Chapter 249

Up at 6, walk with the dog, a bit of tai chi, all that shit. I rode to work and went through my classes like the good worker bee I am. Not much to say about that. One thing caught my eye as I was leaving for my lunch break: there are a bunch of flags from different countries on tall poles in front of the main entrance, and last week they were all shredded and bleached by sun exposure. Now, the Powers-That-Be renewed them, and they proudly float in the wind. Pretty cool honestly, I expected the admin to not care at all, now I have to eat my words.

I got home and ate leftovers while watching the UFC card. Two Quebecers opened the prelims, and I was eager to see how they’d do. Marc-André “Powerbar” Barriault took some serious hits on his granite head from his impossibly muscular African opponent, but the Gatineau-born middleweight kept applying pressure and scoring with volume in route to a decision victory. Then Charles “Air” Jourdain had an entertaining back-and-forth scrap against “Juicy” Julian Erosa but two minutes from the end he got caught in a nasty choke in a scramble. The young featherweight seems destined to be an exciting and respected journeyman outside of the cutthroat division’s top 15, unfortunately.

I had three classes in the afternoon, going over some complicated organic chemistry concepts with the twelfth-graders and some pretty simple review with the eleventh-graders. I laid out the ground rules on the first day, one of them is about having all their class materials ready, and all the books and papers from other classes stowed away. Of course, a bunch of them are lazy and accumulate huge piles of books on their desks as they go through their day, and I called a girl out for it. “Sorry sorry sorry”, she replied, in a cadence unintentionally similar to that catchy K-pop song by Super Junior. So then all her classmates started laughing and singing the chorus. Damn it, now I have it stuck in my head too. This song is over 10 years old, I didn’t expect to have it referenced there.

I went home, took a nap, and went to jiu-jitsu practice. A good time was had by all. I rolled with one of the blue belts, and it was a good one, with plenty of momentum changes and at the end of the 5-minute round nobody had tapped, so I proposed we keep going until one submits the other. Deathmatch rules uh? It took 9 minutes total, at some point I slipped out of an armbar that didn’t have my elbow quite secured, but instead of taking his back or side control, I tried some sort of footlock I’d never really practiced. Big mistake, always go for position over submission. So he regained control and choked me out soon after.

I got back home, ate a bunch of leftovers and watched the remainder of the UFC card. A British newcomer with a Beatles haircut won his fight after almost getting knocked out, he had a bit of hype behind him and I was surprised to hear he came straight from the regional scene, I thought he had a few UFC fights already. The UFC propaganda machine loves British fighters and their barely intelligible slangy promos, they always are hoping for a new Conor McGregor. Khalil “Bangkok Ready” Rountree beat the hell out of his Lithuanian opponent and destroyed his knee with a legal but controversial kick. Alex Morono might not look like a top level athlete, with his dad bod, but he won a comfortable decision over David Zawada in a battle of welterweights with names comprised of six letters and the same vowel repeated three times. Heavyweight Tom Aspinall kept climbing up the ranks with a KO victory over “The Polar Bear” Sergei Spivak, he’s very interesting to watch, with his athleticism and movement. And then Derek Brunson completely destroyed Darren Till, who wasn’t in the fight for more than five seconds at a time. Brunson might be one of the most underrated fighters ever, he’s remembered more for his losses than his wins, but his wrestling-heavy attack is undeniable and now he might make the jump from gatekeeper to contender again.

I poured myself a small glass of limoncello that my Polish friend made, and read a bit in bed. Another day in paradise.