James' juicy neck

Chi, outlaw Taoist wanted in vain by the inquisition of Western science; the breath of a God forgotten in a mortal body; nightmare of the laws of physics; Zen warrior of our will; fuel in the engine of the universe. -Daniele Bolelli, On The Warrior’s Path



I almost didn't go in tonight because of the twisted ankle, but I wanted to work it some.... I knew I just needed to not do anything stupid. I wore the brace and stayed strictly on the ground. It was an open mat, which is probably a good thing.

I rolled a bit with Casey (no jackets) and then for a long time with James (also no jackets). I seemed to be doing fairly okay with James, even though he's big and muscular and technical. Very shortly I found myself zeroing in with razor hyperfocus on his succulent neck. Guillotines, head-and-arm chokes, RNC, baseball bat. I was also using head control a lot- pushing his head to the mat, hanging on the back on his neck.

He pointed out that sometimes when I slap a guillotine on, I don't fully commit to jumping closed guard. It's true. Reason A) I play almost no closed guard... but at a tournament, it may be reasonable to expect that I might be fighting people that I can actually get my guard closed around. There's a shocking notion. Reason B) If I'm not positive that the guillotine is on really well, I don't want to jump guard because I know that if it fails, I'm on the bottom- and I suck on the bottom, so I do **NOT** want to be on the bottom. But I need to be mindful of this tendency in myself, and make up my damn mind if I'm going to jump guard or not- and if I am, to do it wholeheartedly.

I had really been hoping to get in more rolling time with women this week... but I think that long session with James was really valuable. He was being really nice and helpful even though I was grinding terribly all over his neck. I'll have to thank him personally if I win anything tomorrow.