Shak The Wandering Monk

I have a confession to make...I do not understand why adults still like Professional Wrestling!! . I personally thought it was cool when I was about 12 years old...by the age of 16, I had forgotten about it altogether and was far more fixated on whichever girl caught my eye at the time or whatever computer game I was playing. That being said, when people talk about professional wrestlers, I automatically think of athletic bodybuilders who are agile and for the most part muscular acrobats or showmen.. Our martial arts instructors would often refer to Submission Wrestling and "Catch" (meaning "Catch wrestling") and for the longest time I shrugged it off as just a different set of rules and a few take downs. I have never been so wrong about a fighting art in my life.  Submission Wrestling and Catch wrestling is arguably the most brutal form of grappling there is, and anyone who tells you different has not seen it in action. Our club has been teaching it in conjunc

Our club did a seminar and hosted the Great Serrada/Eskrima Grandmaster Darren Tibon as well as Professor James Hundon of Small circle Jujitsu/Ju-trap boxing 2 days ago on August 26/27. It was hands down one of the better weekends I have spent learning and absorbing! Grandmaster Tibon  stayed at my house for the first night and I was honored to have him stay a second night. We talked over dinner the night he arrived as well as the next day over breakfast! Darren Tibon is as interesting, as he is humble, and Oh My God is he a warrior from the old school! Grandmaster Tibon grew up in Stockton, California shortly after the Vietnam war. As a young boy, he had to fight to defend himself as early as 8 or 9 years old!  We talked about how other Filipino masters would challenge him, and how he had no qualms with combat. He mentioned how he was one of the few teachers who would get called out and would show up at peoples events, and usually "find them in the bathroom"...I was

My first trip to Thailand was in 2006 as part of a backpacking trip that I did to Thailand/Cambodia before my first marriage. But before I speak of my experiences training at a camp, It is important to understand what 2006 was like in Calgary. It was a time when the city I lived in Calgary Alberta, was absolutely booming! Calgary was a feast for Oil and Gas. Oil prices were over $100 dollars a barrel. House prices were skyrocketing, and the city was growing at unprecedented levels. That the time, 2006 was the most money I had made at that point in time, and I was pretty smart about it, but I had an itch to travel. I worked full time at an incredibly busy plumbing and heating company and 3 nights a week at the "Palomino by Milestones", an incredibly busy bar in the busiest part of the airport in Calgary! I made $500 to $600 dollars a weekend at a job I absolutely loved. More importantly, I had already purchased my first home 2 years prior and was enjoying living rent fr

I guess I should start this blog with who I am.. I am a 42 year old man working for a small start up. I can say that life right now is pretty amazing. I have been remarried now for almost 2 years, and we just found out we are pregnant. I live in a beautiful home in Calgary, Alberta Canada. Life wasn't always so great. I had my share of windy roads..peaks and valleys, and obstacles. I overcame a divorce in 2012, had to leave friendships of 20 years, and unfortunately buried my beloved father in April of 2016.  I am proud to say that most of the obstacles have been dealt with through self help and self evaluation. My loves are Martial arts, comedy and traveling. My pet peeves are arrogance, greed and disrespect. Martial art is probably the only thing that has not prevented me from going crazy in this world. It has taught me to both love myself, and keep the fire inside me stoked and kindled. Sometimes it has been a roaring blaze, sometimes a quiet slow burning hearth.