molum_jr: Quite right, the Third floor, & as my memory is also a bit hazy, I at least remember that the library/tv room was more or less straight on, small kitchen on the left, & do I recall small bedrooms on the right for visitors?. And glass doors on the ground floors. Anyway as to doing email, I can understand, I only talk with a few people in that manner such as tamoke, pete, etc., no point in getting into stuff with people who wont know what Im talking about.
Peter & his brother Johnny were already there when I joined(as a matter of fact they're the first ones Sifu had me sparr with), later Dean came in, and Ali; Wally & other kids started maybe in the summertime. I cant remember when Robert(from San Jose area)came in but he was with me up into 4th grade. I remember another guy who was also learning a bit of Tai Chi, cant remember his name, but he had a beard, I remember him because one time I knocked him out with an crossing leg-hook kick combo from the 9th set, & another time split his head open(accidentaly)with my elbow when he tried to throw me. Ah, his name was Michael, not the other Mike who was African American.
Y.C. Wong? No, although when I was really younger I had tried his school, you may be thinking of Y.C. Chiang(Kou Lien Ying's student) with whom I studied Guang-Ping Yang Tai-Chi. At any rate I am beginning to remmember other guys, such as the short Mexican guy named Miguel who was an auto mechanic from the East Bay. That was really a fun time, all that sparring, pushups, frog jumps & Sifu boiling the giant pots of Dit da jow in the kitchen. I particularly remember those big windows I would always want open from all the heat and sweat we would put out, and how we had to watch out that nobody would go flying out them when we would spar. As for the Mats they came a bit later, as I recall they were in the right hand room & the left hand room was just plain tile floor where that young girl would have her dance class & sometimes Sifu would bring Kung Fu movies & show them in there. I remember saying to Sifu when he first starting buying those mats (from Taiwan?) that he could just use gym mats cheaper(the tatamis cost $40 each), but he said these were the best & it turned out to be true because they were still using them on Noriega St when I left for the E. Coast.
As far as I know the only other person from that time that still is training or teaching besides myself is (Master)Dean in SF, I talk to Mike once in a while but he's not doing Mantis, the only time I see Sifu is when he comes out to NJ from So. Calif.
You have piqued my curiosity. If you talk to Master Sun, Dean, Tamoke, Pete, or even Sifu Jack in Sayreville, based on the info I have given you they will tell you who I am. Perhaps we may correspond at some later date. I like to follow some of the threads here from time to time but prefer a round about manner of coming in ommunication with people I dont already know.
Anyway, thanks for responding, talk to you later.