The Good tantrum game

I saw this article about how you shouldn't punish your kids and that when they throw tantrums there was another technique to dealing with this.

I was thinking, okay here is some other hippy bs that might work but is also again kind of bs.
Because of seen kids whose parents are like, "Oh no he doesn't hit, he never hits" or whatever and in the end their kids all over the freaking place and my kids might be like that at home. But people tell me that in general, my kids are pretty good.

But whatever I kept reading.


So it says that you play this game, when the kid isn't mad. Mommy (but ot's gonna be me in this case, I mean there is no united front and parents getting together to decide how we raise the kids. I do me and Grace does her.

But the game is you PRETEND to say something the kid doesn't like and then the kid PRETENDS to throw a GOOD tantrum. A good tantrum means "no hitting mommy" stuff like that.
The idea is they get some sort of reward for playing this game and then when they throw real tantrums they throw good ones instead and then you reward that.

So I was like, "Okay let me try this bs but my way."

So last night I was like, "Noah we're going to play a game. The game is I'm going to tell you something you don't want to do. Like to put on your shoes and go to school." (again this is like 8pm or something.)
"And then, you are going to pretend to throw a tantrum.. except your tantrum is Joi jung kuen."

Noah laughed and then I said in a pretend yelling voice (you know when you pretend you are yelling but actually you are practically whispering) "Noah put on your shoes and get to school Right Now!"

And then he laughed and did Joi jung kuen.

So first of all. The kid did Kung Fu without throwing a tantrum. We are going to play this game every day.

More on this to be continued.

Woo Ching's White Crane Boston Bak Hok Pai

Today was the last day of my First Baptist Church class. My friends (and students) got me a gift. A 1940's antique police night stick. (It's actually just the right size for the dan do form aka Mo ching do.) I put it up on my altar (my altar is a fusion altar more on that later)



What I wanted to blog about was that, on a whim, I decided last week that the final class I would teach Dai Do cherng





Kristen took hold of the spear (we only learned sticks) and something clicked. I mean everyone's basics have been getting better and better. But she was just able to do the moves right away.



I forgot about how invigorating it can be to do this stuff. I had fun watching them have fun.



(Above is the version of the form with the double sword instead of the big knife. have to find the other one online.(

Making movies

So I was feeling all good about myself, uploading roughly edited movies to You tube. It was awesome. I was telling a story of what happened. I captured 6 hours of an experience into a few minutes. I felt like I was writing with moving pictures. But now when I try to share my edited videos I get a "share Failed" To tell the truth, like Paulo Coelho I am very superstitious about the internet. I'm not saying I actually believe in internet gods or fairies, but yeah pretty much I figure there is some cosmic reason why it won't let me share the video now or share that particular video so I'll come back later.

Of course, that is not the problem. The problem is that I thought I was working with something taht was a given. You finish your video, you click share. Just like I finish writing this post and I click publish. But apparently I was working on some sort of "Temporary" way of doing things that has now run out.But I don't get if the problem is with Youtube or Final cut.... probably final cut. So now I have to call them, have them talk me through it while I follow along like an idiot and yes they will think I'm an idiot because to them, I should obviously know this simple thing but they will pretend not to be annoyed you know because that's there job.... but you know I don't get it. Even when I work with people who know thus stuff, everything changes so fast that there are a lot of people wondering what the hell is going on for a lot of time. Kind of makes you want to just sit around in a circle around a fire and tell a story and then call it a day.

11.22.63 Soldier Boy

You know, this series is just so freaking scary... but who am I scared of? The weird thing is that the person to be scared of, the person doing the killing, is Jake.
This episode is called soldier Boy. Lee Harvey Oswald is the one whistling the tune on his way to fulfill his duty. According to this version of the story.. Lee decides to kill JFK only a few days beforehand. It is a spur of the moment thing. And opportunity.

The first thing I thought of when I saw him make the decision on a park bench after reading the paper was the Tsarnaev brothers. I mean yeah they were building bombs for a while and doing this and that. Just like Lee may have shot at General Walker and was saying this and that. But the decision to hone in on JFK in Lee's case, or the Marathon in the Tsarnaev's case, was almost random.

Or is Jake the soldier boy. I mean he never served. Lee was a Marine. But Jake also has a mission and is forcing himself to carry it out despite the past pushing back.


I have to say I really don't think I would be doing any of this if I were Jake. Maybe I would have had to be convinced like Jake was. We see the old guy bum in this one talking about how he is a time traveler too and is trying to save his daughter. Now that... I would have to try and do. Over and Over.
But the President? I'm still not convinced it would even make much of a difference. Also, there are those out there who think we should have stayed in Vietnam longer and that we could have won that war. I don't know the history I'm just wondering what those guys think about this show.

