OK, I'm pretty bouyant at the moment. 'Bouyant' - what a polite understatement! At my Wing Chun class tonight I think I passed The First Test. Sifu asked me to do siu lim tau while he watched. He then asked me what the first section was for (developing gung lik), what the second section was for (developing fa jing) and what the final section was for (practising application). Though when he first asked me, I didn't know what the third section was for. Part of the test involves the student being asked what the application of certain techniques is. After being asked how to use a hoon sau and another technique I don't know the name of (although I knew both applications), the penny clicked and I realised that the final section of siu lim tau is for ..... practising the application of techniques.
It was weird because it wasn't formerly announced that this was 'The Test', so I'm assuming it was. Sifu showed me and another student chum kiu, which we then practised over and over so I think I did pass the test. Thing is, I'm too scared to ask in case he says no and I have to stop doing chum kiu! What a coward. We did it about 20 times in class and then after driving home I've done it another 10 times just to get it to sink in so I don't forget.
I'm going to do it another 10 times before I go to bed, just to make sure, and then that's what my morning practise will consist of too. It's not quite accurate to say I feel like I've just started learning, more like I've just found the start of the path. But it required work to find the path. Look at me, now I've started learning chum kiu I'm talking riddles.
This is going to mean another revision to my training plan! I'm going to have to do chum kiu at least 2 days out of the week, but I also don't want to have to give up any of the siu lim tau I'm doing. Something has to give. I'm going to have to give up my job!
It's taken me a 2 years and 9 months to get to this point and to tell the truth, I wouldn't have minded if it took me much longer before I started the new form. I hate the idea of ascending the heights undersevedly. I know I've not ascended heights just yet, but you know what I mean. I want to have really earned what I get. If I'm not ready, I don't want to 'move up'. I want to practise more, get better, and move up only when I'm ready.
Gotta go. More chum kiu to do!
It's not actually the whole of chum kiu we did, just the first half. I'm over the moon regardless. Chuffed to bits. Ecstatic. Made up. Gobsmacked. Reeling. Buzzing, man.
