Tonight the current edition of the BUD challenge league concluded. Coming into the final day I was leading with 52 wins and Jin was second with 50 wins. I was done with my matches and Jin had 3 legs left to play against Rick. Rick took two, which gave me the Championship 52-51! As a result, I was both jazzed and 100,000 Won richer. Imagine my surprise at that outcome:

Woo Hoo!

Jin I am sure was disappointed. He played some damn good darts and I expect he is going to be a force to be reckoned with in the future.

Duke was in the money with a third place finish.

With the regular season concluded, it was time for tournament. I drew Duke in the first round. He pretty much owned me in cricket, but I eeked out a victory in the ’01 leg. Duke then won the diddle and to my surprise called ’01 again. I threw a couple of high tons and a 97 late that left me with a 50 out. I sent my first dart at the double bull and hit the damn thing for a stunning victory.

I then beat Rick and Jin to finish at the top of the winners bracket and had about a 2 hour wait until the losers bracket concluded. Sitting at the bar I felt myself fading fast (with the late night associated with Duke’s party I hadn’t slept much). It was either coffee or a nap, and I opted for the later finding a relatively quiet corner in the bar to rest my weary head. I dozed for an hour and woke up feeling better, but still a little out of sorts.

Jin wound up coming back to face me from the losers bracket. He needed to win two matches to take the tourney victory. In the first leg of the first match, I squeaked out a cricket win. Jin then annialated me in ’01, hitting two ton-forty’s and a couple of more tons. I still had 300 points on the board when he hit his double out. He won the diddle and called ’01 again. Although it was much closer, he still pulled out the win.

So, it was the second match for all the marbles. I won the diddle and called cricket and pretty much dominated for the win. In the second leg, it was back to ’01 and we played it neck and neck all the way to the end. Jin had a 32 out and I was sitting on 24. Jin took three throws at the double 16 and missed. My second dart hit the mark and I was the tourney Champ. Made myself another cool 100,000W to boot.

I really was more pleased than I appear here. Just dog ass tired. Jin gave me everything I could handle and I was just drained.

Jin with his second place bounty.

Rick got 3rd place in the tourney. He had already gone home, so Grant stepped in and did his best Rick impression. Actually, not bad….

Here’s some of the motely crew who are regulars in the Dolce Vita dart circuit. Left to right: Colin, Lonnie, Mario, Duke, Jin, Me, Jim, Grant and Cuatro. We may not look like much, but we have a lot of fun and it is a great group of guys.

So, not a bad finish to the weekend, eh?

So last night was the going away party for Duke at Dolce Vita. In his honor we renamed the bar Dukey Vita.

Bottom line, we ate some good food, drank copious amounts of booze, and threw a bunch of darts. Rather than bore you with my written account of the evening, I will bore you with my photographic record of the events as they transpired. Here we go:

Duke and his sweetheart Ji Young.

Duke is the one who brought me into the dart league and really helped me improve my game. Sometimes now (a lot more than he likes) I kick his ass. And even when I don’t he has to work hard to win. Thanks for the lessons Duke.

And thanks for introducing me to your girlfriend. She shore is purty….

And if you don’t like me hugging on your girl, whatcha gonna do about it?

Lonnie made that tasty con queso dip. Jim made the spinach dip that everyone loved. I brought some deli cuts (ham/turkey/roast beef) and baked a carrot cake.

Duke, Lonnie and Jim chowing down

Duke and my coworker Corine.

I’m pretty sure Ji Young won’t like this photo, but it is part of a series. She goes from this…

to this…

to this. She recovered rather quickly though and was soon back in full party mode….

Lonnie was having a good time…

Duke and Grant. Not sure why Grant was practicing his Nazi salute…

one of the “hash house harriers” joined the party…

Corine was a good sport to hang in there with a bunch of drunk dart players…

Ji Young giving Duke some flowers. He is not going to San Francisco however. He’s on his way to Fort Drum, New York. Heard they had 110 inches of snow up there this week…

No Duke, we said stick the flowers up your….

Friday night Ji Young broght her brother, aunt and sister-in-law to Dolce. They didn’t speak much English, but the sister-in-law told Ji Young I looked like KFC. That’s like ten times that has happened to me now. I am either going to have to start taking it as a compliment or lose some weight. Kamsamnida!

Corine gets the obligatory hug from Duke….

….and seems joyous about having survived to live another day.

Song Hee and Hae Lee took good care of us all night. Thanks!

Coincidentally, Gina from Bless U was celebrating her birthday. She brought her entourage by and we merged parties for awhile.

I got Gina a hug (and a box of chocolates) for her birthday.

I think she liked my hug better….

Gina also brought along her bar’s dart league team…the Blessed Bulls. We have a friendly rivalry and will be playing each other in two weeks…

What the hell?

We had a little impromptu dart tourney…

And me and Scott took Craig and Colin down for first place. Craig is proudly displaying his second place winnings…

My friend Cindy who is going through some sad times right now.

Geez Duke, get a room!

Well, that was pretty much the going away gig. Everyone had a great time I think. Duke’s farewell tour continues today with the BUD Challenge League Tourney. I will also learn today whether I am the league champion. I am two legs ahead of Jin who has to play three legs against Rick this afternoon. He sweeps, he wins. Two legs forces a playoff. We shall see.

Tomorrow will be Duke’s last SIDL game with Take it Easy. Thursday is Duke’s last night in Korea and we are all heading out to the new Hooters for his farewell dinner. I really hate to see him go, but such is life in Korea.

I left Dolce around 1 and stopped into Debut, my favorite after hours bar for a beer and some Korean eye candy…

That’s Ji Young who had DJ duty last night. Ain’t she sweet?

I was sitting at the bar next to a New Zealander pacifist (is that redundant?). He wanted to talk politics so I indulged him for awhile. His world view is of course that America is evil and the root cause of all that is wrong. He actually advocated that Bush be assasinated. Seemed a little inconsistent with his professed belief in non-violence. I tried to talk some sense into him to no avail. The conversation ended when I called him a pussy who was unwilling to fight to defend the freedoms he enjoys in a western society. I told him not to worry because it was likely the USA that he despises would be there to bail out New Zealand when the Islamofascists come calling to impose Sharia law. What a fuckin’ weasel he was.

Oh well. So ended another night in Itaewon.