This Easter was a pretty good one for me. Oddly enough, it looks like the majority of the eggs got died by yours truly. Typically this is a tradition one of my two sisters dominates... and I dare say they're much better at it than I am, but things just turned out really busy this year. It's weird being a grown-up DAH!!!
I ended up playing flute for 4 masses, which had me taping and hole-punching sheet music clear from Holy Thursday to Easter morning. It all turned out well though. I only managed to lose one piece of music and I think the conductor forgave me. It's always interesting to watch the way different churches do the triduum ceremonies too. Admittedly though I do feel kind of awkward when they set me up too close to the altar on good Friday. All the priests coming out and plopping on their faces right in front of me makes me feel like a giant black and white dressed dork waving my very obvious light-reflecting silver dowel of "HEY LOOK AT ME!"
Speaking of Jesus, on good Friday I also had the delight of joining the Good Children Social Aid and Pleasure Club (a New Orleans' local neighborhood improvement society) for an enthusiastic bout of Jesus Christ Superstar karaoke. I even won a prize in the raffle following it which was held to benefit their annual Easter Parade (in which, sadly, I did not participate this year).
Easter itself was pretty fun too. My parents hid baskets for us at their house again, despite the fact that the three of us are now ranging from 23 to 29 years old. Then I got the chance to party with the whole Baudier clan at my aunt and uncle's in Luling, before heading back to my apartment in Baton Rouge.
Well guys and girls... welcome to the dry season of holidays. We'll have to invent our own reasons to give gifts and see eachother till December. 'Shouldn't be too hard.
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Today, the day after the 45th annual All South Karate Championships, the longest unbroken annual karate tournament in the United States, I feel it is only fitting to acknowledge one of the most amazing people I have ever met. Though I have spoken of several dojo already in this blog, and there are a good deal more that I intend to mention, there is none that has changed my life more than sensei Takayuki Mikami and the Louisiana Karate Association. When someone says "sensei" this is the first person I think of, and when someone asks "Where do you train?" this is the response I give, no matter how far away and for however long I may travel.
Sometimes it's hard for me to grasp how fortunate I am to even be in the same country much less the same state as Mikami sensei. All Japan Champion, first graduate of the JKA instructor training program, founder of the JKA American Federation, founder of All South Karate Federation, and co-founder of numerous other karate organizations that reach across the globe. His list of accomplishments go on and on. Sometimes I wonder how is it that someone like me just stumbled into a dojo of that calibur.
I came to LKA in 2002 at age sixteen, wearing a purple belt and having not trained in over six months. Back then I was even smaller than I am now if it's possible to imagine. I was so skinny that with my short hair some people thought I was a little boy at first. Before LKA I thought I had quit karate for good, having left my first dojo for reasons I care not to discuss. But after just a few weeks of sensei's classes, I decided not to stop training ever again, and since then I never have. There are so many men and women at LKA whose strength and determination so far surpass mine that I have always felt kinda like a dork in comparison. Making cacophonies of sound by tripping over the weight rack when everyone else is in seiza, shouting just "KYU" instead of "five-kyu" when sensei asked me what rank I was, the examples are endless. Still, my senpai just laughed it off and embraced me and all of my strangeness.
Furthermore, it was Mikami sensei and Mrs. Mikami who encouraged me to train abroad. For all the letters he wrote on my behalf to great sensei halfway around the world, I can't help but wonder how someone can be so selfless. I mean, I'm one of his lowest ranked black belts, I almost never win any competitions, and let's face it, I'm probably the person who is most likely to trip and fall on my face walking into the dojo, but he still has enough faith in me to let me represent him when I travel. Someday I hope to figure out what I can possibly do for him in return.
Last night through some random turn of events I had the pleasure of sitting at Mikami sensei's table during the 45th All South banquet. While there I spoke with various other sensei from across the country about their dojo, and may have even made plans to visit them in the future. For what it's worth, I feel that every day I do karate is a blessing, even if now I'm sitting awake at 6AM unable to sleep while thinking about the past 24 hours.
For those of you who would like to read about the life of Mikami sensei or who would like to train at the Louisiana Karate Association please visit:
http://www.lkakarate.com/
and http://www.jkaaf.org/
Also, I'd like to invite all karate-ka (JKA or not), to this up-comming May camp in New Orleans at which three great sensei and All Japan Champions (Mikami, Osaka and Taniyama) will teach:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwCwcpwZoS8
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