Vanessa

Saturday lunchtime Competition Training at Gracie Seattle.

I miss Cindy's. The next time it looks like I will be able to attempt to get over there is Friday evening- assuming I'm not completely knackered by the Friday lunchtime Competition Class at Gracie's, which is what happened the last time I tried that plan.

Carlos was back on the mat. I didn't really expect him to go the full six weeks off... he's tough, and young, and shredded (when you have abs like that, those muscles are working hard to self-correct and try to hold that rib in place)- but dayum- only four days on the bench for a rib out??!? Hardcore.

He and Jim were rolling a little- they have a lot of fun, and it's like watching a clown act... complete with plenty of sound effects (moans, yelps, howls). Right off the bat Jim was holling, "NO, stop, you're gonna hurt yourself," Which was hilarious because rib injury or no, Carlos chews Jim up and spits him out.

We did some drills, along with yet another variation on the techniques that we've been drilling this week. This one has you sitting up and grabbing the cuff of the CLOSER arm (that really threw me off), switching your outside foot so that your toe is on the inside and your knee is on the outside of the uke's ankle, grabbing hir lapel, and extending your foot to stretch hir out on her stomach. Then you take the back, although the leg spaghetti involved in getting the correct hook also defeated me. It was a bit too complex (for *ME*) of a technique to toss in casually during comp training drills. I did get the good fortune of drilling with Ron, who is always great to work with. He is a bit frustrating to *ROLL* with, though, just because he owns me so thoroughly and with no apparent effort- so I grabbed Fred instead when it came time to roll.

I did two with Fred and two with a new white belt woman, Vanessa. I had to sit out two rounds (puff, pant). Vanessa is pretty good. She has some weight on me and is very strong- but many of her basics are very solid. Lovely strong explosive shrimps, technical upa's. Decent escapes, and she tried to set up a few different subs on me. She got a couple nice legitimate reversals, and I was in bottom half guard a number of times (argh), as well as being front mounted a few times. Her husband was cornering her from the sidelines, which was a bit annoying, but okay- more of a challenge for me. I did manage to stay on top a lot, but I had to work hard to hold her there. It was a good lesson for me in keeping my hips sunk down ("dick to the mat"- as somebody on one of the forums commented yesterday- I like that, heh heh), because when I indulged in my bad habit of sticking my butt up in the air, she easily hipped out with one of those kickass explosive shrimps of hers.

She also seems to have excellent cardio and endurance... she was doing so many explosive shrimps and upas- sometimes multiple attempts in a row- that several times I thought, "I'm just going to try to perch up here and let her wear herself out," She was breathing a little too hard, but not as bad as a lot of newbies do. She is also telegraphing with her breathing, when she is going to try to buck me off. But she didn't seem to get nearly as exhausted as I felt like she should have been.

I tapped her three times with keylocks- but she made me work hard for them. She's more flexible than average- When I went for the first one, she didn't tap right away, and I thought, "Rats, another one of those rubber-armed girls," but I did finally get it.

I asked her what she's done before, because she seemed to know what she was doing much morso than the average white belt, and she said, "I have a bigass husband." Ha. She was fun to roll with- I hope I get to work with her some more. Soon. With this one, there is not going to be much of a window before she starts kicking my ass.

Fred- he mostly dominated me postionally, and put me in bottom half guard and under his mount a lot- but I did get on top a few times and hold it a while. He let me tap him once with a keylock. He didn't tap me, but I know he is working positions currently, so he probably didn't try very hard. It seems like I haven't been getting tapped much at all lately. I wonder if I am getting any better, or if people are just slacking this past week.


My finger did okay today; still a little sore and needing to be babied. The fingernail is growing in brown. The outermost joint is still visibly larger than its left-hand counterpart. By the time I'm an old lady, I am going to have appallingly deformed, walnut-knuckled, gnarled troll-hands.

Carlos is calling me "Fox". That must be this week's English vocabulary word. Grin.

