Mid-year Resolution

Well, the title tells it all, right?

A quick browse through the calender has brought to my attention the fact that I'm actually leaving Malaysian soil in something like two months, and actually furthering my studies in the States. I should say its pretty much a dream come true, as I used to want to go to the States, at least before Bush come into the picture. Nevertheless, my desire has been re-ignited, what with the recent change shown by the Obama administration. But I digress. This post shall not be about the States or anything else for the matter, but rather what I want to do before I fly off.

Learn to drive
Everyone knows how much I talk about my driving (or rather, my lack of it). Truly, I seriously want to actually start driving, but my parents are hard to be convinced. Apparently, my father STILL does not trust my driving skills enough for me to drive alone. Hopefully, within these two months, I'll be able to convince him otherwise...or I'll just have to sneak off to drive in the States...:-p.

The reason why I want to drive is apparent, all my friends are driving, and I'm kinda envious of the freedom having a car and the means of driving grants. Besides, I still want to prove what two of my *friends* wrong and show them that I can drive too!

Learn to play the piano
Ah, the shocker, I guess. Well, those who know me from young who remember me as the person who complained the most about how having three sisters learning to play the piano is detrimental to one's ears and mental health. Well, if they could only play like how Nodame or Chiaki plays, I would not have formed such a bad impression on that musical instrument.

Perhaps its just a fancy wish, but I would like to say that I can play a musical instrument at the very least. My sister says learning a guitar by oneself is easier than the piano, but I feel that the piano sounds better...or maybe its because there was not any guitar instrument in Nodame Cantabile...:-).

I've actually taken to getting materials on how to learn the piano, but I've yet to print them and actually practised on the piano. The former I blame on my laziness, the latter on the questions I'm bound to face by my very, very busybody parents. Sigh.

Exercise
Well, if the previous resolution did not kill any of you, this would. Haha. I've lost all motivation to keep my insane schedule I had in INTI. Gone are the days where I would force myself up to jog. I bet all my hard-earned stamina has dissipated and now replaced by the layers of fat surrounding my tummy.

Well, I guess the blame can be shifted a little to my mum who cooks good food; food which leads me to eat until three helpings of rice and rice = carbohidrates = fat. Ah well. I just hope I can regain my motivation in time, so that I would not look like an overweight nerd with crazy hair. Wait, I'll then look like Albert Einstein! ;-p.

Write at least an hour daily
I'm sure everyone knows about my obsession with the written word. If not, kindly read my blog post entitled Words. Hehe. Thus, to implement all that I've said there, I would need constant practice. I've been distracted lately with good mangas, animes, dramas and fanfiction, but I really need to buck up if I want to improve. *Must work hard!*

Start reading the newspapers from page to page
To be well-informed enough with the world to at least be able to converse with my friends on whatever topic they want; a dream. To achieve that dream, I've to learnt to start reading newspapers thoroughly. I tend to skip to eye-catching topics, leaving me woefully inept in having diverse conversations with my friends.

Perhaps I should dedicate an hour or so as well to accomplish this resolution.

Start following the resolutions I draw up
Ah, the age-old resolution. I'm certain I've added this resolution to all my other resolutions, but like usual, this is always the first one I break...:-p. Hence, by actually posting this, I hope I can motivate myself ENOUGH to NOT break it this time. I most certainly need the self-discipline it instills, for I can't keep screwing up in the States like how I screwed up in INTI. Hehe.

Well, those are all my resolutions for this mid-year session. I really hope I can keep them. I'll update you guys on the state of my resolutions next week. Till then, cheer me on!

My Lovely Sam-Soon

Well, I apologized for the last post (I know I still owe my readers two posts, seeing that I had not updated for Saturday and Sunday) but I have a very valid reason, at least in my opinion. I was actually rushing to complete the hit Korean series, 'My Lovely Sam Soon'.

Shocked? (Yes, the epitome of masculinity, the great Deus actually watches Korean dramas...sue me.)

