VFF

"I feel the earth move under my feet . . ."
Carol King
Like this . . . www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoHuxpa4h48&feature=related

Saturday, into sf for MH 9:30.  I am gonna do doubles on all chaturangas which goes well, but I am weak in side plank on left which is unusual and clearly a result of kbells 14 hours before and extreme heat.  Ten minutes left in class MH calls me out for sweating:  "we are going to have to burn that mat; that is just nasty."  Love you too bro.
Driving along MG, the bay is flat, there is no wind to speak of and sailboats are motoring wistfully.  As always, I think about living on kia ora twenty one years ago and how I am sorry I ever got off and how much I need to get back on. 
On way back up I just gotta stop in to Arch Rival, I need shoes and it's stupid to buy anything else and I can't wait any longer for CS to stop being a dick.  They have kso's that'll fit, though the gray and pea green is an ugly color on my wide dwarvish foot.  No sprints, next pair.  I do so some step back lunges to the amusement of the store crowd and am sold.  Wanna do inaugural walk in marsh, but it is so hot.  Run around buying shit and nap late instead of walking Rose who looks at me like the traitor I am, ball play.  Gee thanks.
Sunday, in the marsh by 7:45 am and I am lovin' the vff after about two steps.  Gorgeous morning, not too hot yet and the birds are not yet hunkered down and are loud.  We meet only a few other walkers and the all have labs, yes don't we all love our dogs so and aren't we smart people for having friends give us a good breed for the dog we did not want.
Evening after Rose bathes and after Brigid's 1500 calorie ham and cheese settles in it is time to bring it:
10+10 step back lunges, 20kg
warm up presses, then 1-3 28kg ladders, both sides.
5+5 sls
10+10 28kg rows
3x
30/30 20 28kg swings to 1+1 28kg tgu x10.  That swing/tgu fest takes a solid 35 minutes  Only way it feels lighter is to swing heavier and it's time.
This morning on elliptical quick 20 minutes to get some steady cardio in; JH comes up, she has just come from a clinic with Valery Federenko and is pretty pumped and wants to do a session with me and her much younger client to practice all the stuff she learned.  Her enthusiasm is genuine and in three years she has never pitched me, so you bet.  She looks like barbed wire, graceful barbed wire; an extreme level of fitness reserved for those under 30 and she has years to go.  I want Brigid to see these young women, she could be there.
Late pm, Pradeep class.  He makes me better.  He has my hand on foot in reverse triangle, all the way up in wheel.  I am what I think is laid out in triangle, he comes by and pulls another inch out of my arm and works a ever so slight kink out of the front leg.  A pro.
Stay in shorts and workout gear for the 7:20 boat, down Market in the vff; nice look counselor. 
Awesome, one more foot song, blows Carol out of the water . . . turn it UP. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZEMmewFj6k&feature=related

Gummi Bear

"Women and cats will do as they please and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea."
Robert A. Heinlein

Good news for Gummi Bear yesterday.  Turns out the hacking cough that wakes Rose and I at 4:00 a.m. and causes Rose to gaze at me even more dolefully than usual is not caused by a tumor.  It is not the product of a cancerous mass pressing on Gummi Bear's trachea.  Had it been, it would have meant down with a lethal dose, rather than up for adoption, the latter a likely end since Gummi Bear is otherwise cute and eager and will make some housebound soul a fine, if larcenous, companion.
Gummi Bear is the default name for the dog I wanted to name macebell after it, and not a macebell, showed up on my 51st birthday.  I did not really expect a macebell.  Nor did I expect (another sign I have learned nothing in the past 20 years) an old stray dog with rotten teeth which C picked up off the street.  The dog was taken to the Marin Humane society the next day, where they promptly shaved it and pulled all its teeth, save the two front lower.  The stray dog has spent the last month trying to figure out how to arrange its lips when it shuts its mouth, which is not often as it barks and howls a lot.  It is silent only when asleep or when sneaking around on the table stealing food, at which it is adept.  Since it has not settled on a consistent lie for its lips over the recently toothless gums, Gummi's countenance is random collection of odd cheerful sneers accompanied by a constantly wagging tail.

