Drunken Monkey

...everyone is welcome. entry fee is (the last time i checked) US$3000. that is, US$1000 per 'year' and includes dorm accommodation hostel stylee and 'food'. not really sure what the 'house-rules' are, esp about leaving the site. i still believe that better shaolin kung fu is to be found outside of that place.

...lately, i've been hooked on the traithalon...

Here it's sunny (now), but we had torrential rain and flooding last night and earlier in the week what makes it even more strange is that last week, the rain only lasted half an hour round my parts but a mere 25-30 miles away in west london, parts of the major roads were closed from flooding... it's been consistantly in the 26-30 celcius round here but it seems to dropping off a bit. ahh, the joys of london.

..interesting. y'know, in the u.k, they tend to allow everything with the exception of spinning backfists and elbows. that's the general set of rules (can't remember the official title...) also, a lot of the fights tend to use full muay thai rules more and more now, especially with master sken's organised world championships.

arent "the way you train" and your "style" the same thing 10 mile runs every morning isn't boxing. weights/resistance/stamina training isn't boxing. training for 5 hours every day isn't boxing. getting into a ring and sparring heavy isn't boxing. boxing is the style. the above are ways of training.

.....i would say the effectiveness of boxers is due to the way they train and not the style. how many martial arts train in the same manner as a boxer does?

...no, he's only just started and is a yellow belt. now you understand why i'm so um, harsh?

..actually, not quite... wushu does mean quite literally 'martial art' but as i keep telling you guys, in chinese, the 'regular' fighting arts/styles weren't generally called 'martial arts'. the term used was 'wu kung' (or closer in cantonese, 'mo-kung'), which roughly translates to 'fighting-work/excercise/training'. when you talking about learning a fighting style, you generally (and it is a very general way...) say you are learning 'wu/mo'. BUT kung fu is a legitimate general term for the fighting arts. it has only been recently been taken to describe skills other than fighting. the more true/correct way to say you are learning a fighting art is to say you are leaning 'fist' ('kuen'). if further asked you can then give the full title, be it hung kuen, lee gar kuen, wing chun kuen etc etc. 'wushu' was not generally used. 'kung fu' was the common way to refer to fighting arts. it's not about legit or right or wrong. it's a grammer thing.

....guess who! sam bai fut. sam=three bai=pray/worship/bowing fut=buddha the sam bai fut is a small set of hand techniques that feature in their wing chun training. it is a chi kung form. there is also in another form of wing chun, a 'sam bai fut' that is a little 'combination' of hand movements. basically, tan sau, pak sau, gum sau. (you should know what these are by now....)

rude and offensive? i thought i was being rather 'restrained' with my words. anyway, are you offended because what i have said is true or because i have gotten you all wrong..? once again, look at what you have presented to us. you have barely started a martial art. that martial art is highly respected as being 'hard-core' and 'not messing about'. you come here and tell us that some other guy told you karate isn't 'street-effective' and so you ALREADY want to learn another style (albeit in the future) and to top it off, you spout someting about wanting to a be a grandmaster. do you have how any idea how people/kids i have had come up to me and say practically the same thing?

no... cream is good. every barman and cook knows the value of good quality cream...

....and so do i. with the exception of a few months every summer a few years back, all of my training has been here in the uk under english sifus and one hk guy. when i say 'kids' i am not talking about age but rather of mentality. i am 25 and i know that in some aspects, i am still very much a kid and i know i need to grow up and take those matters a bit more seriously. in other things, i am very much an old man...... ya get me?

milk is not evil. without it, you wouldn't have cheeeeeese....... or cream .....or...... .............ice cream......

.....nonono, this isn't about right or wrong..... it's about what kids are like these days. i know we should all be generous and give the benefit of the doubt and all that but well, let's be honest here. we all know what kids are like....

