Chinese New Year in Jamaica Plain

Today at the Connolly Branch Library I will be doing a Chinese New Year event. Noah really wants (or wanted) to do the lion dance but unfortunately he is sick. And Jonah doesn't want to do it. The event is at 6:30 so their Mommy will be able to watch them by then so I guess an event that I created to do with my family will now just be something I'm doing. I made one trip over there and dropped off some stuff, but I have a lot more I want t bring over as well.

A lot of his friends who were going to come are sick... and to tell the truth, I am also not feeling so hot.

Luckily, the class from Nativity will be coming so I will make this event more about them, in terms of performance... and I will be more of a person who will be explaining and telling stories and showing people instruments.

There should still be a good turn out I think. A lot of people have heard about it.

Vote yourself get rich!

It's Chinese New Year! Gung Hei Faht choi. Wouldn't it be awesome if you could vote yourself a higher salary? Well that's what our government here in Massachusetts is trying (and will be able) to do.
Governor Baker says he'll veto, but they have veto proof majorities.... so... now what.

I saw a lot of outrage and protests and nice speeches about protection and rights. And meanwhile this was in the works. Power to the people against the Federal Government at the local level while the State is planning on taking more of your money and putting it to their salaries... for what? And if Baker hadn't came out and said that he would veto it... would anyone have reported or even know about it?

That is something local, relevant and  important that we should march on beacon hill for. And by the way.....we voted these people into office and we can vote them out. Here's the roll call.

I'm pretty most of these people I don't care about. But I'm disappointed in my Senator for sure. Not that it's in the news you will hear excuses. You know what? In this country you don't need a revolution do get everyone out. The people just have to stand up and vote.

I see a lot of things against Trump and on my Facebook feed and in my neighborhood. Power to you for exerting your constitutional right to peaceful protest. But remember, a lot of the people getting up there and making pretty speeches just tried to rob you.

Don't let them get away with it next November. And see if your friendly smiling faced Senator that shows up to all your community events thought that it was important that they make a law that you pay them more because they deserve it. What is their interest in that? Serving you? or Serving themselves. The point of Democracy (though it no longer works like this) is that the people rule and the people get a turn and the representative is just that. a Representative. Not an aristocratic oligarchy.

Protesting is nice and speeches are nice and saying the right things about the right issues are nice. But by that test, why shouldn't you or any willing college grad or retiree be Senator or Rep? or 35k vs. (which is decent for me) And if you need more money to support your family, get a nicer paying job in the private sector. Thank you for your service. The people give you a nice recommendation because it is supposed to be US ruling right?


Right?

Organize now to do something about this in November.

Truly "walking away"

There is a Zen story about two monks seeing a beautiful woman drowning. One monk jumps in and saves her carrying her to safety. Much later on in the day the other monk keeps talking about how the first monk should confess to their Sifu later because he touched the beautiful woman's flesh... which is against their vows, even if he did do it to save her life.

"Are you still holding onto her?" said the first monk, "I put her down hours ago."

Today I had an experience that involved a street looking "druggy type" male instead of a beautiful woman. It doesn't matter much but the guy was white.

I was filming and he said something rather loud. I thought he was harassing the woman who had just passed by. It doesn't matter much but she was black and probably in her 40's.

I turned around because although I didn't know the woman well, I wanted to make sure she was okay. Not just in terms of safety. But just that she would not be in a difficult situation alone.

I'm actually not sure if he was harassing her or not. But when I turned around, he started harassing me.

"Yo you got a problem N*gga?"

Again, I know white people talk like this too. But it doesn't make it not annoying.

Now... here is the problem. I did not punch him in the jaw... I actually at that moment, did not want to do that. Well maybe part of me did. But the things holding me back are not

1) morals

Another person who knocked him out should be applauded by me. I guess I just don't have the guts

2) the law

I'm pretty sure that even if police were to witness me punching this individual somehow he would be the one that would get arrested. It is just a hunch, but I am 90% sure. I doubt he would stay around if police showed up.

3) safety

Now, I can reasonably say that I would not want to fight this individual in a fair fight. Although I bet on myself. I just don't think it would be worth it. However I was not planning on fighting him. Of course you never know how a situation is going to turn out but what I would have done, if I were a brazen ballsy individual, would have been to punch while he was finishing his sentence.

