Chapter 281

I woke up at 6:30, and tried my best to get back in the beat. Having a full week off after only a month of work is something I’m not quite used to, even after all those years chinarring, and it always puts me in a state of laziness that makes returning to work a bit hard, or at least, a bit strange.

I gave the twelfth graders a review period and a slow introduction to the world of amines. Nothing was completely new, the nomenclature and chemical properties of those compounds can be predicted with everything we’ve been seeing since we started organic chemistry, but Chinese people don’t learn in such a linear fashion, since they can’t use logic and build upon previously acquired knowledge. With the eleventh-graders, we graded the quiz I gave them before the holiday.

I had shrimp noodles for lunch, it took a while for me to get served, because the snack bar is quite popular now. I can’t really complain, things could be much worse, for instance I could have been born in Guinea-Bissau. I went home to hang out with the dog and started watching a documentary about fake martial arts, a fascinating topic.

The afternoon rolled by, and then I went home. It didn’t feel like a normal Friday night, as we have to work tomorrow. I finished the documentary and then I went to play badminton, and did something I rarely do: I won. I played a singles match against an old grandpa and got the best of him, then we teamed up and took on several challengers. A good time was had by all.

On the way home, I stopped to buy two crates of beer for tomorrow’s hash run. The lady looked at my bicycle and asked if I need them to deliver the beer to my apartment. I shook my head and piled the two heavy crates on my bicycle frame, holding them down with my chin as I slowly pedaled home, my knees pointing outwards. Not my first rodeo.

I took the dog out for a spin and the girlfriend cooked me a scrumptious dinner of steak, asparagus, spicy fish soup and bread filled with grai
ns and sunflower seeds. I watched more AEW wrasslin’, a match with Chris Jericho and one with CM Punk, returning after 7 years away and an epic fail of a stint in the UFC, where not only did he lose both his fights against low-level competition, but he also looked tremendously bad in the process. His AEW match was pretty good, but I can’t help not taking it seriously, now that we’ve seen how useless he is at unscripted fighting, the veil of kayfabe has been lifted.

Speaking of fighting, the fighter list for the upcoming BJJ tournament has been released. I was alone in my division, so I had two choices: stay in the same age bracket and go up to super heavyweight to fight the boulder from last week, or stay in the 88.2 kg weight class but fight people younger than I am. I sensibly chose the second option. Looking forward to it!