a very, very, very full month!

So here's a look at what's been going on over the past month or so.

The BIG event recently was that on Feb. 8, I finally left my office job to concentrate full time on wrestling, training, sessions, and videos.  I'd been planning and looking forward to this for a long time.  There was delicious cake and terrible snow storm to mark the occasion.  And then...

I had thought, naively I suppose, that I was going to have SO much time to do everything I wanted once I got out of the office.  I was going to increase my training schedule, never have to turn anyone down for a session due to a time conflict again, and travel several times a month.

Phew!  Well, I shot out of the gate and hit the ground running.  It was quite exciting.  I booked trips to Texas, D.C., and Chicago.  D.C., especially, was a super-trip -- I don't know what it is about that city, but the guys there love their wrestling.  I was going non-stop -- domination, competitive, boxing, and -- a rare treat for me -- a real, serious, can-actually-handle-the-pain beatdown.  Drove back to New York in the afternoon (through more snowstorm warnings), and met a favorite regular client for a late session that same night.

I cranked up training too.  I joined my academy's "elite" Muay Thai program and added sparring classes to my BJJ, MMA, and pad work regimen.  I thought I was doing awesome to have made it all the way through winter untouched by cold and flu season...then March arrived and I was finally brought low by a hideous fatigue-sinus-throat thing.  I had to admit that as much as I love being busy, I needed better planning and balance.  It was actually lucky that the sponsor for my Chicago trip, originally planned for right now, had to pull out and look to reschedule at a later date.

NOW, I can say I feel like I'm beginning to get the hang of this full-time wrestling thing.  I made a few excellent discoveries -- plan trips further in advance whenever possible.  Evening training does NOT work well for me.  That one's still killing me, actually, since my academy only offers sparring and MMA at night.  And I haven't yet figured out how to get as much lifting in around my martial arts as I want to.  But I've ID'ed the challenges, and I've got the destination in mind -- just working on the map!

There's been exciting stuff going on with other ladies at Doom Maidens too.  Indra's back in the US -- for a long stay this time!  For her welcome-back present, we got her victims!  First, we offered up Ben for some classic, cheeky Indra domination, and next it was Thrash for some bondage tickle-torture.

BUT Athena spiced up the party -- like the giver of birthday spankings, she turned the tables on Indra and dealt out some tickle torture of her own.  There will be more to come from Indra this very Sunday -- she'll be taking on a visiting victim in a new bondage wrestling match, and possibly subjecting him to some judoka foot domination too!

We've also got a new lady training with us now.  Well, not entirely new -- some may remember Sircee from her matches with Clobberetta and Athena last year.  But after a recent bondage wrestling shoot, where she had a lot of fun being introduced to bondage wrestling and even more fun showing off her wily escaping skills (to my ultimate frustration), Sircee is newly fired up and ready to start rolling in earnest.  She's been coming by the Brooklyn studio for practice to beef up her wrestling skills, and she's a quick pupil.  Must be the dance background -- show her a movement, and she soaks it right up.  The next training is this Friday with me and Orlandoe.

Ah, Orlandoe!  The ongoing drama between Orlandoe's and my secret agent characters has been the video theme of the month.  This was both really cool and a little funny.  You may recall that last year we launched the Stockholm Syndrome Collection, which was soon retitled the Lethal Leotards Syndicate series -- a video series featuring the Doom Maidens ladies as black-leotard-clad super-villians, who seduce, capture, torture, subjugate, and occasionally assassinate their male prey.


And fans loved this!  So much that they began sending custom video requests that carried on the story of the Syndicate.  It has been truly fantastic to see how different guys all writing separately have been creating different episodes of this story.  BUT here's the rub -- in the hands of our fan writers the Syndicate has strayed from its original purpose of persecuting men and fallen to in-fighting -- a continuing power-struggle between the Grand Domina herself (me) and the Second-in-Command (Orlandoe).  In the past month, Orlandoe and I have struggled through two death-matches and one bondage torture abduction.  Way to protect your own necks, guys, turning us on each other!  No worries, we'll get you soon enough!

And, finally, a look ahead -- not wrestling-related for a change.  I would like to announce that my birthday will be here in just two weeks, and I'm looking forward to a fabulous present.  My mother and two sisters are all coming to visit me, and we are preparing to hit NYC in true girls'-weekend style.  Dining, theatre, wine bars, warm springtime Botanic Gardens if we're lucky, wedding planning for baby sister, and maybe (if I can talk them all into it) kickboxing for everyone ;)  So if I'm a little incommunicado at the end of the month, it's because I'm partying on the town with my guests!

the big day is nearly here...

