The Butterfly Effect

[Fleur]

Cripes, these aren't quite the delicate feminine implements I'd fondly imagined!

In fact something about them just brings to mind that scene from Psycho, complete with screeching sound effects

but as I am most definitely one for having my cake and eating it too, the link is HERE: http://wongkiewkit.com/forum/attachm...1&d=1173395183

hahahaha

and as I'm also partial to a nice cuppa with my cake, I have succumbed and voted 'heavenly blades' on the other thread, tho its the Shaolin Travelling Dragon Sword all the way for me.



Fleur

[Claire]

Oh Fleur, I love you for voting for the Butterfly knives... and then I saw that you wrote in the voting thread: 'because my life wouldn't be worth living otherwise' the Butterfly Knives.

I don't know what you mean! MUHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Anyhoo, sadly, whilst the web link you've posted is one place you can find the pic, it's still not actually the 'right' place to find it...good try though!

Use the clue I gave and it'll take you straight to it, honest!



Now then

*Big Drum Roll*

I have something very very special to share with you all here my beloved family

Knowing nothing more than 'I love the Butterfly knives', I wrote to Sigung asking some questions about them – to my utter astonishment, Sigung not only said he'd been reading this thread and enjoyed it, but has also incredibly generously granted me permission to reproduce his words here prior to the full version being published on his Questions and Answers Series for the month of April!

I really did need a cup of tea and a sit down after I received that mail I can tell ya!

So pleeeeeeeease, DON’T FORGET TO VOTE FOR THE BUTTERFLY KNIVES (the vote closes soon), print off a 'Tea for Free' voucher and claim your cup of tea, courtesy of me!

And now, if you needed any more convincing, here's some of Sigung's wonderful words. Enjoy!


I Asked
After such a life-changing experience last year, I’m very excited about Summer Camp again this year and I am looking forward to tasting the delights (and trying to prepare for the hard work) of Lion Dance and the Weapons Course!

Sigung answered
I am glad you are attending both the Lion Dance Course and the Weapons Course. They are quite special, and I myself am not sure whether I may offer them again.

This is because of the time factor. I have more courses than the time to teach them. For example, I have promised some senior members of our Shaolin Wahnam Family that I shall offer such special courses like “Chi Kung Healing”, “Chin-Na as a Specialized Art” and “Combat against Armed and Multiple Attacks”, and I would like to fulfill my promise before retiring from teaching publicly.

Sigung also states that of all the weapons he could have learned from his Wing Choon master, Sifu Choe Hoong Choy, he chose only two, one of which was the Butterfly Knives.

Sigung also points out:
Later I also learned the Thirteen-Technique Spear, an exclusive weapon taught only to inner-chamber disciples, but I learned it from my siheng, the late Sifu Yeong Cheong, rather from my sifu directly.

So being offered the opportunity to learn this weapon too is also quite the unique and privileged opportunity.

On learning the Butterfly Knives from Uncle Righteousness (Grand Master Lai Chin Wah):
The Butterfly Knives was one of the earliest weapons I learned from my first kungfu master, Uncle Righteousness. In fact it was the second weapon I learned after the staff.

I was one of my sifu’s favorite students. The staff and the Butterfly Knives were my sifu’s favorite weapons. It was logical that he taught me the weapons he liked best.

…

Hence, I am glad of your “Butterfly Effect” and that the Butterfly Knives is one of the options for intending students to choose. Please see the poll on the choice of weapons.

…

Many of these weapons are linked to certain emotional or mental states as well as physical abilities. The sword, for example, is linked to scholarship, and the Kwan Tou (or Crescent-Moon Knife) to righteousness.
As the Butterfly Knives are short and light, one must be very agile and flexible when using them, especially against a long weapon like a spear, or a heavy weapon like a big trident.

Imagine, for example, with your Butterfly Knives you face an opponent with a spear, which is not only long but also very fast. How would you defeat him without yourself being hurt. If you approach him he thrusts his spear to you. If you ward off his spear, he pulls it back and points the spear-head at you again.

Or imagine an opponent holding a long and heavy weapon like a big trident. The three prongs of the trident make it difficult for you to get past the trident to reach him with your short weapons. If you block an attack from a heavy weapon, your short and light Butterfly Knives may be smashed by the sheer weight of the opponent’s weapon.

