Muslims

OK. The Lord did make a covenant with Abraham that Ishmael's seed was going to be great; however, Abraham didn't give the priesthood to him. He gave it to Issac. From Adam to Jacob, the main office of God's priesthood was that of patriarch. Adam, Enoch, Noah, and Abraham administered the Lord's work, established covenants between God and the faithful, recorded their teachings and prophecies, and gave special priesthood blessings. A patriarch could bless his offspring by calling upon the powers of heaven. As he gave the birthright blessing to one of his sons, for instance, the keys and powers of the priesthood were extended to the next generation. In the patriarchal order, under the law of primogeniture, these priesthood rights normally were to be given to the eldest son; from Abraham to Ephraim the birthright blessing went to younger sons because of their righteousness (Gen. 21, 27-28, 48-49).

You mention that the Bible and the Koran are based on the Torah. You ask which one is correct. Of course we can't look at the original source because it has been lost thousands of years ago. If you look at the Muslim faith and the Koran, they believe in some or if not all the prophets of the Old and New Testament. Then, they say that Muhammad was the last prophet which God put on this Earth. I disagree with this kind of thinking because I know that we need prophets to tell us the will of God in these last days like in the times of old. Plus, they deny the divinity of the Savior which means that they don't believe that Jesus was the Son of God and died for our sins so we we may return to Heavenly Father. I totally disagree with that too. For the most part however, I do agree with Muslims in beliefs such as faith, prayer, fasting, repentance, compassion, modesty, and strong families as cornerstones of individual spirituality and community life.

Revelation and Football

In response to David's question in a post which talks about President Monson, I'm going to post some links that shows some of the revelations that the First Presidency and the Twelve Apostles have made: The Living Christ: The Testimony of the Apostles and The Family: A Proclamation to the World. I would write so much more about this and how my day went; however, I need to go to bed. I have church that starts a 9:00 A.M. tomorrow. All I can say is this, I had a really busy day. I attended Chalk Wars for a ward activity and my first BYU game, which we won by alot. There were 63,500 people there watching in the stadium. I noticed that football fields look a lot bigger on TV than in real life. I'm so glad that I didn't buy the BYU all sports pass because watching the game wasn't very interesting. It was more interesting watching in person than on TV that's for sure. We beat them pretty good too, so the crowd wasn't on their edge of their seats.

Trying to find a new school

So, I went to the BJJ club today. Man, I miss Roberto's dojo. However, I'm thankful for my training there. I've noticed that I'm getting better because people are having a harder time passing my guard. That's a really good thing because when I started, everyone passed it really easily. It seems like I have the most experience there except for Heather, Colin, Brent, and maybe a new guy that I haven't met before. This is very good. I noticed that everyone was trying to use force when rolling. That's a bad thing. However, pretty much all of them are beginners too. That's what every beginner does. I know that in Coach Pease's class here at BYU, I used so much force and gassed out pretty quickly. I remember being really tired after class.

With Roberto, he made sure all of the guys sparred when tired. Thus, they couldn't use their strength to win. They had to use technique too. What I really liked about Roberto's class too is how we only went over a few moves during the whole three hours. We learned how to do it and practiced a move over and over. Then we added resistance to make sure we have the move. That tells us that we can use it when sparring.

At the club, we went through moves way too fast. We practiced them a few times with a partner that didn't resist at all. Then, we'd move to another technique. I learned some techniques tonight, but I won't be able to use them. After the first hour, we had open mat. It took awhile to find people to roll with me. I just wanted to roll all night. I rolled with his guy who's heart was beating faster than mine and he was in my half guard. I didn't use much strength while rolling. That's why I could have rolled for hours. There was this one kid who was stronger and lighter than me. I did really well because I eventually went onto his back and did a rear naked choke. I considered that an actual fight.

Pretty much, the rest of my matches weren't real fights because my side started to bother me. They would either side or full mount me. I couldn't do anything because of it. I couldn't upa because I didn't have the strength to get this guy off of me. I didn't upa anyone today. I did lots of shrimping and used an open guard quite a bit. I was a little out of my element too because no one had gi tops. I couldn't do a spider guard or do any type of gi chokes. Roberto said that when you get really good with the gi, it's pretty easy to spar without one too. I know that people on the internet disagree with that. I liked sparring with Charity. She didn't use that much strength unless until there was an indicator. She couldn't buck me from mount this time. I noticed that when she did, she exposed her arms pretty badly. When she bucked, I grabbed on to one of her arms and armbarred it.

Another thing that I loved about Roberto's dojo is that it was really intense cardio wise. We ran lines as fast as we could against another person. He called it ladders which I thought was funny. We would run around the dojo too. When running, we would do forward rolls first. I'm getting much better at them because I only do one side and actually do it the correct way. Then, we would roll forwards and backwards. We would army crawl and do doing push-ups in between the crawling. We would work on shrimping too.

Lately, we'd walk on short ends of the dojo and sprint on the long side. He made us work our cardio so much. It was really good because I need to have a person yelling at me so I can go harder. I won't go that hard by myself. He pushed some of the guys so hard that they'd throw up. I think this is why I missed Chinen's dojo too. It was really intense and a very good work out. I want to continue this intense training. I'm really hoping that I can find someone that will teach me correctly and still be intense.

I talked to Brent today about Paul Tom. He said that Paul charges 75 dollars a month. That sound pretty reasonable. I just need to see how he teaches and how good he is. I've heard that he's really laid back and talks a little to much. Probably, he's better than Throwdown though. This is his website. Brent said that Paul Tom wasn't to impressed when talking to Roberto. Brent said that Paul tried to get in touch with Roberto's teachers and they didn't have anything good to say about him. I'll have to ask Paul Tom about that because I not getting it from the source. Another school that I'm thinking about is the Unified Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Academy. However, that's forty minutes away. So, hopefully Paul Tom is a good teacher.

Kicked Out... Again!!! ;(

Now, I'm finally writing in this blog again. Since Friday, my emotions have been a roller coaster. It turns out that Roberto read my post, blew up, and kicked me out of his dojo. That broke my heart because I loved that dojo and BJJ. My love for BJJ rubbed off on him. Thus, I loved him too. That doesn't necessarily mean that I agreed with every thing he said in the dojo or that I trusted him wholeheartedly. Most of the things that he said to me about the church or about having boyfriends, I really disagreed with him. When I first met him, I was afraid that he was going to do something stupid and I'd have to leave. He was giving me a whole bunch of warning signs. Sarah and Rebecka said that they were warning signs too. However, he gave me an explanation that fit me pretty well and also backed off for the most part. He compared the dojo to like a family. He said some pretty blunt things about boyfriends, sex, the church, and karate. Thus, I spoke my mind in that dojo too. I felt pretty comfortable with him too. I thought that we had a good, but a little weird relationship.

