Daily Training Diary
The intent is that this journal will chronicle my reconnection to Tai Chi,
after a long hiatus in which I've descended into a work- and self-induced cycle of
sedentary lifestyle, very little exercise and very long periods of sitting,
e.g., three to four hours per day of sitting while driving to work, plus
eight to ten hours of sitting at work, with few breaks due to intensity of work.
I indend this to be part web-log (blog) and part video journal. The video
aspect I intend to turn into a series of short videos on learning Tai Chi,
which I'll film using a DV camera, and edit using either PC or Mac software. If I'm lucky, I'll succeed in attracting my long-time teacher to this project. :-)
Wednesday, April 20th, 2005.
Aching to do short form, long form and straight sword form at lunch. Yesterday was aching (left knee) while doing short and long. ;-)
Phyllostachys -- Bamboo Thoughts
Sunday, August 15th, 2004.
So, since having written that piece on August 9th....I haven't done any tai chi. Why not? The usual
myriad reasons....too much work, to much surfing (the 'net kind), too much commuting. I've been
meaning each of the last 5 workdays to sneak off to a quiet room to begin filming my as-yet untitled
series on tai chi, to include instruction, practice and references to reading and studying tai chi.
So far, this is all in my head (except for the first 9 minutes of vid that I did on Monday, but I haven't
determined what format I'll post those in - Mac [iMovie and Final Cut Express] prob output in .mov;
winXP [using a supplied winXP (or HP?) vid capture software, and downloaded free-ware, to be named later]
outputs in either .wmv or .avi. I thought these would do mpeg, but I guess that's only with
certain types of cameras...?
I've been considering linux as a vid-editing medium, also, but I don't have a linux box set up currently.
www.videolan.org's software works with Win, Mac or Linux....but somehow linux seems more appropriate.
Although I helped found a local Linux user's group (www.wplug.org), I have not
taken the time to keep current with linux...my job is no longer in-depth tech stuff, and
my role with the group was primarily administrative....
but I digress....
I'm off to paint my house (I don't believe in siding - I consider that to be a modern cop-out, allowing
the natives to spend more time with the myriad satellite channels...). My main house has
metal siding...that's how it came to me 15 yrs ago....but my second house, next door, is
100-year-old clapboard, in dire need of TLC. That'll be my tai chi for today....
More to come.
..Alex.
Daily Reading - updated 08/15/2004
Monday, August 9th, 2004.
Recently, one of my brothers became aware of his family's concern about his
drinking problem - and was successfully able to confront it (after much internal
wrangling). I now am beginning to own up to a similar, though different problem.
After many years of enjoying and participating in Tai Chi and similar exercise pursuits,
I'm facing the reality of a sedentary lifestyle, where I find my self addicted to
no exercise...or
very little. I know that more exercise (assuming diet remains same)
will result in
more burning of calories, which can translate into both feeling better
and slimming down....but
I'm allowing the lifestyle to control me.
That's gotta stop - so I'll use a blend of Tai Chi and publishing to counteract that!
More to come.
..Alex.
Daily Reading
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Information in this document is subject guaranteed! to change without notice.
Updated: April 20th, 2005
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