How do I stop you????!!??"

I write for love, but love doesn't pay the bills. -Stephen King



Thursday evening BJJ in KIRKLAND. It was nice to see Dave again.

I haven't been here in a while and it was weird to walk in and have all these white belts (and a couple of  early blues) staring at me.

I know that we learn best when we are getting our tails kicked by better MA'ists, and I am constantly conscious of how very fortunate I am to have so many excellent people to kick my tail for me. It's a very different experience to have a roomful of whites and baby blues that you've never laid eyes on before, and wondering, "Okay, how is this going to go? Are they going to try to prove something on me? Am I going to find myself in WW3 in here tonight? And if I do, can I keep it together?"

Standup: straightarm push to opponent's right shoulder while snatching left shin (that's SHIN, not thigh or knee). Lift and dump.

Triangles from guard. I just don't use these, and while I'm excellent (in drilling) on one side, the other side is just not happening. OF COURSE, OF COURSE OF COURSE Prof Casey (whom I barely know and I doubt knows my name at all) walks over to look JUST AS I try it on the stupid side and make an idiot of myself. WHYWHYWHYWHYWHY????!!!???!!! Now I have made a stellar first impression on him as a purple belt who cannot execute a simple triangle in drill.

Cross chokes from guard, gripping the wad of gi at the back of the shoulder. My favorite.

Spars with a white belt guy and a blue belt girl. Was able to handle them both easily, although Blue made me work- she has lots of energy, flexibility, strength, and is in good shape. She kept beginning by pulling me into her guard, so after two or three of those, I made a point of pulling HER into MY guard instead. She seemed deficient on front mount escapes, so I showed her my favorite no-fail one and then skated around mounting her repeatedly and making her do it till she almost died of exhaustion.  Had one embarrassing moment where I KOB'ed her and she rolled the "wrong" way to escape. I was so surprised, and my balance was a little off, so she got me fair and square. It was a good reminder. Gracie Barra tends to be pretty formulatic, and I have really gotten used to "If I do A, he's going to do B." The only exceptions to that are the white and black belts, and I rarely work with white belts. When I do A and they do P instead, I need to not get caught flat footed. This is important as a defense-oriented MA'ist. I have to remember that if I get into a defensive situation, it is likely that the other guy will NOT be a trained grappler, and when I do A, I need to be ready for him to do P and R and UDK and aardvark and 74 instead of B.


Me: (setting up a keylock) "Don't let me do THIS again,"
Blue: (wailing) "HOW DO I STOP YOU??!?"


The white belt was newer. On him, I did my standard "This is KOB. I get points for this, so as soon as I do it to you, you need to turn toward me and shrimp out before I count to 3." And then skated around KOB'ing him repeatedly and making him do it till he almost died of exhaustion.

Both of them thanked me sincerely after, and said that they had learned a lot. I love that.

Besides making a point of teaching/drilling one thing (him, KOB escape; her, front mount escape) hard- which I make a point of telling them that I want them to retain and do to me next time- I feel that it's educational for the lower belts for me to tire them out to the point that they are reeling when we are done, and I'm not breathing hard. Of course probably THE most important thing they need to learn is "relax and breathe", and this is a good demo of what they are shooting for.

This did, however, leave me mulling a dilemma as I left. Is it helpful or not- on a purely selfish level- to make a point of going to Kirkland regularly so that I can work with lower-ranked people for a change?

Of course you learn things by teaching. And it's a thrill to have your techniques actually WORK for a change instead of getting shut down every time even if you're doing it right, just because the other person is six skill levels above you. But I wonder if my behemoth challenges- confidence and self esteem- would be boosted by doing this regularly, or would it be just a sop to my ego? I would love to find things that would genuinely boost my confidence and self-esteem, but I do not have time and energy to watse on band-aid ego sops.

I wonder if it would be helpful to come here to work on my weak bottom and sweep game with the white belts.

Uphill, then downhill.

