Nah, my friends are used to it by now. Some of the non-practitioners even take part in stuff occasionally, treating it like any other sporting thing.
What they over estimate is my ability to transfer my athleticism in martial arts to other activities. Outside of the MA thing, my freinds get a lot of ribbing in…
I am a big beleiver in luck. The more I work, the more luck I have.
maestroable “blame the movies”
you just quoted my sifu man.
where’s my beer?
I haven’t gotten to box around with any of my non-MA friends in years due to this attitude. The annoying thing is they’ll readily fight each other, but if I get involved everyone backs off and calls it quits. I even tell 'em “I’ll only fight as fast/hard as you do” and they still skip out.
Flattering? I suppose, but I’d rather have the practice (and a few friends I could count on in a fight).
btw, I’m pretty sure Mr. Nemo is an invincible shaolin master ninja killer.
“People just dont understand that th outcome to a fight is determined in a split second, even if your well trained, you have good days and bad days.You just hope that you have more good than bad”
This is very true, Shaolin.
I don’t think anyone who really knows me sees me as invincible, but I do get the dgree of respect that I rightfully deserve. Most of my friends have seen me fight, or at least know that I am a competitor and so they know what I am capable of (and what my limitations are). At the same time, I have a very forthfight attitude towards BS and if any of my friends have delusional and misinformed expectations of what martial arts training can make you capable of, I am the first one to clear it up for them.
But contrary to many other people’s experiences here, I have actually seen that a lot of people DO NOT respect martial arts all that much. I hear a lot of “That ninja crap is a joke”, “Yeah those Jet Li, Jackie Chan movies are cool but none of that stuff is real” and “I took karate/TKD/kung fu for a couple months when I was a kid…it was fun but I wouldn’t use any of that crap on the street.”
I have an old friend who is a long time and serious practitioner of Shotokan Karate and if anything, the other guys simply give him a lot of for it. No one ever accused him of being a bada$$. One time he was explaining to us how a very skilled karate man may be able to kill someone using his spearhand strike or something like that (which I don’t think is ENTIRELY impossible) but everyone else just laughed and rolled their eyes at him about it while he stood up in indignation exclaiming, “No guys, I’m serious!!”
Honeysmacks
RE:Honeysmacks
First of all despite what you have gathered from some basic pics/clips I assure you I am well versed in using my waist, root, etc...Of course the apps arent just where your hands are in the kata.
You should be able to hover your mouse over the pics and get a description of the picture. But in case your having trouble, that pic is of Ed-he is one of my students, and I am helping him promote his personal training buisiness, there is a link to his website as well. Also one of the testimonials is by him.
"More of Erles creative interpretation of Tai Chi Chuan. "
Your 4 years of training must give you a strong base to critisize Erle.
"Suppose your oppenents didn’t give up after being bumbed out of trajectory. Then what? "
Well realisicly I would not have stopped with the bump, as a matter of fact within the same second he would have been struck, and then reapeated strikes would follow.
"A fast flury and a bump makes an expert. Note to self. Lose weight and go full speed on students, they will think I’m good. "
Im glad you would never want to join my class, a person with your stupidity and lack of respect has no buisiness learning the internal arts. Who is your teacher? Where do you train?
If your ever in OK. City Id love to show you what a "flury and a bump" can do!! But until you accually meet and train with me in person just shut your ignorant Fu(king mouth.
Gary
“Of course thats just my opinion, I could be wrong”-Dennis Miller
www.pressurepointfighting.com
As to the accual thread topic…
Appologies to all (but honeysmacks) for the above Off-topic rant.
Anyhow, many people both overestimate and underestimate me becuase of my MA. It just depends on the individual. But mostly i get people who want me to show them something, so if I know them I just have them throw a punch at me and I block it and tie them up in a lock or something, after that they overestimate me, and if they are not interested in MA, they fear me.
Those that underestimate me I just humor them a bit, its understandable the way the movies have portrayed the MA, not to mention the reputation of Taijiquan as a health dance.
Gary
“Of course thats just my opinion, I could be wrong”-Dennis Miller
www.pressurepointfighting.com
No offense gary but sometimes you dont sound like an overly respective guy 
Then again telling people to **** off is often the only way to get a message across
aaaand i just read 200 pages of a boring book in a matter of hours, it’s 1 AM and i still hvae 250 pages to go, so i might just be CRAAZY!
AHhAHAHhAhA CRAZY maUAHhahahhA
sigh i need more coke.
Free thinkers are dangerous!
QeySus
very true, its seems perhaps vulgarities could only help emphasize my point to idiots like honeysmacks… :rolleyes:
Gary
“Of course thats just my opinion, I could be wrong”-Dennis Miller
www.pressurepointfighting.com
idiot?
