Knees 2.0

I have a brand-new set of knees. Well, not really. But that's the mnemonic I'm using.

I just recently got my motorcycle out of the shop. Fortunately, they had a "parts bike" in their lot that matches mine, and I think I got back a machine that has more of the "parts bike" on it than my original. The section with the ignition switch in it is from the "parts bike", so I was surprised to find that my motorcycle key doesn't even fit it any more. I have to use the ignition key from the "parts bike".

How is this relevant, you may ask? Well, now that I have a new set of knees, my old posture is just not going to work for them any more than I could force that old key to start the new motorcycle. The new body will only run with the new alignment. (Or so I'm trying to convince myself.)

I can feel muscles on the backs of my thighs right above the knees engaging- and complaining that they are not used to working this hard. Lower back is saying, "Hmmmm…. I'm not really sure if this hurts or not…. but I'm tired and grumpy." It's pretty exhausting; I'm tired of doing it, tired of thinking about it. I feel like I'm walking around with a broomstick up my butt all the time. I hope it gets easier soon.


The sprained finger looks like a burned sausage. I thought I'd be able to do one-handed BJJ, but any bumping or the slightest pressure on the finger makes me dizzy with pain. It's going to need a few days, at least. Benched. Sigh. Should be able to still do some kung fu formwork, although I am not looking forward to the centrifigal Crane arm-swings that we will likely be doing tonight.

I will say that it's not as crippling as having a thumb sprain; although many of the same difficulties persist- with typing, dressing oneself, opening a can of cat food, etc. I can hold a pen only with great difficulty, so work tomorrow is going to be interesting.

I'm going to consider hosting Turtle Drum last night to be a workout. I was really relieved to see Bill show up, because using a djembe or my big frame drum was out of the question. Luckily, I was still able to play my bell drum, my Remo Sound Shapes, water drum, and rattle. Without a giant djembe strapped around my waist, though, I ended up dancing and chanting more than I am usually inclined to do.

It was a decent turnout, but pretty chaotic at times. There were a few rhythmically-challenged folks present, including one dude who was not only pounding at complete random but doing it LOUDLY, with a large frame drum *and* a medium-sized ashiko. Sigh. Whattaya gonna do. Fortunately, he was sandwiched between Bill and me- but he even pulled the two of us into a train wreck a few times. It was a challenge to find and start rhythms that would hopefully be simple enough for this guy and the other beginners to follow, not QUITE inspiring enough to encourage Arrythmia Guy to spin off in a solo, have enough building potential for the more experienced drummers to not get bored (you can only play "Fanga" for so long), and be sustainable in the face of someone thumping randomly into your right ear. I stayed beside Arrythmia Guy much of the time, keeping it simple, and making sure he could not only hear me, but SEE my drumstick, and maybe use that to help him try to stay on beat.

My dance was very MA-ish last night; pieces of Box form were popping up, and inside cross blocks, and a few circular kicks- but it didn't seen Dragony, which was a little unusual. More tai chi flavor than anything. 180-degree hopping turns. The balance was exquisite. Some really low shifting stances, too.

Leading a drum circle- especially one with a Shamanic focus- is like chasing a bunch of colorful paper streamers across a parking lot through a windstorm, trying to catch them all and gather them into one cohesive horsetail. Only it's not so much catching and tying them as trying to create a streamer of your own that is shiny enough and "sticky" enough that all the other streamers are drawn to bunch together with it of their own accord. In the meantime, you have to be constantly monitoring the currents and making adjustments, as this is a fickle wind. The more beginners (beginners at drumming, as well as beginners at energy work), the harder it is to pull it all together. It is a lot of intense energy work, which is mostly why I'm considering it a martial arts workout- although the drumming and dancing is a physical workout as well.

