Update - exerpt from book

Hey, not sure if anyone reads this thing but if ya do a few things

I'm starting to feel comfortable in my job - as a high school teacher. It's a day to day thing but I'm finding my way and my place.

I'll probably be back in Brazil this summer - only for a month this time as I will be back teaching in the fall for another year then I will attempt to take another 6 months off of work to go back and train in Brazil - Rio, Gordo's school.

I've been working on a book chronicling my life during the time of deciding to quit my job and go to Brazil and my time in Brazil. Here is a small sampling - If you read this comment please. I'm hoping this can lead to other opportunities. Hoping to get it done by summer then start trying to get it published.

Here is a sample from the book "Life, Love, and Jiu Jitsu Adventures."

Chapter 2 - If Not for Bad Luck I’d have No Luck At All!

So how did a Native male from the Kainai Reservation find his way to Brazil and Gordo’s gym in Barra da Tijuca? There were a lot of factors that led me to pursue this dream and in turn make it a reality. But it can be summed up with one person’s name: Kenny Florian. Anyone familiar with the current fighter stable in the UFC will no doubt know that Kenny is a fighter who is one of the top contenders in the UFC’s 155 division. Ken-Flo (as he is known) recently (Aug. 2009) fought a losing effort for the 155 pound title against current 155 king pin and P4P fighter BJ Penn.

There were a few factors that led to my initial decision to pursue this dream and each one must be briefly mentioned and detailed in order for the full picture to be understood of what brought me to Brazil and Gordo Jiu Jitsu to forget the past, live in the moment and find a future.
I had mentioned earlier that I had made the decision to move my training to Gracie Barra Calgary and Professor Josh Russell. It is a 2 ½ hr trip from Lethbridge (where I was residing) to Calgary and the GBC academy and another 2 ½ hr trip back after training; in total I would spend 5hrs on the road to go train for 2hrs or so. Because of gas prices back then and time I was only able to make it up to Calgary to train about 2 times per week with the occasional 3rd session. But for me it was worth it as I was learning the Gi system and doing what I wanted not to mention it was keeping me out of trouble and I was making some new friends.

All was going smoothly through May, June and the early part of July. As I had mentioned because of distance and gas prices I was only able to make it up to Calgary to train twice which meant that I had to keep myself active and occupied. I would occasionally train back at Lee’s gym and also I would go for run’s and outdoor body-weight exercise routines. During one of these supplemental workout routines I had decided to go running through the hills and river valley like I usually did. All was going well about 10 minutes into my run. I had just made my way down the hill and to the river bottom trail that leads runners, walkers, bikers down from the freeway to the park along the river’s east side. I was just rounding a corner on one of the trails when I noticed some mud that had slid down from the hill (it had been raining a lot during the summer of 2008) and took note of it. I veered to my right to avoid the big pile up of mud and had just started to work my way back on the paved trail when I hit a small mound of mud and dirt and my right ankle hit just enough of it to cause my it to twist. Now keep in mind I was going a pretty good pace and the mound was a few inches off of the ground. I cried out in pain and stopped immediately. I attempted to shake it off and take a small breather to rest. I looked down at it and it was already swelling quite a bit.

I knew the ankle injury was a bad one; but here I was down in the river bottom about a good paced 20 minute run away from my apartment. I was not sure what to do and I was extremely frustrated that this had happened. I tried to walk it off but it hurt just putting any weight on it and I knew that the walk home would be about 1hr at the very least. I took a deep breath, bent down and laced up my running shoe as tight as I could get and started to jog. Let me tell you it hurt like hell but the faster I got home the faster I could start to try and get some ice on it. Well I jogged home which took about 30 minutes and after about 10 minutes the pain stopped. Of course I knew that adrenaline had kicked in as well as I’m sure some shock.

Once I got home I pulled off my shoe and was shocked at how huge it had swollen. I limped to the shower and washed off, put on some clothes and grabbed some food. By this time the pain had returned and I knew that I had a very serious injury. I put some ice on it, elevated it and chilled for the night. By the next day my ankle looked like there were two grape fruits on each side. And just walking was a reminder of my bad luck and stupidity. I limped into work that day and for about a week afterwards; by limping I mean hobbling very slowly. I was out of training and doing anything for 2 weeks. Nothing was broken but it was badly sprained and I’m very lucky I did not do worse jogging home. In hindsight I should have asked someone in the river bottom to give me a ride home. But as my mother would say “I was trying to be a hero” and it proved nothing to anyone; including myself. Chalk it up to male ego. This was 1 of 4 events (a run of bad luck?) that contributed and set in motion the decision that Brazil was somewhere I needed to go.

The next string of bad luck happened in the form of an infection on my leg. The decision to travel that far to train also had it’s setbacks. Namely, that GBC did not have a shower installed. This is fine if you’re living in Calgary and not so fine if you live 2 ½ hrs away. When I did go up to train it was always a night before planning; a lunch, my Gi and training gear, something loose to change into after my training session, and some sort of disinfectant wipes so that I could have something resembling a shower. Well for the most part this was not a problem. However, at some point it was inevitable that I would catch something - the biggest worry being Staph infection. Well at some point during the early part of July 2008 I had received a small scratch on my right thigh - no biggie. It was not really something that really grabbed my attention. In my years of doing grappling I had received 100’s of scratches and scrapes all over my body so in all honesty it did not even capture my attention, after all I was wiping myself down. Well it ended up being something that should have gotten my attention sooner. Initially, it seemed like it was a heat rash but after about a week and a half I stared to become worried. I eventually got it checked out near the end of July and found out that my leg had an infection on it. . I got some medication that cleared it up within a week or so. This occurred around the same time as my ankle injury thus I did not get it checked till late July and already being out of commission meant that I didn’t have to worry about training and spreading it around to others. On a side note; I’ve noticed that a lot of people do not practice the same discretion when going to the gym. In fact a simple shower before training would greatly aid the combat against infectious skin ailments. So take note all you disgusting, non-showering Ultimate Fighter wanna-be’s; practice safe and clean grappling and fight the fight against the outbreak of skin ailments amongst us grappling practitioners.

The 3rd and misfortune of summer of 2008 was closely related to the previous misfortune. Around the time I got the skin infection on my leg I was also having some problems with the ribs on my right side. There was some discolouration and what appeared to be bruising around the ribs. I chalked it up to the Judo throws we had been practising at GBC. Anyone who’s done even a bit of Judo will surely know how it can take a toll on the body and leaving you hurting and bruised so I assumed that was why my ribs hurt like hell. When I finally got in to see the doctor I inquired about my ribs and showed her the bruising. She took a close look and informed me that I had contracted a case of the Shingles. WTF was my immediate thought. The doctor informed me that Shingles is a form of herpes virus and is passed on from skin to skin contact. Again, my best guess would be somebody from training passed it on to me and I can be fairly certain that it was not due to any sexual activity with any nasty girls. I know this because I was in the midst of trying to woo a girl I had known for a few years and had finally taken the plunge to try and win her affections sand turned out to be quite possibly the biggest “lost cause” I’ve ever taken on.