Seni 2004
At the end of April, Exploding Pen returned to the Birmingham NEC for Seni 2004 — the UK's annual martial arts expo.
Thanks to everyone who dropped by — it's always good to talk to people who enjoy Fudebakudo... and for those who didn't quite understand what we were about, well, we had more fun with them than they probably realised. Those are usually the ones who've taken a few too many hard knocks on the head in the pursuit of their own martial art enlightenment.
Of course, the stars of Seni 2004 were once again the Exploding Pen sales staff, who were weaving their special brand of irresistable foxy magic for the full weekend. We motivate our staff by only feeding them if they sell enough books (and even then it's only a grain of rice per page). So thanks to everyone who bought a book and spared Jun and Mari the terrible pangs of hunger we had spent considerable time warning them about.
Mari-san and Jun-san manage to smile despite being so harshly treated. Actually they were mouthing "H-E-L-P U-S" but it was a still camera so their efforts were futile.
Jun-san being exploited. She is probably dreaming about escaping but frankly our security is pretty good and she was stuck there for the entire weekend.
To preserve the secrecy of certain Fudebakudo techniques, some photographs of the team in action have once again been withheld.
Our attendance would not have been possible without the help of Pete and Suzie. In return for Pete's selfless and unremunerated support we destroyed his table (really), so next year we may have to arrange our wares on the floor.*
Mari-san caught eating chocolate by our hidden camera. We hadn't given her permission to sit down, either.
* actually we borrowed Tim's table: Seni 2005
