Hey Loura!

Taijiquan - Lu

Wed, 06 May 2026 10:27:30 -0400

Continuing on with my haiku series around “Songs of The Eight Postures” attributed to T’an Meng-hsien and translated by Lee N. Scheele here is my second entry, Lu.

Lu is often associated with the “rollback” technique. It’s a yielding and redirecting… force. The reason I hesitate to put the word “force” is that when force (external) is applied, it’s already changed into a different energy/technique. It’s one of the most internal and in my mind, transient, of the eight.

My Version - Lu

the water wheel coils
lithely adhering, yielding
directing from center

their reach at its peak
enters an open eddy
itself finds empty

Songs of The Eight Postures - Lu

What is the meaning of Lu energy?
Entice the opponent toward you by allowing him to advance,
lightly and nimbly follow his incoming force
without disconnecting and without resisting.
When his force reaches its farthest extent,
it will naturally become empty.
The opponent can then be let go or countered at will.
Maintain your central equilibrium
and your opponent cannot gain an advantage.

Tue, 05 May 2026 15:11:38 -0400

One garden bed done. Nine more to go… 🌱

Taijiquan - Peng

Mon, 04 May 2026 14:41:56 -0400

I’ve been diving deeper into taijiquan and re-reading the classics. It’s been so long I’ve forgotten most of what I read. One reason being I’m coming at them from a translation, in a different time period and culture. So the meaning doesn’t stay with me.

There’s one in particular that I was reading over the weekend, “Songs of The Eight Postures” attributed to T’an Meng-hsien and translated by Lee N. Scheele. It’s a series of short instructional poems on the eight energies. I was inspired to try my hand at making some myself, that are more intuitive to me personally so they might stick with me a bit longer.

I decided the series would be in pairs haikus. One speaking to the internal/personal feel and one speaking to the external/opponents perspective. I want to keep the meaning of classics apparent (as my understanding of them allows) while adding in my own imagery. I hope to revisit these haiku’s as I progress, making changes as needed. My poem is in no way meant to speak like the classics or be authoritative.

This is the first of the set

My Version - Peng

spine long and crown high
sunk deep buoyant chi fills
surging spring, root fed

a thousand pound press
finds a ball on water -
itself floats away

Songs of The Eight Postures - Peng

What is the meaning of Peng energy?
It is like the water supporting a moving boat.
First sink the ch'i to the tan-t'ien,
then hold the head as if suspended from above.
The entire body is filled with springlike energy,
opening and closing in a very quick moment.
Even if the opponent uses a thousand pounds of force,
he can be uprooted and made to float without difficulty.

Tue, 28 Apr 2026 13:02:57 -0400

It’s nice enough to each lunch outside. I’m loving this.

Mon, 27 Apr 2026 15:26:15 -0400

Sigh, it looks like Deno Deploy Classic is being sunsetted mid-July. Guess I’ll have to move, Lillihub 🐸, my micro.blog client, to the new one or start hosting it myself.

Tue, 21 Apr 2026 13:05:22 -0400

This weekend I reached for Claude AI to see how it does with an SVG heavy design. It struggled with keeping things in proportion and keeping perspective. I had to nudge it and do hand edits. SVG’s are not my forte but together we brought my concept to life. I think its adorable. Check it out.

Mon, 13 Apr 2026 15:34:59 -0400

My poor memory strikes again. I was talking with my sister that I would love, love, love to go see Les Misérables some day on stage when my husband speaks up and tells me he took me to see it already 🤔😆 Woops.

Wed, 08 Apr 2026 10:27:04 -0400

Two years later and my other kid needs cookies. At least this time my child checked in the morning well ahead of the lab 😆

March 8th - April 4th Practice Log

Tue, 07 Apr 2026 09:06:23 -0400

Tai Chi

Tai Chi and Kung Fu Practice Log

March 8th - April 4th

Stats

28 days logged
approx. 42 hours practiced (class + personal)
approx. 4.1 hours standing meditation
20 forms tai chi & kung fu

“When the opponent does not move, you will not move; when the opponent slightly moves, you move first.”

— Yáng Bān-Hóu · on Pushing Hands

Personal Practice Focus

01: Opening the Hip Joint I included daily kua opening exercises, researched the anatomy of the hip, and explored releasing into the hip socket during move transitions.

02: Standing Meditation I worked up from 6-8 minute sessions to 20 min sessions over the month. By April I needed to do less posture corrections.

03: Explosive Power Most moves in Taijiquan have an element of explosive power to them. I drilled silk reeling and fajin expression in my weekly rotation.

04: Sensitivity and Structure Regular weekly pushing hands practice in class and deep form corrections in 64 Guan Ping Yang Form.

Fri, 27 Mar 2026 09:53:30 -0400

Now that I got my pkm tool to where I want it, my next project is going to be a CMS that lets me build a website like a sticker book.

Wed, 25 Mar 2026 10:42:54 -0400

I feeling the digital mess of my files across devices pretty strongly today. The urge to toss everything in an archive folder and zip it… is strong. But I'll still know there is a mess of files within it. Don't get me started on digital photos. It's my blog too. It feels messy and disordered right now, not theme-wise (though I kinda want to switch back to my rpg one) but the micro posts and the long posts all together. I've outgrown some categories. I struggle because I both want everything in one place but also organized and consistent. Arg… I guess it's just one of those days.