It turned out pretty well, though. Arrythmia Guy seemed to get a little better melded by the second hour. The guy with the camouflage Remo has become a much more proficient drummer over the last few months, and is almost at a point where he can act as an anchoring force. The Digeridoo Guy was there, and he started some nice songs. Thekla was there to chant. There was also a new woman- Susie- I've never seen her before, but as soon as she walked in, it was like she was glowing. I forgot what I was doing and was propelled across the room right to her. She started off tentative, but she obviously knew her way around dancing energy work. Three or four other people got up to dance, too... it's always so much easier to keep the momentum flowing when people are dancing. Trying to keep a drum circle going with no dancers can sometimes feel like "trying to run away from lava while wearing swim fins" (and if you haven't seen the gut-busting illustration that goes with that phrase, hie ye to the Hyperbole and a Half website and check it out!)... and I can't dance myself unless there are enough strong drummers that I am not needed in that role.

If the rest of this year's drum circles go that well, we'll be sitting pretty.


Later...............

Sunday Kung Fu. I have missed the last two classes in a row, so it was a relief to get back.

Black Crane One. Make the first section of movements all one continuous swirl with no breaks. Don't get lazy with hand position on the Crane-serves-drinks pose. Also- both the hands and the foot are strikes in that motion, so don't do it like a dance step.

Tiger Versus Crane. Unfortunately, last week when I wasn't here, they were working on the centrifugal arm-swinging thingie that leads into the first big flying crescent kick, which is my particular trouble spot in this form. For some reason the momentum is stopping and the energy is grounding out right before the jump- it feels like my arm motions are trying to drive me downward while my legs are trying to drive me upward. We worked on that some more tonight, and it's still not coming together for me. The kick itself is feeling even more powerful, though. It almost makes a snapping sound in the air. If I can get all the pieces assembled, it should be awesome.

Note that the target of the kick- as well as all three of the hand strikes- are toward the east (same opponent). The first rt arm swing is straight up, and that arm continues the circle all the way around without stopping or changing direction.. No elbow-bending at any point. Acknowledge all of the hand strikes.

Note also that the very last kick in the form is toward the south. For both of these kicks, if you fail to turn enough and/or begin the kick too soon, you won't be able to get all the way around to the intended target.

Fully extend the Crane's beak strike at the beginning. The first high cross block to the north- make it snappy and blocking forefully upward BEFORE you turn, not just as an afterthought at the apex of the turn.

Then some Black Crane drills- apps from the last two, which are the long ones, against multiple opponents. We took turns having one person in the middle while the others attacked. They were all laughing at me, and I couldn't figure out why. Apparently there is something humorous about the fact that I hit the same target precisely every single time (in this case, groin, throat, just-below-the-knee, in succession). Well, that's the TARGET, right? That's the idea.

Note that in the drill with the kick-and-backfist… it's okay to put the foot down after you knock the opponent to the ground, if you need to do so in oder to change position for the kick. It is not necessary to hop on one foot over to the fallen person so that you can reach hir to kick hir again.

In the drill with the throw- after the cover-and-corkscrew punch, as you turn to the east to get ready to kick, use a Black Crane guard arm frame. Not only does it provide extra protection in case you fail to jam the opponent's leg with your kick, but it also sets up the arms correctly for the double corkscrew punches so that you don't have the wrong arm on top.

As we were sitting down for the meditation, SK said, "We've all had our sessions with CK last week, so let's all pay attention to our PELVIC ALIGNMENT…" I moaned.

(pic- Cindy)

Cornelia

Yes, I have finally met the elusive and legendary Cornelia. And she sprained my finger in the first four seconds of our very first spar.

I took photos, but they don't do it justice... it is black and purple and three times as large as it is supposed to be. Of course it is the index finger on my dominant hand, too. Dang.

Medium-small woman, about 145lb, blonde, unassuming-looking. As soon as she introduced herself, I exclaimed, "OH, you're the judo black belt!!"

Open mat only, today... I spent the entirety rolling with Cornelia, except when I was icing my finger. She is good.

