I Can Do Anything I Put My Mind To

Okay. . . Now you guys are going overboard.

2010-02-28T18:39:00.000-08:00

So, today I decided to go watch my brothers hockey game. I'm glad I went, because it taught me something very worth while.

We all know that the key components when playing a sport are Sportsmanship, always have fun,be aware of your actions, have dignity in yourself and your team, respect for your team and the opposing team, etc. These are all really important for the players of the sport, but I think that the parents, family, friends, and anyone in the crowd should learn to abide by these rules as well.

As far as I could say, the parents of the other team were very disrespectful, and very un-sportsman like.

At the beginning of the game the score was pretty close, and of course when your team scores a goal, you're going to cheer loudly to let them know that your happy for this accomplishment. But, in my opinion, if your team is winning by more than 2, you should tone it down a little bit. No need to make the other team feel worse than they all ready do.

The parents of the other team were definitely going a bit overboard. Close to the third period, their kid's team were winning by so much that we knew we weren't going to be able to catch up. With this in mind, they were still overly yelling and screaming when they scored (more than when they were only winning by 1 or 2) but on top of that, they were yelling really disrespectful things at their coaches, players, and the referees. I really don't believe that telling the kids on your own team that "they suck" and yelling at the referees things that I do not even want to say on this blog was reflecting very bad things on their team. It got so bad near the end that some of the parents on our team, and their team were leaving because it was getting a little bit ridiculous.

All in all, I'll have to say that the kids on the team that my brother was playing against were very good hockey players. They definitely play a good, clean game. But, it was hard to recognize that because of the way that some of the parents were acting.

I think that we all need to think about our actions, and who they reflect upon. This was a very good life lesson for me, and I will always think about it before I do, or say something. This is just my opinion on the subject, if anyone has anything to add, feel free to comment :-)

Bottled Water - Reducing Our Ecological Footprint.

2010-02-25T20:58:00.001-08:00

Silent River Kung Fu is working towards becoming a greener school, by lessening our environmental impact. As most know, one of the things that we are trying to do is eliminate all use of plastic water bottles within the kwoon.

I decided that for my blog I would research the effects of bottled water on the environment, and teach myself something new in the process.

First let’s start off with this.

SIX FACTS YOU DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT BOTTLED WATER.

1. Tap water is just as safe as bottled water. In fact, the U.S government performs more vigorous tests on tap water than bottled water.

2. Purchasing bottle water is thousands of times more expensive than tap water. One-third of Canadians buy bottled water rather than drinking purified tap water.

3. Terephthalate (PET) is the most commonly used plastic for making water bottles. PET is derived from crude oil.

4. Just in the U.S., 1.5 MILLION barrels of oil are used each year for tasks such as (but not limited to) making PET, transporting bottles and powering water bottle factories.

5. 86% of plastic water bottles are not recycled.

6. About 40% of bottled water starts as tap water.

Bottled water is the top selling product in the beverage industry, but it’s also the worst for the environment. Each year, 2 million tones of plastic water bottles are put into landfills, drastically increasing the amount of time it takes to fill up a landfill. As well as, the recycling rate for these bottles is only around 27%. Scientist have proven that the best thing that you can do to reduce your ecological footprint is to stop buying bottled water completely.

Many resources are used to make, ship and recycle bottled water. In fact, if bottled water were eliminated, the oil that would have been used to make them would be enough to power 100,000 cars for a year. That is a lot!

There are many things that we can do to reduce this portion of our ecological footprint.

Stop purchasing the bottled water and use tap water. Or, if its taste you’re worried about, buy a drinking water filter to attach on the end of your tap.
Use a re – useable water bottle to put your water in. Even though we sometimes re use the plastic ones, resources were still wasted to make the bottle, and more will be used to recycle it.
I have a challenge for everyone that reads this blog. Go online to the following website, (http://www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN/page/calculators) (You have to click on Calgary for your location ) and calculate your ecological footprint. Then find out one thing that you can do to reduce it. Take action. We are aiming to be leaders through our actions, and what a better way to do it than to help the planet in the meantime. My footprint was 7.1, the Canadian average. But, I would need over 8 football fields of land to support all of the resources that I need to live. That’s huge! I’m going to take action by trying to carpool, walk, etc. to try and reduce the pollution that I put into the air.
What will you do?

