The Carreau's Nest

You know, for a stick with two sticks tied to it, this thing's weird. On paper, if you start articulating the thing it should behave exactly like a stick, but I've learned that if you go too slow the outer segments become "wiggly". In order to properly spin this thing around, you basically have to go full speed. That's great for combat and all but for somebody who's picking up the weapon for the first time, I'm not too confident in my ability to stop the damn thing. Also still getting used to changing my grip on the weapon. without any form of... well, form, I'm finding it hard to predict where the segment I'm trying to grab currently is/is going. That's probably another issue of me not going full speed and having the segments "wiggle" out of my hands. In terms of a standard grip, I learned that I can grasp the two outer segments and use them like I am dual wielding 2 sticks. The center segment doesn't seem to get in the way as lo...

 Probably should have made this blog the day of, but two blogs in two weeks might be tied with my personal record at the moment so I'm fine with it. Back on Tuesday we were experimenting with some punches and kicks on the bag. The kicks felt fine, but my focus was more when I went to punch the bag. I had to stop after a few blows to let my hands recover, which in the past isn't necessarily normal for me. A bit of a wake up in terms of my training. It's been so long since I worked with the bag that my hands weren't used to striking anything, and my arms were slightly sore the next day as well (albeit we were striking from overhead, which isn't a muscle group that I use frequently to begin with). Thinking back, I'm not quite sure when the last time I ran through my forms was. My personal focus, as well as just about every class for the past month, has been focused on either lion dancing or my personal fan form. Personally, I really need to some time of day, or a d...

 Long time, no blog (again). Thought I'd help myself get back on track by recounting some of my thoughts from the banquet while it's still mildly fresh in my mind. As far as I can tell, the night went pretty smoothly. No major screw ups, people seem like they were enjoying themselves. Food service was significantly less stressful than I was anticipating camera mostly because I felt like I was going in with so little information, when in reality there wasn't much information to be given. An extra person at the station would have been nice, but we still managed nonetheless. The lion dance felt solid, albeit I can't comment on anyone else's performance due to being in the back half of a lion myself. My weapon demo probably was the thing I am most disappointed in. I'm sure the techniques look fine from the outside(at least to the untrained eye), but just about every single one of the kicks I threw were somehow off balance. If I had to guess, I think I was focusing t...