Push hands and punk rockers
2001-10-24 8:10 a.m.
The girl in front of me in the coffee line paid for her coffee and then left without it. And you thought I was a ditz.
Kung fu last night very extremely cool. I decided to go to the 7:30 class which is for beginners. The intermediate class before was packed and it looked like they did a lot of wrestling. Everyone was sweaty but happy. Some of these guys sweat buckets. They are the guys you don't want to be partners with near the end of class. There are nights when I've come home with more of other people sweat on me than my own. *ick* I'm kind of glad I didn't hit the earlier class since I probably would have infected half the people there with my cold.
The beginning class only had two people. Me and a 13 year old kid trying out the adult classes. It was like having a private lesson. We worked on one of our forms, Mo ee do. We alternated this with practicing "push hands" with our sifu. It was incredibly fun and we did a lot of joking around and giggling. Normally we're almost militant in our discipline so this was a nice change. I got to be silly mouthy kung fu kitten instead of constantly biting my tongue. I won 2 out of 20 matches which is actually saying alot because sifu is good, very good.
Here's how you do push hands: you and a partner face each other in a stance that feels comfortable. Usually this is one foot a little in front of the other about shoulder width apart. You want to be close enough to your partner so you can push and/or pull him. Then you start trying to push each other off balance. Who ever moves their feet first loses. The more you sink into your stance (bend the knees) the more stable you are. It's actually a lot of fun, try it with your kids, roommates or coworkers.
I am disappointed that I'm only 39% punk. I wanted to be so much more. Now I feel old. I need to start a bar fight or hang out in a mosh pit.
I AM 39% PUNK.
