English-as-a-2nd-language meets anatomical unmentionables.

130.5

I pigged out last weekend after the tournament; it's a relief to see that my weight didn't backslide too much.

I've only found one trace of my match online so far... a single photo of Julie getting up off the mat while I'm lying there on my back with the ref bending over asking me if I'm all right. ((blush))

While it would probably be useful to analyze footage, I wouldn't be too disappointed if that's all that remains of that history!

Tuesday morning no-gi at Cindy's... Cindy informed me that she had found my training blog entry about the tournament (Thank Gods I didn't write anything unflattering about her... that I recall, anyway! It still shocks me to hear that anyone is actually reading this stuff). She agreed that I should have been MEANER! She knows Julie, and says that Julie wouldn't have hesitated to put HER forearm in MY throat! She reiterated her mission to make me meaner, as well as to work on my "positive thinking". Today was Pick On Kitsune Day... but that's okay; that can be motivating if it's done right. One of the other students also suggested that we start scoring my rolls for "mean points"; I have to get a certain quota of "mean points" per match.

This is ironic.... my Shaolin classmates would laugh their heinies off at the idea that I need remedial lessons in MA viciousness. I'm a joke in THAT class for being excessively bloodthirsty. I'm not sure why the dichotomy. The level of contact is usually lower in the Shaolin class; we don't use pads or anything, so we have to pull strikes and such. However, sparring in particular does involve at *least* as much pain as moderately "mean" BJJ; frequently more. I feel outgunned much of the time in both venues; and I experience both safe and not-so-safe training partners in both venues. I wonder if it's got something to do with the level of bodily intimacy in BJJ. Like, it seems like more of a trust thing when you grapple with a training partner as opposed to standing across from each other hitting and kicking. I'm not Englishing that very well. Not sure I'm on the right path anyway. I wonder if it could also be something to do with the immediacy of potential backlash- with striking, there is some vague sense of "I could do this douchebag strike and then run" or "I could do this douchebag strike and then he'll be unconscious." While in grappling, the moment you do a douchebag move, your opponent can counter instantaneously with something equally bad or worse. I grew up in an abusive home-of-origin, where the backlash for even small transgressions was immediate and vicious. There was a lot of serious hardwired training there to go limp and show throat instead of resisting or fighting back in any way. Any trace of resistance was put down- well- very, very VERY firmly. Some internal dread of that surely still lurks, although I'm not sure why grappling would be triggering it worse than striking. This will bear more thinking. This (the dichotomy of my mindsets between the two MA's, not my childhood traumas) might be a good topic to chew over with SK if I get a chance to talk to him alone anytime in the not-too-distant future.

Having guard, "crawling" up the opponent's back to trap the head and one shoulder. This is hard for me. I think I need to build up my core muscles more. I'm also scared to loosen up enough to crawl, because I think they're going to escape/attack. Anyway, once you have the head and shoulder, clasping the opponent's trapped arm to your chest and turning slightly for an armlock. Still having a little trouble with the left/right thing- remembering which shoulder to trap, and which way to turn the body.

Then the opponent defends the lock, and you transition to the leg-over-the-head armbar. I love these. I want to learn/practice these a lot from different setups.

Next scenario- opponent stacks you, and you let them yank their arm out- upon which you transition to a triangle.

Lots of little steps to remember in today's sequence.... I need to get more methodical and make sure that I am not skipping and cheating steps in my panicky rush. If I am careful with my holds and keep everything really tight, hopefully I will have the person secure and won't *HAVE* to hurry. I got to do the drills with Cindy herself today, which is always helpful.

Short timed rolls with a few of the guys, and with Cindy twice. Several of the guys are being really nice to me- they're teasing me, sure, but they're letting me work stuff, and giving me positive feedback and all. It is a really good group of people in there. There are nice things about a big school like Gracie's.... but with that many people, there are just always going to be a few random assholes in the barrel even though I know Rodrigo and Carlos pay attention to how people are treating their teammates. I don't know where Cindy gets her students, but there seems to be some amount of established people bringing other people in- like I did with my group- and you're not going to bring people in that are going to put their muddy boots up on the furniture.

I torqued my neck rolling with one of those guys this morning, though- and it's giving me trouble tonight...




Later........................


Tuesday evening BJJ in Bellevue. I had waffled about going to the new Seattle school tonight, and didn't feel like dealing with the commute. So here I was in Bellevue, paired up with Hostility Boy again. Dang it! He looked as delighted as I felt. He was also getting back up after each rep very slowly.... I couldn't tell if he was nursing tournament injuries or if he was just being sullen because he got stuck with me. Every so often he randomly just quits cooperating so that I can't complete the drill. As my patience with him grows thinner, I want to respond to these stalemates by getting rougher. I wonder if this turkey (see aforementioned remark about "random assholes") is the Universe's cosmic lesson trying to make me Mean.

He did give me some pointers, and he's *usually* right (although Prof. Carlos came around and corrected a grip of mine that I had changed according to Hostility Boy's instruction).

Tomorrow night I'll make the commute to Seattle instead... but in the meantime, let me dedicate a song to you, sweetie:

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4023030/pray_for_you_jaron_and_the_long_road_to_love_official_video/


We did "safe clinch" to bump-behind-the-knee takedown to side control. Then escaping having your head clasped to the opponent's chest while in hir guard, followed by basic guard break, then into the pass where you go under one thigh and latch onto the lapel, touch opponent's knee to hir nose, then let the leg slide past while you take side control.

No positional training or open mat tonight (another good reason to have gone to Seattle instead), because the advanced class was immediately after this one. I sat and watched. Carlos came over at one point to ask me why, and with Serious Face (so he wouldn't tease me), I told him that the advanced class is too hard for me right now, and I want to do more basics first. He didn't tease, or push me about it- but agreed that one needs to feel ready, and that in the meantime it's good to watch.

So I watched them do some butterfly sweeps, transitions with X guard, a few transitions and a sweep using spider guard. Meanwhile, Mochi licked my feet... then he wanted to play a little tug of war with his little green rubber monster toy.


Humorous interlude.... while walking the advanced class through one technique, Carlos explained that he was going to move his "ass" over to this side... then abruptly stopped and looked around at the grinning class, started to let it go, then his eyes alighted on Brandon (the thirteen year old). Then he felt the need to grope for a more appropriate English word, but obviously could not remember anything better than "ass" for that particular body part. We just let him flail for a bit. It was funny. Finally he substituted "hip", with much visible relief. (I was sitting on the wall by the door; he might also have hesitated had I been standing there... if it had been just the adult men, he prolly would have just stuck with "ass".)


Most important lesson of the night: Do not fart audibly in Professor Carlos' class while he is explaining technique. EVER. He will stop, spear you with his gaze, deliver a long lecture on respect, make you do twenty pushups, and then lecture you some more- all while the rest of the class stands around and watches. Mortifying. (No, it wasn't me- if it had been, I would be dead of embarrassment instead of typing this blog entry.)