Last week, Ma'am Peachie of Kalis Ilustrisimo told me that even though sometimes when it rains during practice, they still continue it. So even though the sky is shady gray this Sunday morning, I still went onto the practice. It poured hard rain after I ate breakfast at Jollibee near LRT United Nations station.
Meanwhile, while sitting, holding an umbrella and having a Khadaffy Janjalani impression, this is what happened...:
I went there at around almost 10 AM and waited until 11:30 AM. Nobody shows up.
I think rainy season is the perfect time to practice using eskrima sticks while trying to fight off the rain and the wind blows. It can serve as a training for your arm strength, balance and coordination. Also, there's a possibility that you can meet your enemy during a rainy weather. So I think, Kalis Ilustrisimo members should show up today because of those reasons. They should just keep their personal belongings especially their electronic gadgets from getting wet.
Next time I see a shady/dark gray sky in a Sunday morning even if it's not raining and especially if I don't see the fucking sun, I won't leave my house.
Today, I woke up early even though I slept late around 2 AM. I found the Kalis Ilustrisimo in Katigbak Ave. Rizal Park Luneta, Manila. I got some information about the group. They are teaching only every Sunday 10 AM until afternoon there. Tuition fee is PHP250 every session. The FMA group is solid blade-based meaning they are gonna teach you bladed weapons first before moving to sticks. They hold sticks at the bottom part of it. There's no allowance in the stick because it will be easily disarmed. The teacher told me that they also teach Filipino dirty boxing that is different than Panantukan. I wish they also teach dumog or Filipino wresting and grappling but they lack clean floor to do it (since it's in a park) . Dumog is essential when fighting 1 on 1, when both you and your opponent lost/drop your weapons and you want to win the fight through submission. The primary instructor has a background in Pekiti Tirsia Kali so that's a plus. The grandmaster Tony Diego was there and I'm able to talk to him personally. It's essential because he checks and instructs the trainers if they are teaching/doing the right stuffs. This is the real thing. And last, the most important inspiration for me to always go there every week is- one of the instructors is a sweet, hot, badass, sexy cougar- Ma'am Peachie.
I'm able to talk to her today closely and she told me she's studying Kalis Ilustrisimo since 1989. Wow! That's 24 years now. It's really her passion and I wanna learn from her. She told me that "Kalis" means blade (I really thought it's the sting ray logo on their shirts). She gave me some pointers on how to wisely buy an unsharpened bolo knife but I insisted to her that I want to buy a Panabas sword for practice. I really got inspired to join the group after seeing her awesome YouTube videos.
After the session, I just ate fish lauriat at Chowking outside Rizal Park near LRT. then I went to Quiapo to buy another item. This time, a bahi wooden knife and a case that holds 8 sticks and 2 blades.
Lastly, some hairclips and bands for practice.
The men in the group would probably be shaving their hair this week after seeing my long hair so they could influence me to cut it. There's a mentality here: "Proper grooming is the best policy" but I'll decide if I want to cut my hair or not. I'll be joining next week.
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