my restaurant and staff, fourth is my extended family, fifth on my list is Kung fu, then golf, etc.   I will continue to training and be as involved as my time permits but for my NOW, Kung fu is not a priority.

?

I don't know what to blog about. There are so many things racing through my head and I don't know where to start. Life's been hectic to say the least. The more I try to get my personal goals accomplished the more I feel my training slipping away.

Priority time

I'm finding it really difficult to get everything in. If I focus on one area another drops off. Here I am trying to get a few things done and read before the conference tomorrow and I can't focus because I have all these others things that I haven't finished or started. For example, I wanted to have Zen read in six weeks, not going to happen. With everything getting back in full swing, my time demands has also increased with meetings, public appearances, speaking engagements, boards and committees. That's just my work for the Town, I'm short two cooks in the kitchen at the restaurant, so you can imagine the extra workload there.  The past three weeks I'm having to read agenda packages like crazy, with each package in he 250-300 page range, I'm read out so Zen gets tossed aside.

I've tried to prioritize my commitments, this is how I'm seeing things at the point.  Family, Mayor, Work, Kung Fu, in that order. Mastery is definitely a long process, good thing I'm young.

Point of view

Black belt? What is that? What a classical vs a romantic view of what it is.  How do you view? Do you see the a black belt as one whole unit, all the parts rolled into one and not given any thought to how that person has reached this level to become a black belt? Do you see all the little steps, sacrifices, and training that went into that person before they reached this level?

As I reflect on the meaning of the classic and romantic view according the Zen, I have started to apply those views to my life. I can safely say that my views differ based on the subject at hand. For example, I have a romantic view of many things mechanical, I will not make a good repairman. I'm not interested in how the parts fit together or work, I just know that it works. However, on other subjects like politics and investing, I have a classical approach to it. I want to know about all the parts that make up the whole. I will analyze things and break them down to its components and am fascinated every detail and the logistics of it.

I have a classic view of a black belt, I see all the parts that make up that person and how they work together to get them to this point. I'm intersted in all their little facets that have fit together to get them here. I'm intersted in their story.

How do you  view a black belt?

I Ho Chaun -again

WOW! What a great job at the Rotary Run for Life. You guys did an awesome job representing the school.

Keep that momentum going, the lion and dragon dance is not the finish line, it was just another tool for you to use as you travel down your path to Mastery. Too many times individuals stop short of thier dreams because they set the finish line before the real goal.

Compare this to the hurdles, if you watched any of the hurdles during the Olympics, the runners didn't stop after they made it over the first hurdle, they cleared hurdle after hurdle until they reached the finsh line.  Everything you are doing for I Ho Chaun are just hurdles before you reach you finish line.

Don't be fooled, by completing I Ho Chaun, you have not reached the finish line. I Ho Chaun, itself is just another hurdle in your journey to Mastery of your life.  Master Brinker has always said that the I Ho Chaun is your journey, how you tackle it will have a ripple effect to all facets of your life.  Your approach has to be sustainable after you finish participation in I Ho Chaun. For a member to drop everything and solely focus on I Ho Chaun for a year, complete everything with flying colors, is absolutely useless because it is not sustainable. Everyone is busy and we all know that so you will have to adjust your life to fit in I Ho Chaun.

Take the dragon dance as an example, at the beginning we barely had enough members to practice.  As we progressed more members came and we where able to have a rest or miss a practice (or two) and know that there was enough members there to step in and support the team. We had more then enough members at the run. This is how we should view I Ho Chaun. Life is busy and you won't be able to be there all the time but there is enough team members to step in, carry your load and fill you in when your able to comeback.  All I Ho Chaun members are tools for you to use as you strive towards Mastery. No judgement, NO questions, just TEAM.

You can not change the past but you can choose how your future turns out.

More power

I need full power Mr. Scott.............Captain, I can't give anymore...she's going to blow.
A little flashback to my younger days of watching Star Trek.  

Last week in sihing class we practiced our forms.  When we got to Lao Gar, sifu M. Playter mentioned that this form is different then the others as the majority of power was generated by rotational power instead of more linear power from the other forms. 

That Sunday was Kurtis's 13th birthday and I took him to be driving range to hit some balls. A little time passed and something clicked. If I can take my driver and hit a little white ball 250 yads straight down the range, I should be able to generate that same force with my techniques. 