Year of the Tiger

2010-02-21T19:42:00.000-08:00

I want to start off with saying that the banquet was really amazing. All of the sihing's did such a great job at setting up, the banquet hall looked fantastic! It was truly a night to remember.

Of course, the banquet and ceremony last night was really exciting for me, seeing that I received my black belt. I really believed that all of the other candidates and I really saw yesterday who we had really become through our training, and how much that we had grown together as a group.

I am so proud at how well the demo that the kids classes put on went. I have seen so many different transformations in those classes this past year, and I can only begin to imagine what type of progress that the classes will begin to make this year. The kids were awesome, and I am really
looking foreward to this year.

These were just a few thoughts on the banquet last night.
What were everyone elses thoughts on the banquet last night?

Kids classes

2010-01-06T19:08:00.000-08:00

I am very fortunate to have the chance to be able to teach in the kids classes. It is something that kung fu has given me, that is irreplaceable.
I have learned and experienced so much in the past year of teaching, that many 13 year olds don't usually get a chance to.

First of all, it is so inspiring to watch some of the kids in their classes. They have so much passion, and determination to succeed in what they are doing. I think this is something that many of us could learn from. Sometimes the longer we do something, we sometimes loose the passion that we had when we first started. We know that we have it, but it doesn't isn't always apparent to others. These kids just have so much drive to get something new that they just learned right. A good example of this is watching some of the new white belts trying to do their first shoulder roll. They watch the instructor do it a couple of times, and they say that it looks so easy, but they just cannot get it right. You can see the frustration in their eyes but they just wont give up. I think this is something that we can all learn from.

It is also cool to see how open most of them are. You'll have a kid that you have never even seen before come up and give you a hug and start telling you about the highlights of their day. Yesterday, Sihing Young came out to the 5:00 class to help out. We were doing stations and she was right into it with all of the kids. I think she was a bit shocked when one of the students ran up to her and gave her a big hug, and wouldn't let go :-). It was really cool because I know for a fact that the student had never seen or met her before.

I have been helping with the kids classes for around a year and a half now, and they have taught me so so much. I think that anyone that steps in there is (most of the time) given a truly great experience. If you get the chance, pop in there on Tuesdays and Thursdays. We like the help ;-)

"A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feeling as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty."
~Albert Einstein

Leadership class

2009-12-16T10:16:00.000-08:00

I joined the Leadership Program, for my 1st term option at school. As part of the leadership program, we were to go to the Elementary School and mentor a student for the day. I chose to mentor a little kindergarten boy who has severe Autism. I worked and learned along with him throughout the day. it was amazing, and a great learning experience for me to see and experience hands-on as to the challenges and difficulties some people face throughout day-to-day life. This little boy taught me so much. He taught me patients, understanding of differences, and most importantly not to be judgmental of behavior. this little boy's behavior is his way of communication, for example: jumping up and down laughing was him communicating happiness and "yes" that is what i need or want; turning away, making a loud noise or laying on the floor was his way of communicating unhappiness and "no" that is not what I need or want. I learned that, Behavior is Communication. As well as, seeing the others reaction was very interesting, those that I see as super nice and accepting, had troubles accepting the face that he was a bit different, and acted a bit different that we do.
I'll never forget this experience, and I hope to go back and see him later this year!

Another part of the Leadership Program at school was to raise awareness for the homeless and Boyle Street, and to volunteer there for a day. I as a student of the Leadership Program with from class to class at school talking to students about the importance of helping those who have no resources, food, or homes. We, in the program, got donations of clothing and food to take along with us to Boyle Street for the homeless. On the day we went to volunteer at Boyle Street, we were there making soup and sandwiches all morning, the serving them to the homeless for lunch. Once lunch was over, and clean up was done, we had the opportunity to go and visit and talk with some of the homeless. It is amazing the misconceptions we have of the homeless. For the most part, there people do not want to be there. But due to circumstances beyond their control they have to be. There were some very interesting conversations and awareness made. Most of them were very thankful, and loved to have us there. There were a lot of "God bless yous" said to us. I am very happy I had the opportunity to do this, and have matured and become a better person because of it. I look forward to going back there some day and helping out again.

" A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way."
~ John C. Maxwell

Stress

2009-12-10T21:00:00.000-08:00

Stress has just been overwhelming me lately.

I think that it has been a time issue. There are only so many hours in a day to try and get everything that you want to get done, done. Between going to school, 1 – 2 hours of homework and projects, and studying for exams a day, preparation for black belt and rehearsals, and countless hours at the studio teaching and taking my own classes, I have just been cramming a lot lately.

