I’m sure there a 1000 blogs and book reviews on October Sky (1998). But most of my reviews tend a little dive deeper than the surface of the book but more how it’s impactful on your mind body and motivations in life. October Sky is probably my favorite book of all time because it taught me one simple truth in life:
Anyone can be a rocket scientist
It’s the 1950’s and Homer Hickman is a high school student living in the small coal mining town in West Virginia. In this town, becoming a man requires throwing a football or swinging a pick axe. Homer is a standard under achiever. In fact, their is nothing special about this kid and he seems to be destined to work in a dying coal mine. But like all young kids, he likes to blow stuff up. His interested begins with fireworks and even accidentally blows up his highly judgmental fathers white picket fence. He brings together a rag tag group of misfit that follow him down the path of amateur rocket design. As a hobby that’s unheard of in their little town, they are viewed as outcast in the community and contested at every turn. Yet they beg borrow and steal everything they can and with intrinsic dedication, ingenuity and trial and error they begin to produce functional rockets.
Homer Hickman was not special. In fact he was below special and barely squeezed by in Algebra. He was born into a society with expectations to become a coal miner. But he wanted to exceed expectations in life. He found a small thread of interest in his life and began to follow it.
The life changing theme for this book is it teaches people that you don’t have to be born an extraordinary human being to be exceptional. It even teaches you that you can be born into terrible confined circumstances and still succeed in life.
Another beautiful theme of the book was the father son relationship. Of course, the father was more than apprehensive about Homer’s trajectory in life and was extremely enthusiastic when Homer worked in the mine with him for a short period of time. But Homer snubbed the idea of working long term in the mine and continued to pursue his dream of amateur rocketry. This caused conflict between the two but a very nice touching moment happened between father and son at the end of the book.
Homer, his friends and family all show up to their remote launch pad to launch the last of their rockets. In fact, the whole town shows up to show their support. To Homers disbelief, his father shows up. He asks his father if he would launch the final rocket and his father agrees.
When Homers father launches the final rocket into the sky, Homers father gazes into the sky in disbelief. He proudly places a hand on Homers back and gives him a smile of approval.
The book was very symbolic for a person trying to escape their personal ordained design in life and fly to places that you’ve only dreamed of. When people are in a rut and don’t believe in themselves, or when they lack courage, fortitude or confidence, I often recommend this book as a gentle nudge to them to let them know, anything in life is possible. Cheers!
So you want to try Brazilian Jiu Jitsu out? Either a screw is lose in your head or you’ve come to a point in life where you want some serious changes both physically and mentally. Lucky for you, this is your guide to help you begin rolling down the path of becoming a true warrior and making some friends along the way.
BJJ has become an extremely prevalent sport around the world. Since It’s introduction into professional mixed martial arts, it’s arguably one of the best tools to have in a fighters tool box. Due to this nature, gyms around the world have opened up to teach these skills and are pretty easy to find. It’s also gained quit a bit of traction due to its low concussion rates in comparison to other contact sports. Finding a local gym around you should be a pretty easy thing which leads to step #1.
#1 Find a Gym
You may have to call around to few places and even check Karate and Kickboxing gyms. Ask for BJJ courses and chances are, they will offer classes a few days a week. Find the date and time and lock it in. Most gyms will allow you to try out a few sessions at no cost to see if you like it.
#2 Fuck Your Excuses
Language! I know this step seems a little extreme but you will try to find excuses not to go. Maybe you have a prior injury. Maybe your too big or too small. Maybe you can’t get your schedule to work. This is all noise in your head that’s fighting you that’s hiding one simple barrier, your fear. And rightfully so! Who would want to step onto the mats with giant angry athletic professional fighters? Or even worse, get balled up by a pimply faced 15 year old blue belt. Although this is a valid fear, it couldn’t be further from the truth.
#3 Know the Crowd
The people who do BJJ are regular people of all shapes, sizes, colors and ages. There’s nothing special about these people except that they have overcome their own worst enemy in their head and decided to start kicking life’s ass. There’s no bully’s on the mat. They won’t make fun of you. They were all beginners just like you and are typically very welcoming to new comers trying the sport out for the first time.
#4 Know What You Gain
The sport isn’t about beating people up. Yes you will acquire skills that will allow you to defeat most people in hand to hand combat. But equipped with this knowledge and carrying yourself with confidence knowing you can readily defend yourself is usually enough to not have to worry about self defense anymore. With this new self confidence and discipline, your going to excel in all aspects of life. Your going to be part of elite group of high functioning individuals that aren’t scared of confrontation but welcomes it. Its now time to get swoll my brother or sister.
#5 Day One
When you walk into the gym it’s going to be a different world. The walls will be plastered with pictures of fighters, trophies and more. It will smell like a mix between sweat and laundry detergent. There will be wall to wall mats on the floor with people boisterously stretching random parts of their body you’ve never thought to stretch. There will be an array of people there stretching in different color Gi’s and belts. If training with a Gi and belt, bonus points to you if you do your homework and watch a video on YouTube on how to tie your belt correctly. Bow into the mat, stretch every part of your body and introduce yourself to someone. Ensure your hydrated. No really. Drink lots of water all day. Ask your coach on what to wear.
#6 Your Going To F*ck Up
There’s no way around this. Your going to have difficulty with things that seem trivial to other students. This is okay! No one is going to make fun of you. All BJJ participants are students, even the instructors. You will quickly find out that BJJ is the most humbling sport in the world. Once you begin going through drills, you will mess them up. It’s okay, everyone in the gym was once in your position. Just listen to the coach and apply yourself to the best of your ability. Don’t forget to breath!
#7 Safety First and Slow The Fuck Down
When receiving training, listen very carefully to the safety instructions. Believe it or not, the season veterans are more scared of you than you are of them. There is a notion of a spaz white belt. This means the new guys tend to spas and flops everywhere through all the drills and could cause accidental injuries to others. It’s okay to slow down. Nice and smooth. Smooth is fast. This isn’t a tournament, it’s just training. Just remember, position before submission. You can focus on training and still have fun with it.
#8 Observe the Veterans
Typically at the end of class, most gyms do open mats. This is an opportunity for the students to wrestle against each other in a controlled timed environment. Spend some time watching them and take notes on breathing patterns. See how they are constantly snapping to guard, mount, and side mount. See the sweaty stinky faces they make when they get tapped.
#9 Get to Day Two
This is the most critical day for you. Your first day you were humbled and didn’t get it all right so this may discourage you from returning. Don’t let this stop you from becoming one of the best versions of yourself. When you make it back, you’ll begin to find familiarity in the drills. You’ll recognize other students you trained with. You’ll be more equipped for the routine of getting to the gym on time and comfortable with your surroundings. The drills will come easier and things will slowly begin to click.
#10 build your routine
At this point, your an all star. Well almost. As with all things in life, it requires consistency. You’ll have to develop your life to accommodate your new gym life-style. You’ll have to build a routine of washing your Gi before or after training days. Timing of your work and potentially kid schedule. Try not to keep other events in life from overlapping with your gym time.
Conclusion
This guide is just the tip of the iceberg of your endeavor down the road of mixed martial arts. Its not for everyone but maaaaaan, if you can get into this sport full throttle, its going to be a joyride you will never regret. In truth, I, myself have never had a training day that I didn’t like. Even having a review day and going over a basic arm bar is fun to me because I can focus on the minute details that I may of missed before.
Congratulations on your endeavor and keep rolling till your belt turns black!
