Bore to Death!

I don’t think I’m ever this bored before. Everyone seems to have something great to do. My best friends are doing their business trips. Some go to other provinces together and the other go to Australia and won’t be back till the end of the month. And by the end of the month my boss will also go to Darwin and Perth. It makes me feel like I want to go somewhere too when I actually don’t.

By next week, we’re sending all of our staff to other provinces all over the country. I could go wherever I want if I want to travel too. But although I like the idea of being somewhere else I have no fond for things that relate to a trip.

Not to mention the fact that I’d probably end up chairing a meeting when the Provincial people invite all the Districts people to come over. Or having a formal talk with the head of our Provincial office. Nope. Not fun at all. Moreover, I hate flying and the time differences that necessitate me to wake in the very wee hour.

I know that my boredom has nothing to do with lack of things to do. Because although the 16 -17 working hours have ended and I’m finally back to my normal working hours which are about 11 hours a day there’s still pressing job to be done.
It’s almost impossible for my job to come to a complete full stop for thing has always come up on top of each other.

At this moment, I have to check one of our financial reports. It’s about 100 pages and full of incorrect figures and graphics. Is that why I’m feeling bored?

Nah….now everything about financial reports should only give me thrill and make me glow with happiness for our hard work has paid off incredibly well. We’ve finally got the coveted unqualified opinion for the first time ever!

*jumping up and down, singing and shouting: We’ve got the unqualified opinion!*

Yes, nothing to feel bored at all!

And here’s another reason why I should feel ecstatic instead of feeling this way: I’ve got a brand new car! A totally cool and expensive brand new car!

Indeed, I was ecstatic but only for a short time. I think my father is more excited about this brand new car than me. He postpones his trip to our village in order to see it.

My mother told me that he’s been boasting to his fiends about it even before it comes to our garage. And besides he has another reason to be happy: he’ll be in charge of my other cool car which is only three years old. The car that I never let him touch before now will be his.

*sigh*

Is that why I’m feeling this way? Does it mean it’s not boredom at all? Do I feel restless then? Or unhappy?


The problem is when I’m bored, restless or unhappy I have a tendency to splurge. Come to think of it I do have very bad habits when I’m feeling bad. I either eat a lot or spend a lot!

Wait a minute! I also have tendency to give away a lot of money when I feel the urge to be a good daughter. Didn’t I just spend thousands of US dollars just a couple of months ago for my father? And didn’t I feel the urge to just give him the money last night when he mentioned how expensive he found the cost of the wheel that he bought?

Gosh! I always pay attention to finance. Even way before I become an accountant, okay since I was in the elementary school, I always take a careful note of how much money I have and how much money I spend in a day.

How come I suddenly loose interest in my own finance now? How come I no longer find that spending thousands and thousands of US dollars matter? How come I no longer have the interest to watch my debit and credit?

If this is what a boredom do to me I’m definitely in trouble!

Review: 49 Days

Is it possible to love something while you’re not happy with it? Is it possible to fall head over heel in love with someone while you’re already madly and irrevocably in love with somebody else?

If I have to answer this question myself I would say no. Not possible at all. When I love I love with my whole heart. There’s no room left for reservation. I wouldn’t be able to love someone/anything else just as much. But 49 Days proves me wrong.

It did what I hate the most in a movie/drama/story. When I say hate I really mean HATE. I hate sad ending with a passion. And I hate it even more when they dare to kill the lead. 49 Days does both without a qualm.

As such I should hate it with everything I’ve got. Yet, I’m unable to hate 49 Days any more than I’m able to hate Damo. I need to talk about Damo a little bit to show the different feelings that these two great dramas evoke from me.

Despite not hating Damo per se I don’t think I could ever forgive Damo’s writer/s for ending it so tragically. If someone told me how it would end I would never watch it. And although I love Commander Hwangbo I couldn’t bring myself to watch Damo for a second time.

I cried so much while watching it. More than an ocean I think. I HATE its ending. There’s no word to describe how much I hate it. So once is more than enough.

