One of my favorite stories from my father's childhood was from around this time, and involved that very cap gun. They were staying at Dad's aunt Annie Winfree's house. Dad was dressed up in his cowboy garb, sitting on the front porch steps. His cap gun was, as usual, strapped to his belt. As he was sitting there watching the chickens peck and scratch, he suddenly noticed a chicken hawk swooping down, claws extended to grab a chicken. Without a second thought, Dad whipped out his trusty cap gun and fired off two or three rounds at the chicken hawk. The hawk, of course, was unharmed, since cap guns do nothing but make noise. But that noise was enough to scare the hawk off. Dad was forever proud of himself for saving the chickens from the chicken hawk, and that cap gun is now in my possession.
I finished this washcloth last night. I love doing washcloths. They are so quick and easy that I can do several in a short time. It makes me feel like I'm accomplishing something.
Something very interesting happened at the dojo tonight. Sensei was teaching the kid's class, and James and I were out in the foyer. A man came into the dojo and started looking at the leaflets and other information that is there on the table. James asked him if he was interested in signing up for classes.
He replied, "No, I'm here to talk to him about letting me teach two or three nights a week."
He went on into the dojo and sat down, and we looked at each other and said, "HUH?????" He was just going to walk in off the street and expect sensei to let him teach? What was he going to teach? Did he even train in Isshinryu? I didn't recognize him, and neither did James.
Later, sensei told us the scoop. The man was the blue belt who had opened his own dojo a while back. His name is Casey Lancaster. He no longer has any students, by the way. He wanted sensei to let him come and teach in our dojo. Now, I don't know if he wanted to teach US, or start his own classes. I'm assuming he just wanted to use our dojo to hold his own classes in.
Sensei told him no, that would have to be a shodan to teach in our dojo, and tried to get the guy to start Isshinryu classes. He wouldn't. He said that he only wanted to train in ju-jitsu, though in the past he'd also trained in flying crane Kung Fu and Tae Kwan Do, and something else. I forget what the fourth style he trained in is. He said, "Ju-jitsu is the only thing that fits me."
That may be true, but how does he know Isshinryu doesn't fit him also if he won't even give it a chance?
It's all moot anyway if sensei is going to start opening the dojo up five days a week.
On a brighter note, Scarlett left me a good poop this morning. Now, I know some of you wonder that I get excited about snake poop, but hey, it means her digestive system is working normally when she leaves a normal poop.
So let's hear it for healthy poop!
2 comments:
Snake poop! Woot!
We have ju-jitsu classes in the same dojo my sensei is at (it's primarily a TKD dojo). I have a great deal of respect for the form. Nonetheless to insist on teaching something he is only an intermediate student in, rather than learning something new from someone with experience says very little about his character.
Please understand, I meant no disrespect toward ju-jitsu, or kung fu, or TKD at all. As Master Shimabuku said, "All bottles are good."
But I can't seem to muster a whole lot of respect for an arrogant (yes, he seemed rather arrogant in person) blue belt trying to insist that sensei let him teach another style in our dojo. I wonder if he wanted sensei to supply him with students as well. After all, he had his own dojo once, but lost it when he lost all his students. He only had two to begin with, and they joined our dojo. After visiting once, they claimed that "this is the REAL stuff."
He did stay and watch about half of the adult class--led by me and James because sensei was teaching a beginner--smirking all the while. When he did go, even sensei seemed relieved.
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