Hippocampi!

Ultimately what I believe, or don’t believe, doesn’t really matter. The only thing that beliefs do for me is close my mind to different possibilities. -Daniele Bolelli, On The Warrior’s Path

Saturday Form Of the Day: Bung Bo Kuen
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Sunday FOD: Plum Blossom Fist
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MOnday FOD: Northern Mantis Bo form.
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Tuesday FOD: Sil Lum Tao.
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Wednesday FOD: Leopard Fist (smooth, so smooth)

Wrote most of a pivotal scene last night and this morning- perhaps the most pivotal scene in the story. I came up with a (I hope) unique spin on what I was going to do, which made it so interesting that I couldn't wait to get it down. The twist caused a few inconsistencies that I need to iron out, and there's still one part of the scene that I'm not sure what to do with- but it's some good writing.  I also managed to insert hippocampi into the story, which I had really wanted to do. As I commented on Mythic Scribes recently, hippocampi are just way too cool to not use in my story. (If you need to Google "hippocampi", that's a a shame and that's why we need more of them.)
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Thursday lunchtime BJJ at GB Belle.

It was pretty hot (and promises to be even hotter later today... multiple classes are gonna be a strain today). Any idea that the Prof might be easier on us due to the heat were dashed when warmups included "swims"- that's where you lie prone, throw your arms out to the sides, slap your palms on the mat at arms' length in front of your face, and then PULL your entire body along the mat using just your arms. Two laps of this.

Knee-on-belly day.  Side control to KOB- one hand grips collar behind opponent's head, the other grips pantleg on the inside of the near knee. Jump to KOB. Keep your back upright and pull to bow the person. Pray that your drill partner did not eat a big breakfast. 

Yay, something I do well- I can go from prone on the mat to upright KOB in one smooth quick hop. Well enough that Carlos had everyone stop and watch me do one as a demo of how he wants it to look. I confess it did get a bit slower and jerkier after a dozen or so reps.

KOB is good for me, but it's good for me because I can sneak my knee in from side control and get 3 seconds before the opponent knows I have KOB. Once they realize it, I can rarely hold the position even if I'm doing everything right. So this dramatic entrance to the technique ("HEY DUDE, Look, here I go to get KOB on you!!!!") is probably not going to work well for me in live rolling, at least against bigger people (read: 99.999% of my opponents).

You have KOB, opponent turns in to you and puts hand on your leg to shrimp out. You let go of pants and place that hand over hir hand. Spin so that you are sitting on hir head. The knee behind hir head is on the mat (press this one right up close to prevent hir from moving around), the knee in front is up. Make sure opponent is not gripping hir own lapels (remove the grip if so), loop your other hand under hir armpit and grab your own forearm, kimura.  You can also transition to an armbar from here.

Note that Carlos echoed Lamont's lesson of last week- the person on the bottom simply must let go of something in order to move. As soon as s/he does so, there's the arm for you to attack. If s/he just lies there and tries to fetal-position so that you can't get the sub, you can just leisurely pry hir loose. You're sitting on hir head, which is a pleasant place for you but not for hir.

Two rolls with John and one with Carlos.  I'm still not sure what he's wanting from me when we go to standup, but this time I did try lunging in on him as fast as I could instead of facing off like a couple of gunslingers. I think I'm going to stay with that tactic for a while and see where it goes- fighting takedowns against Carlos is just getting me nowhere, even when he's being nice.