This mini human is awesome!
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Highlights of my Day... Sunday, August 31
1. Today was pretty much a lazy day. I was supposed to be cleaning up the house and getting ready for my first school week but instead I was totally preoccupied with this “Listography: Your Life in Lists” book I bought in Canada.
2. So, for your amusement, here’s some of the lists I wrote out today:
List some things most people probably don’t know about you.
1. I think my finger nails are cute because yes, I do bite the heck out of them.
2. I have a kind of phobia with having people or action going on behind me.
3. I’ve been engaged twice.
4. I once got hired as stag security because my boss said, “a guy would never hit a
girl”. He was wrong and so I quit after three shifts.
5. In university I had an evil, evil professor who seriously harassed me. I ended up trying to seek legal action as a result and her assistant was willing to be my main witness. Turns out some of my classmates saught other actions though and so they
started sending her pictures of me (from my homepage and whatnot) of how I am
successful I became. It's been five years since I walked away from that but my friends still her pictures of me.
List the things you’d save if your home was on fire.
1. My dog Mi Nam.
2. My wallet (has my ID, passport and money)
3. Laptop computer
List the best gifts you’ve ever received.
1. When I was 13, my father gave me a gold opal ring.
2. My old roommate gave me 100 tampons when I moved to Korea.
3. An old friend of mine gave me my cat Scrappy-Joe.
4. The silver butterfly ring I wear was given to me by a very special friend in Korea. 5. Former co-worker gave me a Korean name.
List the best days of your life.
1. My mock date with my dad for my 13th birthday.
2. My 16th birthday. I had a massive camp out in my backyard and a toilet paper race… hehehe..
3. Receiving my letter of acceptance for my program at York University.
4. Earning my professional boxing license in Seoul, South Korea.
5. Running into an ex on Facebook… Karma baby, it DOES bite back and it bit him hard!
6. The day I adopt Mi Nam and brought him home!!!
List the worst days of your life.
1. My Baba’s funeral (grandmother).
2. The day I visited the Chocolate Factory on Jeju Island.
3. Sambu moving day 2006.
4. The day I kicked Byung Ryang out of the house.
5. The night I read an email stating my Auntie Connie’s death.
6. My visit to Canada when my wallet (ID, money, passport, work visa, new camera,
former engagement ring) got stolen.. ya, I was ticked!
2. So, for your amusement, here’s some of the lists I wrote out today:
List some things most people probably don’t know about you.
1. I think my finger nails are cute because yes, I do bite the heck out of them.
2. I have a kind of phobia with having people or action going on behind me.
3. I’ve been engaged twice.
4. I once got hired as stag security because my boss said, “a guy would never hit a
girl”. He was wrong and so I quit after three shifts.
5. In university I had an evil, evil professor who seriously harassed me. I ended up trying to seek legal action as a result and her assistant was willing to be my main witness. Turns out some of my classmates saught other actions though and so they
started sending her pictures of me (from my homepage and whatnot) of how I am
successful I became. It's been five years since I walked away from that but my friends still her pictures of me.
List the things you’d save if your home was on fire.
1. My dog Mi Nam.
2. My wallet (has my ID, passport and money)
3. Laptop computer
List the best gifts you’ve ever received.
1. When I was 13, my father gave me a gold opal ring.
2. My old roommate gave me 100 tampons when I moved to Korea.
3. An old friend of mine gave me my cat Scrappy-Joe.
4. The silver butterfly ring I wear was given to me by a very special friend in Korea. 5. Former co-worker gave me a Korean name.
List the best days of your life.
1. My mock date with my dad for my 13th birthday.
2. My 16th birthday. I had a massive camp out in my backyard and a toilet paper race… hehehe..
3. Receiving my letter of acceptance for my program at York University.
4. Earning my professional boxing license in Seoul, South Korea.
5. Running into an ex on Facebook… Karma baby, it DOES bite back and it bit him hard!
6. The day I adopt Mi Nam and brought him home!!!
List the worst days of your life.
1. My Baba’s funeral (grandmother).
2. The day I visited the Chocolate Factory on Jeju Island.
3. Sambu moving day 2006.
4. The day I kicked Byung Ryang out of the house.
5. The night I read an email stating my Auntie Connie’s death.
6. My visit to Canada when my wallet (ID, money, passport, work visa, new camera,
former engagement ring) got stolen.. ya, I was ticked!
3. Finally peeled myself away from my list making and got down to business, school business that is. Typed up my Power Point file for lecture 1.
4. Today marked my last day of my summer vacation… it’s been a good vacation. Mind ya, it’s also been a hard one.
5. As if Q isn’t insisting on being at my house enough, today he told me that he might be moving to Junior Mint’s spare apartment on the fifth floor of my building… oh gosh. Mixed thoughts about this.
6. Q loves me cooking for him, the fact that my house is always clean, me volunteering to do his laundry and whatnot, but today was the first time he offered to help me clean my house. He basically shook out the mats and picked up things while I vacuumed but when he made a smart remark about doing that I felt it kind of ironically appropriate that at that very moment my battery-operated air freshener should go off, spraying him his face. I should mention here that my air freshener goes off only once every 30 minutes and so the probability of standing at that exact spot when it does go off is pretty slim.
7. Went in search of new shoes for the new school semester and came back with a new dress shirt and pockets full of free samples from Misha (make-up store). Gotta love Korea for it’s “service”.
8. Felt quite rebellious when Q and I ordered in pizza.
9. Felt quite sick after scarfing down way too much pizza that is only sure to have just killed my week of training… dang!
10. Q wanted to watch a scary movie and so I popped in “Hide and Seek” and then spent a good part of the movie trying to spook him… hehehe.
QUESTION OF THE DAY…
Why do the young good looking delivery boys show up when Q orders?
QUOTE OF THE DAY…
A rule to live by: I won't use anything I can't explain in five minutes.
-- Phil Crosby
4. Today marked my last day of my summer vacation… it’s been a good vacation. Mind ya, it’s also been a hard one.
5. As if Q isn’t insisting on being at my house enough, today he told me that he might be moving to Junior Mint’s spare apartment on the fifth floor of my building… oh gosh. Mixed thoughts about this.
6. Q loves me cooking for him, the fact that my house is always clean, me volunteering to do his laundry and whatnot, but today was the first time he offered to help me clean my house. He basically shook out the mats and picked up things while I vacuumed but when he made a smart remark about doing that I felt it kind of ironically appropriate that at that very moment my battery-operated air freshener should go off, spraying him his face. I should mention here that my air freshener goes off only once every 30 minutes and so the probability of standing at that exact spot when it does go off is pretty slim.
7. Went in search of new shoes for the new school semester and came back with a new dress shirt and pockets full of free samples from Misha (make-up store). Gotta love Korea for it’s “service”.
8. Felt quite rebellious when Q and I ordered in pizza.
9. Felt quite sick after scarfing down way too much pizza that is only sure to have just killed my week of training… dang!
10. Q wanted to watch a scary movie and so I popped in “Hide and Seek” and then spent a good part of the movie trying to spook him… hehehe.
QUESTION OF THE DAY…
Why do the young good looking delivery boys show up when Q orders?
QUOTE OF THE DAY…
A rule to live by: I won't use anything I can't explain in five minutes.
-- Phil Crosby
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Highlights of my Day... Saturday, August 30
1. Well yesterday I was in quite the retarded mood, and so I had the right to be, or so I honestly think. Waking up today felt much better though, thanks to a couple of licks on the forehead courtesy of Mi Nam.
2. With the start of the new school semester being just around the corner, now I have a perfect excuse to go shopping… hehehe.
3. Treated myself to some fashionably trendy sparkly pale gold nail polish only for one of my buddies to disregard it and instead tease me for my boyish finger nails. Yes, that’s right… I still haven’t kicked the aged-old bad habit of chewing on my nails, so sue me… hehehe.
4. After doing a good thirty minutes of skipping at boxing, one of my friends showed up. I haven’t seen him for awhile and he’s basically the only one at my club that speaks English so it was nice to run into him. We chatted as he stretched and then I ended up skipping with him. Total time spent skipping: 1 hour… yikes.
5. After spilling my beans to buddy-boy about wanting but not having any close female friends in Korea, he blurted out, “You better quite boxing or weight training then!” “What?! That’s your advice… that’s terrible!” I responded with. For the most part all my friends in Korea are connected to my training. They’re either trainers at Hongik or team mates at boxing, so most of my friends are guys. My male friends have tried to introduce me and encourage their girl friends to hang out with me but their girl friends end up either not liking me cause I spend so much time with their boyfriends working out or because we have nothing in common, except for the fact that we both hang with their boyfriends. Drama Boy’s girlfriend hated me even before she met me and, come to think of it, the only girlfriend that really liked me and actually hung out with me was Byung Hyuk’s girlfriend. Mind ya, they then broke up and so much for hanging out with her after that.
6. There is of course Valley Girl who lives in my apartment building. Mind ya, she’s still in the honeymoon stage of her relationship and so she’s with her boyfriend 24/7 and always insists on us doing double-date things. Discussing something with her about Q doesn’t really go over well when he’s right there beside me.
7. After boxing and a couple hours of filling my time with nonsense things like cooking mounds of sweet potatoes and then feeding Mi Nam a good chunk of them, I headed over to Hongik to train legs.