Sun, 22 Mar 2026 13:18:10 -0400

I’m required to use Claude at work so I’ve been testing it out. My favorite so far: A PWA quine PKM system. Took what I liked from Logseq (outline - simplified) and single file architecture (Tiddlywiki). I also added in sync to Micro.blog’s private notes with chunking. Came together in a day.

Thu, 05 Mar 2026 14:29:31 -0400

I’ve had kid(s) for a decade and a half now, and I’m still surprised how early registration opens up for things… like summer camp. Guess I know what I’m researching this evening.

Thu, 05 Mar 2026 12:18:37 -0400

Read as text

Using AI at Work

Well, the time finally came. My boss wants me to start using AI in my workflow. In anticipation I've been playing around with Claude Code the last couple of weeks. It's improved since the last time I tried it out.

Maybe that's why I'm feeling drawn to this handwriting mood with my blog. Something a bit more me that isn't a quick prompt into existence.

Shrug

Tue, 03 Mar 2026 11:29:02 -0400

Read as text

I got up this morning around 3am because… my brain sucks sometimes. Anyway, it was cloudy then and its still cloudy now. Oh well…

♥ Loura

Mon, 02 Mar 2026 22:15:00 -0400

Read as text

My kid fell in love with the local agricultural school during a summer camp session. This year our state switched all technical schools to be lottery based. We filled out the application and today was the day. We waited…

No luck. I have a very sad kid.

Handwriting a blog

Sun, 01 Mar 2026 22:15:00 -0400

Read as text

One of the nice things about going to my kids swim meet is that I have time to let my mind wander.

A few years ago, I came across a website called "Handwritten. blog." Sadly, it is no longer hosted but you can still see some of it on the internet archive [1].

Maybe it was because I was reading on my e-ink tablet. Or perhaps I'm just tired of my current blog design again. But why not give it a shot?

One thing is obvious, editing posts will be a nightmare. Usually I take my time and will rewrite a blog post a few times. Not gonna happen if I'm writing these out long hand. So yeah… a little unpolished it is.

♥ Loura

Links
[1] Internet Archive

Mon, 23 Feb 2026 19:31:12 -0400

Our town reported 25in of snow for today’s blizzard. Though I feel like we got more. Not the best day for a shear pin to break on the snow blower. So we got to hand shovel the way too long driveway.

Sat, 31 Jan 2026 17:28:44 -0400

I purchased a variety of green teas to try for the new year. As a way to take quiet moments and enjoy some health benefits. Today’s selection: premium dragon well long jing. It has a nice smell and its quite mellow.

Fri, 30 Jan 2026 19:12:26 -0400

I downloaded the hobonichi app to see if I liked it more than day one. It is cuter which may help me stick, but I like the encrypted option of day one and with day one I can use the android share sheet and get thoughts like these into Micro.blog. I’m going to give each a month and then decide.

App Defaults 2026

Fri, 30 Jan 2026 09:46:42 -0400

Quite a few changes from my last update in 2023:

📧 Email Client (Web): Fastmail

📧 Email Client (Android): e/os default mail app (K-9 Mail fork)

🕸️ Website: Micro.blog & Namecheap

📝✅ Notes + Todos: Index cards, Micro.blog private notes (both notes and todos), and Logseq (for work notes)

📔 Journal: Hobonichi 5 year, trying out Day one

📸 Photo Management: Ente

🗓️ Calendar (Web): Fastmail

🗓️ Calendar (Android): e/os default calendar app

🎁 Cloud file storage (unencrypted): Fastmail

🎁 Cloud file storage (encrypted): 1password

👽 Contacts: e/os default Android app

🌐 Browser: Brave (hoping for Kagi browser soon)

🔎 Search Engine: Kagi

💬 Chat: e/os default + Signal

🔖 Bookmarks: Micro.blog

💵 Budgeting: self-hosted dumb budget app

💵 Personal Finance: Micro.blog private notes (self aggregated data)

📰 News: Allsides

🔐 Password Management: 1password

🎨 Photo Editing: Paint.Net

👩‍💻 Code Editor: Visual Studio Code or Visual Studio

📚 Books: Self-hosted - audiobookshelf + physical copies

Wed, 28 Jan 2026 22:36:49 -0400

I had a good time attending a virtual Homebrew Website Club meeting this evening while I worked on my blog redesign. I was inspired by a codepen I came across for a journal with flipping pages done with CSS. The design only shows for desktop and its still a work in progress, but I’m having a blast.

Tue, 27 Jan 2026 21:37:52 -0400

I didn’t realize day one now had a web app and an android app. I’m going to have to check it out.

Fri, 23 Jan 2026 13:35:24 -0400

Planting bamboo along a driveway is fun! Ignore that it’s impassable mess when covered in snow. Every winter storm we need to keep shaking the snow off to keep it from freezing to the ground. Maybe this is why the previous owner left 🤣 (they planted it).

Sun, 11 Jan 2026 13:19:06 -0400

I forgot how loud an indoor water park can get. The kids are having fun though 😄