Back from the 2007 Meet & Greet...

[terryl965]

That will work for me...

Yes next year we are just flying in, the drive was terrible coming back.

 

[Drac]

Yes next year we are just flying in, the drive was terrible coming back.

That was my next question...

 

[Carol]

Yes next year we are just flying in, the drive was terrible coming back.

Ours too. All my missed oil changes came back to bite me. My car developed some engine trouble on the NYS Thruway. Fortunately we made it home OK and the needed repair to the Hondar is minor.

Other than that it was a GREAT time and I'm really looking forward to next year!!

 

[terryl965]

Ours too. All my missed oil changes came back to bite me. My car developed some engine trouble on the NYS Thruway. Fortunately we made it home OK and the needed repair to the Hondar is minor.

Other than that it was a GREAT time and I'm really looking forward to next year!!

Glad to hear you made it back safely

 

[Drac]

Glad to hear you made it back safely

Amen to that...

 

[Drac]

Wow, am i envious of you all... sounds like it was a great event. Sure you don't want to take it to Australia next year??

That would work for me..Although I probably wouldn't attend any of the classes...I have always wanted to dive the Great Barrier Reef...

 

[Andy Moynihan]

Just got to a computer and I have to echo many of the sentiments already expressed here. It was absolutely a unique training experience, ranks and egos were, indeed, put aside as someone already said, and to see such a diverse and eager gathering of so many different MAists for a common purpose was extremely refreshing.

My first word of thanks must go, of course, to Bob Hubbard, for organizing the event, and to Tim Hartman for graciously hosting it despite logistic difficulties brought about by his school's move.

I must also give thanks to everyone who taught, and also to everyone who attended, and I must also give additional thanks to a few individuals whom I knew, or got to know a lot better as the weekend went on:

To Carol, for driving Charlie and I out to the event, and for just plain being my friend.

To Charlie, for his knowledge and his well thought out( and in many cases quite humorous) conversations.

To Exile and Morph4me( Bob and Tom), for the conversation in the lobby until it got so late it was early , and for Tom picking me to volunteer as uke, which gave me a deeper understanding of how his techniques worked.

To Terry, for his opening drills which reminded me that I could still kick , to Yolanda for the stretches which kept me able to walk the day after( it didn't help that before the session I warmed up by doing Harimau drills ), and to their children for inspiring us all by reminding us that age is no barrier to ability.

To Drac, for his conversation and advice at the bar.

To Tkdgirl(Kerrie) for being just a cool person in general and for putting up with my driving, in an unknown car to an unknown place (but I got us there and back safe and you and Joe got your souvenirs)!

To hongkongfooey(Joe) for graciously allowing me to split the cost of his room with him and stay there, for cracking my *** up with the thermostat prank , and for his general enthusiasm which convinced me to take him, Kerrie, and me up to NI-AAAA-GARA FAAALLLLLLS!

To Father Greek for the conversation we had just after he and Drac had wrapped their segment--any tool will do, if YOU will do

To MBuzzy for being a great training partner and I'm sorry I didn't get to go more in depth with you as to what Silat was about, but there will be other times.....oh yes....

To Mr. and Mrs. Cunningham(Mr. and Mrs LawDog)--it was wonderful to meet you both, and LawDog, although we did not have anywhere near as much opportunity to talk as I would have liked, it was great to meet you just the same. To Be Continued.

And once again, to *everyone* because everyone in some way helped to make this an event I was glad to attend.

 

[bluemtn]

Joe and I both had a lot of fun Sunday, Andy! I'm glad that you had fun, too! I can't say enough about how nice everyone was, and what a blast it was to train with everyone. Had some great conversations, some incredibly hillarious moments (outside of the seminar )- like "Night at the Appolo" and "Random thoughts" Joe , along with other things...

There are so many people to thank!!! Well, thanks to Andy, Carol, and Charlie for your patience, hospitality, and good humor. Thanks to Exile for the conversations and added knowledge, and being my training partner... Thanks to all the instructors for your patience and knowledge. (added) thanks to Tom (Morph), for enduring some of those blocks. A special thanks to Bob for putting all this together (and more entertaining conversations, and pictures), plus to Tim Hartman for letting us use his school.

