Respect from your peers

Well, it's about time that I made a post, after all, it has been a solid week. Last week was spent in a very rageful and angry state which is the reason I didn't post. Grrrrrrrrr. I've always made it a point to never say anything in states like that because most of the time something is said for anger's sake and not because it's actually meant.

For the time being, it's safe to say that I've snapped out of that spell. The reason for this could only be an excellent jitsu weekend getting the wind knocked out of me and boozing it up. Saturday saw a day filled with Tai-Sabaki leading into lots and lots of drops. So not only were you dizzy at the outset of the technique but would also go onto get dropped to finish. I think it's safe to say the everyone from orange belt to Dan's were sore and tired by the end of the session.

The course finished and we headed over to Anti-Grav's where we would be spending the night. I think upon getting a cup and water source, I drank about two litres of water and sat for a good thirty minutes straight. Anti-Grav's girlfriend shared some of her excellent brownies with us and then it was off to downtown for dinner and drinks.

Dinner was at the good old Elgin Street Diner. That place never fails to serve the greasiet food within ten minutes and once again didn't fail. As bad as I knew it was, I still downed the cheeseburger and poutine that I ordered and it hit the spot. From there we headed to the Oz café.

Now before I begin, I have never like the Oz café based on it's size and the usual amount of people we have show up. If I'm ever in a crowded room, the first thing I'll do it head for an empty corner and usually wait for people to come to me as I can't stand being surrounded by people. This is usually the case at the Oz café but this time it was different. There were about a dozen or so of the Jitsuka that I've grown up with through my jitsu journey which was nice and welcome. Thus I decided to take advantage and have a drink or two and talk to those that I had not seen in a while.

One or two... a few conversations... sleep... yeah right. There comes a point where you're use to having a drink in hand and enjoying talking to someone so much then when the drink ends and the conversation is still going, you get another drink. Let's just say there were a lot of good coversations going that night including me modeling several women's purses. I think I was enjoying everything so much that when it came time to catch a ride home with Anti-Grav, I opted out favouring staying with Thumper. The night kept rolling until it was closing time and what would seem like an end to the night. Not the case however. At the end, there were three of us left which included Thumper, myself and FlippyDan. Instead of kicking us out of the bar though, the two owners invited us to stay in the bar. The only catch was that we had to move out of sight at the entrance. A fair trade.

We continued talking about life and such with the owner joining us and even giving out a round of hot choclates. That was definately very, very nice of them and was definately appreciated by T-Bone and the rest. Oz gets major points and will definately be my prefered destination from here on in.

At one point in the later hours of the morning (?) we were talking about clubs and about how I could go about getting some teaching experience in my year in cornhole. I'm not sure what lead into what was said next, but at a moment which I think will forever stick in my head, Flippy Dan turned to me and said that if I ever happend to be in Peterborough and attending his session, that he would have me line up with him at the front of the class and have him teach his students. For a moment I just stopped as I didn't know how to respond to that. I've respected what FlippyDan brings to the table ever since I've met him, both on and off the mats and for him to tell me that I could line up with him at the front of class (haks or not) put a smile on my... soul. It's safe to say, that most Jitsuka always wonder whether, they're actaully embodying the spirit of Shorinji Kan Jiu Jitsu at all points of their training and to me, this said that someone recognized that I did and that their was a mutual respect from a peer.

Eventually I came back to real life and started joining in on the conversation again, but would never realy leave that moment. Hopefully, it won't go to my head. Things continued a bit further past that but Thumper and I knew it was time to go when he said "Anyone want to watch the sun go down?". We got a Taxi home with a never ending joke telling driver and about six am he hit the bed.

We were awoken that morning by Anti-Grav who asked us if we wanted to go get breakfast to which I reponded whether he in turn could bring breakfast to me and feed me. Gawd I was tired, hungover and dehydrated. Such a wonderful combination. Needless to say, at the purple and above portion of the course that day, I felt every breakfall and my head was about ready to split at the end. Upon conclusion, we showered, hit the ol subway on the way out and headed back home. I hit the bed at seven and didn't wake up til seven this morning. All in all, an awesome week. Killed my anger completely.

Hope everyone is having a Happy Valentine's Day and all the ladies who read this save me a special valentine's day kiss. :O) I'm bad, you love it.