Episode 581 – whistlekick LIVE Season 2 (Episode 5)
In this episode, Jeremy brings us the fifth Episode of the whistlekick Live Season 2 and we are joined by some guests!
whistlekick LIVE Season 2 (Episode 5) - Episode 581
Today's episode is the fifth installment for the whistlekick Live Season 2. Jeremy answers questions, and reads stories from the listeners as well as giving out some cool trivia about martial arts or anything under the sun. In this episode, we are trying to live up to the "LIVE" aspect of the show and bring you our guests, Jenny and Gabe Siu, and Nathan Porter. We have a much-improved show, at least by our standards! Listen to find out a lot more good stuff!
Show Transcript
You can read the transcript below:
Jeremy Lesniak:
Welcome, everybody to episode 5 season 2 of whistlekick live. I am Jeremy Lesniak, I'm your host. Joined sort of through the internet, the innerweb. Gabe, who does an amazing job behind the scenes and controls the boards via the internet across 3 time zones. That's how we do this. He does a great job and I really appreciate him and all the fun stuff that's going to happen today. I don't even know who put this together. He's like “do you want to…”, I was like “I don't know whatever, you surprise me” because it's more fun that way. You have fun being surprised. Why shouldn't I be surprised with what's going on. Hello, sometimes with trivia, we disagree and I... there was a correction. I don't know if you noticed that there is a correction from last time. I'm not even going to tell you what it was. If you missed it last time, you'll just have to wait. I have to wonder what's going on. So, we've got a good show for you. We’ve got guests and guests coming up. We've got a big announcement at the end. And you may notice the lighting. Can you see the lighting? Do you notice that there is no glare off my head in the same way that there has been because there is 3... 1, 2, 3 big lights to go with the microphones and the cameras and the arms and the monitors on. I have recorded a number of things in a number of studios over the years. The bond [00:01:43-00:01:44] that is becoming my office is easily the most complex. I have a pile of wires right here that I'm not going to show you because it's embarrassing. And there's just wires everywhere and I could do something to try to clean them up but why would I do that? Because I'm just going to disconnect these things. How do I get back to trying to close this? I don't know anyway. I can't see. Trying to get back to people's comments but I'm not getting them. So, I don't know, that makes me sad. All right, others. I can do it now. Okay. Well, looks good and sounds good. People are talking. It is giving our time for the backdrop that has not been ironed because why would I do that? That seems silly to me. Why is this not there? All right. I need to be able to get it. So, that's the end of my monologue.
Every evening show has to have a monologue. My monologue, I spent half of it just kind of monologue. Velcro is your friend. Not with these wires. There are so many wires. The multitude of wires. And if you were not in the chat before the show, you missed out on the discussion of the theme song and why we should have a theme song and what it should be. And I submitted my off-the-cuff response. Stacey had a better one. So, yeah. The fun things that happen during the live show. Let's say. Let's move on to our first topic. Which is a throwback to some of the things that we did this time last year. Which you know, a long time ago. A year ago, we were all still optimistic and positive and were infected with illness. The myth of having to register your hands is deadly weapons started as a publicity stunt by the boxer Joe Louis. Not Joe Louis. Somebody reminds me. I've got something to mention to him regarding the martial arts St Louis. He would bring the police to his pre-fight press conferences in order to intimidate its opponents by having the police register hands as deadly weapons. And that man Joe Louis fought professionally from 1934 to 1950. Well, that's a long career. 17 years as a pro fighter, cool. There are probably some brain injuries going on there. Sure, as for off. How much can a person really learn from online instruction? This is a conversation that we had a year ago and you know what? I'm sure I was really down on it. Sure, was diplomatically down on it. My opinion has grown considerably because people found new and creative ways. And everybody's favorite gave [00:04:50-00:04:52] for talking too much. But I've got a whole bunch of water if you were attacked right now. Wherever you are. What's the closest thing you grab to defend yourself? Now if I remember correctly, Gabe. When we did this this was back before when I wasn't doing the show in the office. I was doing it out in front of a wood stove. Whole different dynamics. I always had a sweaty back. We have a sweaty back now because of this monstrosity that I'm wearing which I want everybody to acknowledge. This was available at whistlekick.com for a year and no one bought one. I was very sad. I have the only one of these in existence. Look at this. Look at this thing. It's the warmest thing you could ever have. It's a blanket. That you wear. It's so snuggly. It's kind of like it's snuggly but your arms work the right way. You don’t have to put on backwards.
So, if you were attacked right now, what's the coolest thing? You got to defend yourself now. I have far more options available to me being that I am in the office. I have a retired knife that I use as a letter opener. This was my first favorite kitchen knife. There's somebody in the zoom. What time are we doing this? We're not doing this yet right now. Okay, I have this incredibly heavy water bottle that even as a guy, I think I could probably do some. Can you hear that? Well, here's the mic. I could do some damage, I think. What else do I have? Yeah, I don't know what else I would need. And I've got this, whistlekick grand championship medal from 2016 that I could... I mean if I could put a... I could really do some damage. Do some damage for sure. In the chat, Andrew says last year by the stove your answer was the heavy pot on the stove that would have worked and that is a bizarrely good memory, my friend. Stacey says pens and scissors from my desktop. Dennis says air pods. Matt says fork and a baby. I really hope those are 2 separate implements and it's not like a baby on a fork that you would be using. Matt's other half, Jenny, says man are you eating. Well, I lost it. We have for tonight. He would grab the fork and I would grab the baby. All, right. Well, it works. It all works. Andrew doesn't think it works and thinks that Dennis is in trouble with their air pods. I don't know. I know Dennis well. I bet he could. I bet he could do some damage with some air pods.
