NTTG 2026

[Drunk Monk]

Got 2 YMAA meets and must mail some letters. Stacy & Tara come home so dm must clean the place, vacuum, brush Yuki, dispose of all the empty deodorant canisters, arrange the flowers, the usual after a bingeful bachelor weekend (actually all dm did was work, care for the dogs, binge some movies over whiskeys & cheese).

[Greg]

The dirt is my friend. I will dig in it every day. My fingernails will be permanently filled with crust.

[Greg]

Spread mulch. Dig holes. Maybe install some more sprinkler lines.

[Drunk Monk]

Wednesday work day. Yoga tonight.

[Drunk Monk]

Only 1 telemeet today. Something’s up with the bossmang - probably due to the catastrophe his friend suffered, so he cancelled all his meetings today. I should mad a grocery run. Iai tonight. With the academy closing, and my yoga treachery leaving for a week, and an upcoming festival, my practice is all askew for May and it’s affecting me physically and psychologically.

[Greg]

Yoga Treachery?! Do tell.

[Drunk Monk]

I'm just gonna let spelchuk write for me from now on. It's wittier.

[thatguy]

If you had infinite monkeys with spellcheck, what would you get?

--tg

[Drunk Monk]

It's my lIePhone. My spelchuk there has learned all these misspellings so when I'm posting from there, especially for my just-before-bed posts, it just does what it pleases. 

I need a new lIePhone. Any D00Mbros got a lead on discounts <asks DM pleadingly > ?

[Greg]

Time to put in the sprinklers in the garden. Fingers crossed Aoife doesn't view it like a chew toy, which is how she viewed the last drip system.

[Drunk Monk]

Working Friday. I've got a lunch meeting with the young main instructor at the Academy of Martial & Internal Arts (the school where I train that is officially closing tomorrow). We shall discuss the future.

[Greg]

.......(the school where I train that is officially closing tomorrow). We shall discuss the future.

Have you mentioned why the school is closing?

[Drunk Monk]

After 35+ years, the property was sold. It's choice real estate, right across from the hospital. The lot next door was raised for a mini-strip mall including a Starbucks and a Tortilla shop (which is quite good).

The school is owned by my KF brother Ted. His sigO Debbie used to be part of Logos, one of the truly great used bookstores here in the Cruz, but it closed years ago. But Debbie retained the skills as a bookseller and parlayed that into Plum Publications, a vendor of hard-to-find martial arts books, DVDs and VCDs (yes, that format is still in play in China). That's funded his school, so he didn't need students. He suffered a stroke a few years ago and has been on the decline. Honestly, it's very triggering for me because he is a good friend, but after what I went through with my dad, it hurts me to try to talk with him sometimes. He has a small group of maybe 2-3 dozen students. There are 3 other instructors, Linda, who is also a KF sibling (she and I trained under Wing Lam in the morning class together in the early 80s - that was a very special time), Karl, a Tai Chi teacher, and Nick, the Dean of 5 Branches University (a TCM school) who I'm having lunch with today. He's the youngest instructor and Ted's legacy really lies with him. 

We moved Plum across the parking lot to another building that holds a tattoo shop and a women's center last Saturday. Finding a new home for the school is the next mission. We''l be working in a park for a while. 

I had a special agreement with Ted. I just went and worked out. I don't participate in any classes. I've got so much stuff and I don't need to collect any new forms. I need to maintain and recover what I've learned. I've got a dozen+ forms that I work every week. But I'm lazy and need those other students to motivate me. It's a bit like a qi vampire, I confess, but I do what I can to motivate the others. 

Now I'm in limbo with my Kung Fu practice. I'll go tomorrow, then I have two weekends off (Cali Roots and hot tub moving). Then we shall see where we land.

[Drunk Monk]

Just about to head out to the last session at the Academy or Martial and Internal Arts. I was there 35 years ago for the grand opening, on behalf of Wing Lam. We’ll have one last Saturday of classes in the now empty space, then I’ll lead a closing ceremony for the ancestral altar. 

We’re close to signing for a new space. It’s in a church near Star of the Sea where I take Yuki. If that closes, my Kung Fu Wuguan, Iaido Dojo & Yoga Center will all be a short walk from our bungalow.

Then home to relax.

Then tonight, my first journey to the Lion House. My accomplice bailed so it’ll be a solo flight. JAH guide I&I

[Greg]

The couch calls and I must go.