Sparring and Strokes

I was in bed the majority of today.  I'm usually good at managing all of my health problems, but sometimes one of them decides it's going to take me for a bumpy ride.  I woke up at four in the morning, my head pounding.  Since I couldn't sleep, I took a baby aspirin and turned on the TV.  There was an episode of "Mr. Ed" on regarding the horse's objection over Wilbur accepting a bear rug from his grumpy father-in-law.  It beat watching the parade of infocommercials on the other channels.  The headache still hadn't gone away by the time the alarm went off.  I laid back down, worried about having a stroke.  Because of high blood pressure, I'm at risk.  My dad had a stroke back in 2000, and his health wasn't quite the same afterwards.  Another couple of hours went by, and I called Pastor Roger to tell him that I was going to take a rest today.  The headache was finally gone by late afternoon, and I felt well enough to get ready for the gym.   Tomorrow, I'll get my high blood pressure meds refilled.  It's my fault that I always wait until the pills are gone, then I call the doctor, who then can't see me right away.

"You're too short," Alan said, as I helped him put on sparring gloves to get in the ring with Matthieu .  It's always a little hard to help put gloves on him because of that.  He has to push his hands down into the gloves, and because I'm so close to the ground, it's not easy for him to do.  "I know.  I haven't grown since I was thirteen years old," I chuckled. 

Matthieu caught Alan by surprise with a right (it had just happened before I shot the photo above).  Alan later said, "I wondered where did that come from?"  It looked as if Matthieu has become more confident in the ring.  He did a great job of keeping his eyes on Alan and watching him. 

Brandi gleefully announced that she had a mouthpiece and wanted to spar with me.  "We'll go light," I said, which is my standard response to everyone who spars for the first time in the gym.  Brandi had taken fitness boxing before, but tonight was her first time sparring ever.  "What are the basic rules for sparring?" she asked after we had suited up.  "The idea is not to kill one another, but to work with each other and practice technique," I answered.  Ana and blond Sarah took ringside seats to watch the action, as well as several others in the gym.  Brandi was quite good.  She caught me with several shots to the body.  She blocked a lot of my punches that were aimed at her mid-section and her head.  "That was fun!" Brandi said afterwards.

Matthieu also sparred with Ian for a few rounds.  Ian often had his hands down, but he hung in there with Matthieu.

Mary came in to remind Alan to make sure that there's no one working out in the gym who hasn't paid the fee.  On Monday, Alan made that announcement to people several times.  Both Alan and I noticed the gym was not as crowded as it had been the other day.  I knew that Wayne hadn't paid, and I don't think Robert was signed up, either.  A tall, lanky guy walked into the gym tonight wondering if the program was an open gym.  I explained about the fee and directed him to Mary, who was at the front desk.  He didn't return, so I'm assuming he either didn't pay, or he paid but decided to start next week. 

I found the fan.  I thought someone had walked with it.  The gym was very hot on Monday, probably due to all the people who were packed inside it.  It was hot again today, and on top of that, I kept having hot flashes.  The fan was hiding behind a stand alone file cabinet.  I turned it on, but it was still steamy in the room.