Just how long have you been a martial arts geek?

[cerebus]

After witnessing crowd violence and murder as a child in south Asia. My interest has always been survival. I've never seen the "art" in anything martial, nor anything cool about pop fight culture.

Sorry to hear that. Many of us in the US have been pretty insulated and lived rather happy childhoods (at least in comparison to many less fortunate kids). The worst I had to deal with as a child was school bullies. Of course being a skinny kid who wore glasses meant I had to deal with bullies alot, but the worst thing I faced was an ass-kicking, not death. As a result I really enjoyed such things as the Kung Fu TV series, Bruce Lee movies, and Kung Fu comic books and magazines. Such things bring alot of nostalgia to my mind and the excitement I felt of discovering both the philosophy and the art of these combat methods. I was lucky...

[somatai]

i came at this stuff all stary eyed looking for enlightenment/healing......20 yrs later, i have still found nothing else so rich......fighting, was always pretty clear, it is about intent, being willing to go, but hey i grew up playing hockey long before i caught the kung fu bug.....so for me it happened when i was 18 and started trying to get my head around philosophy and literature.....i actually think fighting is the least aspect of these practices.....doesn't mean it is not the heart of the study though

[cerebus]

i came at this stuff all stary eyed looking for enlightenment/healing......20 yrs later, i have still found nothing else so rich......fighting, was always pretty clear, it is about intent, being willing to go, but hey i grew up playing hockey long before i caught the kung fu bug.....so for me it happened when i was 18 and started trying to get my head around philosophy and literature.....i actually think fighting is the least aspect of these practices.....doesn't mean it is not the heart of the study though

I agree.

[Methods]

Since 78, god damned Ninjas were the stuff back then...