With my golf swing, I take the club back in arc about 70 degrees from vertical and twist about 40 degrees into my backswing. Once at the top of my swing, my hip and shoulders start the down swing following a similar arc as my backswing generating speed and power as I fire my hips, shoulders, arms, hands, and legs at certain points of the downswing. All of that momentum and force is concentrated at the bottom of my arc as the club head makes contact with the ball. The contact fires the balls along its merry way. If any part of my swing is off, and we are talking about a millimeter or a millisecond, the ball doesn't go straight.  I will still hit the ball but it won't be at full power or as accurate as I would like it to be. 

This translate to our Kung fu training, since day one, the Sifu's have always harped on the fact that we have to rotate our punches and blocks to generate effortless power. Stepping forward and punching is an excellent example of this. As you slide step forward, your hand fires off your hip towards your target. As you plant you feet, you rotate your hands to the proper contact position. Everything coming together to generate a large amount of power. More then if we just used our shoulders and arms to push out the punch. Yes, you still generate power but it's not as powerful as it can be. 

Both my golf and Kung fu rely on the the precise timing of my movements to generate power and complete the technique. The six harmonies, your feet and hands, knees and elbows, and hips and shoulders. They all have to work in harmony of each to maximize  efficiency and power.  I will have to keep this at the forefront as I try to master myself and excel at Kung fu and golf. 

I Ho Chaun

When I agreed to participate in the I Ho Chaun, I really didn't know what I was getting myself into. I knew I had to do it if I wanted to grade this year but that was about it. After Sifu Hayes sent out a reminder to all members to reacquaint themselves to what we committed to, I realized that I will not reach all my goals for I Ho Chaun.  With my late start, injuries, family, work, (blah..blah..blah..insert excuse here), I know there is no way I will complete everything but does this mean I have failed? 

After re-reading the I Ho Chaun letter, I see that it is a year long mentorship program and it's your own journey/process for you to get to Mastery. I Ho Chaun is and will always be different to everyone involved, there will never be two identical journeys. I have been approaching this class with the wrong intent, yes, I need to participate if I want to grade but it's a year long mentorship program. Mentorship from not only Master Brinker and Sifu Playter but from the rest of the members of I Ho Chaun. I can learn and better myself with the experiences of my fellow classmates and share with them as they progress in their own journey. Doing pushups, situps, weapons, etc is only a tool for you to use in this class to help you along in your journey. 

A journey to mastery in Kung fu? In nun chucks? In forms? NO. None of the above. I having been working on my judgement the last week. I have approached Kung fu with lots of vigor and intensity (I'm sure my morning class would agree) but that's also one of my weakness. I haven't applied good judgement to my classmates and where they are at in thier training and journey.  Reflecting back on my life, there are many occasions that I have exercised poor or a lack of judgement. I will work on using better judgement while maintaining the intensity in what I do. This is part of my journey to mastery, not towards Kung fu but to me. 

I Ho Chaun is a journey to the mastery of ourselves not Kung fu, golf, running, etc.  For members of I Ho Chaun, Kung fu is only a tool for us to use in our journey into ourselves.  Mastery of ourselves will take us off the road of mediocrity and onto the path of the extraordinary.

Commitment

I volunteered to serve as a witness for the longest basketball game ever, 113 hours to obtain the record. They started Sunday at 8pm and will be finished on Friday at 1pm. There are 24 individuals that have volunteered there time to play, many having to take time of work to be part of this event. The 24 players, many of them are in there earlier 20's, are divided into 2 teams and into 2 lines. Each line plays for 2 hours then they switch off.  They are allowed a 2hr sleep break and a 5min rest break every hour, they don't use the rest break but bank it so they can use it once a day to get an extra long sleep break.  The players are not permitted to leave the premises as per the rules. I was there as a witness for the game after 12 hrs, by that time the pace of the game had slowed a bit and many of them had  blisters on their feet, injuries, sore joints and muscles. The shift that just finished tended to their injures and needs, showered, ate and tried to rest/sleep for a little bit. In 2 hrs they would be back in the courts for another shift.  Besides the players there as host of other individuals that had committed thier time to make sure this record can be achieved.  This commitment! The physical and mental exhaustion these participants will have after 113 hrs will be secondary once they accomplish the world's longest basketball game.