It's less than a week until the NYC Wrestling Showcase, so you might think that all my energy would be focused on preparing for the big event, but that would just be too easy! Things have been fiendishly busy in my wrestling world of late, in all kinds of ways.

It was quite excellent to have Jenny Sjodin visit NYC over tha past week. We shot a competitive mixed video, Jenny vs. Jay, between her and one of my own favorite grappling rivals, and she and Amazon Annie got to mix it up pro-style in a match for Southern Belles, to be released at a later date. Right in the middle of her visit, Clobberetta and I left on our whirlwind session trip to Virginia Beach. So sadly, Jenny and the Doom Maidens didn't get a chance to train together, but we did manage to get together for delicious drinks and a lovely night out on Sunday after Clobs's and my return.

We've also been working here to get the newest Doom Maidens up and running with their wrestling careers. Just tonight we shot a debut video match between Orlandoe and Ivy -- very intense and *exhausting* action! It will available no later than tomorrow. [ETA: It's available now!] The ever-quarrelsome Clobberetta was also in attendance and also planning to fight tonight, but she was denied! Since her original plan to challenge Annie was foiled by some unfortunate illness on Annie's part, she intended to take on the smaller Orlandoe and Ivy both together after their match. But time ran out, and the 8 o'clock studio renters started knocking on our door. Clobs may need to take her frustration out on *everyone* at training tomorrow.

And of course in the midst of all this, I *have* been preparing for the Showcase. This is going to be such an awesome event with such a fabulous crew of wrestlers. I just drew up the full list and schedule of fights for the weekend a day ago, and *damn.* We've got Clobberetta, Annie, Sherry Stunns, Rachel Sinclair, Dominique Danger, Allana, and myself all fighting. My personal picks that I'm really excited to see are: Annie vs. Sherry -- because I know Annie is out for blood, looking for a "decisive win" in this one, and I wish Sherry all the luck in the world fending her off! Clobberetta vs. the Bulk in their super heavyweight grudge match. And Dominique vs. Allana in their clash of the bodybuilders.

Despite the excellence of the Showcase fights, with so much talent in town we couldn't stop at just seven matches, so we'll be shooting on Sunday too -- a very full weekend! Dominique and Clobberetta will be rumbling, and Mark, my best-ever video victim, will be returning to suffer torment from Sherry and a special, MMA-style beating from me! Among still other matches...

I myself have been having to train very smartly to be ready for my fights next weekend, and I'll have to redouble that this week. I'll be coming off an injury, and I'll be ready to fight and thrilled to get back in action, but this is definitely the most challenging situation I've faced since I've been wrestling.

I'll be going against Allana, Sherry, and Rachel at various points in the weekend, and at the Showcase itself I'll be facing Dominique Danger. I'm excited to get a chance to grapple with all these new ladies but definitely most worried about the Dominique match. This is a 200-lb, seriously strong bodybuilder, who can *move* and trains legitimately in BJJ. I've seen her in action before, and power is the word for it. Holy shit. This isn't any kind of warm up match. I'm going to have to be at my absolute best, and I plan to be.

Enough talk! Sleep, and early morning academy training tomorrow!

May, the good and the bad...

So June has been an interesting month for me... It started off with my breaking my foot a few weeks ago. Yes, it did happen grappling, and no it wasn't during competition or a session or training. Just messing around with a friend, wouldn't you know?

So that's really been a pain. I've not been able to keep off the foot nearly as much as I should since New York's such a walking city, and since the injury happened when I was travelling, I've had to go through a slow process to get a referral to a podiatrist close to home.

I'm really not used to being stuck with an injury I can't just tough out, and it's been driving me nuts to turn down matches lately -- sessions, videos with visiting wrestlers, rounds at the last Grapple Den. I've been worrying too about whether I would be recovered enough by June 5th to fight Xana at Monica's event in London -- after conferring with Monica just yesterday, we decided it's best if I don't make the trip. That's disappointing since I was really looking forward to that visit but also, actually, a relief. And the good news is that by playing it safe I'm 99.9% confident that I will be ready to go at the NYC Wrestling Showcase June 19th. (I'd better be; I'm scheduled to fight practically everyone!)

So here's the rest of the good news: I've been filling the time off my feet with some serious upper body work at the gym. It's always fun to make a new plan and set a challenging goal, whatever the circumstances. The goal here, volume! Oh so much lifting. Grueling but awesome. Hopefully, I'll have some good results to flaunt by showcase time.

