Aikido-L Mailing List: 1998 Seminar: Mike Bartman's Pictures, Page 1

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Aikido-L Mailing List: 1998 Seminar: Mike Bartman's Pictures, Page 1

Starting with those moving slowly enough to photograph in existing light:

This is Jun, doing what he spent very little time doing: watching from the sidelines!

It seems appropriate that his picture be first since without his taking the initial suggestion for a seminar and running with it, there probably wouldn't have been one in the first place. Thanks Jun!

(You can't tell it from his upstanding posture in this photo, but Jun was voted seminar rubber-boy and Janet claimed he was raised by ferrets after watching him "stretch". Gumby would have been less limber!)

This is Craig Hocker and Dr. Wendy taking a break after several grueling hours of break taking.

Just kidding! As the later scans will show, both spent considerable time and energy attempting to defy gravity and earned their break, as did all who appear in this set of pictures.

(I think that in this picture Craig has just learned that he's been volunteered as autopsy uke for next year!)

This is Simcox Sensei and Cady watching attentively from the sidelines.
I wasn't introduced to the third person in the picture, but Kjartan and Lee (and the anonymous man himself!) tell me it's Bill "the Fruitie" Haskett, who's only been training for 6 months, as a student of Kwiecien Sensi at Texas Aikikai, San Antonio. Amazingly, he's learned "the look" already!.

(Isn't Cady's 'watching from the sidelines' technique working really well? It appears that the TKD and Aikido variations on this one are very similar!)

This is Wiley Nelson III, taking it so easy on Saturday that he never got on the mat and left early! (Something about making a living . . . ). At least he came back on Sunday and got to play with everyone on the Smurf-turf!

Norma, Simcox Sensei's wife, kept track of all that occurred, and took written notes about it. If there are any questions about what techniques were taught, she's the one most likely (other than the Sensei involved) to have the information!

(There were no roadrunners sighted, so maybe Wiley's getting quicker?)

This is a rare shot of Charlie Oaks holding, rather than wearing, his "Aikido goggles". For those looking for a way to keep prescription lenses in front of their baby blues through koshi and irimi, these things would be a good place to look next . . . they stayed in place the whole time, until this shot where Charlie removed them to leave the mat!

Another rare shot is Janet, in the background . . . with her mouth closed! (Hi, Janet! :^)

(Actually she was just getting ready for another pun barrage . . . her supply never ran out the whole weekend!)

Here we find Alan Drysdale and Polo "Arms by Krupp" Zapiain chatting over a couple of cups of the local water between classes.

I didn't get the name of the guy about to head out the door to lunch . . . but again it's Lee Escobar to the rescue with the information I was missing (mle sent the info too, but Lee got here first! ;^)! He says it's Austin's own Kregg "Fishlips" Phillips, also known (by Jillda) as Kregg "Knee-Breaker" Phillips . . . though she doesn't blame him for taking the fall.

(Local water? Is that why Alan's stomach was acting up all weekend? Well, you could at least breath the air . . . the "smoke problem" was less noticeable than the usual D.C. summer air!)

This is Jillda and Ivan waiting for the signal to get started. Or maybe they're just fondly remembering Mr. Parrot? He died Friday night you know . . .

(Or maybe Jillda just forgot to keep an eye on both of Ivan's hands at all times?)

This is Jim "thank you, thank you very much" O'Wolf, sans wolves for the occasion, and Kjartan "don't even try to pronounce it" Clausen. You can tell that Jim's about to utter another in his series of hysterically funny comments . . .

(Been there, heard that, got the T-shirt . . . ;^)

Enough with the bystanders and onlookers! Here are some pictures of listka doing what they came for!

This is Tony "Aiki-Tony" Fontaine, about to show a less experienced student , (TASA member Josh Lavender, according to Lee) why it's not a good idea to go for an opponent's tie . . . if he had one! I was too busy worrying about light levels and mat-traffic to see how this turned out (or in . . . ).

(He's very centered, but looks to be about half a cornhollio short . . . and verging on the dreaded Funky-Skylar form . . . )

This is Darren Schroeder about to make sure that his partner can't crawl to safety during Clark Sensei's class . . . no matter how hard she tries to escape!