I mean Jake did do some good. He killed two bad men.. but now what? I was actually expecting this episode to have the assassination and for the last episode to deal with the fall out. It's weird to be watching a movie about the past and still have no freaking clue where this is going or what is going to happen.

As always, I will probably have some nightmares tonight.

Curley Lion Dance Team

I don't get the same group of kids each time.. and indeed some children have run up to me before the class and said, "I quit this/" Gleefully. Actually they don't have to tell me that. They can play or participate... so what's the point of quitting? I didn't realize we had gotten that far along yet.
But by doing the class I am marketing for the team. And I think I am training myself... heck brainwashing myself with the Kung Fu anthem, Nam Yi Dong Ji Kerng as a self affirmation. I have high hopes for the group. Many would question why.. but I do, I really do.

Teaching is different from just practicing on your own. Both are important. If all you do is teach classes all day, you do not have time to work on your own stuff. But if you don't teach, then you are limiting the potential of what Kung Fu is for in so many ways.

 A lot of people talk about Self defense. But Kung Fu is about a group of people working together. Group defense. Village defense, Story telling. That sort of thing.

So I'm going to keep teaching my little classes and hopefully I will gather a core amount of people to form a team.. and we will keep growing from there.

de-Stress

I've been pretty stressed out. I need some meditation and mein lei jum to destress from the energy roller coaster you get knocking on doors and making cold calls. Some people hate you. Some people love you. Up down up down.

I was watching a Mike Tyson documentary and Customado says, "Your distracted. Your min disn't on your work."

And that's how I feel with my Kung Fu right now. Stepping into politics has frayed friendships and community connections. There is a reason why I was averse to it. People look at you differently. It is like suddenly you are a different animal than they thought you were to be involved... I mean voting is one thing... but campaigning that is another. I need to definitely take some time tomorrow to do my mein lei jum and basics and all my forms. And maybe take a long meditation.

I hope Diana wins... but I can't wait until this election is over and done with. And I am not even a main campaigner. I can't imagine how these other people who do this all day are feeling. Maybe they get used to it? To tell the truth, if I was door knocking with a friend.. it would feel different, it would be fun.

Sword and Spear Awesomeness

Today I ran a little Kung Fu practice in the playground. It was about 15 minutes. Big turn out? No. But still It's becoming a thing. I sang the song while Noah ran through his stick form. So at least I did that. Then the kids went to play. After that We went home and I did a private lesson with one of Noah's friends. The kids did basic drill s(on their own) and then we ran through forms. You know I always say that Jonah doesn't really have it, isn't there with the Kung Fu. But Maybe I should stop saying that. What it is, is that he doesn't have strong foundation and hitting power. But if you were to look at Kung Fu as an expressive dance. His dance thuds and is clumsy, but I can see where he is trying to do this move and trying to do that move. So he is absorbing it. He just isn't able to do it yet. But he is only four, almost five, so I mean eventually, yes he will know Kung Fu.

Then I did calls for Diana HWang's campaign. I had trouble with the Hub Dial and I had to leave to do a class at First Baptist Church so I wasn't able to do as much as last time. But because I had had my great experience door knocking at my old stomping grounds earlier... I don't know, I took my time and really enjoyed talking to people. AND I actually got some people to lean toward Diana or even to say, "Yeah I'll vote for her!" It was a great feeling. And even the people who rejeceted me mostly did so politely and it was fun to just talk to people.

Does all this make a difference? I think in this case.. YES! yes it makes a huge difference

So then I went and taught my Kung Fu class at first baptist Church. There is only one left and my students here have come a long way. I can see a huge difference between them and the new class in Chinatown. I guess I will have to keep on starting new classes so that I will always have those comparisons.. to see how far students have come.

In class we continued with the Tiger Crane fighting form and finished it up, bringing in the sword and spear. And it was cool to see how much fun they were having. I forgot how much fun doing those moves were. One student did the opening and then smiled and humbly said, "That's awesome."

Yes! Yes it is. But I had forgotten. And when they ran through the moves... it really did look good, like I was watching a movie. It was so cool. See, to watch someone do those moves, that's one thing. But when it is you doing it, even if you are taking your time and doing it slower... it is a whole other things. It is complete awesomeness. You might do this as a child... but with sticks or swords and spears, adults will quickly and rightfully stop you. Then when you are adults.. I mean who plays like that. And even if you do, you have to be careful not to hurt each other. But when you are given a specific sequence and some trade secrets on how to do the moves (now you might say I should not have shared these secrets but everyone in my class is a good friend that is close to me. This class does not have 150 people or something like that) then you can do it safely... and it really was awesome.

