My many faces

This post is for all the aspiring writers out there. It was written by my friend and fellow author Kandie Delley. Kandie is the author of Curtains: The Collective Works, which is available on her website www.kandiedelley.com Although getting a book published is definitely a dream come true, I have to say, I'm extremely excited about this turning point in my literary career. In 2011, I will move into fiction with screenwriting and novel writing- a move that has been challenging yet fulfilling. Novel writing allows you to dive into your characters: the back story, the story arc, plots, and subplots -grabbing details about their surroundings and expressions- showing versus telling. It means having narrative that is just as engaging as the dialogue. Creative Writers also need to learn to write tight. On the other hand, screenwriting affords me the chance to focus on the action, the urgency of dialogue and the transformation of words from script to screen; taking storytelling to a new

Sorry I've been gone so long, I have been in and out of the hospital the past three months fighting an infection and in a lot of pain. I haven't even written anything. I had surgery on the 19th to remove my baclofen pump and I'm feeling much better. I will admit it feels very, very strange not having it there in my abdomen, and there's a part of me that actually misses it as I had it for 11 years, but i'm glad all the pain is gone. I will definitely be back to training after the new year, which I'm very excited about. I won't be blogging again until after the new year, so I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Hey guys sorry for the recent void in posts. I got sick during the first few weeks of my recovery but now all is well I just have to pass one final nuerological exam and get my spine checked out and cleared by my orthopedic doctor before I can train. So what have I been up to, you ask? Reading BJJ news, speaking of which, had me a bit upset last night as I found out the East Coast trails for ADCC are November 20th. I'd planned to ADCC and ADCC Pro this year. But there's no way I can do ADCC trails even if I started training tomorrow I just wouldn't be in shape. So that means I'm waiting util March for the ADCC Pro trails. Other than that I've been working on a novel. I must admit writing a novel is very different from writing poetry, but I it's still fun and I like the challenge. No I'm not giving any detials. MMA fans UFC 121 is tonight so check it out!! Personally, I hope Cain destroys Brock I never liked Brock.

As I lie in bed at the beginning of what is my seventh day in bed I'm still bored out of my mind just as I tweeted last night, and I don't mean bored as in I have nothing to do. Even without BJJ there's lots to do more poetry, a novel, marketing it all. The issue here is having the drive to do that last task. I love writing and I love talking about money and anything that makes me money. However, most don't realize that you market you're actually talking about yourself in the connection between you and whatever you are selling. I am horrible at talking about myself and effectively communicating my emotions. Maybe, that's why I am a writer all the greats had crazy amounts of turmoil Hughes, Angelou, Baldwin, all the greats. But I digress, in BJJ, there's a lot of return for your investment there's the submission, the grading system, titles, and just the fact that of knowing you can control anyone just because you want to. In writing, not so much. Writing

My surgery was moved up to the 7th. Since it's 3:21am that means I have 12 hours to eat. Strangely, I'm not eating much, I normally eat crazy amounts before surgery but I haven't wanted to this time. I have admit something feels different about this procedure I'm not scared it just feels like there's a lot on the line. Let's face it you don't get sponsors if you don't compete. I felt like I was peaking in training just last month. Then, when I found out my date I purposely slowed down, I guess it's my way of preparing myself to leave the mat for an extended period of time. It's really depressing. I feel like I'm going to be so far behind everyone I'll make it through somehow.

I am now eight days away from surgery. I'm going in to get my baclofen pump replaced as the battery runs out every seven years. This is a relatively minor surgery as it is a replacement and as a result the recover should be smooth. I had the pump installed over a decade ago now to help treat my spasticity caused by my cerebral palsy since then, it has worked wonders for my spasticity and mobility I've had one replacement before back in '03 was pretty chill, a month of absolutely nothing. The difference between then and now, BJJ wasn't part of my life. Initally, when I was told I'd be out of training for a month I was pretty sure one of two things happened, my doctor had went completely insane or my hearing was officially screwed up and then I realized he was serious. I almost cried as this essentially puts me out of competition for the rest of the year. However, in retrospect, this might actually be a good thing. I'll only miss 3 IBJJF events: American Nationals

