#5 Things I Learned About Life From Wing Chun

[flowerslightning]

Tifa Lockhart and her Fighting Style

I did say about wanting to do Tifa’s character analysis. Instead of focusing on her background or personality, I am a lot more interested with her fighting skill.

As someone who likes and is training martial art, I have my eyes on this kind of stuff. I’ve always wanted to know what kind of martial arts did the devs referred to when they were creating Tifa’s movement set. Were they from Aikido? Could be Capoeira? Or maybe Taekwondo? Some of her movement reminds me to Tony Jaa and Yuri Boyka. 

The devs did say Tifa uses action-packed fighting moves, with simple control orders, similar like in the fighting games. So, they must be based on something in order to create realistic movement for her. Eg- Law (Tekken) his fighting style based on Drunken Master. Chun Li (Street Fighter) from Chinese Kenpo.

Let’s take a quick look on Tifa’s background. There was no firm record about her martial art background and all I got was just her being a student of Zangan. She learned Zangan-Ryu from him. Zangan was a resident of Nibelheim when the 'Nibelheim incident' occur. He found Tifa at the Mako Reactor and took her to a safer place. Knowing Tifa was badly injured, Zangan then brought Tifa to Midgar for further medical care. After some time, Zangan left Tifa to settle his thing. (in OG) He left a note on Tifa's piano after Nibelheim got reconstructed.

I watched Last Order again to reconfirm something. In that short OVA, Zangan and Tifa already knew each other. In which I quickly assume that Tifa was already his student.

Lets say, Tifa became Zangan's student at the age of 13 yrs old. The Nibelheim incident took place when Tifa was 15y/o. So, there were 2 yrs for Tifa to master the basic martial art movements. And Zangan took her under his wing at Midgar for probably a year or so before he left her alone.

Now, back to her fighting style. Previously, I thought Tifa's style was based on Muay Thai. And in second thought, perhaps it was Taekwondo, but Tifa (Remake, AC) uses her fist a lot, so Taekwondo is not her main style. Besides, Tifa is more to an ‘attacker’ type of fighter instead of “defender’. 

After gone through researching, this is what I’ve found ; (Pls note that this is nothing official)

1. Sommersoult (Muay Thai)

2. Refocus (Muay Thai) Some may suggest it’s a Taekwondo move, but judging from Tifa’s way of jumping, I think it more to Muay Thai

3. Dolphin Flurry (Gymnastic)

4. Divekick (Gymnastic)

5. Overpower (Taekwondo)

6. back cartwheel (Gymnastic)

7. Starshower (Boxing)

8. Refocus (Muay Thai/ Taekwondo)

9.  Unbridled Strength (Boxing)

10. Dolphin Flurry (Boxing)

I got super excited when I found the similarities in Tifa’s skill and the real-life fighter. I was like, “Look at my Tifa!! She’s pretty and strong. Pretty strong”. There are still some more but it’s hard to get a proper shot for Tifa’s movement. She has incredible speed.

As a conclusion, I would say that Tifa’s combat is Mixed Martial Art, with her dominant skills will be 1. Kickboxing | 2. Taekwondo | 3. Gymnastic | 4. Muay Thai. I’m glad the devs added Gymnastic to her fighting set, it gives an elegant movement to her instead of only violence

On to her background. These fighting skills take MANY-MANY-MANY YEARS to learn and yet Tifa manages to become a master of these in just a few years. Can you tell how awesome Tifa is? Unlike Cloud who got trained in military service, and his strength was enhanced with Mako infusion + Jenova Cell, Barret has a huge gun arm and Aerith being the last creature of her kind has magical abilities, Tifa on the other hand, she, as a normal people, has to work extra hard to gain these amazing skills. Even with these superior techniques, Tifa still remain calm, soft, and shy to everyone around her. This is something that I really admire about Tifa. 

Well ofc, 20y/o anime character is equivalent to 30y/o experienced fighter. 3 months training is similar to 3 years training. But we’re talking about fictional character here, not a real life person. So, it is understandable. 

I would have to say this, but training martial arts is not popular among girls. I’m a trainee, and I only have 1 ACTIVE FEMALE FRIEND (my only sparring buddy) in our big team. Girls dont like sweat or train their muscles. They love the title of ‘a student of martial art’ but they dont love the hard training. Tifa was one of a hundred girls that was ready to go through hell and yet still able to remain soft.

I have a theory (or more like a fandom) on why Tifa decided to learn Martial Arts. Remember the Vow under the star? Tifa asked Cloud to save her if she was in trouble, she asked her to be her ‘Hero’.

Right after Cloud left the village, Tifa probably became interested to learn some fighting skills. And then, there was Zangan in her hometown. Kinda like, “Cloud will become really strong after this and I want to be strong too”. And the reason she wanted to be strong perhaps she wanted to impress Cloud by the time they meet again.

Devs said Tifa wants a ‘Hero’ to save her, but they never mentioned about Tifa wanting to be a ‘Heroine’ (although in the FF7R, she’s the heroine). Even in Crisis Core, Tifa said it was every girl’s dream of having a ‘hero’ to save them. She never talked about heroine. Perhaps, being a heroine was never in her thought.

I would like to think that Tifa not only wants a Hero to save her, but she also wants to be someone her Hero can rely on. She doesnt want to be the ‘princess’ that stays behind the hero, rather she wants to be an ‘equal partner’ her hero can trust. As if her priority is to make sure the Hero is well covered, both emotionally and physically. And the hero she’s looking forward to...is Cloud Strife

And that was why she worked through hell so that she could stand RIGHT NEXT to her Hero, become the HERO’S SHIELD, support his back and more importantly, able to catch the hero before he fall down.

The more I learn about Tifa, the deeper my love goes for her. 

[jauneda1]

RWBY

The New War AU

"Author's note" This Au is a little different from the original RWBY adaptation, with slight character changes, and well War.

After Initiation and team selection

Jaune has already slipped away into the background in order to get away from everything going on in the ballroom. He soon finds himself writing in his notepad while silently thinking out new moves and ways to improve his swordsmanship. "I got nicked more times then I wanted during initiation. So much happened I tried to hide my true strength but that beowolf knocked my sword away I had no choice but to engage in hand to hand thank you dad for make the shield sharp around the edges and point. Atleast Yang is okay. I saw her get tossed by that deathstalker. Wait why am I worried about her she can handle it " Jaune let in a breath and then continued to walk around campus. Sooner or later he was going to have to face his team. He knew he wasn't ready for that also giving that he was the leader. " Man I can't believe I'm the leader of my own team, big sis owes me an apology. Saying I would never make team leader. Ricky would have made team leader."

Jaune had made his way back to the dorm room. Greeting his new team, he learned that outside of Pyrrha his other two teammates where pretty chill. Lie Ren being some sort of ninja or something close to it. Nora being bubbliey but lade back."Funny I was expecting the two of them to be completely different people but they act the same. Nora is like one of my little sister's." Pyrrha spoke up greeting Jaune and him to her even though they become partners in the forest they really didn't say much. Well Jaune didn't say much. When they crossed paths it was simple she saved him, he saved her round and round it goes. " Sorry if I came off distancing while in initiation. I was just focused on getting a high scoring." Pyrrha spoke to him and said oh no it's fine she had just hoped she hadn't rubbed him the wrong way.

After a few greetings a knock had came from the door. It was team RWBY who where they're neighbor's to Jaune's dismay. It wasn't really the fact of they're team but it's brawler. Yang Xiao long was one of Jaune's childhood bullies/crush she used to tell me to be a man back when we where in elementary. Then as we got older she would pick at my hight I used to pick at her boobs being huge and how they could be saggy if they get any bigger. But we've grown closer over the years. Her jokes and puns are funny too.

Group had a little get together party with Yang and Jaune sharing stories about the other from when they went to signal. Ruby would chime in to keep the two from fighting. Since there's a rivalry between the two. No one understood why till Jaune spoke. "It started on the first day at signal it was combat class and Yang underestimated me and got thrown out of the ring. This was before my father entrusted the family sword and shield to me so I would occasionally use boxing and simple judo, and jujitsu fighting style's." What Jaune didn't tell everyone was he has an intermediate almost advanced knowledge in Wing Chun fighting style. This is after he picked up the family sword he always made sure that if he were to every lose his sword in battle he would need a way to beat any and all enemy types. From Grimm to thugs and even other huntsman. Since so many have gone rogue his father thought it was necessary.

"Yang rushed me and it cost her a bump and a bruise when I grabbed her arm and used her momentum to throw her over my shoulder and into the ring out." Yang then spoke up and she had venomous spite in her voice. "Jaune now you know our combat class was always first to three. I beat you two times after that." Jaune spoke up now a bit agitated at the blonde beauty in front of him. " And yet I still beat you in the long run. Or did you forget that after all this this time?"

Ruby finally got in-between the two because they looked like they where gonna go at it again.

"Jeez you two are always like this, just hurry up and get back together already. You both know it's inevitable." Everyone in the room besides the three of them were shocked and surprised to say the least. Ruby finally explained while the two blondes turned they're heads away out of embarrassment. "It's been like this for about 3 years. During a house party they feuded with each other till Jaune had said something to her which made both of them leave the party together. The next thing people knew was that the Dragon and the White knight of Signal were dating."

Weiss spoke up. "Wait wait wait... You two are the Dragon and white knight of Signal academy? Do you two have any idea how well known you two are.?" Both Yang and Jaune looked at each other then back at Weiss not knowing what she was talking about. "Look at every pre-huntsman school they're are 5 students who are picked and given nicknames so that Huntsman Academies would know who to scout out in initiation. To get put in this top 5 you literally have to beat out everyone else in your school both academically and physically in training."

Blake have spoke up just to see if she understood what was being said. "So basically what your saying is that Yang and Jaune are in a league of their own?" Ruby then explained fully to Blake. "Well to be fair Me, Jaune, Yang, and Pyrrha. Are in the same level cap in a way of saying." Nora spoke up saying "oh so like a video game." With Ren saying "In a sense yes it is." Pyrrha took everything that everyone was saying and informed them that. "This is how Beacon has always done there team make ups. With two high grade fighters being budded up. The Initiation is held with an even amount of high grade students and low grade students. If by any chance r high grades come together they are split up. So for our team JNPR, Jaune and Myself are the high grades, and from what I gathered in skill wise from earlier Yang and Ruby are team RWBY'S high grades."

After everything was said the group noticed that Jaune and Yang weren't even there. Ren informed them that they left a while ago. Ruby said "Well this is normal they're always ditching lectures and class together, regardless if there together together or not."

On the roof our blondes were sitting with there leg's over the edge and leaning on each other, Yang spoke up. "Your not as talkative as much as you used to be."

Jaune responded with a low mutter which caused Yang to look more his way in hopes of getting a better response out of him. He finally succumbed to his feelings and brought up stone they were together. "Remember that time you told me it wasn't my fault."

Yang knew what was coming and was preparing to comfort her friend, the one and only man she loved.