So, it was not too long just about a year ago, that little over a year ago that I released my first real book. The Martial Art Handbook came out December of 2019. We've sold a bunch of copies and funny enough, there are copies of this and make it into bookstores. Amazon got some programs and I just see it on the sales reports. It's probably been like close to a dozen copies have been sent out to bookstores. I love anybody that bought them. If you ever see this in the store, please take a picture and send it to me because that would be super-duper cool and if you want autograph copies, you buy autographed copies at whistlekick.com. I have a handful on hand at any time. Yeah, yes, speaking of books I wrote that one because why not? Because I don't have enough to do. So, I'm like oh, I'm going to write a novel. I'll have it done in a month. I was a little aggressive. It took me 10 weeks. 10 weeks not 10 days. I wrote this novel called Faith. It has nothing to do with religion. But it's the first book in a series of The Katana Chronicles. Yes, that will become relevant as we get further along. How soon will I write book two? Depends on how well it sells. We [00:09:06-00:09:08] copies? All right. We’ll follow up tomorrow. If we sell fewer copies, I will read it less soon. So, let's welcome somebody that we've met on Martial Arts Radio, if you listen to Martial Arts Radio. But I want to say it. Has never been on the show, kind of been on the show. Indirectly for a long time. So, let's welcome Gabe, his other half, Jenny See. You are here. If I understand correctly because of the whistlekick related project that you're working on and you know Gabe sent me an email and said you're going to come on to talk about that. That's what you're here for, right?
Jenny Siu:
I think so.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yeah, well I mean you know…
Jenny Siu:
Whatever you want me to talk about but yeah that's why I am trying to burn the Midnight Oil right now. So, yeah.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Okay, all right. Do you need something with any desk or book and mouse? You're good? Okay, you’re good. All right. So, it was like 2 years ago that we finished the first draft of the Master Hop Kick, right?
Jenny Siu:
I do not know.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Maybe, it was 18 months and then I said, hey you want to work on some Master Hop Kick stuff and you said yeah, I want to. I will redo that book. I have some... I have some issues with that book. Some continuity, historical accuracy and other very nit-picky. But I say that in the best possible way.
Jenny Siu:
That’s what I’m going to say. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean I'm all about often in the places where it can be. No, just when I read it, it's good and it's got, you know like I say it's got really good bones. It's got really good potential but as I read it, I went man, there's a few things that there are people who know way more than I do about some of these historical things and characters and I just wouldn't whistlekick to pull out this and then have somebody else coming in. You know what I’m talking about. So, yeah it was in August that I started right. And I think so. Yeah, we talked a little bit about…
Jeremy Lesniak:
What’s the process been like? You know, revising that book story, I guess.
Jenny Siu:
It's been a process of growth for me. I learned a ton. I would say it's been a process of growth for me. Allowing myself to change things because I didn't start it and I didn't write it and I remember at first going on man... So, I want to correct some things. I want to change some things but how much am I actually able to do? How much is this mine, how much is this yours. And how much is [00:12:15- 00:12:17] like what can I do. So, it was a bit of a role process. I feel like starting out. I was very hesitant, very nervous about what I changed, how I changed it and over time I feel like it's become my own and I've gotten a better feel for where it needs to go and how to keep that origin story in there.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yeah.
Jenny Siu:
And just expound on it and make it a little, hopefully, better but...
Jeremy Lesniak:
I think this is why so many people when they write something fictional, they go to a fictional place.
Jenny Siu:
Yeah.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Because then you're not bound by reality and that was something that I intentionally avoided in most cases. You know, if you didn't know. This thing that we just talked about...
Jenny Siu:
Yes, yes. Congratulations. That’s fantastic.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Thank you. I don't say where it is, you know like it's New England you know and because the moment I say anything specific, it gives people something to push back on like they need to be able to accept the story and so, you're going the exact opposite direction and saying okay, we just need to get rid of all the things people could push back on by making it completely historically accurate and yet accommodating for a fictional character.
Jenny Siu:
Right, and that's the balance. It's really hard to strike sometimes and that's why I feel like I haven't been able to just you know, I wish very much I've been able to just get it all written in a couple of months but as I looked deeper trying to figure out, okay. So, we've got this historical fact but we don't want to stick to it. We don't want it to have to be exactly that historical moment, right? We want people to be able to relate to it. Well, we're set in history so like for example, one of the characters goes is Australia. And Australia is a big country. Race in Australia. It still has a ton of diversity. I didn't want to take a town and say, well, now I have to figure out how to live there and have all of the exact details of everyone who ever lived in that town and how that would look. We can take Australia and say all right well there's some specifics we have to keep in mind. You know, so trying to stay within that context of reality but not. So, but box ourselves in that, it only applies you know, in one dimension, I guess.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Sure. Can you give us an example of something in the story that maybe has changed because we have sold some copies? Right. Some people read the first phase of the story and it is available if you want to pick it up. I think it's just a kindle version. You know, that it's not long enough for us for the paperback version but you know, what's one example of something that's changed in the version of the story that you're working on.
Jenny Siu:
So, one thing that's changed is... So historically, our character, John. He wouldn't have been able to come to the States straight away on a scholarship to study. And the original story has him leaving his home in the Solomon Islands to come straight to New York. Study high school and college in New York and then kind of the story progresses from there. And that was just not possible at the time period that we set in. It just wasn't something that he wouldn't have been able to get a visa there. And so, we took him to Australia and then we took him, after Australia, we brought into the stage a few more years gone by. Those are things like we’re actually going to talk about in the book but if there's somebody who's reading and they go, you know, I'm from whatever part of the world and that wouldn't have happened, now, we have just shifted a little bit.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Awesome. We've got a wind up this chat but I'm trying to think what people would want to know. I guess it's telling me I’ve frozen.
