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So I'm at work the other day, and I have kung-fu on the brain. Blame Iron Monkey, which I had just recently bought for my brother (I had to watch it to make sure I wanted to give it to him or keep it for myself). Then I get this crazy idea and it won't leave. Which is fine by me, really. It's better than thinking about working, something I try to avoid at all costs. The big idea comes to me on my break. I'm smoking a joint and my mind is wandering aimlessly, unobserved by my consciousness. Eventually it returns with this idea like a cat with a dead mouse in it's mouth, all proud and shit.
I know many kung-fu styles mimic the movement of animals, and I wouldn't be surprised if some weren't made by mirroring the movements one uses everyday to farm or to clean or whatever. I figure, hey, why couldn't a style of kung-fu be based on what I do everyday for a living?
I know what you're thinking. "Johnny, you work at a chinese restaraunt. You don't even serve! You bus goddam tables! Sure you're repeating a series of movements to the point that they are refined to perfection, but I doubt they could become to a style of combat very easily." Ha! First of all, I bus tables because I can't deal with customers anymore. I'll slap someone, I swear to god. And second, I'm sure the poetic grace of the crane isn't very combat oriented either, and I've seen people get the snot kicked out of them by old men using crane style kung-fu. So maybe it won't be easy, but I'll bet it can be done. I think the trick is this: that you move and act with purity. A little hammy, I know. But I've seen people fight plenty of times, and it's easy to spot the ones without training. They're panicky, their movements are uncoordinated, and it just looks like they've got no idea what they've gotten themselves into. When I'm busing tables, I'm not thinking. Just acting. That's what I mean by "purity", my movement at work is unencumbered by thought. It's great. That's what's important. I bet if I could design a style of kung-fu based on the way I move at work, I could lock myself into the mindset I use at work, and hey presto, I'm using kung-fu properly.
The only problem is I have absolutely no training in kung-fu whatsoever, and only the slightest introduction to martial arts in general. I've done plenty of reading on the subject, but that just leaves me with ideas I can't really act on yet, so I can't test them, which means that maybe this big idea I had is really just shit-in-a-can. I need feedback from the kung-fu crowd (I know you're out there!). If it holds water, I'll give it a shot. I need some more physical activity in my life anyway and designing my own style of kung-fu sounds like a hoot. |
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