Highlights of my Day... Monday, December 29

1. No sooner had I woken up but then Junior Mint was texting me, telling me to come into training. He was convinced that I’d score the fight and so he wanted to get a head start on my training and game prep.

2. Junior Mint’s intended game plan for me:

7am -8am – early morning jog
11am – come in for boxing training plus weight training
7pm – come back to boxing for daily sparring practice the high school boys
10pm – my bedtime

Junior Mint plans to push me, pull me, drive me to my limits (and probably drive me crazy too for that matter), make me eat –sleep – and breath boxing 24/7, all for 15 minutes on a chilly day in January, January 26th to be exact.

3. Found out some key stats of my opponent, that is if I get the fight. She’s a 26 year old Korean girl named Kim Na Kyoung who stands at 5ft 3” and weighs in at 51kgs. Turns out she’s had more games that I thought though; four wins and six loses. After training, Junior Mint, Q, and Milk Dud, and I sat down together to watch one of her taped fights and to dissect her style. She’s an out-fighter, my opposite and so that works good for me as long as I continue to get up in her face and hustle her.

4. Get this, if I win the fight, I’d gain her champion title… how awesome is that?! Mind ya, how controversial would that be, seriously… a “non-Korean” stealing Korea’s title and thunder on their own turf … yikes!!!

5. While Q and I were out playing dress-up with the hats at Home Plus, Junior Mint continued to argue with the Boxing Commission officials on the phone. Later he called me. They won’t let me fight her. The officials argued that it wasn’t “fair”… “oh come on” I said, who are they to pull this “it isn’t a fair fight” line!!! They never cared about fairness when that Chinese girl publicly made a fool out of that Korean girl in the ring and then made the Korean girl the winner. I see it all this all the time and it disgusts me. Everyone was fine with it and turned the other cheek until I came into the scene, scored my pro card in Korea and then fought on behalf of their country. Now all of a sudden they’re aware of the discrimination that was always there?! It’s the Korean flag I sport on my uniform when I fight, not that of Canada or Poland and so they don’t know what to think of me. Moreover, it was them who searched me out and asked if I could fight Na Kyoung but now they’re second-guessing their decision because the issue of her champion belt was brought up. Oh please… come on.

6. I need some kind of goal, I thought this fight would be exactly what I needed, a challenge. Needless to say, after I got the phone call I was quite frustrated and disappointed. And in my frustration I ended up blurting out, “I should just move to Busan and fight with the *****”, upon which Q asked me what that was all about. I didn’t want to tell him but ended up spilling my beans. He wasn’t impressed. I made him promise on his mother’s life that he wouldn’t speak a word of our conversation to Junior Mint and added, “If you dare tell him, don’t ever even so much think my name or look at me!”… a bit harsh but considering the situation, I needed to know he’d keep quiet.

7. Had some much craved for chumchi-jjigga (tuna stew) for lunch at a local restaurant where apparently the old ajjumas (women) working there are fans of Mi Nam. Turns out they watch me watch my dog everyday. In Korea, we think this is funny, in Canada, we’d call them freaks… hehehe.

8. Q’s mom called today with word that Q’s father had been attacked and mugged last night. The stolen bank cards and money can be replaced but they all stressed about his physical condition. On most days, Q’s father is ok but then he has a string of bad days because of a brain injury. After years of brain surgery and popping pills, he still has his good days and his bad days. Yesterday was a bad day. Thankfully though, today was a good day for him.

9. Headed over to the university for my evening English winter camp class. I gave them a vocabulary quiz and then we played Jeopardy. I had prepared this huge Power Point file for the game, even had the theme music playing in the background. The class loved it and I loved watching them love it… hehehe. Definitely a very successful class!!!

10. With Q now working night shifts, I’m home alone with my little boy in the evenings. Tonight I studied Korean while Mi Nam laid on my tummy.

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
What's fair about being unfair?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
Every truth passes through three stages before it is recognized. In the first, it is ridiculed, in the second it is opposed, in the third it is regarded as self-evident.
-- Arthur Schopenhauer