8. Got approached at Hongik to be a kind of poster child for their new advertising… cool.
9. Later in the evening Q showed up. I love it how he avoids saying sorry by bombarding me with huge grins and rubbing his scratchy face all over me…. funny, Mi Nam does the same thing.
10. While out for spicy chicken tonight, some random guy at the next table over from Q and I turned and said, “Oh my gosh… you on TV!” Instantly I went red. Have no idea why I blushed so quickly, or why I blushed at all but they all giggled. Turns out the young guy recognized me from my appearance on “Love in Asia” and so this sparked a conversation between him and Q. He seemed a bit overly curious, asking Q what it was like dating a celebrity, which I wouldn’t go that far to label myself that but was flattered. When we finally got up to leave, Q paid the bill and then sent over a couple of bottles of soju and beer to their table. A couple of them got up, shook our hands and then respectively bowed to us as the rest of the restaurant stopped to oversee the situation.
QUESTION OF THE DAY…
How come I can’t feel my lips?
QUOTE OF THE DAY…
Life is 10% what you make it, and 90% how you take it.
-- Irving Berlin
2. With the start of the new school semester being just around the corner, now I have a perfect excuse to go shopping… hehehe.
3. Treated myself to some fashionably trendy sparkly pale gold nail polish only for one of my buddies to disregard it and instead tease me for my boyish finger nails. Yes, that’s right… I still haven’t kicked the aged-old bad habit of chewing on my nails, so sue me… hehehe.
4. After doing a good thirty minutes of skipping at boxing, one of my friends showed up. I haven’t seen him for awhile and he’s basically the only one at my club that speaks English so it was nice to run into him. We chatted as he stretched and then I ended up skipping with him. Total time spent skipping: 1 hour… yikes.
5. After spilling my beans to buddy-boy about wanting but not having any close female friends in Korea, he blurted out, “You better quite boxing or weight training then!” “What?! That’s your advice… that’s terrible!” I responded with. For the most part all my friends in Korea are connected to my training. They’re either trainers at Hongik or team mates at boxing, so most of my friends are guys. My male friends have tried to introduce me and encourage their girl friends to hang out with me but their girl friends end up either not liking me cause I spend so much time with their boyfriends working out or because we have nothing in common, except for the fact that we both hang with their boyfriends. Drama Boy’s girlfriend hated me even before she met me and, come to think of it, the only girlfriend that really liked me and actually hung out with me was Byung Hyuk’s girlfriend. Mind ya, they then broke up and so much for hanging out with her after that.
6. There is of course Valley Girl who lives in my apartment building. Mind ya, she’s still in the honeymoon stage of her relationship and so she’s with her boyfriend 24/7 and always insists on us doing double-date things. Discussing something with her about Q doesn’t really go over well when he’s right there beside me.
7. After boxing and a couple hours of filling my time with nonsense things like cooking mounds of sweet potatoes and then feeding Mi Nam a good chunk of them, I headed over to Hongik to train legs.
8. Got approached at Hongik to be a kind of poster child for their new advertising… cool.
9. Later in the evening Q showed up. I love it how he avoids saying sorry by bombarding me with huge grins and rubbing his scratchy face all over me…. funny, Mi Nam does the same thing.
10. While out for spicy chicken tonight, some random guy at the next table over from Q and I turned and said, “Oh my gosh… you on TV!” Instantly I went red. Have no idea why I blushed so quickly, or why I blushed at all but they all giggled. Turns out the young guy recognized me from my appearance on “Love in Asia” and so this sparked a conversation between him and Q. He seemed a bit overly curious, asking Q what it was like dating a celebrity, which I wouldn’t go that far to label myself that but was flattered. When we finally got up to leave, Q paid the bill and then sent over a couple of bottles of soju and beer to their table. A couple of them got up, shook our hands and then respectively bowed to us as the rest of the restaurant stopped to oversee the situation.
QUESTION OF THE DAY…
How come I can’t feel my lips?
QUOTE OF THE DAY…
Life is 10% what you make it, and 90% how you take it.
-- Irving Berlin
Friday, August 29, 2008
Highlights of my Day... Friday, August 29
1. Exactly two weeks ago today I returned to Korea and oddly enough, I woke up at exactly the time I reached Incheon this time last week, 5:50am. How strange is that?!
2. Even more odd is the fact that I am now more homesick than ever.
3. No, I am not drowning myself in self pity, this is hard. And no, it has nothing to do with Korea being what it is… or whatever certain people want to point the finger and say it is… this is about me missing being me. I mean the real me.
4. Stuck around the house today cause well, let’s be honest, I didn’t really have much else to do.
5. Mi Nam is doing better now. What the heck… why did I even write about Mi Nam. I mean, people read my homepage but I’m sure more of them just check it out for the cheesy pictures in hopes that I’ll flash another training picture or what not. Mi Nam, the love of my life almost got made into another speed bump here in Korea and yet I still get random emails from people off my homepage asking me for silly mundane things.
6. Found out I’m having a baby… I’m going to call him Shalom after the notorious sleazy front page Toronto Sun swinger I met in Toronto.
7. Disregard highlight #7, although, if you read any bit of my homepage you’d know that it’s not only impossible for me given my situation and physical condition, but I’d have to be seriously delusional or start doing mad drugs to even consider popping out a bowling ball and adding to the already brutal people population, never mind all the noise pollution a baby brings… and smell pollution (is that such a thing?!). Never mind what Bob Barker says on the Price is Right, people should be getting their kids spayed or neutered… Having to wait 10 minutes for an instant bank machine on a Friday at 2pm is just flat out silly.
8. Did the whole weight training today and ended up running into my new friend, Dangerously Cute, who, like the name implies, is way too cute and yet I find it refreshingly funny how his hair stays perfect throughout his workout.
9. I opted out on going to the boxing dinner party cause I’ve been in a weird mood lately and didn’t feel like being on show and I was told to closely monitor Mi Nam. Call me crazy but being asked a million questions about my trip to Canada isn’t exactly what I call fun; it's depressing. Q decided to go but reassured me that he wouldn’t be long. His “not long” turned into three hours and turned my low blood pressure to boiling and so I jumped on msn to talk to some of my friends in Canada… which… only caused me to realize the brutal truth, it’s a Friday night and I am home alone. This would never happen in Canada!!!
10. And so on that note, I got all dolled up and left the house. I posted a totally inappropriate note which I can honestly say I still don’t feel bad for writing and then I marched off down the street. What did the note say, you ask. It read:
Yup, that’s exactly what I wrote. I’m not proud but I’m not ashamed. As they said in Dirty Dancing, “No body puts Baby in a corner.” Well, this isn’t Dirty Dancing, it’s my life and in my life, I can proudly say, “No body puts me on a back burner”… that’s exactly what I felt like I was tonight to him, a back burner girl.
QUESTION OF THE DAY…
Does it really matter?
QUOTE OF THE DAY…
No body puts Baby in a corner.
-- from the movie Dirty Dancing
2. Even more odd is the fact that I am now more homesick than ever.
3. No, I am not drowning myself in self pity, this is hard. And no, it has nothing to do with Korea being what it is… or whatever certain people want to point the finger and say it is… this is about me missing being me. I mean the real me.
4. Stuck around the house today cause well, let’s be honest, I didn’t really have much else to do.
5. Mi Nam is doing better now. What the heck… why did I even write about Mi Nam. I mean, people read my homepage but I’m sure more of them just check it out for the cheesy pictures in hopes that I’ll flash another training picture or what not. Mi Nam, the love of my life almost got made into another speed bump here in Korea and yet I still get random emails from people off my homepage asking me for silly mundane things.
6. Found out I’m having a baby… I’m going to call him Shalom after the notorious sleazy front page Toronto Sun swinger I met in Toronto.
7. Disregard highlight #7, although, if you read any bit of my homepage you’d know that it’s not only impossible for me given my situation and physical condition, but I’d have to be seriously delusional or start doing mad drugs to even consider popping out a bowling ball and adding to the already brutal people population, never mind all the noise pollution a baby brings… and smell pollution (is that such a thing?!). Never mind what Bob Barker says on the Price is Right, people should be getting their kids spayed or neutered… Having to wait 10 minutes for an instant bank machine on a Friday at 2pm is just flat out silly.
8. Did the whole weight training today and ended up running into my new friend, Dangerously Cute, who, like the name implies, is way too cute and yet I find it refreshingly funny how his hair stays perfect throughout his workout.
9. I opted out on going to the boxing dinner party cause I’ve been in a weird mood lately and didn’t feel like being on show and I was told to closely monitor Mi Nam. Call me crazy but being asked a million questions about my trip to Canada isn’t exactly what I call fun; it's depressing. Q decided to go but reassured me that he wouldn’t be long. His “not long” turned into three hours and turned my low blood pressure to boiling and so I jumped on msn to talk to some of my friends in Canada… which… only caused me to realize the brutal truth, it’s a Friday night and I am home alone. This would never happen in Canada!!!
10. And so on that note, I got all dolled up and left the house. I posted a totally inappropriate note which I can honestly say I still don’t feel bad for writing and then I marched off down the street. What did the note say, you ask. It read:
"I waited over three hours for you. I am not your pet. I am going out. I don’t know where I am going but I am sure there will be many cute Korean boys who will want to talk to me."