But of course there are intricate ways to get past these weapons. If the Butterfly Knives is chosen, we shall learn these interesting and effective ways. This will not only enable us to be agile and flexible, the qualities necessary to use the Butterfly Knives adroitly, but also make us calm and confident even when facing great odds.

I Asked
If you were to vote, out of the six weapons on offer, which would you choose and why? (Please bear in mind SiGung that I have a *tantalizing* offer on our online forum which I've called 'The Butterfly Effect' of a free cup of tea to anyone voting for the Butterfly Knives (Hahahaha) “

Sigung Answered:
If I were allowed to, I would also try for the cake to go with the tea.
Butterfly Knives would be one of my three choices. The other two would be the sword and the Kwan Tou (Crescent Moon Knife).

Besides the beauty and elegance of these weapons, I also consider the philosophical concepts as well as personality qualities associated with them.
As mentioned above, training the Butterfly Knives give me agility and flexibility as well as calmness and confidence, which certainly will enrich our life and the lives of other people. In practical terms, they are much easier to be carried about than other weapons.

Of all the weapons, the sword was the choice weapon of the kungfu knights, or scholar-warriors, in the past. It requires great skills to use the sword adroitly, skills that can be rewardingly transferred to our daily life. The sword is actually my most favorite weapon.

The Kwan Tou, or Crescent-Moon Knife, was the weapon of the great warrior, Kwan Yu, who was deified as a god of righteousness. He was also known for his great courage. The Crescent-Moon Knife not just symbolizes but actually manifests these-qualities. For example, when meeting an opponent, the Crescent-Moon Knife exponent does not use cunning tricks, but defeat him with honorable skills and techniques.


So there you have it folks, the Butterfly Knives Rule ...and so does Sigung
I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this, and I hope one of you will follow the clues and find the url that will win you a piece of cakey cakey cakey!

Hope to see loads of you at Summer Camp!!

Claire
xxx

p.s. Sigung, I shall bake you a cake myself and bring it to Summer Camp

[Darryl]

p.s. Sigung, I shall bake you a cake myself and bring it to Summer Camp

A birthday cake, perchance?

Congratulations Claire, an excellent example of determined perseverance

Are you bringing a cabbage for the Lion Dance?

[Claire]

A birthday cake, perchance?

You don't get out of buying Sigung an extra cake that easily! lol

Congratulations Claire, an excellent example of determined perseverance

Why thank you Darryl Sisook, one has been compared to a bulldog before - because of the way I get a hold of something and go with it, not.. well, ok perhaps also becasue of the features! lol

Are you bringing a cabbage for the Lion Dance?

Well, I wasn't, but now you mention it!

[Fleur]

Claire, of course you will take a cabbage for the Lion Dance

...no doubt impaled on a couple of shiny Butterfly Knives, for the benefit of any last-minute 'waverers' who still need that little bit of 'persuasion'



Thanks so much for posting Sifu's marvellous response - I'd actually been wondering a lot about the subtle/energetic effects of training the individual weapons, and why I was drawn so strongly to the sword.

But the phrase "also make us calm and confident even when facing great odds" was very inspiring to me, so now I'm (almost!) as excited about the BKs. In fact, I can't wait to discover even a little of the depths of whatever weapons are taught.

We are so lucky!

Fleur

[eddiel]

Great post Claire.

I hadn't really thought about the weapons in terms of their link to "certain emotional or mental states". Helping to make us calm and confident when facing great odds sounds particualrily useful. When you thing about it though you can see the link.

I'm not doing the weapons course at the summer camp for several reasons but it does sound really interesting - actually I won't be attedning the camp at all since I've spent my Kung fu money for the year in Ireland and in Canada (May) already.

I'm sure you'll tell me all about it.

Hopefully I won't have to wait until 2am this time

Eddie

[Claire]

heh heh

Thanks you guys,

I'm glad it's inspiring to you too of course the thanks all go to Sigung for letting me post excerpts as well as taking the time to respond to my questions

And now I can't wait because they are indeed GOING TO BE TAUGHT AT SUMMER CAMP!!! YAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!! I can barely contain my excitement.

Thanks to everyone else who voted for them, I'm so glad these Blades of Beauty have worked their magic on you

Now... Fleur, I was wondering, didn't you mention to me that you found some information about how tehre were idfferent sizes of Butterfly Knives and how there was info on how to choose the right size for you??

Would you mind very much posting it here please?


And has everyone gone off cake lately? Or was my cryptic clue too cryptic? lol

With Butterflies,

Claire

[Claire]

Hello there!

