In my notes for my next blog post and or podcast episode, I wrote down “Last week – went to Brazilian jiu jitsu (BJJ) for first time in almost two months. Everything hurts BUT my ribs”. That was on Thursday evening. It’s now Tuesday evening. I made it through 55 or so minutes of an exhausting but largely unremarkable jiu jitsu class. Then while rolling with a guy about my size, who also happens to be named Matt, I heard a crack. It was similar to the sound of when you pop a row of knuckles or your back, but louder, and definitely more painful.

In case you don’t listen to my podcast or I forgot to include this in an earlier blog post, I started jiu jitsu lessons in September, injured my ribs in November, and wasn’t able to attend class for almost two months. Last week I finally felt good enough to go back to class and now I’m typing this with an ice pack on my rib cage. I had been really enjoying the physical and mental challenge of the jiu jitsu classes but I feel like maybe the universe is trying to tell me that maybe starting jiu jitsu classes in my 30s wasn’t the smartest idea. I’d love to write something like “I’m not ready to give up yet…” but I think I might need to find a less intense way of staying in shape while learning something new.

In the meanwhile, I’m not looking forward to spending the next few weeks recovering from the same injury I recently recovered from. *cue dramatic music and womp womp womp sound effects*

In other non-BJJ and rib injury related news, I’ve spent a considerable amount of time the past week trying to procure a “project car”. I’ve got my sights set on a Fox Body (1987-1993) Mustang, which is a car that I’ve wanted since I was a teenager. It’s one of those cars that I’ve often searched for on Auto Trader and Craigslist randomly over the years but finding the right car for the right price has always seemed impossible. Somehow though, I managed to find solid examples in a very short period of time. I was in the middle of trying to buy one of them, but the seller ended up deciding he wasn’t ready to part ways with the car. I was disappointed but I understand. I am waiting for more details on another one of the cars but trying my best to be patient. If I can land one of these, I plan to work on a series of blog posts and videos documenting the ownership experience and learning while doing different work on the car. Fingers crossed. Thanks for reading.

Edit for update: I got x-rays this morning. I have a fractured rib. No more jiu jitsu for the foreseeable future.