 

[exile]

Andy and Kerri, I should thank you too, because I enjoyed our interaction just as much as you did! It was great to be able to talk about things with people with whom there's so much common ground. And I get the sense that that was one of the best aspects of the M&G for everyone there: whatever differences of opinion or perspective we might have on the MAs, they represent something to us (often rather difficult to articulate) that we don't get to share with most other people. So again, thanks to both of you, and to the other great folks who were there, and may this just be one of many great M&G reunions for us! :cheers:

 

[morph4me]

Andy and Kerri, I should thank you too, because I enjoyed our interaction just as much as you did! It was great to be able to talk about things with people with whom there's so much common ground. And I get the sense that that was one of the best aspects of the M&G for everyone there: whatever differences of opinion or perspective we might have on the MAs, they represent something to us (often rather difficult to articulate) that we don't get to share with most other people. So again, thanks to both of you, and to the other great folks who were there, and may this just be one of many great M&G reunions for us! :cheers:

I wanted to rep you for this one, Bob, but I have to spread it around some more first. As usual you hit the nail on the head, the thing that stands out most about the weekend and everybody there is the recognition and acceptance that, as I heard from various people all weekend, we are all on different paths to the top of the same mountain, and sometimes the paths converge and at other times they diverge. That kind of openmindedness is very refreshing, and very much appreciated.

 

[exile]

...the thing that stands out most about the weekend and everybody there is the recognition and acceptance that, as I heard from various people all weekend, we are all on different paths to the top of the same mountain, and sometimes the paths converge and at other times they diverge. That kind of openmindedness is very refreshing, and very much appreciated.

Thanks for the kind thought, Tom, and you're dead right, the key idea here is openmindedness. I've found that there are two kinds of openmindedness: a reserved kind, of the sort that says, `OK, I won't dismiss anything you might have to say out of hand, if indeed there's anything you do care to say', and a more generous, receptive kind, which says `What are you thinking about and what makes you think that? What ideas do you have that I might need to know, or benefit from?' They aren't the same thing, and what I appreciated about the M&G was that the openmindedness you pointed out was of this second kind, a kind of active inquisitiveness about what each other were thinking.

I'm convinced, on the basis of everything I've found out about the history of the MAs, that the great pioneers of the past actively pursued knowledge and insight wherever they could. They were anything but purists, and I suspect they would have been the first to urge us all to adopt the kind of openness to the experience and insights of others that was so evident at the M&G.

 

[terryl965]

Thanks for the kind thought, Tom, and you're dead right, the key idea here is openmindedness. I've found that there are two kinds of openmindedness: a reserved kind, of the sort that says, `OK, I won't dismiss anything you might have to say out of hand, if indeed there's anything you do care to say', and a more generous, receptive kind, which says `What are you thinking about and what makes you think that? What ideas do you have that I might need to know, or benefit from?' They aren't the same thing, and what I appreciated about the M&G was that the openmindedness you pointed out was of this second kind, a kind of active inquisitiveness about what each other were thinking.

I'm convinced, on the basis of everything I've found out about the history of the MAs, that the great pioneers of the past actively pursued knowledge and insight wherever they could. They were anything but purists, and I suspect they would have been the first to urge us all to adopt the kind of openness to the experience and insights of others that was so evident at the M&G.

Bob you are exactly right on with the above statement, I really could not see a bunch of Old time mA'ist standing around agrueing about what and who is right but better decussion about how each and every technique could benefit them as a whole. I was so glad that every single person there had an open mind about training and was so open to each person interpetation of the movements.

Once again I appreciated everybody and was so impress with not one single person mentioning rank the whole weekend.