"Ricky's death was my fault and always will be my fault and you getting hurt the way you did back then was." Jaune was cut off when Yang had pulled him into an embrace pulling him and herself away from the edge of the building. "Jaune..." Yang noticed the tears that are flowing down his face and she hated seeing him like this. It would hurt her more when she couldn't stop those tears. "Yang I know what your gonna say and ask. And yes the past year of me training and getting ready for this moment in my life. I've done nothing but think about how Ricky deserved to be here aswell that this was his dream school and all because I wanted to rush to get stronger H-h- ... He died saving me from my stupidity." Yang held him comforting him. Little did most people know was that Jaune may come off as a strong individual but he is very mentally weak with his life constantly pushing his mind to a break and collapse. Yang has always been there to keep that from happening. She has looked out and after him like he was a little brother and she started dating to do this more but also because she truly cares for him.

Jaune stopped his talking and embraced Yang back. "I'm sorry Yang I've just been lost in thought for so long that I've forgotten." "Jaune that's why I'm here to crack jokes and be by your side" Jaune thanked his fellow blonde with a kiss which was reciprocated. It wasn't long but it was enough to start a fire in the dragon as she pulled him down and got on top of him.

"So does this mean where together-together again or just a friend's with benefits thing."

"You tell me you kissed me first?"

The two began to embrace each other on the roof while secretly they where being watched by ember yellow eyes. "Huh they're bond is way deeper then Ruby told us."

That's a wrap part 2 should be out by tomorrow hopefully.

Hope you all have enjoyed

[besanii]

For the 'tell what you assume about me', not just from fics but from your posts too, you seem like someone who has her shit together and it really gives me a lot of hope as a very confused 21 year old that someday, maybe I will also have my shit together like you

ahhhhhh thank you for thinking I have my shit together hahahaha

I’m trying!! And gosh, I’m a full 10, almost 11 years older than you nonny so I’ve had a lot more time to practice. I definitely didn’t have my shit together when I went on my Tumblr hiatus about 4-5 years ago, but in that time I feel like I’ve really grown up, expanded my horizons by trying new things (like Wing Chun!), found a job I love and am damn good at, and just learned how to really love myself and my life???

It wasn’t easy, but a lot of it was just learning to say “fuck it, let’s go” and just do the thing I said I wanted to do before my brain can talk me out of it.

Oh, and also learning to say “thank you” in response to a compliment, instead of talking myself down. And learning to say nice things about myself, or complimenting myself, even when I’m not feeling it at the time. 

[top1course]

5 Things I Learned About Life From Wing Chun

A lot of people ask me why, why do I have, marshall videos, on my channel on Deadlox channel, well because, i’ve been practicing martial arts for, so many years in, i believe in business in March was there a lot of parallels, della things I learned from martial arts supply in sales and Entrepreneurship in business, and nothing to learn from business also apply to, marshall I believe a lot of those, things I need to connect it, today I want to share with you what are the five things I learned about life and business, from Winchester right, valuation, the first I want to chill with you is, when can we talk about the straight-line food right, and that’s why I walked go to punch in Manchester, district blast, and what he means is, when you’re facing the Pullman, an opponent doesn’t have to be a person it could be a scenario and obstacle in life, Sprite instead of, going a curve like a like a hole punch like a big round punch right, we want to see what is, the closest distance from a, to be, why what is the most efficient, to get something done, so instead of selling moonshine we don’t punch, this way we don’t have, this way we don’t like this way it’s, streamline, write in a second punch that when we punch, we don’t pull back and say it like I’d like a karate, right, then you come back, right, winter is much more like, machine gun, i just like if we do this right, right is much more like this, right when we practice we doing a drill with some sort right, place a straight line, pNC., so the straight line theory in business I believe is the same thing when we looking for solution, Sometimes we make it, way more complicated and needs to be sometimes the dissolution is so obvious, right in front of us and Hate, just go from this to this all but what about this, what about doesn’t work what a bell, it works too well and what if we fail what if no just boo, might just do that, and you get to your results so that, personal information. The second thing of living wage in Wichita, first thing is, that is, focus on the outcome another process, that Wing should we have a lot of trapping techniques, white dragon tattoo meaning, punch to Peter, so here I have an optical, from here I see the street lights okay I’m going to hit I’m going to hit., ivan Optical, but what happens in life, we get so attached to this, this Optical we, always focus on the process but we no longer focus on the outcome, The outcome is not.

That the Han, default the focus is here, these are the branches we want guys want to focus on the trees, right, so invention in Chinese to call about, so you might resolve means, we Chase The Mink the figure not, the hanse, we only do traffic when there’s an optic, so when there’s an obstacle, we can trap and we can hit, right so we are not, thinking about the hand it just, i try to hit, i try to hit this an obstacle then I can trap, lights off focus on how come we don’t lose sight of elk, i’m so that’s the second thing, the love of a child applies, in life as well and throw things at Livingston and data structure over, strength, not in business, sometimes you’re competing with a company that is, Much bigger that’s got more resources, capital u, more people wydella betabrand, what is a smaller company how do you beat a bigger guy right you can get wet, do that with strength, pretty bad right so what are you facing a guy with like 50 lb 200 200 lb 50 lb of Depends, if you strength, where’s the strength you going to lose, so Wing Chun is designed to, let’s do for the little guys, to beat the big guys, can you do that with, trying to do that with structure, if I was to, like push with Peter right arm like my muscle, pushing his pushing me like, but you can see that, again, right cuz I have no structure my structure is off, right, however if I have the proper estate winter structure, right, and then, instead of fighting force with force my structure, my shoulders relaxed, right, and then I, Besties, slowly giving me pressure, light, continue continue, seed now., because my structured give me strength, all his force is not transfer to the gram, like this, why didn’t more, lynn Livermore, right, but it’s not straight, what is justice, relax this, let’s see that, cell structure, play structures Walnut, my strapless bra, so structure, overstrength, the full thing of information and that is fundamental sulfur, fancy text, remember the first month when I learn Wing Chun, my Seafood my instructor was teaching me District punch right, the poll Foresman all we did is, we District, watch me. We do it this way, i do it this way we do it Forward maybe do it backward just, play this is a scam, i pay my tuition, doesn’t do anything just teaching me that s*** like, i was thinking, i want to learn this fancy techniques are they doing some cool fancy techniques, And suddenly, it’s like a bit that I Karate Kid wax on wax off, am I suicidal can now you hit somebody, not let me train you with this, it’s because I’ve been practicing for a month, how do you know, i was internalized some of the, the techniques very simple, technique in Wing Chun that’s very very simple it’s very direct and we don’t have a lot of techniques right, yeah after slapping hand with chest, witches that pops out right so all you have to, laughs out here right which is better, right, holding hands, why don’t you have to walk so this is like, that, but you have diarrhea, throw a hook, punzel from here and that’s okay, but you don’t have a lot of fancy techniques, it’s just those fundamentals over and over again again again again again again again, right and that’s what makes it cool, Is the application of.

Billiards basic techniques, because, when you are, in a scenario when you getting attacked, what you don’t want is you have a lot of, techniques, someone to text you and you say, you know what let me think about I want to use techniques 55 combine with techniques 64, and then I’m going to finish him up with technician II, no like when in doubt, like you just hit, and you don’t want to have people punch in your mind if one, right and then if there’s something in the way that you want to use your sensitivity and you want to do some, something else but it’s, variation of data, and you practice was so many years with the same stuff, so fundamental, over fancy, techniques, kendama 5, probably the most important thing that I’ve learned, from my Seafood my instructor, and that is who you learn from is way more important than water, You can learn different style to say you want to learn, wing Chun, going from one instructor vs. anode instructor, it would be a huge difference, in fact, even though it’s the same style, each, instructor has, the OWN, interpretation, what that style is, song, popular traditions, table lamp on my Wing Chun instructor, barry tradition, no that’s okay you only, stand this way, you only do this and you will always fight this, right and now we’re at why the hell would you do this, why the hell would you do this, you should come from a natural stance and you can explore it anytime, what song did combined with, some other, martial arts where they would full from Winchendon could even to to boxing, nothing wrong with that, there’s no right or wrong, but who you learn from, Because you’re not just going from this, tom., step instructor, you’re picking up his habits, his belief system as well, so be very careful, even though you’re learning from the same technique may be looking for Winston School in in your area right, but who you learn from, and you want to learn from instructor that’s always growing, that’s always, testing his, this Theory, dislike, you know what I don’t know if that works Let’s test it up, why doesn’t, sperm let’s try to say that gives you more power to see the kitchen, right away I always do it that’s the way that my see what does it and that’s it, like that is like a religion we don’t change a damn thing, marshall does not like that, wife backed into mean, you think about different techniques and now you got to think about what if people have weapons, Right what if you have, austin arrows where you are back against the wall what about you have multiple opponents, things change what it was close quarter, what was not close quarter, like what, is a hijack that you just park the car and something to text you, you got to take all that stuff into consideration keep me my invention was developed, it was developing a temple was if I want a boat ride to Red Bull Wing Chun, things have changed, right even the pool has changed, so I got to take all that in contingent consideration and say hey morning day, what works, so those are the five things that are blowing from, wing Chun, i think Marshawn is a very very interesting things I love martial art compared to, other, sports, because he’s always a selfie, discovery Journal, you’re never good enough doesn’t matter how good you are, If you’re never good enough you can always find little things you can improve your not competing with anybody else.

We competing with ourselves, that we want to eliminate all defects, so, those are the five things I have learned from Wing Chun, comment below if you are martial artist what are some of the life lessons that you have learned, from your Macho, it could be anything, come Blow share with everybody else, does someone important lessons have learned about yourself, herbalife go ahead and do that,

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[redtigerfitness-blog]

Enter the 36 Chambers...

One reason that my art, Shaolin Wing Chun is referred to as “Shaolin” because all Wing Chun originated in the Shaolin Temple. More importantly our main focus is on three areas of development, 1) Self-improvement/Chan (Zen) 2) Health and fitness 3) Combat/Self-defense skill. Collectively these are known as The 3 Treasures of Shaolin. A major concept of Chan or as the Japanese call it, Zen, is the concept of the Triads; Internal and External. The Internal Triad consists of what we think, feel, and do (things that are 100% under our control). The External Triad refers to time., space, energy; the environment that we cannot control. The art teaches us to control the internal and harmonize with the external.

Additionally, we consider our art to be Shaolin in nature because we employ the Shaolin Halls method of development. Any fan of vintage Kung Fu movies, or 90s hip-hop, for that fact, can tell you about the 36 Chambers of Shaolin, maybe even 108 techniques. How about the 72 secret arts? Well, it all sounds pretty esoteric, if not downright intriguing. Coincidentally, all these numbers are divisible by 6, which is what I really want to talk about: the 6 Halls of Shaolin.

The 1st Hall is referred to as Gei Bun Gong- Basic Exercises is the translation. However, 1st hall is not only limited to basic physical conditioning to build strength, flexibility, and stamina; it also refers to basic life skills, such as attitude, hygiene, communication, knowing right from wrong, and very commonly understanding how to act of adapt in YOUR own time and space.

2nd Hall is called Gei Bun Dong Juk- Basic Movements. This is where your technical skill evolves. We practice drills and forms in fixed patterns in order to develop reflexes and muscle memory. We practice basic movements in all ranges of combat.

3rd Hall can be referred to as San Shou or San Da. Basically this is live application;  skill challenge or sparring. You are putting to use your mental and physical conditioning of the 1st hall combined with the skills acquired in the 2nd hall in order to effectively “harmonize” with an opponent. Effectiveness is the goal. Can you prevent an opponent from imposing their will/reality on to you? Can you create time advantages and own your space? Can you effectively resolve this conflict on your terms?

