Saturday
I crashed Friday night around midnight, originally just planning on sleeping a couple hours, getting up, blogging, and catching up on stuff online, etc., before showering and going back to bed at my usual time. The back up plan was to sleep until 4AM, take my medicine, and do a condensed version of my original intentions. I ended up sleeping until after 5AM, apparently having turned off my alarm clock instead of snoozing it. I figured I'd blog, catch up on Facebook and Twitter, shower, then go back to bed for a few hours before the ND/Stanford game. I messed around and missed being able to shower before my parents got up, so I had to wait on that for a couple hours. I was feeling surprisingly refreshed, though, so it wasn't a big deal. I decided to cut my hair once the bathroom was free since I was feeling up to it. In the meantime, I caught up on some TV and chatted a bit, which I also did after I was done with my hair and shower. I should have gone back to bed for a couple of hours, but I had some UFC 119 preview shows that I wanted to make sure I caught before the fights later that night. I was still feeling good, so it wasn't a problem.
Shortly after the Notre Dame game started, though, I could feel myself fading. Even with the 5 hours I got the night before, I'd only slept about 10 hours, total, in 3 days. In the past, that wouldn't be much of a problem, but since I've been woozy, and used to being in bed 10+ hours a day, along with not feeling great, the lack of sleep hit me a little extra hard. It didn't help that it was hard to get excited during the game since we played so badly. Stanford is good. We made way too many mistakes and didn't capitalize on theirs. I think those growing pains I mentioned last time will last awhile longer than I'd hoped and expected. We still have the time and the opportunity to make something of this season, and I have confidence that the coaches and players will do all that they can to get on the right track. We're 1-3, and 2 plays away from being 3-1 after playing a pretty tough schedule. Our last 3 opponents are all undefeated and ranked, with Stanford now in the top 10. I'm disappointed in our record, but not with our effort.
After the game, it was time to get ready to go downtown to watch the UFC at Buffalo Wings and Rings. It's a good place to watch the fights. They have tons of TVs and it's the easiest public place to hear what's going on. The food is good, too. My brother was over and came with us. My friend brought a friend and picked up my brother and me and we got to the restaurant at 8PM. The televised fights didn't start until 9PM, but I anticipated a crowded downtown with UFC-related overflow and wanted to make sure we got a table. It ended up not being so packed that early, but it was still cool to be out of the house and with friends. The fights started, and it was go time. While we waited for my other friends to show, my brother knocked over his drink and made a mess. It took some time to get that all cleaned up and dry, but it wasn't that bad, overall. I was distracted by the action on TV, so I was good. My buddy and his girlfriend made it right after the first fight was over, and our party was rounded out when the last of our group made it just as the PPV started at 10PM.
The fights were pretty good with few exceptions. A couple had less action than I would have anticipated, but I'm not one to boo guys who put so much on the line in the cage. The only real snoozer was the main event, which was just weird. Both guys are usually much more aggressive, but they were both just off. It ended specatcularly, though, which lessened the blow of the lack of excitement before. Three of the four local fighters on the card won and looked good doing so. I did well with my predictions, too.
It was a good time! Once the fights started, the adrenaline started pumping and I was wide awake having fun. The caffiene from all of the tea may have contributed some. If nothing else, having to pee every 5 minutes is a good way to be kept awake ;). And I had to be alert while in the restroom to avoid the splashing in the urinal. That is sooooo nasty and you'd think they'd find a better design. Not only does it get on the person using it, but it gets all over the floor, too. I hate using public restrooms, especially at places where they serve alcohol. But I digress.
Two MMA coaches/trainers, Greg Jackson and Mike Winkeljohn, came in to eat. Jackson may be the best trainer out there. He's based in Albuquerque, NM, and has many former, current, and future champions in his stable. I love his philosophy on fighting and admire the way he goes about things. I know less about Winkeljohn, but he's a former champion kickboxer and a great striking coach. He lost an eye not long ago in a freak accident at the gym while training some guys. It's good to see him back at it. Both were super nice. We chatted for a minute about the fights and how good of a time they had in Indy. There was a good little chat about the crowd not always understanding all of the technical aspects of a fight and booing. It was awesome to be called a knowledgeable fight fan by one of the best in the game! I didn't want to bug them for too long since they were there to eat, so I didn't take up too much of their time. They were nice enough to sign for me:
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It was awesome hanging out and getting to meet Chris again. I'd talked to him for a second and gotten his autograph at the Pre Fight Press Conference on Thursday, and he was super nice then, too. I'm still really bummed that I couldn't get tickets, but watching the fights with friends was a great consolation prize :).
Once home, I caught up on Facebook and Twitter. Many of the posts were about the fights. I then checked out post fight interviews and analysis and watched the Post Fight Press Conference. It took me a few hours to get through all of that, and I crashed shortly after. I was pretty loopy by that point, but in a good, happy way :).
Sunday
I slept pretty well Saturday night. I was hoping to make some plans with someone on Sunday, so I got up around 1PM (or else I would have slept until the Colts game at 4PM). I took a shower and ate some cereal, but the longer I was up, the more I realized I wasn't going to be able to do much. I felt pretty good the first 90 minutes or so I was awake, but then it all went downhill. I lay down as I watched the Colts and ended up dozing on and off again. It was more from feeling bad than being tired, though. All of the excitement from the week, the lack of sleep, and the changing weather got to me, I think. The Colts won, so I'll take that.
I wanted to get up for supper, but couldn't. I'd hoped to be able to nap for a couple of hours, then get up and reheat the fod, but that didn't work out, either. I finally got up a bit after 4AM to take my meds after snoozing the alarm for I don't know how long. I've felt OK since then, but still a bit out of it. Since I've been out of bed, I've caught up on some stuff online, eaten, fed the pets, and worked on this. I'll probably mess around online a bit more then head back to bed for a little while. I'll be awake for a bit after an 11 hour or so nap.
I can already tell that I'll be paying for all of the fun I've had recently for awhile, but I'm so happy that I was able to do so much. Even considering how troubling it was after the Pre Fight Press Conference when I almost passed out and needed help to get up and around and home, it was a great, great, great couple of days. Being able to be apart of the UFC hoopla directly and up close and personally, meeting fighters, meeting Dana White, meeting Ariel Helwani, making new friends and just feeling the buzz in the city was such a pleasure. And except for some money spent on food, it was all free, too. I can't wait for them to come back!
Happy Monday,
-B
P.S.
For more on UFC 119, check out: http://navitabjj.blogspot.com/
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