Tag Archives: things I love

Ecstasy and Agony

Sooo… last night the 2nd round of JYJ ticket sales happened. Just like last Wednesday, my friend and I headed to the local PC 방 (faster internet than the crappy connections we get in our building), hoping this time we would be successful, since last week’s venture left us empty handed. I logged in to my Interpark account, and at 8:00 pm on the dot, I tried to pull tickets. SUCCESS! I got 3 tickets in the VIP section within the red oval:

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JYJ concert seating map – Seoul August 2014

Yes! Seats in the area that is encircled by part of the stage! RIGHT NEAR THE ROTATING PLATFORM WHERE THEY WILL PROBABLY SING IN HEAVEN AND DO THAT THING WHERE THEY TURN TOWARD EACH OTHER AND FEED OFF OF EACH OTHER’S ENERGY AND CREATE THIS AMAZING SYNERGY THAT I WOULD SERIOUSLY CONSIDER GIVING A KIDNEY OR PART OF MY LIVER TO SEE UP CLOSE! Yes, those seats!

Life could not possibly get better! Those seats were literally a dream come true for me and I had them in my hot little virtual hands!

I proceeded through the ticket purchase process – something I’ve done at least a dozen times by now, so I can do it quite easily, even in Korean – and got all the way to the screen where you select the method of payment, but for some reason, the list of bank cards wasn’t coming up, and where the ‘Next’ button usually is, it said  잠시만 기다려주세요,  so I waited for a bit. But I also didn’t want to wait too long and lose my tickets, and there was that little ! in the status bar at the bottom of the window that indicated an error, so I had my friend on the computer next to me try to grab a single ticket elsewhere and see what happens if you hit the ‘previous screen’ button. She did and the tickets were still intact, so I decided to back one step and then try again, hoping that when I got to the payment screen, my tickets would still be there, and they were! I was successful!  Yay!

It allowed me to select the method of payment and move forward one step. Then… when it came time to input my card details, there was a notation of an Active X that needed to be allowed. So I allowed it, because otherwise I couldn’t proceed. AND THE DAMN PAGE REFRESHED BACK TO THE BEGINNING AND RELEASED MY TICKETS!!!!!!! And try as I might, I never got them back.

So, now, I’m stuck sitting in the seats within the navy triangle on the map above. It’s a far cry from what I had been in reach of just moments before. Now, unless you’re a  huge, devoted fan of something, the way I am of JYJ, you might not understand how I feel, but let me tell you that my heart literally hurts and tears well up in my eyes when I think of it. So I am doing my best to try not to think of it, and just focus on the fact that we got tickets, which is much better than our attempt last week, and that I will finally, after years of waiting, get to see JYJ together. Live. In concert. Making magic like only they can.

But I needed to get it all out of my system in order to move on, hence the post.

I’ve also decided that I’m going to try to get a ticket for their Hong Kong concert the following week and change my flight for my trip to Japan to accommodate a side trip to Hong Kong… They have general admission floor tickets, and that’s what I’m aiming for. Wish me luck! Maybe third time’s a charm?

Oh, and just in case you want to see what I mean about JYJ’s synergy as they perform In Heaven, you can watch a fancam here. It’s a great performance, and the synergy part really kicks into high gear around the 3:37 mark.

 

Father’s Day… bah humbug

March 3, 2000: The day that made me forever feel sad, lonely, and, I have to admit, a bit resentful on every single Father’s Day that has come and gone since.

I foolishly hoped that moving to Korea, where they don’t celebrate Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, (they have Parents’ Day in May) I could escape those feelings this year, but, of course, this is the era of social media, which means I’m never truly all that far from home. So, even though it’s still Saturday night on the other side of the Pacific, my Facebook news feed is already filled with people thanking their fathers and/or husbands for being great dads, and people changing their profile pics to ones with their dad. I don’t have any digital pics of me with mine, unfortunately, so I can’t even do that. 😦 So, here I am, yet again, feeling resentful toward every girl out there who still has their daddy, and missing mine even more than I do on a daily basis. And, instead of having Korea be a safe haven where I can escape displays of a happiness that I can’t feel on this day anymore, being here has actually compounded the loneliness I feel every Father’s Day, because I’m all by myself while my family is together for our annual golf tournament. Last year at this time I was being “serenaded” my nephew D and my cousin O, with a chorus of “Trea to Korea, Trea to Korea…” Granted, they were doing it to be brats cuz they were hassling my oldest brother and I hassled them back on his behalf, but damn, what I wouldn’t give to hear that sassy little refrain right about now.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t regret being here in Korea. I love it here. It’s a beautiful country with lots of things to do and see, and I’ve met some wonderful people that have made being in a country whose language I don’t speak much less lonely, and often quite the opposite. The decision I made a little over a year ago to uproot my comfortable little living situation and move to the other side of the globe was one of my better ones. But life is what it is, so that means sometimes it’s awesome being here, and other times it’s hard. Today, I’m just having one of those moments where it’s kind of hard.

