Lest We Forget... Friday, December 26

Two years ago on this very day, Boxing Day, this was what went down... this was the homepage entry I had posted:

Word is Definitely on the Street -- Wed., Dec. 26, 2012

The inevitable has happened – Junior Mint knows.

He doesn’t know because I told him.

He doesn’t know because Snickers told him. No ma’am, no sir.

He knows because of red flags someone put up and because of one big mouth.

Honestly, I’m so beyond carrying about the who and what of how he found out. There’s nothing I can do to change things. What’s done is done. Now it’s on to damage control.

In the late morning we got a phone call from Junior Mint, asking us whether what he heard was true. He caught wind of us opening up at boxing club at my teammate’s fight this past weekend and then he connected the dots -- he gathered the posted red flags.

“Yes, it’s true” we told him.

There was no denying the truth but it hurt that the truth had been brought forth from someone besides us. It was our big news for the sharing and it was our responsibility to do so. Someone had stomped on our parade, and with that we headed over to UP Boxing Club to do damage control. It was quite nerve racking sitting there, listening to Snickers and Junior Mint. And it wasn’t until he asked me for the boxing club door key back that Junior Mint even looked at me. He’s been my coach much longer than he’s been that of Snickers’. We’ve had almost 6 years together so it’s obvious that he’s more than just a coach to me. We have a rooted deep history together and I will forever be grateful for all the various roles he's played in my life and who he's helped shape me to be, not just as a boxer but as a foreigner living in Korea. He gave me a home away from home, a family away from my family. It’s because of my boxing that I decided to stay in Korea as long as I have and it’s because of Junior Mint and UP that I even met Snickers, my husband, and even was able to reach this point in my life where I am able to start my own boxing club. He helped get me to where I am today and I will never ever in a million years ever forget this fact.

Junior Mint argued with us as we exchanged nervous smirks and as he repeatedly told us not to set up a boxing club so close to UP. We never intended to set up in the same area as him but the building we're aiming to score so perfectly fits all our needs and wants. It's almost too good to be true. Moreover, the fact that we want to set up our own club only seems like the next natural step to what I’ve already been doing for the past year – running my own fitness club and hosting boxercise classes. Continuing it at UP just isn’t possible. Our numbers are getting larger but the club can’t possibly grow with it, nor can they offer us the needed weeknight training space or time that we need. Junior Mint was accepting of this fact but he kept on going back to the idea that we’re setting up shop so close to him.

He doesn’t know what close is though. My friend Turtle runs a boxing club across town and his boxing club front entrance looks out to another boxing club front door that’s across the same street. It’s literally a hop, skip and a jump between the two doors. That’s close; that’s too close.

Junior Mint argued that he can offer everything and anything that our new club will but the reality of the fact is he can’t. Snickers and Junior Mint argued about this, that is until we asked him if he can speak English. It was quite the sarcastic stop to his point. No, he can't speak English and I can't keep coming to UP every time a foreigner comes to train, to act as an interpreter. Our boxing club will be specifically aimed towards foreigners, a clientele he surely can not nor is even interested in dealing with.

We half heartily joked that Junior Mint should leave his business partners and let us hire him, but we were serious about the proposition. UP Boxing Club comes with too many strings attached, too many investors and a business partner that takes his chip of the profits, so we’re not interested in working with him. But we would most definitely be interested in hiring him or possibly selling our business over to him once we decide on moving to Canada.

We didn’t go there to argue with Junior Mint, that totally was never our intention, nor did we really argue. It was more or less him telling us all the reasons why we should stop now before we fail. Moreover, we certainly left feeling like a competition had been just ignited. We walked in humbled, feeling terrible that he had found out the way he had, but we left feeling like if this is going to be a competition than bring it on. Snickers and I are 100% heart, body and soul into this. We are way too into this, way too committed to back out now and we’re going to do everything it takes to be able to do what we love, what we’re passionate about – start our own boxing club.

This time next year I may be typing this from my very own boxing club computer or typing it from a PC bang computer I can barely afford the cheap hourly rate to use. Either way, this boxing club dream is going to become a reality. I’m so beyond just dreaming and talking about it. The fact of the matter is I never told you what to dream about, what life you should lead, and no one is going to tell me either.

Shape your life or someone else will shape it for you.

Someone may have dropped the bomb on Junior Mint and thrown red flags at him but these were just minor bumps in the great road we’re now venturing on. Bring on the bumps, bring on the mountains, but don’t be surprised when we rain down on you and our boxing club sign takes over downtown and blinds you!

I thought about this all day today as I also did on this day last year.  Some things people say you just can't shake and I'll never forget the fact he told me to "save your money and go to Canada; you're going to fail".  Two years later and I've spent all my money on making Hulk's, have yet to go to Canada and still have yet to fail.  His predictions were wrong, soooo wrong, and the fact that he would even wish such a thing and verbally tell me hurts just as much as it did then as it does now.  I just have thicker skin now.  With success comes a lot of negativity, I've learnt this.  I also have learnt that many people want you to succeed just as long as you don't do better than them, I've also experienced this harsh reality too.  

Two years later and many lessons learnt.  I am definitely not the same girl who two years walked out of the boxing club with my head down and tears streaming down my face.  I'm a whole other person now and thank God for that.  Thank God that I wasn't the person I am now back then either or I would have turned, given him a piece of my mind and it would have been him with his head down.