Every solid, legitimate  martial art has Halls 1-3, even if they do not refer to them as such. From Karate to Krav Maga, if you can identify first, second, and third hall in your training, you are most likely in a good place. To be honest this concept of the Shaolin Halls methodology can be applied to a number of skilled endeavors whether they be athletic, artistic, mechanical, scientific, etc. Think about it.

What makes Shaolin Wing Chun special to me is this next bit, Halls 4-6. I have not spent as much time in or around other martial arts as I have Shaolin Wing Chun to say from experience, but Shaolin Wing Chun is the only martial art that I know of that employs the concepts of these additional halls in their teaching methodology .

Wing Chun Happens in Halls 4-6.  So once you have become effective through training Halls 1-3, how do you improve? You get more efficient. Hall 4 represents efficiency, Economy of Motion; you get good results with less effort Your expression becomes more fluid and efficient because of detachment from the limbs, and the lessons that the body has learned from experiencing reality.  Hall 5 is one of the definitions of Wing Chun- Maximum Efficiency. We not only want to obtain good results with less effort; we want our efforts to be so efficient that nothing can be added or subtracted from our technique to improve the result The absolute best result with the absolute least amount of effort is the purpose of Wing Chun. At this level you are able to also detach from your environment, in addition to your body. The ultimate goal is Hall 6- Emptiness; simply the ability to “live in the moment” or “live in reality”, reality = change. To be empty is to lack expectations, biases, preconceived notions, regret, or anything else that binds us to the past or future, so that we may live our lives in the only time frame that truly exists, the present. “Live in the present” is another way to say adapt to change, because the present is ever-changing. In a combat situation, the ability to adapt to change is crucial for survival. In day-today modern life, the ability to adapt to change ensures we have fulfilling, purpose-driven lives. Grand Master Moy Yat said, “When you have one foot in the past and one in the future, you are pissing on the present.”  Be present, be engaged in the precious moments of your life, don’t piss on them, my friends.

[terrible-tentacle-theatre]

The Bestiary Revamped: Vampire Squid (HALLOWEEN SPECIAL)

Disclaimer: While this article is founded in scientific fact, it contains hyberbole and conscious exaggerations for the sake of comedy. Do not take my ramblings at face value. You can find the sources at the end of the article and tools for scientific fact-checking under the “Learn more” link on my blog.

The old article can be read here.

(I intended to post this yesterday but stuff came up. Anyway.)

Ahem.

Cue the spooky music.

*threatening organ music plays at unbearable volumes*

That’s right, dear readers, the Spooky Gourd Day has finally, finally come, and with it the nigh-endless Halloween shitposting that permeates this website every October like the smell of pumpkin pie did my house just a few hours ago, immediately before I ate most of it. (I still have like half of it left, but it’s cold now so it doesn’t have that mouthwatering smell unless I reheat it. And I was too busy watching old Betty Boop Halloween cartoons to reheat it. Anyway, I’m getting off track.)

Frankly, the obsession of internet culture with this innocuous holiday has always fascinated me. What it is about a day when you get to dress up all funky-like, go from house to house acting like an idiot, horf down all the candy you can get away with and watch scary movies all night that is so attractive to them youngsters? I simply cannot wrap my head around it.

However, it is a day of great significance to this blog, since this is the day when we celebrate the utter freakiest of the freakiest that can be pulled up from the stygian waves of the planet’s oceans. This is the third Halloween of the Terrible Tentacle Theatre, and for this notable occasion, I have decided to give one of my earliest poster children a much-needed revisit.

Back in the early days of the blog, when it was still called Hectocotylus and my content mainly consisted of spicing up Wikipedia and Cracked articles with swearing for the sick enjoyment of some 30 followers, the article in question was my first big hit among the people of the Digital Blue Hills of Hell. In the days when most of my articles didn’t go above 20 notes, this beast gathered up 300 notes by using its nebulous tendrils to reach into the deepest corners of the ole ‘web. Not only was this creature my first big hit in my career as a marine biology blogger with tone moderation issues, it would also fit in great as the main monster in a theoretical Universal Horror/Syfy teamup, which would be the Halloweeniest shit ever.

Ladies, gentlemen and other fellows, the vampire squid.

Before you even see this thing in full detail you can already gather that I didn’t choose it for this year’s Halloween special for nothing. Everything from the ghoulish dark red color scheme to the bat-like webbing between eldritch tentacles screams “cheesy Hammer Horror movies written by good ol’ Howard Philips”. And it will become even more evident when you see it in its full, glowy, betentacled glory.

This is how it looks like when you stare down a squishy, floppy incarnation of doom. This thing looked so freaky that the dude who discovered it, a certain German biologist called Karl Chun, decided to name it Vampyroteuthis infernalis. That’s Latin for “vampire squid from Hell”. Yep, that’s right. Remember the part where science is hard fact unaffected by emotion? Well you can throw that right out the window, because this fucker freaked its discoverer out so hard that he named it the vampire squid from Hell.

“The shit I’ve seen, kiddo. You wouldn’t believe.”

Even descriptions of this guy sound like they escaped straight from a 19th century gothic horror novel. For example, in 1925 the Arcturus expedition caught one near the Galapagos Islands and described it as “a very small but very terrible octopus, black as night, with ivory white jaws and blood-red eyes.” Even in the years of the Roaring Twenties, merely seeing the vampire squid was enough to bring out anyone’s inner Poe or Bram Stoker, apparently, which isn’t very surprising considering that it looks like Béla Lugosi had an illicit affair with one of the Star-Spawn of Cthulhu.

You’re welcome for that mental image.

While calling it a vampire is more than appropriate, the names “squid” or “octopus” are much less fitting. While intially appearing to be something of an octopus, it’s actually not one of them; and it isn’t a squid either, which left the confused scientists to place it within its own little private taxon, the order Vampyromorphida. If you know a little bit of Latin, that means “vampire-shaped”, which would imply that this is the general shape for vampires. So next time you read Twilight, imagine Edward as a vampire squid flopping around on the ground the entire time and I guarantee you’ll have a blast reading through several hundred pages of sweaty bloodsucker romance.

Unlike Edward however, the vampire squid doesn’t actually feed on blood. Dashing from shadow to shadow in the cover of a snappy opera cape and hunting for innocent young maidens in the night is the kind of energy expenditure that this malevolent mollusk cannot afford. Mainly because it lives (you guessed it) in the darkest, deepest excesses of the oceans, where the eternal darkness creates an all-year-round Halloween mood. In these waters, even beginners have a hard time finding the tiniest scraps of food, and have to resort to drastic measures to get by. But the vampire squid looks at those beginners and goes “yall are scrubs git gud lmao”. Compared to the vampire squid’s lifestyle, virtually any other denizen of the deep sea lives right in the middle of a goddamn cornucopia.

See, the vampire squid doesn’t just live in the deep ocean. It specifically prefers places called Oxygen Minimum Zones (OMZ), which sounds more like the hardest Sonic level ever than any serious place which can support life. OMZs are vast sheet-like expanses of water in the deep sea which barely contain any breathable oxygen. Some of these zones can contain as little as 5% of the oxygen that saturates air, and barely anything survives here.

And guess what? The vampire squid lives here. Not only lives, but thrives.

This is the game the vampire squid plays, every day of its life. On hard difficulty.

Obviously, living in a dead wasteland of suffocating water has required the squid to adopt some nifty tools of survival. Do not do so would be like entering the final dungeon of a video game with early game gear.

First off is a pair of sensory filaments, which the vampire squid extends through the water much like a spider does its web. They are super long and flexible, and probably the source of so many dick jokes that the squid will choke a bitch if anyone tells one more.

“No, I’ve never heard that one ever. Ha ha ha. Real fuckin’ original.”

Next up is a pair of membranous wings, used by the squid to travel through the aether of space to “fly” through the water, it’s cape-like arm web billowing behind it. The vampire parallels are getting more and more accurate.

Interestingly this wing isn’t the same in adults and juveniles. At one point in their devlopment they start growing a second pair of fins which eventually fully substitutes the first pair, which then atrophies back into the flesh. Thus if you’re lucky enough to catch a vampire squid, it’s not impossible that it will have four fins. The biologists who first found these four-finned squid nearly went insane trying to describe it (and several other developmental stages) as separate species. It was such a mess it took years to sort out, and nowadays the vampire squid is the sole surviving species of its order. He’s standing in the darkness. Alone.

WAKE ME UP INSIDE

The fins and the filaments aren’t just decorative elements the squid picked out at Hot Topic, either. Used in tandem, they’re a fearsomely effective netting tool and the way this crafty cephalopod earns its daily bread. You think spiders are cool with their webs? Nah, Spiders ain’t shit. They’re lazy idiots and their web does all the work for them. the vampire squid’s filaments is where it’s REALLY at.

See, the vampire squid’s main diet is thankfully not blood but something called “marine snow”. This is basically the shower of discarded tissue, shit and corpses that rains down upon the lower layers of the deep ocean from the upper layers all year round. Having this fall from the sky for “White Christmas” would probably be quite traumatizing.

DECK THE HALLS WITH BALLS OF FECES SHALALALALALALALALAAAAARGH

The vampire squid, however, has had its resolve steeled by years of isolation in the darkness of the deep ocean, and is willing to chug down anything to survive. Bear Grylls is a picky gourmet chef compared to this guy.

That said, it needs to eat something that’s actually of some nutritional worth. It could spend its life scarfing down every chunk of marine snow it comes across, but that would be a waste of muscle movements since most of it does exactly nil to fill up its stomach. That’s where the filaments/fins combo come in, turning the vampire squid into an angry little tripwire trap ready to snap at any moment.

Note the filament. That’s not a parasite, that’s legit a part of the animal. Nobody knows where it evolved from, it’s not a modified arm or tentacle and it’s a fucking enigma.

Mystery tentacles: the quintessential Terrible Tentacle Theatre experience.

Extending its filaments (one at a time) into the mucky waters around, it waits more still then I do when I go to the kitchen for a glass of water during the night and I hear a sudden noise. The filaments come with a plethora of sensitive nerve endings, ensuring that anything bigger than a flea’s asscheeks landing on them will elicit an immediate response from the squid. And if said asscheeks touch the filaments, responds the squid it does. Specifically, it exhibits a surprising burst of speed (considering it just drifts around all day and it is effectively the consistency of Jell-O), pulled entirely by its fins to perform an acrobatic fucking pirouette off the handle, whipping around in a loose loop and catching its own filament. Millions of dogs around the world enviously sigh in unison.

After this, the squid pulls off its prey from the filament using its arms, which generate a solid slime-like material. The collected chunks of edible whatnot are rolled into a ball of slime, and horfed down by the squid at once. You probably cannot tell but there’s a Michelin star underneath its mantle. “Slimeball à la Vampire Squid” is one gourmet-ass dish.

Molto bene!

Of course, all this fine dining makes the vampire squid itself tasty as all hell. You are what you eat, afterall. But in the deep sea, you do NOT want to be tasty, because everyone is hungry on top of being the most light-deficient gourmet motherfuckers on the planet. So naturally, our subject needs some sort of way to evade the raving food critics hunting him in the deep. And he has this way in the form of a very unlikely tool: bioluminescence.