But we are quite happy for Gummi Bear.  Yesterday afternoon, Brigid and I were discussing what we would do if the hack was caused by a cancerous mass.  We both reached the same conclusion quickly: the dog goes down, stat.  Her saying, "Dad, I don't want to live with that dog waiting for it to die."  Read:  "Father, could you please intercede and get that dog out of here so the kitchen and family room are NOT turned into some drama filled canine death row.  Would you please just man the fuck up ?"
I have been promised Gummi Bear's happy departure by Tuesday.  Stay tuned, or don't.

Saturday, three mile marsh walk in the am.  PM like,
15/15 Max V02, 16kg, 7 rep pace, x 50.
Sunday, walk, then into sf for ct class.  She calls out 50 swings to start and I pretty much immediately rip callouses on both hands after prior day's snatch fest.  We do a lot of non-swing work which is a relief and we hit floor presses which are good, she presses me to the 28 which is great and all in all it is a good time notwithstanding the fact that I can't grip a bell for shit.  It'll be the last class for three weeks and I already know I'll miss ct's genial drill instructor style and fine mix of micro and macro movement and considerable raw intelligence.
Monday, smoking Pradeep class late, waiting in the absurdly long line to start he clasps my hand warmly and expresses his sincere thanks for me coming to his class.  Namaste, to you too my friend.
Tuesday, hit gym late.
5 burpees to double 24kg suitcase deads, three pushups each
10 24kg GS
Presses,
5+5 16kg, 3+3 24kg. 1+1x2 32kg
5+5 single leg deads 24kg to 8 double 32 sumo deads
3x
TRX to let hands heal, 10 row to 10w to 10+10 low to high woodchoppers
3x
Wednesday, 4 miles

Thursday, three mile marsh walk with Rose and Brigid.  Day spent in divorce court where very stupid lawyer spends five hours trying to elicit privileged testimony from my lawyer client.  98% of my objections were sustained and the first dumb question after lunch has me bitching to the judge who admonishes counsel to get on with it and stop wasting everyone's time.  Counsel only spends two hours after that, much of which is consumed by the judge's academic soliloquies on why he is in fact going to sustain my objections.  Respondent's counsel and I are incredulous; this is Alice in Wonderland, never has anyone consumed so much time just to agree with me upon the obvious.  We finally escape at 3:30, five monosyllabic answers in hours on the stand.  I stagger in at 4:30, pleased that I'll get a Rose walk in before running off to Ian's BTS.  The kitchen looks like a bomb went off, no one has rinsed or put away a dish in 24 hours and I nearly blow a fucking gasket.  Brigid quickly volunteers to come with me and clean up after and we adjourn to the calming influence of marsh and retriever and make our pact re Gummi Bear's fate should the news be bad.
Today.  Marin Superior all morning, then to wf and Traders Joe's parking lot working and wrapping up week.
It's fucking hot in Novato.  Indian Summer here is not like sf; it is not a time for hanging on Baker beach or Crissy field or Bean Hollow south; it is just plain hot.  I wait until the backyard is out of direct sun and try to hit it.  Goes hard like this:
20/20 x 8, 10 pushup pace
20 tactical lunges, 20kg
1-5+1-5 press ladders, 24kg
10 bootstrap squats, 20kg
3x, save just 10 push-ups circuits 2,3 to get to 100.  This is harder than I expected, the weather enervating and have not eaten or drank enough.  Grind through and press sets get better.
30/30 20 24 kg swings x 10 to finish.

I bbq steak late.  Family (sort of) dinner and I take Ian to do night marsh walk.  Conspiring with Brigid, she hides in back cause he won't go if she will; he is surprised when she pops up and quickly clearly he could care less.  We spill into the marsh at 9:45 under a bright moon.  Ian is shining, listening to Tales From a Topographic Ocean and chattering on.  Rose races in and out of eye and earshot overjoyed at her good fortune.  Brigid quiet, tired, along for the trip.  It is a beautiful night; this is as good as it gets and could not love it more.

Very dangerous over short distances . . .

