From the Workbench of Kali

My name is Kali. I’ve already been doing this on my facebook page for a few years now. My primary focus for this journal is exploring Firearms, Independent Gunsmithing, Firearms Training, Combatives with a focus on Grappling, Yoga, and Fitness. There will be times where I go into the weeds and cover stuff like Manga, or maybe a current event, and sometimes I’ll venture into shitpost territory. But my primary goal for this is to put together a compendium of my writing relating to what I consider to be my desired area of expertise.

I’ve been training Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, which is responsible for who I am today, for over 10 years. I know its kind of a meme to say “Jiu Jitsu Saved My Life” but in my case it really did. I was fat, depressed, a two pack a day smoker, I had very little going for me. I was addicted to pornography. I was a rootless degenerate. But when I got into Jiu Jitsu my life really started to change, as I grew to demand better of myself. Jiu Jitsu didn’t make me a better person, instead it gave me incentive to strip away all the crappy habits I had that was killing me. I spent much of my time teaching kids classes, and more recently running adult classes, due to a recent falling out with an instructor I am only a student. One of my long term goals, is to become a teacher again either by starting my own school, or teaching somewhere.

Through Jiu Jitsu I found incentive to become a Certified Yoga Instructor, as of today my practice is virtually non existant, but I’m working towards building my practice up again. Maybe not to teach Yoga as a Teacher, but to use it to deepen my jiu jitsu practice again, and help my teammates become better at jiu jitsu through their yoga practice.

The direction that my Jiu Jitsu has taken me pushed me into the relm of combatives. Craig Douglas was a significant influence on me, and is responsible for turning the focus of my jiu jitsu towards the street and the tools I carry with me day to day. Does this make me an expert in this field? Not even in the least. But this is the logical direction of my training.

One of the other focuses I have is gunsmithing. During Covid, I hand built a Polymer 80. When I say I hand built it, I don’t mean I used a dremel with my hands. No… I used files, and sanding wedges in order to remove the material from the main spring, and the rail bars. it took about a week to clear the material by hand. I did use a dremel to set my pins holes, but the bulk of the work was done by hand. This Frame is retired, and sitting in my parts bin, waiting for the day I put together a shadow box for it. The Polymer80 was my very first adventure in gun building, and through it, I learned how the Glock Pistol Operates, since then I’ve built several p80s, i’ve populated frames for other aftermarket “glock type” pistols. I’ve learned how to build AR’s, and most recently I’ve been learning how to assemble an AK, not hands on, I don’t have the tools for it yet, but its a goal.

Over the next few weeks I’m going to migrate my content off Facebook to this journal, complete with photos (no… not the memes, unless its one of my own memes), and I want to add some of the better discussions from the comments on the posts as well, I have great followers, and I’ve had some great back and forth with them. While this is a personal passion project, having interactions with all of you really make this worth while.