On the Mat Day 49: Turtle escapes

Tonight was the first time I have worked on turtle escapes. I've seen a few in the past and I've used one during sparring I learned during a judo lesson way back. But the lesson tonight was good. I was still paranoid of someone crunching down on my foot.

I partnered with Kondo-san or Kon3 as he is affectionately known. He's been doing BJJ for 5 years, is purple belt and about the same age as me. He was the first guy really to talk to me like a normal human being and help me with moves. I appreciate that because it can be daunting to step into a dojo as a newbie. I plan to repay that to a newbie in the future when I have more skill. Anyway, it was good to see him there because he is easily approachable to ask questions.

Yoshida-san also came tonight. He was the guy who sat on and broke my foot. He's a rough and tumble guy who likes to use a few of Eddie Bravo's techniques; the electric chair, lock down and twister. That reminds me that I need to work on counters to these. He apologized profusely about breaking my foot. Him being a doctor and all I'm sure makes him feel bad. He's supposed to heal people after all and not send them to the hospital. He asked me how much it cost and I got a hint that he wanted to pay for my medical bills but I just told him that the sports insurance from the dojo would cover it. He's a team mate and I'd not expect him to pay for me in any way. God forbid that I break someone's arm or something and have to pay for it. He even apologized again when I left the dojo and I told him to stop it and not to keep apologizing. I don't know who feels worse, him for breaking my leg or me because he apologized so much.

While the guys were sparring, I did 10 pull ups, 20 neck rolls and 20 ab slides all for 3 sets. My neck hurts a little this morning. (Best Tony Horton voice) in a good way folks, he meant it in a good way. I think I've gained 1 kg in weight because of my injury and I can see more fat on my abs. I can't run yet so thought about cycling either at night or morning now that the weather is getting warmer.

One last thing, on my way home last night I stopped at the traffic lights behind a city bus. I was just sort of daydreaming while waiting for the lights to change and noticed the registration number on the bus "666". Sort of freaked me out a bit enough to make me drive with a bit more awareness than normal.