Tournament Pics and Vids

As promised, here are some pictures and videos from the tournament. Enjoy!

Ravi and me doing Xing Yi 2 Man Set...


Bryan getting his Chen on...


Elizabeth with some spear action...


Me laying the smack down on Gary (I lost this match)...

And I couldn't resist, so here's a slo-mo of my sweep from last year's tournament (please excuse the night vision)...

Impromptu Fast

The past week or so has been a veritable smörgåsbord of eating out and late night dinners, due mainly to the gathering of Shaolin-Do friends for testing and competing at this year's tournament. For those that know me, I am (almost) always thinking about food and/or eating and it is a rare occasion when I'm not in the mood to go out to eat, regardless of time or place. As a result of the past week's gluttony, however, I now feel like a fat cow. I weighed myself this morning and I was only 170, a good 3-4 pounds lighter than I thought I'd be, but it feels like I'm carrying around a sack of potatoes, thus my impromptu decision to fast for the next 72 hours...

I have fasted before, usually for 72 hours each time, allowing myself only water for the entire 3 days. This time I will also be drinking green tea, as it has some natural appetite suppressants and should help keep some of my energy up for the duration of the fast. My last meal was around 1am this morning, and it was a pretty nice meal to go out on. I'm working 2nd shift at work this week (4pm - 12am), and I ended up at Kerby Lane afterwards to read and get some grub. If you think their pancakes are good in the morning, try having them after midnight, they are phenomenal! I had one strawberry and one pumpkin pancake, along with half a pita pizza. Hit the spot without question.

So now I am about 16 hours into my fast, drinking a green tea, and obsessively thinking about what 2nd shift will be getting for dinner tonight. I think it is chicken fried steak night. I know it makes me a horrible person, but that just sounds so good right now. With mashed potatoes. And rolls. And cream gravy. Ok, Tommy, think happy thoughts. This is a great green tea. Very refreshing. With added citrus for that little extra kick. And cream gravy. Argh...

Tournament Results: Meh...

Well, the tournament did not go as well as I would have liked, but I still had a good time. I ended up placing 4th in Tai Chi forms, against a much larger crowd than last year at least. Ravi and I performed the Xing Yi 2-man set for the upper black belt forms competition, but didn't end up placing at all. There were a LOT of great forms done, so I don't feel too bad about losing out, but it would have been nice to live up to the past performances of Tommy and Dan with the same form.

Sparring was even worse. I lost 2 of 3 matches, and didn't even get close to making the finals. A pretty big disappointment from my 2nd place finish last year, I must admit. I can't even blame the draw, because my opponents, though tough, were not nearly as bad as they could have been (no Paul, Cory, Matt, or Sean). I must give a congrats to Ravi, though, for placing 4th against some very stiff competition. And an even bigger congrats to Elizabeth for getting 1st place in the MEN'S 1st Black Belt division. She completely schooled all the guys in that division. Awesome!

The rest of the weekend was fairly unproductive, but at least enjoyable. I went to some parties, the Black Belt Banquet, and out to eat way too many times. I'll try to download some pics and vids from this weekend and post them up here soon. This week looks to be a tough one. I haven't worked out much the last week due to the weird testing/tournament schedules, and I have been eating complete crap due to all the celebrating and general merry making for the same reasons. I have several pounds to lose, I'm working 2nd shift all week, and I work all weekend. I just want to go back to the beginning of this past weekend...

Much Procrastinated Update

I know, I know, I'm a horrible blogger. I've neglected my blogging duties for over a week now, leaving everyone wondering how I'm doing, what I'm up to, and how many extra push-ups I've had to do. Ok, maybe not, but I still feel neglectful so decided I have to post today no matter what.

Unfortunately, there's not too much to say. I finished my first No Video Games week without too many uncontrollable cravings. I think the very fact that I wasn't allowed to play made me want to even more, because there were some moments I was ready to call the whole thing off just to log a few hours on WoW. With some support, however, I managed to stay on the wagon and haven't even played yet this week either.

In other news, I have completed a few monthly chores and have plans to complete the rest with time to spare. I'm well into my current book, Play Money: Or, How I Quit My Day Job and Made Millions Trading Virtual Loot. When I finish it, I'll post a short review, but I can already say it's a must read for anyone into online gaming or with an interest in macroeconomics or virtual worlds. I also have a Kung Fu tournament and Black Belt Banquet coming up this weekend, which should provide plenty of photo ops. I'll post more on those events as they come to pass, along with any pictures that turn out well enough to share.

That's about it for now. Unless anything major happens, my next post will probably be post-tournament, so wish me luck! I'm hoping to compete in kung fu forms, tai chi forms, and sparring. Last year I did pretty well, but I expect the competition to be even stiffer this year since I'll be in the 2nd degree and up division in several events. Anyway, it should be a good time and I'm looking forward to it! If you're in the area and interested in coming to watch, just let me know, or go here for more info: http://www.austinkungfu.com/2008springfest.asp

So very tired...

Well, for anyone that read through the comments for my last post, there were a total of 4 workouts posted that I ended up going through. I must admit that I cheated a little as I didn't complete the last one until today. Honestly, though, I was pretty exhausted from classes and the extra workouts and didn't want to push it too far. I must say that there were some fairly grueling workouts posted. If you want to know exactly what each one was, just read the comments from my last entry, but here are some "awards" for each one:

1) Best workout to get your heart racing in 10 minutes: Ivan's gymnastics routine.
2) Longest and most overall tiring workout: Anh-Thu's 500 situps, 10 minutes of jump rope, and too many short katas to count.
3) Best workout where I was just glad my arms didn't fall off afterwards: Bryan's spartan workout.
4) Workout that most made me feel like a little girl: Elizabeth's Burpee and Tabata sets.

So, all in all, a good week for working out and losing a few extra pounds, but not something I'd ever like to do on even a semi-consistent basis...

On a different topic, last week was a wash in terms of completing my weekly goals. I only practiced guitar/piano once and only lifted once, so this week it's no video games. Sigh. This week looks to be a fairly boring week already, so not even being able to log on to WoW and killing a few hours kind of sucks. Actually, it really sucks. Hopefully I can use the extra time to catch up on reading and some of my monthly chores, but right now I just want to sleep...

We're All A Bunch Of Pansies

Yeah, you heard me. Pansies. We're all a bunch of freaking pansies for not trying out for the show. I thought about posting some excuses (or "reasons") for why I didn't make it, but the bottom line is I didn't go and there is no one else to truly blame but myself. So, in the spirit of the whole reward vs. punishment theme of this blog, I must undergo some serious castigation. This is where you all come in...

I am opening up the comments of this post to everyone for suggestions on physical forms of penance for my sins of cowardice and sloth. Since trying out for American Gladiators would have been a good test of my physical shape and ability, I'd like to focus my impending abuse on the same qualities. Whatever grueling forms of exercise you come up with, I will do this upcoming week. Pull-ups, running, crunches, whatever; name an exercise and the number of reps you think I deserve for chickening out, and I will do it this week. Please try to keep it realistic, a million push-ups is probably not going to happen, but an extra 100+ a day I can accomplish. There is no limit on comments, so please, EVERYONE try to post something.

P.S. Yes, E, you were right and we all suck. Happy? :)