Our Pandamonium is only 24hrs and many times we have had problems filling in all the time slots or there is only one person that signed upped.  This is 24hrs not 113 and we don't we don't need to be there for the entire 24hrs. Can we get this kind of commitment for our next Pandamonium?  Time to give ourselves a little slap in the face, where are you? There are many schools that teach self defence but this is the only school that challenges you to be more then just a martial artist.
I have been involved in the school for many years, but now as Sihing I am getting a sense of commitment. A sense of responsability to the school and my fellow students. We all have different skill sets that we bring to the Kwoon which could and will benefit every other individual here. 

I Ho Chaun members and Sihings, let's step it up a notch. 

Btw, they are playing the game at Living Waters School if you want to stop in and say "hi" and give them a little support.  If you want to volunteer as a witness for the game let me know and I will get you the contact info. 

Numbers

Here are my numbers that I have written down.

Sifu Stoddart, Thank you for putting this out there. I'm not really good at putting everything on paper and I took a couple of months off to heal my eye, so I wasn't looking forward to calculating all my numbers. After seeing the totals, I surprised myself at how these little sets add up.

Swimming. 140 min
Jogging. 59min
Stationary bike. 4026min
Sit ups. 9530
Pushups. 11415
Tricep pushups. 600
Crunches. 8455
Bicep curls. 3350
Pull ups. 226
Chin ups. 516
Leg raises. 3580
Tricep extension. 435
Jumping jacks. 6600
Bicycle crunches. 8800
Leg raise Crossess. 700

Where to?

My first 100 days of office is fast approaching (one more week), everything on my list of things that I wanted to get done or address will been accomplished or started. With that being said, many of my others commitments and responsibilities have fallen to the back burner. Where do I start; family, restaurant, kung fu, Rotary, there always seem to be more things to do then I have time to do them in.
I don't know how some people get it all done and under control.  I'm going to have to step back and take breather before I tackle them.

Family and the Restaurant will be the first things I focus my attention to. Without those two, I wouldn't be able to do the things I do.  Then I have the Rotary Run for Life breakfast and the auction that needs to be organized.  Throw in training for Kung fu and trying the meet all the commitments there as well.

I wonder if there is a place I can get cloned. Like in the movies, the real me will enjoy all the fun things in life and my clone can do all the work. Wishful thinking I know but one can always dream.

Can one attempt mastery in so many facets?

Diet tracking month

Diet tracking month is over, that was an intersting way to put focus on what we are eating.
Looking back over the posts, I'm not a bad eater but definelty lots of room to improve.  I seem to eat at all hours though out the day and I'm opportunistic when it comes to food. I would eating anything that is avaible or what is convient as I go about my day.

After I was elected Mayor, I had a meeting political guru to go through my new role as a Mayor vs my new role  as a Councillor.  He told me to weigh myself now and then again after I finish my term, he guarantees that I will gain weight during my tenure. Looking at my posts, it looks like that is a very good possibility.

I'm need to start planning my eating though out the day to match my commitments.
Guess that's another thing I have to work on but it's going to be hard.

 I love food!

Class

Today we had a couple of new (never been in our class new) students attend class this morning. Class has been fairly small the last couple of weeks because of summer holidays. Which has been good for training, we are able to focus on more specific areas that we don't touch on very often.  Normally, we have 5/6 students in class with a wide range of belts.   With the dynamics of this class, I believe that this is the most benifical class in the school.  The lower belts get to practice and learn things that they probrably won't touch on till later on in their training and the higher belts gets more review with the earlier curiculum. 

If anyone wants to come join us, we start at 6:40am on Tuesday's and Thursday's. 

Hope to see you there!

Great weekend

What a great weekend, beside the fact that I had to work which I seem to doing all the time now.  I managed to get in an hour of sparring at the Kwoon with the group and that was fun, got a little feed back on my 5 techniques (always helpful).  Learned at lot about myself and my opponents.  We need to do that again.

Later that night I joined my family at the Lake with some friends and watched to fireworks.  It was amazing, we were situated in the right spot and had great visibility from our beach. 

On Sunday, we swan around the island in the morning, we wore our life jackets but the neighbours didn't, and it took about 40 mins for the trip.  One day I would like to be able to swim around the island without the life jacket.  Nice way to wake up and start the day.  Played and swan in the lake for the majority of  the day and I even managed to through in some Kung fu practise as well.

