Best night, ever.

Okay, maybe not ever... but definitely one of the best.

It was one of the most fun nights I've ever had at Fabio Novaes BJJ!

I got thrown about 40 times and got utterly destroyed by everyone I grappled, but it was all in good fun, and in spite of the ass beatings and throws, I've never felt more like part of the team.

And yes... I am competing in the Open still... as a blue belt.

I had no idea I would be until about a week ago... hence my insanity, self doubt, and general terror.

However, I'm over it..  I'm going to go, do the best that I can do, and that will just have to be enough.  =)

If I lose, I lose.

If I win.

All the better for me!

One funny thing happened though...  After my first grapple, my belt came off.. and I stood there looking for it for a good five or six seconds before I realized... I couldn't find it, because I was looking for a white belt.  =)

... I also feel it necessary to say... I under no circumstances feel like I should be wearing a blue belt... However, I am over joyed that Fabio thinks I should be.

Things not to confuse.

As I mentioned before I'm working my guard passes.

A few weeks ago someone showed me two guard passes.  One where you come in tight, and one that requires you to sprawl on top of the legs to pass.

All last night I was sprawling when I should have been coming in tight.

.... Sadly, my mistake wasn't clear to me until I was in the car, and I was trying to walk my self mentally through the details trying to figure out where I went wrong.

It went something like this...

...break the legs..
...trap the leg....
....elbow to the mat..
...swim the opposite leg...
...come in close to blo....  Ooooooh!  STUPID!

Simply thinking about it, I remembered the correct steps, but for whatever reason my body was not remembering while I was actually grappling.

All was not lost though.

I did still manage to pass most of the time though... just in a really ugly, non-technical, me-smash-me-pass kind of way I am sure.

Which made me happy because I had a move .... that I saw on Youtube... (LOL) that I wanted to try.  Generally, when someone says to me..."Hey can I try this move I saw on youtube on you real quick..."  I go in to the situation very hesitantly.  I will say though, that the person on the youtube video is a legit source so I don't feel bad about it.

It starts out from the scarf hold ... 

Oh wait, I mean this:

I watched it a few times, thinking I would remember it correctly... but I didn't.  I totally left out a major step in the transition.  And I mean, MAJOR step.  Not one of those turn your foot in left or right kind of things.  I mean, like an entire step.  Scarf hold - Knee on belly - Fancy maneuver - Take the back.  ... I forgot the entire knee on belly step.

I kept ending up in a position I am sometimes in after failed armbar attempts.

Hot Garbage!

Next week though!  I am a woman on a mission.

As I suspected....

Monday rolled around, and I ran to class as quickly as my chicken legs would carry me... and it was the best thing I could have done.

Mostly because you were all right... I was being a big fat pouty baby, and even going a few times a month to keep my foot in the door is totally worth it.

On top of that, I got a really, really nice compliment from one of our purple belts.  I feel like my biggest failure since I've been back on the mat is that I'm super slow, and stiff.  After our grapple he told me I was moving really well, and that I felt good.  I almost cried.  Seriously.  It felt like he was being genuinely honest, and not giving me a polite pat on the head.

I also grappled someone I had not grappled in a long time, so I had forgotten just how redonkulous he is.  He is a blue belt and very technical.  On top of that he is a beast.  As in, he has super human strength and speed, and is enormous.  He won gold in blue belt absolute last year at Abu Dhabi.  Anyway, I think I annoyed him.  If you has switched him mid grapple with a boulder I wouldn't have noticed.  (He was letting me work, if he was on the offence, I'd have been pretzeled 1200 times over in five minutes.)  It was really frustrating, and to keep from getting angry, I laughed every time I got aggravated.  Just so I am clear, he wasn't being a jerk in any way, his defense was just so impenetrable I couldn't have done anything to him even if I had a crowbar.

Imagine grappling this guy:

Or this:

And even when he let me get a hook in here, or there I still couldn't do a thing to him ....  at all.  I spent the entire grapple laughing at my failures instead of getting upset about them... to the point my constant laughter seemed to annoy him.  He is so strong btw, that I can sprawl my entire body on one of his legs and he can still sweep me with that one leg, easily.  So, my brain knows that I am not only technically way out matched but the size/strength differential is so vast that I don't think I could move him unless I had 15 years of BJJ under my belt... but alas, I do not, and I get frustrated.

So, Jimmy, I'm sorry I laughed our entire grapple, it wasn't that I didn't take our grapple seriously, because I did, it was that I didn't want to get upset.  ... not that you had done anything other than be awesome, or that you would ever read this, but it makes me feel better now that I've apologized... and I will probably do it again to your face on Monday.