Jenny Siu:
Yes.
Jeremy Lesniak:
I've frozen. Can you still hear me?
Jenny Siu:
I can hear you. It was a little while ago. Yeah, that was just me or that went...
Jeremy Lesniak:
No, apparently, it's everybody. I don't know.
Jenny Siu:
Well, I'm sorry. I should’ve said something.
Jeremy Lesniak:
No, that I can do about it. We're going to blame Nathan because he's in the waiting room.
Jenny Siu:
I know.
Jeremy Lesniak:
We’re going to blame him. Do you have an idea when this might be ready? I'm not going to hold you to it but are you halfway about this? Are you halfway?
Jenny Siu:
We’re further than halfway for sure and mostly filling out the story, trying to keep the pace steady throughout the whole thing. That's one of the things I'm trying really hard to keep the pace steady. So, yeah. I mean man I have 3 kids doing karate. We're doing all the things, right? So, hopefully, within the next month or 2 the whole thing is done.
Jeremy Lesniak:
I'm pumped to see it, yes. Thanks. Everybody, stay tuned. Yeah, we'll do it. Yeah, all right.
Jenny Siu:
Thank you so much.
Jeremy Lesniak:
You're welcome, thank you. I'm going to put you back in the waiting room. See, if we can't fix my video on this.
Jenny Siu:
Right, sounds good. Take care.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Thanks, you too. All right. Here, I'm switching back to this and see if I can fix this. There you go, it's fixed already. That's how good I am. I just had to turn it off and on again because that's... I mean is that not the solution to most technology issues to turn it off and you turn it on again. At least you froze in a decent pose. He was trying to highlight Jenny. Yeah, Laura, he's not eating a microphone. That's a reference to Julius, a selection of last months. Still, for use as the episode graphic where... Let's just say it wasn't the best photo of me ever, I've seen better. I've seen better. Nathan, if you can hear us, we're going to go for a few minutes. So, we're going to bring you on Matt saying is it plugged in? Yes. That's the other half of it. Is it plugged in and have you tried turning it off and on again? In fact, there is a wonderful show. I'm not into British comedy typically but there's a great show. It's still on Netflix called the IT crowd and that is a recurring joke throughout. So, we've got some topics from Facebook. Let's do a couple minutes of these. What did we get? If your instructor had a pull string, what would the phrases be? Depends on the instructor but I'm thinking of things like come on, you can get those stances lower or alright, just 10 more or we'll move on when you get it right. Let's see. I've got a feeling some of you all had some responses for this. Richard said “let's see if that's true, right. Before we clap and then practice techniques”. Andrew says mine would be “okay, once more”. I was told by my students that whenever I say once more, I'm always lying. Jared says “no, too much muscle”. First, we should know that Jared is an Aikido practitioner. Marcia says “think about it in a different way”. Daniel says “just relax”. Ed says “1. bend your knee to switch sides 3. 1 more time” and Kara says “right foot”. What top 3 qualities would you use to describe the “ideal martial artist”? I would say patience. I would say dedicated and I would say humble. Those would be like 3 top answers from the martial arts funding friends' group which you should all check out. Always learning, always teaching, always humble, driven, open minded, compassionate integrity, perseverance, humility, humble, confident, honest, honorable, humble, adapter. So, there's humble come a few times. Helper, healer, hungry, student, teacher, leader and possibly the best one. And I want to know who put this in [00:21:38- 00:21:44] It's pretty good. That's pretty good stuff like that. What's your biggest martial arts regret? That's a tough one. There's a part of me that wants to say that you know, there is that kind of a dark time when I was on my own for 2 years and not formally training. And saying that, you know, I should have broken out of that sooner but I think I needed that and I think especially now, where I'm at, I needed that perspective. Because there are things too. They come up related to that. So, my biggest martial arts regret, I don't know. I'm not big on regrets, that's why I'm struggling here. So, let's see what other people said. Many people said not starting earlier and I would absolutely have said that if I hadn't started it. One person said none of you said quitting or taking a break. Benny says fooled around too much or didn't take their training seriously. I guess I could put myself in that camp. As a kid, I definitely fooled out. You know, I had my moments when I was a kid and was around other kids. It's going to happen. What's the most random thing you've intentionally broken or offer to break? Oh, man doors, wood, printers. There was a pile of broken printers that didn't quite fit in the box that needed to go in and there were a lot of axe kicks taking off paper trays kind of like office space but without the getaway's music in the background. Matt says car. At a community day, the police or fire department had a Junker car people could donate for a few swings with a sledgehammer. 3 of us got together for the school to try and kick off the door to bumper. Hi, Gabe. I'm assuming this is you a few years ago. I witnessed a single car rollover in which the driver was trapped. I ended up kicking a window which allowed him to crawl out. Well, that's awesome. That's really cool. Jenny in the chat, her biggest regret allowing anxiety to get in the way of my training, was a bad student and a bad role model when anxiety was in control. I could see that. All right. So, we're coming on. All right. Let's bring on Nathan Porter. He’s been a friend and I don't know if I want to say a fan but a supporter. And we already talked this morning.
Nathan Porter:
Hey, Jeremy.
Jeremy Lesniak:
What's going on man? How are you?
Nathan Porter:
What’s happening, how are you doing?
