I am strong.

Sorry, listening to Tiesto, and this is one of my favorite songs.



Anyway... got to work some judo last night, thanks to the incredible patience of my friend Spencer, who has a brown belt and perhaps a subconscious dislike for his own knee ligaments. (Because, of course, he was letting me throw him, and sweep him, over and over. Not always successfully. Nevermind the fact that I couldn't tell right from left or two knees vs. one knee after a while..)

We spent a full hour going over about 6 different things. At least six versions of the seoi nage... osoto gari.. sashi something.. I can't recall all the names, but we did settle on at least one combination that is simple and basic enough for my brain. Then, he came with me to open mat and watched my attempts on teammates Amit and Marc. Amit's a bit bigger than I am, and his natural base and core tension was enough to stuff my kuzushi several times. Then, after another failed, I whipped back into the opposing kuzushi for the other throw, and just the kuzushi alone took him down. Whee!!

After Spencer left, I kept on playing, with Marc and then Jason. Jason saw me faking judo from across the room, so he knew I was hunting for lapel and tricep grips. Pahh, he batted away my paws and shot in for a solid double leg or three. I do think at some point I was passing his guard, combining some of the bits from my work with Vidush and Phil with Donald's butterfly sweep counter where they pull you into mount. And it worked, I didn't get swept (though I didn't get mount) and from top half guard, I held on the arm triangle grip. Thanks Gabe for the non-kesa finish to that, it worked like a champ. I'll say it's the first time I've tapped Jason but I might be wrong.

This morning, worked my takedown combination first (Vidush points out that Donald shows them in opposite order but still relying on one as the counter to their resistance to the other. Hmm. Must try.) Spent a while trying to pass Phil's guard. Once I passed, it seems like I got reversed spectacularly several times from side control. So annoying. Only made slightly more bearable by seeing Vidush flip over once as well. (God it would be nice to learn how to do that myself. I will have to bribe Phil with some healthy treats... maybe ginger glazed asparagus..) Anyway eventually ended up on the bottom of Phil's mount, and I would have kept shoulder-walking to beat his high mount, but my effing hair was obnoxiously in the way. He got me in two armbars with impeccable control, one really annoyingly from the back.

It occurs to me that my jiu jitsu is like living paycheck to paycheck. You have my back; I might only be able to escape by sliding down your front and working my way flat to the mat. That's one step ahead of being mounted, but I'm not mounted right now and I'll deal with the mount later. Kinda like putting things on your credit card-- you'll pay eventually, just not right now.