Fireworks & Grappling

Another full and fulfilling weekend. On Friday afternoon I went to see a Chinese movie. Saturday I spend some time with friends during the day. Saturday night I met up with a pen-pal. We've been writing each other for some time but never met in person. She is an Indian lady, has a doctor's degree in Chemistry and currently working as a researcher at one of the big universities in Seoul. We went to see the Seoul International Fireworks Festival.

The fireworks festival was an extravaganza of light and colour. It was the most wonderful fireworks show I've witnessed ever and in a sense I think it is bad as I will henceforth also compare any other fireworks display to what I saw last night and probably find it poor in comparison. There were even some geometric shapes!  A cube, a pentagon, a flower. They also used coloured lights that shone from below onto the smoke to create coloured hazes contrasting with the actual fireworks. Really a spectacular event. Unfortunately the traffic back, with the thousands of people attending, was terrible. I got home far too late for what waited for me the following today.

So what is it that I needed to get home for early? Well the following day, i.e. today, I competed in a grappling tournament: King of Ground. It was my first time to actually participate in a grappling tournament. I won the first bout by gaining the rear mount and applying a rear naked choke. However, I lost the second fight due to points against a young competitor whom went on to the finals. I'm not really into grappling that much -- rolling around with other sweaty men is not my idea of fun, but it was still a learning experience.

The video below is from last year's King of Ground.



I'm quite exhausted tonight. The saga with my computer continues as I'm slowly working out some glitches. Hopefully I'll be able to go to bed in a timely manner.