Friday, September 16, 2005

Dinner Conversation

My Thursdays are the busiest days of the week. I usually start the day rushing out the door to make early class where I spend all morning and afternoon in the below ground classrooms of the Chazen Art Museum.

Today, I spent my lunchtime finishing a paper prior to class and it left me hungry. I've got about an hour from the end of class before I have to run to work so in my downtime I relax for the first time all day. Checking my voicemail I see that Kourtney had wanted to come to dinner with me tonight. I had invited her out to meet Kiyota Sensei because all three of us share a common interest in the study of Buddhism. Now all that's left is to finalize arrangements to get a few hours covered at work.

Tyler, a friend of Brock's, from Gold Team had agreed to cover for me in exchange for working his early Saturday morning shift. How could I refuse?

As usual we have dinner at Ginza of Tokyo on Madison's west side. Since I was just getting off work, the Club had ordered some sushi appetizers prior to my arrival. The fried shrimp heads were actually a delightful treat. There was one piece in particular, unagi (sea urchin), that Sensei pointed out to me. He said "Fei, you know it's 100% cholestrol *in a joking tone* but for a young guy like you, it's OK!" I accept...go for broke!

Dinner was great and I got to converse with some of the new club members. I had finished Sensei's autobiography (Beyond Loyalty) so I asked him a few questions about the girl Nancy (that he wrote about yet left out what happened to her). Nancy was a girl whom he had a special connection with through the toughest years of his young adult life. They had spent time together in the Japanese internment camps. As they left their imprisonment, they spent one night on a train saying their goodbyes until meeting again years later at Berkley. He left her again when he departed for the Korean War and that was where the book left off. Sensei had told me that if you let a person go for so long, eventually you lose touch. Seemingly, he left her story vague. I felt a sadness in his voice and quickly realized that I should not have brought up the subject. Changing the tone of the conversation we talk about Kendo and the Buddhist thought. Dinner is no place for sad stories but rather a time to enjoy great food and cheerful things.

Fei-O-Meter
Activity: 3 | Energy: 1 | Friends: 3

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