I trusted everything he said about BJJ except stretching. I was even doubting Goju-Ryu and it's effectiveness. I sort of agreed with him when he said a BJJ practitioner can win a fight against a karateka. However, it probably depends on what type of fight. If the karateka couldn't hurt the other guy, the BJJ person would win. If the fight was Vale Tudo style, the karateka would give the other guy a run for his money. Now, I understand what David says about how style doesn't really give any definition about how a person fights or defends oneself. Probably, every style works out there. It just depends on how much the teacher knows and how it fits the student. Plus, a student can have a background in another style or teacher thus changing the student's style.

I had different martial art experiences from everyone in that dojo. Only Chuck could identify with my traditional background because he trained in one too. I know that everyone in that dojo agreed with Roberto that BJJ is the best style out there. It's kind of funny that when I finally spoke up for my style and Sensei, I was kicked out. Chinen thought the same thing about his style and teachings. Ya, now I'm sort of glad that I was kicked out because that way of thinking is really bad. One has to have an open mind for any type of style and how it fits his or hers attributes. I'm all for cross training and working on the ground, throws, and stand up. I didn't like how Cory thought that open hand techniques didn't work. I disagree with him after watching Bas Rutten fight people without gloves. I totally thought it was disrespectful that he could take on any of my Sensei too.

Well, hopefully I'll find someone that will teach me effective BJJ without charging me an arm and a leg. At Roberto's dojo, I only payed fifty dollars a month which was really good for the amount of training that I received. Two things that really stuck out to me while training in Roberto's dojo. One is not to get frustrated at myself when things I'm not learning things as fast I'd like to. Getting frustrated just makes the problem worse because I prevent myself from learning anything. Two is to relax and not use lots of strength. I watched some videos from the online Gracie academy last or two nights ago. They said that we need to watch for indicators that our opponent eventually does so we can use our technique at the right time. I think that Roberto was alluding to that.

Does anyone want to fight Roberto????

I wish I had a digital camera because I would take pictures of my friends, family, and the activities that I go to. Maybe, I should get one for Christmas. I want to spend my birthday money, if I even get it, on clothes. I want a new gi for Christmas too. I would like a black one because having a white one getting really annoying. Some of the guys have mat burns, so they get blood on my gi. I hate washing blood out of clothes because I do it enough already.

Today was really wonderful. I worked with Steve, Cory's brother, on Upa. I only let him do it on one side. I only did it on one side too. Then, we worked on the knee sweep. This time we scoot out to put one foot on the knee and the other towards the armpit. The leg has to swing forward towards the arm pit while pushing the knee back. It's pretty effective.

Anyways, I talked to Cory, Steve, and Roberto more about karate. I was watching some kids do some Taekwondo forms. They look really awful because they punch before they get into their stance. I mentioned that to Roberto. He said that it doesn't matter because they are just kids and forms aren't useful in fighting anyways. Then, he started making fun with of my karate. He teased me because he put one hand in chamber and the other hand in a jab. Cory and Steve said that they'd fight anyone who fought with their hands in chamber. UGG! They don't know my school. We are normal fighters, it's just we didn't practice that much. Then Cory said that open hand techniques don't work!! I really question him on that one because I prefer open hand to always having a closed fist. I generate more power with my palm heel strikes than a regular punch. I'm more comfortable with the strikes because I don't have to worry about tearing any skin on my knuckles.

Ack!!! What's really getting me is that Roberto said that he'd be willing to fight Sensei Villa anytime. He's really confident that he'd win because of his BJJ training. He said that he'd fight him without any gear on, bare knuckled. Knowing Roberto, he wouldn't strike. Instead he'd take Sensei down and then choke him. He said that he'd be willing fly Sensei here and back for free. He just wants to be able to video tape it and put on his web page. Roberto said that Sensei will say "no" even though he won't have to pay anything just to get here and back. He said they always say no because they know that they'll lose to anyone who does BJJ. I said some people at my old dojo knows some ground work. Roberto said that everyone says that.

I know that Sensei is a very good karateka. I've seen him move so many times. It's just so natural to him. He has such excellent control over his body. I've seen him spar once and twice. It was very impressive. I'm just trying to think who would win if Roberto and Sensei fought. Sensei has so many years of experience compared to Roberto. One would think that Roberto is being really cocky thinking that he could be any other martial artist. I don't know though from all the things that I've seen. Again, we don't spar that much in karate. That makes a big difference whether one could fight someone. I look at Levi too because he has so much power in his punches too. I'm still assuming that Levi is a better ground fighter than Sensei too. I think that he's the best fighter out of all of the karateka in that dojo. I know that Paul isn't a fighter. He told me once that he'd much rather do kata than spar. I miss him. He's such a cool guy.

I was thinking that if Sensei says no and doesn't want to send anyone out. Maybe David might be willing to fight Roberto. I know that he's has so much knowledge of kata and fighting in general from reading his blog. I'm just hope someone will come over here to prove Roberto wrong. However, I'm on the fence on this one because I have tons of respect for Sensei, Roberto, Levi, and David. I know that all of them has so much knowledge in their chosen art. Cory said that he'd even be willing to fight Sensei. I was thinking why would anyone come from Spokane to fight Roberto. Maybe, they'd do it for me so I can know who's right or wrong. I know that Roberto is serious about this too.

President Monson's Talk

I miss BJJ. In my previous post, I said that I wished that I could go 100 percent. That's why I miss it. I just want to go, go, and go. Because of my side, I can't do that. I have to still take it easy and be nice to my side. It just sucks though. This has never happened to me before. I was going 100 percent before my vacation. Afterwards, I went into it even harder because Roberto wanted to push us, then I get injured a week and a half from the time I got back. It sucks because I was really missing BJJ on my vacation too. This is the only sport and/or thing I've fallen in love so deeply, excluding my religion of course. I mean I love it so much because I have so much fun. I love working with the guys and rolling around with them. It's so stimulating and exhilarating. It's painful and hard work, but it pays off. It just takes so much time just to be good at a certain technique. One has to practice it over and over to be able to use it on another person.

I miss BJJ and can't wait until I can go 100 percent again. At least, my legs got a good workout yesterday. I noticed that the front parts of my thighs became sore tonight. That's a really good sign. It means that I actually did something that made me physically stronger rather than working a whole bunch of techniques. My legs never become sore. The only time I became sore was when I went to this MMA gym in Spokane and worked on all of these lunges when I was on my vacation. My thighs just above the knee were killing me for a few days. I couldn't believe how sore I was. I mean it just hurt going up and down stairs. I just want to work every part of my body and take it easy on my side. I've noticed that when it starts to hurt, it doesn't even like me use my arm. It will spaz out, which is interesting.

