As the story has it, one day I headed to the opposite side of the globe – the Flipside. I arrived in Korea February 16th, 2005 and thought I’d do a year, then leave. I was wrong. I stayed, launched my first company, Flipside Fitness, and then opened Korea's largest boxing club, Hulk's Boxing (now called Hulk's Club).

After 11.5yrs in Korea, I then picked up one day and returned to Toronto, Canada. But then I left again.

Now I live in the Philippines where I am the CEO and head coach of Empowered Clubhouse, the Philippines' first and only boxing clubhouse exclusively just for women. I also am the founder of the Lil' Sistas Project, CEO and designer of Slay Gear and Baa Baa Black Sheep .Ph.

Wednesday, August 06, 2014

Spoiled on My Birthday... Wednesday, August 6

Today it was my birthday and I got a lot of unexpected pleasant gifts from an array of people...

  • God gave me rain, well at least that's what I'm claiming here because I love, love, LOVE the rain.
  • Karma gave me three Pesky Parkers to entertain me with while I ate my breakfast window-side.
  • Adidas sent me a birthday email and wrote they're sending me Adipower boots from Germany!!!
  • Snickers bought me three sports bras, two old school wrist bands, and some blackberries and blueberries for my morning breakfast -- love a man who not only knows exactly what I want but also my size!!!
  • Mama Kim bought me a massive cake.
  • One of my sister-in-laws bought me training wear... Reebok.  It's not Adidas but it surely isn't Nike (hate Nike).
  • 103 (and still counting) of my friends wrote birthday congrats on my Facebook wall -- super sweet!
  • Another 14 of my friends wrote me private inbox birthday letters... love that!
  • Three friends sent me voice messages via Kakao Talk.
  • My main sponsor took me out for a birthday dinner at a restaurant that cooks chicken that always reminds me of Canada (Swiss Chalet style chicken... super delish)!
  • One former teammate made a special visit to Hulkies to wish me a happy birthday in person.
  • 11 of my Hulkies gave me an extra push through an extra grueling crossfit class that focused on abs.
  • 17 of my Hulkies sang Happy Birthday to me and enjoyed birthday cake with me.
  • One of my long time Hulkies gave me Centrum vitamins.
  • Another Hulkie gave me a couple of bags of chestnuts.
  • One Hulkie wired me a generous money gift and messaged me to take the day off and go shopping.
  • Two Hulkies stopped by just to give me a massive birthday hug.
  • 9 of my Hulkies wrote me personal emails, wishing me a happy birthday and calling me coach -- love it when they call me that and totally loved the attempt at English many of them took!

I woke up today to Snickers kissing me on the forehead and saying "Good morning Birthday baby" to me and I ended the day with my father telling me he missed me and loves me a lot.  In between that morning kiss and sweet phone call with my father, my day was pretty much packed to the max with birthday sweetness from friends, family and Hulkies.  It was a really, really, really great birthday and perhaps the best one I've had in Korea, even more so than the one when Snickers threw me a surprise party.  I mean, the surprise party was great but celebrating my birthday today as a coach, doing a job I love in a boxing club Snickers and I created, it definitely had such a different meaning and feeling attached to it.

I am no longer 33.  Thirty-three was a great year for me but a year of hold for my boxing career, however it was so much better than 32 when I itching to do anything but the job I was doing.  I'm where I want to be, doing what I want to do and with who I want to be with.  It took me 33 years to get here, to find my place, but it was well worth the wait.  Now to work on making 34 really count and turning 35.  This year is going to be epic... E-P-I-C I tell you, starting with getting my abs, visiting Canada (finally) and then working on my title belt.  
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