Ninja Stealth

Ninja Stealth … Schmealth!

Actually, I have been visiting a relative in the hospital, every day, for the last week or so. And since I spend a minimum of eight hours a day there, I have had to make up little martial-arts-type “ninja” games to take my mind off of other matters.
One tip is definitely worth mentioning …

Moving Through The Halls
This is nothing like the bodyguard ebook that I wrote, Moving Through Crowds (free, if you don’t have a copy). That one dealt with crowded areas … what I am talking about here are almost deserted hallways.

I have noticed that the halls of this mega hospital are very well lit. Another observation is that some people hug the walls as they walk down the corridors and turn the corners. The result is that they bump into other wall huggers, who happen to be traveling on the right (as opposed to left) side of the passageway.

The mini collisions are a bit humorous.

But …

Ninja Lesson Learned

Did you know that when someone is approaching in these well-lit halls from the other direction, around the corner, you get some advanced notice.
There is a warning.
There is a distinct shadow that precedes the person. In fact, you get about a half-a-second warning before the meek person rounds the corner.

Meek Ninja Warriors?

You better believe it. One of my observations is who stealthily hugs the walls while rounding corners:

• thin, small females — hospital staff, but not the nurses or CNAs
• thin, small females — guests of patients
• administration in shirts and ties, but never a jacket (jackets walk down the center of the hall)
• custodial crew going on break — fast walkers, getting to their cigarettes and/or coffee
• The Keith Pascals of the world

I am by no means implying that you will have the same mix of innocents in “your institution.” After all, creepy stalkers could very well hang out around corners. These are just my observations, as I am excused from the hospital room to go wandering for 20 minutes.

The real point is that you get all sorts of advanced warnings … shadows, reflections in glass windows … even reflections on the glass front of the newspaper dispenser.

Hmm … maybe I’d make a better ninja warrior teacher than the doofus whose emails haunt me almost daily. Just kidding … about the only things we have in common is that we both write martial arts on the Net, and we both have beards.

That’s where the similarity ends.

Tags: advanced warning, hallways, ninja secrets, ninja warriors, ninjas, solo training, stealth tactics, stealth techniques