"Invigorating"

People talk much about ecology and the need to slow down the crisis of the global ecosystem, but there can be no solution to the problems of nature unless we can find nature within. -Daniele Bolelli, On The Warrior’s Path



Sat: 130
Sun: 130

 I’m trying to find a snack substitute for me beloved yet carb-rich Sour Cream and Onion Baked Ritz crackers. The dried chunked coconut apparently is not going to be it. It does have added sugar- not a whole lot, but enough that my weight creeps up.

 I found a tennis ball and tried rolling it under my painful heel as suggested by CK and Coach Dynamo. I’ve taken the ball to work for two days, and used it while sitting at the computer in the office.  Jury’s still out on whether it is helping.

 Rory Miller suggests some intriguing homework: carry something unusual on you (like a small stuffed animal) as you go about your normal day, and see if you can keep it hidden. This would be a good way to ease into carrying a gun on a regular basis.

 Mon: 130.5

Found a plantar fasciitis shoe insert. It felt.... interesting to wear to work. I think any type of insert- including putting a rock in my sock- is going to relieve the PF to some degree just because it's forcing me to put my weight down on my foot differently. But as to whether that is going to translate to actually *helping* the PF..... preferrably without messing up my feet (and knees, and back) in other ways... hmmm.

KYS Productions has a promo video up for the next Proving Grounds. It is full of clips from the last PG. There's one of Joan looking like The Goddess Of Sweeps. A few of Hostility Boy beating the shinola out of some poor dude. Two clips of me- one of me being taken down and one of me being tapped out.  Lovely.  :P

Tues: 128.5

I can always tell when Carlos has written the blurb on the GB Bellevue website because the English is so creative. "This Saturday we don't gonna have kids class..." He writes exactly as he speaks.

The woman who stocks the about-to-expire 30%-to-50%-off bin at the Woodinville Safeway meat department gets very excited when she sees me.  (Craning to see what's in my earth bag) "What have we got today??!!?  CHICKEN THIGHS!!!!!!!!!" She exclaimed with such glee that I had to crack up.

Thursday: I am trying to be mindful of the fact that the November Revolution is only a month away, which means we are entering crunch time if I truly mean to drop four more pounds before then. Nevertheless, I had three breakfasts today. I had one, and a few hours later I was hungy again, so I had a second. After that, I was *still* hungry, and I know from experience that going to class hungry does not work out well. So I had a third.

I think I worked it off, though, as the Prof nearly killed us with drills today. He was doing the warmups at double-pace, and I thought, "Hmmmm, he looks disturbingly over-caffeinated today," This never bodes well.

1)Bullfight pass setup off spider guard.

2)Butt-scooting toward standing opponent to wrap body around the outside of hir leg, lie back, repeat on other side.

3)Kneel aside opponent, who in lying on hir side facing you. S/he puts topmost arm on your shoulder. You put up the knee closest to hir feet, then spin around hir head and armbar. DON'T FORGET TO GRAB THE PANTS!!!!

And again. And again. And again. And- just when we thought we were going to die- again.

Kitsune: "That was.... bracing."
John: "Invigorating!" (as he's squatting on the floor panting like a spaniel)

Then positional sparring from back mount.  I was so tired. I tried, but was not feeling very effective.

When we were finally done, I was too tired to breathe or blink.
 

"Twang"

“Cats never regret anything.” –Tybalt, King Of the Cats



No-gi at Bellevue. Crisanne is sick, and I emailed Kelly but she was busy. I thought I was going to be the only one there- which could, depending on Carlos' mood, turn into either a private or a cancelled class. As it was, Ben showed up. Ben is great to roll with, although it is an exercise in humility! So we just rolled for an hour.

With Ben, your number one goal is to stay out of his half guard. I knew this, but it's difficult. I usually charge in on my opponent immediately after the fist bump- and when Ben is sitting there on his butt with his knees apart, there's really no place else to go. With most people, beginning by stepping into their half guard is ducky.... because I'm good at passing top half guard, so we start the roll with me getting passing points and then side control. Ben, however, does not follow my script. 

