Random photos

Here are some of the pictures I promised.

My pre-competition pedicure:

My post-competition pedicure. Note the chipping and the return of the mat burn.

Me with Alicia, a friend from the forum who is a tough blue belt and who takes fantastic photos at all the local grappling events. Check her website out at http://www.aliciaphotos.com.

Me, Giselle, and Heidi, the third place finisher:

Giselle, Catryne, and me. Catryne is a blue belt with Rodrigo Medeiros, so she is Giselle's teammate. She took first in her division.

Break in the action

I am a little more bummed today about my loss than I was yesterday. I think that by the time Giselle set up the arm bar she had beaten me psychologically, and then my body just complied.

I think I'm gonna take the day off and go to the movies. I'll get over it. I think it matters a lot because I haven't competed very much. So the thing for that is to compete more. There are a couple other competitions in October, so I'll do those. Then I'll figure out what the hell I'm doing with my life.

Good to-do list! Get a smoothie, see Jackass 2, plan my future.

I took silver

Three women in my division. I beat one on points and lost to the other by arm bar (she's the one I beat on points a week ago--Giselle). I'm not happy about the loss, obviously, but I learned some stuff that I can work on in the future. My pedicure is a mess. It's bedtime.

I'll post pics of the competition, including my medal. Neat!

Still competition eve

First of all, happy birthday to my friend Chris! Chris, I hope you had a great day and will talk to you soon.

I felt a little better after the open mat. I sparred with a big blue belt first, which was kind of a mistake, because I think part of the reason I've been feeling like I can't do anything is because I'm paired up with these huge, strong dudes and can't move. So that wasn't smart and contributed to my bad mood. I talked to Ouano and he made me feel a little better. He said that I sometimes underestimate my ability, which may be true.

Things looked up when I sparred no-gi with Pete. I had sparred with him a couple weeks earlier at the open mat, and we had a full-on war. A friendly, fun war where we were both working really hard and exchanging back and forth. So sparring with him again was a lot of fun and put me in a better mood. Reminded me of why I do this stuff in the first place: because it's fun.

Later in the day I got a pedicure. Bright red. I should take a picture of it before I compete and it gets ruined. I'm lazy, but I'll try to remember in the morning. I just wanted to do something girly; the guys here are really nice and fun, but I am female, much as I seem to efface that sometimes. Not on purpose, but hopefully you know what I mean. Plus, tomorrow if/when I'm putting my foot in my opponent's hippy bone, as Soneca would say, I'll see my tootsies and be a little bit happy.

If I'm gonna keep staying here, I think I'm gonna have to find some girlfriends. I did talk to Chrissy and Natasha today, which is good, and got a message from Lacey that I need to return. So it's nice to remember my feminine side, although both Natasha and Chrissy told me, not in so many words, to go for the jugular tomorrow (they both train; Natasha's a blue and Chrissy's a white). And when I talked to my parents, I think my dad told me, his sweet little girl, to break some knees. So I'm gonna try! And then I'm gonna get a haircut and go for a spa day or something.

Tonight was the UFC. The Hughes-Penn fight was disappointing because Penn gassed out. He's widely considered a martial arts prodigy--hence his nickname, The Prodigy--but he didn't bother to work on his cardio, and Hughes ended up pounding his face in. Afterward, Hughes did something that always cracks me up when I see these fighters do it: he thanked Jesus Christ for his win. "Thank you, Jesus, for helping me beat the shit out of this other guy. I was able to defeat him because it was Your will." (No, he didn't say exactly that, but that's the subtext I always take away.)

It just makes me laugh. Not sure why.

Okay, I'd better try to get some sleep. I'll wake up early tomorrow, 7 or 8, and go over some notes. That's the plan, at least.

Competition eve

Okay, so no staph. That’s good. My leg still looks gross, but at least gross isn’t contagious. Friends of New Breed are in town for the competition tomorrow, including Daren, a purple belt under Ralph Gracie, and Papa John, a brown belt under Carlos Gracie. Daren was just accepted to the Abu Dhabi trials (along with Johnny) in October. That’s pretty bad ass, especially because their division is stacked with lots of talent. Papa John is 58 years old, has been training for only 4 years, and is now part of the ruling class of BJJ. He knows everyone and has all kinds of ideas for how to streamline rules and regulations. He also has that old man strength and some crazy moves that he just invented, so sparring with him is like sparring with a tornado. A bony, trash-talking, painful tornado.

The competition is tomorrow. There are only 4 purple belt women registered to compete: me, Giselle, and two others. So I’m thinking they’ll just collapse the weight classes and have us compete like it’s an open division. I’m nervous. I trained yesterday and SUUUUUUCKED. I felt like I couldn’t do anything and like I don’t know anything about jiu jitsu. I don’t feel like training today, but there’s an open mat going on right now, and once I get out there I’ll probably feel better. Probably.

Maybe it’s time for me to get an office job again.

Maybe not.

Not staph!

Okay, so I’m back after seeing the doctor. It’s NOT staph (HOORAY). He said that if anything it’s folliculitis, which is when ingrown hairs become infected. But he gave me some antibiotics anyway to nip it in the bud if it even thinks about becoming staph. So I’m good to go for training and for competing on Sunday. My leg still looks kinda yucky, but what can you do.

Last night Parker and Wen came to New Breed to train. Johnny taught the class. It was great; lots of little details that make the technique stronger. I feel like I’m improving after a couple weeks of stagnation. I guess that’s good going into a competition.

Not staph!

Okay, so I’m back after seeing the doctor. It’s NOT staph (HOORAY). He said that if anything it’s folliculitis, which is when ingrown hairs become infected. But he gave me some antibiotics anyway to nip it in the bud if it even thinks about becoming staph. So I’m good to go for training and for competing on Sunday. My leg still looks kinda yucky, but what can you do.