We also caught 11 fish, 10 walleye and 1 perch (the perch was Branden's first fish in 2 years, so he was pretty excited), that was awesome.

In the evening we went tubing.  That was a blast, I haven't done that in a while.


Today, I'm sore but well worth the fun at the Kwoon and the time with family.

Another week

Another week has passed, where did the time go? Lets see, worked at the Restaurant, did Mayoral duties, replace a dock, fixed a deck, practiced a little Kung fu, spent time with family and friends. Again, it's midnight and I'm trying to get a few things done (like this)before bed. With all the extra water the last couple of days, my work load has increaesed. I'm having to deal with residents regarding the water and why it got so high. I even did an interview for CBC, which aired on yesterday's news. That was kinda of interesting. As well, I have to deal with two insurance claims. Not like I didn't have enough things on my plate. Time for bed, 6am rolls around really fast when your tired.

It's summer

It's summer and the weather the last couple of days has been HOT and the entire next week is more of the same. I'm feeling the pain of being not prepared to summer. Last week we did some work on the boat dock. I put on some sun screen before we started but I forgot to reapply though out the day. My whole back is burnt :( Its summer so be aware, the sun is hot even if there is over cast.

Canada

Another week has come and gone. Its been a very busy week with everything. It was kinda cool to celebrate Canada day a day early. A little different but kinda cool when you really think about it. How many municipalities or people get to actually celebrate Canada day early? We here of early bday, annivsary or Christmas early but I've never heard of anybody doing Canada day early. I also went to Spruce Grove for their Canada day celebrations and the grand opening of Jubilee Park. The park was wonderful, big and full of open spaces and there are BBQ areas. This is going to be a well used park in Spruce Grove. The Canada day celebration were done in typical Spruce Grove fashion. So I'm guessing that I'm kinda special this week. Who else can say that they celebrated two Canada celebration? I feel really honored to be living in a country where we can celebrate our differences and be able to live in general harmony with every other Canadian. You hear some many stories about the opposite. Wish everyone can look past the qualities/traits that make us different but to focus on what makes us the same. We are more alike then we are different.

Beware of side effects

It's that time again.....golf season. I enjoy the sport and I try to get out for a few rounds a year. Every year I have the goal of getting better and ever year I don't get out enough to make difference . This year looks no different, I have played one 18 and one 9 hole round and have another 3 tournaments booked for the year. Hopefully, I can get one or two more rounds in but just not enough playing to get better. With the two rounds under my belt, I noticed a few things, I'm hitting the ball longer and staighter. How can this be? I know it's not the clubs or the numerous times I have already played. It's my Kung fu training! With my increase in flexibility and strength, I have inadvertently improved my golf game. Bonus! This was something I have been wanting to do for a while and now I'm starting to make progress through my commitment to another activity I really enjoy, Kung fu. Wonder what other things in my life has improved with my training. So beware of the side effects of your training, you may be pleasantly surprised.

What a busy week

What a busy week. I've been juggling a lot of things this week and I'm sure feeling tired tonight. One more day tomorrow and then a new week starts, but it doesn't look any easier. Good things Dara is great at taking care of the kids and making easier for me. I'm lucky to have her help and support. The last two weeks I've had to fly with AC jazz to a couple of meetings. I never noticed that we, the passengers, have lap belts but the cabin crew has a four point belt. Never noticed it but it kinda makes you go hmmmmmm?!

Just a posting

Had a good conference in Saskatoon, learned a little, visited a little, ate to much, drank a little, overall I'm a better elected official because of it. I learn more visiting and discussing issues with fellow Councillors, then I would have if I went to school for a month. I did manage to get a few reps in and swan twice but that was it. Didn't amount to too much training. With the decrease in exercise and increase in everything else, I've gained a couple of pounds from the conference as well. Time to right that ship in a hurry, I haven't regained my levels before my eye surgery and it's not going to get any easier. My schedule continues to fill in at an alarming rate.

