anyway back to martial arts, i liked wing chun but all the drills of siulimtao (first form) which sometimes can get really boring in classes that makes it hard for students to know why we are asked to actually in long repeative drills, ok granted in some ways its can be perceived as a bit like kata, only far more flexible. It just can be quite mind numbing at times and it probably explains done deliberately to sort out how real is the students keeness to learn wingchun, and then again there is no other real way to learn it because i do know this (i have studied it fairly seriously at one point - trained in under ground hall at the waterfront resturant it was quite a secretive location no kidding , and it does retain only those students who approached martial arts at a philosophical level above the shallow technique-based attraction, often mythical aspects is really just 'advertisements' for 'false promises of brute super-man strength0' what most and i mean MOST western people fail to realise Kung-fu means hard work, and they (shaolin monks) trained like 24/7 at actual Gym-like physically intensive training, they train so much that they get real fucking strong but never bulk up because they never let the body 'recover' to 'build muscles' it isnt because they 'failed to know this' importance of strength over size was the real choice since flexibility is also of paramount priority in the aim of physical attainments. Why people prefer other martial arts because it is 'more obvious' hence easier to understand why you do this or that. I still practise sillumtao even Chuim kau, or some block/attack combinations to keep the 'angle' in between the 'elbow hinges' remain at position so they dont come into contact in should real life application is required so of reminding my brain to know wheres the 'points are' this might sounds weird but its not. I do this at home a few times a week just to put my self syncronised.
When i used to spar with the sifus (and old flatmate) than the regular students i found i fight better and or do sticky hands better they seem to have a thing that if i only trained with the sifu all day 5 or 6 days a week you can be sure you'd become a far far better wingchun pracitioner because you are exposed to the REAL neuro dynamics which itself trains yours to actually take on wingchun 'form' im not talking rubbish here, it's just difficult to explain in words
In regular classes they put students in pairs for sticky hands sparrings,drill,applications of various alternate ways (shown in classes 1 night will be different to the other, trying to get it in the students head to understand why siulimtao is that 'boring' it isn't just its all so hidden and believe me its alot like learning to draw, anyone can scribble draw a line, circle but to actually do it well even very simple shapes, its actually another entire story - lots of knowledge and understand go with it, as being 'expert' in such so-called simple taskes, its just mind blowing...last thing to say about wing chun as I probably have unwittingly hinted it, it is said to be a thinking man's art and it is to explain that i cant, one only need to experience it
Maybe just maybe (but right now its not priority) i might go back and finish the 2nd form (Chuim Kau) in wing chun there is 3 forms, then weapons or mook jong depending on whos teaching you, what kwoon you're in and what is your strong points, etc for myself if i went further id like to use a 6 and a half pole (long staff, i dont like nun chakas or Sais or butterfly knives big knives scares me tbh and if anything I might just have to get over it since its one of the most important weapon in wing chun) but honesty 2 big reasons why i probably wont anytime soon is im too busy studying and it is expensive. and yes the exam for mook jong is well over $4500 this is not a lie, my old sifu told me about it and its all the 'internal politics between Christchurch of NZ and Kowloon in Hong Kong. (when Yip Man lived and set up the orginal traditional wing chun school). the kwoon which i attended had direct lineage to Yip Man.
so there, i have revealed some of my experiences i have a long way to go yet but for now I'm just too busy and too poor to go back. I was also unwittingly well taught by a certain individual at one point who was my flatmate, with an unknown background at which when i started 'regular' training in the wing chun club i realised he was far better than even the top half dozens in the club, except for the the 2 highest sifus!! - that itself was quite a alarming experience in itself, like a bit of mixture of shock and surprise - mesmerising even, well it really truly showed just not what you know, but who taught you. and in the way the 'who' have their own particular way to teach, some are just good, but gifted is quite another thing, anybody can learn but it does just come by chance or by simply enrolling, theres tons of crap teachers out there, that is why right in the begining of my posts in this thrread i said fraud....because i know...
anyway martial arts was a thing i pursued when i was younger, have mixed feelings about going back not because whether its right or wrong or if id ever get to pass the mook jong (where am i gonna find the spare $5000-6000 which by the time im ready the fees would be up that high by then,how its justified i dont know but my last sifu didnt like it either, he said something about chinese politics in hong kong and such i dont know much or really want to know) it also really like 'deciding to be a dog owner' its not a fun thing its a lifestyle choice a commitment, and its real. commitment isnt a fable story or what not, its real, what more can i say?