Last night Parker and Wen came to New Breed to train. Johnny taught the class. It was great; lots of little details that make the technique stronger. I feel like I’m improving after a couple weeks of stagnation. I guess that’s good going into a competition.

My own personal outbreak

Now I’m sitting in a health clinic in Montebello as a walk-in patient to see whether I have staph. So far the majority of people I have asked think it ISN’T, but staph isn’t a democracy. And apparently it’s running rampant around here; as a matter of fact, when I was at R1 yesterday someone showed up to warn everyone about the outbreak. And there I was with some symptoms on my leg.

It just looks like scrapes that are scabbing over, but there are lots of them, maybe 4 or 5. and then there are also about 5-6 lumps that look like spider bites or something—my internet research indicates that people sometimes confuse staph with spider bits because they look the same at first. But if it’s staph, I should also be feeling ill, like I have the flu or something, which I don’t. and there should be pus, which there hasn’t been.

The two main things that would suck about having staph, over and above the minor nuisance of it being fatal sometimes, are 1) I really hope I didn’t give it to anyone else and 2) to make sure I DON’T give it to anyone else, I’d be off the mat till it’s better. This would mean no competition on Sun, not to mention no training for probably a week. Crap. I guess there’s nothing for it but to wait and see what the doctor says. The TV here in the waiting room just advertised the LA County Fair: maybe I’ll be going there a lot. Plus, Johnny and Eben were talking about Nickel Nickel, an arcade with old school video games like Frogger and Galaga. That’d be like old times in Michigan when my friends Mark, Michael and I would be the only people in Pinball Pete’s who weren’t 12-year-old boys.

As exciting as that sounds, I REALLY hope it’s not staph.

On Sunday I trained at an open mat at Rigan Machado’s and got to spar some more with Melissa from a couple weeks ago, as well as Daynin, a blue belt from Hawaii. She looks great; she’s into her 40s but I would have pegged her at 32 or so. She attributes it to BJJ. I got a picture with her and Cindy because it was the first time I had actually seen Cindy wearing her black belt (every other time we had been training no-gi).

Later Jimmy, Kenny and I went for lunch and then met up with Melissa (different Melissa from the one I trained with—the one from Friday night) for an MMA fundraiser. And later it was time for some retail therapy at the Citadel (shopping mall) with Jimmy, Melissa, Johnny, and Sean. I needed some more training clothes: board shorts, spandex, etc.

We were SOOO LA; among the 5 of us we were in 4 cars. Pretty hilarious.

Monday I was exhausted; Johnny’s vampire schedule gets to me after a while, so I slept all afternoon before training at night.

Making weight a losing proposition

Update on Giselle: Turns out she was the Pan Ams champion for her weight class as a blue belt and a purple belt. So I’m feeling pretty good about how I did against her on Sat!

Update on cutting weight: The scale in the academy is on a carpeted floor, and it turns out that it’s been weighing people light. So I thought I was in good shape because this morning I was 138, which means only about 2 pounds to go (this evening I was 139, but that’s normal). But Johnny moved the scale to the linoleum, and after that, according to the same scale, I was back up to 141. I have to be 141 with my gi on, and that weighs anywhere from 5 to 7 pounds. If you thought I was whiny before when it was just 2 pounds to lose, imagine how awful I am now.

So I’ve decided to fight up a weight class: 152 and under. The fatass division. Not that all people who weigh 152 are fatasses, but I obviously can’t be bothered to drop even 5 pounds. I weighed 135 in the winter, which would have been perfect and brought me right under or at 141 with the gi on, but right now all I can think about is cookies. My roommates are thrilled that I decided not to cut any more weight.

Update on other stuff: There is a staph outbreak around here. People are getting it from infected mats and clothing. On my leg, I have what look like scrapes and spider bites. When I was training at R1 yesterday, a couple other people thought it might be staph. But other people don't think so. Here are pics:



Tomorrow I will go to the doctor to see whether I have staph. Yuck. Yet another glamorous aspect of BJJ.

This week in LA

Another busy week. I mentioned that I went on a ridealong on Monday night with Mike, a blue belt who trains with John and Johnny. He set it up so that I could ride with his partners Tim and John. I sat in the back, of course, while John drove and Tim rode shotgun. We were in an unmarked car, and according to Tim, while they don’t have Porsche engines anymore, the engines are still pretty damn fast. On the dashboard are two little handles that work external spotlights that they can shine in the faces of people they want to talk to. There are also two pretty interesting-looking police antennae on top of the trunk; they look like giant corks. I noticed that Mike, John, Tim and their colleagues used the police radio to bust each other’s chops. I liked that!

It was kind of a quiet night. We went to the house of someone who violated his parole for drug possession (Tim said he was probably afraid he'd do a "dirty pee test") and staked it out for a while (searching the neighborhood, talking to the neighbors) b/c when he saw us coming he bolted (left the hose on and a wet car). His brother was trying to turn him in so he rode along with us in the neighborhood for a bit and I talked to him a little. It was hard to know what to say; “Dude, sorry your brother is a drug addict” seemed kind of insufficient.Then we stopped a dude for erratic driving. (And yes, I say “we” because I played a pivotal role all night: that of slightly uncomfortable tourist.) He accidentally pulled out an unpaid speeding ticket along with his license. John loved that. Then we busted a dude who was carrying some crystal meth and when they ran his name, it turns out he had three outstanding warrants: two for domestic abuse (he said he beat his baby's mom, but that was 5 years ago) and one for possession. He was walking out of a bar and into a hotel two doors down, carrying a gym bag. They stopped him because when they called out to him he kept walking, and sure enough, he was GUILTY. They had him sit on the curb with the cuffs on, and I got to get out of the car and look at him. That felt sort of strange, like he was a museum attraction or something.Then it was back to the station for the paperwork on the perp. That lasted for a good two hours, during which I sat around writing an entry for my blog and drinking a diet Coke, and after that it was about 11:30pm, so I excused myself, having had a pretty fun time and feeling pretty glad, actually, that I didn’t see a murder. And in answer to the obvious question, there were no donuts, but they did offer me a Hostess lemon pie. (I said no thank you. As you’ll see below, I’m trying to cut weight.)

