Thursday morning, Tony and I went to the 10:30-12:00 Groundslam morning class. We worked on double-legs and the ninja choke. 😀 We also did the “King of the Hill,” where one guy stands in the middle, and everyone in turn tries to take him/her down. Whoever wins, stays in, and the next guy jumps in! FUN!
Unfortunately, two class members had injuries so they had to sit out, so it was me, this strong ex-Judo guy, and this large and talented amateur guy, who basically put all his weight on me and squashed me into the ground. ^_^;;
How can I beat this guy? What would my coach say? Come on, I’ve been doing this for over ten years, I can figure this out…..
AH HA!
It took me three rounds to realize that I shouldn’t try and single leg him, so the third time, I just bum-rushed him into the wall, and used that to get him down! I DID IT XD Very happy. Maybe he was being nice….? But he wasn’t being nice when he was crushing me into the floor before, so I think his stamina ran out. XD mwahaha Then the other guy got tired from shooting, so I started reversing him.
I won by outlasting them. 😀 Then I got the arm-scissors. Very happy about that. 😀 And I sparred with Tony and managed to squirm out of his super toe-holds of DOOM. Extremely happy about that. And he was trying to somehow pin my head between his knees, but he knows scary mysterious catch-wrestling techniques, so there was no way I was having ANY of that stuff, so I defended that like hell…later he told me his plan and I was glad I got out. LOL
Steve was working the heavy bag and said, “I almost got it!” I said, “What?” and he said, “I’ve been working on this heavy bag reversal label for years!” (i.e. doing kicks and punches to the bag, hoping it’d fall off). Then suddenly he shouted and held up the label.
hahahaha Steve! XD My MMA brother, you’re awesome! 😀
I was supposed to interview Sugirock for her upcoming Invicta fight, but I didn’t have the questions!! I’ve been waiting all week. -_- That was stressful…I FINALLY got them yesterday morning, so I got Katsumura-san to let me use his printer. But that gave me very little time to practice them. I freaked out….interviewing someone with long sentences in Japanese with complicated vocab? So I had to go straight home and read the script out loud like ten times.
But it wasn’t fluid or fluent. I was freaking out…then I thought, “Okay, I’m good at preparing, dare I say ‘outstanding?’ I can do this….” So I took my pen and broke the long sentences up into little sentences. I wrote English key words over hard Japanese ones, that I might forget the reading to, and reworded a few things. I also wrote arrows to give myself a clue as to proper intonation.
THEN I could read it.
The Happy Warrior can think under pressure! 😀
But I forgot to say the name of Sugirock’s gym (AKZA, pronounced Ah-zu-ka) and introduce Ozono-san (The president of Jewels). x_x Sorry…. I would like some interview/reporter training, or someone to remind me of these things. Arg but it’s so elementary. Well, that’ll be a long-term goal of mine.
It was a beautiful gym. I got there an hour early and waited in the office/weight room-type place. Actually, they’re Wajitsu Keishukai- Nishimura-san and others run it. I used to be Keishukai. Hashi trains there. I saw that they had inherited Moriyama-san’s portrait. (our sensei who had passed away).
The camera-man was Dean! Clean_dean on twitter. 😀 He knows my other friends/associates- Esther, Dan, Chris (who I escaped with to Nagoya during the earthquake disaster). That was cool chatting with him.
Sugirock is also very….soft spoken. I worried that the microphone wouldn’t pick her up. And she’s a a woman of few words.
Roxy: So please tell us a little about your training schedule.
Sugirock: I train…..every day….every week….and take one day off.
Roxy: …..
Sugirock: …..
That was my first question. But we got a little more into it later. This was the first time I met her.
Her gym was kind of far and took me one hour to get to.
But this interview gig was great, and part of one of my career goals of using my Japanese skills professionally. 😀 😀 😀 AND ALSO my calling of being the English voice of Japanese fighters, and getting their words out to the world.
Today I work all day, and hopefully will get all sorts of good stuff done.
It will be another outstanding day.
And last but not least… Japan sells shelled chestnuts in little bags for snacks, and I really dig them. I JUST FOUND THIS NEW PRODUCT OF MAPLE FLAVORED ONES! SO GOOD omg all caps. XD I am VERY VERY excited about this new food, but it says “kietsu gentei” which means “Seasonal product.” So that means I have to eat as much as possible before they stop selling it!