He did show me an option which involved hugging below his butt- which you have to do fairly snugly, gripping one wrist with the other hand. Sprawl hard, sink weight down, pry/kick leg out.

At another point, he was observing that having my butt posted a little ways out helped me defend the sweep or roll. One of the things I'm trying to pay more attention to lately is my habit of pasting myself as closely to the opponent as possible at all times. 95% of the time, this is exactly what you want- but there are a few positions where you really need to scoot your butt out a few inches. I am trying to be more aware of figuring out those specific situations.

Another learning moment: being in the head and arm choke. I had the free arm- the one on the side closest to Ben- wedged in there horizontally with the elbow against his head, and it seemed like it would let me hold out for a bit. He suggested that instead I cover my ear with my hand. That didn't make practical sense to my brain, but I went ahead and tried it- and yeah, it was better. I was cooked either way, but the hand-over-the-ear bought me a little more time.

Straight ankle lock- he's playing with a  figure-4 grip here. I tried it and liked it. This might work better for me than the standard.


Coach Dynamo saw me standing on the mat doing toe-heel, toe-heel, and asked if I was doing ballet. I said no, I have plantar fasciitis. Turns out he has had it too. He poked at my foot a while. It was fairly painful after the afternoon standup class.

I'm sure CK- who often makes things in my back go "twang"- would be amused to hear that the coach actually made something in my HEEL go "twang". We found a knot in the bottom of my heel. It felt like a marble deep in there. Something is really skewed in the world when you can have a KNOT in the bottom of your HEEL. That can actually be twanged. That is just wrong.

I saw Pam in the locker room getting ready for the next class, and that made me want to do the next class. I actually felt fairly okay at that point, but I was pretty sure that after the warmup I would crash hard. Reluctantly I decided to pass.

Pam told me that every time she makes eggs, she thinks of me.

Takedowns to opera

Turn your body into a temple and nature starts talking to you. It brings you back to a wilder, more authentic state. Nature is not just a name to identify what we have not yet covered with concrete and asphalt. It is life lived without fear, without sense of guilt; life not enslaved by the artificial rules of a society which has lost it center. -Daniele Bolelli, On The Warrior’s Path

127

This lunchtime in Bellevue we did ALL TAKEDOWNS- to opera music.

It was nice to see Carlos again; it's been a couple of weeks.

Double legs; shoulder throw (dropping to knees); Standing shoulder throw (a few grip variations), fireman's carry.

Note that you can start with judo grips, then use your lapel grip to pull opponent's lapel toward the distal, and feed it to your other hand as you turn- so that as you pick opponent up, you now have hir lapel wrapping hir bicep.

Also- with judo grips, you may be able to duck your head under opponent's straight arm to the outside. This is illegal in judo becaue it endangers opponent's elbow. Perfectly acceptable in BJJ. You can attack the arm, try to swoop to the back, or do one of several additional throw setups as soon as s/he has to let go with that hand.

Drills, then TAKEDOWN KING OF THE HILL. OMG. As I shook each big guy's hand, I said with mock seriousness (only I really *was* serious), "Don't kill me."  They were all careful.
Doug got a clean takedown on Prof. Carlos, then strode off the mat declaring "I'm gonna retire now!!!"  Daniel also got a clean throw on him, which was awesome to see- Daniel being a blue belt not much bigger than me.

We recieved a fingernail hygiene lecture today. Note: Do not tell the prof that you are leaving the mat to deal with a broken nail. He interprets this statement as "I am an inconsiderate jerk who didn't trim my too-long nails before getting on the mat".

This was a very exhausting class. I came in feeling fairly stiff from yesterday, and turned down Casey's offer to play balancing-circus-bear on the exercise ball so that I could get well stretched out before we began class. Allergies have also been troublesome the last few days- and by the time we started KOTH, I almost had to duck out because I had one of those ice-pick-in-the-temple headaches. I decided to try to stick it out... fortunately for me, it mostly went away by the end of class instead of getting worse. Messed with my concentration a bit, though. I didn't do so great in the KOTH.

"I'm experiencing it."