On Tuesday we trained at R1 again. I forgot to mention that some notable people float in and out of there; and this time it was Marc Denny, one of the Dog Brothers, who came over to say hello. The Dog Brothers are kind of hard to explain. They are a group of martial artists who have a kind of eclectic style that involves sticks and knives. They get together periodically, put on minimal amounts of padding/protection, and whack the shit out of each other. It’s far more technical and sophisticated than I’m describing it, but that’s kind of the gist. Marc is a big, 50ish dude whose nickname is Crafty Dog (all the members have a Dog nickname and greet each other by saying, “Woof woof.”), and I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t want him to hit me with a stick. You can check them out at dogbrothers.com.

That training session was great: we worked the riding the pipe takedown and the counter to the counter to it, and I felt like I was FINALLY starting to get the hang of it. Of course, in the evening gi class that John taught I felt like I was regressing and got so frustrated I was on the verge of tears. But then I took Johnny and Sheldon's class after that and Sheldon gave a couple tips that really helped. Freaking takedowns. At lunch we were talking about the Abu Dhabi trials. The Abu Dhabi Combat Club is a martial arts club run by prominent (read: wealthy) United Arab Emirates citizens who appreciate Brazilian jiu jitsu and related martial arts. The club sponsors a no-gi competition every couple of years that is widely viewed as one of the most competitive in the world. 2005’s competition was the first that had a women’s division, and the women’s competition was AWESOME. There are some amazing women doing BJJ at very high and sophisticated levels. And someday there will be more! Anyway, trials for entry into the competition, men and women, will be held in October in New Jersey as part of a different event called Grapplers’ Quest. I will not be participating in the trials, but I definitely want to go out and watch. So I gotta make some arrangements myself.

I’ve been having fun conversations with Johnny about his BJJ curriculum. He’s gonna let me take a look at it from an educational psychology perspective. What a fun way to use my degree! And there could conceivably be ways for me to make a living at it. So I’m getting more and more hits on what I could do with my time that would 1) make me happy (because that’s always of most importance) and 2) make me enough money to live on. Muscle Activation Therapy is still in the running, but I’m not interested in working at all right now, at least not at a job that pays me (I feel frequently like I am working REALLY hard at BJJ, though I love it), so all of this is tabled for the moment.I think I wrote about how Johnny, Paul (really tough blue belt) and I trained at Tinguinha’s Wednesday morning, though he wasn't there himself. Everybody there was HUGE, so that was kind of frustrating; I couldn’t do much, especially when being smushed on the bottom. Last night I sat out of the basics class here at “home” (New Breed) but took the advanced class, though I didn't do the free sparring. I have been training every day and usually twice a day since I got back from Florida, 10 days in a row. So I'm a little fried, I think.

I had thought Thursday morning was going to be a free morning, but Johnny had arranged for us to train at Gracie Barra (pronounced Ba-ha), so it was more of the same. And of course the same is always fun. Gracie Barra originated in Rio with Carlos (aka Carlinhos) Gracie, Jr., whose father was one of the founders of modern BJJ. The Rio Gracie Barra is kind of like mecca for people who train BJJ; I went there in 2003 when I was in town with Carlson, Jr. (my teacher) for the Mundial, a world competition. Carlinhos and Marcio Feitosa, a black belt under Carlinhos and his right-hand man, have overseen the opening of numerous Gracie Barra academies, including the ones in Anchorage and Seattle that I have visited on this trip. They are both teaching at the Lake Forest, CA, academy now, so I’m hoping they’ll be there when Johnny and I go back next week.

And that being said, I had a great time there. Andre Fernandes, a tough, lanky black belt, taught the class, focusing on recomposing the guard and including some details I hadn’t seen before. That’s always exciting, to pick up new details and “toys” to play with. I got to spar with Andre, and he let me play around. Then it was with blue belt Derek, whom Johnny and I had lunch with later, and he was fun too. And also with purple belt Kevin. Kevin’s girlfriend wasn’t there, but she is a blue belt, and it turns out that she has some frustrations about training. And of course any frustration she may have experienced (guys muscling out of your technique, no women to spar with, intimidation and sexism factors, etc), I have also definitely experienced. So I gave him my contact info and invited him to have her call or email me if she wants to talk or to set up a time when we could train together.

Here is a picture of Johnny, me, and Andre:

Then in the evening it was on to Hollywood BJJ (Shawn Williams’ academy). I’ve been there a couple times already to train with my friend Parker, and some of the guys have been agitating for Johnny to show up there too, so it was fun to go back. Vince came along, and we met Laura there too. Laura is a blue belt under Rey Diogo, and while she wasn’t there last week when I trained at Rey’s, I met her at the competition on Sunday. She was really taken with my story about quitting my job and taking this road trip, and when we trained at Shawn’s, we spent a lot of time talking. Turns out she’s at a crossroads herself, and I guess talking to me gave her that little extra incentive she needed to start planning her own vision quest. She’ll start in Mexico, where she has relatives, and then it’s on to Brazil for her. She’s got about 5 or 6 months of groundwork to lay before she goes, but she’s on her way! I’m really excited for her and a little proud that I could provide some inspiration to someone. We’ll train again while I’m in town, I’m sure.

And can I just say again how cool Shawn is. Actually, there are like four Shawn/Seans at Hollywood BJJ, and they are all incredibly cool. I gotta get them some donuts or something because they won’t take my money for a mat fee. It was also really cool to watch Johnny and Shawn discussing technique, their takes on how to improve certain positions and then how to teach them. There’s so much to learn, and so many knowledgeable and friendly people to learn from. I love this sport!

