Hard to believe it’s almost September again. Due to the fact that I didn’t have to take the red-eye bus from the south this weekend, I had no trouble getting up in time for practice at the park this morning. I got there just before Yang Qing-feng, and we practiced a bit. He seemed tired, and I seemed to be doing relatively well against him, as I usually have the most trouble with him for some reason. We were talking about it, and I’m thinking that he just picks up on signals more easily than some of the other students, and he is also very quick to yield and turn around an attack. He seemed to be resorting more and more to the quick push strategy, which he said was necessary as I see the slow moves coming. Teacher X said I should try more three-dimensional strategies, basically turning him like a wheel, and that seemed to work ok. I do need to be more subtle, though. A lot of it is in my attitude.

NL Guy and Little Qin were practicing contact swordwork nearby, and I took some video with my camera of some of it:

There was also a new student, already in the purple uniform of our group. He shares two characters in his name with me and is a rescue worker. As we practiced together I just let him try to push me and didn’t try to counter attack, but Teacher X said I should, so I started pulling him around a bit on each attempt until he got tired.

I went through the sword form a couple of times, and then practiced contact sword with Little Qin. This was very instructional. Hitherto, I hadn’t really given much thought to exactly where my concentration should lie when using swords; I’d always simply focused on the tip when going through the form; As we practiced, Little Qin told me what should be obvious: I should be focusing on the point of contact with the other sword. I’d only really been using a tiny fraction of the sword’s potential all this time. I also figure I should concentrate more on using my left hand as well as my right for combat, as I use my right hand for forms, and I’m left-handed.

Little Mountain Pig is presently reviewing his sword with Teacher X, and I pay attention when I can to that as well. Teacher X will be gone in October and part of November, so I should spend that time reviewing I guess.

I’ve been playing with a local band all over the island on weekends for the past couple of months, invariably getting back to Taipei around 7 a.m. and sleeping through practice. But last Sunday I managed to drag my tired ass to the park; I just felt like I needed the practice, and the weather was so nice I couldn’t pass it up.

Mr. V, Little Mountain Pig, NL Guy, Yang Qing-feng and Teacher X were all there already. Qing-feng was talking with an older man, while LM Pig reviewed the sword form and Mr. V grappled with NL Guy. Teacher X told me that he was going to be in the U.S., Ohio to be exact, from October to December studying ancient English calligraphy. He showed me the invitation letter, written in perfect swirly script.

I went through the forms and then practiced a bit with Qing-feng, who had an easy time of it as I hadn’t practiced in a long time. He said the older man was a judge who had only recently begun to study tai-chi and had some questionable notions on the subject. “As a judge, too,” he added. Qing-feng is a court police officer, so I guess he sees a lot of trials.

Later, after Teacher X and most of the others had gone, I practiced tuishou with Pig, who expressed his dismay that Teacher X would be gone for so long. “It makes me think: what if he decided to stay there, or go somewhere else? What would happen to us?” We talked about such a hypothetical situation, agreeing that the students would most likely split into two groups, i.e. those who are willing to lose and those who are not. That’s my description, though. Pig thought it would be more like “Those who use their forward leg and those who use their rear leg.” As to who would lead us in such an eventuality, it would be up to each student. I would probably go with Little Qin, who is technically not really a fellow student but our “Master Uncle” as he also studied together with Teacher X under Master Yu. A few other students would probably end up teaching. “You’ll end up teaching as well,” Pig told me, and though I disagree, I will admit that teaching is probably a good way to pressure oneself to excel, due to the responsibility. But even if I felt I was qualified, which I don’t, I’ve never been particularly interested in it.

After Pig left, I went through the sword form a couple of times, feeling very tired and looking forward to lunch. I had been planning to fully master the empty-handed form and then go back to the sword form, but now I’m realizing that I will never really master the empty-handed form, and should concentrate on doing both at the same time. The only other weapon I’m interested in is the staff, as it’s just handy. Scimitar I’m not particularly fond of, though a lot of the other students are keen on it. I’d be happy with just sword and staff.