If he was not knocked out by this I suppose if I were this hypothetical brazen individual (that again I am not) I would continue to hit him. If we went to the ground... (here my morals might stop me from kicking him while on the ground. But then if I were that brazen perhaps I would not have those morals.)

I do not believe he had a gun. He may have had a knife but it was not out and he was wearing a back pack. Basically I think I could have gotten away with throwing a few blows at him even if they were weak and did not knock him out managed to disengage and run away. Of course that would have been an unnecessary risk.


At the time I was not angry.

I was annoyed and confused by his strange behavior.

"Yo you lookin at me like you got a problem bro." he said

Now some people would have taken the camera and filmed him. I didn't do this because I was still trying to save the shot. But I did just listen to the audio again. I did not keep it in the video because my adrenaline filled voice sounds shakier and more afraid that I would have liked to remember.

(Maybe I will post that clip up anyway. But having to hear it again just made me angrier.)

"I heard you.. so I turned around" I think I say this twice and then say "Okay?"

Now don't get me wrong. I'm not begging for my life. I am still ready to throw the shot to his chin. But he walks away... and I guess I have been trained to do this... to walk away.

When I was younger I would walk away throwing F bombs at him perhaps.

But as I finish my little filming I wonder whether I did the right thing. I mean I am not doing society a favor by not hitting him. I almost feel like, perhaps it was my duty to beat the shit out of him and I was simply too afraid to do it. In other words. I may have physically walked away, but mentally I did not.

I was the second monk.


The monk of inaction.

I wonder what many of my friends would have done. I think a few of them would have knocked him out. The older ones.

And I realize that as I get older and have to put up with children yelling at me all day... and I also realize that this fellow may have even been younger than me... that I will actually be MORE likely to do something as I get older and weaker, not the other way around.

I suddenly understand why old men shoot teens. Because F this guy, seriously. He may have been as old as me, but whatever. I'm not disrespecting him. Who the hell is he to disrespect me in Chinatown when he is not Chinese.


Not to say that rationally deadly force would be the right course of action. I'm just saying that I understand the sentiment.

Perhaps it would be better to punch him, without getting mad, rather than to get mad and not punch him.


Though ultimately all he used was words and I should have just been more firm in my words. I am not saying That I should have used foul or vulgar language, but maybe I should have said,

"Actually I thought you were harassing that woman. Also, I think you are speaking to me very disrespectfully right now and that's unwarranted."

Now you could say, "that will just get him angrier and he will try to hit you."

Excellent! Then whatever I did in return would be in self defense. Of course if he shot or stabbed me I would be in trouble, but again, I did not have the sense that this would be the situation. Even if he did have a knife I don't think he would have used it initially.

Of course I could be wrong.

Basically, if you are going to walk away. It's important to mentally walk away as well, which is sometimes difficult if you don't feel that you have said your piece, either with words or fists.

And although I have always physically walked away, a) I'm not sure this is always the best course of action and b) to walk away physically and not mentally can be just as damaging to your health long term because of dwelling on negativity.

Once upon a time in Chinatown/Good bad ugly soundtrack prototype

So I had this idea for a movie. It would be a cross between Wong Fei Hung and the Good the bad and the ugly and it would star Mandy Chan, Adriana Li, and me. The soundtrack would be the above video (of course it would be better though, after we all get better at our instruments. 

Of course I realized I never actually saw the Good the bad and the ugly, all the way through.... so I will do that ASAP. 

The title would be Bueno Bad Beautiful, and mostly would be like a Kung Fu Western.  

Swords and weapons dancing

To work on my forearms I have been doing sword cuts with this unbalanced metal thing I bought at a street market in Krakow... in the house... which is probably a bad idea. I can't decide if bringing it outside would be a worse idea. I would love to bring it into the woods and have a spiritual experience with the sun shining off the metal. But I am concerned about someone calling the police.

I have other weapons I dance around with in the house. They are a sword, a tomahawk and a knife. Why these? Mainly because they were cheap... and real enough. For certain they won't break. They aren't that useful... though I used the tomahawk to open up a coconut the kids bought in Worcester.

I love sword... or the idea of swords, and I like the idea of the magic sword. Light sabers, Excalibur, whatever. Guan Gong's sword wasn't magic. But in the three kingdoms. Zhuge Liang does pull out a sowrd and point it at a star and recite some incantation like the sword is a wand. I found that pretty bad ass, even though he collapses and fails pretty soon after that.

