What I'm Up To

To avoid being long-winded, I'll attempt to break down the time in between into chunks. Martial Arts wise, I've gotten back into the swing of things, as noted previously.

I thought I'd be out of luck regarding quality Martial Arts training when I decided to come over to help a friend of mine in Oregon, especially since the town in which he was staying was a small town of Sherwood. Little did I know, however, I'd end up striking gold.

Until the day of my actual departure; and a few days into my arrival, had been scouting for grappling gyms in reasonable proximity to the town in which I'd be staying in; Google lead me to Team Quest.

I had a friend/old instructor of mine tell me about them when he visited them some years ago, and raved about their clinch game. I got a second recommendation from another friend/instructor of mine, saying, "their pedigree can't be questioned."

I've been going to a nearby branch in Tualatin, OR, I initially enrolled into their grappling program; then upgraded my program to include all disciplines offered. My journey there, so far, has given me new life, and perspective in the Martial Arts.

Not So Daily Updates - Jeet Kune Do; Linux; Schooling, and Training

It's been almost half a year since I last blogged. In short, I've transplanted myself out of California, and into Oregon; there are things I do miss about the former, though. Despite such a feeling of want, I've grown to like the area in which I'm staying. I've made instant friends since I arrived in January of this year.

Though I held a position at examiner.com, there are quick reasons why I've ceased activity: the switch in phones hurt the transition process in that I've forgotten my password, or I forgot to update my email address to reflect the fact I no longer use my BlackBerry. Secondly, the incentive has kind of dwindled since I didn't really receive the little compensation I recorded since having my material published. I figured I could continue writing my own stuff without a set quota, or deadline. Finally, the freedom to post what I want was appealing as I mulled over this. Granted, I had crossed over some content boundaries, I felt the company's definition of Martial Arts was too narrow.

Right now, I'm more or less a student full-time, with my MBA pursuit in my path, along with my Martial Arts endeavors through Team Quest, in conjunction with the material I've worked on over the last six years.

Update Again

What have I been up to? Been up to no good, installing and tinkering with Linux. I've tried Ubuntu, and Slackware already. I'm preferring Slackware right now because of the control I potentially have over what gets installed. Ubuntu was great because it allowed for a pain free Linux setup. It was so pain free, it reminded me too much of Macintosh.

Lately, I've been slacking off on my Examiner.com articles, but I'm trying to do a comeback as of right now. I'm actually trying to plan my writing this time around, and hopefully the future. I think I've suffered for a little too long from an inability to further refine my writing. I believe I've gotten great feedback from people. But, what's interesting is I've gotten greater critiques from outsiders who don't know me.

I don't know why I'm hesitant to just walk over to various PE departments and inquire if they need a martial arts instructor of some sort. I guess it wouldn't hurt to just call. More later!

ESPN Friday Night Fights Shocker

Ashley Theophane takes victory over Delvin Rodriguez in a ten-round upset! Or was it? Gotta love DVR. Will review the tape tonight, if not tomorrow and will deliver analysis in due time! Until then, check out my martial arts columns here. On a side note, I'll have to write something about the hook punch's absence in a lot of boxing matches - at least, a properly thrown hook.

Jeet Kune Do™ journey: a struggle I never thought I'd be in.

Martial Arts have been a big part of my life - whether I was active, or not. Beyond the typical mantra of, "self-confidence," "self-control," and so on, I was really drawn into the philosophy, and other life-applicable aspects.

Martial Arts, or any athletic endeavor - basketball, volleyball, football, to name a few, can be a metaphor for life. Sure, there are people who are naturally physically-gifted, but athletic endeavors look past natural talent, and instead, place a premium on skillful execution of required movements within a given sport. Within Martial Arts itself, however, is an explicit/implicit code honor. Of note, is loyalty to the art and teacher.

In the last five years, where to place my loyalties has been a juggling act for the best, and worse. My journey in Bruce Lee's Jeet Kune Do™ involved ten years of research, and five years of training. Throughout my research phase, I scoured message boards; emails back and forth; random IMs to former Bruce Lee students; and actually visiting Martial Arts schools. While this was happening, I had stepped deeply into the politics of the Bruce Lee™ world. The primary source of this was the Concepts-based Jeet Kune Do™ battle against "Original" Jeet Kune Do™. Basically, the former utilizes principles and philosophies of the art to build their own martial art. The latter, on the other hand, tries to preserve the art taught by Bruce. They maintain not only the same tenets driving the conceptual version, but retain many of the tools taught during his lifetime.

I personally subscribed to the "Original" camp because I believe there was a uniqueness to it driving others to flock to it from other arts. What I wasn't prepared for, were the politics within the "Original" camp itself. The fight within involved who had the right JKD™. Many arguments were sprouting about who had the material; who had the most time with Bruce; who got the most from him; and so on. Brushing great detail aside, I rolled into the Ted Wong Jeet Kune Do™ camp in March or April of 2005.

The first two-and-a-half years were an absolute high. I found what I had spent decades hunting for, and the hunt was well worth it. Ted Wong's presentation of JKD™ made the most sense out of all the other presentations I came across prior to that point. Its premise was extremely simple, only featuring five primary punches; and three primary kicks. Everything else focused on variations on utilizing those eight given tools. Every movement had a rhyme and reason to them. I got to meet Ted Wong himself when he taught a seminar in L.A. Chinatown weeks after I started going there for training. Throughout this time, I aligned myself with great people, friends I still keep contact with as much as possible. But, it's this aspect of the JKD™ community that started to change things.

