Just sayin’. I realized that this blog is more about personal accountability and keeping my own commitment to make time for training than anything else. While I still train, my attendance has dropped.
So, I intend to start posting regularly again, even if it is a simple post to acknowledge classes attended. Posting from a phone is cumbersome but better than nothing.
The contest is over and the winners have been announced. I would wear the winning gi and hope that it goes into production. It’s cool. Very, very cool. Winners also announced for “Funniest” and “Craziest” gi designs.
Rodrigo Lopes hosted the first Seattle Open BJJ tournament at the brand new location of Seattle Gracie Barra. I was able to ref some of the matches, which is a lot of fun. I haven’t done a lot of reffing so far, but it’s something I’m interested in and enjoy. I hope to do more of it.
I made one call that I feel a little bad about. I was refereeing several of the white belt brackets, and in one match a guy was turned over on an armbar. His arm was extended and he reached up and swatted his opponent’s ankle. The combination of his arm being fully extended and the motion and I called it. Looked to me like he tapped. Apparently, he didn’t, and he was pretty torqued. Later on, I asked a couple of coaches who saw the call, as well as a few other people and they all reassured me that it was an understandable call, whether he tapped or not. Ultimately, these guys were fighting hard, and if it was a bad call, I regret that.
Overall, I feel pretty good with how I did, and appreciate Rodrigo asking me to help. That was the only really questionable call I made, no one was injured and everyone seemed to have fun. It was a great opportunity to watch a lot of great jits and have some fun.
Oh, once again, if you haven’t voted on the Crazy Ass Gi Contest yet, do it. Do it now.
Alright guys. I did my part and now it’s time for you to do yours. Go to the Tatami Fightwear facebook page and vote for your favorite. There are three categories. All you have to do is “like” the ones you like the best in each of three categories: Ultimate (the Gi you think is so awesome it should be made), Funny (the Gi that made you snort liquid out of your nose and onto the keyboard), and Crazy (the Gi that, even though it would be pretty much impossible to manufacture, is just awesome).
The other judges and I have whittled the field from over 300 to just under 20 finalists. You have until October 12th. The contest will end at that time. I promise you that the winner will not raise your taxes.
For more information, check it out here at the Contest blog.
I was promoted to purple belt two weeks ago, and still can’t really believe it. I don’t really know what to say about it other than that it didn’t improve my game at all. I’m still working on the same stuff I was as a blue belt. But that’s neither here nor there.
I’m very proud to be training in BJJ and, in particular, to be training at Foster BJJ.
What is interesting to me is that I have reacted completely differently to this promotion than the last one. I really look forward to getting back to class and working out. I’m sure that this has something to do with the fact that my back has been feeling pretty good lately, so I’ve been getting in consistently three days every week, and sometimes four.
In other news, I’ve dyed a few gis, and figured something out that, if I weren’t a little slow, is really pretty obvious. When you dye fabric in hot water, the heat from the water will affect the wax. Duh.
I’ve described batik a few times here before. Basically, batik is the process of painting or drawing with melted wax directly onto fabric. Melted wax is drippy, of course, and it bleeds into the fabric kind of like a magic marker can sometimes bleed into paper. So, there’s a knack to making clean lines, avoiding drips and getting the wax where you want it without having it end up where you don’t want it.
So, I was REALLY stoked after doing the green lantern symbol. I had the wax at a good, consistent temperature the entire time. It looks like it had penetrated the fabric really well. My lines were super clean and crisp and it was going to look badass! You can see in the picture to the right that the design is very clear. This was taken just after the initial dunk in the dye bath.
This is the final product. At first, I couldn’t figure out what happened. It looked so good, but then the wax just sort of wandered away from where it was supposed to be.
I was pretty bummed.
The color I dyed the gi is Dark Green PR31 purchased from Dharma Trading. The color looks great. It’s a deep, solid green that reminds me of my old ‘74 Beetle painted British Racing Green. Ultimately, I’m on the fence about whether I want to keep the design as it is, or put a patch over it. One way or the other, it’s a good gi that I intend to keep myself.
In the end, I’m pretty excited. As I said before, the wax application was tight and I’m very happy with that. And now that I know that I need to dye in cold water, I expect a really good result on my next project. I’m going to try a two color batik: the flash symbol. It’s a yellow lightning bolt on a white circle. And of course the bulk of the costume is red. So, I’ll put wax on what I want to stay white, dye it yellow, then wax on the lightning bolt, and then dye it red.
I’ve never done anything like this before, so I think I’ll start by trying to do the design on a patch. I’m confident that I can get the design clean and all of that. What’s unknown right now for me is how the red dye will react to yellow fabric. In other words, am I going to get a darker red because I’m dying on fabric that’s already yellow (which would be okay), or will it actually mix and end up orange (which would NOT be okay).
I’ll post some pics when I’m done. I have Fire Red PR10 dye already, which I think I’ll use. I ordered some Oxblood Red PR136 too. I really haven’t decided yet. Both look good, but I kind of like the name Oxblood Red. The yellow will be Bright Yellow PR2.
Our friend, Meerkatsu, over in the UK has this crazy-ass idea. Since BJJ is all about the flair, and people who train in BJJ are obviously intelligent, creative people with questionable taste, why not have a contest in which everyone submits their own crazy-ass designs? The best part is that the winner will actually get a gi in their design courtesy of Tatami Fightwear.