And last but not at all least, some very exciting and unexpected news. Not one or two, but FOUR new ladies have come out to train with Doom Maidens in the past month! All looking to hone their grappling skills in preparation for video fighting and sessioning in the near future. (Perfect timing; these ladies can pick up the slack for me when I'm literally being lame - not that I'm planning on any more of these detestable injuries ever again!)

There's Clobberetta, a close friend and training partner of mine and a long-time regular and rough-houser at the Grapple Den, who's just about ready to make her official debut. She'll be taking on the Bulk in the coming showcase and also going public with her tremendous size and strength in the session world soon, where I know she's going to smother, crush, lift, and fight like no other.

And there's also Orlandoe, a capoeira expert with a Greco Roman background who's now also training to add submission grappling to her excellent and unique tool kit. She's a complete acrobat and a kicking phenomenon on her feet and a scrappy, whole-hearted warrior on the ground.

Two other ladies aren't quite ready to be introduced yet, so more about them later, but we did have everyone together at a rather epic training session lately. The new recruits teamed up with Amazon Annie and me...to the dismay of Hanz and the Bulk!

looking forward to tax day. what?!

The party is cancelled this month.

Ha, ha -- gotcha! April Fool's!!!

Actually, the April party is coming up fast -- just exactly as fast as the dreaded Tax Day deadline. That's right, we're reviving our venerable Tax Day Wrestling theme and holding the party on April 15th this month to give everyone a positive reason to look forward to the day. And the chance to sweat out any frustrations you may still be feeling after tallying that last column of digits and suffering those endless post office lines. After that, who wouldn't be ready for a fight?

To add to the post-taxes festivities, there will be grappling in a huge pile of (Monopoly) money -- a nod to those welcome returns hovering on the horizon.

I mention this now because, like I said, the day is fast approaching, and it's never too early for a reminder to finish those taxes or to start revving up for a night of underground wrestling. And also because I'm mad tickled to be making the playlist for this party, and will happily accept any suggestions for songs about money, riches, or dollars you can throw my way between now and then!

excited for travel...

So things are a little quiet at the moment, but they're about to get exciting. Right now I'm hanging in, keeping up with my training and lifting, making a concious effort to get up-to-date everywhere and with everything online (getting my MySpace out of the Stone Age...), and looking forward to getting my poor old clunking laptop fixed up at the Apple store tomorrow.

But I'm very excited my upcoming session tour at the end of the month! I got the whole thing confirmed after a good bit of uncertainty, and I'll be making stops to offer wrestling sessions in Pittsburgh on May 26-27, in Chicago on the 27th-29th, in Milwaukee on the 29th-31st, and in Cleveland on the 31st-1st. It will be a lot of driving, but fortunately I love that. It's high time to get out of New York for a little while and take the fighting on the road!

Also on this trip I'll be competing in a grappling tournament on the 30th (I can't get enough, clearly). AND I'll finally get to meet some online grappling friends from the Madison area -- they'll be coming to my tournment and hosting a fight club afterparty at their hotel that night. Cheering squad + party = tons of awesome. Can't wait to meet these folks. And to top it all off, I have a few video prospects along the route as well.

So this trip probably doesn't count as a vacation. It will be great, but madly busy. That said, anybody out there in Pittsburgh, Chicago, Milwaukee, or Cleveland who'd like to get together for a session while I'm visiting should get in touch and schedule! Time will be precious!

And as a final note, things are getting ready to pick up back home in New York as well. I have a few video and photo prosepects brewing here as well; more soon when I see what materializes from them. Grapple Den is increasing its training workshops from once to twice this coming week, and since the weather is FINALLY getting nice, the Wednesday session will be moving outside to Washington Square Park. And of course the Grapple Den Nerds vs. Jocks Party will be May 20. Should be a good kick-off to the travels!

Last Weekend's Tournament Report!

May 6, 2009, 10:09 p.m. --

So now, belatedly, which is an unfortunate trend with my blog posts, I have an account to offer of my tournament last Saturday. This was a no-gi only tourney, so it was smaller and quicker than most of them, but it was still a fun, full day.

The adventures began even before I arrived. Going out on the train, I made a new friend, which is to say another tournament competitor recognized me as a fellow fighter and latched on. This was pretty amusing; the guy was just out of college, very new to grappling, and unbelievably excited about everything. I got to hear all about the intense water-fast, weight-cutting program he’d put himself through for this tournament and his involved strategy for winning it all. Good guy, and it’s fun to know people and cheer them on between your own matches, but, holy shit, this one was, I repeat, excited.

