The muscles in my torso and back are sore today. Yesterday’s class was centered around groundfighting and defending against situations where one is pinned against a wall. Fairly easy to get around. Our practice man is a really nice guy named Mike, probably weighs around 250. It’s so hard for people to get used to this fact, but body mechanics and balance are truly the keys to self-defense. My favorite trick yesterday was grabbing onto the sleeves of the attacker as they tried to tackle me, slipping myself down to the floor between their legs and easily tossing their whole body over my head. I did this to Mike a couple times, and he is twice my weight.

It was a good weekend, even if I’m sore now from training. Had brunch with Robyn this morning, came home and napped on the couch. Last night Brian and I took his roommate to dinner and a movie for his birthday. We saw Bubba Ho-Tep. It’s pretty much a classic of the B-movie genre. Don’t go looking for anything more — accept it as a campy soon-to-be cult classic.

I took Simon to the vet yesterday after training. He has a sore shoulder muscle and I just wanted to get him examined and weighed and vaccinated anyway, since it had been a while. He was quite troubled by the experience of course, as was my checking account. It’s worth it for my l’il buddy. Who weighs nearly nineteen pounds.

He’s not all fat though; not one of those feline footballs. He’s 35 inches long from nose to tail-tip and 13 inches tall from shoulder to front foot. He’s my tiger.

Speaking of tigers, next Saturday Brian and I are going to circus school with all the other ninjas. We’ll get to learn to juggle and bounce on trampolines. Who knows how my fear of heights will fare…