Feeling Menopausal

Another hot night in the gym, and the fan didn't do much in terms of circulating fresh air around.  I was happy when I opened my locker to find the air freshener I placed inside still worked.  It will need to be replaced soon, however; I think it's been in there for about three months.

Oscar sparred with Jesus for a round, then I got in with Jesus.  "You've worked with him in the ring before, right?" Alan asked.  "Nope, this will be the first time," I answered.  He didn't give many hard hits, but he kept busy enough to prevent me from landing a lot of my harder shots.  Somewhere in the second round, I heard Alan say to me, "You're not tired -- work!"  Oh, yeah, I'm tired, I thought to myself, and the realization came that it wasn't all from the energy expended in sparring.   After the third round, I went over and sat down directly in front of the fan, my legs out in front of me.  Alan had to chuckle when he saw me.

It wouldn't have been nice to keep hogging the fan, so eventually I got up so I could watch Jimmy and Jacob spar.  "How do you feel?" Alan asked.  "Menopausal", I replied.

There seems to be a great interest among the guys in Jacob's style of boxing.  "He's really coming along.  I saw those punches he was throwing and I was like, whew!" Ray commented.  Kenny held pads for Jacob afterwards, and Jacob's punches reverberated around the room.  Some of the guys stopped their workout to watch how he was doing.  When Professor is around (he wasn't in the gym that night), he likes holding pads for Jacob and giving him pointers, too.  Alan would like for Jacob to consider taking a fight at some point. 

In the above photo, Oscar and Nathaniel wait for the bell to ring to start their sparring session.  Note the condition of the ropes at the back of the ring.  We're all hoping that will be fixed in a hurry.  

Jesus shadow boxes in the mirror some time after he and I sparred.

Kenny works with Oscar on the pads in the photo above.  One of Kenny's ribs got separated from the ribcage.  "How did that happen?" I asked, thinking about the time I bruised a rib while ice skating.  "I think it happened during sparring.  Luckily, it didn't puncture a lung.  I figured I wasn't coughing up blood, so it's all good!" he said.

Turning Into Dad

Maybe I should blame Pastor Roger for putting a jinx on me.  Earlier today, he noticed that I had made the mistake of omitting a date on the church's August calendar.  "If you'd go to bed before 3:00 AM, that would cut down on mistakes," he smiled.  While at home this afternoon, I dozed off.  When I woke up again, the old clock on the bookcase informed me that the gym had been open for over an hour.  There was no way I would have gotten there on time to get in any kind of workout.

When I was a teenager, I would see my dad taking naps, and I would be critical.  "How can he sleep so much?  And during the day on top of that?" I'd think.  His primary job with Cook County required that he had to be there extremely early in the morning.  His part-time job, driving a Checker Cab, often found him working at odd hours during the week and on the weekends.   It never occurred to me that the old man was actually tired, and those siestas would come upon him sometimes whether he wanted them or not. Dad was in his 40s then, and that type of schedule would be hard on anyone, let alone, a middle-aged man.

Of course, I wasn't happy when I figured out I had overslept.  Unless I'm sick or some emergency has happened, I seldom miss a night at the gym (the only other exception was when I worked briefly as an usher at the Lyric Opera and missed days here and there).  Like Dad, I have been dozing off more often during the day than usual.  This past Saturday, I dozed off late in the afternoon and didn't wake up again until 11:30 PM.  I was up all night because of that.  Most weekday afternoons, I find myself struggling to stay awake.  That is a major problem, considering that these days, I need to study for my paralegal classes. 

Whether this is due to age or menopause or both, this crap is got to stop.  Sometimes I do believe that sleep is overrated, but the only time I need to do that is at night, not at inopportune times during sunlight hours.