I’m not the one damaging tai chi’s name, you are. You did move as a single unit, congratulations, your a begginer. Your posture still sucks. You were quick, but can your quick little flurries go for a long period of time with actual power? I think not, your waist wasn’t moving. If they did hit, you don’t have the conditionin of a martial artist, not to mention a fighter. If you somehow did muster up enough fa jing(which was absent in all applications) you would hurt your hand. If that WAS fa jing, then I wasn’t aware that fa jing was developed by leaning. The classics say otherwise, but who are they to contradict Erle. Secondly, what you did was a ok for an external art, I’m all for buping myself, but it had nothing to do with tai chi. Call your art chinese self defense, but please stop calling it tai chi. Thats not what tai chi is. Your step through takedown was an embarassement to shuai chiao, even basic shuai chiao, not even to mention tai chi. Stepping behind gives you and your opponent equal advantage. A big no no. Certainly no tai chi involved. I think you will find yourself flying all over the place if you ever fight someone who has done some stance work.
call me whatever you like, but your roots run shallow. Heres a hint, drop your breathing and sink your kwa, earn some posture and consult the tai chi classic more often than your erle.
Talk with all the machismo you want. I’m not going to Oklahoma, but if your ever in town I’ll spar with you. I’m far more yin than you and far more yang. You wouldn’t hurt me, and I’ll only fight at your level, so it will be like a fast pushing hands competition. You know pushing hands right? You know the drill that teaches you the fighting princibles that you flat out ignore in application? ring a bell?
Who is that body builder anyways?
back in high school, when I first moved here and I first saw white people, racism was a fairly intense experience.
Then one day, we were playing soccer, instead of kicking the ball, I accidentally swung my leg into one of those “footballer” guys’s legs and displaced his kneecaps. Prior to that, my lack of soccer skills was flying kick the ball.
I never would tell anyone I did martial arts.
Perhaps I was just too unsociable and too quiet.
[This message was edited by prana on 10-08-01 at 07:28 PM.]
prana = Loser/victim
I hearby give Prana a cyberwedgie, thus counting coup on my weaker victim.
Honeysmacks.
"but can your quick little flurries go for a long period of time with actual power? "
YES accually they can!!!
"Your step through takedown was an embarassement to shuai chiao, even basic shuai chiao, not even to mention tai chi. Stepping behind gives you and your opponent equal advantage. A big no no. Certainly no tai chi involved. "
No Sh##!!!! (he stepped behind me, I only moved first, these clips were not choreographed, he just tried various attacks, and I tried to respond only in the most basic manner.
“but your roots run shallow. Heres a hint, drop your breathing and sink your kwa, earn some posture and consult the tai chi classic more often than your erle”
Thanks for the advice, I regret to tell you but its wasted here, I am totally aware of these things, and do practice them, though they may not be depicted on the clips I do have a good root, and am very well versed in the use of fa-jing.
"I’m far more yin than you and far more yang. You wouldn’t hurt me, "
I wouldnt bet on that if I were you, even Chris B. (karate instuctor) that was in the clips said I only showed "(1/1000th)" of my ability. Your assumptions could prove dangerous, although your next statements seem friendly enough, and perhaps one day we can have a good triaining session. I have a friend in the Air Force out in CO , Although he is CO springs, I might take a skiing trip out their this winter or next, but perhaps we could meet then? (On only a friendly basis of course)
“and I’ll only fight at your level,”
This is ASSuming you are at my level ! But since you seem to have 1/2 half the exp. and think you are much better, I appreciate your willingness to take a break from your ego and not hurt me should the opportunity present itself to you!
" so it will be like a fast pushing hands competition. You know pushing hands right?"
Yes I know pushing hands, I practice it almost every day!!!!!!!
“You know the drill that teaches you the fighting princibles that you flat out ignore in application? ring a bell?”
Yes it teaches many things, none of which I ignore, your tune will change towards me once me meet, until then…
Gary
“Of course thats just my opinion, I could be wrong”-Dennis Miller
www.pressurepointfighting.com
ahh I wasnt picking on him. He was a huge fellow ! Anyways, it was purely accidental, but just funny, that from then on, no one picked on me.
Little did they know, I cannot fight 
I am one of the worst fighters I know.
im a crap fighter. so sometimes i bash up my 12 year old brother. makes me feel like a man.
Good for you, Ged, that’s what they’re for.
And most of my friends and long time coworkers have either sparred me, or watched me at one of our school’s old full contact Friday night fights. Plus, I work with a couple of the members of the Governor’s protective detail and they’ve seen what I can do, and what I cant’ do. They all seem to have a pretty realistic sense of my abilities, for good or for bad.
JWT
If you pr!ck us, do we not bleed? If you poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge? If we are like you in the rest, we will resemble you in that the villany you teach me, I will execute, and it shall go hard but I will better the instruction. MOV
My friends seem to fall into two categories when it comes to me doing kung fu. First, I have the group that think I can kick anyones ass and tell me they want me on their side if we go into a fight. The other reaction is sort of a “kung fu huh? How nice for you.” These people don’t take my training seriously and relate it to the worst of the “chop socky” kung fu films.
It should be noted that both of these attitudes bother me. I’d just like my friends to take my dedication to martial arts seriously and respect my training the same way I do any of their interests.
Snake
“The Tree of Liberty must be refreshed from time to time by the blood of patriots and tyrants.” -Thomas Jefferson
I have no little brother, however my big sisters sometimes beat me up, makes me feel special.
Free thinkers are dangerous!