If you haven't noticed, this blog is anything but active. I enjoy having it as a reference to things I've done in the past, that I can share with the new talent. However, if you want to continue with me in my journey, your best bet is on Facebook and Twitter. Those are things I update. 

Www.facebook.com/kcrushridge

@KCrushridge

I was asked to send in a bio for my character. This is what I sent. Your thoughts?

"Party Boy" Keith Crushridge

From: The Island of Ibiza (pronounced E-veez-za)

Manager of The Munchies, El Queso Fuego and Big Red

  Keith was raised in a working class home, learning the values of honor and respect. He excelled scholastically, but was rarely motivated to do more than the bare minimum. In the midst of his college years, he discovered two passions: wrestling, and the nightclub lifestyle. He dropped out of college and fervently pursued both. Keith traveled the world, learning different wrestling styles and enjoying the dance club cultures he came across. Eventually, he found a home in OSW. 

  Although he is now grounded in one place, he has not changed. His energy and charisma are unparalleled. His intelligence and eloquence shine through both on the mic and in the ring. He may seem a bit goofy at first; but his opponents soon learn he is a force to be reckoned with. For the "Party Boy" Keith Crushridge, the party must go on. For anyone who stands in his way, it's Last Call. 

Finishing move: Last Call (top-rope cross-body)

Over 3400 pageviews. Wow. Maybe if I actually stay on this that could increase.

So today was somewhat of a light practice; as far as attendance, anyway. We had enough for 4 pairs, including Jastin. That actually works out very well for doing spots. We started with some of the workouts we'd been doing with Billy, sans Billy.

I guess I should mention Billy.

Billy is a guy who knows far more about fitness and building than any of us do. He trains us on lifting techniques, cardio, etc. We train him in the ring. It's a good symbiotic relationship. Anyway, he's given us workout schedules and such. We did today's workout first, then got into doing spots. Basic dropdowns, leapfrogs, what have you. I won't bore you with insignificant details. After all that happened, Saint and Queso had a match. Queso came off the top rope with a cross body and Saint took it. Directly after, Saint gave Queso a spinebuster and went to the top rope for a frog splash...but quickly stepped back down and ended the match with a pin. Afterwards he got out and laid his head on the bottom rope. When he took the cross body, he landed on his head real good. Possible concussion, but he didn't show the typical symptoms. He's being taken to the ER just in case. Hoping to see him on Tuesday, even if he can't practice.

I landed on my left foot at one point so it's been bugging me, but not as bad as it had been. The only time I had to step out was hitting my head too much on a bump, and that didn't slow me down for too long. I bought a DDR machine, and I'm not insured, so I can't afford a hospital visit.

Oh yeah, I bought a DDR machine. A full size arcade Extreme machine. That'll kick my cardio back into shape for realz.

Posting (live from the ring!)

But not as happy as usual. I woke up barely able to breathe, as I have all week. I was in zombie mode at work, but we were thankfully dead enough I could get some things done regardless. I came home and went directly to bed. Bridgette woke me a little late for practice, and I sleepily jumped right in. I had to step out after only the first half hour. I'm currently in the locker room, spending the last 30 minutes trying not to throw up.

The beginning workout would have been tough, but I know myself. I should've pulled through it without much issue. However, I got cottonmouth immediately and blew up. I haven't felt like this since the Charlie Haas seminar. I hope I'm not getting sick. Something has been going around the employees at work and I don't want it. I'll be checking my temp when I get home.

On the subject of deterioration, my left foot is still not totally healed. It's not what it was for certain. I don't limp, I can walk on it and put weight on it no issue. But something inside at the base of my big toe is still off. Pulling it in any direction hurts a lot; and stubbing it or kicking something brings me to tears something fierce. The way it happened and the way it acts doesn't make me think it's broken. I just think it should've healed by now.

I don't have time to slow down. I've got double duty in a week and a half.

Wait, I guess I should mention that too.