I figured out after the first throw (as if "judo black belt" wasn't warning enough) that I do not want to do standup with this woman. Unfortunately, every time I tried to get to my feet, sprawl on her shoulders, or otherwise get my center of gravity above hers, she stood up- and things rapidly went to hell for me when she stood up. She wouldn't let me get away with pulling guard, either... which meant we started every spar with me sliding into bottom half guard or bottom side control. Needless to say, I mostly stayed down there.

(Ugh- it's so hard to type with no functional right-hand index finger)

Cornelia's favorite sub is armbars from the top. She must have set up two hundred of them. I'm glad to say that she only finished one... although I'm a little frustrated with myself for letting her set so many up. I'm further glad to say that I think I got two or three subs for every one of hers. She was mostly getting me with trachea-crush chokes. And after the first couple, I wised up and firmly adducted that elbow the second she placed that arm there. I got a few gi chokes on her, tried some kimuras but didn't finish any, tried some keylocks, which were a total fail- her shoulders and elbows are too flexible. She is like Sonia in that way- don't even bother trying keylocks. And while I was compromising my balance trying the keylocks, she took the opportunity to reverse me.

She has a couple of bad habits... most notably, giving up her back, and letting one arm get trapped up beside her head, begging for a head/arm triangle. I didn't manage to finish as many of those as I wanted to. I was trying to do the telephone-arm thing, but not being able to quite finish- and every time I got close, she used her superior strength and weight to reverse me. I was only able to finish them by scooching up and lying on her shoulder while I used my weight and back-arch. Messy, but it was the only way I could get her.

It was a lot of fun, she's great to work with.... all except for the finger. I don't like the look of it. It looks way too much like digits which in the past have been troublesome for periods of two months. It may well be more colorful tomorrow (although I fervently hope it will have shrunk some), and I'll try to get a decent pic.

(pic-Kaungren, apparently just realizing that he forgot to cut his fingernails!)

Death, taxes, war, pestilence, and pelvic alignment

I wish I had never HEARD the words "pelvic alignment".

I didn't go to the gym today, but I got a MAMBO-WORKOUT anyway. (That phrase swiped from my ex's daughter, to whom anything warrenting a particularly intense adjective was a "MAMBO-fill-in-the-blank".) I spent the entire day at work on my feet paying attention to my pelvic alignment. And it *took* attention- literally, if my mind wandered for fifteen seconds, my body was independantly reverting to its former posture.

After two and a half hours of this, I felt like I'd done four hundred squats. I was exhausted and my thighs were straining. At that point, it was tempting to say, "That's enough work for one day," but I'm feeling as if it's sort of like quitting smoking- it might be best to just push through the initial period of torment in one chunk. Detoxing from poor posture.

Whenever this gets hard, I just think about the concept that this might be the key to my chronic knee pain. The idea of doing forms without having it hurt.... what a seductive notion.

Next priority will be the neck/head (and by association, the upper back) alignment- but for right now, it took all of my attention just to focus on the pelvic alignment.


After work, I power-walked for an hour to the auto mechanic. That would have been fine if not for the cold rain (yes, it's STILL raining). I like walking. Rain- a different story. Ah well, it was a good workout.

(pic- Dex's promotion)

Nelson is back.... and blue!

It sucks when your car is in the shop. Raining and cold. I whimped out on lunchtime class.... partly because I did't want to ride the motorcycle in the freezing rain, and partly because the headache I went to bed with last night was *still* lurking about when I got up.

I bailed on Kung Fu this evening, too, but that was altruistic. SK would have picked me up- which is why I didn't tell him. This is MM's last class with us (well, with them) before he heads back to school. If the carpool had had to rush me back to the eastside to shoot up my diabetic cat after class, that would have meant everybody else couldn't go out with MM after class.

Fortunately, I had a backup plan.... BJJ in Bellevue, which is a much more do-able motorcycle ride than all the way around the lake to Seattle and back (my motorcycle is too small to legally go on the highway, so I have to take the long way around).

