I Reject.....
And so my debt of bloggage is indeed great. Om Mane Padme Hum...
Let us begin at the beginning, shall we?
The trip to see R. Sensei in Seattle was indeed an adventure. Then again, what trip to see the teacher on the mountain is ever not? In any case, the trip happened during that week in NYC where storm after storm seemed to roll in from the West, and shortly after the tornado in Brooklyn. If ya don't know, you'd better ask somebody.
In any case, made it to LaGuardia in record time, on public transpo no less, carrying the pack I bought to go trekking through Costa Rica yea these many long years, and a 2" diameter tube with screw on caps plastic-soldered to each end and approx. 52" long holding my practice weapons. Anyone with a functional image of what that looks like will understand why it was the items I was carrying, and not so much myself that raised some eyebrows as I may my way through my fair city. Check in at the airport was also rather interesting, though, once I sent everything to get scanned, it wasn't really an issue. This beats the time I was surrounded in Penn Station and was surrounded by 6 NYPD for carrying my weapons bag over my shoulder. But that's another story.
After getting through security, having about an hour to slowly work through my last Ruben before leaving NYC and wash it down with Captain and Coke (never get on the boat sober) once I made it to the gate, I found that the plane had officially been delayed until an as yet undisclosed time, and that, due to the impending storm it had been diverted to another airport farther upstate. 100+ disgruntled passengers all searching for a quick resolution and several ticket agents incapable of making any improvements in the situation as they, despite whatever all present might have conceived, had left their god-like powers at home. Black and grey clouds approached, and heat lightning had begun to flicker in the not so distance as the mid-summer afternoon rapidly grew darker than it should have.
In a strange twist of fate, not too long after I sat down at the gate, the announcement came out over the loudspeaker that the plane was indeed arriving - in the next 20-25 minutes, and that we would be on our way by less than an hour after the scheduled departure time. Phenomenal cosmic powers, not so itty-bitty living space. You can't make this shit up. In the interim, one 40 -something wife of a fellow passenger had returned from her scavenging mission announcing "Peanuts? Almond Joy? Snickers? Trail Mix?" to which I replied - "What are we in Yankee Stadium?" and so I made some friends, and found myself soon in a discussion about winglets with an aerospace engineer. Go figure. Shortly thereafter, we found ourselves aboard, strapped in, and on line to take off. However, little did we know that the rain which had so recently broke over us would not only delay our departure even more, but close the airport, and luckily, in the end force several other planes to return to the gate. 2hrs later, and with our crew's service time about to tick over into the 'expired' category, we made it into the air with clearing skies, and hope in our hearts. Little did we know that when we made it to Chicago (the layover point) there would be no more flights out in the morning.
Now, many of you may remember the story about my brother Santo Mincho and his terrifying reality when stuck one unfortunate night at Chicago O'Hare. I was not to be so lucky, being, as I was, stuck at Chicago Midway. Those of you with a working knowledge of Chicago will appreciate the difference. Suffice it to say that I stayed in a hotel not at all dissimilar to the one seen in 'Highlander' (the first one) where the bad guy assembles his sword, nobody knows nutin' and don't nobody aks no question, y'heard? I have stayed in my fair share of shady establishments in my life, but this one beat every single other experience hands down by 5 days and 300 miles. The flight out in the morning was at 6:55 AM and it was, in the end, good that I slept with one eye open so that I made it on time. The rest of the trip was surprisingly uneventful, and, given the small class size, we were all able to get face time with Sensei, especially at lunch and dinner. I also managed to make good friends with the Bahamians, and there stands an open invitation to join them at whatever point I see fit for a vacation. I can think of worse things in the world. A.C. Sensei was also there, and it was good to catch up with him. Two of R. Sensei's local students invited me out for a few drinks Saturday night, and in the discussion they asked how I'd managed to get involved in jo, to which I replied 'Well, I was training with C.C. and A.C. Senseis for some time, then moved back East, and started training with M + D Senseis and here I am..." to which one of them replied: 'Lou, you don't really strike me as the Aiki-bunny type, more like the Aiki Rhino!'
And there was much laughter. The rest of training was quite informative, and I came to a few stunning realizations in the process. One of which being that I may, indeed need to put Seattle on my travel schedule at least once during the year.
The last night found us celebrating Jack-san's Sapo Verde, and continuing the ever lengthening story of Archibaldass Holbrook, much to the chagrin of K.C., but, that is his cross to bear. The trip home was not so eventful, and, with a layover in PHX, I texted as many people as I had in my phone, and the lone responder was Jaguar Man. Transcript: BDL- 'Where you at?' JM- 'Ah, man, I'm at the airport (in Phoenix) I just got back from a job.' BDL-'You're at the airport! What terminal?' JM-'The Southwest terminal, why?' BDL-'The Southwest terminal?!?!?! Where are you? I'm at gate...' JM-'Ah man! I just walked out onto the curb! I was just there!' Needless to say I berated him for not turning on his phone before he got off the plane since there was obviously not enough time to get out to the curb, go back through security, and then get on the plane, but we managed to talk at length about the wife and kids, his plans to buy a house, etc. The last leg of our trip found us skirting another storm front and approaching Newark airport from the South in order to avoid as much nastiness as possible, therefore getting us back to good ole NJ an hour later than planned. Li'l Sis was waiting and we went to eat before finally making it back to da Bx, yo. The girls, of course, were ecstatic to have their daddy back, and I was happy to finally sleep on the only bed capable of keeping my back straight.
da End. Fer now....
