Hey gang,

Myself and Saboto had a great time at this little tournament we went
to today. It was on extrememley short notice and last minute
decision. I wasn't going to go but I heard there would be liondancing
which got me curious and I did see a need for some tune up sparring
matches before our big trip to Ohio next week. We got bad directions
from Yahoo! We were atlest an hour late and thought we missed the
liondance. We got lucky in that they delayed the performance to give
time for more schools to get there. Next time MapQuest! The liondance
was nice, we were happy to see that we didn't miss it. It wasn't
fancy at all, definately no lifts and I don't even rember a roll but
I liked how tight the music was and what movement they did with the
lionhead looked lively in the way they shook the head. I also like
the way they teased the lion with the lettuce on the stick. The
holder danced with the lion "Luring it" with the pole. The tournament
turnout, was quite small and we got out and back home early. I
managed a 1st in Sparring, a 2nd in weapons with broadsword and tied
for 2nd in forms I lost the tie breaker and setlled for 3rd. Saboto
took 3rd in sparring and 4th in kata. I'm glad that we went for all
the reasons I mentioned. I definately needed a tuneup fight cause
although I won my matches they were definately were way harder than
they should have been! It was also nice to see that I was missed by
fans! I was given some very nice greetings by people I barely
remember but told me they used to love to see me compete way back
before 1999 and wondered where I've been all this time. They said I
still "Got it!"

Cheers!

Mel