The stakes aren’t just pride and emotion. They can get real serious, real quick- even if you thought you were playing for such penny-ante shit as your pride. –Campfire Tales From Hell


I am missing some classes because my insomnia rages unchecked. There are many times when I just do not feel safe to get behind the wheel. The doc has informed me that I may work my way up to four of these prescription sleeping pills (and presumably not die). I took two yesterday (I skipped the one-and-a-half step) and it did nada.

Thursday lunchtime BJJ in Bellevue.

Standup, judo grips: Turn almost side-by-side with opponent and stick your near leg between hir feet really far back. When s/he shifts balance to the other foot to try to move away or seek a steadier stance, quickly yank your foot out and trip hir OTHER foot. Speed, correct timing, and getting the person offbalance are key.... as well as being a convincing actor and making the foe think that you really are fixated on that near leg.

Standup, you put an arm up to guard and the opponent grabs your wrist/forearm. Extricate arm (keeping opponent's arm) and scoot almost side-by-side again- only this time you grab the belt. Don't go to the back. This was just a setup, but it was almost irresistible to do a straight armbar from here. Unfortunately, the straight armbar involves stepping back, and Carlos wanted us to step forward.

Triangles from open guard, baiting opponent to yank hir sleeve cuff away from you so that s/he pulls one arm back.

One spar with Christy. I am always expecting her to smash me; she's technical, very strong, has MUCH better cardio, and some weight on me. I haven't rolled with her much in a while, but the last few times I have, I was able to control her. I even got a sub today (head and arm choke). I also had several pointers for her in regards to her upcoming competition.

One spar with a four stripe white belt girl. I was able to handle her pretty easily.

These two elderly dogs are still walking/hiking me into the ground, and it's embarrassing. The upside is that we are getting lots of exercise. Nor do they like to allow me to stroll along. Unless I work really hard- with constant attention- to rein them in, we are power-walking the entire time (regardless of terrain). One problem I'm running into is that many of the trails here go UP a mountain and then back DOWN. Coming down is a bitch on my bad knees, even when I'm not being yanked along by an impatient dog who never gets tired. If I have to walk downhill, I'd much rather do it FIRST, when I'm fresh.

Maybe not "everybody", but at least one person....

An assertive examination of the threat- not glaring in his eyes, but scanning and noting his stance, possible weapons and where his hands are- will help to discourage the threat. He must see you scanning and evaluating. It sends a signal. Simultaneously, check yourself. Make sure your hands are free and any weapons you have are accessible. Scan for the threat’s possible confederates and keep the threat in your peripheral vision. An experienced threat will notice you doing this and will have to move you into a different class of potential victim, preferably out of the victim category altogether.   –Rory Miller


Friday evening BJJ in Bellevue under Prof. Doug.

Outside reap setups. Remembering that collar grip needs to be higher. Also, pushing with that fist against the jaw or neck makes a big difference. After not-gonna-admit-how-many years, it feels a little like I'm starting to coordinate the whole push/pull  thing. A little.

Triangles from closed guard, transitioning through butterfly and a half-spider to get there.

Rolls with Christie, Prof Sean, Kevin, and a white belt guy that I know from Kirkland but his name escapes me.

Christie got two stripes on her belt tonight. She's been working really hard, coming to a lot of classes, and doing great.

She also told me- after drilling- "I'm so happy when you come!"  which gave me a warm fuzzie.

"This is how people, like, take down LIVESTOCK."

I differentiate strangles (cutting off blood to the brain) from chokes (cutting off air). Both have similar effects, but chokes take longer and are more likely to trigger a panic response. These are the only techniques that work on everyone despite insanity, drugs or rage. –Rory Miller



Thurs: 128
Fri: 130
Sat: 128
Sun: 130
Mon: 128
Tues: 130

Come on.... is this supposed to be funny? I'm not finding this very funny.

I registered for the Revolution. 1 weight class up from my ideal in no-gi. I just don't feel like spending the next two weeks starving myself.

Weds: 130 

I dreamed about competing. At least, the lead-up to competing. I had that same acid feeling in my gut that I get when I'm waiting to go on the tourney mat. Does this count as time served toward my goal of learning to cope with the adrenaline dump?

