Rocks and hard places

Well this past week has been a trip.  A truck breakdown in Moose Jaw, a part that is backed up such that I am number 201 at the dealership for getting it repaired left me between a rock and a hard place.  A person that relies solely on my vehicle for completing my job, forced me into a midnight bus trip on Friday to Grande Prairie, 0.5hrs of sleep over 36 hours power driving to the kwoon for the I ho Chuan meeting on Saturday.  The meeting was good but really hit me fairly hard.  A combination of emotions from missing Canada Day because of waiting on a dealership in Moose Jaw to diagnose the truck problem, really left me out sorts.  Hearing about the awesomeness of the experience added fuel to the fire.  It’s good to hear and watch the video of the demos going on without you but it does leave a bit of a let down inside.  Especially when all intentions and planning were to hit the Canada day demo.

Understanding that things have not gone well for me in the past 4 weeks in terms of blogging really makes it tough for me to swallow.  Blogging is crucial, but more important is reading teammates blogs.  I haven’t read a teammates blog for several weeks now.  I haven’t posted in several weeks.  For the last three weeks it has been field work, a ton of driving, followed by a mountain of paperwork.  Every day, up at 5, field work, paperwork to very late, start again the next day.  On travel through Edmonton, stop say hi to the kids, drop the oil in the truck, reset for the next project, maybe weed whip the three foot high weeds in the back yard, and get moving to the next project.  I have been ground into a pile of dust the past couple of weeks, and the result has not been positive for me or my family.

 

As Master Brinker pointed out, there is always time, and excuses lead to missed opportunities.  What I can say though to people who may think my absence is voluntary, is that when I am at home, I am at the Kwoon.  I truly am trying my best to make every possible effort to be a positive member of the team.  I do apologize for my absence, and real lack of involvement in the projects, demo’s, classes, blog posting, and meetings.

Now, moving from the real drag of a read for blog followers, let’s shift gears.  I watched the demo posted, and it looked awesome guys!  It really is very inspiring to watch, especially seeing the improvement of the forms of the members of the team.  The bridge actually looked rehearsed, from a great video perspective as well (fountain and seagulls included).

I had a talk with Sifu Langner outside the kwoon and it led to an interesting conversation.  I realized that the past couple years in the I Ho Chuan, both of which I started off with intents to grade, I made the decision not to follow through because goals of the I Ho Chuan were falling out of reach.  While my effort to complete what I could did not change, my perspective did, which probably affected my performance for that year.  This year I have finally changed my perspective and am not allowing my failures of yesterday to affect my successes today.  Every day I am seeking to move forward.  When I fail, I reset.  This blog is proof of that. 

Oh ya, in case you are a techno geek, camp nowhere, located about 100k west of Manning.  GPS coordinates 57degrees, 18 minutes, 10.82 seconds N.  118degrees, 39 minutes, 9.34seconds W.

vincekrebs@blogspot.com