An Excellent bootcamp

This weekend we enjoyed an excellent bootcamp, thank you to all the instructors and organizers. The lung drugs I am on have certainly made a difference, as my shuttle run and 2km run times were vastly improved, and I didn’t have to throw up after either! All the seminars were very enjoyable, and I now have two more weapons that are actually legal to carry in Canada. It was nice having the RV there to just climb into after as well, maybe we can get a few more next year.

Dennis Donohue

Back from vacation

We are back from our vacation in Montana, and I am catching up on yard work and greenhouse stuff this weekend. The most interesting discovery at home was in the greenhouse, where I set up the automatic watering system at the last minute before we left. It turns out that I missed one button push, so that it did not actually water while we were gone. I thought that the plants looked a little dry and heat stressed, but overall were doing well. So I went to adjust the programming on the timer, and found my error. Normally the consequences of this would have been a lot of dead plants. In this case though I have been experimenting with a soil mix recommended in the book “Square Foot Gardening”, which is 1/3 each of compost, peat moss and vermiculite (exploded mica rock, which acts like a sponge) and the plants made it through OK. So if you are going to be gardening, I recommend reading and following his book.

Dennis Donohue

Tia Chi, Violence and NovaBrik

July 7, 2013

   This weekend we started section 4 of the Tia Chi form class, which is where I started a year ago. I am feeling a lot more comfortable with the moves, the terminology and the stances. I don’t directly remember the moves, but I noticed with all experienced people in the class that we went a lot faster than last year, so I think I am getting the hang of it. I figure that I may actually know the form by the time I reach retirement age.

    I thought that the Demo last Canada day went very well, and was somewhat surprised that my cane application with Sifu Prince was judged “most violent”. After all it was just an old guy with a cane defending himself, right? Spears and Swords and other scary looking implements of destruction seem like they should be the violent ones, not an innocent little cane. Must be Sifu Prince’s acting skills, thank you for being a great partner.

   In other non-kung fu type stuff, other than trying to fit more projects into my life, I think that we have found the product that we would like to put on our house in place of the poorly installed, mouse friendly vinyl siding that is currently there. The product is called NovaBrik, and is a concrete block veneer. This will add 3 ½ inches of thickness to our walls, but once installed it will be completely mouse proof. I am intending to tackle just one side of the house at a time to make the project a bit more bite sized, as opposed to an immense, overwhelming task. It will also be a learning curve, as everything with this house has been, but it is the only way that I can see to get what I want (the vinyl was not our first choice, but we needed something to seal up the outside, and it was getting into November that year we built). So if you are considering something like this for your own house, and want to get some hands on experience, I expect this fall I will be needing a bit of help.

Dennis Donohue

Rambling on about what makes me tick

Where is our civilization going? And how fast is it getting there? These are some of the questions being discussed over on the ArchDruid report. I like reading his report because he offers a well reasoned, historically accurate view of the world. I used to read all the conspiracy sites, but other than convincing me that much of the information that passes for news is fabricated for one purpose or another, it did little good in the real world. By this I mean that even if you knew for a fact that space lizards had taken over the government, how would this knowledge affect what your day to day activities were?  I have some non-mainstream views of the world, but then again most people that do any significant work at Kung Fu are also non-mainstream too. I believe that peak oil is real, because the actual predictions made before the peak are consistent with what is actually happening in the world I can observe. There are other predictions that indicate infinite growth on a finite planet is not possible, so those predictions that involve infinite growth, or worse, infinite exponential growth (that the economy can grow at 4% compounded forever is good and healthy is one). So what is the value in these world views? The value is that seeing the world “as it is” will allow smarter choices, rather than being led down the garden path due to wishful and/or manipulated worldview. The current topic of discussion at the ArchDruid Report is the trajectory of our current civilization, and the American empire within it. He is making the argument that civilizations and empires have life spans, much as all other life forms on this planet. Much of the conversation has been on the subject of “but this time it’s different”, and the rebuttal that yes, this time is unique, just as every single person has a unique life, but we all are born, go through puberty, slowly age then get old and die. Some live a full life; some are cut short by accident or war. Our current situation is that we are a part of the American Empire  and that empire is showing a lot of grey hair, and is getting short of breath when it attempts things that in its youth just got its blood flowing.

So how does this help on a day to day basis in the real world, as lived by real people such as us? It helps to see through the smoke and mirrors, and get a better handle on where life will actually take us. The stock market is not reality, and its ups and downs are only somewhat related to the question whether or not supper is affordable. Here are some of my predictions, and what I am actually doing about them (the most accurate prediction is useless if you don’t act on it). First, energy will get more expensive, in all its forms, the response is to improve the energy efficiency of my home, and add solar panels to reduce what I have to buy. Replacing vehicles at this point is more than I want to pay, but by combining errands, I can reduce the miles driven. Second, healthy food will get more expensive, so put in a garden, buy in bulk, make friends with a master gardener. Third, the health care system will become more and more stressed, especially as the baby boomers retire. Here the best defence is to stay in shape, and eat healthy. I already addressed eating, so here is where the plug for Kung Fu comes in, get in shape, stay in shape. This is an ongoing process of course. Another prediction that is directly related to Kung Fu is crime. As the economy hits the bumps in the road (aggravated by peak oil) crime naturally goes up. Only a small percentage of those without paying work turn to crime, but it can still affect you along the way (I shouldn’t have to spell out the connection between Kung Fu and self defence).

Now, the decline in this civilization will take its time, probably several generations, but the catch is that the decline tends to be patchy and localized. Some parts of the country are doing great, and others are in trouble. Right now, Alberta is the place to be (until the bill for flood damage comes in), but my parents told me stories from the 1930’s, when our economy wasn’t so great. I would rather be prepared and not need to be, than discover that I needed to prepare and no longer have the time and resources.

Dennis Donohue

Why am I in Kung Fu?

Originally I would have said that it was to get in better shape, and learn some potentially useful skills, without the boredom of expending energy to simply move an exercise machine through its paces.

Lately, I have been reading a lot about Values, the cyclical nature of history and where our civilization likely is in these cycles.  The Chinese civilization has lived through many cycles of history, with peace and war ebbing and flowing with the dynasties of the ruling elites. Much of the history of Kung Fu is bound up in this dynamic.

   In my understanding of this, empires expand, and the core groups and favored vassal states get to reap the spoils of the empire, raising the standard of living of those groups. As the empires reach middle age, these spoils get less and less per capita. The next step is that the elites, trying to maintain their piece of the pie, drop the standard of living of the serfs, who then become restless. The dynamic then imposes more controls on who can have effective means to resist the additional taxation or complain about the rising inequality. Normally this involves a disarming of the lower classes so that a small number of warrior elite, such as the Samurai, can continue to extract their tribute.  This leads to effectively two sets of laws, one for the well connected and another for the little people. A single Samurai/Knight/Warrior could dominate a large village because he was the only one with weapons. The medieval martial artist could upset this dynamic, despite being reduced to agricultural implements and bare hands. But why was this better than simply switching one boss for another (better in the view of the little people, of which I am one)? The difference is in the values held by those same martial artists. Those without values above dog-eat-dog are recorded in history as Warlords, brigands, and other undesirable terms.

   My Values involve fairness, and do unto others as you wish those to do you”. Am I perfect? Not by a long shot, but I am trying. To me, a Master Martial Artist is never a victim, but is able to simply choose his response to whatever the world throws at him, realizing the world itself does not care if it is fair or not.

  I am in Kung Fu because it helps give me the power to choose, regardless of what the world does around me.

Dennis Donohue