Weds lunchtime BJJ in Kirkland. Escapes from side control.

Bree was here. I barely recognized her. She looks great. She's lost quite a bit of weight. It was very nice to work with her again.

Frame up, push, shrimp, get LOWER knee in, use feet to push opponent's knees as necessary, replace full guard.

Then: frame up, push, keep upper elbow planted while you windshield-wiper forearm to opponent's armpit. Jerk that elbow up- and shrug- at the same time you jerk downward elbow down. Turn belly-down and either take the back or deal with the turtle.

Next: same entry, only when you get to the side of your turtled opponent, turn 90 degrees to hir. Reach under hir and grab the knee. Pull knee while driving into opponent (use head and straight arm "punchthrough") to take top side control.

Then: same entry, only opponent grabs whizzer as you escape side control. Now you must hook hir near shin and pull it outward as you move your body behind opponent and between hir feet. Whip the arm free with a powerful circular slinging motion. Note that you must be careful to get BOTH of your knees behind the opponent- if you straddle hir shin, s/he can roll and kneebar you.

Drills with the "punchthrough" technique... Cindy likes this drill because when you get done doing the technique, you are already in position for your partner to do the technique. Then: positional sparring from side control.

I went straight home after that without rolling, showered and immediately set to work making cat food. That took me all freakin' day and I was late to evening class.



From under side control: Frame, push, shrimp, bring top leg over opponent's head and set it on hir shoulder. As opponent tries to figure out WTF you're setting up, you pop the leg back over the head and triangle. This was weird, but I liked the sneakiness of it.

"Punchthrough" technique again, and drills of same again. Switch partners and repeat.

Positional sparring from side control. God do I ever hate being under side control. I flail uselessly, I get pancaked, I waste a lot of energy, I get really frustrated. The only things that seem to meet with a small amount of success are 1)Black Crane elbow down to my own hip on the floor, turn on belly, let them back mount me. That sucks, but frankly I'd rather fight off being back mounted than fight off bottom side control. 2) wait till they try to change position or sub me, and attempt an escape while they are doing so. #2 is not going to fly on Cindy's mat because she harries me if I just lie there.

I gave Mike my KOB lesson, and also talked him through defending a bunch of chokes and other things I was throwing at him in rapid succession. Note that he is having a lot of trouble with breating. He is either doing the huff-and-puff or holding his breath altogether- not sure which- and then having to pause the roll and gasp on hands and knees. From now on, will make a point of continually reminding him to breathe during the roll.

A roll with Cindy. We took our gi tops off. She was squashing my face with her forearm, pretending to kneedrop on my belly, she tickle-pinched me once in the side and made me shriek, then insisted that it never happened. I kept arguing that this and that thing she was doing to me was illegal, and she argued that they was not. The whole time, she giggled. "I know what you're doing," I gasped out. "You 're trying to make me hate you enough to get rougher. I'm not going to be manipulated like that."  I got smeared, but the plus side was that I was moving continually at a high rate of speed... you have no choice when someone is constantly bouncing all over you grinding on your face and doing all sorts of other painful crap to you.

Next- because there's never enough pain to be had- we did some standup involving one meathook and one head- get to the side of the person and drive your head into the opponent (just above the eyebrow into opponent's jaw hinge or into the flat spot distal from the eye) and push hir around like that or use it to set up a takedown. Then, both hands behind our own backs and fighting just with the pushy heads. Depending on position, one head is totally in control of the whole scene. Note that I need to pay attention to my neck position, posure, shoulder position, etc or else I am not well set-up to try this. But it is very effective, and holy Christ does it ever hurt. Both Dave and I were tapping like crazy almost as soon as she got position and started pushing- never mind any takedowns. Very quickly I was reduced to geniuine PLEADING: "Oh Jesus, no, please don't demo that on me again, please...."