So far, over 100 entries have been received and more are coming all the time. So, if you haven’t already done so, check out how to enter, which couldn’t be easier. Download, print, or otherwise modify the template, and send your entry to Seymour (seymouryang at gmail dot com). For inspiration, check out the Design Your Own Crazy-Ass Gi Facebook group (and join it), and have fun. The crazier, the better.
I like to write and I’m actually pretty fair with my hands, but when you get me near a computer for art stuff, I’m very bad. With that said, below are my three submissions:
Giderhosen:
The inspiration for this one is pretty clear. Bavarian Jiu Jitsu in the house.
The Villian’s Gi:
This one’s pretty simple. Black, because someone has to be the bad guy. Target on the back because there’s always someone gunning for you.
The Butcher’s Gi:
I just thought it would be cool to have a gi inspired by the butcher’s diagrams, where you see the different cuts of meat. The thought of rolling with “Bacon” written in block letters on my stomach and “Fatback” on my back just makes me smile.
Have fun and I’ll look forward to seeing all of your designs online.
Griff asked me to dye a gi for him. Griff is a purple belt who trains up in Ballard at Ballard BJJ, a Gracie Barra affiliate run by black belt Micah Reyes. He had a white Lucky brand gi that he wanted black and, after the requisite disclaimers like, “Dude, I might really screw it up… are you okay with that?” I told him I’d take a stab at it.
I’ve been reluctant to try black for a couple of reasons. First, it’s a relatively common color for BJJ gis anyway. Second, it’s a tough color to dye. While you might think that black is just really dark gray, it’s not quite that simple. In fact, most “black” dyes are actually more of a dark blue or purple than a gray. Ultimately, my fears were justified. I’ve still got some work to do on the black. It’s not bad. In fact, I think it looks pretty cool. It’s just… not black.
The dye I used is a Procion MX Fiber Reactive dye purchased from Dharma Trading Company. Specifically, I used 8 oz of Jet Black dye (PR250), and doubled the amount of salt I used, too. Overall, I’m happy with the color in that it looks good (in my opinion), and I think it would pass muster at an IBJJF event, although I might not bet money on it. I’m not happy with the quality of the black, but that’s half the fun of this stuff for me is seeing how the different colors work out, what they do and what they look like in real life. Nothing beats experience.
The only other thing I’m not happy about is that there was something on the pants. I wash all of the gis I get with this industrial detergent, but any kind of oils, fabric softener or stains in the fabric can make it hard for the gi to take the dye. Not sure what was on the pants, but there’s just one spot. It shows up actually way better in the photo than in real life, but it’s noticeable. Overall, it’s a hand dyed gi, so some stuff like that is to be expected, but again, I’m kind of a perfectionist and it irritates me that it isn’t exactly what I wanted.
Oh, and one last thing. Griff’s a big guy. This is an A6, so… yeah… I put the top on for a few quick pictures and it’s huge on me. I didn’t even bother getting a belt out. It’s just huge.
Just really quick, met G-Stamp today. That was great.
Oh, and my temporary crown came out while rolling with Jaime. He freaked out, even after I told him that it wasn’t a real tooth. I think that’s kind of hilarious!
And I couldn’t resist ordering the new 2010 Pan Ams on DVD:
Shiny!
I was tired all day, mentally and physically. Not sure what was going on, but I woke up feeling dehydrated and hung over. And no, I didn’t tie one on last night. 
I didn’t have any gas all night, was weak and lethargic… and after 20 minutes of sparring felt nauseous. So, technically, I was really going through the motions, but I happy I did. I tapped a lot tonight and because I was so tired and blah, I figured I’d start from the worst possible position, so I just went straight to turtle with every white belt I sparred with. I figured that starting from a bad position would force me to get moving. Ultimately, it just forced me to work to not get choked!
Feeling better now, though, and looking forward to watching a little TV with my kids. I’ll be back at class on Friday.
Oh, come hell or high water, I’m going to dye a couple of gis this weekend. I’m going to dye one gi black, and another one purple. I’ll post pictures when I do.
A while back, there was a lot of discussion about rank and belts. Coming back from another bout of back suckage, I’m beginning to feel better, and sparring at closer to full speed (which for me is still pretty slow).
Sunday, I sparred almost exclusively with blue belts. I didn’t have a lot of trouble holding my own and had a lot of success working my game.
Tonight I sparred with several white belts, all of whom worked really hard. I would work slowly, move them around, let them work and tried to give them ample time to counter any submission attempts. I played a lot of catch and release, and I tried a lot of techniques I’ve never really used before.
Then I spent the last 10 minutes or so rolling with Bing, who just kicked my ass. All of the things I did for the white belts, he did for me. It was grueling, and what sucked is that he was catching me with all of the same stuff I catch white belts with. It’s always a blast rolling with Bing, but I’ll be damned if it seems like he’s always 10 steps ahead of me. Even when I try to mix up my game and work different stuff, he sees it a mile off.
All in all, it was good to roll hard, and I have to say that it makes it pretty clear to me that the belt system works. The purple and brown belts are as much better than me as I am better than the white belts. And so it goes.
On a similar note, someone made a remark about the stripes on my belt and I told him I’m very, very happy being a blue belt. That means I know some stuff, but am also expected to have gaping holes in my game.
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