Working towards my black belt has become a big part of my life right now, as it should be. Kung Fu really is my passion; it challenges me, and pushes me to my limits. The candidate practices have really been tough, yet I love them. Everything is finally coming together, and it is becoming more real to me every step of the way. I have really come to get to know my fellow candidates, and we have been pushing each other to our limits every day. This journey has really been an eye opener for me. If you had told me a couple years ago that at 13 I would be grading for my black belt, I would have told you you were crazy; but here I am, living in the moment, absorbing every minute of this.

A little while ago, I had set an academic goal for myself to maintain my four core subjects (social, science, language arts, and math) at a combined average of 90%. I recently got my first report card of the year, and my combined average was 93.8%. It’s all been very worth it in a way; I’m just hoping that I can keep it like this for the rest of the year.

For the benevolent fundraiser, I had set a goal for myself of $1 000 dollars. Although this definitely seemed out of reach to me, I had some faint hope that I could reach it.

I have definitely exhausted all of my resources. I first decided to go to my school to raise awareness, and promote the fundraiser. I decided to type up a cover letter to explain a little bit more about the charities, and the benevolent foundation, so that I could go to my assistant principal and talk to her about it. After explaining about what I was doing, she decided to go out and send a voice mail and an email out to all the teachers, explaining about the charities, as well as letting them know where the pledge sheets would be. I was very excited. I currently go to a catholic school, and I believed that I would get quite a fair turnout. At the end of the week when I went back to collect the pledge sheets, I had only raised $20.00, my asst. principal did let me know that a lot of teachers were interested, but kept telling her that they were not able to sponsor me this time around. I did understand, and although I was frustrated, I knew that I had spread awareness about global issues.

I have talked to my peers about it, and although both they and their parents were very interested, some of them said that they were not able to this time around. But, I am happy to say that there are now a lot of kids that know about the benevolent foundation.

Lastly, I have talked to most of my family, and they do sound interested, but they do not know how much they could sponsor me until Christmas time.

I am disappointed, in some respect that people within my resources are unable, this year, to commit to a dollar donation. But am very happy that I have taken on the task of raising awareness about the charities involved, and am proud to say that there are a lot more people aware of the needs of these charities. People have also told me that once financial situations become more stable for them that they will definitely consider making a donation to these charities.

“Failure will never overtake me if my determination to succeed is strong enough.”
~Unknown

Training Journal

2009-08-10T09:06:00.001-07:00

So,
as of last week I have been documenting everything that I have done to train everyday, and I've decided that at the end of each week I will post it onto my blog. That way I will be able to receive comment on whether or not my training looks sufficient of whether I need to step it up a bit :-). This is also a place for me to look back to in case something happens to my journal.

August 5, 2009

Time frame:
9:00am - 10:00am

Activity:

Met with Sifu Schermbrucker and worked on board breaking, as well as forms.

We focused on my palm heel strike.
Started out on the focus shield and did around 100 repetitions.
Transfered over to a pine board, and I didn't end up breaking it with my palm.
Blasted it with my elbow.

we also looked at the following forms.

Hung 1&2
Kempo 1&2
Hsei Chen
Lung 1&2

Reviewed on what I needed to work on and corrected it.

Time Frame:
1:00pm - 1:20pm

Activity:

60 repetitions of combative side heel thrust (right leg) on heavy bag. (reps of 10 6x)
60 repetitions of horizontal elbow (left hand) on heavy bag. (reps of 10 6x)
Also completed 60 pushups. (reps of 10 6x)

Time Frame:

1:30pm - 1:45 pm

Activity:

completed the rest of my side heel and elbow reps on the bag.
Completed the rest of my pushups and 150 crunches.

August 6, 2009

Time Frame:

9:00am - 10:00am

Activity:

Met with Sifu Schermbrucker

Worked on Lung 1&2, completing 50 reps.
Noticeably improving my form by the end of the hour.
Completed 150 pushups

Time frame

10:15am - 11:00am

Activity:

100 reps of side heel thrust (right leg) on bag
100 reps of palm heel strike (right hand) on bag
100 reps of elbow (left arm) on bag

**all in sets of 10 10x

150 crunches

August 7, 2009

Time Frame:

9:00am - 10:00am

Activity:

Met with Sifu Schermbrucker

Completed countless reps of hammer fist (I changed my right hand board breaking technique.) elbow, side heel thrust, and knee.
Finished off with theory questions
Also completed 150 pushups

Time Frame:

10:15am - 10:20am

Activity:

completed 150 crunches

So this is the end of my post. With everything that I had done this week.

