Say hello to our "fushion family of machines"...

This is Goldilocks. There's a lot of woman to this Korean gal and she clearly has a horse shoe shoved up her "you-know-where". She was given to us for free, she's scored us about two grand worth of free gas, and despite her well-in-doubt size, she always seems to find a sweet parking spot where ever and when ever.

This is Maximus, our Japanese pretty boy who's super strong, loves riding around in all seasons, but tends to be stubborn and expensive. Right now he's getting his front wheel replaced, a wheel that had to be imported from Japan... ya, not cheap.

And this is our newest addition to our family of machines, Gotti... little Gangsta Gotti. He's a three year old Japanese boy with a lot of pep and power. He's needing some side mirrors and some work though cause of the trama he went through with last night's adoption -- a shattered front blinker and a burnt-out bulb.

Gangsta Gotti and Other Goodness... Thursday, September 30

Despite only having a measly two hours of sleep, I woke up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed for tutoring. I was still working off last night’s excitement but I couldn’t fight the temptation of the pillow when I returned home.

Slept from 8am to noon.

Did some Internet shopping for my new scooter. He’s needing a replacement bulb, a new front light, and some side mirrors. Found a simple black helmet on GMarket, so we headed off to the bank to wire the money. I drove. I drove new scooter – he goes by the name of Gotti -- for the first time and it was awesome. Though I must admit it was funny having Snickers hanging off the back and weighing him down… hahaha. This scooter clearly isn’t fit for a big Snickers plus a tiny me… hahaha.

I’m no stranger to scooters or motorcycles but I still hate doing U-turns. Snickers insisted he take me out and have me do laps around town, practicing my U-turns.

Today’s overdose of fun was very refreshing because yesterday was quite stressful for me.

Yesterday I visited Mama Kim’s house and was put on the spot with questions about Snickers heading off to Japan. There I sat with not only my mother-in-law but my two sisters-in-laws asking me what did I feel about him leaving, how was I going to do this and that without him, and so on. Then Snickers told me that he’d be leaving Cheonan on Sunday, not Monday, which only added extra stress on top of stress. Now I only have a mere couple of days left with him. And then, in addition to that stress, a main tutoring gig that I did an interview for fell through at last minute – an extra 2 grand a month broken promise. I needed a fun day to bounce my spirits back to high levels and riding around downtown on my super cool new scooter with Snickers holding onto me was just what I needed.

The unanticipated addition of Gotti to my life was enough to make me on cloud nine today but things continued to get better. In the afternoon my phone rang, it was with regards to the tutoring gig that had fell through. Turns out it is back on… wicked!!! Starting Monday my schedule will be busy. I’m currently tutoring Blue, a VP at Samsung, but starting next week I’ll be tutoring another Samsung VP (Red) and I’ll be in charge of teaching a small class of their Samsung employees – the Green Class as I’ll now refer to them as. My main tutoring gig though is at a local church which should be interesting. I’ll be teaching two classes of elementary students three times a week. Next Tuesday I have an interview for a possible tutoring position for Daewoo Securities.

I tell ya, life is funny. Just when it’s going one way it totally takes a U-turn. Today I mastered doing U-turns on my scooter – a scooter that this time yesterday thoughts of even getting one were not even a thought – and today my tutoring took a major U-turn. Man, it’s days like this I just absolutely love life!!! Life is so unpredictable; you got to expect the unexpected.

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
Why do we take life so serious?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
Life is far too important a thing ever to talk seriously about.
-- Oscar Wilde

This sounds like one of those blonde jokes (or even a Newfie joke -- for all of you Canadians out there) but how many ways can you put a scooter into a car?

One way?... no! MANY, as we found out tonight.

One smashed light, one gas leak, two car seats totally stomped all over, one car's shocks totally tested, and three tired souls later, we managed to get it in AND be able to close the back door. It definitely was harder than initially thought of though... and us three tired souls had the drippy foreheads to prove it!!!

