yes, it's been another tiring week. i think my ea and i have fallen into a good routine, where we address student objectives rapidly. and in the morning and after school, i'm able to (mostly) meet with my distance learners, and progress with them. life hasn't been much more than this, actually. i still return home exhausted. i have managed to take care of the plants more. i water them in the evenings (sometimes also in the mornings before going to work, when it is still very dark). i also turn the two compost piles i've created. the first, generated more than a month ago, is looking very good. it is all dark, almost one consistency... although they say that it's not truly compost until you can't recognize what's in it. currently, you can still make out bits of leaves and hair (yes, you read that right- for this pile, i utilized a bunch of hair from the barber shop that i go to... hair, pound for pound, contains more nitrogen than most sources, including manure). the second pile is more recent, and is made from a lot of leaves. in fact, i think i was trying to reverse the experiment of the first pile. the first pile was done in a ratio of 2 parts "green" (nitrogenous) waste to 1 part "brown" (carbon) waste. this second pile reverses that ratio. i'd just like to see which one produces better compost, faster...
i should also mention that, when the occasion is appropriate, i also do pee on the compost piles. urine is also a ready source of nitrogen, and (unlike feces) is relatively clean and bacteria free.
i also have a vermicompost (worm) bin. for a while, it's been stinking up really bad, mainly because i haven't been maintaining it, and i haven't been allowing it to breathe. most things, even in the decomposition process, require a lot of oxygen. denying oxygen (anaerobic processes) usually lead to fermentation and putrescence... a build up of a lot of toxic substances. toxic, meaning, not conducive to life. so any way, what i have been doing is tilting the vermicompost bin on its side to drain off the excess liquid (too much liquid can be fatal for the worms, and also chokes off the oxygen). i then "turn" the contents of the vermicompost bin, in a manner similar to the way i turn the compost piles... this eliminates compaction and brings more oxygen to all parts of the bin. now, the bin seems a bit less smelly, and the worms seem more animated and happy...
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i have been watching more taijiquan videos of late. for a while i despaired of doing taijiquan. i mean, i saw videos of mma fighters trying to "debunk" traditional martial arts styles from china, basically by setting up matches and then proceeding to kick the asses of so-called masters... well, after seeing some of that, i realized, or thought i realized, that some of these traditional styles are not functional in real world fighting situations... which basically meant that they had no point, really, outside from looking really fancy. taijiquan, which never had much of a reputation as being an effective martial art anyway, seemed pretty pointless from that standpoint... maybe a moving yoga or something, for elderly people like me... but little else.
anyway, i have recently been watching videos of more modern masters of taijiquan, who are able to embody some of the high-sounding principles and techniques of the art. one was pretty convincing, and demonstrated how he was able to neutralize almost any attack, whether it was a strike, kick, or grappling move. it had to do with what is called fajin, or the emission of power... this master demonstrated that fajin had nothing to do with physics or structure, as many previous practitioners had expressed. rather, true fajin was on another level entirely, and could be communicated purely by touch.
i know it sounds fake. but i've read some of the classics, and i've seen old masters demonstrate similar techniques. and so, now, i'm willing to try to do taijiquan again, but in earnest. i'm not going to focus on forms (which are actually not important, in the sense of imparting useable techniques...). rather, i'm going to focus on the internal elements, particularly song (relax) and ding (suspend). i'm returning to the practice of zhan zhuang (pole standing), which has always been somewhat mysterious to me. when i used to do it, my body would spontaneously start vibrating and twisting... i thought it was maybe due to muscle fatigue. but now, i'm beginning to think that it has something to do with the release of pent up tension in the body. through regular zhan zhuang, i'm hoping to relax internally. this is the first step to building up the qi that makes internal martial arts possible...
yes, maybe it's a lot of hokey baloney stuff. but what have i got to lose? i'm no spring chicken. i can't do boxing or muay thai any better than someone half my age. i'd more likely injure myself. why not do something harmless like this?
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oh, i'm excited about doing this writing workshop with this guy named jason fong. he's a writer for some shows (not sure which). but he holds these free workshops. i watched the video of the process in those workshops, and it seems like a lot of fun. basically, about four or five people meet together, write together, and then "read" their scripts. then they get immediate feedback... i think maybe the camaraderie would make the writing process come alive. at least, that's the hope. i think writing can become very solipsistic and depressing and uncertain when it is always done alone.
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