Let's proceed. :-p


Synopsis:

My Lovely Sam Soon depicts the rather endearing tale of a 30 year old woman, plump and unattractive in every sort of way, who sets on a journey to quest for her true love. Kim Sam Soon (Kim Sun Ah) is a patissier (a fanciful name for a pastry chef, for those who were uninformed - and yes, by that I mean YOU ... :->) born with a talent in making pastries and disasters out of relationships. After a disastrous Christmas Day outing which saw her losing both her job and her boyfriend Min Hyun-Woo (Lee Kyu Han) and meeting with arrogant restaurant owner Hyun Jin-Heon (Hyun Bin) in humiliating circumstances, Sam-Soon manages to obtain the post as patissier in the latter's restaurant, although they both remain in bad terms with each other.

A chance event, however, leads Jin-Heon to propose an outrageous plan to his patissier: pretend to be his girlfriend to convince his mother to stop arranging blind dates. While rejecting the offer at first, Sam-Soon is then forced to accept as a series of unfortunate events which involved her father, her uncle, bankruptcy and the house as mortgage leaves her and her family in need of 50 million won to keep their house. Both slowly grew on each other, but things fall awry when Jin-Heon's ex-but-bot-really-ex-girlfriend, Yoo Hee-Jin (Jung Ryu Won) comes back from the States to claim back her man. Throw in Hee-Jin's smiling-I'm-sorry-I-can't-speak-Korean friend, Henry Kim (Daniel Henney), Sam-Soon's volatile mother, Jin-Heon's authoritative one, a cute little girl who chooses not to speak and messy events into the fray, and voila! - one hilariously funny but still heartwarming tale of My Lovely Sam Soon for the audience :-).

Plot:

While certainly not the most original of plots, My Lovely Sam Soon still differs greatly from many of its peers, as it injects much needed humor into the Korean drama market. In fact, what makes this drama unique, in my opinion, is its seamless interplay between humor and drama, between the times you would laugh till you cry and the times you would cry till you laugh (at your silliness at crying in the first place...;-)). Within its mere sixteen episodes, creators Kim Do-woo and Ji Su-Hyeon had managed to create a heartwarming drama without all the unnecessary complications one commonly finds in the average Korean drama, while including just enough slice-of-life moments to provoke some soul-searching amongst its viewers.

The plot, which started a little slowly, picks its pace sure enough, always leaving the viewers asking for more. In fact, I'll give the plot 4 stars and a half out five for its engaging plot.

Characters:
Kim Sam-Soon:
The middle-aged patissier with the dream of opening her own cake shop and an fanatical obsession of changing her name, Sam-Soon is the third daughter of a rice-cake chef. A little heavy around the body with a penchant of for cussing and hitting people (and incontinence, when she's drunk), Sam-Soon is not an attractive woman. Period. With age catching up on her, she faces difficulty in securing her soul mate, especially after being played a fool by Hyun-Woo.

Nevertheless, she's an upbeat, optimistic woman who faces every challenge with determination to succeed. She's also a very forgiving character, at least in my case, or she's just plain stupid for forgiving Jin-Heon everytime he hurts her. In a nutshell, her character is likable enough to be a protagonist, and you just have to empathise with her luck in relationships.

Kim Sun-Ah as Kim Sam-Soon: Kim Sun-Ah performed admirably as Kim Sam-Soon, to the point that she was willing to even put on 15 pounds just to act in this drama. She's amusing to watch, with her very malleable face capable of capturing the many emotions that make Sam-Soon so special. She cries well enough, and her scenes with Henry Kim (Daniel Henney) are a joy to watch. I have only one minor complaint: her voice sometimes get really really grating, especially when she gets drunk. And perhaps she's too attractive to play the role of an unattractive middle-age woman?

Hyun Jin-Heon:
The male lead of the drama, Jin-Heon is the angst ridden man of mystery who's past casts a cloud over the blooming relationship between him and Sam-Soon. He simply loves to irritate the latter, and loves to get her all riled up. He grows to be more mature by the end of the series, though.

Personally, I hate this character. I find him too indecisive; usually leaving Sam-Soon in a lurch, what with him leaping before looking. His jokes on Sam-Soon tend to get out of hand as well, usually ending up with him hurting her a lot. Fortunately for him, one redeeming feature of him is a side of his personality which cares very much for his niece, Hyun Mi-Joo (Suh Ji Hee). Apparently he's a nice guy as well...;-p.

