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I used to have this '69 Mercedes 220D, a great car. Master Chai's parents had owned one just like it...well, the steering wheel was on the other side but anyway, hejust loved mine, even when he had to push start it all around Eugene OR. But as usual, he was staying, after the seminar, until midweek; and we were going to be working out along the river for several hours a day. On my way down from Washington I had stopped in a small trading post/antique store looking for a present for my jujutsu instructor's birthday. She collects swords, so I asked the shopkeeper if they might have some, and he pulled out this sort of long-handled machete, with a curiously-knotted rope attached to the sheath. While we were push-starting the car one morning, Master Chai noticed it. "Where'd you get that?"... of course. "That's really old! It comes from Thailand, and the way that knot is tied is very important!" So anyway, he asked us if we would like to see some Thai sword fighting. So in the back yard of Mike Walrath's house he parried or blocked us, threw us, cut various important parts off. All in the name of good clean fun. We loved it. I had been heavily involved in Filipino stick-drills for years but this was something else. The footwork was so natural (for Master Chai) and it was so quickly vicious. That definitely appealed to the old grunt in me. Using the very worst kind of backwards planning, I can see now how such seemingly unconnected events can have enormous consequences. Good thing I marked the trees along my path.
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