Entry #1

Zer0-day MMA

Flash forward to 2007 and I was determined to join an mma gym. I had just graduated from college which left me with a lot of free time on my hands. My tuition bills were paid off through a dead-end hotel banquet job so I was living at home and saving money. Playing around with this new social network I just joined called Facebook, I was looking for interesting people to train with and wanted to start some real MMA training. A surprising number of my friends were a little freaked out by my MMA quest. Saying things like “What if you meet up with a psycho?" or "what if you get hurt?". Unfortunately, my group of friends at the time were lazy or boring and didn't want to understand anything about mixed martial arts and ridiculed it through ignorance. “Why would you want to take part in cave men hitting each other?” they would say. I would answer “There are a lot of benefits to sports and self defense which I would like to learn in an interesting and fun way. I’m not going to miss out on this new renascence of martial arts because of your misguided fears and inadequacies”.

I got a little lost but as I got off the bus I was in awe seeing the sign for Kombat Fitness. I was excited but there was a problem. I couldn't find the doorway to get in? There was a sign that said it was on the third floor but all I saw was an old convenience store (Dollar $ Club) entrance. I asked clerck how do I get upstairs. She pointed to the back of the store. Walking through the grocery iels I ran up the stars and see a lounge area with a big crystal chandelier hanging and a giant poster of Bruce Lee on the wall. There was a door and I assumed on the other side was the gym. I knocked but no one answered. The door was locked. That's when I panicked a little. I was dead set on joining a gym today no matter what but was it closed? I leaned down and looked into the gap under the door. I saw some shadows of walking around and heard some whispering. I decided I was going to sit there and wait until someone came out. No matter how long it took.

I was getting ready to leave and a little exhausted but I still wanted to get the paperwork for the membership out of the way. Vans suggested we pop by the new location to drop off some stuff. I really wanted to see how it looked so I tagged along. Everyone tells you that getting into the back of a strangers van is a bad idea and they are usually right. I was sitting on the ground with one other person who was helping out with the move and we were winding in and out traffic violently bumping around fighting the forces of gravity and momentum. The vehicle stops and Vans’s wife says “we’re here”. The new place was called “Guerilla MMA”. The fact that it was in the middle of nowhere (Runnymede Rd and ST Claire W) and it was converted from an old mechanic's shop made it that much cooler to me. As Vans opened the garage door to let the sunshine in. I thought how this amazing place would be my first MMA gym. Large area of wrestling mats on the ground for jiu jitsu, several punching bags hanging from the wall, a boxing ring in the back for muay thai and all kinds of fitness equipment laying around. I felt like a kid who found some old secret skatepark no one knew about.

On the way back to the old gym I tried to muster up the last bit of energy reserve I had but everyone could see that I was having a hard time lifting. We went to get a quick bite to eat at Ho Lee Chow and I ate my broccoli beef like a dog. Moving big metal posts (from a disassembled boxing ring) down a flight of stairs is not easy for someone who is fresh and I felt like the incredible blob. So someone suggested I stay in the moving truck to place and pack away the things everyone bring to me. Seemed easy enough until I sandwiched my finger in between two dumbbells. My reaction was to pull my finger out as fast as I could which made the damage a little bit worse. The nail turned purple but I was ok to keep going. Little did I know that the next two weeks after that would be spent going to my family doctor draining the blood out from under my nail of my swollen finger. Packing that moving truck was like a game of dangerous 3D Tetris or maybe Janga. I had to start climbing over things just to fit everything in. Once we were done I was just standing around like a zombie who hasn't eaten any brains in a while. My determination to join an MMA gym had nudged me into making some poor decisions and sapped all of my energy away. I was also still wondering how I was going to get home. Then Vans asked how far I lived and I said “very far” but Vans and his wife still drove me home, because they are awesome! The next day I woke up the most sore I had ever been in my life. I was in bed for days watching Lost in Space reruns and late night movies on City TV (everywhere). I would wait a while before I joined.

One random rainy day after healing up and feeling fresh, I bolted out of bed got ready and was on my way to the gym. This time NOTHING would stop me. After a Yorkmills bus, a Yonge line subway south then a Bloor line subway west and another Runnymede bus ride, I was wandering around in the rain in a rundown industrial looking part of town (really wish I had my camera back then). I found the gym so I walked in soaking wet. First thing I see is a cute filipina girl sitting at the desk. It was Van’s wife. After we said our hi’s and I made my payment and filled out the forums. I was now the member of an MMA gym. It felt really good to look for something for so long then finally get it. What would follow would be months of hard training that tested my mind and body more than anything ever had in my life and I learned life lessons that I will never forget.

Entry #2

            

  {n3w fl3sh}
  
  Old media repackaged in a social code
  lost neurons burnout, connections cold 
  new obstruction, our current obligation
  cutting edge trickster, archaic radiation
  programmed reactions, perceived pawn unknown
  artificially bold, manipulated untold
  tribal fallacy devolved, reality dethroned.
                                                    
                                      --NUKEM6