Jeremy Lesniak:
I'm well. How about yourself?
Nathan Porter:
All right. Just wrapped up classes.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Nice. Right. What is what is going on with this bow and arrow over your head?
Nathan Porter:
I never saw that over now, you know. You know…
Jeremy Lesniak:
You’re going to tell me like oh this is from like 14 century Nottingham that belongs to Robin Hood. [00:24:57-00:24:59].
Nathan Porter:
Yeah, now, you know this was a gift from Henry way back.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Really? Cool.
Nathan Porter
Yeah, there's some competition events and yeah, so give that to me and yeah, pretty cool. I used to have another one very similar but yeah, have you ever seen those Mongolian [00:25:17-00:25:19] pretty wild. Can’t get on my hands on one of those.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Are those the super big ones like in English [00:25:24-00:25:25]?
Nathan Porter
Well, the other ones when you see that the horns kind of coming off, so you can really yeah, pretty wild stuff.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yeah, pretty much anything Mongolian is crazy. Like Mongolian medal. Are you familiar with Mongolian metal music of today?
Nathan Porter:
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Those guys do like the throat singing but with power chords. It's intense.
Nathan Porter:
Well, that death metal thing going on...
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yeah, it's great. It's great. So how are classes?
Nathan Porter:
Classes went well. You know, I mean we just experienced a lot of snowstorms, little icing storms but you know, a lot of people made it out and yeah, I just wrapped it up. The adults only had about 6 but now they're all dedicated and don’t slip on the ice. Yeah, rock and rolling.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Good. How much snow do you get?
Nathan Porter:
We probably got about. 15,15, 18.
Jeremy Lesniak:
15,15, it’s a lot. There are people watching this right now who have never seen that much snow or at least listening. You know I don't know. Like you know some people. We've got more than we have. I just saw somebody put up a graphic this morning. You know, you guys are [00:26:43-00:26:46] than we have here in Vermont which is just silly. You don't want to give it to us. We need it for the ski mountains that no one 's allowed to come into. But you were here today to talk about helping students find your passion in the martial arts.
Nathan Porter:
Yeah.
Jeremy Lesniak:
You are someone who continues to reinvent yourself. It is fair to say. You utilize and exist in the martial arts firm in a few different ways and you just serve. You always fired up about all of those things all the time.
Nathan Porter:
Yeah, I mean. So, instructors are out of such a big thing now and it kills the class you know. And that's one of the big things you can go into. Is it a hobby or a job plan? It is a hobby or career thing. When you were making that switch, of course instructors, they went through this all in and it wears on them now. And there's a lot riding on it when you're first getting involved in you know, you have to do things a certain way. And because of that, it takes the passion out. You know, right? So, to get that passion back instilled into your training. Everything else, I mean because you have to be passionate about what you do. Yeah, I mean I teach a lot more youth kids. I mean I mentioned I had 6 kids but I thought, I'm sorry 6 adults and 50 something kids today. You know, limited spacing and so you know, but if you're not passionate about what you do and you are around kids, it's going to get right out. And they're just going to teach and they're gone and it will not stand.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Where they cheer you up.
Nathan Porter:
Yeah, yeah. You know, you can fake it till you make it. And you grow into that but you know what really helps me? And this is probably how I keep reinventing. You know my own training method is exactly my style. You know, everyone has this style. It's just a system that you learn but you, yourself need a personal matter. Right? 4 set style and a lot of times that's going to put something into your art that's yours. Right? And that's just for you and martial arts. You know, it's all about giving back and we're constantly teaching but when you take a moment to self-reflect on a method for yourself based on your style, a lot of that kind of gives another spark that could lead to another box.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Give me some examples of that method.
Nathan Porter:
All right, well you know you get that. When you get that kind of pump at the moment, of course, that's what they meant. Everybody would describe things slightly different. So, if you're, let's say, a taekwondo practitioner, right? And you're comfortable in Korean systems. Okay, okay can kind of branch out a little bit but then let's say you… Muay Thai and all of a sudden, it's like okay you know what I have a martial artist I can relate to this, but the way that they describe their kicking methods is very different. You know and for different reasons I mean in the sport area of the arts. Yeah, there's different rules associated but all of the sudden you're taking the same kick and it is now put into a different way for you to learn it. And that gives you a different message for implementing your technique. So now, if you're teaching say a roundhouse kick, right, [00:30:27-00:30:30] I'm going to use my nee with the whole right thing. I'm going to utilize my hip for the motion. You have all these different ways of teaching roundhouse kick. So how much more interesting did that roundhouse kick become. And, you know all of a sudden that sparks into everything up but you have to give that passion forward too. You know, if kids always or even adults and they see that oh, wow. If they see that roundhouse kick and you're not putting that effort or if you're teaching little ones, hey, this is cool because it is cool. You know, it just kind of goes along with it. Now the other thing too is this, let's say, you're teaching kids, right? And you're looking for passion. I'm feeling good because I'm looking at all these different arts and now, I'm going to put it in and you know [00:31:23-00:31:25] Filipino systems. You know, dirty boxing sets instead of the classic. That's just going to be my next. That's what I'm going to be working on. Right. And... but there's a lesson there. Right. There is something that I can put into my system. My style, you know it is what it is but if I'm teaching kiddos, stories will help with that passion. Let's say my style is discipline, right? And I can't put that passion out there. It just doesn't go with my teaching method of what I'm doing. It's not disciplined if it shows, you know, there's just 2 different teaching styles. Right? I don't want to put that forward in my method of whatever I'm doing. So, what you do is you can't but you have to have that. You have to be passionate about what you do. So, you transfer the passion. Right? So, you do it in the form of a story that has some passion to it. So, that keeps them off of the discipline aspect of the instructor and rolls it into something to grow the passion of the student or you know hierarchy is an interesting thing in the arts. You can always talk about your instructor that you're passionate about. If I’m no longer kicking and I had instructions from Bill Stewart Wallace, right? Everybody, I think, everybody has stories about simple fights and how passionate he is about his stripes.