“But Admin”, I hear you say, “didn’t you just get done telling us last week that glowing in the deep sea will attract everything around you?” That I did, young padawan, and it still stands. However, just like last week’s subject, the vampire squid uses its built-in glowsticks with a very express purpose and doesn’t just flash into the sunset willy-nilly. The glowy parts of this beast have very well-defined places and usages, exquisitely located and timed, just like a laugh track in a sitcom. Underneath its dark-red skin the vampire squid carries clusters of glowing photophores mainly on the tip of its arms as well as in two fake eye-spots on the top of its mantle, ready to flare up in a blue burst of light on demand. The fake eyes even come with their own built-in eyelids, opening and closing as Dracula Jr. sees fit.

Imagine you’re a predator and you see this glowing collection of random bullshit. Now figure out where to bite. Good fucking luck.

These lights are used with great care and consideration in order to troll the fuck out of anybody who is foolish enough to make an attempt on the vampire squid’s life. Upon attack, the squid whips its arms around with the lights on full luminosity, creating a confusing dance of light spots in the otherwise total darkness and messing up the predator’s perception. The false eyes only make things worse, finally creating the illusion that the vampire squid possesses unlimited godlike control over space and time, which may damn well be true.

Question: What way is this vampire squid going? Hint: It’s not facing toward you.

The appearance of the squid as a godlike psychic is surprisingly in line with the whole vampire angle, since Dracula has reknownedly had the ability to charm and hypnotize people. The effect is further accentuated by the squid’s eyes, proportionally the largest of any animal ever discovered. With a diameter a whopping one sixth of the animal’s whole body, this thing's oculars are like if you were walking around with eyes the size of your head. Each.

And for added effect, they glow and change color depending on which angle you’re looking at them from.

DISCO CTHULHU

And finally, if a spooky vampire-looking-ass dark red glowing octopus-squid-thing with hypnotic powers isn’t Halloweeny enough for you, the vampire squid has a final trick up its sleeve that catapults it right into the realm of body horror. This is suspected to be a defensive tactic but who the fuck knows, really. Deep sea creatures are enigmatic as shit, and they guard their secrets jealously.

Alright, I’ll quit beating around the bush and say it outright. Basically the final defensive measure of the vampire squid is turning itself inside out.

Yep.

Of all the stupid shit that Mother Nature could have come up with, she went and decided “alright, it just up and turns itself inside the fuck out. What are you gonna do about it?”

This behavior is known to science as “pineappling” or even more Halloweeny-ly “pumpkin posture” (no, seriously) and it involves the squid taking the webbing between its arms and turning it upside to shield its head and body from harm. Now folded comfortably into a spiky little footbal, the vampire squid knows itself free from harm. The webbings are thin enough for it to see through, but also don’t let its lights to shine around, so doing this effectively means the vampire squid switches into stealth mode. Plus it looks stylishly similar to Dracula popping the collar on his cape.

The vampire squid is every Monster Mash horror cliché come to life and smushed into a vaguely cephalopod shaped package for best user experience. When the stars are right and Cthulhu and his Star-Spawn emerge from the sunken city of R’lyeh to bring the world to ruin once more, these guys will be the first living things they encounter. And then they’ll fuck off back to their stupid city, mumbling things like “what the hell man, that’s plagiarism” and “that’s way too extra, even for us”. The apocalypse is postponed once again, thanks to the vampire squid’s vailant efforts of looking weird as fuck.

Happy Halloween, everybody! I was a day late due to the length of this article, but I hope you don’t mind. Until next Tuesday’s article, have a wonderful time with the aftermath of the day of cheesy horror and confectioneries.

Sources:

Encyclopedia of Life

Tree of Life Web Project

Animal Diversity Web

Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS)

Ellis, Richard. “Introducing Vampyroteuthis infernalis, the vampire squid from Hell”. The Cephalopod Page. Dr. James B. Wood. 

Seibel, Brad. “Vampyroteuthis infernalis, Deep-sea Vampire squid”. The Cephalopod Page. Dr. James B. Wood. Retrieved 3 July 2011. 

Hoving, H. J. T.; Robison, B. H. (2012). “Vampire squid: Detritivores in the oxygen minimum zone”. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 

[olla-village]

Language biography -My Chinese adventure

1. Here I am 18 years old

So, here I am, 18 years old confused monolingual… Finished my community college just to realize that I hate spending so much time in front of computer screens, writing code at nights, powered by coffee and greasy junk food.

 18 years old meant that I was an adult, at least both I and law of the country agreed on that… I could buy cigarettes, alcohol and tickets to other countries even if my parents were against it. I didn’t need to ask anyone’s permission. It felt like freedom. Freedom comes with responsibility, but that’s the whole different story.

 2.  It was time for something big It was time for something big.But for what? When I was younger I liked to travel to nearby cities by busses and hitchhiking. It was a mixture of being lost, on purpose… and finding something new after every trip. Traveling was my form of learning and escaping from problems at the same time.

 This time I was really lost.No direction. Hitchhiking for a week didn’t help. Yes, I tried. I needed a new medicine. I tried, like many of us nowadays, to find the answer online. Almighty Google knows it all.I didn’t know what to ask. So I decided to look at my bookmarks.

There was a website I read for more than 4 years. Or so. I guess. It is called Magazeta. They also do a podcast. Not some goofy cast, but LaowaiCast. They discuss everything about China through the eyes of laowais, speak Chinese fluently and seem to have all kinds of fun there in the mysterious country.

3. I decided to join them

I decided to become one of them, join this strange tribe. To become a laowai. A proper living in China laowai. And not an expat, who just hangs out with westerners, but a Chinese-speaking laowai. I figured out how much money I needed to study Chinese for a year, found 2 jobs that’d allow me to earn enough in 3 months. June, July and August. I became a taxi-driver, and began to work at a construction site. Not bad for a guy who majored in programming, eh? At least, there were no computers.At all. No screens, not even sunscreen. None of that, nada! I kept researching my new dreamland, China. Almighty Google told me that for my budget and for language learning Top2 options were Tianjin because Mandarin there is very standard, but it is cheaper than Beijing and Shenzhen, the most Mandarin-speaking city in Guangdong. I chose Shenzhen. It’s tropical and close to Hong Kong. I watched many Hong Kong movies as a kid and was interested in Kung Fu.

After working for 14 hours a day for 3 months I hated my jobs enough and was ready to fly to my dreamland. So I did. I kissed my parents and my girlfriend good bye and started my new scary laowai adventure. 4.  I didn’t learn Chinese before went to China I didn’t learn any Chinese before I went to Shenzhen because I read online that it’d destroy my pronunciation forever. So I followed advice of someone Almighty Google led me too. I was proud that I would’t learn broken pronunciation. Stupid. After a few, quite a few days of trains and planes, I arrived in Shenzhen. It was another planet. Humid, incomprehensible, green, terrifying and extremely friendly. No Kung Fu skills required. Beginner friendly.

I ordered a service of an interpreter who would meet me in the airport and help me to get to the hotel, the first and the last time in my life. He was quite surprised when I asked if he has a knife or at least keys when we got to an ATM. It was hard to explain why I sewed my bank-card in my pocket, but he understood that in my country people like to pick pockets. Not the best advertisement for a country, but I was determined and didn’t want to let thieves destroy my plan. 5.  Soon I didn’t go to lessons at all So I got a dorm room, figure out where I can buy pillow and started to learn Chinese in class, but soon I found that I was not able to say tones right and I was late for my writing classes on purpose, to skip that annoying dictation where I’d make a mistake in every character. Soon I didn’t go to lessons at all. I joined Wing Chun classes and hung out with other laowais and Chinese folks instead. My roommate also taught me some Chinese, especially survival kind of stuff or how to ask for cigarettes on the street, his teaching skills were particularly awesome when he was drunk. Sometimes when I met my classmates in campus they asked me why I gave up on learning Chinese, I said that I don’t go to classes, but I still learn Chinese. I hated that one guy who said he learns Chinese just to read stuff and that he doesn’t care about speaking since there’s no reason to talk with Chinese people, what a prick! I don’t hate him anymore. At that time I called my approach “just learn”. It meant learning without homework and tone drills. 6.  Laowai life was fun I spent 4 months like this. I was so busy practicing wing chun, playing football, buying fake shoes, hanging out and exploring Shenzhen that sometimes I forgot to eat for 2 or 3 days. That’s why I sometimes stole my roommate’s sushi that he’d get for free every night. Thanks to well-cooking people who lived in the girls’ dormitory, I was never hungry. I think I looked so skinny they just wanted to feed me on the level of instincts… Long story short, laowai life was fun, colorful and cheap for those who lived in campus. At least, it was for me. For 4 months or so. And then it was over.  The End. Game over. I had to go back home for what I call family reasons. I didn’t finish my 1 year Mandarin course. It was also hard to get my deposit money back, but I did. It was really good for my Mandarin skills. My WeChat was full of contacts. I packed all the tea, gifts I got from strangers in my friend’s dorm and stinky clothes. I was and wasn’t ready to leave. I told my friends that I’d be back for sure, which I doubted.

 The END or To be Continued? That is the question. At that moment, I connected language to living in that country. 7.  I missed China and Chinese Don’t live in China = don’t learn Chinese. So, obviously I gave up learning languages and broke up with my girlfriend. Luckily, I found a lazy job where I could play my phone almost all the time. For several months I just lived in my memories about China and felt some hole growing inside me. I didn’t understand where it was coming from. One cannot go and live abroad and then come back to the farm and pretend it didn’t happen. It is going to change anyone, no matter how hard this naïve person is trying to ignore it. I needed to fill that emptiness. I tried a few things. They didn’t work. Until one day I saw an ad about learning Chinese just by listening. Like literally sitting on my bottom, which I was already doing, I was even getting paid for that, and learning… Chinese! The language of my dream/nostalgia land. I was nowhere near fluency at that moment. Upperbeginner at best. I missed China and Chinese Pod became my new way to connect to the land of rice and cuteness. That emptiness inside was filled. Except for … it wasn’t. But things were getting better, way better. I felt alive again. Or maybe it was that nice Turkish coffee I was drinking while I listened to Chinese Pod? Then I thought that just listening, even good listening was not enough for that hole somewhere inside me. So I thought I need… people! But I still wanna sit on my bottom so if I find people online, I don’t need to spend extra time after job. Multitasking for the win. 8.  I started my new job I found hellotalk and some similar apps with similar names. Hellotalk was the best one, but at that time it was slow, sometimes a message was sent 4 hours or a day later, so I stole people from there by asking their whatsApp number. I started to realize that the missing ingredient in my life, besides people, was Chinese language. I also realized that escapism and dreaming about faraway lands was not an ideal solution. In search of a perfect combination of people and languages, I decided to join a university. I wanted to study Chinese, but they told me that they have teachers, but not so many students want to learn Chinese. Interpretation was not available that year. What a weird year! The only choice was teaching English, which sounded tasty at that moment, since I also wanted to change my job at that moment. I asked for all the details about exams and stuff. It was nice except for the fact that that stinking girl tricked me and I was preparing for master degree entrance exams instead of what I really needed because I was the first one who wanted to join that university that year and she didn’t really know what to tell me. It was a surprise, but I passed it super well, like top2 or something. Probably because I prepared for something way more difficult, thanks to that stinking girl. My score was a big surprise for me, since I’ve never been a top student. At the same time I started my new job. I was a tutor. Teaching kids English.1 on 1. Learning my major by practice. It was awesome. Language became my bread and peanut butter. 9.  I found my jam. It was olla. But I still needed jelly! Peanut butter sandwiches are fine, but they’re nothing like peanut butter jelly ones!

