Update 061911: A Bunch of Stuff and the Cereal Killer

It’s 1 am here in California and my feet are still sore after an 8 hour shift at my part-time retail job that I recently started. It’s actually the same one that I had for Christmas, but that’s a story for a different time. Oh well here it goes.

1. Aikido Journal Online has featured another one of my articles! This time about my journey of ukemi ever since I restarted Aikido almost three years ago. Have a look and tell me what you think? I believe I mentioned I am only a 1st Kyu and I’m already talking about a concept/actuality that only the founder truly understands. You can view the article here on their website and the original here in my blog.

2. My Sensei has publicity! It’s awesome that a Sensei like him who has trained for over 40 years is getting this type of recognition and notice. It’s always a great thing that people other than Aikidoists are recognizing him and the message of Aikido that he is trying to spread. Thanks to Bob from Striking Thoughts! The original video and blog are seen here.

3. So back in March of this year I was put onto the Top 50 Martial arts blogs of the internet list by the Guide to Online Schools site. This list at that time included heavy weights and big wigs such as “Striking Thoughts”, “Fist in the Frost”, and “Epic Martial Arts Blog”. I love to say that I’m rubbin’ shoulders with the head honchos of the martial arts blogasphere, but it seems the list has vanished and became this. I was planning on releasing the news of my massive promotion…but I guess not anymore!

4. Last but not least, I found this funny video as done by Youtube celebrity, USC grad, and video-editing guru Freddie Wong!

I’ll admit, the whole reason why I’m featuring this video is the movement in 0:40. Other than that it’s funny humor and CGI.

Here’s the behind the scenes version.

Freddie Wong is actually a duo comprising of Freddie Wong and Brandon Laatsch. Both maintain the channel freddiew and is as of May 2011, the 14th most subscribed channel on youtube. In recent years, their skills and talent have led them to collaborate with various on-and-off youtube celebrities such as Andy Whitfield, Shenae Grimes, Eliza Dushku, and Wong Fu productions.

Till next time ladies and gents!

May the Fourth be with You!

So today turns out is Star Wars Day! Like most of my generation that was born in the 1980s and early 90s we were reaping off of the benefits that Generation X had with the movies only later to suffer enjoy the presence of episodes 1-3. That was not the main attraction however; it was the presence of the books (X-wing series for me), action figures, and models that dotted the 90s. I remember when I was in junior high one of my goals was to complete one X-wing series in one sitting. At that time it was a 400 page endeavor with no pictures, not an easy task.

I would like to share something a local legend here in the Aikido community. According to said legend, one of George Lucas’s many influences on his creation of the “Force” and in the Jedi came from a library book that he borrowed that was written by George Burr Leonard (1923-2010) who is a famous Aikido student of Robert Nadeau Sensei, 7th Dan. In the book George Leonard had written many of Nadeau Sensei’s early teachings of body/mind harmony and energy work that was taught to him by the founder of Aikido, Morihei Ueshiba O’Sensei.

So yes, whenever you pick up a light saber and pretend you’re a powerful Jedi knight protecting the galaxy from the Empire and evil-doers (trying to impress your Princess Leia, saving your ass from the Jabba-the-Hutt of your life, etc.), take a moment and embody the fact that you are practicing a bit of Aikido. Now if you’ll excuse me, this young padawan will go back to getting owned by the training droid…

Till next time ladies and gents, and may the force be with you!

Lost in Translation

The past few days have been quite a trip. An Aikido retreat was held in the small Californian coastal town of Santa Cruz and while boasting a shortlist of qualified Aikido instructors the one that stood out is Motomichi Anno Sensei.

Motomichi Anno Sensei (8th Dan Shihan) is not only highly regarded as an Aikido Shihan, but also as a person as well. In the Aikido community his personality is as well known as his martial skill. At Santa Cruz he was able to teach for 2 hours each day for the 5 days of the retreat. I was only able to make it to 2 days, but after 2 days I feel that it was well worth the attendance.

To meet another one of O’Sensei’s direct students (possibility for the first and last time) was quite an experience. I had the pleasure to of exchanging a few words with him yesterday night during a social event at the dojo in Santa Cruz and had some encouraging words for myself and my training in Aikido before he continued to meet the others in the party.

However the premise of this post belongs to an occasion a few hours prior. A dinner that was thrown on by a retiree couple who lived in the hills above the town. A nice, quaint modern neighborhood among the trees had the “humans living among mother nature” vibe. They were playing host to the group of Japanese who came with Anno Sensei from Japan. They had trained under him in the past or were close to him, including Anno’s Sensei’s wife.

So there I was put in the table with the Japanese only speakers and with 3 other Americans who were UCSC Japanese language students who (I later found out) were only helpful in translating 20% of the time (no offense to them). My Japanese speaking friend was talking to the host a table down and was unable to help me much to my dismay. This situation was made even interesting when I was seated next to the elderly gentleman of the Japanese group, a man known as (if I remember correctly) Horihata-san.