Yup, that’s exactly what I wrote. I’m not proud but I’m not ashamed. As they said in Dirty Dancing, “No body puts Baby in a corner.” Well, this isn’t Dirty Dancing, it’s my life and in my life, I can proudly say, “No body puts me on a back burner”… that’s exactly what I felt like I was tonight to him, a back burner girl.
QUESTION OF THE DAY…
Does it really matter?
QUOTE OF THE DAY…
No body puts Baby in a corner.
-- from the movie Dirty Dancing
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Hightlights of my Day... Thursday, August 28
1. Mi Nam got hit by a car today. Yup. That’s how my early morning started. As I rushed out the house to walk Mi Nam before heading out to tutoring in Seoul, I allowed him off his leash and just as I turned the corner to follow him, I heard him give this most horrendous cry. I didn’t see it happen but saw as the car drove off. He had jetted out in front of the car and when it hit him, he dropped to the ground and so the car continued, leaving his shaking body on the road. I raced to him and then ended up throwing the leash at the car (which I must note here is one of those retractable dog leashes with a metal handle). The car stopped and the people, an older lady and a young high school boy, got out but offered me no help.
2. I didn’t know what to do and so I scooped up Mi Nam in my arms. There was no blood and no obvious injuries but I raced him over to the animal emergency down the street. I entered the vet’s in total tears and with Mi Nam’s pee all down the front of my outfit. The vet took him from my arms and told me to me leave the room when his assistant entered.
3. A couple of minutes in the waiting room felt like a million years. I was so scared. I tell ya, the day Mi Nam dies is the day my heart seriously will shatter into a million-trillion-zillion pieces!!!
4. Finally the vet opened the door and asked me to come in. They did a couple of x-rays on him and told me that besides shock and a bit of trauma to side of his head, Mi Nam would be OK. He told me to closely monitor Mi Nam and not to play rough with him for the next couple of days. Needless to say I was quite relieved but still so upset. I took Mi Nam home, placed him in his little bed on the floor, and then curled up beside him. I struggled falling asleep and so I ended up lying there, starring at him while he dozed off. Ah, Mi Nam… I love him so much.
5. There we stayed for the rest of the day. Q ended up coming over and joining us. I got all teary eyed when I told him what happened. I felt so sick, knowing that I was so close to losing him.
6. So much for going to my Korean tutoring class, boxing or weight training. I had to stay home and watch Mi Nam. Honestly though, later in the day I was still shaken up by the whole ordeal but Mi Nam seemed to be quite carefree about it all. I couldn’t even bring myself to walk him and so I had to get Q too, reminding him about a million times to be extra careful with him.
7. In attempts to get my mind off of this morning’s awful event, Q took me out for dinner. I had been craving spicy food and so he took me out for the spiciest chicken around, which, I must say, wasn’t so spicy. Mind ya, four years ago this very same chicken would have left me sitting on the toilet for weeks. I have a much stronger stomach now, obviously.
8. Q is quite a simple guy, needless to say, and as much as I argue that he hasn’t got a romantic bone in him, tonight he tried super hard to be extra sweet to me… even romantic… hehehe.
9. After dinner, while walking back to my place, a little café on a side street caught my eye and so Q asked me if I wanted to go in for a drink, “sure” I replied. The café was awesome… wow!!! It was this modern, funky-looking café. Upon first entering it, we noticed a trombone spurting water into a massive metal bin (looked like a horse troft) filled with fish. We sat in the window seat and Q ordered for us.
10. Had a good laugh at the sight of Q sitting in his shorts and teddy bear t-shirt sipping on wine and eating caviar. I don’t think he realized he had ordered caviar… hehehe. Neither of us had ever eaten it and so when the waitress brought out crackers loaded with sour cream, sweet potato and caviar, we both looked at each other and laughed. It tasted pretty good actually. Mind ya, the thought of my tummy being full of fish eggs was kind of gross.
QUESTION OF THE DAY…
Who thought of the idea of making fish eggs a meal?
QUOTE OF THE DAY…
Some cause happiness wherever they go; others, whenever they go.
-- Oscar Wilde
2. I didn’t know what to do and so I scooped up Mi Nam in my arms. There was no blood and no obvious injuries but I raced him over to the animal emergency down the street. I entered the vet’s in total tears and with Mi Nam’s pee all down the front of my outfit. The vet took him from my arms and told me to me leave the room when his assistant entered.
3. A couple of minutes in the waiting room felt like a million years. I was so scared. I tell ya, the day Mi Nam dies is the day my heart seriously will shatter into a million-trillion-zillion pieces!!!
4. Finally the vet opened the door and asked me to come in. They did a couple of x-rays on him and told me that besides shock and a bit of trauma to side of his head, Mi Nam would be OK. He told me to closely monitor Mi Nam and not to play rough with him for the next couple of days. Needless to say I was quite relieved but still so upset. I took Mi Nam home, placed him in his little bed on the floor, and then curled up beside him. I struggled falling asleep and so I ended up lying there, starring at him while he dozed off. Ah, Mi Nam… I love him so much.
5. There we stayed for the rest of the day. Q ended up coming over and joining us. I got all teary eyed when I told him what happened. I felt so sick, knowing that I was so close to losing him.
6. So much for going to my Korean tutoring class, boxing or weight training. I had to stay home and watch Mi Nam. Honestly though, later in the day I was still shaken up by the whole ordeal but Mi Nam seemed to be quite carefree about it all. I couldn’t even bring myself to walk him and so I had to get Q too, reminding him about a million times to be extra careful with him.
7. In attempts to get my mind off of this morning’s awful event, Q took me out for dinner. I had been craving spicy food and so he took me out for the spiciest chicken around, which, I must say, wasn’t so spicy. Mind ya, four years ago this very same chicken would have left me sitting on the toilet for weeks. I have a much stronger stomach now, obviously.
8. Q is quite a simple guy, needless to say, and as much as I argue that he hasn’t got a romantic bone in him, tonight he tried super hard to be extra sweet to me… even romantic… hehehe.
9. After dinner, while walking back to my place, a little café on a side street caught my eye and so Q asked me if I wanted to go in for a drink, “sure” I replied. The café was awesome… wow!!! It was this modern, funky-looking café. Upon first entering it, we noticed a trombone spurting water into a massive metal bin (looked like a horse troft) filled with fish. We sat in the window seat and Q ordered for us.
10. Had a good laugh at the sight of Q sitting in his shorts and teddy bear t-shirt sipping on wine and eating caviar. I don’t think he realized he had ordered caviar… hehehe. Neither of us had ever eaten it and so when the waitress brought out crackers loaded with sour cream, sweet potato and caviar, we both looked at each other and laughed. It tasted pretty good actually. Mind ya, the thought of my tummy being full of fish eggs was kind of gross.
QUESTION OF THE DAY…
Who thought of the idea of making fish eggs a meal?
QUOTE OF THE DAY…
Some cause happiness wherever they go; others, whenever they go.
-- Oscar Wilde
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Highlights of my Day… Wednesday, August 27
1. With school starting up next Monday, today I had to go to the university for a staff meeting. Met some of the new professors, chatted with the old, caught up with some of a few of them, and then headed back out the door.
2. Got my new teaching schedule… and it is sweeeeeeeeeeet!!!
Mon./Tues./Thurs. = 9:20am – 1pm (2 classes)
Wednesday = 9:20am – 5pm (3 classes + 2 office hours)
Friday = DAY OFF!!!
3. In anticipation of school starting up, today Q and I headed over to Kyobo Books to stock up on school supplies, apparently so did the rest of Cheonan! The place was packed with students and I couldn’t help but think, “I wonder how many of these kids will be my students?!”
4. Q bought us Adidas couple bags… hehehe, so cute! We checked out the local Adidas shop and I spotted a wicked white Adidas leather gym bag. There was a matching black one and so, totally unexpectedly, Q told the sales girl that we’d take them. What?! I was shocked. This was the first time I had seen Q spend a chunk of money like this… they definitely weren’t cheap bags. So now we have couple bags… hehehe.
5. Oh my gosh, I definitely have to cut down on the amount of kimchi I’ve been eating!!! This is nasty to say but kimchi to my body is like beans to most people… deadly!!!
6. At boxing tonight Junior Mint kept on complaining about the smell in the room. I didn’t have the nerve to tell him that it was me… hehehe… and so I told him that Canadian girls don’t have gas… hehehe. Not too sure on if he believed me or not but it allowed me to direct the blame in Q’s direction… hehehe.
7. It never fails to be an extra hard workout when Q’s at boxing with me, throw in the fact that two girls came by to check out the club and it meant I totally got drilled tonight!!! Q says Junior Mint drills me extra hard when others are watching because he’s proud of me. Regardless, going 4 rounds NON-STOP on pad work meant that for TEN straight gruelling minutes I am yelled at, pushed around, and worked out to the point that I am completely dripping with sweat, left with numb fists, arms feeling like they weigh a couple of tons, and feeling dizzy.
8. A friend of mine showed up at boxing tonight. Most of the guys don’t like him, they think he’s annoying. I don’t mind him but yes, him constantly yelling out “I love Amy” and making the notorious heart-shape sign with his hands is kind of uncalled for. Never the less, tonight I ended up having to tell some of the younger amateur boxers to leave him alone after they repeatedly called him “byoungshin” (a very rude word that is similar to “retard” but with a much more negative feeling).
