Highlights of my Day... Saturday, November 17

1. Wow, if there ever was a day I'd love to repeat, it'd be today... for sure! Forget replaying my birthday or some other day. Today kicked major butt, was super eventful, totally mind-blowing and too good to only experience it once. It all started when I jumped in Junior Mint's car and headed off with my team mate Sung Min in the back. Today was his first professional fight.

2. Within a month I had seen Sung Min go from a great boxer to a freakishly amazing boxer. His diet was insane and so within a month he lost 7kg.. that's like 15lbs!!! The best way to describe what his body looks like is to compare it to a ripped open slice of orange! Anyways... I was so excited to be with him today and he experienced his first pro fight. Honestly though, I was kind of disappointed that some of our other team mates didn't come out. There's about 8 of us on what I consider to be our team and we're all quite close. We train together, eat together, play together... stay together. We cheer each other on but, more importantly, we attend each other's sparring practices and matches cause that's what a team is all about. Today only half our team showed up to support Sung Min. The other's should have been there. Myung Jun showed up with a super cute buddy who was super shy and so he acted as my shadow for the rest of the day cause I was the only one who'd talk to him. Milk Dud showed up with some high school boys and so they acted as both our cheer leaders and errand boys, getting us juice and tissue... hehehe.

3. None the less, it was awesome. I took major footage of the day to document it for him. Cause of the fact we both got our pro license together, today felt so intense for me cause I know my turn is coming up soon! I was quite impressed with his fight but the fight ended in a draw. A draw doesn't mean a loss, but it doesn't really mean a win either. None the less, it was an awesome first pro fight! He totally gave his opponent a good shiner and split open the dude's eye. Mind ya, they're both going to be feeling this fight tomorrow when they wake up... yikes.

4. And as if watching Sung Min's first pro fight wasn't cool enough, today I got to watch Hye Min fight... she's the girl I sparred with about two weeks ago and started training with. She was all smiles to see me come out to watch her but when I noticed who exactly her opponent was, I stepped back in pure surprise. Her opponent was none other than Kim Jin... the boxer I met at my team mate Min Young's fight in Seoul and who came out to cheer me on at my pro fight. Obviously I found myself in quite an uncomfortable situation. While my team mate stood cheering on Hye Min, I couldn't help but feel my loyalty lean towards Kim Jin, after all, we're kind of like each other's fan and she's been supporting me since the start. More over, I also starred in a documentary they filmed at her last fight that I watched in Seoul. And so, not knowing who to cheer for, I decided to not cheer at all and instead, I stood in the middle of the crowd and video taped.

5. Kim Jin won the fight and I instantly smiled. Junior Mint spun around towards me and that instantly killed my smile. He caught glimpse of it though but he reassured me he understood. After the fight we left quite quickly and so I didn't get a chance to talk to either Kim Jin or Hye Min but one of the TV camera men approached me to ask me who I was because he say he's seen me at quite a few fights and saw me on TV once. I asked him, "Who do you think I am?", he answered, "I think you're the girl who is going to fight Kim Jin some day!" And with that I was incredibly flattered. Today Kim Jin won the champion title and so to be put on the same level as her was a huge compliment. Mind ya, Kim Jin weighs 47kg and so if I want to ever fight her I'd have to lose some mad weight!!!

6. We all went our separate ways and so I tagged along with Myung Jun an Junior Mint. They took me to this Buddhist temple in Chunju where I was faced with a dilemma... do I follow their lead and bow to the Buddha so that I'm not considered rude, or do I not bow and risk being labeled the rude foreigner. I chose to not bow. I may have good manners but I also have my beliefs and according to what I believe, I as a Christan am not to bow to any idols or whatnot, despite what others may believe. I don't make them pray to God so it's not fair for them to make me bow to their Buddha. Myung Jun said he respected that but then, upon hearing that he's Christan, I gave him a good public slap across the shoulder for bowing.

7. Later on, we and the lady from the temple drove off to some random country spot where we then got out of the car and stood in front of it. Myung Jun told me we were going to have a ceremony... a ceremony for his car's birthday and for his safety on the road. With my camera burning a whole in my pocket, I was so tempted to whip it out and start taping. I didn't though. I had already pushed my luck with not bowing. Taking my camera out would only cause issues and so, in the cold, cold night I knelt down, held the candle and watched the monk perform a ceremony. Honestly, it was quite fascinating, especially considering I had studied Korean culture in university. I kept on saying to myself, "Oh, if only my Korean professor could see me now!!!"

8. She got out a big sheet of paper and placed it at the front of the car. She placed a large bowl of maukely (rice wine) and a huge pan of rice cake on it, then proceeded to walk around the car and throw beans and sugar at the car, followed by slashing the rice wine on the tires. My eyes lite up as she threw the rice cake on and around the car... that stuff is delicious... hehehe. The ceremony was quite serious actually but we all broke out in giggles when she got Myung Jun to stuff money into a dry fish's money and then throw it into the distance. Myung Jun's a pretty strong dude but his aim is lacking... the ugly fish went flying into the air but the cloth wrapped around it snagged on a tree branch and so it got stuck in a tree... hehehe.

9. After the ceremony we took her out to dinner. She didn't really eat much besides the plate of dried peas but for about an hour she chained smoked like a sailor.... nasty.

10. And as if that wasn't enough drama and excitement for one day, upon arriving at home I crashed on the floor but woke up to text "Him" a most childish and totally grade 8 message... "Do you like me? yes or no?" Yup, 27 years of maturing and I resorted to elementary school measures. I had to have an answer though. What I wasn't expecting though was meeting up with him at 2am but that's exactly what I did to get my answer. I jumped in a cab and showed up at his house. He had been web surfing on what appetizers go well with wine and so tonight he made me these funny looking cheese/olive/kiwi/soya sauce egg sandwiches. They weren't that bad... once you took the olive off that is. We sat around chatting but I still didn't get an answer. With our heads side-by-side but our bodies pointing in opposite directions, we both crashed. It was around 5am and I still hadn't got my answer. Maybe no answer was the answer.

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
What's it going to be, yes or no?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.
-- from the movie, "Ferris Bueller's Day Off"