Yesterday it was two terribly chunks of news and one good one, today it was three fabulous visitors...
The club wasn't open yet, the doors were still locked, but I had some mellow music playing and was busy still cleaning. Snickers was in the shower when I walked out from the bathroom area of the club with a mop in my hand and noticed someone had let themselves into the club. I knew I hadn't unlocked the main doors yet but there he was, some 6ft 4" man dressed in a black tracksuit with the hoodie over his head. I called out Snickers' name, thinking maybe he had showered faster than I thought but I could make out the sound of the shower still running and the man continued to walk in a straight line in the club. Then he stopped. He stopped and turned to me. Boy what a relief, it was Sharkie. Instantly I was relieved but then came the "but aren't you supposed to be stuck in a bed in the hospital?!" questions and comments. You see, almost every single day since I met Sharkie, he always brings me drinking yogurt and the past couple of weeks it's always been drinking yogurt at 2pm. He hasn't come since last week, obviously because of his brutal car accident, but today he showed up with a massive box of 50+ oranges!!! He stuck around just long enough for us to enjoy a few together and then he went back to the hospital.
So the first fabulous visitor was Sharkie.
We were standing outside -- Sharkie, Snickers and I -- when up the street walked a very familiar and very admired face. It was the face of Danbi.
Fabulous visitor was Danbi.
It was pretty cool to show her our boxing club and she absolutely loved it, snapping shots of it and sharing them on her Facebook for her friends to see. I really appreciated her doing that because word of mouth is really our own advertising and what better word of mouth to have but that of a notorious champion boxer! We chatted a lot, got coffee delivered from Uncle Coffee, and then we decided to take her out for dinner. It was the first time I had actually left the club to go eat and by first time I mean first time ever in the life of Hulk's Boxing Club. I always cook my meals here at the club and usually it's Snickers that exercises the luxury of eating out when one of our sponsors or his friends drop by and then take him out. Danbi says she likes all food but I knew I had to take her to Wow's restaurant for raw beef. It is my absolute favourite of favourite Korean meals so that's where we went.
The last fabulous visitor to stop by Hulk's today unexpectedly was that of Panty Boy Jr. I thought I had spotted his work truck out in our parking lot so I decided to text message him. Sure enough, it was hi. He came flying into the club and it was perfect timing too because Danbi was here. At that very moment there were three Korean champion boxers in my club, all of which hold importance in my life not only as a person but also as a boxer. I snapped a picture of the three of them together. I think the only other Korean champion boxer who has really impacted my life here would be that of my former coach and Black Skinny. Junior Mint will never come here, he's got way too much pride (and immaturity as far as I can tell), but Black Skinny now trains here. It's pretty cool though, to think about how our UP Boxing Club team of Black Skinny, Panty Boy Jr., and me evolved to include Snickers and has since stuck together but moved to Hulk's. And now here was Danbi, saying she'd love to train her if she could. Perhaps she may visit for a training session too, probably.
For a boxing club owner who was told to save her money because she was going to fail and that she should just go to Canada (as told to me by Junior Mint), it's safe to say I'm doing better than ok. My boxing club is loved by more than just me and it is so much more than a boxing club.
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