Jeremy Lesniak:
He loves what he does still.
Nathan Porter:
So, so instantly just by sharing that, wow, that's going to roll into everybody else. And it takes it off of me so I can still beat me. And it is still something else the other students you know, that really helps out too.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Passions of fire. You know it is contagious and I've noticed there are certain schools that I've attended and everybody's just kind of they're all you know, the instructors going through the motions of students. Going through the motions and sometimes it just takes a little bit of a spark and because it's contagious now, everybody's elevated. Nobody's going to let it go. They're all fired up. They’re doing the same stuff but they're all showing up finally. You know, they're ready.
Nathan Porter:
So, yeah, yeah, you know, it’s all about instructors too because some of them will be like how can you... this is a serious self-defense situation. Yeah, you shouldn’t be smiling. You got to take this seriously. You know there's that whole side of things too and martial arts and fighting. You know, I mean all right, if you're training for a fight or you're doing some serious aggression tactics, right? And you're putting in the tone has to shift. So how can we be laughing and smiling and happy. What we're trying to get our head into is something as close to self-defense. Okay and that's a really tricky approach.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Passion does not have to be fun.
Nathan Porter:
Yeah.
Jeremy Lesniak:
You know, I think if you're really passionate about something, there's going to be an enjoyment of it but doesn't mean it has to be fun, smiling, giggly background and jokes. Right? What you and I, we could spar and we can have a heck of a lot of fun. It could be playful and joking and you know closer to a game attack but we could also go much harder even removing contact from the equation. We could make it a much more intense sparring match. And still really enjoy it but we're far more efficient but we're engaging differently.
Nathan Porter:
Yeah, yeah. Well, you know, that's it the passion can go into the focus and that's the big thing or not. That kind of transition has to be acknowledged. And then, you can kind of like “hey, all right. We're going to do this. We get fired up for it”. All right or you know that kind of data, I mean if you’re watching coach's speech from a football movie or basketball movie. So, you are fired up.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Great example.
Nathan Porter:
Some epic movies and like here we go. You know there's that passion for the focus of the activity.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yes. We got to move on to another segment. I know you and I could talk about this for an hour or 2 at least. I have no doubt but I appreciate you coming on and it's always...
Nathan Porter:
Great to see you man.
Jeremy Lesniak:
You too man. Yeah, we'll talk. We'll talk again soon.
Nathan Porter:
Definitely looking forward to it. Thank you so much. Thank you everyone. All right. Have a good life. Cheers!
Jeremy Lesniak:
Always good to talk to Nathan, such a good guy. What's going on here? I have 2 feet. There's insanity going on in the chat. I'm not even going to read back. I can already tell it's just not... All right. So, this might be my favorite segment or at least one of them. Story time with Matt. So, first off, this photo is amazing. So, there's Matt, there's Jenny, that's the other Jenny. We have two Jenny at whistlekick and this is another Jenny. Jenny and Matt versus Jenny and Gabe. They both... And the spelling of their name with an “I” which I object to because that's the nontraditional spelling. And the least they could do is have different spellings of their names but they didn't. That's all sarcastic because I think the world of both of them but we've got 5 stories today. So, let's move on. I'm going to read these 2. These are great so this came in from Gabe. In our school, we have a family with 5 girls who all started the same time. Occasionally, I mixed up their names and joked that I would just call them number 1,2,3,4,5. So, one day, they came to class wearing name tags with numbers 1,2,3,4 and 5. I never leave that down. It's a great story. Also from Gabe, at a tournament I broke my hand in a sparring match but I won my division. The only other guy, my grand champion division was a good friend of mine, who had reinjured his knee. So, we both decided to bow out rather than risk further injury. Let me explain your situation to the registration table. One of the judges overheard us and it took matters into his own hands. And we play rock paper scissors for it. He grabbed 2 other judges. We proceeded with the match. I did win and now I have a grand champion trophy for winning rock paper scissors. Thanks. This one 's from Andrew, at 16 years old, I was a green belt and at my first tournament, I ended up placing second. My division was happy about it and I was totally psyched about and I was so happy to get a trophy. However, I spent the entire rest of the tournament trying to track down any girl who also placed second in any division. Why? I didn't want my trophy to have a girl on the top. It's dumb but I did find someone. I have at least one trophy at home that I ended up with a girl trophy. It's okay. It's okay, Andrew. You can have a girl trophy. Girls have boy trophies at most tournaments to be honest. Is this a picture? This would be it. Are we sure that's a girl? Although that would be the one you swap force. So that is the male trophy topper. Submitted by Garrett, I was torn about 12 years ago where I had the privilege of judging adult creation of weapons forms. I despise this and this is getting hated more than me. [00:39:08-00:39:10] and she was cracking the same jokes. There was a guy that did maracas in form. Seriously? Took maracas and did a traditional formal shaking. These things. Maybe he lost a bet or something. Anyway, she busted up laughing halfway through as they died. And that was it. Best friends ever since I married or about 8 years later, we're still together and laugh about it. You know what because I read through these... Couple days ago, just to make sure they didn't need any adjustment for length or whatever. And at the beginning of this one, I was a little sad like all you know like why is somebody doing maracas form but then you know the fact that it brought 2 people together. They got married like that's pretty adorable. Kick him out of that. Our last one. This one 's for Matt and it sorts of it. Many years ago, I was a second on and tied for first place in weapons with a fourth tag. Oops. We both performed again and they still couldn't decide the winner. They decided to give the fourth because he was senior in rank. That's crap. When they said it loud enough that we heard he’s the fourth one and turning told the judges that they were wrong and that wasn't a reason so much to win. Good. So, he gave me first place. Yes. Every one of those judges needs to be slapped. That's… I know that's not supposed to be the take away from that story but yeah. [00:40:29-00:40:32]. I bet you do my friend.
