Coming back from SF was hard, getting back to work and to this routine of life was harder but that´s life, you got to earn the holidays all year round and then enjoy them, what really sucks is that it goes way too fast!

Anyway my arm is slowly getting better,  the pain is a lot less now, I will take it easy for a while still,  but gradually intensify because I have to be able to go back to the nornal training routine now.

I still think about our trip all the time, it is good to have such nice memories and when I tell the story at work my colleagues say I glow, that is how that trip makes me feel and that is good.

Now I am hoping for some cool event next year for the year of the Dragon… 🙂

We started 8:30 on Sunday 21st, we drove around town passing by the Lombard street and Jeff had a special treat for us, he drove down the craziest hills in SF, the streets from the car chase in the movie Bullit with Steve Mac Queen , at the top before we went down, I said OH MY GOD really loud, I could not believe it,  this is the coolest thing I had ever seen and going down was an incredible feeling!

That was a rush start for this beautiful day. We went down to Muni Pier where Bruce took this photo when he returned to live in San Francisco from Hong Kong in 1959 , Jeff  even had  his Bruce Lee glasses on !

We took a few pictures before leaving for Oakland ,  I remember being freaked out about that but Mikael told me if Jeff takes us there he knows what he is doing, we talked about this on the way. Jeff said he had to tell other guests to avoid go around with their camera in the streets of Oakland, Julie said people would get mad and ask why they need the pictures for and Jeff answered Oh no they will shoot you first. I laughed but at that moment I just focused on where my camera was and repeated in my head don´t take it out ! Driving on the main street we stopped at a red light, all of a sudden we heard a car behind us with high volume music bumping really loud. The whole car was silent at the moment none of the four heads in the car moved an inch, this red light was unusually long lasting, I was thinking Oh my god,  that ´s it ! probably a car full of gang members,  don´t move your head ! and what´s up with that red light !!!

Then it went green and as we came to another one the car behind us drove to our right side and stopped next to us, I tried to look without moving my head and at this moment all of us discoverd  what was going on there : a regular and quite small girl driving her car with loud music !!!!  now how funny is that ? we all laughed at the situation and were also really releaved.

Then we arrived at location number one: Bruce Lee original gung-fu school. The school located on 4145 Broadway St. which is now a car dealership, we took a few pictures in the front when a big guy came our way and asked what we were doing, surprisingly he was working there and invited us inside,  we all were really amazed about this opportunity, we could take pictures inside the old oakland school, I remember thinking , I am standing in Bruce Lee´s school,  now how cool is that ????? it was a really special feeling being there, for all of us.

We headed to location number two:James Lee´s grave, Bruce Lee´s friend. Jeff had no directions with him but Allen had told him the grave was next to a big tree, that made us laugh as there were many big trees and it appeared we would have trouble finding the right tree but Jeff found the location without any problem. It  was such an honour to be able to visit the grave, I was very touched and the feeling of this day just did not stop being special a single minute.

Location number 3: James Lee´s house at 3039 Monticello Ave., amazing, I had seen pictures before and being there was a great feeling. We did not make any noise to not sisturb the people living there now but we all hope they too would come out and invite us inside 🙂

We were now done with Oakland and were on our way to Allen´s house.

It was a long drive and I felt so thankful all the time for what Julie and Jeff were doing for us. At the arrival at Allens house I remember the joy I felt,  I had waited a long time to meet Allen again, I just could not believe he invited us in his house.

Meeting Annie was incredible, this little woman is so full of life and energy, 88 years old ? you got to be kidding me ! she´s got more energy than me ! Allen took us in his room and showed us a lot of pictures. Mikael had printed a picture of us taken at the seminar in 2009 with Allen and Ted. Allen was so happy he said he would frame it and immediately found a place on his wall for it. This was a great moment for Mikael and I. We went to lunch at a famous chinese buffe place, I even tried the chicken feet, I am french I eat everything but I was not a big fan of that one .

Anyway, after a great meal talking about a lot of things with Allen , we went back to his place and looked at more pictures , heard some incredible stories about their friendship with Bruce. Annie even showed us very personal items, we were sitting there and I remember thinking , how lucky are we?

