Awesome takedown

Where have I been the past few weeks? 

Well, for one, getting a black eye while I'm on vacation.

 Ignore the hideously unplucked eyebrows.  It actually developed a little more under my eye the next day, and it looked like I had some funky eyeshadow going on, but it really wasn't that bad.  Note to self: Do NOT allow the edge of your eye to come in contact with your instructor's cro-magnon forehead. 

Also, I've had my family visiting for the first time since I came to Tennessee!

Family + Smoky Mountains

It was nice having them come, and I finally got to introduce them to my friends and BJJ family. 

Also, I've been ultrasounding stingrays and metal-scanning penguins, among other fun things!

So, you ask: where on Earth have I been finding time for BJJ?  I've managed to squeeze it in here and there, and this morning was definitely worth it.  It was just me for the women's class, so I rolled/gossiped with Jess for awhile, then she showed me a cool takedown.  Maybe not suitable for people way huger than me, but still awesome nonetheless.  A new girl, Briana, came to the open class.  She's a blue belt from Memphis, and a sophomore at UT, AND close to my size!  It was really nice to finally find someone who is my rank and my size, and we had a really good roll.  I pointed out all the cool people for her to roll with, which was especially important today because we had some visiting students, which included some white belts who I didn't know at all.

Also, I've joined Fitocracy.  Maybe I've been "gaming" the system a little, doing some things just to complete quests, but at least I know I can still run a mile in under 8 minutes.  7:22 when I've barely been training for it--boo ya!

So share with me--what cool things has Fitocracy pushed you to do that you wouldn't otherwise be doing? 

Long-ass update.

Ok, I know it's been awhile, but clinics have been kicking my ass.  When I made my last post about the Pedro Sauer seminar, I was in Farm Animal, which had me working 80-90 hours a week.  Thankfully, nothing has been that busy since then, but it's still been way over the "normal" 40-hour work week.  I've also been trying to spend my free time studying for my board exam (which I scheduled for December 10, a mere ten weeks away!), so that sadly leaves little time for BJJ or blogging.  So here's a quick run down of what's been going on:

1.  Pedro Sauer seminar: Awesome!  I made it in for the second session, and we did a little review from the first session, followed by Q & A (which the first session was).  The thing is, he doesn't actually need to know the move needed.  He would ask someone to show what they were asking about, did it himself, and then came up with the answer because he knows the mechanics and bits and pieces of BJJ that well. 

2.  Clinics: After Farm Animal, I went over to Community Practice for three weeks.  This rotation is basically small animal private practice.  Since the majority of our other services are referral-based, this one was created to take care of the pets of staff, faculty,  and students of the vet school, along with other UT-associated peopl and, in some cases, people who somehow have a close relationship with UTCVM.  It was a lot of annual physicals and vaccinations, but also many simple problems that would be seen in private practice.  What was the most common problem?  BIG shocker: pet obesity! 

I'll say that again: Pet obesity was the #1 problem we saw.  Please, people, PLEASE put your pet on a controlled diet (i.e., feed them a set amount, not as much as they'll eat).  Do searches on Pub Med or Web of Science about obesity in pets, and they'll show you a myriad of health benefits from being leaner.  And if your vet tells you this as well, please accept it and try to work with them to help your pet.  After all, if we were "in it for the money," wouldn't we want them to be as fat as possible so they could get sick/arthritic/lame more often so we could make more money fixing them? 

Anyways, that was a fun rotation, but now it's over and I'm on Small Animal Surgery.  It's been pretty hectic, and there's been a lot to keep up with, but I've gotten lucky lately and somehow have a very light patient load this weekend.  I'll still be going in early this weekend to help out the other students on the rotation, but at least I personally don't have much to worry about.  Hopefully I'll be able to make it to Jess's women's class again tomorrow!  Which brings us to...

3.  The women's class!  It's been going really well, and we've been growing, slowly but surely.  Jess has been adding in more elements every class, and last time we did some stand-up self-defense.  It was the first time we did any stand-up, and I hope it will continue.  While she does rely on me to work with the newest people and coach them through things, she's also really good about making sure that I a) get in the drilling I need, but also b) learn slightly more advanced techniques that I can do while everyone else is doing the standard stuff.  I'm really glad that I get to help teach (I've been wanting to do it for a long time, and especially since I got my blue belt), so that alone would make the class worthwhile for me, but I really appreciate the fact that she doesn't forget about my growth as well.  Lately, this has been the only class I've been going to, since my weekdays are so busy and I have to get up early and go in to school on Saturdays as well, so by the time I get done with her class I'm kind of beat. 

4.  Lastly: my BJJ blogosphere friends make my heart smile.  Also, it's a lot more satisfying than you think to take the high road. 

In other news:  some teammates of mine are competing at the Tennessee State BJJ Championships on October 16 15, in Maryville.  If you're there, come say hi to the girl who is either cheering like crazy or studying on a smart-not-phone (thanks, big brother!)