I don't remember the partner's name . . . was it Lynne? (Yes, Lee says it's Austin's Lynn E. Lytton) . . . anyway, she showed up Friday night with mle, so I'm sure we will get a confirmed name soon!

(No, this was not just a crowd forming around Clark Sensei . . . the entire mat looked like this! The ukemi that was displayed in all the classes was outstanding . . . I saw only one or two collisions, but then, it was kind of hard to see the whole mat what with all the flying bodies everywhere . . . )

This is Jillda demonstrating her "Come here little boy . . . " technique, and Ivan showing a relatively ineffectual counter. Or maybe not! :^)

(Hey, I was taking pictures, not tracking techniques! So now I have to make up stuff . . . sort of reminds me of not studying for exams . . . )

This is Maria Escobar, showing that you can run a seminar and still get time to play on the Smurf-turf with everyone!

Again, I didn't' get the name of the partner in this one . . .

(Maria was not only good at Aikido, she and Lee ran a first-rate event, made it look easy, set a standard for future seminars to try to live up to, was friendly, cheerful and never seemed to run out of energy! Does the DOE know about her?)

This is Clark Sensei showing that the nikyo isn't as deadly as some might think. The guy holding it on him was bouncing along the mat a second or two after the shutter tripped . . .

I didn't get the name of the demo victim, but I'm pretty sure that's O Sensei in the picture!

(That's my story and I'm sticking with it . . . unless someone who was there and saw this disagrees of course!)

This appears to be Gordon Sensei giving a ki test to Ivan . . . but I'm sure that's not what was really happening! Ivan's ki test pictures will appear later . . .

(I'm not sure what's going on down on the mat at their feet that has them both watching. Maybe it's just that it's Texas so you have to watch where you step?)

This one is of Maria DeRosa about to shift to the TKD that Cady was showing us I think! Palm heel to the nose? Nah! Couldn't be!

Again, not sure who the partner might be . . . but Lee was: Texas Aikikai Laredo - Julio Salazar!

That's Charlie as he more typically appeared in his Aiki-Goggles in the background.

(Don't mess with Maria! I've got a shot of her in the process of tucking Jun's leg behind his head . . . )

This is the long-lost Rocky! Izumi Sensei returned to the listka, temporarily, to teach us the queen's Aikido. His Funky Chicken is something to behold, but, unfortunately, I was laughing too much to get a shot of it. The "cornholio" style, that we must all avoid upon pain of poor technique, confused the hell out of me . . . until it was explained on the list after I got home. Apparently I don't watch enough Beavis and Butthead or something.

The uke in this one is Aaron Clark. He got picked a lot as uke. For some strange reason all the sensei's loved to use him to demonstrate their techniques. That let Ivan off the hook considerably! ;^)

(His metaphors may be unusual, but they are certainly memorable! And isn't that the point?)

In this one, mle meets Polo. They didn't keep things at arm's length for long though, but it ended with a falling out . . . or, down, rather!

(I think it was because mle refused to see things eye to eye, despite Polo's bending over frontwards to try!)

This one's not a ki test either . . . or so it was claimed! ;^) This one is Clark Sensei demonstrating the power of moving from one's center, using Philip Akin as a force gauge . . . I'm sure he will correct me if I've misremembered . . . in e-mail, rather than on the mat next time I hope!

(There was more similarity between the various types of Aikido shown than differences, though there were differences in the way things were taught and the order that they were taught. The final results were, as several folks have mentioned in list reviews, very similar at the level of the senseis.)

And, to end this page on a humorous note, and just to show that it wasn't all serious study, here we have Craig Hocker and Maria DeRosa demonstrating their submissions to the Ministry of Silly Walks. Janet's Square Dancing photo will have to wait for another page . . .

(Ok, so it wasn't really a MofSW competition . . . you can't tell from this photo! And pictures never lie, right? At least, not until I've got time to fire up my image editor . . . ;^)

Ok, that's it for page one! Go on to page two if you want more, or back to the main page if you want to pick your own next page.

Page Two

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