Busy Week

Had to lone mom 2,000.00. Never thought I'd be doing that. Practice is on the ropes.

Very busy week: writing/revising personal statements, helping at office, and all the other crazy ga ga I do...and I may get up tomorrow to do a Muy Thai seminar.

Oh, discovered there is a tourney in GA with an open weight white belt division, making it exactly the same as the average practice for yours truly. Will see if I can interest a few people in going.

Travelogue

Trip went alright. Radar met a new cat. There was whining, hissing, barking, careful steps, and a single lucky sniff.

Radar is a connoisseur of the cat butt. When Crookshanks was in range for the inhale it was like watching a foodie having a religious experience over a fine glass of Chateau blah blah frenchie blah.
Radar was Alton Brown at his most beatific. There was a to the bone reverence, a bright shiny smile for that feline anus.

There was minimal drama between me and girlfriend. I find it's usually my visits to her (as supposed to vice versa) that crying and shouting are likely to occur, but most theatrics were relegated to Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

My knees are voicing a little displeasure, but so far the consequences have been minimal.

Hangovers without the fun

Every once in a while, which is far too often, I wake up with a nasty headache, each it's own little snowflake. This once was shaped like a sledgehammer driving a large nail into the left side of the temple. Considering I don't smoke and rarely drink--and never to get drunk--where do these vicious pseudo-hangovers come from?

Ice cream cake.

Watch out world, Coldstone makes a delicious frosty treat but they don't tell you about the slow burning brain freeze which crawls across the grooves of your brain like a careful tarantula and then it bites

down.

Goin' on a trip

Driving down with Mom to see girlfriend tomorrow (come back on Sunday). Will try to cram a workout in the morning before we go. It'll be a heavy night at the dojo, hopefully I'll be able to scrape my remains out of the bed.

Happy Belated Birthday

Spent my birthday at the dojo (where else??). However, there was an ice cream cake when I got home. I don't like to eat that sort of stuff in the middle of the week, but I didn't have a lot of wiggle room, so I scarfed down two pieces. When I was done I looked at the blur of strawberry ice cream, whipped cream, red velvet cake crumbs, and green icing. I kept looking for a metaphor. Finger painting? Not quite. Psychedelic trip? The colors were too bright. They were vivid, they smiled in that way that all the elements of a birthday cake should. That didn't leave me with a lot of options.

It's settled then, my birthday slop was a metaphor for birthday slop. Where's my Pulitzer?

Not much to say

Working at the office while a staff member is on maternity leave...I shrug my shoulders.

I called it

Not just any ole run of the mill gauntlet, we did a take down gauntlet in the mode of wrestling. (before we worked on a few wrestling centric skills, something we should do more of, truthfully).

The gauntlet was unbridled ugliness. Neophytes at the mercy of college and high school wrestlers, or worse, other neophytes. I f'd-up my left big toe, broke the blood vessel under the nail, while birthing two nasty blisters. Now my left foot and both wrists are a collage of adhesive band-aids and tape. I'm Ultimate Mummy, the hip new minimalist design debuting in Marverl Comics very soon (the bandages I wear are merely a metaphor for the bandages....on my heart!!)

I don't think I hit a clean wrestling take down, but once I rocked a guy with a judo shoulder throw, everyone new exactly what to watch for.

Don't get me wrong, I'm happy I hit a judo throw in a no-gui environment. It took me a while to figure out what to go for, as my hip toss attempts were atrocious, and my double legs looked liked a one winged swan dive. I couldn't find the space or the proper set-up, but once I recognized the "insert shoulder throw here stance" I scored my little victory of the day.

My heart rate hasn't been that high in a long time, and good lord I am sore.

Soreness

Yesterday I ran 3 miles before kickboxing, which wouldn't have been a problem if I had waited 3 hours between the two instead of a paltry 90 minutes. Ugh. I am sore, a fused hunk of metal sore...and i have this sneaking suspicion that there will be another gauntlet tonight (either consciously or otherwise they always tend to happen in pairs).

In my day life, it's safe to assume I'm not getting a 14 week section. Girlfriend suggested I apply as a sub. teacher. I'll look into it, but districts may not be hiring until summer if not at all.

For one night, King of the White Belts?

We ran the gauntlet last night in bjj. Two groups split by age. I'm sure I've mentioned how the gauntlet works before, buuuuuuutttt just in case:

one man in the center, everyone else circles around. He goes 1 or 2 minutes with each person. Then a new guy steps in, wash, rinse, repeat.

This particular gauntlet was 2 minute rounds. Center guy starts from a mounted position. In other words, he is underneath the mount. It was hard to judge round lengths because we added a rule about switching guys if there was a tap, so each guy spent approximately 8 min inside, and 8 min outside, give or take an extra roll or two. I managed to submit all the other white belts at least once. And only got submitted by College Boy, Mr. Brown (as in brown belt), and a very strong teen who caught me in an armbar (need to be wiser in my choice of escape tactics for armbar).

