First Full Week Of August

好看的天

Life

Life has been interesting, not bad and not too good but just normal.

I've been reading various books recently to improve my spirit. Books like, 365 Tao, Thinking Body/Dancing Mind, and The Zen of Martial Arts. Each of them has made me think about things but some ideas go in my brain and right out. After reading these books I think my biggest issue(s) are that I don't focus on the "now" and instead keep focusing on the future and another one is I have too little self control on some things and too much self control on others, there is no balance. I'm like an uneven scale.

With me being an uneven scale I think its finally caught up to me as for the past three days I've been sick with a massive head/chest cold. Hopefully the weekend and healing will help me bring balance back into myself.

It will bring balance back into myself.

(Trying out some of the positive assurance from Dancing Mind/ Thinking Body)

Work

For my job I started working 3rd shift which has been quite a change for me. I am tired a lot and still not used to working 10pm to 7am (sometimes 8am). But with this small increase in pay, and hopefully a bigger one once i'm hired on, I will be able to save money quickly and maybe have some extra dinero to spend on custom t-shirts and pants for my China adventure!

侧踢腿

Kung Fu

For my training I've been focusing on maintaining my flexibility and improving my few forms that I know about. I've also been teaching myself 五形拳 (5 Animal Boxing) from this video.

Along with practicing forms and stretching, I've been trying to do more bag work to help my coordination. One bad habit that I have is just standing in front of the bag with little to no movement, I need to move more in order to change the angle of my strikes. I've also been trying out some traditional Kung Fu moves to mix in with my Karate/Muay Thai style that I call 约翰拳 (John's Fist, John's Boxing).

One good resource I've found for simple Kung Fu workouts, moves and exercises is Kungfu.life. His Youtube and his website both have helped me improve various parts of my own workout routine. Right now my current goal is to try and learn the "kip up".

Gaming

I haven't played much of Zweihander: Grim & Perilous RPG but I have been rereading sections of the rules and doing small things to get me used to the game rules.

The one "game session" I ran went like this:

Setting up the Setting:

"It is the November 10th in the Year 341, Late Fall has set in and the chill of winter is moving in. Our adventure takes place in a town called Runeburge; a small town surrounded by palisade walls with four looming wooden towers at each point surrounded by the large trench that the villagers call a moat."

The Characters

"Oliver Krebs, a burglar run out of his former residence came from his home in the southeast to visit family and get back on his feet. Jakob Traeger, another eldarly fellow, is moving here from his home in the southeast as he has just purchased a small residence within Runeburge's borders.

The Town "Runeburge"

"Runeburge boasts a small local militia, a large in called the 'Prancing Squirrel', a market place that is open during the afternoon hours, stables, granary, and a few smaller businesses and shops.  There is also a temple to the God Emperor but many smaller shrines to other deities are scattered about Runeburge." 

Not much happened in my test game besides me having the two characters meet in a bar and settling an old dispute using the social intrigue Zweihander and then having them get drunk after passing out in the alleyway behind the Inn. For this small amount of gameplay I had to relook many rules up and figure out some of the terms used in the game. I'm still not used to a d100 system but hopfully my next go at it will be better.

So how has your first week of August been? 

-Johnny