Bad Days Made Better Down at the Gym

There are many reasons that people dread Mondays.  I had a few of my own reasons today.  The alarm clock went off this morning, and I turned over to click on the radio.  I turned over again to get a little more shut eye when I heard a horrible news story: a one-year-old in Georgia had been shot in the face because a couple of teenagers didn't get the money they wanted out of the child's mother.  I hear of so many shootings in Chicago that oftentimes, I just shake my head and think, "Here's another one", shrug my shoulders and keep moving.  But that news story disgusted and disturbed me.  I had to get up because I could no longer sleep after hearing that.

When I got to work, a quick check of Facebook revealed the sad news that a friend of mine whom I graduated with from high school had passed away.  Charles was a funny, bright guy who always kept people laughing.  The last time I saw him was at one of the high school alumni holiday functions.  I knew Charles had been ill on and off, but it was still a shock to hear that.  Tears pooled in my eyes as I read the news.

The tears gave way to anger when a disagreement took place at work between myself and the pastor.  One of the heavy bags in the gym really took a beating from me when I got there.  Still, I couldn't completely get my mind focused on the workout because of all that had taken place earlier in the day.  But it felt better to take some of my feelings out on the equipment.  I guess I've been fortunate, if you want to put it like that, that some bad days always seem to happen on the days that I'm scheduled to go to the boxing gym.  I don't kick the bags when I'm there, as I sometimes have seen others do, because it's not a martial arts gym.  But if I could have executed some kicks to the bag I was on, I might have knocked it completely off the chain.  It was that type of day.

Not many people came in. Alan wasn't in because Passover begins today. In the gym was Colonel, Brandy, Momo, Bean, Sarah, and Amy.  Emmanuel stopped in briefly to see if the Park District fight schedule was posted yet.  He wants to get some fights in this time around.

There was a long box laying on the floor in front of the mirrors.  Colonel helped me set it upright so that others wouldn't trip over it.  Looks like it might be a brand new heavy bag.  However, we have four in the gym propped up against the walls because there is no room to hang them.  What is really needed is a new ring. There's tape in the middle of the canvas to keep down a piece of it that is coming up.  The rest of the canvas is frayed around the edges.  Plus, the ring canvas is on the floor.  A regular size ring will not fit easily into the gym, but a smaller one raised up a foot or two off of the floor would work nicely.