Thursday is Rodrigo's night to teach in Bellevue, so that was cool, as I don't get to many of his classes any more. He has made a point of asking me to try to get to more Wednesday evening classes in Seattle, since there are several new white belt women there. But without JB to train with in Seattle, there is less incentive for me to drive all the way in there instead of going to Bellevue, which is a much shorter and less trafficky commute. As soon as they start tolling the 520 bridge in a couple months, there will be even *less* incentive.

I ran into Rodrigo walking into the building, and while he was saying hello to a guy who was standing outside, I pulled open the door and stood behind it. When he walked up, he took the door, walked around in back of *me*, and shooed me in- brushing off my "I was holding the door for *YOU*!" Have I mentioned Rodrigo is a cool guy?

The only thing that made me happier than seeing Nelson walk onto the mat was seeing a blue belt tied around his waist. I haven't seen him in months, and he is one of my very favorite people to work with. Especially now that he has dieted himself down to 150. Holy crap. He's only 21 pounds heavier than *ME*. I said, "If you don't stop this, you're going to be in *my* weight bracket!" He mentioned that he is discovering that the ribs are vulnerable to injury when you're this size. Yeah, tell me about it.

Alisson and Nick (who is now teaching the kids) were both wearing new purples. I don't know Nick very well, but it's ABOUT TIME for Alisson. Doug was saying about a YEAR ago, "When is Alisson going to get promoted? I'm tired of getting my ass kicked by a blue belt!"

Side control to armbar. Rodrigo went into a ton of detail during his demo, which was great. Then a variation in which the guy pulls his arm out and grabs his own gi lapel- whereupon you transition to kimura. We drilled forever. Nelson was working really tight, and every single rep, he got tighter and faster and better. I'm really glad that I was drilling these particular techniques with a really good partner instead of some yahoo slamming the subs on too hard and fast. Having kimuras slammed on HURTS.

After drilling forever, we did positional training forever- starting in side control with top person having bottom person's arm trapped with a grip on hir own lapel. Nelson and I pushed each other. He was good at not letting me get the same trick on him twice, though. That's something I want to improve on myself.

It seemed like forever, and that's because it was. We didn't stop at 7 to change from "basics" class to "advanced" class as usual (at which point I was planning to bail)- we just kept going from 6 to 7:30, then open mat. I was too wiped by 7:30 to do any more.

I had had fair warning from Side Control's training blog that Rodrigo is On A Mission to wrest back domination of the Revolution tournaments in 2011. So I was ready for him to be a little more driving, a little more picky; and he also let it be known that he does not want people tutoring their partners during the drill- especially if they can't do the technique themselves. "Don't teach your partner, I'll do that."

There's a small tourney on the 29th; Rodrigo specifically asked me to let him know if I could do it or not, so that he could talk to the other school owners and see if he could make sure I would have someone to fight. That's thoughtful; although I feel a little pressured; as I am not even sure if I want to do the next Revolution (or compete again at all)... but I think I'm going to be on the work schedule for the 29th anyway (must double check tomorrow when I go to the hospital). He did mention that he was going to check with Cindy as well about sending people to the tournament. I think Cindy's new schedule has done away with gi BJJ completely. Tournament is gi only. But I'm just relieved that there seems to be open communication between Rodrigo and Cindy.

Rt elbow is still sore, and Nelson left me with a big dark bruise on the inside of the same elbow. I have to work all day tomorrow, but I hope this elbow will be back in comission by Saturday.

(pic- Lindsey and Carlos)

How to avoid disembowelling yourself with your own sword.

Lunchtime BJJ in Seattle. I really wanted to make an appearance at Cindy's this afternoon- but I had a 2pm scheduled with CK, and Gracie Barra Seattle has what Cindy's unfortunately does not: a SHOWER. I look/smell so foul after a BJJ class, I don't even want to stop for GAS without a shower first, so there is no question of going to a second class in that state.

Even more unfortunately, the condition of my car necessitates an overdue trip to the car hospital.... which will make it impractical to go to Cindy's tomorrow lunchtime either. Working Friday and Monday. I might be able to make it to Cindy's lunchtime next Tuesday, assuming the car is repaired by then. She probably thinks I've died.

