Thursday morning

An individual who is truly alive should not settle for anything less than the totality of experience. -Daniele Bolelli, On The Warrior’s Path


This morning's photo was "the ecstasy"- this one is "the agony"- hee hee hee. That's Carlos on the floor, to the rt of the pic is Kevin, to the left is John George, the guy in the white t shirt standing behind Carlos is Lamont (whom I haven't seen in almost a year).

Lunchtime BJJ at GB Bellevue.

Carlos is training for PanAms, and so are we all (pant, gasp, rrrk). Today it was dreels, dreels, dreel-till-ya-puke. Double leg setup, single-leg setup, shoulder throw setup, Pass guard, replace guard, armbar from mount, hitchhiker escape. Fast reps, no rest, make sure ya do both sides, go-go-go.

One roll with that same blue belt who steamrollered me two Thursdays ago and got me kind of discouraged... he steamrollered me again, which I was expecting this time- never got off the bottom, although he had to work a little longer to get the actual tap. After that I was done, taking off my coat, but Carlos had an odd number on the mat and was pushing me to do one more. Sigh, ok. To my pleased surprise, I tapped the guy four times in a row (and with three different things). Usually the second time, I'll go for the same sub I just finished- and if the guy doesn't seem to be defending it well, I'll say, "don't let me get THIS again!" As much for my benefit as his, since this forces me to get out of my comfort zone and try something else. (Besides, I hate it when people sub me with the same thing four times in a row! I don't want to be a jerk and do it to someone else!)

Yesterday I watched a video of Cindy's, and one of the subs I used was a new one (to me) from that vid- so that was great. It was an experiment which I assumed probably would not work, so I was surprised when he tapped. The other two were old standbys for me.

He asked me if I had any advice, which was cool as well (and I managed to stop myself from looking behind me to see who he was talking to). :D I told him he was doing really well, which was true- he just didn't have much technique yet, and also I'm a big proponent of positive validation- esp for a white belt who just got tooled by a girl. He was committing that number one white belt mistake, though- HUFF.. PUFF...HUFF....PUFF... He kept going limp with exhaustion periodically, then rallying for another burst of gasping effort, then limp again. So I suggested that he should work on controlling his breathing so that he could last longer without getting tired.

I showed Nelson my Khukri. He demo'ed a drill- head, knees, head again, three or four more strokes that I forget already. I said, "Isn't the head already GONE after that first pass??!?" LOL. He is holding his elbows close to his torso and using controlled strokes, not flailing at arm's length (which leaves you open).

Sonia is in Amanda's bracket for PanAm's. I hope either Kelly or I get a chance to talk to her about our experiences, in case Sonia hasn't fought her before. At least we know what her game is. Luckily, it looks like Angela and Katie (the Classy Broad) will not be fighting each other.