About to leave for San Antonio

I don’t think I’m going to take my laptop but I’ll do some miniupdates from my phone. Don’t worry though, on Monday you will have plenty of information re: Atos boys on a road trip.

 

There will be pictures.
Stay tuned.

 

When you have competitions two weekends in a row, comp class is…

…less than traditional.

 

Today we drilled double berimbolos:

Double kiss of the dragon:

…With variations:

Some of which failed:

 

It was a productive day, all around.

I need to stop making dumb mistakes in competition ARGHHH.

I lost in the absolute on Sunday (boo 😦 ) because I made kind of a dumb mistake and gave up points to a foot trip. I need to stop being DUMMMBBBB in competition. Oh well, live and learn I guess.  I’ll be in San Antonio this weekend to compete again.  Competitor list is out, got some good girls in my division (Mackenzie Dern, for one… maybe I’ll see her again on the mat?  Third time’s a charm?).

Oh, and we’re driving.

From San Diego.

To San Antonio.

24+ hours in a van with five boys, two men, and me.  Ohgodwhat.  I’m going to medicate myself so heavily I’ll sleep for days.  We’re leaving on Thursday after the kids’ class, driving all night, and getting there just in time to get in bed in San Antonio.  It’ll be an experience, anyway.

I’m sorry I keep fucking up in competition guys 😦  Please enjoy this photo of me going belly-down with an ankle lock to make up for it:

Ouch!

This happened today

Featherweight champ! Open weight (under 139lbs) tomorrow.

How did this come up so fast??

It hasn’t really hit me that the Trials are tomorrow (and Sunday, balls– why couldn’t they get it all over with tomorrow?) and I’ve got some nerves.  But that’s ok, I’m not feeling too much anxiety at this point.

 

Anyone gonna be there? I’ll be in San Antonio next week for the SA Trials as well– let me know if you’re going to be around, or come up and say hi!

Drug testing?

I promise I’ll write more about this later, but:

PEOPLE. Can we please, for the love of all things good and holy, get over this idea that marijuana is somehow a performance enhancing drug?  When was the last time ANYONE got high and did anything except make weird art, eat too many Cheetos, giggle uncontrollably, and contemplate the meaning of Life, the Universe, and Everything?

This irritates me every time drug testing comes up.  If you’re going to test for performance enhancing drugs, hell, a scoop of C4 is more likely to do me good than smoking weed is.  Test me for caffeine, if you absolutely must (but my blood is probably 75% caffeine anyway so I mean… I’d probably fail that drug test) but weed is really, really not the issue here.

Sigh.  Sorry everyone, my Californian is showing.  If you need me, I’ll be over here in my yoga class, becoming one with my intentions and kumbaya-ing around the campfire.

Ugh, what a day

Yep that sums it up

 

At least training is going well. Although my neck is a little sore because I’ve been playing inverted so much. Next step: invert with purpose, not just “GO INVERTED AND HOPE AWESOME THINGS HAPPEN.”

I have a dehydration headache 😦

I’m really frustrated with my teammates.

I’ve got a few nagging injuries that won’t leave me alone.

I’ve been waking up at 3am every morning again.

Life would be so much better if I could sleep properly.

 

It’s SO COLD. WHY.

Getting onto the mats the morning after the temperature dips into “subfreezing” territory:

When a new guy calls me out in sparring:

Trying to look girly after getting overwhelmed by testosterone:

When my teammates start complaining about how sick they are:

When the timer goes off and I’ve just sunk a deep choke on someone I rarely tap out:

When one teammate farts in another’s face:

Trying to escape from a super-heavyweight’s side control:

My teammates when it’s time to go eat:

Trying to suggest a new place to eat lunch:

The general response:

After Jack 3D and dubstep:

Teaching the kids:

When guys who have no grappling training tell me they could beat me on the mats:

What I really want to say to that one guy (not the one above):

When another pair gets too close in sparring:

How I feel about my teammates on Monday:

How I feel about my teammates on Saturday:

DJ Jackson (accidentally?) confirms that LI is the LI from the 1990 rape case

And other fun things that showed up on my Facebook feed this afternoon.

If you haven’t seen Keenan Cornelius’ father’s press release, you should read it.  His sister, Chloe (I think I may have a crush from afar on this girl, she seems awesome), posted this on his wall:

COPA PODIO 2013! That was an awesome tournament! You really did an amazing job Keenan Cornelius! But under the circumstances, I want to address the TLI patch on the gi you wore. This is not meant to be a private message, and I sincerely hope you do not take this off your page. The recent allegations toward your coach (which he has ignored but not contradicted) and the atrocious gang rape by your team mates as seen via public security camera, is an issue the Jiu Jitsu community is talking about waiting to hear your response to.