But it’s not like that with 49 Days. Yes, I also cried an ocean while watching it. And I might not want to start the painful journey of love that is 49 Days either if I know that it’s going to end up breaking my heart into a million pieces.

The problem was the moment I saw it I started to fall in love with Han Kang or Kang Ah as we all lovingly call him. I love him with the kind of love that I only feel for Lee Jin Soo (Coffee House).

Now, I’ll have to talk about Coffee House too!

Just for your information there are a bunch of crazy ladies out there who are fighting for the right to call Han Kang theirs. But Kang Ah is mine. All mine. Just like Jin Soo is mine Kang Ah is also mine for I’m also going to write him his very own story just like I did for Lee Jin Soo.

Why I love them so is a mystery to me. They have nothing in common. Lee Jin Soo is probably one of the most selfish and crazy male leads ever invented. He lies as easily as he breaths.

In his selfishness he has almost no sense of right or wrong. While Han Kang has a very strong sense of what’s right and what's wrong. And he understands the meaning of sacrificing for other people quite well.

Lee Jin Soo spends years trying to deny how much he loves Soe Eun Yung and tries his hardest to conceal his love from her not to mention leaving her for good. While Han Kang who has loved Shin Ji Hyun for years, makes it his mission to look for her and stays by her side only to be forced to hide his love from her.

However, come to think of it they do have one thing in common. They love intensely, wholeheartedly with every fibre of their beings. No time, norms, separation, marriages, physical appearances nor death could change it. It lasts forever.

Sigh. It’s pretty obvious now why I love them so.

Another thing about 49 Days that makes it different from Damo is the fact that it fills with heart tugging bitter sweet moments and cuteness that no matter how hard it makes me cry I’m helplessly drawn to it.

My love for Han Kang makes me wish so hard for his happiness. And as 49 Days has done an excellent job in letting us know how much he loves Shin Ji Hyun, with her I want him be. She's his happiness. She's the one who makes him happy.

I must confess that in the first few minutes of the first episode I was not taken with Shin Ji Hyun but as the story went I started to see glimpses of the girl she’s supposed to be.

She’s not my usual favourite lead girl. I love female lead who is strong, intelligent, and resourceful and I would love her even more if she has a healthy dose of wickedness that she could use when necessary.

But Shin Ji Hyun is none of that.

She’s far from bright. Far from strong and so used to having people do their best to help her that she is as helpless and as clueless as a baby, and as far as an angel is from the devil when it comes to wickedness. She has no mean streak in her body. Not even a tiny teeny bit. However, slowly but sure I start to love the girl that she is.

I love how 49 Days makes the almost no physical contact between Han Kang and Shin Ji Hyun turns into such touching, poignant, cute and heart breaking scenes. I love how when they are together they try not to say they love the other while exactly saying it.

And I love how Kang Min Ho who betrays Shin Ji Hyun and plots to destroy her family ends up falling in love with her instead without knowing that he has fallen for his very own fiancee who he thought he didn't love at all.

And I utterly love how Han Kang's heart recognises the love of his life despite the fact that Shin Ji Hyun has been declared as good as dead in the complete strange girl he's just met.

49 Days without a doubt is one of the best Kdramas that I’ve ever seen. If only the ending is different it will replace Coffee House as my most favourite drama ever. As it is I love it without really love it.

Even if I live Just One Day by Jo Hyun Jae

Jo Hyun-jae – “단 하루를 살아도” (Even If I Live Just One Day)has become my latest favourite.

I just love him! He makes me want to squeal eveytime I see him.
And the foolish grin keeps on creeping no matter how hard I try to keep my face straight.

I have no idea he could sing this well. Gosh! Jo Hyun Jae, SARANGHAE!

Kang Ahhhhh SARANGHAEEE!!


ps.
JB thanks a lot for the English translation and for digging up his boy band past!
Chichan thanks so much for the hangeul!


