The morning coffee (first after two weeks of holding back)
worked its magic and I felt endless energy on the mat.

I started to truly enjoy grappling. It's not easy to get
hurt and, while technically fighting each other, it's very
rare that one bears ill intent while sparring. If I tried to
defend and to learn techniques instead of using a lot of
force to dominate, it's not even tiring.

I still got swept, mounted, caught in guard, etc., but I
knew a bit about defending now, thanks to the choke-focus
class I had with blackbelt D.

I successfully defended several armbar and cross-choke
attacks. Blue belt O knew to give up choking when I put my
hand in between his two forearms. I didn't even need to
defend white belt J's cross-choke when I was in his guard as
his hand positions were not even threatening. He could waste
his energy all he wanted but couldn't submit me with sloppy
techniques. In the middle, I asked him jokingly:"You think you
can pull that off?"

Bluebelt B and a few others gave me trouble when I tried to
pass their guards by breaking my posture and pulling my
upper body toward their chests. They had very strong abs and
the hinge was powerful. Coach J taught me specifically what
I should do to defend that--arm(s) in between chests,
sitting with curled lower back and butt on the heels. The
details were amazing. A tiny mistake could tip the balance.

Coach J also instructed that I should always tuck my feet
under my butt to avoid
- injury when being swept while in someone's guard, and
- being caught half-guard when trying to pass guards.

I went fishing again with Tim in the evening and we caught
and released a turtle. I didn't feel tired after 16 hours up.
OK. I'll drink coffee, but only on Sat morning.