October 1st - "Golden Week" in China

Good Ol' Travel Breakfast

What's Happening? ⚪ 怎么？

Well, its been a long couple weeks and a lot has happened since the 18th so I'll try to summarize what has happened over the past few weeks.

September 18th - 20th: I was helping my family and working. Watching my niece get started in Cheerleading and adjusting to 3rd shift "working out" meaning working out in the dead of night. Did you know its cold at night?

September 21st-29th: This week I worked a lot and learned a lot at work. Began to focus on creating stuff for Zweihander and still worked out and stretching. I also had to prepare for the upcoming trip! It was also during this week that I discovered I wanted to learn a new weapon (Monk's Spade) and started to do more physical strength workouts like trying to do hand stand pushups. I also encountered a problem with signing up for the kung fu school (I didn't have enough money)!

September 30th: I left for China (Thanks sis!) early in the morning but immediately encountered some problems. Full body pat down, luggage search and the worse one... my first flight delayed two hours. This caused my whole trip to be changed and forced me to spend another thousand in hotels, tickets, food, etc.

Now we're to me in the hotel unable to sleep due to excitement, nervousness, and feeling unsure about my goal.

My Nice Kicks

 Me doing the Straddle Stretch, not the splits

Today's Thought ⚪ 今天的想法

I'd first like to mention a few people at work who have, unknowingly, given me some advice that has helped me keep going with my goals.

Clark: His dedication to working out, even during small lull moments at work, has helped me continue to workout and stretch whenever and where ever I can.

Mike: "Maybe its all mind over matter", a 44 year old man who doesn't work out or stretch at all but can still do the "American" splits with ease. This motivates me to keep going towards my flexibility goals and gives me hope that I can be healthy at an older age.

Isaiah: This man is full of energy every day, super happy all the time and is strong as well but doesn't look it. Nothing gets him down and its great to have such a positive person at work.

Dan: (Not from work but family friend) [Talking about the military] "If you do join then shoot for the stars, tell them you want the hardest position you can because if you fail you're not going to the bottom, you're only going to be one rung down... and that's still pretty high up there." [Referring to immediately trying for special forces and not waiting]

These people motivate me through their actions and words to keep practicing and going towards my goal of going to China and studying Kung Fu but, today I watched a video that really connected with my current mindset.

The part that really got to me was realizing you might not actually want your goal/dream. Now, I'm not referring to martial arts or my Kung Fu journey, I'm referring to the military which is a big part of my plan. I am thinking that I don't want to go anymore because my reason has changed from "national duty and service" to "a chance to learn skills and save money". I've also looked at those I know who are in the military and they're not who I want to be. I've also looked at those in the factory who, at 30 years old, act like their life is over or they're super old. (Even some of my family is like this) and I don't want to be like that. So what's going on in my mind? My plan is changing.

I really want to study martial arts and to be healthy for a long time. Will I become a teacher? Maybe. Will I start a school? Maybe. Will I compete? Maybe. Will I fight? Maybe. All I know is I want to do this because I think its fun and makes me feel better than anything else has. (Video Games, Board Games, School, Friends, Religion etc) I've also learned that 武僧 a.k.a Warrior Monks don't have to be Buddhist. So, referring to Dan's advice, being a Warrior Monk would be the top of martial artists. I think that is slowly becoming my goal.

I'd like to stay at this Kung Fu school for a long time (2-4 Years), learn as much as I can, compete a lot and just experience a lot in general and then try to be a warrior monk for 1-2 years at the Shaolin Temple.

Its just an idea but its a possibility that has formed in my mind.

What big changes are happening in your life?

- Johnny