Overcoming

2009-08-01T21:29:00.000-07:00

So,
we did a demo today at rotary park and it was my day to board break. . .

I got up there . . . lined my boards up,
broke on my side heel , didn't break my palm.

second attempt
didn't break

then i lined up again, and broke my knee and elbow.

You know, It gets very frustrating after awhile to know that you have worked so hard to getting to this point and then you cannot break a stupid board lol. But it is something that I need to do, and I WILL do it. . .

And the more I think about it, the more I do come to believe that it is all mental. (not that I haven't been told this already, I just didn't believe it??)
I have spent a part of my time trying to make everything perfect, to make sure that the boards are the best that they could possibly be, to find the easiest board and use it for my "so called" weakest technique. But I've got to stop thinking about it that way. . . I have to start thinking of it as
"okay, I have this piece of wood standing in the way of my target, so I have to go through it."
because ultimately, it is not the board that is stopping me. I am stopping me.

I have spent time crying over this, worrying, but I won't do it to myself anymore, ill just break it. . . this is what I have to do.

Blast through it lol.

Board Breaks

2009-07-20T10:25:00.000-07:00

I was reflecting on the first week that I had began training with Sifu Schermbrucker and one day highlighted in my mind that I wanted to post up on my blog. . . here it happens to be the first day that we decided to do some board breaks.

I woke up that morning and was looking at the three sets of boards that I had layed out in front of me, trying to decide which ones would be the best to take. I decided that I wanted to take the hardest set of boards that I had to break, but I really was not sure which one that was, because they all had nice wide grain and no knots.
I decided to call my dad to see which ones I should take.

After a quite short discussion, we decided that I should take the first set, and my re breakable board.

I was actually feeling quite confident as I walked up to the field where I knew that Sifu Schermbrucker would be waiting to kick my butt once again, but I had this feeling that I was going to blast through those boards no problem.

So,
we started off with just the re breakable board, and we held it backwards so that it would be much harder to break, and I blasted through the board no problem with all four techniques.

We decided that it would be time for me to try and break the actual boards, so I set up in front of one, getting ready to do my palm heel strike. I took a step back, and projected foreword with probable one of my hardest strikes ever, and I bounced right off the board, which didn't break.

Okay, not really what I was aiming to happen but okay ill get it on my second try.

Almost forty - five minutes had gone by and I still had not broke a signal board with any of my techniques.

I'd have to admit that I was getting really discouraged and thinking that I wasn't as strong as I thought I was and that, even after countless hours of pounding on my heavy bag, I did not have the right technique.

But, of course, Sifu kept yelling at me to keep trying and that I was going to break a board today.

I did not end up breaking those boards.

So Sifu set the boards up between a brick and the ground and had me stomp on all of them one after another. . .
"the board cannot defeat you Katelyn"

After all of them were broken we picked them up and looked at how they broke.

Well,
Three of the boards didn't even break all of the way through, because they were still held together by splinters.
And the fourth board, I couldn't even break, Sifu had to break it for me.

But those boards did show me something very important that day, that was not only valuable to me, but could probably be valuable to others reading this too.

No matter WHAT. . . you cannot get yourself down on something that you cannot achieve right now. You just have to tell yourself to keep trying and someday, somehow you will succeed at what ever it is you are doing. Everyone has their limits, and they will get stronger when time and effort come into play.

I will break my boards, because I know that I have it in me to do it.

I must have a can do attitude when it comes to these things, because when I am in the moment, I can do anything that I set my mind to, and nothing can stand in my way, not even the boards that I cannot break.

I will be a leader, I will show everyone what I can do and how I have come to do it.
Because even if I fail I will have succeeded.

