Tio hard punch to the gut that hurt despite gear

Last week I only managed one KM session. Planned to go for a double but it turned out there's only one session that day. Then Thur didn't feel up to it, after a heavy day of work.

This week, I went for a double on Monday. The plan was to clear the "quota" before Fri approaches. I have 3 days; Mon, Tue and Thur to play around with. Last term, I did most on Mons and Tues but this term I struggled with this, partly due to the longer traveling distance, the mental fatigue and sometimes the body fatigue after an intense session. 

Just after yesterday's double, I was so stoned. The beginner class was ok, nothing too taxing, working on a basic strike. I am still not pro enough so these beginner classes helps me to work thru basics. 

Manageable. Before class, I had a bottle of coffee. After beginner class, I had a bottle of isotonic drink. Mid-way through the adv class, I finished another bottle of isotonic. After the Adv class, I was drinking lots of liquid from my gigantic bottle. This shows the strain.

The Adv class was really exhausting. We wore full safety gear, face guard, gloves and even chest guard. Did "light sparring" to work on defending and attacking, very remiscient of boxing. 3 mins per round. Guess what, I am still a noob. Can't defend much. Don't remember covering a lot of this. With no refresher, just start, and obviously I tio a lot of hits even against the female senior... And easily gas-ed out. 

Then after 2-3 round, had to swap partners and did with guys. Some were more gentle (didn't atk much or held back some) but one was ferocious... plus strong and obviously had boxing background. One hard punch to my stomach and I bent over with tears misting. Ouch! And many strikes to the head. Under this type of pressure, had to adapt and try to guard as much. Temper and aggression did flare up. Midway, he did ask if I was ok and let up a bit. Later at the end, he did apologize for the hard strikes. I was literally seeing stars and thinking to myself; Boxers deserve my respect for going through that. There was a plus point to all these; I was forced to try to guard better and attack sometimes. Cos now I know the pain and potential hurt if I don't. Keep hands up and dodge by moving the body. Nothing like good old-fashioned pain to learn a lesson quickly. 

After about 6-7 rounds of 3-mins sparring, we ended. Had my weak points pointed out. We were told to buy mouth piece, boxing gloves and arm wraps. K those would be on my shopping list esp the mouth piece. Cos when I went home, I was brushing my teeth, realized the two corners on both insides of my cheeks had a small cut each from the clenching of teeth hard when we were striking. Had to bite the teeth and also keep chin lowered. Ok tha would really be important.

Obviously I was sweating like crazy, the gear kinda smelt too. Was stoned on the ride home. Ate a late dinner and reached home about 11 plus. Bathed and then applied lots of muscle cream to the sore parts and slapped on medicated plaster on my right bicep and shoulder area. One is the strain from hyper-extension, all those punching and also some bruising from being punched in the shoulder (maybe from dodging) Looked at my stomach, wasn't any particular pain or bruises, except from muscle pain from all the crunches I did earlier last week. So safe. Slept really soundly like a log

Ended up with medicated plasters on me for work. Obviously my body aches esp the sore muscles from the arms, shoulders, stomach (from own conditioning last week) and back... Kinda feel old. 

Today kinda zoomed past at work. It was another hectic day. The past two days are, due to time-table changes, everyday is heavy and hectic. My only light day was replaced with the heavy day. Can only look at the sky. But I got through but not sure how much can I go on like this. The increased exercise (restarted doing conditioning exercises at home, last Sat ad Sun) helped and KM was definitely a blues-killer but I had to rest up and recover today. Despite the muscle cream, some parts ache more today... But thankfully no major injuries, just sore and bruised. 

See how things are by Wed before I decide whether I would attempt a double this Thur. One day at a time. I better monitor the stock market more despite the hectic schedule. Buy my Toto. Also should go to the near-by temple to offer some incense. Literally seein stars today, not from KM, but from the hectic-ness of work. 

Managing?

For the past 3 weeks, I have been eating either Hainanese curry economic rice or Nasi Bryani for dinner and drinking a simple Coke Zero Tequila to sleep, sometimes a Korean Makkoli (rice beer). Stressed, still am but trying to deal with it, with partial success at times.

The only good thing from all these stress, is that for my weight, instead of going up, it went down, despite these unhealthy items. The main reason is cos either I ate a very lite breakfast or nothing except for black coffee and my lunch is super light, many a times is you tiao n tao suan from buying in the morning. Been so hectic I hardly go out to buy, so end up with morning breakfast food as lunch, a couple of mee pok, even wan ton soup. So my pants are still loose. 

Am trying to manage my fatigue and stress level realistically. This week though I skipped KM, due to exams marking and books checking, plus period, so super-weak on those days that I would have otherwise gone for, but I was kinda glad to skip. Body grateful but without the workout to keep stress at bay, felt it more, like pent-up. It helped when I went to practice the drums, but only once and the effect doesn't last as long as a good workout does. 

Next week aim to go for a double-double cos Monday I had something up so had to push to Wed n Thur, keeping Fri free. Think I will do dips to condition my triceps more. Do feel myself getting a bit soft.

This year, work is really draining and the students I've encountered differed from the previous batches. Also the incidents I've encountered are different... Talk about thinking that I've seen them all this far... Think I need to re-evaluate that.

Feeling Lost... Divine advice

The built-up n pent-up stress, unhappiness since the start of the term reached a point where I was contemplating resignation.

Cos I've realized, I was really 自爆自气  of sorts when I was mixing a drink at night to stop the mind, as well as eating a lot (Bryani or curry rice or laksa) cos there's really a sense of irritation and lack of satisfaction that these food gave me the satisfaction I needed. Kinda of the sense of satisfaction after a hearty meal. Of course I've realized now and am trying not to abuse my body but need to wean off the hearty food.

Things reached a point I decided to go to the GuanYin temple to pray, seek advice and regain a sense of mind. I got my answer, only that it wasn't the time, so gotta hang on until a better time. True, still got half year in the contract, would forfeit my bonus if I did it now. Plus haven't been looking around or updated resumes and many more...so the advice is right. Some preparation is in order. 

Plus hopefully bump up my war-chest with some funds since the major stock loss this year. Haven't even made much this year and it's almost over. Need to keep up the buffer, insurance is kinda draining.

So after the temple qui-qian, my mind was less crowded n calmer. Went to work on Mon and super sian. Went for KM that helped drive the blues away. Felt better and survived the heavy day today though I didn't do anything else extra at work. Getting thru the lessons is the challenge. Bleah tom is another heavy day. 

I've come to realize this increased periods is affecting me, draining after numerous classes. I had to dabao breakfast food on 3-4 days. No time to even walk out. I'm mentally exhausted after a hectic day and there's 4 hectic days a week. Little prep time left for  thoughts and planning. And got to do stupid events planning such as restaurants or even get a vendor for an event. I could manage up til last year, with the normal periods but this is too much to bear. Plus those silly parties which I attend also drained me, think Geylang... Reached a point where enough is enough though. 

Just do what I can realistically and get thru each day. That's the plan and mantra. Turn more anti-social and avoid planning and going for all these parties and save up more $$$ for my war-chest.