Artist :: Jo Hyun Jae (조현재)
Title Album :: OST 49 Days Part 7
Format :: Single, Studio
Title Track :: 단 하루를 살아도
Genre :: Drama OST
Release Date :: April 25, 2011
Label | Distribution :: Star Entry Ent. | 다날

Hangul and simple romanization

얼마나 기다려왔는데
olmana gidaryowanneunde (I’ve waited for so long)
얼마나 아팠는데
olmana apanneunde (I’ve hurt so much)
오랫동안 시간의 흔적만큼
oretdongan sigan-eui heunjongmankeum (As much as the traces left by that long time)
난 너를 그리워 했는데
nan noreul geuriwo henneunde (I’ve longed for you)

지친 발걸음은 어느새 니 곁에
jichin balgoreumeun oneuse ni gyote (Tired footsteps have brought me to your side)
날 데려왔어 아무것도 아무일도 못할걸 알면서
nal deryowasso amugotdo amuildo mot-halgol almyonso (though I know there’s nothing I can do)
Chorus:
널 사랑한다는 말
nol saranghandaneun mal (Saying I love you)
늘 가슴으로 외쳤던 말
neul gaseumeuro wechyotdon mal (are words my heart has always shouted)
널 사랑한다는 말
nol saranghandaneun mal (Saying I love you)
니 뒤에서만 되뇌였던 말
ni dwiesoman dwenweyotdon mal (are words I’ve repeated, behind you)
널 사랑한다는 말
nol saranghandaneun mal (Saying I love you)
달아날까 할 수 없는 말
daranalkka hal su omneun mal (are words I couldn’t say, afraid you’d run away)
사랑한다 겁이 날 만큼 널 사랑한다
saranghanda gobi nal mankeum nol saranghanda (I love you so much that I’m afraid I love you)


밤하늘 수 놓은 별처럼 항상 볼 순 있지만
bamhaneul su noheun byolchorom hangsang bol sun itjiman (Like the stars in the night sky)
다가갈수도 만질수도 없잖아 내 몫인가봐 널 지켜보는게
dagagalsudo manjilsudo objana ne mogsin-gabwa nol jikyoboneun-ge (always visible
but unable to be approached or touched)
매일 널 기다려 어느새 기대해 미련할만큼
meil nol gidaryo oneuse gidehe miryonhalmankeum (That must be my fate)
내 키보다 커져버린 널 향한 바램들
ne kiboda kojyoborin nol hyanghan baremdeul (to watch over you)

Chorus
널 사랑한다는 말
nol saranghandaneun mal
늘 가슴으로 외쳤던 말
neul gaseumeuro wechyotdon mal
널 사랑한다는 말
nol saranghandaneun mal
니 뒤에서만 되뇌였던 말
ni dwiesoman dwenweyotdon mal
널 사랑한다는 말
nol saranghandaneun mal
달아날까 할 수 없는 말
daranalkka hal su omneun mal
사랑한다 겁이 날 만큼 널
saranghanda gobi nal mankeum nol

[bridge]
고백한다 오늘 만큼만은 사랑해
gobekhanda oneul mankeummaneun saranghe (If I could only live one day, I’d want to be by your side)
단 하루를 살아도 니곁에 있고 싶다고
dan harureul sarado nigyote itgo sipdago (If I could only live one day, I’d want to be by your side)
고백할게 이제는 말할게 널 사랑해
gobekhalge ijeneun malhalge nol saranghe (I’ll confess I’ll say the words now I love you)

Credit
Hangul :: Daum Music
Romanization :: Chichan-Onew
PLEASE TAKE OUT WITH FULL CREDITS
Thank u so much :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cZFgPY2W4k

Love Them

Did I mention how busy I am at the moment? But no matter how busy I am I think I should spare some of my limited time for my favourites: Jo Hyun Jae and Song Seung Hun (Mr. Hand Towel).

I want to write Jo Hyun Jae his own story (Kang's POV) like what I did for Kang Ji Hwan's Lee Jin Soo, but,well, perhaps later when I have more time.

And I've been planning to write Mr. Hand Towel's background story just to help those who wonder why did the beautifully divine looking Song Seung Hun becomes more known as Mr. Hand Towel.

