Awesome show last night.

Last night I went to the Foo Fighters concert at the AAC. Melissa and her Mom are really big fans along with the rest of her family and the told me that I should go. I liked them but didn't really consider myself a fan, but agreed to go. I am very glad I did. It was probably the most entertaining show that I have ever seen. The music was good and it was very energetic. We had really good seats not on the floor but just off of it. I have seen a lot of 311 concerts and while their music might be a little more energetic this show is much more entertaining. Dave Grohl was cracking jokes and whipping the crowd up. I will definitely go again and now consider myself a fan.

The opening bands were OK, I suppose. The first was called Against Me which is a punk style band. I am not a big fan of punk but this seemed more like The Cult to me. It wasn't bad but wasn't great. I might give some of their stuff another listen because it was hard to make out the vocals. The other band was Jimmy Eat World. I have a CD of theirs on my IPOD and thought that I would enjoy them. They were OK, I am kind of indifferent about them. They sounded exactly like they did on the CD which is a good thing. I hate bands that over edit their sound. It was just kind of boring though I guess.

AAC is where the Dallas Stars play so obviously the arena is in the shape of a hockey ring. About halfway through the show a mini stage dropped down and the Foo Fighters went down and played a few acoustic songs on the other end. It was very impressive. I remember in high school when they came out I was not overly into them, I was really missing out. This was one of the best shows I have ever been to, definitely the most entertaining.

OK lets talk about the test. I tested for up to 3rd level blue on Saturday and I really don't think I did a very good job. I am not sure what it was I felt prepared but I guess just nerves. I took Kevin and his girlfriend Lisa and Chad to the test so they can see what I have been talking about for the past 2 years. Sifu does a really good job of explaining exactly what you are seeing at the tests, which is a big deal because Wing Chun can look like patty cake if you don't know what your looking at. My spectators really enjoyed the test and that is really good, they were slightly impressed I think.

After my test Tai Chi Bobby took his test for his first red. This is a really big deal for a number of reasons so we stayed to watch that. Tai Chi before this month never had any testing, you just learned what Sifu told you to. Just recently he has started to build a curriculum for this style and wanted to start having tests for it. Most people think of Tai Chi and think of old people in the park they don't think of it as a fighting art. Sifu teaches it as a combat art and the difference is night and day. Sifu spent a lot of time explaining to us what we were seeing because a lot of people had no idea.

The other reason why it is a big deal is because at the red sash level you are a senior student. You can teach other people on your own with Sifu's blessing. It is also a big deal because the test you take at first red is the last test you will take publicly, after that all the tests are close door with Sifu and students your level or higher. So its a pretty huge deal.

Bobby, this comes to no surprise if you have met him, did amazing. He was taking on multiple attackers and throwing people and it was really really amazing. On part of his test Sifu worked with him because no one else in Tai Chi is able to, that was really cool to watch. Tai Chi is so completely different from Wing Chun, its night and day. Congrats to Bobby for a great test.

Since I tested I am getting to work on some new material. We have been working a lot of the ground fighting. Wing Chun is not a ground/grappling art but because of the popularity of Ultimate Fighting a lot of people are studying that kind of stuff, its important to know how to fight that way as well. I am really enjoying the ground fighting we are learning some really good stuff. Eventually it will be able to be done as one fluid piece but right now we are breaking it down section by section. The sensitivity training that we work on really helps with the ground fighting. I can feel where someone is planning to go its really crazy.

This is turning out to be a huge post I will start to wrap it up. I played some poker yesterday before the show. I played less than 1,000 hands and made 8 buy ins. Hopefully its the beginning of a long time coming much needed heater. It would be very nice to actually get out of my break even stretch that I have been stuck in for quite some time. I will play a little bit more once I get home.

That is really it for now.
Until later.

Good news and Bad news

Well traditionally you give the bad news first and who am I to break tradition. My heads up tournament is over. I was eliminated in the first round by a guy who was really very lucky. I played OK, but didn't run great. I picked up AA a few times and he open folded. I won the first match and lost the second. In the tie breaker I had him on the ropes, I 3 bet with 44 and he shoved and I call and he has AQ. Of course an Ace hits the flop but no big deal. Then I have a flush and open ended straight draw and we have all the money in and miss. Then i pick up AK and he has AJ, I shove over his raise and he snap calls. Flops a flush draw and hits it on the turn.