Love at First Sight... Wednesday, September 29

With the time ticking till Snickers’ send-off day to Japan, he and I have been searching the Internet and scoping out the streets of Cheonan looking for a bicycle for me. I’ll be fending for myself for three months – gosh, sounds like I’ll be out there in the wild with the wolves when I say it like that… hahaha. Anyways, we’ve been trying to find a way for me to easily get around Cheonan – to all my tutoring gigs, the grocery store, etc. We have both a car and a scooter but the car is like the Titanic on wheels when I’m in the driver’s seat and the same goes with our scooter.

Snickers wanted me to drive the scooter and I love our scooter but am just not comfortable driving it unless I have the security of Snickers being on the back, able to grab the handlebars when I am nervous on a turn or whatnot.

I argued, saying that I wanted a bicycle, but in our search for a bicycle I constantly was being drawn to the motorized bicycles. A bicycle was too boring but our scooter was too dangerous.

At 10pm Snickers was convinced he had found an answer, so he rushed outside to measure the inside of our car. Between him running in and out of the house, bringing in various things from the car and he making about half a dozen phone calls, I had no idea what was going on.

Then at 10:30pm Snickers told me to get in the car and off we drove.

Our destination, Bucheon, an hour and a half drive.
Our mission, get the scooter Snickers agreed to buy off the Internet.

Mission completed.

We arrived in Bucheon around 12:20am and met up with a young guy who had advertised his scooter on the net. With the winter season just months away, the prices in scooters are really dropping so it was the perfect time to buy one. This guy was eager to sell his and we convinced him to drop the price even lower. It was like highway robbery, too good to be true.

Only one problem – how to take it home.

After about an hour of taking it in and out of the car, rearranging the seats, and working up quite a sweat, we managed to get it in. The guy stuck around to help us which was really sweet of him to do so.

Arrived home around 2:30am and though I had originally been too tired to even head out to Bucheon, I arrived home super hyper. Said goodnight to my new baby – a 85kg 2008 Honda scooter that looks like quite a little gangster – and then spent the next thirty minutes searching the Web for a helmet. And yes, I did literally say goodnight to it... to him. My new baby is a boy and he's pretty cool, to say the least. Am definitely looking forward to taking him out for a spin tomorrow!!!

It was lights out for me at 3am.

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
How cool is this?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.
-- Abraham Lincoln

It's official, after running 17kms Sunday night and knowing full well that I could have gone for more, I signed up for my first half marathon. I'll be running the 8th annual Sports Seoul Half Marathon on Sunday, November 14th, 2010.

It's going to be sad not having Snickers to be at the finish line, waiting for me, but I'm hoping Cherry Pie will come out to cheer me on... and maybe carry me home, hahaha.

The Countdown is On Baby... Tuesday, September 28

47 days until I run a half marathon in Seoul, South Korea!!!

With less than a week till Snickers is MIA for three damn long months, I've been trying to pack my schedule up with things to distract me -- new tutoring jobs, a new personal training client, new fitness goals, new tasks to take on, a new training schedule and routine, and even new friends. However, taking on a new pet is not one thing I'd like to do -- sorry Old Rock but no, I don't want your cat.

At 11pm Snickers got a phone call from his job contact in Japan. Tomorrow they'll be buying him his Japan plane ticket. It's bad enough that he won't be here for three long months but he might not be home for Christmas.

Basically, my plan is to drown myself in my boxing, training and tutoring. It's going to be rough.

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
What's so good about "goodbye"?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
I crazy will missing you.
-- Snickers

I love this shot of Kimbab... he's a handsome pup and the way the sun hit his face today when he peered in the door hole was just amazing.

Kimbab is a overly-hyper pup, so I favor his sister, Chumchi. She's a beautiful gal that's more mellow and calm. K-Gere has other names for these two pups but Chumchi knows her "real" name is Chumchi... hahaha.

Who Said Chickens Can't Fly?!... Monday, September 27

Last night I made three major mistakes, one after another, and today I paid the price for it all day.

My three mistakes:
1. Assumed chicken meant my kind of chicken... All chicken is NOT equal.
2. Ate too late.
3. Ate fried chicken.

