The Old Farts

What you do instead of your work is your REAL work. –Roger Ebert


Met up with CK and JB for an hour or so around lunchtime. The usual phoning and driving around trying to find somewhere to work out. We were luckless and ended up outside, which I was unhappy about. Cold, wet, bad footgear. Went through the Tai Chi long form a few times.


JB was annoyed with me for not announcing my promotion with more bells and whistles than I did. I responded, "Jiu jitsu here (indicating heart). Jiu jitsu here (indicating head). Jiu jitsu never here (indicating beltline)." I wasn't sure if she was old enough to get the reference, but I knew CK would.


After JB vacated, CK and I found an open community center. We started working on the long form again, but unfortunately- as sometimes happens- our yaps ran away with us and we didn't get a whole lot of work done. It might be worthwhile to try to schedule a lunch early in her visit and get some of the chatter out of the way so that we can focus better.


One of the things she told me was that CN has moved back to town. I'm not going to pin any hopes on this, because he has not spoken to me in years, and I'm not going to chase him around and bother him. But I told CK (again) that if she sees him, to please pitch that I will pay him to give me private Kung Fu lessons. Lord, I miss Shaolin.


I really wanted to get to Bellevue in time for Doug's nascent "Old School BJJ" class (aka "Old Farts' class"). 40YO and above only. I didn't get back to Bellevue from my visit with CK until I was about 20 min late (right through commute traffic- ugh and sigh). I came in and was happy to see that there was a decent turnout- 10 or 12 people, good mix of belt levels. I announced, "Sorry I'm late- I had to put in my false teeth, adjust my truss....." Doug looked at the clock and said something about the time; I responded, "You can see that clock from here without your bifocals?" Every time I made a smart-ass remark, he mimed making a little mark on the inside of his lapel- the record of all the things he was going to spank me for once the sparring started (I guess when you get that old, you need to keep a lot of notes because you CRS...ha ha.)


We did sprawl N/S on top of turtle, crossface go to the side, switch feet, "sash" grip, pull the guy over and take the back. I continue to end up on my back while pulling the guy over, and was able to ask Doug to troubleshoot it. It appears that I am planting my butt on the mat too far away from the opponent, and I need to glue butt to mat closer. Also note: if opponent is defending your hooks, start choking hir. S/he should reach up to grab your forearm, and then you can slip the hook in on that side. Further note: make sure to keep hooks at different levels once you get them in. One more thing worth paying attention to- be careful how enthusiastically you sock your heels into the hip creases of your male training partner. I got a distinct flinch.


If the turtle is clamped closed all around, crank one of hir elbows out just enough to get a foot in, then dive-roll. I need to work more on this, I was tentative about my positioning and doubtful about being able to actually overturn the guy, so I tended to not fully commit to the roll.


Take the back as above, then add 1)RNC, 2)RNC with one arm trapped, 2)cross collar choke. I continue to telegraph my RNC setup hugely. I need to learn to sneak that second arm in.


Sparring- Doug, Robert twice (he's 58! just got his 2nd stripe on blue belt- cool, huh?). Marcello, Chris (these latter two do not qualify as Old Farts, but a few of the Young Bucks came in to open-mat with us for a bit).  Robert's got great pressure from the top. Note- try to stay off the bottom with him next time. I love sparring with Chris. He's so big and scary-looking, but he *never* uses strength and is very careful with his weight. I've never so much as bent a fingernail working with him. A sublime partner. And a really nice friendly guy too.


Anyway, Doug seemed happy with the turnout and the way things went, and I really hope the attendance justifies continuing this class- it's a great idea. It was also a good environment for asking questions. If we can have a little Old Farts open mat after, so much the better.


Unfortunately for me, Old Farts' Class conflicts with Cindy's Friday night no-gi. I'm not happy with the no-gi scheduling, and not sure how to apply myself. Right now, the Sleeper gi classes are better for my routine... but I feel that it's important for me to work no-gi as well (especially since I'm worse at it), and right now I'm getting very very little.