Star Ships by Noah and Jonah Cheung

Title:  Star Ships

By:  Noah and Jonah Cheung

One day a little boy named Noah was making different kinds of star ships.like x-wing star ships.

He wanted to make 100 star ships.x-wing shoot torpedoes and TNT star fighters.

Jonah was excited to fly one of the ships.  A star ship came to attack.

Then the good-guy x-wings battled the bad guy book shooters.

Noah and Jonah defeated the bad guys.

But the new Death Star was still attacking other planets.

It was all up to Noah and Jonah.

They flew into the canyon of the exhaust-port.

Instead of shooting, they crashed into the exhaust-port.

Luckily the ships were not destroyed and they flew away from the Death Star.  It was destroyed.

The world was safe again; all because of Noah and Jonah.

THE END

RIO DE JANEIRO BRAZIL CIDADE MARAVILHOSA - WWW.ILOVERIO.COM

Kung Fu is Hard

Okay I don't think Kung fu is necessarily harder than other sports. In fact my whole 3 month inrto classes are based on that idea. But some of the real simple classic Hung Gar -ish type moves I show people are pretty hard. In fact I didn't realize how hard they were until I taught them to people and they couldn't do it. I guess normally I taught them to students who had already gone through the whole process of the basics and various forms before getting to that form. So by the time they learn that form, they pretty much already know that move, so they just do it. I'm talking about a type of punch called a KWA, by the way. It's an over hand back fist and I think Karate has it too.

But back to my point, I've never shown it to someone who didn't have strong foundation before, of other stuff. I mean even Noah, though he is young, went through a process of all these basics and forms before I showed him that move. So he could just do it.

I guess that goes to show how important the basics and the process is. You can still jump, but you will feel lost.

Also, I forget sometimes that I have been doing Kung Fu for so long, and that I never stopped. I slowed down and did less. But I pretty much still practiced everyday. It's like I forgot about all the times when I saw a move and did it, and yeah I just picked it up, but then to make it look better, you know to try and get it like Sifu's (which I never achieved) I would go and do that thing 100 times or 1,000 times. So of course when I went and did another move I had that basic foundation of having done something else 1,000 times. I forget that I went through that. So I tend to devalue my skill. I mean I know I am good. But I also know that I am not as good as my Sifu was.

At the same time I think like, oh yeah this student will just be able to do these basic moves, their so easy.They might not be able to do this other hard moves. But these ones, nah they are a piece of cake.  I forget what I went through. I forget that I myself am a Sifu.

But still I think a lot is achievable with a little bit every day.

Trump's Campaign

I never campaigned for an election before, but for this April 12 election I have been campaigning for Diana Hwang. And even though my namesake Leland Cheung has entered the race... I feel like I can't switch. I'm not sure why.

But doing door knocking and phone calls and reading phone scripts to people (which I found too vague, and I found myself more convincing when I went off script) I have come to appreciate the genius of Trumps campaign.

The guy is old but he uses Twitter better than anyone else I can think of. I mean he's better  (recently) than the Kardashians.

But also he has all these one liners,

"Let's Make American Great Again!"

"Build A wall!"

"I'm going to put a team together..."

"The truth hurts."

"Political correctness is killing us."

That type of thing that you hear it once and you remember it. So I mean say, you are doing phone calls for Trump, there is no question where he stands, or what to say. You know it.

Someone said to me that they were surprised that a lot of Trump supporters sound like Trump. (Not all.) But it's because of his coming up with these lines.

He has a really good formula for self radicalization. You hear it, you know it, you can now spread the word. It's simple and effective. If you want to judge someone's Presidency by how they campaign, Trump really kicks ass. Obama was a good campaigner too. And though Trump's style is uglier, I think it works even better. He's not getting worn down on the campaign trail. He's getting energized.

Everyone who protests him, they are actually helping him because it makes it look like he's right. The shows of inciting violence.. I can tell you that even I, who do not like that style can sort of see that, from a certain way of thinking, when someone comes into your house and disrupts stuff, you have the right to kick them out. Okay now I sound like a super Trumpster, but I'm just pointing out that someone comes into your house or bar or Dojo...and is there to cause trouble you kick them out. And that is the nice thing to do. The mean thing to do is San mun lai jap.

I will disclose here that if it is Trump v. Hillary, I am going with Trump... but actually the main reason is my friend promised me 3 votes for Diana Hwang in exchange for 1 vote for Trump... and frankly Trump will never win Massachusetts so I have sort of weaseled out of any guilt if Trump actually turns out to be like Hitler.


