“Naga… Naga… Not gonna work her anymore, anyway.”

Remember that scene in the movie Office Space where Bob Porter and Bob Slydell, {“the Bob’s”}, come in to “make some room for entry-level graduates and farm out some work to Singapore”? Well in the movie Peter Gibbons, {played by Ron Livingston}, goes in to talk to “the Bob’s” when he discovers that they are planning on firing his 2 works colleagues Michael Bolton and Samir Nagheenanajar. Bob Porter tries to pronounce Samir’s last name and ends up saying the below quote.

“We're gonna be getting rid of these people here... First, Mr. Samir Naga... Naga... Naga... Not gonna work here anymore, anyway.” Then “the Bob’s”, {and me}, erupt in laughter. I love this movie. But this movie is not the reason for this post, {though I could write an entire post about this epic piece of what my friend Sarah calls “fart humor”. Whatever. It’s a great movie and if you haven’t laughed your arce off lately you should rent this movie! I digress, moving on.

Last Saturday Griff went with some of his training partners to Dallas for the North American Grappling Association Southwest Championship, or NAGA. {see the correlation between the abbreviation and the above quote about our friend Samir?}.

North American Grappling Association is one of the largest grappling tournaments held in the United States. This tournament was a qualifier held in Dallas for the Championship later on in the year. Needless to say Griff was in his element. He loved it. So much so that he has decided to compete in the upcoming Gracie Cup in San Antonio on October 30th. I am super proud of him and can’t wait to watch my man in action! Hieeeeeeeeeeee-ya!

One of Griff’s training partners Bill won gold in the 160 lbs. Gi Division defeating a Judo black belt with a arm bar. He also competed in the No Gi Division and won silver.

Another of Griff’s training partners Kat, won silver in Gi Division and bronze in No Gi Division . Don’t mess with this chick boy, cause she’ll have your ass! {She’s the one wearing the blue gi in the picture on the left and the one wearing the white shirt in the picture on the right.}

Griff with some of his training partners, John, Kat, and Bill. {Look at the size of Bill’s belt! Whoa!}

They left super early that day and got home pretty late but they all had a blast!

If Griff were to wear eye shadow…

So last night Griff comes home from jiu-jitsu and tells me that while sparring he decided to block an accidental head butt with his FACE! Yup, just over his left eye, {where one would normally apply eye shadow}, there was a good size bump forming and that area was a lovely shade of blue. Which made me think of Mimi From the Drew Carry Show.

Here is a simple math equation… Griff + Jiu-Jistu + Sparring = purple eyes shadow the following morning. Below is a picture he took at work this morning. Last night his eye was blue. This morning his eye is purple.

I think purple is a nice shade for him…the color really brings out his green eyes. Uh oh, I better start hiding my makeup.

Judo at the Dojo.

So a while back while Griff was Jiu-Jitsu, {JJ}, class, he and a couple other guys were asked if they would like to go to San Antonio for a personal lesson from Pedro Alberto. Pedro is a 4th Degree Black Belt in JJ and owns schools in Rio Brazil, San Antonio, and Houston. Pedro was in town from Brazil visiting one of his schools and this was a golden opportunity. Now I don’t claim to know everything about Martial Arts but apparently this guy is tha Sh!t.

On the drive to S.A. Griff sends me a text message letting me know that they are going to this guys house where he has his own dojo. His own dojo… in his house! To say Griff was excited is an understatement! He was THRILLED!!! They spent 3 1/2 hours working technique and sparring. After, they all sat down on the tatami, {mat}, and had lunch exchanging stories and laughing. What an awesome experience!

Here is a picture from that amazing day!

I live with The Karate Kid.

I do have fond memories of the original movie The Karate Kid but when you live with Daniel Son it’s a little different. Like when he asks me to do things like “paint the fence” or “wax on, wax off”. I know he’s glad he doesn’t have to listen to Mr. Miyagi anymore and he finally gets to tell someone else to do these things, but come on! OK, all jokes aside. I don’t really get told these things but I do live with the Karate Kid.

Griff got his blue belt in Brazilian Ju Jitzu!! I am so proud of him! A blue belt can take anywhere from 6 months to 4 years to achieve, depending on athletic ability, with the norm being 2 years. Griff got his in only 16 months! And he achieved this all while recovering from his 2nd shoulder surgery! He is well on his way to reaching his goal of holding a black belt in 3 different martial arts! You don’t want to meet him in a dark alley, he might just "sweep the leg Johnny!".