Jubilation
I started hanging out with Elliott and Cat a lot lately. They amuse me in that they live together and act like an old boring married couple. I've known Elliott faintly in high school but only in the last year have I really gotten to know him much better. Cat I met last year as well seeing how she had classes with me both semesters and saved my skin numerous times in chemistry class. They're both great fun and have become great friends to me. So I had come back from hanging out with Nate and it was around the 4th of July and they had invited me over for a fondue night. I thought it was later so I arrived late and missed most of the fondue sadly...but we went and saw the fireworks at the stadium on campus and that almost made up for the fact that I didn't get to stuff myself with chocolate covered strawberries. We then drove around to find a secluded park to fire off some firecrackers and mini fireworks which was more fun. Then we drove back and I karaoke with Elliott on the drive home and impressed everyone with my encyclopedic knowledge of songs and song lyrics. On another occasion we saw the Transformers movie and it transcended awesome. I mean, come on, it's a movie about giant robots in disguise. haha.
The Boys are Back in Town
As I trod down the asphalt hill that led from the rec center back towards my apartment, I ran, or rather more appropriately, I was run into by old friend Dan Bjugstad. We small talked and exchanged numbers and to my surprise a week or so later he messaged me inviting me to a huge birthday party he was hosting. At the party, I reconnected with high school chums Brett Eicher and John Henry and their friend Sam and his sister Rachel and high school acquaintance Tana and a bunch of other drunk people who I didn't know. There was merriment, a police bust, walking, rain, and late night breakfast at Denny's. Since then, I've gotten together with them to hang out and play Clue, visit Walmart late at night, more Denny's, and see movies (the Simpsons Movie to be exact). I'm looking forward to hanging out with them more regularly.
Shakespeare in the sun
My friendship with Deena is this unique and tentative complex entity of on and off again friendship. I had been trying to convince her to hang out and visit me in Boulder and was able to finally do so by enticing her to an evening theatrical performance of Shakespeare's Midsummer Nights Dream as part of CU's annual Shakespeare festival. It was by far the most culturally diverse rendition of the play I had ever seen, not that it really mattered and what was very neat was that the play was performed outside in this almost Greek like theater (with stone benches and all). The sun was out for the first two acts and it was pretty hot that day though. We even saw Elliott and Cat, Brett and Rachel. Introduced her to the greasy but local pizza favorite that is Cosmos. We walked around campus and talked. It was good to see her again and look forward to seeing her again, though most likely that won't be till another year or so. That's sorta how our friendship works, this ebb and flow of long distance friendship (regardless of the fact that the distance is only less than two hours away), long periods of awkwardness interspersed with periods of forgiveness and renewed comfort in conversation and laughter.
Small world
While I was back home for a weekend or so, my family and I went to blockbuster one night looking for a movie to rent. While we didn't find anything rent worthy, I happened upon an old friend I hadn't seen since high school. Crouching in one of the aisle checking out a movie, I noticed and instantly recognized Jamie Leftler. The guy hasn't changed much at all it seems. It's crazy running into him because he was a guy I joked around a lot with since middle school as well. We'd play hacky sack during lunch in high school and he was one of the first friends I met in Colorado. For some reason, I didn't see him at graduation and I hadn't heard from him at all since. He told me he was attending business school at PPCC and working full time and how he really didn't know what he wanted to do in college. I gave him my number and told him to come hang out in boulder some time. haha, it always strikes me as crazy when I come across an old friend. Small world.
Getting back on the mats...
I was remiss in my martial arts training over the last year and it really didn't contribute to my success as I had hoped it would, if anything it made me realize how essential a physically active lifestyle and martial arts especially was necessary to me. Training and fighting is a way to work out stress and distract me from worries, not to mention I absolutely enjoy it and it gives me something to strive for. It's vital in my life. Anyway, Muay Thai kickboxing is a martial art I've always wanted to try out. Coming from a Taekwondo background, I was fascinated in learning another martial art that also emphasized kicking, not to mention I had heard that the conditioning of Muay Thai fighters is some of the best in the world. I took a class offered by the CU Rec center, which was a good introduction to the art but it was essentially a class of conditioning and bag work. We would never spar or do much more than bag work. Not that that's a bad thing but I was ready to take my training up a notch. So this year, I looked around and tried to find a boxing or kickboxing gym to train at. I settled on Easton's Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, which is conveniently close by. It's a BJJ school first and foremost and the Muay Thai program there is new and seems to have been added by demand from the BJJ students, since it looks like a lot of the students started as BJJ students there. Fortunately the program is being headed up by UFC veteran and K1 champion Duane "Bang" Ludwig. So, I took a free class/orientation class at the school Wednesday. I wasn't the only one there that day either, also taking the orientation was this beautiful girl about my age. I forced myself not to be shy and introduced myself and learned her name was Lauren and that she had done a some training in Durango back home. I even teamed up with her for pad work during the class and I have to admit that I was really impressed with her ability; she had a hell of a kick. I decided to sign up (not because of Lauren but because of the training opportunity, honest!) and will be training there for the next six months. I'm psyched and excited and looking forward to it all. My goal is to have an amateur fight by the end of the school year if possible.
Olympic Taekwondo
One of the advantages of living in Colorado Springs is the fact that there's an Olympic Training Center in town. Every now and then, they'll hold events for olympic qualifiers and such and I had gotten the chance a few years back to see the Olympic Taekwondo team qualifiers. With the Olympics nearing, it was time once again for the TKD Olympic team qualifiers and for two days I got the opportunity to observe Olympic level Taekwondo competition first hand. I got to see two time gold medalist Steven Lopez fight and saw silver medalist Nia Abdullah fight along with many other equally competitive Taekwondo fighters fight. It was absolutely incredibly; I had never seen the crowd (made up of other TKD fighters and team mates) get so into a TKD tournament and couldn't help myself from getting into the matches with my own cheers and jeers from time to time. It was an absolute blast to get to see such great Taekwondo first hand and it really got me pumped and excited for the TKD club to start up again and so I can start competing and fighting again. I love this sport, it is a real passion for me and seeing high level competition sets a goal for me to strive for. I want to be a great fighter like those guys, it's something to train for.
Well, the fight continues...
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