9. What most people don’t know about this guy, my friend at boxing, is that he suffers from a really serious and unfortunate situation called “punk drunk”. He’s a young guy, probably no older than me but back when he use to have boxing matches, he got injured but his coach at the time totally disregarded his injuries and scheduled him back-to-back fights. The end result: his coordination is totally off, meaning that he struggles with simple tasks like skipping.
10. After boxing Q and I headed over to Lotte Super to pick up some groceries and viola… they have chicken, finally! I had ventured away from Q and that’s when the chicken dude approached me. He took me by the wrist and brought me to a big stack of chicken in the corner of the shop. I filled my basket with chicken, walked away and then looked back to catch a wink from him… hehehe.
QUESTION OF THE DAY…
What makes you happy?
QUOTE OF THE DAY…
For every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds of happiness.
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson
2. Got my new teaching schedule… and it is sweeeeeeeeeeet!!!
Mon./Tues./Thurs. = 9:20am – 1pm (2 classes)
Wednesday = 9:20am – 5pm (3 classes + 2 office hours)
Friday = DAY OFF!!!
3. In anticipation of school starting up, today Q and I headed over to Kyobo Books to stock up on school supplies, apparently so did the rest of Cheonan! The place was packed with students and I couldn’t help but think, “I wonder how many of these kids will be my students?!”
4. Q bought us Adidas couple bags… hehehe, so cute! We checked out the local Adidas shop and I spotted a wicked white Adidas leather gym bag. There was a matching black one and so, totally unexpectedly, Q told the sales girl that we’d take them. What?! I was shocked. This was the first time I had seen Q spend a chunk of money like this… they definitely weren’t cheap bags. So now we have couple bags… hehehe.
5. Oh my gosh, I definitely have to cut down on the amount of kimchi I’ve been eating!!! This is nasty to say but kimchi to my body is like beans to most people… deadly!!!
6. At boxing tonight Junior Mint kept on complaining about the smell in the room. I didn’t have the nerve to tell him that it was me… hehehe… and so I told him that Canadian girls don’t have gas… hehehe. Not too sure on if he believed me or not but it allowed me to direct the blame in Q’s direction… hehehe.
7. It never fails to be an extra hard workout when Q’s at boxing with me, throw in the fact that two girls came by to check out the club and it meant I totally got drilled tonight!!! Q says Junior Mint drills me extra hard when others are watching because he’s proud of me. Regardless, going 4 rounds NON-STOP on pad work meant that for TEN straight gruelling minutes I am yelled at, pushed around, and worked out to the point that I am completely dripping with sweat, left with numb fists, arms feeling like they weigh a couple of tons, and feeling dizzy.
8. A friend of mine showed up at boxing tonight. Most of the guys don’t like him, they think he’s annoying. I don’t mind him but yes, him constantly yelling out “I love Amy” and making the notorious heart-shape sign with his hands is kind of uncalled for. Never the less, tonight I ended up having to tell some of the younger amateur boxers to leave him alone after they repeatedly called him “byoungshin” (a very rude word that is similar to “retard” but with a much more negative feeling).
9. What most people don’t know about this guy, my friend at boxing, is that he suffers from a really serious and unfortunate situation called “punk drunk”. He’s a young guy, probably no older than me but back when he use to have boxing matches, he got injured but his coach at the time totally disregarded his injuries and scheduled him back-to-back fights. The end result: his coordination is totally off, meaning that he struggles with simple tasks like skipping.
10. After boxing Q and I headed over to Lotte Super to pick up some groceries and viola… they have chicken, finally! I had ventured away from Q and that’s when the chicken dude approached me. He took me by the wrist and brought me to a big stack of chicken in the corner of the shop. I filled my basket with chicken, walked away and then looked back to catch a wink from him… hehehe.
QUESTION OF THE DAY…
What makes you happy?
QUOTE OF THE DAY…
For every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds of happiness.
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Highlights of my Day... Tuesday, August 26
1. As my holidays gets down to the single digits in terms of how many days left, I feel myself getting more and more lazy, when I’m not training that is. I’m antsy to get back to teaching though. I love the first week of classes, not cause of it’s super short classes (although that is pretty sweet, too), but because it’s another chance to do things differently and try new things out. I’m sure students ask around about the professors and so it’s always interesting to hear what they’ve found out, or what they think they’ve found out, about me. I always give them the first class to ask me whatever they want. You get the usual questions, “Where are you from?... Are you married?” It’s always interesting some of the questions that the braver students come up with…. Hehehe.
2. Abs day at Hongik for me and so that was brutal. It’s a short routine but it leaves me with swollen abs for the rest of the day… I love that!!!
3. So much for me thinking I had finally come up with a wicked workout plan for myself. For years I always did split routines but recently I switched to doing full-body routines, followed with one day designated towards abs, and another day specifically for abs. I knew that the number of exercises for each individual body part was low but I tried not to be too concerned. With boxing in the evening, split routine weight training was killing me on bicep and back days. Having said this though, my friend Miki in Japan (friend on Bodybuilding.com) suggested I return to my split routines…. Ahhhh. Can’t say I am surprised though.
4. Do you ever just have those moments when the light goes on and something just clicks in your brain, bringing about a total new understanding or answer to something?! Well, today I figured it out. I figured out EXACTLY what was wrong with my diet…. I felt like a genius at the realization of it, too!!!
5. Got yelled about by some older lady while I was out walking Mi Nam. Funny thing is though, I knew exactly what she was yelling about in Korean. Turns out she’s not a fan of any four-legged creatures who publicly poop. I reassured her that I wasn’t one of those bad owners. I carry my little poop bags with me and scoop after my little boy’s mess. She didn’t believe me… that is, until I opened up the bag to show her… hehehe. Now, honestly people, why the heck would I lie to her about poop?... seriously!
6. Walked in on an uncomfortable conversation, uncomfortable for me that is. No sooner had Mi Nam and I turned the corner but Mi Nam went racing towards his buddy’s cage outside the hotel, you know… the fighting dog down the street. There, beside the dog’s cage, was parked a truck loaded with 4 or 5 dogs and two men arguing. From what I understood, they were arguing about the sizes of the dogs. I think they were tying to set up a fight among the dogs. I hate stuff like that… people who train animals to fight; so cruel. I could never imagine making Mi Nam fight. He might like his opponent to death or suffocate him with late night snuggles but that’s as far as his skills go.
7. Almost convinced myself to steal that dog, seriously. Sure he’s a fighter dog but even the hotel owner said that I’m the only one besides him that the dog lets approach him. I think he lets me approach him because I’m the only one that gives him some kind of affection and compassion. He stands just looking at me, looking so desperate for a big hug.
8. Ran into my Moon-Ja-Ah Friend (“moon-ja-ah” is Korean for “trouble maker”) at boxing tonight. I haven’t seen him since I returned from Canada and so he had lots of questions to ask me. Talking about Canada made me feel so homesick and so my face reflected that. When asked why I am so homesick, I blurted out “I have no real friends in Korea!” He looked shocked and so he stopped me from skipping by kicking me in the leg and yelling out (in Korean), “Hey, this boxing club is your family! No friends?! That’s OK. You have family… here; me.” I know… but it’s not the same.
9. Junior Mint overheard my comment about the no friends and so he gave me a hit on the back with his notorious wooden stick he hides in the corner of the club near his desk and made me do extra rounds on the sand bag. I think my comment at boxing tonight shocked a lot of people because Milk Dud and his friend ended up offering to walk me home. I guess on the flip side of things, I could look at this no real friends issue as a good thing in that it means I’m able to stay more focused on my boxing, weight training and dieting. After all, because of my brutal lack of any kind of social life, it means I don’t have to deal with peer pressure to drink, stay out late, or skip training. As it stands right now, my social bubble only includes Hongik Fitness, UP Boxing club, the grocery store, and Sambu (my house).
10. After months of Q repeatedly asking me if he can watch any of the “Sex and the City” DVDs I have, I finally agreed. I was nervous that he’d get the wrong impression of me but I guess he knows me well enough by now to know that I’m not a sexual person. Trust me on that!!! I get way more kicks out and a huge high with an intense sparring round/game or going extra hardcore on pad work than some dude kissing me… oh please, don’t flatter yourself. I’m a fighter not a lover.I kind of felt like a pervert in liking the show so much, after all, they’re always addressing sexual issues, and for owning so many of the DVDs but the dude in Songtan loves me and so he’s always slipping me free DVDs at his store. I argue that I like the style of the show, how they use narration in the first person, and I love their sarcasm, but Q was shocked at how “visual” some scenes were. Mind ya, I ended up covering his eyes… he’s too innocent for this kind of stuff.
QUESTION OF THE DAY…
What is in your bubble?
QUOTE OF THE DAY…
This world's a bubble.
-- Saint Aurelius Augustine
2. Abs day at Hongik for me and so that was brutal. It’s a short routine but it leaves me with swollen abs for the rest of the day… I love that!!!
3. So much for me thinking I had finally come up with a wicked workout plan for myself. For years I always did split routines but recently I switched to doing full-body routines, followed with one day designated towards abs, and another day specifically for abs. I knew that the number of exercises for each individual body part was low but I tried not to be too concerned. With boxing in the evening, split routine weight training was killing me on bicep and back days. Having said this though, my friend Miki in Japan (friend on Bodybuilding.com) suggested I return to my split routines…. Ahhhh. Can’t say I am surprised though.
