It was a challenging, restless week. My uncle passed away the previous Tuesday the 19th from cancer. Wednesday the 20th, my friend from Maryland Cat was supposed to visit. I had no idea when the funeral was. Wednesday the 27th I had jury duty scheduled, and I was freaking out about that, because last time I got summoned they wanted me to be on a year-long murder trial, and I was supposed to go onto the Ultimate Fighter, so I had to write a letter begging to be excused, and pray.
Finally the funeral got set to Monday the 25th, So I went to New York on a night flight Saturday for my Uncle’s funeral. I managed to squeeze in a two-hour visit to see my cousin Alison and Aunt Connie on the way on Sunday, since I flew into Newark. The funeral was small and nice. It was a blizzard outside so I think it prevented some people from coming. I’m a little disappointed about that. :/ We also didn’t go to the grave site. Quite a few people did come, even people from my mom’s church, so I’m grateful. I’m glad I was there to provide comfort for my mother and aunt.
I planned my flight on Tuesday so I would be home in time for training, but my freaking flight was DELAYED – that’s the very reason I made this huge effort to book out of Newark instead of Albany and drive three hours each way, to avoid potential transfer and flight delays due to weather. Despite that it got delayed due to mechanical error.
I was pretty mad, but okay, I’m glad I got home on the same day, and I got home safely at all. I did Mike Pyle’s BJJ class in the evening. I performed poorly because I felt crappy all around, but at least it was something.
Wednesday was Jury duty and I MISSED PRACTICE AGAIN. But I am glad that I didn’t get chosen … I mean, I want to do my civic duty, but I can’t miss days of training. :/ I did physical conditioning by myself after jury duty, was able to teach my kids, and got to roll with Rick and Mike and Justin and Joey afterwards. So I’m grateful about that.
Thursday, Friday and Saturday I had great training and I felt great emotionally. My stressors of the funeral, jury duty, the uncertainty of my uncle’s passing, and hating his living conditions had been lifted. I am back to focusing on my fight. Mostly. I have another ill relative I’m worried about, but we never know when we’re going to leave this world, so we have to just go about our life enjoying each day.
This Sunday my bestie Serena “The Southpaw Outlaw” DeJesus put on a self-defense seminar at Syndicate for autistic kids and their families. She is on the spectrum and knows the challenges associated. I volunteered to help her because that’s what friends do, but while it was happening, I reminded myself that I’ve always wanted to get involved with volunteer work and doing thing for my community.
I’m always so busy and exhausted, barely able to get enough hours of sleep into my day. I also figured it was the kind of things UFC champions did, but I guess I don’t have to be a champion to make a difference. Actually, come to think of it, I am a champion of other MMA organizations besides the UFC, and I guess I’ll always be busy. 🙂
There was a great turn-out! It seemed like about thirty kids came? Thanks for letting me help, Serena, and thanks Piece 2 Gether organization for your great work and organizing it! https://www.piece2gether.org/
And thanks to Tuff-N-Uff for lending us a box full of gloves!
We have a new instructor at Syndicate….two, actually, Neil Melanson (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_Melanson ) and his student and Bellator fighter AJ Matthews. At first, it made me uncomfortable to have a new guy come in and coach me….. I want to choose my coaches. Who is this new guy telling me what to do? I didn’t like it. I don’t do power moves. He likes lifting people up and putting them back down. It gave me anxiety. (He’s the guy bigger than John in the yellow-green shirt.) I didn’t really understand his moves well. Then he started adjusting his coaching style when talking to me, and making an effort to help me. The second he started relating stuff to Judo, it clicked. I looked him up online and said his specialties are catch wrestling AND Judo. Now I think he’s the shiznit.
He sent me this Instagram video of a Judo throw for MMA, and at first, I thought, “Pfffft I hate looking at online videos. Well he made an effort to send this to me, so let’s look.” I clicked on it anyway and then thought, “OMG THIS MOVE IS SOOOOO COOL.” I went into practice the next day and LANDED It in training. Dude I’m so excited. I like him now. AJ is a really cool dude to have in the gym, too. He’s full of energy and love for Muay Thai, just like I love jiujitsu. He’s like “YEAH MUAY THAI!!!” I love hearing him yelling enthusiastically across the gym. It makes me want to take his class and I don’t even like kickboxing.
This week’s been pretty cool. JoJo has been sparring hard with me, drilling with me, and helping me out with her Muay Thai expertise. I love ya, my friend! <3 Serena is also really good at defending my takedowns and clinching, so that’s good for me, as well. Other than me kind of getting sick on Monday and I sliced my ankle skin off a few days ago and it got infected and keeps reopening because I’m moving around and breaking the scab. @_@ dang it! But I rested Tuesday night and went home from teaching early Wednesday (I felt guilty leaving Rick alone with 30 kids, though) ;_; But hopefully today will be all better. Fight prep is going well. Again, my fight is April 20th in St. Petersburg! W00t!
I saw this anime listed on my favorite site called “That Time I Got Reincarnated As A Slime,” and thought, “What a stupid-sounding show!” Then one of my best friends Candy messaged me, saying, “Dude this Slime anime is amazing!” Uh what? Aaaaalrighty then, I guess I’m watching it. I LIKE IT A LOT. It doesn’t draw me in the way some others do, but it’s funny, unique, and I’m enjoying it a ton! LOL I’m so glad Candy told me to watch it! I’d recommend it. I’d give it a 7 out of 10.
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