[WushuPadawan001]

I just got home fifteen minutes ago from a Kung Fu tournament in Austin. It wasn?t anything huge, not like the one Nick Scrima hosts in Orlando. There was some good competition and the way the tournament was run was unusual. Instead of having divisions for Northern, Southern, staff, broadsword, etc. there were two divisions: Empty hand and weapons. Then everything was divided into age and experience. But the tournament is not the story, this is.

I got up to perform my empty hand routine, a Longfist form called Yi Lu Mei Fu. But there was a problem. The Wednesday before the tournament I learned all of Shaw Fu Ien (sort of a Longfist/Mantis form) in one night. To keep the form in my memory I made sure to run the form about twenty times Wednesday and continue to run the form in my head on Thursday and Friday. Today (Saturday) at the tournament I ran the form a few times to make sure I remembered it and to get warmed up without showing anyone the form I was going to compete with. Anyone who knows Yi Lu Mei Fu and Shaw Fu Ien knows that they have very similar openings. Thus when I went up to compete I began to run Shaw Fu Ien instead of Yi Lu Mei Fu. A few moves into the form I realized my mistake, froze up, and asked the judges to let me restart. Some cross looks later and I was starting again. Yet again I began to run Shaw Fu Ien but I was able to merge into Yi Lu Mei Fu shortly into it.

I recieved the highest scores of all the competitors and victory was within my grasp. It went 9.8, 9.8, and 9.2. 9.2? The judges gathered and discussed why one of them had scored me so low. The judge said that there must be a restart penalty in the advanced division of 0.5 points. After being rescored my results were 9.3, 9.3, 9.2.

Do to a lapse in my memory I did not place in empty hand. None the less I had some interesting conversations with the other competitors who quite well understood that if it was not for my mistake I would have easily won 

Then weapons came up. Because all weapons were being run together I had to decide between my spear and staff. For those who know me they understand that the spear was the obvious choice. I ran the form, slipped up a little because I was so damn hungry, and scored 9.8, 9.7, 9.7 (probably would have gotten all 9.8 and 9.9 if I didn?t mess up). Any-who, I won the weapons division, thanked the judges form taking the time to come to the tournament, and headed home.

Hope everyone enjoys my little story.

[Tease T Tickle]

and why do you prefer the spear?

[WushuPadawan001]

Not sure really. I just picked the spear up one day and it clicked. It?s the most natural weapon for me to use. As strange as it sounds I just know the spear. It is the only weapon that feels like an extension of my body but at the same time its own entity.
For those familiar with DS9 I?d say that I?m Judzia and the spear is the trill.

[nbotary]

Benjamin - Congrats on your win in the weapons category, although I never really doubted you'd walk away with anything less!

As for your mistake in the bare hand form, well, you live and learn. I would've like to have seen how you combined the two forms, especially since the openings of Yi Lu Mei Fu and Sahw Fu Ien are so similar. Drop me a pm and let me know how everyone else did...