A few years ago, I bought a guitar because I missed playing music and wanted to learn something more portable than drums, which I already knew how to play. I progressed fairly steadily, but it was definitely hard - not as easy to pick up as percussion. Once I started going back to school, though, the guitar had to be put on the shelf... and that's pretty much where it's stayed for the last sixteen months. I hope to get back to it one day.
Likewise, three-ish years ago I decided I needed to be healthy and get into a gym. I'd never really worked out before (I was horribly underweight and didn't want to be the target of any tough-guy heckling), and I felt there was no need to wait. After some free personal training sessions and a bit of adjustment to my diet and exercise regimen, I settled into a good five-day workout routine that involved extensive weight and cardio training, as well as a daily protein shake. In two years, I gained thirty-ish pounds.
This "phase" has not stopped, but it has certainly been altered several times. First of all, I don't go to a gym any more. Trying to balance school and full-time work just got to be too much, so there were weeks - even months - at a time where I wasn't going, but still paying. So after a while, I finally dropped it. I vowed, though, to keep in shape. Kate and I would jog in the neighborhood and make our own training center. This has been more or less successful. At her peak, Kate was regularly running three to four miles (I tend to poop out after about two - I don't like cardio), and we've made good use of medicine balls and (most recently) kettlebells. Anything versatile which doesn't take up too much space.
With the insane heat, we've fallen off the wagon a bit when it comes to cardio, and crazy night shifts and school schedules make for some odd workout times, but we're at least fairly consistent. We're trying.
The latest thing for me, though, is Wing Tsun. A little history: Wing Tsun is an off-shoot of Wing Chun, a Chinese martial art made famous by Donnie Yen in the Ip Man series and of course Bruce Lee decades earlier. I've always had an interest in martial arts (probably all those Van Damme movies), and I actually studied Aikido for a few years when I was in second and third grade. When I started working out a few years ago, I likewise wanted to start doing martial arts again. I don't know why - despite what they say, it really has no practical application in daily life - but it's been nagging at me that whole time.
I kept putting it off. Martial arts study is, after all, pretty expensive, depending on what you want to do, and where you want to do it. After a bit of research, I decided I didn't want to do Krav Maga, Muy Thai, Taekwando, or any of the "major" sports. I didn't want to do anything that involved lots of kicking, basically. And apparently, the Chinese martial arts are known for their empty hand work, so that's where I started looking. For a time I thought of Ba Gua Zhang, but then assumed I would be too clumsy for something so convoluted; then I moved to Xingyichuan, which seemed a better fit. Both were taught in one location with two weekly classes for about $170/month. The times were not convenient, and the price seemed a little steep, so I hesitated on pulling the trigger... After a while longer, I found another school which focused more on popular Japanese arts (Judo, Karate, and Jujutsu being the most popular), but nevertheless had one Chinese form - Wing Tsun. Because the school offered more convenient times, more weekly classes, and a better price, I finally decided to go for it.
So far, it's been a blast. I've only had three sessions, but the people are very friendly; and even though the art can be very showy, and seasoned practitioners can get caught up in "slap fights" if they lose sight of proper technique, the instructors nevertheless focus on real-world applications as much as possible. Plus, this is something I can actually do. I don't have the best coordination. Thankfully, the amount of footwork in Wing Tsun is fairly minimal - the whole idea being that you want to move forward as quickly and efficiently as possible in order to neutralize an opponent as quickly and efficiently as possible. I'm having fun, it feels nice, and I'm hoping I can keep this going for a while. We'll see how it goes once school starts up again.
What does all this mean? Well, with any luck I'll be doing this in a few days...
Or maybe this...
...but I'm really hoping to be the guy in this last one.
Apparently, I'm trying to become a modern-day Buckaroo Banzai.
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