The guy really wasn't overly great, he was pretty passive for the most part. He allowed me to see a lot of flops for pretty cheap. I am OK with my play, I got it in on the final hand as a 67% favorite. He was a bit of a calling station, he called 3 shells with bottom pair on more than one occasion. No big deal though you have to get lucky in a tournament and I didn't, shit happens.

The GREAT news is that I am testing this month. I have been working pretty hard lately and I am really glad that Sifu says that I am ready to test. This next level has a lot of really good stuff in it, arm breaking drill, corner drill, and chi sao progressions. The test is on the 19th of this month, Matt will be in town and will be able to make it which is cool. My friends Kevin and Chad are going to come spectate to see what all the hype is about, I am pretty excited about that as well. I am determined to be a little bit more prepared for this test than I was on my last test, so I am going to hook up with Jim and work on some stuff.

We have been working on a little ground work in class. Escaping from headlocks on the ground is all that we have covered so far but its so sick. I really enjoy the ground fighting things that we do and I cant wait to do a lot more of it. It is a great work out and really tires my ass out. On Monday after class I did some touch hands with Bobby. He studies Tai Chi and has been for a long time and is very good. This was my first real experience doing anything with someone outside of Wing Chun and he wore my ass out. It is so different from Wing Chun that I was basically at a loss through out the entire session. I will say that by doing as much of that as possible my Kung-Fu will get much much better, so I will try to do it as much as possible.

Poker is still there but have been taking it easy here lately. I am up for the month but not really making any progress. At some point I will redeposit probably to take advantage of the bonus and make a real go of it. I want to get my laptop before I do any of that though.

Well that is it really. I will update soon.
Until later.

Poker is rough

OK it is not that bad I guess. I have moved back down to the lowest limit possible just to try out a few new things. I played 707 hands and made 4 buy ins. It should have been like 15 but I run horrible.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1891963
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1891967
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1891973

Those are really the only big pots I lost where I got sucked out on. I am going to continue 12 tabling for awhile. I can beat this level without really even thinking.

Kung-Fu last night was really good, but I was pretty worn out since I had missed so much class. Good news is since classes are getting so big Sifu moved up some of the second hour guys into third hour. So that means I am not the most junior student and they have to vacuum. HELL YEA.

That is really it for now, just wanted to post a quick update so get into the habit.
Until later.

Its a New Year people.

Well I am here at work and I feel like shit. I would have called in but everyone would have assumed that I was just hung over, I didn't want that so I came in. I am going home early though. My voice is shot and I cant stop coughing. I didn't do anything at all last night, I am kind of irritated with myself about that. It just makes me feel old. I had some plans but they fell through and I didn't want to drive to Dallas or Arlington or some place far and then have to drive home. Melissa and I sat at home and watched "I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry." It was a pretty funny movie, I laughed a lot. Tonight I will watch "Ocean's Thirteen", I don't have overly high hopes for this movie but I will give it a shot.

With it being a new year I am compelled to make New Year's Resolutions. I am about as good at keeping these as I am with keeping this blog up to date. So that is of course the first one, I will make 2 entries per week. I am going to start working out at the FREE gym at work 3 times per week. I don't really have any goals as far as how I want that to work out. I just want to tone up a little bit and increase my endurance. I am going to stop skipping Kung-Fu classes and be a lot more consistent. I want to start making it to a few of the Friday night classes as well as doing my forms daily as part of my work out routine. I want to be in a new vehicle by the end of the year. I want to keep better track of my money, it seems to disappear with nothing to show for it. I would be OK if I spent money on clothes or something, but I have no idea where it goes.

As far as poker goes my goals are not as detailed as I would like them to be. Stop tilting, stop auto piloting are the big ones. All my other goals will come if I do these two things. I want to move back to 25NL and stay there and move up from there. I would like to get some coaching once my roll can handle it, but I don't think I need it until 50NL or so. Hopefully things go semi according to plan. I would like to play more of the local live tournies that I have had a lot of success with in the past. Hopefully I can start dealing again soon and that would give me a large boost to my roll.

That is really it as far as resolutions go. I am going to make a habit of trying to be in a better mood and not let little shit get to me like it usually does.

I guess that is it for now. I will post again tomorrow or the next day with the "Ocean's Twelve" review.

Until later.