Today we tried something new while running the mountain. Instead of carrying backpacks filled with rocks, we decided to try to carry each other up. Four of us: Mike, Ricardo, Tom, and myself, ended up taking turns giving each other piggyback rides the whole way up. Having two people always running, we paired up and began our [very] long journey.

Surprisingly, I enjoyed this new form of mountain running very much. It was very difficult when I had to run, but it was also nice being able to take a short break and be carried :P I think the hardest part of the run was when I had to carry Tom (who weighs about 30lbs more than me) from the middle. Mike was carrying Ricardo and we had agreed to stop at a certain point. However, I decided to try for a little more and ended up stopping a few yards away from the next big hill. Mike, not to be out done followed and then decided to run up the hill. Dang. Because of this, I had to take Tom all the way up until we reached them :P

Here's a shot of Mike giving me a piggyback ride as Xiao Hu runs next to us. [Shot by Ricardo with my phone]


It was a very nice experience.. but left me pretty drained for the rest of the day. Would I do it again? ..Sure :)

Also.. we tried having a bonding session last night. How? We got together and played Scrabble at the dinner table. Let's just say it brought us together, but took way too long. Our game lasted about two hours and by the end, everyone wanted to go to bed. It was a long day, was already 10pm, and we still had a day of training ahead of us.

Here are Mike and Patrick enjoying the game. It's quite clear that the looks on their faces express nothing but pure joy and happiness :P

I guess it's been a while since an actual written post. Many times I intend to update, but couldn't think of anything to say. I kind of just sat there for a while and then either gave up or went to do something else. So.. sorry for keeping people waiting. Here goes:

Over the past couple of weeks, I have been thinking of and planning my next couple trips to and from the East Coast. I think everything has been settled now. The plan for this summer is to head back to Massachusetts after the semester ends and stay there for about week to see friends/family. After that, I will be returning to California to help out with the seminars at the Retreat Center. As for the winter, instead of taking time off from mid-December to mid-January, I will stay here, then head back to Massachusetts with Shifu in February. I just need to double check a couple things, but it looks like these are the final plans. I wish I could stay in Andover a bit longer for the summer. I would enjoy spending more time there, but the dates for the seminars are already set.

A couple things have been on my mind for a while now.

1. It seems as if we don't get enough time to ourselves here. By this I mean, alone time, not free time. We have a lot of free time. About an hour after lunch, then a few hours at night, after dinner. However, we are always stuck with the same people, all the time. It also doesn't help that some of us share rooms. Sometimes I would like some alone time, but there always seems to be somebody else there. Maybe it's just me. Something I will have to get used to. Or, maybe I'll have to adjust and go somewhere else to escape :P
2. On the exact opposite side.. it seems as if we don't communicate with each other enough. When we do have free time, everybody runs off to do their own thing. Although we are usually in the same room, we all go off into our separate worlds. Depending on the day, we'll either go online, read, or study. However, it doesn't seem like we interact with each other, except for when we train (but that doesn't really count).
   

So.. on one side, I would like to have more alone time. But, on the other, I would like to hang out with my brothers more. I guess it's a thing of personal space vs. interaction with others.

We have spoken of these topics a little and we all agree that these two issues are definitely important and should be dealt with somehow. But.. nothing so far. Ricardo brought up the idea of buying some board games. I think this would be fun when the video games get boring (if that happens) :P And speaking of alternative ways of entertainment.. we just bought a ping pong table at KMart this past weekend. We were there shopping for dumbbells for our training and Patrick noticed a sign on the box. Clearance: $52. That cheap? We had to buy it. We figured it would not only be another form of entertainment for our free time, but would also be great for seminar times. Hopefully Shifu agrees with us :)

And some updates from the past week or so:

Thursday 2/12
Tom left yesterday for southern California to attend to some family affairs. We're uncertain when he'll be back.

Friday 2/13
It snowed all Thursday night and when we woke up for meditation, the whole mountain was white. It was nice to see snow again. Too bad the rain came in and made it all disappear.



Saturday 2/14
Rain! :(

Sunday 2/15
Still raining... and Patrick and Ricardo left for San Francisco. Patrick had to go get something done for his visa and Ricardo went with him. So.. just Mike and myself at the Center.

Monday 2/16
Tom, Patrick, and Ricardo were still gone. So, Mike and I had to practice on our own. It was weird having only two people but training went on. Our afternoon practice session was cut short a little bit because it was still raining (yes, for about 3 days now). We had to practice inside and had to miss a couple of activities.

Tuesday 2/17
Patrick and Ricardo called in. The place Patrick had an appointment at screwed up. They forgot Monday was a holiday and had set a time for him. Apparently they called him and left a message, but he never got it. So.. they had to stay in San Francisco for another day. This meant only two for training again. Luckily Justin came for Taijiquan practice and made things more interesting. Practicing push hands drills with someone I wasn't used to was nice. Oh.. and still raining :(

And.. happy birthday Ricardo! 25? You old man! ..which is why we call you 爺爺 :P

Wednesday 2/18
No rain! Yay! That's about it.

Well, it's been a while.. some more comics :)

我和 Patrick 星期四早上送師父去機場，因為他要回到 Boston 一個月去教課。師父不在的時候，雖然感覺有一點怪怪，可是我們還是一起認真練習。中文課現在是我負責。 我星期一要給他們考試，所以現在大家很認真復習。

我和 Patrick 現在要做幾件事:
第一件﹕我們要完成台灣之行的短片，寄給YMAA，作成 DVD，然後放在網上。
第二件﹕我們要寫好我們的太極拳 DVD 的文章。Rii 兩個禮拜後要來幫我們拍照。


星期五下午﹐我去 Garberville 上網, 因為在那邊比我們這邊快很多。我在那裡送出我的文章的照片給 Kung Fu Magazine。他們說應該會登在他們的下一期裡面。

Patrick and I took Shifu to the airport on Thursday morning because he was heading back to Boston for a month to teach. It's pretty strange not having him here but we continue to train hard. I am in charge of Chinese classes and have prepared a test for the guys. They are now studying very hard.

Patrick and I now also have two big projects to take care of.
1. Finish editing the footage we have of our trip to Taiwan and send it into YMAA so that we can create a DVD and put some stuff online.
2. Write a script for our Taijiquan Applications DVD and start plotting out how we want our shoots to be. Rii will be coming in about two weeks to help us out and we need to have everything prepared.

On Friday afternoon I went into Garberville to use the Internet there. It is a lot faster than the connection we have here. I had to send in some pictures to Kung Fu Magazine for my article. They said that it should be inside their next issue.