President Monson spoke at today's devotional. I didn't go to the Marriott Center because I had class right before and right after it. It turned out that my MMBio professor waited twenty minutes or more for people to come back from the Center. Afterwards, I was asking myself if I should have gone because one doesn't get the opportunity very much to be in the same place as the prophet. However, I think that I chose correctly because I wouldn't have listen so intently there. I'd rather be comfortable looking at a screen and being able to move about, instead of being confined to a cramped seat with a not very good view of the prophet. I might have not gotten a good view of the jumbo tron either. However, it's always so easy to second guess one's self.

His talk was the by far the most funniest talk that I've ever heard by a general authority let alone a prophet. He was telling stories about every prophet that he met and the attributes that we can take from them. I had so much fun listening to him speak. One time, I felt emotional and cried a little because it seemed like he was looking right at me and recognized my presence. I just love the prophet so much. I know that the cares and prays for me even though he doesn't know me personally. He doesn't even know that I exist because we haven't met before. That's OK because I know that he still loves me just the same. That's what I love about the church. I'm able to develop great love and compassion for the general authorities without fearing that they aren't telling the truth or going to betray my love for them in any way. It's wonderful to completely trust a person without worrying about his or her nature. I just wish that I could trust more people like this. Heavenly Father wants us to learn in this life, which means sift the wheat from the chaff. It's hard though because I'm not perfect at that by no means. That's why we have the Holy Ghost to help us choose right way.

Did More Things Today

Right now, I'm all excited about BJJ. That's a bad thing because I need to go to bed. I'm going to bed at 12:15 tonight because I went to bed too late last night. I took a three and a half hour nap today which took away from my homework time. I don't like that. I want to be alert and not sleepy. Last week, I took a nap during devotional. Tomorrow, President Monson is going to speak. I don't want to be really sleepy during it.

I don't think I'll ever stop BJJ. My side did better today. Roberto didn't allow me to run around and do some drills that involved landing on one's back. That's OK because I didn't want to any type of landing. So, I just worked on getting up properly. I'd sit down, get up, sit down, get up, and so forth. After awhile, I'd practice falling on my back by break falling, then I'd get back up. Thankfully, Roberto made us do a drill where I could do with Cory. I'd have to shoot under his arm to get to his back to choke him. We didn't do the takedown though. Then, we worked on all types of chokes. When we did that, Roberto ended up making little Nick pass out on accident. Chuck was all happy about that. Nick thought that it was cool. It would be cool to be choked out; however, I'll let that happen on it's own instead of asking Roberto to do it to me.

My side bothered me when I did two different types of chokes. Then, I practiced the butterfly guard with Cory's brother. I did pretty well against him. We both mounted each other. He'd mount me because I failed to mount him first. My side felt great because it hardly bothered me. Then everyone sparred. I really wanted to spar with someone because my side felt fine. Chuck thankfully picked me. It didn't last very long. My side doesn't like to get mounted on and me defending from it. It started to hurt. So, while everyone else were sparring with each other, I cleaned up my gi because I had all of these little blood spots from working with Cory's brother and changed into my every day clothes.

I'm thankful that I did more things with my side. Practicing with myself got really boring though. Well, I'm going to make sure that whenever I'm going to land on my back, I'm going to break my fall because being injured sucks. I wanted to play harder and go 100 percent, but couldn't. Hopefully, I'll be healed enough to test next Friday. That's almost two weeks. Hopefully, I'll heal fast or heal enough where it doesn't really bother me any more. I'm just thankful that Roberto cares enough about me that he doesn't want me to injure my side again. I think that I just favor my right side over my left side. It may be just people like mounting me on my right side too.

Defending myself

What did I do today?? Well, I got up at 7:08 A.M. I was suppose to get up at 6:45 to give myself plenty of time to get ready for church. I accidentally set my alarm clock to P.M. instead of A.M. I like giving myself two hours, so I can do my hair and makeup. I sort of did my hair today and didn't do my makeup. I saw more girls with short hair today and that made me want short hair even more. I wasn't really tired today at church because I slept a lot yesterday. It was pretty cool because most of the time, when I take naps during the day and stay up late, I'm still tired the next day. I think I'm going to like having church start at nine because I have the whole afternoon and evening.

After church, I ate lunch and took a nap. I fell right asleep because I don't remember feeling the tingles when icing my side. I had some awesome dreams, but don't remember them that much. I hate this!!! I want to remember more of my dreams!!! I remember a guy sticking a huge nail in his mouth to pin himself against a wall. Then, he was going do to that again when he somehow raised himself. The second time, he did it, I think I fainted in the dream. Then, Sarah came into my room asking me if she could use my stoneware. I got up and visited with Ryan and Jim. Sarah made us dinner.

Afterwards, I went to a firesite with Sarah and Katrina in the Marriott Center. I wanted to find a place to watch because I don't like the chairs there. I remember not fitting that well there. However, it was OK. I didn't get antsy and worked on my cross-stitching. When we finally found a spot to park, Sarah and Katrina walked really fast because we were a little late. That annoyed me because I can't walk fast in church shoes I always have to grab on to. I had to take them off and walk barefooted. That's fine, I just had to watch and make sure I didn't step on any rocks. I never caught up with them until we arrived at the center. I wanted them to slow down and walk with me. I thought that was a little rude.

Sister Dalton spoke to us about returning to virtue. It's a good topic to talk about to single adults because many of us have fallen of the wagon. She talked about the benefits of staying virtuous. I didn't know that being virtuous meant staying sexually pure. She talked about personal revelation too. The equated that one should have a strict training schedule so we can endure to the end. I instantly related that to BJJ because I've been training mighty hard.

She talked about repentance and how we can get back on track if we do fall off the wagon. Then, the talked about sexual abuse victims are still chaste and pure and have to come unto Christ to be healed. I just smiled when she said that because I knew what exactly she was talking about. I knew in my heart that Uncle Rich couldn't do that to be again because I know better and of BJJ. I think that he would have instantly backed off if I fought. I think that he wouldn't have physically abused me, just mentally and sexually. His body wouldn't allow him to fight me anyways and Grandma would have heard. In my heart, I know that I'm protected against those types of people.

I just always wonder if I'm able to defend myself from a complete stranger who tries to force himself on me physically. I know that I'm much better at defending myself that a year ago. I still don't if how will I handle the pain if the guy lands some good punches. Probably, I'll still fight through the pain. If the guy pulls a knife or gun, I'd try to run away first. It that doesn't work, I'll wait until the moment of the rape because I'm much more comfortable defending myself on my back than anywhere else.

I feel that I've forgiven Uncle Rich more since I've been in BJJ, which is a really good thing. I still think that it's a little weird that Uncle Rich and Aunt Wendy visited Grandma in June. I wonder if they talked about me. I know that it would be incredible awkward if I see him again. I just hope that he's really repenting and changing. I still won't ever trust him again. It comforts me that I'm wiser and more protected than a year ago.

I love BJJ. I'm really hoping that I'll be able to more tomorrow.

