Roger Gracie Academy, London

In my whole life I have only trained jiu jitsu in the US, and in that time only in 4 different states. I started at a traditional Japanese ju jutsu school in Oregon then discovered Brazilian jiu jitsu and started going to a Gracie Training Association up in Salem Oregon. From there I started training with some guys in a garage in Yuma Arizona who were affiliated with Fabio Santos. Once in a while I would also train at an off shoot from Pedro Sauer in Utah when visiting family. And now I train at Fabio's main academy near my home in San Diego California.

But I think like everyone who is in love with bjj I dream of training in Brazil for a month or two. Especially now that I am a purple belt and can appreciate all of what I would learn. I may be the crappiest purple belt in the world, but I would still like to get better at bjj and maybe be the second crappiest purple belt in the world.

So in preparing for this last vacation I got on the webz and looked around to see where there was training near the flats we rented in London and Rome. Well bjj is spreading around the world so I easily found schools within just minutes of looking.

The Rome school was a bust. Their hours posted on the website never matched what happened in real life and they never returned my emails. Forget them! Which sucks because I was all riled up that day and ready to throw down. Whereas in London I was a little intimidated and really not operating at my best.
Me walking along Via Aurelia after NOT getting to do bjj in Rome.

While staying in the Kennsington area of London the RGA was just a short cab ride away. The academy was easy to spot from the outside, unlike other places I have seen where it is a struggle to notice there is actually training. They have tons of mat space and a real locker room. The only thing that really threw me is they have NO drinking fountain. You have to bring your own or buy something from a vending machine. That of course only took pound coinage. In the US you always have a drinking fountain available everywhere so I didn't take any water with me. Big mistake. I ended up drinking out of the sink in the bathroom like some sort of homeless person.

In email communications with people in London I was warned of a steep drop in fee of 18 to 25 British pounds. That didn't seem that steep to me as a one day fee is almost always $15 to $25 USD here. Even though I am not in a Bara affiliated school they let me train for free! Woot! Which is cool. Fabio seems to have a good reputation through the community and dropping that I train with him has opened doors for me at many other schools.

The running in warm up was by belt ranking but the rolls and shrimps and such across the floor were all pell mell, which threw me for a loop. Then Roger showed us two techniques and we drilled them, starting out easy and progressively adding resistance.

I was totally the odd man out. I felt like the fat girl at the nude beach, no one wanted to look at me. So I ended up getting paired with someone totally not my size, which didn't really bother me. At our school we are super encouraged to engage people from other schools but here I felt like I was getting dodged or something. Though just in talking everyone was really nice. They just didn't want to roll with the new guy is all I guess.

After one of his black belts watched us doing the positions and answering questions it was time for an hour of rolling. Rolling was done from the knees and in 5 minute rounds. A difference here too seemed to be that who you rolled with was sort of determined by belt rank. Like it started with blacks picking who they would roll with, then browns and so on all down the order. Being a purple belt meant I was normally picked up by browns or other purples for the most part. This didn't bother me at all, just different.

The brown belts I rolled with had an open, dynamic technical game. So I rolled well with them. My last roll was with Oliver Geddes and was excellent. I would loe to have him as a constant training partner. The purples I rolled with were very aggressive and applied lots of pressure, so I got worked by them. Tap! One of them gave me the Roger special, by choking me from the mount. I felt like I was back at the Mundials! The blue belts I rolled with all ended in a draw. Which is nice because I am older than all of them and smaller than all of them. They also all seemed awed that I had a purple belt with barely 3 years of training in. Maybe I did get mine a little early, but it is forcing me to grow into it quickly.

Everyone was super nice. Roger was very nice and humble, but definitely a 'presence' in the room. His black belts there were very helpful and totally considerate. You can tell this is a quality school and is going to create excellent practitioners of bjj. If you are into BJJ and in London, I would totally recommend you stop by and do it!

You can't know sweet without tasting bitter.

Went to the hospital yesterday for a regular treatment and ended up staying a little extra due to how I am feeling. I had emailed my GI doctor earlier in the day and he was aware of how I felt and suggested doing the same things we have done already this year in a bid to what now sounds like delay surgery, rather than out and out prevent it.

After a quick history of how I've been feeling and a physical exam I was given an IV does of corticosteroids and a 1 liter bolus of fluids. I had been tapering off the prednisone at home, down to 5mg per day but that has now been bumped up to 40mg per day.

We both agree that long term usage of prednisone is not the way to go. Especially as I already have a big of bone mass loss because of it. And some of the other side effects as well. And since I am already taking Remicade and Pentasa there really isn't much more I can do pharmacologically.

Now I am home, told to rest, only have clear liquids, continue all my regular medications but increase my does of prednisone to 40mg. And wait. And watch. And see what happens. This is where I now am at.