I was tired, but it felt good scoring some wins, and not having my ass kicked EVERY SINGLE TIME I rolled.

The Devil and ....

Watched the doc. The Devil and Daniel Johnston. Despite above average direction, I was bored then moved to annoyance by the subject. Was it the music, which struck me as over-rated (though the song for the closing credits was good) or the way every one seem to fawn over his genius AND his madness, save for his parents and one other friend. I was unimpressed by this confirmation of mythic stature. Then again, I find right wing fundamentalistchristian crazy to be a particularly noxious and annoying form of crazy (Granted, you can't choose your psychosis--I think).

Was this me dismissing someone's suffering based on weakness and fear (The SVU effect)? I don't think so. There was a layer the doc failed to pierce; it only touched on the depths of his madness. Then again, explaining madness is like trying to measure the emotional impact of the Holocaust: elusive and dense.

Death by waiting

So, it is looking less and less likely I'll have any sections this semester. What should I do? The office is overstaffed as is;I still haven't developed super powers, and poverty is...well it still sucks.
Might be time to go private?

Crawling up the bjj ladder

Still a white belt, still being ground into pancake splatters by Captian Jock and the heavyweight brigade. Really, it's about the new guys. Still bigger than me on average by 30 lbs (this excludes those with wrestling experience, but smaller) but now there is this....fixation? Out of all the guys in the dojo who are bigger--and better than me--newbies think I'm some sort of animal, a beast, a cyborg a wild man (a, ahem, TigrMchine?). In the end all it means is more bruises, and a renewed desire to work on escapes, wrongside rolls, and the Vulcan nerve pinch.

Uh Oh Spaghetti Os

Seems I don't have any classes for this semester. Partly, er, mostly my fault for waiting until December to turn in the pref form after I'd stated I might not be able to teach. Then again, I don't remember ever SEEING an email about the pref forms in the first place. Best not to dwell on it though there are still a couple ways for this to play out in my favor. There are always last min changes the first day, so a class or two may fall into my lap. Also, there's still a chance I'll secure 10 week sections. Other than that, I'm fucked for the next few months. I need to come up with a way to generate income. Fun fun fun in the worst economy since The Great Depression but don't blame the free market, it can never fail only be failed.

Last night in BJJ, lots of good things

The brown belt is some kind of dream. Postive reinforcement? Never been used to it, but learning to love it. Thought my movement was good, called me "wirey" (don't you have to be lanky to be wirey?) I executed a side control escape I learned last week--it's a good one, useful for straight grappling, MMA, amd street fighting. Uses an over/under gable grip. Also showed me how to be more mobile from guard, must be willing to not merely go off the line, but assume a shrimp like position.

If he has financial trouble, I'd be willing to throw down some of my own cash to keep him around.

Meanwhile, on the homestead

too many fights. too much silence. and jellybeans, a whole lotta jellybeans.

Meanwhile, Girlfriend and I...

Spent the holidays playing Super Smash Bros on the Wii. A game that is merely a series of locks and keys: complete a task open a door to a new task, complete that task, open a door to a new task etc. All cleverly disguised as one of the loopiest fighting games I've ever played. (A Giant Nintendog popped out of nowhere covering a third of the screen, our characters were completely obscured).

Our relationship continues to survive despite all laws of physics and advice columns. I love her; she loves me, but given everything that's happened, you'd think that wouldn't be enough, that we'd need a Deus Ex Machina or at least a giant monster...or terrorists holding a tower of people hostage to keep this relationship going, yet we continue to subsist on monthly visits and the Wii. (Although there is an argument to be made for the Wii as Deus Ex Machina). I'm still fearful that it will all end suddenly--sudden in it's long flailing slowness--but I have to marvel at our resilience. This is the worst and best part of my life.

Meanwhile, at the dojo...

A brown belt has been coming from upstate to train with us once a week, partially due to a needlessly complicated scuffle with the Fabulous Machados. Regardless of the political landscape, he's a good teacher, and has proven himself quite adept at tailoring criticism and advice to the different needs of his students. He showed us an escape from side control that's perfect for MMA fighters like college boy, while showing me a few tricks to finishing arm bars particularly pertinent because of the size differential I have to cope with. He's mentioned being an english major, and his language is precise and to the point, but descriptive when it needs to be. Perfect for a verbal/visual learner such as yours truly. I look forward to training with him.

Sidenote: due to the holiday season our judo brown belt has been MIA I'm hoping I can officially restart my judo training tonight.

Meanwhile, at the dojo.

Is Christmas over yet?

Haven't posted due to holiday goo goo ga ga---not because of any bodily pain. I've felt pain in the legs and knees but it's been minor; My diagnosis of a leather recliner has been a success. I'm vindicated. But, this is not a return to the status quo. I need to take care of insurance related stuff (I have none, that needs to change fast)