As an avid fan and follower of the sport, since I was a kid, boxing has bad and good effects in me. As a kid, I grew up fighting with other kids, in our neighborhood, in my native place in Mindanao. It helps me build my confidence. But also gives me welt.
I never dreamed to be a boxer. I just love to lace those gloves and having fun doing sparring. Human emotions, such as fear and courage, would mixed up inside my heart. Fear to get hit and courage to throw a punch. It is such a great feeling. Try and you'll understand what I'm talking about.
The desire to have more income, to suffice the growing needs, of my growing family, is the reason that brought me here in Kuwait. It is same reason that brought many Filipinos to countries not our own. I'm lucky to land a career in Human Resources here in Kuwait. Where in fact, this is not the field, I studied in college. I took up and finished Marine Transportation. I'm supposed to be ship a Captain. What am I doing here?
The internet even brought me to another level in following the sport I love. I discovered how to create a website. And I created one for boxing. I named it shuttlepenboxing. In the beginning, it really sucks. Writing stuff about boxing in English--which is not my native tongue--is the perhaps the hardest thing to do. But I just love boxing. And I like to write.
From 2011, I'm blogging and writing for boxing in my blog. From writing preview and predictions on upcoming fights, to fight recaps. After three years of reporting and writing stuff about boxing on the internet, I felt the bad and good effects.
It divides my focus on my day job - more than half of boxing writers were not paid writers. They have their day job. So, I know that in one way or another, blogging and writing about boxing, divides their focus. During Sundays, I have to work here. Sunday is the first day of the work week. Big fight cards happen during Sunday morning (Saturday night in the US). It will end at 8:00 AM, especially PPV fights, wherein the main event starts late. So, every Sunday I'm late for work. And once I've got in the office, I can't help but at times write blog post even during office hours. It's really bad. I know.
Credit Card usage - I hate credit card. I heard stories of my friends that become slave of credit card. But I took credit card mainly because of boxing. I need credit card to pay for my blog domain/hosting. Thanks to my friend, Zaldy Agustin for hosting my shuttlepenboxing site for free. Adsense might cover the domain fee, but I can't get it till it reaches the threshold. After having the credit card, it doesn't meant that I will used it solely for blogging. Other purchases follow. It becomes a bad habit now.
I gain friendship with peers - Major print media in the US has NFL in the front page of the sport section. Only a small portion covers boxing, if there's any. There are plenty of internet boxing writers out there. Some of them become my friends and fellow members of the Transnational Boxing Ranking Board--a ranking body that aimed to provide authoritative top-ten rankings. I'm proud to be part in realizing this mission in today's boxing environment, wherein sanctioning bodies has more two than champions in each division.
In the end, my love of this sport prevails and I will continue to love it although at times the bad effects outweigh the good ones. I just need to balance it. To those bloggers out there, drink plenty of water, sleep also sometimes and stop counting page views.
I never dreamed to be a boxer. I just love to lace those gloves and having fun doing sparring. Human emotions, such as fear and courage, would mixed up inside my heart. Fear to get hit and courage to throw a punch. It is such a great feeling. Try and you'll understand what I'm talking about.
My rope-less battle
As I grow older, no more boxing sparring. I need to face the real battle. The battle of life. My own rope-less battle. The battle to find daily my bread in order to live. In short, I need to work. So, boxing simply becomes a Sunday morning entertainment. I worked as a merchandiser at San Miguel Corporation (SMC) in Manila, merchandising SMC products in supermarkets.The desire to have more income, to suffice the growing needs, of my growing family, is the reason that brought me here in Kuwait. It is same reason that brought many Filipinos to countries not our own. I'm lucky to land a career in Human Resources here in Kuwait. Where in fact, this is not the field, I studied in college. I took up and finished Marine Transportation. I'm supposed to be ship a Captain. What am I doing here?
The power of the Internet
The internet is the major help, in keeping me in touch, with my family back home. And it is also the internet that brings me back closer to boxing. With the internet, I can watch every fight I like. No need to elaborate farther, everybody knows very well the power of internet. Unlike before, back home, I can only watch boxing through TV that happened only every Sunday. Granted that I'm having day-off. I seldom got day-offs during Sundays. And it sucks, delayed telecast, too many advertisement.The internet even brought me to another level in following the sport I love. I discovered how to create a website. And I created one for boxing. I named it shuttlepenboxing. In the beginning, it really sucks. Writing stuff about boxing in English--which is not my native tongue--is the perhaps the hardest thing to do. But I just love boxing. And I like to write.
From 2011, I'm blogging and writing for boxing in my blog. From writing preview and predictions on upcoming fights, to fight recaps. After three years of reporting and writing stuff about boxing on the internet, I felt the bad and good effects.
The bad side effects
I developed bad sleeping habits - Most of my free time, I devoted it on boxing. It's either updating my blog or reading articles or watching fights on the net. Every weekend, I sleep at 2:00 AM, just to watch fights-- especially UK-fights--that fall in the late hours here in Kuwait and wake up at 5:00 AM. I don't know now how to sleep early.It divides my focus on my day job - more than half of boxing writers were not paid writers. They have their day job. So, I know that in one way or another, blogging and writing about boxing, divides their focus. During Sundays, I have to work here. Sunday is the first day of the work week. Big fight cards happen during Sunday morning (Saturday night in the US). It will end at 8:00 AM, especially PPV fights, wherein the main event starts late. So, every Sunday I'm late for work. And once I've got in the office, I can't help but at times write blog post even during office hours. It's really bad. I know.
Credit Card usage - I hate credit card. I heard stories of my friends that become slave of credit card. But I took credit card mainly because of boxing. I need credit card to pay for my blog domain/hosting. Thanks to my friend, Zaldy Agustin for hosting my shuttlepenboxing site for free. Adsense might cover the domain fee, but I can't get it till it reaches the threshold. After having the credit card, it doesn't meant that I will used it solely for blogging. Other purchases follow. It becomes a bad habit now.
The good side effects
It helps develop my English - the English language is not my native tongue. I struggle each post I write. If my grammar is bad now, it was worse before. Practice makes perfect. So I practiced. But still my grammar is not perfect. But at least, I improved. Before, I need 20 minutes to compose a single paragraph email. Now I can write emails faster.I gain friendship with peers - Major print media in the US has NFL in the front page of the sport section. Only a small portion covers boxing, if there's any. There are plenty of internet boxing writers out there. Some of them become my friends and fellow members of the Transnational Boxing Ranking Board--a ranking body that aimed to provide authoritative top-ten rankings. I'm proud to be part in realizing this mission in today's boxing environment, wherein sanctioning bodies has more two than champions in each division.
In the end, my love of this sport prevails and I will continue to love it although at times the bad effects outweigh the good ones. I just need to balance it. To those bloggers out there, drink plenty of water, sleep also sometimes and stop counting page views.
No comments:
Post a Comment