4. Do you ever just have those moments when the light goes on and something just clicks in your brain, bringing about a total new understanding or answer to something?! Well, today I figured it out. I figured out EXACTLY what was wrong with my diet…. I felt like a genius at the realization of it, too!!!
5. Got yelled about by some older lady while I was out walking Mi Nam. Funny thing is though, I knew exactly what she was yelling about in Korean. Turns out she’s not a fan of any four-legged creatures who publicly poop. I reassured her that I wasn’t one of those bad owners. I carry my little poop bags with me and scoop after my little boy’s mess. She didn’t believe me… that is, until I opened up the bag to show her… hehehe. Now, honestly people, why the heck would I lie to her about poop?... seriously!
6. Walked in on an uncomfortable conversation, uncomfortable for me that is. No sooner had Mi Nam and I turned the corner but Mi Nam went racing towards his buddy’s cage outside the hotel, you know… the fighting dog down the street. There, beside the dog’s cage, was parked a truck loaded with 4 or 5 dogs and two men arguing. From what I understood, they were arguing about the sizes of the dogs. I think they were tying to set up a fight among the dogs. I hate stuff like that… people who train animals to fight; so cruel. I could never imagine making Mi Nam fight. He might like his opponent to death or suffocate him with late night snuggles but that’s as far as his skills go.
7. Almost convinced myself to steal that dog, seriously. Sure he’s a fighter dog but even the hotel owner said that I’m the only one besides him that the dog lets approach him. I think he lets me approach him because I’m the only one that gives him some kind of affection and compassion. He stands just looking at me, looking so desperate for a big hug.
8. Ran into my Moon-Ja-Ah Friend (“moon-ja-ah” is Korean for “trouble maker”) at boxing tonight. I haven’t seen him since I returned from Canada and so he had lots of questions to ask me. Talking about Canada made me feel so homesick and so my face reflected that. When asked why I am so homesick, I blurted out “I have no real friends in Korea!” He looked shocked and so he stopped me from skipping by kicking me in the leg and yelling out (in Korean), “Hey, this boxing club is your family! No friends?! That’s OK. You have family… here; me.” I know… but it’s not the same.
9. Junior Mint overheard my comment about the no friends and so he gave me a hit on the back with his notorious wooden stick he hides in the corner of the club near his desk and made me do extra rounds on the sand bag. I think my comment at boxing tonight shocked a lot of people because Milk Dud and his friend ended up offering to walk me home. I guess on the flip side of things, I could look at this no real friends issue as a good thing in that it means I’m able to stay more focused on my boxing, weight training and dieting. After all, because of my brutal lack of any kind of social life, it means I don’t have to deal with peer pressure to drink, stay out late, or skip training. As it stands right now, my social bubble only includes Hongik Fitness, UP Boxing club, the grocery store, and Sambu (my house).
10. After months of Q repeatedly asking me if he can watch any of the “Sex and the City” DVDs I have, I finally agreed. I was nervous that he’d get the wrong impression of me but I guess he knows me well enough by now to know that I’m not a sexual person. Trust me on that!!! I get way more kicks out and a huge high with an intense sparring round/game or going extra hardcore on pad work than some dude kissing me… oh please, don’t flatter yourself. I’m a fighter not a lover.I kind of felt like a pervert in liking the show so much, after all, they’re always addressing sexual issues, and for owning so many of the DVDs but the dude in Songtan loves me and so he’s always slipping me free DVDs at his store. I argue that I like the style of the show, how they use narration in the first person, and I love their sarcasm, but Q was shocked at how “visual” some scenes were. Mind ya, I ended up covering his eyes… he’s too innocent for this kind of stuff.
QUESTION OF THE DAY…
What is in your bubble?
QUOTE OF THE DAY…
This world's a bubble.
-- Saint Aurelius Augustine
Monday, August 25, 2008
Highlights of my Day... Monday, August 25
1. Woke up to the world’s most annoying dog… again. This is the third day in a row that at 7am I have been awoken by a dog that sounds like it’s literally caught in a weed whacker. Later on I met the owner, my new neighbour, who turned out to be just as annoying as her overly annoying dog when she insisted on walking into the elevator slower than molasses, thus causing the doors to close TWICE on my body, both as we entered the elevator and then again when we exited.
2. One of the high school kids I play basketball with sometimes, saw the whole thing go down and then twenty minutes later, I got a knock on my door. It was him. In his hand was my new neighbor's electricity bill and hydro bill. I guess he thought the perfect way to “welcome” the new neighbour and teach her some "ground rule, or so to speak, was to make her late for her bills.
3. You know you’re hard up for fun when you spend a good hour or two looking for a new toilet seat.
4. You know you’re even more hard up for fun when you find yourself in the bathroom with a camera... hehehe. Relax.
5. After spending the whole morning listening to that flea-infested ankle biter dog that would make the perfect football, I sat down and tried to write a letter to my neighbour. Got half way through it before I just couldn’t handle his barking anymore and so I took Mi Nam out for a walk. Technically, you’re not allowed dogs in our apartment building and although I do have a dog, you’ll only once in a blue moon ever hear Mi Nam bark. The security guards are willing to turn their cheek as long as the dog isn’t a problem. This dog is a problem… three early morning wake ups by him and non stop barking IS a problem.
6. Treated myself to a new necklace at Yawoori, courtesy of Junior Mint that is. He gave me a gift certificate the other day and so today I spent it… I spent it all and it felt great!
7. Switched things up and went to boxing early today… ohhh… how rebellious… hehehe. I like training in the early afternoon cause it means I usually have the club to myself. Junior Mint did pad work with me, Milk Dud slept in the corner of the ring, and Little Miss Sunshine made an appearance, offering me a much needed shoulder rub at the end of training.
8. Weight training in the evening proved to be not as successful as boxing as training in the evening means fighting the crowd and waiting for dilly-dallies on the machines.
9. Am convinced I am getting teased by the local Lotte Super store chicken man who keeps insisting that “the chicken is coming later”. Yesterday's "later" made me come in the morning today and then another "later" brought me back in the afternoon. Now any other normal person would simply not care about the fact that the chicken has seemed to gone MIA but.. I am not normal. I am a chicken-eating-maniac… hehehe… consuming about two family packs of chicken a week. I… must… have… my … chicken!!!
10. So much for a romantic movie night in. Popped in the movie and within twenty minutes Q was totally out like a light. So I ate his snackies, drank his banana milk and curled up with Mi Nam to watch the whole movie.
QUESTION OF THE DAY…
What have you learned?
QUOTE OF THE DAY…
I've learned that we are responsible for what we do, unless we are celebrities.
-- Author Unknown
2. One of the high school kids I play basketball with sometimes, saw the whole thing go down and then twenty minutes later, I got a knock on my door. It was him. In his hand was my new neighbor's electricity bill and hydro bill. I guess he thought the perfect way to “welcome” the new neighbour and teach her some "ground rule, or so to speak, was to make her late for her bills.
3. You know you’re hard up for fun when you spend a good hour or two looking for a new toilet seat.
4. You know you’re even more hard up for fun when you find yourself in the bathroom with a camera... hehehe. Relax.
5. After spending the whole morning listening to that flea-infested ankle biter dog that would make the perfect football, I sat down and tried to write a letter to my neighbour. Got half way through it before I just couldn’t handle his barking anymore and so I took Mi Nam out for a walk. Technically, you’re not allowed dogs in our apartment building and although I do have a dog, you’ll only once in a blue moon ever hear Mi Nam bark. The security guards are willing to turn their cheek as long as the dog isn’t a problem. This dog is a problem… three early morning wake ups by him and non stop barking IS a problem.
6. Treated myself to a new necklace at Yawoori, courtesy of Junior Mint that is. He gave me a gift certificate the other day and so today I spent it… I spent it all and it felt great!
7. Switched things up and went to boxing early today… ohhh… how rebellious… hehehe. I like training in the early afternoon cause it means I usually have the club to myself. Junior Mint did pad work with me, Milk Dud slept in the corner of the ring, and Little Miss Sunshine made an appearance, offering me a much needed shoulder rub at the end of training.
8. Weight training in the evening proved to be not as successful as boxing as training in the evening means fighting the crowd and waiting for dilly-dallies on the machines.
9. Am convinced I am getting teased by the local Lotte Super store chicken man who keeps insisting that “the chicken is coming later”. Yesterday's "later" made me come in the morning today and then another "later" brought me back in the afternoon. Now any other normal person would simply not care about the fact that the chicken has seemed to gone MIA but.. I am not normal. I am a chicken-eating-maniac… hehehe… consuming about two family packs of chicken a week. I… must… have… my … chicken!!!
10. So much for a romantic movie night in. Popped in the movie and within twenty minutes Q was totally out like a light. So I ate his snackies, drank his banana milk and curled up with Mi Nam to watch the whole movie.
QUESTION OF THE DAY…
What have you learned?
QUOTE OF THE DAY…
I've learned that we are responsible for what we do, unless we are celebrities.
-- Author Unknown
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Meet Tosca Reno, a beautiful middle aged woman who, at the age of 40, decided that she was going to change her life and get fit. She didn't stop there though, she then went on to become one of the most current influential women in women’s fitness, being repeatedly featured in Oxygen magazine and writing her own series of fitness books and articles.
