Hobbies.

What I make when the laptop's shut. I cook about most cuisines with, the thrill of discovering authentic recipes being a driving factor. Although I follow recipes, I adjust everything else by feel: quantities, timing, seasoning tuned to instinct and whatever the pan tells me. Mostly I cook when inspiration hits me, pulling me to the kitchen. I especially love feeding other people and enjoy watching their reactions to my food when it's good (which is the case most of the time).

Grappling is like solving a rubik's cube that can choke you if it's better than you or catches you slipping. As a long-time UFC fan, BJJ was always the silly ground-wrestling part of MMA, until I watched a breakdown of Nate Diaz submitting Conor McGregor which made me appreciate the technical aspects of it and made it a bucket list item to learn. I decided to bite the bullet after the pandemic. 5.5 years later, I'm still in love. Funny thing is, right now I realize that the way to get good at silly ground wrestling really is just practicing a lot of silly ground wrestling instead of trying to figure out some esoteric move that people haven't caught onto yet. I started as a guard player and still love playing guard, but I've gotten pretty good at staying on top once I get there. Although, I'm methodical by default, the evolution in my game and in life really has come from learning how to flow. The real obsession comes from how I view grappling as a means to learning how to learn something that I've learned doesn't reduce to a simple formula, no matter how much you want it to. Right now I'm obsessed with the front headlock and recently, I've also assisted in teaching one of the teen classes, which I enjoy more than I expected to.

My training now, is a mix of powerlifting and calisthenics. The big mistake most people getting into fitness make is following conventional routines which are derived from modern bodybuilding culture. My brother winning a powerlifting state title inspired me to learn more about the culture and history of strength training which led me to realize that what modern fitness "experts" preach is not what gets you freakishly strong. Inspired by Westside and York Barbell, numerous historical sources and a lot of freakishly strong people I've had the pleasure of running into, my training now is a mix of 3-4 powerlifting focused days and smaller calisthenics workouts on the other days. Overall, I'm very fascinated by the culture around strength training, martial arts and the role it has played in society throughout human history and across a wide range of civilizations