The Jux Entente

Since I had much, much, much better things to do yesterday I caught UFC 76 through perfectly legal methods a day late today. That was the hardest core night of fights I’ve ever seen. I was alone in my apartment screaming at my TV…and it was always good. Tyson Griffin started off with a good fight, fight of the night on many other cards, but by the end of this one it was entirely forgotten.

Jon Fitch kicked Diego “19 and 2″ Sanchez’s ass! I’ve been rockin’ Jon Fitch since he was stuck back in Fight Nights; this kid is going to go far. This was expected, but still awesome to watch.

Then Forrest Griffin came out to fight a man many, including me, thought he had no chance against: Shogun Rua. And he beat his ass, convincingly, for three rounds. With just seconds left on the clock he showed true badassery and choked Shogun out, finishing him for the first time.

Can’t top that, right? Well…Keith “Can” Jardine proceeded to kick Chuck Liddell’s ass. Again, who expected that? And again, it wasn’t a fluke, it was a beat down. Even Randy Couture, who called the Forrest Griffin fight, was stunned. It was astounding.

In other news, I can’t get a good picture of it, but the center of my couch is now a foot lower than the right or left sides. It’s time for a replacement I imagine. The entire time I was watching the fighting I kept drifting towards The Pit.

The die is cast.

I’ve discovered the number one reason to not own a deep fryer. Because, at some point after cooking breaded foods in it for a month or so, you have to clean it. And what resides at the bottom is the blackest, evilest, foulest substance known to man. And there’s a lot of it. And it wants you dead. For one (1) home deep fryer I had to use two kitchen towels, two wash cloths, three paper towels, and one sponge just to remove 97% of the gunk. Ugh.

Ugh.

Ugh.

Ugh.

I feel like it’s still on me.

I forgot to mention this earlier, so now will have to do. Every now and then I realize I am Becoming.

Most of the time I still feel like I’m climbing the grad ladder hand over fist trying to reach the top, but because everyone around me is doing the same thing, I don’t really get the feel of progression. I always feel pretty good with my writing skills, but in pure knowledge I sometimes feel stumped. Now historians will be the first to tell you that being able to pull random facts out of your head is more parlor trick than the sign of a good historian. However, all real historians seem to be able to give impromptu lectures in detail just for the hell of it on random topics, and it was something that until recently I didn’t feel comfortable doing. Sure, I could do it, but I was always too aware of how much I was leaving out, of all the specifics I didn’t know. This week alone however I’ve had to give random rundowns on:

1. The origins of the Wars of the Roses and the English Civil War to Laura.
2. Early European Capitalism to Dr. Reynolds.
3. The percentage of elites in England and broader Europe in the 1500s, and whether or not the landed gentry are all that should be counted or if the clergy should also be included (I vote the latter), also to Dr. Reynolds.
4. Lots of other random European stuff, also to Dr. Reynolds. Before you think he’s an idiot or something, he’s my Modern Asia professor who has published books in Chinese; I think expecting him to know Early Modern Europe is pushing it a bit.

Speaking of Laura, whose name just got typed out for the first time ever on Jux up there, although she’s been mentioned before, I have my first first date in four years Saturday. I’m not particularly looking forward to stepping off my pedestal, but at least Fergie will sing to me about it. Here’s to hoping I don’t pull off my third consecutive playground injury!

The U.S. dollar is worth less than the Canadian dollar.

Good job, Dubya.