Afterward we had Hawaiian BBQ with Parker and Emmee (Emmee’s daughter was already asleep, unfortunately). We had moco loco, which is hamburgers with fried eggs on top, chicken katsui (fried chicken with yummy sauce), and teriyaki chicken, all served with rice. It is SOOOO incredibly good. Unfortunately, though, it is not conducive to losing weight. I think I mentioned that I’ve decided to compete in a tournament next Sunday, and the weight classes I could be eligible for are 141 and under and 151 and under. Right now I weigh about 140, but you have to weigh in with the gi on, and that adds about 5 pounds. And it’s better to be at the top of your weight class than the bottom; it gives you a little bit of an advantage, so I really should be trying to lose the weight. It isn’t working. Bummer that I like food so much.

Yesterday I was pretty exhausted, so I dinked around on the computer while Johnny taught the morning class. Then it was laundry day; Johnny and I actually had to do some and Sean came along for sushi, which we had while we waited for the clothes.

You can probably see from the pictures I’ve posted so far that Johnny is about 5’5” or 5’6”, not super huge. Well, as I was loading clothes into one of those huge Laundromat dryers that holds at least 3 loads, Sean said, “I wonder if Johnny would fit in there.” We contemplated that for a minute, examining the capacity of the dryer, and then asking Johnny to come over. He looked up, saw the open dryer and our curious expressions, and without missing a beat said, “Yeah, I fit in there.”

So then of course I had to see whether I could. I do, but I didn’t go all the way in, because I’ve gotten to know Sean well enough to know that he would shut me in there, put a quarter in, and start the thing. As I’ve told him, he’s kind of like the brother I never wanted. So I kept my feet out the whole time. But for future reference, I do fit in a huge Laundromat dryer that holds at least 3 loads.

I was STILL cranky at the evening class Johnny taught, so I only sparred a couple times after technique. He showed some really cool things, though, so then I got over myself and remembered them and wrote them down: escapes from the triangle and from the arm triangle (two different things). Gotta transfer them to my training journal.

Last night I finally got to meet Melissa, who is one of my long-standing internet forum friends. We’ve posted and talked on the phone periodically for about 4 years, but I had never met her before last night. And when I did meet her, it was so normal and fun like we had known each other for a long time, which we basically did. She works in the MMA industry, for an agent who represents people like Tito Ortiz and Chuck Liddell, two really well known mixed martial artists. We had some burgers with some of the dudes from my “house,” and then she and I went to Oceans, a bar nearby.

She just moved here from San Luis Obispo for her job, and I was so glad to get a chance to hang out with her! And we have plans to get together again, maybe even tomorrow, for an MMA expo type thing where there will be fighters and referees that she knows. I adore her for her, but I have to admit, it’s also fun to hear her stories about all these famous people! Here's a picture of me and her at Oceans:

I called it kind of an early night (although we did close down Oceans) because this morning about 8 of us road tripped to San Diego for competition-style sparring at Rodrigo Medeiros’ academy. Rod is the one who gave Johnny his black belt, and I am part of the extended family, because Rod’s black belt is under Carlson, Sr., who was my teacher until he passed away earlier this year. Crystina, whom I trained with at Rigan Machado’s last Sunday, trained at Rod’s for the 2 years since she left Chicago, but has since moved on to City Boxing, which is run by Dean Lister and focused more on no-gi, and that is where her interests lie. So I didn’t get to see her, but am hoping to tomorrow at the open mat at Rigan Machado’s.

I was REALLY nervous about the competition-style sparring. Rod has a female purple belt named Giselle and a tough blue named Caterina training under him, and I sparred with them. The things that wig me about competition-style sparring are 1) you are the only ones on the mat and everyone is watching, and 2) you start from standing (normally in training, for lots of reasons, we start from the knees), and this means I need to work my—say it with me—takedowns.

I sparred three times, with Giselle, then with Caterina, and then with Giselle again. The first time I was really jittery and froze a little; Giselle pulled guard and I spent about 3-4 minutes defending her triangle attempt. I know about 4 or 5 escapes from the triangle, and all of them forsook me. So I just sat there trying to breathe and remember what I needed to do, and just focused on lasting. That was extremely frustrating. But the good news is that it made me want to spar again. And she didn’t finish me. I’m pretty sure she would have won by one advantage, which is a kind of “extra credit” you get for attempting a move if it doesn’t work. Referees count up advantages when the points score is tied.

So I did spar again, with Caterina. She pulled guard as well and tried for an arm bar, which I defended. I passed her guard and then took the mount. I really smashed her so she couldn’t move around very much, because she was really game, and by the time I established the mount and would have started working for a finishing hold, time ran out. The scoring for that one would have been 7-0, 3 points for the guard pass and then 4 points for the mount.

I felt better about that one, obviously, but was also still concerned because since I’m a purple belt and Caterina is a blue belt, I should have better moves than she does. So then Rod had Giselle and me go again. This time was MUCH better. This time *I* pulled guard after squaring off with her on the feet for a little while. First I worked for a gi choke, and then when she stood up to try to pass my guard, I swept her and ended up in her guard. But I kept it open by planting my foot so my knee was up (she couldn’t close her legs around my bent knee) and worked to pass, eventually succeeding, and that’s when time ran out. So the scoring of that match would have been, I believe, 5-0, 2 points for the sweep and 3 for the guard pass.

Johnny coached me, like he did all the guys who came with us, and boy is it nice to have someone telling you what to do in those situations! Thanks, Johnny!

So I’m very glad we did that kind of sparring, and even gladder still that I am all juiced to compete now. In fact, there’s another big competition in Santa Cruz in October, and I’m thinking of sticking around for that, or at least coming back for it. Who knows? But the point is, I had had a real block around competing for a long time, and while I’m not over it, I’m working on it. And I’m pretty happy with my performance today.

Here’s a picture of me and Giselle. I didn’t get a picture with Rod because he left before we finished with the open mat. But you can see a picture of him on his website.