I miss my Dad. After 14 years, I still think about him every single day of my life, and I still feel an empty space in my heart that used to belong to him. I miss his voice mail messages saying “Trea, it’s your favourite father. Call me so I know you’re not dead in a ditch somewhere.” I miss his chicken noodle soup whenever I’ve got a cold (and I think I’m coming down with one now, dammit). It was just the Lipton’s dry packets, but he knew exactly how much of the flavour cube to put in to make it taste just right (cuz the full thing was way too much) , and the exact time to take it off the stove so the noodles were the perfect level of doneness. I miss him playing guitar and singing. I miss his twisted sense of humour and his willingness to be silly once in a while, just for the sake of amusing me (and himself). I miss debating and arguing with him (cuz we almost never agreed on anything), and sometimes I even miss fighting with him. At least, when we were fighting, he was still alive, you know? Bottom line is, I miss him like crazy and I hate the month of June because first we have Father’s Day, and then there’s his birthday on June 25th. It’s a double-whammy month for me, and being away from home hasn’t really done much to take the edge off of it. 😦

Anyway, this is just me being all emo… A girl’s gotta play to her strengths after all. Happy Father’s Day to all the dads and dads-to-be out there! And to all the girls who are lucky enough to still have their dads in their lives… cherish that fact, because one day you won’t, and you may find yourself missing him so much that even the things about him that currently make you want to throttle him don’t seem so bad after all.

I think I’ll make myself kinda scarce on Facebook for the next 24 hours, listen to a whole bunch of K-pop and pretend the rest of the world doesn’t exist…  Catch you on the flip side…

Returning to an old love: Naruto Shippuden anime

Because I am a big wimp about things like character death, I tend to procrastinate on watching/reading stories I love if I know that a death is on the horizon. So… about 2 years ago, I got spoiled about a specific character death in Naruto that I… just wasn’t ready to witness, and so I kinda sorta put off watching the show for a while. That while turned into 2 years. But I’m back watching it now and…

Before I continue, I should clarify that I am woefully behind in watching, (ie I’m currently watching episode 86 of Naruto Shippuden) because I put off beginning the anime it for a long time, at first because, based on watching a couple eps of the crappy dubbed version on TV, I didn’t really think it was an anime I’d like, and then, once convinced otherwise, I put it off because I knew that there were character deaths in this series and, as I mentioned, I’m kind of a wimp about that. I didn’t know who died, though, just that some characters that people liked did. That was enough for me. Like I said, wimp.

Anyway, I got back to watching it recently, and the event that I didn’t want to have happen happened. It was just as heart-wrenching as I expected. It had an emotional impact on me, just as I knew it would. But now that the event itself is over, we’ve moved into a portion of the story (still linked to the event, but not centered around the specifics of that event) where one of my very favourite Naruto characters, Shikamaru, is the central figure. These past few episodes have been completely Shikamaru-centric and I’ve been LOVING it. They really highlight how completely ingenious and badass he is.

Shikamaru

Shikamaru – my favourite Konoha badass

He’s a character that I liked from the very first moment he had real screen time on the show. There was just something about him that intrigued me. The only character I like more than Shikamaru is Gaara, whom I love more than I can possibly explain, and I think after these past few eps, Shikamaru has moved up and is now tied with him for first. He’s just that freakin’ awesome.

Anyway, there’s no real point to this post other than to gush about my renewed Naruto Shippuden love and how completely amazing the BAMF character Shikamaru is. Really, I should be prepping for one of my classes tomorrow, but I’m playing to my strengths and procrastinating instead.

