Cold Stops Play
and it's actually raining too
Some projects took a small hit this week as I prepared for the Artemis Camp.
On the drive to London, after manically leaving work in the middle of a huge function for over 150 people, for which I’d spent the afternoon preparing a cold buffet, I started to feel a scratchy throat.
Hoping it was just hayfever, I tried to ignore it while I ran through in my head, the class I’d be teaching the next day at the camp.
Woke up in the morning with a definite cold.
Didn’t feel too bad (and still don’t) but was stuffy and my voice was pretty croaky. Warned the camp organiser but we agreed that as long as I wasn’t coughing and sneezing and didn’t train myself, I’d still teach my session in the afternoon.
Aside from my rapidly disappearing voice, the class went pretty well and everyone gave the games a really good go. There were no real naysayers or students deliberately trying to throw a spanner in the works and as a consequence they all learned something, if not grappling skills, how exhausting a CLA class can be if you’re not used to training that way.
Met Laurien Zurhake, whose women only CLA camp I’m teaching at in Munich in June. Laurien teaches her class today but much as I’d love to watch it, I’ve decided to stay away and not further risk passing my cold on.
Bus Conversion
Had a go with the plasma cutter but found it was even more scary and difficult than using the angle grinder. Hope it wasn’t a total waste of money and I find future use for it but I’m going to use the grinder with cutting discs instead and hope I don’t have a snapped or jammed disc incident.
The Grapple Travel Show
Spent many hours finding and downloading footage of the bus from the last two years, to add as b-roll to the outro. Started adding clips but realised I need to do a better job of filming before and after any job that gets done, because for most people that’s the only interesting thing to see on these projects. Unless you happen to be watching because you’re doing a conversion yourself but then you won’t be watching a channel like mine, you’ll be watching one where a converter is showing every job and how they’re doing it, in detail.
Cooking Course
Decided to do a full week of Meta Ads again, to get a new influx of students.
Still working on the next video but I can see student’s progress and because none of the ones who’ve paid for the course have yet made it through even half the videos, I’m not feeling incentivised enough to really push hard to get the next video finished.
However, I’ve decided to charge up and use all the various other cameras I have, to film the next cooking session, which is all I need to get remaining b-roll. Instead of relying on one camera and two iPhones (which have limited short term storage) I’ll use a Pocket Osmo and two GoPros too, which I’ve used for Jiu Jitsu but never thought to use for the cooking. These were kind gifts from friends in the early days so it will be great to put them to more use.
Grappling Nolej
Posted my interview with Josh Lu, co-founder of the Sherpa Journal app.
He sent me a photo of himself in a suit but I made some changes and with the help of Canva and AI changed it to the image you see in the post. Obviously I asked for his approval and was nervous because it’s hard to know how people will feel when you manipulate their image, but thankfully he loved it.
Next Week
Spending some days with my Mum and her partner but as I have a cold and don’t want to pass it on, not sure how much I’ll actually see of them. As always when self quarantining, will take the opportunity to focus on reading, writing, learning and all laptop based work. Was hoping to catch a session at a local eco gym I’ve not yet visited in this area and also had my annual dentist check up booked, but both will have to be postponed.
Hope you’re healthy and finding joys in life.
Ooh the rain has stopped, I’m going outside for some fresh air!
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Main Website with links to everything
PLANT BASED STUFF
Cooking Course - Restaurant Quality Plant Based Meals at Home
Instagram - post some food pics when I remember, every week or so
JIU JITSU STUFF
Grappling Nolej - articles on note making and other aspects of training and learning, plus a shop selling notebooks and stickers
YouTube - home of The Grapple Travel Show and other grappling and travelling content
Instagram - a lot of post training team shots but also some useful short form videos I make with my coach and teammates sometimes