6:30p to 8:30p

6:30 to 7p: Stretched and did some core warm up. Also watched the last bit of MMA class. Pretty intense. This guy was there (blue belt). So was this guy (purple belt). Couple others I didn't recognize, but they were pretty good. If I ever get the bug to cross-train MMA, someone stop me... I'd get crushed.

7p to 8:30p: Open mat. It's a holiday, so tonight's class was pretty informal. First roll was with a 30-yr old three-stripe white belt. He was probably an inch taller than me and 10lbs or so lighter. This guy is good. He's better than most blue belts I've rolled with. My guess is he's not a blue belt because he hasn't been at a single school long enough to be properly evaluated. Soo... he arm barred me a few times. I like rolling with him. He's smart, fast, strong, confident, and I'm always in survival mode.

Second roll was with a newly minted blue belt. Not the one I rolled with on Thursday, but the other one. He spent a couple minutes trying to break and pass my guard. Before long we were in stand up. Messed around with different grips, but I ended up making a move before I had any control and he got my back. I immediately went into back survival posture. The rest of the roll is hazy. I think time ran out.

Next I worked with a blue belt on sweep defense. He tried to sweep me while I was in his guard. I tried to defend and pass guard if I had an opening. We did this for about 10 minutes. He said I had some good defense, but pointed out a few posture mistakes that if I can correct would really tie it down.

Third roll was with one of the instructors (brown belt). He was clearly going easy on me and letting me work, but I passed guard a number of times only to have him escape and recover guard very quickly. He seemed to be able to make space and insert the knee at will. But overall it was a good roll. He said, "You're pretty good for a white belt" and that I had some good movement and seemed to have the basics down. I'll take that.

Last roll was with a blue belt I'd never met before. He was a shorter, but big barrel chested guy. He started in my guard. As soon as we shook hands he went into overdrive. Passed my guard right away and proceeded to mount in 10 secs or so. He racked me pretty good and extended his body. My neck cracked down the middle of my back. I tapped. Had no idea what hit me. Neck got stiff right away. I took a couple minutes to stretch and thankfully it loosened up. We didn't roll anymore, but I continued to work on surviving his very aggressive guard passes. Then I tried to pass his guard with varying degrees of success. Enough was enough. Time to call it quits.