Then we did a supremely evil takedown. I mean, this is just sadistic. As a defense-oriented martial artist, I would love to have this in my toolbox.... but I don't think I am going to be able to bring myself to do it on some poor girl in a comp, much less one of my buddies. This is the kind of thing you'd do to someone evil who deserves pain. Like...hmm....yeah..... maybe someone who would screw a semiconscious teammate and then leave her lying alone on the concrete in a parking lot in the middle of a winter night. Yeah, that's the type of person I'd be able to practice this on. Repeatedly. Gleefully. With full commitment.

"Meathook" behind the neck with the left hand. I tend to want to try to hang weight off that hook, but Cindy notes that the elbow is supposed to be planted against the chest so that you're pulling with the hook and pushing with the elbow at the same time. Right hand behind-the-bicep grip.
Now: choke up on that meathook side abruptly, pulling your armpit right to the neck. Clamp.

The first time Cindy did this to me, she simultaneously pulled her bicep grip so that my arm was clasped across her belly with my palm TOWARD her- yes, this twisted my spine and put my shoulder blade toward the ground and made it impossible to defend wherever she chose to put me.  I really liked that aspect- but when it was my turn, she said that I was getting too fixated on that arm and that I didn't actually even NEED the arm at all- she had me let go of the arm and gable grip my hands together.

Now, take the foot on the SAME SIDE as your armpit clamp, kick it through hard and let yourself drop to the mat on your ass. Yeah.

You know, there is really no way to describe this so that you can appreciate the true level of terror and torment. I mean, you could twist someone's head off and watch it shoot across the room. That certainly is what it feels like when it is done to you. At the same time that your head is being twisted and popped off like a grape off the stem, your attention wars between that and the fact that your spine is contorting as you are being borne inexorably toward the floor. Backwards. Hitting the floor (backwards, with your opponent's full weight on you) is the LEAST of your worries at this juncture. It becomes immediately apparent that if you fail to spin your own body and throw YOURSELF onto your back with lightning speed, your spine is going to crack. Oh, and while you're doing that, try to get your neck aligned because your head is about to pop off. Hurry. You have about two seconds to parse this and then figure out how to physically make it happen. If you survive the takedown and find that you are not a quadriplegic, congratulations- now enjoy trying to get your breath back and get out of bottom scarf... unless you just want to tap right now and give your opponent the win before she kills you, since she's obviously a fucking homicidal maniac.  (I love you, Cindy!)

Kaungren (watching in horrified fascination): "This is how people, like, take down LIVESTOCK."

Cindy then did it to me again, and Mike dashed in to mime branding me on the ass.

Triangles with Doug

A religion that forgives me for being a shit doesn't have near the impact of one that promises that whatever I send out is coming right back at me. -Anihow



Now that I'm not going to Bothell on my free Friday evenings, I have discovered that Prof Doug is doing a "study hall" at Bellevue in that time slot. We had a great group of mostly colored belts in there tonight, and worked on triangle setups.

First, some drills from guard, sans hands (Doug made us lace our fingers behind our necks).

Then: Start with foe in your closed guard, two cuff grips. Transition to a double knee shield or to butterfly guard (feet on hips). Act like you're going for spider guard on one side, and "miss"... transition to triangle. Yank the hell out of that cuff to help fuel your angle change, and try to get said angle change down to as few steps (and as quick) as possible.

Now: You are in top side mount. Make sure you have kneed the opponent's near arm atop your thigh. Slide your knee onto belly. when s/he pushes at knee with hir other hand, you grab the wrist/cuff and pin that hand. Yank your leg back, straight out, then hoist it up and over, shove your foot behind opponent's head. At the same time, with your free hand, haul hir head up (my partners and I discovered for ourselves that that was a lucious detail- very distracting to the victim). Roll. As you roll, grab opponent's other sleeve and lock the triangle as you finish the roll.

This intimidated me, as it looked complicated and showboaty. But when I tried it, it was nice and smooth.