And last but not least I want to post the rebuttal from Don't Call Me Mr. Hand Towel himself!!

But those have to wait.

In the mean time you could check these links out under 'My Favourite links'. Both of them could sing extremely well!

If only my Kang Ji Hwan could also sing that well. Sigh.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85DWQvsUxik
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85DWQvsUxik

Hazy

It’s back again. Those dreadful 16 - 17 working hours!

I thought I’ve managed my workloads quite well to reduce the amount of overtimes significantly compare to last year. But when one is dealing with other people it becomes a challenge to stick to a schedule.

It’s not the long working hours I resent but losing 8 hours of my sleeping time. I could function well enough on 2 or 3 hours of sleep only for a few days. After that I start to have almost all of sleep deprivation symptoms.

I’m dealing with numbers.
I’m dealing with people.
I’m driving.
I can’t afford to have those symptoms!

Sleep! I need sleep! Badly!

Kang Ji Hwan and Coffee House

I think I’ve watched all of Kang Ji Hwan’s movies and series – except for Be Strong Geum Soon, the reason is because I don’t really like the long series of family drama.

However, despite having more than enough of Kang Ji Hwan’s exposures I didn’t have any special feelings for him. I watched all his movies and series just because I like the storylines. Things changed when I saw Coffee House which has become my favourite drama of all time.

I fall in love with Lee Jin Soo its male lead. It’s not just an ordinary love that one feels for a certain character in one’s favourite movies/series. I’m completely, madly and irrevocably in love with him.

I don’t know how but I think some of that love has been rubbed off to Kang Ji Hwan himself. Hence, it transforms him into one of my favourite actors.

Imagine my happiness when I found out that he has been voted as The Actor of the Year in Japan. It means he has become the most popular Hallyu star in 2010.

Based on the survey conducted by Innolife (S-Plus Entertainment) 55.4% Japanese voted for him. The second place won by Jang Geun Suk who got 30.4% of the votes.

This is big. The Japanese love Bae Yong Jun who they consider as God and refer to as Yon-sama. But I see no difficulty for Kang Ji Hwan to be equally loved in the near future.

Particularly since his drama Coffee House has also been voted as The Drama of the Year with 48.6% votes. Followed by Sungkyunkwan Scandal which won 40% of the votes.

Love it. Love it. Love it.

Concern or Harassment?

I’ve been debating for quite sometimes whether I should put this particular topic here or not – for despite the fact that I created this blog to rant and rave – one should never forget that one can’t never really be that free when it comes to stating one’s opinion on the internet. Discretion has to be observed. It should never be thrown to the winds.

However, that’s exactly what I’m doing now.

To lessen the folly of my reckless action, I’m going to give myself a go for it argument. Firstly, this blog is my personal blog. Sort of like a diary. My diary. Secondly, I don’t think other human being is remotely interested in reading it. Thirdly, it’s in English. How many Indonesians are interested in reading someone else’s blog which is written in English? Almost zip. Therefore, go for it.

I’m writing while praying that none of the parties mentioned here will ever read this. For although I’m writing this to elaborate on my point of view and feelings regarding marriage and the matchmaking effort conducted by people around me, I don’t want them to read this for fear of offending them which is not my intention at all.

I don’t think you could really tell people who asked you “When are you going to get married” when they met you on the street, elevator or wherever they happen to bump into you anything. All you can do is probably putting a big smile and saying something vague or trying to make a joke about it.

It would be weird if instead of just smiling you invite them to sit for tea and then start talking about why you are still single lengthily. Not that it’s their business in the first place. And I don’t think they really want to know. In my opinion that question is just a rhetorical one. One that’s supposed to be answered with a big guilty smile.

The question itself doesn’t really bother me. It’s the judgement behind it which annoys me the most. By asking that question the questioner is stating their preference for marriage which they try to push upon the unfortunate single person they happen to meet.

I have no problem when other people are using marriage as a standard to measure one’s success/achievement/accomplishment/happiness in life but I do have a problem had they try to force me to adopt that view.

