Tai Chi

I'm a little caught up on a verb. I don't quite know what the correct verb is when someone 'does' Tai Chi. Does one 'perform' Tai Chi or 'practice' Tai Chi or maybe 'execute'? I think that I'm at the 'practice' stage since I've only been at it for a little over a month. On one level, Tai Chi is a martial art and is supposedly quite an effective and even deadly form of self defense. I'm not really interested in the martial arts aspect but I can see that the basic moves can be combative and defensive.


My interest is in the flexibility, exercise and health aspects. I have been practicing Tai Chi for several weeks and I can tell that I am a lot more flexible and I have better balance. I have a hour-long class each week and practice about a half hour each day at home. The half hour goes by very quickly and I have gone on longer at times.


I wasn't aware of the meditative aspect of Tai Chi until I started the class. It always looked like work and exercise to me but I was always interested in it. Once I got started the rhythmic breathing and repetitive movements at an almost slow-motion pace really lead you into a calm meditative state and reduces stress.


I also didn't know anything about the history of Tai Chi but there are a number of styles or Tai Chi families. Our class is in a Yang style but there are apparently even multiple styles within the Yang family. The class is offered through AARP so we are probably doing the AARP Yang style. I am one of the younger people in the class so that surely has an impact on what direction we take.



Joanne took a Tai Chi class at the YMCA at one time but was frustrated because the instructor tried to move the class too fast. From not knowing anything the first week to performing elaborate sequences of forms in a very short time frame. The class I'm taking is primarily focused on the basic forms and not so much of the sequential movements. That makes it more understandable than what her class was trying to do.

^~^~^~^

25 Random Things

OK -- there is a disease going around where someone is compelled or otherwise possessed to post twenty-five random things about themselves or about anything in general. We, the staff of Feral Chats, have composed such a list...

1. My blog partner and cat, Watson, watches TV and seems to really like the Charmin toilet paper bears.

2. Recessions suck. This one will really suck no matter what President Obama does. Both Bush presidents left office with the economy in a mess....but I digress.

3. I have lived about 5 'lives' in my lifetime, so far....Joie lived about 8 (at least). Don't be afraid to reinvent yourself from time to time.

4. Fly fishing is cool. So is Tai Chi. So is kite flying.

5. Bach, Beethoven, Verdi, Shakespeare, Jefferson, Joseph Conrad, Mandela, Cicero, Jesus, and a good dictionary will pretty much work for me if stranded on a desert island.

6. I like to cook and I'm good at it. I also make a really good home brew beer.

7. I decided years ago to retire early because life is short and we have no guarantee that we will be able to enjoy retirement if we wait until the 'usual' retirement age. I retired at 52 but worked part time for seven years in a job I really enjoyed. That was a nice time to spend with Joanne and we got to do a lot but I miss her a lot.

8. I really have gotten more conservative as I get older (no, really, I have)...but I was raised by a (small 's') socialist so I'm still pretty liberal.

9. I've rafted the Colorado and tubed the Chattahoochee. Scuba diving was cool but I've given it up. I think I'd like to go hang-gliding but not skydiving. I spent far too much time in caves when I was young and that was probably the riskiest sport I did.

10. I played soccer and was a right forward -- now they call them strikers. Our team was so bad we had four strikers and still couldn't win.

11. I wanted to get a PhD in history specializing in Latin American History and eventually teach in college. I didn't but that's OK too. I might go back to school sometime.

12. We built the Panama Canal, the transcontinental railroad, Hoover Dam and mastered heavier than air flight without the cell phone. We do our best work without being constantly tethered to somebody else. (so turn the damn thing off and drive!!!)

13. I had pet ducks when I was a kid.....they are filthy animals.

14. Getting old sucks but being young can suck too. Take care of your body and it will take care of you.

15. I like my old truck and will probably spend more money on it than it is worth.

16. I can hardly wait to move to New Mexico...but I might need to be better at Spanish than I am.

17. I want to visit Ireland, Italy (again), India, Peru, Belize, and Ethiopia.

18. I only need to lose about 25 pounds...I have big bones.

19. We in the US are totally out of touch with the what is happening in rest of the world...thanks to our incompetent or slanted news providers. Try to get your news from other sources if you can.

20. What idiot writes the music for slot machines? And does Billy Mays have an indoor voice?

21. I was born during a meteor shower and enjoy watching the meteors each year on my birthday on August 12 (for over 45 years by now.)

22. Some cool places to live would be any place in Umbria, San Francisco, Bernalillo NM, Swansboro NC, Vancouver, Sebastian FL, Mendocino, St. Louis and maybe even Jeff City. (But...There really isn't anything good to say about Missouri weather.)

23. Recent research shows that our skills in critical thinking and analysis have declined as our use of technology has increased. I think that is true. We can now make more mistakes in shorter time than ever before.

24. God exists and loves us but never promised that we would have a long, easy or pain-free life.

25. Take time to count your blessings. Learn to forgive. Take time to grieve. Wear clean underwear. Always carry a handkerchief.

Yeah, yeah, yeah...that's probably more than 25 but who cares...nobody is going to read this anyway.

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On bad news and good news -- reposted

  
Good News Follows Bad (Originally posted 12/26/2008 on another blog)


 I guess its just the way of the world. I was hell-bent to have a nice Christmas and was pretty well inundated with bad news for most of December. We are close to people who suffered family deaths and we all experienced a lot of sadness. Then, as we approached Christmas, we learned of the engagement of our dear friend Oksana and much of the gloom was lifted.

Oksana spends Christmas with us almost every year and I consider her to be part of the family. She and my daughter are almost like sisters so that makes her almost like a daughter. We were able to worm most of the happy story out of her over the course of the Christmas holiday and we were even able to meet the lucky fiance through a video link to his family home in Italy. Damiano is a very nice young man and they both are very excited.
The wedding will be at least a year off and there is a lot that Oksana has to stay focused on in her job search but this was great news that made our Christmas even more special than we expected.


Loss and Sweet Memories (originally posted 12/12/2008 on another blog)

This is tough. The youngest son of some dear friends has died. Joe was a young man just starting out in the world at age 29. It was a joy watching him grow up from a little kid and seeing him grow into a young man with such potential. He was blessed in many ways...but first by the gift of wonderful parents and an older brother.


Joe was a unique person that followed his own path and found what he wanted to find. He seemed to find joy from life and the challenges that he encountered. He had the capacity to share some of that joy with people around him. Joe's was the second death that happened to friend's families this month. Another friend's grandmother died early in December. She was more of a mother than a grandmother to him and had a very stabilizing influence in the family. Both of these deaths were unexpected and quite sudden. While the death of someone in her late 80s is difficult, it is not outside the realm of what we might expect. The sudden death of a 29 year old is something that shouldn't be happening and we are at a loss and it seems like the rules of life are broken.

Life is short. No one promised us that we would have a long life or an easy life. Take time to express your feelings and your love for people and reflect on the many blessings and contributions that people make to your life while they are here...and while you are here. I think we express this through our actions, most of the time, but it would be better to actually tell them how much they mean to us while we have the chance.