Woke up today and was instantly thrown into "bad mood mode" at the fact I had woke up late, accidentally clicked the air con off so now I was sweating, but more importantly because today was to be a big important day and I was going in alone.
"To hell with them", I told myself. My happiness has never rested in the hands of others nor has it ever depended on others and today it wasn't going to start.
I admit, I was really disappointed and definitely discouraged that no one out of my 114 members from Hulk's and no one out of my 78 Flipside Fitness females would be standing with me but I knew I'd be ok. "Even when I am not ok, I am ok", was what I always used to say in university when the stress of school and working at the club got to me. It's just a bad day not a bad life and my success rate at getting through such days has been 100% so my track record is pretty impressive.
I wasn't exactly going in alone; Snickers and WOW Motors President were going with me, but it wasn't the inital plan nor was it the crew I was aiming to bring. I wanted to show up with a cluster of my members, steal the spotlight of the camera as we walk in with our Hulk tank tops and leave the crowd buzzing about our brand new club. The broadcasters would say "Looks like the Cheonan Danger Couple is back and stronger than ever" and I'd proudly brag to them about my newly created kicka$$ family -- the Hulk family. This wasn't going to happen now though and only I showed up with a Hulk tank top on -- a special thank you to Mrs. Sweet Sew for surprising me with a custom fitted Hulk tank top for me to wear today. It fit like a glove!!!
Got up, got dressed and headed out the door with my Hulk tank on, boxing license in pocket and a stack of my business cards in my other pocket. WOW President was waiting downstairs for Snickers and I in his BMW poshed out car.
First to do, once we arrived from our two hour drive to the fight location, was eat. Lounged in a sweet air condition-cracked-to-the-max restuarant dining on delish sushi. Next on the things to do was score a sweet spot to watch the fights.
The fight location was gorgeous -- the ocean to its' immediate left, an amusement park to its' right and a mass of shops and restaurants swarming the area. Thr ring's location, however, was terrible -- totally exposed to the harsh sun that was sure to beat down on the fighters perhaps more harshly than their opponents. Some fighters used umbrellas during the inbetween rounds while others sucked up the sun and had their corner coaches drown them in water from their water bottles.
The crowd was increasingly large for any boxing tournament I've ever been to in Korea. It was bombarded with media, boxing fans and many notoriously known Korean boxers. I had anticipated using this event to help promote our club but me as a female boxer seemed to get more attention than our club. I used this excess attention to lure their interest into our club though, making sure I handed out my boxing club business card after every picture I got asked to take with a fan, boxer or KBC member. And I backed it up with inviting them to our club, insisting they just have to see Korea's largest boxing club! I really should have brought along a couple of Hulk tank tops to give out because a couple of fans asked me for one. I would have give them the one I was wearing but I had no other top available with me.
It definitely was a hot one today but it was an awesome one. Running into some key professional boxers who I feel I've grown up with as a boxer was very inspiring and felt so great. Korea definitely has quite the positive, close knit boxing community and the perfect proof was in running into a forme opponent of mine. I instantly recognized her from the second floor restuarant where I was eating. When I made my way down to ringside, she noticed me and started calling out my name. I ran up to her and she threw her arms around me, "so good to see you" she told me. We exchanged numbers, chatted for a bit and then promised to meet up at my boxing club in Cheonan. I'd love to arrange for her to come spar with me; that'd be fabulous!!!
It was very interesting to meet Choi Hyun Mi -- the North Defector as she's nicknamed in the boxing community. She and her family have such an amazing story about their escape from North Korea, simply amazing. It was so awesome to chat with her before her fight and then see the crowd really take her on as the favourite for the day. She fought a very skilled boxer from Japan and I was up in the air about who to cheer for because I've always hated it when KBC makes any kind of Korea vs Japan competition whether it's in boxing or any other sport. The other female Korean fighters also fought out-of-country fighters but you didn't here anyone yelling "kill her" like the ajjumas did in this particular fight and I thought it was rude and uncalled for. I know the two countries have a bad history but how they drag it out is quite sad and only gives Japan the upper hand. If they are better like they say, then they really need to learn to show that are by highlighting their own strengths as a country and not harping on the past. I've always believed that holding on to a grudge is poison to progress.
The day started off on a bad note but ended on such a high. My passion for boxing had been rejuvenated and I sat at dinner craving a spot in the ring again. WOW President took us to his restaurant for dinner. He totally knows his place serves my favourite Korean meal so he used that to lure me into staying out longer. It was only early evening but the day out in the sun had drained us -- nothing a good hearty dish of raw beef and veggies couldn't fix though. We sat around the dinner table, talking about scheduling me a fight, traveling to Japan and Canada, and discussing Sunday. There's another big boxing tournament this Sunday and we've been asked personally to attend it. We pondered whether or not to invite our Hulk's Boxing members and that of Flipside Fitness but we're more than confident we are quite successful at representing ourselves.
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