""I want to get back to basics, I want to play saxophone. I've started to love playing straight-ahead again" 
 Sadao Watanabe, 2007 interview

As he did last night at Yoshi's.  They should have billed it Sadao and his three Ninja Assassins.  Sadao up there with three guys less than half his age, killing it.  Danny Grissett, piano.  Johnathan Blake, drums.  Ben Williams, bass.  Huge musical talents just laying it out there, straight ahead no frills.  Again, no dumbing it down for the audience .  No smooth jazz.  It's ok to play two ballads in a row.  Sadao a gracious gracious man letting all that young talent just stretch it out.  Ben Williams, a kid in dreadlocks suit and tie driving the bottom.  Grissett pouring out notes and holding it down with his left hand.  Blake shifting from sticks to brushes, so laying so far back on the ballads you thought he was gonna drop the beat but always there at just the last millisecond.
The room was maybe 2/3 full, as one guy in front of me said, "well I came to see McCoy Tyner, but I guess that's next week."  Hope he was not disappointed.

Saturday
Yoga, then 12:30 ct class.  She focuses a lot on joint mobility and form, not a blazing workout which was a welcome relief after pretty athletic MH class.  Remedial swing clinic for some class members turns into great tip for swing work later in week.
Sunday, three mile marsh walk with Ian and 5 and his pack and we go to Finnegan's watch in awe as Ian slams a triple cheese burger.  Opening day of NFL and Raiders and Niners suck.  Badly.
Monday.  Busy in office, rush home cause their mother will be late and head out back like so:
ankle tilts and circles
5+5 x 2 pushups to 20 kg renegade rows
10 suitcase deads, 28 and 32
press ladder 5+5 16 up to 1+1 32.  Last circuit triple on the 28 both sides and double on 32 right, three tries to get a rep out on 32 left.  Patience.
10 24 kg goblet squats
3x
Go heavy or go home swing work. 15/15 ten reps x 10 32 then straight into 28.  13,200 pounds swung in ten minutes, fucking gassed halfway through 28's but just grind it out.  Oh yeah.
Tuesday, busy, 2.6 miles at the end.  That's all.
Wednesday, squeeze in three miles am, then 5:15 MH, good class flanked by lovelies.  I'm old, not dead.
Thursday, late pm:
pushups, 20/20 8x10, 80 in five minutes
Double 16kg squat to press
10+10 rows, 60lb dumbell
5+5 slsx2, second with 12kg bu
3x, ten really slow five count pushup circuits 2,3 to bring total to 100

30/30 24kg swings, 20x10 1+1 24kg tgu for active rest.  Focus on simultaneous knee bend and hip snap results in uber ballistic swings, clamp abs and lats down keeping it low.  Smoking swing work out.

Humming, incoming from vk about sk's half ironman.  Good for him; Gimli here would die on the run.
Today,
into marsh with Rose by 7:20, three miles.  Scramble all day, will be busy weekend.

Pradeep class, 4:30-5:30, yes, you have all you need.

Brigid comes in on the ferry so we can meet and head up to Yoshi's.  I meet her out front and she immediately starts in on the horrific car accident in Novato.  11:50 am, five high school kids in a bmw 7 series, beer and liquor in car driving at high speed lose control and slam into cattle truck, killing one, severely injuring two.   Driver, minor injuries, arrested in hospital for DUI.  Medivac helicopters over her school for lunchtime.

It is the parents' fault.  What kind of parent hands the keys to a $70,000 high performance sports sedan to their high school age kid ?  The same kind of parent who is either blind to, or unable to effectively deal with, the fact that their kid is so devoid of judgment that they are drinking before noon and joyriding with their friends with utterly predictable results.  I can't but help but launch into lecture mode with Brigid, "don't get in the car,"  "tell them to let you out, I will come get you wherever you are"  She is already there.
She has no problems with lecture tone, is silent for a minute and I feel bad about dimming Sadao's glow, but am pretty upset about the picture of her in class a quarter mile away from kids being air listed to trauma centers in Santa Rosa.  She brings it back, says:  "Dad, let's stop and buy Junior Mints and watch Firefly when we get home."  You got it babe, who could say no.  Be another ten sets of snatches tomorrow, but that's just fine.

No Fear

"We are going to let the musicians stretch out; in fact, we are going to require it.
We hear a lot of don't's.  Don't play so fast.  Don't play too many notes, too many changes.  Don't leave out the hook.
And all that comes from a place of fear.  Fear of no commercial success.  Fear that the kids will cover their ears; fear that the old folks will hate it.  Fear that all the hot chicks will move on to the next club.  Tonight we come to you from a place of no fear.  This is music musicians want to play."
Stanley Jordan, rap to intro "Return Voyage", Yoshi's SF, 9/6, 8.