Saturday the 27th, OSW will be at the...whatever the name of the bar is at the end of the road on the corner of Andrews and 61st st. Coyote Saloon or something. There is a benefit happening for a brother of the family. Their house burned down and they lost everything. There will be food, music, and us putting on a show. I'm in it. Make it if you can. I'll try and get it recorded for everyone else.

You know, once I figure out how to BREATHE AGAIN.

Today was a good day. Started with some new workout routines, did our rolls, talked for a while, and did some spots. Been out too long.

Also, this.

Breaking the Silence was a huge success. On the road of Marfamania!

Been a while, people. Not a lot has gone on for me wrestling wise lately. It's all been work, work, work. Being understaffed during the busiest quarter of the year kinda sucks. We had a new manager come in and quit in less than three weeks. Her training was longer than that and cost the store three grand. We've been preparing for a visit from a couple bigwigs and it finally happened today. I'm still employed, so I'm calling it a success.

Tomorrow I will attend a seminar, doing yoga with Diamond Dallas Page. That's exciting enough, but Saturday we're putting on a big show featuring quite a number of big names. Along with DDP, we've got Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin, U-Gene, Raven, Jackie Gayda-Haas, and of course our local talent. It'll be one hell of a show. We have an upcoming one in Marfa in May I will be participating in. Now that the big visit is over, we have some staff, and things are slowing down, too much work is no longer a valid excuse to stay out of the ring.

I'm still here, people. I promise.

Another training session under the belt. We restarted our crossfit training today, and it was mostly arms. That's ok; Monday is paperwork day at work so losing the ability to lift my arms isn't so debilitating. However, after squats, leg drops, knee drops, flying headbutts, and Lou Thesz presses (especially those) my knees have seen better days. This is the first real practice since the injury, and it feels that way. But, nothing is broken or strained; just sore. Gonna work through it and come back Tuesday with no excuses. It's the only way to be.

Last Sunday was the first time I'd been back in the ring in a while. It felt good. It also reminded me that leaving for any amount of time will certainly bring on ring rust and destroy cardio. Due to long hours at work I was unable to attend practice that Tuesday or Thursday; or do anything fun, get anything done, or even give my girlfriend a ride home from work. So, yesterday I was happy to be able to make it.

We practiced many things, none of them new to me, until we were going over the top rope onto somebody on the outside. I didn't quite get horizontal enough and my right shin hit the apron. There was some significant swelling, but it was easily walked off. That would have been no big deal, but we followed that with second rope cross bodies. Well, I decided to volunteer first for three reasons: I want to do a top rope one as my finisher, my adrenaline was still flowing, and I'm dumb.

I landed two in a row just fine, but because I was consciously trying to avoid landing on my shin (and spraying blood and pus all over the canvas) I took it too hard in the knees. My right knee swelled even larger than my shin by the end of the night. I was fine as it happened; I was able to run the ropes without much issue. Today, however, walking is hard!

Hopefully I'll be back up and running soon. It's just swelling and bruising.

New year, new party

Once again, a sustained absence. Allow me to catch you all up. We have (at least almost, at the time of this posting) purchased our first house. Between the stress of that, our jobs, hurting my back for a bit, and various other things, I have made maybe half of the practices. And recently, several of those meetings were not traditional practices. Not to mention, sometimes I just can't motivate myself to go. Motivation has been my biggest obstacle for any undertaking of mine.

As for " untraditional practices," that leads me to my next point. It's been posted about on my Facebook and Twitter, but definitely warrants a post here. We went to the funeral of OSW's own brother, Luis Romero, today. I will not go into the details of it. I will only say that he mentioned he had suffered a concussion two weeks prior to his collapse, and soon after slipped into a coma. No one knows what caused it, as he only mentioned it after the fact. It was a set of unfortunate circumstances that I hope will be avoided in the future. We love and miss our brother.

Looking towards the future, I want to get more active in the ring again. I may miss the next few upcoming practices as we finish the old house and set up the new one, but I fully intend to put myself back into it with the vigor I had when I first began his journey 8 months ago. That sounds like a New Year's resolution, but I never put any stock in those. As Calvin said, that implies imperfection. And along with that, I'll try and keep this blog alive. There hasn't been a lot to post lately, but that's partially my fault for inactivity. The party continues in 2013!

