My new companion!


 


I finally settled on a weapon and I may have some regrets.😜

I was still humming and hawing over the choice of my weapon for this year until last week. I played with a bunch of different ideas but at the banquette I started eyeing the fan and decided this would be a good weapon to travel around with, as we will be gone to Germany for two month pretty soon.

When I learned Toudai Ferris chose the fan as well, I first was taking this as a sign to choose a different weapon and leave this one for another year, but Jason made my brain go wild when he asked "why don't you guys make up a fan-form together?!"

While this is an exciting idea it is also overwhelming and the fact that I won't be around for two month doesn't help. Trying to figure this all out without ever even having had a fan in my hand seemed impossible, so I ended up ordering my fan on a whim and I have been playing since.

4 things I have learned about my new weapon !

1. Fans are loud!
Fans are not just showy and potentially distracting for an opponent they also make loud noises.
This changes a bit how I will be able to do my repetitions, as I do practice my form a lot late at night when my kids are in bed and I "need" regular breaks from my felting.

2. Fans are weirdly addictive!

I will say the sound is rather satisfying and addicting!
Since I got this fan its always in somebodies hand and you will hear constantly brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.
The sound seems extremally triggering to, as soon as you hear it you want to do it your self. Great when my boys go brrrrrrrrrrrrrrr and I get triggered, not so great when I try to practice and my boys come running for my weapon. 

3. Fans hurt more than my quirl!

In this last week I hurt myself more with my new weapon than the whole last year with my potato masher! From the toes to the nose and a bunch of slices on the palm on my hand, what did I do...?

4. Fans are not as easy as they look (or looked to me).

I did not take into account that a fan has moving parts and when I try to decide on some combinations, I have to first understand the trajectory of these parts. And as if that is not enough already there is also two sides to it or maybe I should say 4! Obviously 2 different sides of the opened fan, one of which should face me and the other facing the opponent or realistically more the audience. But there is also different sides when it comes to the opening, one that opens all the way and one that only opens up approximately to 1/3. This may seem obvious but I will say, I was surprisingly surprised about how that challenges my rather significant coordination problems and I questioned again: "what have I done"!

I'm sure this is only the beginning of what there is to learn about fans and I'm totally joking about having regrets. While I didn't anticipate these new insights I discovered in the last week, I actually fell in love with it right away and I have fully adopted it as my new constant companion!

On this note, I actually also experienced a bit of sadness to abandon my quirl. I know I'm not saying good by to it, as I will practice my form from time to time and of course it will be used ones or twice a year for yummy potato balls but still, I guess last year I formed a significant relationship with a kitchen tool, who knew this was possible!😂

SU    1900
PU    1675
Fan    37
Hand    6
Sparring 0
Km    29
AOK    32



Comments

  1. Kayley BurkeFebruary 21, 2024 at 8:48 PM

    Awesome blog! Great insights and it seems like this weapon will give you lots of opportunities to learn more about your kung fu!

    ReplyDelete

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