After running 17kms last night, Snickers and his boys called me up. I clearly have a weakness for Snickers and well, let's be honest, throw in a couple of additional Korean hotties that ooze of coolness, I gave in and met up with them. They said they'd buy me chicken, which was perfect cause I'm all about overdosing in protein. I had just enough time to shower and head out the door but when I arrived at the restaurant I should have clued in right away and asked what they had ordered. A little one later two massive plates of chicken came to our table -- two plates of fried chicken. I hadn't anticipated them ordering fried chicken and hadn't even so much came with my constantly packed purse of so-called "back-up foods".

My back-up foods that I almost always have stashed in my purse:
- homemade trail mix
- ziplock bag full of celery sticks and cherry tomatoes
- ziplock with one serving of protein shake mix
- one small apple
- grounded spinach mixed with water

So there I was with all this overly fried chicken starring up at me and only a small glass of water to wash down the nastiness of it all. I can't even remember the last time I ate fried chicken, or any kind of fried food for that matter. I try to eat and really clean and healthy, I don't even drink fruit juice. No piece of junk food feels as good as being healthy feels and though yes, there are times when I do enjoy a cheat meal or cheat snack every once in awhile, I've never resorted to any kind of fried food. I just can't stomach it anymore... or so I found out today. Dang.
I came home last night around 1am but I didn't fall asleep until about 3am. So much for waking up today for 4am training. Today's HIIT running was replaced with running to the bathroom about a dozen times, of which one time I didn't quite make it in time and ended up puking on the floor.

The chicken had kicked my butt, clearly.

I barely made it through today's 6:20am tutoring and then just before 8am it was lights out for me again once I reached home. Later in the day Snickers asked me to go with him to K-Gere's house. K-Gere had asked us to help him make his natural medicine, so we went out to take care of that.

While Snickers got all the stuff set up for the medicine, I went out back. I thought I was going to be sick again. Chumchi and Kimbab greeted me in the backyard where I flopped on the ground in pure exhaustion. I hadn't done anything today beside one hour of tutoring but I also hadn't eaten anything. I just couldn't stomach anything.

I lasted for about an hour of pumping the medicine's ingredients from the one massive pot to the other. I needed to go home. I felt as if I could still feel the grease from last night's chicken swishing around in my tummy... not fun.

We arrived back home around 4pm. I had only been up for about 4 hours in total today but once I got home it was lights out for me, again. Woke up around 8pm to an overly concerned Snickers sitting and starring at me. Asked him to go to the local bakery and buy me the heaviest piece of bread he could find; a hefty bread with no icing, filling, or whatnot. I just needed plain bread, something to sop up the grease in my tummy. Wolfed down two chunks of ultra thick bread, followed by a glass of milk and no later than twenty minutes I felt so much better.

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
Where was the chicken in that fried chicken?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
Our own physical body possesses a wisdom which we who inhabit the body lack.
-- Henry Miller

The aim of today's shots was to do a kind of walk-through of the path around Dankook that I run but I couldn't resist taking a shot of these guys. Two hospital patients that when I first arrived in Korea, some 5 plus years ago, I would have mistaken them as hospital escapees. I still get a good laugh about the fact that hospital patients are so freely allowed to wonder out of the hospital and do so in their hospital scrubs... hahaha.

And of course I had to throw in a silly picture into the loop. Any idea on how we took this shot with both Snickers' legs and my legs in the pic?... piggy back? Nope... shoulder ride... hahaha.

Come Walk with Me... Sunday, September 26

When I'm not at Ggum Guum (home) or the boxing club (my home-away from home), I'm usually out at the Dankook Lake... running or on walking dates with Snickers.

Today I headed out to Dankook to take some snap shots of the path I religiously run around the lake for you all to see. One lap is 2.3kms and when it's late at night and I'm pushing to do that extra lap, it's hard to enjoy just how beautiful the scenery around it really is.