If you don’t already know her, look her up on the Internet. She's definitely a means of motivation for me!!! I totally recommend her Eat Clean book series, especially the workout book. For those of you in Canada, check her out on Breakfast Television (CityTV) on Friday, September 12th… be sure to tape it for me too!!!
Highlights of my Day.. Sunday, August 24
1. I wish I could go to Canada.
2. I wish I could go to Canada today.
3. I wish I could go to Canada this very exact minute.
4. Last night I tried calling and texting Q. Eleven hours and forty four minutes later he responded with a phone call. A phone call that I missed because I was in the shower. I could have phoned back, I know, but I didn’t. And so, that was the only noise my phone made all day. He tried calling back another 8 hours later, nice.
5. In between wishing I could simply runaway to Canada I laid on the floor with Mi Nam thinking about all the things I could do if I were in Canada. I would have probably started today off by going to church up on Jane Street where Pastor Granville would yell out, like he always does, “It’s great to see sister Amy in the house today!” I was never sure whether he just favoured me or whether he did it to try to make me feel comfortable being the only white gal in a church packed with some 300 people. Church would be followed by lunch out with some of the married ladies who always insisted “you must eat to grow strong in the Lord Amy”. My afternoon would be spent at System Fitness and then I’d stay in for the rest of the night.
6. In Korea, my Sundays usually consist of staying in for the whole night… actually, the whole morning, afternoon, evening, AND night.
7. I’ll be the first to admit it, I am definitely in a low mood lately. I’m homesick… what do you expect?! I went from seeing all the people I grew up with, grew to love and then got thrown back in a life of what feels like silence and solitude.
8. Both my weight training gym (Hongik) and my boxing club (UP Boxing) are closed on Sundays and so I was totally bored out of my skull and way too unmotivated to do anything besides veg out on the couch with Mi Nam snoring in my ear.
9. I think the thing that has been bugging the heck out of me in terms of my life in Korea is that it’s just so routine and predictable. Everyday I weight train, come home to do some laundry and eat, walk Mi Nam and then I go boxing in the evening. This is my routine 6 days a week. With the exception of Panty Boy Jr. and Jae Min, all my friends abide by the rules and go home every night to their families. My boyfriend is overly innocent and naive, doing exactly what he thinks I want, which ironically, is exactly what I don’t want. I kind of wish I had a trouble maker friend or was dating a bad boy. At least then I’d have some spice to my life. In Canada, Italiano was my trouble making partner in crime, and boy did we ever have fun!!! We never broke any serious rules but we had a lot of fun pushing the limits and things were never boring. Whether we were driving around in his old skool Porshe or hitting up the Croc on a Wednesday night, I always loved my time with him. We kind of brought out the mischievous side of each other and I liked that. I guess I was kind of hoping that Pyoung would be the edge that I craved in Korea but he, well, refuses to apologize and honestly I’m not interested in the drama that accompanies him.
10. Finally around 9pm I snapped out of my blah mood and walked over to the neighbouring LG store where I dropped some cash on a DVD player. Spent the rest of the evening walking “Sex in the City” on DVD.
QUESTION OF THE DAY…
Isn’t it funny how when you’re down in the dumps, people scatter, but when you’re on top of your game, everyone wants a piece of you?
QUOTE OF THE DAY…
I've learned that you shouldn't compare yourself to others - they are more screwed up than you think.
-- Author Unknown
2. I wish I could go to Canada today.
3. I wish I could go to Canada this very exact minute.
4. Last night I tried calling and texting Q. Eleven hours and forty four minutes later he responded with a phone call. A phone call that I missed because I was in the shower. I could have phoned back, I know, but I didn’t. And so, that was the only noise my phone made all day. He tried calling back another 8 hours later, nice.
5. In between wishing I could simply runaway to Canada I laid on the floor with Mi Nam thinking about all the things I could do if I were in Canada. I would have probably started today off by going to church up on Jane Street where Pastor Granville would yell out, like he always does, “It’s great to see sister Amy in the house today!” I was never sure whether he just favoured me or whether he did it to try to make me feel comfortable being the only white gal in a church packed with some 300 people. Church would be followed by lunch out with some of the married ladies who always insisted “you must eat to grow strong in the Lord Amy”. My afternoon would be spent at System Fitness and then I’d stay in for the rest of the night.
6. In Korea, my Sundays usually consist of staying in for the whole night… actually, the whole morning, afternoon, evening, AND night.
7. I’ll be the first to admit it, I am definitely in a low mood lately. I’m homesick… what do you expect?! I went from seeing all the people I grew up with, grew to love and then got thrown back in a life of what feels like silence and solitude.
8. Both my weight training gym (Hongik) and my boxing club (UP Boxing) are closed on Sundays and so I was totally bored out of my skull and way too unmotivated to do anything besides veg out on the couch with Mi Nam snoring in my ear.
9. I think the thing that has been bugging the heck out of me in terms of my life in Korea is that it’s just so routine and predictable. Everyday I weight train, come home to do some laundry and eat, walk Mi Nam and then I go boxing in the evening. This is my routine 6 days a week. With the exception of Panty Boy Jr. and Jae Min, all my friends abide by the rules and go home every night to their families. My boyfriend is overly innocent and naive, doing exactly what he thinks I want, which ironically, is exactly what I don’t want. I kind of wish I had a trouble maker friend or was dating a bad boy. At least then I’d have some spice to my life. In Canada, Italiano was my trouble making partner in crime, and boy did we ever have fun!!! We never broke any serious rules but we had a lot of fun pushing the limits and things were never boring. Whether we were driving around in his old skool Porshe or hitting up the Croc on a Wednesday night, I always loved my time with him. We kind of brought out the mischievous side of each other and I liked that. I guess I was kind of hoping that Pyoung would be the edge that I craved in Korea but he, well, refuses to apologize and honestly I’m not interested in the drama that accompanies him.
10. Finally around 9pm I snapped out of my blah mood and walked over to the neighbouring LG store where I dropped some cash on a DVD player. Spent the rest of the evening walking “Sex in the City” on DVD.
QUESTION OF THE DAY…
Isn’t it funny how when you’re down in the dumps, people scatter, but when you’re on top of your game, everyone wants a piece of you?
QUOTE OF THE DAY…
I've learned that you shouldn't compare yourself to others - they are more screwed up than you think.
-- Author Unknown
Saturday, August 23, 2008
For those of you who can’t read Homegirl’s shirt that I bought her, it reads “I am not American”. I use to think this was a funny joke, that is, until I went to Little America #2 and then it became something I was proud to say. No offence to you Americans out there who are sweeties, all the more power to you, and I know that there’s rotten people in every country, but tonight I send out a massive BOO to those of you who down right stink… from your clouded mind down to your ugly toes.
Highlights of my Day... Saturday, August 23
1. Ahhhhhhhh Saturdays… loved by many, hated by me. Saturdays are “leg days” for me at training and they always leave me feeling sick and swollen. Today was no different.
2. Had planned a wicked leg session and wicked was right… yikes. Leg extensions, calf raises, seat leg curls… etc., etc. Ended my routine with the infamous hanging leg raises to work my lower abs. My buddies got a good giggle out of listening to me yell out the last hanging leg raise rep. Let go of the grip bar and dropped to the floor in pain. Stumbled to get back on my feet again and then left for home. My legs were so swollen and pumped but leg workouts always make me feel sick to my stomach and all shaky.
3. My little hair shop girlie friend was busy today and so I decided to take it upon myself to dye my own hair. After all, I’ve dyed my hair plenty of times so how hard can dying my hair black be, right?! Wrong. My bathroom walls were splattered with hair dye and it stank up my house. The end result looked great but I had forgotten to wipe off the back of my neck and so the dye had stained my skin… hehehe.
4. Wearing my favorite pair of jeans tonight were out of the question as my legs were still swollen from today’s leg workout… and I was lovin’ it too. I’m such a guy when it comes to working out. I love pushing my body to exhaustion and I love the pump that comes with an intense workout. Q lowers his eyebrows and shakes his head whenever I flex in front of him. He’s not impressed. He says that he much prefers my “softer” tummy over what I am sporting now and insists that the 6-pack abs I am striving towards are ugly. I’ll show him ugly. According to what I am aiming for and working hard towards achieving, this will definitely label me as “ugly” by his standards. No worries. “Soft” is definitely not the look I am going for.
5. My evening plans consisted of me heading out to Pyoungtaek (Little America #2) to meet up with Pyoung for dinner. We met up for dinner and it was fun, but that’s where the night should have ended. Got ahead of myself when I seriously thought a night in Little America #2 could be drama-free and memorable… oh, it was memorable alright, but drama-free it definitely wasn’t.
6. In Toronto we have Hells Angels and Foundation as being the leading biker gangs, turns out we have the “Booze Busters” in Korea… interesting. They wear leather vests in the same style as the Hells Angels and Foundation. They walk the walk and talk the talk just like them, too. Oddly enough I seemed drawn to them tonight. I guess they reminded me of my old boss Rooster, who was the head of the Toronto chapter of Foundation. Ended up stirring up a conversation with one of them and so for the rest of the night he acted as my kind of bodyguard… hehehe. No disrespect to them but they’re a bunch of softies if you ask me.
