WORLD OF RAWR

Things have been wild lately, but taking things back a month or two, at the tail end of a family vacation, I went up to Atlanta and meet some friends for a trip to Chicago.

There were a few contacts here and there, but I was with my friends most of the time and so free moments were limited. I wish I had the time to catch Coleman on this trip, but it was not to be. That just leaves me something to look forward to. I did, however, get to meet this guy which ended up being a fun match the day before I went home.

Since then, I've been visited by a few people: like this guy, this guy , and this guy. Each of those matches have been splendid. I'm about to meet Marc today. It's been a wonderful whirlwind of people just passing through, so I'm going for everything I can catch and enjoying.

I hope you're all doing the same.

Now let me get myself out of here and to a cup of coffee.

o/

I finally got to meet up with this guy this week and it was lovely.

He happened to be in town and hit me up on the way in. We met at my place on Tuesday night,, got somewhat acquainted with each other and got into the roll. First thing: you have to pay attention to everything he does. Otherwise, you'll end up in a triangle or some other thing he just manages to sneak in on you somehow. I avoided most things at the last minute, but he did get a tap or two. Dude had skills. After about two hours of that, he went on his way for the night and we're already planning what to do when he's up here again now that we're more comfortable with each other.

And this is what we all came here for.

That said, one thing that came up - and often does - was the fact that I look either super zen or just "bored" when wrestling. The thing is, for me, wrestling is a rare experience in that it almost entirely clears my mind. There's just you, your opponent, and thinking about what movement they are making or might make.

I get wrapped up in that and its... well... peaceful for me. The feeling and the experience is just something I quietly enjoy.

That aside, I don't wear my excitement on my sleeve until I'm in the thick of things per my nature.

More matches, please.

I wonder how one goes about finding out if people on his cruise wants to roll. It's been a long summer with lots of activity, but not much in terms of the wrestling. I'm starting to cook up some things that may be exciting, but if it weren't for LikeToPin and shawty333, I'd be a lonely wrestling soul this summer (shoutout for Hanky, Opon84, and Nakofi for the spring this year. Mwah.)

Sure, I have Casino Rueda (google it, it's cool) to pass the time, but I'm tryna have these matches.

Aside the cruise, I'll be in Chicago for a few days as well. If you're in those areas and have a few hours free between September 1-3, let me know and let's try to arrange stuff!

Recently, I posted a Match Request as Work announced an impromptu flight to Canada this week.

However, I couldn't get a full confirmation of that plan, I've deleted that post for now until I get full agendas so I know when I can meet with you Canadian fellas.

IF YOU CONTACTED ME

IF YOU DID NOT CONTACT ME

o/

I almost forgot to mention! I went to Italy for vacation in April and let me tell you that it was pure magic.

Pure.
Fucking.
Magic.

But you're not going to want to hear about what I did with those 15K steps per day (on average), so I'll just tell you that I got to meet a few wrestlers along the way.

• Opon84 was a delight as always even when I accidentally broke him (he'll beat me up for that). We stayed up talking until the wee hours of the morning instead.
• Bamm-Bamm was everything I had hoped and then some. We went at it and there's just something about being in a good roll that makes jet lag melt away. I think I was stronger than he expected and that's always fun. I need to do that whole part of my trip again for like a week at least. Maybe I should just move.
• Hanky was really cool and although it was a bit shaky to catch up, it was a lot of fun when we did. There was a lot of laughter and he's a strong guy. I was a bit more intentional in jobbing this go-round, but threw in a couple of moments of "I could turn the tables if I want" in there just for fun.

Honorable mentions to go Johan and eGambler who were awesome hosts and super friendly people. I plan to meet them both again whether in Italy or elsewhere.

This was my first solo international trip, so that was an extra bonus. I absolutely must do more wrestling trips more often. Far more often. Hot damn.

A few weeks ago I read this post and thought I would take this theory on a test drive... in reverse. Now, for those of you that could not be bothered to follow that link, I'm supposed to do these things to write a perfect rant:

1. Be Vague. I really had every intention of doing this, but I already told you which blog post I'm referring to, out of the thousands you could read trying to guess what I'm referring to. Oops.
2. Misinformation. I couldn't possibly perform this because I've given you a means to read and verify anything I'd say about the blog I linked to by giving you the link. That said, I also suck at misinforming people, so here's my thoughts in pure form: ugh... just ugh so much ugh. I read so many blogs from so many people and it's a site and people have feelings so they can say things and we can just let that be okay, right? No? We can't? But why? Like whenever a ranting blog, of any kind, happens, there are so many people who are willing to spend the time and energy with all the other things going on to....
3. Unconstructive. Like, I don't know... just can we be more understanding/empathetic/anything like "I hear you, bud" and maybe less anything else? What better way to disarm someone who expects resistance than to just go with it and let them express themselves. Hear people out, understand that people have both good and bad days I think that's called blending in Judo, but I could be wrong. I wanted to be unconstructive, but I have too simple a point and too clear a mind to do that, so I'm still fucked.

