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EXCERPT FROM THE BOOK:
You Are Strong Like Bull! Now I Send You To Your
Jesus!
I knew whatever he was
talking about was working for him. Whenever we practiced, he
would toy with me as if I were a doll. Mr. Chang was my height
and built stocky. He wasn’t as strong as me and never
demonstrated that he was much faster. However, when we
practiced, I would use all the speed, strength, and endurance I
could muster, but to Mr. Chang my efforts seemed almost
unnoticeable.
The entire time he laughed
joyously, his voice almost singing in delight, as he’d say,
“Good, velly good! You are strong… strong like bull!”
After being thrown, and
strangled a half dozen times, I would stand in front of him, my
whole body trembling from total exhaustion, lungs gasping
hungrily for air, my entire body drenched in so much sweat I
would be standing in a pool of it. Mr. Chang however, would be
breathing slowly, deeply, and easily, with only one bead of
sweat on his forehead to show for his effort. Except for mussed
hair, he always looked fresh as a daisy.
Smiling and tapping my
navel with the palm of his hand, he would say, “Your power is
here. Focus and breath like this.” Then he would show me how he
breathed. He told me, “Practice whenever you get chance.”
Whenever he thought I was
dogging it, he would throw me to the ground, putting a choke
lock on me. He rarely knocked me out, as that would have been
too merciful. Instead, he choked me until I looked like Vito
Corleone’s main hit man, Luca Brazio getting garroted. My face
would be bloated and purple, eyes bulging and tongue lolling out
as my chest suffered involuntary spasms. Before I passed out, he
would allow enough blood and air in to keep me conscious. I was
always afraid that he would someday have a mental breakdown and
actually kill me, accidentally or not.
In my mind’s eye, I could see
him holding the phone in one hand and my ghee twisted around my
throat in the other, saying, “Hello Mrs. Chimera, I am solly to
say, yowl son is dead!”
Over the years I have often
thought back to these lessons with Mr. Chang and various other
instructors. I never did become a dangerous marital artist. I
had too many things working against me that kept me from
achieving any level of proficiency. Some were out of my control,
but most were my own fault.
I was not as consistent as I
should have been. When injured, I could have worked my body and
learned things to do around the injury.
The biggest stumbling block
was my pride, which kept me from taking chances, because I
wanted to win. Taking chances leaves you open to failure (and
winning). Ultimately, and ironically, by not taking chances, the
end result was that I failed completely. In the final analysis I
paid good money to provide my instructors a willing practice
dummy. Some deal!
MOST PEOPLE TALK BULLSHIT:
One Primate's Search For Intelligent Life
(EXODUS)
MOST PEOPLE TALK BULLSHIT:
One Primate's Search For Intelligent Life
(REVELATIONS)
MOST PEOPLE TALK BULLSHIT:
One Primate's Search For Intelligent Life
(JUDGMENT DAY)
ADVENTURES IN MARINE BIOLOGY
THE MARINES: GOD'S CHOSEN
WARRIORS
VINCE'S GYM
CONVERSATIONS WITH NEO
NEO TEACHES ME THE ART OF WAR
& PEACE;
His Version of The Matrix
MEMORIES OF MY FATHERS
ZEN & THE ART OF RESISTANCE
TRAINING:
A Yogic & Scientific Approach To Weight
Lifting
ZEN & THE BIOLOGY OF
TRANSCENDENCE:
The First Matrix of Psychic
Phenomena
ZEN & THE ART OF KINESIOLOGY:
The Yogic & Scientific
Approach To Movement
ZEN & YOUR ENERGY SYSTEMS
ZEN & VARIOUS ASPECTS OF
TRAINING
HOMEPAGE TO MOST PEOPLE TALK BULLSHIT:
One Primate's Search For Intelligent Life
HOMEPAGE |
