A couple of weeks ago, I was driving our studio's assistant instructor, Marina, home, and as we neared the location of our old studio building (that is slated for demolition), I decided to stop and see what was going on with the building.
"The roof is gone...." Marina said.
"Gone? You mean falling in? They started tearing it down?" I asked.
"The roof is gone....you can see up into the sky from the inside".....
We went to the rear of the building, knowing that Jerry, the local homeless guy, was living in our old storage shed. Jerry is a great old guy....he was always there to drive away anybody that would loiter in the back parking lot.....
Jerry let us in the building through the back door, since it was unlocked. What a huge mess. The roof was indeed gone, and it was all laying inthousands of pieces on the floor. It was a sad, bittersweet moment. In the moonlight that shined into the shell of the building, Marina and I saw all of the little items that we left behind when we moved.....paint cans, leftover office items like paper clips and binder clips, the big can of sand we used for sand bags.
Then, walking upon the old training floor, we saw a couple of the patterns we painted on the floor, for footwork training. I almost cried. We spent hundreds of hours stripping the whole floor of 90 year old tile, being on our hands and knees for a week straight chipping off pieces of tile that wouldn't come off with the big tools, sanding and prepping the floor, spending long days laying careful coats of white paint on the floor, and more days on our knees or in squatting positions painstakingly measuring, taping out, and painting the footwork patterns....
.....And now, the only things remaining are the colors of the few footwork patterns that weren't buried under thousands of pounds of musty roof lumber. It was an odd sight, the red triangle-footwork shape and the blue box-step diagram peeking out in the darkness, highlighted only by moonlight.
The building smelled so old that night. A hundred year old building that housed a longtime grocery store, a butcher shop, a deli, and lastly our martial arts studio....now carried the musty odor of time, a previous fire that was built over, and old plaster that hid behind the walls we built over it.
I wanted to just sit there all night and re-live the many memories that we made there. We brought up many generations of skilled martial artists, and became a fixture in the West Seattle area. I will miss the neighborhood greatly...but moreso, I'll miss that old building very much.
Thank you West Seattle. Since my early days as a young Karate Instructor, the neighborhood provided a wonderful home for me...from my first days teaching at Southwest and Alki community centers, to my first commercial Karate studio, to teaching Kajukenbo with my business partner, to continuing the Wushu lineage of my Wushu and Tai Chi teacher. Many people earned their black belts in West Seattle.
My goal, is when a space opens up in West Seattle, I'm jumping at it. I'll be back one day, that's for sure!
Above, are pics of the old footwork patterns on the old studio floor, and a pic of the address on our old front door.
Well, I found the "twin" to my own car. Yeah, doesn't sound like much, but Honda doesn't make the Prelude model anymore.
Every Prelude of the same year that I've seen (not many, by the way), has been red, white and blue (how's that for patriotic colors!). I took this pic from my own car on a back street near my business...grainy blurry pic. First time I've seen a black '94 Prelude!
Speaking of which....I love my Prelude. The '94 model was the "sexiest" looking out of the whole series. The newer models, although also cool looking, were a bit too many "angular" lines to them.
Vegas was fun. 'Nuff said.
Aaah, well, I gues I can say that I learned a lot at the martial arts seminars, and although we spent most of the time in meetings or seminars we did find time to check out the Fremont Street Experience, the Strip, and the roller coaster at New York New York.
Hot, though. Man......it was like 108 to 110 degrees. I forgot about how hot it can get there....every time I've been there, it was in August, and it was HOT.
Next time I go, i'm going for fun, not business....
Restita DeJesus
Wow, Rainier beer is STILL being sold? I remember the familiar smell of Rainier beer when my Dad came home from a hard day of landscaping. When I got of drinking age I thought the stuff was foul! :-) I don't even know where its brewed nowadays.....
Have a safe and happy holiday, everbody!
Ha ha ha! I saw this in a restroom in California, and for some reason I thought it was funny!
We left Andrew's place about 10 a.m. It was another beautiful ride toward Washington. When we crossed the border we rejoiced at the fact that we could put our own credit cards at the pump card reader and lift our own pump was its holder! Oregon's "don't pump your own gas" still is foreign to me. But, Its great that it keeps the job availability open at gas stations.
We stopped in Morton for lunch. Lyn had a headache, Anna was exhausted, and I was sniffling and felt a headache coming on....I think I caught a bug is Reedsport. Ugh.
It got hot again, since coming inland from the coast....maybe I didn't drink enough water today, which might explain the headache.
Later, upon getting onto hwy 167, we could feel home getting closer. (me, I was looking forward to sleeping in my own bed!). We parted ways from 167 to go to our respective homes.
Aaah. Home. As much fun as I've had on this trip, I'm glad to be home.
Feels funny to drive a car
now though. I ran some errands upon arriving home, using my car. I followed a guy on a Harley for part of the way, and found myself veering a bit to the right to get "into staggered formation". Duh. Car, Rusty. Ha ha!
What a beautiful ride up the Oregon coast!! I've never been on hwy 101 before, and I'm glad I got the chance to ride it!
After leaving Reedsport, we continued up the coast on a chilly ride....exceptionally cool on the coast the last few days. Stopped in Newport for a hot bowl of chowder (yum!).
Nearing Rockaway Beach, I saw what I thought was a bird that Lyn rode over. It appeared that feathers exploded all over the place. Turns out, as I passed the "bird", I found that the "feathers" were dollar bills! Her wallet fell out of her jacket pocket and her cards and money were blowing all over the road. "Uh oh, something dropped", lyn told Anna Marie over the intercom. We immediately pulled over......
Lyn ran up the road to get her wallet....wasn't easy since there was traffic whizzing by. She got all her stuff, thankfully. Needless to say, I checked all my pockets and made sure they were zipped up!
Stopped off at Canon Beach to take some pics, then off to Astoria to stay with Couchsurfing.com member, Andrew.
Nice guy, and very hospitable. We all went to St. George brewhouse to meet some gal-buddies of his, for live music and beer. We were all so tired...after getting back to Andrew's place, I blew up my mattress and was out till 7:30 the next morning......
(pics are of Canon Beach, and with Andrew just before leaving his house)
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