Imagination

I love writing in this blog because I can look back and see what I've done with my life and my progress in martial arts. There are a few things I would like to write about. First, I'm still behind on my reading with BJJ and Chris's two blogs. I love reading his blog because he's a very good writer. One would think so because he writes books for a living. I just hope that when people read my blog, people will understand what I'm talking about and able to visualize the thing or situation what I'm trying to explain.

That's why I love really good novels, like the Tennis Shoe Series and Harry Potter. They adequately explain what's going on in the book to the point where I can imagine what's going on inside my head. It's lots of fun because I can see these characters move around, interact with each other and their environment. It's not as clear as dreams or in movies, but the images stay with me longer in a way. Of course, I forget what's going on in the books; but I can still remember the images produced with pretty much all the books I've read. In dreams, the images are so much clearer and more vibrant; however, they are so easy to forget which sucks. I just love books and dreams that take me places that I haven't seen before. Most of the time, I won't see them in real life because they are imaginary. I love fantasy and science fiction.

Right now, I'm following a TV show called The Colony that's on the Discovery Channel. It's this alternate reality which takes place after a viral outbreak that pretty much takes everyone out. These ten people have to survive in the city and live in a large warehouse. The things that they invent are pretty cool. The show has made me think more about food storage. I have some food items stored away, but it needs to be a lot more.

Sarah says that this injury is a good thing so I can branch out and do other things. I guess most people are used to doing multiple things that interest them. However, I've always had my special interests. I've always been obsessed with one or two things in my life. They've changed over time, but that takes a long while. In high school, I love singing and chess. When I was a kid, I loved playing with toy cars and Legos. When I was in middle school, I'd play video games until Evan got his X-Box. I still follow video games and watch videos about them. I have a few special interests that keep me entertained. I've always been happy being by myself and doing my own thing. Sometimes, I have more fun by myself than with other people.

I was supposed to do homework, since I didn't go to the club today. However, I watched three episodes of the Colony, took a shower, shaved, slept some more, iced my chest and back, played with Oliver, and went to Walmart with Sarah. Oliver is that cat that Sarah found today. He's declawed and very friendly. Probably, Oliver is a she because he's pretty skinny. It's very nice playing with a cat that doesn't have any claws. Normally, I have to be really careful or get a sweatshirt to play with Miss Piggy. Hopefully, Oliver will come back. Sarah let him inside the house today. I'm just surprised that anyone would let him outside because he's declawed.

Stupid Injury

Getting injured sucks big time!!!! Why? Because pretty much everything I try to do, I feel my chest or side. When I breathe in deep, I feel it. However, I mostly don't feel it when I sit still reading or typing and breathe normally. So today, I wanted to go grocery shopping before BJJ. However, time went before my eyes. I had to go to Costco for some more eye contact solution. Or I would have been on time for the first class. Instead, I was an hour late. I was getting sore from pushing a cart around. My side wasn't liking me using my right arm all that much.

I still thought that I felt good enough to go light and practice. I started practicing the butterfly guard with Taz. I got around his defenses pretty good and mounted him a few times. Then, I started working with the new guy who's 18 years old. I started getting a little frustrated because all we were doing was playing footsie. I tired to mount him, but didn't work. He didn't mount me either, so we were at a stale mate. Then, I started working with another new guy who's 25 years old and lives in Salt Lake. Everyone was drilling pulling people out of the turtle position and get their back. The other is suppose to flip around and face the other guy. However, we worked on the knee sweep because it required less movement. He strained his neck during the summer. He swept me and landed on my other side. However, I instantly felt pain. I wanted to try to sweep him, but couldn't. So, he wanted to try to sweep me, but be more careful. It hurt too much just to stick my right arm out. So, I just sat and watched for the rest of the time.

My chest was killing me. It hurt just to move, but that eventually went away after time. I noticed that it was spazzing out too. It might have been due to my breathing, but I don't know. I don't know why it wouldn't be steady. Good thing that Roberto kept on smiling at me when I was just sitting and watching. A few times, he told me to keep practicing my grips on my gi. There are two different grips we can do when we have someone in our spider guard. I didn't mind doing that over and over again because it takes one forever to get anything right and useful.

It was very interesting watching Roberto watching and answering everyone's questions. I really never pay attention when I drill with someone. I'm too concentrated on the drill. When watching, Chuck asked me why I was looking sad and watching. I told him I was injured and Roberto told him how it happened. I think it's a combination of things. My side bugging me in the first place and not breaking my landing at all. Chuck told me that he has injured his ribs too. He said that it takes about a month to heal. UGG, that stinks. It sounds right from what I was reading on the internet.

I have good news!!!! Roberto is going to test in two weeks. He told everyone what belts that they are going to get except me. I asked him after class. He said I deserve on orange belt; however have to wait for my testing because of my injury. That made me so happy because I thought he was going to say that I'm not ready yet. I just need to heal, hopefully fast. I'd be totally happy when I get my orange belt!! That means that my knowledge of BJJ is increasing.

At the end of the night, I did forty knee push-ups. I thought that they felt pretty good. Roberto said it's my fault that I'm injured. That's OK. I pretty much see it as no one's fault. He said that I should take Ibuprofen for the pain every morning and night. I'm not doing that because I avoid any type of pills like the plague. Plus, I'm not in pain throughout the day anyways. I just start hurting a little when walking with my heavy backpack. I'm just sad that I can't do BJJ tomorrow with the club. Oh well. There will be more time for me to do my homework. Hopefully, I can do more on Monday.

Looking for a Chiropractor

I have an update with the pain status. I'm getting better and better which is good. I discovered another spot which is pretty tender if I press and rub on it. So, last night when I was in bed, I started feeling around some more to see what other things hurt. This one is just below my shoulder towards my back next to my armpit. When I was moving around this morning, it feels like a big muscle that starts from my back to my chest is really sore. It feels like when I move into place which it doesn't like, it all of a sudden cramps up and hurts. These two areas explain why I thought it was my chest and felt pain in my side too. I don't think that it's an actual rib because I think it would be in one spot. Plus, I think I'd see bruising.

So, I just spent tons of hours looking for a chiropractor that could help me heal faster if I get BYU insurance and Dad agrees with it. I haven't even told him what happened yet. I just want to heal as fast as possible with out injuring myself again. I don't hurt right now because I've been pretty much sitting all day. I'll see how I'm doing tomorrow. I'm thinking about either watching or going really lightly. I just want to do BJJ as soon as possible because I love it. It would be nice for a Doctor to look at my chest and side to determine what I injured. I researched about cracked ribs last night and strained chest muscles today. Many of the sources said that one should go to the doctor to see if the injured person has broken any ribs. I don't think I have because I think that I would have seen bruising. I know that Chiropractors will help the healing process. So, I found one that was similar to my old one at home; however, isn't covered by BYU. The Health and Wellness Institute is freaking expensive compared my old one in Spokane.

