"Sorry... I know this is mean...."

Friday no-gi at Cindy's, with JM and JB.

We were a little bit late getting in, not because of traffic but because we met a friendly grey tabby cat in the parking lot. I had cat food in my car, but no can opener- rats! Will be better prepared next time.

Warmups- I managed to walk on my hands ALL the way to the opposite end of the room tonight. It really is coming back with practice. Roundoffs with the extra spin are still suboptimal, but I think a little better than last time.

There were a couple of newbies, so we did pretty basic stuff- the same guard break & pass that we'd done on Monday, to side control, to keylock. If they straighten arm: armbar; if they bend it downward: kimura. I drilled with Angela.

When we started working on the keylock, we began from side control with the person on bottom hugging around your neck. You then crossface the person and do sort of a push-up on the side of their face, to get them to stretch out the arm. "This isn't mean, Kitsune! This isn't mean!" (and in an undertone), "I'm gonna make you mean yet!" ROFL. I am the class joke in this respect now. I also got reprimanded for being too TENSE while acting as demo dummy. "Relax, or it'll hurt WORSE!"

Short timed rolls with JB, JM (twice), Angela, and Cindy. Cindy let me get a couple things; I think she was trying to buck me up. When I rolled with Angela, I first came in fast and rabbited around her because I knew speed was going to be the best thing to use against her, and I sure as heck did not want to find myself on the bottom. The second time we closed, she grabbed me and clenched so that I couldn't do it again.

I got JB with- guess what? Yep, a guillotine. I let her go and said, "I can't BELIEVE you are still letting me do that!" She cried, "NEVER AGAIN!" I tried to sink another one a little later, and even though she was choking, she defended so vigorously that she eventually got out of it.

JM- I slapped on the grabbing-the-head-when-they're-on-top-of-your-turtle maneuver. She had her weight too far back for me to pull her over my shoulder (I taught her better than that), but I pulled her off my back sideways, bulldozed her over onto her back and got side control. The whole time I was doing it, I was saying, "Sorry- I know this is mean- I'm really sorry about this....." She had to take a short break afterward and rotate her neck around while I apologized some more. The next time we got matched up, I grabbed for her head again- while saying "Don't let me get your head again!" Well, she let me get it, so I tried the move again (still apologizing... I felt doubley bad because I knew her neck already hurt, but I have a tournament to practice for!). I was not yanking as hard or at as cruel an angle as I could have been, and she eventually got out- at which point my arm was straightened out there and begging for an armbar, which she happily applied (and kept applying while I yelped "TAP!" five or six times.... I can't really blame her, though, with the adrenaline rushing, and after what I'd been doing to her!). She was pretty gleeful, as she doesn't tap me out very often. I will need to watch for that armbar vulnerability if I try this move again. I saw it as soon as I lost my grip on her neck, but I thought it would take her a second or two to "reset" from the neck crank, and it didn't (she confessed in the car that she had already had that planned out while still in the neck hold). I also complimented her on her shoulder pressure, which is always perfectly placed and heavier than a cement truck, with no letup at any time... I think she has the best shoulder pressure in either school.

I was deliberately vague with everyone about whether or not I am going to be in this tournament tomorrow- the fewer people who are watching me, the happier I'll be! But Cindy is going to be there, so I might have her watching me anyway. Eek!