Warning! Random Blog Incoming

I need to buy another gi. I go to class 4-6 times a week, and since I can't put my gi in the dryer, I almost always have a semi-damp gi... and I refuse to go to class stinky. Not that it would be dry if I didn't wash it, and I am pretty sure everyone would prefer semi-damp clean gi to semi-damp with sweat gi. I'm going to get another one for Christmas. Why can't CatFightGear.com have a black gi?!

NAGA is this weekend! *insert panicked face here* When I was two weeks into Jiu-jitsu, I decided I was going to compete, and now it is time. I can't believe I've only been doing this for 3.5 months! It feels like so much longer... and what the heck did I do with my time before I had Jiu-jitsu. I am so excited for this! I had a great time at De la Riva in spite of the fact that I didn't have the best luck with my refs, and had a gigantic woman who was a terrible sport I had to fight twice. Not to mention the fact that I am getting out of the house for an entire weekend. Don't get me wrong, my kids are my life, and I would be nothing without them... but I have never been away from them over night since Micah was born.... and he is 5.

On your way to your first competition with Fabio, they tie you to someone else who is going for the first time, and you have to make the entire trip tied to someone else. Bathroom breaks and all... and let me tell you how glad I am to have another female teammate coming.

UFC 105 is also this weekend! I hope there is a sports bar somewhere near the university where NAGA is being held.

I have been trying to gain 5 pounds for this competition. It's weird, and it's giving me a complex. For the past year I've been trying to get into better shape... and for the past 2 weeks I had been dieting hard core to drop for De la Riva. I knew my body wouldn't let me drop 5 more in two weeks for NAGA, so I decided to gain back some of the weight I lost for De la Riva. I don't actually want to be at 140. I don't think I can maintain it and stay healthy, so I do want to get back up to 145-150 ish... but it just feels weird. I've got weight loss so ingrained into my brain that weight gain feels just.... wrong.

I'm so excited about NAGA I am already starting to pack, and my boots do not fit into my suitcase.

I think I am going to cut my hair. Last night it got in my way twice... and so help me, if I get submitted because my pony tail gets suck under my back, or someone's elbow I might just shave my head on the spot... and that would not be pretty.

Three days until we leave for NAGA!

Private Lesson!

Best thing ever.

I learned SOO much, and was so nice to repeat the same thing over and over on someone who knows what they are doing, and can point out what I am doing wrong when I mess up. It is also nice that my instructor is a big guy and could stay upright when I jumped up on him over and over.

We went over the clench, pulling guard, jumping guard, and then what to do, and where to grab when we get on to the mat. We also did some basic take down technique, but I think I am a guard pulling kind of girl... at least at this point I am, and honestly it seems to work for me, so I have no real reason to try to change it up. I saw a lot of people just pull guard at De la Riva, so I don't think it's something I shouldn't be doing.

I WISH I could afford another one before NAGA, but between two competitions in one month, and one being one I have to travel and stay over night for, on top of the two schools I pay for... it's just not going to happen.

Friday the 13th.

I'm not superstitious. However, but after the morning I just had, I might just change my mind.

I woke up this morning to find tiny shards of glass in my bed. We have tile floor, and Zaile did shatter a cup yesterday, so I assume little shards stuck to the bottom of my feet, and ended up in bed with me... and one in my leg. Yay.

Then while geting ready for to go grocery shopping, Zaile painted herself, the area rug and couch with an entire tube of toothpaste. Again... Yay....

On the way to the store, Zaile had an epic melt down in the car because I didn't being a bink with us. (Which by the way cemented my resolve on weaning her of those blasted things! ..I am going to wait until after NAGA though.)

At the store Micah accidently knocked several jars of jelly on to the floor, shattering them.

And on the way home, a semi-truck tried to merge into my lane onto me forcing me to careen in to the median at 60 miles an hour. I laid on my horn, and then the semi swerved back into his lane, nearly flipping his truck and load all over the road. I was nearly hysterical, but Micah and Zaile seemed to think the it was hilarious.

Thank God we made it home safely... and safely at home is where I shall remain for the rest of the day.

Oh, and one other thing... My willpower failed me for the first time in months, and I ate a donut. Never walk through a bakery in the morning hungry. It's actually okay though... I decided to gain, not lose. .. but after months of dieting, eating that donut felt like betrayal.

Pass that Guard!

