President's Day at the Gym

"It's a quiet night," Abby observed.  Probably some people thought the gym wasn't open because of the holiday.  Once again, the women outnumbered the men.

Alan gave some extra attention to Brandy tonight since she signed up to compete in the Golden Gloves.  Ray gave her a high five when he learned she was in the competition.  "That's what's up!" he said.  Brandy complained that she was so hungry since she started dieting in order to compete in the 132 weight class.  Fortunately, she doesn't have a lot to lose.  I heard her tell Alan that she hadn't had to diet before.  I wish.  I've been on a constant quest to lose weight for years, even more so since I was diagnosed with diabetes five years ago.  Alan suggested to Brandy that she start running, at least a mile a day.

Jacob said he didn't mind sparring with the ladies, so Brandy, myself, and Abby took turns in the ring with him.  During one of my rounds with him, I impressed myself by breathing through my nose the entire time.  It's never a good idea to breath through one's mouth during fighting.  First of all, the opponent will quickly figure out, "Hey, this person's tired because they're breathing hard."  Second of all, a punch that comes in at the wrong time may end up with somebody losing their teeth, despite the fact that a mouthpiece is being worn. 

Matthieu came in briefly with a woman whom I assumed was his new girlfriend.  He was on crutches.  "I'll be back in the summer," he smiled. 

Ray would have liked to have signed up for the Gloves, but he's got a lot of things on his plate, including going to school.  Ray's going to school to learn how to teach others how to be barbers -- he would like to open his own school.  The beauty/barber game is popping, even in this economy.  Among African-Americans, we may cut down on how often we go to the barber and beauty shop, but we're not going to cut it out completely.  This is especially true of a lot of African-American women who are quick to tell people, "My hair has to be together!"  Ray has a lot of opportunities coming up in that field.

Jacob is taking online classes, learning medical technology so he can write ads for that industry.  I had never heard of that type of career before, but it sounds very lucrative.  He told me that it's a challenge because he has no past experience in the medical field. 



The hot flashes were coming during the third round I was in with Jacob.  I worked on the heavy bags afterwards, fighting off sluggishness as well as my left knee which decided to act up tonight.  The workout time was needed because I had been in a very foul mood earlier in the day.  It was one of those days where I thought, "If one more person says anything to me, I'll start swinging."  While I have many things to complain about all the time, I don't think any of my current problems were the basis of my attitude problem.  It felt like it was all menopause in full force.  Sparring and hitting the bags helped to put out the fuse on the dynamite.