So. what we got now? What's next?
Random thoughts and stories from my life as they relate to the martial arts? Okay. This could go anywhere. So, this happened a few days ago. Are these all for me, Gabe? Okay. This is from Gabe. I was talking to a friend about different styles of karate. Mentioned Kyokushin Karate. He said kill your shin. What's that? A mistake could not have been made. Absolutely true. This is brilliant. For my day job, I work for free in a company. One day while moving trailers around using what we call the yard goat. I saw this label. Safety instructions: emergency exit. Kick out windshield. I'm not saying I'm wishing for an emergency but if there ever is one, I'm just saying my training perfectly suits me for the situation. That's all. A yard goat that looks like fun. How fast of those things go? Probably not fast enough to go on the road. 40? 40. I also [00:41:48-00:41:49] of things everywhere I go for no reason. Yes, this is why about half of my training, right. I was punching surfaces in my house. The refrigerator, the walls, the quarters, the random saloon... I need more oxygen. The random saloon doors into my laundry room. Those are great because you don't want to hit him too hard but they swing perfectly. Perfect for punching. We recently got a new batch of students. A new batch of new students and this is the face I often make and watching them be better than me. The face you make when a white belt does a technique better than you on their first day. So very judgmental or such a judgmental but especially this one. I like it. All right.
Rapid fire trivia. Hold on. I got to get ready for this. Next time I'm not bringing like a jug of water. This just feels ridiculous. Thanks. Also, you can hear how much water to drink because that thing was almost full at the beginning. All right. I have 20 questions, answers as quickly as I can. And to read each question out loud before giving my answer. All right. That means I have to read fast. Did the person I'm playing it also have to read the questions or just answer them? They did. Okay. All right. I'm ready, let's do it. Who is my favorite musician? [00:43:24-00:43:25]. That's the wrong direction. Oh, you didn’t start the thing? You didn’t start the timer? Yes, the timer? That was happening. Are you typing to me? Things are happening. Andrew, I have 14, right? In a minute and 40 seconds? Okay. That's what I have to be. I'm ready. Who is my favorite musician? [00:43:55-00:43:56]. What does karate mean? Empty hand. Wave at the end. What do you call a freeform fight? They can have multiple opponents sparring. Where did the [00:44:07-00:44:08] originate? Philippines. Name one of the founders of Kajukenbo? Pass. What are the basics called in Japanese? [00:44:18-00:44:19]. What's a showdown mean? First degree. First prebattle. What is the nickname of Bill Wallace? Superfoot. Where was the American taekwondo association founded? I'm going to say Washington DC. What does taekwondo mean? Foot, fist way. How many under belt colors does BJJ have? White, blue, purple, brown. That's four. Name a style with no strikes. Yellow bamboo. What is [00:44:54-00:45:01]. What is the Japanese art of weapons? Kabuto. What does judo mean? Cool way of throwing people. What a Japanese training mats called? Tatami. What do you call the person on whom you demonstrate a technique? Uke. In Japanese, who is the founder of aikido? Morihei Ueshiba is also called sensei. What do we call a knife in striking? Karate Shuto. What does Shutoken mean? I don't know. How did it do? So, in a minute, 42. All right. So, I got number one. If you're a musician [00:45:48-00:45:49] I'm glad I got that one right. Karate means empty hand. Yeah, I got that. What do you call free form? [00:45:57-00:45:58] yeah. How was that different from sparring though? Sparring with multiple people. I'm giving myself that one. I [00:46:03-00:46:04]. The Philippines. Yeah. 4. Okay, the founders of Kajukenbo. I don't know any of these names Adriano Emperado, Yil Choo, Joe Holck, Frank Ordonez, I guess that’s how you say that. I've heard that name. And Clarence Changis. Okay, so clearly, I need to learn more about Kajukenbo. Basic of Japanese. [00:46:24-0046:25]. So, that's 5 shows on the first step. I'm taking it. 6. The Wallace, superfoot. 7. Omaha Nebraska. For the 8, no. Taekwondo way of the hand and foot. Will let you decide. BJJ has 4 colors. Yup. So was that 8. A style with no strike's judo or jujitsu. I also believe yellow bamboo. I didn't say it had to be a good legitimate or traditional system; take it. At nine, the Shuto gari. basic [00:46:58-00:46:59] 10. Kabuto. Japanese art of weapons. 11. Judo means gentle way. Okay, Japanese mats, Katami. 12. You call the person whom you demonstrate a technique, uke. 13. founder of aikido, Morihei Ueshiba. 14. What [00:47:18-00:47:24]. All right. So, in 2 more seconds I got one more than Andrew. So, I'm going to take it. It's my show. I mean it's our show. I'm going to say I won because I'm on the air. And now for the first time ever. First time ever, ever. Gabe's going to be on the show. Is this your first time ever, ever? Know you've been on the show. You've been on Martial Arts Radio. Okay, first. This is Gabe's first time being on this show. So, we're going to put him on, he's getting there. He's going to a completely separate computer.