That Sunday I planned to have some rest for my brain and body. So I got a lot of nesquik and scrolled mindlessly through countless web pages full of memes and stupid videos. Until I saw an ad for a language learning app on some page where people who learn English hang out. In comments I read that most users were Chinese. These comments were written in a negative tone, but for me it was pure treasure. Here, I found my jam. It was olla. By that time, hellotalk and its clones were deleted and forgotten for a long time, but I gave olla as much of my precious SD storage and space on the screen as it wanted. I liked it for no particular reason, as I thought back then. Now I do understand that other apps couldn’t provide this kind of sense of community as olla did. It was alive, lively and vivid.

10.  It was addictive

It was a perfect place for me to practice my languages. My way to do it was to provoke people, often it meant arguing with them. I learned to be provocative in many languages. I also learned to pretend to be from different countries. The most difficult one was Australia. Controversy and gossip were my fuel. It was not just any drama, it was international. Better than Argentinian TV series! I tried many ways to catch attention, I hope that psychologists and my future employers don’t read how much of an attention seeker and drama queen I was. A few times I deleted an app and said it was shitty publically, while actually I loved it but was busy studying in my university and knew that I don’t have enough will power to keep studying while olla was still on my phone, it’d be too much of a distraction. It was addictive. Before I deleted it, I posted my email on olla plaza. Jessica was worried or surprised or something of this nature and wrote me an email. She helped me to deliver my messages to my biggest language buddy. It was one directional isolation and made me way more mysterious than I’ve ever been before. Because of me being such a d... dumbass, many people hated me, but many liked me. Many mentioned that they missed me, I knew it through gossip and screenshots. Imagine the size of my ego at that moment… After a while, I realized what other apps lacked completely and why they didn’t deserve my storage and screen space. Sense of community + drama, gossip and controversy (people crave it) + many people from different countries in the same room. Cultures don’t merge this way in 1 on 1 conversations. Other platforms also have many people from different countries,but they try to find you a match, a perfect partner. Perfect is boring. In olla people didn’t match perfectly and it was beautiful. It was colorful. It was my home anywhere I went. 11.  I couldn’t stay like this forever I couldn’t stay like this forever. All of us eventually get boring, also known as serious. I was a university student after all. Gotta be pretentious and stuff. They call it professional. I started to read a lot of SLA (Second Language Acquisition) research, just like people read news or comics. As a result, I realized that my“just learning” intuitive approach to languages was actually consistent with research. Even gossip and drama. But mostly community and compelling input. It is kind of the same thing.

Not only I pretty much filled that emptiness by languages, I also came to the point where my experience met science\research. Like yin and yang.

12.  I started to plan to get back to China After that, I decided to get my life together again and I started to plan how to get back to China. I didn’t get any good idea how to do it, but I started to save money and told my classmates and buddies that most probably I will go to China again. Fake it till you make it works every time. I also told some folks on olla about my plan. I really do consider olla to be my hometown and I did find real life friends there. I think it’s safe to say that I spent more time on olla than with my real life friends. I also spent a lot of time with my offline friends, but they can be less available than something tiny in my cheap phonethat opens the door to my friends. Wait, olla is real, so it’s also real life. People there are real. Language learning there is real as well. Wrong dichotomy. So I spent more time in my olla hometown than in another one because it felt warmer and closer.

My best language buddy who already became my friend decided to help me make my second laowai life happen much faster than I imagined and invited me to join olla team. I pretended that I am so cool and need to think for 1 day or so, like it is not a big deal, when in reality it was dreams come true type of deal, at that moment I was already packing my small backpack and getting ready for the second chapter of China. This time it was Guangzhou.

To be continued.

 You can read my language buddy’s story here

(my story https://wordpress.com/block-editor/post/ollaolla.home.blog/40)

 Bear

2019/10/1

[danielabreudequeiroz]

Morre Jin Yong, com quase 100 anos e ao mesmo tempo imortal

Faleceu ontem o autor chinês Jin Yong, cuja trilogia mais famosa ocupou a minha imaginação durante a primeira metade deste ano.

Em vez de ficar falando sobre alguém que eu nem conheço bem, vou apenas colar aqui as citações que copiei da sua trilogia (muito divertida e enriquecedora pra minha vida), pra que você possa conhecer um pouco sobre ele também:

officials and generals are becoming their servants

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"We priests are supposed to be merciful and benevolent in our hearts and actions. But then we see a bunch of traitors and enemies that do nothing but add to the suffering of our people, and I could never be merciful nor benevolent."

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The Book of Odes is also known as the Book of Songs (Shi Jing in Chinese), one of the Five Classics. The Four Books and Five Classics were the standard texts that all scholars studied back in the day. The other four Classics are the Book of Changes (Yi Jing) - this one features a lot in the wuxia genre, Book of History (Shu Jing), Book of Rites (Li Ji) and the Spring and Autumn Annals (Chun Qiu). The Four Books are the Great Learning (Da Xue), the Doctrine of Mean (Zhong Yong), the Analects of Confucius (Lun Yu) and Minces (Meng Zi).

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He was like someone riding on a tiger’s back. He could not continue riding, but it was difficult to get off safely.

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“Your apprentice brother scolded right. I am a heretic weirdo. Who doesn’t know about Eastern Heretic Huang Yaoshi, the owner of Peach Blossom Island? The thing Old Heretic Huang hates most this life is rules and conventions, especially saints and whatnots. These are just things to cheat dumb people. It’s such a joke that people have been blindly abiding to these rules and conventions for generations! I, Huang Yaoshi don’t believe in these nonsensical teachings. Everyone say I’m heretic, humph! At least a heretic is better than those jerks who talk about morals and principals but caused the deaths of so many!”

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“Earth and heaven Are a stove, Nature is the worker! Yin and Yang are As charcoal, Thousand things are copper!”

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Didn’t the emperors eat without plowing? Wearing clothes without weaving? Going out and coming in to the palace in a carriage? Are these not the common people’s blood and sweat? When the emperors reached their advance years their own hearts convicted them of all their merit and guilt; always enjoying the toil of the people while contributing only a few, how they have committed a multitude of sin while performing their office duty.

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all eight battle formations: ‘tian fu’ [high as the sky], ‘di zai’ [strong as the earth], ‘feng yang’ [scattered like a wind], ‘yun chui’ [dangling like a cloud] , ‘long fei’ [flying dragon], ‘hu yi’ [winged tiger], ‘niao xiang’ [soaring bird], and ‘she pan’ [coiling snake]; which they have mastered skillfully.

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As long as you live with an upright heart and keep your honor clean; then your life won’t be in vain. If other people treat us badly, we don’t need to repay their wickedness.

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Along the way two people saw the white bones that were scattered among the tall grass of the prairie; they could not refrain from lamenting incessantly; both were thinking that the two of them loved each other, they would live harmoniously, they did not have any regrets; yet the common people’s misery was deep; they did not know the day peace and prosperity would reign on earth.

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Of all the things to be born with, you were born with the love of saying negative things.

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The saying ‘heaven never seals off all its exits’ isn’t a lie.

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Her eyes were sensitive and her moves fast, her spirit was crystal clear and the more she fought the faster she became. Her mind wasn't phased by any distractions, and didn't even think of whether she would win or lose in this fierce battle; or for that matter, who lives and who dies.

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"To flick my robe on the zenith of the high peak and to wash my feet in the river thousands of miles long."

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"After the age of forty, I no longer relied on weaponry. Bushes, trees, bamboo sticks or rocks, all could be my swords. From then on, I achieved great progress and slowly reached the realm of overcoming the sword without a sword."

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"Heavy sword with blunt edges, simplicity brings superiority. Before I reached the age of forty, I used it to roam the entire world under Heaven."

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"Flexible Sword of the Purple Rose, I used it prior to the age of thirty. With it, I accidentally wounded a righteous man. A weapon of doom, I abandoned it in a deep valley."

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"Fierce, aggressive and able to penetrate any obstacle, with it, I competed with the heroes of the Northern Plains during my teenage years."

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"Even though our lives have been miserable, we have a time like this now - we are really most fortunate. Even if the pains of the past should cut our lives short, it wouldn't be something to worry about at all."

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Huang Yaoshi did not follow ‘appropriateness’, the custom and regulations of the day. He was like a heavenly dragon that was out of this world.

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‘For ten years life and death are boundless, immeasurable, unforgettable. Lonely graves a thousand li apart, unspeakable desolation. Unfulfilled desire to meet, slowly turns to dust. The hair on the temples white as frost.’

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‘Twelve Plentifulness’ states: that if one thinks too much, the concentration will be disrupted. If one loves too much, the energy will break down. If one desires too much, one will lose one’s knowledge. If one has too many matters at hand, one will look weary in appearance. If one talks too much, it will affect one’s breathing. If one laughs too much, one will strain one’s organs. If one worries too much, it will affect one’s nerves. If one plays too much, it will affect one’s ideas. If one is too happy, it will result in complacency and trouble. If one is too angry, it will affect one’s pulse. If one experiences too much good, one will despair. If one experiences too much evil, one will invite chaos. If one does not rid the ‘Twelve Plentifulness’, one would not reach enlightenment.

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Zhou Botong was always ready to have fun.

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There are 5 elements within the human body – heart as governed by fire, lungs governed by gold, kidney by water, spleen by earth and liver by wood, in addition to that, there are the two chi(s) – Ying and Yang.

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Attacking like gods in Heaven, while evading like ghosts in Hell. Just as lightning and thunder, even when over, they can still send chills down one’s spine.

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His own energy was reflected back and He ZuDao's energy was added to it.

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‘Grief-Disorder Writing Style’ created by Wang XiZhi*.

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‘The Sea of Misery is endless, turn around towards the shore.’”

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But master always says, the world is so vast, the honor of Wu Dang itself is insignificant. The importance is to research into the depths of martial arts philosophies, and pass them down to future generations, so the righteous martial arts will overcome those of evil. In addition, we could unite practitioners throughout our land, drive out the Mongols, and reclaim our country.

==========

‘Zhuangzi’. These four lines mean, “The span of life, how can it forced? How would I know, if wanting to live was a mistake? How would I know, if man’s fear of death, was not like wandering outside during youth not knowing to return to his hometown? How would I know, if dead people would not regret previously seeking to live?”

==========

Zhuangzi’s original meaning expounded that, life might not be bliss, death might not be suffering, life and death are actually no different, a living person is only “having a big dream”, and after dying is “greatly awakened”, and maybe after dying would feel that the previous time in life was stupid, why not die earlier? Just like after having a sad and terrifying nightmare, once awakened, would realize this annoying nightmare had simply went on for too long.

==========

"Mama said those words with a dagger already thrust into her chest. She endured the severe pain just to warn me, but I did not keep the words she uttered through blood and tears in my heart.

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He did not remember that it was because his own heart’s desire to harm others that they ended up this way; he also did not remember that Zhang Wuji had supplied him with fruits these past five years, every day without fail, so that he could live until today. He only remembered that this kid was too lucky while he was too unlucky, and he felt it was so unfair.