Finally: You have opponent in armbar with your knees over hir face, but s/he is clasping hir hands together. Act like you're going to try to pry hir hands loose with your foot, but then shove the foot right through. Open your knee above opponent's forehead. This prompts hir to sit up. Let hir. This results in putting hirself right into your triangle. (Another tidbit we discovered during the drill... this bait doesn't work nearly so well unless you really act like you are going for the armbar, and keep your leg over the opponent's face. That way, as soon as you lift that leg and s/he sees daylight, s/he wants to lunge up into it. At first, my partner was not covering my face- and I had to think about where I was "supposed" to go for the drill.)

A roll with (blue belt) Daniel, a roll with Mario, a roll with Doug. Good competitive matches all (of course Doug was letting me work a little).

Nice gi choke from Doug: You are in top side control. Sneakily get ahold of your own gi tail (on the side closest to opponent's feet) and wait your chance to shoot it to the far side of hir neck. You must leave yourself plenty of slack, because you are going to feed this gi tail to your other hand, which is behind opponent's neck.  Grab opponent's pants at hir hip (same side as you are on), turn N/S, put your forehead to mat.

I adore gi tail chokes, but for some reason my brain is very impaired at retaining them.

"You'll have to do it with one arm"

  “If someone has a gun and is trying to kill you, it would be reasonable to shoot back with your own gun.” THE DALAI LAMA


Friday night no-gi at Sleeper Athletics.

Man, was everybody on my case tonight! It's a good thing that I feel confident that these people actually *LIKE* me, because the harrassment was nonstop today! More dunning about how I get off on crushing the throats of helpless children, dire threats about what various people were going to do to me during the sparring, derisive exhortations to stop being so Care Bear gentle with my KOB's and N/S transitions. Yes, that last from the very *same people* who were riding me about mangling middle-schoolers. Ironically, several of tonight's techniques were of the "Oh Lord, that hurts so bad" or/and "Ye Gods- is that *LEGAL*?" varieties. (I only actually asked the question once today. I find myself asking Cindy this often. I think she may be a bit exasperated with my habit of doing this.)

It was the consensus (of everyone besides me) that I am practicing "possum jiu jitsu". I guess this is a slight improvement over what Bryan terms my impression of a "dead fish"... at least the possum presumably is only *playing* dead...

Standup: one hook behind opponent's head, the other "inside tie" on bicep. Push into hir. When s/he pushes back, tip your bicep-grip elbow up (bringing opponent's elbow up with it), lower stance just a titch, and duck under the arms as you step past and yank that neck hold to try to bring opponent to knees. Follow hir down and end hanging off hir side, with the neck hook transferred to the shoulder (this forearm is now across the throat) and your other arm around hir back and hooked into the opposite inside thigh.

Now: Transfer shoulder hand to bicep and thigh hold to far ankle, Put your head down into hir ribs (I always flub that part) and drive into hir till you roll hir on hir back and get side control.

Next: S/he tries to push at your face. Use the arm nearest hir head to sweep around and force that arm up so that you can lock on a head-and-arm. (Note: that crawling-the-fingers-across-the-mat thing is very good here to cinch up around the head.) Use the "RNC" grip.

You are in top side control. Opponent pushes at your face with hir far arm. Use the arm nearest hir feet to hook the bicep, then swing your body over to sit on hir head. Pinch knees tight. Figure 4. Pull up sharply if opponent is trying to fold/wrap arms to resist. Push hir arm behind hir shoulder blade. YOUR elbow (the one nearest hir feet) should touch the mat. Now sprawl on belly. The leg nearest hir feet should be straight, toe braced to keep hir from rolling you. Kimura.

After I kimura'ed Lamont about a zillion times (with both him and Cindy railing at me for being way too nice: "crush his head"; "That's the gentlest KOB I've ever felt"), I asked him if he wanted to drill something on me (see, I'm a good partner!). He wanted to practice an armbar from mount that ended with him belly-down instead of on his back. Interesting. It often caught BOTH of my arms and locked both elbows if I wasn't careful to pull one under me. Wristlock opportunity as well.

