Feeling Old(er)

[Earl Weiss]

Along the journey there have been certain milestones that made me feel old(er)

Among them.

When my contemporaries and I had our children training.

Now, some of us have grandchildren training.

When I asked students if they knew who Bruce lee was and none of them did.

When I realized I had been a black belt longer than some of my studnts had been alive.

When I realized I had been a Black belt longer than some of my students parents have been alive.

When I repeated the same correction 4 times and said "I sound Like a broken record" and the blank stares told me they probably did not know what a record was let alone what that saying meant.

 

[seasoned]

I didn't realize you were that old(er) Earl.

 

[Bill Mattocks]

Our Sensei sometimes uses terms that the kids don't understand.

For example, a hand movement that is 'like throwing a baseball'. Many of them have never thrown a baseball.

The movement of the arms when punching - one arm goes out, one arm comes back; described like a locomotive. Many do not know what a locomotive is.

A particular back-fist, which is first raised to the ear before firing - described as 'answering the phone'. Many only know how to answer a mobile phone, so they raise their hand to their mouth instead of their ear.

Being told to step out on a 45 degree angle; some have no idea what a 45 degree angle might be.

"About pec (pectoral muscle) high." Some have never heard of a pectoral muscle.

"No jewelry on the dojo floor." Some do not know that means no earrings. Boys and girls.

"Practice personal hygiene." Sensei actually asked the other day what the kids thought that meant. No one knew. Really. Which might explain the funk.

 

[mastercole]

Along the journey there have been certain milestones that made me feel old(er)

Among them.

When my contemporaries and I had our children training.

Now, some of us have grandchildren training.

When I asked students if they knew who Bruce lee was and none of them did.

When I realized I had been a black belt longer than some of my studnts had been alive.

When I realized I had been a Black belt longer than some of my students parents have been alive.

When I repeated the same correction 4 times and said "I sound Like a broken record" and the blank stares told me they probably did not know what a record was let alone what that saying meant.

Well Earl, I started noticing these things a few years back, and today it's apparent that the end is coming like a freight train, accelerating in the distance. If you listen close, you can just begin to hear the faint sounds of the grim reaper blowing it's horn.........

"enjoy yourself, it's later than you think" ~ Socrates

 

[puunui]

I think I have at least thirty years left, probably more.

 

[Jason Striker II]

Along the journey there have been certain milestones that made me feel old(er)

Among them.

When my contemporaries and I had our children training.

Now, some of us have grandchildren training.

When I asked students if they knew who Bruce lee was and none of them did.

When I realized I had been a black belt longer than some of my studnts had been alive.

When I realized I had been a Black belt longer than some of my students parents have been alive.

When I repeated the same correction 4 times and said "I sound Like a broken record" and the blank stares told me they probably did not know what a record was let alone what that saying meant.

Oh, man, can I relate to all of this...

Let me add: Have never seen a Shaw Bothers film, and never even heard of Shaw Brothers, anyway.

 

[puunui]

Let me add: Have never seen a Shaw Bothers film, and never even heard of Shaw Brothers, anyway.

Really. My friend's parents ran the Shaw Brothers theater here. The movies would change every week, and we watched them all, for years.

 

[Jason Striker II]

Really. My friend's parents ran the Shaw Brothers theater here. The movies would change every week, and we watched them all, for years.

You want a shock? In Mainland China today, I guessimate 75% of the ENTIRE population has never heard of Shaw Brothers!

For the younger people, it's all superseded by the ubiquitous Net, and for the older ones it was all blocked during the 1960's to -80's period. Everybody however has heard of Bruce (thank god).

 

[puunui]

You want a shock? In Mainland China today, I guessimate 75% of the ENTIRE population has never heard of Shaw Brothers!

For the younger people, it's all superseded by the ubiquitous Net, and for the older ones it was all blocked during the 1960's to -80's period. Everybody however has heard of Bruce (thank god).

I don't think they would be playing shaw brothers movies in mainland china. Too much stuff about rebels and rebelling against the government. It was more of a hong kong thing, where shaw brothers were based. they did make the best kung fu movies though.

 

[andyjeffries]

Along the journey there have been certain milestones that made me feel old(er)

When I realized I had been a black belt longer than some of my studnts had been alive.

I only teach kids in my club so this is true for me easily

When I realized I had been a Black belt longer than some of my students parents have been alive.

This would be technically possible if I took the youngest age student I accept and had a parent that had them at a young age (16-18). That would be COOL

When I repeated the same correction 4 times and said "I sound Like a broken record" and the blank stares told me they probably did not know what a record was let alone what that saying meant.

The worst thing is that I would naturally say "Oh, don't be pedantic, a broken CD then" and you'd still get blank stares in my class of kids. "Is that what you had before MP3s and iTunes then?"

How the world changes...

 

[Earl Weiss]

A broken CD? Really? The analogy fails.

One time I told a kid. That a CD was a compact disc. (Many don't know what CD stands for and soon many mnay not know what a CD is either The phonograph record was a full size disc.

 

[andyjeffries]

A broken CD? Really? The analogy fails.

It's not quite the same, but when CDs are scratched they can jump around forward/background/sound-glitch. I think it depends on the exact scratch and maybe error correction logic in the player's firmware. Jumping backwards and repeating up until the scratch/fingerprint/whatever would definitely fit the analogy. But it's definitely a closer analogy than them not getting it at all (and MP3s definitely don't glitch in the same way).

 

[Instructor]

I showed my son his very first Bruce Lee movie two days ago. We watched The Way of the Dragon. He ate it up! Bruce Lee v.s. Chuck Norris, that's entertainment!

 

[dancingalone]

I knew the years had passed when I began hearing references to anime in my classes that I didn't understand. I definitely haven't kept up with cartoons although I was a big fan of Robotech and Voltron once.

 

[Buka]

My wife was teaching a kids group at a rec center a few towns over on Saturdays. Too many new students started showing up so she asked me to come down and help (so she could split the group).

There was a shy ten year old girl. It took her several weeks to feel comfortable with me. The first thing she said to me was, "You used date my grandmother."

What a cute kid. I made her do pushups for a half hour. (kidding)

 

[dancingalone]

My wife was teaching a kids group at a rec center a few towns over on Saturdays. Too many new students started showing up so she asked me to come down and help (so she could split the group).

There was a shy ten year old girl. It took her several weeks to feel comfortable with me. The first thing she said to me was, "You used date my grandmother."

What a cute kid. I made her do pushups for a half hour. (kidding)

What a hoot!

 

[Jason Striker II]

I showed my son his very first Bruce Lee movie two days ago. We watched The Way of the Dragon. He ate it up! Bruce Lee v.s. Chuck Norris, that's entertainment!

This is proper education! I went to that film when it first came out with an uncle of mine. Still think it's great.

 

[puunui]

This is proper education! I went to that film when it first came out with an uncle of mine. Still think it's great.

I never get tired of watching Return of the Dragon. The thing that set Bruce Lee apart from other kung fu stars was his kicks. That plus the flood of taekwondo instructors into the US at exactly the same time is what made for the taekwondo boom, which really has never ended, until this day. Taekwondo is still booming. No wonder everyone hates it.