Season of Change

Question...(ssssssssssssss)

So...........when (or why) do we have to take down the ornaments already? What if I want to leave the tree out a few more days?

Who decides when Starbucks stops offering the eggnog latte?

I mean....Who/what decides when the "holiday season" officially ends anyway???

Groan......

Don't tell me. It's ended already?

You sure I can't stretch it out any more?

GROAN >>>>>>>>>>>>>>><<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< !!
I guess I should have known that the days of sleepin' in are over when my alarm clock dutifully went back to work over a week ago! (Someone ought to go bob that genius who invented such a thing!)
And I guess I should've known... when the festively-lit line of trees nearby my home got dimmer and dimmer over the last few days.... (thanks neighbors for not risking a mishio-sized panic attack by pulling the plugs on the same day....)

And............the worse yet...I knew that the party-ing and festive-indulging days were over when.....I had to endure an adrenaline charged, not so cute anymore Richard Simmons bouncing all over the screen of AM TV recently, preaching that the time is now (!) for his lessons on exercise and holding back unhealthy calories . Talk about getting up on the wrong side of the TV!
Oh wait....I take something back. The alarm clock is after all, not the worst offender in the noise pollution department :P


GROAN! >>>>><<<<<< ! Someone...quick, hand me my remote control! Now!
(So sorry Richard, but you can annoy at times!)

I know, I know...wake up already mishio! It's already the 10th...!

Ayyyyyyy....give me a break...it's just that I never got to revel in the festivities this year, you know? Went through all the motions,but it kinda all flew by me somehow.

What a strange last couple of weeks............! Almost trance-like...

For starters, my long lost former best friend....just decided to walk back into my life. As abruptly as she walked out. As if nothing happened in the last 15 years. Never knew why she walked and don't know why she came home. Won't ponder so hard now coz I've done much too much before and it no longer matters. Still digesting that one, but the bottom line, as my sister would say, "one more friend is better than one more enemy." Yep, I should be glad.

Even more dramatic? Well, someone just handed me my life back. Figuratively speaking anyway. A few fans who have known me from way back then know well about an ongoing issue I've been dealing with for the past 2 and a half years - it's easily the biggest battle I've faced all my life. For all that time, my "life" sort of moved on as time dictated, and I was able to put on a normal "game face" while doing all that I was supposed to (perhaps a Daesang coming my way?)...but somehow always conscious of the cloud looming overhead. Through all of it, I went through all the normal human phases of denial, anger, lashing out, bitterness, etc. etc. cyclically and not just once. Worst part was the curtailing of current plans and the inability to make distant future ones whatsoever.

And then out of blue, in December, a call came in. And suddenly, just like that....and in the most anti-climactic way possible, it was over. I had won. The saying is that we're supposed to be that much stronger for having fought and won some of life's hardest challenges. In reality - it is sooooo not true. At least for me, I know I'm more fragile now, more cautious than before - but definitely not stronger - and worried sick that any moment the problem would find second breath or reincarnate itself somehow. I don't know if I'll be my old self again, but I'll keep digging, I promise.

Yikes....whoa! it's the drop that became a bucket again. sorry .... don't mean to go on and on. The main point is this: Looking back, I wonder how I would've turned out.........if I have done it all alone. You know, in our everyday lives, often our friends, acquaintances and sources of support are sometimes a little too close and involved in our situations to give objective feedback. It just occurred to me (AGAIN!) how blessed I was to have met a few good bae-pals who became my go-to friends when I needed a pillar to lean on. Hey, you ladies, how ever did you endure me during all that, I wonder? :p

Without knowing me very well, they gave me the benefit of doubt and always delivered an overflowing cup of positivity sprinkled with confidence booster particles here and there at every threat of me breaking down. Ladies........I don't know what to say. Just a simple "Thank you" for sticking with me through the worst of times.
And then there was our BYJ. Do I credit him with anything? Nah......not directly anyway. I certainly am not one of those ladies who believe he has any special or magical powers, but sometimes i think of how fortunate it was for me to have walked this tortuous path of mine in parallel with such a tough production period for him. No, don't go thinking that I'm claiming to understand what he went through. And over-sensitive ones, please don't start. Although I and everyone else had hoped for a smoother sailing for him through the TWSSG production, it's just that every time I hit a low spot and was about to open my whiny mouth....he'd coincidentally face a much tougher challenge and then do so with such grace that would instantly reduce my troubles to such triviality and send my jaws to slam shut.

