Shak The Wandering Monk

A diamond is simply a coal under intense pressure. Remember this and you will understand how true champions are made. If you have read any of my entries so far, you may have deduced that I do love people. I love starting conversations, asking people about themselves, and learning what makes them tick. If I have learned one art in all these years, it is the art of building rapport. I can safely say its helped me squeak my way through interviews, meet and start talking to pretty much anyone I wanted and has gotten me out of some hairy situations to say the least! In retrospect building rapport has always come easy to me, but its my curiosity about a person's life story that keeps me talking to them. Over the years, I have met a few people who really stood out and some I have been honored to call a friend. These are the people I call Diamonds! They are rare, hard to find, and usually are quite unassuming at first. The first diamond I met by accident. In 2016 I was rolling at a

Human connection can be such a magical experience. I can say that after the passing of my Father and a good friend, Human connection is one aspect of life that I value more now than ever. Great friendships, people I meet in passing, and just sometimes a conversation in a store with a clerk have left more of a mark on me than any pair of jeans, sports car or drink of alcohol ever would. With some exceptions, after about 3 years of training in any particular club, you will meet the people who have stuck around and in that crowd, you will catch a few Gems..once in a while, you may even be blessed to meet a diamond. Undoubtedly in the past 15 years, I have met some of these gems, even a few select diamonds to say the least. The first diamond of a human being I met in my Martial Arts journey was Professor James Hundon.  I first heard of Professor James Hundon when our JKD club decided that it was time to host a Master from the U.S. in August of 2015. It was a difficult time for me,

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