'eavy

Did you see An American Werewolf in London by any chance?

There's a scene at a pub called the Slaughtered Lamb, and an Englishman is telling the old joke about the plane full of varying nationalities that's crossing the ocean but is running low on fuel. They toss out luggage and seats and such, but the plane is "still too 'eavy."

(That's "heavy" with an English accent).

That's what the blog's been lately: too 'eavy.

***

Am sitting here drinking one of those crazy caffeinated beverages called FULL THROTTLE FURY (I almost wrote "furry"). Just pondering the weekend. THEGIRL is asleep, and THEBOY and MOBB are at a Halloween party.

So I'll enjoy the quiet for a little while.

***

Something clicked not long ago, and I found myself ready to learn some grappling.

Then I hurt my back and could barely do any Krav Maga for weeks.

Then came The Involuntary Protein Spill of 2006, and I was out for another week.

Finally, FINALLY I went to the grappling/ground survival class yesterday. Maybe my third or fourth class ever. I am always the smallest guy in these things.

Nevertheless, it was good to get in there and work on some basics. Sensei L'Onis ran us through things like getting your opponent in the guard after they've got side control on you, as well as a couple different arm bars and a triangle choke.

I had a loose, bad arm bar on my training partner at one point. He was saying, "Nope, nope, not feeling a thing."

I told Sensei, "You know, I don't think I'd be able to break this guy's arm using my nuts."

After a slight adjustment in my technique it got much better. Tap tap tap.

***

I'd always thought that an arm bar was meant to hyper-extend/break the arm at the elbow joint. I learned yesterday, though, that that's not always necessarily the case. My opponent got me in a couple where the pressure was clearly on my forearm, which would create a break just like the one Tim Sylvia got some years ago.

***

An exchange with Whit as I prepared for grappling class:

Him: "So what's the first thing you do when some guy's on top of you?"

Me: "Shriek!"

Him: "No, SHRIMP, dummy."

***

Had some crazy dream that I was trespassing at some sort of Area 51-type military base. I'd spied some aircraft doing nearly impossible stuff (kinda like what Kelli and I saw in Florida that time). Before I knew it someone placed a chloroform-soaked handkerchief over my mouth to knock me out.

Only it didn't work. I basically sprung up and laughed at my attacker, quite giddy to be immune to chloroform.

I got apprehended anyway.

Once inside the base, some duplicitous nurse tried to act nice and stuff, then she jabbed me with a syringe, once again in an attempt to knock me out. And again I was immune to the drug.

But I saw that they'd apprehended my family too. We spoke briefly, and I warned them, "Be careful, cuz they're real big on trying to knock you out here."

And the dream ended.

***

We're at kind of an interesting point in our graduate work right now. MOBB plans to graduate in May. Next semester is all thesis work for her.

After that there could occur a transition where I become a full-time student and she joins the workforce full-time. It's not set in stone yet, and frankly, I'm pleased enough with my new job that I may not want to stop working at that point.

But if I'm in a position to devote more time to school I may actually resume my LCDC (licensed chemical dependency counselor) training next fall. I could be wrapping up my master's at night and attending JuCo during the day. LCDC requires some internship work just like the LPC (licensed professional counselor) license does. Gotta see if one internship might fulfill the requirements of two different mental health programs.

Follow all that?

***

And now it's time to go play guitar for a while.