Anyway- same techniques as last night. I got to work with Steve, a small-size 4-stripe blue who is great to work with.

I had to be reminded to keep that gable grap during the clinch- and also during the scarf/headlock reversals. I also had to be reminded to keep my head/posture up when doing the clinch so that I don't get guillotined.

Problem: during the scarf/headlock rollovers, I whacked my ulnar nerve ("funnybone"), not just once but multiple times. I slapped some jow on it when I got to the community center with CK, but it's still pretty tender- and radiating funky weirdness all along that arm. (My right arm, of course- my sword arm, when I had a class scheduled with CK, drattit.)

King-of-the-mat positional sparring from headlock/scarf. I last about three seconds in this position on top of a big guy. After several rounds of immediately getting rolled over, I started switching to side control the second we said "go"- whch is kind of cheating the whole "positional training" concept, but heck, that was just not working out for me.

Timed spar with Marc. Very competitive. He has unexpectedly flexible hips, and is really good at making a little space and replacing guard when you don't think he'll be able to pull that off. All of a sudden, there's a leg between you- and it's like, "Damn- where did that leg come from?" and there you are in his guard again. Every time he put me back in guard, I cursed softly.... after four or five times, we were both laughing about it. He's good at triangles, too- which is fortunate for me because I get to work my triangle defense/escape, which still is wanting. I got out of one by stacking him hard and then shoving his thigh aside and passing. Escaped a couple more by quickly underhooking both his thighs. But I had to be pretty quick.

Open mat- I challenged Bree, but she was having asthma issues and had to bail. So I jumped Marc again. Another good competitive roll. Because I felt challenged by him- but not hopelessly, helplessly overmatched- I was consciously doing a little better at getting out of my game-plan rut and trying some different tactics once I observed that he was using the same set of techniques successfully against me multiple times. I finally managed to tap him out with an armlock. I had to work for a while to get it. I was perched on top of his shoulder, but he kept shoving away the ankle I was trying to park beside his head. Once I managed to accomplish that, I grabbed for his pantleg to try to bow him (that was an unusual tactic for me to experiment with). I had to let go of the pants, though, to keep the arm. He gable-gripped his hands to try to defend the armlock, but I wrapped his wrist by grabbing my own gi lapel. It wouldn't have worked against a big gorilla- and for a while I didn't think it was going to work on him- but I kept at it for a bit, and wore him down, and he eventually lost the gable grip and had to tap. I hardly ever tap Marc any more- and he really makes me work for it when I do- so I was pleased with myself.

Jamie just started yoga. He said wonderingly, "Some of those women in there are so flexible that thay can stand with their feet apart, put their heads right down on the mat, and go up into headstands!" So I had to show him that I could do that. Gracefully. When I was upright again, I glanced down the line, and all the guys were watching me with identical gawping expressions. LOL. Someday I'll walk on my hands for them, and then they'll REALLY think I'm Hot Stuff.



Later.........

Tai chi with CK. I asked her to show me the new form that she wants to teach me next. It's a jian form. Pretty cool. She thinks it has a lot of Dragony energy in it. I can't really tell by watching.

We did some more Catherine Dao, some more Cannon Fist. More moving-from-the-center, more alignment. It is a bit frustrating that the second I stop focussing on the pelvic alignment, it slides right back into it former bungled state. I mean IMMEDIATELY. I literally have to say it to myself every twenty seconds. CK says that it is a process of actually changing PHYSIOLOGY as well as posture, so it's not unusual for it to be that much work.

I got to work apps from Catherine Dao, involving grabbing the enemy by the hair (I had to grab CK by the collar instead, as she currently has a buzz cut), chopping her head off, and then swinging the severed head around in a wide circle as you make the next turn. The blood splashes in a lovely arc- nothing is untouched.