 

[Brian R. VanCise]

Thanks for the kind thought, Tom, and you're dead right, the key idea here is openmindedness. I've found that there are two kinds of openmindedness: a reserved kind, of the sort that says, `OK, I won't dismiss anything you might have to say out of hand, if indeed there's anything you do care to say', and a more generous, receptive kind, which says `What are you thinking about and what makes you think that? What ideas do you have that I might need to know, or benefit from?' They aren't the same thing, and what I appreciated about the M&G was that the openmindedness you pointed out was of this second kind, a kind of active inquisitiveness about what each other were thinking.

I'm convinced, on the basis of everything I've found out about the history of the MAs, that the great pioneers of the past actively pursued knowledge and insight wherever they could. They were anything but purists, and I suspect they would have been the first to urge us all to adopt the kind of openness to the experience and insights of others that was so evident at the M&G.

Excellent post as always Exile!

 

[exile]

Excellent post as always Exile!

Thanks, Brian—much appreciated, but I have to say, I think this was something all of us felt about the weekend. The more I think about it, the better an experience I realize it was.

You know, one of these days I (among others!) need to be able to get together with you to train! I don't want to make you feel bad, but I think you would have loved this shindig—as our UK friends would say, it was right up your street...

 

[terryl965]

Thanks, Brian—much appreciated, but I have to say, I think this was something all of us felt about the weekend. The more I think about it, the better an experience I realize it was.

You know, one of these days I (among others!) need to be able to get together with you to train! I don't want to make you feel bad, but I think you would have loved this shindig—as our UK friends would say, it was right up your street...

Having the priverledge to train with Brian I can honestly say he would have been the iceing on the cake. Brian when exile says he is going to alma to train, I will be right there with you guys. Yolanda as well and the rugrats as always.

 

[Brian R. VanCise]

Thanks, Brian—much appreciated, but I have to say, I think this was something all of us felt about the weekend. The more I think about it, the better an experience I realize it was.

You know, one of these days I (among others!) need to be able to get together with you to train! I don't want to make you feel bad, but I think you would have loved this shindig—as our UK friends would say, it was right up your street...

No doubt about it I would have enjoyed it quite a bit!

I know Rich Parsons was there and he is always an excellent instructor. (we try to have him up at least once a year) Plus I think you are quite right and in particular members of this forum are open minded and willing to learn which is in general the people in martial arts that I enjoy hanging out with and talking to! So I am sure that I would have enjoyed it!

 

[exile]

Having the priverledge to train with Brian I can honestly say he would have been the iceing on the cake. Brian when exile says he is going to alma to train, I will be right there with you guys. Yolanda as well and the rugrats as always.

Terry, I'm taking that as a promise, and I know you always keep your promises... now we just gotta figure out a time when we can all do it, eh? And of course, the more the merrier...

No doubt about it I would have enjoyed it quite a bit!

I know Rich Parsons was there and he is always an excellent instructor. (we try to have him up at least once a year) Plus I think you are quite right and in particular members of this forum are open minded and willing to learn which is in general the people in martial arts that I enjoy hanging out with and talking to! So I am sure that I would have enjoyed it!

So next year's M&G is locked in? You're gonna be there, yes?

But Terry's idea for a training session in Alma sometime before then maybe is very appealing, though I realize, the trip from Columbus to Michigan is going to be a lot easier for me than for other people... but totally worth it, I'm willing to bet. Something we should at least try for?

 

[Drac]

Having the priverledge to train with Brian I can honestly say he would have been the iceing on the cake. Brian when exile says he is going to alma to train, I will be right there with you guys. Yolanda as well and the rugrats as always.

I am going to figure out a way to go to Alma too...

 

[Drac]

Next year I think I'll let Father Greek handle the teaching alone...He is MORE than capable..I want to thank everybody for all the kind words and reps, though I really don't think I did anything to be worthy of such praise..

 

[bluemtn]

Next year I think I'll let Father Greek handle the teaching alone...He is MORE than capable..I want to thank everybody for all the kind words and reps, though I really don't think I did anything to be worthy of such praise..

Well, you both did an incredible job! Besides, you were also involved in some interesting and entertaining conversations!