So, I searched all of the chiropractors that BYU covers. If I started going to one, I'd choose McClean Clinic Spine & Joint Rehabilitation. It sounds the best because they offer services other than adjustments. Their adjustment technique is your average crack back one. However, they do use Cold Laser Therapy which Dr. Cough treated me with in Spokane. I know that helped my balance. It sounds like they have other therapies that help heal soft tissues too. I think that it would be really nice to start going to a chiropractor again to make sure my neck and back is alright. They sometime pop when I roll especially when someone does a neck crank on me. Chuck says that he usually fights them because they are just painful and don't do anything. However, I'm really careful with those because I don't want to hurt my neck.

The other chiropractors that I'm somewhat interested in is Chiropractic USA, Lonestar Chiropractic Center, and Lindon Family Chiropractic. I just don't want to choose a bad chiropractor that doesn't help me. Rebecka goes to one when she goes home. However, I don't know why she doesn't get one closer so she can get more adjustments. She's always in pain. Maybe, she should see another chiropractor. She got in a car wreck and got whiplash. I want to heal properly and don't feel pain the rest of my life. I just want to take care of my body.

So Much Pain!!!!!

I've never been in so much pain in my life!!! Right now, I feel better; however, I still hurt. Two posts down, I posted about my bruised rib and how it hurt. I started bothering last week getting progressively worse. On Saturday, it bothered me and tried to stretch it out. On Monday, it hurt even worse when sparring with Chuck that one time. It hurt even when I stopped. I was careful and when sparring with him again. I kept on feeling it, but I was fine. Afterwards, I iced it when I went to bed.

Today was a whole different story. It didn't bother me when practicing with Christan. We were practicing throwing each other off of mount while the other person was trying to submit them. For the most part, I was on top trying to set up a submission. I did really well because I finally pulled off an armbar. This was my first armbar against an experienced person because he's an orange belt. I'm a yellow belt. I thought that was pretty cool.

Then, I practiced with Daemon who I just met on Saturday. He's 17 years old, a senior in high school, and really cute. When working the him on Saturday, he took me down pretty fast and hard. Today, we worked on the same thing by trying to take each other down. He's fast and athletic. I asked him if he did any sports. He only does Golf. I asked him if he lifts weights. He said that he's been doing that since May. He has really nice arms. For the most part, he was the one who did the takedowns. When we first started, he got me with a guillotine. I tried to push on his hips, but didn't lift my feet up because he would have taken me down. However, I had to tap out anyways. Then, he started going to my legs. He was so fast that I didn't have time to sprawl. A few times, as I went down, I grabbed on to him. Then, he'd roll or fall off, then I'd mount him. What I was doing was working for me.

I did that for a few times. Then, all of a sudden when I landed, an explosion of pain erupted on my side. It really hurt. Roberto hovered over me asking me what happened because I was laying there in pain. He said that I should move to lay down. I did that. He instantly have me a one use cold pack. That really sucked because it didn't get cold at all. I was in so much pain. It hurt doing any thing. He said to take a water break and rest. Then, I went to watch in the chair. Even trying to lay back in the chair was extremely painful. It even hurt to breathe. Roberto said that I didn't break anything because I can lean to both sides. It hurt though. So, I decided to go home to rest and try to let this pain go away. It really hurt trying to change. It hurt to lift up my arm or even move it around because sharp, stabs of pain just shot through me. While changing, I tried to pinpoint where the pain was coming from. I discovered it below and a little underneath my right breast. I think it's a muscle or something because the pain was shooting to my side.

Roberto said that I landed on my arm which hurt my side. He said that I should have put my arm out to break my fall. Well, it's obviously not my side. It's my chest that hurts. I thought it was my side. Now, when I focus on the pain and see where it hurts, it's my chest. One would think that I'd know where the pain was coming from. However, the body does send out some confusing signals when it feel pain. So, I'm trying to figure out how I landed and if I could have prevented it. For my arm to put pressure of where it hurts, I would have had to landed on my stomach pretty much. That doesn't make sense. Probably, my arm got between Daemon and myself when we landed. I don't know if putting my arm out would have helped it it's been bothering me already. I know that my arm means less surface area, but he could have landed on me with the same surface area as my arm depending on how he landed. I just wanted to grab him instead because it's faster to mount him that way. However, that means a harder landing I guess. I'm not very good at break falling.

It just really hurt when trying to do anything. Driving was painful too. My car decided to be a pain by not wanting to start. Brant offered to help, but it finally started. I was frustrating because I was in pain and wanted to go home. Good thing that I always drive with my left hand, but it still hurt. I was thinking about going to Walmart to shop; however, it even hurt walking around, let alone grabbing for things. I finally got home, told Mary Lu what happened, got my ice pack, took some Advil, and laid down. I read part of chapter one for MMBio. When, I moved around to get myself some dinner I felt better. When, Sarah and Katrina got home I felt even better and didn't hurt as bad when I moved around. I fell asleep when reading.

After that, I feel a little worse because I hurt more when I move around. However, that could be because I'm off the Advil. I don't hurt if I lie down. It start to hurt when I stand up and move around. It doesn't like me using my arm, bending forward, twisting, and moving my shoulder all around. So, I'm most happy laying on my bed. Before I laid down, I was really thinking about going to see the doctor because I was still in a lot of pain. My pain level was about a five or six in general. Then when the pain shot through my body, it jumped up to around a nine or ten for a second or so.

Now, I'm hoping that the pain will gradually go away soon. I don't know when I can go back to BJJ now. I could always go and watch. However, I need to catch up with my homework before I do that. I know that if I go and watch, I'd really want to join. I just need for this heal before I try to do anything. This rib has gotten worse really fast since it started bothering me last week. I just don't want to develop bad anything and be in pain for the rest of my life. I'll feel better about health things when I go to chiropractor school because I'll be learning that will probably have a scientific foundation. Plus, I would know what to do if I hurt myself like this.

Seven Peaks

I'm tired and want to go to bed. For a stake activity tonight, we went to Seven Peaks Water Park. The park was closed and was full of young adults because it actually consisted of two stakes. I stuck with Neal, my home teacher, most of the time because he wanted go to on all of the extreme rides with me. The first one that I went down was Freefall, the orange one. I would have gotten pretty nervous by looking at it at close because the drop looks pretty vertical. I didn't really have to wait in line for that one. I swallowed a lot of water on that one. Then, we went down Speed Breaker, which is the blue one, twice as the line got longer and longer. The first time, I got stuck on the top, so I had to push myself to get unstuck.

The second time around, I kept on pushing myself until the drop off point. It scared me a little because I became airborne for a second or so. That was so fun because I've never became airborne and unrestrained like that except for jumping off something. When I went the guy on top said for me to cross my legs. All three times, I had them uncrossed. Until I really thought about it why they tell people this, I figured out why one should. If one doesn't, one will get a literal colon cleaning. Water gets up there and will get out in a few minutes later. I've never felt that feeling because I've never had water come out there before. It's always been a number 2 or 3. I never went to the restroom because I knew it was just water.

