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I spent the day with his Mom .... she is holding up rather well considering - so far . She is still staying with one of her daughters and two women friends - thats probably for the best - one is being her 'secretary ' ( navigating communications with lawyers, mental health etc . the other is emotional support , cooking etc ) so she seems in good hands . I got a call from a younger guy I know that needed to talk as he said 'to someone not in the middle of it' . That means , that although I know the perpetrator's family and friend circle , I dont know the victim's . Thats not the case in the area ; many of the younger people know both and are all interconnected eg ; the victim's remaining two sisters are friends of the perpetrator's two sisters . So there is a lot of 'social shock ' going on out there . However , as it usually pans out IF I am 'emergency needed ' I am called upon and do my best to deliver , after that I am totally ignored and on my own . Thats okay I am used to it and prefer it , so now I am back in hermitage and relatively isolated 'out here ' , suits me fine at the moment - even the local store has a huge cloud of freaked out around it ( those two guys and one of their girl friends had been camped at the local camp ground next door to the shop for a couple of weeks before they moved further out into the wilderness , where 'it' happened . - so they were all well known there ) .

Grandmaster Wong Kiew Kit passed away on March 1, 2026 in Malaysia. I had the opportunity to study with him in Miami (2005) and Orlando (2008) when he visited the U.S. These were good experiences for me, and I continue to study his methods to this day with one of his former students. I'm also grateful to him for his books. One of them mentioned and showed an illustration of Shibashi (not one of the forms he taught), which I became interested in and subsequently became a big part of my practice.

Perhaps I should now that Tao is before I respond, but anyhow: Sri Upanishad (very short) https://vedabase.io/en/library/iso/ Isha Upanishad (equally short 😁) https://shlokam.org/text/isha-upanishad-7ES7.htm Sermon on the mount: “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” -Matthew 6:25–34 The Gita (all of it, but a few favs): «For one who sees Me everywhere and sees everything in Me, I am never lost, nor is he ever lost to Me.» «Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reactions. Do not fear.» Asscosation with great sages and bums (with a special shoutout to the Oracle popularly known as @Nungali) The heart sutra https://oshoworld.com/the-heart-sutra-by-osho-01-10 https://www.osho.com/osho-online-library/osho-talks/intelligence-awakening-intellect-e42f5cb9-2f2?p=097a03a2a79d3003f15ebfbd123f987f https://www.amazon.com/Alchemist-Spiritual-Self-Discovery-Novel_Get-Captivating/dp/0062315005 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GLT43ZF8 (By @dwai) Voluspa 61. In wondrous beauty | once again Shall the golden tables | stand mid the grass, Which the gods had owned | in the days of old, 62. Then fields unsowed | bear ripened fruit, All ills grow better, | and Baldr comes back; Baldr and Hoth dwell | in Hropt's battle-hall, And the mighty gods: | would you know yet more? 63. Then Hönir wins | the prophetic wand, And the sons of the brothers | of Tveggi abide In Vindheim now: | would you know yet more? 64. More fair than the sun, | a hall I see, Roofed with gold, | on Gimle it stands; There shall the righteous | rulers dwell, And happiness ever | there shall they have. 65. There comes on high, | all power to hold, A mighty lord, | all lands he rules. 66. From below the dragon | dark comes forth, Nithhogg flying | from Nithafjoll; The bodies of men on | his wings he bears, The serpent bright: | but now must I sink. Havamal 136. Strong is the beam | that raised must be To give an entrance to all; Give it a ring, | or grim will be The wish it would work on thee. 137. I rede thee, Loddfafnir! | and hear thou my rede,-- Profit thou hast if thou hearest, Great thy gain if thou learnest: When ale thou drinkest) | seek might of earth, (For earth cures drink, | and fire cures ills, The oak cures tightness, | the ear cures magic, Rye cures rupture, | the moon cures rage, Grass cures the scab, | and runes the sword-cut;) The field absorbs the flood. 138. I ween that I hung | on the windy tree, Hung there for nights full nine; With the spear I was wounded, | and offered I was To Othin, myself to myself, On the tree that none | may ever know What root beneath it runs. 139. None made me happy | with loaf or horn, And there below I looked; I took up the runes, | shrieking I took them, And forthwith back I fell. 140. Nine mighty songs | I got from the son Of Bolthorn, Bestla's father; And a drink I got | of the goodly mead Poured out from Othrörir. 141. Then began I to thrive, | and wisdom to get, I grew and well I was; Each word led me on | to another word, Each deed to another deed. 142. Runes shalt thou find, | and fateful signs, That the king of singers colored, And the mighty gods have made; Full strong the signs, | full mighty the signs That the ruler of gods doth write. 143. Othin for the gods, | Dain for the elves, And Dvalin for the dwarfs, Alsvith for giants | and all mankind, And some myself I wrote. 144. Knowest how one shall write, | knowest how one shall rede? Knowest how one shall tint, | knowest how one makes trial? Knowest how one shall ask, | knowest how one shall offer? Knowest how one shall send, | knowest how one shall sacrifice? 145. Better no prayer | than too big an offering, By thy getting measure thy gift; Better is none | than too big a sacrifice, . . . . . . . . . . So Thund of old wrote | ere man's race began, Where he rose on high | when home he came And also…. Music.

