{"id":108,"date":"2008-04-05T20:32:29","date_gmt":"2008-04-05T20:32:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jamesrichardson.net\/jtalk\/2008\/04\/05\/oush-sensei\/"},"modified":"2011-10-24T13:29:26","modified_gmt":"2011-10-24T18:29:26","slug":"oosh-sensei","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/jamesrichardson.net\/jtalk\/2008\/04\/05\/oosh-sensei\/","title":{"rendered":"Oosh Sensei!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Sensei\"It is really strange that all of my old friends seem to be popping up outta the woodwork recently. Just when I think that I have heard it all, someone from the past just calls out of the blue. Well, today was no different because I got a call from my martial arts instructor, Sensei.<\/p>\n

The day started off very quiet. Tita and Ski went to a birthday party while Jonas and I stayed at home to catch up on the classics. You see when we were in the car the other day I saw a poster for the new Indiana Jones movie and realized that Jonas had never seen the original Raiders of the Lost Ark. I felt horrible. Especially with the new Indiana Jones flick<\/a> scheduled to come out this summer. How could I call myself a good father when I had allowed such a major oversight to occur? To correct my paternal negligence, I grabbed some popcorn from Blockbuster and sat down to experience on of the greatest action\/adventure movies of all time with my son. And then……. the phone rang.<\/p>\n

I hadn’t heard from Sensei in awhile. It has probably a year or two since we spoke on the phone and about five years or more since we stood face to face. In fact I don’t think we have physically been in the same room since his son, Jay, had gotten married a few years back. Sensei sounded exactly the same way he always did, upbeat and happy. There is always a comical tone in his voice which I have always found ironic since he is probably one of the most physically imposing people that I know. The only way to describe Sensei is to picture someone with the body of a young Jim Brown, the martials arts skill of Bruce Lee and the sense of humor of one of the “Three Stooges”. I have seen him bench press over 300 lbs with ease, break concrete cinder blocks with his open hands, and then giggle like a little boy over something as silly as watching someone trip and fall down. He is a unique individual to say the least. But until I heard his voice I hadn’t realized how much I had missed just talking to him.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, like many of my closest friends, Sensei had moved way a number of years ago. I remember it vividly because it was right that time that I stopped working out. With him gone, most of the brothers at the dojo just drifted off. I can’t speak for the others but practicing martial arts wasn’t the same without Sensei around.<\/p>\n

It was great to catch up with him and hear about how all of the guys from the old dojo were doing. Sensei saw one of my earlier posts<\/a> and wondered if I had continued my workout regiment since I had gotten back from Norway. When I told him that I had, he seemed pleased. We spoke of one of our other dojo brothers, Fame, and that he was still somewhere in Europe performing and recording music. Sensei’s son Jay had become a father for the second time and was still doing security work. We didn’t get around to discussing Sensei’s two brothers, D and Mental (don’t ask), because my son made me cut the conversation short. You see Jonas wanted to watch Raiders. And to tell the truth, I wanted to watch it with him as well. Sensei understood. He is a father too. But before I hung up I made a point to tell Sensei that I would contact him before the week was out for the full scoop on everything.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It is really strange that all of my old friends seem to be popping up outta the woodwork recently. Just when I think that I have heard it all, someone from the past just calls out of the blue. Well, today was no different because I got a call from my martial arts instructor, Sensei.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[291,6,250,11],"tags":[155,154,156,152,151,153],"class_list":["post-108","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ips","category-lifestyle","category-martial-arts-sports-and-fitness","category-sports-and-fitness","tag-indiana-jones","tag-karate","tag-kingdom-of-the-crystal-skull","tag-krav-maga","tag-sensei","tag-shotokan"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t