In the entry "Balance" I stated that I hate passing guard, especially guards that extend me or attack my balance outright. Butterfly guard is one of those guards that attacks your balance outright. When you face a guy with a good butterfly guard it's pretty horrible becuause you're flying across the room at his will. It's like being on a rollercoaster full of loops that keeps crashing. The crash being you ending up on the bottom usually in mount; so naturally, it gave me issues. Well, thursday I didn't train so I mentally review some DVDs I had seen recently, something I always do when I'm not training(I usually watch said DVD but I didn't really feel like looking so yea) and the match between Marcelo Garcia and Pablo Popavitch crossed mind as we trained butterfly sweeps in Wensday's class and Marcelo played butterfly most of the match then, I remembered something one of the Shawn's said(don't remember if it was Williams or Flannery) they w

Emotions Volume 2: Better Days available NOW!!!! purchase here: https://www.createspace.com/3465438. The Amazon.com link will be posted when it goes live

If you've been following this blog(If you haven't been you should be, go ahead click the follow button over to the right) you'd know that I have cerebral palsy. I've never really explained what that is so here we go. Cerebral Palsy: A condition caused by a blood leak and/or water on the brain, in the cerebellum(hence the name cerebral) at birth which adversely affects the nervous system, muscular systems, and motor skills (Note: Not a dictionary definition) Since the cerebellum is injured in this process the nervous system and motor skills are adversely affected. Cerebral palsy can affect multiple regions of the body; for me, it affects my lower body mobility and makes my right side weaker than my left. However, that's not what this post is about I also have a condition called scoliosis, which is a curvature of the spine. This is the condition that affects my BJJ the most why you ask? Balance. My body tilts to the right and has pulled everything out of line and my p

Well UFC 117: Silva vs Sonnen, as far as the main event goes there isn't much to talk to about. That's because shonnen carried out perfectly. He got close let anderson(silva) commit to strikes and took him down with a double leg takedown and controlled from the top, he did this twenty minutes. The problem with that is championship fights are twenty-five minutes(5, 5-minute rounds). Last round, Anderson locks a triangle from guard and gets the armbar on the inside arm to finish the fight. That's right the same move that finished Fedor. Seriously, if you haven't seen this fight order the replay, check your buddy's DVR, do something this one is a MUST SEE. Glad Silva won shows the power of BJJ. In each of the five televised a Brazilian fighter fought an American fighter giving a sub-plot of USA vs. Brazil, the USA won 3-2.

The error I reported this morning has been fixed. Emotions Volume 1 is once again listed properly.

Thursday of last week I was notified about an incorrect listing on Amazon.com. The current listing for Emotions: The Beginning of Turmoil(Volume 1) has no buy/add to cart button and that you can buy used copies starting at $191.04. DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT make that purchase. The seller is not CreateSpace(the company I self-published with), myself, or Amazon.com. The price of the book is $10.99. It was taken down due to miscommunication between myself and CreateSpace. CreateSpace has been notified and is working to fix this issue. When it's fixed they'll tell me and I'll tell you. Thank you all.

Last week I started a blog tour, by accident but I started blog tour nonetheless. I must admit it's probably the most fun I've had in a long time. What's the point of the tour you ask? To promote Emotions: Better Days(Volume 2). The book is now in it's final edits and will out in about 2-3 months. I will link the blogs that have me as a guest as they go live. The links will be posted on twitter and facebook. You can follow me on twitter@ www.Twitter.com/rblostpoet or just simply come here and use the twitter link box in the corner. Add me as a friend on Facebook too. Search Romeo Barnes. If you'd like an interview, a guest blog appearance, please email Romeobarnes47@gmail.com. Thank you. See you lata guys

Sorry this is so late but the work for the publication and marketing of Emotions Volume 2 is in full swing so a lot of things are behind. By now everyone knows how it went down, but in case you've been living under a rock here's a quick recap Round 1: Carwin comes out hard and fast gets through with a straight right and drops Lesnar with what I believe was an uppercut lands in half-guard against the cage and pounds on Lesnar for four minutes after that. Round ends Round 2: Carwin's dead tired and throws a sloppy jab brock ducks and hits a textbook double leg lands in half-guard and passes to mount(carwin's half-guard was wide open) locks an arm triangle jumps off mount turns the corner and gets the tap. Fight Analysis: 1) Always, Always, Always, Always get the dominate position. The sole reason that fight was not stopped in round 1 is because Carwin sat in the half-guard and didn't clear Lesnar's arms to get free shots. Passing to side mount or mount puts the fi

