Monday, June 29, 2009

Tagged, I'm it!

Grappledunk tagged me... and I'm slow to respond. Call me a dork.

What is your current obsession? Jits, but of course.

What is your weirdest obsession? Okay, so picture this: in 108 degree weather and no AC, instead of hanging out in my pool wearing as little as possible and sipping a frosty beverage, I'm putting on layers after layers (not just a gi, but rashie and athletic bra and bike shorts!) of hot, heavy, thick fabric which hasn't been updated with modern textile technology, then running in circles, picking up and putting down and pushing and pulling heavy things, then squirming around on a mat with other similarly-dressed people who often outweigh me by 20, 40, 60, 80 pounds, while they try their best to make me pass out... either by choking me out or suffocating me or with the manmonia of their not-washed-frequently-enough gis.... for three, sometimes five, sometimes eight hours a day, seven days a week.

What is the weirdest sub-obsession of the weird obsession you just described? Collecting instructionals and trading them with friends across the country, yet not taking/making the time to watch 99.99999% of them. Dork!

Coffee or tea? Tea (Earl Grey or Irish Breakfast) very strong, very sweet (love you splenda) with cream or at least half-and-half.

What was the last really exiting thing you bought and the next exciting thing you plan to buy? It's a tie: got a Lucky gi on Ebay for $67, and I'm still in awe of the fabulous induction cooktop in our kitchen island (though we've had it nearly two years, it is every cook's dream... ask me about it... magnetic energy cooks faster, uses less energy, produces less ambient heat, and was a perfect excuse to "have to" buy All-Clad) Next exciting thing? A car. That's a long way off though.

What are you listening to right now? Husband is watching Merlin episodes on Hulu, sitting next to me on the couch.

What is your favorite ice cream flavor? Butter pecan with TONS of caramel sauce.

What do you think of the person(s) who tagged you? I'll copycat and proclaim that Grappledunk is creative, fun, intelligent, beautiful, and a certified aquabadass. But seriously folks-- swimming that far, in open water?! WHOA! Way cool.

Which language do you want to learn? Italian or French, for the accent; Brazilian Portuguese, so I can talk with our resident Fadda blackbelt from Brasilia, Ronny Lis.

What is your favorite color? Green.

What is your favorite piece of clothing in your own wardrobe? A sarong.

What is your worst habit? Snacking.

If you had $1,000 now, what would you spend it on? Savings for a new car someday. Boring, sorry :)

Describe your personal style? Simple, casual, no ironing required.

What is your favorite fruit? Ranier cherries.

What inspires you? When sheer effort and determination overcome a lack of native talent.

Do you collect something? Gis. Fourteen at last count.

What are you most proud of? My parents-- so cheesy but I owe everything I am and have accomplished to them.

Cats or dogs? Love 'em both but allergic, so for the time being I don't have either.

What’s your biggest fashion mistake? Knickers and a matching vest circa 1984. Gack.

Loving this weather... -4.6

It's that gorgeous, hot, sunny weather that makes watermelon, fried chicken, potato salad and lemonade taste their absolute best... that makes the chlorine-smell of the pool something akin to perfume... that makes you purr as you come out of the freezing-cold movie theater... that simply screams for some Beach Boys or Peter Gabriel on the radio. It's not even July yet but we've been seeing triple-digit temps for a while now and despite the lack of AC (got it, don't use it) at the jits academy, I'm really enjoying the full bloom of an Austin summer.

Happily weight still moving in the right direction though I have a ways to go to reach my goal by August 14. Tonight a local news crew will be filming part of a story on alternative ways to exercise at the academy, so I'll be trotting out my green gi in all its glory. (And as usual, within 5 minutes, the sweat soaking into my pants will make it look like I peed in them. Nice.)

Saturday, June 27, 2009

Ahh, the weekend... -2.6

I had a great roll with Scott yesterday-- great for me because I was just playing around, wasn't really trying to win, trying to get in good positions and observe what he did... improved my halfguard passing, saw two armbars, survived some choke attempts, and he was extravagantly complimentary, which was nice to hear even though I believed about half of it.

Last night had some jits friends show up for salsa, and of course, they picked up so quickly! There are neural pathways they've polished so the new movements seem to get into the brain more easily.

My weight is going in the right direction again, which is to say DOWN, hooray! I need to be a little more resistant to the late night snack (last night after salsa, my hungry husband fried some eggs, made rice, and cooked up little sausages, so I was compelled to eat at least 8 of the sausages. Woe.)

The garden is doing nicely-- lots of happy roses, agapanthus, hummingbird bush, butterfly bush, and even some ripening tomatoes. But my gardenia lost about 5 buds to some kind of strange black speckles-turned-to-rot. So I sprayed with some organic insecticide/fungicide/miticide and we'll see what happens. I needed to spray the roses for rust and the zinnias for powdery mildew anyway.

Today is a very exciting day-- I hope my best friend has her baby today (she's not in labor yet to my knowledge) and I am going to an event tonight that I will discuss tomorrow... but it's a happy event :) :) Anyway, off to jits soon. Phew.

Thursday, June 25, 2009

SORRY SORRY SORRY

I haven't been posting because I've been tearingly busy. Have a deadline at work for Friday that's kept my mind very occupied, then when I get home at night I'm too pooped to pop, even to pop on the internet for five minutes.

I've been training when I can, but it's not enough. Weight is going back up, up, up and it didn't help that I went out of town for a work conference, so I missed workouts and ate things I shouldn't have. So, now I'm back home and really motivated to get back on the strict bandwagon with that "biggest loser" contest firmly in mind. I'm not even going to post where the weight is relative to the start, at least not till I'm back on the right path.

