Alternate life?

I ran into a former Branch Chief from Sosai's time.  I say former since his boss now is....  anyway, we had coffee and he said I always was the "odd" one in the family.

"You are so not like your sister's. Both in good ways and bad." I did not press any further b/c my life certainly is and was, a unique one.

What did catch my attention was how it bothered him that we had a unique life and life style. He felt it was almost a burden that my sister's and I had our adolescent years where he was close by to witness it. Mind you, it is never easy to go thru the teen phase for anyone- but having a set of parents like Sosai and Chiyako sama did take everything up few notches.  Still, when I meet my friends teenage sons and daughters, I never feel any ill-feeling toward their awkward stage. I mean, it is their life not anyone else's and their awkward behavior prolly comes more from hormonal imbalance than an intent of attacking us  personally....!

So I got thinking that difficult situations such as associating with teens can bring our own struggles out to the surface at times. This BC was famous for bad mouthing my father behind his back and signing off certificates as though it was paper towels- so it was quite funny to hear him speak of how "inappropriate" my sister was to disappear on him while she was under his guidance.... adding she was using his house for "free". lol.

I was lucky enough in a way I had found my own calling while I was abroad. I shifted my life so no one knew who my parents were (or if they did it was just as a note). And I chose to severe my life in NY from Kyokushin and I invited only the people I wanted into it. I chose my high school and college to go to. I invited my parents to my graduation and they came as "Kuristina's Mom and Dad" not as Sosai and Jimucho. I had Jacques S. who was such a dear friend to my father come over to the apartment my sister and I lived once a week but there was  hardly any talk about Kyokushin. Or more like a lot of talk about my father's Kyokushin but nil about the "weaselesque " people in the organization.

I guess what I want to say is, having your name listed as BC sometimes meant my father only had the name there. Though the title may be there, seeing someone once every four years is not about Budo really.

Mr.L.H.

Hello everyone,

I just wanted to share with you that I had started on a whole blog on Mr. Hollander's visit but during my creative writing, I fell so ill and stopped midway. I have recovered somewhat now but as the news has been posted and talked about I just decided not to posted it (or it can surface later....hehe) for now to avoid confusion.

By the way, gotta wash your hands with old fashioned soap preferably with tea tree or lavender extract as this cleanses your hands with out killing the "good" bacteria (liquid ones ruins your skin surface and has SLS) and gargle with a pinch of salt every time you come home.... the cold that is spreading out are absolutely rabid. (@.@)