7. Meeting some of Pyoung’s so-called “friends” was interesting. I liked his one buddy Jamie, a cute Mexican dude who kept on telling me that he wanted to spar with me. He was sweet enough to dance around the bar with my bag wrapped around his shoulder.
8. Didn’t realize that with Pyoung buying me dinner and whatnot meant he had “dibs” on me. I was quickly labelled "his" and so when I started talking to some random brother, J-Babe, on the dance floor I was quick to get more labels attached to me, nice. Pyoung’s “buddies” (and I use quotes cause I find it funny that he repeatedly told me that they’re not his friends and yet he totally bought into their B.S.) gave him the “cut it off” gesture, implying that I was more interested in this other dude, which I was but that was besides the point. Why I was interested in J-Babe and what Pyoung’s boys implied were two different things. J-Babe is a civilian like me, not some American military soldier, and so it was interesting hearing his story about being in Korea. I wasn’t into “hooking up” with J-Babe, that had NOTHING to do with it. Our chat was harmless and there was really no reading into it, or so I thought.
9. Now I know why I only visit any of the Little Americas only 3-4 times a year, if that. It’s always drama… these boys are drama. Pyoung being all up in my face and saying stupid things like, “my boys are telling to me stop trying for you” was really too much. I have a boyfriend and they knew that, so their whole “stop trying for you” cheesy lines really shouldn’t have even been said or made into the issue that it was tonight. And so on that note I excused myself and left. I thought for sure Pyoung would at least come out to talk to me, like I had motioned for him to do. He never came out, fair enough. I had wasted enough time, effort and breath on him. It’s ironic to note though who DID come out to talk to me. Two of the bikers came out to ask me if I was OK, J-Babe came out after them. We exchanged some words, he tried to make me laugh and then he saw me to a taxi.
10. Upon arriving back in Cheonan I was glad to be far away from the drama. Little America has just changed their curfew from 1am to 3am and so that’s an extra two hours of drama…. Drama that I definitely don’t plan on going near any time soon!!! And I was right… I definitely rather hang out with Mi Nam than half the people I have met here!!!
QUESTION OF THE DAY…
Why are certain places drama-prone?
QUOTE OF THE DAY…
Save the drama for your mama.
-- my buddy Pete V.
2. Had planned a wicked leg session and wicked was right… yikes. Leg extensions, calf raises, seat leg curls… etc., etc. Ended my routine with the infamous hanging leg raises to work my lower abs. My buddies got a good giggle out of listening to me yell out the last hanging leg raise rep. Let go of the grip bar and dropped to the floor in pain. Stumbled to get back on my feet again and then left for home. My legs were so swollen and pumped but leg workouts always make me feel sick to my stomach and all shaky.
3. My little hair shop girlie friend was busy today and so I decided to take it upon myself to dye my own hair. After all, I’ve dyed my hair plenty of times so how hard can dying my hair black be, right?! Wrong. My bathroom walls were splattered with hair dye and it stank up my house. The end result looked great but I had forgotten to wipe off the back of my neck and so the dye had stained my skin… hehehe.
4. Wearing my favorite pair of jeans tonight were out of the question as my legs were still swollen from today’s leg workout… and I was lovin’ it too. I’m such a guy when it comes to working out. I love pushing my body to exhaustion and I love the pump that comes with an intense workout. Q lowers his eyebrows and shakes his head whenever I flex in front of him. He’s not impressed. He says that he much prefers my “softer” tummy over what I am sporting now and insists that the 6-pack abs I am striving towards are ugly. I’ll show him ugly. According to what I am aiming for and working hard towards achieving, this will definitely label me as “ugly” by his standards. No worries. “Soft” is definitely not the look I am going for.
5. My evening plans consisted of me heading out to Pyoungtaek (Little America #2) to meet up with Pyoung for dinner. We met up for dinner and it was fun, but that’s where the night should have ended. Got ahead of myself when I seriously thought a night in Little America #2 could be drama-free and memorable… oh, it was memorable alright, but drama-free it definitely wasn’t.
6. In Toronto we have Hells Angels and Foundation as being the leading biker gangs, turns out we have the “Booze Busters” in Korea… interesting. They wear leather vests in the same style as the Hells Angels and Foundation. They walk the walk and talk the talk just like them, too. Oddly enough I seemed drawn to them tonight. I guess they reminded me of my old boss Rooster, who was the head of the Toronto chapter of Foundation. Ended up stirring up a conversation with one of them and so for the rest of the night he acted as my kind of bodyguard… hehehe. No disrespect to them but they’re a bunch of softies if you ask me.
7. Meeting some of Pyoung’s so-called “friends” was interesting. I liked his one buddy Jamie, a cute Mexican dude who kept on telling me that he wanted to spar with me. He was sweet enough to dance around the bar with my bag wrapped around his shoulder.
8. Didn’t realize that with Pyoung buying me dinner and whatnot meant he had “dibs” on me. I was quickly labelled "his" and so when I started talking to some random brother, J-Babe, on the dance floor I was quick to get more labels attached to me, nice. Pyoung’s “buddies” (and I use quotes cause I find it funny that he repeatedly told me that they’re not his friends and yet he totally bought into their B.S.) gave him the “cut it off” gesture, implying that I was more interested in this other dude, which I was but that was besides the point. Why I was interested in J-Babe and what Pyoung’s boys implied were two different things. J-Babe is a civilian like me, not some American military soldier, and so it was interesting hearing his story about being in Korea. I wasn’t into “hooking up” with J-Babe, that had NOTHING to do with it. Our chat was harmless and there was really no reading into it, or so I thought.
9. Now I know why I only visit any of the Little Americas only 3-4 times a year, if that. It’s always drama… these boys are drama. Pyoung being all up in my face and saying stupid things like, “my boys are telling to me stop trying for you” was really too much. I have a boyfriend and they knew that, so their whole “stop trying for you” cheesy lines really shouldn’t have even been said or made into the issue that it was tonight. And so on that note I excused myself and left. I thought for sure Pyoung would at least come out to talk to me, like I had motioned for him to do. He never came out, fair enough. I had wasted enough time, effort and breath on him. It’s ironic to note though who DID come out to talk to me. Two of the bikers came out to ask me if I was OK, J-Babe came out after them. We exchanged some words, he tried to make me laugh and then he saw me to a taxi.
10. Upon arriving back in Cheonan I was glad to be far away from the drama. Little America has just changed their curfew from 1am to 3am and so that’s an extra two hours of drama…. Drama that I definitely don’t plan on going near any time soon!!! And I was right… I definitely rather hang out with Mi Nam than half the people I have met here!!!
QUESTION OF THE DAY…
Why are certain places drama-prone?
QUOTE OF THE DAY…
Save the drama for your mama.
-- my buddy Pete V.
Friday, August 22, 2008
Highlights of my Day... Friday, August 22
1. Woke up to an overcast sky full of rain clouds. It was drizzling outside… great. I love the rainy weather but walking Mi Nam in it is another story. A story that always ends with one soaked smelly doggie.
2. Started my day off with a good full body workout at Hongik and no sooner did I start my training but I was approached by one of the Walking Ajjumas… hehehe. Unlike the rest of her crew that simply stare at me and give me funny faces, she’s always been nice to me and goes out of her way to say hello to me. Today she noticed my workout journal that I’ve started using and so she came over to look at it. Turns out she went to Vancouver once. We chatted for a bit and the conversation ended with me laughing out “I love you” after she suggested that I was prettier than the buff, beautiful fitness model on the cover of my workout journal…. Hehehe. Don’t get me wrong, I am totally flattered but I know full well that I can’t compete with that model.
3. My workout journal, surprisingly enough, has been getting a lot of attention at the gym. Apparently I am the only one that maps out a routine and then records the results during training. My buddies love flipping through the pages of it cause it’s full of beautiful buff babes and the Hongik workers like checking out my routines in it.
4. My friend Woo from my old gym in Ssangyoung-Dong is good friends with my friend The Hongik Oppa (Hongik manager) and so he’s been helping him out by working part-time at Hongik. It’s nice to be working out at the same gym as him again. I’ve known him for about 4 years now.
5. Had Korean language tutoring in the afternoon and so I raced off to Seoul for that. I hadn’t seen my teacher for about 4 weeks now and so I was eager to see her, despite studying very little. However, not only did I show up late cause of traffic, I showed up sick and without my present I had bought her in Canada… smooth.
6. When she questioned me if I had a good time in Canada, I blurted out, “Yes… I miss Canada!” It’s been hard to get back into study mode with my Korean because of the very fact that I am still very homesick. I don’t know where I’ll be next year but decided while in Canada that I can’t stay in Korea forever. Having said that though, I’ve decided that regardless of where I’ll be next year, that I need to stay focused on what I am doing here, the now. I’ve already revamped my training and so now it’s time to get more focused with my Korean studies. Who knows, my Korean language skills may lead to another wicked job… a job in Canada.
7. Finally decided it was time to get professional help… with my cold that is… hehehe…. and so I headed to one of the local pharmacies where the head pharmacist knows me. He’s a cute little man who’s always so eager to ask me about my boxing. Regardless of what I go to him for, he always blames my boxing for it and so that’s become our continual inside joke. Today he loaded me up with pills and then stashed some other random pill box in my bag. He had grabbed it from under the counter and as he placed it in my bag he looked around and then winked at me… hehehe. Score on free meds… under the counter meds… hehehe.