As you'll be able to tell by the following pictures, the path is anything but just a path. Instead, it's loaded with various outdoor activities to participate in. There's badminton, basketball and kickball courts, numerous weight training stations, and there's even a rollerskating rink. Benches and picnic areas are plentiful, as are many good places to fish.

Running in the evening tends to be a tad bit difficult in that the path is bombarded with couples on dates, families out for strolls, sports enthusiasts out playing, and other runners.

I avoided the heat today by running later in the evening. It wasn't until after 9pm that I headed out to run but by then the path activity was booming. I was itching to get in a good long run. Ran 17kms tonight... sweet!

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
What do you love to do?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
Do what you love, the rest will follow.
-- Author Unknown

Headed out to the amateur boxing tournament today with Snickers.

The place was packed with numerous amateur boxers from neighbouring cities but there were two in particular I had come specifically to watch. Both from UP Boxing Club, both super adorable, and both winners... good job boys!!! Way to represent Cheonan!

The Middle School Kiddies Bust out the Punches... Saturday, September 25

Schedule for today:
6am Do my HIIT running.
8am Meet with Newbie for my personal training session with him.
10am Go watch the amateur boxing tournament.
10pm Boxing and some weight training.

Today's focus was on the amateur boxing tournament that two of my UP Boxing Club Middle School Kiddies and one High School Kiddie were participating in. The tournament was being held in Kongju, the same city I had just traveled out to yesterday. Snickers and I arrived early so that we could help out in any way needed. Didn't quite expect "helping out" to include doing a pad work demonstration in front of the amateur boxers though.

You just gotta love watching the amateur fights, especially tournaments like these where all the amateur boxers are middle school and high school students. They're always so full of energy and many of them come with their little groupies -- screaming girls with their signs and groups of boys loudly chanting together.

Today there was three UP Boxing Club amateur boxers fighting but another two fighters from Cheonan. Apparently Snickers and I were the only Cheonan fans, or at least the only ones willing to compete with the opposition's chanting crowd. Every time they yelled, we yelled but louder.

Two Middle School Kiddies that I favor were both having their debut fights today, so I had been looking forward to today for awhile now. Before the tournament started, I gave them both a good whack on the bum, told them "kill him", and then took my seat. One by one they called our Cheonan fighters into the ring for their bout. My heart was beating so fast and with every punch they gave I yelled to them, telling them to do it again or to try this or that combination. It was exciting. The rush of their debut game reminded me of my first.

The excitement, however, got to our first UP amateur boxer sent in the ring to fight. In the last round (third round) he threw his arms up, bent over, struggled to shake out his mouthpiece, and then puked in the middle of the ring. His nerves had got the best of him. I stood up, scared that he was choking on the puke. He didn't look like he wanted to continue but then both Junior Mint and I yelled at him, telling him to continue on. The fight was clearly his for the taking, that is as long as he finished it. And finish it was exactly what he did and win it was also what he did.

What a champ!!!

The second UP amateur boxer, a real favorite of mine and Snickers, was a shy little boy who looks more scared than anything when he trains. He's just too cute... "he's too cute to be a boxer" I told Snickers. And it's true, the kid is so adorable and I hated seeing that other kid rough his face up but I was so proud when he won the fight 4-0.

I was sure to cheer on all the Cheonan boxers. There was this one Cheonan kid, Min Young, who won in the second round when his opponent's coach threw in the towel, forfeiting the fight. Min Young won with a wicked score of 11-0!!!

The refs were pretty biased, so Snickers and I ended up yelling more at the ref than cheering on the Cheonan boxer in one particular fight. The ref was being so anal, calling everything and anything the Cheonan boxer was doing wrong but totally ignored the opposition's open punches, punches to the back of the head, and head locks. "Come on!" I yelled out. "This isn't UFC. Let's see some boxing" I added. The opponent was a pretty dirty fighter, resorting to dropping to his knees every time the Cheonan boxer had him in the corner and whenever he couldn't defend himself. Despite all the cheap calls on the refs behalf and all the cheap dirty shots from the opponent, the Cheonan boxer won.

