"I'm going to just try as hard as I can to kick your ass."

To cherish perfection is to commit creative suicide.   –Barry Hughart



Pink Team in Bellevue. Shannon came back for a second dose, and we also had a new teenager.

Carlos came over to bust my chops- asking me if I was  A)going to stay for "all levels" class after this, or was I B)"soft". So of course I had to commit to the next class. 

RNC... with collar, without collar.

Same arm drag to taking the back that we did this afternoon.

A little light positional sparring starting from back mount.

Then "all levels" - all sparring.  5 min rotating rounds. I asked everyone to sweep me repeatedly with deep half. Most of them managed to accomplish it at least once or twice... although I am starting to see that my habit of reflexively trying to crush up against the opponent- as well as reflexively trying to climb on top- is making me vulnerable. I'm doing better at defending it when I sprawl low and keep a little distance between our bodies. This is counterintuitive to me, but I want to experiment with it some more. I don't really trust my pins... but honestly, I am probably better off trusting my pins than trusting my mere 130lbs of mass to hold the guy down.

When I asked Coach Dynamo to try to sweep me with deep half,  he responded by staring at me very seriously and saying, "You know what I'm going to do? I'm going to just try as hard as I can to kick your ass." Well okay then.

When I went with Ann Marie and Crisanne, I coached them while we were rolling. Crisanne- still getting better and better, but freezes up when she can't think of what to do next, and stalls out when she tries Plan A and it doesn't work. She only likes to use solid techniques that she has worked on enough to feel comfy with- she doesn't like to improvise.

Kitsune: "That's not working. Try something else."
Crisanne: "I don't know any other escapes from here!"
Kitsune: "Just move around a little and experiment."

Next thing we know, she's escaping *and* passing my guard with something that she just randomly pulled out of her butt. See?

Ann Marie- puffing and gasping and flailing in panic. I told her to breathe, chill out and just work methodically.

Coach tapped me once with some complex choke that he set up out of my sight. I knew he was setting something up, but I couldn't figure out what it was until too late.

I tapped Ron tonight. I'm really excited. I know it's cheesy to brag about who you tapped- but Ron is really really good, he never babies me, he taps me all the time, and I can't remember the last time I tapped him. I got a triangle set up on him- which was exciting enough in itself- hell, I would have called tonight a celebration just for that much. I couldn't quite finish it- I readjusted, but no joy. He told me later that it was a bit too high up. But- and here's the superawesomeincredible part- when I saw that I couldn't finish it, I grabbed his extended arm and performed an odd but ultimately effective armbar on it. So not only did I get a tap on Ron, but it was with a somewhat improvised "Plan B" move. One of my weaknesses is similar to Crisanne's: I tend to get fixated on Plan A, and I just keep flailing at it even after I realize it's not going to work. One of my goals is to get better at deciding on and executing a "Plan B."

Chris is melting alway. I told him that he needs a smaller size gi, because he looks like he's lost a ton of weight. He said he's lost 25lb! He looks great!