Posts: 1,307 Location: Hong Kong
Fri 15 Oct, 2004 11:29 am
Family... right. I've two westerner friends in Hong Kong who practices with me. One from Australia and lives in Hong Kong permanently called James Derrick, job is a doctor in hospital. Another one from USA and will live for 6 months here namely Parke. Both have Hong Kong native woman as wife. You bet their wives don't like them to come practice with me.
For Parke who has been practicing iaido for a year, his wife mainly concerns about his bruises on his arm after one sparring event with a strong hitter (not me)... Of course the money spending on getting sword practice gears as well. :P So her disagreement for him to get more involved in swordsmanship has become stronger and stronger. :|
For James, he is actually too good to be worried about injury. He had been practicing SCA for 20 years back in Australia when he was young and single. I knew he was keeping an eye on me for 4 months before contacting me personally since my venture started because there was someone from Hong Kong kept accessing my website's English version. The contact aroused his long departed interests in sword and swordsmanship again. Not long after participated our sparring, he was thinking of buying a MRL or something for test cutting. Then I suggest him for a next gen. Being a rich guy like he is, he went for next gen after I'd briefly englightened him about the advantages it held against his original choices. As he was also a leather worker for a sword shop before being a doctor, he made scabbard for his Next Gen Norman and also a gorget for throat protection.
There was once he brought along his kids and wife to watch him fight but his wife didn't seem to appreciate her husband prowess much and led the kids away to an indoor fishing center where there was air-conditioner. They only returned when James was about to go away and he asked if they had seen him fight me. They simply said no. You can guess how sad he looked at that moment. They dun seem to share his interest and admire what he is good at besides his money making profession.
Later on he also told me that his domestic worker and his wife kept complaining that he made his apartment dirty with his leatherwork.
Nowadays, James still come to spar with us often, and sometimes with female companion. Just not his wife but a colleague that doesn't mind climbing a hill, sweat a bit and see him kick our arses. HA HA HA!
Patrick Kelly wrote: |
Lancelot,
My lack of serious martial pursuit nowadays is really due to location, and the demands of job and family. There simply aren't any schools within driving distance for me to attend. Watching Bob Charron last weekend really made me wish there was! |