I have nothing against marriage per se. It’s just that I don’t see marriage as a goal which one must have and can’t live without. It’s not that I don’t want to get married at all when the time/occasion comes/calls for it. But the very idea of getting married just for the sake of getting married or just because that’s what everyone else is doing has no appeal to me.

But you couldn’t really say this to the people who are trying to marry you off now could you? Particularly not when those people mean nothing but well. In case you’re curious, these people who are trying their hands at matchmaking are not my family, they are my colleagues.

I don’t know how it started but they’ve somehow decided to set their collective cap for a guy I know – whom they also know – deciding that we’re perfect for each other. And no matter how hard I try to tell them that there’s absolutely nothing between us that we’re just friends, they just ignore it and persist in their far from subtle matchmaking endeavour.

I couldn’t even properly express my dismay when their well meaning effort at matchmaking caused me major cases of embarrassment and discomforts.

The only saving grace is the fact that I know the object of their matchmaking rather well and I don’t think he’ll think much of their far from subtle effort. I know that he could be a good sport.

The problem is other people who have nothing to do with us might not take it so lightly!

I was taken aback when a friend of mine who aren’t even in the same floor with us (me and the matchmaker wannabes) questioned me about that guy. When my shock lessened I eyed him suspiciously and questioned him back about his source. Directly naming all the likely culprits.

When he didn’t want to reveal his source I sharply told him not to believe anything he heard from whoever told him only God knows what.

I’m extremely bothered.

I basically take all their matchmaking effort in stride and decide to just humour them for I know they mean well. I don’t even make any comment to some of the things they say and advice which I think preposterous and degrading.

Just to illustrate:

1) They keep bugging me of the fact that there’s no progress at all despite all their concerted efforts. Well, how could there be any progress when I already told them that there’s really nothing between me and that guy?

2) One of them even told me to just grab him and drag him to the altar for if I wait for him to propose he probably never will. Just great. That guy doesn’t even like me and now not only I’m supposed to propose to him but I also have to force him to marry me. Why couldn’t they understand the very simple fact that if he’ll never make any move that’s because he isn’t interested.

Nevertheless, those bothersome things aren’t really the reasons why I loose it. It’s finding out that their matchmaking has some how turns into a rumour which is believed by others as the truth is disconcerting. Frustrating. And infuriating. And what worse is that I don’t even know what’s the truth that they believe in.

It reminds me of what happen to a very close friend of mine who experienced a rather similar thing in her organisation. When I heard what happened I told her: ‘If I were you I would definitely give that friend of yours a piece of my mind for doing what she did.’

Now, I can understand why she just grinded her teeth.

I wish that there’s some kind of code of conduct regarding how to deal with singles. Preferably one like how to treat female workers in a work place or females anywhere for that matter, in which if you do something that is perceived as unpleasant you could be charged with sexual harassment.

I think only when we have that people will then be forced to think hard before doing/saying something which are related to other people’s marital status no matter how good their intentions are.

The Gorgeous

I don’t have much time to write. So instead of writing things I long to write e.g. review of Romance in the Rain and Mr. Goodbye I just post pretty pictures of those who I consider as the most beautiful Chinese actress and the most gorgeous Korean actress.

There are many incredibly beautiful Chinese actresses for sure but to me Vicki Zhao is the most attractive one. While on the Korean side despite the fact that they have many cute, pretty and beautiful actresses I find Park Si Hyeon to be the most gorgeous.

Both Vicki Zhao and Park Si Hyeon have two things in common. They have the most beautiful eyes that I’ve ever seen on woman’s face and they are blessed with far from perfect teeth that help a lot to make them look more real. Especially for Park Si Hyeon who looks so Goddess like.

Please enjoy and compare who you think to be the most beautiful between them. Although I think Park Si Yeon looks her best in her High Cut and Cosmo's photos, as an actress I have more love for Vicki Zhao. Okay, I confess I absolutely love her. But I also LOVE Park Si Hyeon in Coffee House.

Anyway, aren't they just absolutely gorgeous?