Strangely enough, this is one of our main instructors. He has practiced the art of Northern Shaolin (also known as "Buck Siu Lum" in Cantonese, or "Bei Shaolin" in Mandarin) under Grandmaster Wong Jack Man. Rick says that he can speak neither of these languages, so it is best to watch him while he instructs.

Rick began learning martial arts when he was small. Many people tell us this. He is still not very tall at all. It is easy for us to see that he has done this for most of his life, and that it is a part of him. He says that he has done it for so long that he cannot imagine not doing it.

He makes no claims as to being any type of philosopher, so he says to listen carefully while he teaches, but not too carefully. Actually, when he is teaching us and telling us little jokes at the same time, there always seems to be some truth in what he says.

It is said that he has a great knowledge of this northern system, also referred to as "Buck Pai" in Cantonese. Rick seems to be well-rehearsed in these methods, and although Rick has practiced for many years, his achievements are rather dubious. Actually, it is he who tells us these things. He knows many hand forms, weapons forms, sparring sets, and he also teaches the younger students lion dance. He says that while the younger students are learning lion dance, it is he who is learning patience! Actually, when he asks the young students to get the drum and lion dance equipment, they seem to do it rather rapidly and with great energy, energy not seen in their previous 60 minutes of practice. This would indicate that when they do lion dance they all have a lot of fun.

For the students of Friday night, this is our teacher. He says he is not the best, but he just might be one of the funniest.

We have often wondered how many things he knew of to teach us. He seems to be comfortable with most aspects of gung-fu. He usually says he would prefer to show something rather than talk about it since he is not that good at explaining things.

He tells us that he began to learn gung-fu when he was young. Now he is old. He is mostly known at the studio for the telling of humorous stories, or acting out little bits of movies that he has seen, and we have seen. He likes to mimic us, especially when we aren't practicing. Sometimes, it's actually quite close.

He says that he is really only good about 5% of the time, possibly 10%, so we had better watch carefully to see how things are done. He says we might get lucky and see a good one if the Gods permit.