So, arriving at the event, I found that there were a lot of women there, more than I’d expected, but they were divided up into many weight and skill classes. I ended up with only four total women in my advanced flyweight division and five in the absolute division. There was also a freestyle wrestling tournament going on in the same huge warehouse-like convention center. Fun to see that side-by-side with the grappling.

My division rolled around. Unfortunately, I got no advance notice of this, so I went into my first fight totally cold and still subconsciously in warm-up mode. So that was not my fight. In fact, the other girl rather demolished me – but she only won on points, and I found out afterwards that she had a 20-year martial arts career, 12 years of grappling, and is training as a pro kick-boxer. So I didn’t feel too badly. I would have had another match for third/fourth, but my opponent was injured in her first fight and had to forfeit. So in advanced flyweight, I took third based on survival credit.

Then there was the absolute division. Sadly, the way the bracket worked out I ended up facing the same girl again, again in my first fight. She still had her 20 years of experience, but at least this time I was warmed up. I am very pleased that I was doing much better in this match. The score was much closer, and I had the lead for a while…but she went for a footlock, which she’d tried before and I’d managed to escape. I wasn’t worried; I went to perform the same escape, but then there was an audible pop from my ankle. For that, I had to tap.

Everyone was pretty distressed (“Was it your knee?!?!” “No, it wasn’t my knee…”). But I iced the ankle for a few minutes and felt all right to go in for my third/fourth fight.

My opponent this time was much heavier than me (170 lbs), but also much younger – only 13. Some of these advanced kids can be amazing; they’ve started training young, and they can easily have been at it longer than I have! So in this match, my opponent took me down with a very neatly done hip throw and took side control. I got my hips out, hooked her leg, and executed the escape to take her back.

I don’t remember how she recovered guard, but I managed to pass, take side mount, and finally gain mount to win on points. A more legitimate third place finish in absolute, so that was pleasing.

Meanwhile, in between matches I’d discovered that one of my opponents from the Providence tournament was at this one as well. We got reacquainted; she was very interested to hear about my March trip to the Atlanta competition and wanted to get in on future long distance tournament road trips. She also got to meet my eager young buddy from the train. They got on very well. Apparently they follow the same water diet.

So that was my tournament. An acceptable showing and more stock for my trove of experience. I made it back to the city in time go for a lovely but unwise walk on my compromised ankle and get a badly needed dinner.

Quiet weekend -- but stolen bike!

April 6, 2009, 1:43 p.m. --

My weekend -- Well, I did NOT go to the NAGA tournament in New Jersey this weekend, and on the one hand that's sad because apparently it was a huge, successful tournament with 80 competitors in the womens' divisions and I'm told some people were actually asking for me and wondering where I was.

On the other hand, I didn't feel like I'd had enough training time between Atlanta and Jersey to really improve my game, I'd been desperately needing a couple days at home to get about 20 things done, and I am so goddamn intensely sore after just training and lifting at the gym this weekend that I think my body needed recovery time more than it needed a tournament.
So overall I'm pretty pleased with my quiet weekend. My no-gi academy class on Saturday was fantastic. I've been irritated lately with a lot of the instructors' emphasis on sparring and endurance training almost to the exclusion of teaching techniques. And the same instructors have very "figure it out yourselves" or "skip it entirely" attitudes toward takedowns, which I don't find helpful at all.

So I was thrilled to find we have a new guy teaching who, wonder of wonders, balances technical drilling and live sparring, has some kind of method to his takedown instruction, and is furthermore very pleasant and detailed in his teaching style. Definitely going back to the same class next Saturday.

As for the 20 things I needed to do, I only got done about three of them, but it wasn't for lack of working. And at least those things are done. You can see them, actually; they are new photo galleries for my VeVeLane.com website -- The Boxing Gallery, The MMA Gallery, and The Fashion/Portraits Gallery. These came from my questionable black-eye photoshoot, but nonetheless, there are some lovely images, and I'm proud of both the photos and the gallery construction!

A few other tidbits about the weekend --

Good Things: Went out to two lovely dinners in Manhattan, which included trying two new restaurants and exploring one new neighborhood (during one of the warmer rain showers of April so far); enjoyed a long and thorough lift for legs and biceps on Sunday; finally got confirmation that my sessions/tournament trip to Chicago and Milwaukee in May is a go (yay!); and had a great time taking my bike out in the first nice biking weather of the year.

Bad Thing: The bike got stolen. Fucking NYC bike theives. I'd be more pissed off about it if the rest of the weekend hadn't been so nice. But apparently, since I have no proof of ownership, I can't even file a token police report. Actually, it IS pretty annoying.

- VeVe