All good things: Hiking, bagels, dogs, BJJ

When I woke up today, I pretty immediately started to whistle. I don’t whistle spontaneously unless I’m in a good mood. This is a good sign that I’m having fun, particularly since I woke up at 6am to go hiking with Lacey and Tallulah after relatively little sleep. This is the view from Lacey’s driveway. How can you not be in a good mood?? Even my car is happy.



After the hike we met up for bagels with Lacey’s twin sister Lisa and her two kids. Then somehow I futzed the rest of the day away—making phone calls and running more errands on my computer. When you don’t really have any obligations other than the ones you impose on yourself, it’s amazing how quickly the day can go, and how pleasantly. Among other things, I started thinking about the next legs of my trip, got directions to Colorado BJJ, where I trained tonight, and petted Tallulah.

Before I knew it, it was time to go to the dog park again. We went to a part that has a lake and watched Tallulah romp around in the water with her Weimaraner friend Daisy and her Dachshund friend Munch. Daisy is named after the character in The Great Gatsby, and Munch is named after the character on Law and Order. All the dogs at the park were cute and fun, but I particularly liked Munch because he’s a big dog in a little dog’s body. Case in point, check out his life jacket floaty thing, which comes complete with handle so his mom and dad, Holly and Michael, can pick him up and throw him in the water.

Well, old Munch does not let his floaty, which I’m guessing the other dogs might find kind of dorky looking, keep him from kicking major game with Tallulah. He is totally smitten with her and follows her around incessantly, so much so that the handle on his life jacket floaty thing is also good for picking him up when it’s time to leave the dog park so he doesn’t follow Tallulah into Lacey’s car and go home with them. (I don’t know if you can see it, but his collar says, “Stud.” Ain’t it the truth.)

After the dog park, I went to a terrific class at Colorado BJJ. As usual, I was nervous to go, but as usual, once class started, I forgot to be. David Ruiz, the main instructor, was not there because he is doing a seminar (he’ll be back on Tues, so I’ll get to train with him then), but Matt, the student instructor, was great. He taught a takedown and a way to take the back from the de la Riva guard, both of which were fun to work on.

And as I was soon to find out, the guys there are INCREDIBLY friendly and welcoming. They are obviously so proud of their school and their instructor, and I ended up not getting to spar very much because I was too busy chatting, with Robert, Zack, Ben, and others. I had been planning to come back tomorrow for the no-gi class, and they convinced me to come early for the mixed martial arts class too. I had been hesitant because I don’t like getting kicked and punched (believe it or not, some people do), which is what goes on in MMA; I just like grappling. But as Robert said, being familiar with the kicking and punching aspect is part of self-defense, and they apparently don’t go completely full bore in the class. Plus, that particular class is taught by Mike Nickels, who is a former competitor on The Ultimate Fighter, a reality show in which aspiring mixed martial artists live together in a house and get world class training while competing for Ultimate Fighting Championship contracts. Mike didn’t get the contract, as I recall, but he did make a good showing. Plus, he’s famous and I wanted to get a picture with him. I’m not proud.

So I was sold. I left there feeling SOOO happy and excited about BJJ, Ruiz’s academy, and what I had just learned, and I rocked out to Everybody Wants You by Billy Squier on the way back to Lacey’s. (What does “You take your pension in loneliness and alcohol” mean? Meh, who cares? It’s an awesome song!)