After some hours we had to leave because another great event was waiting for us. Something I had thought about for a long time too: The Bruce Lee Room.

I knew it would be something big but it was bigger ! So many Bruce Stuff had I never seen before , I felt like a child in a toy store, and I felt so happy, and so lucky. The room is just incredible by itself but the story behind the items is what makes it more special. Jeff is not only collecting items, he is Bruce Lee biggest fan, this goes beyond what I had imagined before. The reason why and how he collects Bruce items, the energy,  the time, the dedication , this is just incredible.  I wish we´d had more time because Jeff has much more stories to tell, there is for sure a story behind every single items he possesses and he ´s got a lot! This is not only a room with Bruce Lee stuff , this is more and I could talk hours about the room but I think I will have to leave a bit of mistery to it because you have to be there to understand what I mean.

I will finish by saying that in life I did not come accross so many people like Jeff and Julie, who openned their house and took care of us a whole day. I cannot even find words to say how grateful we are. Mikael and I did not stop being amazed during the whole day and we could feel how much Jeff and Julie enjoyed the day as well,  this is beyond any words I could write here. This day will be remembered for the rest of our lives, that is how great it was.

I really hope we will meet again and be able to return the favour. A big thanks to Jeff and Julie Chinn . That day will stay forever in our hearts.

Well I am still really tired but it is getting better, this jetlag thing is a real pain.

I will make two separte posts as I would like to talk about the whole trip in one and the fabulous day with Jeff and Julie and the time we spent with Allen and Annie in another post.

So let´s start with The Trip.

We have been waiting for it for months, and this trip was the best ever. We did so many things, there was no stress and we enjoyed every single day. Our Hotel was at a perfect location, next to the Pyramid, 2 blocks from the Pier, 2 blocks from Chinatown.

We were in Chinatown everyday, Mikael was tired of me going in every single shop trying to find Bruce Lee stuff 🙂 , I also wanted a lucky cat which should not look like the thousand plastic ones we saw everywhere, I found one the very last day,  no Bruce stuff though 😦

We went to the Chinese Hospital,  happy to see it was still standing, we also  passed several places that Jeff had shown us last year.

Day 2 was the Crab day ! Best crabs in town at the Crab House, Pier 39, before and after that, we spent some time looking at the sea lions, we went all the way in fisherman´s warf and took the cable car back to the hotel.

day 3 was the day with Jeff and Julie,  I will describe it all in a separate post.

Day 4 we did a lot of walking visiting the Golden Gate, but first we walked from the hotel trying to find a cab and ended up where I did not want to go: the Civic Center aera, good advice : DO NOT go there, day time you´ll probably be fine have I heard, well from what I have seen I would not bet on it. Anyway,  the cab trip from there  was also an adventure, in the way that the driver was driving down the streets like a maniac , I felt like I was in a movie ! I must admit I thought that was cool when we arrived at the Golden Gate.

Anyway this time we walked it the whole way and back, we went to the beach and all the way back  to the hotel. It was a long 5 hours walk but so enjoyable as the weather was fantastic and there were so many things to see.

At fisherman´s warf, we stopped at the Hooters, for a beer,  we just had to check this out ! Then we visited  the cable car museum which was amazing! I had no idea how the cable cars worked,  this was very interesting.

On the evening we went to the R&G restaurant nearby our Hotel. The food was great,  the service was probably the worst I have ever seen, we wanted to order some dish we saw on the menu,  they refused to serve it to us as it would take 40 minutes to prepare they said. The staff was unfriendly and impatient to see us leave, they brought us the bill as soon as we were ready with the main course as if they were waiting for us to take that last bite. I have never seen anything like this.

So we went on to the Hilton to get some drinks and a guy came to us and offered coupons for free food ! and so we ate again, for free, now THAT was nice !!!!

Day 5 we went down to the Pier and on the way we stopped at the Coit Tower. My G0d those hills and incredible, we were fortunate to have training shoes on at all times,  otherwise it would have been impossible to walk at all…

Then we visited the aquarium at Pier 39, I would have to say I was disappointed,  I even went to the staff and asked ” is that all there is” ?  they are talking about thousand of species on the website but there is only two small areas  and not much to see. The best thing was that I was able to touch bat rays,  as I love animals this was a great thing for me to do.