Loyalty to the art itself is rather easy. But, people have to understand, we're humans equipped with free will. Throughout the aforementioned span of time, I've felt, and still feel, I progressed in understanding of JKD™. Part of the credit has to go to an individual, for whom, I have the utmost respect for. This respect is based on the fact he was open and willing to answer any question after class. He inspired me to think about the art in ways I probably wouldn't have, had I not gone under his guidance. Additionally, his friend and head of the organization under which the Chinatown group fell under, was a very abstract thinker that allowed me to accelerate my thought process within the art. These men were very good at what they did and, yet, didn't receive due credit, recognition; or worse, falsities about them were said.

After feeling the highs I had then, things got murky because of one conversation I had with another individual - another student of Ted Wong's. This individual, in short, tried to sell me the idea of connecting closer to Ted. I basically replied, saying neither of the men I trained under did anything meriting a detachment from them. Until I made my way out to see the said individual months later, most of the conversations consisted of my defense of the two people in question.

My loyalty to these two lead me down a path of no return. Because of transpiring events during the latter part of 2007, going into 2008, my instructor had to stop teaching on Sundays due to a change in his work schedule. In addition, the same events eventually led him to leave the JKD™ spotlight for good. In a way, I was without a teacher. Sure, an assistant was around, but the vibe of the training, wasn't the same. Maybe, I'm being sour. But, I had an idea of the ideal in terms of training the art. I know, I'm being smug when I say this but, the reasons why we trained things in a certain manner were clear. During this time of absence, I trained only occasionally. All the while, I retained contact with my instructor as much as possible. During our conversations at the time, I grew to understand, and appreciate, his new found direction caused by his being a student again.

These conversations; and a bitterness towards the art I spent half my life looking for, lead me to switch my Martial Arts loyalties to the overriding goals I felt I needed to pursue at the time. I realized then, and still agree with now, the preservation of JKD™ was in good hands. This said, it was time to progress myself as a martial artist on the whole.

Though, I started taking up some grappling classes on and off in conjunction with JKD™ training, I never trained these skills outside of a JKD™-based context. From the conversations my instructor and I were having, he kept pushing the idea of training for context. An example would be the training of, what is now known as, Reality-Based-Self-Defense (R.B.S.D). Fueled by my agreement with this paradigm; and the aforementioned bitterness I felt, I was ready to embrace this direction when my instructor would make a brief comeback in the New Year of 2009. Part of this embrace would be based on, a now, foolish abandonment of JKD™. In a way students need to let go, or unbind themselves, of their past knowledge to gain deeper appreciation of new knowledge.

Unfortunately, scheduling conflicts took my instructor from teaching again and I was at a crossroads. This was because of an email, wherein, he said he wouldn't be teaching on Sundays for the foreseeable future. In time, the class started going back to a JKD™ focus. This is understandable because neither of us had the background necessary to carry on the material we were just beginning to cover.

Since then, it's been a struggle to come to grips with what direction I should head into. I had made a decision to leave JKD™ behind at the time, and try to get in touch with the R.B.S.D. scene, but to no avail. Throughout this time, I had good friends unknowingly prying me back into the JKD™ scene. I tried to shake em off as much as possible, saying none of that stuff mattered to me at the time. I wouldn't want to even to obtain a ranking in the art. I just wanted to share it with anyone I wanted; and, I didn't want to pass myself as a bona fide instructor, either.

As things would have it, I did test for ranking in JKD™, and still wonder if it was the right thing to do. I still embrace the RBSD paradigm today, despite JKD™ being the bulk of my training these days. Even then, I can see things much clearer now: I shall be totally loyal to the new paradigm I decidedly embraced. I value JKD™ for what it is; how it guided me; what it has to offer; etc. I'll still continue to train it; share it with those interested; let it be my compass to filter out BS in whatever art(s) I come across. But, I'm excited for things to come. I feel liberated from having let all this out. I can't wait to get into the grappling phase of my overall development. Until then, see more professional rants, here.

Making sense of it all

Right now, I'm on a high. But, I need to kept in check when it comes to reality. Right now, what I'm venturing into won't net me much income, and I know that. I understand a necessity to provide enough to finance my rent, cable/internet; and other bills I need to pay. I can't rely on Financial Aid too much, after realizing it. At the same time however, I want and need to carry on the momentum I'm going through right now. It feels good I'm getting a chance to showcase whatever writing talent I have. I also like knowing my effort will lead to something in the end. I hope I get the job covering high school football; and the blog site I'm about to get work out.

I'm anticipating the grind of studying again for school - this time it's graduate school; who would have thunk it, and an MBA of all things? I'm excited right now. I look forward to a more concrete goal plan and what have you.

As always, provide me feedback here, and here.

Update(s)

Writing for examiner.com is a challenge. Writing's not the problem; but, trying to draw a readership is. The nice thing about the site is the training section on how to take care of such a problem. It's made me think a lot about marketing strategy. My past experience working with keywords is teaching me word usage pertaining to search hits.

I don't know why I didn't do this earlier, but I suppose it's due to my fear(s) about writing full-time; and the challenges of drawing up readership.

Also, I think my high-school dream of being a sports columnist might come to fruition pending the results of an interview next week. Wish me luck!

Right now, the job searching front is testing my patience on the whole. Not getting immediate calls back until this past afternoon. I'm still trucking along, applying to various positions. Additionally, with my new spot at examiner.com, I'm getting more confident in applying for writing positions. In a perfect world, I'd be able to somewhat work at home, and workout.

In the meantime, I'm scheming ways to improve my contribution(s) to examiner. Take care all, until my next blog!