Chapter 124

 For the first time in months, I woke up at 7 on a workday, but I felt like it was already hard as is to peel myself out of bed and go earn my rice. I had very little to do aside from being there, with the exam season underway. Students follow the regular timetable when they are not sitting an exam, but at this point most teachers just give them self-study time, and I sat there with my computer catching up on my diary and listening to music. Decibel magazine held a six-hour-long livestream on YouTube to celebrate its 200^th issue, I listened to live performances by Municipal Waste, Repulsion, Pig Destroyer and others.

I was scheduled for one invigilation period, starting at 12:10, so I didn’t go home for lunch and just sat at my desk eating the tortilla bread, tuna spread and carrot sticks I brought. The tortillas had turned a bit moldy, I removed the nasty hairy grey bits and ate them anyway. I hope I won’t get diarrhea. I watched some clips from the Lotus Eaters podcast, one that made me laugh quite a bit but also cringe uncomfortably was a compilation of videos about the covid vaccine and mask mandates. Also the saga about the “knife of peace” is still going strong, the more I read about it, the more it looks like a bizarre parody of the racial powder keg that is called the USA, something that could have been written by Michel Houellebecq or any other acerbic observer of contemporary reality.

The grade 12 chemistry exam was held in the dining hall, still being hosed down by a team of janitors after lunch service. The students were bunched outside and let in in a single file, my coworkers and I had to check their (transparent) pencil cases for unauthorized materials. They had been told very clearly that they can’t wear a wristwatch, but of course a number of them had one on, especially among those who breathe mostly though their open mouth. The principal, normally a very laid-back man, yelled at them.

I was there for my half-hour shift before getting replaced, then I went back to the office and the classroom, alternatively. A pretty easy day. I made pu-er tea from the brick of dark compressed leaves I bought in Kunming, some people dislike pu-er and say it tastes like boiled leather, I for one think it’s a delectable beverage.

I listened to the Metal Minded podcast, they had the Saguenay grinders from Chadhel on. I discovered that band through the podcast on their first appearance last July, and their guitarist/founder Georges is one of the funniest men alive, he should totally be a comedian rather than a blueberry farmer or whatever he does in remote rural Quebec. Their music also slays, some excellent no-frills grindcore, they just dropped a new split and I have yet to listen to it. At any rate this podcast was also absolutely hilarious.

I got home, the girlfriend was in her pyjamas, rubbing her eyes. She was off, it’s a 5-day weekend for nearly everyone in the country, the reason I had to go to work is because Cambridge scheduled an exam today. She said she slept till 11, ate some takeout, took the dog out for a walk, and then went back to bed.

I did my laundry, putting all those sweat- and beer-soaked hash clothes in the machine, then took the dog out while the girlfriend was getting ready for her online classes. I reheated the leftovers from her takeout lunch and ate a bowl of R n’ S topped with fried chicken, accompanied by a Lithuanian lager, while I watched last weekend’s UFC card. All five fights on the main card were worthwhile, in the co-main event a Georgian striker named Giga Chikadze dug his toes in Cub Swanson’s ribs with a slick body kick, sending the tough veteran to the canvas, folded like a lawn chair. Then the headliner was a batshit crazy fight between Jiri Prochazka and Dominick Reyes. I remember watching Prochazka’s action-packed fights in Japan and wondering how he’d do against A-league competition, and so far he’s delivered, with two unorthodox and ultraviolent bouts. He also showed a lot of weaknesses, getting almost knocked out in both contests (and in fact he did get KOed in this Reyes fight for a second, something an on-the-ball referee would have likely stopped) and having suspect grappling, but his entertaining style and looks make him the talk of the town now at light heavyweight. It could very well turn out to be a Johnny Walker scenario, but while the Brazilian madman beat journeymen and midcarders on his rise, the Czech samurai was thrown in with two guys (Oezdemir and Reyes) who fought for the title, and he didn’t just beat them, he dedded them. I for one am on the Prochazka hype train, no matter how rickety it is!