All Things Rowdy

My good friend over at www.thefightworkspodcast.com asked me if I would write up a review for the tournament I was in last week. So if you are interested in my impression and experience you can read it here: http://thefightworkspodcast.com/2009/03/31/2009-pan-american-brazilian-jiu-jitsu-championships/ Me, Fabio Santos, Alex Brandao

Last year I went with my friend MM to a charity ride/event for ex pro motocross racer Broc Glover, whose 10 year old son was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis. I rode the supermoto as it was pretty new in the US at the time and had a great time, though freezing. So when MM had acquired a new to him Ducati Monster 800 and I had my new to me FZR 400 we decided to do the event again and donate some of our time and money to help develop a cure for cystic fibrosis. I won 5 dvds, 3 shirts, 2 hats and 3 gift certificates for 30-40% off from different vendors. Lunch was also catered In-N-Out Burger and salad from BJ's and all the Hansen's Soda I could drink. The ride was again a little chilly and again around Palomar Raceway, errr Mountain and the surrounding area. There were sport bike, cruiser and dual sport routes to follow and MM and I chose the sport route. One third up the mountain the electrics on my 20 year old bike crapped out and stranded me. Thankfully the ride had provided for...

vietnam-the family of barbers who buzzed me for my haircut today. very nice and only $8 before tip. quite talkative and quite the characters. the matriarch was very detailed in telling me how she colors other women's hair my natural color but that it is soooooo hard to do and rarely comes out exactly like mine looks. i'm sure they kept a big chunk of my hair to use as a color sample. italy-pizza for lunch. mexico-this one is not so funny or cute. my house keeper told me today of her cousin who was murdered last week in TJ and his family's fear and planned flight to the US. he was murdered by the Zetas or Pelonis, two cartels from different parts of MX trying to win the turf war now that the Gulf/Arellano cartel is no longer top dog. he was kidnapped, his family would not pay the ransom, so they shot him execution style, cut out his tounge, cut off his penis and placed it in his mouth and then burned him. due to the nature of whats happening there is more to the story, but t...

Quarter Finals-Rowdy vs Ralph Gracie Student: Rowdy by points Semi Finals-Rowdy vs guy from Delaware : Rowdy by advantage Finals-Rowdy vs winner of other bracket: other guy by submission So there you have it, I placed second in the Pan American BJJ Championships. Easily the biggest thing I have ever been in. I worked so hard, for so long I really am happy to have this result. (though it was tempered by knowing it is yet ANOTHER 2nd place medal to add to the pile, though for a national level comp) All of my fights were hard, I was able to listen to Fabio and do what he asked me to do in each fight. Forgive me for geeking out, but I felt like Han Solo at the end of Star Wars when they put my medal around my neck! So here are some pics of the event... I was on top and in control most of the time. Always able to pass the guard, which I did pretty soon after this Like I said, I had presence of mind to listen to Fabio during my matches This is my FAVORITE picture from the event Could I be sm...

Today is a 'rest' day for me, so not much going on with me. Keeping you up to speed with me, here is what is going on: 1.Broc Glover Breathe Easy ride for Cystic Fibrosis this weekend in Temecula. I will be going with MM. He will be on his Ducati and I will be on my FZR400, sporting the classic sportbike. Charity and motorcycles, gotta love it! 2. Pan Ams tomorrow, so I am doing anything NOT to think of brazilian jiu jitsu today. I got off my diet for 2 days and I am .5 of a pound off. So today I am having 4 or 5 bottles of Ensure and that is it. 7 guys in my division and I did not get the 1st round bye. I will have my results up Saturday night as my match(es) are in the morning so I should be home around 5pm easy. 3. Got the time off for the World Superbike race at Miller in Utah. Go Ben Spies!! That will be an awesome race to see and be at. The only stop in the US. And you know he is gonna win it! 4. Researching a trip to Kuala Lumpur, Malayasia. To be taken probably in Octob...

To help me stay in shape and to try something different, I have been going to a 0600 bootcamp style exercise thingy. They weigh and measure you in the beginning and at the end, so see where you have gained and lost inches, your weight and your body fat. I started at 143lbs and 9% body fat. Well now I am 135lbs and 7% body fat. Here I am in this class of old ladies and overweight people for the most part and I, probably the fittest and lightest, have made greater losses (or gains depending on your perspective) than any of them but one?!?!?! How wrong is that? Once again though it goes back to what I said last week, "trying is failing, DOING is succeeding." They are 'trying' and I am 'doing'. I do wish it was summer though, as I am looking great and I want to be at the beach!!!

Everyone has a family and everyone thinks their family is crazy/messed up/super funny/odd or whatever. Check mine.................... A relative J1, was married to R1 and they had some children together. They divorced and R1 married G1. R1 and G1 had children together, step brothers to my cousins (the children of J1 and R1). Well, now J1 is getting married, for the 13th time to a child of the R1 and G1 union. So J1 is marrying one of her children's stepbrothers. Top that. PS-J1's mother, my grandma, is also dieing of a brain tumor.