We went down Flood Flood. I went down the green one and Neal went down the blue one. Until now, I just realized that they're two different slides. It because we start out in the same place. Probably, it's just faster to get people through. We raced, but Neal won. He could have gotten a shorter slide too. We went down Tube Run too. It was alright.

Then, we met up with two other people. I know the guy is in our ward, but I don't think the girl even in our stake. We went on the Boomerang. It was a pretty long wait. We finally got to the top. I sat in front of Neal. The slide didn't look scary at all. However, it was scary compared to the other slides. With that slide, I watched us go down, up, down, up... until we came to a complete stop. The other slides, I couldn't watch myself go down because of my contacts and all the water flying in my face. So, they aren't scary at all.

We went and played in the adult pool for a little while. It had Lilly Pads that we can cross over by two strands of rope hanging above them length wise. I couldn't do it because it required mostly upper body strength. It didn't surprise me on bit because my arms and hands supporting all of my body weight. I had the same issue when I tried to swing on the rope swing. I wanted to swing until it starts coming back. I held for a few seconds, screamed, and fell into the water.

Then, a group of us went into the spa. However, ours was off and somewhat cold. We were in the middle. The other two on the outside of us were warm. Everyone in that group wanted to go home. I went off to find Sarah and Katrina. Then, I found Joey who I just met. Then, we met up my roommates. Amber was with them. Joey and I got a double tube. Sarah and Amber did too. Katrina got a single tube. Then, we went down Cave In in the dark. That was fun because we couldn't see where we were going. I screamed the whole way just for fun. I was screaming pretty high. Sarah asked me if that was me. I said it was.

After that, Amber, Sarah, and Katrina were done going on the slides. Joey had to go home. Sarah doesn't like going on the really fast slides. So, I went down them by myself. I went down Freefall first because there wasn't a line. It was better when I crossed my legs because the water didn't go up anywhere and had less water fly into my face trying to drown me. Then, I went down Speed Breaker again to see what it was like in the dark. I got stuck, so didn't didn't get airborne. Then, I went down Jagged Edge, the yellow one, twice. That was fun because it was longer than the other slides. The first dip, I pushed my self. By the second dip, I laid back because I was going fast enough. However, I forgot to cross my arms and got a little burn on my elbow.

During the second time, I kept my eyes a open a little longer. When I stopped, I thought that I lost my right contact, but it came back when we were in the parking lot. Sarah let me borrow one of her contacts because she has daily's and I have monthly's. She thought I was going to lose them. So, I had one of my mine in my left eye and the her's in my right. I could tell a huge difference between them because hers is a 5.5. Mine is somewhere in the eight or nine.

Bruised Rib

Hi. BJJ practice was good today. We didn't really do anything special. I've just noticed that I'm getting better at defending from open guard. The only thing that I really noticed today is a pain on my right side near my arm pit. It's one of my ribs. It's been bothering me since last week. So, I tried to stretch my side on Saturday. When working with Cory, it just got worse. Then, I sparred with Chuck which killed me. I had to be on my side defending from a side mount. It hurt and kept on screaming for my attention. At one point, I started yelling because it hurt. Then, I heard Cory say that I'll have to do fifteen push-ups for every yell I do. That kept me quiet. Cory says that I have a bruised rib and it takes forever to heal. That sucks. He suggested that I should it my hit myself in a wooden rod, so I can learn to suck it up. Chuck says that I should always have a poker face. I'm such a pansy. Sarah says that I'll get used to it.

Stupid Pain

Ugg. I need to finish reading a chapter in chemistry and read two chapters in MMBio. I don't want to read MMBio because it sounds boring. UGG. I shouldn't have watched that Football game!!! I still need to do laundry. BYU won against Oklahoma. I gained a new appreciation for football players because they get tackled all the time. I bet it still hurts even with all the pads. During the game, Oklahoma's quarterback hurt his shoulder because someone tackled him pretty hard. I left a little after the third quarter started. It was getting really boring. So, when I got home from BJJ, I took a nap because I was pretty tired. Then, took another nap after watching the game. My body is still tired, but it feels better now.

I woke up because people were screaming and cars were honking because we won. Oklahoma is number 3 in the nation and we're 20. That lasted forever because there was a block party near our apartment. Then, I played two games of cards with Katrina's friends. After that, I caught up watching all of the game reviews on gametrailers.com. I wanted to read a chapter of MMBio; however, I found out that church starts at nine in the morning. So, I need to go to bed early instead of going to bed late like usual. I'm thinking about doing homework tomorrow. I wanted to clean my room instead because I haven't done unpacked and put things away since I got home.

Sarah is keeping telling me that I should be more social in the ward. I don't care. I missed the opening ward activity last night which sounded fun. However, I wasn't going to miss BJJ. I knew that I would have more fun at BJJ than with the ward. I do things which are fun to men, not because I want people to know me and who I am. I'd much rather have fun in BJJ. If I'm going to practice six days a week, I have to be more productive with my time. I feel like that I wasted today by not doing homework. Next week, I need to stick myself in the library like I did during spring and summer. That really helps because that tells myself that I'm doing homework instead of doing anything else. So, I'm less likely of getting distracted by the internet.

I'm thinking about cutting my hair short like I had it in high school. Again, I don't do it because I'm not interested in it. I know that I look better when I maintain it. However, it takes time and practice. I just don't care about it either. I only told Mom about it when went back to Washington. I didn't tell Rhea because I knew what she would say. She would say that I'm taking the easy way out and that I need to learn how to take care of my hair. Sarah has told me yesterday and today that I should grow my hair out longer because it will look better.

I asked Roberto about bouncing when stretching and overtraining. I just don't want to become tired all the time. If I do that, I'm more susceptible to injury and my body won't recover like it's suppose to. I'll just keep on going downhill. I just want to keep my body in the best shape as possible without injuring it. I don't want to develop bad anything, like a knee, back, neck, or shoulder. I don't want to beat up my body too badly. Cory has a bad shoulder because of shrapnel and broke his big toe. Roberto has a bad back and a really bad knee. Zach had to get an MRI of his knee because it hurts a lot. Chuck tore something that holds his kneecap. Pear has a reoccurring groin injury. He says that it's easier to injure it again because of the scar tissue. Sensei Villa has a bad shoulder. Dad has bad knees and gets really bad muscle cramps in his legs. I've never really injured something before want want to keep it that way. Of course, I've had two hairline fractures in my foot, but they didn't keep me from doing anything or cause me to be in constant pain.