I'm aware posts have been few and far between. I certainly haven't been able to make every practice, but the main reason is that what has transpired in practice is mostly a repeat of things I've written before. I've already started following this policy, but I suppose I should announce that I'll only post when there's something noteworthy.

We've got some new blood. People come and go, but it's nice to have fresh faces at the facility to clothesline. Some of them have some natural talent, even. We taught them some new moves. We practiced hip tosses, back body drops, belly-to-back suplexes, DDTs, vertical suplexes, dropkicks, and fall away slams. Jastin wanted Isaac and I to do a short match. We had 5 minutes to plan it and 5 minutes to execute it. I didn't have it recorded, but I'd say it went well. Jastin told us we followed the formula and had some good psychology.

Just gotta stick with it...

Charlie Haas Seminar

Dear lord, where do I start? Let's go chronologically. Last night's Tommy Chong show was great! I thought it was better than the Steve-O show. Charlie Haas and some of the guys went to Graham's to hang out after, but I wanted to get to bed and be prepared for the morning. I didn't suspect drinking and being out late would be the best way to do that. I already expected to be wanting to puke; I didn't need more ammo.

Charlie's first task for us was some cross training. He set up 6 stations for us and had us do each one for 50 seconds, and then we had 10 seconds to go to the next station. After one full rotation, we had a 2 minute break. We did this for 5 rounds. This was the longest 40 minutes of my life. I still don't quite feel 100% (my head was pounding all of 2 minutes in) but to my credit, I never gave up or threw up. I was very much on the verge of purging, but I was able to push through. Fred heard my monster belching and was like "what the fuck was that, are you gonna puke?" I said "Well, not after that, I feel way better!"

Then we sat down and talked psychology. He broke down the match into parts and laid it all out for us. This is the segment I was really looking forward to. I'm not yet overly familiar with how to tell a story in the ring. He had us split into groups of 2 and work matches in small pieces. I teamed with Rooster and worked face. Part one was the beginning of the match, and he wanted us to stop right at the point where the heel starts to build up the heat. We did this by having him run out the ring, me chase him, and as he came in he "accidentally" bumped into the ref to distract him, and he'd kick the middle rope as I was stepping over them. Charlie was a fan of that. While we waited on food to show up we had some Q&A going on.

We had lunch at that point. Bridgette and my parents showed up and we all indulged. Unfortunately for us trainees, we had to get right back into the ring afterwards. In the middle part, he wanted the heel to take over and show intensity. He wanted to end at a double down to set up for a finish. So, Rooster started beating me relentlessly. His punches are quite stiff; he was knocking my head pretty good. I fought back some, but he'd get the better of me. Then he picked me up for a body slam, I slipped out the back door, and hit him with a Russian leg sweep. That was our double down. Fred loved it; he had been commenting that none of us never use that move.

As a finish, in quick succession I hit him with a clothesline, a back elbow, and a flying shoulder tackle. Then, I yelled out "LAST CALL!!!" (After all, I am the Party Boy) and hit him with a cross body for the finish. I was surprised at how well Rooster took to it. He's farther along in his training than I thought.

Charlie took pics with us all and gave us autographed 8x10s. I'll get those posted up soon. It was a great experience and helped clear up a lot of misconceptions I had. I believe we'll be incorporating the cross training into our routine. That will build us up like nothing else ever could.

Training will not commence tomorrow because all of us could be declared clinically dead. We should be good to go for Tuesday.

Alright, so I was able to get into the ring and do a decent workout today. I haven't been feeling 100% lately, so between that and work I've either missed practice or attended but barely participated. I'm still plagued by headaches and a general uneasy feeling, but I kicked that shit to the curb and didn't hold back. With Charlie Haas coming in two days and whipping all our asses, I can't exactly continue to sit back and take it easy. At some point you gotta bite the bullet and just go for it.

