"If I shrimp, my uterus will fall out"

 

 

Fear of legitimate danger is a good thing. It is your ally. It’s your inspiration. Your muse, if you will. Strength increases, reflexes are faster, pain sensitivity drops and you can run faster. In these circumstances, adrenaline becomes the get-it-done drug.  –Marc MacYoung

 

 

Thursday and Friday BJJ,

Thursday and Friday and Saturday BJJ,
and Friday BJJ (Thursday I was tired and lazy and did nothing).

One of the Thursdays was at Kirkland. Remember when I said it was nice to go there once in a while and tool up on their white and blue belts? That was Hammer Day, and this was Nail day! All those same people tooled on me... including a female white belt who tapped me twice right away. Then I thought, "Hmm, I'm going to have to take this one seriously," and then she tapped me again!  She was very tight, and shrink-wrapped everything up methodically the way Luis does, leaving *no* room to do anything. My happiness at seeing skilled women coming up in our school far outweighs my momentary peevishness at getting tapped.

Note that Carlos does not want to hear me say that I got pwn'ed. He made his usual "I no see you" comment the week I spent Thurs at Kirkland. I like that he misses me, but I was a little hesitant to tell him I'd been at Kirkland because I wasn't sure if that would be weird. He seemed (outwardly) okay that I'd gone elsewhere that day, but gave me a serious talk about the way I refer to getting my butt kicked. Much of this monologue was sort of lost in translation (and also he was following me down the mat while I was doing shrimp drills during it), but I think the gist was that he doesn't want me to get too hung up on being smashed- or doesn't want me to talk too much about it- which I guess is related. And both good advice.

The Saturday was at Seattle. Seth showed me a cool sweep. I want him to drill that with me every time I see him.

The other Thursday was the first day at the womens' class that I was not allowed to work with Chrisanne. I found myself with a teenager who looked like I could sneeze and blow her though the plate glass lobby window. I thought Carlos would switch up the pairings when he saw us (I'm too dangerous to work with Chrisanne, and he's going to let me work with this little wisp of a thing?) but he didn't. (I didn't injure her, BTW.... and she is really good at single-legs)

That most recent Friday, I finally succeeded in talking Lindsay back onto the mat. She said that her body still didn't feel quite like her own, and that she was afraid that when she shrimped, her "uterus would fall out". I am not sure what that means, yet I found it was a rather disquieting prospect- but I just told her that I was happy to see her back, and we could deal with whatever limitations presented themselves. I think she ended up tapping me more than I tapped her, so it was good. She seemed really happy to be rolling again. Going to try to get her in again this coming Thurs.

Chrisanne got a stripe! PSG is coming up and I will likely have only one BJJ class this week (if that), so I ought to be able to escape promotions yet again (muah ha ha ha). Mini posted a promotion/ranking rant on her training blog this week- glad to see I am not the only one who feels this way.

One of the techniques we worked on was a sweep from guard in which I struggled, in a way that really pointed up several persistent failings of mine which show up across multiple techniques; I fail to break down the opponent's posture and/or control hir arms adequately, I try to sweep to the side instead of tipping hir head toward my shoulder, and I fail to be forceful enough with the sweeping thigh (I have it stuck in my head that this is a strength move- which of course will never work- I need to fix the technicality and then COMMIT).  Once again, a thing that will have all sorts of sweeping improvement-type effects as soon as I can cement it.

Another interesting technique: choke from top side control. Inspired by Pat, I sometimes pull out someone's gi tail and pass it behind hir head when I have top half guard, as I know there are several intriguing things to do from there.... but I can never remember anything to finish it with. Carlos showed us how to pass the gi tail back to your far hand after passing it under the neck, then yank the person in toward your knee and cross-collar choke hir. If s/he puts out a hand to try to block your second grip, you grab the wrist and yank the arm forward, then lay your chest on hir shoulder and s/he chokes herself with hir own bicep. I had Lindsay coughing several times on this one. I like it.

I asked a few trusted people to try to put me on the bottom and to let me have a legit sweep if I made a halfway reasonable attempt at one, but to *NOT* let me escape. This was totally frustrating, which tells me I am on the right path. I am going to need to keep doing it.

I tried to get my new favorite choke from bottom half guard on a few people, but did not succeed. Being banned from working with Chrisanne flummoxed my plan to drill that with her at every class. I need to find a new drill dummy.

Finding myself questioning my performance aloud too much- ie, asking my partner "is that right?" even when I have no reason to think it's not right. Obviously I *DO* need to ask this when I think I have a problem. But it feels like I am often saying it just because I am being too self-critical. I also find myself saying it as a social lubricant (ie, "Even though I outrank you and we don't know each other well, I'm humble and we're peers, go ahead and correct me (which- again- has its place, but should not be overused))". It backfired badly on me that week, as I found myself working with a no-stripe purple woman that I've never seen before, who was messing up worse than I was but still became more and more didactic (including several blatantly WRONG instructions) over the two days we worked together.