2009-07-18T17:20:00.000-07:00

Wow! I haven't blogged on here in a really long time! I feel like I want to say that I really haven't had any time but that is definatly not true! I guess that I just have been sort of slacking off and not doing what I need to do. But anyways, lets cut to the chase, lol. . . My training has been coming along excellently, I have definatly noticed an large amount of improvementin my technique and . . . well . . . everything! Just this current week I have started another sort of plan towards my black belt.Every morning (monday - friday) I have been waking up at about nine am to get ready to walk to a field by my house to meet Sifu Schermbrucker. Every day we have been working on some area of training towards my blackbelt. On Monday I wasn't really sure what was going to come of all of this. . . and I really didn't know whether or not I was going to make it through because the night before I had told Sifu Schermbrucker to really push me past my limits and not let me give up! So, low and be hold, he did and I came home and was exhausted! Even though all that we did really was go through the white belt curriculumn! But, you see, I felt really good about myself, and that I had started something good. I later ran my two km and did all of my board breaking techniques one hundred times each on my heavy bag!!! So as we continued on through the week, I could already feel this starting to work its way into my daily routine. I found myself waking up at six am, looking at the time, and wishing that it would go faster, just so that I couldget up and go hard into my training. The week has seemed to fly by so fast. Last night, in the Sihing class, Sifu Brinker had mentioned how we should start our day with pushups and situps and then end the day off with pushups and situps. . . Well I am doing something totally the same, but different! I am starting my day off with hard drive into my kung fu training, and ending my day off with a run, or a walk and kicks andpunches, and it feels really good! I think that I have set myself on a great track!Wait. . .I KNOW that I have set myself on a great track! I can only hope for the best, and that everything goes smooth from here on end. Thanks for reading!!!

Courage Poem

2009-05-18T09:29:00.000-07:00

Courage

Courage is doing what is right,
Courage it takes to speak the, truth
Courage it takes to be yourself
Courage to stand out
Courage to be me
Courage is love,
It brings hope
Courage gives you the strength,
To all weaknesses
Courage is something any, one can achieve
The heart of love is,
Courage
Don't close your eyes on the world,
There are many who care for you,
Face your life and its trials with,
a quiet mind and courageous, Smile
Courage is my last name

~Maria Luisa Taylor

Comparison

2009-04-20T19:39:00.000-07:00

Well, I was away for a little while on a ski trip through school, and believe it or not, I learned more that I think anyone has ever learned on a holiday ;-0

There was one boy that was snowboarding, and went on a run that was a bit to hard for his skill level. He ended up falling flat out on his face, and being rushed out to the hospital. He ended up having a broken nose and minor brain damage.

Because of the poor choice that he made, he ended up not even being able to remember what happened.

While I couldn't fall asleep one night, I kind of tied this into everyday life. . .

If you were. . . say.. . just getting over a sprained ankle, and had just got back to walking properly, would you go and do a flying kick at kung fu that included landing on that ankle?
Well that really depends. . .
You really have to kind of do a "body scan" on how your body is functioning, and what your limits are. . . you cant just do something that you know is going to damage you in the long run. . .

Role models

2009-04-03T21:10:00.000-07:00

Usually, a lot of people have role models.
The role models that they have have usually made some sort of difference in their life, or someone that you really look up to.

But do a lot of people know what it is like to be a role model?

I was helping out in one of the Thursday kids classes a while back, and I was feeling tired, I could feel my lack of sleep catching up on me, and I was starting to get very tired. . .

I was mopping up the floor during the last class of the evening when one little boy and his dad came through the door. Of course the boy, who was a bit late for class was scrambling to get "into action".

I recognized the boy as the one who always would come and give me a hug after class and say, "Bye Sihing!" in the happiest little voice.

So the boy stopped in his state of rush and said hi to me, and then ran off to his class.

When his dad looked at me and told me how much this little boy looked up to me and how my kung fu and doing what I do is making a difference in someones life.

I then recalled that that boys mother had come up to me at the black belt ceremony and told me the same thing.

I felt really good after that and what that boys parents said to me, made me realize that what I am doing for myself really does make an impact on the people around me.

I honestly did not realize the reason behind my coming to help with the children's classes besides loving to be around kids. What was said to me that night really gave a whole new meaning to my training. When I think of that moment, or even when the kids at school, or my family, ask me how my training is going, it makes me want to keep doing what I'm doing, and not want to stop. It gives me that drive that I need to keep going, and not to give up until I have to. This, has given me a boost in my mental and physical strength

I have now taken in a whole different perspective on my training, and what it means to me.

I have never thought that I would become a role model until I became a parent and one day and had kids of my own. . . but, of course I was proved wrong, ha ha.

Oh,
In case some people do not know Mr.Mickinnin (I'm not sure if I spelled his name right. My apologies ;-)
He is a really awesome kid, and really knows how to brighten someones day.

