Last week I was worried about overtraining. This week was the opposite problem. Though Bert has really stepped up his support by taking over almost all the ferrying, meals, housework and homework supervision, I found that Birthday celebrations, problems with Janet's course schedules, volleyball tryouts, work, a house showing and the need for two taxi drivers for one evening of our daughters' separate extra curricular activities got in the way. By Wednesday I realized that I needed to take aggressive measures to fit in the appropriate minimal amount of training. So I cut my work day short so that I could get in the first decent physical conditioning workout of the week. It turns out that, aside from the shaolin fitness class on Saturday, that was the only day I got in an intense physical workout. So I'm glad I did it.

The forms seminar was also an intense workout, but specifically on kempo, which is the form I chose to focus on. Shaolin class was a brutally intense class focusing on the timed kicks, and very worthwhile. Ji Kung class is helping with centre, breathing, awareness of skeletal alignment, and mobility. Some of these things will help with the black belt test, but the real benefit will come over a much longer time, when skeletal alignment can be perfected, centre truly utilized, and mobility and flow more fully developed. This is what is exciting about the Chi Kung class - I can see it taking the Kung Fu to much greater levels. After black belt testing, I hope to make Chi Kung central to my further training and improvement.

The most important thing happening this week is Sihing Kichko's charity run for suicide prevention and awareness. She is passionate about this cause, and I know that there are many more of us at Silent River that realize how close to home suicide hits. I can guarantee it, that in any one of our kung fu classes, there are at least 2 people who have struggled with suicidal thoughts at some point in their lives, and a further 4 or 5 people who have personally been affected by it. Yesterday, as I drove my daughter home from a badminton session, she told me about a boy that she had been training with over the past 3 years. This boy was the same age as Jill. He was a typical fellow. At 15 he was a little annoying as he struggled with his feelings about girls and his own self esteem. He tended to put others down. He constantly put Jill down, and did outrageous things that attracted attention. But he asked her out too; constantly. I often chatted with this boy's mom and dad at tournaments and training sessions. We shared stories of raising two active kids; the driving, the growing pains, the role of sports and so on. We laughed over her son's attempts to present a macho image, but he was so typical, and we both expected him to mature into a fine young man. But he didn't. At 17, spurned by girlfriend, he killed himself earlier this summer.

With guys, you just never know. They tend not to give any warning that registers. It seems that they just do it before anyone realizes that they are in pain. There are warning signals, but those close to them have to be aware because the signals are so subtle. This is what suicide prevention and awareness week is all about.