So here's the kicker and the point of all that stuff you just read: even if I do the opposite of what this post says, there's no guarantee that writings like this are going to be seen in a favorable light. For some people, any use of this blog feature that is not "here's an adventure I had" or "here's a fantasy story of some kind" is going to be wrong. Always.

However, we all have the ability to be these super mature people that can just read something, go "huh..." and keep moving without a word of comment. We could do that for like ten things, fifty things, one hundred things....

Like we do for literally everything else in the world.

Now that probably makes me ineligible for beers or whatnot, but I'll be over here with a green tea and I'm happy to share with whomever comes up and wants to converse about any of this... or not. Up to you, really, but I'm going to get some sleep.

PREFACE

It's complicated. We're drawn here for the wrestling, but as I've seen, wrestling the only thing everyone wants. If you're hardcore here for nothing but the fight, then you can likely ignore this entry since it's not really for you. Otherwise, keep reading.

Fair warning: I'm going to type lots of words.

THINGS WE LOOK FOR

As I was saying, I think it's complicated, but I've managed to put together that we are looking for:

1. A battle
2. A companion
3. A lover

"But why would you come here looking for...." OK, I hear you, but consider any time in life where you went thinking you would want/feel/think X about something and ended up wanting/feeling/thinking Y:

• I thought I'd like that movie
• I thought I'd hate that song
• I thought I'd like these people
• I thought I wanted a pizza, but I really want a chicken sandwich

This thing - and any thing really - that involves people always has a potential for that kind of a turn. It starts like, "hey, I just want to find people and wrestle...."

...but suddenly, one day: a friend.
...but suddenly, one day: it is more (or less) erotic than you thought.
...but suddenly, one day: this is a lot lonelier than I thought it would be...

That's the thing, right? It's never just one thing or another. For many, it's a blend of more than a few things and feelings and in all of that it is easy to get lost and start doing or feeling things without knowing what is happening.

For those of you in that spot, the one thing I suggest is honesty - primarily and especially with yourself - about how you feel and where you're at. Things like this make the journey a lot easier and enjoyable.

Dishonesty, on the other hand, has caused cancelled accounts because the wave of who you are channels itself into things you have to take months to process.

TENSION

As I so often do, I checked the "New" section to see what's what and noted a picture from one of the guys here. Went to check it out. Nice, but nothing that warranted a comment, so I let it be. Saw that they visited me an hour later, so I thought I'd say something this go-round since I'd visited them a few times before.

Blocked.

Could you even? I couldn't even. I couldn't begin to even and if I could have, I would have had to call an extra friend to make things odd because I just couldn't.

Ha, as if. I shrugged and kept on cruising because that's the game for you.

TRAVEL

I'm finally going to take one of a string of much needed vacations. This first one is to Italy to visit some friends and hopefully get some wrestling in. Previous experience has taught me pretty well, communication-wise, so I've started trying to get some things on the books. So far with success. I'll also be doing a brief drop into Brussels for being able to show a bit of love on the way over.

I bet I'll wrestle more that week than I have in like three months here in GA. Ah well, also part of the game.

I should be hopping around the US and I'm hoping Cali gets on that list because I have a growing list of you guys I want to visit there. NY is also a must because grandparents. I'm open to suggestions, so feel free to drop notes if weekend trips are in order.

o/

As it happens from time to time, I was asked a question via text about erotic wrestling. I answered this particular question with a "no" as, for the part I read, the answer was, in fact "no".

At this point, I get a string of apologies and what seems to indicate that the person on the other end of my texts was agitated for reasons unknown to me; I said nothing upsetting, just "no", but decided I'd ask "Did I miss something?"

This is where we get into "No. Nevermind." followed by me forcing an open conversation to clear things up. This took at least a flight, a plane, a bus, a rickshaw, a carrier pigeon, and a 20 minute walk from a particular Starbucks in order to resolve as, "Oh, I should have clarified that. Here's what I meant to say..."

That whole process took hours when it could have taken mere moments, so now I'm slightly irritated for a good 20 minutes (which is 20 too long) because it was such. A. Stupid. Issue. [>_< #]

I get it. Sometimes, we misread things, but for the love of common sense, if someone asks you to clarify something you've asked in case they misunderstood or missed something, take the time to clarify what you are asking. You would think that on this site, via which most people communicate in writing, we'd have that sorted by now.

I got to visit plenty of family, but didn't get a lot of anything else done aside from collecting a list of people that I want to wrestle and another focused lesson on how it is almost impossible to meet up with people without planning.

So here's what that list looks like:

• Stopbarking84
• NYCSubmission
• Competitive
• subguy21
• kickbox9119
• wrestlestud
• hunwrest
• njmuscguy1
• nyleanmuscle
• subscissors
• rjbklyn

And those are just the ones near NY. I can't even get into the others. Let's hope that I can get a match with these guys now that I'm home.

Come through, 2017. I need some rolls.

Also: new pics soon :D