I ashamed to say that I've been neglecting my blog over the past year. The reason stems from a mix of laziness and the fact that I've been very busy. Ok, who am I kidding? I am lazy.
Things have been going good lately. I was recently admitted to graduate school for speech-language pathology in San Marcos! I was also admitted to a school in Portland, but decided to stay in Texas.
I've been under immense stress and pressure over the last year and a half taking prerequisite courses and applying to graduate schools. Admission to SLP graduate school is highly competitive and difficult, and I'm very happy that all my hard work paid off.
A map of the auditory pathway I made for my Anatomy of Speech/Hearing mechanism class
I've still been training hard and during this whole time BJJ was the one place I could go to forget all my stress and worries.
I did my first competition here in the States a couple of months ago. I placed first at the IBJJF Houston Open Master's I division. Nobody was in my division, so I moved up to featherweight.
I had two matches and won both by leglock!!
This was my first time competing at an IBJJF tournament, and also my first time competing in the Master's division. In Korea and France nobody really told me what was going on when we would go to tournaments. It would drive me crazy. Overall, I would say it was a good experience, and I felt like the tournament was run very well.
This was my first tournament at brown belt and was very important. At times confidence has been a major issue for me. It felt amazing to win and prove to myself that I belong at my level. In the process I also learned some things about my game that I need to work on.
Another cool thing was "Franjinha" came down to Texas to compete in the tournament and support the Paragon guys here in Texas. He's come to Austin before, and I've had the chance to sit down and talk to him. He's a really nice dude. Easy to talk to and down to Earth.
“Hello, dear viewers and welcome to the amazing and exotic world of leg
locks. I am your host, Jean Cousteau. I will be your guide and companion, and
together we will explore places beyond your wildest imagination”.
Today on the show, we have Paragon brown belt C.J. Ortega. Captain Ortega has devoted his life to the study of the kneebar in its natural habitat and is an expert in the field. This particular species of the kneebar genus originates from half guard. It is a truly terrifying creature. Few have encountered this beast and lived to tell the tale....
C.J. Ortega
Kneebar from halfguard
“Make sure to tune in next time for more adventure. Thank you
dear viewers, and until next time, I bid thee a wonderful evening”.
“Hello, dear viewers and welcome to the amazing and exotic world of leg
locks. I am your host, Jean Cousteau. I will be your guide and companion, and
together we will explore places beyond your wildest imagination”.
Today, I did a free seminar with Dean Lister! Needless to say, he's one of my grappling idols. I learned a couple of new things that I will be using for sure. In particular, the unorthodox way he uses the inside hooking leg when he goes for ankle locks. Dean even showed me a way to make the ligaments in my ankles stronger. Thanks, guy. Dean also gave out some cool t-shirts:
I have a video that I'm going to put up of an funny story Dean told. I just need to edit the video, so that it's just the story and not the technique portion. In the meantime, enjoy this picture of Dean in all his glory my frens'.
The Boogeyman
“Make sure to tune in next time for more adventure. Thank you
dear viewers, and until next time, I bid thee a wonderful evening”.
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블랙맘바의 브랜드 네임은 강한 진화력을 가진 파충류의 특징을 따,
모든곳에 다양한 모습으로 존재하는 각자와 그들의 라이프스타일을 존중하고 거칠고 부드러움을 떠난 본연의 강인함이 모티브가 됩니다.
블랙맘바는 국내 공정으로 이뤄지는 100% Domestic Brand로 블랙맘바만의 감성을 담은 디자인과
개개인의 아이덴티티에 무게를 두는 다양성을 가지고 블랙맘바를 아껴주시는 분들에게 좋은 옷을 드리기 위해 끊임없이 노력합니다.
매시즌 입체화된 패턴과 원단 공정을 통해 질 좋은 상품을 생산하고 고객들이 만족할 수 있는 상품을 만드는것에 집착합니다.
블랙맘바는 열정으로 이뤄지는 모든 문화에 관심을 가지고 있으며 순수한 활동을 통한 문화와 예술의 발전을 응원합니다.
국내 문화를 이끌어가는 다양한 층을 존경하고 그런 개인이나 단체를 조명해 삶의 가치와 열정을 전달하는 브랜드가 되겠습니다.
브랜드 자부심과 비전을 결합한 디자인으로, 상품이라는 개념에서 벗어나, 가치에 다가가는
열정의 팬이자 친구, 멘토같은 브랜드가 될 것입니다.
