A Lovely Day

Last Saturday while I was helping to plan an unrealized obstacle course (this means I was writing down what I was told to write) The General sauntered in & gave me a self defense technique to break down & teach the bits of, like, right now. I do mean he sauntered, too. The General is forever pushing me off the cliff with one hand and catching me with the other. Turned out well, he said it was good, though thanks to New York E's video I am very much aware that when I'm thinking about how to do a demonstration while I'm doing it, its not truly as dynamic as it needs to be. Still, its getting better... at least none of the students yelled "That's not how you do it! Fraud!". Hmm, I seem to be lowering my standards...

After class I helped Mighty Mouse teach a ladies self defense seminar. As I've said before, Mighty Mouse really is mighty. She should work for the Secret Service or something. When she demonstrates knees & stops to explain something she still holds you down with her whole weight on you. Clearly this is what I need to be doing. I can tell you after this experience, even tiny little people you can carry around in your pocket are heavy. This is good, because I want to be heavy, too!

We had lots of first time ladies, very nice ladies with nice shoes and hair. Very polite. They giggled when Mighty Mouse told them if they're attacked they have to fight like an animal. I hope some of them come train with us. One person (I'm not sayin' who) told me she "already knew" some of this stuff because she took a bag class, once, a year ago. I wanted to pinch her. I've been doing this stuff for two years, obsessively, & still don't feel like I "know" it. But everybody was a good sport & really tried, and you can't ask for more than that. We worked palm heels, groin kicks, knees, bear hugs, & choke from the front with a 2 handed pluck. Mighty Mouse had them pick each other up, bear hug style, then try to pick each other up while the pick-ee was basing out hard. A few of the ladies had back issues so I ran around picking up their partners, which was great fun for some strange reason. I think next time it might be a good idea to have handouts with recommended books about self-defense and phone numbers for hotlines and websites for places like Safeplace. Maybe what to expect from the police and/or hospital if they're attacked. Probably most of the ladies would just throw it way, but it might really help someone who needs it.

Anyway, after that we went to Spike's Super Bad Ass Picnic, which was so much fun. We swam and ate jello shots. We did other things, too, but you could just stop right there & still have a great day. The Machine did an amazing job running things. When the Gentleman & I walked up to do clean up duty it was pretty much already spic & span & Jackie told me the Machine had already decided it was clean up time & everyone had better get the hell out of the way. That's a good thing, by the way. It was a beautiful day from top to bottom & I am going to miss Spike so much its giving me an actual little pain "center mass", as we say. I don't like it when people go away.