So it's been another terrific week. Tomorrow is more open mat training at Rigan Machado's, and then some time during the week Wen and Parker are supposed to come to New Breed to take a class under Johnny. Saturday is another UFC, and Sunday is the competition!! Right now I think I'm gonna keep watching Jackass and turn off the computer. Open mat tomorrow is at 10.

Another placeholder post (Crap, life is busy!)

Training yesterday at R1. We worked on, you guessed it, takedowns. I'm starting to feel more comfortable with them. Well, I WAS starting to, until I took John's class in the evening. Then I felt like I was a complete moron and couldn't get them and couldn't get them. So I was literally on the verge of tears. But then in the wrestling class Sheldon showed some good details and ways to think about the penetration step that were helpful. I really think I should take a day off. It also doesn't help that I'm becoming acclimated to Johnny's schedule: I sleep in the room with the TV, and he watches Three's Company and The Fresh Prince of Bel Air until 4 and 5 in the morning. So that means I don't sleep very much.

So of course instead of taking a day off, this morning I went with Johnny and Paul to Tinguinha's. I don't know what Tinguinha means, but it's one of those Brazilian nicknames, and I will find out. He wasn't there, but a black belt named Marcelo was, along with a handful of purples. Here's a pic of me, Marcelo, Johnny, and Paul:


Marcelo REALLY schooled me, tapping me out about 5 times in about 5 minutes. I also felt sluggish with the purples. I definitely need a day off. So of course I'm going to train tonight. But then I will sleep in tomorrow and take it really easy tomorrow night, when Johnny and I will go to Hollywood BJJ to train with Parker and maybe Jimmy, along with the rest of the group. Okay, off to get ready to train.

More detailed weekend roundup

Some highlights from the weekend: Friday after 2 no-gi classes with Johnny (and lunch in Whittier with Johnny and Vince), Rodrigo, Sean, Johnny, Eben, Vince and I went to Jim’s Burgers, famous for its manila envelope-sized quesadillas, which are that flaky, almost donut-y tasting tortilla wrapped around, in my case, carne asada and pastrami, along with cheese, guacamole, and lettuce and tomato. Holy crap. I should have taken a picture. The quesadilla was cut in two, but one of the pieces was twice as big as the other piece. That was good because after I ate the smaller piece I had to fend off a coronary on the spot. (I picked at the rest the next day. It was almost better cold and picked at.)

Then it was on to Oceans, a bar in Santa Fe Springs where the guys know the bartenders and there are pool tables. When people want to play pool, I always assume they are good at it. I am not. So I’m always game but also always issue a disclaimer so my partner won’t be blindsided by my badness (the bad kind of badness, not the good kind).

Well, it turns out I didn’t need to disclaim anything. EVERYONE sucked. I was responsible for only one of the 3-4 scratches, zero of the 3-4 times when the cue ball bounced off the table and under the bar, and at least 2-3 legitimate sinks. So that’s cool.

I don’t go to bars that much anymore, so I’m always surprised to see what people are wearing, especially the women. I wore my usual outfit of BJJ t-shirt, shorts, fleece, flip-flops, and drawstring Keiko Raca bag that one of my gis came in as a purse. Oh, and I’m sure my mullet was pulled back in a ponytail holder. The other women there, in contrast, were wearing cute halter tops or bustiers, matching shoes and purses, cute hairstyles, and manicures/pedicures. (If I ever get a manicure, about 2 BJJ classes ruin it. I clip my fingernails and that’s about it.)

My roommates Johnny and Sean and I had houseguests over the weekend: Ouano’s friends Bernie and Joan and their 11-year-old daughter. They came to town to compete in the North American Brazilian Jiu Jitsu tournament in Redondo Beach, Bernie as a purple belt and daughter in the kids’ division. Johnny slept in his room, Sean in his, and the rest of us squatted in the TV room.

On Saturday there was an open mat and then Johnny, Gabe and I went to the tournament. It was kids’ divisions, blue belts, and women. I hung out with Gabe, Wen, and Jimmy while Johnny ran around coaching their teammates. I love being at tournaments. I love the energy, watching BJJ for hours, and sitting on uncomfortable wooden bleachers for so long that I eventually get these shooting pains in my ass. Well, I tolerate the 3rd thing, but I love the rest. I was watching the refs as much as the competitors because I’m thinking of taking a referee certification course so I can help out at tourneys.

I’m also thinking of competing at the US Nationals on the 24th. This means 1) I guess I’m staying in LA for at least another 2 weeks, and 2) I have a crapload of prep to do to get into fighting trim, especially re: conditioning and takedowns. Oh, and 3) if I do compete, I will crap a brick of pure, unadulterated fear beforehand. Fortunately, Johnny said he’d help me. With 1) and 2), at least.

Jimmy, Johnny, Gabe, and I went to a place called Versailles for Cuban food after the tourney. Poor Gabe was cutting weight for his matches the next day, so he sat and watched us eat plantains, garlic chicken, and black beans and rice while he allowed himself an ice chip every 5 minutes or so.

In the evening, Wen, Michele and I got our signals crossed, so we didn’t get together as originally planned. But life in the academy is never boring: Johnny, Bernie and I ended up sparring in our street clothes until about 12:30 in the morning while Sean watched (poor guy is still injured). After that it was time for ice cream at IHOP and then to bed around 3am.

Sun morning was training in Redondo Beach at Rigan Machado’s. (You may recall that I went to Rigan’s brother Jean Jacques’ academy last week. I think John and Roger are also in LA, and then Carlos is in Texas). While Rigan wasn’t there (no picture for me. No recent one, at least; I actually met him back in 1999 when I was training in Plymouth, MI, under Ryan Fiorenzi, who is now a black belt under him), there was a cool collection of people: Felicia, Cindy, Jimmy, Rudy, a Rey Diogo purple belt named Kazumi, a blue belt named Crystina who trains with Dean Lister in San Diego now but used to train at Carlson’s in Chicago with me, and Melissa Haueter, a blue belt under her husband Chris, who is one of the black belts associated with the Straight Blast gyms in Portland, OR, and which I visited back in August. (Wow; that was quite a sentence.)

