HAPPY MONDAY!!!

WASSUP FAMILY!!!

DEAR DIARY: ONCE AGAIN, I HAD ONE OF THE BEST FUCKING WEEKENDS EVER!!!

And, it started last Thursday at Carson Mall's Farmer's Market:

And just to tell you, if you want to try out the best sausages, bacon-wrapped hot dogs, or natural lemonade in Southern california, you'll want to meet this lady:

she, along with her co-workers, are there every Thursday, at the Farmer's Market.

Now last Friday night was the 1st Friday of the month, and in the Bixby Knolls area of Long Beach, they have an Artwalk.

To give you an idea of what it's like, I posted this video for ya:



And here's some pictures I took from this month's artwalk:

Now usually, capoeristas from GRUPO CORDAO DE OURO hold a street roda at this event, but I didn't see them there. But that's all right, because in the next 2 days, I was going to be seeing, learning, and playing a LOT of capoeira.

And, I'm gonna be telling you all about that in a moment, right after this little message from HUMANITY'S TEAM:





HUMANITY'S TEAM

The best and the most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen nor even touched, but just felt in the heart.

Las mejores y mas bellas cosas en el mundo, no pueden verse ni siquiera tocarse, pero si sentirse en el corazon.

--Helen Keller
FROM HUMANITY'S TEAM
CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THE HUMANITY'S TEAM NEWSLETTER





Last Saturday, The Capoeira Collective went down to San Diego and joined other capoeiristas to share our love of capoeira in an event called, "MEU CAPOEIRA E SEU CAPOEIRA".

I was more than a little excited about our road trip, because it was the first time I was in San Diego in 34 years. So, as you can imagine, I took a SHITLOAD of photographs.

This was on the way down...

And this is me being a wide-eyed tourist:

You see, we got there first, and we had a little time before we got started, so I had walked around the beach a little bit... But then, people started coming, and we got started.

First off, let me introduce you guys to my new friend, Thomas Arthur Lloyd Adair, who along with my teacher Charles Williams (pictured next to him), helped organize this event.

Now guys, I posted this video about what a batizado is before, but I'm posting it again for a very specific reason:



Now for those of you who don't speak portuguese, the word "Batizado" means "Baptism". Traditionally(Well, at least when they started teaching in academies), new students officially became capoeiristas when they played in their first batizado.

However, in Capoeira Angola, we DON'T have batizados. And although the roda we were playing in was NOT a batizado in any way, for me, this was very much like a batizado.

This was the very first time I played with anyone outside of class, and I got to see people from different Capoeira groups playing different styles of Capoeira, and I got to see some absolutely AMAZING players with many years of experience.

Yes, "MEU CAPOEIRA E SEU CAPOEIRA", was the best kind of batizado I can ever have.

Anyway, here's some pictures from this event. I swear to god, one of these days I'm gonna buy a camcorder or I PAD or something and I'm gonna start videos of these rodas, but for now, this will have to do.

Of course, there were more people than what you see here, but it was hard getting someone to get more pictures. We played throughout the afternoon, until around sundown. I played 3 times, and was exhilirated, and EXHAUSTED everytime... I really need to work on my stamina.

Anyway, here we are, chilling with each other after the roda:

And here's a glimpse of the beautiful San Diego sunset:

Now a little later, we were in for a very pleasant surprise. You see, when we went down to San Diego, we didn't know there was gonna be a christmas parade that night. I mean, we did see some people in weird Santa & Elf Outfits, but I just thought they were bat shit crazy, or lost some kind of drunken bet or sumthin.

But Anyway, here's some pictures I took of the parade:

And here we are, eating some delicious tacos, before our long, fun journey home...

Yeah, There's nothing like living the CAPO LIFE.

Once again, I thank Charles and Thomas for organizing "MEU CAPOEIRA E SEU CAPOEIRA". WE MUST do it again sometime!!!

Now, SUNDAY, I went to griffith park for class.

Here's some pictures of the Red Line Sunset station that I have to get off from to get to the park. The whole area around the Los Feliz area is really nice, and I wouldn't mind living around there someday.

Now this lovely lady is named Trang. She was on her way to the observatory, and then she was gonna take the trails to the Hollywood Sign... only she got lost. I tried to get her to stick around for the class, but she had many places she wanted to see, so she declined. Oh well...

This time, it was just Mr. Williams and myself. He trained me on the berimbau, teaching me SAO BENTO GRANDE, then we did some movement training, he taught me some combinations, and he gave me my first experience of an aspect of capoeira Angola called "Jogo De Dentro", which is portuguese for "inside game"(More on that later)

Yes, it was grueling, and a couple of times, I was almost ready to pass out, but I LOVED it.

This is me, totally exhausted...

And that's Mr. Williams. I swear, the man is a human DYNAMO! he NEVER seems to get tired... I get exhausted after 5 - 10 minutes of doing a certain combination, and when he lets me rest, he's doing handstands, cartwheels, somersaults... And he's doing it ALL WITH A SMILE!!!

Simply incredible.

Anyway, after class, I caught a ride with him back to Sunset station, where I went home. relaxed, ate dinner, and planned out this week.

You know it's funny, I just noticed that I'm not as sore as I used to get after class.

Well, I guess that's progress.

Well, that was my weekend. I hope you guys enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed living it.

And now, I have a treat for you guys... When we were coming back from San Diego, I tried to describe this short film below to Mr. Williams, but now he, and all of you, can see it for yourself.

I hope you enjoy it.

Now, I'm gonna end this blog with my teacher, Charles Williams, playing some capoeira on the mountain, with the most beautiful song in the whole, entire world, playing in the background.





If any of you out there are interested in learning Capoeira, Mr williams teaches at THE AGAPE CENTER @ 5700 Buckingham Parkway Culver City, CA 90230 on Saturday mornings from 9:30 to 10:30, and on Sundays, he teaches at Griffith Park, across the street from the golf course, near the Greek Theatre, on Vermont Canyon Road going up towards the Observatory.

Come join us!

Our personal dream, the whole interaction between the dream and the dreamer, is constantly shifting and changing. But in the virtual reality in our mind, we try to stop things from changing.
~don Miguel Ruiz