"Does anybody ever triangle you?"

During a training session, when the rational mind slows down the flow of thoughts, the body begins to disclose its secrets. Consciousness is free to travel from one muscle to the next, and have access to powers unknown to those who can’t go beyond cerebral activity. This is not just a physical experience. It is spiritual. It transforms the body as well as the character. -Daniele Bolelli, On The Warrior’s Path



Thursday: The downside of being well-disciplined and not eating an extra meal in the evening is that my already-poor sleep is made poorer by waking up even earlier due to a growling stomach. Next time I think I'll go ahead and eat!

Saturday: FOD- Chen Dao.
*Really* bad nightmare; seriously, one of the worst I've ever had in my life. One of the cats is sick and it's really stressing me out. (Vet trips was why I didn't get to any more practices before the work rotation started.)

Sunday FOD: Bung Bo Kuen.

Monday FOD: Five Points Of the Star

Tuesday FOD: Jian form

Didn't get to that on Tues, so did it Wednesday. The peel to the right near the end- the one that CK is always hassling me about because the arm never moves in proper relation to the body- felt really good. Particularly ironic since I was doing it with a pencil and not a sword. Interesting how slacking on my training is translating to having a different perspective on the forms when I do go through them. Because they are less immediately familiar, it's less rote repetition; more seeing where things don't quite make kinesthetic sense.


Thursday: 133.0

Interesting show on Somnalist Trauma Theater last night. I was aspecting a guy who murdered someone (possibly two someones, I'm not sure, the focus was on the aftermath instead of the act itself). This was clearly a character and not *me* doing this, but I was seeing everything from his perspective, and noting with a clinical fascination that he felt no guilt at all. This was a very different type of nightmare than my usual rotation. I've never been the bad guy before. I found myself wondering (even *as* I was dreaming) how I could possibly use this glimpse of perspective in my creating writing.



Lunchtime BJJ at GB Bellevue. Nuked a single egg again before class, and again that seemed to work well.

There were a couple of dozen little yellow tape X's on the mat. I looked at them and asked, "Are these all the spots where people have died?"


Hip throws- two different setups. Remember to control both arms if possible, then they can't even breakfall (I know, we're evil...) Also, the one where you reach under opponent's arm- make sure to hoist it up high, or s/he'll whizzer you.

Pass guard from standing- "seat belt" hold, stack, pass to the side. Prof Carlos had us take off our gi jackets for part of the drill, and we did a few different variations of arm placement and etc. One thing we did without the jackets was to throw the legs forcefully so that the opponent was turned almost on hir side; make sure the near arm is up (use your knee if necessary). Wrap your arm BACKWARDS around opponent's head and single arm. Then inch your butt up over hir head and adjust until you can grab your own bicep for a head and arm choke. This arm placement was really weird, but I do like these types of chokes where I can lean on the opponent's head and get my whole body into the choke.

We also did a variation on one that somebody showed me a couple of weeks ago and I liked- after the seatbelt and stack, you grab the opposite collar (thumb *IN*! that makes a huge difference, as we discovered). You can yank that lapel tight just before you get the collar grab- that makes it much easier. Then pass, inch your butt up over hir head (your forearm bone is now grinding right into the throat). Now the bizarro part- reach your far arm under and across your own chest and grab the collar under hir head. It was a bit of a reach, strain and scrabble- especially for those of us with boobs in the way- but once I had it, it took almost nothing to finish the choke.

Worked with a white belt I've never seen before. Ah, white belts. *NO* pressure at all during the guard pass, and instead of spawling and stacking me after he had the seat belt grip, he got down on his knees. I set the boy straight. (grin) Took possibly a little more pleasure than necessary in demo'ing the RIGHT way to keep pressure on while you're passing.
"See?"
"*grunt* *cough* *cough* Yeah, I see."
And he did, too- he got steadily heavier with each rep (I assured him that I would let him know if he was hurting me), and by then end of drill, he was nice and pressureful.

Open mat- I asked JM to roll, and we went for quite a while- after everyone else had wimped out.

He almost triangled me about 4 times, and each time I thought I was done for- but I managed to squirrel out. One time, I was stacking him and he was trying to hike his shoulders up, so I ran him about six steps to post the top of his head against the wall. He was cracking up, but admiring. The next time I escaped a triangle, he asked, "Does anyone ever triangle you??" At first I thought he was being sarcastic. Triangles were my Achilles Heel for my first six or eight months. Every time I get caught in one, I feel SO stupid and I get pissed off at myself. The fact that he caught me 4 or 5 times made me feel like a real dummy... but it's true- I *did* get out. And no, people actually *don't* triangle me any more, hardly at all. I didn't really realize it until he said that.

I handily escaped a few armbars, escaped back mount several times (my back mount escapes are pretty good). I finally tapped him with a clock choke. I think he sort of let me have it because he was getting tired and wanted to quit- but he wouldn't have let me have it if it wasn't good technique, so I'm satisfied. He wasn't muscling me, which I appreciated, and I said so. He was full of praise- full enough that it was kind of embarrassing. He wanted to know how much I weigh, and said he didn't think he would have been able to keep going that long against someone as much bigger than him as he is to me. (Hey, did I mention I'm turning forty in two days?)

He was *REALLY* full of praise. I don't know how to feel. I still feel like I suck, and when a higher belt showers me with what seems like sincere, detailed praise, it feels sort of like we're both standing there together looking at a dog and he's insisting that it's a canary. It just doesn't compute.

I know that I'm still not moving fast enough, not transitioning fast enough- still stopping in one position and straining after things, which is bad strategy for the smaller weaker person. I am still not going for subs often enough, and when I do, it it not quick enough or aggressive enough.


Interesting that I get more blog hits from mentioning Tai Chi than anything else- although a lot of the searches are for "Naked Tai Chi" (sigh). Including this sentence alone today will up my traffic by about 25%.