I was listening to a radio program on XM radio about the Unibomber's brother, David and his work with his brother's victims. It restored my belief in humanity and the compassion and forgiveness inherent in humanity. I disagree with his view of capital punishment, I am for it, but his sense of forgiveness and responsiblity is inspiring.

Friday 2200-arrived and gave him "How to win any argument" book as a gift for debate Saturday 0730-hiking up Cowles Mountain 1000-brazilian jiu jitsu class 1130-releasing 'Godzilla' back into the wild so he could be with his family and be free (guilt will keep me from ever having a pet just for my own pleasure for any length of time) 1200-pizza at Oggi's 1300-new dress clothes for debate nationals in Alabama 1400-finishing all the cable installs for the new tv and such (K learned how to use a dremel) 1500-showed him basic car maintenance and repair 1600-mixed martial arts and extreme sports expo at Del Mar 1800-diner at the Crab Hut 1930-dessert at Fiji yogurt and board games 2000-watching Traitor on dvd Sunday 0900-sleep in, breakfast of fresh muffins 1000-church, where they really involved him 1300-more pizza for lunch 1400-playing rummy 1500-goodbyes at the airport

I've heard it said before, "Trying is failing, doing is succeeding." Monday I have a meeting with an admissions person to get into the EMT-B (Emergency Medical Technician-Basic) program and one of the tech/vocational schools here in San Diego. 8 weeks of classes, $1,000 and a few clinical days later I am able to take the national test. Then hopefully I have a freaking job doing it! If not, I'll just add it to the resume for reapplication to PA school in September. No matter what, I'll come out OK.

Well, not really. That was somewhat of a misleading title to this entry. But it is about animals. When people get to know me, three things really seem to stand out as something I lacked growing up. 1. I have never been to Disneyland. Or any theme park other than Sea World. (and my first time at one of those I was in my 20's) 2. I didn't know how to swim until last year when I took private lessons with a UCSD triathlete for a few months. Now I can actually swim swim rather than dog paddle. 3. I never really had a pet growing up. At least not in the traditional sense. I have pictures of me riding horses as a kid and playing with dogs, but they were never mine, always other family members. As a little tyke, I liked sharks, monsters and dinosaurs. Not exactly the easiest things to find at the pet store. My parents had a few dogs when we were younger and those I think really soured me on animals. Bullet was a reject police dog German Shepard that chased us, bit us, ran away and kill...

It is March, technically still winter, and I was able to lay out on the hammock and type a 2 page outline for my fiction novel and begin the prologue. Nice.

I'm 'fixed', so I know I'm not pregnant but that still does not explain the weird hunger craving inspired meal I had last night. Lite Chocolate Soy Milk Chinese Style BBQ Pork with Hot Mustard Wheat Toast Watermelon Explain that one to me................But it was all yummy and it all worked together for me. And I am only 1lb off where I need to be for the Pan-Ams!

Long time readers will remember my Black Cherry Kool-Aid urinal post. If you're new, basically one of the places I worked at had some sort of air freshener or something in the bathroom that smelled just like Black Cherry Kool-Aid and every time I would go to the bathroom I would get thirsty. Yesterday I had to use the guest bathroom because O. was cleaning the master bathroom. The guest bathroom had this organic peppermint shampoo that I decided to use, never having even seen it before. Well when I went to rinse my hair it made me sooooo hungry for dessert! On my birthday, or really any day, I like angel food cake with my own special frosting. I make this frosting my taking a tub of whip cream, adding some marshmallow cream and crushed peppermint candies. You stir all these together and it is a DELICIOUS light yummy topping for angel food cake. So as I placed my head under the water and the shampoo rinsed out of my hair and ran down my face, I was suddenly hungry for angel food ca...

In my senior yearbook from HS there is a full page article about me and motorcycle racing. Well, the dreams and such of that never happened. But the motorcycle I wanted to start my racing career on when I was 18, well.......I just bought one!! It needs a little bit of work here and there, but it is a modern classic! As The Black Keys would say, "I got mine."

Guess what? No, not that. Guess again. Nope, not that either. I am going to do my first wikipedia edit. A guy I train with at jiu jitsu is a pro wrestler, yep like full on 6' 7", 300lb, millionaire WWE pro wrestler. So I wiki-ed him and we talked about some of the stuff on the page and he says much of it in incorrect. Now I am going to be editing his page with his assistance. Maybe I'm geeking out but I think it's neat.

but you wouldn't know it by this: i girl in jiu jitsu hit me with an elbow in the mouth resulting in re breaking this tooth. yes, re breaking. i first broke it running face first into some playground equipment chasing J,K and M around. fortunately my dentist has a crush on me and i am able to get in for an appointment within 2 hours of this happening. *update* my dentist told me, "athletes always hurt their teeth. i want to save my teeth that's why i don't do anything athletic." then she also told me to stop doing "karate". i settled with just telling her i would start wearing a mouth guard to jiu jitsu. and my tooth looks 100% like new/orignal! and only $31!