Don't go around saying the world owes you a living; the world owes you nothing; it was here first.
~Mark Twain

I havent posted in a long time!!!

2009-03-04T17:57:00.000-08:00

The title of this post sums up one of my thoughts.

Well, anyways, I want to bring up something that happened while I was in Mexico.

First of all, I had a blast! I loved every minute of it. Although, I do now know what it feels like to actually live and breathe kung fu.

Everyday I felt like something was missing.
That something I found out later was Kung Fu.

It was almost like, everynight when I would usually be in kung fu, working my but off, we were doing something that I thought was really fun, but I alwayse felt as though I really should be running, doing pushups, or something kung fu. After a while it did start to take affect, and right when that happened, I went for a run on the beach. I felt really good after that.
So, now I know that Kung Fu is really part of my life now. Not that it wasn't before, but it is way stronger now.

And now I feel really good about this posting.!

Training in progress

2008-11-22T19:56:00.001-08:00

Just thought I would blog tonight as for I have nothing to do!

My training is coming along really well.
I have began to progress in the number of pullups I can do without quitting. I have been doing at least 5 without stopping.

I have found though that, while I practice in my living room, I get very destracted, very easily.
I was trying to think about why this is happening so often.
I finally figured out that I need to stay in the moment when I am practicing. I have to really think about what I am doing, right at that moment, and not thinking about what I am going to be doing next as much. This has really helped me to stay in the moment.
Now that I have been "staying in the moment" during training, I have began to find a lot of mistakes that I am making in my forms. They are not big mistakes either. For instance, I was doing Kempo, and I realized that one of my bowstances have been wrong every time that I do my form. It has been a bit to narrow, causing my other stance after to be unstable also.
This really proved to me that I have a better eye for detail than i thought!

Well I have to get off of the computer now!

Tata for now

Blogging

2008-11-06T09:01:00.000-08:00

Well i am blogging this in my L A class in school today. I just thought that i would blog about my training.

I am making a lot of progress in my training since grading.
First of all, my push ups have improved greatly. I can do about 10 with my chin up and my chest going all the way to the ground.

I can do about ten pull-ups in a row now.

These are the greatest things that i have improved on this week.

I have also found out the cause of why i cannot do as many push-ups as I should be able to do.
This is all because I wasn't breathing.

Well i have to post this blog before I get caught by my teacher.

I will post more later!

Bye Bye for now

2008-10-19T10:30:00.000-07:00

The average person goes through a large number of plastic waterbottles every year.

Most people do not even recycle them. This really takes up a lot of room in our landfills.

If plastic grocery bags take 100 - 500 years to completely decompose in our landfills, think how long it takes for plastic waterbottles take!

First of all,

Instead of throwing your waterbottles away because there is no recycling bin around to throw them in, or because it is just easier to throw them in the garbage can because it is faster, just recycle them. We all should want to keep our earth in the best condition that we can. Not ruin it by throwing away things that can be recycled.

This doesn't just go for waterbottles either, shopping bags, packiging and everything gets thrown away and we are going to run out of room to put it all.

There is an alternate way to change this too. REUSE! Use reuseable waterbottles, shopping bags, hand-me-down clothes. Buy things that are not over packaged.

That brings up another subject.

In school we were talking about how, so many products are over packaged these days. For example, those little tuna snackers that you buy. . . the tuna is in a second package than everything else, the crackers are in a seperate little baggy, plus everything is inside all of this plastic packaging. Don't you think that this is a little much. . . it all gets thrown away anywayse. . . it is kind of dumb when you really think about it. . .

I am going to post a challenge for everyone that reads my blog. . .

Next time you go to the store try to buy things that are not overpackaged.

This post is getting quite long. . . Please comment!

Hurting and Lovin' it!

2008-10-17T18:59:00.000-07:00

Let me tell you, tonight's sihing class was really an eye opener for me!

It is definitely not easy to push yourself beyond your limits. Tonight's class taught me that.

I really do not know how to explain this, but, I have a challenge for everyone reading my blog.

When you have a moment, find some space and start slide stepping in your horse stance. . . keep going lower, and lower each time you step. Now do this for about three minutes.

After I finished doing this, my legs were burning so bad. Strangely though, I had this burning earg inside of me to keep going. Funny how that works.

That's all I really have to say for today!

