Sunday, June 3, 2007

Fueled by Passion

A passion, by definition, is an object of boundless enthusiasm. Playing ball is one of my passions, but I wouldn’t have thought so until I had to go without it. It’s the only sport I committed to in youth and stuck through (and to the punks who don’t think it’s a real sport, I’ll outplay you anytime suckahs). As luck would have it, through distant contacts, I heard about a slo-pitch tournament happening in Busan and naturally I signed up to play. I haven’t thrown a ball in a year and I didn’t know a single person there….I was forced to overcome my nervousness, social awkwardness, and shyness among strangers… for a chance to play. There were 5 teams, and many foreigners, all of whom seemed to be friends with everyone else, but only about 10 girls, most of whom were there just to fill the necessary quota of 2 per team. (yes yes, good odds, *winks*) The diamond was hilariously Korean, a dirt soccer field with a small backstop, but complete with chalk lines and bases. What resulted was an amazing day of good bats, new friends, and intense competition. Love love love… That night we went for dinner as a team, and since I’d played with them all day, I thought I could drink on par with them all night. A dangerous task I assure you…but countless more hours of fun. All in all, the day in it’s entirety was phenomenal, and winning for once, wasn’t everything.

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