Dog Brothers Public Forum

This really deserves to morph into a series of short stories about the man and dog connection. Awesome writing here.

Very sad and unsettling news.  I hope the family is able to recover from this.  Thoughts and prayers sent their way. 

Where in Nor Cal? 

Me too!!

A good time it was indeed!  I'm pretty happy to hear that you're changing it to Mondays, as I almost always have that day off. 

If any of the Chatsworth guys are following this, I am in Studio City, not too far from you all, should you want to get some extra practice in up here in the Valley. 

Thanks to Crafty for a great afternoon 

Thanks for Pm'ing me, Peregrine.  Unfortunately, I had to cut out of there and get back to the mainland.  My mom fell and broke some bones and has to get replacement surgery, so I will be in MN taking care of her for a bit.

Made it into HK for a no-gi class though, and I have to say that Todd is an incredible teacher.  If any of you guys are thinking about training JJ down there, he is top-notch!!

Staying in Waikiki for a few days with my girl.  I don't have any of my gear, but I might be looking for some open mats, or something like that.

I tried looking up the Relson Gracie school, but it looks like he has a bunch of affiliate schools, and I can't seem to find the one he teaches at...

Anybody have some suggestions? 

Wish I had the dough, I could roll down there with you guru. 

I've been thinking about my time spent with Crafty these days, and it's really been a blast to train the new Kali Tudo material with him.  The only thing that bums me out is not having a team of sparring partners to drill it with on a regular basis.  It seems like progress is hindered when you're only drilling things a couple times a week, without training other aspects of the game like you would at regular practice.

What if we had a team going?  I'm sure we could arrange a place for practice, where we could work to develop a solid mma base and then work to incorporate the KT material as we go.

Though KT is outside of the mma box, it seems to behoove the practitioner to be fluid in grappling/bjj, as well as stand up fighting before, or during his merging into the KT game.  In southern CA, I'm sure we could find good wrestlers, kickboxers, jiu jitsu guys, to come together on this, to help drill the fundamentals of the game.

I know there are guys out there who can't afford to train at the overpriced gyms down here anymore, and would probably be willing to put time into a new movement like this.  All we need is a gym with bags and mats, and some dedicated guys.  Maybe we could chip in and find a gym owner, or a local mcdojo who will let us use their space outside of their operating hours?

Our team would represent the greatest part of fight training because we would be away from all the signing contracts, and dishing out huge money to do what we love to do.  No BS politics of the bjj world, belts and ranks, etc.  Just a team that only has to worry about getting as good as we can. 

In a time of economic collapse, I think this type of bartering will be the new way of forming small communities such as this. 

Who's down?

     

... Anyone who has visited my place is familiar with the party scene which occurs nightly.  Almost everyone here is a young artist, musician, actor, whatever.  Our courtyard is usually occupied until the wee hours with good people having a good time.

We also have a couple single mothers, stuck with teenage sons, who are too much for them too handle. The kind of kids who are on the verge of transitioning from wannabe gangsters to petty criminals. 

Worlds collided late at night when the little thugstas had too much to drink and found their way into one of the usual party scenes.  What started as juvenile trash talk graduated to a few people pushing/shoving/swinging.  Then the knife came out. 

One of my neighbors showed heart by bear hugging the kid, trying to hold him back from the others.  As he started to lose control of him, another neighbor, a south African man of substantial size and life experience, grabbed the kid from behind in what was described to me as a very crude sleeper hold/rnc.  Apparently, this guy's size and strength alone was enough to choke the kid pissless (literally) while forcing a tremendous upheaval of vomit from his young mouth.  Onlookers said the stream was launched several feet into the air!!

I laugh as I type, because the choker was apparently wearing an Indiana Jones costume.  Shirtless beneath a leather jacket, Indie hat and everything.  Upon putting the first punk down, others surrounded him, wielding the large, standing ashtrays around the courtyard.  At this point, Indie went into full character, throwing his hat off and taking on all comers while bystanders froze up.  I guess the guy was so crazy with his willingness to fight everyone, that each kid ran at high speeds when he came at them, perfectly fine with the concept of his opponent holding a large ashtray above his head, ready to throw it.  The last kid left started crying and begged for forgiveness. 

