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.

Friday, October 10, 2014

Leaving on an Airplane... Friday, October 10

Currently, my location is Incheon Airport here in South Korea.  Today I leave for Thailand...in 1 hour and 6 minutes to be exact.  Snickers is in Cheonan and I am here, waiting to board the plane that sits outside the window.  To the right of me sits Tommy-Toes the Champ; he is watching the news channel that is playing here in our airport terminal gate.
 
Today, leaving Snickers, was a lot harder than I thought it would be as was leaving Pyen Chi, Balboa and Pacquiao.  I honestly could have and would have cried when we all said goodbye if it weren't for the fact that I was traveling with Tommy-Toes the Champ.  He doesn't speak a lick of English except for the word "trash" that he somewhere has picked up and quite frequently finds odd uses for.  We speak only in Korean but with him being from Busan his dilect is quite hard for me to understand and sometimes I feel like I can make just as much sense of it as I could if he were to be speaking Japanese...hahaha. 
 
Once I arrive in Thailand I will be staying at a house belonging to a friend of Tommy-Toes the Champ, a Thai friend.  I'm not quite sure of our daily schedule of if there is even a schedule.  My plan is to sleep a lot, train a lot and read and re-read my "Mind Gym" sports psychology book as if it were the Bible for us athletes.  It will be my fourth or fifth time reading it but it never fails to teach me more and get my head more into the game.  As for other parts of this trip, I'm nervous about my eating and the fact I think Tommy-Toes wants to do sightseeing.  Right before we boarded the airport bus, he popped into Emart and bought two crate boxes of ramine -- fried noodle.  I was banking on my iHerb order arriving today, which it did but 30 minutes after I had already left Cheonan... Dang Skippy!!!
 
I'm good to go for my weight and Snickers says as long as I remember what he has taught me them I am good to go for my fight too, but I want to continue to eat super clean and train super hard.  There's a lot riding on me to win this game, perhaps more than people know.  If I lose, my two year plan instantly meets its end.  If I win, my two year plan continues and I am but only one step closer to the many additional steps I will have to take.  There is no missing steps or failing at any step at this point.
Back when I had my fight in Japan and only went with Junior Mint, I had pleaded with Snickers not to make me go alone again yet here I am again, alone.  Ok, so I am not totally alone, I am with Tomm-Toes the Champ, but it's not the same and if anything I feel more alone than Japan.  I suspect Tommy-Toes will be too busy with his game (he is fighting on the same card as me) to be my corner coach so I may be appointed a sub corner coach from whatever boxing club we'll be training at this week.  I wish Snickers were here with me but we simply can't go together, for numerous reasons, so I am going alone. My plan is to get in and get out, do my job, win my fight and get the hell back to Cheonan where I belong, back to where my home is.
 
Until I update again, whenever and where ever I may be, I hope Snickers is well without me but that he misses me as much as I miss him.  I hope my Hulkies miss me too and that when I return, I am greeted with smiles and hugs.  My four-legged babies better miss me too and, when I return, I hope they are so happy to see me that they can't control themselves and pee...hahahahaha. 

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