Highlights of my Day... Sunday, September 6

1. Despite it being a Sunday and despite the boxing club being closed on Sundays, today I was told to go in at 1pm to train. Panty Boy Jr. was waiting on the steps when I arrived, shortly there after Black Skinny showed up and so the three of us trained.

2. Panty Boy Jr. is a pretty sharp guy, I have to give him that. Black Skinny, on the other hand, not the brightest bulb in the pack in terms of intelligence but definitely bright in terms of personality. I say this because today I started to tell them about how two Dankook students got tested positive for the swine flu. I didn’t know how to say swine flu in Korean but Black Skinny, upon hearing the “s” in “swine flu”, misunderstood me totally and came up with the only English word he knew started with s… “sparring”. Next thing I knew it he was asking me if I stopped the fight. “What fight?!” I asked. Apparently he thought I said two students sparred in class… hahaha!!!

3. With no Junior Mint at the club this meant that we cranked the tunes and did a lot of goofing around, hence the pictures above… hahaha. I love training with these two guys; you’d never know they held Korean boxing champion title belts if you really knew them. Don’t get me wrong, they train like animals but they play just as hard. They still really, really love training and so it’s refreshing to train alongside them because they are always able to make it fun.

4. Black Skinny and Panty Boy Jr. did some body shot training in the ring together and so I stood by ringside and watched. They’re both super sweet guys but I definitely wouldn’t want to step in the ring against either one of them. I mean, I don’t even like doing shadow boxing in the ring with them. I don’t even like shadow boxing in the ring with these guys cause they give off such a strong presence in the ring that is rather intimidating. Black Skinny loves taking random shots at my shoulder, it’s his attempt at trying to get me to loose my cool and spar with him.

5. I don’t shower at my boxing club and so my ten minute walk is always filled with random people starring at me as I walk down the street, especially now because the weather is still hot so I don’t cover up. I walk down the street in the same clothes I train in, no more but no less, and so I literally walk dripping with sweat. I can deal with the random stares but today I was recognized by two people.

6. The first person to recognize me on my way home was a man who had seen me on TV. He caught up with me and so we walked and talked for a bit. Scored a small gift of yogurt-drink from him, sweet.

7. The second recognition came from a couple of high school boys who were standing across from me at an intersection. One of them pointed at me and so buddy did a quick head spin and stood there looking at me. When the light turned I walked across the street but had noticed they stood there. Ended up signing a textbook for one boy and the backpack for the other.

8. Snickers returned to Cheonan from his night stay as Mama Snickers’ house. He was overly giddy to see me and practically smothered me with hugs and kisses.

9. No sooner had Snickers arrived at Guum Ggum but then he was heading out the door again. K-Gere called him and told him he had a special something for me. An hour later Snickers returned with a massive pot full to the brim with chumchi jjigga [tuna stew], my favourite!!!

10. Ended the evening off with “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” by which I wasn’t too curious about, apparently, and instead fell asleep half way through it.

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
Why do we have to grow up when we grow up?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
My childhood may be over, but that doesn't mean playtime is.
-- Ron Olson