Semi-Charmed Life

The Greatest City in the World

Yea . . . so what if New Yorkers think a little too highly of themselves and their city?

New Toys!

I think I've been overtraining a little too much these past few weeks. I trained for 6 straight days 2 weeks in a row. Last Thursday I tweaked a neck muscle, but decided to train right through it the following Friday. I could barely wake up on Saturday because my neck was hurting like mad but I forced myself to head to the gym anyway.

After going through the warm-ups, I realized that training was NOT going to happen that day. My neck was just way too fucked up and having to ask my training partners to take it easy on me because of my injury is not fair to them. So in the best interest of my health, I decided to sit out of class. I woke up in just as much pain on Sunday and today was no different.

Something good did come out of this weekend though. I've been talking about getting a camcorder these past few weeks and I finally got off my ass and got one! The paradox of choice made my shopping experience a nightmare, but after a little research I decided to get this:

Canon Vixia HF M30

I also got a few accessories for it:

Slik U9000 tripod

Azden SMX-10 external microphone

Unfortunately, the hotshoe on the camcorder only takes specialized Canon products so I had to buy a universal hotshoe converter in order to use the microphone. The freaking converter cost me $30! Canon sure knows how to milk ya.

One more thing that I plan to buy:

Opteka-X grip camcorder stabilizer

I'm hoping that I'll actually put some use out of this freaking thing because I'm dropping a lot of money on this crap. I already have some video projects lined up, so hopefully this will keep me busy for the next few months.

Upcoming Tournaments

I signed up for two tournaments:

I have to drop down to 135lbs to compete because I'd definitely be way undersized if I were to compete in the 142-154lb category.

I can't run because my left ankle is acting up again, so working on my cardio is going to be a problem.

I plan to start recording a training videoblog to better analyze my game. I'm trying to convince other people to sign up for these tournaments with me so that we can all train together for a common goal but it seems like most of the people I know are not keen on the idea of competing. I'm not particularly enthusiastic about competing either but I see it as a means to an end. Either I get better or die trying.

My enthusiasm for competing is also hampered by the costs. Signing up for these two tournaments cost me $200!

Nothing else new to report.

California Ink

I just got into the office and there is a disgusting burning metal smell permeating through the entire floor. It's strong enough to the point that everyone in the office seems to be bothered by it and I feel like if I'm in here for another hour or more I might start to get sick. I hope they fix this soon.

Anyway, I'm glad I have friends with a good eye for artwork because I think I may just have found the next two artists that I want to get ink with.

jigg linked me to this guy in California a few days ago. Absolutely amazing work. The colors are so vivid that I'm not sure if it's a result of his ability or if the images are enhanced. Typically I find myself unable to appreciate Japanese style artwork but I really love his modern take on it.

http://www.mytats.com/jess.htm

Last night I was talking to Steve and he linked me to another guy who is also based out in California. I love how epic his pieces look and I really think his artwork conveys a lot of emotion and there is a spiritual element present in all his works. I already know what I want done by him, which is the Serra Angel image I posted up a while back. I think he'd do a fantastic job on this.

Check out his portfolio. Absolutely amazing stuff. What I found the most amazing is, the guy is only 21 and he's already amassed such an impressive portfolio. So much talent.

I'm definitely going to be in California a few times over the next several years.

http://www.arudima.com/wordpress/newgallery/ink/

If you checked out his portfolio and think his work is dope, check out this interview with him:

http://evilmonito.com/2010/04/13/interview-jun-cha/

Training 1/03

I had another great day of training today. I'm approaching my game much more aggressively. I got the whole "give them nothing but take from them everything!" mindset going on and I think it's paying dividends so far.

On top the idea was to "attack attack attack!".

From closed guard I was trying to focus on the idea of never allowing my partner to feel settled. To remove or block any type of grip he's going for and to make offensive grips of my own.

Whenever I was put on the bottom of a bad position my goal was just to try my best to get to my knees to get a scramble going.

My gym was closed from December 24th until January 3rd so I was out for about a week. Monday was my first day back at the gym and it was ROUGH! I was huffing so hard after half an hour. On Tuesday I went to my Sambo class at NYCS and it was a much needed light day because I was sore from the class on Monday. The leglock fundamentals class is much more technique oriented, with a 3-5 minute rolling session at the end where the goal is to work the technique of the day live on your partner.

Hopefully my training continues to go on a positive note.

I'm thinking about doing a tournament sometime in the next two months. One of my goals this year is to become extremely proficient at leglocks. I was thinking of what kind of strategy I should use in the future for my tournaments and this led me to question what my strenghths were. I realized I was pretty fucked because my takedowns stink and I don't exactly what to pull guard either because my guard game is not strong. I feel like I'd definitely get passed in competition.

Then I realized it made a lot of sense to try and work on something that is probably everyone's weakness: leglocks! I'm already training it, so I'm already ahead of the game in the department. I really don't think the level of leglocking ability overall in my gym is that high. Or if it is, I rarely see it. The problem is that I can't use these attacks in gi because of how the IBJJF rules are. Retarded! But in no-gi I think everything is fair game. Another problem is that I can only make it to about one no-gi class a week. So I don't get much of a chance to work leglocks.

My plan is to try and work on them in class and hopefully by the end of year they will be strong enough that I can use them to win successfully in competition. I'm feeling pretty confident because I feel that NOBODY practices leglocks. Doesn't make much sense to me but hey, the knowledge is out there!