Holding at a reasonable walking-around weight of 133, although I would like to drop another few. The local wild salmonberries are dying, but the thimbleberries are in their prime and the blackberries are starting to appear. The slugs are actually leaving a few of my strawberries for ME this year. Thus whenever I go out to walk the dogs, I have a fruit snack. I've been doing really well on meal portions (I'm still working on the freezer full of half a dozen different meals that I cooked, divvied up and froze several weeks ago), but junk food at work (left by colleagues) continues to be a major pitfall. Tonight there was an unfortunate Doritos incident... thanks a lot, evening shift. Please take your bad food with you when you clock out.

I bought a whole bunch of tuna packets to use as meals at PSG. I'm going to let myself eat at the food vendors' stands a bit, but that is problematic for portion control when I have no fridge or microwave. The tuna packets I bought have condiments in them (I tried the plain- as well as the plain chicken- and just couldn't get jazzed about eating that all week long), but they are portion controlled in 120-cal and 100-cal envelopes. And no cooking, no cleanup, portable, with low perishability. (The tuna packets unfortunately are not going to be a very good option for regular life due to their unreasonable prices.) I also got almonds, granola (caloric, but not as bad as candy/crackers/cookies/doughnuts/breakfast cereal/other poor options), and will get some fruit and Slim Fasts before getting onsite.  I'm looking at myself in the mirror morning and night and wondering how much of the abdominal bloating I'm seeing is my bad soda habit. I should go cold turkey one day and see if there is a visible difference. But that would involve going cold turkey all day.  :( 

SUB me.

Perhaps even more than the dogma of scientific philosophies, the gloomy ghost of many different  religious doctrines planted the seeds for the rejection of the body. Doctrines of renunciation according to which life is a sin to be amended. Doctrines born out of the fear to be truly alive. In their eyes, the Earth is nothing but a vale of tears, a place of suffering, nothing more than an obligatory stop on the way to reach better destinations. The body is a heavy burden pinning us to the ground, an obstacle on the way to Heaven. Not only are body and soul not in harmony, they are antithetical principles at war with each other.
-Daniele Bolelli, On The Warrior’s Path



Tues: 129
Wed: 130

With the all the shift-flipping, overtime, and subsequent reduced mat time, I am having a particularly difficult task lately resisting the caffeinated soda and Ritz Oven Baked Sour Cream and Onion crackers. I actually had those damnable crackers for BREAKFAST the other day. I also had two rice-centric oinkfests while CK was here. I love rice, but it's interesting to observe how my body reacts to it after having been on a much less grainy/carbby diet for a while. I get tired and want to nap... and yet I get hungry again sooner than I probably would have if I'd eaten something meatier... and of course there's an immediate notable jump in the numbers on the scale.

Thurs: 127.5
Fri: 128
Sat: 126.5

One of my very favorite authors has rewarded me for being a stalkerfan by using one of my characters in a little tangent on her current online novel. I must cop to a slight wince at seeing her write my character better than I do, but that is almost wholly overcome by the squeeeeee of it all. As for myself, I am still stuck on the same plot point that I've been stuck on for several months. However, my other MC got two new posts this weekend (it's funny that I was working on it the same day that the REAL author was working on it).

Sun: 126.5

One of the things CK worked on with me while she was here was walking/standing with one's weight on three ideal points of the foot. I have found in the ensuing week that it's actually easy to remind myself to work on this- CONSTANTLY- because my PF pain is simply too severe to ignore. Thus I have been extremely well-disciplined about observing this practice pretty much every time I take a step.  CK points out (paraphrasing here) that it behooves us to remember that our feet are not just lumps of meat to stuff into binding cases of canvas and ignore.

Mon: 126
Tues: 126.5
Store clerks look at you funny when you buy five cartons of eggs.

Weds: 128
Thurs: 128

Fri: Finally, some JIU JITSU!!!!

Sweeps from guard. Then rolls with Doug, Ross and Allison.

I asked Allison to deep-half-guard me... he is one of the best at it. He still got it a few times, but even when he did, I at least made an effort to stay on top and try a few things before giving up and rolling back on my ass. After the roll, he told me that I was getting batter at defending it.

Ross: Wow, just Wow.

I informed him that I was noticing that when he gets on top, he is REALLY tight and heavy and controlling, and I can't do anything- then he starts messing around, and lets me replace guard or half guard. I said, "Once you're on top and you have me really controlled, I want you to SUB me." So he did, several times in a row, even though I was defending hard. Besides that masterful top game, something he does that I like is that he works outside of the box. He said, "I experiment, and it makes me lose more often, but...." But yeah, he's going to be be incredible in the long run. Ross is one of those people that if he quits at blue belt, I'll have to hunt him down and drag him back by his ear. He has a real gift.

