Rolling baby yeah.

Yesterday, I got to "roll" (lingo for sparring / freestyle) for the first time. Of course, I didn't do very well at all. Oh, sure there was a glimmer of hope here and there where I got a dominant position or had a good choke or arm lock for a little bit, but my more experienced partner got out of each of them and submitted me a bunch of times - mostly with arm bars. Its to be expected and I don't feel bad about it one bit. Like golf, those few techniques that I managed to pull off are enough to jazz me up and encourage me to come back and try again. What was really cool in a way is that I pushed myself harder than I have pushed myself since I left the Army way back in the day -- to the point where my whole body just kind of gave out. I'd forgotten how fast you can run out of gas, juice, energy or whatever you want to call it, but when it happens its like someone pulled a plug on you - everything just melts.

So today, Advil is my friend. Tomorrow, the school is hosting a seminar by Helio Gracie, followed up by a party. Since I'm so new, I'm not sure how much I'll be able to absorb, but when you have the opportunity to meet a master and learn from him, I figure its a good idea to do it.

Quick aside about the train ride home yesterday. Usually, its a quiet affair with the train packed with people that work late. Just normal worker folk. A few folks here and there might have a beer or two on the way back to unwind, but its casual and no one gets out of hand. Not last night though. Some mid 50's balding slightly overweight corporate guy had gotten himself falling down drunk. I'm not even sure how the hell he managed to walk to the train. He could not or would not pay his fare and kept passing out. Rather than risk confrontation, the conductor just shrugged it off and let him sit there. As we approached our stop at White Plains, the guy tried to get up and promptly crashed to the ground. He struggled up, fell down again. At this point some guy was trying to get him back to his seat - telling him to sit down and take it easy. The drunk guy was waving keys around - so I guess he though he was going to just cruise home. Talk about a homicide waiting to happen. Ultimately the guy refused any sort of help, the cops were called and picked him up at the train station. What happened after that, I have no idea.

I wonder what made him get that way and if it was a good time or maybe he had gotten a call from his wife telling him she had left him for the pool boy she had been banging for the past six months. Who knows. What I do know is that winding up in jail is generally on the "don't want to do that" list.