random thoughts and meetings

1. was running a bit late for my afternoon job today, mumbled bad words to myself upon just missing the train that would have gotten me there on time. hit the bottom of the stairs to the train platform, rounded the corner, and noticed, out of the corner of my eye, one of my teachers coming down the stairs from above. 10 seconds faster, and I would have been on the train that just pulled out, would not have even seen my teacher. as it was, we rode in sometime-silence and sometime-conversation. talking about the future, what I will do if/when back in the US. it was a much-needed and long-overdue talk. chance is like that, bringing us unexpected meetings and opportunities if only we keep our eyes open.
2. about a year back, I was making one of my many pilgrimages across town for a shot at kendo 4-dan. I was a bit ahead of schedule and sauntered onto the slow train rather than rushing for the express. I plunked my gear down, looked up, and saw a 8-dan kendo sensei at the opposite end of the train – I knew him from lunchtime practice at the Postal Ministry, though not well. still, it was an odd coincidence. weird. my gaze returned to directly in front of me – and there sat A. Shihan from my karate organization, Kenkojuku Shotokan. moving across town on his way to a karate event. weirder. there was over a century of martial arts experience just in those two men on the train. we chatted across town. I had faded pretty well out of the organization at this point but still see him each year for an interpreting gig, running J/E for he and some foreigner kids who came for a brief “this is karate” experience while on their university exchange program here in Japan. the signs were auspicious, but I didn’t pass kendo 4-dan that time, either.
3. tonight’s practice – not such an influence of chance, just a good one. we have a twice-monthly sword class with the teacher mentioned above – tonight, his off night, a few of us gathered for group self-practice. I have plenty of complaints about how a lot of people study both Chinese and Japanese martial arts in this country. I am hopelessly old-school and lack the patience to put up with various foibles and annoyances. but tonight those of us who came fit together very well. I am not a fan of practicing with others without a teacher – far too much time is wasted on inane points and pointless discussion, far better to practice alone. but tonight was special – we had just the right feeling and practiced together well. we each remembered and shared different points from the teacher and really moved ahead as a group (working on Sha Style tai ji jian / sword number 1). plenty of repetition, mutual self-correction with just the right feeling. also some runs through a sequence of 长拳／ long fist -based sword motions. this, too, went well – helping each other remember details, good balance of sheer reps and occasional discussion, everything one could ask for in a practice.
4. tomorrow is Happy Wednesday – practice with Mr. T in the morning, again in the afternoon, and yet again at night. I keep work out of the picture, still have time with my daughter.
5. the other night, just before the local mitaka tournament I FINALLY found mention of Di Ma on the internet, she having taken part in a healing festival. I immediately wrote the contact information and requested their help in contacting her (my main tai ji teacher back in Nebraska, all those years ago). no reply yet, but I feel that things are moving in a good direction. what led me to try that particular (successful) combination of words on a google search that particular night??? once again there were auspicious signs, but my demonstration of the 杂式捶 za shi chui form from xing yi quan was not good enough to win an award even in the admittedly small mitaka tournament…