I wish I knew why I'm so tired after class (especially Competition Training class). Ideally, I'd get up, go to class, come home and go back to bed! Occasionally I can do that. But not today, as Turtle Drum is my responsibility again this month. So tired.... sigh.


The drum circle went really well for the second month in a row. Thekla wasn't there, Bill wasn't there, Lori wasn't there... in fact, fifteen minutes before the event was to begin, NO ONE was there but me... that's always a little nervewracking! But people eventually started filtering in, the flautists were warming up, a few drummers started tapping along with them, and the drum circle sorta wound up starting WITHOUT me while I was taking a last minute bathroom break, LOL.

My finger seemed okay to do some hand drumming, but I spent more time on the stick drums just to be safe. Almost no dancing. People joined into the rhythms readily and kept them going once started, but I didn't get a lot of help tonight getting things rolling- so I had to stay on the drums and keep up the backbeat.

Eventually I started a chant. I don't usually start chants; will sometimes back up one that Thekla starts, but I was getting desperate, and I had already used up my primary "go-to" starts (The Shamanic beat on the big frame drum, and the slow heartbeat). Tasara backed me up, and that caught very well- we had (I think) every person in the room singing, even people who never sing, LOL. After that wound down, I could tell they wanted more of that, but unfortunately my chant repertoire is quite anemic. I do wailing alto harmonizing very well (I could have been the third Indigo Girl, I'm telling you), but I don't have much else up my sleeve in that respect.... and you don't want to start something too similar to what you just did. Luckily, after a bit, the woman across the circle from me started one..... a soft pensive soprano thing, perfect. She sounded like a very small coyote singing in the distance.

They all wanted to chant, after that... there was more chanting tonight than I've ever heard at a Turtle Drum. And multiple people, which is great. Several times, there was chanting going on, and you'd look around and try to figure out where it was coming from- and you couldn't. You couldn't see anyone singing.... and it sounded like it was coming from your left, then it sounded like it was coming from the front lobby, then it sounded like it was coming from somewhere else. Neat.

Must start chants more often- the crowd approves.

That soprano woman seated across from me was also playing some exceptionally nice djembe throughout the evening- the type of running-across-the-beat stuff that I wish I could do but can't. It works great as long as you have someone holding a solid backbeat- otherwise it's a train wreck with newbies in the circle- so I held backbeat while she did that. Good stuff.

The Shamanic rhythm on the frame drum turned out really weird tonight. There were enough people in the circle whom I know have been present for that before, but the group as a whole didn't seem to know what to do with that tonight. It excited them, sure enough- two dancers were hopping frenetically up and down on their toes; a woman with a little lap djembe who had been very quiet all night suddenly came to passionate life and spent about 10 min doing rhythm solos overtop of it; and three or four other drummers were trying to join me with fast monotones that weren't right, but seemed to be working (for everyone but me and Tasara- who kept shooting me wide-eyed perturbed looks across the circle). It was quite bizarre- and certainly not what I had intended- but the folks seemed pleased, so it's all good.

Afterward, they didn't want to leave. I told them that we had run out of time, I gave my little speech, closed the circle, thanked them, turned the lights up, got the broom and dustpan out, and still they lingered. It took yet another "Thank you again, HAVE A GOOD NIGHT," before they began to bestir themselves, LOL. The didge guy said, "That one should have been extended." Tasara and Bill have been known to extend the session when it's going really well; I think there's something to be said for "Leave 'em wanting more". I also like to end on a breathless climactic note when possible... why extend the time and risk having it wind down into that dying-off-with-a-whimper thing.

Tasara told me that she loves it when I host, that I have such a great "priestess energy". Some other woman that I've never seen before in my life informed me solemnly that I evoked a Mother Goddess. This never fails to bemuse me. I feel no call (at this time) to clergy work. I like supporting roles with clearly defined boundaries. I find that when you're solidly reliable in your supporting role for a long time, though, attrition in any group/event tends to push you up the ladder until one day you look around and realize to your surprise that *YOU* are running the show. Anyway it's nice to know that I can discharge my duty competantly.


(pic- Pat's promotion)