A Jiu-jitsu Log Filled With Shenanigans

Someone from area code 615 (TN) left a message on my voicemail the other day.  It went like this; “Hey Mike, this is Jan, I haven’t heard from you in awhile.  Just wondering how you were doing.” I didn’t recognize the number and I never called back because I didn’t recognize the name either.  She sounded like a loud older lady.  I don’t know anyone named Jan, and I don’t think I ever have.  Weird huh?

Let’s play conspiracy theory here.  I once sat next a girl in church.  She was pretty so one day I introduced myself and asked her what her name was.  She said it was either Jan Marie, or January.  I didn’t know for sure and was never in the position to ask for clarification.  Plus she never had my phone number so it couldn’t be her.

This is not the first time this has happened either.  Way back when I was a little kid someone called the house and asked to talk to Mike and said it was Phil.  I was friends with and got in a fight with a kid whose dad’s name was Phil, so I figured it was him.  After a brief exchange, we both figured out it wasn’t Phil and I wasn’t the Mike he was looking for.

Then over the course of the last three years I get random calls from the same phone number, usually early in the morning and in rapid succession.  Everytime I answer, they always ask if this is Knoxville.  How can you call a phone number and ask for a city?  I just dunno…

Awhile back I got a text from someone saying something along the lines of “Hey can I come over and hang out?”  I asked who is this and they gave me a first name I didn’t recognize and replied back, you may have the wrong number.  They were a little offended I didn’t remember them and gave me a last name, along with some flabbergastion.  Still not recognizing the last name I was sure they had the wrong number and told them again.  Then they asked if this was Mike, and I said it was.  After some more back and forth banter, I was right and I wasn’t the Mike they were looking for.

Then there was a phone call from a guy who sounded gangster.  I said hello, he said what’s up.  We talked, I asked who this was.  He said gave me a name I didn’t know, and he asked if this was Mike.  I said yes, awkwardness insued, and we figured out I was the wrong Mike… AGAIN.

On a side note, it has come to my attention that the Anchorage Police Dept has suspended their upcoming May police academy… I heard until 2010.

And I start my new job on Wednesday, more details to follow.

Yesterday was Friday the 13th and my TV broke.  So that’s pretty much worse than someone chasing me around a campfire with a machete while wearing a ski mask.  I’m sad.

I just got done at open mat at Gracie Barra.  I love open mats because it’s nothing but sparring and rolling, just the good stuff.  Except, I suck at striking.  I would say my skills are above the level of terrible and awful, but below the level of okay or decent.  I guess my striking falls into the not very good category.  I am making progress because today I was able to keep my hands up and my arms didn’t feel like they were made of cement.

It’s all a work in progress.  My striking is not very good, but I’m working on it and slowly improving.  I’m learning how to slip that first punch, but after that it gets dicey.  I mean, wtf do I do when they start tee’ing off on me and throwing combos?  I usually try to duck, bob and weave but end up getting punching in the back of the head and in the body.  Like I said, not very good…

There’s a few guys in the MMA classes that are very good.  They have effectively nullified my half guard from the top, meaning they are free to reign down elbows and punches while I lay there.  Of course, I haven’t had adequate rolling time with them, so it’s possible it’s only a matter of time before I sweep or escape.  I’m doing well in the ground-n-pound portion of the class.  My jiu-jitsu is transferring over nicely and I’m usually able to be effective.

I helped push a few guys who were preparing for fights after class.  A new guy would rotate in on them every minute, giving them the ultimate work out.  Both guys were champions I believe and neither showed any cardio weakness.  The only thing I saw was maybe one guy wasn’t volunteering to take a bad position off the start to work on his overall game.  The other guy was offering his back, guard, or top control to who ever wanted it.  Either way, both are studs and I’d like to see them both get the win in their up coming fights.

That’s all I got right now.  My TV is broken, and my internet is gone, so now I live at the library.  It closes in about an hour so I’m going to pillage their DVD collection and probably spend the night watching movies on my laptop.

I remember last year I went to the Predators game with Allie, it sucked (both the game and the date lol).  And this year I’ll be home alone reading a book about Chris Jericho.  My how quickly life can change in one year…

I went to AFC 56 Wednesday night.  I was walking over to the arena since it’s only about 5 minutes away from my apartment and a motorist gave me a wave to cross the street.  I gave him the “thanks” wave back and went into a little trot to cross the street.  Boy, was that a bad idea.  As soon as I got right in front of his car I hit ice and my feet went right out from under me.  I remember looking at my left foot being higher than my head and how it looked funny in the glow of the car’s halogen headlights.  I also remember seeing the look on the driver’s face, no doubt he said “OMG this guy just busted his head right in front of me” to whoever he was talking to on the phone. 

I quickly got up and hustled across the street, really embarassed.  I put my hands back into my pockets after dusting the snow off of my coat and realized I dropped my keys.  I turned around and looked back into the street and saw my keys lying there in traffic.  So I went back to retrieve them when a lady stopped her car, got out and grabbed my keys and tossed them to me.  She asked if I was alright and said she saw the whole thing.  Of course, I’m a tough kid like that, so only my pride was hurt. lol

Anyways, about the fight.  Now, I hate to be critical of my own team but…  We had our welter weight champion defending his belt that night in a five round fight.  I don’t know what the game plan was, or have any insider details about the strategy, so I’m only commenting on what I observed.  The first round our guy came out strong.  He had some good kicks and lighting quick hands.  It looked like the other guy was almost paralized with fear.  I don’t think I ever saw him connect with a punch or a kick in any of the rounds while standing.  But midway through the first round he caught a kick and took down the champ.  He stayed in his full guard throwing pattycake punches until the round was over.

The next four rounds went exactly like the first.  The champ would stand and throw a few jabs and maybe a kick before the other guy would take him down.  They would stay in full guard and occasionaly maybe the champ would threaten an arm bar or triangle, maybe a sweep, but for the most part no action or damage from either fighter.  I gave the first round to the champ, the second round I could argue for the him as well, but the last three were all the challengers.  And the judges saw it that way too, on guy gave the challenger all five rounds.

So I guess my criticism is the lack of adapting or changing the gameplan when it’s obvious you’re losing.  All five rounds were identical but not once did the champ try a take down or really open up with his striking.  I rolled with him one time before and I know he has good jiu-jitsu.  Plus his opponent wasn’t threatening on the ground at all, he didn’t even pass his guard once and was struggling to keep posture.  Maybe it was just a bad fight that night, but I wish I would have seen him try to mix it up and do something to get the win.

And to be clear, I absolutely hate showboating in a fight.  After the first round ended the challenger stood over the champ for a second after the bell rang and wouldn’t let him get up.  Things like that make my blood boil and I pray that he gets KTFO’d for that some day.  And after watching all the fights, I really feel like I can compete in this organization.

Yesterday, I was all pumped and excited so I went down to Gracie Barra to take a MMA class, but they changed the time on me so I arrived an hour and a half late, instead of 15 minutes early and missed the whole class.  That sucked and it was embarrasing but I stayed and did some bag work (it felt really good to kick something again).  I got a new copy of the schedule and will be on time from here on out.

Sorry about the lack of updates but like I said, I’m having internet problems.  Also, I’ve got a few leads on some jobs, so maybe I’ll have good news to report shortly.  Until then…

So my free internet connection that I was picking up in my apartment is gone.  I can only assume that whoever had it moved out since the last day I was able to pick up the signal was January 31st.  Right now I’m poor so I won’t be getting internet, instead I’ll just travel to the library and use their free connection.  I don’t mind because I have a laptop now so I don’t have to compete for a computer or having limited internet access time.