Whenever Snickers and I watch boxing, UFC, K1, or any other kind of fighting sport, whether it's live or on TV we always get so into it. We pick who we want to win and then cheer them on as if the world depended on it... trust me, ask my neighbors they can vouch this to be true. We didn't get to see the last UP amateur fight because we had to race home for the delivery man, but before we left a couple of people stopped to talk to us. A couple of guys recognized who I was, another family recognized us from one of the shows we did, but the funniest was when one mother asked me how old my son was. She had mistook one of the UP Middle School Kiddies as being my son... hahaha. I didn't know whether to be insulted that she'd think I'm old enough to have a middle school aged kid or flattered that she mistook my passion and focus on the game as being family related. Regardless, I amused myself by telling her that he's 12, "and he's the best!!!" I added.

Today was a very successful for Cheonan boxers... congrats to all... especially my two Middle School Kiddies who proved so many people wrong. They may be super adorable but look out, in the ring they're nothing close to cute.

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
Do I look like I could be the mother of a middle school kid?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
Boxing is the toughest and loneliest sport in the world.
-- Frank Bruno

Yes, I did this.

Now before you start thinking I'm some kind of husband-abuser or into any kind of kinky stuff, hear me out. Snickers and I always play wrestle. We play wrestle way too much, even while waiting in line at the grocery store. We clearly watch too much UFC and whatnot so our play wrestling time tends to get quite physical. Kicks to the shins, pulling of the ears and hair, and knuckle punches to the top of the head are all moves we think funny to test out on each other.

I've never resorted to using my nails though. Snickers hates getting scratched with a passion but today, after he put me in a brutal choke hold that left me limited to what I could do, I pulled out the claws and scratched him in attempts to free myself. It worked... of course it worked. Mind ya, he wasn't too happy afterward and it left our bedding bloody.

Child's Play... Friday, September 24

Today was ALL play and no work. Actually, I only worked one hour so far this week, one hour of tutoring that is but I've done countless hours of training and boxing.

Woke up and did my 4am HIIT running, then went back to sleep. I didn't have to tutor today but I thought I'd wake up early anyways, to keep a steady routine.

Later in the day I went boxing. Working on establishing a weight training schedule with my boxing and running -- something has got to give. I've always enjoyed running but I didn't really fall in love with it until Junior Mint slapped me hard on the back of the head and told me to go run off the required weight for my Japan game and Snickers insisted I skip the treadmill and run outside with him. So-called "running dates" shortly became a daily thing with Snickers and I. He'd run beside me, pushing me to go harder on the hills and then patting me on the bum ever so often to break the stress of the run.

Up until a week or so ago I was running 5-6 days a week, covering about 50kms in one week, and I was doing an hour and a half of boxing, 5 days a week. It's a lot of cardio, I know, I benefit definitely and get different things out of both. Boxing is a wicked workout that leaves my muscles swollen but it's often too stop-and-go, resting 30 seconds in between rounds when really if I wanted to fully benefit from this as my cardio I should be moving non-stop. At boxing I learn, test out new combos, pick up tips, get inspired by watching others spar and train, and then there's also the fact that this is basically my only source of any kind of social life. As for my running, I lean on it to escape the simpleness of my life. It clears my head and lets me drift off to another place while getting in awesome cardio.

My average week consists of 8 hours of working (tutoring and personal training), around 7 hours of running, and about 8 hours of boxing. I've cut my running time down to approximately 4 hours now because my running consists of doing HIIT and one or two long weekly runs of 13-15kms.

I'm training a lot, I know, but I love it. I love the fact that my body and my health are whatever I make it out to be. Having said this though, I do realize I have to change up my training routine. I really don't want to give up my running but I really need to incorporate more weight training into my schedule.

"As you increase your lean body weight, your metabolism also increases, both during training and at rest. This is why dieting alone is not an effective means to losing fat." -- Fred Hatfield, Ph.D.
... Therefore, the number of calories your burn at rest is directly proportional to the amount of muscle you carry.

But anyways... enough rambling and back to today's entry...

