A Banner Day For 'The Brick' -and- "The Incident"

 

    ENTRY 531| FEBRUARY 10 /2024

A BANNER FREAKING DAY FOR 'THE BRICK'

Tuesday was an exciting day.

It started out fairly normal, but that all changed when I left for the boxing gym at 4:15.

ned about making it to the next bus.I was very early so I was relaxed about making it to the next bus.

I have to cross the street to get to the bus stop and there is this stupid pushbutton crosswalk that I hate because it takes about two minutes for the pedestrian signal to come on. I have complained to the city about it but they don't care because it has nothing to do with money.

Anyway, I am waiting to cross and I see a bus coming, but in this case, I don't care. 

Well, this one and only time, the light changed for me right away and the bus has to stop, so I made it to that bus.

On the way to the subway station, there was hardly any traffic in a city with the worst traffic in North America. I made it to the station in record time, and instead of waiting the usual 3-4 minutes for a subway, there was one entering the station as I arrived at the platform.

Then there was an incident on the subway, prompting a service suspension at Castle FDrank. That is my stop, so it didn't affect me.

I had to take another bus, the 65 Parliament. There was one just pulling in, but these buses usually wait there for about five minutes. Again, I was very early so I didn't care. I boarded the bus expecting to wait, but it didn't. It departed immediately after loading passengers.

In all, I managed to make it from the Stockyards to Cabbegtown in 35 minutes. It usually takes an hour.

That was a "never happen again" event.

"THE INCIDENT"

I was there.

It happened on the way to boxing on Tuesday.

It kind of reminded me of the film "The Incident" (967), which also occurred on a subway, but not to the same extent.

What happened was that some crazy guy boarded at Sherbourne station and began yelling and treating other passengers. He was very aggressive. It didn't bother me, and I found it very odd that he had absolutely nothing to see to me.

He bothered someone and somebody pressed the Emergeny button forcing the vehicle out of service at Castle Frank which was my stop, so it didn't affect me. 

The thing that really pisses me off is how people these days have no respect for other people. This is a common problem in Toronto especially on the subway. Every day there is a service stoppage due to a "security incident" or an "emergency alarm" It is caused by people who think the rules don't apply to them and that they can do anything they want with full disregard for everyone else.

That delay was five minutes long. People have places to go and some may have missed their connecting buses.

Our society is going to shit. 

Grow up.

WEEKLY SPARRING REPORT

THIS WEEK; 15 ROUNDS

FOCUS: FOOTWORK AND BODY DEFENSE

Welcome to the new weekly sparring report.

This week I did 5 rounds on each day, Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday.

The coach wanted me to work on footwork and I also wanted to improve my body defense.

The coach told my sparring partners who were all mostly younger, to move around a lot and he wanted me to cut off the ring.

That is a lot of work. Especially since these guys are smaller than I am, and smaller generally means faster.

I think I did fairly well. The coach was happy.

Then there was this guy who was fairly new to boxing, but not that new. I'd say he's been training with us for about six months...

I sparred with him last week during two sessions, and well, I popped him in the nose with a jab and he started bleeding. He dropped his guard again, so I popped him a second time.

That was apparently not enough for him because he came back for a second session, and did the same again, so I popped him again, and he once again began to bleed. 

When is he going to learn?

I told my wife and she asked me if I felt bad about it, and to be honest, I didn't.

It is a combat sport and it could have easily been the other way. Although, I really get struck in the nose because I don;t allow it. Still, it is how you learn. You get hit. It hurts. You bleed. You learn to not let it happen. That is a combat sport. 

Learn to defend yourself. That is the idea.

NEXT ENTRY: February 17 /2024 

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ABOUT 'The Brick;

'The Brick' is a competitive boxer, training since 1982.

Political lean: None. (middle)

Personality Type (Myers-Briggs): INTJ

Education: College Diploma (Applied Arts)

Lives in: Toronto, Ontario, Canada  (The Junction/Stockyards Village)

Born in: Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

Entertainment Likes: Rock music and psychological drama films

Favorite books: Fahrenheit 451, The Catcher In the Rye, Slaughterhouse-Five, Of Mice and Men, 1984

BOXING STATS

9 bouts (Boxing Ontario) 

2 bouts (Ontario Boxing Association) 

1 bout (Florida State Athletic Commission) 

DIVISION:

Masters Novice

CURRENT WEIGHT:

76 kg (170 lbs.)  

 STANCE:

Orthodox (left lead)

TRAINING STATUS:

ACTIVE

TRAINING SCHEDULE:

Mon: 0900-1100

Tue 1730-1900

Thu 1730-1900

Sat 1100-1300

COMPETITION STATUS:

ACTIVE

NEXT SCHEDULED BOUTS:

TBA

CURRENT TEAM/CLUB:

Cabbagetown Boxing Club

Toronto

COACH:

Johnny Kalbhenn