We worked guard passes tonight. Yay for that. My epically horrible guard pass got me triangled this weekend.

The stupid thing is though, that I already knew that guard pass! We have done it once if not twice before in class. It is an easy, effective guard pass that will not land your head square between some ones thighs. Fabio has two branches of his school. I am visiting the other one tonight, and I hope we work the same guard pass. I need to get it ingrained into my brain so I can just do it with out thinking. This week is Jiu-jitsu heaven for me. I am going to class 6 times, and getting a private. Hopefully my brain will retain at least a little of what I learn, and my body can execute it while I grapple... and maybe eventually I can get to the point where I have what PP calls muscle memory.

Gain or Lose?!

I lost 7 pounds in the last two weeks or De la Riva, and it was for absolutely nothing. I ended up fighting a 208 pound woman.

Now, I am thinking about NAGA.

The weight classes for women are 134.9 and under, and 135 and over. I am at 140 right now.

I do not want to go to NAGA at 140.

Should I drop 5 more, or gain 5 more?

I have 11 days to do which ever I decide.

At 140 my BMI is 21.1

135 BMI is 20.4

145 BMI is 21.9

All within normal.

Ugh! I don't know what I should do!

More De la Riva Photos...

The Fabio Novaes BJJ Team

Fabio and I

Mario, Ben, me and Paul - The rest of my instructors.

Allie Phil and I - My little BJJ family! I love you guys!

Me and Philly

Me and Allie

Things I learned at De La Riva:

210 pound women can in fact do Jiujitsu. I went in thinking I wouldn’t have to fight women much bigger then I am… but I was wrong.

Philip Richardson is the worst camera man.

I need to work on take downs.

Competitions are not as scary as I made them out to be.

Bring extra batteries for the camera, and extra tapes for the camcorder.

Don’t let go of your submission until the ref says so… even if you think the match is over.

I also learned I am not just a squishy mommy, and I really do have the best instructors ever!

------

My first fight was against a girl who has 68 pounds on me, and almost two years more experience.Our match was 10 points to 10, and the ref gave me the advantage, and called the match with me as the winner. The girl, and her corner disagreed with the calling, and they decided to do a one minute over time. In the over time, I got the girls back, and was going for a rear naked, but since there were two matches going on, and they called the other match, we both thought thewere calling ours and I let go. At that point, they should have restarted us on the ground with me on her back, but they stood us back up, and she took me down and got the points and ended up winning the match. I was a little disappointed, I felt like I should probably should have won, but I ended up taking third instead of second. Honestly though, I don’t care. I held my own against a girl with almost 70 pounds on me, more experience, who also happened to be married to a black belt who runs his own school. I was proud of myself for that fight.

My second fight was no-gi against a girl named Tanya, who was exactly my same weight. She has been doing Jiujitsu for about 8 months and also kick-boxes. She was really good, and very nice. I got her in a guillotine from standing, and jumped guard, but she was able to escape, and ended up getting me in a triangle. I thought it was a pretty good match, and I lost to her fair and square. I’d like to run into her at another competition some day. I liked fighting her, and would love to do it again in the future…. Even if she triangles me again. =)

I ended up fighting the big girl again, I have no idea what her name was because she never said a word to me, and she got me in an arm bar. I could have defended it, but I let her take it, planning to roll out of it so I could get out from under her. I could NOT roll her off of me, or hip out enough to get out. I mean, she got my arm, I didn’t give it to her, but once she had it, I let her take it. In my first match against her she got my arm, and I rolled out and got her back. I was hoping to do the same thing in no-gi, but the ref stopped the match while I was rolling out of the arm bar. So, I lost and ended up 4^th for no-gi. They stop matches for kids once they land a submission, but they should not have done that for an adult match. Either way… I’m not ashamed of myself for my performance. I’ve been doing this for three months, and that girl was huge!

I am really glad I went though; I learned a lot had a blast and it was great to get in a competition before NAGA.

The day was more emotional than I expected. It was more stressful watching my friends fight then it was to fight myself, and it bothered me more to see a teammate lose then it did to lose my own matches… and I had to watch a lot more matches then I fought.

Fabio Novaes Brazilian Jiujitsu!!!!

Here are some pictures from my first match. My camera died after this one, so I only have video of the rest.

I'm in the blue gi.

I'm offically registered!