Terrible timing, young man.....you robbed me of many a good enjoyable whining sessions, you know?! Yeah...sure...my friends' ears were spared, but to cause mishio so much gas! How terribly unfair!:) Can anyone even relate ?

Err................not you, YJssi, I ain't asking you! You can uncover your nose now!

I'm so gross :) kakakakakakaka


And of course, I was thankful for the lovely and enduring escape that the series offered. Kept my overly complicated mind occupied on something other than self-obsession. All 2+ years long. Don't know too many other actors that spend that much time on a project. By golly, I do think I've picked the "right" actor to follow somehow! :)

Well, if it sounds like I'm rambling...it's coz I am. Still a little rattled from recent events. Sensation not yet intact. But enough has returned to begin to feel a warm spot in my heart again for all the gratitude that I feel towards all involved for pulling me through this big one. And pardon me, I wanna take some credit myself too :) Thank goodness I decided to walk through these doors of the BYJ family that one fateful day!


But on a happier note, this winter was also a time of other happier milestones. For once, I have not had to brave the returns/exchanges lines post-Christmas week. Family, family - you've finally got it right this time :) See, practice makes perfect!

And looking around, seems like a good many of us have had some serious good changes in the real estate department. Congrats to bb on her soon-to-be new abode! Me....with some luck, am hoping to finally own something to call my own by the end of the month....(fingers crossed/four leaf clover in hand/horseshoe positioned correctly...!) And hee, rumors have been flying for months that our HRH will be moving on to new pad soon as well. Who knows, but if true, then Good! Maybe I can move into your former residence when it happens, haha! (errrr...on second thought, that would be just plain too creepy!) You know, as unfeasible as it is, I wish he'd move somewhere far, far, far away from the city so that tour operators wouldn't have so much motivation to conduct their drive-by's of his place.

And this too seems like the right place to send Jaime some good wishes on the a most adventurous and exciting chapter in her life! I'm sure therein too lies a good story or two about bae-fans lending a timely helping hand!

No matter how minor or big, it's still so amazing to me how much support and assistance other fans have been able to derive from their personal bae-circles as well. That's not to say that all family that I've met are all totally pure and wonderful since no person can possibly all get along with everyone, but at least for me, those few rare gems are worth the trouble of sorting through the rough, so to speak.

But...BYJ phone? Now....don't get me started...I might have to go there and personally snatch it! haha


On a separate but related note, did everyone hear about the writing contest that YesAsia held last fall, asking for essay submissions on the topic of how Hallyu influenced their lives. (If you had won, you'd be a few K-drama videos richer, you know!) For the few entries I had the privilege to read about (and sorry the authors are too shy to share publicly), it was interesting that BYJ's name seems to find its way in there somehow, even if mentioned as a brief reference. OK, OK. Don't state the obvious - he's one of the most recognized and well-known faces of Korea entertainment and culture. Still....this is the USA, and well, I'm still surprised.

I remember reading that the second prize winner was a fellow Los Angelino (man), a Korean orphan adopted by European parents to Sweden and whose journey back to his Korean roots began with a "Hotelier" video which he happened to check out at the downtown public library. (chongmal??? They have K-videos there for check-out? Someone please lead the way!) Of all the videos, that one caught his eye for some reason. And he drove 45 minutes to get to the library every week until he completed the drama.
Score 1 more for my favorite boy, the Frank-ster! haha!


And then...there are those stories we have YET to hear..........
What other amazing changes has BYJ/family brought to other peoples' lives? There are so many great and wonderful stories out there, and I, for one, never tire of hearing about these positive tales. Share....if you will.......


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Thanks everyone for taking the time to drop by with the New Year's greetings during the last few weeks! You're the best!
Hope everyone is enjoying a happy start to 2008 so far..........!