Well it seems no one figured out the cryptic clue I gave, meaning no one won the piece of cake, meaning... I shall jolly well have to eat it myself! LOL Thanks to everyone who played though

But before I do anything else, I guess there are two things I should do:
1. Give you the answer to the clue, and
2. Give you some exciting news...

Ooh, I'm too excited, I'll have to tell you number 2 first!

My Sifu just told me that in the next few days Sigung will be putting up the video clips and picture series for the Butterfly Knives set he'll kindly be teaching us at Summer Camp... so unless it's going to go on a particular site somewhere else, watch this space

*excited*

Ok, now to the answer to my cryptic clue.

The clue was:

If you look at me from the side, I will lead you to the asnwer...

If you look at me from the side? i.e. check out 'My Profile'.... on my profile there's a link to my webspace, on my webspace there's an album called 'Let The Eat Cake' which has the URL to the page: http://thebutterflyknifeeffect.spaces.live.com/



I dunno, now I'm just gonna have to stuff my face with cake

[Martin Do]

Sije Claire

Thanks for this great news. We have been given so much generous help and advise to prepare ourselfs with these video clips so that we can make the most of the weapons course. I certainy have had so much fun trying to familiarise myself with some of these weapon patterns - scraching my head (not out of hygienne) but wondering hmmmmmmm, should my feet be here and my hands be there, which directions should I be heading now

While practicing the other day I thought to myself is it fate that from a democratic pole we have ended up with not just three great wepons but there is one long rage weapon, one medium range and one short range. From an inexperienced point of view I can only imagine these weapons to all have their own unique merits for different situations.

Wow wee. What a treat. I'll be camping around the weapons video clips for the next few days for the butterfly knife form

Kind regards

Martin

[Claire]

While practicing the other day I thought to myself is it fate that from a democratic pole we have ended up with not just three great wepons but there is one long range weapon, one medium range and one short range.

Do you know what Martin, that hadn't even occurred to me yet. Well spotted!

I know you've already started shopping Martin, but I'm gonna 'try' and exercise restraint and wait til we get the details of where to buy our weapons from and hopefully save a few pennies with the discount we should get!

Oh, btw, I asked Fleur about this site she said she'd found about finding the length of Butterfly Knives for you. Apparently, you should hold them by the handles flat in your hand then try and measure them against your forearm. They should be the length of your forearm to your elbow, plus a couple of inches.... Any advance on this information anyone?

Claire

[Jordan]

If you look at me from the side? i.e. check out 'My Profile'.... on my profile there's a link to my webspace, on my webspace there's an album called 'Let The Eat Cake' which has the URL to the page: http://thebutterflyknifeeffect.spaces.live.com/



I dunno, now I'm just gonna have to stuff my face with cake

You know, I went to that website and did indeed look at your "Let Them Eat Cake" album.. and I saw the URL but thought it was showing a link to the page I was already on Don't ask me why I thought that!

Enjoy your cake

[Claire]

LOL

Well done for at least figuring out the clue Jordan Sisook. I did indeed stuff my face with a big wodge of chocolate cake last night (it was Martin Do's Birthday as well as Sifu's wedding anniversay at the weekend, so cake was a must! - I guess I could post you some crumbs? hee hee

Claire

[Claire]

Yummy

And so it came to pass that Claire did indeed stuff her face silly with chocolate cake (along with everyone else in class of course!) and here's the picture to prove it!



YUMMMMY!

[Claire]

*bounces around like tigger*

Sigung announced today the page for his new “Jen Tzi Seong Lam Tou” or “Human-Character Double Southern Knives” set to be taught this year at Summer Camp - a combo of the "Crossroad Double Southern Knives” from Uncle Righteousness of Southern Shaolin, and “Human-Character Knives” from Sifu Choe Hoong Choy of Choy Family Wing Choon.

Here are the links:

Video Clips

Picture series


If you do not start to feel your palms itching for want of a pair of bladed beauties by clip 3 then I strongly advise you to seek professional help Me? I swear, I thought I was going to get a nosebleed! LOL

ENJOY!

[Martin Do]

Yippeeeeee,

Thank you sije claire not just for this great news but also for the birthday cake the other day

Its incredible how generous sigung is and how he wants us to make the most of the course with these help.

Off to the link I go.........dam, I left my memory stick at home today. Still, there's so much to work on this can wait until next week I guess.