Somebody clocked me in the jaw and gave me a real pretty bruise.

Thursday advanced class

In martial arts, everything begins with the body. First, one gets acquainted with it, and slowly becomes intimate with it. The body is transformed into the best ally of the spirit. Then spirit and body become one. -Daniele Bolelli, On The Warrior’s Path




Look what I found by the side of the road on my way home from work last night. Its name is "Notstaying". Anyone want a bunny?


Evening advanced BJJ at Bellevue.

Drills: side control to KOB to side control on the other side. Sit on your hip and use the FAR knee to slide over opponent, then fall onto hip on other side.

Opponent is in your closed guard, holding your belt. Break hir grip by bracing with your hand on your own wrist (Carlos does it by gripping with the outside hand and running the INSIDE wrist under). As you break grip, pull opponent's arm crossways over your chest and use your legs to help hir along. Hug around hir head and arm. Take a moment to make sure you have this seated correctly on the neck... this is the time to do it, as your opponent is occupied with trying to avoid the face-plant. Later, s/he is going to figure out what you are doing, and tuck hir chin- then it will be too late to adjust your choke. Now: Slide your legs down a bit,  and use them to pinch hir thighs together, then roll. (If this isn't working, you can also use a butterfly hook toe here.) Front mount. Hop off on the same side you have the trapped arm. Choke.

More drills: this time we began with the wrist release and cross-yank, then shrimped out and took the back. Note that getting a hook or a good lapel grip (ideally both) and then pulling opponent into your lap is much less work and less dangerous than  trying to get all the way out and then climb on hir back.

A few spars- two blue belts and a purple. I felt in control with both of the blues (got a few taps on each) and competitive with the purple tonight. Dave and I traded some good choke tips.
Got the new Miller book- "Force Decisions"- I'm about ten pages in, and already have about a billion good quotes marked.

I'm the sh!t!

No man, however civilized, can listen for very long to African drumming, or Indian chanting, or Welsh hymn singing, and retain intact his critical and self-conscious personality. –Aldous Huxley





E-mail from Tasara, re: Turtle Drum:
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GREAT JOB, KITSUNE!!  People LOVED you!!   XXXOXOO     You silly woman.
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E-mail from Tiffany:
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Kitsune, your opening of the circle was BEAUTIFUL!  I am inspired by the way you called in the directions, it was welcoming for everyone, it was other than boring or intimidating for those that were new to the circle and/or calling in directions, and you sang it so well!!!
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On Facebook, from another attendee:
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Ken commented on Monthly Indoor Ceremony_ Hosted by Kitsune_ These have been getting very powerful:
This was our biggest indoor jam so far 28 + I believe was the count. Kitsune is the shit. Songs and light sabers. Damn.
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Whew!!!    :P    ;)



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Lunchtime BJJ, GB Sea.  Stuck behind that goddamn train for 20 min, and so late to class. I hate that train.


Standup- opponent punches at your face, you parry, overhook the arm, move beside opponent and hug hir around the waist with other arm. Move hips, hip throw. KOB. Note- when being thrown, draw your arm back- otherwise Angela will throw you, KOB you and then armbar you.


Pendulum sweep. Note that you can put your foot on opponent's knee and push it back. The foot that you are grabbing to "talk on the phone" with- try to capture it closer to the ankle than the knee. Also try to keep the leg until you are settled into mount.


Opponent stands up in your guard- the grab-the-backs-of-the-ankles attack. To get on top- pick a side and lean your torso over there. The opposite side shin goes BACK. I hope that we drilled this enough times that I will remember it. I like this attack, but I am often too slow to get on top once I take the person down.


One roll with Bryan, one with Z, one with John.



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Evening gi class, Sleeper Athletics.


I couldn't stay for the entire class tonight, but came for drills. More side control escapes. We reviewed one of the ones from last week, plus:


You are in bottom side control. Use your foot to catch opponent's near ankle. S/he will likely switch to scarf. As s/he does this, you push hir cheek away, walk your hips/feet **WAY** out, lift your feet and catch the head, sit up. Now you are in scarf (on top!)   My usual error is that I fail to get the legs far enough out, and thus I cannot reach the head with my feet.


You are in bottom side control. Use the hand nearest the opponent to grab hir pants. Use your other elbow to push on the face. Crank opponent back as far as you can, then bridge violently and throw your feet over to the other side of hir body. Belly down. Now you are in top side control.




CK e-mails that she talked to CN and pitched him my request (train me and I'll pay you). He said that he'll contact me after he gets his act together some. Again, not going to hold my breath. It sure would be nice, though. Crossed fingers.