But in truth... Obama was also compared to Hitler. That comparison, and all the stuff they say about Trump is, when you look at it, not so much twisted, but it does focus on certain points rather than others.. Though then again. Trump trumps up those same points. (Fighting wall building etc.) So again, when people play those points to criticize him, his supporters go crazier for him. And the people who hate him for it, either weren't voting for him anyway, or, for business reasons are going to support him despite his nastiness.

I'm sort of going with the Ernie Boch Jr. method. It's only 4 years.... how much damage can he do? Give him a shot.

But you look at Hillary (and Bernie for that mater) they try to play them off as less war mongering. But if you saw some of the debates you would know that isn't true. Bernie is staunchly Israel and staunchly against Assad. Hillary is as Hawkish as anyone. Trump on the other hand, is all about money. He only wants to go to war if he gets something for it, and so other countries actually prefer him, because he can play ball and make a deal.

Trumps argument is that he will get a good deal for the U.S. The other countries are thinking... at least it is just about money and strength and face. It's simple. It's not about morality or women's rights or justice. That stuff, even though it sounds good... well that can start soem serious idealogical wars.

So am I a Trump supporter? No, it's just that I sold my vote. That being said Hillary hasn't been doing a good job.. in her interviews. Whereas if you look at Trump's interviews. even though he says the same stuff as he says at the rallies.. it just doesn't seem as crazy. He seems reasonable.

Then again Assad seemes pretty reasonable in interviews too. Though that is another story.

Who would I vote for if I hadn't sold my vote?

Kasich.

Chess Lessons with Corey Tolbert

So we started Noah in Chess lessons. Most of these lessons, violin, chess, whatever are Grace's idea. Except for Kung Fu, which I teach Noah myself.. and is totally stressful because he's my son. Though I recognize that for Kung Fu Noah is ready for a lot of stuff, and Jonah just simply isn't and it's okay. So it's not like I am pushing Noah too much.

And btw if you think Noah doing Chess is too much.... no the kid likes chess. I wasn't against it, it's just I didn't see a need to pay for it at first. But this chess teacher is so affordable and also calm and is offering a lot of other things through the lessons. like morality.. basically the type of stuff you would want a Sifu to offer.

How do I mean?

Well he was explaining about the King, and how the King is the most important but not the most powerful.

"You have a little brother don't you? Don't you take care of your little brother?"

And Noah, being the cut throat take care of numero uno type shark that he is was like, "uhhhhh..""
anyway my point is this guy showed, through a chess lesson, that Noah should take care of his little brother. So it's not like Baba is just making that stuff up. See this other guy, that can totally kick Baba's butt at chess and 100 other people (he did an exhibition at Faneueil Hall) also thinks I should take care of my little brother. See what I mean? It's like Sifu and priest except we're learning chess. It's worth it.

So the teacher came in and they started playing. Jonah was actually really quiet. And I had to leave because I think I was making Noah nervous, after all he kept looking over at me for some reason. So I just had to leave the room. So I heard this from Grace. It was so quiet that the ticking of the clock was really really loud and then Jonah starts sipping his milk out of these new sippy cup containers Grace got and it was like, "Suuuucckkk slluurrrrppp"

"You really like that milk don't you?" Said the teacher I guess it was pretty funny.

Anyway I poked my head back in to look at them and saw that I didn't understand anything about the game they had played. The pieces looked completely different from any game that I ever played with Noah. So I just stepped back out  and just read my book.

If you want to have lessons with Corey check out his website here.

James Franco's Hitchcock-esque 11.22.63

Damn James Franco you are  a scary guy. This episode had my heart pounding the whole time. I knew you had to have studied Hitchcock the second I realized I was terrified of a phone. Because to tell the truth, the cutting of faces and shooting of guns and suspense about whether Mr. Dunhill would kill you and Sadie or not.. that wasn't the scariest bit. The scariest bit was that phone, because of the way it was shot.

You know, this is like the second dude that Jake Epping has killed and he is planning on killing another... so who it's kind of like Jake is a serial killer. And for a serial killer, he seems kind of timid. I mean there were totally all these times when he could have went for Mr. Dunhill's gun. I kept thinking, "Take his gun! what the hell!"

Going back to the future where Jake is a bearded English teacher and his class is full of bored snotty kids, a lot of them kept saying, "Kill Hitler." or "Kill Sadamn Hussein." or "Kill Hitler and Stalin when they met." Then someone says, "Kill Homer so we don't have to read this stupid book."

Epping realizes that all these youth would kill without even thinking about it. (or so they say.) In fact, since we can go in and out of this rabbit hole Narnia like closet... I think I would have killed Lee, and then went through the rabbit hole to see what happened. I mean you can always go back again for a reset right?