This is a baratoplata, I think(?). You are setting up a triangle, opponent attempts to defend by stuffing hir arm into your crotch. You loop your arm through the triangle s/he has just formed with hir arm (not too deep- for some reason I felt like it needed to be really deep, but it doesn't). Now release your triangle and place your foot on hir hip (opposite side as hir trapped hand). Keep your other leg over hir back. Keep both knees tight to control. This is a shoulder lock. It is not obvious to me which way to crank it once I have it set up, but as soon as I prompt myself that the shoulder should roll back, it makes sense.

Hmmm... we set up this technique from another position, involving a roll... but my mind is blanking.......

Me (getting shoulder cranked): "Be careful...."
Lamont: {dismissive grunt}
Me:  "If you blow out my rotator cuff, I'm going to kill you."
Lamont: "You'll have to do it with one arm."

Sparring: I was letting people force one arm over my head or across my own throat too often tonight. Note that tomoe nage does not work on Lamont, Terry, **OR** Wei. Not only does it not work on them, it ends in my plopping back on my butt on the mat fruitlessly in an embarrassing fashion. I attempted the guard pull from yesterday on Terry, and it failed miserably- he grabbed my foot, single-legged me, and flopped happily down on top of me in side control.

Wei had me tapping like Savion Glover. He is still being fairly nice, but after having worked with me for this long, I guess he has decided it's okay to put on a little more head/face pressure. Now I have bruises on both cheekbones. 

I did cave and have one more Real Pop after class, but it was a 90-cal Coke mini-can.
------------------
Saturday: Both gyms closed for the Revolution. I had a number of errands to run- so to combine that with exercise, I parked at my first destination and walked to the rest.

One of my errands was the Redmond Safeway, where I found to my happiness that they had stocked some of the little 90-cal mini-cans of Dr Pepper. Usually they only have the Coke. It would be nice if they kept stocking the Dr Pepper.

Wednesday evening

If anyone strikes my heart, it does not break, but it bursts, and the flame coming out of it becomes a torch on my path.   Hazrat Inayat Khan


Wednesday evening gi class, Sleeper Athletics.

As great as it is to have a small class, it always means you're gonna work your buns off. We started out with just Jalen and Axel and me. We picked up two additional people later on. First, though, drills of that same takedown. Axel stood at one end of the mat and I stood at the other, while Jalen had to run first to me, take me down, then run across the room to Axel, take him down, etc for a total of ten. Axel and I had to do calisthenics (burpees, pushups, etc) while we were waiting our turns- so no downtime!  Everyone got a turn in the middle. Note that if you're not careful how you land this takedown, the opponent can roll you and end on top.

Next: you are in bottom side mount. Frame up, make room, shrimp, matward knee in, replace closed guard. Double sleeve cuff grips. Go to butterfly guard. Feet on hips. Shrimp out a bit, bring left leg around to "lasso" opponent's arm and hook toe behind bicep. Make sure your knee is bowed OUTWARD and not inward (or s/he will push it down and pass). Bring your other foot to that same side of opponent's torso and press the top of the foot to the ribs. GRAB THE PANTS AT THE KNEE on the side of the opponent that you have no feet. (I kept forgetting that part). Push opponent; when s/he pushes back, load hir onto you and then shove hir off to the left. Keep that pants grip till you get opponent on hir back. Roll up to KOB. Baseball bat choke, moving body all the way behind opponent's head and then placing forehead on the mat.

Second technique: start the same as before, but after you get the lasso (again, make sure knee is bowed OUTWARD), place your rt sole on opponent's same side bicep just above the elbow. As you do this, you want to be SITTING UP, not flat on your back (that was my big challenge this time). If you can't sit up, that means you need to shrimp out more and get your butt further away from the opponent. Now- grab behind opponent's tricep on your "lasso" side and yank hir in for a triangle. Your spider-guard foot is the one that goes OVER opponent's neck; the lasso side is the one that you need to bring hir arm in.

Cindy gave me my pick of drill partners, and since I had picked Jalen last time, I picked Axel this time.

