A Trip for Yoda

A journal account of my trip to Los Angeles to train at the 1st Dog Brothers Martial arts Senior Practitioner & Instructor Candidate camp - March 2003

Dave "YODA" Green

All times are local time Thursday 6th March 03* 7:00am: Taxi to Manchester Airport 10:50am: Took off on time – Cool aircraft – an Airbus 330. Video screens for every seat, a choice of 20 films, TV channels & Nintendo games. I bought 3 books to read on what I was told would be a boring 7.5 hour flight to Chicago – I never opened them. I watched two films (Red Dragon & Star Trek: Nemesis) and spent the rest of the time looking out of the window – I took some good photos flying over Canada and the great lakes.

1:30pm: Landed 20min early at Chicago O'Hare Airport, which was a brisk -5oC. The first thing I did was buy my 1st American food – A chilli dog with everything on – and I mean EVERYTHING on! Two dogs, whole chillies, peppers, onion, guacamole – and lots more! Here in the UK "everything on" means a squirt of mustard AND a squirt of ketchup! Went though immigration & security in about 30min – no problems! 3:00pm: Took off on time for LA – This time a 747-400 – BIG plane! I got a good seat too. The 1st row of two seats where the plane narrows at the back and the left aisle goes from three seats down to two – this means I got 1 seat where there should have been two and had lots of room! Again I got a window seat and spent most of the time taking photos of the Rocky Mountains and lots of cool geological features etc.

5:30pm: Arrived at LAX on time – 20min later I was out in the street – NO security to speak of. I caught the free hotel shuttle bus to The Hacienda. A quick tour of the Hotel revealed a room with PC's with internet access for a dollar so I sent a quick email home and to the CEA email list to say I'd arrived safe & sound. Had a shower & watched some TV in my room for a bit to get settled in. Lord of the Rings was on so I felt right at home! 8:40pm: Had a walk around the area and finally ended up in "The Sizzler" for a meal of Steak, Shrimp skewers and as much salad bar goodies as I could eat (I ate LOTS!) – washed down with a Budweiser or three ? 10:30pm: Walked (Staggered) back to the hotel zzzzzzz……… Friday 7th March 03 9:00am: Breakfast in "Mariposas" – the Hotel's 24 hour Restaurant. A few notes I made at the time… Strange – all the salt, pepper, cheese shaker, chilli shaker etc containers are exactly the same as the ones in Pizza Hut back home! Now I understand the McDonalds sausage & pancakes things at home. They eat syrupy pancakes WITH their bacon & sausages etc – eeeew! I can't get my coffee more than 1/3rd empty – they keep running over to fill it up. Why are ALL the management white, chefs black & waiters Hispanic? Chuck Berry just cooked my breakfast – it's either him or his twin! 10:00am: Time for a bit of shopping at "Ralph's" across the street, which they told me was a small grocery store – it's about the size of ASDA. Got some beef jerky – yum yum! Must take some home! Got some "Training Food" in for the weekend – Mixed fruit, lots of Gatorade etc. I discovered Vanilla Diet Coke too – Yummy! 10:30am: Hired a car – a cute little Daewoo Lanos. Managed to drive on the right MOST of the time! Only one major mishap when I drove down the left and met up with 4 lanes of traffic coming right at me – Ooops! Having the car made all the difference. When I got up at 8am I felt really low – very isolated & unsure. Having wheels gave me the independence I needed. LA here I come!!! 11:00am: Found the RAW Gym where Saturday's training was to take place. Some very scary looking ears in there! Met Frank Trigg & Rico Chipparelli – very friendly guys considering they could rip your head off & play ball with it if the whim took them. 11:30am: Next I had a drive down to Redondo beach – cruising along with the windows open, palm trees lining the road & a classic rock channel blaring out on the radio – VERY cool :-) I had a 3 hour walk along Redondo beach – they seem to have a different view of "fresh seafood" – everything is alive and in tanks "Which defenceless creature would you like me to boil alive for you sir?" – "errrr…. No thanks I'll have a salad!" Good job I didn't want beef! Came across Gold's Gym – very nice place too, but why are people indoors on running machines when it's dry & sunny outside? Strange! I had a nice chat to a pelican that was sitting on the pier watching people fishing. It was now starting to get hot (for an Englishman) so I bought some "surfer-dude" shorts & some sandals – my jeans & boots just didn't seem to fit in.

4:00pm: Off up Interstate 405 to Venice Beach. I commented on the lack of bikinied babes to one guy and he said they don't some out in cold weather like this – it was 78 Degrees! I was ready to whip my top off! "Muscle Beach" was a let down – a tiny place with mainly machines instead of free weights – it has a nice outdoor playground with gymnastic rings, parallel bars & speedballs though. As it was going dark around 6:00pm I took some nice sunset photos.