Since Werdum beat Fedor with BJJ just last night just like he said he would, I figured it was a good time to post the second installment of BJJ in MMA. However, before I get into that I must say, I'm glad Fedor finally lost because now people have to admit what has been true for years. Fedor was never really that good especially if we're speaking from a technical standpoint he just has crazy power and extremely explosive hips. Wild looping punches thrown from behind your ass and leaning backwards while cranking a kimura in half-guard with your legs together no less is NOT technical in the slightest. No good instructor in boxing or BJJ will allow either of those things to happen. On to the fight analysis: Fight starts after some circling Fedor hits Werdum with one of those crazy shots. Werdum falls and Fedor throws another looping into Werdum's guard, Werdum grabs the (now inside) arm and sucks Fedor into triangle slowly adjusting and transitioning to the armbar when needed.

Emotions Volume 1: The Beginning of Turmoil is going to available as a Hard Cover book very soon!!!! It will NOT be available on Amazon.com the only way to get one is through me. This will be a collector's item in near future. So if you want one shoot me an email at Romeobarnes47@gmail.com. Please format the email as follows: Subject line: Hard Cover Emotions Vol. 1 Name Address Number of Copies (Please hit the return/enter key as it makes it much easier to read and therefore respond) Comments/Questions I will reply within 24 hours of putting in your order. Yes, all books will be autographed if you'd like it to say anything specific please let that be known in the comments/questions section. There will be a $20(per copy) charge for this service to cover shipping. The address where the checks are to be sent will be in the confirmation email you receive after I receive your order. Thank you

I just left the GrapplersQuest US Nationals and incredibly pissed off at myself. I got a bye the 1st round(my dad keeps counting it as a win which technically, I guess it makes him feel good I personally don't see it that way) so that was awesome simply because one win puts me in the medal rounds, sadly, I failed to get that win. Here's the match(The opponent started on his knees as per my request): I reach for his right lapel with my left hand. He beats me inside and grips my left lapel with his right hand, I break the grip dragging him to right as a result. (at this point he has one knee up and one down) I hold on to the sleeve and go for the back grab to force the turtle position and work collar chokes(instead of taking the single leg that was screaming at me), he postures and shoots for half-guard and gets it; moments later, as I'm climbing up for my passing position I get caught in a triangle and have to tap. This makes me 0-1 at purple belt and 0-4(with a default win)

Content from Graciemag.com please visit the site for the women's lineup it has its fair share of classics too. Classic match-packed Sunday: black belt quarterfinals set Posted on June 5, 2010 by Ivan Trindade Nearly all the black belt weight groups have their quarter finals set. The dispute continues on Sunday. Check out the matchups: Roosterweight Rafael Freitas vs Bernardo Pitel Makoto Sawada vs Caio Terra Rogério Taborda vs Felipe Costa Marcelo Pereira vs Bruno Malfacine Light featherweight Paulo Melo vs Daniel Beleza Pablo Silva vs Sebastian Lalli Samuel Braga vs Yoshihiko Matsumo Laercio Fernandes vs Samir Chantre Featherweight Cobrinha vs Theodoro Canal Mario Reis vs Renan Borges Rafael Mendes vs Ryan Hall Denilson Pimenta vs Naoya Uematsu Lightweight Michale Langhi vs Rafael Barbosa JT Torres vs Gilbert Burns Celso Venícius vs Bruno Frazatto Augusto Mendes vs Lucas Lepri Middleweight Marcelinho vs Murilo Santana Kayron Gracie vs William Cooper Sergio Moraes vs Kron Gracie L

Just for a change of pace and to show fans of my literary work I haven't forgotten about them here's a poem from my first book, "Emotions: The Beginning of Turmoil, Vol. 1" Components of the Human The heart holds emotions The mind holds thoughts The soul holds the spirit The three components of the human All housed in the body The components must unite In order to maintain stability Work in harmony, they must The mind The heart The soul To stabilize the body Deny the soul- Become cloudy Deny the heart- Face depression Deny the mind- Become insane The soul The heart The mind Deny them all- cease to exist The heart The mind The soul The components of the human To purchase a copy of the book in its entirety click here Leave a comment if you like it or even if you hate it; if you'd like more poetry posted here just let me know.