My second training session at my new gym Paragon BJJ Austin (11:30-1:00 session-Jeff Rockwell's class)
The culture shock of coming back to the U.S.A. after almost six years overseas has been enormous. It was surreal getting off the plane and coming back to America. Everywhere I went, it felt like I was dreaming. I could actually understand everyone even though things felt weird and out of place.
Suddenly the littlest things were suddenly a big deal. For example, my wife and I drove from Dallas back home to Austin and we were actually nervous having to order food at a sandwich shop. We also fought over who was going to go inside a convenience store and buy gas since we were both too scared to do it.
I know what you're thinking. What the hell is this guy's problem? Is he for real? Well, I've done these thing a million times before, but it had been forever since I had to converse with someone in English in a real world setting and interact with another individual from my own cultural background. I'd been use to trying to converse in broken French and Korean for the last six years.
Things have gotten better but I still feel myself wanting to do things like address people in Korean and bow. It's been hard to try and change a lot of my behavior to fit in with the social norms here in the U.S. Slowly but surely it's coming along even though I probably still do things that people find odd.
Anyway, things have been hectic for me lately. I was recently re-admitted to the University of Texas at Austin where I did my undergraduate studies. Then I had to apply to the School of Communications for acceptance to take the leveling courses necessary to gain entry into the master's program for communication sciences and disorders (I want to be a speech-language pathologist).
I was admitted and am now officially a communications student! I rule. Being back a UT is awesome and the change from being a teacher to a student is refreshing to say the least. The campus is beautiful and just one of the many perks of being a student at UT.
Charles Whitman shot and killed fourteen people from this tower in 1966
My favorite place to study, the UT architecture library
What does this fountain have to do with BJJ? Nothing I just like it.
We are fortunate enough to have a BJJ club on campus as well! It's mostly made up of beginners but there are some experienced guys at the club as well. It's a great little club and everyone there is positive and enthusiastic about learning jiu-jitsu.
The best part of the club is the instructor Mike Harmon. I've been a student of Mike's for about two and a half months now, and I have to say he's an wonderful teacher and a super cool guy. He also happens to be a badass, and won the IBJJF No Gi Worlds at brown belt in 2012.
Glam Shot
Mike is actually the first black belt my size that I've ever had the opportunity to roll with. For me, every time I have the chance roll with him it's a real pleasure since we are about the same size and he has the skill set to push me physically and technically which is something that I really need. He is better than me (duh, he's a black belt) which can only make me better by rolling with him.
The University of Texas BJJ club is located on campus in Belmont on the ninth floor. The club is open to everyone, not just UT students. Moday is gi 6 p.m.-8 p.m., Wednesday is no gi 6 p.m.-8 p.m., and Friday there is an open mat at 3:00-5:00 p.m. If anyone is interested in training at our club here is the link to the website or you can contact me: http://www.txbjj.org/
Belmont
UT BJJ club, first class of the Spring 2014 session
Lastly, I finally found a gym to train at and call home. My team is now Paragon BJJ Austin. I can't say enough good things about this place. The level of the students is very, very good and everyone I've met has been welcoming and friendly.
Actually, one of the main reasons I joined Paragon (besides the things I already mentioned) is that Mike Harmon and Jeff Rockwell both teach there and the owner Robert Dembeck is a really cool guy and awesome training partner who happens to be an awesome brown belt.
Rob and I, He is "gyopo" so my instructor in Korea approves of him....ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
First, I want to talk about Jeff Rockwell. I first met Jeff at the university club. He's one hell of an instructor (one of the best I've had the pleasure of learning from) and hands out ass whippings like nobody's business. He has a nasty crucifix and when I roll with him I just think about trying to survive. He also seems to like Prince and has a laid back teaching style, so he is officially in my cool book.
Jeff doing what he does best: Beating dat' ass
The other instructor Jose Portillo is also a very accomplished competitor and someone who kicks my butt on a regular basis. I've already learned some really good stuff from Jose and his technical knowledge is incredible. I really enjoy his teaching style as well, and he has the habit of ending his sentences with "ok" when he is instructing which I find amusing.
Jose Portillo-2012 Houston Grand Prix (brown belt final)
Now on to the most important piece of information. My cat Iyagi 이야기 is liking America, but he still thinks Korea is better. He's now an honorary Texan and has taking a liking to Lone Star beer in an attempt to fit in with the locals. Peace.
