Hello from New Orleans

[James]

My name is James W. and I've been studying FMA since 1991. I started out with the Patalinghug family in Pasadena, MD (near Baltimore) at their school, "Kick Connection". They are affiliated with Cacoy Doce Pares, and I consider that my base/core art. Along the way, I've studied alot of different arts, but have only received minor belts in them or no rank at all: Pekiti Tirsia, Balintiwak, Pambuan Arnis, Sayoc, LAMECO, Inosanto Blend, Mande Muda Silat, Tomiki Aikido, and Saotome Aikido (there's probably more, but that's just off the top of my head). Whenever I go home, I visit my old school because it is my second home / family. During the Katrina evacuation my wife and I ended up in Maryland, and I was at the school almost every day. It's one of the only things I miss about living in Maryland.

I moved to New Orleans in 1999 and have been taking a traditional jujitsu, Minami-Ryu. I've also got a small group of guys here in New Orleans that I train, mostly single stick and knife right now. I'm trying to expand the group, but it's slow going. There is not a lot of interest in the area, and many of us our pre-occupied with other things right now, as you can imagine.

So there it is, my introduction.
James

[arnisador]

Welcome! I recently did some Cacoy Doce Pares. It sounds like you have a broad background in the FMA!

[James]

Thanks Arnissador!
I've activiely sought out people to train with. My Dad is Filipino and I even trained with some of his friends. You know the kind of training, "Hit me, here. I show you" and then proceed to be dealt with some serious pain for about an hour. Great stuff though.

Just an aside, but my original post was done on my laptop on dialup because we had no power at the house. Our power has gone out now twice in 1 day for about 2 hours each time because we had a thunderstorm. Our power grid in New Orleans remains, shall we say, fragile. I wonder what it'll be like when we get our first tropical storm this year? Ugghhh!

Thankfully, it's back on for the moment.
James

[ray s]

welcome , i just started taking pekiti tersia in new iberia,la

[James]

I try to make it to Tuhon McGrath's seminars he has every January at your school. I've been to 3 of them. Wish I lived closer to the school so I could train on a more regular basis with you guys.

[Guru Jim]

Welcome

[Brian R. VanCise]

Welcome!

Brian R. VanCise
www.instinctiveresponsetraining.com (http://www.instinctiveresponsetraining.com)

[James]

Thanks everyone! I am out here in the FMA "wilderness" in New Orleans. It's good to connect with fellow FMAers from all over. Everyone seems to be great here. This is a great resource and seems like a great community. I appreciate the warm welcome.

James