Another busy week

Another busy week, arrived in Saskatoon this morning and went for a long walk along the south Saskatchewan river. What a beautiful walk, there trail system along the river is wonderful. We don't have a river in Stony but we do have a creek, what if I got it dug out a little and have all the water from dewatering the aquifers pumped into it. Maybe it will work? I'm here for the Federation of Canadain Municipalities conference (FCM), a few days of networking with other elected officials from Canada, attend the trade show, take in a few sessions and study tours and hear from our national leaders. Yup, that all packed into a few days. Training is going better, been jogging a little with the dog. It's giving him and me a workout. Trying to take advantage of the gym and swimming pool here and get in some training. Better try and get some sleep it's going to be a long few days.

Starting again

Went for my first jog this evening, 2.3km in 13mins. Not bad? I didn't want to over do it. You can tell that I'm out of shape, muscles don't feel it now (tomorrow they will be complaining) but my lungs are a little stressed. Looking forward to increasing my speed and cardio over the next couple of months. Hit a few golf baglls this week. The inactivity over the past few months has also effected my swing. I thought I do a little bit of practice since I have signed up for a couple of golf fundraisers. Don't want to embarrass myself when I'm with other elected officials. I'm starting to plan a raffle for the school, if everything goes well, we will raise awareness of the charities we support and generate some money to support them. Let's hoe everything works out.

Good week

It's been a week since I was officially sworn in as mayor, what a feeling it was last Monday. A big sense of accomplishment and pride with a little be of trepidation. Taking a quote from uncle Ben from the movie Spiderman, "with great power comes great responsibility". As mayor, I don't have any more power then I did as a councillor, I'm only one vote in seven. What I do have is more influence on the direction of the Town. We will still discuss and debate everything in Council and then vote on the best course of action. I'm looking forward to settling into my new leadership role in our community. I have been given the go ahead to resume all activities (YES!) but I have to stop when my eyes gets red or if I fell pain. Time to amp up my Kung fu training and get back on track. On Saturday I went to open training and have now settled on my 5 techniques, (well 4 for sure and still working the kinks out of the 5), if anyone wants to allow me to practice on them, it would be greatly appreciated. Today, after work, we went to the lake to get things opened up and ready for use. The cabin wintered well but the boat shed was used by some cats as a washroom. (yuk) I raked thought the sand to clean most of it out. Next year, I'm going to seal te shed with some boards. Looking forward to warmer weather and spending a few out there with the family.

Here and now

Well it's 12:50am and I can't settle myself down to sleep. A little to excited from tonight's activities. I was officially sworn in at tonight's Council meeting as the Mayor of Stony Plain. Excited and nervous at the same time. It was nice to have my family there to share the experience with, I was also surprised to see of the community there because they wanted to watch me get sworn in. I took over the meeting after I was sworn in and settled down after a few minutes. Looking forward to the challenge, I know this is going to be an amazing journey in my life. I'm just thankful for everything that has happened to me. With the many paths that are in front of me, every step I have taken has taken me to this point in my life. Sometimes I wonder where would I be if I hadn't come to Canada......if I didn't talk to Dara in grade one.......if I.......I don't know where I would be, I only know what I know and humbled to be here and now. Better try to sleep, I have kung fu at 6am, then another busy day.

Another journey branches out

Well the election is all over and I did get elected as the Mayor of Stony Plain. It was a great relief on Tuesday night after the results started coming in. After the results of the third poll was posted, it was clear that I was going to win. I was excited and honored to be given the opportunity to lead our community into the future. We had a little get together with some friends and volunteers and Dara did an awesome job setting up the room and making all the food and desserts. She spent a lot of time getting everything ready. Regardless, if I won or not we where going to have a celebration. The voter turn out was low and that was no surprise, municipal elections tend to have low turn out and by-elections are even lower. With just over 20% of the eliglbe voters voting on Tuesday, they made a definitive choice in choosing me to be the Mayor. I'm still in awe that I was elected. Now the work really starts, I feel another sense of pressure on me now. The pressure of leading a community. I will need a lot of support from my Council, Town Staff, my family and friends. I need to lean on them if I'm going to succeed and make the Town better. My training is slow, looking forward to my appointment with my surgeon on the 15th. Hoping to get the green light to amp it up a little. I find it hard to get mentally engaged with training without being physically invested. It was good to get out during Pandamoniun and it was during grappling and sparring (bonus). Would have loved to really get involved but had to hold myself back. I'm so blessed to be involved with a school that does more than training it's students how to kick and punch. The "spirit" of Kung fu is thriving at Silent River. I wish other organizations get this invested in their communities, their municipalities, their provinces, THEIR WORLD. The world would be a better place for everyone in it.

