I had a longish nap, which I had tried not to do because I've been trying not to go back to keeping vampire hours. It's actually been a tough debate, because I have no real reason not to do that. But, you know how it is when you try to exercise force of will over yourself. Regardless of success or failure, there's that moment of stubborn defiance that's rock solid until January 2nd, or that first smell of coffee that tests you, or that situation comes that leaves your psyche screaming for a cigarette.
Anyway, I went to work, went out for a beer afterward, saw nothing really intersting at the coffee shop I frequent which was about to close for the night anyway, so here I am.
ITEM THE FIRST
Forgot to mention a few days ago: The day before I left for my trip last week (a week ago today -- can you imagine?) I got bored and went to the video store where I saw a used copy of The Hunted with Benecio Del Toro and Tommy Lee Jones. And even though E throws a handful of prayer beads at me whenever she hears me say it, I look on that movie as a training video.
I've said it before and I'll say it again. The Hunted has the most realistic martial arts fighting in any movie. None of that "chop-saki" crap. But real, tested Sayoc Kali techniques. The only thing "unrealistic" per se was the amount of damage the combatants took during their fights. If their first skirmish went down anything like what was depicted in the movie, one of them would've died, plain and simple. Thirty or so years ago, when a nunchaku scene was edited out of one of Bruce Lee's movies (was it Game of Death when he was fighting Dan Inosanto?), The Hunted would never have seen the light of day.
Last night, I got bored again (do I see a pattern here?) and rented Secretary. Ah, the sordid feelings and memories that film revived. But all that was, as the old jazz standard goes, "Long ago and far away..."
ITEM THE SECOND
Hung out with BILLY_JACK again for a bit. We tried the whole trapping exercise again. God help him, he actually got one of them right twice in a row! We did some actual (padded) stick sparring. That whole "use your peripheral vision" thing helped out again, although I have to give it to BILLY_JACK -- his footwork was a lot better than I remembered it being. And, he actually got some hand checking in. Actually, our training didn't last all that long. We hung out and talked for a bit. I again, inadvertently, perverted my counseling skills (it really is an occupational hazard that I've never been able to shake) and found out a little more about him and his family. It only gets more and more clear where his various malfunctions come from. But I've said it before and I'll say it again -- I've got a small measure of confidence that he can potentially grow out of some of that.
ITEM THE THIRD
Our training got interrupted briefly by some muscle-bound person who pulled up in a red car. First words out of his mouth were, "Hey... you guys in the mixed martial arts club?" I'm thinking, "F**k... here comes one of those Bando people, our sticks are out of reach, and all we got are these padded ones." I had a hand on the tac folder just in case.
I'll probably hear it if and when E finally reads this, but it turns out this person was a medical student just starting this quarter who'd read about the club and was interested in joining. So, we gave him some info and suggested he fire off an email. I hope the new officers check the account. Anyway, he seemed like a nice enough person, genuinely interested in what we were doing. It's always good to meet a martial artist who seems secure enough in their person not to feel like they have to posture to get respect.