Sparring with everyone. I was informed that I was under no circumstances to be in the same position longer that 30 seconds.  I really wanted to try that gi choke that we had practiced in the Old Farts' class last week, and I tried to set it up a few times on Axel- but all of my partners tonight were way too frisky for me to finish setting it up. I was *very* tired during the sparring- the lack of breaks and the sprints-with-burpees interspersed between were brutal. 

Gi tails

This is the universal hand signal for GO AWAY! (Holds handgun in firing position.)



(Pic- that's John on the right, who also got his purple yesterday)

WIP: After not getting anything concrete done on this for a while, I wrote part of a very intense scene this morning. I woke up pre-dawn after sleeping only a few hours, and the scene was just eating my brain.... to the point that I could not go back to sleep- I had to get up and purge it out onto the laptop. It's going to need a ton of revision, because this scene is a collage of a jillion aspects of the story that I want to tie in here... but I got a nice backbone down now. It's intense. I hope it's not too overrwrought. I'm struggling a little with the line between intense and overrwrought. I don't think it's going to be overrwought in context, but taken as a stand-alone snippet, it's probably Way Too Much. Which is unfortunate, because I'm itching to get some kind of excerpt down that would be appropriate to show one of my experienced writer contacts (who has already kindly offered more than once to look at something for me).

It's been an eggy few days. I want to cut my soda consumption down a bit, too, but right now I'm primarily wrestling with a constant, mindless, consuming (heh) desire to snack.

I decided to fleece my (soon-to-be-former) employer's health insurance to get the repeat allergy scratch tests before I lose my insurance at the end of Dec. I'm still experiencing mucho congestion on the $120-per-bottle prescription inhaler. If I get really pumped, I might try to get to the eye doc too.

Thursday lunchtime BJJ at GB Seattle. Starting off with that annoying invisible guy standing behind me with the electric drill between my shoulderblades again. I hate him. On the upside- it does need to get to a certain threshold of pain before whatever it is that I'm doing to trigger it starts to feel really excrutiating. I guess I'm not quite there yet, but maybe soon I can pinpoint the precise culprit.

All rollin', all the time. I had a suspicion that something was up when Carlos put me with several jumbo-sized purple and high blue belt guys that he usually doesn't put me with, because those particular guys are not good at modifying their Hulk Factor. I survived. I didn't sub any of them, but none of them subbed me either- and  furthermore I didn't spend the entire class lying on the bottom like a smashed cockroach. I didn't take any breaks. One of the Hulky high blues clocked me in the temple with his elbow. I have a huge goose egg there now. The prof reprimanded him for putting his weight down on me while I was curled up under his groin, but I was actually okay there because my legs were loaded between us. I did not let him front or side mount me. Bottom side control would quite possibly have been lethal for me with that dude.

I also rolled with a white belt that I've never seen before, who gave me more of a challenge than anyone else on the mat today- all those big colored belts notwithstanding. This white belt has otherwordly open guard skills. I must have charged him eight times, and after the first three, I did it with the mindset of "Now DON'T let him catch you in THAT again," yet he ended up trapping mein the same open guard position every damn time. He was good!

And then... yeah. As I said in the previous post. I'm not really freaking out yet because I'm still in too much shock. John got promoted to purple today as well. It was nice to share it with a good teammate. Carlos hinted that there would be some more promotions tonight, which makes me want to go in... and stay all the way through advanced class.....  I'd really like to see Ben and Ron get promoted to purple, and if Ben at least doesn't get promoted tonight, I'm an aardvark. But whew, I'm tired- he made me work for it today- and my thumped melon aches. Plus, stepping out on the mat in front of all those people, like that.... eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. 


Later...............
Ok, so I made basics and study hall, but bailed before advanced. By the end of basics, my brain was feeling kinda full, and after study hall it was ready to explode. Too bad, because my body actually felt up to another 90 min (ignoring the guy with the drill, and the goose egg (which really only hurts if I touch it... or try to brush my hair)).  The competition class that used to be in this time slot wiped out my body; study hall wipes out my brain. But study hall is my favorite class. I can tell that Carlos really gets off on teaching it, too.