This is how everyone reported it to me.  I guess a couple people yelled for me to come out and help, but I was nestled up in my apartment, quite full of Corona, trying to download UFC fights online at the time.

After some talk of future concerns, we started up an apartment training group.  Mostly to get some healthy activities going around here, but also with the intent of being more prepared next time this occurs.  I will be working with a group of people who have little or no physical training in their background, so it should be interesting, but fun.

As time goes by, maybe we can get an appearance from one of the community Dog Bros?  Most everyone here has seen the Nat Geo show, so a cameo from Pappy or Poi would really be cool! 

Hope you are all well.  Also hoping to start seeing you again soon.

Dog Dan.

 

Found a classic Erik Paulson vid today:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yO6lijceXtU&feature=related[/youtube]

And also, a very entertaining fight of his! 

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lh0qFBl-zrU[/youtube]

Thanks for all the help on this, guys. 

It looks like whoever was messing around with me got what they want though.  I ended up becoming increasingly paranoid, and came pretty close to going crazy.  Last night I got into an argument with her over it and said some things I really shouldn't have said.  Long story short, we're not together anymore. 

... Is what I've been having to do up here in Nor Cal.  The problem has to do with pinning down the guy I suspect, my girlfriend's ex.

The past year that we've been together, he has been sneaking around during our visits to her parent's place up here.  Leaving little notes in her mail box, Christmas presents at her doorstep, little things for her to stumble upon while I am around.  Of course he does this without making his presence known...

Recently, my girlfriend has been getting some harassing voice mails from a blocked number as well.  I always shrug it off and tell her not to worry about it, because whoever it is hasn't the balls to do anything more than that.  Things seem to be changing.

I recently left my truck parked in front of her parent's place for a few days while I went back to L.A. to handle a couple of things at work.  When I got back up here, I drove my truck to a coffee shop to get my fix, and when I came out, I started my truck and noticed my brakes didn't work.  I checked the brake fluid and it was full, and managed to get it to a local mechanic for a look.

Next day, the mechanic called me and said there was nothing wrong with my brakes, and with some concern, he told me that my truck had been tampered with.  Someone had gotten under my hood and manually disconnected the hose which connects to the power booster and controls my brake pressure.  After he reconnected it, he told me to go ahead and wiggle it loose, and I couldn't because it was secured with two clamps.

"These hoses don't wiggle loose on their own.  Someone pulled the clamps, and left the hose barley connected, so that the vibrations of your vehicle would eventually force it off while you were driving. There is no other way for it to come off.  Your vehicle has been tampered with."

He documented the tampering on the invoice for me and sent me on my way.

So now things have come into my world.  I've already sifted through all the obvious fantasies you could imagine when it comes to solving this.  I know where he lives, where he works, etc... But at 31, I'm trying to be a bit more responsible.  Plus, the guy I'm talking about was hired by the Cal State campus police dept, he was later fired due to incompetency, but still holds a desk job, pushing papers there.  So I have to be a little bit careful with my procedures....

It should also be noted that the  guy I'm talking about poses absolutely zero threat to me when it comes to man to man conflict, which is frustrating, because he will not engage me on this level.  Instead, I have to sit around and deal with his cowardice.  And I'm kind of done with it...

I couldn't think of a better group of guys to present this scenario to.      

How would you guys handle this? 

Also, best to all of you guys throwing down this Sunday!! 

Today I am grateful for the random phone call I got from Crafty, and the motivation I now have to start training again.   

Some good stuff you guys are kicking around.  Thanks for chiming in!

Crafty-
You get my voicemail yesterday? 

Scurvy-
Have you been going to Erik's new place at all?  You're going to come Wed night practice with all that built-up work stress and unleash it on me, aren't you?    


Ryan-
I agree completely.  bjj tournies are one thing, showing up lazy at a gathering=bad choice!!

I heard a rumor that Erik Paulson has a fight coming up.  Has anybody else heard the same? 

I've trained with Eddie for a while and been able to sneak some rubber guard material in with the stickgrappling.  One technique that stands out is a go go plata hybrid where the stick is used to pull the guy's neck into my shin. 

btw, Crafty:  Met a guy named Bill Hosken at work last night.  He said he goes back with you at Rigan's and told me to say hi.