Links
Feb
28
Remember when you had to learn to tie your shoes? That was a bitch. I remember my aunt showed me, and showed me, and showed me. I’m sure other people showed me too, but I remember my Aunt Julie showing me because that was the day I finally did it on my own. Learning new [...]
Feb
27
Your Mom Taught you how to Control your Breathing (Day 11)
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Breath is important in jiu-jitsu, well, I guess it’s pretty important for staying alive too, but controlling your breath is crucial. Whether it’s karate’s “kia,” or muay Thai’s “aaash,” or Lamazes’s “ha, ha heeee,” breathing is something we need to control. Remember when your brother busted you over the head with a Tonka truck, and [...]
Feb
26
The Skeleton (Day 10)
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So, like I said yesterday, I will be breaking things down by tenets, or principles; these aren’t actually tenets but, a lot of the tenets of jiu-jitsu have to do with these subjects, so this is what I’m going to use for the skeleton or sections of my book. I’m going to try and write [...]
Feb
25
Organize (Day 9)
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I’ve been trying to come up with a way to organize or to structure a format for the book I’m writing. Right now it’s willy-nilly. If you know me, you know my life’s plan is hap-hazard at best, at least the details. The vision is there, but the route, the planning, is always a mess. [...]
Feb
24
Transition, Submission (Day 8)
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I’ve read Josh Waitzkin’s The Art of Learning; if you haven’t, you should. Waitzkin was the young chess phenom whose life the book and subsequent movie Searching for Bobby Fischer chronicled. In his book, Waitzkin talks about creating chaos on the chessboard, “I thrived under adversity. My style was to make the game complex and [...]
Feb
23
Universal Lessons (Day 7)
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. . . I just finished reading Sam Sheridan’s Fighter’s Heart and Fighter’s Mind. I’m feeling a little depressed because a lot of the things I write about, Sheridan has also written about. What makes it depressing is that he’s written about them first, and years before I have. The encouraging thing is that what [...]
Feb
22
It’s Only Inconvenience (Day 6)
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My car broke down on Thursday, in Logan, forty miles from home in a parking lot. It was tired and didn’t want to turn over–I understand, I get tired too. Some friends got me home, but my car is still there cold and lonley. I started thinking about inconvenience and what it does to us. [...]
Feb
21
Jiu-Jitsu and the Dip (Day 5)
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The Dip by Seth Godin is a pretty good book. It’s about quitting and I guess it’s about not quitting. It’s very interesting, and insightful. There is a metaphor that Godin uses that is perfect for jiu-jitsu, and it is also the name of the book—The Dip. In jiu-jitsu when you first start, you’re a [...]
Feb
20
Fighting men for the most part are attracted to fighting dogs; it’s stereotypical and cliche, but it is what it is. The pitbull is a fighter’s dog, even Jack Johnson, the heavy weight boxing champion of the world in 1908 had pit bulls. The pitbull is the epitome of fighting spirit and is admired by [...]
Feb
19
Lessons from Bees (Day 3)
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There is alot to learn from nature, the taoists know this, a lot of people know it. Nature and the Universe and jiu-jitsu and you and me and poop and that spider you smashed with your shoe are all one, and the lessons of nature are universal lessons. If we pay attention to things, we [...]
