Highlights of my Day... Friday, July 24

1. With today being my official game weigh-in, I had to weigh-in before my before weigh-in which was also before my weigh-in… did I lose you there?! What I meant to say is that I had to go to La Sya to weigh-in, just in case I had woken up in the middle of the night for a glass of water (have been known to do that and have no memory of it). Then I met up with Junior Mint at 9:20am so that we could go to the boxing club to check my weight. Then it was off to Seoul for my official game weigh-in, bringing me stepping on the scale today to three.

2. Tomorrow’s main game is between Park Je Hyun and an American boxer, Jodie, both of which are very high in the IFBA rankings (Je Hyun is champion status). Jodie flew in just for the game and KBC was quick to introduce me to Jodie, apparently that’s the thing they love doing, having the foreigners be all buddy-buddy while we all sweat it out waiting for weigh-in and our health check. Jodie’s coach had traveled in the night before and was suffering from jet lag, I felt so bad for him, but she was also joined by the IFBA (International Female Boxing Association) President and so I got talking to her. Great lady and definitely a great contact to have made!

3. The guys, like usual, stripped down to their tiny-winnie barely-there panties and stepped on the scale. I was good to go with all my clothes on but when Jodie stepped on the scale she stripped down to her bra and panties. She had to weigh-in under 46kgs… that’s crazy low! Anyways, there wasn’t a closed jaw in the room when she stripped down. I looked up and there starring back at me were arms larger than mine and sick-sick abs! Snickers may have beautiful abs but she put even his abs to shame! I think her opponent, Je Hyun, felt intimidated and so off went her clothes when she stepped on the scale for weigh-in. She couldn’t quite compete with the body Jodie was sporting but props to her for being so brave at attempting. Good luck to both ladies tomorrow. Their fight alone is worth the long drive to the location!!!

4. Got looks of disapproval by the doctor on call at KBC when he called me over for my health check and noticed that it was just a month ago when I had last fought. I didn’t have much recovery time till I was back in the club training, actually I only had my fight day and the following day off training to be exact, and so he wasn’t impressed. Nothing became of his concerns though beyond him drilling me with the whole “follow the flashlight” routine and checking out the joints in my arms.

5. Sweet news: I’m now ranked 3rd female flyweight in Korea! Meet my opponent, not a very friendly girl but she’s ranked #5 and her coach seemed overly interested to ask me a million questions. I think he was trying to make up for her cold introduction.

6. Weigh-in is always followed by eating but today’s eating came long overdue after Junior Mint insisted we first travel to the train station to buy our train tickets. By the time food was finally placed in front of me I had pretty much finished off the rest of my gum and had nibbled away at 1/3rds of the gum wrapper.

7. Upon arriving back in Cheonan, Junior Mint and I headed over to the local market to meet one of his friends. I really didn’t have time to spare but I couldn’t really get out of it and so I had no choice to tag along.

8. Getting my hair done at Park Jun’s salon always ends up turning into quite the “parade”, or so it feels like. They always put me in one of their private rooms when they braid my hair but the same usual Park Jun workers flood the room with peering eyes and curious questions.

9. With my bag all packed for tomorrow’s game, my hair done, and my outfit laid out, I then went to La Sye for one last run on the treadmill. I felt so shy walking in with a head full of braids and some of the trainers asked if they could touch my head.

10. Had the strangest feeling come over me while booting my Polish butt on the treadmill. Snickers was on the neighbouring treadmill and so I turned and started to make funny faces at him, in hopes of making him laugh. His eyes seemed to be glued to the TV screen and it seemed like the harder I tried to get his attention, the more into the TV show he got. Finally frustration hit me and I changed treadmills. It was the silliest of feelings, I know, rather high-schoolish, if that’s even such a word. Anyways, lately all I’ve been thinking about is Snickers and Japan. I’m so nervous that he’s going to go and forget about me and even though I really don’t know what frustrated me so much on the treadmill, I think things are just really getting to me lately. I’m so happy with him it scares me. Usually when things seem too good to be true they usually are just that, too good to be true. Snickers definitely is too good to be true in my books and it really freaks me out sometimes but it makes me wonder, am I too good to be true in his books? Anyways, after we worked out, we went for a walk with Mi Nam and I asked him, “What percentage do you want to go to Japan?” He paused for a bit and even though it was a short pause, it was enough to make my heart feel like it had sunk down into my shoes. Then he looked at me and said, “Tell me to not go and I won’t.” Trust me, I’d make my world so much easier to say that to him but I can’t. I want to support him no matter what he decides to do, regardless of what I wish he'd do because I of all people know what it's like to have dreams and goals that those close to me don't support. I don't want to be the very person I can't stand or respect. Moreover, we all have our own dreams and aspirations and if we really are meant to be than no country, job, language, or whatnot will stand in our way. What ever is meant to be will be, so that’s what I told him.

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
What does the future hold for "us"?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
The future is called "perhaps," which is the only possible thing to call the future. And the only important thing is not to allow that to scare you.
-- Tennessee Williams