Anyways, Roberto said that one only overtrains by lifting weights. However, I disagree with the things I've read about it over the years. Roberto said Taekwondo masters do it all the time and have really good flexibility. I told him that I looked all over the internet and everyone says not to do it. He says not to trust doctors all the time because they say fighting and getting choked is bad. Well, I looked more about it tonight under on Chiropractors and even Sports Chiropractor's websites. They say not to bounce either. So, I'll trust what I've read on the internet instead of what Roberto says.

I was right that I focused on pain too much when I spar. When sparing with Cory, I was in side mount. He taught me that I need to have one of my elbows near his head, my knees close to him, and an arm wrapped around his leg to control the position. Then, he started driving his elbow right into my thigh. It hurt so much that I retreated my thigh. He said I can't do that because I'm just only giving in to him and the pain. He said that he'd do that all the time to me if we were in a tournament. He said that I have to suck it up, so he's stop doing it and try something else. It's very hard to ignore and not to respond to it. If it hurts enough, all I want to do is to make it stop hurting by either yelling, retreating, and/or submitting.

When sparring with Nick, he pinched the inside of my arm. I yelled, "Crap!!!" as I got on mount. Then, Roberto said for me to stop. He said that I cannot curse or complain because it's disrespectful and we have children inside the dojo. I was about to cry. I yelled because it hurt and was tired of feeling pain. Luckily, he didn't require me to say anything and let me get back onto mount. A little later, I asked him his he thought crap was a swear word. Cory responded saying some people think it is. I'll ask him again to make sure. I remember the time I didn't like people using the word crap. Now, I use it all the time. Another word that I didn't like as shut up. I used it all the time in school, but never when I was around my family. I remember Emma asking me if I could stop saying dang it. I just ignored her. I was sparring with Roberto today. I don't think he likes shoot either because he said not to swear or said something along the lines, "You know what I mean."

I need to ask him what's swearing to him. Probably, I just need to keep more quiet when I spar. I was pretty verbal today. When working with him, I'd get stuck and wouldn't know what do to. So, I'd start talking. He said that just distracts me and he can take the opportunity of getting into a better position. I just need to always keep my head in the game and not get distracted. I learned that pain is a great distraction.

BJJ and Track

I've been thinking more about fighting and pain. I've noticed that pain can be a distraction when fighting. Yesterday and today, it grabbed my attention. It made my mind focus more on the pain instead of trying to defend and attack. I remember grabbing my knee because it hurt when someone was trying to mount me. Then, Cory made me cry out in pain for about five seconds. He was passing my guard and had this thigh on my inner thigh. I said said, "ARaggggg, OK, OK, OK, ARRAAAAG!! very loudly. I just submitted like that because of pain. However, the inside of one's arms and legs are the most sensitive parts on the body. Cory said that I should do some body conditioning. However, I don't see myself hitting me in the legs or arms to deaden my nerves. That really hurts. Hopefully, the more I do BJJ, the less it hurts.

Again, I love BJJ because it's the only thing that I don't suck at really badly. In every sport that I've ever done, I've been one of the worst out of everyone else. Of course, I got better through practice and diligence. I almost went to state for discus. It took me five years just to get that good. I remember it was one of the easier years though to get into state too. I really liked throwing out in the field with out anyone watching me. Whenever, I threw in the ring, I'd always have my coach watch me so I can get feedback in an instant. Maybe, that was a bad thing because I would be always focusing on doing something better instead of just throwing and not thinking about anything. I remember getting so frustrated at myself because I threw better out on the field instead of in the ring. My coach always said that I looked like a state champion when I was in the field. To calm my mind, I would always listen to Tai Chi music that was very calm and ambient. On the off season, I never practice line drills because I thought they were boring.

I remember at the start of every season, we had to practice in the gym because it was still snowy outside. When we did practice outside, it was cold and wet. I'd always wear this bright orange hat made of fleece which I got during my first year of girls camp. That hat made a huge difference because if I was cold, I'd put it on and be warm for the rest of the time. If I put a regular base ball cap on, I'd be cold. I'd even throw in my winter gloves to keep my hands warm. If the weather wasn't so bad, I'd wear some very light gloves. During my senior year, we would throw tires too. However, I never did fall in love with discus.

I'm eternally thankful for Roberto because he pushes me and pushes me. I wouldn't do half the things that we do in the dojo. I think it's funny. He call lines ladders. We always call them lines in basketball. Lines are where people run back and forth first touching the nearest line in front of one, then run back to touch where one started from, run towards the next nearest line, run back to the line from the start, and so on. Roberto doesn't mind that our exercise makes us throw up. He sees that as a good thing. I was thinking that I'd more likely pass out from the lack of oxygen instead of throwing up. I've noticed that my endurance, cardio, and strength has increased. Knee push ups are getting easier. The last two days, Roberto made me do full push-ups. I tried doing as many as possible. I had my booty in the air 70 to 80 percent of the time during the two min. Usually, I can't even hold myself up for that long let alone do push-ups. Then, I did 140 crunches in two min. After class, Roberto made me do 50 full sit-ups with my arms helping me. I had to do 20 crunches with him sitting on me. It's pretty cool because I'm continually seeing results. I've never seen this much improvement in myself before.

Self-defense and Roberto

I posted this comment on David's blog when he said that people don't need to take self-defense.

"I agree with Jorge. I think that people still need to learn self-defense. Of course, they will will know how to punch and kick. However, everything they will do will be an accident instead of on the mark. You commented on how a person couldn't mount someone when they are kicking their legs. Depending on how good in shape they are and how fast they are kicking, I'll just wait until they are done kicking. Or I can move to their side, dive, and get into side mount. Or if they are kicking pretty slowly, I can grab hold onto their leg. Then, I'd move it to the side and mount them. Probably, he's be inexperienced so he will try to push me off with his arms. So, I'll arm bar him.

The average person may know how to strike, however they don't know how to grapple. They don't know how to do any type of joints locks or chokes. Thus, they can only strike while on the ground. Plus, the average person will expend way too much energy when grappling and probably when striking as well. The average person against the average person will be even if they are in the same shape because they will be flailing and expending the same amount of energy. However, if a person knows not to flail and knows the counters to flails, that person will win.It takes tons of experience to know what works for you and how to use it against the other guy. The average person doesn't know that. When I'm on the ground, I'm mostly defending because I grapple against guys. I have to use really good technique to out last them.

If a woman is attacked by a guy, she will not know how to conserve her energy and strike at the weak points without getting tired first and hurting herself. She will just waste energy flailing. What if the guy hits back hard?? Probably, the lady will freeze and get scared. People need to learn how get hit so that doesn't happen. Most people think that they need to strike to end a fight or escape. Roberto says otherwise and I trust him on that point. The average person won't know how to do that."

Today, I learned that I'm a fighter. I didn't really realize it because I don't see BJJ as fighting in a sense. However, it is fighting because you are trying to submit another person. Everyday when I spar, I get bruises. If that doesn't tell you that I fight, nothing will. I didn't practice fighting in karate. I only just practiced kata and did techniques. The only time I got bruises was when I blocked punches with my forearms and body conditioning. BJJ is a lot more painful than karate.