Anyway we had a great lunch just outside afterwards, and a beer 🙂

On the way back , we looked for the ” Bullit” hills (from the Bullit movie with Steve Mac Queen ) that Jeff and Julie showed us earlier. This is incredible, as we came at the top of one, there was a car trying to come up but did not manage, the car just did not come up but down instead,  after several attemps she just had to back down and take another road. Even walking down these streets was painful on the knees but it was  just so cool to walk there!

We went back to the hotel and on the evening we walked in Chinatown and had a GT and a beer ( ! )  at the Empress of China, it was nice to be there again, we also ordered some food which was really good. The view from the top floor was great , the feeling was just special.

Day 6 we went down to the Pier and took a ferry to Sausalito. It was surreal to enter the fog, as it was sunny at the beginning but we went right through the fog area and there in the middle,  it seemed we were lost in the middle of nowhere seeing nothing at all around, it was incredible, then we came out of it and saw the coast of Sausalito right in front of us,  that was some experience ! Sausalito has another kind of soul, this has nothing to do with the busy town atmosphere, it is a really peaceful and beautiful town. We had a fantastic lunch in a restaurant on the sea front, the weather was really on our side, this was a great day.

Day 7 was the last day and we just went around town to do some shopping at the regular shopping destinations: Westfield, Chinatown, Fisherman… we finished with a beer ( yeah again ! )  at a local bar called Sinbad,  also on the sea front, really friendly and full of character, this was a great place to relax and mix with locals.’

San francisco is a fantastic town, but the number of tourists is just crazy . We wanted to be there in the summer to experience the fog and we were not disappointed and every single day as the fog disappeared,  we had a fantastic sun.

We did so many things , almost all there is to do, except the outside of town Napa and Muir woods,  I also wanted to visit Alcatraz again but we could not find a ticket.

Anyway,  we are so happy with the trip,we have so many good memories , excellent memories.

I am now wondering where we go next year ? 🙂

Is that good to make some? Does something good come out of it ?

I think so , because most of the times it is by making mistakes that you can advance in life.

Sure some mistakes have more consequences than others, some of them are beyond repair and some of them cannot be called mistakes when it endangers peoples lives or something like that.

Let´s talk about judgement mistakes. Stuff that can ruin a friendship, or can it ?

Depends on the nature of the friendship, and talking for myself, I have a friend that I know since we were 6 years old, a lot of false judgements and misunderstandings have ruined our friendship several times. The fact that both of us came clean about the reason why we did what we did to each other, made us learn something from it and go on with our lives. Admitting the real reason behind the attitude shows respect towards the people you ´ve been hurting, but of course it does not excuse anything.

We are all humans, some feelings can come in the way, most of the time they should not, but when it is done what can you do about it ? Again, depends on how important this friendship is for you, if it is then swallow your pride, come clean and try to fix it, and I would say change your attitude for the future, don´t let this happen again. This is the thing with my own mistakes, I have learnt something about myself, have looked in the mirror and wondered:  is that what I want to be? From there I have grown to be a better person and this is why mistakes are good, if you don´t make some you never know if you got a bad attitude and treat people bad, until someone tells you and makes you realize it, and until you have to face the consequences.

I met bad people in my life, I always give one chance, people that screw that up are deleted from my life for good. People that take that chance and show respect and honesty will be fine,  a long as they don´t do it again.

I like to think that I am someone who can be trusted, I will get involved in situations where I see some good in people.

I always say what I think, to anyone, people like me or not for that, it does not matter. What matters is that I know what I am , and I am true to myself and to the people who matter to me,  that is why I expect to be treated the same way.

Mikael and I are very much alike, we do not hesitate screaming at each other sometímes because we always say what we think openly, and what is good about that is both of us appreciate it, because there is no game and no false judgements, we don´t always agree with each other but it is why we work so well together because the dialogue is open and honest,  no matter what. I will always step up and support him in every situation that I know are important to him.

” The Stupid never forgive or forget, the naive  forgive and forget, the wise forgive but do not forget”

I like this quote  but  … hm how do I get from Stupid to Wise ?  I pass on the naive because this never happens.

Ok seriously I m kind of wise most of the time , but not right now .

