Birthday Blog

Well, I'm 65. Yesterday there was a dojo party and photo session after the morning class. Thanks to all those who attended and to those who sent well wishes. And a special thanks to Meng who made a low carb cheese cake. Being diabetic I am not normally able to partake of cake and such, but this was killer.

According to Andrea Mallis, my astrologer, this is a very important  period for me. I have and will have for awhile Pluto(power) in my 10th house of career. Jupiter(expansion) is transitting my sun(Gemini). And Uranus in Aries is touching my Moon(Cancer), Venus(Cancer) and Mercury(cancer) bringing lots of energy and 'expect the unexpected' to my life. Last month Nadeau shihan and I and a great group of instructors had a very successful Osensei Revisited II in Occidental. Next month I am a part of the Santa Cruz Summer Retreat.....Andrea recommended I do something extra special for my birthday, so on Tuesday Dianna and I are leaving for a week on the island of Kauai. Hanalei is probably(along with the Nachi waterfall) my favorite place on earth and that's where we will be. In 1996 I had this urge to visit the island of Bali Hai. And since in the film "South Pacific" that was the island of Kauai that's where I spent a week in August. I was fortunate to go back last year in March. And so I'm looking forward to Kauai III.

I've always considered myself a ronin. In fantasy the characters of Nemuri Kyoshiro and Michael Moorcock's Elric, perhaps taking myself way too seriously, I've felt at least part of my archetype for this life is that of the Eternal Champion, wandering alone and serving the Cosmic Balance of Order/Chaos and Light/Dark.....But after these years I am beginning to realize that after all I have roots and deep personal connections. It's hard to imagine Nemuri settling in and running a sword school based on his Full Moon Cut. Or Elric putting down roots, retiring his runesword, and being happy. But as much as archetypes are revealing(our fantasy life reveals so much about us) here and now things are okay, too. I wonder what it was like for Osensei post the World War II Iwama period, settling in, doing his daily practice and just being Osensei......

The photo above is of the mountain Makana on Kauai. It is referred to as Bali Hai. On the stage Bloody Mary looks away from the stage past the audience when gazing at this mythical place. I am looking forward to seeing Bali Hai again.

For my birthday I recorded the song 'Lulaby'. It was sent to be via attachment/email by Earla Porch.

Pictured above is a bronze bust done by Earla of Chet Baker. Apparently wrote this out for Earla and in the top right hand corner we see Chet/1962.

Initially I thought it was "Chetty's Lullaby", a song he wrote for his son Chet Jr. which is sung beautifully in Italian. But on looking closer I realized it was a different song. I don't know if this has ever been recorded. I asked Earla and she didn't know either. So I practiced it on my own and recorded an a capella version. In his autobiography "As Though I Had Wings" he states he composed 32 songs while in Italy. My sense is that this is one of them: