DQ by contact lens

Lesson number one from my first big tournament:

Get up ten minutes earlier and put your contacts in before you leave the house.

I didn't put them in because I don't like driving in them, and I thought there would be a ton of time... but I got a little lost (Bonney Lake earns a D in street signs) and went straight to gi weigh-in upon arrival. Immediately after weigh-in, I went to the bathroom to put my contacts in.... then straight to my assigned mat.... where I found that I had already been scratched. Yep, I know, almost too stupid to be believed, huh? After all that. Can you believe any large tournament could possibly be that efficient? And they must have BEGUN with my bracket... WTF.... one of the MIDDLE brackets????!? Wouldn't any intelligent person assume they would start with either the heaviest brackets or the lighest ones, not with some random bracket from the center of the field???!??

So, all you boys and girls who have yet to do your first big tournament, don't be a moron like Kitsune: Weigh in, go straight to your assigned mat and stay there. Do not go to pee, do not go to find your friends, do not go to the candy machine, and do not go to put your contacts in. If you have half a brain cell, you'll just immediately find your mat and STAY THERE.

Now if I hadn't signed up for no-gi as well, the whole trip would have been for nothing. But I was pissed enough because

1)My gi is better than my no-gi

2)There were few enough women in my gi bracket that even if I had lost all my matches, I think I would have still placed and gotten some points (I think Rodrigo wanted to tie a knot in my tongue for that....Now if Gracie Barra loses the team trophy by two points, it really WILL be totally my fault!!!)

3)Now I had to sit around for another five-plus hours and get more and more jittery waiting for no-gi... I could have slept in.

OKay, well, it's done. Moving on.

I had actually weighed 126.5 first thing this morning (naked). I had a decent breakfast (albeit eggs yet again), drank all I wanted, I even had a candy bar. I could have gone to the friggin' Old Country Buffet breakfast bar and eaten myself into a stupor and still made weight. I weighed in UNDER weight in both gi and no gi; I could have gotten into the next lower bracket. So I was actually at a bit of a disadvantage (in the fights that I actually showed up for), because I was essentially fighting up a bracket.

I also still have a bit of lingering laryngitis, slight dry cough, slight headache. I could fight, but I was definitely not at my physical 100%.

The first uniformed woman I saw when I walked in was JULIE. That chick was *not* on the registration list!!! Believe me, I looked. All I can think of was that she may have been on the kids' list (which I skimmed but didn't scour) since she's under 18... and they bumped her up. A good thing to keep in mind when checking up on my potential opponents next time.

Bianca had to fight her (gi)- and lost. Welcome to the Sisterhood Of Those Who Have Been Owned By Julie, Bea.

Bianca almost missed *her* fight as well.... she was on the other end of the gym watching the brown belts, but luckily I was watching the women and heard her name called, and I knew where she was. Normally I would have used my Herald Voice to summon her across the gym and over the crowd..... but with laryngitis, I had to run!

One woman was lying on the floor sobbing, with her gi jacket over her face- it looked like she had dislocated her shoulder. I hadn't seen it happen, but wow.... that's a chance we all take.

By the March Revolution I should be able to shed another 2.5lb and be safely in that lower bracket. Of course that puts me back in with Bianca and Julie again! But I'm pretty sure I have more muscle mass than either of them. Not that that helps me when their technique is a lot better... but catching up to them is a good goal to strive for.

I didn't see hide nor hair of Cindy most of the day... not that I expected to; the kids were upstairs, and they need her more than I do on tournament day. I heard that Ian won gi, and lost in no-gi to a rough guy with many years of wrestling experience. The other kids did well.

Carlos called me over, and I slunk warily up to him... but he clasped my hand and hugged me. I asked him if he still loved me, and he said yes. So that's a big relief. I guess Rodrigo succeeded in convincing him that I am not a terrible person.

I saw Brandon lose a match and come off the mat crying.... it was a really good fight, and he was up against an adult (he is 13!) so he has absolutely nothing to be ashamed of... but since he's 13, he was crying. I was kind of watching for him, since Cindy had mentioned to me that Brandon was crying after he lost a match at the Seattle Open last month. So I tapped Carlos on the arm and pointed over there, and told him that Brandon was crying and Carlos should go talk to him. Which he did, so that was good.

I saw one of Kaungren's matches; he got the guy in what looked like a really nice triangle. But after about a year's worth of looking like the guy would have to tap any second, he somehow got out, and ended up winning the match. Bummer.

I saw Dex and Miguel both win very hard-fought matches, and Pat win two. Saw little Carlos lose one, but he fought well.

Sabrina was there, and explained that she hadn't signed up because she's been nursing a shoulder injury. Angela was there, and she *had* signed up, but no other purple belt women had- so she didn't get a fight. She said that there would be someone for her to fight at the March Revolution, though... and then she plans to go to the Pan Ams.

So, no-gi.... I had been bumping into Pat here and there all day and he kept bucking me up. Before my first no-gi match, he pulled me off the foor and started doing a little pummeling and such to try to warm me up. He was being so supportive that I completely forgot to chew him out (as I had intended to) for scaring me on Tuesday and leading me to believe that Rodrigo was more angry at me than he actually was.

I had seen a girl about my size walk in wearing a "Team Wise" sweatshirt and carrying a gallon jug with "Tiffany" written on it, and I thought, "Bingo, she is my first match!" I was sizing her up out of the corner of my eye for hours as we were both wandering around the gym. She was kind of scary. Swaggering, glowering, black cornrows and tats. When I pointed her out to Pat, he whispered, "Your tattoos are more badass than hers." LOL.

Well, there must have been a last-minute switch for some reason, because she was set up to fight some other girl- Stephanie (she must have gotten combined into this bracket from elsewhere). Tiffany won.

I was up to fight Rachel first. She was taller than me, but she actually didn't look as scary as Tiffany. I don't remember a whole lot of the match, but I think I aquitted myself halfway decently before losing to an RNC. An RNC! I almost never tap to chokes! I was exasperated to have to tap to a choke, although I was happy it was not a triangle. Mission number one for this tournament was: do not get tapped out within the first fifteen seconds. Mission number two was: do not get tapped out by triangle. (Next time, mission number one is going to be SHOW UP FOR THE MATCH!!!) I succeeded in my two missions this time. I held out for quite a while before tapping to the RNC. Unfortunately, Rachel's corner (the bastard!) was squatting about ten inches in front of my face while I was being choked, and I was unable to adequately hide the level of discomfort on my face nor the fact that I had freed a hand to hover over Rachel's leg in preparation for the tap if I had to resort to it. So he assured her that she had it and to keep going, and after a bit, he started a countdown for her. (did I mention that this guy was a bastard?) If not for him, I might have been able to hold out till she gave up. By the time that bastard got to six, I had to tap BAD, but I held out until eight just because I was pissed at him. The ref was impressed- there was an unmistakable expression of wonder on her face when I got up and looked at her.

Then I fought Stephanie for third place. We danced around hanging on each other's necks for quite a while. She eventually tripped me up, but I got her in a headlock on the way down and hung onto that for quite a while. I couldn't seem to do anything useful with it, though, and eventually I became aware of Rodrigo's and Carlos's voices from the sidelines both hollering at me repeatedly to LET GO OF THE HEAD.... well, crap, I don't really want to, but if you say so. After that, I spent much of the match- one guess where! Of course, where else, bottom half guard. (Mission number two for the March Revolution- GET THE ^#%$ OUT OF BOTTOM HALF GUARD! In fact, that should be my primary mission in practice for the next little while as well.) We ran the clock out and she won on points. I was actually less pleased with my performance in this match than I had been about my performance against Rachel. But even though I lost both matches, I think I did well enough to say I didn't humiliate myself.

After the second fight, I sat next to Angela and her camera, and said, "Did you get any good pics of that?" She said, "Yeah," And showed me some. "Don't you have any where I'm not on the bottom?" "No." LOL. Yeah, well, gotta have a sense of humor about it.

I do recall being calmer than I had expected during the matches. In particular, at the beginnings, when I normally feel a hurry-hurry-hurry pressure to try to get in and get a takedown. Today I was just chillin'. There was just less of the "white noise" that seems to fill up my head when I'm in a particularly intense fight. I was able to think some, to look around a bit and consider options. I did find myself gassing out, especially during the second match when I was trying to get out from under. I hate it when I have some sense of what I should be doing and my body simply can't summon up the strength to do it.

We watched Rachel and Tiffany duke it out for first- OMG, they were really brutal. Everyone was sitting around staring gape-jawed and murmuring. Even Carlos was shaking his head and saying with dark disapproval, "That is not jiu-jitsu," as Rachel was kneeling there with her knee on the side of Tiffany's face and all her weight on it. Less clean BJJ technique and more dirty pool. But it's good to know what to be ready for.

Carlos asked me where my boyfriend was. After a little back-and-forth, I finally figured out that he was asking about SK. Apparently the rumor mill at Gracie Barra thinks SK is my boyfriend. ((murfle))

The entire crowd seemed to change radically in both mood and appearance between the morning (gi) and the afternoon (no-gi). I know this is a little offensive to say, but it's true: a noticable rush of "Trailer Trash" appeared to watch (and some to compete in) the no-gi. The fighting was a lot dirtier, too.

Angela told me that those two girls I fought (both from MMA gyms, and both of them half my age, I might add) have been doing Revolutions for a while, and placing- so they had a jump on me experience-wise. I told Angela that I wished I could have been in the "beginner" division, and she thinks I should have been- she doesn't think I was correct in my understanding that I *had* to be in intermediate. Oh well. You may roll your eyes at this, after I placed fourth in a four-person bracket- but I did feel competitive- I didn't feel completely outmatched, like "OMG, these girls are totally out of my league, I don't belong in this bracket, I don't belong in the ring with this person" It wasn't like that. On a different day, I might be able to beat them. (Maybe in March!)

One of the perks of repping two schools: if your teacher is tied up, you have back-ups. It was really nice to have Rodrigo and Carlos (and Pat, and Bea, and a couple of the guys) holding my hand during the no-gi. They were really supportive, even though I bombed, and that meant a lot. I'll be sure to thank them again later. Gracie Barra always talks up the whole team mentality and "we've got your back" and all, and I really saw how that was at the tournament, like I've never seen it before. I wish I could have pulled through and brought in some points for the team. I want to do better next time.

Stephanie made a point of coming over and thanking me again for the good fight; she seems really nice.

Cindy did eventually find me after my fights, and ask me about them. I was guarding Rodrigo's and Carlos' bags at the time, and my toes curled when I saw them walking toward us. But to my relief and immense gratitude, everyone was pleasant and cordial. That meant a lot to me. I don't know if they did that just for my sake, but it would have been so much simpler for them all to just orbit around each other and not interact, so that was great to see. It would be nice to be the impetus to help the ice thaw a bit there. Maybe it could even get to the point someday that they all actually *COULD* consult together on my promotions and such. That would be cool. This is the same sort of project I'm sorta perpetually working on with the two estranged kung fu factions. The progress there is glacial, but I hold out hope.

I am eating pizza as I type. Bacon and mushroom. I scarfed the M&M's in the car on the way home.