My injury to the elbow is not getting better as I hoped, this will definetely interfere with my performance at the seminar, so right now I am not only stupid,  I am really P..ssed.

I think I have explained numerous times why I train JKD. Let´s talk now about why I train with those guys.

I said it before our team is special,  we have an outstanding instructor and everyone has respect for each other and everyone is here to train JKD .

Now, I am physically hurt alright but I am also hurt mentally, I lost some confidence and patience.

Training JKD up till now have been fun and great, I have been hurt before but it was not intended and part of the JKD sparring, so I took it.

I cannot understand why during a JKD sparring session some people feel they can just go with all they got from another style. We train JKD , the previous experience from some other style won´t make you better than any other beginner and if some people cannot understand that,  I really think they have nothing to do with us.

I cannot tell you how happy I am to go back to San Francisco. I honestly have thought about this town everyday since I was there last year.

Micke and I  have been invited by Jeff Chinn to visit the Bruce Lee room and he also said he will take us around town to visit some of Bruce´s places. We met Jeff at Bruce ´s birthday last year, we first took the tour in China Town, we noticed there how much he knows and this was very interesting to see all those places.

We met amazing people last year, I already told this, but I was a bit sad we did not have more time to speak to Allen. I will always remember when he asked us about the fortune teller, I was so happy to be there I will never forget that evening. I so hope we can meet Allen this year.

We brought back home lots of incredible memories from that trip and we are now living in the wait of building some new ones, I really can´t wait ! there is definetely something special with this town.

Well, when I say this was a killer session I am not joking, when while sleeping at night you want to turn around and only the upper body follows and the legs stay right where they are so you have to lift them with your hands to change position, no really !!!!!

I could barely walk yesterday and same today.

We started with exercises on pads

Footwork on a distance back and forth

Kicks and punches combinations on mitts and on Thai pads

Stretching kicks in front of each other, side, hook and spinning back kick

Drop step and punch … no comment on this one! I just can´t get it right, I can do the step but when combined with the punch I just cannot find the right timing

Hook kicks on a 10 meters distance back and forth without landing the foot once, as soon as one of us messed up we had to start over! Same thing on both sides that was the beginning of the leg murder!

We played with the tennis ball for a while, one person is throwing the ball the other one kicks or  punches it , this is a really good exercise for timing and precision, fun too..

After that we just went over to the famous stairway. 

First we had to run up to the top and finish the whole slope to the top of the hill.

As soon as we came back we had to run it again jumping on one leg, kicking the air with the other without dropping the leg… both sides.

Almost dead at the top but both Remy and I made it!

When we came back Micke told us to do the wheelbarrow all the way up as last exercise for the day.

It went quite well actually as it gave a break to my legs!

 We´ll go to the gym tonight and Micke asked me if it was ok for my legs, answer : NO !

I will train the upperbody tonight , there is no way my legs are good for anything right now.

Small Injuries

I did not write after last Sunday when Remy kicked me in the hand, well, how many times haven´t I heard to close my left hand when sparring,

… maybe I learn something after that.

I had blue and swollen fingers for a couple of days but it is good now.

This day we worked on pads for a while and moved to the stairs, we all ran up and finished to the very top of the hill.

I felt sick for a while and then I sparred with Remy  who finished me with this kick.

There are things that really make me mad, like when this body refuses to do what I say !

After my own training yesterday night, I read a book on flexibility for martial artists. It appears that no matter what I say,  that my body is not flexible because this or that…..,  is pure BS. You can be flexible,  it depends on how much time you put into stretching and how effective you make the training. I heard Ted say he was not that flexible when he started, it is not a question of age, it is like everything else,  a question of training.

I made myself a new training schedule today, adding more stretching and more technique and footwork.

It looks like this:

Monday: Own technique training, footwork and stretching

Thuesday: Private lesson with Micke

Wednesday: Own technique training, footwork and stretching

Thursday : Gym or run or bike ride

Friday : Own technique training, footwork and stretching

Saturday : Rest or TRX

Sunday: Sparring session , Group training

The days I train by myself always include footwork, I start with warmup and finish with stretch. I train both shadow boxing and on the heavy bag and add static training.

Either than flexibility, I am going to try to improve both stability and flow.