Here are a couple pics of the group:

L-R: Kazumi, me, Crystina, Cindy, Melissa, Felicia.

Back row: Rudy, Felicia, Melissa, me, Crystina, Jimmy

Front row: Kenny, Natasha, Kay, Britt, Cindy, Kazumi

So we sparred our asses off, and then we ate them back on at a Mongolian BBQ place before heading over for the 2nd day of the tournament: white, purple, brown and black belt guys. Some good matches, some not so good ones, and some interesting characters, including one tatted up guy who, in lieu of eyebrows, has words inked over his eyes. One of the words was Valhalla, which I found interesting because that’s my screen name. I couldn’t see the other word. I was also a little afraid, so I didn’t look too hard.

Bernie took first in his weight class and 3rd in the open division (open division is where all weight classes fight each other, so there could be significant poundage differences between competitors. A David and Goliath scenario, if you will.). Johnny only had one opponent, whom he beat by submission. And the rest of Ouano’s students did varyingly well but all had good experiences, they said.

And how cool is this: throughout the day Johnny massaged his contacts, told them how I want to train everywhere, and got me some blanket invitations! He said he has been meaning to make the rounds anyway, so now I have an in at a bunch of places to train AND a partner in crime! Hooray!

In the evening we watched a reairing of PRIDE Fighting Championships, a mixed martial arts event held in Japan. With the time difference, very few Americans watch PRIDE when it’s actually being aired, so Sunday nights are the time to watch. Later it was pizza and beer with Johnny and Eben, and again, very little sleep.

So here I am now on my ridealong, waiting at the station while my hosts do some paperwork on the “perp” they apprehended with some crystal meth in his gym bag. I am exhausted, and there are still 3 hours left in the shift. I may bail early so I can get some sleep before more training tomorrow morning AND evening (morning at R1 and evening at Ouano’s).

Earlier in the day I trained halfheartedly with John in the morning class, halfheartedly probably because today was my 7th straight day of training, I’m just realizing. So I’m not feeling as bad anymore about my sluggishness. But I told Ouano I’m thinking of competing, and if I do, I’ll need to step it up for the next two weeks. I laughed when he warned me that if I’m gonna compete I’m gonna need to eat enough. Hasn’t he ever seen a Jim’s quesadilla? Or an IHOP hot fudge sundae? Okay, maybe that’s not the best training diet, but the point is that I have the eating part down. If takedowns were as easy as eating, I’d be a championa, as Carlson Sr. used to say.

Oh, and I said I’d take some pics of my home. Here are some:

Welcome to New Breed Academy!

Change here:

Train here (dark pic):

Hang out here:

Sleep here:

Weekend roundup

Great weekend of training (with Johnny, Cindy, Rudy, Jimmy, and a couple other women: Kazumi, Melissa, Crystina) and hanging out at a competition in Redondo Beach. Johnny competed and won his fight. Hooray for him! Tomorrow I will do laundry (ugh), train in the morning, and then go on a ride-along with a colleague of Mike's, who is an East LA cop and a blue belt. Hot damn! Mike said he hoped there would be some fun stuff, like maybe even a murder. Whoa.

More on that tomorrow!

I could get used to this

Holy cow, the days fly by when you live at a jiu jitsu academy. Wake up around 9, futz around a little, take a morning class that ends up lasting for hours because you are having lots of fun training and shooting the breeze, clean up, eat, rest for a bit, take an evening class that ends up lasting for hours because you are having lots of fun training and shooting the breeze, clean up, eat, go to sleep around 2am. Repeat as necessary (and necessary = daily). I asked my roommate Sean whether Ouano’s academy is kind of like Hotel California, in that you decide you want to leave but somehow never do, and he said yes. And since he’s been living here since February, he knows whereof he speaks. Johnny actually has an apartment in another town, but chooses to live here. And my stay somehow seems to keep lengthening too. There’s a big tournament coming up on the 24th right around here, and I want to stay for that, so it looks like I’ll be here for another couple weeks. I can check out any time I like, but apparently I can never leave.

Anyway, I had a great time at Rey’s academy on Wed. He taught a guard pass and a transition to the mount that I had sort of seen but sort of not—story of my life with this trip. There are so many ways to teach a given technique that the way I have learned may not be the way it is taught at an academy in another city. Even though Rey basically grew up with Carlson, Jr. and considered Carlson, Sr. to be a father figure and was thoroughly educated in Carlson jiu jitsu, he has developed his own take on various techniques. That’s how it works; the more skilled you become in BJJ, the more creativity and individual personality you bring to bear on your own game and the instruction you provide your students.

Rod and Joe, two forum friends (Sweepem and Creek Warrior, respectively), were at Rey’s, as was Andreh, a brown belt who is knocking on the door to black. Rod is injured, but I got to work with Joe and Andreh, and here are some pictures of us and one of me and Rey. Unfortunately, Rey’s wife Tatiana, a brown belt, was not at class that night, but I will go back and will hope to see her then.

Rod, me, Joe:

Andreh, me

Rey, me
Andreh and my friend Dave Jacobs (a black belt under the Yamasaki brothers who runs a Yamasaki academy in Chantilly, VA) have a fake feud going on, so I was happy to stir the turd by telling Dave that Andreh and I burned a fanny pack in effigy. (Dave considers a fanny pack to be a vital fashion accessory, and this makes him the butt—pun intended—of countless jokes. Don’t ask.) After class, Andreh, Rod, Joe, and I went for Mediterranean food and talked more BJJ, and then when I got back to Ouano’s, I went for dessert with Johnny and blue belt Vince. I give two thumbs up to multiple dinners.

