Dec. 13
I was sick last week so I didn’t go to classes until this morning. When I exited the subway station in the park I couldn’t spot any of the familiar purple uniforms our group wears, but as I approached the spot I found Teacher X and Mr. V sitting talking with the guy who bangs his wooden stick on things. Nobody else had bothered to show up for some reason.
Mr. V was tired of sitting around, so we started practicing tuishou immediately. Usually I like to warm up with forms first, but it’s not that big a deal. Mr. V’s technique has improved a lot as he implements more subtlety to his strategy, but eventually he will resort to the quick shove. One of the biggest differences between us is how we lose. When I get pushed, I just take a gentle step back, but when Mr. V goes down, he quickly jumps back a few steps, even though I never use that much force. He’s like a spring in that respect.
The weather was strange today, warm and sunny one moment, cold and cloudy the next. After the others left I went through the forms, but I felt like I shouldn’t have still been there. Tai-chi practice in the park is mostly a morning thing, and by the time I left it was pidgeon-feeding time for the kids and families.