I just got home from weighing in. It was nice and degrading just like I thought it would be. Before I left, Allie, Phil and I weighed our selves. When we got there Allie and Phil weighed in before I did, and both of them were two pounds heavier then they were on Allie's scale. On Allie's scale I was 1.3 pounds under where I needed to be.

I about panicked. But instead of weighing in, in my clothes, I had on, I stripped down to my very small under things, took out my hair ties, and clips and got on the scale, to avoid the shame of weighing in twice. Now, I would have been okay with this except for the fact I was stripping down in front of about 6 men who were all just staring at me, waiting for me ot get on the scale.

Thankfully, I ended up on the scale at 141.8 and I needed to be under 144.9. Phew!

I found out there is one other beginner female who is almost exactly my weight, so that was a relief. I didn't want to have no one to fight, and I also didn't want to end up fighting some tiny twig and feel like a gigantic amazonian douche bag for picking on someone half my size. ... And of course I did not want to have to fight some tree trunk of a woman either... While I may end up having to do that anyway, I do know there will be at least ONE fight with someone of my same skill level, and size. That is the girl I want to beat.

I also found out there is no womens absolute, but oh well.

Anyway, I need to hit the store, pick up some snacks for tomorrow and then get in bed before 11 for tomorrow... I fight!

WOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOO!

So, I got mad for the first time...

I've been frustrated many times on the mat... but never mad. I take that back, I have gotten mad at my self, but never mad at someone else... but tonight... I got angry. It was kind of strange, and I snapped out of it pretty quickly... but I didn't like it. I really hope it's not something I start doing... esp not in class with my teammates.... Though, really I wouldn't have gotten mad in the first place if everyone had been being a team player. I'm a girl.. I'm not as strong as you are.. I get it, you don't have to prove it.

Lemme hear it for the big girls! lol

Last night there was a girl at Fabio’s who was bigger than I am.. Or at least, she felt bigger than me. She was heavier, but I don't know about height. It is hard to tell how big someone is when we are sitting on the mat. Anyhow, the few girls I am able to grapple on a regular basis are considerably smaller then I am... as in almost an entire foot shorter. So every time I go with someone larger, it’s a guy who can pretzel me with ease. It was nice to finally roll with a girl who is bigger, and not get handled like a naughty two year old.

The girl I grappled has been doing Jiujits for about two years she said, but not seriously... on and off, and I was able to hold my own against her, and submit her a few times. It was a nice boost of confidence before the tournament this weekend. Normally, I am just getting my butt handed to me repeatedly, and I feel like a complete newb after class. I have class again tonight, and Wednesday, so I am sure my sails will be deflated again before the weekend, but either way, it was nice to finally roll with a bigger girl. I am less worried about it now...not that I was really that concerned with finding another gigantic female grappler. hehe But with my long list of things I am panicking over, it's nice to check one off.

Four more days!

I am just a glutton for punishment I guess... I am really nervous about this competition, but I want nothing more then to do it. I need to remember I've only been doing this for a few months. I am a crappy little Jiujitsunista... I need to accept that, and be okay with it. =)

I am just going to do my best... and if I get beaten, I get beaten... .... and I will not cry! lol

Finally!!

I need to be under 144.9

I am 144.0 this morning.

Wooohoooo!!

Now I just have to maintain for 5 days. I don't have to worry about dehydrating... or spitting.. Thank goodness. I don't think I am capable of spitting with out getting it on myself.. and I really didn't want to spend a day trying to spit, and end up changing my shirt 15 times.

And now that my paranoia about my weight is over.... I can already feel the nerves setting in. ... and I'm thinking about how I have done one whole take down ever. One. My second one will be in my first competition.

Honestly though, my biggest fear is disappointing my instructors. I don't want to let them down.

And on a semi-related side note..... Sometimes being tall sucks! lol

Evil

If you know me... You know I am generally a fan of evil. I always root for the villains... I have a little crush on Darth Vader and I fan girl when Sylar starts popping skulls off. It's weird...I know... I can't help it, but I have come to terms with it, and so should you.

However, today I found a form of evil that I do not like

Pure unadulterated evil... Asking me to go get you deep fried spicy mushrooms when I still have a pound to lose before the weekend.

Deep fried mushrooms are my kryptonite. I only eat them every once in a blue moon, but they are my favorite... possibly even more so then chocolate and almonds... but only because I eat them so rarely.

Being the glutton for punishment tha I am... I went and got them...

Resistance if futile my foot.