Intense couple weeks coming up

I missed National Lefthanders’ Day, which was Tuesday the 14th, I think. I am left handed. At least, I write with my left hand. I do other stuff with my right, like use my key to open the door, throw a ball, shake my fist at slow drivers who won’t get out of the passing lane. I was never Ned Flanders weird about my left-handedness, wearing it like a badge of honor or whatever. I guess a generation ago, though, people used to force their kids to be right-handed, which would screw them up (cramped handwriting + pent-up rage = therapy and maybe prison). So maybe there was some backlash in the other direction there.

I remember my parents being very supportive of my handedness, buying me T-shirts that said things like, “Kiss Me, I’m Left Handed” and “If the Right Side of the Brain Controls the Left Side of the Body, Then Only Left Handed People Are in Their Right Minds.” So I was one of the lucky ones. Or was I? I mean, I didn’t have to learn how to write with the hand that felt uncomfortable, but I did have to come up with other things to need therapy for. Everyone has a cross to bear, I guess. I’m trying to remember when being left-handed has come in handy. Definitely when I played lacrosse in high school; my opponents would try to stick check me and end up getting called for fouls because they would hit across my body, which is not allowed.

Other than that, um, well, I might be better at switching my judo grips because I’m left-handed. But since my judo sucks, saying I’m just as good at a left-handed judo grip as I am at a right-handed judo grip is like saying that this pile of crap over here smells just as good as that pile of crap over there. (Thanks to Andrew for the analogy, though he used it in reference to Van Halen songs.)

So what’s going on lately? Mainly I’m training my keister off for the Mundial and the Turkey competition. “Mundial” is Portuguese for “world competition” or something similar. Usually this competition is in Rio de Janeiro, but this year it’s in Long Beach, right down the street from me. So that’s what I meant when I said the Brazos were coming; lots of people are coming to town to compete next week. Among other big names who are probably arriving every minute, I got to meet Robert Drysdale, who beat Marcelo Garcia in the open division of the Abu Dhabi competition back in May. This was a big upset. Nice guy. Big guy. I haven’t gotten a picture with him yet, but I’m sure I will try.

The Mundial starts on Thurs the 23rd with white belts. Blues and purples go on Fri and Sat, so I will go on one of those days. And then the browns and blacks are on Sun. It will be a 4-day extravaganza of hard bleacher seats, Power Bars, flop sweat, and gi grappling that ranges from crappy to fantastic. I’m excited and nervous. Excited to see friends and watch grappling, nervous to compete. I’m excited about that too, though!

Then Monday is a day of rest, though I’ll probably go to my conditioning class, and then Tues the 28th I go to Irvine for a week for the FILA/Turkey competition training camp. And then Tues the 4th I go to Turkey! The competition is Sept 7-9. Grapplers compete on Sun the 9th and then we head back to the US on Mon.

It all sounds so straightforward. But it’s going to be pretty intense. I’m just going to take it as it comes. And enjoy every minute of it!

In other news, I need to figure out how to post some footage I got from the last Richmond tournament I competed in. Steve, a fellow competitor, happened to catch one of my no gi matches on video because he was recording it for his teammate, whom I competed against. It was a good match, which I won on points. So if I can figure it out, I will post it. Meantime, thanks to Steve!