I mean that is probably the first things I would be doing is messing with stuff and resetting it to see what happened. How do we go back to the future again? He has to go back through the same closet? I'm not so sure about how that works. But I guess it doesn't matter and that would totally make a less interesting novel and story.

I really would rather watch this show earlier in the day... because there is no way I can go to sleep after watching it.

It takes a village

I often heard stories about how my Sifu taught and learned in the village (herng ha). And I always thought this was cool. But I wondered what is the equivalent in the states. We aren't organized by villages. But we are organized by school districts. The more I think about it, the important it is becoming to me to teach in the school yard at the Curley. I have committed to that Lion Dance and Kung Fu Class every Wednesday, but I think it is important to try to rustle up some of the kids to practice some Kung Fu every day. It doesn't have to be long. They just have to learn something. Some basic drills, and then maybe start doing forms together, to show that we can all do some complicated thing that looks cool, all together. And then we'll see where we go from there.

My Sifu said that everyone stopped practicing after he left. He would force all the adult sin his village to line up and drill. He would beat them if they didn't. Adults. But you can't do that here. But that doens't mean you can't encourage people to practice and ask them for their help. It won't take long for them to learn a whole form if you do the drills every day.

But for what?

For what?

Let's cross that bridge when we get to it. If they can learn, then pretty soon they can teach and that is something. I cam't do it by myself. I need people to follow and people to lead.. and people seem willing, So I might as well just try this out and see where it takes me. Maybe these kids and parnets will get really good. Maybe not. It doesn't even really matter. Most importantly it will show we can all do something together which is strength in itself.

Politics Problems and Perspective

I remember talking to a Puerto Rican friend who is a community organizer and he said he didn't vote because he sees the U.S. as an Imperial force that took over his country. I went an skimmed through a book on Puerto Rican history after that and holy crap.

But what does that have to do with today's politics.I'm not saying I'm not going to vote. I am absolutely going to vote. But I'm starting to realize it there are things you can start doing that are actually more important than campaigning or voting or protesting or this or that. A lot of that stuff is, in the end, for show.

It's amazing how volatile this election has become and there is still so much time left. But in the end I doubt my life will change that much, no matter who is President. When every body said that those times were great.. those were my worse times economically. When everyone said "Oh it's really bad." life was fairly easy for me. Of course it matter who is President. Everything matters. But what matters most is what you do under that President. What am I doing? What do I even want to do?

I've been blogging in Chinatown and I won't say I've been trying to affect change. I don't know what I want to change or that I even want change. I want happiness. I want harmony. Being from mixed heritage I guess I want different groups to get along. But a lot of advocating for this or fighting for that...I'm not feeling it. I feel like so far this year everyone is shouting and running around in circles and being really vague about it all. Nobody is offering or stepping up with concrete solutions.

Myself, I've been trying to step up with the only solutions I have for everything.. Kung Fu and Lion Dance and meditation. Because that's what I do... Also writing I guess. But am I solving a problem> I was trying to, I was trying to do outreach. I ended up having lots of fun teaching, but the target at risk youth type kids, of course they did not show up.


Maybe that is my problem. I am looking at the world as if there are problems. I mean you can't deny Global warming.. I guess that's a problem if you care about living and other things living.... but I think it dawned on me.. maybe a lot of people don't care about living.. you know heaven and all that.

Maybe I'll stop trying to affect change altogether. Just drop thinking about what is important and just do what is cool and what I want to do and somehow my path will be guided to help out when I can and want t.

Children's minds are sponges

I was talking to another parent in the playground about Kung Fu. She actually used to study under a student of Bow Sim Mark (me and a bunch of friends I used to hang out with actually were part of her kids class through Kwong Kow.)
We were talking about forms and how a lot of students apparently left Bow Sim Mark because of that focus on forms.. too much to take in etc. I was surprised to here this because I always thought of her school as the model for business success. In any case, with my recent classes I have been emphasizing basics. Woo Ching White Crane emphasized basics but I remember a lot of the American studnets mentioning that they didn't practice at home because they couldn't remember the order of the basics.

So for my First Baptist class I started out just teaching 4 moves. But even that was a lot because a student mentioned that they would forget it all as soon as she went home and to show her ONE thing to work on. I think that is actually the beauty of boxing. The jab and the cross, thopse are essentially just straight punches. And that is mostly what you will do. In fact, at Peter Welch Boxing club. Peter told me to do "200 jabs before your shower, 200 jabs in the shower and 200 jabs after your shower" you talking about just jabbing with just one hand, the non dominant one. What I am saying is, if you do that, for 6 months, yeah you'll have that move down. And there is something to be said for that in fighting, to have the move down.

