In one week, I've met and chatted with more people than in the past year and a

half, people strong, knowledgeable, and of great character. Eric, a slender

Asian and the head coach, welcomed me and taught me personally an invaluable 

lesson on one principle of attack. He didn't hesitate in pointing out that we 

had to be smarter as we were most likely to face bigger opponents. Coach Gene,

a stocky white guy, answered my questions with succinct and detailed instructions.

I grappled with more than a dozen partners, including Stephen the nimble ninja,

who caught me in two choke holds, Michael the rangy under whom I used all my

strength to get out, Pablo the world purple-belt champion who taught me a great

defense, Tobey the mushroom hunter with whom sparring turned into a conversation

on edible fungi, which even attracted my teenager!

And of course, I drilled and sparred with Tim. He did not feel the urge to 

master skills and sometimes was annoyed by attention to detail but we had fun on

the mat overall and discussed jiu-jitsu a lot more. I felt we were contributing

something valuable to each other's life. I haven't felt this happy for a while.

Jiu-jitsu stresses a different set of muscles than running or weight-lifting,

especially in the upper body for me. The first three days, I had neck pain from

holding my head up to defend chokes. Otherwise, I seemed to be prepared. I 

didn't feel much challenge in the core or the legs except for the adductors when

pinching the knees. My endurance was satisfying too.

I still lifted weight four days a week and there came a contrast: I practiced to

be strong in the morning and to use as little strength as possible in the

evening. It felt wierd and good.

Dictionary reading suffered since July. Studying BJJ through videos took much

time as the information was just overwhelming. I cut the goal to half a page a

day and even that was hard to keep up with. I borrowed a few books but never had 

the time to read. I wrote more, however, as there were so much to jot down.

Let's see how long the obssession would last.