Gabe Siu:
Hi.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Hi. What's going on, man.
Gabe Siu:
Not too much. It's kind of weird to be on this side. The camera, I guess. Yeah, and you'll notice the camera. You usually look at me and now, I’ve got a different background. I’m on the other side of the table.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Right. It's like we could put Jenny in your normal chair and then I could be all kinds of messed up about it.
Gabe Siu:
Right.
Jeremy Lesniak:
So, you're here for an announcement.
Gabe Siu:
I am.
Jeremy Lesniak:
So, what happened.t.
Gabe Siu:
Well, what's happening is I got a preface by saying we love you, Jeremy. We love all the listeners and supporters of the show but the big announcement is that next month's episode which is season 2 episode 6 will be our eighteenth episode, your last one.
Jeremy Lesniak:
We're calling it.
Gabe Siu:
We all are. Yeah. It's been a great show. We had a great time.
Jeremy Lesniak:
We've worked, we've worked out almost all the cakes. I mean I forgot to unmute the guests but you knew exactly what needed to happen.
Gabe Siu:
I did. So, I apologize on behalf of Jeremy.
Jeremy Lesniak:
I mean what are you expecting from a guy wearing a blanket.
Gabe Siu:
Yes. I know like we said, you know, when one door closes another one opens and it leads to something even bigger and better. Yeah, it's been a lot of fun.
Jeremy Lesniak:
You know, you and I have had the chance to work closely for the last year and a half and you know I've got to know you really well. That's been great. You know there's a lot of there a lot of no and sad faces in the chat right now. Which is good, right? If everyone in there was indifferent it would mean that we were ending this too late but it's time for us to try something else. Right? You know, I think it's fair to say that while we enjoy doing this, we've taken as far as we can. You know when we have our debriefs when we talk about what to do next time, you know we've dialed in pretty well. And you know the technical gear that we've brought and the set. If any of you who don't remember the early episodes, go back to those early episodes. Compare them. They were a disaster.
Gabe Siu:
As we're reflecting back on a year ago today, I remember back to the first episode, we said it was going to be an hour-long show. And you said send me some topics and some things to talk about. And I think the first email I sent you had like 3 things, one of which you knew nothing about. I was like this is harder than I anticipated.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yeah, yeah and one of the things that you and I have talked about and I’ll share this with the audience. One of the things that I find interesting is if you look at what we're able to produce and you know, by we, obviously the line sure is on you. If we add up all the time it goes into one of these. It's a decent chunk of time but it is not even remotely close to the amount of time that might go into a let's call it like a full-on evening show. you know like a prime time. Late night sort of show which is kind of what this is modeled after. And the standard that we've brought it to with, you know, geographic constraints. You are 3 time zones away. You were 3000 miles away from me. Right? Now, we've got that. We've got a budget of $0. And we've managed to put together a show that is fun to do. And it's fun for people watching and we're being boycotted and they're now angry faces in the chat. You know what I'm glad in a sense that you guys feel this way. And it doesn't mean that. It doesn't mean anything; it just means that it's time. It's time for us to try some other things. You know.
Gabe Siu:
And I see it a little bit having listened to a lot of your podcast episodes. I just listened to you grow as an interviewer. I started episode one and listened continuously up through well, over 400. I changed jobs there. So, I haven't been able to keep up as much as I'd like but just to listen to you grow as an interviewer. I see this a little bit like that. Where it's not bad sometimes. In order to grow, you have to let go of certain things. We have martial arts; we all know that. It is a bar but it will allow you and I and the show and whistlekick and everything else to be able to grow in ways that it may not have.
Jeremy Lesniak:
And let's be honest. So, the people in the chat right now who are upset, I have talked to almost all of you. In one way or another. In the last 48 hours. I'm pretty sure everybody watching right now is engaged with whistlekick in other ways. So, it doesn't mean that the company is going away. Right? What we might do? You know we may come up with something. You know if you want something more free form. You know, we might have a whistlekick hang out. You know, there's so many ways that we can re-examine this art. This structure because the structure is... Anytime you have a structured [00:54:31-00:5432] right? And I think it's important for us to find a new structure that allows us both to grow. We've both learned a ton from this. And yeah, it's easy. Andrew said “I feel like jumping on the zoom call and telling them they can't”. And here's Andrew saying, full blown trivia show. Well, it's funny that you say that Andrew because Gabe, you, and I talk about that there are other options. You know, we know that as an organization. We cannot put together multiple evening shows like if we have, we could have content like every evening. And you guys are all going to show up. It's going to be too much. Right? It's the same reason that when we explore, should we have a third episode per week of Martial Arts Radio? And the response was actually no. This is the right. We want two episodes. The right amount. Okay. So...
Gabe Siu:
One thing I will miss greatly about the show was a chance to just hang out with people in the chat. Yeah, there's been a great place, a great opportunity for people to get together into the... Just to be together as a martial artist.
Jeremy Lesniak:
I think that's the most important part. I think that's the part that we don't need to... Not need to but I think it's the part that will organically find a way to continue. Those of you that are watching live, those of you that we’re watching or listening to later, please don't be sad. Actually, no. I take that back. You're welcome to be sad. I hope you are a little sad. It means you care, means you enjoy the show but I hope that you recognize that it doesn't mean that something is ending, it means that there's opportunity for something else. You can compare it to your training. You know, if you want to get better at anything, you have to stop doing things the way that you were doing. And that can be scary and sad and frustrating and all kinds of emotions, but yes. All right. There are so many things on the horizon right now. There's so many things going on that you guys don't even know about. That none of them have to do with me wearing a blanket.
