big update: visiting fighter friends, belt promotion, wetland outing, birthday party wheel of doom, etc
So I left Japan at 4 PM on Friday, and arrived at 9 AM ….on Friday. Cool, you get to relive Friday, right? Wrong. I didn’t sleep at all so I got to do Friday again completely sleep deprived. u_U
I was starting to develop a skin infection, so the second I got home, I dumped my suitcase, hugged The Reen, and went straight to the Urgent Care center. Thankfully, I got strong stuff and it took care of it in a few days. But my money…!!!
Then I hightailed it to the gym, taught a private kids lesson, then my two classes. I could cover the suspicious spot thoroughly or I wouldn’t have taught.
Then collapsed in my bed.
Woke up at some ungodly hour, ate half of my normal breakfast, went back to bed, which was a huge mistake because it messed up my digestion for an entire freaking week. ;_; On Saturday I trained a little bit. I still felt wrecked from being out of my normal routine and no body care…. Then Sunday I ran stairs to get back into cardio shape, did yoga, and saw Teri and got her magical massage! 😀 Then went on a nature walk (kind of) with Serena’s family WHO JUST MOVED from Philadelphia to Las Vegas! Holy last minute change of plans! And Captain, his wife/my friend super-pregnant Thais, and their daughter Manuella!
It was really cool to see the Bakhshi family again!
Still horribly jet-lagged, I went to practice on Monday, had a normal-ish day other than sleep deprivation, and picked up Amanda Bobby Cooper (called Bobby) at the airport at 10 pm!
She was to stay for two weeks, and I was super excited. We first met when we fought on the same Invicta card a few years ago. Actually, wait, first she called me out on twitter once, very respectfully. Haha! I remember thinking, “Wow, that was a very respectful call out, but she probably wants to fight me for the publicity of it. That’s fine. She’s smart.” Then we met and got friendly, then she dropped a weight class and got on TUF 23, same season as my teammates Jamie Moyle, Khalil Rountree, and Cory Hendricks. Fast forward a few years and she Facebook messaged me about coming to train. I met Serena, my current best friend, when she messaged me about coming to train. I like this pattern. haha
Two days passed and on Wednesday my other friend Jessica Borga came, set to stay for 6 days! I met her when Serena and I fought on the Fusion Fight League card in Montana! She had rented a car and we hadn’t, and were totally screwed because we needed to get places. She drove us! Thank you! We went shopping together at Walmart, and bam, friends. 🙂
She’s fighting on Fusion Fight League Oct 20th, so tune in if you can, or go watch!
This girl Danielle from Australia has started training with us, too, so here’s a group pic of us! It’s been great!
From left to right, on top, Me, Jessica, Serena, Bobby. Under me, Danielle, then Jessy Jess.
This week was SO BUSY I’ve barely been able to lay down or keep up with my friends by text. ;_; Sorry, guys! I’ve been teaching a lot of kids and I gave a bunch stripes. I want a bunch of them to do tournaments as white belts, and then I want to promote them. They’re pretty much ready, I think?
This past Sunday, Serena and family took Jessica to Red Rock, so I went to see Blade Runner with Bobby. Great movie! I wish I had rewatched the first one before going, but whatever. It was a little confusing. lol Then later, I showed her her first anime! Ghost in the shell movie, and now Seraph of the End!
oh crap, I didn’t blog about other important stuff cuz I was so busy with TUF blogs.
My sempai, my mentor Casey, was given his black belt by Captain!
YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is SO significant for so many reasons. He’s been working so hard for so long! Especially lately he’s been improving and killing it! I’ve always loved his teaching style, his classes, and sometimes take private lessons from him. Casey-sempai has really helped me get better, and I was SO SO SO excited to see him achieve one of his long-term goals. Also, Captain no longer officially teaches classes here, so it was really good of him to come in and do a promotion for him, and also my friend Gennady got his purple belt, and Chris got his brown.
Good job, Casey!!
Then he called me up, and I was like, what, does he want to tell me something? I was trying to choke down my tears from just seeing Casey get promoted, and I had a roll of tape in one hand and a my camera phone in the other. I was confused, like, what’s going on? LOL Then he gave me two stripes and whispered in my ear, “Almost black!”
AAAAAH nooo absolutely not almost black. lol I tried to be happy but thought of at least five things I stink at that I have to improve. hahaha I was happy, though. I have to train harder! I have to learn ALL THE JIUJITSU!
Everybody probably thought I was crying with happiness. lol I thought my heart and brain were gonna collide and explode after that. haha
I think my brown belt is one of my most favorite possessions. If my apartment was on fire, I’d probably grab my laptop, my phone, my wallet, my three childhood stuffed animals, and my brown belt. lol
oh, BEFORE I went to Japan, I threw a last minute, like SUPER last minute “let’s go tonight!” birthday party at Fuzzy’s. hahaha
Then Thais said, “Let’s take a walk in the park near my house!” Sure, great idea. So we went and there was a CARNIVAL going on. She hadn’t known? ALRIGHTY THEN. So we went and ate ice cream and had lots of fun!! I love my friends. And we went on a Ferris Wheel ride with an EXTREMELY sketchy portable wheel that they made us get off and change cars because it was unbalanced. And it creaked and bolts fell off. omggggg
Survivors!…