For my Curley Class, I did some Tai Chi warm ups (really Mein lei jum but since I separated the moves out, there is hardly any difference now.) and some kick boxy type moves and what I focused on for Kung Fu was just the straight punch. But after doing 30 of them I could sense the children's minds wandering.

 So I moved on. But the next day a parent tell sme that her daughter, who was watching from her stroller showed her father all the Tai Chi warm ups. What? That's crazy. She absorbed tat just by watching?

I realized that for adults... yes work on ONE thing, because an adult can do that. Work on one thing over and over. But kids will just pick things up. I mean it would be good if they could drill like that... but you can't really make them. Even in Shaolin Temple they don't. I mean they all line up and do drills, but you can totally tell that some of the monks are faking their effort, not giving it their 100% effort or focus... and what's the point of that. In fact, that's why I suspect that climbing and running ar such a big part of Shaolin Temple. You can't fake travelling over a certain distance.


My point is though that these kids, if I showed them a form every day, they would know it in a week. I know because I knew forms in a week. So why hold them back? I mean I don't want to commit to everyday practice. But Maybe I could just start doing it informally. And if I could get this other mom in on it too.. that would be fantastic. It would be like my little Utopian Kung Fu village, at the Curley... I mean these kids could theoretically get good. And I wouldn't have to worry about the whole "overdrilling" thing because the kids can always just go play. They wouldn't be forced to do  Kung Fu. It would be an option. And maybe some kids could pick it up just watching.

How did the Curley Lion Dance team practice go?

Well it was a lot of fun. I moved the practice place from Pershing road to the side so I could watch my kids more  easily. None of my target group showed up (5th -8th graders) however I got a bunch of kids from the playground. Next week we are going to have it at the Kick ball field. Maybe I will bring a drum to attract more attention, and the kickball field is more visible to the big kids who play on the big field. So maybe I can recruit some of them to join the class. If we are going to parade with the big lion head I am going to need to recruit the older kids.

If it's just the younger kids, I think once a week practice is plenty. But if we are going to have a team of big kids, it would be very useful to have them practice more than that. Twice or three times a week. In fact if I continue this through summer it should even be every day. and every day in the fall and honestly, just continue through winter and then bring these kids down to Chinatown to do the 6 hour parade. Why not? As it is now though, the kids are just having fun and that's all. We won't be able to progress beyond that. But it's only the first class.

Jonah actually participated in my class, which was a first. Maybe it was because all his friends were doing it. Children came and went as they pleased but whatever. The kids who I knew to be mor etough like, stayed the whole time, which shows they are interested.  If you have the option of just leaving, that is actually good. Then those who stay are the ones I want to put my time into.

I found out that Noah can actually sort of do the Lion dance with the big head... which is crazy. I guess it's good strength training. One of the parents commented that even though the little kids were too weak and didn't really know what they were doing, there was enough movement under the head and tail and the head was pretty enough, that it still looked really cool.

The weather was nice too.

Curley Lion Dance team

Alright today I'm going to start teaching Curley students Kung Fu and Lion Dance in the school yard. The goal is to get ready for the Wake up the Earth parade. We'll see who shows up, but I'm starting to think, why did I make it only one day a week? If there is interest I might expand to Mon Wednesday Friday. I might try to carry it over into the summer too and make it a daily thing and go right through the fall. I'm getting ahead of myself because maybe nobody will show up. I sure don't want to bring the lion head there every day. But maybe during the summer I will. If some older kids practice every day, they could actually get pretty good in a month or a week. Maybe good enough to run class. (I did that and there was more information to remember too. I will be simplifying it.) We'll see how it goes, but it would be cool to put a real team together. Maybe teach them forms and stuff too. Why not?

Teaching the Tiger Crane form

Today I taught two students, who are married, the Tiger Crane form. I kind of wished I got it on video. Even though they are beginners they looked pretty good. But I think most importantly, they were having so much fun learning something knew. I remember learning fighting forms for performances that were coming up, and there was always an element of extreme stress, especially since there was a lot of, "No no no like this" Blind striking out by fatigued partners, frustration, and injuries. It's different when you are doing it just for fun. I mean there was banter back and forth, but it was funny.
And it didn't matter at all if they forgot it all the second they left. Who cares?

Maybe it was because it was so laid back. Maybe it was because they were married. I don't know. It was just a fun experience.

The Clothespin in 11.22.63

I am not the only one who had to Google what the hell was being talked about when this came up. James Franco, Jake is back in the 1960's trying to prevent JFK's assassination, and he falls in love with this woman, Sadie, who is married. She talks about her first night with her husband, and that he had her touch his penis, and that she felt a clothespin. He had a clothespin on his penis.

