Well, it’s somewhere after 11 pm. on a Saturday night, Die Hard 2 is blaring on the tv, and I’m sitting here posting this. Most people would be out having a good time on a Saturday night. A true coder would be writing some cool ass code. A true nerd would be doing some nerdy shit. Not me. Boy am I some kinda loser.

I’m still kinda sluggish from the drugs I took and I can barely type this. Drugs you ask? Here’s the deal. I managed to drag myself out of bed and fall into my gi this morning around 9:30 am. Ann and I jumped in the truck and headed over to Mackinaw for the “clinic” that Sensei Evans was having. I actually made it there early, which is quite a feat; as those of you who know me. Sensei Evans wasn’t there yet, so we hung out in the parking lot bullshitting with Sensei Hartman. I bet we looked really cool standing in the parking lot of a bank, in small town America, wearing angry white pajamas.

Sensei Evans finally showed up and we all piled into the dojo with much excitement. God Damn was it cold in there this morning. The floor felt like a hockey rink. In true Brian Evans style, Sensei Evans refused to take any money to pay for his clinic. He said we could all pay him by “coming up and training sometime.” That man is way too nice for his own good. If it wasn’t for Sensei Brewer and Sensei Hartman, I’d be paying over twice the money to train with him in Mackinaw.

We all kinda milled around for about 15 minutes waiting for the clinic to start and I realized, as I looked around, that there was nobody from the Mackinaw dojo there to train. Every last person in the building was from Pekin. I asked Sensei Evans where everyone was and he said that all of his people had to work. Eventually about 5 of his lower grade students and Scottsan showed up. Then began the training.

I don’t much care for Sensei Evans’ warmup routine. It is far too fast, and far too short for my problem hips. However, his goal is to get straight to training and it accomplishes that. The theme of the training for the day was one that Sensei Mullins really emphasized and that Sensei Evans really picked up on: Loading the Back Leg. I do enjoy this concept, but it does take a toll on my ankles. We started out by doing reverse punches, moved into jabs, then onto jab/reverse punch, then some kicking drills. It was really fun. I got to beat on both Erbesnan and Parrotsan. It’s so much fun. Dave really tries hard, and Raleih… well… he’s Raleigh. I think someday I might design and make the “Raleigh J. Punching Bag and Training Partner.” It would be like one of those weeble/wobble punching bags that kids beat around… except that it would just giggle and say “your bad.”

Anyway, back to the clinic. Sensei Evans really pushed up hard, and we were all sweating profusely in a very short amount of time. Unfortunately, the sweat became a little profuse and the floor became very slick. We had two minor injuries, Mike McCabe and I both went down due to the slippery sweat spots. Mike tried to stop himself and sorta did the splits. He pulled his groin pretty badly when he went down. I few short minutes later the same thing happend to me, except that both my feet went out from under me and I went down hard; busting my elbow on the floor pretty hard. Luckily, it only removed a little skin and I didn’t lose too much blood, but God Damn did it hurt.

During the drills, Sensei Evans awed us all with a display of punching and kicking expertise. He first used Odie for a demo, and after about three demo punches he had to tell Odie, “Don’t block me! Just tense harder.” I almost started laughing out loud. I know that Sensei Evans hurts when he hits, but Odie just rubs me raw. The boy is clueless. On a side note, I just don’t understand Odie. In class Thursday night, I was next to him during out little episode of “The Hartman Show.” We were doing reverse punches and I couldn’t help but notice his amazingly weak and useless punches… those of you who know Odie, know what I’m talking about. Today in Mackinaw I was watching him hit the maki and he was doing it incredibly well. Great posture, proper form, great technique and lots of power. I don’t get it. Most people do good “air” techniques, but can’t hit the maki for shit. Kevin is the complete reverse. It just mystifies me.

Back in seminar land, Sensei Evans was now demonstrating on Sensei Hartman. That’s always a pleasure to watch. It’s like “Clash of the Titans” on the floor. Sensei Evans was pummelling Sensei Hartman with punches and kicks. It was all Sensei Hartman could do to get out of the way. One day, I will kick like that man. Oh yes, ONE DAY I WILL!

The seminar conluded with all the guys going to the big tournament next weekend on one side of the room and all the others on the opposite side of the room. Sensei Evans wanted us to do some mental training. We entered the ring, bowed to each other, then jumped into fighting stance, with great spirit, when hajime was called. Then he would call yame and we would go back to yoi, bow, then back out of the ring. The upcoming tournament is a big, international affair and Sensei Evans wants to make sure his guys are in the right mindset and aren’t too caught up in the excitement. It was an interesting little drill, but I wouldn’t want to do it all the time. I believe that mental training is something that one must do on their own.

The clinic ended. We all thanked Sensei Evans for the hospitality, then headed out. Sensei Evans, Sensei Hartman, Walker, Matt, Ann and I all headed across the street to the little food stand the local IGA does every weekend. They got great food there, and we had a nice little lunch together discussing the recent political hooha going on. Afterwards, we all went our seperate ways.

As I was leaving Mackinaw, I was suddenly strickin with a massive migraine headache. I almost had to pull over and make Ann drive, but I took some of here prescription migraine medicine instead. That helped deaden it a little bit. I got home and realized that the leaves in the yard needed to be raked and picked up. And, knowing how pissy Ann gets when I don’t do anything productive, I decided I oughta get on it. However, being the lazy fuck that I am, decided to “suck” them up with the riding mower and the bagger. Hey, use the equiptment you have I always say. So, I spent several hours out in the yard picking up the leaves and burning them. About half way through, though, the smoke from the fire brought back my headache with a major vengeance. I guess that would have been a little more ironic had Die Hard 3: With a Vengeance been on tv right now. So, I ran in and grabbed a couple of generic Tylenol PMs. I took the PMs because they tend to knock the shit out of a headache much better. Unfortunately, depending on how you look at it, the PMs also put you on your ass. Within an hour, I could hardly keep my eyes open, so I headed to bed. That was about 5pm. I woke up at about 10:30. I can still feel the drugs coursing through my veins, so I’ll probably head back to bed within an hour. Hopefully the drugs will be enough to help me sleep throughout the night. I hope so. I have to go to the gym tomorrow and I really hate working out when I’m sluggish and tired.