Let us begin at the beginning, shall we?
The trip to see R. Sensei in Seattle was indeed an adventure. Then again, what trip to see the teacher on the mountain is ever not? In any case, the trip happened during that week in NYC where storm after storm seemed to roll in from the West, and shortly after the tornado in Brooklyn. If ya don't know, you'd better ask somebody.
In any case, made it to LaGuardia in record time, on public transpo no less, carrying the pack I bought to go trekking through Costa Rica yea these many long years, and a 2" diameter tube with screw on caps plastic-soldered to each end and approx. 52" long holding my practice weapons. Anyone with a functional image of what that looks like will understand why it was the items I was carrying, and not so much myself that raised some eyebrows as I may my way through my fair city. Check in at the airport was also rather interesting, though, once I sent everything to get scanned, it wasn't really an issue. This beats the time I was surrounded in Penn Station and was surrounded by 6 NYPD for carrying my weapons bag over my shoulder. But that's another story.
After getting through security, having about an hour to slowly work through my last Ruben before leaving NYC and wash it down with Captain and Coke (never get on the boat sober) once I made it to the gate, I found that the plane had officially been delayed until an as yet undisclosed time, and that, due to the impending storm it had been diverted to another airport farther upstate. 100+ disgruntled passengers all searching for a quick resolution and several ticket agents incapable of making any improvements in the situation as they, despite whatever all present might have conceived, had left their god-like powers at home. Black and grey clouds approached, and heat lightning had begun to flicker in the not so distance as the mid-summer afternoon rapidly grew darker than it should have.
In a strange twist of fate, not too long after I sat down at the gate, the announcement came out over the loudspeaker that the plane was indeed arriving - in the next 20-25 minutes, and that we would be on our way by less than an hour after the scheduled departure time. Phenomenal cosmic powers, not so itty-bitty living space. You can't make this shit up. In the interim, one 40 -something wife of a fellow passenger had returned from her scavenging mission announcing "Peanuts? Almond Joy? Snickers? Trail Mix?" to which I replied - "What are we in Yankee Stadium?" and so I made some friends, and found myself soon in a discussion about winglets with an aerospace engineer. Go figure. Shortly thereafter, we found ourselves aboard, strapped in, and on line to take off. However, little did we know that the rain which had so recently broke over us would not only delay our departure even more, but close the airport, and luckily, in the end force several other planes to return to the gate. 2hrs later, and with our crew's service time about to tick over into the 'expired' category, we made it into the air with clearing skies, and hope in our hearts. Little did we know that when we made it to Chicago (the layover point) there would be no more flights out in the morning.
Now, many of you may remember the story about my brother Santo Mincho and his terrifying reality when stuck one unfortunate night at Chicago O'Hare. I was not to be so lucky, being, as I was, stuck at Chicago Midway. Those of you with a working knowledge of Chicago will appreciate the difference. Suffice it to say that I stayed in a hotel not at all dissimilar to the one seen in 'Highlander' (the first one) where the bad guy assembles his sword, nobody knows nutin' and don't nobody aks no question, y'heard? I have stayed in my fair share of shady establishments in my life, but this one beat every single other experience hands down by 5 days and 300 miles. The flight out in the morning was at 6:55 AM and it was, in the end, good that I slept with one eye open so that I made it on time. The rest of the trip was surprisingly uneventful, and, given the small class size, we were all able to get face time with Sensei, especially at lunch and dinner. I also managed to make good friends with the Bahamians, and there stands an open invitation to join them at whatever point I see fit for a vacation. I can think of worse things in the world. A.C. Sensei was also there, and it was good to catch up with him. Two of R. Sensei's local students invited me out for a few drinks Saturday night, and in the discussion they asked how I'd managed to get involved in jo, to which I replied 'Well, I was training with C.C. and A.C. Senseis for some time, then moved back East, and started training with M + D Senseis and here I am..." to which one of them replied: 'Lou, you don't really strike me as the Aiki-bunny type, more like the Aiki Rhino!'
And there was much laughter. The rest of training was quite informative, and I came to a few stunning realizations in the process. One of which being that I may, indeed need to put Seattle on my travel schedule at least once during the year.
The last night found us celebrating Jack-san's Sapo Verde, and continuing the ever lengthening story of Archibaldass Holbrook, much to the chagrin of K.C., but, that is his cross to bear. The trip home was not so eventful, and, with a layover in PHX, I texted as many people as I had in my phone, and the lone responder was Jaguar Man. Transcript: BDL- 'Where you at?' JM- 'Ah, man, I'm at the airport (in Phoenix) I just got back from a job.' BDL-'You're at the airport! What terminal?' JM-'The Southwest terminal, why?' BDL-'The Southwest terminal?!?!?! Where are you? I'm at gate...' JM-'Ah man! I just walked out onto the curb! I was just there!' Needless to say I berated him for not turning on his phone before he got off the plane since there was obviously not enough time to get out to the curb, go back through security, and then get on the plane, but we managed to talk at length about the wife and kids, his plans to buy a house, etc. The last leg of our trip found us skirting another storm front and approaching Newark airport from the South in order to avoid as much nastiness as possible, therefore getting us back to good ole NJ an hour later than planned. Li'l Sis was waiting and we went to eat before finally making it back to da Bx, yo. The girls, of course, were ecstatic to have their daddy back, and I was happy to finally sleep on the only bed capable of keeping my back straight.
da End. Fer now....