My b-day is in May so this is to give you time to plan. It is also all in jest, purely window shopping. I am not working so there is no way I would ask anyone for a present, when I am an unemployed adult. That is just beyond silly and into selfish. So think of this as an exercise for better times, fueled by my latent consumerism and preference of my b-day over xmas. 1. class at California Superbike School. 2. 6' fish 3. subscription to Foreign Policy magazine 4. Atama Mundial gi probably A1 or A2 5. Santa Cruz Blur medium 6. shark cage diving trip 7. Little Chief smoker 8. Ruger Mini-14 or Glock 19 OR 1. a job, maybe one i like 2. braces 3. to finally freaking win a jiu jitsu comp 4. lots of bullets 5. hand crank survival radio 6. pizza for dinner every night and Mexican for lunch for a week 7. some good books

Before A 32", 85lb tubed TV in an unfinished pine armoir. After A 46", 55lb LCD TV on a wood and glass stand.

1. there is also a 4:30 on the clock that happens in the morning! 2. i don't particularly care to train boxing. 3. sloppy joes can be a breakfast food.

Dinner was at www.crabhutsd.com Recreation was at www.skydiveperris.com Helping my friends at www.dmvtestbike.com Training at www.fabiojiujitsu.com Church at www.lds.org

I was outside the Borders book store in Mission Valley and noticed something wrong with a guy walking towards me. This really huge black guy, all dressed up was walking towards me and he had his fly open! Ha Ha. Normally I would let that go and he would just have to figure it out on his own. Today I thought I would be nice, so I make eye contact and kind of grab at my jean's fly and say, "Hey man, your fly" making a zipping motion. Well he just looked at me like I was some weirdo. But as I walked past and kinda thought about his soon to be embarrassment it occurred to me that maybe what he heard was, "Hey man, you're fly!" Subtle yes, but entirely different.

0615-0715: Circuit training 0800-0855: Mountain biking 1100-1230: Brazilian Jiu Jitsu* A. brought some guys back from Brazil. I did good. (insert sly, confident smiley here)

Are dreams just neurological back-wash? If people in the Bible and regular history had dreams and visions that meant something, do mine? Thoughts and actions are closely linked. But do dreams qualify as thoughts? Do my dreams have a meaning? What about my constant nightmares?

Good Belly, I drinks it. Good belly, I has it.

In Beethoven's 9th symphony there is a popular movement entitled Ode to Joy. It is one of the first things you learn to play on the piano. (I tried teaching myself how to play the piano in college. I made it that far and it is the height of my musical achievement) One of my great food joys is a delicious French dip sandwich. So while I work on the video presentation and the music to play on my toy xylophone I give you my "Ode to Au Jus" Ode to Au Jus Hot toast and tasty lean roast beef on the plate you're a pair a perfect combo but not quite there you need that special thing to cross my teeth. They call you a juice, one I could almost drink salty and steamy and brown it's only with you this all goes down why you're called 'French' is something I can't think. Au jus you make the meal complete some people add tomatoes or cheese if I finish you early I ask for "more please" with you this sandwich is the best to eat.

Team Fabio Santos blue belts. (me center) So I learned something today! HAHA. Actually for my first Brazilian Jiu Jitsu tournament in 8 years, I don't feel to bad. I did BJJ off and on with friends (nothing formal) from 1999 till 2001 and did a few no-gi tournaments and one judo tournament then. Then I quit BJJ, for the life of me I don't know why. Probably took away from my skirt chasing time. I digress. Today I was in the Copa Pacifica. For my age, weight and experience there were only 4 competitors. I lost my first match and as they were pressed for time that means I tied for 3rd. The guy who beat me went on to win our division. I got the takedown and passed his guard but didn't maintain control enough to get the points. We had a half guard battle and then I got rolled, mounted, I reversed him and then arm-triangle choked. While I did loose I did get the takedown and establish the pace and my game. I listened to what Fab told me and I was easily the strongest and fitte...

Playing 2 square with the big exercise ball. Watching old Bugs Bunny cartoons. Going to the park and exercising. Eating antelope and ostrich burgers at Crazee Burger. Riding the coaster are Belmont Park. Visiting the Museum of Photograhpic Arts in Balboa Park. Shopping/browsing at Borders, Old Navy and DSW. Playing rummy. Going to Long Beach for my BJJ tournament. Eating lunch at CPK. Walking around the Pike street waterfront, including riding the ferris wheel there. Goodbyes at the LBC aeropuerto.