Before I end this I have to share THIS AMAZING FANART that I discovered when searching for a pic of Shikamaru to include in this post. It’s so gorgeous, I think I may have to start looking for more Naruto fanart to enjoy…

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Sasuke, Shikamaru, Kiba, Naruto

(note: the pic links back to the page I found it on, if you wanna go searching for more yourself…)

Okay enough babbling, back to lesson prep watching Naruto. 😉

New Year’s Eve thinky thoughts

2014

With a little less than 5 hours left in 2013 for me, I feel the need to reflect for a moment or two.

This has been an interesting year. The first half was uncomfortable for me. I felt isolated a lot, both at home and at work. Ahh… work… yeah… Work made me really unhappy a lot of the time. Not as unhappy as my first year managing the training team, cuz that was disastrously stressful, but it definitely wasn’t making me feel fulfilled. Or useful. And I think that feeling seeped into my non-work life as well.

Fortunately, I  have some good friends near and far (especially my KDKP fam) who helped prop me up when I needed some extra TLC. And I had Kpop. Roll your eyes if you want. Shake your head and judge me as a weirdo and crazy fangirl if you need to, but the truth is, Kpop is my happy place, and has been for a few years now. It’s my escape from all manner of stressful emotions: whether I feel sad, angry, frustrated, worthless, overwhelmed… whatever negative emotion I feel, if I immerse myself in Kpop for a while, that feeling dissipates. I don’t know why it works that way for me, but I’m not gonna question it.

Kpop also played a part in my decision to quit my job and move to Korea to teach English. It wasn’t the REASON I came to Korea to teach – my interest in Korean culture goes beyond pop culture, and my desire to teach English overseas goes back many years – but the idea that living in Korea could mean more opportunities to see Kpop shows, and specifically to see JYJ live in their own country, gave me the courage to cast aside my fear of rejection and ignore the large part of my brain that kept screaming “No, you don’t like change! Change is scary! Change is bad! Don’t do that!!!”

So, despite 2013’s rocky first half, today I sit here on New Year’s Eve happier and more content than I’ve been on any NYE in recent memory. I love my job to the point that I didn’t mind working until 4:40 today, because it meant hanging out with my rural school students watching Star Wars, decorating cupcakes to look like Princess Leia, having battles with lightsabres made of animal balloons and laughing my butt off on more than one occasion. I’m going on about 4 hours of sleep, because yesterday, I booked it to the bus terminal after school, hopped on a bus to Seoul, met my friend at the subway and headed to Jamsil Sports Complex to see Junsu (yes, JUNSU!!!) in concert. Afterward, we stayed up talking until way too late, then I woke up a good 2 hours before sunrise, hopped on the subway, headed to the bus terminal, then got on a bus back home to Chungju so I could get washed up and ready for my afternoon at school running English Camp. Yet, despite being tired, I’m happy. And I’m going to head upstairs to one of the other English teacher’s apartments where a bunch of us are going to enjoy a Mexican themed evening filled with games, yummy food, sangria, and, I’m sure lots and lots of laughs. Yeah, not a bad way to welcome in 2014. 🙂

Happy New Year, everyone! If 2013 was good to you, I hope that trend continues. If it’s a year you’re happy to see the end of, I hope 2014 is much more to your liking.

Kim Jaejoong is a Rock Star

I want to start off this post by saying I love, love, LOVE MTVK for airing an interview with Kim Jaejoong. It is so rare for us JYJ fangirls to see our boys on any sort of broadcast outside their own YouTube channel, so it makes me over-the-top giddy when I do.

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(Sorry, WordPress doesn’t like MTVK’s embed code, so the best I can do is insert an image and link it to the MTVK page…)

Jaejoong released his first solo mini-album, entitled “I” on January 17th.  He also released a video for “Mine” the album’s lead single. I wasn’t sure what I thought of it at first, but I was also sick and cranky at the time, but after a couple of views, I started to like it. Now, I love it. It’s a solid track and the MV supports the lyrics well. Here, check it out for yourself:

So different than what he’s done in the past, but at the same time, so completely and utterly Jaejoong. I think his voice suits the rock genre, and I get the feeling that he enjoyed the change of pace.  I also love that he was brave enough to step outside the pop idol box and do something unexpected and different. He didn’t stay within his performance comfort zone, and I respect him for that.