Surprises in life. . . .

2008-10-05T09:46:00.000-07:00

Well this week has been really crummy for me.

Let me tell you, Life is full of surprises. Sometimes they are good surprises and sometimes they are bad. Dealing with the bad surprises, and making them turn out to be good surprises is the trick.

I just had a really big fight with my friend in school. I just didn't get why she got all mad at me all of a sudden either. She just kind of started ignoring me and acting like I wasn't a person! It was hard at first but then, I started trying to turn it into a good thing, and, you know what, it kind of works.

I just thought of how, having this happen to me, I know that when and if it happens again I'll be prepared. You really learn from the experience.

Anyway, having this happen to me really made me thankful that I have Kung-Fu in my life. With out it, I don' t think I would have handled this as well as I did. . .

Kung- Fu has taught me that, even when the tough gets tougher, you can always find a way through it. I always think to myself, that when I have a bad day in school, that at 5:00 or even 7:30, I will be at the studio, working my butt off, and feeling good about myself the whole time.

I guess what I am trying to say is that when I am feeling really down and bad about myself, that is when I really need to go to Kung- Fu and get that kick in the butt that I need. Without
Kung-Fu, I really don't think that I would feel as good about myself as I do today!

Wow,
Blogging all of this really makes me feel so much better.
I need to go do some push ups!

Training

2008-08-07T09:14:00.000-07:00

I know I have not posted on here for a very long time but here. .

These peoples are called the shoulin warriors. They did a show here in Edmonton about a year or two ago and they were amazing. In the pamphlet we picked up It tells how much discipling that they have to have in order to be as amazing and good as they are. . . about 2-4 hours every day they have to practice. Talk about dediation. . .

Here is a link to youtube to one of the videos of them. . .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7X_iEfvWho

SORRY

2008-05-08T06:51:00.000-07:00

sorry i havent been ablet to get onto my blog in a while. But it finally works now!

But i have been doing my pushups

Pushups to date

9200 pushups

pushups

2008-04-17T18:09:00.000-07:00

pushups to date..................

7200

pushups

2008-04-11T19:41:00.001-07:00

total to date...

6300

Just a thought about the kung fu sparring class

2008-04-08T19:50:00.000-07:00

I have just joined the sparring class and i jus have a word to say about those who are thinking of joining it...

It is a really good experence to join this class. Tonight i sparred against someone who was older than me, way way way taller, and more agressive than me. Let me tell you to spar her it was a really great experence for me. It boost my confindence and really showed me that no matter how little...(let me tell you way way little) you are. You can do anything you put your mind to...

Well i have to get off of my computer now...

Sihing Katelyn Wonsiak

Ps...

I won that match lol. But it was only because she had a handy cap. NO FAIR.LOL

PUSH UPS

2008-04-08T19:49:00.000-07:00

total to date...

5 850

push ups to date

2008-04-06T09:05:00.000-07:00

total pushups to date. . .

5 700

2008-04-05T10:13:00.000-07:00

push ups

2008-04-01T20:16:00.000-07:00

I havent been on here since March 20th and i was in saskatoon and didn't have access to a computer. so this tally is going to have that whole time peroid added to it so here goes...

pushups to date

4950!

wow thats a big number!

2008-03-20T19:51:00.000-07:00

I havent been on my blog in a while so added to todays pushups will be march 15,16,17,18,19 and 20th!

Pushups to date...

3150

k... Im not even going to give this a name...

2008-03-14T19:03:00.000-07:00

TOTAL PUSHUPS TO DATE...

2100!

I Think u already know whats comming

2008-03-13T19:21:00.000-07:00

Push ups to date...

1950

Mor push up counting!!! ;-)

2008-03-12T20:10:00.000-07:00

Push ups to date...

1 800!

Push-up log

2008-03-10T19:46:00.000-07:00

Push-ups to date

1 500!

PUSH-UP LOG

2008-03-09T18:29:00.000-07:00

Push-ups to date

1350!!!

a quick thought

2008-03-09T11:38:00.000-07:00

I just want to say that i think that blogging is a great thing to do. It really helps you to express what your thinking and what your going through. Its so true that if you are going through a tough experience, and if you share it with other people that are going through the same problem, they can give you advice on how to deal with it...

So if you don't have a blog and are really considering getting one... I highly recommend it. I've only just started and I have a feeling that I'm going to be thankful that I'm doing it in the long run.