One correction she made on me was the spot where I was puling the dao back across my belly for a rechamber before a stab- I was turning the edge outward as I pulled it back and then twisting the sword on the stab so that the edge was inward again at extention. She wanted me to keep the dao in place and remove all the superfluous twisting. I tried it, and immediately objected because that put the edge toward my stomach on the rechamber. I argued that in a melee situation, that would put me in danger of someone falling or pushing against me and causing me to open my own gut with my own sword. That is always embarrassing. She ran the technique both ways and exclaimed, "Huh!" I was enormously pleased that I actually had a practical martial reason for the alteration that I had apparently made on a subconscious level... and even more pleased that CK appreciated my deviation enough to consider it valid. We compromised, and decided to turn the edge downward on the drawback. She further suggested that we both present a united front in insisting to SK that that was the way it had always been. (hee hee)

Whenever CK comes to Seattle, she visits a Chinese bakery and gets these EEEEEEEVIL custard pastry things that probably have a zillion calories in them. Today she also fed me a coconut tart from the same bakery. I said I'd try a small piece... wow, it was yummy- Next thing I knew, I had gorfed the whole thing. Good thing- in that aspect- that CK and her baked good are leaving tomorrow morning. The ten lb I dropped for the November Revolution, I've kept it off throughout the holidays.

While in the International District, she also bought a pair of ceramic cups with a traditional design in nice earthy green and beige- Tigers on one and Dragons on the other. Those being our respective Shaolin styles; she gave me the Tiger and kept the Dragon.




I had hoped to get to evening BJJ tonight in Bellevue as well, but my malfunctioning car put the kibosh on that. I feel bad flaking out on Angela yet again for no-gi.

(pic- Doug's black belt promotion)

The Deadly Triangle

Met CK at 9:30 am... we went to High Point Community Center, in West Seattle. I've never been there before. They've got an awesome room... high ceiling, mirrors, wood floor. (Greenlake Community Center is going to be very much unavailable for the foreseeable future due to budget cuts- their hours have been slashed.)

We only had about 45 min to work on tai chi before MM arrived. We worked on Catherine Dao- mostly the closing, which I continue to struggle with.

I declined to spar with them today. At all. I know that this is not a viable long-term solution, but when I contemplate sparring- even with CK, with whom I feel fairly safe- all I feel is anxiety and dread. It's not fun any more... it just makes me feel frustrated and inadequate.

CK and MM sparred, and when they got tired, CK worked with me on Catherine Dao and Cannon Fist. She wants me to use higher, narrower stances- which feels like regressing and wussing out to me, but she stresses that doing it RIGHT in high narrow stances is better than doing it WRONG in deep stances. I insisted that I *could* do the deep stances- yet every time I tried, she informed me that my form was unacceptable due to all the compensatory positions I was using in order to try to avoid bending my knees. I hadn't really seen/understood how bad it was until today. It took her pointing out all the various things I was doing- most of them on a completely subconscious level- for it to hit home. It was quite a disconcerting and dismaying discovery. This is certainly just as bad of an issue in my Shaolin.

"THE DEADLY TRIANGLE"- the point at which my stance becomes wide enough that I start to subconsciously avoid bending my knees. Actually, I guess I'm sort of ALWAYS subconsciously trying to avoid bending my knees.... but there is a definite point at which it starts to show up glaringly as crippling my formwork. "You can't just badass your way through everything" was a statement that was also made, which stung enough to have a ring of truth to it.

We worked some more on alignment issues- pelvis, head, hips. CK thinks that this is the single most important thing I ought to be focussing on for the next period in both tai chi and Shaolin- and that if I can clean up some of my alignment issues, it may actually ease my knee pain enough to go back to the deep stancework. The high stances are a little easier to take if I think that this isn't a *permanent* step backward.

Moving from the center was another big theme today. Hips continue to be tight and inflexible. Even after we'd been working for a while, I still felt like there was a stone column running from my tailbone to the base of my skull- that's how stiff my hips felt. CK made me stop, lie down on the floor, and do hip circles. She knows I can't stand hip circles... I do not have the patience to do hip circles. They appear to be a necessary evil, though!

