Oliver

First ever lightbulb moment? That running is everything. Everything.

When you meet another Westerner in the gym who asks to borrow money from you, say no It's almost a definite when, not an if

Hey dude, It's good, for sure. Wasn't there for long, only 2 months. Basically my main gym closed because of Corona, so Sangtiennoi was the only gym in my research that stayed open and were willing to accept me. Training very very good. Like... Not just good, but it's actually impressive how good it is. And they have a speed bag, which not enough gyms have in my opinion. Owner is a cool dude and so is his son, who also has great Hip Hop playlists for the stereo during training. The Thai dudes in Sangtiennois are very very nice, don't worry. Nobody will 'target' you, try to deliberately fuck you up in sparring, or make fun of you. They know we suck compared to them so they are very understanding and patient with our low ability level, they want to help. But...if that does happen, it will be another foreigner that does it to you, not a Thai. But that's not the gyms fault, can happen anywhere.

Love how you guys all build home gyms. Am super jel. Is it true that the mats are the most expensive part?

Love Karl Pilkington, legend! That's hilarious...brazen enough to use a famous person's photo! It's true, way more likely to get busted these days. The last guys to really get away with it probably came up in the 90s or something

Awesome, thanks s lot dude

First ever trip to Thailand and there was this American steroid junkie at the same gym who did something kinda similar. Gonna have to be vague on specific names as it's a true story. Basically he was a gym owner in the US teaching a different but also very popular martial art. Told us all this story at dinner (or more like ear-raped us and wouldn't shut up). He basically called his gym the same name as the surname of a very famous martial arts family from Latin America, even registered the website. Their family name plus a number, dot com. Which he somehow thought was legit. Head of this family then calls him up and threatens to sue the pants off him if he doesn't take it down. And the American still refused. In fact, he bitches to us like he was a victim, that this big successful family was going after the little guy, and how unfair it was, them trying to stop him making a living. Totally clueless and lacking in self awareness. Guy is basically a thief, pure and simple. Dunno if that's cultural appropriation or not, probably is by the accepted metric, but here's the thing - we already have morality social guidelines and laws in place to cover things like theft and fraud... So what's the upside in introducing complex new theoretical terminology like CA? What does it give us that we didn't have before.

Seems like they've just been allowed to recently reopen. Starting to look homeless right now, so anybody know of a nice one in Bangkok? Don't mind paying a bit more, not just the places that do 1 grade all over. Thaaaaaanks

Indeed. Basically what I said. Or would have said if I had a conscience

OK so first time ever, just went and googled Cultural Appropriation. Not convinced this is a bad thing, or that it's even real. Actually wanted to vomit all over my keyboard - there's a lot very masochistic people out there feeling guilty as fuck for being rich and white, so to alleviate this burden they attack other rich white people, and now they feel safer and less evil afterwards, because their penance is done. This 'CA' thing is totally an individual psychology issue, not a society issue. Basically yeah, they probably are. And yeah it's a terrible thing, we should all feel like prejudiced, bigoted thieves and colonialists. Maybe it's time to "check my privilege" too. Go and write a Tumblr, gorge on Hagen Daz and masturbate to my tears of remorse

That's the general public, LengLeng But what you said, right there, that's it - we almost forget about the 'appropriator' if the people he defrauds are dumb enough, or if he's from the culture of the thing he's 'appropriating'. Which really leaves you wondering if there even is such a thing as cultural appropriation. Not to piss people off or anything, but it's kind of similar with the whole Bruce Lee thing.

...but...doesn't that make it worse, not better??

....bet any money they're gonna bring out a 'Taking a Knee' emoji soon

Yeah it's definitely tough, like when you cant fall asleep at night, the body is destroyed and wants to pass out but the head won't let you

You can do it for sure, 2 a days for 6 days, and it's not over-training - *but* you gotta sleep tonnes. Like...sleep a ridiculous amount compared to a regular person. Obvs at night, gotta be in bed super early, no artificial light sources keeping you up. But middle of the day, gotta also grab a good 4 hours there, before afternoon training. And that 4 hour siesta will feel like not enough sometimes. All people talk about is their training/hard work and their food/diet. Like... as if that's the end of the story. Hell no, our sleep is number 3 on that list, and maybe just as important as the first 2. My 2 cents.

Or we needn't even go that far - how about the 'appropriation' that comes from people of the same culture? Bikram Yoga might be the most gross example, guy becomes a cult leader gazillionaire with 10 Bentley by trademarking and franchising yoga poses that he in no way created. In fact, he probably suckered in way more customers than he otherwise would have precisely *because* he was from that culture, so bored white people with wooden beaded necklaces and Venti Skinny Cappuccinos were happy to become acolytes of somebody 'authentic', and even boast about how great their new charlatan master was. Because the unspoken translation of 'how great my teacher is' actually communicates a subtle 'how great I am' for being his student. Total humblebrag. And then the lawsuits started to pile up. And all these idiots respond with "Oh my god, I can't believe he could be such a monster". Like the news talking to the bewildered next door neighbour of a suicide bomber. Watching just one interview with Bikram gives any sane, reasonably minded individual the chills. Vacant eyeballs, manipulative speech, glaring NPD. The problem isn't 'Cultural Appropriation' - nothing wrong with an Italian restaurant with Mexicans in the kitchen. The problem is with kind of people comprise the general public. The army that self-form and follow the appropriation, even when it's done by bad people with a weak disguise. That's the truly terrifying thing.

Double vision after a knock down was the weirdest / scariest experience of mine during afternoon sparring. The Ajarn immediately made me sit out for the rest of the rounds. For sure, it's embarrassing and you don't want to look shit in front of everyone. Feel better.

When you say you saw white and fell backwards, like, your vision got screwed up from a heavy headshot? You see flashes? And this was a knockdown? Maybe get checked up Leng Leng.

Why did he get angry at you though? Did you find out

Excellent

Do they have a nice open water tank with a huge block of ice delivered every morning? Kind of a dealbreaker.

....God... The first doc that said to get the MRI scan but then the referred place denied you... That's fucked up. Hate to be the hypochondriac kind of person who overreacts, but did you say you went down on an asfalt floor? Does that mean like, concrete or something softer

When the doc did the neuro exam on you, what kind of things he look for/ask you? Got told the same after the shower thing on the back of my head, even though really wanted the MRI or whatever it's called, doc said no need and all fine and sent me away. This was a Thai hospital so couldn't really communicate much But felt scary anyway. Fine eventually but...it's the fact that the impact was in the back of the head that caused the worry. Never happened before, and feels different to getting hit on the forehead.

That's a great thing to be doing, being part of the effort to help And no way...a shower slip doesn't compare - you landed on concrete with a tire on your face. You win this one You might have even earned the right to be selfish and take another day or 2 days rest. But your call if course

God that sounds horrible... and especially on a rock hard floor like that. Can you not get more time off work from your boss? You got hospital receipts for evidence. Never had anything like that from muay thai, only slipped in the shower once and then head crashed on the side wall tiles. Stitches and pain, so rested at home after. Feel better soon