This is the first saying that I came up with when I first bought my own set of word magnets.

“In bad energy, be aware of this exciting mystery”

Some interpretations and replies I got back from others:

• It means you’re crazy!!
• Don’t make this your day job.
• Is that from a fortune cookie?
• How about, when you’re mad, you never know what excitement may happen, good or bad.
• Scully, are you on crack?
• Amen, praise the lord, and may the walls come tumbling down and the roof be raised.
• The mystery is the lesson we are being drawn to learn.  I’m starting to believe these events repeat until we master the lesson.  Keep writing! I’m curious as to others.

My take on it:

• Regardless of the the negative things that may happen in ones life, you should always be happy that you’re around.  The opportunities that life gives you are what you make of them.  The not knowing of what is to come ahead makes life more exciting and enjoyable whether you have to face a challenge or not.

I decided to take a walk in the woods behind my house today and take some photos. Here’s a couple that I took.  You can check out larger sizes in the photo gallery:

If you train in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Submission Wrestling, or any other type of grappling martial art or sport and are looking for FREE tips to help you in your training then you should definitely check out my other blog at www.grapplersguideblog.com.  There’s a lot of videos, articles, and advice on how you can improve your game and your training.  There you’ll find a small sample of just some of the content that is provided on www.grapplersguide.com.

These are some of my favorite photographs that I’ve taken so far.

The second saying that I came up with was also at my brothers house, but this time it was on Christmas Eve.  This one stuck out a bit more in regards to a possible meaning for me.

“When you see out from the sun, dreams jump into the sea”

Some interpretations and replies I got back from others:

• Confucius says I don’t know
• Sounds good man, except you would be dead from the suns fury!
• Only super awesome beings can have their perspective from the sun, since it would blind/kill everyone else. dreams mean nothing for someone as amazing as a super awesome being. it means that when you are super awesome, you can accomplish anything.
• The light of clarity gives life to endless possibilities.
• Sunshine represents all that is good and positive.  When you take you outlook from the light instead of darkness.  Your dreams enter the sea representing endless possibilities.

This was my take on it:

• While you my react in certain ways due to the flames of life, it’s the soothing and cool ocean of the ones around you that will lead you to happiness and greatness.

This is the first photo that I took in an effort to actually be artistic with photography:

This is the first saying I came up with below at my brothers house on Thanksgiving using the word magnets on his refrigerator.  To be honest to this day I have no idea what it could possibly mean, but for some reason after looking at it and repeating it I end up pausing and thinking for a second.  Not quite sure what I’m thinking about…haha…but it makes me think.

“In the moon we have some good pig on the water, like a dog singing bad songs”

Think about it a little bit…Soak it in and then get back to me.  Tell me what you think this could actually mean.

Meanings from others:

I don’t know who mentioned it but they said when then heard the saying, one of  the first things they thought of were: dirty water dogs.  I guess so

Update - Someone just recently gave their interpretion of this saying and so far it’s the best one yet: In the moon, everything is opposite.  Cause dogs never sing bad songs and in my opinion, so having a pig on the water in the  moon makes complete sense.  It’s kind of like opposite day.

Here is a great quote that one of the members at The Grapplers Guide posted in response to the post about taking risks.  I think it’s a great quote so I figured I’d share it here:

“It is not the critic who counts, nor the man who points how the strong man stumbled or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly…who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at best, knows the triumph of high achievement; and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”

~Theodore Roosevelt

I came across this piece about “risks” and it is something that I really enjoyed and I agree with 100%. In life you have to take some risks. If you don’t how will you ever know if you could have ever done all of the things you ever wanted or lived a life that made you truly happy.

Without risk there is only regret and with regret there is only sorrow.

No one ever succeeds without failure. Chances are if you never took actual risks and you never failed then you never really tried. Without trying you’ll always wonder.

The goal is to not have any “what if’s”, it’s to do and know regardless of the outcome.

Here is the selection that I came across:

RISK
Author unknown

To laugh is to risk appearing the fool.
To weep is to risk appearing sentimental.
To reach out to others is to risk involvement.
To expose feelings is to risk exposing your true self.
To place your ideas, your dreams before a crowd is to risk their loss.
To love is to risk not being loved in return.
To live is to risk dying.
To hope is to risk despair.
To try is to risk failure.

But risks must be taken,
because the greatest hazard in life is to do nothing.

The perso n who risks nothing,
does nothing, has nothing, and is nothing.

They may avoid suffering and sorrow,
but they cannot learn, feel, change, grow, love, live.

Chain ed by their attitudes, they are a slave,
they forfeited their freedom.

Only the perso n who risks can be free

Classes for The Grapplers Guide Academy located in Central New Jersey will begin on July 28th 2008.  The braziliian jiu jitsu and no-gi submission wrestling school will be located at:

2 Bridge Avenue
Red Bank, NJ 07701

Inside the Power Center which is located at The Galleria

Be on the look out for a new Jiu Jitsu school starting up very soon in central New Jersey.  The school will be called The Grapplers Guide Academy and will feature classes teaching Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Submission Wrestling, Wrestling, and Judo.  Also stay tuned for The Grapplers Guide Academy website to be launched in the up coming weeks.

Well it’s been over a year now since The Grapplers Guide has been launched and I have to say that I’m very happy with the results.  The site has turned into a great learning resource for all of the members and on top of that The Grapplers Guide has attracted some great individuals.  Everyone is respectful, willing to help each other, and eager to learn.

Also right now we have a running count of over 50 Brazilian Jiu Jitus black belt members!!  All in all, it’s really a great place to visit on the net.