Alan's Shiner

"That doesn't look good," I said to Alan, when he walked in sporting a black eye yesterday.  It was a result of sparring with Sadiq on Monday night.  Alan said that his wife wasn't happy to see his eye like that at all.  "I know she wasn't," I grinned.  I learned later that Alan and his wife had been high school sweethearts.  She had been his first girlfriend.  They broke up at one point, but years later, found their way back to each other.

Alan had put headgear on, and he was ready to spar with Jamil.  As if on cue, Carlos walked in.  "Since he's here, you can go with him," Alan said to Jamil.  Alan said something about having a chance to heal.  I told him that I needed to heal as my excuse for not sparring that night.  That scrape on my left leg from when a wooden riser fell on it still hurts.  My right elbow has been sore for a couple of weeks, and I just was feeling out of sorts.  "Maybe we both need to take up golf," Alan smiled. 

Using my digital camera and a new memory card, I recorded Carlos and Jamil sparring.  Carlos hit Jamil once too many times in the mid-section.  After the third time, Jamil turned his back and retreated one side of the ring.  He didn't complete the round.  Alan stepped in with a punch shield to work with Carlos on punches.

Ralphie came in later in the evening. His upper back had been bothering him, and that kept him out of the Golden Gloves.  But he announced that he was feeling better.  

I stopped into church this afternoon to check to see if I had received some Esperanto material I had ordered. People wonder why I would bother studying an artificial language that appears to be not as popular as Spanish, Chinese, French, etc.  I've been interested in it since 2002, but I haven't been as diligent as studying it as I should have.  I really want to learn how to speak a language, but I digress.  Pastor was telling me about a middle-aged couple in church who are looking forward to having their first child.  "Maybe you'll marry a guy with children," Pastor said.  "I don't want to be a step-mama," I said.  "The guy may have grown children, so you'll be more like a friend to his kids.  Who knows?  Maybe the guy will have daughters to who you can teach boxing," Pastor grinned.  "My niece Jalissa has said she'd like to get married and have kids someday.  I could teach her kids how:  'Let your grand-aunt show you how to throw a punch,' " I said.