Rolling through eastern Tennessee on my son's last voyage of childhood, drinking iced coffee through a straw. *waves to treydog and mALX*

Had an inhouse tournament at the gym today, Sambo rules. We had visitors from other gym participating, 15 people in total, and it was... Damn, I am so in love with the sport after it to be quite honest. I should've started earlier! I copped 2nd place in my weight division but getting there was a total war. Case in point, my first opponent was a Judo black belt. Let me repeat that, my first taste of competitive combat was against a guy who's practically light years ahead of me in terms of not only technique and experience, but also in physicality as well. He might've been shorter than me, but he was 8 kilos heavier (he's 120kg). Suffice to say I didn't last too long; he easily countered my takedown attempts with either an Uchi-Mata or Harai Goshi. Could've been a straight up hip throw though. Couldn't remember too much. All I do remember is how utterly paralyzing that throw was; imagine 120 kg + momentum crashing you down against the (padded) floor.

Thankfully, after that, my opponents were nearer to my skill level. Not that it was a cakewalk — almost all of them had been grueling wars of attrition. I felt like I was burning while in a knife fight! Almost got submitted several times too!

All in all, it was a very humbling experience. The tournament showed me what I can do, but most importantly it also showed me my limits. There's a certain rapture, a release almost, at having reality force you to your knees and straight up tell you that, yeah? Purifies the spirit and banishes unnecessary ego. I love it.

http://imgur.com/a/DF0yi

Next month, me and a few of my gym siblings are going to join a Judo tournament. It's going to be fun, can't wait.

It's NOT going to be fun. At all. More details have emerged and apparently...

APPARENTLY.

I need to beat 3 guys in a row to pass. Thank you, coach, for informing me of this ONLY NOW. It totes most def appreciate it.

Belated greetings Grits and Male Child of Grits. I also rarely nap while driving in Tennessee... I might miss the exceedingly rare sighting of one of our fellow motorists making use of the turn signal before changing lanes- or possibly turning OFF said turn signal sometime before 10 miles have passed....

On somber note, on June 16, we mourned the passing of one of our cats. Keaton, our male tuxedo cat, was diagnosed with cancer of the mouth a month earlier and had finally reached the point where asking him to continue would have been cruel. He lived 14 eventful years- starting as an indoor/outdoor cat who had to compete with possums and raccoons for his dry food in our garage. We decided this was not a good life for anyone and brought him in, at which point (because of his difficult personality) I predicted confidently that he "would never be a lap cat".

After a period of adjustment to being indoors- and for the last 8 years- he climbed into my lap whenever I was in my recliner. Typical cat- getting the last word. He was our good big kitty and he is missed.

Belated greetings Grits and Male Child of Grits. I also rarely nap while driving in Tennessee... I might miss the exceedingly rare sighting of one of our fellow motorists making use of the turn signal before changing lanes- or possibly turning OFF said turn signal sometime before 10 miles have passed....

On somber note, on June 16, we mourned the passing of one of our cats. Keaton, our male tuxedo cat, was diagnosed with cancer of the mouth a month earlier and had finally reached the point where asking him to continue would have been cruel. He lived 14 eventful years- starting as an indoor/outdoor cat who had to compete with possums and raccoons for his dry food in our garage. We decided this was not a good life for anyone and brought him in, at which point (because of his difficult personality) I predicted confidently that he "would never be a lap cat".

After a period of adjustment to being indoors- and for the last 8 years- he climbed into my lap whenever I was in my recliner. Typical cat- getting the last word. He was our good big kitty and he is missed.

Had roaches in my coffee this morning, not the best part of waking up .

Had roaches in my coffee this morning, not the best part of waking up .

SQUIRREL!

So the last two weeks has been quite the saga. I started bruising and bleeding two weeks ago, and after a bump with a church pew gave me a particularly nasty hematoma (blood blister) on my shinbone, I went to my Dr. and had some blood tests done. Turned out I had immune mediated thrombocytopenia (IMTP) - my platelets were too low. I had to have a platelet transfusion in the ER that night, stayed overnight, and went home on high doses of prednisone. Initially I responded decently well, but this morning found out things are back to the way they were pre-transfusion. So I have to go in tomorrow for immunoglobulin IV therapy, start IV chemo on Monday, and get a bone marrow biopsy on Tuesday, and second round of IV chemo on Wednesday.

To top it all off, my mom had her total knee replacement scheduled for this past Monday. Things went very well for her, and she came home yesterday. So I'm taking care of herself as well as myself.

Fortunately we have a great network among our church basement ladies (my mom is charter member, and I'm an honorary member), as well as an awesome older sister who lives an hour away and is ready to take off from work to spend the day with me (on Monday, when Mom had her surgery, and again on Tuesday, for the bone marrow biopsy).

The two things putting a smile on my face right now are my cat aka Demon Spawn of Satan and the little guinea pig which I'm babysitting for a coworker while she's on vacation.

So the last two weeks has been quite the saga. I started bruising and bleeding two weeks ago, and after a bump with a church pew gave me a particularly nasty hematoma (blood blister) on my shinbone, I went to my Dr. and had some blood tests done. Turned out I had immune mediated thrombocytopenia (IMTP) - my platelets were too low. I had to have a platelet transfusion in the ER that night, stayed overnight, and went home on high doses of prednisone. Initially I responded decently well, but this morning found out things are back to the way they were pre-transfusion. So I have to go in tomorrow for immunoglobulin IV therapy, start IV chemo on Monday, and get a bone marrow biopsy on Tuesday, and second round of IV chemo on Wednesday.

To top it all off, my mom had her total knee replacement scheduled for this past Monday. Things went very well for her, and she came home yesterday. So I'm taking care of herself as well as myself.

Fortunately we have a great network among our church basement ladies (my mom is charter member, and I'm an honorary member), as well as an awesome older sister who lives an hour away and is ready to take off from work to spend the day with me (on Monday, when Mom had her surgery, and again on Tuesday, for the bone marrow biopsy).

The two things putting a smile on my face right now are my cat aka Demon Spawn of Satan and the little guinea pig which I'm babysitting for a coworker while she's on vacation.