Greetings from San Diego

Hello folks,
I am a happy new member of ATS. I was a philosophy major at San Diego State University many years ago and my interest in philosophy led me to an interest in areas further from mainstream philosophy. I lived in Taiwan for 15 years and while I was there I studied Daoism and Chinese folk religions. Many of the practices of Daoism and Chinese folk religion involve things that would be seen as occult or just "general weirdness" by western standards. While I was in Taiwan my wife and I wrote two books on Chinese martial arts history, I have had a life long interest in Chinese martial arts.

By profession I am an attorney and have worked both as a prosecutor and as a deputy Public Defender. I currently own my own business which is not law related.

One thing that living abroad taught me was, what is considered "obviously true" in one country or culture may not be such an "obvious truth" in another country or culture. And from that I learned to really try and keep an open and active mind towards things. And that is why I look forward to talking with all the folks here and learning more about things outside the mainstream.

take care,
Brian

Well hello and welcome to you from the UK. Enjoy your stay.

Welcome home counselor we've been waiting for you,

a reply to: brianlkennedy

welcome brianlkennedy !

Hello and welcome Brian, hope to hear more from you regarding martial arts. I´ve been training Taido, Taekwondo, Judo and Thaiboxing for many years.
Greetings from Denmark.

Much love!

Hi Brian! Nice to meet you, looking forward to your input here!
Sounds like you probably have some interesting knowledge and ideas to share.
Being an expat myself, I know what you mean about discovering the relative nature of this world...
I'm originally from Orange County, just a bit north of you.
How are things with all that rain you guys have been getting???

Hello and welcome!

Welcome Aboard the Mother Ship

Cookies will be served

Thank you folks for the warm welcome. I appreciate that and look forward to talking with you all. Read Leader, nice to know I was expected!! Kryptical, it is interesting to hear you did judo, I did a bit of recreational judo too. I really enjoyed it. Over the past few years in addition to my Chinese martial arts I also have been doing some jiu jitsu, which I enjoy too.

Bluesma, yes, we survived the rain. But it was some of the worst San Diego had seen in decades. We live on high ground so no worries about the house, but--my shop is down on the bottom of the mesa and.....we had a fair size pond in the parking lot. I see you made your way from Orange County to France. That is a bit of a cultural change. I went to Taiwan initially for work. What took you to France?

take care,
Brian

a reply to: brianlkennedy

I came here because of amour.... my husband is french.

I've been a little worried about my family back there, I know the flooding has been out of control!
What are you doing now, career-wise?

Both of my parents were philosophers- dad was a professor of philosophy (and head of human services) at CSUF.

Must have been quite an adventure in Taiwan! I still write too much on the cultural differences I observe here. I am sure there are members that are sick of reading about, "over here, in France..."