When human beings lose their connection to nature, to heaven and earth, then they do not know how to nurture their environment or how to rule their world- which is saying the same thing. Human beings destroy their ecology at the same time that they destroy one another. From that perspective, healing our society goes hand in hand with healing our personal, elemental connection with the phenomenal world. –Chogyam Trungpa, Shambala: the Sacred Path Of the Warrior


Wednesday evening BJJ at Kirkland.

Same techniques as this afternoon, minus the replacing-guard-from-turtle and from under the sprawl. 
Techniques were a bit easier with a partner my own size (Thanks Pam).

Positional King Of The Hill from back mount. Room divided into "small guys" and "big guys"- the former consisting only of me, Pam and Dave- so very little rest for the three of us.

Several spars, all with experienced blues and above. That's very exhausting. I was on the bottom quite a bit tonight, even with Pam. For some reason, everyone still kept telling me how awesome I was doing. I was confused, but what the hey- I'll take all the ego-stroking I can get.

I held Mike off with spider guard for a long time. "How d'ya like my spider guard?" "I'm experiencing it."

I was pretty darn tired by the end.

Fat Man Roll

Intention and lack of intention; mindfulness and no mind at all. Magic lay in the tension between those spaces, in the otherwise senses of the esoteric understanding of two things that did not admit of one another at all. –Elizabeth Bear

Sun: 128
Mon: 129.5  (eep!)
Weds: 129.5

Wednesday lunchtime BJJ in Kirkland.

"Fat man roll": You are in turtle, with opponent hanging off your hip. Opponent is foolish enough to commit hir arm deep enough for you to trap on the side opposite hir. Roll, KEEP HIR HAND TRAPPED as you keep weight on hir chest. Roll toward hir feet to take side control. For some reason, I always want to roll toward hir head, so I asked Cindy what would happen. All sorts of unpleasantess, beginning with Cindy getting double underhooks and shucking me off like nothing.

You are in turtle, opponent hanging off your hip. You grab hir far pantleg, scoot your butt away from hir, place the sole NEAREST hir on the mat, and pull your other leg through under you to replace full guard. Remember to pull your head back so that you don't get folded up under the opponent.
Same technique, only starting with opponent sprawled N/S on top of your turtle.

Opponent has back mount on you. Hand-fight the choking side (if there is one) and fall to the opposite side. Lie on opponent's thigh, remove the lower hook. Use the SAME HAND to now start fighting the other leg while you scoot out and take side control.

Same entry, but opponent gets half guard as you are trying to escape. Prop yourself on hir chest with mucho weight on and use your other leg to pry your trapped leg out. From being the demo dummy on this, I learned that the angle of this pressure on the joints is quite painful, and not practical to try to clamp down and resist against.

A little positional sparring from back mount. I continue to struggle with both sides of this. Today my biggest problem was that I could not seem to fall to the side and pin the thigh without taking the entirety of my weight off the opponent (at which point I could never recover- I ended up lying on the mat beside him and he simply rolled on top).

A few spars. I got muscled around a little today by larger men, but I managed to superior-technique myself into a top position for some of the time with both.

Cindy declined to roll with me because she was holding out for me to come back tonight instead of going to Bellevue.    

Saturday

Sign above toilet at Bothell school: "Hope your aim is better when you fight!"

Saturday BJJ at GB Sea. There were half a dozen women in there today! When we separated into groups for positional sparring, we were able to make an all-female group.

Lots of positional sparring. Then a roll with Kelly, who was on top the whole time. Then a roll with Ron. I actually got a few chokes on him- and any tap you get on Ron, you EARNED- so it's exciting the rare time I get any. He commented that the gi-and-forearm chokes appear to be my "bread and butter". He tapped me several times as well, of course.

Then I had a meeting with Tasara. As happened the last time we tried to discuss Turtle Drum leadership issues, we spent a great deal of time talking AROUND the problem spots. I wonder why she intimidates me so much. I agreed to commit to leading some more (if my work schedule ever allows).

I am tempted to take one of Tasara's shamanic journeying classes, but I'm scared of getting confirmation that I'm just not capable. I'm such a control freak. I have only journeyed once, and it was an accident.

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.