I am very excited about this weekend. Tomorrow we're all attending a Tommy Chong stand up show. Charlie will be with us, and my parents are coming into town as well. Then Saturday morning, Charlie is basically going to take us outside and shoot us; at least, it'll feel that way. We don't know what he has planned, but I do know I will half-ass nothing and intake all the knowledge I can. This is not an opportunity I will get very often.

2500+ views!

As the title states, I have over 2500 views on this blog. I guess some of you are reading! So please comment more. Let me know what you want me to elaborate on and what I can leave out. Yes, updates have been sporadic. Allow me to explain with the short version: I've been stressed and depressed. Some practices I've missed for legit reasons; especially being stuck at work all day and night. With Bridgette's stress level affecting me deeply, I had no willpower to do much of anything. She's getting better, and so am I. I went to practice Tuesday, but didn't really participate. Today I decided I had no good reason not to, so I stepped into the ring again.

Today was not a hard day, so I was able to ease back in. Jastin taught us some new exercises he had picked up, including new ways to roll. I feel like they're much easier to do and to pop up from. He also had us do a couple of matches. I've already uploaded it, so feel free to enjoy:

"Party Boy" Keith Crushridge vs. Chris Wolfe

Slow ride...

You'll notice there hasn't been an update lately. Well, I haven't been lately. You can blame my job for that. I had some big league coming to my store (head of the games department) and I needed to be ready for the visit. Good news is, it went well. Bad news is, he mentioned the CEO will be visiting our store soon. So much for going back to the daily grind.

So work is stressful. On the flip side, Bridgette's job is far more stressful; which is taking its toll on us both. Things will get better, but for now nights are rough. She's not sleeping, so I'm not sleeping. She doesn't feel well, so I don't feel well. Neither of us slept last night, so we both called in to work. After we went up there and got things set up for a sub, we came home, and slept until 2. It was nice and we needed it.

Went to practice, but my head isn't where it needs to be. Luckily, today was filled with good news. For one, we have dates for some future shows. Sept. 30th in San Angelo, during which time I'll be in Abilene; and Nov. 10th in Stanton. Also January 19th for a fundraiser for Hood Jr. High, and Feb. 9th at the Horseshoe Arena. These dates may be a day or two off but I believe they are correct. As always, us trainees are under constant evaluation as to whether we will be on the card or not.

Secondly, Tony, who I haven't seen in the ring since I very first started due to his own job situation, came in to help us on weight lifting. He took the time to show us proper technique and find out our maxes. Building and shaping my body is probably one of the largest reasons I started this in the first place, so that was exciting.

I'll just have to walk it off and come back full force on Thursday. As you've heard: the party must go on.

Now trending worldwide!

New Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/kcrushridge
New Twitter: @KCrushridge

Follow plz!

Hahaha...ahhh...ow.

Today started with a more intense version of the regular routine. This was to help build us up for the Charlie Haas seminar, where he is to whip our asses. I made it through, but it was certainly a call to arms for us to step it up.

More of the same, really. Not much to document.

Haas of Pain

Not much to speak of on today's training, but next month Charlie Haas is coming to do a seminar for us; and he'll also be joining us to watch Tommy Chong do standup the night before. Awesome shit! If you don't know who that is, get on Wikipedia and do your research.

DDT-Pain

See what I did there?

Today was spent doing more basics. Hip tosses, clotheslines, shoulder blocks, suplexes, front suplexes (those kinda suck,) DDTs, and bulldogs. The reason for the title is because when one of the new guys gave me one, he didn't let go and drove my head down pretty hard. I was fine after a minute, but I could feel it resonate down my neck at first. I'm good now.

No post from Tuesday or Thursday. Last week was pure chaos. Bridgette started a new job, two of my bosses made a visit to my location; just all kinds of things happening at once. Back to the normal grind now; no excuses to miss practice.

We may be doing a show in San Angelo the last weekend of this month but unfortunately I won't make that. I'll be in Abilene attending a WWE house show.