I just read the police report describing your teammate’s recent gang rape (documented via parking garage security camera). The content is sick and graphic. The young girl was repeatedly raped, brutalized, and left in a parking garage. I will not elaborate, as I know you will take the time to read the report yourself. I speak as a humanitarian, fan, and sister when I say that based on this disgusting crime, and the fact that Lloyd has yet to confirm that he is NOT the Lloyd E Irvin Jr. from Bowie University involved in the 1990 gang rape, I sincerely hope you make plans to train elsewhere.

While I know many of your teammates are amazing individuals who have become your family, considering the circumstances, practicing under Lloyd and living in a house – which turns out to be much more of a Jungle than anyone ever suspected – is extremely unhealthy and unsupported. There are many men, women, boys and girls who admire you, and I look forward to seeing the example you set. To an extent I understand you not wanting to deal with this days before Copa Podio. But the team you represent represents you. And while I love and support you with all my heart, I can not support the TLI patch you sported today.

Because many people have written to me asking about your decisions and feelings regarding the circumstances of your current team, I know I speak for many when I say we trust, hope, and want you to continue your blossoming career with honor, respect, morality — and a team and coach which represents all that.

Again, congrats on today, you gave great fights, you really showed everyone they can expect great things from you. Keep showing them that! I love you ♥

Then the sharks came out.

There was/is more after that; the discussion is still going on.  What I found interesting is that DJ Jackson openly confirms that LI is the same LI from the 1990 rape case, something that everyone suspected but no one knew for sure (because LI certainly ain’t been talkin’).

I imagine that’s not going to go over very well with LI.

Now I can’t even find the post, looks like it’s been taken down.  Regardless, I’m glad she said something, and I hate that she got jumped on.

Had some weird injury issues this week, hopefully everything is ironed out.

On… Tuesday, maybe? Earlier in the week, one way or another, my right ankle started hurting.  It was the one that Angelica popped doing a toehold around Thanksgiving; I figured it was a combination of catching it on the mat and the weather recently (it’s been down in the thirties which is a) unusual for San Diego and b) means the gym is COLD COLD COLD and drafty all the time), so I taped it up and went about my business of training and lifting and stuff.  I just played from the bottom as much as possible to give it a chance to heal.  My guard was getting passed a little easier than usual but I wasn’t too concerned, because I couldn’t use my right foot very well.

Then, in the middle of sparring with Angelica (again! I don’t know!!) I went to hip escape with my left foot and BAM, instant pain in my left ankle. Exactly the same pain as a hyperextension on a toehold, except all I did was hip escape!  I am really anxious about it since the Trials are coming up and I want to be in awesome shape.  Yesterday it was pretty bad at the beginning of strength/conditioning, but then once I warmed up it was much better. It feels okay-ish today.  I did manage a 40-inch box jump yesterday too, which is pretty cool considering the bad ankle and the fact that I’m only 62 inches tall, haha.

I also managed to squat 145lbs. Squats and I have a really tumultuous relationship. By tumultuous relationship I mean “I hate squats.”  My squats are bad– not because my form is bad, or because I am weak in my legs/core, but because I have this mental block about getting out of the bottom of the lift.  If I could get over my mental… thing… about squats, I think within a few months I could be pushing the 200-pound marker, but I swear, I get to the bottom of the lift and my body just goes, “you know, this weight was perfectly fine on the rack, why did you even bother picking it up?” Ugh. Squats. I know they’re important, and I know my lower body is weak compared to my upper body so I need to pay more attention to it (there’s no reason for my 1RM for the floor press to be 115 lbs and my squat to be 145lbs) but UGHHH I hate it.

This week I’ve been working on my positioning from the double guard pull. It’s bad.  Maybe not bad, but certainly not good. This week that’s going to be my focus: working from the double guard pull, and from single-leg X, because holy crap my single-leg X is bad (and it should be good, because it would fit into my game so well).  Another thing I’ve noticed lately is that I’ve become too complacent about letting people grab my collar when they’re trying to pass my guard. That needs to stop, I need to focus more on that and preventing the cross-face.

So that aside, after lifting yesterday I went to the aquarium.  J and I have decided that we need to expand our horizons and explore more of San Diego so we’ve been doing enriching things. Like going to the aquarium, and going to see instruments of torture.

It’s a pretty cool place, the aquarium.