Yesterday I pretty much followed the schedule above: Johnny and I went to R1 to train with Cindy Omatsu, who is a really cool person in addition to being an awesome BJJ player; I cleaned up, ate, and sat on my keister until John’s gi class and Sheldon’s takedowns class; I cleaned up; and then Johnny, Vince and I went to dinner at about 1am. I started the day risking life and limb by waking Johnny up at 8am to do laundry; he usually doesn’t emerge before noon, if possible. But I have clean clothes AND managed to stay alive, so as laundry days go, it was pretty typical.

I also spoke to my father about my mother’s radiation, which was supposed to start yesterday. Apparently the computer was down or something, so she’s not going to start until Monday. That’s kind of stinky; I have no idea what it’s like to psych yourself up to get radiation, but I imagine it can’t be easy. So Mom, I’m rooting for you! Have a great weekend and kick radiation’s ass on Monday!

Today was more of the same: I talked to Debbie for her birthday, ordered her a present or two, and took Johnny’s no-gi class. He’s a great teacher, and we’ve actually had some interesting conversations about instructional design; since I have that degree in education, I supposedly know something about how people learn and how best to teach them. Based on what I’ve seen and experienced, Johnny has basically stumbled upon really solid pedagogical principles without knowing anything formal about instructional design, and we’re going to look at his curriculum to see if/how we can make it even better.

So that will be a REALLY fun way for me to use my degree! Hot damn. Johnny, Vince, and I had just enough time to grab lunch (at 4pm) before the 6pm class, in which Johnny taught the same things he taught in the morning class (great for me, because a lot of it was takedowns, and we all know by now how I feel about takedowns). Then I watched the MMA class, and now, close to midnight, there is still a handful of people here just hanging out. I’m hoping some of them are going to want to get something to eat, because I’m about ready to start feasting on my own hand.

Tomorrow is a tournament that I’ll go to to watch and to hang out with some of my west coast pals. I promised to bring Stan’s donuts, so I gotta figure out the directions. Ooh, and just now Johnny said the word “quesadillas” to me. I think that’s a good sign!

Happy birthday, Debbie!

Today is the birthday of Debbie, my friend who lives in Juneau and who has been my friend since junior high. I got to see her and her boyfriend Shane recently when I traveled to Alaska on my odyssey. I just want to wish her a terrific birthday with lots of presents (including belated ones from me) and maybe even a cocktail or two.

Happy birthday, Deb! I love ya!

More on life at the academy

I have a new roommate! Well, I guess I should say that I am a new roommate to the other guy who lives at New Breed but was out of town when I got here. So now it’s me, Sean, and Johnny Ramirez, a black belt under Rodrigo Medeiros who teaches with John now. He was actually at the New Breed academy in Evanston, a suburb just north of Chicago, training with the guys there and doing a belt promotion ceremony. I know some of those guys, both because I have visited the academy and because some of them come to Carlson’s regularly.

I had my doubts about whether Johnny actually existed, because back in the spring when I was still living in Chicago, he was supposed to come and do a seminar, but had to cancel. Then back in the winter, I found out yesterday, he was in town for the one day of a visit by Fredson Paixao (an AMAZING black belt who specializes in wristlocks) that I couldn’t make it for. And finally, when I arrived here at New Breed a couple weeks ago (God, it’s already been a couple weeks!), he was in Chicago. Yesterday I met someone who claims to be Johnny Ramirez, but I haven’t seen any ID, so the jury is still out. Anyway, regardless of who this guy is, claiming to be Johnny Ramirez, the living situation is now kind of like a modified Three’s Company, only there are two guys and one girl, lots more tattoos, and two landlords, one who lives in the academy and one who is not Mr. Furley but rather a hyperactive Filipino surfer dude.

Yesterday I got invited to train with Cindy Omatsu, the first American female black belt, at R1, an academy in El Segundo run by Frank Trigg, a UFC veteran and Ricco Chiaparelli, a top-notch wrestler. I caught a glimpse of Ricco; Frank wasn’t there. I only got to spar with Cindy for a few minutes, but it was fun. I’m realizing that my style is a lot like hers; I move methodically and use my weight to secure position so opponents can’t move easily. The technical term is “smushing.”

Other people move quickly and continuously, using that constant movement to keep their opponents off guard. I would like to incorporate more of that strategy into my game, but it is taking some time. Part of it stems from my training in the Carlson Sr. camp; Carlson was all about what is known as “ground and pound,” where you get the person on the ground and keep them there while you look for a finishing hold or punch the bejabers out of them if it’s an NHB event.

The other part is that I’ve never been particularly acrobatic, and when I get a position I like to sit there for a minute 1) enjoying the fact that I have established the position and 2) figuring out what to do next. BJJ is about combinations of moves, though, so it’s also good to be thinking about what you’ll be doing next before you actually do it. Kind of like chess, only not really.

Anyway, Johnny and I drove to R1 together, so I got to train with him too. He is really really good, and plays with your mind by laughing and laughing the entire time he’s sparring with you. Actually, I think he laughs mostly because he loves BJJ, but if I didn’t love it so much too, and if he weren’t so nice, I could see how it could take its toll. He also will say, “Okay, now I’m going to take your back” or “Okay, now, I’m going to triangle you, and I’m going to put my right leg across your neck” about a second before he does it. Then when he catches you in the move, which he invariably does (at least with me), he says, “Didn’t you get the memo?” I “complained” about his antics to John, who laughed and said, “Where do you think he got that from?” I’m doomed.

After we trained, we sat around shooting the breeze, so before you knew it, it was 4pm and time to get back to New Breed for more training. John taught some takedowns and some ground techniques in his class, and then Sheldon, a former Olympic qualifier wrestler, taught some takedowns. As I’ve been saying, I need a crapload of help with my takedowns, and fortunately for me, both John and Sheldon are building on the same techniques, so I’m getting some much-needed reps in. Never enough, of course, but more than zero. So that’s good.

