I like that when I come to Vegas, I have a home away from home. Not just that my in-laws are so warm and welcoming (and the good home cooking, too) although that is a big part of it. (And they let me borrow their car to go to train, and use their laundry daily to keep the gi fresh, and they tease me with little karate-chop kiya noises when I come back.)
But also that I feel like Drysdale's is a home academy away from home. Each time I return, I'm a little surprised that people remember me when I walk in. And there's less of that scared feeling you get when you're showing up at a new place-- I pretty much know how bad the warmup will be, I know how hard I will be pushed, and I know what I'm signing up for, so to speak.
Sadly, I have also attended class here enough to recognize things they like to teach, and things I've been taught before, and to realize that I obviously didn't learn a durn thing. For example last week back home, right before my private with Darren, a training partner did this stupid thing to me I couldn't figure out and turns out it was a berimbolo-- which hurt my feelings because I first "learned" it (or not) at Drysdale's. So I realize I should have also learned counters to it (which I did, in theory) and it chapped my hide that I was flailing. And wasn't even immediately clueing in that hey, this is a berimbolo. Grrr.
Yesterday's class at Drysdale's (taught, as most of the ones I attend are, by excellent smaller blackbelt Sonny Nohara) was more of the same. It was the ninja roll counter to the berimbolo, and counters to the ninja roll, and Sonny showed in rapid succession at least 5 different entries or opportunities to use it. I missed all of them because I was still trying to absorb the ninja roll itself though I know I've seen it at least twice before here. *sigh* I wish I was more familiar with every positional permutation so that I could use nicknames for the starting points and take notes faster. Writing "both people are laying on their sides somewhat facing each other. Bottom player uses bottom leg, knee on the ground, to hook inside their top leg" takes a long time, and by then, the demo is done. And that's just the barest beginning of the start position. I might remember more if I pushed myself-- but I won't write it out here, in case I have it wrong and make them look bad.
I'm excited today to share my home away from home with a girlfriend. Like so many of the wonderful friends I've made through the internet, I've never met her in person, but she moved here to Vegas a while back and works as a veterinarian. She's between academies and so I'm going to show her around Drysdale's, we'll take a class together this morning, and maybe have lunch after. (Class is 10-11, and I notice that there's open mat from 12-1, but that doesn't seem to work too well with our plans.)
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