I love the entire album and strongly recommend that if you like this song, you should absolutely buy the album. I got my copy from Kpopmart.com, who are super fast at shipping stuff out, and they even send you pictures of your order packed in the shipment box, when they send out your confirmation. YesAsia.com is also a great, reliable source for any Kpop purchases, but not quite as quick with delivery as Kpopmart. Or, if you prefer to do it digitally, it’s also available on iTunes.

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Jaejoong on MTVK

Woohoo! MTVK will be airing an exclusive interview with Jaejoong. They posted a teaser today and my oh my is Jaejoong ever sexy when speaking English. The image below links to the video on MTVK because WordPress doesn’t seem to like MTVK’s embed code…

Kim Jaejoong on MTVK

Jaejoong will release his new single “One Kiss” on Jan 8

This makes my little fangirl heart squee with delight!

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Kim Jaejoong will release ‘ONE KISS’ as a preview track on Jan 8, prior to the release of his first solo mini-album called ‘MINE’

C-jes entertainment official said, “MINE, which is the title song and album title of Kim Jaejoong’s first mini solo-album, was produced together with Kim Bada. A large scale music video for the heavy rock song was also produced.’ONE KISS’ will be released online on Jan 8 around 12 noon. It is a song which features Kim Jaejoong’s charming, husky yet sweet voice and is suited for the cold winter weather.”

Also,”We will release an MV behind the scence cut and MV teaser for ‘MINE’ on Jan 8″, he added.

Pre-orders (both online and offline) for Kim Jaejoong’s mini solo-album will begin on Jan 7. It will be available on offline stores like Kyobo Bookstore and Synarra record store, as well as online sites such as Kyobo…

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JYJ: a group worth falling in love with

Junsu, Jaejoong & Yoochun

Junsu, Jaejoong and Yoochun, the 3 members of JYJ

If you’ve read my about page or scanned through earlier posts, you’ve probably figured out that I’m a bit of a JYJ fan. And within JYJ, Junsu is my favourite of the trio. He is the perfect combination of ridiculously adorable, dorky and sexy as all getout. His voice is unequalled, not only within the Korean music industry but worldwide. Seriously, the boy gives me goosebumps when he belts out a tune. He’s also a phenomenal dancer and the ultimate showman. I was fortunate enough to catch his show in New York City on August 30 of this year and he rocked my world from the moment he stepped onto the stage. I still get a fluttery feeling in my tummy when I think about that show. I’m not gonna lie; I was so overwhelmed by the experience, that I found myself unable to contain my tears by the time he sang his final encore song, Fallen Leaves, which he wrote, composed and arranged himself.

Junsu, Jaejoong and Yoochun are all incredibly talented and passionate performers who deserve to be in the spotlight, yet because of an ongoing dispute with their former management company, they are banned from all broadcast stations and have a hard time finding venues in which to hold events. This article in the Asia Sentinel does an excellent job of explaining the situation, so please take a few moments to read it. Perhaps if enough people know about the situation, some sort of solution will be found.

And if you’d like to check out JYJ and Junsu’s music, visit their YouTube page, and then, because I know you’ll love them, here’s where you can buy their albums.

After working with Junsu on Uncommitted, Bruce “Automatic” Vanderveer tweeted some highly complimentary things about him Bruce “Automatic” Vanderveer has also previously worked with singers such as Christina Aguilera, The Wanted, Leona Lewis and more.

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This news made me EXTREMELY HAPPY tonight. Junsuuuuuuu~! ❤ ❤ ❤

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Kim Junsu is bringing his music magic to the Americas and Europe.

On July 16, C-Jes Entertainment revealed Kim Junsu would be touring North America, South America and Europe in a world tour with plans to stop at two or three cities per continent.

The agency shared, “From the beginning we targeted not only Korea but also Asia with Kim Junsu’s solo album and aimed for abroad with the music video. We are in the middle of a successful Asia tour but have continued to receive an outpouring of requests from the Americas and other places abroad and we have thus decided to embark on a world tour.”

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The agency also added plans for a new album saying, “With the world tour we are currently preparing a repackaged album. This new album will include an English single targeting the world and its music video will be produced in the U.S…

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