The fight happened 4 years ago but it still stands out in my mind as one of the most technical BJJ matchups ever filmed. Enjoy

Two shocking announcements for Mundials Nino Schembri in the Heavyweight category(That's right Nino's back) Marcio "Pe de Pano" Cruz has entered as well. Lastly, 2009 black belt Heavyweight Champ Bruilo Estima is out due to injury. Due to Estima's injury I have to change my pick for the heavyweight final. So the new pick: Rafael Lovato, Jr vs. Bernardo Faria Champion: Bernardo Faria. (If you happen to read this I love you Raf, I'm a huge fan, but Bernardo's on fire right now) For the full article on the sign-ups check out graciemag.com Even with Bruilo's absence worlds will be EPIC. Make sure to check it out online and free at www.budovideos.com June 3rd through June 6th See you after Worlds.

I did it for guys so I can't leave out the ladies. Light Featherweight: Leticia Ribeiro vs Michelle Nicolini Champion: Leticia Ribeiro Notes:This is a rematch of 2009, Michelle Nicolini has switched from Drysdale BJJ to Checkmat it'll be interesting to see if her game has changed thanks to Leo and the rest of the guys over there. That being said the GH women's team is an amazing team and letty is a 2x champ I don't see a reason why she won't get a 3rd title this year. Featherweight: Bianca Andrade vs Ana Michelle Dantas Champion: Bianca Andrade Note: Let's see if she'll give us another 30-second armbar like she did in 2009. Lightweight: Luanna Alzuguir vs Kyra Gracie Champion: Luanna Alzuguir Middleweight: Hillary Williams vs Luiza Monteiro Champion: Hillary Williams Note: Hanette Stack is out; If either Beatriz Mesquita or Luanna Alzuguir fight as middleweight instead of lightweight Hillary Williams takes home a silver medal Medium Heavyweight: Penny Thomas

Can't sleep and don't really know why. So Graciemag.com has an article with the editor's picks for Worlds at the black belt level. Here are my picks My predictions: Roosterweight Final: Bruno Malfacine vs Felipe Costa Champion: Bruno Malfacine Light Featherweight Final: Guilherme Mendes vs Samuel Braga Champion: Guilherme Mendes Featherweight Final: Cobrinha vs Rafael Mendes Champion: Cobrinha Lightweight Final: Michael Langhi vs Jonathan Torres Champion: Michael Langhi Middleweight Final: Marcelo Garcia vs Kayron Gracie Champion: Marcelo Gracia Medium heavyweight Final: Tarsis Humphreys vs Eduardo Telles Champion: Eduardo Telles(keep sleeping you'll see) Heavyweight Final: Braulio Estima vs Bernardo Faria Champion: Braulio Estima Super Heavyweight Final: Roger Gracie vs Ricardo Demente Champion: Roger Gracie Ultra Heavyweight Final: Gabriel Vella vs Rodrigo Cavaca Champion: Garbriel Vella Black Belt Absolute Final: Roger Gracie vs Xande Ribeiro Champion: Roger Gracie I

This is post that has been in my head since Georgette blogged her time at the Pan back in April over at her blog georgette's world . I don't quite remember the name of the post(just search her April posts) but in it she stated that sweep+submissions is better than takedown+pass therefore she implied unintentionally or not that playing the bottom is better than playing the top. Her reasoning being there are more options on the bottom which is completely true but thats only because you can transition to a different guard should the one you're using currently not be working not because the top player doesn't have submissions. Therefore, I must disagree with her statement. Firstly, if you pull guard and I knee-cut/step over into your half and flatten I get an advantage meaning all I have to do is stay there until time is up and I win. All leglocks can come from the top and in fact do especially the ankle lock. The toe hold and Heel Hook are the most common leg attacks from

Well one goal for 2010 has been accomplished, that's making purple belt. I got promoted Monday night. All that's left is publish Emotions Volume 2: Better Days, which is another blog post all it's own and win Mundials. Sadly, there's no way I can make the trip(medical bills+no sponsors=No Worlds). I'm having surgery soon(September) and I want to compete before I go under the knife for what has be 1,000th time. So I signed up for the GrapplersQuest US Nationals. I placed last year at this event taking 3rd place, having said that, last year was blue belt level, and purple is considered the lowest rank of the upper-class. A bishop with a black belt being king(for my chess players). What that means is this will be a whole different beast. I really wish I could compete on the IBJJF stage especially since I'm trying make a run for ADCC and ADCC Pro in 2011.(Someday I will) However, due to circumstances beyond my control GQ will have to be my IBJJF Worlds. I may do IBJ

