Real self defense be like

[origami_itto]

I was in a little bar in Lafayette, Louisiana when I was 18 and homeless.

On that particular night, that bar was selling all you can drink Miller light draft for $5 till 11pm or the kegs were dry. Each bar in the area had a special like that one night a week which is why I was THERE, having sold my blood plasma for $20 earlier in the day and had already spent most of that on food, probably a shrimp Po Boy.

This place, you walked in and you were at the bar, turn left to get to tables and the juke box.

Sitting at the bar this angry guy came up to the fella next to me and started airing his grievances about disrespect or some woman he fancied, I dunno, maybe drugs or money? Why do idiots act like idiots? Usually something to do with some of that.

The dude at the bar wasn't shook though, he says "whoa, hey, calm down, bro. Let me buy you a real beer and let's talk about this. Bartender, two cold mugs of Heineken."

So bartender pulls two glass mugs out of the cooler and fills em up, hands em over.

The guy I was sitting with picks his up, holds it up for a cheers, they clink glasses, they tap the bar with the mugs.

Then the angry guy put his mug to his lips and tilted his head back to drink, and the other guy took his own full mug of beer and smashed it into the glass in the other guys face. Shattered it. Stunned him. Knocked him out of the chair onto the ground with a face full of blood, screaming in pain.

He kicked him in the head on the way out the door, never saw either of them again.

I guess the moral is never take your eyes off your enemy, and always smile when you're planning something sinister.

[everything]

think the bigger lesson is if you're training b/c that's the "scum of the earth" circles you prefer to keep, you already failed your "self defense 101" and many other life choices, quite possibly.

[everything]

but it also sounds like there are many more interesting stories around the set up of "I was 18 and homeless"

[Giles]

Wow, tough and also resonant story

This wasn't "real self-defense", though. The beer-buyer had already defended himself quite successfully through his first move. What he did after that was an attack to satisfy his own needs/hate/ego/status whatever. And subsequently he could well be looking over his shoulder because the angry guy might come at him again, this time with no warning. What goes around comes around.

On a side note: in the olden days in England (up to some time in the 19th century?), pewter i.e. metal beer mugs used to have glass bottoms.
And Nigel Sutton imparted the following piece of wisdom to me: the traditional way to use chopsticks, especially when in company, is to bring your food to your mouth with the chopsticks at a roughly 90°angle to the mouth and nose - never 'front on', with the chopsticks pointing in towards the mouth.

[origami_itto]

but it also sounds like there are many more interesting stories around the set up of "I was 18 and homeless"

Been meaning to write more of them down.
The trip started at midnight at Duane Allman's grave, which reads "Help your brother's boat across, and lo, thine own has reached the shore", in Rose Hill Cemetery in Macon, GA.

I mean, there was some buildup to that point, obviously, but I think jumping on the freight train as it slowed around the bend through the cemetery by the river is where things really start moving... maybe that's how we close out the first act.

Between cities they traverse some wild and beautiful country out there.

think the bigger lesson is if you're training b/c that's the "scum of the earth" circles you prefer to keep, you already failed your "self defense 101" and many other life choices, quite possibly.

At the time, I was looking for stories. I didn't discover martial arts till I was pushing 30. One thing that you'll get out of that is a sense of humor about a lot of things a lot of people think are super important but really don't matter, another is an appreciation for who the REAL scum is.

[origami_itto]

Wow, tough and also resonant story

This wasn't "real self-defense", though. The beer-buyer had already defended himself quite successfully through his first move. What he did after that was an attack to satisfy his own needs/hate/ego/status whatever. And subsequently he could well be looking over his shoulder because the angry guy might come at him again, this time with no warning. What goes around comes around.

This was a rough bar. I was with my girlfriend and her friends (yes my pretty blue eyes were getting my unwashed and homeless ass laid, deal with it) one time and some guy was bugging one of them. I told him to get lost and sat down and he suckered me with a hook and rocked my head against the back of the booth. I got up and had wrist control and was figuring things out when (to speak to your point about revenge) this OTHER dude came at him from the side and rocked HIM because he saw it as a chance to get some payback for something else the first guy had done previously.

They both got kicked out and I went back to hang out with the girls, who called me brave and fawned all over me.

On a side note: in the olden days in England (up to some time in the 19th century?), pewter i.e. metal beer mugs used to have glass bottoms.
And Nigel Sutton imparted the following piece of wisdom to me: the traditional way to use chopsticks, especially when in company, is to bring your food to your mouth with the chopsticks at a roughly 90°angle to the mouth and nose - never 'front on', with the chopsticks pointing in towards the mouth.

Meals, being a time of gathering sometimes among enemies, can be fraught with danger.

[everything]

[Steve James]

Meals, being a time of gathering sometimes among enemies, can be fraught with danger.

It's the reason why the French rounded off their table knives. Steak knives with sharp serrated edges are a 20th century thing. Yeah, a person is vulnerable sitting down among people with sharp knives. Caesar found that out, not at dinner, but still.

Imo, and in my nabe, it's wise to "make friends, not enemies."

[everything]

it's like that scene in Once Upon a Time in China (couldn't find clip) where Jet Li's apprentice says, "Master, why are there weapons on the dining tables?" (referring to knives and forks). ... fight breaks out