Headed out with my sister-in-law, her two sons (the twins) and Snickers to Kongju, a beautiful city just an hour outside of Cheonan.

No visit with the twins goes on without horse-play or piggy backs. Today we played at a park in Kongju. I was the big kid on the playground and somehow I got convinced to play tag with four mini-Koreans.

I've always been a big fan of slides, they're my favorite part of a playground, but today I got dirty looks from some Korean mother for running up the slide. My little nephew came running up after me. He wasn't quite as successful so I thought I'd teach him a couple of tricks on how to do it... hahaha.

The main reason as to why we had traveled out to this particular playground was because one of my sister-in-laws is thinking about extending her currently booming children's daycare. Her current daycare has quite the extensive waiting list, so it's clear that she's doing very well for herself and is certainly in demand. Anyways, she got word of a new apartment complex that's looking for someone to start a daycare. The building is located right in the center of the apartment complex, it's massive, and it's exactly what she's looking for... minus the nasty price tag that has killed out the competition and kept it empty.

After an hour drive out to see the prospective new place, an hour of playground play, and an hour drive back into Cheonan, not only were my two nephews exhausted but so was I. Not only had I played with my nephews at the park today but I had a brutal play wrestling match with Snickers in the morning, did my HIIT running, and got in a couple of solid hours at the boxing club.

Tomorrow I aim to go running at 6am because I have personal training at 8am and then a full day of watching the UP amateur boxers at the weekend tournament. I tell ya, there's no rest for the wicked!

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
What do you do to keep fit?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
You're alive. Do something. The directive in life, the moral imperative was so uncomplicated. It could be expressed in single words, not complete sentences. It sounded like this: Look. Listen. Choose. Act.
-- Barbara Hall

Who says boxing is just about punching people in the head?! It's a lot of fun too.

All work and no play makes for a very boring day.

Do What You Love... Thursday, September 23

I'm not a fan of Korean holidays now that I'm a "Wifey". The family pressures and stressful conversations that often cloud over my holiday fun is sometimes too much so today I told Snickers to go to his mother's family house in Icheon without me. He leaving without me is always followed by immediate regret on my behalf but I knew it was best for my own sanity that I stay home alone.

Honestly, I'm not particularly interested in meeting his mom's side of the family, as brutal as that sounds. K-Gere's side of the family tends to be more modern and open-minded thinking but Mama Kim is like the polar opposite. I know she means well but I can't help but still feel stressed around her. I should note though that she's been trying to be more open-minded to me lately and this has shown it self in the fact that she tries to cuddle up to me on the couch and likes to touch my arms. There is definitely hope for me to become comfortable with her but just not right now and definitely not over the holidays. As for not going today though, the main reason was because I've been told that Mama Kim is a spitting image of her mother and two sisters, which would mean three times the baby pressure... no thanks. Snickers joked with me and told me if I went with him that I couldn't resort to throwing apples... hahaha.

Snickers headed off to Icheon and then I headed out the door to go boxing. The club has been closed for the past three days but I've got the one spare key.

Plugged in my iPod, cranked up the tunes, and then I did some cleaning before I started training. Vacuumed and mopped the floors, cleaned up the weight training area, and put the laundry away.

I use to go unnoticed when I trained alone in the club but not too long ago Junior Mint got the front metal door replaced. He replaced it with a door that's more window than actual door, so people can easily see into the club. Consequently, today I had an uninvited audience watch me train. I'm not too sure on how long they were watching me for but they quickly scattered and ran down the stairs when I noticed them.

Another person approached the boxing club door to watch me. It was none other than the building's owner, a sweet older man who lives upstairs and owns a couple of neighboring stores. I opened the door to let him come in and he sat for a good twenty minutes or so, watching me beat the heck out of the sand bag. After, when I was leaving the club, the older man came back down from his upstairs apartment and offered me a small carton of banana milk. He no longer runs the convenience store downstairs but remembered all the times I use to pop in after training and grab some milk.

QUESTION OF THE DAY...

Got milk?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
A strong positive mental attitude will create more miracles than any wonder drug.
-- Patricia Neal