Tearing out old mats and installing new ones is a pretty fun way to spend a St. Patrick's Day! Our dojo has been needing to replace our worn out mats, and we managed to get a deal to buy some at a third of the cost, so we were able to do a full replacement. We had a human conveyor belt of about twenty people to bring the mats in today, and I was closest to the truck, so I had to lift one hundred mat sections over my head, which was quite a workout!
As soon as the last section of mat was in place, a Jiu-Jitsu free-for-all broke out, with about seven of us hitting the mat and grappling! I jumped guard on Martínez, and if I had not been wearing jeans I'm pretty sure I would have submitted him, but The Latin Thug tapped me with an ankle lock. Conan had Fuji in knee on belly, then Mike jumped in and heel hooked Fuji, causing Fuji to exclaim "Who?! What?!".
Unbeknownst to me at the time, the entire episode was being captured on video, and when I watched it I thought "I don't remember a leprechaun being there.", but then I realized it was ME! With my bright green shirt and red hair, I looked like a wee lass being crushed by a hairy beast when I was grappling with Martínez! My shirt said "Don't worry, I'm just going to choke you.", and Martínez said I should amend it to say "Don't worry, I'm just going to
try to choke you." That cut me, it cut me deep, bro. Someday I will make you choke on those words!
The best part about having new mats (besides having new mats) is that I am going to be able to buy a few intact sections of the old ones, which means that I am
finally going to have a mat in my house! We're going to clear out the office, leaving nothing but the mat and computer, so I will have a mat directly behind where I am now sitting. I will even be able to watch videos from the mat! Oh, the luck o' the Irish!