"What?" said Jake, and me and Grace because the conversation continues as if this is something that people did back then. As if I am supposed to go, "Oh yeah that's horrible but that's the 60's" Like footbinding in the Qing dynasty or something. So apparently this wasn't in the book but is a reference to another Stephen King novel. But everyone is wondering what the hell is going on on the internet.

Later Jake talks to the husband and he says, "Did Daddy put the clothespin on? Oh no that was Mommy."

Again this makes it seem again, like even though it is crazy... that it is something that happened in child abuse cases or whatever. That it isn't unheard of. What???

The first thing I thought, which wasn't in any of the answers I saw, was that maybe it was a way to stop him from Masturbation as a child. I only say this because I saw some weird thing on the History Channel about bizarre things that were put on young men in the Wild West times to prevent masturbation.

But the main point is not the clothespin. Mainly it is that he is abusive. But you say abusive and you're like, yeah that's bad.. but normal. I mean look at the guy Jake killed. Now that was abusive right? But the clothes pin line really makes you go, What the hell is going on?
 And makes everything that much more creepy just because a normal household item is placed somewhere where it shouldn't be. Interesting how something out of place can be terrifying.

"Spotlight" gave me nightmares

I watched Spotlight and it was weird to hear Fr. Callahan's name come up. Basically there are three Jesuit priests who heavily influenced me and who I respected immensely even though I did not consider myself a Catholic when I knew them. I was baptized, but I never got into it, and when i went to Nativity, I just thought that Buddhism was more reasonable.. but actually all I really considered Buddhism, was just meditation. I wouldn't say I am atheist now, I could still consider myself Catholic, or ai Do Catholicism, like a walk, or I swim, or I do Kung Fu , or White Crane or Hung Bak Choi, I don;t see such rigid lines.

But in any case. The first Priest I talked and philosophized most with was Fr. Cullen. In highschool I got a letter from Nativity that there had been an accusation against him that he had asked a boy to touch his penis and that it had been settled out of court. Some of the Nativity Alumn I talked to were pissed because they said, "That never happened." But I said, "Why would someone lie about that? For money?" It's possible. But I do remember him taking a well developed boy aside when we were changing, which was strange and, in full view of everyone, admiring his muscles etc. But at the time I didn't think anything of it.

Anyway, a lot of what I heard about the studies about why priests may molest boys was from  him too. He taught in class that if you cut off the possibility of marriage, that in a certain number of priests they will have these thoughts and perversions.

Okay. So I still have fond memories of Fr. Cullen, despite the accusation, but if he did that, obviously that is wrong. And based on what I saw myself, and the code words of being put out to retirement homes. It's possible. In fact, it's likely isn't it? But I just don't want to admit it to myself.

Fr. Callahan... I wrote a whole speech about how much I respected him at a B.C. High Fr. Callahan dinner which got a standing ovation, which was initiated by Mike Barnacle. Fr. Callahan once said to me, "There will always be room in Jesuit order for you if you decide to take that route." He said that even though at the time I was not Catholic. My Mother was proud, because she was.. though lapsed.. and also more Buddhist by then. But still that was how she was raised.

His name popped up in the movie, and it wasn't that he had done anything, but it was implied that maybe he knew something about it and was part of the system that protects priests that are abusers... I don't know.


So the last priest that is the hero of my childhood is Fr. Hick's, who spoke at my mother's funeral. Some people would say we didn't have a funeral. I say we had simple one at the grave site.

He taught Algebra in the Middle East and was very open minded. He always seemed to be a priest that, yes was part of the church, but was simultaneously outside of it. I can't imagine that we would have anything to do with any of this.

Now of course there are a lot of younger priests who wouldn't have anything to do with this either but honestly, I have never found any of them to be very inspiring.

In any case I had a nightmare about Fr. Cullen after watching Spotlight. It wasn't my first nightmare about him. The first one he had a heart attack in the dream and I tried to start his heart again by pushing on it, a cross between CPR and magic. It turned out, he had actually had a heart attack right around the same time I had the dream.

But in this dream, (he has passed away now for almost 5 years or so) he appeared as a shadow... a demon version of himself. I had my fists up to defend my self, to jab into the demon face to protect myself from getting close. But at the same time i appealed to his other side crying out, "Help!" but I was cursed his demon side so I said, "Help me motherfucker!" it was a strange thing to cry out but I cried it out as loud as I could over and over... which came out as barely a whisper. or something.. in any case it was loud enough that Grace heard me and said, "Honey!" and woke me up from my nightmare. We started cracking up because that was some craziness.