==========

Turned out Zhang Wuji transmitted his Jiu Yang Shen Gong to her body, but she did not know how to unleash the formidable power of Shen Gong’s, which resulted in both swords being broken. If she was able to utilize the power to attack the enemy, only the enemy’s sword would be broken, while the sword in her hand would stay intact.

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‘seeing demon as not a demon, let the demon defeat itself’

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A warning example is close at hand, road to disaster is straight ahead.

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“Things in the world are hard to describe through logic, life filled with unexpected, for nothing will keep one’s interest very long, there’s danger within good fortune, good fortune within danger.”

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“Put away your worries, don’t be so bitter, even if you’re beautiful today, you will still be old some day, life has always been like this, who cares for money and fame.” “In the end, you still can’t escape fate. Like flowing water, what goes around comes around.”

==========

In an instant, a gray-robed man became a gray dragon.

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Should you have time, please come to Shaolin so you can give some more pointers.” Usually, this sort of sentence has a connotation of challenging someone to a fight. Yet Kong Sheng’s tone did not carry any of that meaning. He really does deeply respect Zhang WuJi’s kung fu.

==========

“I know Hua Shan’s kung fu is great. So I don’t need to fight to test it out. But your ‘Repaying Kindness with Reprisal*’ skill is really quite unmatched, don’t you agree?”

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Attacking like gods in Heaven, while evading like ghosts in Hell.

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“You are officers and soldiers, yet you act like bandits and robbers, without any compassion toward common people.

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“Subordinate is Zhao Yishang [lit. one injury]. This one is Qian Erbai [lit. two defeats]. This one is Sun Sanhui [lit. three destructions]. This one is Li Sicui [lit. four devastations].” Pointing to the other four men he continued, “That one is Zhou Wushu [lit. five loses]. That one is Wu Liupo [lit. six damages]. That one is Zheng Qimie [lit. seven extinguish], and the last one is Wang Bashuai [lit. eight feeble/weak].”

==========

Keep the sword to behead the scaly dragon, Do not test it to strike the street dog.

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Isn’t there a saying in the Jianghu world, ‘within four sides of the ocean, everybody is a brother’?

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This ‘rabbit-rose-up-falcon-fall-down’ exchange happened in a blink of the eye;

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Zhang Wuji recalled how as a kid he followed his grandmaster going up this mountain and saw the Shaolin Sect’s Three Divine Monks right here in this pavilion. Although it was only a few years, but back then he was a lone thin and sickly kid; while today he was the Cult Leader of the Ming Cult, with all the honor and respect belonged to the position. He felt like the two visits were a world apart.

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Grasping the Sparrow's Tail, Single Whip, Lifting up the Hand, White Crane Spreads its Wings, Brushing the Knee and the Twisted Step, Playing the Pipa, Step Forward Deflect Parry and Punch, Apparent Closure, Crossing Hands, Carrying the Tiger Returning to the Mountain......

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*Xu Ling Ding Jin-Empty the neck, let energy reach the crown Han Xiong Ba Bei-Sink the chest, lift the back Chen Jian Zhui Zhou-Sink the shoulders, drop the elbows

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and Song Yao Chui Tun - Loose waist, bend at the buttocks.*

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perhaps if his heart was happy he would impart to them one or two special skills, then they would reap the benefit for the rest of their lives.

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He thought that because of Lu Zhangke’s romatic nature, it would be easier to win his heart if Fan Yao raised the affair between a man and a woman.

=========

He held the Saber horizontally across his chest, standing on the peak of the hill, his power and prestige made people shiver, he looked just like a deity.

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This short episode between the two of them happened noiselessly.

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“The fist technique starts with a focused attention, intention precedes strength, only then victory will be achieved

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There was a great Persian philosopher by the name of Imam Mowaffaq Nishapuri; among his disciples, there were three outstanding students: Omar Khayyam, who was a master in literature studies, Nizam-ul-Mulk, who was an expert in political studies, and Hassan-i-Sabah, who excelled in martial arts. These three were good friends and bound themselves in an oath, to face fortune and adversity together, and not to forget each other in riches and honor. Later on because of his accomplishment, Nizam-al-Mulk became Vizier to the Seljukid Empire. His two old friends came to seek shelter. Nizam entreated the Shah, and Hassan was granted an official position. Omar was not willing to be a government official; he only asked for annual provision so that he could research and study astronomy, almanac and mathematics, also to drink wine and write poems in peace. Nizam generously granted each of his friends’ requests. Unexpectedly, Hassan was ambitious; he was unwilling to be someone else’s subordinate for long and thus staged a rebellion. His attempt was foiled and he fled to a mountain. Later on he became the chief of a sect whose prestige shook the world. This sect specifically took murder as their service, and was called the Hashhashin Sect. During the Crusades, whenever someone in the western region mentioned the name of The Old Man of the Mountain, Hassan, no hearts would be exempt from shaking in fear. Many of the western region’s rulers lost their lives under the innumerable assassins under The Old Man of the Mountain.

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Xie Xun sighed, “It is common for people to repay kindness with evil; what’s so strange about that?”

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“Once a word left a real man’s mouth, four horses would not be able to chase it.

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For those who learn some kind of skill, isn’t it a delight to train it to perfection? A friend comes visit from afar, isn’t it a delight to the host? Even if they are upset, shouldn’t they be delighted?”

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Song Yuanqiao realized Zhang Songxi was very reasonable, he bitterly put the sword back into its sheathe and said, “My mind is troubled, I’ll hear what Si Di has to say.”

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“Song Shibo and the others are reasonable gentlemen; how could they recklessly blame others?” With a cold laugh Zhao Min said, “The more they are gentlemen, the more they will blame others recklessly.”

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‘the distant road tries the horse’s strength, the course of time proves the man’s heart’.

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A man’s real character cannot be recognized in just a dawn-to-dusk period.”

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Truly in this wide world, there are crouching tigers and hidden dragons among the tall grasses and thick weeds. I wonder how many heroes and warriors are hiding quietly, whose names I have never heard of.”

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“In this world, mistakes arise out of circumstances. Things are difficult to anticipate. You must not be excessively heartbroken.”

[roodiaries]

Sydneyside

Foreword: This blog post is divided into sub-sections to make it seem less long ;)

Residing on Sydney's North Shore: The Compartment Life

I arrived back in Sydney in late January 2017 with a vague resolve to get a house, job, girlfriend, life, etc. on a nice comfy, non-committal, short-term basis. I haven't spent more than a year in one accommodation since I was 18 in fact.

House was the first objective, even before a guarantee of a stable income and some rapidly dwindling funds, post-Asia/East Coast travel. I spent a week of searching high and low for an affordable place with my own room and not in the back end of beyond. I visited numerous dull-sounding (and looking) suburbs, such as Lidcombe, Ashfield, Arncliffe and Auburn. I did also check one out in Woolloomoolloo. That would have been a cool place to call home, and Russell Crowe lives there!

I settled for a shared-room in the north shore suburb of Willoughby, and sacrificed my single-room agenda because there was a giant partition in this room (a deal-breaker and meaning I had privacy and my own corner), and the room-mate seemed a good fit: a shift-working nurse from The Philippines named Andrew, and not a major party guy. The 'landlord' – actually renting out the place himself and sub-letting it to us – was a Korean wing-chun instructor called Sam who worked in the studio area at the front of the house, but lived elsewhere with his family. There was also a single room near ours, where a guy from Taiwan called Dean was staying. I regret not hanging out with those three more often, but our schedules clashed and everyone was always busy. In 5 months (before Dean left), we managed to eat dinner together a total of once! The lack of a communal area or large kitchen kind of prevented much socialising anyway, and I mostly just saw Andrew (but even sharing a room, I wouldn't see him for up to a week at a time). It was functional and comfortable, but not social.

Pullman Prestige

I got a job at the Pullman Sydney Hyde Park Hotel in the Food & Beverage Department in late February. Like my apartment and car, I found the job on Gumtree – the perennial lifesaver! I immediately loved the job, and it was certainly my favourite one so far in Australia. I ended up staying the entire 6 months that I was permitted with the WH visa. I liked the prestige of wearing a tie and uniform at work, and being in a fancy, air-conditioned establishment right in the heart of the city. It was my first taste of hospitality, and I particularly enjoyed the team atmosphere, with staff bonds forged via countless high-pressure stressful-but-funny situations,

e.g.:

Having just two hours to transform two rooms, including the main events room from a day conference into a giant dinner party complete with dance floor, stage, hypnotists and countless decorations, while trying to manage the three-inch high flood of reeking viscous sewage in the pantry next door

Anzac Day when every room was full with lunch events and tonnes of staff were needed (getting paid double-time = $49 per hour), listening to stories of veterans and their relatives (but later that day I was in the wars myself when I fell down the stairs and sprained my ankle!)

Numerous sports teams (AFL and NRL) eating relentlessly and drinking unstoppably, and all the constant clean-ups and late-night stays; listening to their conversations was surprisingly boring

When outlandish day-conference guests and clients rampaged illegally through the uncleaned, bombshell-like pantry and store-rooms, clambering dangerously over furniture

Being behind the pop-up bar during massive rushes, and having my first exposure to lemon and lime bitters (which I learned to make), as well as pouring techniques for wine and beer

The classic 'no cutlery or glasses ready' scenario right before a big event and the rush to find everything with not enough staff or time, making do with the wrong types

Lorenzo not getting along with the rest of the staff, tickling you while you carried stuff and refusing to do the vacuuming because it was beneath him! “Not the hero we deserve, nor the one we need.” But also a legend in his own right

Mardi Gras night in March – our hotel was the starting point for the whole half-a-million-strong parade: as extravagant floats passed by, we served drinks and canapes to numerous drag queens and divas (with requests including putting a sausage roll between their boobs, “can I take you home tonight?” and much more, producing plenty of awkward laughter and lack of a clever response from myself)

Arguments with the narky banquet chefs: “where's your supervisor!?” Plenty of tut-tuts if you couldn't carry three plates or were not on time, but all good fun in the end (I think)

Some shifts in breakfast or room service: plenty of awkward customer exchanges – e.g. saying “have a good day!” and then finding they were just getting up to get food; trying to choose between saying “you're welcome,” “that's OK,” “no problem” and “no worries,” and then mixing them up: “that's no worries, welcome!” Also when the owners of the building were in town, and I took away the coffee of Wong Kan Seng, the former Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore, before he was finished (almost died of mortification); and some good times there too, especially working with Joshua (the only other Englishman who also started on the same day as me), as well as Steve or Anne Sophie in room service

Particular mention goes to the banquets team I worked with the most: Bibek with his sudden high-pitched voice when speaking to customers (“room service”) and the infamous brown bag; Jess, the Aussiest girl in the hotel who always helped me out patiently while never taking shit from nobody; the supervisor Jona who hired me, taught me the ropes and was always keen for after-work beers; Guthrie with his laid-back attitude and film chats; and management trainee Sy whose random soundbites echo in my head to this day (“get to the choppers,” “OK team, it's show time,” “time to disappear”), always facilitating an atmosphere of fun and nonsense in the face of some overwhelming shifts.