Nervousness

This time tomorrow I will know if I I'm leading our great Town into the future or supporting the new Mayor and Council. This election is whole lot different the the last two I went through. 2007 and 2010, I ran for Council, there where six seats available for Council. Which means I only needed to get more votes then the seventh candidate and I would have won a seat. This time, it's for all the marbles, having to resign from council to run for the Mayoral seat is scary. There is not a seat for second place, I have to finish first. As the time closes in many thoughts are running through my head, have I done enough during the campaign to win? Have I done enough during my 4 1/2 years on council to deserve to be the Mayor? Have I done enough for my community to get the support from the residents? Have I ..... ? This night will the similar to the whole week, little to nervous to sleep very much. It's hard the settle my brain down enough so I can sleep. I'm hoping to win tomorrow but if I don't, it's not the end of the world. I would be extremely disappointed but I have so many other wonderful gifts in my life. I'm feeling pretty good physically and my eye seems to be better the last few days, not as red and the pain is not as frequent and I have gained all my weight back. I'm going to start tracking my numbers again. I haven't tracked anything since my surgery (my next appointment with the specialist is on May 15 and I don't know if I can wait that long), just doing enough to keep me from deteriating to much in my training. I'm going to need a lot of help getting everything up to par...anyone volunteers? I'm going to try to do 500 pushups and situps tomorrow (yes sifu Kichko, I'm going slow). It's late enough, let's see if I can get a few hours of sleep tonight.

1 week to go

Tonight we had the all candidates forum for the Town by-election. It was a packed house, this surprised me. I thought wTith all the hype of the provincial election people would have had their full share of politics. This goes to so you how much community pride and involvement is in Stony Plain. I was nervous at first still need to work on my public speaking skills but they are a lot better then 2007 when I ran for council. As the evening went on to the question and answer period, I got more comfortable and felt good. Hoping to get elected on May 01. Looking forward to this h Council to run for Mayor but it fells like a long time. If anyone is interested you can check out my website to see my platform. www.wix.com/williamchoy/williamchoy If you like what you see and support me, please tell everyone you know in Stony Plain got out and vote for me. May 01, let's get the social media buzz trending that day #choy4mayor Another thought, my iPad can copy and paste to the I Ho Chaun blog, I need to copy my post before posting, then paste it to the other blog site. I guess my purchase of an iPad is validated :) until I try to do some excel and word projects. Went to see the optometrist on Monday, my left eye is great, the preventative lasering to the back of my will prevent it from ever detaching (yeah!). My right eye, the one that had the tear, is healing and with the scleral buckle and lasering the chances of it tearing is very unlikely but not 100% for sure. The gas bubble is all gone but the healing is slow. My eye gets really red when I do anything that adds extra pressure to my eye. Today at Kung fu, we where practicing our knife defense and after a few minutes Mr. Bouchard was kinda queered out with my red eye. Needed to take a breather. Looking forward to end of the election and my eye healing so I can start focusing back on my Kung fu journey. Thank you for all the support from my classmates to help me though this.

Can't do that with an Ipad?

I finally got onto the I Ho Chaun blog site and tried to copy my post over.  No matter how hard I tried to cut or copy my blog, the ipad would not select it.  I thought Apple was suppose to be able to do everything. I guess not.  In the end, I had to use my PC to copy and paste my past post over to the team blog.........hmmmmm...maybe somebody smater and better with computers create and app for that.

On another note, it was nice to be back in class with all my fellow students.  I will still have to take it easy until my eye fully heals.  One step at a time.

It's been a while

I attended class this week and it felt good. I'm also feeling frustrated because I want to push myself more but I can't not yet any ways. Ever have that feeling? You want to do something but you can't. I don't really know how to explain that feeling but it's like an unsettling fustration. On May 15 I will see my surgeon again and I will have a better idea of how much I can do. It was nice to play around with the chucks again. I haven't touched them in 6 weeks, I was afraid of hitting my eye and that wouldn't be a very nice sight. I have a lot to work on to get the moves ingrained into my memory and have the feel and technique. Glad that there are few other students practicing the chucks, it's always better the train when you have other people along side. My campaign is going well, meeting with key residents and garnering lots of support. My fear is that since the by-election is only a week after the provincial election the voter turnout will be low and maybe some of my supports will not go out and vote because they just voted last week or they think that I'm getting in and don't go out to vote. I'm just hoping that I can get everyone that supports me to go out and vote on May 1.

