Budd

This is very cool to read and sounds like you gents had a blast! I am particularly interested in Dan's comment that "It is all too typical to see men blinded by the 'It has to look a certain way!' attitude and thus miss the forest for the trees" . . I've seen this in more than one place online and in a number of different arts . .

I keep coming back to the automobile analogy - I mean, yeah, aikido is going to look different from xingyi the same way an SUV will look different than a pickup truck and they may share observable similarities (Side doors and arm locks) . . but they both adhere to the same "rules" of engineering - even if they have different emphasis points - such as using the engine/leg torque/spiral to drive in a straight line against a ton of resistance, versus building the frame a certain way to offset all resistance to movement . . wait am I talking about cars . . or????

Anyhow, thanks for sharing, guys.