A Gathering of Friends Part II

[Shorinryu Sensei]

Um...I hope you guys aren't expecting me to be master level or something...I'm just a plain 'ol instructor. I was hoping YOU guys could show me something, not the other way around.

Anyway, can't wait to see this star spangled gi ..the 4th of July is close ya know.

[Sauzin]

Naw I'm no old geezer, but I have been known to carry around a cane or a walking stick every once in a while .

I'm not expecting mastery from anyone and I think we will all have things to learn and exchange but Shorin-ryu Sensei is definitely the lead guy. No question about that. Not to mention he's setting everything up.

Speaking of which, I just got off the phone with my girlfriend and it looks like she's going to take a pass on this particular trip. Which means I get to drive 8 hours all by myself . Of course this also means that it will be just us guys. Maybe that's best after all. So what kind of extravigent accomodations can we expect? Will it be the couch or do I need to bring a blow up mattress?

[Shorinryu Sensei]

Accomidations wise, I have a large half-circle couch which is OK, or the floor...so a blow up matress if you have it might be a good idea actually. I don't know how big either of you guys are, so possibly you both might be able to play footsies on the couch. Uh, that means both of you have your heads at opposite ends, but your feet might touch.

Food will be home cookin'. Donations accepted and if you're into anything special, like vegitarian (ugh) diets, bring your own or fend for yourself. Meat and potatos myself. Since it's going to be all guys, I thought I'd take you guys out to my waterin' hole, a country place, for dancing and a brew or two on Saturday night, so bring your dancin' duds...or leave the purplke hair at home. .

Saturday day would be a trip up through Glacier Park I thought. We'll squeeze some workouts in there somewhere, but I'm not going for intense, mostly just sharing whatever we feel liek sharing with each other. I've not seen your particular branch of Shorin Ryu before, and am interested in seeing it.

[Sauzin]

Well Okinawan Kenpo is one of those things that you either love or hate. When I first saw it, I hated it. I thought it was ridiculous and impractical. Of course I was practicing Goju-ryu at the time and the guy demonstrating was not the most practically minded individual I'd ever met. The individual makes a big difference. I barely recognized the art when I saw my current sensei demonstrate it for the first time. Still it's a little different then most Shorin-ryu. We have a lot of the same kata's but a slightly different flavor of application. I'd say at least 80% of what I practice is from Shorin-ryu. 5% is from old tomari-te/naha-te. And 15% is random stuff from other styles that my Sensie picked up along the way. So I think this will be a lot of fun and very enlightening for me. I am also very curios just how many similarities exist between our two styles.

The accommodations sound great. I think I'll go with the blow up mattress though. My feet are kind of ugly and not so social. I'm about as much of a meat guy as I've ever known. Meat is good, potatoes would have no purpose if it wasn't for meat. Going out sounds fun, but I must warn you, I don't dance. Kata yes. Dance no. Drink sometimes. Dance still no. Country dance, uh...sorry still no. But I'd love come along and watch, sounds like fun.

I'm not a huge work out till you die fan either. That's good for class but I'd be more interested in sharing and learning stuff. The more time we have for that the better.

[Shorin Ryuu]

I'm not a vegetarian, but I don't eat meat very often (usually fish or tofu.).

All the same, meat and potatoes every now and then sounds good to me. No worries about dietary stuff.

Dancing sounds like fun, especially after the paramedics pull me off the floor because they think I'm having a siezure.

I'm not a big drinker, but one or two couldn't hurt (much).

Yeah, I figure there's no need to do any unecessary exertion workouts. I'm not too keen on traveling the country to exercise...I can do that at my house.

[Sauzin]

Um, I would like to go on record as saying, tofu is not meat. I'm sure you know this but you put it in context next to fish and I have moral issues with any kind of confusion between a true meat and a plant. And a rather sneaky and disreputable plant at that. Otherwise known as soy *shivers*

[Shorinryu Sensei]

I'm not sure, but tofu might be outlawed in Montana...I'll check on that. Your gross feet aren't a problem my friend...besides, it's Shorin Ryuu that has to worry about them, not me!

I figure we can get an "exchange" going on Friday evening, again Saturday before or after we take a run through Glacier Park (bring your camera's and film), and again somewhere in there, and I'm sure we'll be doing a lot in the evenings around the house.

As for dancing, no worries if you can't country dance...we're used to [people "spazzing" on the floor, and we just nod knowingly at them (gotta be tourists).

I don't know what the weather's going to be here yet, but we've had about 2 weeks of off and on rain, cool temps (60's day, 30's night) so all I can say is "be prepared". I dug a new hole for the outhouse (careful about the old one if you go in the dark, haven't filled it in yet)...KIDDING! We'll figure out the food situation when you guys get here. Everybody got my cell number? If not, PM me and I'll send it to you.

Shorin Ryuu...it's confirmed that I get off at 12:00 on Friday...after I'm done with whatever call I'm on anyway, so should not be a problem being at the airport when you get here at 1:35. Just look for the tallest guy in the place...it's probably me.

That's about all I can think of at the moment...except IT'S FRIDAY!!!

[Shorin Ryuu]

Oh, no worries...I was using a more Catholic definition of meat, as in "fish and tofu" were not included in the definition. Perhaps I should say I eat fish and tofu on a regular basis.

When I think meat, I think of a big juicy steak, a burger or a side of ribs!

[Patrick]

Have fun fellas.

[Shorinryu Sensei]

Have fun fellas.

Thanks Patrick. We'll try to take a lot of digital pics and email them to you if you'd like. I have dialup , so videos over the net aren't an option, but maybe one of the other guys might be able to do that if they have a camera.