you're so fast

Finally made it to open gym today. I've been going to this place for years, but that's how long it's taken me to get around to going when there is no formal class. Just the mats, the heavy bags and equipment, and lots of people. The lack of structure makes me extra nervous. I know I've blogged about this before, but it seems I did not get over it and go, until now.

It's been growing in popularity and the park spar inspired me, so I finally made it. It went well. Sparred someone new - that is, new to me, but he wasn't new to sparring. He was pretty good, caught me with a few good shots. He was tall and lean, and trying like hell to stay out of range. I barely landed any punches, but afterwards he let me know how impressed he was with my kicking.

Your kicks are so fast, he said. I actually have mixed feelings about that, as I'm trying not to be as kick specialized as I used to be. It was good to hear though. He was complimenting me on exactly what I've been striving to get good at - closing distance and landing solid shots despite everything working against me. I had to resort to my longest range weapons, but even caught him with a great advancing roundhouse to spinning back kick 

Then got some grappling in. I hesitated, because it was extra humid today. Another student remarked that the entire mat was pretty much covered in sweat. Open mat is generally no-gi, so it makes for some very slippery matches. We get used to it, such that our main complaint ends up being how difficult it makes locking in all sorts of submissions.

Delta variant? Meh. I'm vaccinated now. I'm done worrying about it, beyond anything I'm legally compelled to do. I can still catch it, especially indulging in such high risk activity, but I'm vaccinated, so the symptoms won't be as bad. I'm fine with the risk now. This is how viruses are, once it's well established across the entire world. It really is like the flu now, and just like the flu, if you're immunocompromised or just really old, it can kill you. If you're young and healthy, the flu can also kill you, but that's incredibly rare. We live with these risks all the time.

New cases are surging because we've relaxed all precautions and half the country isn't vaccinated. This will mean more mutations, and surging risks all around, but it's also just the way it is. Honestly, covid is not serious enough to motivate vaccinating the entire world. Some governments may try, but viruses don't care about your borders. We're never going to get anywhere near 100% worldwide, and the delta variant came from India, not Florida.

So, it's time to accept the reality of it. Deal with the risk, as appropriate to your situation, but do so knowing this is basically the state of things. They'll probably come out with better vaccines and other breakthroughs eventually, but I'm not going to sit around waiting for that.