Martial Arts Redux: Brazilian Jiu Jitsu

Last week I joined a Jiu Jitsu club - NYC Machado Jiu Jitsu, the the official East Coast representative of the Machado brothers and the premier Brazilian Jiu Jitsu academy in Manhattan. Overall, the tone and attitude of the school is professional yet relaxed and humble. The bit of informality is refreshing and not something I saw when I took Tae Kwon Do or Aikido.

I've been to four classes so far and I know I am going to love this more than I ever did Aikido or Tae Kwon Do or Judo. The instruction by Prof. Marcos is fantastic. He is very knowledgable, patient and concerned about his students. The other lead instructor, Marcos' brother, Marcio, carries himself in the same way. The one assitant instructor I have met, Rene, is also a great guy. In other words, its a fantastic environment to learn one of the more effective arts out there. Its a family and I look forward to becoming a part of it.

Its funny how you can just feel comfortable somewhere and with certain people. Instantly, you feel accepted and welcomed and like that you can fit in. In my younger years, I certainly learned what it was like to not feel accepted. So, when I get such a positive vibe from a place or a person, I really appreciate it.

Travel wise, its easy to get there - just a short 30min train ride from White Plains to Grand Central and a 10 minute walk to the school. Its cool to get down into the city again, even just for a little bit and get to soak up the energy down there. I get to see the Empire State Building, Chrysler Building, Grand Central and the New York Public Library on my short walk and the lighing at 5pm in June in NYC just makes everything look better.

Why Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ)? Why not go back to Tae Kwon Do or Aikido. Well, for one thing I'd seen first hand how effective BJJ could be in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and later on in Pride. All the really good strikers -- people skilled in kicking and punching got eaten alive by grapplers. The attitude of most traditional martial arts is also a bit backward for me. At Fordham, they used to teach their students to spar with their lead arm up, exposing their ribs "to present a target" for their partner. Those were the same guys that I looked forward to fighting back in 1988 at the WTA National Tournament at West Point. It was too easy. Of course, as fate has it I wind up at Fordham and suffering through their classes. I was actually told not to go after brown belts (as a purple belt) very hard because I needed to show them respect. I was like -- WHAT?!!? Oy. Suffice it to say that my time at Fordham Tae Kwon Do was short lived. Too much attitude, not enough skill.

Aikido is super, but its a very difficult art to learn. I suppose from a self defense perspective you could master a move or two for all the different types of attacks in a realatively short time, but then getting them to work in a combat situation with a person not the same size you are used to is again --- difficult. Nothing against Aikido, I love it and respect it but I am looking for something that is a better workout and trains closely to what a street fight situation might be like. That's the benefit of BJJ, you train against people struggling very hard, and you do so on the ground where most fights wind up by chance or by design. Get a great workout, lose weight, get in shape and learn to defend yourself. Sounds good to me.

Naturally, when I told my mother about this she was a little apprehensive. She was asking if it was like Tae Kwon Do. I told her it was more like wrestling. Of course, her mind lept immediately to people jumping off of ring ropes and hitting each other with chairs and all things WWE. Oy. After that I could not really get her to grasp the idea of it. Oh well, in the meantime she can think I am donning a mask and cape and calling myself the "Masked Maruader". Sheesh.

Weight: 204 Resting Pulse: 73

James Draws For A Bit.

I went through a drawing phase a few months ago. Its stock paper and pencil and the model is from a Polo print ad. I don't have a scanner (ack) so I took a picture of it. Later on I colorized it in Photoshop. I had to "cheat" a little bit to get the proportions of the head right, but what the heck, I drew this for me and I am ok with it.

The drawing phases never tend to last too long. Usually its in some attempt to recover some part of my youth that I think I need back. If it gets really intense I start thinking of trying to go back to art school, get a career in advertising and so forth -- but the reality of it the money and the time are not really there. And neither is the drive or I suppose I would be drawing everyday. I like to dabble though. So, dabble I do. Pick things up, put em down is the way I seem to work.


Posted by Hello

The colorized version done in Photoshop.
Posted by Hello

Westcon Haiku

Being a systems analyst at Westcon is a lot like working for the fire department. You need to stay prepared, stay aware and just wait wait wait for something to go wrong. Inevitably, something always does. So, in the spirit of making dealing with tickets a bit more palatable, a few of us here have taken to writing and including haiku in or about our ticket responses. Without further adieu, here are a few:

tickets are like fish
for they have no sense of time
they will still wait there


Notes will not open.
Tickets are there waiting now.
They will wait longer.


Patiently I wait.
Tick Tock Tick Tock its Friday
my home beckons me



"I click the button
The page it is not there now
I will shop elsewhere"



I cannot log in
The problem is not my own
ticket needs new home

Kitch Starts A Blog

Well here we are. Trendy trendy.

Trendy indeed.