It has been a long time since I wrote on these Chronicles. Almost two years have passed since my last entry, and there has been some water under the bridge.

Since getting a black belt in Kung Fu, I’ve kept up my training and even passed a few black belt gradings. As always, it’s very satisfying to learn new forms (especially when they involve weapons) and I would also like to think my sparring skills have improved. Even went competing again the other year, but the tournaments have lost their luster.

Tempted to turn them into action figures for my son

My friend and fellow instructor Nick English decided to move to Hong Kong in order to chase the dream of becoming an actor, and so he created his own show reel which I posted on this blog earlier. Between us we created a fight choreography, which was an inspiring experience. It was also an eye opener in terms of just how much time and effort it takes to choreograph, rehearse and record a fight scene – just a few seconds on screen took many hours of work! The talented Ming Ng made everything look ridiculously good; check out his Vimeo channel here.

This all made me hungry for more, but unfortunately work commitments demanded my full attention for quite some time. This is why most recent posts on this blog are basically hey-check-this-out articles. Still, the creative process kept churning in my head and a few project ideas started taking shape.

The main initiative that came to me was that I would like to write a book. Yes I said it; I’m writing a book. It feels like a natural progression (and challenge) after putting my thoughts and experiences on this blog. Without revealing too much, I can tell that it will be a Fantasy novel featuring a wealth of martial arts. Who knows, if this turns out well there could be a series of books coming up. I’ll share more on this in future posts.

The excellent Wheel of Time series has been a major inspiration

When the time was right I contacted Ming again for another recording project, which gave me the motivation to get back into shape. Getting properly fit took significant time and effort, but eventually we were able to record the whole thing. As I’m writing this the video is still undergoing editing but it’s already looking damn good, in my humble opinion. Once the post-production editing is complete it’ll be going on the blog as soon as possible.

As a final side project, I had a quick photoshoot with my friend Xander that has not only a quality camera, but also strong Photoshop powers. A few shots of yours truly with my trusty Kwan Dao has led to some very cool shots – including the slick header photo you can now see on the blog. Apart from magic powers (and a very cool name), Xander recently founded Good Knight Studios which aims to publish interactive stories and games for children. There’s just no stopping some people.

“Good Knight” – get it? Get it? Ah, you guys…

Going forward my training will focus on getting through the black belt gradings and, perhaps, one day, fight in the UWM league with my weapon of choice against other martial artists. But really, it’s the creative stuff on the side that keeps the passion going.

So there you have it; although I have been quiet lately, it’s for good reason. Stay tuned for future posts!

– Lobo