Pressure......

Pressure, that seems to be the theme today. I dropped off my nominations papers to run in the by-election. Little nervous and excited at the same time. This next month is going to be busy. The election is on Tuesday May 1 and I would like to ask for everyone's support. I also had laser surgery on my left eye to prevent it from tearing. That was kinda a freaky. As the doctor zapped my eye with the laser, I could hear this snapping sound with a bit of pain in the back of the eye. Glad that is over and my eye should be back to normal in a couple of days :) They checked my right eye, looks like its healing but the pressure is a little high. It measured in at 24 and my left eye which is normal measured in at 14. So this means I still can't do to many activities that add lots of pressure to my eyes. So the pressure is on. I have a mayoral campaign to run, eyes to take care of, an altered training plan that's needs to get ramped up and my personal goals that I need to keep on track. Nothing that I can't handle! Right?! Defineitly not by myself but with help of my family, (especially my wife), friends, classmates, sifu's, and acquantiances I will achieve all my goals.

Burning, burning, burning legs of fire

Went to class on Tuesday, took it easy when I lead warm up so I focused on the legs. It's funny how fast you lose your muscle tone if don't continue to maintain it. As you know I haven't done much of anything the past month with yesterday's warm up and forms practice, my legs are burning to today :) Looking forward to being able to train again in a few weeks. I'm really going to have to focus if I intend to peak at the right time. I'm glad I have some great classmates to help me out.

Some bad ...... Some good

With eye injury I haven't been able to do any training but I'm getting in lots of time with my family. Sometimes when life throws a detour in you way, it's best to take it in stride and make the most of you situation. I have been able to met some of my personal goals the past Cooke of weeks. So yah! I am really surprised at the activities that effect your eye in one way or another. For example, Just tapping your feet causes your eye to bounce and drinking water rapidly causes a pressure change in your eyes. Wow. I would have never guessed how interlinked the body is. I am attaching a YouTube video of the surgery I had. After seeing it, I realized why my eye hurt so much for a week. I'm just having the laser part done to my left eye to prevent it from tearing and my recovery time should only be a couple of weeks. Looking forward to training again. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YftCbXIw11k&feature=youtube_gdata_player Even with this set back I'm positive about my situation. It could always be worse but if you have a positive outlook, things are always going to work out. You can not control 100% of your surroundings or situations but you can control 100% of how you respond it. Take control and do your best with what you have and life will always be rosy.

Up and running.........sort of

Today I took a big step in accomplishing one of my personal goals. I resigned my seat on Town Council so I can run in the mayoral by-election on May 1. It was a bit scary to give up something you love doing to chase your dreams but as the saying goes "nothing risked, nothing gained" I think my eye is healing, don't really know until my next check up and surgery. Still can't see out of the eye. Hoping it's healing and I will be able to see when they do surgery on my left eye. I haven't done much training the past couple weeks. Still taking it easy as per orders but I chomping at the bit to go. I know that it would be hazardous to my eyes if I start pushing myself before they are totally healed. I will continue to add to my activities every week until I'm 100%. I will need a lot of help from my fellow classmates when I'm able to return.

Ok'd to start up......slow and steady for 5/6 weeks

Just had my Dr appointment today and everything looks fine and is healing nicely. I am now allowed to work with light duties and train but only little bit at a time. Time frame till full thortle...5/6 weeks. No running or anything that would cause impact for my eyes. Extremely happy that things are heading and my sight was saved. You really don't know what you have until your are at a point where you may lose what you have. How many of us take our senses for granted? Have you every wondered what it would be like without one of your senses? Just want to highlight the fact that we must take better care of ourselves. Now that my right eye is healing, I will be having surgery on my left eye on April 3 to laser the holes in my rentia to prevent a tear in that eye. The surgery will be less invavise and recovery time will not be as long. No matter how well you plan things out, you will always face some obstacles or challenges. How you deal with them will determine how successful your plans turn out. There is always some kind of adjustment that can be made. Tomorrow I start again, slowly but it's going in the right direction again.