This blog is the first in a series that will highlight BJJ as it applies to MMA. This series was prompted by my friend Alexia Krause from MMAindustries, who sent me an article on women in MMA and MMA as fitness for women. Though this is not a fitness blog or a MMA blog I felt it was important because it will help any uneducated readers I have to get a grasp of MMA from the perspective of the everyman before I dive into all of MMA's disciplines and if I can inspire women to train martial arts what reason is there not to post it? Alexia's article is pasted below and make sure to check out MMAindustries.com for all your BJJ/MMA equipment needs. Enjoy. MMA Workouts are not Just for Men By Alexia Krause Mixed martial arts appears to be a male dominated sport, yet the number of women who are becoming part of the MMA community is continually growing. There are many female MMA fighters (including Kaitlyn Young and Gina Carano), who follow the same rigorous regimens as their male count

Not training on a Saturday morning has got be the strangest feeling in the world. As I laid in the bed this morning I realized without Jiu-Jitsu my life would be pretty damn boring, I also realized I won't go to Mundials this year simply because I can't afford to make the trip :(. Oh well, we'll push that goal back to 2011. That's one of the downsides of training with a smaller team, most of if not all, of your competition expenses come out of your own pocket. The only other downside is that brown and black belts are few and far between. Training with white belts and blue belts is good as it's basically a drilling session for anyone ranking higher, but training with brown and black is where the finer points come into play. Off-balance on top of half-guard say bye-bye to your top position; did you lock a triangle without the foot behind the knee thanks for the free pass. The list goes on but you get the point. The brown belt level is where the precision basics you le

One of the biggest and most debated topics in the BJJ community is the turtle position. There are two big arguements about this position. 1) Is it an actual guard? 2) If it gets used as a guard how do we score it in tournaments? In my opinion for a position to be considered a guard, it must fit three requirements: 1) It must start from a defensive standpoint. 2) You must be able to defend yourself AND launch attack. 3) It must have at least one(1) self-defense application. 4) You must have a way to control your opponent/enemy. So let's see if turtle is a legitimate guard. On your knees not being able to see your enemy sounds pretty defensive to me. Your hands and elbows can keep you from taking punches and knees flush and you have access to kneebars, toeholds, kimuras, armbars, wristlocks and a boatload of sweeps. So that's points one and two covered. On to point 3 and 4 Self-defense application: When you turtle on the street you roll away immediately and sit to full guard or

A question I get a lot is: "Why do you compete against guys that can use their legs?" I answer simply "Because I can beat them." Asking organizations to create divisions just for guys like me(with limited lower body use) seems selfish and goes against the whole reason compete. Don't get me wrong I want the titles and fame that comes along with being among the best in the world. Black Belt World Champion is my ultimate goal in competitive BJJ. However, the real reason I compete is to show others like me that they can do the same. In truth, I started BJJ because was bored of being home everyday with nothing to do I felt stuck in place as I stopped going to physical therapy because it hurt so much and was boring as fuck. Needless to say i fell in love with the sport and I figured I could make a difference I know there are thousands of kids who are just like I was bored and in pain for their daily lives and physical therapy just makes it worse.

First off, I have no idea why I haven't been writing and I know I do a horrible job of keeping this blog up to date. Please forgive me. As you may know the Mid-Atlantic was hit with a blizzard about 3 weeks ago followed by a smaller snow storm the day after and being in Maryland I was caught right in the middle of it. Well, I'll let this be known now snow and wheelchairs aren't the best of friends. Needless to say, I've come to loathe snow with an intense passion. Due to the snow I was stuck in the house until yesterday. Where'd I go? Take a guess... You got it I went to BJJ practice. There's something majestic about rolling around on those ugly blue mats. You wouldn't think preventing your limbs from being broken when someone is trying to hyperextend or twist them to cause breaks would be something anyone would look forward to but as I said there's a majestic quality about it; it's really therapuetic. You really need to exprience it to understand wh