8/29 Tui-shou
The old guy from last week was already at the park when I arrived, and Mr. You showed up soon afterwards as I was going through my sword form. I’m gradually getting used to the bigger, heavier sword, but it will be a while before it feels natural. The old guy had a very small, very stupid dog with him. It had an alarming tendency to run underneath people’s feet and wait to be stepped on.
Everyone else showed up, including Teacher Xu, the annoying woman from last week and the new guy. I began pushing with Mr. You, who was more forceful and tightly-wound this week for some reason. My instinct is to fight force with more force, and I have to tell myself to relax and, if I can’t counter a move that way, to just not counter it at all. Later, Mr. You said he was “trying new things.”
As we practiced, the annoying woman stood next to us and gave a running commentary with such brilliant narrative efforts as “Ooh, so good!” and “His arms are really long!” Her comical noises became so grating that I finally said, “Let’s go somewhere a little quieter,” and we moved to the other side of the square. The annoying woman followed us, ostensibly trying to gather up the suicidal dog and keep it from being trampled.
I was really tired, having gotten up before 7am that morning due to an overdose of sunlight coming in my window, but I managed to push with the new guy for a while. Mainly all I had to do was stand there while he anchored me to the ground with his pushing. Then I pushed with another older new-ish guy, who referred to the Tree Root Master as “teacher”, so I imagine he’s going to follow that route. I then practiced with Teacher Xu’s son, who had perfected one simple, forceful push and was damned if he wasn’t going to use it.
After that I was bushed, and sat drinking the rest of my water while the other chatted. The mosquitoes were bad that night, raising itchy lumps on my wrists and arms.
