In Case Your Friday Isn't Random Enough

Good news! I've got your random right here!

Random Topic #1
Have you hear of Hyperbole and a Half? If you have, you get one gold Allie star. If not, you will lose a gold star unless you immediately go look at it. Georgette introduced this internet gem to me via her fantasmic blog. Today, this amazing cartoon illustrates my life. I have fallen way behind in every area except those that are absolutely essential. In case you were wondering, BJJ falls into the "absolutely essential" category along with other things like: feeding my child, taking regular showers and making sure I have enough coffee to last me the week.

But I miss blogging. Especially when so many fun things have been happening that would talk about if I weren't falling horrendously below my median productivity line. Anyway, here is one of said fun things:

If you are my friend on Facebook, then you have already been spammed with the news that Fabio won gold in his division at the No-Gi World's Championship in California a couple weekends ago. Go Fabio!

Random Topic #2:
An interesting topic came up as a result of Fabio winning at the No-Gi Worlds. He won gold at the PanAms last year, which is a gi only competition. A local MMA school in our area was talking about how Fabio was good in gi, but wouldn't be able to hang in no-gi. Now I guess that debate has been put to rest, at least for Fabio.

For me, training primarily gi has helped me develop my technique a lot. I do have to actively practice no-gi grips (neck and biceps, for example, instead of sleeve and lapel), but I would take the risk in saying it is much easier to train gi all the time and transition to no-gi than the other way around. Liam did a post about this a few weeks ago.

He said, "What they never count on, however, when they venture into the world of gi jiu jitsu is that grapplers with a comparable experience in the gi have their own tools to make the no-gi levers obsolete or at least less effective. Suddenly, their trusted cross face is just a little weaker. They smile giddy as they suddenly have gi pants to grab to pass the guard with their heads driving low only to get caught in a loop choke or swept with a leg lasso spider guard sweep. Every single session you learn in the gi you learn grips and grip breaking (or at least you should) and they afford you an offensive and defensive advantage that cannot be ignored. "

Here are my observations: When I grapple in no-gi, it seems that speed and strength play more of an active roll than they do when a gi is involved. Sure, there are some things that don't translate from gi to no-gi if the person you are grappling is shirtless--like collar chokes--but I think that training with a gi makes you think more about things like your base--since you have so many handles on your body thanks to the gi that make sweeping easier--and like breaking guard--because again, the handles mean the person has a tighter hold on you. You have to be more aware of sneaky submissions, like the loop choke Liam mentioned, as well as the more traditional submissions you will across the board.

Of course, I might be biased (just a little) since I go to a school where people primarily train in gi. What do you think?

Random Topic #3:

Apparently, I give people death glares pretty regularly when I am driving. A friend of mine, Lucky, who trains with me said that  he saw me driving and honked at me and that I looked at him like I wanted to kill him and kept driving. I apologize for the stankness. My face shows everything that I am thinking. And at that moment, I was thinking unpleasant things about the unknown person honking in my general direction.

Here is an example of my rage face. I'm dressed up for Halloween--80's costume--and though I'm not really sure what is going on here, but I was unhappy:

You may notice a resemblance to this:

I do it in the grocery store too. Or when I am walking quickly somewhere. Or when I am grappling. Basically, if I am on a mission, I will probably not see you in my peripheral vision. And, if you call out to me, I might not hear you. If you then try to touch me to get my attention, or honk at me, I will likely turn and glare at you for a few seconds until I realize that I know you and that you have not been sent to stop me from accomplishing my mission.

The worst is when I am on a mission and I am in the zone--we're talking deep in the zone, I have been starving for hours and I am about to get my grilled-stuffed chicken burrito from Taco Bell type of in the zone--and someone walks by me and smiles like they know me. I don't realize that they smiled at me like they know me until just enough time has passed for them to think that I shunned them, or worse, that I hate them with the heat of a thousand suns. It is too late for me to recover, mostly because I am not sure if I actually know this person or not. And, since they are already offended by my previous stankness, I cannot add insult to injury with an exploratory conversation aimed at discovering if I actually know this person or not.

The ironic thing is that when I actually need my rage face--like, say, at a tournament--I cannot muster it to save my life. When I try, I end up looking either terrified or very, very ill.

Epic fail.