Pleasant surprise tonight: Kyle showed up. And sporting a respectable beard, no less. Haven't seen him for four months, I'd legitimately thought he had stopped training. So it was great to see him walk in. Class full of eight white belts: Neal, Jon, Zach, Andy, Eric, Kyle, John, and myself. We worked on a Russian Tie control to arm drag take down, and then regaining open guard and a new escape from side control.
Of course, when it became time to try these techniques in rolling, I think I reverted back to what I already knew. Because on occasion, I am a bad student. But this was good. I need practice this so that eventually I will reach instinctively for grips and stabilize my position if I'm playing open guard.
I rolled with Kyle for a while after class, and later with Eric. It felt great to spend some serious time on the mat. When the rest were spent, Andy and I worked for a little bit and then he let me drill a few positions. I tried the rolling back take again, but I was going something wrong because it was semi-tweaking my ankle. So I have some homework to do, see what I am either a) forgetting to do, or 2) doing very very poorly (which is honestly more likely).
Jiu jitsu has become my sanctuary. It is where I can go and shed the rest of the world for a few hours. Some people have religion. Some have knitting, or homebrewing, or reading. I now have strangling and joint-locking. It has improved my diet, seriously boosed my fitness, made me more aware of my movement and posture, and eaten up every last shred of free time I didn't have to begin with. Finals finish this week, so I'll have more time to finish and polish something that I want to post here by the end of the week. Until then, I'll try to get to class tomorrow night (providing I am efficient in studying during the day) and then Thursday. Damian's seminar has moved to this coming Saturday (because last was a shitshow of a snowstorm), so I'll do that as well. Smashing the guard---exactly what I need.
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