Martial arts, teeth and banality.

I am taking time this morning to bask in a little self appreciation. I have really worked hard over the last two years to advance my take-down game and assimilate a lifetime of traditional theory and practice into practical ability. I have a huge amount of confidence in my ability to take a reasonably skilled or comparably sized opponent to the ground and maintain my options to go with them or remain standing. I am nowhere near "done" in this area of course and everyone has miles of improvement to go over the course of a lifetime. I now feel like I have a firm working base to extend my skills from in this area though. I am actually a little excited to see what I will learn next. My two big priorities now are to revisit my ground game, specifically ground sweeps where striking is involved, and go back and reassess my weapons and weapon defense tactics. I need to go back with my new understanding and reapply everything I know to a new framework.

Developing my "dirty boxing" and "clench fighting" skills has been one of the most personally rewarding aspects of my martial arts career. I am not sure why it has impacted me so much more than other things, but I suspect it is due my age and the personal nature of the development. Of course it all came from outside sources, but I was alone to put it together myself and trudge up the hill of self discovery under my own steam with no one to stand behind me a push me for more. Being a little alone in my obsession created a real sense of accomplishment in my mind. I am really proud to have pushed myself.

I promised some pictures from my first ever dentist trip. I actually went in for a checkup last year but we hated the dentist and never went back so I am not sure if that counts as a trip given that he did nothing but waste our time. Please keep in mind that this is a close up and was the BACK of my front teeth that no one could see without some effort. I didn't actually look like a crack head prior to the cleaning, but I am happy the backs of my teeth are clean now. Since the cleaning my gums have healed up and look normal again. In retrospect it looks a bit gross. Remember kids, get a regular cleanings every six months.

I suppose my last topic of the day is my future. Having put Christopher in preschool I now have to find a way to pay for it. Working at the gym and teaching Martial Arts is the most rewarding thing I can imagine in life. Adult martial arts is my heart and soul and my passion, but I fear it is not going to cut the cake when it comes to the bills. I have not given up on parlaying my skills into a paycheck by no means, but I think urgency is going to dictate that I once again take on a job I abhor in order to pay the bills until I find a steady martial arts income. I will need regularity in my paycheck and job satisfaction and sense of fulfilment will once again have to take the back seat to expediency. I can't tell you how that idea pains me, but anyone who knows me well will already know and also know that I will not speak on the topic again till the time of the crap job has passed. So there.