After class, Johnny, Eben (another black belt who teaches at New Breed and focuses on MMA) and I went for “dinner,” which is in quotes because it was about midnight. That’s one thing about living in the gym: my schedule is skewed late. That’s fine with me, as long as I get about 7 or 8 hours of sleep, but it’s just funny to be training till 10 or 11, eating dinner at midnight and winding down for the day at 1am.

I woke up today feeling pretty tired and decided not to do John's morning class in favor of sitting on my butt and getting some stuff done. Here's a cool example of the randomness of BJJ and how it can connect you to neat things: John introduced me to Mike, who was there for the morning class and is a police officer in East LA. One thing led to another and it turns out that Mike does ride-alongs for civilians (like me). So I may get to do a ride-along with Mike's colleague on Sunday. He said he hoped it would be interesting and that maybe there'd be a murder or something to see. Now I'm sure there are other ways I could have orchestrated such a thing, but only in BJJ would this kind of thing fall into my lap. I love the randomness of it as much as I love the fact that I might be able to do a ride-along!

I went with John and two students from the morning class named Joey and Brian for Thai food and am leaving in a little bit to train with Rey Diogo, who I mentioned in an earlier post is a Carlson, Sr. black belt. He used to live in Chicago, actually, and moved out here to LA about 8 years ago. Then tomorrow it’s more training at R1 and maybe training somewhere else in the evening. So far I have just been kind of going where the wind takes me re: training, and it’s working out really well that way. But there are other places I’d like to check out while I’m here, so I’ve decided to get a little bit strategic.

I will also take some pics of the academy/my current home so you can see and I can remember what it’s like to live like a mat rat! Gonna take some pics at Rey’s tonight too, so I’ll post all of them tonight or tomorrow.

Labor Day weekend wrap-up

Friday was a good day: after dinking around on the computer, I met up with Parker and Emmee at Hollywood BJJ to train. We actually didn’t do too much actual training, but Apperson did a Q&A session where I learned how to recompose what’s called the half guard if your opponent turns his back. I get stuck in this position a LOT, and it’s frustrating. SPF showed me some cool stuff from the turtle too. Sadly, Donut the dog was at home. Then I showed Emmee a basic move called a scissor sweep. I think she had fun learning it, and I had fun teaching it. I thought a lot about how I was teaching while I was showing her, because I believe that purple is the belt level where you start to do more teaching. I know I’ve said it before.

Later in the evening, Parker, Emmee, Emmee’s daughter, and I went back to Isshin, the sushi place they go to all the time. Delicious! That may sound weird coming from someone who is allergic to fish, but I love the vegetarian sushi and they make it look so beautiful! They were out of the black sesame ice cream I had last time, so I had to make do with the tempura ice cream (green tea flavor).

And then Emmee and Parker very sweetly invited me to stay at their place. They knew I was headed to LAX the next morning (Saturday) to fly to FL to see my family, and their place is closer than John Ouano’s school. I took them up on it and we chatted until late—what an awesome couple! Then I fell asleep on their couch and when we woke up, I was off to the east coast and they were off to surf.

The weekend with my family was short but sweet. I got to see for myself how my mother is doing after her surgery and before her radiation, not to mention how my father is doing, being her stalwart support system (sometimes support systems need support too). And my sister, brother-in-law, and 2-year-old niece were there too. The only “person” missing was my canine niece, who was probably having fun at the kennel. We missed her, though.

I was actually in Florida for about 48 hours. The rest of the time I spent on various planes. But it was so worth it. My niece is starting to talk, and is continuing to be kick-ass. Among other things, she swam in the pool, ate a couple forkfuls of butter, and notified us all what day it happened to be. She’s very helpful to have around! And my sister and brother-in-law are two of my favorite people too. I feel really fortunate to have a family I actually enjoy being with.

I got emotional when I said goodbye, which is to say, I cried. I do that a lot when I say goodbye to my family. Part of it is because I’ll miss them, and lately part of it is because I’m still in all sorts of flux. I was thinking before I got there that I’m hoping to start getting some clarity on what I’m supposed to be doing next. The only “hit” I have is that I’ll probably extend my trip so that I end up at my parents’ place at Thanksgiving, which gives me about 2 and a half more months on the road. Maybe I won’t last that long, and maybe I’ll get an idea of where to land and what to do before then, but if I don’t, that will be a good plan. But the travel is starting to get to me a little, I think. I talked to my friend Natasha today and got a little envious that she was at home washing dishes. Weird thing to be envious of, but it just reminded me that even though I’m doing this trip, I do eventually want some stability, a job that fulfills me, a family of my own. It’s kind of a roundabout way to get there, but it was the only thing I knew to do.

So in the meantime, I will just live each day as if it’s my last, because one day I’ll be right, as Breaker Morant says. Tonight that means sleeping on John Ouano’s couch again. And tomorrow that means training with TWO female black belts! I’ll also get to train with Johnny Ramirez, a black belt under John. We will all be at R1 Training Center, training with Frank Trigg and Ricco Chiaparelli, two big names in the field of grappling. That’s in the morning. Then in the evening I’ll train at John’s and call Rey Diogo, a black belt who was like a son to Carlson Sr. He and his wife (brown belt Tatiana) and their son live in LA and have a school there, so I will definitely go to pay my respects.

Okay, now it’s time to get some sleep. I still have to update my training blog with my visit to Jean-Jacques Machado’s and Eddie Bravo’s academies, as well as Hollywood BJJ. Maybe in the morning.

Cat fight outside

Literally. I'm finishing stuff for the night and am sitting here listening to what sounds like babies crying. I'm pretty sure it isn't, because after the crying there are scuffles and things. Weird. I haven't heard a cat fight in years. It's kind of creepy.

I also saw a giant cockroach on the bathroom wall at Eddie Bravo's academy. I was afraid to turn my back on it and thought it might eat me. I would probably be delicious, but I didn't want that to happen, so I did my business as fast as possible and hightailed it out of there. When I mentioned it to Felicia, who was training tonight too, she said, "Welcome to Southern California."