The idea of the weapon as a ritual tool is cool to me.

The title of this post is "dancing" instead of a "form" because even though I do martial moves (moves that can be used in a fight) what I really want to do more of is to dance and jump around more (I just don't have space.) and do less cuts and thrusts. To move slowly and stalk the imaginary demons of my own mind and cut off their heads.

I have been going more in that direction with the creation of other animals dances, my Rooster Dance, and my Ax Dragon and Spear Dragon.... plus this is just easier to "teach" You show kids some stances (which they may or may not use and then hand them the thing made of paper mache and a stick....


But there is no reason (except safety reasons) why at some point, when they are strong enough to hold the metal and wise enough not to cut themselves, that they can't do the same with the bladed weapons.... or perhaps a paper mache version of such.


Having the sharp weapon does make you focus in a way that a pool noodle doesn't.

Well for them it's a long way off to tell the truth.

And even adults take some time to develop the interest and focus.


I guess this is just for myself more than anything else. My fantasy, my  mind.. and my forearms and core.

Push it to the limit... sort of

I don't know if it was because the weather was warm pr because yesterday, after the T was delayed because of T action I had to run to pick up my kids and felt that I wasn't able to do it as easily as I should have, but today I went all Insanity p90X on my Kung Fu practice.

Well not quite. I kept the Old man philosophy in mind.

But instead of walking to the park and doing Tai Chi like Mein Lei jum

I ran (not full speed so jogged I guess) down a hill, up a hill and started doing external forms. Then I would jogg off and hit a tree, do 100 of a basic (still not full speed full power, but more to strengthen the core and feel my hipflexors and achilles slowly stretch and warm as I tuned my waist in horse stance, and then I would jog off and do pushups and then another form and basically run around like a monkey that didn't stop moving. I also worked dome wushu kicks and high knees, butt kicks and bear walks in there.

I didn't "push it to the limit"

Because I feel that people often forget how this movie ends... and I remember throwing kicks in winter and pulling stuff. So everything was under full performance level and slow. But it felt could to push it a little more. I feel like I have to do my internal though now. And mostly I felt that my leg muscles that are used for jumping and running got more of a work out. I want to be able to be more physical. To jump over things etc. And tone up a little more than what my mental exercise of walking and Tai Chi was doing for me. 

I probably looked like I was being intense though because I stripped down to no T shirt. Although it wasn't that cold, there was frost on the grass, so I looked more like a crazy work out guy than elderly guy in the park. We'll see if this mtovation lasts when the temperatures drop again though. 

Peaky Blinders

I'm hooked on this show. At first I wondered what the title even meant. And it's pretty hard for an American to understand why such a bad ass gang of the 1900's would have a name that sounds like it came from a children's story.

A few things of note. I know that Chinatown has some bad ass stories of it's own from this era. I mean Boston's Chinatown in America. I could not help but notice that even though the Chinese are shown in this show, they just seem weak. They aren't portrayed bad assly.

It makes me want to write more stories in the Chinatown blog about that time period. It's long ago enough now, that it shouldn't be a problem to just let everything out.

But back to the Peaky Blinders.


The fight scenes are awesome. I have to say it makes me want to where hats like that and put razors in them. It would be so stupid to do that of course, but maybe I'll start wearing my fish town derby again.

I also noticed some moves that are in Sup Ji that I always categorize as "for show" that were used in a way that, well if you do it like that, yeah anyone can do that move.

Speaking of Kung Fu I also notice that the Shelby's do a lot of boxing. More and more as the episodes progress. I think Kung Fu of that era was also similarly unhealthy.

Smoking, drinking, opium, something that looks like cocaine but is called something else.

Gypsy fortune telling. I guess English and Chinese aren't that different.

So why is the one group shown with such swagger and the other  always depicted as people who yes, break the law, but are more like servants.

Well I'm hooked nonetheless, with Sam Neil with an Irish accent.

Kung Fu conditioning

I don't train nearly as much as I used to.

While I don't think I will necessarily jump right into all the exercises mentioned in this article I think it brings up a lot of good points about working out with a Martial Purpose. If you lift weights or do cardio you might as well do it in a way that is making your Kung Fu better, rather than worse.