8. Second night off of boxing training. I had woken up today thinking I was getting better but my trip to Seoul confirmed that I was no better, worse actually.
9. By around 9:30pm I was curled up on my floor mat with Mi Nam snoring away beside me. Junior Mint texted me to see how I was and so I told him I couldn’t go into training tonight. It’s funny cause although Junior Mint is my coach/manager, he’s often so quick to take on different roles in my life. He’s my cheerleader, mentor, friend… and tonight he was a father to me, telling me that he loved me and that he missed me.
10. Q showed up sometime after I had called it a night. Not too sure what time it was but all I remember is looking up and seeing Q scoop Mi Nam up like a baby in his arms and leaving to go walk him.
QUESTION OF THE DAY…
Do you like my Kermit the Frog voice?
QUOTE OF THE DAY…
Life is a do-it-yourself project," someone has said. Your attitudes and the choices you make today build the "house" you live in tomorrow. Build wisely!
-- Author Unknown
2. Started my day off with a good full body workout at Hongik and no sooner did I start my training but I was approached by one of the Walking Ajjumas… hehehe. Unlike the rest of her crew that simply stare at me and give me funny faces, she’s always been nice to me and goes out of her way to say hello to me. Today she noticed my workout journal that I’ve started using and so she came over to look at it. Turns out she went to Vancouver once. We chatted for a bit and the conversation ended with me laughing out “I love you” after she suggested that I was prettier than the buff, beautiful fitness model on the cover of my workout journal…. Hehehe. Don’t get me wrong, I am totally flattered but I know full well that I can’t compete with that model.
3. My workout journal, surprisingly enough, has been getting a lot of attention at the gym. Apparently I am the only one that maps out a routine and then records the results during training. My buddies love flipping through the pages of it cause it’s full of beautiful buff babes and the Hongik workers like checking out my routines in it.
4. My friend Woo from my old gym in Ssangyoung-Dong is good friends with my friend The Hongik Oppa (Hongik manager) and so he’s been helping him out by working part-time at Hongik. It’s nice to be working out at the same gym as him again. I’ve known him for about 4 years now.
5. Had Korean language tutoring in the afternoon and so I raced off to Seoul for that. I hadn’t seen my teacher for about 4 weeks now and so I was eager to see her, despite studying very little. However, not only did I show up late cause of traffic, I showed up sick and without my present I had bought her in Canada… smooth.
6. When she questioned me if I had a good time in Canada, I blurted out, “Yes… I miss Canada!” It’s been hard to get back into study mode with my Korean because of the very fact that I am still very homesick. I don’t know where I’ll be next year but decided while in Canada that I can’t stay in Korea forever. Having said that though, I’ve decided that regardless of where I’ll be next year, that I need to stay focused on what I am doing here, the now. I’ve already revamped my training and so now it’s time to get more focused with my Korean studies. Who knows, my Korean language skills may lead to another wicked job… a job in Canada.
7. Finally decided it was time to get professional help… with my cold that is… hehehe…. and so I headed to one of the local pharmacies where the head pharmacist knows me. He’s a cute little man who’s always so eager to ask me about my boxing. Regardless of what I go to him for, he always blames my boxing for it and so that’s become our continual inside joke. Today he loaded me up with pills and then stashed some other random pill box in my bag. He had grabbed it from under the counter and as he placed it in my bag he looked around and then winked at me… hehehe. Score on free meds… under the counter meds… hehehe.
8. Second night off of boxing training. I had woken up today thinking I was getting better but my trip to Seoul confirmed that I was no better, worse actually.
9. By around 9:30pm I was curled up on my floor mat with Mi Nam snoring away beside me. Junior Mint texted me to see how I was and so I told him I couldn’t go into training tonight. It’s funny cause although Junior Mint is my coach/manager, he’s often so quick to take on different roles in my life. He’s my cheerleader, mentor, friend… and tonight he was a father to me, telling me that he loved me and that he missed me.
10. Q showed up sometime after I had called it a night. Not too sure what time it was but all I remember is looking up and seeing Q scoop Mi Nam up like a baby in his arms and leaving to go walk him.
QUESTION OF THE DAY…
Do you like my Kermit the Frog voice?
QUOTE OF THE DAY…
Life is a do-it-yourself project," someone has said. Your attitudes and the choices you make today build the "house" you live in tomorrow. Build wisely!
-- Author Unknown
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Highlights of my Day... Thursday, August 21
1. Q had the day off and with me still having about 2 weeks off, we decided to have an “Us Day”… a day of only him and only me, together.
2. First on the list of things to do, head out for a tummy-smiling lunch.
3. In the afternoon we caught an early movie, “The Mummy”. Yup… I won’t even bother writing the rest of the title because it was just that lame.
4. Upon both of us agreeing that the movie was a total waste of our time and didn’t help to make our afternoon enjoyable, we decided to go on a drive. Jumped in the truck and headed off with absolutely no real destination in mind.
5. Ended up at a local conservation park where we did some exploring. It was Q’s first time here but since the last time I’ve been here many things have been added and changed. They still have the wall climbing club house and so we checked that out.
6. I’ve been to this park before and I remember the last time I was here. I had come here with Drama Boy and Byung Hyuk. Drama Boy and I had a huge argument about Pretty Boy and the argument elevated to the point where he then decided to throw his cellphone into the forest. I joked with Q about it and found myself looking for the long lost cell phone but out of all honestly, I wish I was back at that night. I would have said things differently.
7. With a park surrounded by beautiful mountains and lots of fresh air, well, as fresh as Korean air will get, we decided that we’d hike up the mountain. One problem though… hot pink stiletto heels. My solution: walk up barefoot. Ya, I don’t really suggest that cause after a little over an hour of barefoot hiking, not only were my feet numb by the pain but they were kind of cut up.
8. Halfway through our walk we ran into a bit of a problem… lots and lots of mini pebbles that were too sharp and too painful for me to walk through. Q thought he’d be a hero by piggy-back riding me but he got more than he bargained for when the path of pebbles didn’t seem to end.
9. The fresh air had done us some good but when we arrived back at my house we were too tired to do anything and so we ordered in dinner… pizza!!! I haven’t had pizza for well over 2 months now and I figured with all the insane training I did during my vacation in Canada that I was well deserving of some greasy Korean pizza loaded to the max with corn, sausages, cheese, tomatoes, mushrooms, and (my favourite) sweet potato.
10. By 10pm it was lights out for me. Q tried to convince me to watch some Korean horror movie on TV that proved only to be more cheesy than the pizza I had wolfed down. So while he watched the movie, I curled up on the couch and got some z’s.
QUESTION OF THE DAY..
Why do we always think of things after the fact?
QUOTE OF THE DAY...
Watch your thoughts; they become words. Watch your words; they become actions.Watch your actions; they become habits.Watch your habits; they become character.Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.
Frank Outlaw
2. First on the list of things to do, head out for a tummy-smiling lunch.
3. In the afternoon we caught an early movie, “The Mummy”. Yup… I won’t even bother writing the rest of the title because it was just that lame.
4. Upon both of us agreeing that the movie was a total waste of our time and didn’t help to make our afternoon enjoyable, we decided to go on a drive. Jumped in the truck and headed off with absolutely no real destination in mind.
5. Ended up at a local conservation park where we did some exploring. It was Q’s first time here but since the last time I’ve been here many things have been added and changed. They still have the wall climbing club house and so we checked that out.
6. I’ve been to this park before and I remember the last time I was here. I had come here with Drama Boy and Byung Hyuk. Drama Boy and I had a huge argument about Pretty Boy and the argument elevated to the point where he then decided to throw his cellphone into the forest. I joked with Q about it and found myself looking for the long lost cell phone but out of all honestly, I wish I was back at that night. I would have said things differently.
7. With a park surrounded by beautiful mountains and lots of fresh air, well, as fresh as Korean air will get, we decided that we’d hike up the mountain. One problem though… hot pink stiletto heels. My solution: walk up barefoot. Ya, I don’t really suggest that cause after a little over an hour of barefoot hiking, not only were my feet numb by the pain but they were kind of cut up.
8. Halfway through our walk we ran into a bit of a problem… lots and lots of mini pebbles that were too sharp and too painful for me to walk through. Q thought he’d be a hero by piggy-back riding me but he got more than he bargained for when the path of pebbles didn’t seem to end.
9. The fresh air had done us some good but when we arrived back at my house we were too tired to do anything and so we ordered in dinner… pizza!!! I haven’t had pizza for well over 2 months now and I figured with all the insane training I did during my vacation in Canada that I was well deserving of some greasy Korean pizza loaded to the max with corn, sausages, cheese, tomatoes, mushrooms, and (my favourite) sweet potato.
10. By 10pm it was lights out for me. Q tried to convince me to watch some Korean horror movie on TV that proved only to be more cheesy than the pizza I had wolfed down. So while he watched the movie, I curled up on the couch and got some z’s.
QUESTION OF THE DAY..
Why do we always think of things after the fact?
QUOTE OF THE DAY...
Watch your thoughts; they become words. Watch your words; they become actions.Watch your actions; they become habits.Watch your habits; they become character.Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.
Frank Outlaw
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