Chapter 270

Another day another dollar. I had a lot of classes and they mostly went well. Some students mildly piss me off at times but the vast majority of what my job entails is very low-friction. The principal handed me his observation report, and it was very positive, effusive even. I like the principal, and I think he likes me too. That’s nice. Having a shitty relationship with a boss who hates you for existing and whom you hate for being a racist evil bitchdemoncunt from Hell can grind your mental well-being to a fine powder, I can say that from first-hand experience.

I rode home for lunch, making sure to slow down and give a wide berth to the blind corner I have to turn right at just before arriving home, out of habit, since there are often fucknuggets on scooters who cut that corner. I rode past a kindergarden, or maybe even a pre-K nursery, and there were five tiny toddlers sat on plastic stools waving Chinese flags while their teachers took pictures. It was adorable and filled me with a huge dose of 爱国主义. I got home, ate a tomato sandwich and scrambled eggs with Laoganma chili sauce. I’m a simple man, sure I like having access to a wide variety of foods but I feel I could eat those two things for lunch every day.

After another uneventful afternoon, I made it back home and took a nap. The baseball-sized kitten nestled himself between my shoulder and my jaw, but I was getting too ticklish so I moved him a bit. Also he has this off-putting cat smell, compared to the dog smell I kinda find comforting now.

I woke up and was still tired and all sore from last night’s workout. But I dragged myself to the gym and felt better once we started grappling. I plugged my mp3 player on the big speaker and put on Method Man’s Tical album, he’s my favorite of all the Wu-Tang Clan rappers, or dare I say the only one I don’t find very overrated. Fight me.We practiced half-guard sweeps and bottom side control escapes and then had some nice exhausting rolls. A good time was had by all.

I got home after a detour to the park to link up with the girlfriend and the animals, as per our now well-oiled routine. I fried eggplant chunks and tomatoes, and ate the leftovers from the Sichuan food the girlfriend had ordered. The last two fights on the UFC card were for championships, Valentina Shevchenko decimated Lauren Murphy like she does to every poor soul signing the contract to fight her, and then Alexander Volkanovski and Brian Ortega had a war for the 145-pound belt. The Australian (who walked in to the awesome track “Do you come from a land down under?”) wasn’t a very popular or highly regarded champ, not his fault really, just that his victory over former champ Max Holloway and the ensuing rematch were so razor-close they could have gone either way. Now he gained a lot of respect by toughing through some seriously tight submission attempts by Ortega, before beating him to a deformed pulp and retaining his title. Ortega took some serious damage in his two shots at the title, and now he’ll have to fight hard to keep his spot among the top of the shark tank that is the featherweight division.