Basics: I drilled with a nice fellow who was visiting from the Federal Way branch. We did baseball bat chokes from side control, using the gi tail. Does this *get* any better? I love playing with gi tails (even if I haven't yet been able to do much live), and I am lately so intrigued with baseball bat chokes.

You are in top side control. Tease opponent's far bottom gi tail out and pull it up behind hir shoulder. Pass it to your other hand- the one behind opponent's head. Your palm is to the mat. Don't pull the gi tail too far behind opponent's head/shoulder- you need to leave room for the second grip.  Double check to make sure you have hir near arm controlled and everything nice & tight.

Now, Slide your other hand in PALM UP to grab the gi tail just under your first grip. Move your body up toward the back of hir head, and choke-a-palooza. The first couple reps, I mistakenly grabbed a lapel grip for my second grip- it worked just as well.

Next: opponent keeps elbow glued to ribs so that you can't get the gi tail under. Wrap that puppy OVER the arm like a sling. Pass the grip exactly as before. Again, double check your control of the near arm and make sure everything is tight. Now use 2nd hand to post on the mat, and slide your knee (the one nearest opponent's feet) onto belly. Now secure the second grip exactly as before. Hop backward a titch with your posting leg, enough to give you room/angle to slide your KOB over the shoulder, spin and kneel behind opponent's head (facing hir feet). I was able to choke easily from here, but if it isn't good yet, you can post your head on the mat beside opponent's bicep (on the side that you DON'T have the gi tail trapped).

If you sling-wrap the arm but the opponent manages to work it out, slide your own arm though the hole, place it across opponent's throat, and scissor the forearms to choke.

Study hall: triangle practice. Hip the heck up. Failing to hip up properly is a common error. I told Lindsey that I think we small females have an edge here, because we *HAVE* to hip up from the very first- otherwise we can't reach! I also gave Lindsey good advice on push/pull violently with opponent's hands as you hip up (thanks Cindy).

Carlos showed us that if opponent tries to turn the trapped arm down and hide it behind your thigh, you have only to hip up and then you can slide your own arm down your buttcheek and scoop that hand right out. I was happy that I knew the answer before he told us- but I didn't know the scoop method. I have grabbed the sleeve cuff and yanked at it, which doesn't always work with strong guys. 

Note also- do not turn the body too much. You must have the *LEG* turned, but Carlos' body stays mostly square. I may be turning the body a titch too much.

2nd half: sweeps from bottom turtle (Today has been a really good day for me!). That one I like. I'm not going to transcribe it all again, because I did that very recently (and I'm getting tired of typing tonight; this has already been a long entry!) Refinements that I did not catch before: Post the head more diagonal than I have been doing. Also: as you roll, keep the hips OFF the mat. This allows you to stick your weight on the opponent better and transition to side mount easier.

The other one: Again, I've transcribed this technique fairly recently. Opposite orientation: for this one you trap the arm nearest the opponent and stick up the diagonal leg furthest from hir. Thrust hir to the ground. Throw your body over hir, END FACING THE FEET (oops, forgot that part the first rep). Hug thighs. Move to side control.

Bonus: You are in turtle and your opponent is hunched over you on the side, with hir NEAR fist in your far collar (wrist under your throat). Wrap your arm around hir elbow, Turn your SHOULDER toward it, and try to join your hands. Wristlock on hir gripping hand, and just to be even more evil, s/he can't pull the damn thing out. This was *only* working well for me on one side- the side that puts opponent's fist at my right jaw.

It looked like a small class gearing up for advanced tonight. I didn't see Ben or Ron come in before I left. I'm pretty sure Lance was going to get promoted, by the way Carlos (and then Casey) oh-so-casually asked him during study hall if he intended to stick around for advanced. Tall Dave was also looking like he might be about to take on a slightly azure haze.  I would have liked to see that, but not bad enough to try to do the advanced class tonight.

Oh, Lindsey mentioned that Sonia is no longer at GB. So that leaves Bree at 4 stripe blue, Kelly at 3 stripe blue, and a few lower women blues. Still good, but a bummer to lose another almost-purple female.