Works fine now.

Happy New Year Sifu Terry and all the Flying Phoenix Practitioners! Or as we say in Singapore, gong xi fa cai!! Huat ah!!! Looking forward to reading both the FP book and the TTP book!

How does one distinguish actually being 100% present in this moment and being identified with the thought of one being in the present moment? The trick of the mind is lead the ego into thinking one is doing something it isn't capable of doing?? Or is it the constant mind thought of being present in the moment that leads to being mindful?? Or am I just thinking too much about this??

A fully grown grizzly bear can weigh 1,500 pounds (about as much as 12 of me) and can outrun a horse. Its bite force can crush bones effortlessly, its claws are massive, and its instincts and strength have been refined over millennia to make it into the apex predator in its habitat. And yet 7% of men, according to polls, believe they could win a physical fight against a grizzly bear. Men are strange.

So there was this word, orkhestra, in Ancient Greek. Latin borrowed it thence as orchestra, English borrowed it from Latin as orchestra, and then Japanese borrowed it from English, predictably, as okesutora. Then the Japanese added kara -- empty -- and created karaokesutora, empty orchestra, which they then condensed/shortened into karaoke. Then English borrowed from Japanese this new word, karaoke. Italian (derived from Latin) and Modern Greek (derived from Ancient Greek) borrowed it from English and got their own karaoke. Etymology is strange.

Caring about craft more than money is always dangerous, but in the best way.

What a pity. I used to know how to preserve fish with just salt and sunlight -- no pepper was used but a whole lot of salt. This fish was a special kind of treat, you only ate it with beer, not as a meal but as a side snack. It was chewy and could get hard like wood if you overdried it, but nobody minded, it was a beer-side classic and surely beat chips hands down.

A strange and dangerous Russian just delivered some food to my home. He owns a fishing boat. He fishes, and then he sells his catch to the Russian, Ukrainian, etc. local community, some of it freshly caught (not frozen) and some of it smoked. He does the smoking (cold and hot) himself too. His prices are very competitive and he charges nothing for delivery. He also makes some foods at home that only Russians and Ukrainians eat (and can't live without), and delivers those too. The ordering process is a mess, timing of arrival more on the "whatever" side, I wound up buying something I didn't order and not getting what I did order. Doesn't matter, it's all delicious and either can't be bought elsewhere, would take me hours of work if I were to make it myself, or very competitively priced. Dangerous because I am inclined to buy more for his trouble than I was planning on, strange because nothing about the operation is business-like, it's so informal and haphazard -- yet convenient and delicious. I remember things being done this way, old country old school... Now it's almost exotic.

.... when you get woken up by an early phone call one of those 'you better sit down for this ' ones . I tried to help the kid for years, on and off ; from when he was a toddler up to late 20s . The son of my closest female friend I have at the moment . He has been 'up and down' , last I saw him he didnt look good ... I got that flashing red light thing happening . I told his mum but she was overly mother defensive , claiming she thought he looked good . I said '' What ? We both KNOW he is not 'good' . '' she sad I knocked the bottom out of her world . .. sometimes one just cant get through to another . Anyway , it all broke loose last night . He killed his best friend with an ax at a local camp ground . Areas taped off by police , people totally freaked out , cops be everywhere soon , friend's 'axe murderer son' at large ..... HOOOO - BOY ! I better move into 'high support mode ' .