:(

I waiting here at the Royal Alex to get emergency eye surgery for a superior tear on my retinal. :( this makes me sad and nervous. I don't like needles and people touching my eye. Today, they will be doing both. According to my wife this means no more jogging, jumping jacks, squat thrusts, etc or any activity that has impact a associated with it. I think see is right. I will have to adjust my training. Even though this is a bad situation for me. I'm glad is was aware of my body and realized that something was wrong and went in to seek professesonial help from my optometrist. If I would have waited another day or so I would be blind. Not a very nice outcome if that would happen. You know your body the best. It has been with you since day one and it will tell you when things aren't right. You just have to listen. After the surgery, I'm on bed rest for about a week. Will have to re-evaluate everything after that.

Learning

My body is sore but I'm keeping up with my routine. I don't think I will be jogging tomorrow, so I will ride the bike for any extra half hour. By pushing my body to do more, I've started to learn how to listen to it. You can always alter a technique or workout to accommodate an injury. An injury doesn't mean that you can't, it just raises the questions of how can I? There are many paths to your goal don't let one road block derail you. I've chosen a weapon.... The nunchuk...with some help on Saturday I think I have the basics for the form down. Now the prefect it and make it mine. Had a great time swimming with my kids today. We haven't done that in a while. It's easier to put things aside and spend time with them when it's one of your goals. Now back to my agenda reading for tomorrows meeting. Thanks for all the help.

the body strikes back......

I'm surprised my shoulder lasted this long.  I have had a bad shoulder for quite some time, maybe since I was in high school.  Remember those days when we thought we were indestructible?  I'm guessing that I threw it out and did considerable damage to it then and never had healed properly.  Now, whenever I put to  much stress or throw over hand with some force my right shoulder hurts for a few days.  Today, after my first set of push up I could feel it start to rebel. Good thing tomorrow is my run and 1/4 day, so I can let it rest a little.
Remember that no matter how much we think you are like superman/woman, we are not.  We must take care of ourselves now or suffer the consequences in the future. Lesson learned.


 

Week 1

It has been a week into my journey and I feel good.  Went for my 2nd jog (I jog every 4th day of my program) and I didn't drop dead after.  BONUS!
I downloaded an app to help me map and view my progress with my jogging.  I think it is a good app, it's called imapmyrun and the best thing is that it is free.  Well, you can pay for more services but the free version is all you need to record your runs.  According to imapmyrun, my run was 3.51km (from my house to High Park to John Paul II then back home), it took me 18.53min, and my pace was 5:24min/km.  Looking to get those numbers down in a couple of months.

I was also able to work on some of my personal goals today.  I spent the enitre day with my family.  Made breakfast, lunch, dinner and had a movie night with the kids. I even got in a nap :) I was tired and my body felt it. It was nice to chilax with the kids.

Now that the kids are sleeping time to get to work on my presentation for Thursday.  With my focus on my black belt, it has begun to influence other areas of my life.  The focus and determination is making it easier to complete my other duties.

Up and going........

I went for a 18 min jog today (my place to High Park to John Paull II and then back home) and realized that I forgot to double check a couple of things before I committed to add this journey to my life. 
Life insurance in order..................check
Medicial coverage up to date........check
Glad those two things are all in order.
After my jog, I thought I was dying. Hoping that feeling goes away in a few weeks.

I think I have my training program set.  I'm doing a 3+1 cycle for my training. I don't know if its good but I will discuss it with the sifus later.

Since I decided to do this, I am more motivated to do my excercises and forms. There is an intensity and purpose that I was lacking in my training.  My focus is on and I know what my goal is and I can put that in my sights and aim for it.

Thank you Master Brinker for the guidance.

The start of my black belt journey

It all starts here.  With the support of my wife and family.  I am  starting another facet of my journey, my journey to obtaining my black belt with Silent River Kung Fu. 

I was taken back today when I meet with Master Brinker.  I didn't know what expect.  Normally, when you get called into the office you are in trouble.  But not this time, he called me to in to give me some words of encouragment and a little nudge to get my black belt this year.  With some discuusion with my family, I have decided to undertake this journey.

I want  to thank Dara and the kids for your support today and I know I will be need it all year long if I'm able to complete this journey.

To all sifu's and fellow students at Silent River, I will need you to push me along and from time to time maybe a swift kick in the butt is needed.  I look forward to learning and training with you guys.

LETS DO IT!