Palm Sunday Kung Fu and Lion Dance class March 20th

Looking for something to do on Palm Sunday but you aren't particularly religious?
I will be having a Kung Fu and Lion Dance class by Jamaica Pond behind the JP soccer field at 10:00am. where the Pinebank mansion use to be located.

The class is open to everyone and will be very kid friendly.

But it will also be connected to a broader Kung Fu culture

This video, put together by Mandy Chan shows a Kung Fu event that I took part in. I am the bald guy wit the Tiger Fork.

We will have Meditation and Tai Chi warm ups, Lion Dance, story time, a power animal and element craft, Basic Kung Fu and self defense, performance of Kung Fu with drumming, Weapons (they will be kid appropriate) and we will end with some songs and the unofficial singing and explanation of the Kung Fu anthem, Nam Yi Dong Ji Kerng

It will be a lot of fun, and though we will cover a lot of material, there will be basic things you will be able to take away from the class and practice at home. 

This class is free and open to the public but I do ask that you make a donation to support me. After all my equipment, my time and my Kung Fu skills are valuable and hard to come buy.

Suggested Donation:$20

Superstitions

It's strange. I have been acting strangely recently and I have been running into more and more people who knew my parents. Some meetings were arranged but some were random. It's as if their presence around me was stronger. I got a call from my aunt  and she said she was having a hard time with surgery etc. and then a call from another aunt and I hear she the first aunt is in a coma.

I talked with her a while and she mentioned that she was inspired by how my mother lived her life. This struck me. Because I feel like recently I have been suddenly behaving more like my mom, in that I was breaking certain rules the way she would do when she was younger. When she was older she became more vulnerable I guess.

Why would I think that these things are connected?
I don't know I just feel like their spirits are close and close to my aunt that is having a hard time right now.

What does this mean for me? Well it means I will have to do my best to help the family that is alive I think. The next generation. The young ones and the youngest little ones. That's what I think.

And more meditation I suppose.

And do my classes and continue doing my work, without fear and remember the spirit of my father and mother.

Some people would say they didn't want to shatter my image of my parents.. like if I thought they were saints and I saw their faults. But the truth is, the saints were just regular people, some of them extremely flawed, but with good connections.

You cannot shatter your image... or rather you should shatter that image and breathe in their spirit close to you and live them out for them.

Something is happening. I feel it. There is sadness and sorrow for my cousins, but that is not all I feel. Something good is coming, something is being pushed toward.. a truth, a wholeness, I don't know what it is. But I am striking around blindly to find it. People will look at my recent behavior and think that I am crazy. I am perhaps going through the world feeling it in a different way than a normal person... differently than a normal modern person anyway. But I am ... I don't know, it's as if something in the spirit world has already happened, and in order to breakthrough to make that manifest in the physical world I have to feel around for a hand hold.

Knowing your family history

Doctors tell you it's pretty important to know your family history, in terms of what runs in the family regarding heart disease etc. As far as I can tell it looked like I was screwed on both sides in that regard (though there are some Polish Super genes on my mom's side... but did those come out in me? not sure.)

But I also feel like it is important to know the personalities of your family. Granted I have two boys, and they have very different personalities. I learn just from seeing them about myself.
But I think other traits and tendencies run in the family too. Like Personality.

For instance, I knew from a young age that my Dad was addicted to gambling, so I don't gamble.

I don't drink either, but it's mainly because I have low tolerance to begin with.

On my mother's side it was surprising to find out that I had someone from my grandmother's generation or even before that who was a drug addict. So when that manifests itself in the family later on... well  it just seems less surprising.

Today I learned something surprising though. I learned that my dad did Cocaine. The reason why I found this surprising is because in school you have the drug education class and they tell you that if you try cocaine once, it gets into your fat so that you will always have an urge to have it. I.e. you will never not be an addict.

But the thing is, my dad had a job took care of me.

I mean the two professions that I know of that are famous for cocaine are restaurant worker, and Finance guy, like wall street type. Cocaine is a stimulant so maybe in these instances it actually enables you to do your job better.

So it's different than Heroin in that respect.

But really what I am getting at is this. If all these people can do drugs and still be functional in society, have all sorts of business going on etc. ...What excuse now does the person have you cannot get a job, or cannot take responsibility? You know what I am saying?

Obviously different substances affect people differently. Like some people are addicted to food. That trait runs in my family as well.

I guess what I am saying is if my Dad could do all those things. whatever maybe all these ventures and working sort of failed. But if he could do all that, some good stuff some bad stuff and he didn't speak English.... then I can do even more than what I am doing right now. Sleep is important. Health is important. But I have sort of under extended myself recently. So it's okay to try and do more Kung Fu classes around the city...and I suppose for  me, Lion Dance and Kung Fu is like my version of cocaine and gambling.