I have a few specific notes on the two forms, which I am too tired to transcribe tonight, but I will get them down in the next few days. Not too many specific notes, though- it was mostly alignment and moving from the center on our radar today.

Tomorrow will be CK's last day here. I gladly put in a bid for her anticipated small block of time tomorrow between lunch and dinner. She already has an after-dinner class planned with SK and JM... and me, I was informed. I tried to gracefully sidestep the evening class three times- with three different perfectly reasonable excuses- but she knew I wasn't working that evening, and she just wasn't having it. She kept insisting that she really wants me there for the particular class material that she had in mind. She thinks that SK and I have similar major stumbling blocks when it comes to Chen, so she has some specific things planned to work on, that she wants SK and me to continue working on until her next visit. I finally had to put my foot down and state outright (which I was doubly reluctant to do with MM there) that I simply do not want to work in front of JM. It fills me with anxiety, and it would just not be productive for me. Again, avoidance not being a viable long-term solution for *that* problem either... yet it's a step forward for me to be self-aware enough and assertive enough to know that that situation is just not going to be worth the effort for me, and that it's a waste of my valuable time to go through the motions. As soon as I start getting corrections from JM in **CHEN**- in which she has had a grand total of about four lessons, and I have been studying for fifteen years, and yet I have no doubt she'll immediately be more proficient at than I am- I will truly have a nuclear meltdown. We are just not gonna go there, uh-uh, nope- not while my self-confidence is in the toilet to the extent that it currently is.

I did text SK and warn him that CK wants to work on the tai chi short form with him tomorrow evening, so he'd better do some reps beforehand!


Later............


Evening BJJ in Bellevue. I haven't been to BJJ since Christmas eve. I got to congratulate Doug on his black belt promotion, which was cool. Hostility Boy now has two stripes on his blue belt, which was markedly less cool. I also saw Jamie for the first time since the huge Promotion 0rgy in December, and congratulated him on his fresh purple. Luiz got *TWO* new stripes on his purple, Manuel got two new stripes on his white- and he has also dropped thirty-four pounds in four months. Wow. Irina now has a stripe on her white belt. I drilled with her tonight.

I was afraid I'd be feeling out of shape after my recent lax training schedule, but the warmup went fine- even though we spent a lot of time running, which is challenging for me with my breathing issues. After the running, I did four full fast, technically precise shrimping circuits, and didn't feel particularly weary.

We started with a standup drill- two cross-jabs to your partner's upraised palms, thrust kick to belly, step in and clinch. Irina- the karate artist- had some SERIOUS jabs and kicks- each kick knocked me back a step or two, and she was going light. So when it was my turn, I felt that I needed to serve back the same high standard- on my honor as a kung fu artist! I didn't knock her back with my kicks, but they were at LEAST as serious as hers... I exercised my skillful control and precision, and pulled them at exactly the right point. I can tell she knows enough to recognize a Serious Kick when she feels one!
;-)

Another thing I like about drilling with Irina is that she is all brisk business- no futzing around, so we get maximum reps in. We got two circuits in the time it took everyone else to do one.

Spinning armbar. I can do this, although the fine details still need a little work. In particular, I need to pay attention to snuggling my ankle tight against the opponent's neck and pinning hir head in place with it. We were also grabbing the pants at the knee with the free hand, which I had to keep reminding myself to not let go of.

Escape from scarf/headlock- the one where you clasp your arms around the opponent's body and roll hir first toward hir head and then overtop of your own body to get on top.

Then a little positional training from scarf/headlock, and from north-south.

(pic- Andrew and Renzo)

Sometimes......

.......I have a nightmare in which my car is careening down a twisted and heavily trafficked highway at about 80..... and I'm in the backseat, desperately trying to steer the vehicle as I'm straining and stretching over the backrest.





http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ok89yzFmeMY