For myself I feel that I am in the old man stage of my training where I take it really easy. But i actually do a lot of the things in the above article... again in an old man and slacker type way. Instead of pushing it to the limit, I stop way before I am anywhere near my limit... but I think slowly I should start increasing my training and bring some of that fighter's spirit back in a little bit at a time.

Pictures from the trip to Philly

Christmas Videos

Wasn't sure if this was already on the blog. This video seems like a commercial for Datillo's lol. Everytime we stop by the house we have to go there. 

We went to the house and then Grace took my family out to a huge Chinese dinner. It is something my mom would have wanted to do. The crazy thing is the restaurant, Jade Harbor, is on Bustleton Ave.

We hit up some museums and other spots on the way back as well. I will have to write down each place we visited on this post later on.

Discipline

Looking at my blog history I realize that last January I also got really into family history. I guess it is an inevitable product of the Christmas pilgrimage to Philadelphia. I realize too that my Chinatown Blog, is a lot like a family blog, but extended to a community. At least I realize that is what attracts many people to it. Who knew who and what story was different. And I realize that to do the blog I need to be more disciplined about bringing my specialties to the table. ie. Who I know, my ability to interview and then get a story into a post, and obviously coming from a Kung Fu Angle most of the time. 

Pictures, videos, food, current events, music, Hollywood happenings, I did these posts and they often get more hits... but in the end they are not only NOT my strong point. They are more like commercials to the side of the story or article in a magazine that are interesting, but I can't forget about the main narrative. And I have been slacking.

I realize that I have a limited amount of time to achieve things in a day so I have to manage my time well. 

Today I reached out for a bunch of interviews that will hopefully get somewhere and I'm starting to lose productivity hich means it meditation and then reading time. Then I'll start on my fictional stuff. 

Alone with the mind monkey

I decided the other day that I must have a Sun WuKong for my altar. One just like my Si Hing has at the Kung Fu school (though his was for Feng shui and not part of the altar at all.) It became like an obsession where I scoured the internet. The cheapest were $50 and from there the prices went up drastically to like $2000.00 Okay maybe there were some that were $25 but they looked like crap.


Why Sun Wukong? It's not just about Journey to the west. Which is actually read from an American perspective... exactly how America acts.

But read in a different way, there is a total cultural genocide of "demons" including ones as innocent as the peach girl... a peach tree that became a girl and wants to marry Tripitaka. She does nothing wrong at all.

MM hong chops the tree down in the day light when it is defenseless and  it bleeds human blood. He justifies this by saying that allowing these creatures (yew) monsters ie things born one way and trying to become another (ie beings like himself striving to be human even though they are not... on another note this same term is used for trans people in slang) cannot be allowed to be powerful or they will cause trouble for humans one day.

Monkey is given free reign killing "yiew" but gets in trouble when he kills the most depraved types of humans.

To put it lightly, Journey to the West definitely is problematic and satirical but there are many ways to read it and who knows what the Ming Dynsaty author meant. The Communists used it in their way for sure, but just the part about overturning heaven etc.


But usually it is seen as a cute children's story and has been retold to fit this.


I look at the Monkey King as pure and simple a chaotic, smart and creative character that breaks all the rules to show what is really up and what is really true. He does a lot of messed up stuff but strives for morality and in the end, attains Buddha hood by carving a path for his Sifu to walk with a stick that is a weapon of mass destruction.


He is also a fictional character and other monkey's remind me of him. He is often compared to Hanuman. But their personalities and actions differ so much that you might as well through in Curious George.

Curious George has a Sifu too, a man that represents reason and the modern age. The Man in the Yellow Hat. The original stories are problematic too, supporting neo-colonialism and white power kind of.. so the PBS version makes sure that the Scientist (who is hot and seems very friendly with said Man in the Yellow Hat, along with that single mom who lives in the building ever think of that?)... wait so the Scientist is a woman and appears to be black or at least dark skinned. So in the PBS version George has a group of Sifus to guide him through his journey which is simply through life and around the world, and the attainment of knowledge is through Science instead of the Mahayana greater Buddhist Vehicle.

In other words, George is the modern child friendly reincarnation of Sun Wu Kong and he uses a lot of outside the box methods to achieve his goals as well. Though he has not Staff.