....that's kinda my point. it's not really part of any tradition. and well, he's clearly not really doing his homework, i mean, he is supposedly doing shorin ryu and yet fails to realise that it is one of the most authentic, hard-core styles of karate out there. unless of course his school is of the fast food variety. but then i find that hard to believe as i was under the impression that the shorin ryu schools are highly 'regulated'. well, at least they are here. i read somewhere that there is only ONE legitimate shorin ryu school in england.... (and i have had trouble even finding this one). shorin ryu is not one for mcdojos.... maybe i'm being a bit harsh here (again) but i'm reading this and all i can see, is a kid who wants to be called grandmaster.... let's see, what's more worthless? a trophy or a title?

the title 'grandmaster' means nothing. i'm not being all philosophical about the meaning of titles, i am be absolutely literal. in the japanese styles i believe that title does not exist. in the chinese styles it just means the teacher of your teacher. (much like grandfather means the father of your father) however, for some reason, the western world has totally missed this point and has taken the title to mean something more than it does. you want to be a 'grandmaster'? 'invent' your own style.

'Martial' being the combative training with military roots just gonna do my usual of pointing out that i) the term 'martial arts' is a western one that best approximates the original terms be it in chinese or japanese and ii) not all that is regarded as a 'martial art' has military roots (i'm not talking about its base inception, rather it's direct focus). in my opinion, the word martial was prefered because the other suitable word, 'fighting', was deemed too base and 'lowly'.... remember, the term was coined in the 60/70s where anything eastern was regarded as magic and superior. simply calling it 'fighting art' just doesn't seem right, nor does it encourage families to bring their children. when people talk in chinese about kung fu (as in fighting) and martial arts, they are often talking about very different things. kung fu is talking about things such as mantis, shaolin, wing chun, chin na, breaking etc etc. martial art is horseman-ship, field tactics, terrain studies, formations etc etc.

...how about you actually get somewhere with shorin ryu first? you've barely started and yet you are already thinking of doing something else? what makes it worse in my eyes is that this is based on what other people have said, not because of what you have found out.

...give me the money. i don't care now if it's $1,000,000 or £1,000,000. as long as it can pay for that holiday i want. and um, a nice hotel room. dammit. still on my mind....

a geek is just someone who is passionate about something and not afraid to show it. there's nothing wrong with that. on the other hand, i feel sorry for those who have nothing in their life worth shouting out for.

so um, what style? would help us explain things to you if we know what style.

...not that simple. it really is a case of 'she ain't interested'... going back to the cheesy 80s film scenarios. y'know, the last scene when the girl finally realises how much the guy has done to make her happy. well, in my film, that guy isn't me. and it looks like it never will be. .....just my luck, even in my film, i'm not actually the hero who gets the girl.... grr, you have no idea how much this annoys me; the whole situation reads too much like a really crap film. boy meets girl, boy falls in love with girl. boy becomes really good friends with girl. girl finds boyfriend. boy leaves them to be happy together. boyfriend breaks up with girl. boy and girl meet up again. boy still truly, madly and deeply.... except, unlike the usual film plots, girl only sees boy as a good friend. and y'know, i have kinda accepted it. i'm not that much of a silly little boy. i know when you don't feel that way about someone, nothing is really gonna change that. like the song goes. you can't always get what you want. and to be honest, i don't have a very good track record with girls. let's just say the one who ends up getting hurt, usually isn't me. i've been thinking about that a lot recently. basically, i've not given her any reason to give me that much trust. and the times that she has asked something of me, i have failed her. but then, that could just be me trying to salvage my role as the 'hero'. y'know, playing to the 'i love her but i know i am not good for her....' thing... gah..... ...i think i really have watched too many 80s films.

buddha hand? as in fut sau, right (with the 'sam bai fut' in their training) i haven't had the privilege of crossing hands with you guys. there aren't to my knowledge, many schools of that line around my parts.

....what can i say? my time zone gives me a posting advantage.... um, just a little picking again. when doing this type of movement, you don't have to drop your weight (although you can). i refer back to my example where the weight/balance is exactly the same and the step carries that position forwards. well, too many variations that depend on too many variables that depend on what you wanna do. i mean, if you wanna take the guy down you will want to drop your weight...

....that girl i mentioned. the one i can't get out of my head. is moving back up to her home in two weeks time. that means no more hanging out at her rented place here. no more cooking dinner for her. no more driving into china town for a soup noodle at 3am. i really feel like i'm losing her for good. is this now the time to get all melodramatic and do the cliched 80's film thing and confess my true feelings? or is it just going to be the old sensible, mature, real world of knowing that this isn't a film, i am not the star and i do not get the girl....?