2nd place....

I went to the Lancing Competition Saturday morning. Not a lot of people showed up, the competitors were all the students within the kungfu club. Although it was an open competition, the turn out was pretty low. A group from Ottawa apperantly attended past competitions, as did a group from Taiwan, but they didn't show up this year. Despite the low attendance, there were actually still quite a few people. Most of them were in the A category, where us beginners were in the B category. Although a lot of people signed up for the B category, only 4 of us showed up. The competition was point based. Each match last for 3 minutes, any clean thrust to the head or upper body was 3 points, and any slashes for strikes to the appendages were 1 point. The maximum points was 12. Whoever accumulates 12 points first, or has the most points at the end of the match wins. I was too defensive in my first 2 matches as I didn't know what to expect. As a result, I mostly blocked and hardly scored anything. I was really unhappy with my performance, and thus attacked much more fiercely in later matches. Turned out my accumulated points became the same as some other guy, and we had to fight a sudden death match ( were slashes don't count, and match is win by first clean thrust to the head/upper-body ). I won the match, and was placed 2nd. I'm pretty happy about the result though. Although I didn't score enough points to get 1st, I was able to dominant most of my matches, and I beat the 1st place guy 12-3. :) More photos can be found under Photos

Six harmoney lance

I'm practicing Six Harmonies Lance (六合大枪) in kungfu these days. The sifu have been trying to promote traditional Chinese lancing for years, and have developed a competitive sport centered around it. They have an open lance competition next week, and I'll compete in the beginner's level. I've just been introduced to the basic techniques for 2 weeks though, so I'm sure I'll get my behind handed to me. Nevertheless, the sport seems to be very fun. I'm starting to like a lot. Six Harmonies Lance is one of the fundamental training tools for Bajiquan. Because the lance has to be at least 10 feet long, it's not practical to use. But it really trains body coordination, explosive power, and waist strength. The only real inconvient for practicing the lance is that the lance itself is hard to come by. They are custom made, and cost about $200. Or I will have to make my own by rounding off a 2x2". Doing this to a 10' long block sounds like a lot of work...

Open Source Conference

I volunteered for the Open Source Conference. The conference itself cost around $500 to listen to all of the seminars. Being a volunteer though, I get to sit in on any one seminar of my choice. I listened to "Open Source Busines Model". The point the seminar raised was that although the name "open source" immidiately conjure up images of free software, the real selling point of open source software is not in their cost. Take China for example, because of the rampant and uncontrollable piracy industry there, the cost of software in most cases is not a strong point of concern. The Chinese government however, still choose Linux as their main platform of development ( See "Raising The Red Flag", Red Flag Linux ). The draw of open source is in the fact that it permits the user the freedom to modify the software to suit their own needs. Notice the key word here is "permit", since 99% of the users won't even look at the source code in most cases, let alone modifying them. Take Bittorrent for instance, how many people know it's written in Python? How many more actually tried to look at its file sharing algorithm? I know I didn't, reading the code that is. I like the car analogy that is used to describe open source. Imagine a car that has its hood wield shut, and any simple changes such as having the windshield wiper fluid refilled can only be done by Toyota. Ridiculous isn't it? However, this is the state that the software industry is in right now. Open source software simple opens up the hood of the car to the customers. Most customers will never have the need to replacing the engine or to modify the transmission, but the option is nevertheless there. This kind of freedom is the norm in all the other industries, with the software indutry being the oddball. Open source then, is simply a natural way of software development and distribution that puts the right of usage and content creation back to the user, enabling a more free exchange of information and knowlege. It prevents the formation of monopolies, and permits a more free economy to florish. It's clear that the IT software is not finished. We are at a crossroad right now. The old methods of doing things have taken us this far, with open source, we will continue to mature the industry towards a free market democracy. This is all begining to take shape right now, and people of my generation, the ones that are in university right now, will take part in it. How can one not become exciting when they hear of this? The future is bright indeed.

There's a certain truth in martial arts

Everybody looking to find their inner peace. Some drink tea, some do yoga, others prefer ikebana. I have found my inner peace in martial arts. It's the momments during an engagement that fascinates me. It's when the body contract and expand, and like an explosion, the shockwave of energy travels through the body from the abdomain to the extremeties. The mind would be silent, and I would be like an observer, watching as my body unfold as the punch or kick is thrown. At that specific moment, I would be at peace. My mind would be aboslutely tranquile, while I could feel my force shooting through my body like an arrow. I'm at a losss for words to describ the beauty I experience with this paradoxal combination of mind and body. I do love this type of 物の哀れ ( mono no aware ) aestheticism.