Busy September: my move, Kitana, birthday, Kentucky wedding, jiujitsu kids

Man, I haven’t written anything for a September blog yet!

A big event happened in my life, and that was my move. I decided to move into a one-bedroom apartment a little closer to the gym. I’ve lived with my mom or a roommate since I quit my job teaching English in Japan and moved back to the States. It’s been a long, difficult process and has actually cost me a lot emotionally and financially, but I’m doing my best to make it worth it.

I love my new place. I finally decorated and is starting to feel more like home the more time I have to just chill out and relax here. In the first few weeks, I was still unpacking and scurrying around busily doing chores.

I broke my current apartment’s lease so I had to give a two month notice (which sucks because it’s making me pay an extra month of useless rent) and penalty of two months-worth of rent. (owch) But I had until the end of October. Therefore, I made my move was a three step process: 1) pack and load small boxes into the car and bring small loads every day over the course of a week. 2) Rent a truck and move larger boxes and small furniture items like my card table, chairs, trash can, etc. 3) elicit the help of big strong teammates to carry my sofa, book shelf, and massage chair.

Step 1 went fine.

For step 2, I didn’t ask anybody but my jiujitsu friend Charlie and my other jiujitsu friend G volunteered to help. THANK YOU SO MUCH! It took way less time thanks to you guys, and it was nice to have company throughout the stressful rental truck situation.

So I have a running joke that rental companies never have the size I wanted. IT’S TRUE, though! I reserved with UHaul once and they gave me a small truck. wth That’s why I CALLED and MADE a reservation. It was bad… then once I used Penske and they ALSO did not give me the size I wanted. They tried to give me a huge one but I was too scared to drive it, so I got a tiny one and it took me forever. Therefore I thought, Okay let’s try Budget. How bad could it be? IT WAS BAD. First of all, they kept me waiting AN HOUR with a guy walking around basically doing nothing but staring at trucks, but the staff at the front desk were saying he was getting it ready. No he wasn’t. I was watching him walk in circles. We got to listen to another customer get completely screwed out of a rental because they said he couldn’t take a fork-lift style gate loader out of the state. Why not? Then they tried to change my reservation to three days instead of the two I had, “just in case.” No, there is no just in case. I will 100% be done on Sunday. wth Budget, you SUCK. I want my money back. lol Anyway, I was just calling Uhaul on the phone when a manager pulled up and helped me and got me the truck WHICH WAS NOT THE SIZE I WANTED.

I exercised my bravery to drive that thing, which had no rear-view-mirrors. I ended up making a u-turn and had to three point turn in the middle of the intersection once… AAAAAH. But I did it and didn’t have an accident. Yay.

Okay so thanks G and Charlie for step two on Friday.

Then that evening my fan-turned sponsor-turned friend Rob aka Robvark from Aardvark Painting came to visit for the weekend! 😀 It’s been over a year since I saw him! He used to come to my and Serena’s fights but I’ve been fighting pretty far from home lately, so it was great for us to catch up. And it was all a trick – he would help me move and I would provide a weekend vacation. Haha. Well I was mostly moved before he came. I took him to Skinny Fats like three times. XD

Saturday, after strength and conditioning, I implemented step three. Thank you very much to my teammates aka big strong trustworthy men Cory and AJ for helping me move my precious massage chair up a flight of stairs to the second floor. 😀 Much appreciated!

A week later, I hosted a birthday party for myself! Yay! We did wholesome things like eat sushi and pizza, play Dragon Ball Z themed Uno, and Jenga, and talk about jiujitsu. XD

Everybody at my party can do jiujitsu…I’m actually not sure about Helena. She’s a new friend when I started going to AJ’s Muay Thai classes! She’s very nice and also wears cool super hero and anime clothes. 🙂

Oh, before I had to give the keys back to my old apartment, Charlie, who is into video editing and stuff, did a photo shoot of me in my Kitana Mortal Kombat costume and edited a video! I don’t know if I can post it here, but check it out on my instagram last week, or his: @Roosterweightproductions. I liked comparing my body now to before because I think I gained more muscle. Thanks, Lorenzo! Not only that, but I had SO many injuries that I was constantly in pain and about to retire, but he helped me slowly overcome them and strengthen myself to the point where they don’t bother me anymore. Thanks, Lorenzo.

Training has been going REALLY well. I’ve made great strides in the areas I’m focusing on through great effort, great coaching, pain, trial and error, blood, sweat, and tears. I don’t have a fight lined up but hopefully it will be worth it. As I always say, just because you work hard doesn’t mean you’ll win, but if you don’t work hard, you’ll never win.

Last weekend, I went to the wedding of a friend and former Syndicate training partner Hannah Fitzpatrick! It was in Kentucky and kind of far. My night flight was rough, but I did it so I could train on Friday and teach my kids. <3 Worth it! Thank you fellow Bridesmaids for helping me with my hair, make-up, and how to wrap that dress. There were so many options I got lost….lost inside the dress. Haha I think I looked alright. Hannah was beautiful!

It was awesome to see her so happy. Haha she helped put earings on me. One of other other bridesmaids did my hair, and another did some of my eye make up!

It was also really nice to see Robyn again. Robyn visited Hannah in Vegas when Hannah and I were roommates together, and I made friends with her!

Haha XD so once the wagon transported us to the actual wedding location, we Bridesmaids lined up by height. Then the best men (who were wearing kilts) also lined up by height next to us. The guy who was next to me offered me his arm, and BOOM. I had my man to walk me down the aisle. Gee, I wish it were THAT EASY IN REAL LIFE. LOL

Yesterday, I was finally able to promote one of my students, Ali, to her next belt: -Gray-white belt!

It’s a big deal. It usually takes my kids a little over a year or more to get their gray belt because I want to make sure they have the ability to hang with with killers in tournaments, should they decide to compete. The promotion system has been taken out of my hands at Syndicate nowadays with the merger, but finally I got to do this, so I’m thrilled. She was so happy, and when I found out I could promote her, I cried happy tears before class! Hot, emotional, tears of joy all over Jeslen’s shoulder gi. LOL omg I adore my students, especially Ali, who has been with me for about two years or more maybe. Her scramble ability was super high, but her submission game had to be up to par a little better. YAY! So happy.

Thank you, Serena, for always staying by my side while I built this kids class! <3

Lots of other kids got stripes. They are getting better and are winning, and that’s the most important thing! I adore my little martial artists!

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