Jits has been great lately-- despite the triple-digit temps-- and I'm starting to get sweeps on a mental level. I swear I have to see things/have things shown to me at least five separate times before it has a chance of clicking. But I'm keeping on with the practice. I have a couple minor ows-- the fourth toe on my right foot just started hurting for no apparent reason, and my neck is tweaked again-- but otherwise I'm in good condition despite carrying all the extra weight. I need to start Robert's crossfit class every day again.

My garden is liking the summer weather but my tomatoes are still not ripe, and my gardenia buds still haven't opened.

I'm busy thinking about my best friend Heather who is officially due tomorrow for the birth of their second child (their first is adopted, so it's also kind of their first.) Very exciting!

Friday, June 19, 2009

Killer judo counter...

Amazing... Check it out here.

-5.6 and wanting sweeps...

I'm trying to start every sparring session by imagining my opponent as a table, and all I gotta do is control one or two legs of it to knock it over. Being smashed (flat, or on my side) by the table is getting in the way, but I am eternally optimistic. However if I don't leave the house pronto, I'll miss my first opportunity of the day-- so I'm off.

And yeah, that's -5.6 lbs since 6/12. Yay. Last night I made some really good spaghetti sauce (fresh basil, oregano and a tiny bit of rosemary from the garden) and I'm looking forward to dinner tonight-- probably outside the diet but I'll only eat half-- a Cuban roast pork sandwich at Havana Calle 6. Yum.

Thursday, June 18, 2009

It's not as hot as I thought... -4

Finally made it to an evening class yesterday (as well as the morning roll) and it wasn't so bad. With this "biggest loser" competition I need to be burning up as many calories as I can so I predict I'll be there more evenings than not.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Competitive... -3.6lbs

I realized that I found losing weight and eating healthily pretty easy when I was doing it to reach a goal-- making weight for a tournament-- and was motivated by something outside of "looking better" or whatever. For example, at NAGA the weight cutoff was pretty easy to make but there were only two classes, so I was motivated to make sure I didn't have to get in the "heavyweight" class. (However, now I've seen how they do brackets, so I'm motivated to be on the lighter side of the lightweight class, because those littler girls get paired together, whereas the girls like me right on the cusp actually walk around a good 10-15 lbs more than I do on an average day.) At other tournaments like the Texas Open they had <119, 120-138, and >139, for example. I know <119 is reachable for my frame, so that's on my list.

I was greatly entertained by the contest in Austin running from June 12-August 14, where whoever loses the greatest %age of their body weight wins $1000-- so I entered. (Last year's winner lost "only" 10.4% of their weight, which I can top no problem... actually shooting to double that.) Hence my competitive nature will help me reach a goal that ends up positive for me not just in terms of finances, but health and fitness and fitting into clothes more nicely, too.

I'm going to start posting how many pounds I'm up or down from my starting weight on June 12. Since I somewhat overdid it with the salt the day before, ya'll don't need to know what my actual starting weight was (except for me to say no, Tom, it wasn't 180, but thanks. Not. At. All.)

Got my head slammed into the mat (accidentally) while sparring this morning (nothing fun, just a failed sweep) so I'm still a little headachey. I'll still train tonight though. I want to practice the o soto gari if I can find someone who will drill with me.

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Pulling guard to sweep to armlock...

Victor Estima. (Don't worry Dad-- I'm working on basics. Doesn't mean I can't admire superior skills tho'.)

I love it.

Back home..

Spent two days in Beaumont, TX for work and got back last night. It went well, and I had plenty of time to read over some stuff for another hearing in two weeks, so that was nice. Unfortunately, in my absence the weeds decided to take over the garden. I really need to get out there and go to work.

Tonight Relson Gracie will be giving a seminar at the academy so that's exciting. Also on the exciting side of the ledger-- Shama won silver in her division at the Mundials! She dominated Carla Franco (who won everything- European, Brazilian, Pan Ams- last year) something like 17-3 in her first match. I don't know when she's coming back home but it will be exciting to welcome her back.

I've been enjoying the last couple weeks'-worth of not training as hard. Unfortunately, I have been eating everything in sight, making homemade icecream, going out for dinner, and of course when I travel for work my nutrition goes doooooown and my laziness goes uuuuuuup. As a result, I weigh more than any self-respecting shortie should weigh. This poses a conundrum for me... I feel fat, so I don't want to go to the gym and let everyone see my tum (for example) and I don't want to go roll. (Damn, if there's a group of people who excel at guessing your weight from looking at you or rolling with you, even for a little bit, it's jits people.) I can't just sit at home and diet, I know exercise is a central part of getting back to where I want to be... I'm just not happy about it.

On a happier note, check out this fawn. Mitch came out of the garage one morning and s/he was parked in the grass next to the driveway and the stone path leading to the back yard. He took a bunch of pictures and s/he never moved.





While I'm thinking about it... this blog post over at BJJNorCal dovetails nicely with my last private with Donald, and with the philosophies Randy is trying to teach me...

Sunday, June 07, 2009

Bouncing back after epic failure....

I liked this article which includes 9 thoughts on how to fail more successfully... check it out HERE.

Saturday, June 06, 2009

I wanna try these passes...

What do you think?

From the Side Control Blog.

Back online...

Sorry folks, was experiencing some technical difficulties. They're sorted out now. To anyone who posted a comment that didn't show up, I apologize, it's been lost in the ethernet. Not trying to censor you! Just poof, gone.