Wot I Done Did in My Weekend

So I'm back.

Had a good time in Auckland. Went to see the Bleeders the night I got there, and they were pretty good, despite the fact that it was an AUT orientation show and the audience was full of giggly eighteen year olds.

Then I did four days of Aikido. Even though I bought my camera I didn't take any photos since I was training for most of it. The first day was kind of overwhelming, but after I got used to it I ended up enjoying myself and learning a lot.

The reason for the seminar was the visit of Doshu, the current head of Aikido and the grandson of the art's founder. He only taught for an hour every day but he bought along a swag of 7th and 8th degree black belts to fill in the rest of the day. One of these guys had been doing Aikido for fifty years, and had trained under the founder (he was pretty awesome).

The demonstration at the end was kind of interesting. There were a bunch of MPs there, including Don Brash and Rodney Hide, as well as the Japanese Consulate-General, and they were all given the chance to bore us to death with some pointless tedious speeches. At least Rodney Hide was mildly entertaining. As for the actual demonstration, most of the New Zealanders were kind of uninteresting for me, but it might not have seemed that way to a non-practitioner. It was interesting to see the difference between the different nationalities though, the Australian guy was chucking people all over the mat, while the Japanese sensei's tended to be concentrating more on showing the graceful side of their technique.

Anyway, it was pretty awesome getting to train with some of these guys. I got to practice with one of the top guys in Australia, and also one of the Shihans (like a sensei, but better) from Japan, who I believe was a 7th degree black belt. Now none shall stand against my Gung-Fu!