We definitely have a good group of guys and girls at the academy.  We all are from different walks of life yet we come together with Jiu-Jitsu.  99% of the time we all get along.  Sometimes after class we will sit and b.s. before heading home.  Its's a nice feeling.  Everyone is respectful yet won't hesitate to bust balls at the drop of a hat.  Everyone works hard and helps each other out, and its a rare occasion when you catch someone slacking.  

So far (thankfully) we don't have that one guy that's a douche.  I'm sure we all have had to deal with one of these in our training career.  They come in all shapes and sizes...the guy who talks about how good he is or how much better he is than someone else, or the guy that holds onto the submission too long, or the guy who stops you mid-roll to coach you even though he has no clue what he is doing.  It's one thing to have a spastic guy training with you (this can be corrected)  but some of the other descriptions I mentioned can really mess up the dynamic of a group.  Up to this point we have been very lucky.  

In the past I've been to places where I didn't feel comfortable rolling, like my life was in my hands.  I've also trained with everyone of the aforementioned douches and they are a gym cancer.  I really hated the feelings of dread before class, the anxiousness when called upon to roll and the tension that hung over the whole group because of certain individuals.  I just want to train, learn and make friends...not to babysit or fear for my limbs.  Unfortunately the odds are in the future we will pick one of these guys up.  However, like all gyms we have a few enforcers to help weed these behaviors out if they occur.  A good smashing by a Brown or Purple belt is usually enough to give a hint.  

Other updates...My winter goal is to put some weight back on and I've slowly been doing that...I signed up for an online computer class to give me some sort of mental challenge since my job no longer does...I picked up a stripe on Thanksgiving day as Brian gave me my 4th stripe on my Blue belt...My next tournament will be in February in Florida, so I have time to make improvements...Speaking of travel, I'm ready for a holiday anytime now...I set up my Flickr account and have transitioned all my pictures from the "Images" tab on my page here.  I plan on adding more pics to Flickr and redesigning my blog a bit.