Aikido weekend in Killeen 8/22/08

Sensei Tim arranged with Jeff in Killeen to come out and hold a seminar this past weekend. He wanted me along, with an ulterior motive, so I arranged my schedule and was his passenger on the trip to and from.

He picked me up at 10am Friday and we made it into Killeen by around 3pm, I think. We recuperated at the hotel until around 5 and then joined Jeff and Gail for dinner at a nice little Mexican joint near their house.

Adjourning from dinner, we went back to their place and got ready for the first session on the mat for the weekend.

There were aikidoka there from Austin, Houston, Killeen, and the DFW area. I think we had around 12 or 14 folks there Friday night.

It turned out the weekend's topic was to be the Koryu Dai Yon No Kata. We started out with the first 11 on Friday night. Saturday morning, when we reconvened, we started with the weapon sections. We made it through the knife and bokken techniques, but did not get to the jo techniques before everyone's brain was sufficiently fried.

Sensei's secret plan in getting me up there was to get me some time working on Owaza Ju Pon. I got about 45 minutes of work on the first technique. At least it felt like it. It may have been much less.

I did ok. One guy, Andy, proved to be impossible for me to complete the technique on. I have no idea why.

After finishing up with the Yon Kata stuff, we hung around Jeff's place a bit and then went back to the hotel. We zipped over to "China Star" for dinner. It has been voted the best Chinese restaurant in Killeen for 11 years straight. Ugh.

On the plus side, I did not get sick from eating there.

We were up bright and early Sunday morning and on the road. We mad it home by a little after noon.

It was a great weekend. I got to meet some new friends, renew some old friendships and get an aikido workout. Good stuff.

My legs are sore.