Since I still work for the same company in a different location right now, I won't bitch too much, but plenty of staff at Pullman Sydney were not happy and began quitting over various issues, including management and lack of shifts. Money often seemed to be favoured over staff (or customers for that matter) with shifts regularly cut and annoying initiatives to upsell more stuff (the guests don't want a bloody extra croissant, leave them alone FFS). Lack of sufficient staff for a shift was also a constant blight, but in general you had a lot of freedom and variety working in banquets, and were often given considerable responsibility, and the experience was definitely a positive one.

A Brief Commentary of Sydney as a City

Overall, I like Sydney a lot. I prefer it to Melbourne, Canberra and definitely Adelaide. However, it’s a city of two halves. On the one hand, you have the dingy, dull, congested, prosaic, worn-out, uninventive, crappy, commercial-and-business-dominated city centre, which has a surprisingly high East Asian population (it feels like 50% Asian, not that that’s a bad thing; just unexpected). On the other hand, you have the stunning Sydney Harbour & Parramatta River (together known as Port Jackson) with its unending bays and natural/man-made sights; and the relaxed coastal suburbs with further wondrous views west over the city and east out to the vast Pacific Ocean. Public transport is second to none, and the Opal card makes travelling relatively cheap and convenient (by bus, train, tram and boat). Going out is expensive, but there are always cheaper hidden places, and happy hours provide good value for money: the beer and bars improve exponentially when you escape the CBD. Like much of Australia, it feels very suburban, middle-class and family-oriented: sometimes a little too clean and organised for my tastes (though I never visited notorious parts like Blacktown or Mount Druitt). It also has access to some incredible nature and national parks in all directions. It’s somewhere I’m glad I lived, but not somewhere I particularly need to live in the future. It lives up to the hype in many ways, but from my perspective, it can’t match the major European cities for history, architecture, food or atmosphere.

Social Life a.k.a The Pub & A Few Other Things

I had three main friends outside of work: Tatjana and Eisen from my farm work days in Renmark, and Mark from my uni exchange in Singapore. I spent many sessions out in Sydney's array of bars: those at Circular Quay and Darling Harbour which were pricier but had wondrous views while imbibing copious schooners of sweet wholesome 'cold ones'. These included but were not limited to the Bavarian Bier Cafe (lovely German beers for $5 at happy hour), Pontoon, Sweeney's, Hotel Harry's, Lord Roberts, The Clock, The Palace Hotel, Bald Rock Hotel and all other bars in Balmain (where Mark lived and our favourite suburb, full of homely pubs). I was sad when all three of them left in June/July.

I don't want to try and seem cool by boasting about drinking sessions (I could never claim to be cool), but I did not do a lot else outside of work: this was due to the physical and mental toll some of the long shifts (especially night ones) took on me, leading to a reluctance to do any other exercise, and the unpredictability of my schedule meaning I couldn't reliably sign up to many social clubs. However, I did get out and about to enjoy some fantastic city walks along Sydney's coastal suburbs: Botany Bay, Spit Bridge to Manly, Bondi to Coogee, the Royal National Park, and the Blue Mountains to the west. I also enjoyed a four-day holiday in April to Queensland to visit Fraser Island, the world's largest sand island and a natural adventure playground full of intriguing rainforest, a highway on the beach, sea swimming pools, freshwater perched lakes, and lots of dingoes.

In addition, I occasionally worked for my Romanian friend Costi, who helped people move house in his spare time. One extremely memorable, epic job was during the hottest day of the Australian summer, when it was a ridiculous 43ºC in February: we drove 3 hours over the Blue Mountains to the town of Bathurst to help a Bangladeshi family move to Sydney; their new apartment had several flights of stairs which we had to carry everything up by hand, sweating profusely in the mean time; then we had to drive back to Bathurst (so 9 hours of driving that day) because the neighbour also wanted to use our van to move house, so we slept on his mattress, then woke up very early and began packing his stuff into the van. His furniture was way too big, so we had to drive to Sydney with half of it, unload it, and then drive back again to Bathurst, pack the rest and unload again at his new house, finishing at about 6am on Monday morning. It was a full 48-hour working weekend, including 18 hours of travelling and a great deal of physical work: I would name it as one of the hardest, most intense single shifts I've ever done. However, it was made a lot more enjoyable by the company of Costi, who drove the whole time, never bitched or complained and maintained a calm, good-natured demeanour throughout the weekend, making it feel like a doable team effort for which I was well-compensated. A legend and a role model, that's for sure.

Riding the Bus

A boring topic to write about in my blog, but taking public transport on average twice per day over 7 months in Sydney provides one with a window into a city's soul. I loved crossing the Sydney Harbour Bridge every day to and from work or social events, basking in epic sunsets and sunrises over the incredible Sydney Harbour while jamming to the classic tunes (see Crossing the Bridge playlist below for details).

-The time the bus driver didn't know how to get to the Harbour Bridge because of roadworks and shouted to the passengers at large to ask for directions!

-The time the driver yelled at a guy to come to the front because he supposedly hadn't tapped on his Opal card, but it turned out that he had: the incident had a tense racial undertone because he was the only black guy on the bus...

-When the driver of the last bus of the night couldn't pull up at the last stop before the bridge due to taxis obstructing the stop; a girl was waiting and screaming desperately for him to stop – and even I (Captain Quiet On Public Transport) – shouted to the driver to stop somewhere! He didn’t.

-The drunken night bus back to Artarmon after a late shift: two guys that had just met for the first time, the younger, cockier and skinnier of whom constantly disagreed bluntly with everything the much older, bigger guy said, leading to a confrontational end to the conversation (this journey was always followed by an unpleasant 25-minute uphill walk through the lost lonely suburbs where not a soul stirs and spider webs hang over the path ready to snag an unsuspecting face passing through).

Thanks for taking the time to read,

Scroll down for photos and previous blog posts,

Oliver

[howgrowtaller]

My Sifu, Alan Orr often starts his class with the question "Any questions?" One of the problems with martial arts training can often be the unwillingness to really question anything, it's an easy habit to get into and often only broken by the best students, so start by asking yourself if you want to be amongst that group? One of the best students, the students who go on to become instructors and/or fighters within their system. It is a constant questioning of what you are doing, what it is that you are being taught, why do this? What happens in this situation and possibly most importantly "Is what I'm doing actually relevant?" that will lead to finding the solutions. It's maybe that those questions take you away from where you are training to seek out new information, maybe new teachers. I have trained under many different instructors, some good, some not. Sometimes years on you realise all you learned from one was that you had to find another but this article is aimed at cutting down that time span and to help lead you to the right path for you. Why am I doing this? This to my mind is one of the questions you should be asking yourself and then a secondary question should be what am I doing to achieve my goals?? My belief is that if you wish to do a martial art then you must want to learn the skills to defend yourself effectively against an average adversary maybe one with greater strength or size, maybe to be able to really fight against a skilled and determined opponent or multiple attackers. The self confidence aspect of martial arts to my mind is the knowledge that you really can do those things under pressure. If you simply want a social club and a bit of fitness thrown into the bargain then fair enough maybe this article holds no relevance to those people and I know there is quite a contingent of people out there that go to their respective martial arts club to say they do a martial art but really have no intention of ever really being able to seriously use it. This article is aimed only at those who really want to achieve a good level of skill and the ability to use it under real pressure. Anyone who trains at a martial arts club will recognise this scenario....... You know nothing or very little about the martial arts but are eager to learn, you have seen Bruce Lee flicks, the UFC, Jet Li, you want to be like those guys, you are in a training hall with fifteen others most of which obviously know what they are doing. The instructor starts the class and everything feels alien. You learn some moves, the instructor explains and demonstrates them with the help of a willing senior and they all look good. This is probably where most people have stopped thinking.... Its accepted practice in many walks of life that in order to be successful you must have clear and concise goals. In martial arts this is very true. However so few people take control of their path, instead they chose to rely on the guy standing at the front with the black belt or the pretty suit to take them there. If the guy with the black belt isn't of the highest calibre then you probably won't get to where you wish to be. However if you are in control, if you have done your research and have kept informed then you may learn to recognise what you can take from an instructor and also what to leave, sometimes even when to leave! An instructor must have integrity and humility to truly lead his students to a high standard and this is the ability to be transparent to his students as regards his/her own strengths and weaknesses. I admire any instructor who willingly brings in other teachers to fill his own deficiencies and will happily take his better students to study with others with skills to offer they might not have themselves. The best instructors are unafraid of honesty. To blindly follow someone on the premise that because he or she has done something a long time therefore they must be right, because they call themselves "Master" or "Sensei" or "Sifu" or simply because they have put themselves into the role of an instructor is certainly unwise. Common sense, taking note of real situations, reading, watching will all tell there own stories so don't ignore them. Listen to your own experiences!! My first martial art was Tae kwon do which at the time was very much the fashionable martial art. In some ways I was lucky because I landed at a club where the instructor was both honest and also ex military and unlike many in the TKD field had spent some time boxing and was reasonably progressive with his training. However after 2 years I had started reading Bruce Lee's JKD books and in practice started trying out many of the techniques and concepts outlined there. Bruce Lee's investigations led me to go to a local boxing club and voila.... Some of the guys I really couldn't do much with in sparring suddenly became much less trouble. The day I walked past one particular black belts' defences and landed several unanswered punches was the day I decided TKD had lost its appeal. I had my 5th or sixth grade at the time, no black belt. I didn't want one if 8 weeks boxing could wipe out the advantage of years of my opponents experience. Be prepared to walk!!! It was about the same time I decided to find a Wing Chun school. Like many people I decided to learn this martial art because it was the basis of Bruce Lee's thinking. One of the truly keenest and revolutionary minds that the martial arts world had ever produced had based many of his beliefs on his first system and that was good enough for me. Unfortunately finding a teacher to match was another matter. I was in a class almost exactly like I outlined in the scenario above aside from the fact I did have some sparring experience and was still boxing on and off. One year on my feelings towards this school were changing. Most of the students there couldn't handle my sparring ability, they couldn't handle pace or power, couldn't deal with my ability to kick. I stayed for another year although mainly because I'd met a guy very like minded who became my sparring partner and friend. We used the class to train together and often just experimented with our own ideas. Dave emigrated (returning years later to again help with my development) and that was me done with that school. Again the temptation to stay for the next grade, the next 'level' just lost its appeal and again the idea of chasing the black belt held nothing for me there. This particular school is a great example of a place where the instructor had lost all his humility and although a nice enough guy who did believe in his own ability he was neither skilled nor really honest. He would rarely chi sao and certainly never spar with his students, external training was very strongly discouraged. Everything was in house. There was never a comparison with the outside and students could blindly follow their "master" for many years achieving meaningless grades in a system that was never ever tested. The year that time forgot...... In 1993 two things happened that shook the martial arts world. The Ultimate Fighting Championships should have re educated the world as to what it takes to win a fight but much of the martial arts world myself included were unaware of it in its early days (although mixed martial arts certainly changed things for me later on) and a series of books by a gentleman by the name of Geoff Thompson, a night club doorman from Coventry. I can't remember whether it was 93 or 94 when I read "Watch my back", and then bought "Real Self Defence" and "The Pavement Arena". Real Self Defence is to my mind still one of the best books ever written on the subject of self protection in the street and "Pavement Arena" should be sent to every "traditional" martial arts club in the UK and beyond because its honest and frank discussion of what it takes for a martial art to be effective for real is still very relevant. The information in these two books certainly reinforced some views I held and gave me impetus to explore other aspects of my training. I recognised the truth of what the man said and acted upon it. I still find it amazing how the so many in the martial arts world still manage to ignore all the information available to them, if you wish to own a black belt that's worth more than the 5 quid you paid for it then don't be one of them. "You too can learn the ways of the force" I had ditched one martial art took up another and had sampled several others including traditional Ju Jitsu, Freestyle Karate and Kickboxing. Whenever I got sick with Wing Chun I went back to the boxing gym, often doing the two in tandem. My heart was with the kung fu style but often my head with the honest sweat of the gym. Looking back I have often thought that had I put the effort into my boxing over the years that I had my Wing Chun then I would be a better fighter today but as its turned out I now don't think that's true but not because I finally exited the temple doors a shaolin warrior monk with secret kung fu skills only revealed to me after years of training, nor did I face Darth Vader again to finally become a true Jedi. Like many others I continued to believe that if I just got that bit better in Wing Chun everything would fall into place and I would be the untouchable "Bruce Lee" type I'd seen in his films. I think many martial artists fall into this trap. The truth was I knew my Wing Chun training lacked something, I could see its potential, I knew it had something special, something I hadn't seen anywhere else but couldn't grasp what it was. So, I followed my Wing Chun instructor and continued to supplement my training now in the new realms of mixed martial arts. I learned some Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (A martial art with true depth that has become a second love), Wrestling, takedown defence and indeed takedowns. My new training and sparring partners often derided my Wing Chun training with "prove it, get in the ring, do it!!" In fairness they did give my hands some respect but would often put that down to my boxing and encouraged me to use my long reach and not play the 'Wing Chun' game. I'll finish this little story with a happy ending but bare with me for the moment and I'll return to the key points of what this article is about. When learning something new the worst thing to lose is time and many people in martial arts spend many years developing something that simply isn't really relevant in the belief that if they just get better at it then they'll see that thing, learn the ways of the force???? It'll all click?? It's also a total and utter lie

