Anyone going to the AAA Eastern States Camp this w

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[jxa127]

Hi all,

I'm just wondering if anyone who posts here will be at the AAA Eastern States Camp this weekend (Sept. 25-28). I'll be there Saturday.

Regards,

-Drew

[Arianah]

I'll see you there, then.

You're in for a treat. Kobayashi Sensei is awesome. His waza is beautiful. He's shown some very cool stuff with jo so far, and his teaching method is excellent. And I'm sure you know Sato Sensei always gives an exceptional class.

Sarah, already sore from the first two days, but looking forward to the second two :)

[jxa127]

Sarah,

The seminar on Saturday was fantastic and the Dan tests inspirational!

I hope we got to train together. I was the big guy in a blue belt.

Regards,

-Drew

[Arianah]

I think we might have been in the same group for the randori, though I don't think we actually got to train together. Next time. :) I was the short yellow belt with blonde hair and glasses that got up to do randori toward the end.

Sarah

[jxa127]

Yes! I remember you well. We actually were in a number of groups together.

I'm working on posting my impressions from the seminar in my journal on this site. Look for it sometime tonight or tomorrow.

What did you think about the seminar?

Regards,

-Drew

[Arianah]

I actually think it's probably the best I've been to. Exhausting, but so much fun. I think it was fun to see all the yudansha struggling with the weapons stuff that they had never seen right along with we wee young ones. Makes them seem mortal. :)

We were in more groups together? Did I actually attack or throw you? I don't remember that, but then again, all the days are kind of blurring together.

If you're ever up in Connecticut, come by and train. We'd love to have you.

Sarah

Oh, and if you didn't hear, all the people taking dan tests passed. Congratulations all!

[jxa127]

HI Sarah,

I'm truly sorry that I didn't get to see more of the weapons work. I went to a seminar with Kobayashi sensei's father a few years ago, and he showed us some really neat stuff.

I'm not at all surprised that everyone passed their dan tests; they looked awesome! Did you catch the names of the two women who tested? The blonde woman's first name is Chrissa, but I didn't catch the red head's name. Lisa, maybe? Mark Dorfman visited our dojo a few years back, so I was already aquainted with his excellent aikido.

Regards,

-Drew

[Octothorpe]

The redhead is Aimee, from Zenshinkan Dojo in Worcester.

I really enjoyed the weekend (oh, I was the white belt with the goatee), which was a bit of a stretch for me experience-wise. Sarah, I remember working with you, and I remember seeing you Drew, although I didn't get to train with you on Saturday.

-- James

[Arianah]

Sarah, I remember working with you,
Oh yeah! We worked with each other a few times. One thing I really regret is not getting more names while I was there.

Just got word from my instructor, who puts out the Sha newsletter ( http://www.aaa-east.com/ ), wants me to do a writeup on the seminar for it. I may solicit you guys for help before I submit it to him, if that's ok. :)

Sarah

[jxa127]

Just got word from my instructor, who puts out the Sha newsletter ( http://www.aaa-east.com/ ), wants me to do a writeup on the seminar for it. I may solicit you guys for help before I submit it to him, if that's ok. :)

Sarah
That's fine. I have my write-up almost finished, and I'll most likely be sending it in to the AAA headquarters to go in the national newsletter. My instructor is checking my Japanese technique names.

I'll post a link to it in my jounal on this site as well.

Warm regards,

-Drew

[jxa127]

Sarah,

I checked out the link you provided. That newsletter is pretty cool. I'll probably submit my seminar report there too.

Regards,

-Drew

[Arianah]

Just wanted to let you know that the new issue of Sha came out and it has some pictures and a couple reports from the camp.

Here's the link again if you're too lazy to scroll up. :)

http://www.aaa-east.com/

Enjoy!

Sarah

By the way, Drew, I read your write-up and thought it was excellent. It really helped me remember a lot of the details of what we did. I wish you had been there the whole time, documenting this stuff, since it flew right out of my head. :)