Gratitude and learning.

First-- so grateful to my uberpatient husband for carting me around, taking me here and there without complaint, and then waiting... and waiting... and waiting... filming my matches and those of my teammates.. and waiting.. nothing to eat but bread, honey, muffins, bananas... and waiting... so THANK YOU Mitch for making my tournament go so easily :)

And when I type that I have to guffaw. EASY?! In one sense it was, and as you all know, in most other senses it was far from it. Many things left to learn... but here's a handful of revelations.

1. It's just fucking ridiculous that I had to worry about making weight. Pigs in a blanket are not to blame.. it's me and my sad excuse for willpower. No more of this cycle of "oh, it's easy to cut weight" and then "man, cutting sucks" and then "phew, I made weight, let's go celebrate [for a week]." Starting today I'm going to be working slowly and nutritiously to get back to my former happy fighting weight of 120ish. And then stay there. That includes getting some body fat % analysis at the gym in the BodPod.. report to follow.

2. Girls play boring jiu jitsu for the most part-- at least at tournaments! Pulling guard, triangle, triangle armbar. Blah. I'm happy to keep pushing myself towards a fully-fledged takedown game that integrates wrestling, judo, Marcelo, Roger, and old-fashioned mindgames.

3. Girls in Gis just plain ROCKED! Great group of gals everywhere from first dayers to a purple.. two hours of technique, with some male browns and blacks to let us play at guard-passing in their shark tanks. That plus some free form open mat was a nice way to relax and get some kinks out the day after the tournament.

4. I hope I never have to just "attend" a tournament again. Working as a scorer or such is the way to go-- you don't have time to think or stress, you get to know people better, you feel like you're part of the machine, and you make a little money to recoup entry fees. (And if you're lucky, a free "Staff" tshirt :) )

5. Some girls need to warm up at tournaments. Not physically-- emotionally! Ladies, I'm telling you-- if you stick to yourselves you will be perceived as snooty, right or wrong. And that's not good. We're too small a group compared to the boys to afford not to have solidarity. We'll be seeing each other at every freakin' tournament now.. from white, to blue, to purple... and if you stick with it, I'll be seeing you for years and years. We'll know each others' games, we should at least be friendly. It's NOT all about WINNING. And besides, you're not going to improve your chances just by being snooty and aloof. No, I'm NOT misinterpreting your fear and nerves for aloofness... I can tell cocky from scaredy. And if you have actually spoken with me to my face or on facebook, I'm NOT talking about you I promise. I'm referring to people who are the opposite of social. :)