Ricochet

Oh, yeah, that'll go over well. As foreveryoung001 said, talk to your sensei. Let him deal with it. He's probably the only one your friend's mom might listen to, anyway.

Everywhere I go on this site, it's 47MartialMan and Drunken Monkey dukin' it out! Oi-vey. Anyway, about the turtle avatar - I've picked the turtle as my symbol for several reasons. It started with the fact that I travel a lot, and since I'm a backpacker, the physical rememblance is there. Turtles are sturdy little creatures - they live in deserts, they swim in oceans, and some of them live to be over a hundred years old. They're slow and steady, and they win the race! Plus, as the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have shown us, they can totally kick butt when need be. Figures it'd be a masculine thing. Edit: I'm a yellow belt! Rock on!

Not sure if you were referring to me when you said, "as the guy says," but if you were, for future reference, I'm a woman.

Yeah, the problem basically is that these words weren't originally written with the Roman alphabet, compounded, of course, by the fact that depending on where you go, you get different pronounciations.

If you want to know about real ninjas, just go here. I owe my vast knowledge about all things ninjitsu to this site. This guy has obviously done his homework. That site is cool; and by cool, I mean totally sweet.

It would be wrong to talk about "Western philosophy" or "Eastern philosophy." There are many philosophies in both the East and the West stretching back for thousands of years, and each has something different to say. If you are interested in philosophy, I suggest you take a class where they will give you a general overview, though know beforehand that there is no way that it could be comprehensive.

Shorinryu Sensei, yes, I'm female. Which is the only requirement there is to get hit on several times a day when you're in Paris. Most of the women go around with this scowl on their faces because anything else will get unwanted attention. Americans, on the other hand, smile quite a bit, and this can have an undesireable effect in most places around the world. You learn to get over it. Fast. *Stares at gcav. What?

Grrr... this thing hates me. Sorry for the triple post. Is there a way to delete posts, by any chance?

Ack! Sorry. Evil message board.

...which brings us back to square one. It just sounded interesting, is all. Learning from books and videos isn't really my thing, anyway. I need real classes. I was mostly just curious. So, DM - if you're not into the monkey styles, why the name? Curiosity again, you know.

You might have slept funny. Diagnosis in this forum is impossible. If the pain persists, you should see a doctor. But in the meantime, I would suggest doing some gentle stretching of the neck and shoulders, maybe putting some heat on it, and resting until it quits.

So is jow really necessary? I'm always a little suspicious of that herbal medicine stuff. Would simply massaging the area one would normally apply jow to do the trick as well?

When I lived in France, I used to get hit on by creepy guys sometimes. I found that saying anything to them, even "Go away" only encouraged them. Eventually, however, I found that a cold stare would send them on their way. I called it the Icy Parisian Stare Attack!

Do you know Mandarin, Hudson? Cause, you know, that might help. Unless the folks at the school speak english, or there are translators. Something to look into.

At my school, they pronounce it "hung ga" even though they spell it "hung gar." I know a bit of hung gar. I like it. Dunno what taekwondo is like, though, so I can't really compare. Ask if you can sit in on the class. If you like what they're doing - go for it!

Just me being silly. He's a villain on a cartoon.

Sure, the brain is all right, but you ever try hitting a guy with one? Big mess. I want to learn the fan. Come on - imagine the look on people's faces when you tell them you could defeat someone with a fan. Oh, yeah.

Heh. Not exactly helpful, guys. Ah, well, whatcha gonna do? Of course, as far as I'm concerned, the only true master of Tai Shing Pek Kwar is Lord Monty Fiske. I have no life. *Wonders if anyone knows what she's talking about.

That monkey kung fu guy. At least, that's how he bills himself. Oftentimes in the martial arts, however, one finds oneself surrounded by frauds and fakes, so I ask you: Is he legit?

*Whistles. That is some hardcore stuff, Chen. Anyway, I have a question: Is that ointment (forget the name) that you're supposed to put on after doing the iron body conditioning really necessary, or is it just another rip-off?

I'm a metal rooster - now that brings a strange image to the mind. Bah, how can I be a rooster if I'm female? I agree with MonkeyGirl - I'd rather be a monkey. Monkeys are cool.

Yep. The style you like enough to continue working at. My advice to you would be to, as the song says, shop around. Go to various martial arts classes in your area, talk to the instructors, ask to sit in on the class and see what goes on (not to mention find out the cost). Also, don't limit your search to just kung fu. You might end up liking something you never even thought about before. I used to take karate, but there was no karate club at my college, only kung fu. So I went, and I've been hooked ever since. It's important to keep your options open, otherwise, you never know what you'll miss.

This happened to me a couple of months ago: I was sparring against my instructor, and tried for a front kick... he blocked with his elbow. I was limping for two weeks. Oh, the pain. The pain.

Yes, kung fu is a martial art (I don't know why anyone would claim otherwise). There are many different styles of kung fu, however. Where I learn it, we do Hung Gar and Choy Lee Fut, for example. But, basically, you got your punches, you got your kicks. Not really a grappling martial art. Interestingly, "kung fu" can be used to mean anything you're good at - it goes to its basic meaning, though it is most commonly used to refer to Chinese martial arts.