Locked out
Well, it finally happened. Yesterday afternoon I went for a bike ride and locked myself out of the dojo. When I began my ride I realized I had brought a back pack but that the thingamajig I use to store keys, wallet and cell phone was locked in the dojo. On the whole I felt people were very co-operative, lending me their cell phones so I was able to make calls. Those I called either did not have keys or were out of town or both and unable to reach those with keys. So I am outside with my bike, so I have wheels, but no money, cards, phone, or any keys to car or dojo.
I remember one time in the early eighties when Jenny, her mom, and I faced a similar situation. Jenny at the time was small enough to slip through a bathroom window and open the door from the inside. I remember she was somewhat freaked having to rescue her parents. By the way I enjoyed a great Easter lunch with her today.
But back to the 21st century. How dependent we are on phones. I used to remember phone numbers of friends and contacts. But now it is so much easier to just store them on your cell. So your mind is just a blank when it comes to calling friends without your cell. And nobody uses phone books anymore so try to find one and look up a number. Very revealing. It is amazing how omnipotent we should feel with cell phone, keys, credit cards, etc. How frustrated we can get when we have to wait for this or that. How used to we are to getting information, conversation, location, maps instantly. So it was a very unusual feeling to be all of a sudden so to speak locked out of all these amenities.
Would you allow a stranger in my predicament to use your phone? 2 or 3 people did and were very helpful. And people in the neighborhood in convenience stores and gas stations were also very nice. I have to go back and pay one lady back. Her plan charged her a dollar for a 411 call. So what happened? After about an hour I realized instead of trying to get a phone number I should concentrate instead on getting in front of a computer. Dennis Kyne and I played music for a couple of hours earlier in the day. And I knew where he lived in the Japantown area. So I rode my bike over there. He let me in and allowed me to access his computer. I put a post describing my situation on the dojo Facebook page and really within about 2 minutes Dennis received a call from someone with a key(Harry Concepcion) and all I had to do was ride my bike back to the dojo. And I was able to post almost immediately on Facebook that my situation had gotten resolved.
Obviously I would like to thank Dennis for his kind understanding and his support, and Harry for his generous use of time on a Saturday night of all nights. And others who read my post and were concerned. I guess one should never underestimate the power of social media.
Other musings: We had a great visit with Kinoshita sensei on Wednesday March 20th. It turns out that he came with Abe sensei to our dojo in the early ninties and he actually brought the Osensei calligraphy that Abe sensei donated to our dojo.
We also learned that from his expert eye(he spend over 40 years with Abe sensei) that our calligraphy was probably done somewhere between 1967 and 1968 and was one of the last pieces Osensei did. Apparently Abe sensei had quite a large collection of Osensei's calligraphy pieces, but while ours survived the rest perished unfortunately in a fire.
Harry and I have had a great time going to hear Ian Carey and his trio(Takoyaki3) and his Quintet plus One.
It is wonderful to be around anyone who is truly passionate about what they do, and Ian is definitely passionate about Jazz. He and Edddie Gale are about the only living players I enjoy listening to. Ian has a very lyrical feel to his playing, and while he has chops galore, it his his feel for song and what Chet Baker called Melodic Logic, that sets him apart from many young jazz artists. And even though he definitely has his own style it is easy to see that he has a strong Chet Baker influence. His new cd 'Roads and Codes' cracked the top 100 in jazz cds and has received both local and nationwide critical acclaim. And this includes the prestigious jazz blog by Doug Ramsey 'Rifftides'....
April is upon us tomorrow and we will celebrate the yearly anniversary of Osensei's passing with a special class and ceremony on Wednesday April 24th at the end of the evening class. We will not be making an event because we want to encourage one and all to go to Osensei revisited Part 2 in Occidental May 17-19.
And here is a short(3minutes) piece Dennis and I did:
I remember one time in the early eighties when Jenny, her mom, and I faced a similar situation. Jenny at the time was small enough to slip through a bathroom window and open the door from the inside. I remember she was somewhat freaked having to rescue her parents. By the way I enjoyed a great Easter lunch with her today.
But back to the 21st century. How dependent we are on phones. I used to remember phone numbers of friends and contacts. But now it is so much easier to just store them on your cell. So your mind is just a blank when it comes to calling friends without your cell. And nobody uses phone books anymore so try to find one and look up a number. Very revealing. It is amazing how omnipotent we should feel with cell phone, keys, credit cards, etc. How frustrated we can get when we have to wait for this or that. How used to we are to getting information, conversation, location, maps instantly. So it was a very unusual feeling to be all of a sudden so to speak locked out of all these amenities.
Would you allow a stranger in my predicament to use your phone? 2 or 3 people did and were very helpful. And people in the neighborhood in convenience stores and gas stations were also very nice. I have to go back and pay one lady back. Her plan charged her a dollar for a 411 call. So what happened? After about an hour I realized instead of trying to get a phone number I should concentrate instead on getting in front of a computer. Dennis Kyne and I played music for a couple of hours earlier in the day. And I knew where he lived in the Japantown area. So I rode my bike over there. He let me in and allowed me to access his computer. I put a post describing my situation on the dojo Facebook page and really within about 2 minutes Dennis received a call from someone with a key(Harry Concepcion) and all I had to do was ride my bike back to the dojo. And I was able to post almost immediately on Facebook that my situation had gotten resolved.
Other musings: We had a great visit with Kinoshita sensei on Wednesday March 20th. It turns out that he came with Abe sensei to our dojo in the early ninties and he actually brought the Osensei calligraphy that Abe sensei donated to our dojo.
Harry and I have had a great time going to hear Ian Carey and his trio(Takoyaki3) and his Quintet plus One.
It is wonderful to be around anyone who is truly passionate about what they do, and Ian is definitely passionate about Jazz. He and Edddie Gale are about the only living players I enjoy listening to. Ian has a very lyrical feel to his playing, and while he has chops galore, it his his feel for song and what Chet Baker called Melodic Logic, that sets him apart from many young jazz artists. And even though he definitely has his own style it is easy to see that he has a strong Chet Baker influence. His new cd 'Roads and Codes' cracked the top 100 in jazz cds and has received both local and nationwide critical acclaim. And this includes the prestigious jazz blog by Doug Ramsey 'Rifftides'....
April is upon us tomorrow and we will celebrate the yearly anniversary of Osensei's passing with a special class and ceremony on Wednesday April 24th at the end of the evening class. We will not be making an event because we want to encourage one and all to go to Osensei revisited Part 2 in Occidental May 17-19.
And here is a short(3minutes) piece Dennis and I did:
posted by jack wada at 8:35 PM
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