[top1course]

Bruce Lee’s Jeet Kune Do – Footwork

Bruce Lee’s Chicken., footwork, no, i suppose he said the art of successful hitting and punching, is the autocorrect distance judging from one of the things that he emphasized all the time, footwork footwork and footwork, can uses analogy that, listen to imagine you are a powerful Tay give all these weapons, but is no good no good if you can move it, you can’t mobilize it then that’s why he emphasizes I think of all the bushes original students, long is the one that emphasized footwork a lot boot is so good with his footwork that he can close the gap, from a guy like even 6 7 ft away and he could he could touch the guy and he will Ken Block in, when does a very very powerful thing. I believe the hardest thing to master is not upon, punching and kicking and everything else is actually the footwork even understands the basic steps which I’m going to show you today, That told me a couple years just to get used to it, now Boosie’s footwork didn’t JKD a lot of that comes from fencing because Bruce likes how fencing., you can push the Gap like very quickly with, with some distance to be reports that distance, you’ve got a weapon on your hand we are weapons on of just empty hand, arms and legs so you need to think about speed the same time how to generate power, it’s easy to say but it’s not easy to do, so my feet are so today is one of those videos why you don’t look on my face is going to look at my life, show me the footwork on different types of footwork, stance, i came by to see the straight-line here, just to get this right and takes a toll we almost just myself one year to learn this property, The difference tan stripe, you going to have like in a horse stands, in a Chinese kung fu Wing Chun stance so they just like this, tall is not pointing this way is not pointing to the side is pointing like that, looks like this this this angle okay and you’ll see the tape in here make sure you can see my foot here, it’s like this is a Traeger, it’s like a handgun this is what you speak so, mobility so this is always up like that, we move around, don’t show you how to do that but it’s like this okay, just like that, just like that, put in work, and didn’t you can do and that’s just a forward, shovel, jeffersonville slightest, just like this, nC, with the speed you can see you’ll be like, so if I just need a little bit of, Distance I want to bridge the gap just a little bit.

Pretty close, all I need to do is just, i can reach the guy, just to give you that extra distance to be able to hit now, the backwards Shuffle, just like that, just like that, from the back, uC, so sometimes it doesn’t pack I need to do it just, to MIDI, just wait and then I can go for it again, to look something like this again, portugal forward, go back with a guy, backward., it’s the same 2Pac, what stays the same spot, and make sure this is a line, make sure on the ground so you can self-correct yourself, give it a try, i got that now the Knicks out of pull up my show you if the porch step, forward and push that backward the only difference is this continuous movement, So My Feet Again, so we have to push step so APUSH, but now this time the back of your of your foot now Move Along, biking to follow the funny foot soak, the first this was feels so unnatural I guess I get that, cuz I’ve been there, backward something this, and then this morning, no you don’t want to be off balance is one of the mistakes a lot people make, sometimes they would go forward and they would go like that, sometimes they would call to see how my I’m off balance, that’s not good you want to be, able to do this while natural position and pull, you’re right there from here you’re walking where you’re walking you’re walking your right there, different way to go with his strike anytime, this is very critical step because when you bridge the gap this is probably one of the most common but whatever use, Back, your way some people might say you know it’s like 6 maybe like 6, 64 + 40 x 50 50 myself I think you need to experiment with it, it depends on where you are what position, sometimes I might be late model x64 in 40 backwards, luna Park, i’ll actually be bursa, show me how it works support, and you can see how much, i’m going to go to heat watch, look it up, see how much distance from here, is a push forward motion, same thing, this goes, from here, awkward, now I’m going to have Shin to sat ride and see another correcting so we can learn from that as well, what time is learning this so which is perfect one of the questions he has, what we’re just going to do porch step forward so you can see, very nice balance, north Dallas good, Yes, good., not in the same time you don’t want this to be too wide so let me see the side, you don’t want this to be too wide you don’t want us to be too narrow, distance around your shoulder, with a shoulder or just tiny to be so this is my shoulder right this is how, hawaii. So this is fine, does a little bit more I find that to be the perfect perfect distance to Kind of Perfect, perfect by the way of doing this works for you, hope your legs and stuff like that but you got to find that perfect, this is no good cuz you can’t move this your balance you going to try to find that kind of like a cat like, tiger like movement you’re always ready to wear to go fight, yes, when is when is Mega step try to find a bound to stay there until their fields, CB2 close.

You can see that, so it should be the same, yeah that’s better that’s better, that’s good, best to push that for, and that’s to push that backwards, let me show you another book work, the obvious ain’t fighting you don’t always go forward and backwards sometimes there’s something that’s a punch and kick us, coming towards you you got to move to the side so how do you do that you do with a side step, you did what size., no chip the same body posture same footwork the size that you want to move to the right side, all you do, looka looka looka here, does will decide, going with back, same thing, here, right, so doesn’t matter how I move so let’s say I’m moving around moving around you should be C, my distance between my foot my lineman, Stihl straight line going through, that’s when you know your footwork is decent right, this way they want to go back, it should be the same so you’re moving to the side, sometimes the way that the tat Wong when he taught me sometimes you might move your body so you can see, see my body movement, from here, i might interrupt doing this so I can see like that, sometimes you might punch is coming you might move and you might do it that way so look something like this, just something like that, odessa from here, you do it like that, and the way you do it do you watch anime speed, nC, is Billy Vera fluid motion, so it’s not like a, like that is very thorough, if your son natural but when you when you get used to it you can you can move around, It’s actually pretty poison., right, simple movement but not easy to do, side, sized up, inside step, no, the Nick commercial is the pivot step, now this may be so also sometimes a grapple is coming towards you of course obviously if you move to the, back you going to, they’re going to get taco you’re going to kill you going on the ground, sometimes it’s okay, but a very a very effective thing to do it’s a pivot stop so the difference between, i’m making an angle, like that, guy sucked this way, which is my right, for the right, or again, so it’s kind of like the size death but you’re making an angle, sometimes you can also do it, going towards your opponent, seattle, alternative distance there, like that, or, from here, recipe pasta, just to the back you grab my legs, see. You got me right there, But if I want to use depends on where I am but he comes right see that’s a pivot, but that’s what I do my stuff, or maybe he grabs more this way he grabs, like that, volkswagen strike, so that’s a pivot, or that’s a pivot, not moving backwards, start stopwatch, she has not changed, i’m still the same way now Metairie off balance right, you can see like that, odessa Pravastatin, although jkt we leave with, your phone for the legally cake, but sometimes you got to, just be flexible enough to hate you know when you get out of the way, would do that using the quick shift quickly and uShip, the soccer player, like., so when we don’t do it this way, okay enjoy Kitty we do not come this way, we think it’s a bit too slow, living more like, like a cur, Slow motion year.

It’s, like that, and also you trying to protect, right, centerline, heading this way, so look something like this right, watch, so we looking like this, just like that, white, just shifting, quickly shift your weight, like that so just a quick shift, then we have the burst, the birth is the Footwear that covers the longest distance, so it’s kind of combining different different footwork together it’s quite difficult, dance footwork, take a long time to practice and a mouse as well, something about you doing your push forward, staff, all right there, can you do me a pendulum step, and then you might do a kick, or even a punch, usually psychic, so are we like this, look how far distance I cover dough from look from here, some junior staff, from here, i’m here, the cover is that much distance right foods can copy someone is 5 6 ft, Miyamoto’s maybe 3:45, i’m here, look for phone, show it to you real quick just look at my feet, unless protect you in a sake to go to the shin do one, 2, and three imagine just like a psychic just stay here, i’m here from here here, just like that, i’m breaking down the motion just practicing partial motion from here, just like that, but don’t tell the cake, does from here, just like that, last but not least we have to pendulum step which is a signature footwork in chicken., so think of it like a, so one foot replaces the other, that’s a momentum one foot replaces the other, okay, this is a very stinky footwork, because you’re trying to hide your intent so you’re pulling my thing you are still staying in the same spot, if you’re hiding your intent, how to attack to cover the distance so they don’t we don’t kick, Like, stated that kind of stuff, but you can’t do you like hide it, and it with you I’ll stop whatever we want to do, from here, pendulum step, ford, so you moved, right there, see that, know your body your your bodyweight your center of gravity you don’t want to come in here and you, too high you don’t want to do that, you don’t want to come here you at Rulo, so, keep it level, there, riflegear full, i’m here, or the other way, backward, again, so you can practice in front of mirror, make sure you don’t come in here, you shook me to come in there, you try to hide it, behind, my dad, and it looks something like this if you’re going back, like that, or you moving forward, see this, just like that, or, And I’m nothing that you can do, is you doing the pendulum step, but with a kick so it would look you when you’re practicing again break into smaller movement or two or three part, angel Sapp, just lift your knee, okay, can you stop, just lift your knee, right there so you from here have motion controls, that’s it, like that, angel step, orphan Joseph psychic, applejack, i’m here, shuffle, right there, microsoft azure, what time, but that’s right there, the pendulum step, differences psychic, so those are the basic footwork Advanced Foot Works, jKD what is multiple times during this video different types, quite a few times, timberline, you can also take a line this way at home, thinking practice is very very natural, all these movements are very unnatural movements, many many times until it becomes like walking, and you should be able to do it, from anywhere from anywhere you’re moving, Sprite.

That’s how you do it so often, where cashews, don’t step on anybody’s toes, subscribe this video turn on the vacation videos on how to do punching kicking, mitsubishi, share with a friend, directions, comment below, i’ll see you in the next video, be water my friend, be water my friend,

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