Happy Thanksgiving from the Land of Enchantment

Land of Enchantment = New Mexico, according to the sign at the border.

First of all, my friend Jimmy just got his brown belt yesterday! HUGE congratulations to him and his crazy hook feet!

Had a fun time training at Cobra Kai, though some of those no gi guys were huge. But everyone was really nice, particularly Achille, the guy who took my money, and according to him, my soul. And Marc Laimon, the owner/main instructor, lived up to his reputation. His teaching goes something like this:

"Okay, so let's say you're fighting a real schlep."

"Go, fatboy go! Move your hips to get out of that! Or tap."

"I can already see that you guys are fucking this up."

"Gotta go, [insert name]? So you're ducking [insert other name]."

"[Insert comment extolling the virtues of Xbox]."

It's pretty hilarious. For those of you who don't know, Marc has a reputation for being, shall we say, opinionated, especially when he's coaching his students at tournaments, which apparently inspires extreme feelings. What I saw was a funny, loud guy who obviously cares about his students, has good technique to share, and doesn't care about standing on ceremony.

I learned a crapload from him and his student instructors (Sonny, Sim, Jeff, Jason, all of whom, by the way, are incredibly young. WTH was I doing in my early 20s? Not becoming an expert in a damn thing, that's for sure), stuff that I'll actually be able to incorporate (because it's not too complicated for me), including a cool transition from being in side control directly into a D'Arce choke. I think I surprised Jason, who teaches wrestling, today, because I know how to pummel, and, as he said, I'm really strong for 140 pounds (should I have told him that I'm up to 144?). He seemed psyched that I was there because there aren't many women who do this crap, as we both lamented. He showed some really cool takedowns, and again, should I ever actually be able to shoot in on someone, I will be able to use them. Oh, and Forrest Griffin was there again today, training with the rest of us. He's one of the huge dudes.

Then, after a stop at the On the Mat store next door and a chat with Scott, the Cobra Kai instructor I had met at the tournament, it was on to Albuquerque, where I am now. It took me 9 hours to drive about 570 miles; the road I took led past the Hoover Dam, which was packed with tourists, and small towns with low speed limits. Plus, there were just more people than normal on the road because of the holiday. But once I hit the interstate (40), I took the speed limit of 75 as a "guideline" and made up some time.

So now I'm at my friend's place, ready for turkey day tomorrow and to train with Abdullah and Fabiola on Friday. I talked to Abdullah today and he was in the middle of making an Oreo cheesecake. I think we will get along just fine.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone, especially my parents, sister, brother-in-law, and nieces. I wish I were with you today, but will see you soon.

And BTW, as Marcel would say, big ups and major props to the peanut gallery that is commenting lately. You're making me laugh. So keep it up. There's nothing like laughing at other people making fun of still other people. I give it seven thumbs up!