Gabe Siu:
Speaking of wearing things, you are not the only one wearing a whistle kick.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Hey look at that. It’s a whistlekick indeed.
Gabe Siu:
Yes, all those black gears that you put up; I buy them. Yeah. Black is our style. These are great gears. These are awesome.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yeah, we did pretty well in the black ones. We got to do a new batch. Yeah, but the minimums on those are a little rough. I've got the other uniforms, the other new uniforms in the other room, the stuff to do it. So, should we kick you back over and go to our last segment and [00:57:42-00:57:48] There is, you know, we talked about and I want you to know this is part of the reason we're announcing this now is because it gives us the opportunity, next episode to do some different fun things. You know, kind of in celebration, in retrospect, best of highlights. Whatever you want to call it. So, I'm looking forward to the things we come up with for that. So, we go out on the highest possible notes.
Gabe Siu:
So, you cannot... we're not... we're live so I can't really hide what I want to communicate with you here but I can go back to the other side. We can finish off with something else or you can...
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yeah, I don’t want to end this.
Gabe Siu:
Okay. you have to give me a minute to scroll through because the stuff that I'm going to use, I skipped. Wait a second.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Okay. I will. I'll blabber.
Jeremy Lesniak:
All right. All right. So yeah. Don't be too sad. I'm not going to have an excuse for being late to work on the first Tuesday of every month now. That's funny. All right. You can just, I don't know, watch reruns. Here's another book. I've got 3. I've got a pile of books. You know a guy who writes book books has piled books. So, this [00:59:15-00:59:17] ended up in conversation via email with someone who I started training with. [00:59:22-00:59:23] told me some great stories. This gentleman is older and first met recently in like 63 or something. Bought a book from him that I think it was like one of those like tiny self-publish sort of things. And he really liked [00:59:42-00:59:43] and thank me for the interview. And so, I'm going to autograph it and someone will send it to him. We've got a bunch of those things up. You know, just trying to flush out the books. Books, books, books. Let's do some books. Gabe got a couple more topics from Facebook or let's do those. Let's see the pet peeves monologue for next time. That will be fun. What's the most random martial arts compliment I've ever received? There are a number of weird things that happen because of that show, because of Martial Arts Radio but that's not… I’ll consider that martial arts as professional. Most random martial arts compliment I've ever received. I've had a couple people who were not martial artists say that they are not surprised that I am a martial artist, something about the way I carry myself. So, I would say, I'd say that. Jenny says “books, books, books”. Jenny is in charge of books. Andrew and I had the same question. I was in a tournament once competing in black belt forms. I did very traditional [01:01:01-01:01:02]. All the other competitors much younger did extreme martial arts style [01:01:07-01:01:08]. After the event was over, the head judge came up and told me privately that I was the only competitor there that knew how to use my weapon. Well, it's quite a compliment. Gave and I were in a tournament once. I was a green belt and took a second weapons bow to a girl who is brown belt. I had an old man, not a judge but a long time, black belt. Come up to me afterwards and tell me I didn't win because I wasn't a cute girl but that it was welcome to accompany him to any cowboy bar as long as I brought my stick. That is a wonderful and random compliment. Matt has too. Both the tournament's, my brother and I went to an open tournament without our instructor and wore unmarked uniforms. After competing forms, some guy we've never met came over and shook my hand and asked if I was Marvel's boy. He knew my instructor by my performance. In my eyes it was a compliment. I completely agree. That is an amazing compliment. I have been told that I do form... I've been told in the past I have done forms similar to my first instructor, one of my first instructors which if you ever saw her do forms, is an amazing compliment. One time after competing as a red belt, a senior master told me I was the future of martial arts but a year later he was the master of my black belt test. We've been friends since then. That's a great compliment. I like it.
If you could choose any 2 characters from any movie show, video game, it's better to face off in a fight, who would you choose? It's so hard. All right. Let's say Chuck Norris in Walker Texas Ranger versus Daredevil. Matt says Wesley Snipes from Blade vs Michael Jai White from Blood and Bone. Winter soldier versus Killmonger. Punisher from the Netflix series versus John wick versus Bryan Mills from Taken. Jason says Wile E coyote and [01:03:23-01:03:24]. Getting creative with that. What movie title best describes your training? Let's see what other people said. Andrew says After Class. It would be tied high. Jared says a Beautiful Mind. There's always search for reality and had fun having conversations I had. Jenny says Brave Heart. Gave says Gladiator. Sometimes I'm on top of my game, sometimes I'm in the dumps and sometimes I train like my family is just being killed. I'm trying to come up with a comedic response. But it's not... I'm not coming up with anything that's funny. I'm fading. So, I think we're going to end it. I think it's a good place. I thank everybody for watching, for listening. Stacey says move on and okay not quite getting that. And I'm talking up to me being tired. So, if you don't get enough of me being tired here at the end, you can join me for the First Cup tomorrow at 6:30 AM U. S. eastern time on YouTube but anyway I thank everybody. This has been fun. Game and I have had a number of conversations about the end of the show and I'm excited for what's coming next. There are some great things coming for both of us personally and professionally. And sometimes change happens all the time, change happens, change continually happens. Whatever, however it called. So, thank you. Stay tuned. Make sure you are following the event for the final episode and you're paying attention to all the communications because there will be some great stuff and I would love your help and involvement in celebrating what we've done over the last 17, soon to be 18 or so. Thanks everybody, thank you Gabe. Thank you to those of you in the chat, take care and I'll see you.