My Monkey needs a staff.


I spent some time today just making a monkey king just like the statues I saw. I made it out of a water bottle, paper and duct tape. I think I will have the kids paint it as part of a Kung Fu project. That way, all the creative energy of my students will be going into the Statue.

I may make another using paper mache just to see if it is better, and another with Play doh. I was surprised how quickly I was able to fashion something without really planning it out. Just like Wukong himself.


Instead of a staff, I put a pencil in there. The reason for this is

a)the whole pen is mightier than the sword thing.

b) I am a blogger

c) Wu kong was created out of the power of fiction. The staff shrinks down and he sticks it in his ear. To me it is fitting that his Golden Pillar Staff is a pencil.


In JP there is also a blissful Monkey Studio and there is talk in Yoga about the Monkey of the mind and I find the story about the Monkey going behind the Water fall, to be pretty deep. Especially when you read the Taoist Quote in front of each chapter. I mean if you got all Joseph Campbell on this you could have a field day. But I also feel like the story should be retold.

Actually I have been working on it. On my other blog I blended monkey with Jesus and Adam sort of. But I marry him to Kwan Yin/Nuwa because to tell the truth, I feel like there is some sexual tension there in the novel. I know Chinese people will hate me for saying it but just look at some of the passages.

In another book I am writing (the other stories on the short blog I have put to the side, I am going to have Monkey King and KWan Yin proper be married and living in Chinatown, and constantly having loud domestic arguments. There is going to have to be something deep about all that too. They are going to be the concluding chapter. This book is going to be like the Cheung Family Kung Fu gospel. Each chapter will have a different Cheung from the Wuxia world that will have different personalities and meanings.

Obviously Zhang Fei is going to be in there. I thought about getting a Zhang Fei for the altar to. After all my last name isn't Kwan. But I think I will have Kwan Gung show up or at least have Zhang Fei talk about him. Not only that, but there is something about Kwan Gung's way. Zhang Fei is the man, but his style is a lot like the Monkey King anyway, and since I teach children, I feel that the Monkey King is a better embodiment of that energy.

The center of my altar has Nike, who might as well be Kwan Yin, but the more violent aspect of her. If you ask how can the Goddess of Mercy be violent, I will remind you that they get the sword to cut off Monkey's head from her. And there was no guarantee at that point that his head would grow back.


But onto making  a Statue of Kwan Gung. I think I will find some Horse or Reindeer figurine for cheap. Even a broken one, and put Kwan Gung on that. I even considered tying Kwan Gung to Odin... even though their personalities are completely different. Odin is more like Tso Tso or Zhuge Liang. Kwan Gung is more like Thor... though he is far more honorable than Thor. But I feel like Guan Yu's horse, which is fast.... could have some exaggeration tied to it. 8 legs like Sleipner. Or perhaps it could be a Kei Lun or like the Burak. If you think about it Chinese can be painfully reasonable with the Saints/gods they worship. At least when it comes to Kwan Gung, who really has nothing magic about him at all. He's just a good guy that happens to be big and able to fight. Jau Gong has magic. Kwan Yin has magic. Monkey King has Magic. Buddha has Magic.... why can't we give Kwan Gung some extra powers and have him give out gifts like Santa? Anyway, I guess I will paint WU Kong first. More on Why I need a Kwan Gung Statue (that I will make) later.

I avoided setting up these altars, but the ideas behind these figures have been running around in my mind so that they must come out, if not through a purchase than through me making them.

Sifu Mai Du had said that the altar is more about intention anyway. I feel like by making the figures and having the children paint them, that they become far more personal and therefore powerful.

The next step in Sup Ji

So our Kung Fu challenge got absorbed into our food adventures and we also sort of stopped. I'm going to have to finish getting the other footage up before I continue with the Sup Ji Challenge. The last two days Noah actually led the group in 30 basics each and then doing 3 sup jis. Grace started just doing her own version of the techniques over and over and it made me realize that you could also just do the form and follow along (even if it isn't perfect) and that would be a great way to learn the form as well. But We will resume doing the one technique per day again soon. 

I always liked Sup ji for making children who didn;t know anything, follow children who knew the form. Because there are all these jumps and spins, that while complicated in some ways.... can also be done simply. And when a group does it, even if they are not 100% synchronized, they look like super heroes.