Roberto says that teachers cannot think that they are better than their students in any way. They can't have any ego at all. If that happens, they will start caring about themselves instead of their students, like Sensei Chinen. Roberto wants to create students who are better than him. I really never heard of that before. I thought that teachers will be always be better than the students they will have more experience. Plus, they will be always learning and growing too. I have to ask Roberto on that one because a teacher shouldn't stop learning about their art.

I learned that Roberto was taught BJJ as a kid. I think he started when he was five years old. If it took him twelve years, he'd be 17 years old when he got his black belt. I need to ask him about that too. I know that he started MMA fighting when he was sixteen years old. I don't know how long he did that. Then, he took an eight year brake. Now, he's starting again by opening his own school and teaching. He's trying to remember everything that he was taught. He said that it's pretty much riding a bicycle because one never forgets. Probably, he was taught how to teach before he got his black belt.

Won My First Real Fight

I love BJJ!!! I think I will be forever in love with it. It's such a cool martial art and sport. I'm calling it a sport because one can compete in it. Sarah doesn't call it or even skiing and snowboarding a sport. I really disagree with her with that one. She's just very picky what she calls a sport. UFC and WEC are sports because the people who fight in them are definitely athletes. Probably, she doesn't think that these things are sports because she hasn't tried it herself. I wonder if she thinks boxing is a sport.

I have really good news. I won against a guy name Brant today who weight 225 pounds. I couldn't believe it because he's so much stronger than me. He's 25 years old and looks pretty fit. He kept on trying pass my guard. When he passed it and tried to side mount me, I put my knee to my chest, shrimped, and got him back into my guard. Then, I mounted him twice. The first time, he threw me off. The second time, he turned his back to me. So, I got him in a rear naked choke. Roberto stopped me from finishing it. Right afterwards, I had to spar with Nick. I was so tired at that point. He tried to get in me a guillotine again. Roberto stopped it after a little while. He said I needed a break. I didn't care because I was really tired at that point. Plus, I was really huffing and puffing.

I'm really proud of myself because he's a big guy. The only guys that I beat always smaller than me. I've never beat anyone who's as big or bigger than me. Brant said he doesn't really know any submissions. Roberto said that he's a pretty good grappler. He said that my technique was better than his. I just wore out him until he gave up. I'm just really proud of myself. This is why I love BJJ. This is the only sport I don't suck at. I mean I'm crappy and suck at every other physical activity. I think that my abilities are improving right along with everyone else. It helps that I don't miss class either. With every sport except this one, I have to work twice as hard to get something right. In karate, I always sucked at kicking correctly because of my balance. In track, I worked really hard at it because of my balance again. One needs to have good balance to spin in a circle. Swimming, I sucked at because I could never kick properly until now. I just think that I'm on a more even playing field because I'm on the ground and not on my feet.

On Monday, I sparred with Nick. I did alright. He almost tapped me out with a guillotine. I was on his mount and trying to get my head out of there. Roberto said to put my arm on his neck which I did. I didn't know how to make him let go. I almost tapped out because he flattened me by trapping one of my legs with his legs. Then Roberto said to stand up and really lean on my arm to put more pressure on him. Then, he said to use my other hand to pull at him arm so he can let go. I worked and got really excited that I got out. I reminded myself that I had to be get low and not get excited when I'm on mount.

Well, I'm not going to do that self defense class. It's for women who aren't interested in taking any martial arts. I really liked the lecture. However, they said that the moves they teach to us should be kept from the men because they don't want to find out future assaulters to learn about them. Of course, I don't know much of the techniques they are going to teach; however, I'm pretty sure that one will see those techniques martial arts. On the website, they say that it's not even a martial art. I would like to see more of the techniques that they teach tough to see how effect they are.

The stances that they taught last night were horrible. They had three stances. One is called a cautionary stances. I'm not going to explain stances since I just watched a lot a videos about RAD on Google. Ya, it's very basic. It would be fun to kick and punch a person in a full padded suit, but that's it. Everything else would be boring because I know them already. Plus, I'm already have my fighting stance thank you very much. They place their back foot in their fighting stance. Their front arm is a v and their back hand is right next to their belly button. It's very non-practical because one cannot have a good cross from having their foot all the way behind the other foot. It just doesn't help that one of the police officers know any kind of martial arts. It's like the blind leading the blind. If I get attacked, I'll will use my fighting stance before that one. I'm sure as heck not going to yell no all the time when defending myself. Probably, I have my hands open, palm towards him and yell no at first though.

It's just for women who don't know anything about martial arts or protecting themselves. I looked at the stimulation and most girls are just flailing their arms around. That reminds me of something. I learned how to punch and kick correctly from karate. I've learned how to keep my elbow in because of chambering. However, I've noticed that the girl that I fought tonight and especially little Nick likes to throw round punches. He just flails his punches. He cannot do that. However, I surprised that Chuck doesn't correct him of this habit. I'll just make him punch from chamber a whole bunch of times.

Another thing, the girl didn't know how to control her punches when using a lot of power. She was keeping saying that she was punching to hard. That was fine for me because none of them connected them to my head. I don't think that she did any body shots either. However, I kept on backing up because I wasn't used to a person to come right in my face and start throwing shots. The last time, I held my ground to get some shots in. It's a lot easier now since I can see what the crap is going on. I think that I held my breath during the last one though. I just need to get use to being hit even though I wasn't hit tonight. Chuck says that everyone feels emotions when fighting especially getting hit in the face. That made me feel better about getting upset when I sparred with Cory a month ago.

Figuring out my schedule

I can spend hours upon hours reading and researching on the internet. That's what I mostly do, read. That's why I don't read novels or books that much any more. I just read online. I still need to catch up with my blog and BJJ reading. So, I meant to write this way earlier. However, I just got distracted researching about R.A.D. (Rape, Aggression, Defense) and how good it is on the internet. I spent a lot of time today going to P.E. classes seeing what I could do so I can improve in BJJ. I went to Ballet, Aerobic Dance, and Self Defense. The more I think and research about it, the more I'm interested in receiving credit in the class. I want to learn self defense. Of course, I had all of this martial art training; however, I just want to learn how to defend myself effectively. If I take this, it will probably won't help that much with BJJ. I would write about today's class and how cheesy the second part was, but I ran out of time. I'll write more about this later.

I just need to ask Dad about this too because it will cost more money and time. If I do this, I need to be really on top of things because I can't let school to suffer. I'm taking to hard classes. I can't get distracted like this either. I just let myself do this today because I want to figure out my schedule for this fall. I really need to set a homework time too. I will do homework tomorrow because I didn't do any today. I didn't really waste any time which is good. I just need to plan my days out, so I can do things which I think are fun and enlightening.