Not knowing a lick of English on his end, and not known one bit of Japanese on my end it was awkward for the first 20 minutes. With the American students testing out their language skills on the visitors (out of the 4 Japanese in the table only one spoke mediocre English) I felt like the Sean Boswell of the group.

Then out of nowhere Horihata-san starts talking to me. With one of the students translated our conversation was about me, my Aikido experience, my nationality…and some other things I can’t remember. Jolly ol’ gentleman, a little on the humorous side. Then we started doing Aikido – in the middle of dinner. I was there thinking “Sean Boswell ain’t got nothing this!”. So here I was having nikkyo done on me by this 5’3″ 60-something don’t-know-English Japanese man in them middle of dinner, all the mean while chilling and having dinner in the great out doors.

Not bad. Especially since Horihata-san was speaking to me ONLY in Japanese. Do elderly folks talk a lot even to those who they know don’t understand what they’re saying?

but here’s the kicker: at the end of dinner the student who was translating for me comes up and tells me that despite the fact that he was the translator, I understood Horihata-san better than he did! It was then that I remembered Horihata-san mentioning during dinner that despite not understanding him, I understood the ideas of what he was saying to me versus the American translators who were more concerned with translating what he was saying.

Lost in translation? I think what happened was Aikido mind translation. That’s right, 10 points for me. Hell yeah 😉

Aikido Camping – 2010 (Part of it)

Due to my work with the US Census I was unable to attend the California Aikido Association (CAA) retreat for the week of June 13 – 19th. Although I was lucky enough to be able to come and visit on the Friday (the 18th) and take some photos.

As this time I feel that my experiences working for the Census warrant a post, however that will have to be for another time. For now enjoy the pictures!

This year it was held at Menlo College, in Menlo Park, California.

Menlo College Shoman

Some of the instructors that were present at the retreat were:

Robert Nadeau Sensei (7th Dan Shihan), Hiroshi Ikeda Sensei (7th Dan Shihan), Frank Doran Sensei (7th Dan Shihan), Jack Wada Sensei (6th Dan), Mary Heiny Sensei (6th Dan), & Michael Friedl Sensei (6th Dan).

…and a couple more names that escape me at the moment.

Memorial & Beginnings (Part 2)

Aikido is under-appreciated I feel; both as a martial means of defending oneself and as a way of life. The second part I’ll get to later but first martially there are plenty of applications that most people just seem to overlook or turn a cold shoulder (due to various reasons). I’ve had the honor of experiencing the practical application of Aikido first hand through Robert Koga Sensei and I’ll say, at 70 something years of age he will still put any angry criminal to the concrete fast! I have yet to get into a bar fight myself, but I can only hope that I will be ready when and where that comes.

As a way of life, I can only imagine how Morihei Ueshiba’s life was – how hard and (dare I say) adventurous it was. It issaid that the success in one’s life is in the journey (paraphrased) and that’s the feeling that I get whenever I hear his name. I studied history while in college so I guess that’s how I look at things – the history of it and what happened before an event: how did people get to where they did and what happened in between point A and B. What was the build up from any said points? Did they follow a pattern or was it a broken play? (to borrow a musical term). Take for example Bruce Lee – growing up in a privileged and stable household yet had to deal with all the street gangs of Hong Kong during the 50s – while being mentored by Yip Man for some time. I have a feeling that all of this had a big impact on how he looked at things and how he molded his future accomplishments.

It’s always interesting to hear, listen, and or to read about the greats and all of their respective journeys, be it Morihei Ueshiba O’Sensei, Bruce Lee, or whomever. At the same time we are all in our own journeys, with ups and downs. As for my case, it was interesting – and coincidental that my application for a teaching certificate was rejected by the local university that same day (along with some other personal downers). Odd timing, Monday was not a good day – the first in a long while actually.

During the memorial training this past Sunday it was surreal and tiring at the same time. I didn’t eat breakfast and trained straight for 4 hours (note to self: eat more – and healthier as you train more!). There were 4 Sensei that day were:

Frank Silvey – 4th dan, Linda Holiday – 6th dan, Robert Noha – 5th dan, and Jack Wada – 6th dan

There was Betsy Hill  –  3rd dan who unfortunately couldn’t make due to health issues and her time slot was taught by Frank. The ending ceremony was rather interesting. We all (~40 of us students and instructors) bowed to the shomen and what felt like a good 15-20 mins listened to the Shinto chants by Holiday and Wada Sensei’s. There was a noticeably different feeling in the air from last year, something in the air gathered in the dojo and it just felt a little different. Great chants by the way – the way that (hopefully) O’Sensei would approve. Thank you to all 4 sensei’s for their presence and instruction.