The consistent takeaway from the world class musicians I've had the complete pleasure of meeting in the last three months is their need to play to the audience.  To dumb it down.  To satisfy the perceived desires of the mainstream with smooth jazz pablum.  Heard it from drummers, guitarists, pianists.  Monster musicians frustrated beyond words; the talent is better than it ever was.  The skill level is on par with elite athletes, the training and prep.  But the audience ain't there.  As one of the finest jazz pianists on the planet said to me:  "I like to play it rough; my jazz is lumpy.  But that's not what they come to hear."
Stanley blew that out of the water.  The man breathes and must bleed music.  Screams genius.  And the audience responded.  The others need to have more faith.  Our elected officials should be so audacious.

Been a while and I can't remember what the fuck I've done; I do know I have not lightened up.
8/30, four miles
8/31, mh stiff guy, three in am
9/1, kettlebell workout I don't remember, something too like what was done before and again after.
9/2, EH class
9/3, do remember this:
15 pushups, hands on med balls, feet elevated
10 squat to press, 80lb barbell
5+5 sls, bw, then 12kg bu
20 walking lunges, 35lb dumbbells in each
3x
20 24kg swings, 1+1 24kg tgu, x 10.
Home to ball play, scotch and streaming Bonnaroo per the above in honor of Labor day kickoff.  No, my calves are not fat, I have no cankles.  That is relaxed muscle and I will kick your fucking ass.
Sunday, three mile dog walk with 5.
Monday, three mile dog walk.
Into sf, drop Ian for movie, hit MG as follows:
10 knee ups
Press work,
5+5 16, 4+4 20, 3+3 24, 2+2 28, 1+1 32.  Killing all, both sides.
10 24 kg goblet squats
10+10, 28kg rows
3x, except third circuit 3+3 on the 28, and three singles each side for 32, very strong
20 28kg swings, 1+1 24kg x7, then 20x3 swings with brief rest each 20
Collect Ian and go have Stanley blow our minds, ask if he will do Wednesday if I can make it happen; he is right there.
Tuesday, mh noon class, rest is all court and work.  Walk in and Ian immediately says "you could not get tickets for tomorrow ?"  What have I done that he anticipates disappointment ?  I say no, we are doing it, he grins broadly, then catches himself.
Wednesday, three miles am.
PM:
20/20 10 pushups x 8
10 24kg gs
5 double 16 mp, 5 double 24kg mp
20 walking lunges, two 35lb
x3, 'cept ten pushups 2/3 to get to 100

15/15 snatches, 7 rep pace, x 40.

Thursday am, ct sends out group email calling me out for birthday festivities, yes I'll be your show dog pimp, not that I'm easy, it's just that you rock.
Late pm, client I have not heard from in months calls a 2:45, flipping.  Multiple six figures pulled from accounts by angry spouse.  Conflicted out, she calls yours truly because: "you're the nastiest, smartest lawyer I know."  Moi ?, why thank you, you don't get it, but thank you.  Talk her off the ledge, hit EH at 4:30.
Her class is a revelation.  Client parked in back of head.  EH just making us bring it.  Standing series toward end, cover of Comfortably Numb.  I am nearly bawling after a good week with Ian and she drops us into pidgeon during Trapeze Swinger and I am just gone, gone, gone.  I am sweating way too hard for her to rub the back of my neck, she does it with her voice.
Yanked back after, walking down Pine to ferry, client still flipping.  Texts/calls until 9:30, just listen and guide gently, there but for the grace of god go I.  No, you do not need a terrorist; you need someone who will tell you what you do not want to hear.
This morning, start of one of the more professionally satisfying days in memory.  Juggling SM duties, client freaking and demand letter fucking adroitly if I do say so myself.  By the end of the day, good report to judge re SM duties, client is thrilled with referral, off the ledge and talking.  Emails in pm setting up the week ahead, go in for 5:30 Pradeep class, he is scratched off for a sub.  Fuck it, its a rest day.  Home and my totally rocking daughter has dinner made.  Throw the ball for the dog, do not to feel self-satisfied, this bliss is temporary.  But looking forward to tomorrow and beyond.  Yee fucking ha.