6:30pm: My next planned stop was to be Santa Monica beach but I got on the Pacific Coast Highway by mistake & bypassed it – then I got lost and ended up driving for miles down Sunset Boulevard though Beverly Hills & Hollywood. Some very impressive homes around there – garages bigger than my house! 9:00pm: A meal back in the Mariposa at the Hotel. Chicken Fajitas that came on 3 plates – I was so stuffed I could hardly move - still, there's always room for a beer or three :-) Back up to my room fell asleep watching the TV – Zzzzzzzz…. Saturday 8th March 03 8:00am: Breakfast in the Mariposa. 2 eggs, 2 hash browns, 2 sausages, 4 rashers of bacon & a 10oz Sirloin steak – Burp! I managed to get my coffee down to 1/3rd full before they could top it up – and I spotted a white chef! 9:30am: Off to the RAW Gym for the 1st day of the DBMA Instructor Candidate Camp. Very good day's training – brief highlights… Intoductions by Guro Marc "Crafty Dog" Denny An explanation of the 7 ranges in DBMA The "Prison Riot Drill" – that was great – a good giggle & pretty aerobic! Realy brings home the relevance of triangular footwork in a multiple opponent scenario.That's a keeper! An analysis of the 3 forms of human aggression and their relevance to us. This was simple yet brilliant – I found it very useful. The footwork matrix consisting of the following elements… The Snaggletooth The Lower canines The Diamond The Gum Lots of work on the use of the upward figure eight to develop good head cover. "Blending" Sparring with Eric "Top Dog" Knaus – wow he's scary good! Good job this was only play! Attacking the knee without getting clocked on the head – always a good idea! Lunch at an Indian restaurant – a full curry then back to training! Clinchwork section taught by Rico Chipparelli – excellent! An in-depth look at the snaggletooth drill as a training tool to bring about basic skills in new students – use of the metronome feeder method to enable students of unequal skill level to work together. Integrating FMA training structure into unarmed combat sports – "Kali-Tudo" 6:30pm: Spent an hour in Starbucks going over and re-writing my training notes. 7:30pm: A meal out at a Mongolian BBQ Restaurant with Marc "Crafty Dog" Denny and 3 of the guys off the course. Yum yum! Marc gave some really interesting insights into the Dog Brothers ideals & the concept of "To walk as a warrior for all you days" – Very inspiring stuff! Sunday 9th March 03 8:30am: Breakfast in the Mariposa again (Burp!) 9:30am: DBMA Instructor Candidate Camp Day 2.

This time we trained at the park in Hermosa Beach where the Dog Brothers fight tapes were filmed – "Hallowed Ground" as Guro Marc put it. It's nowhere near as big as it looks on the tapes! It felt very strange being there after seeing it on video all these years! Here's a brief rundown of day 2… A quick review of the Snaggletooth material from yesterday Fundamentals of using the staff – various lengths & weights with pros & cons of each. Solo staff training – striking methods & patterns to minimise the chance of someone getting inside the arc. Heavy weapons training as a conditioning workout tool. Staff Vs unarmed (or Staff Vs your neighbourhood Tank Abbot as Guro Marc put it) Staff Vs Staff (My thumbs got mashed!!!! Yes – the training was errrr….. "Alive!") Reverse grip staff The "St.FOOM" (hehe) Another big lunch at a burger diner Double stick footwork and attacking combinations… The "Drive-by" The Replacement step The Diamond The "New York" The Sunteekan Integrating Krabi Krabong i.e Thai Kicks & Knees with the staff & double stick. Modifying the Snaggletooth material for use with the staff & double stick


8:15pm: Back in the Sizzler for my last pig-out stylee meal and much re-writing of notes. 10:00pm: Zzzzzzz……… Monday 10th March 03 7:00am: Into Mariposa for my last breakie (sob). 11:00am: Took of from LAX on time for Chicago. Yet another window seat this time on an Airbus 320 – again lots of photo taking out of the window.

3:30pm: Landed in Chicago & had a quick shop for some last minute prezzies before taking off for Manchester in another Airbus 330 and another window seat! Watched "The Ring" (very spooky film) and tried in vain to get some sleep while a family a scousers spent 7.5 hours yelling at each other from opposite ends of the plane. Came very close to testing out some of that Kali-Tudo! Tuesday 11th March 03

8:30am: Landed on time at Manchester Airport and Taxi home. ZZZZzzzzzzzz……… So – there you have it. WHEN CAN I GO BAAAAAACK?????????

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