When I was texting in sick to work at the bike shop from the hospital my boss said something back about how sucky this all is. In that moment I fully agreed, my life does totally suck. Then I realized though how many times he and others have told me how awesome of a life they think I lead. So which is it?

It is both. I happen to think on the line of horrible to amazing, if graphed would look like an inverse bell curve for my life. Whereas I think the general population has more events in the middle and less at either end.

I realize though this is needed. You can't have good without bad, light without dark, sweet without bitter. Life should be balanced and there has to be opposition in all things. Not opposition defined as someone or something actively opposing you trying to defeat your goals but opposition in the yin and yang sense.

This has to be. It is what it is. Do I wish I never had to deal with my Crohns disease again? Totally!! For my life, dealing with it happens to be a requirement. While it may bring some temporary darkness to my mood and thoughts, it also helps sharpen my appreciation of the good things. The great things. Things in this case being the people in my life and the experiences I have living.

So reader, don't fret or worry about me. Appreciate the great things in you life. Use what is bitter to focus on the better. That is what I am doing. And it is good, so try it!

Secrets of the Vatican

San Pietro's or St. Peter's was completed in 1626 or so. Notice the tile on the floor?

The B-2 Spirit stealth bomber was shown to the public in 1997, over 300 years later. Notice its shape?

What other secrets are they hiding? Hmmmmm. I think Dan Brown and Dale Brown have some explaining to do......

And this is what I did for my summer vacation...

Salt Lake City, Utah. July 3,4,5,16,17
-amazing dinner
-SLC Bee's baseball game with super fireworks
-very windy
-getting skunked on an African Ice, twice!
-amazing collection of homemade desserts, all red white and blue
-forgetting my drivers license and credit card at my parent's, but realizing it in time to have them deliver it to me at the airport
-swimming and hot tubbing

London, England. July 6,7,8,9,15
-running, yes running, at 430am to an ATM to get pounds to pay for the car service
-Hyde and Kennsington Parks
-Buckingham Palace
-riding the London Eye, the tallest "Ferris wheel" in the world
-English 'food'
-training at Roger Gracie Academy
-Tower of London. And getting chosen to work the catapult thingy during a demonstration of medieval arms
-'hop on-hop off' style bus tour of London
-watching the weird stuff on BBC and Sky
-Victoria and Albert everything
-National Museum of Natural History
-Tower Bridge
-realizing I have fashion sense
-Trafalgar Square
-eating and shopping at Harrod's
-drinking the nastiest 'soda' in the world, burdock and dandelion
-hearing "yah" at the end of every freaking sentence
-dealing with an annoying Sky Marshall on one flight

Rome and Naples, Italy. July 9,10,11,12,13,14,15
-Ferrari shoes and 3 euro oversize sunglasses
-no AC, no TV, no internet, no hot water, no shower curtain. no matter!!
-Colosseo
-Pantheon
-San Pietro's
-two different catacombs
-Vatican City
-realizing I have no fashion sense
-pizza, everyday
-getting lost walking
-spending 80 minutes to get to church and getting there as it ends
-going to BJJ in Rome but having it be closed
-the stunning Vatican Museo and Sistine chappel
-drinking water from an aquaduct
-Circus Maximus
-finding Space Invader street art
-Pompeii
-getting proficient at the train and metro system
-Spanish steps
-Trevi fountain
-innumerable ancient buildings and churches
-Carmelite icon being removed and paraded around to much music and fanfare
-listening to Italian and answering in Spanish
-getting my hair cut in Rome
-my awesome traveling companions providing humor when one of us was tired, cranky and needed a boost
-"parkour" and "chicken bake" and "muchacho!" and "plus one for Italy"

* 2,000, yes two thousand pictures were taken this trip so you will just have to wait a week for them to be all sorted out and then posted.

Bon chance mes amis, buena suerte mis amigos!!

So long for a while my blog world. I am off to Europe!!!!!! See ya again July 20th.

The 2nd Most Expensive BJJ Belt In The World

Meerkatsu gets the nod for having the most expensive BJJ belt in the world but I am going to fight for second.

Getting my purple belt this year was something I didn't think would happen. So being somewhat of a secret show off, I felt like celebrating with a fancy belt.

This is a Lucky Gi belt, size A1, that I took to an embroidery shop near the academy. It was $25 at the OTM store in PB. The shop then charged me $18 for my name on one end and the initials of my BJJ motto on the end where the stripes go.

It may be a little showy, but I like it! And it forces me to back it up. And $50 is a small price to pay to be unique!

Burger Lounge & etc

Delicious!! And the one in Kennsington area is only 5 minutes away.

www.burgerlounge.com




Stadium Pizza in Temecula is pretty dang good post mnt bike ride food as well!