Rock Climbing, Gung Fu and Insurance

SC mentioned that she might be interested in learning something useful (like rock climbing) to enhance the chance of survival in an island. I'm sure all of my rock-climbing friends would agree with her. (As a beginner of rock climbing, though I keep reminding myself to use my legs more often when climbing, my arms are usually not "usable"(extreme muscle soreness) for the next two days. Now imagine how strongly I would become if I do it constantly-literally I'm doing something against the gravity! :))

This year, I decided to learn something useful too. I decided to re-learn my Gung Fu, particularly Wing Chun. (I'm totoally fascinated by the movements of Siu Nim Tao, the wooden dummy and sticky hands) I joined the Gung Fu club in college for a year and a half. My Sifu, which is also my marketing professor was really knowledgable about martial arts. He introduced us Wing Chun and the Five Animals. Being a lazy student, I didn't practice much at home after lessons and now I forgot most of the stuffs I learned. (Well, except that I still remember how to counter attack if someone tries to pull my hair and attacking my neck.)

I told CL that I'd better start learning Gung Fu now, so that if I ever get a chance to work in China, I can protect myself. And CL said, "You don't need to wait to use your Gung Fu in China, it's good to have it under your toolbelt anywhere you go!".

My uncle also practices Wing Chun. He used to tell me, learning Gung Fu is like buying an insurance in a way, you may never need to use it in real life. Most of the times, you are just practicing or paying the premiums. However when you need it, it's often in a distress situation.

For insurance, I can rely on my fellow actuaries to do the math right so that my risk is transferred properly to the insurance company. For Gung Fu, I'd better rely on myself to learn the techniques and practice them properly, until they becomes my second nature.