Alone With The Guys Again

Robin, Erica and Sarah did not come into the gym Wednesday night.  That left me alone with guys who came in: Alan, Bart (that's the guy who's name I didn't have the other week), Robert, Derek, Mike L., Ralphie, and Eric.

There was the usual round robin of sparring; Alan and I were last.  While he was sparring with Derek, I was trying to pick out where I get an advantage over Alan.  I got in one good hook, I believe.  Alan popped me numerous times in my left eye, my nose, and my head.  My neck got knocked the wrong way, too.  One such crack had my head swimming in a fog for a moment, but I stubbornly shook it off and kept going.  Then he caught me three times in my stomach.  Each time, I went, "Oof!"  During the second time I was hit there, Alan said, "See, I catch you like that each time!"  It was the middle of the second round that I remembered to move my head, but it was too little, too late.  I've been good about remembering to move my head while I'm on the bags and shadow boxing, but it'll be a long time before I effectively do that while in the ring.

I feel like I get more out of the workout now that I do incorporate head movement.  There's a still a problem with timing, however.  I don't want to be so predictable that an opponent figures out, "Oh, she moves her head this many times, and always in the same way then gets set to punch."  It still feels awkward to me in terms of balance.  The more I practice it, however, the more it will come naturally to me. 

The picture above was taken at the end of the night.  Had the camera with me all evening, then I forgot to take pictures.  In this shot, Alan and Ralphie (who's sitting down with the magazine) talk about -- what else? -- boxing.

Yesterday, I found a preview clip of the series "Lights Out" on Facebook.  It's a very good TV show about a 40 year old boxer trying to make a comeback, as well as deal with many personal and family issues.  Most of the comments underneath the clip were along the lines of "too bad FX canceled the series".  "What the. . .?" I said, as I checked elsewhere on the Internet for news.  Sure enough, I found a short article on Entertainment Weekly's web site stating that "Lights Out" would not be picked up for a second season.  "That's bull (expletive deleted)!" I exclaimed.  The most recent promo for the show billed Tuesday night's episode as the season finale, but in reality, it was the series finale.  As with most shows these days that are canceled abruptly, there was no tie up to all the unanswered questions presented by the story lines.  It ended with several cliffhangers, including a hint that the main character's latest championship bout may have further aggravated the pugilism dementia that the character was diagnosed with earlier in the season.  Only Lights' sister and middle daughter knew about it; his wife, his other two daughters, his brother, his dad, and the two guys who bankrolled his comeback bout (a Don King type and a ruthless loan shark) didn't.  Now we'll never know how that will play out because the show is gone.  Damn. . .I hate when a show that good doesn't get a chance to keep going.