Hyun Bin as Hyun Jin-Heon: Ah, the Jae Hee and Kwon Sang-Woo lookalike. Seriously, he just looks way too much like the other two in this series. Hyun Bin played Jin-Heon okay-ly, I guess. He did the angsty-wangsty-ness well enough, but he just doesn't look sincere enough for Sam-Soon (maybe I'm just biased against the character...:-p). His interactions with Henry was less hilarious than Sam Soon's but still funny all the same. His English ain't that good, however. His angry scenes are brilliant, and you could almost feel his anger (however irrational and misplaced) vented out at poor Sam-Soon.

Yoo Hee-Jin:
I can't really say much without spoiling the entire drama for my readers, but suffice to say she's the cause of the drama-ishness of the story. She's the childhood friend-cum-lover of Jin-Heon, and while I would normally root for such relationships (I believe matches aren't made in heaven and most certainly not in a first look), I find her a little spoilt and selfish.

Sure, she's sweet and all, but her callous way of treating Henry and her rude behavior with Sam-Soon makes her look ugly, at least in a deeper sense that transcends looks.

Jung Ryu-Won as Yoo Hee-Jin: She's good as Hee-Jin. She plays the lovesick part very well, and you can see her neediness for Jin-Heon clearly on the screen. She speaks near perfect English, and her voice is really soothing to the ears too (especially after a Sam-Soon drunken bout...:-)).

Henry Kim:
The half-Korean, or at least, that much we know from his brief past. His mother was Korean, certainly, but he was brought up in the States and thus can't speak any Korean (like me! Haha...). He's on a six month sabbatical in Korea. Though only considered a friend by Hee-Jin, he's completely in love with her, and his patience with her lovesickness just makes me wonder, sometimes, whether he's a masochist or not.

He's quite the comic relief of the show, especially through his interactions with the various characters, most notably Sam-Soon. He would smile his queer smile as the Koreans would just prattle on and on, occasionally scolding him or mocking him.

Daniel Henney as Henry Kim: I honestly thought that he had a receeding hairline, and was not all that good-looking from the first looks of the box cover of the discs. Thus, I was pretty shocked when I saw that he was actually quite good looking, and has a very rich baritone that fits his mature character very well. As mentioned, he plays the comic relief very well, and his scenes with Sam-Soon are amongst the most hilarious.

Couples:
Sam-Soon and Jin-Heon: The cliche of all cliches, this couple has it all, in terms of 'let's pretend we're in love but then I love you' and 'I hate you so much that I love you.' As mentioned, I disliked Jin-Heon, so I'm not really much of a fan of this couple, though I'll admit that their chemistry is visible on screen. Their interactions tend to be intense, and there's always a competition between the two to see who can achieve dominance over the other. While he tends to be hurtful towards her, he can also be very nice and doting as a partner.

Jin-Heon and Hee-Jin: The classic lovers - the close friends who relationship eventually develops further. This couple is mostly built on memories of the past, and there is always a faint feeling that that the relationship is somewhat unbalanced, with her pining more for him. His anger in the beginning was justified, and so was his forgiving her, but his sudden capitulation to Sam-Soon's (nonexistant) charms left me wondering what exactly went wrong.

Hee-Jin and Henry: He makes her laugh...a lot. She tends to be very happy whenever she's with him, and it's clear that he really loves her. I prefer their chemistry than that of hers and Jin-Heon's, if not for the fact that his temperament suits her better (i.e. he's actually rational most of the times when she's not) then simply for the reason that I like their conversations (I've a fetish for both voices and English...;-p).

Sam-Soon and Henry: Ahhh...the couple that is NOT meant to be. As there's no inkling or sign of interest between these two, its safe to say that these two will never ever hook up in any case, except in the imagination of thousands of viewers. Nevertheless, I would have like to see them together, because I feel that in their relationships, both tend to get the short end of the stick. Besides, their interactions would be something to die laughing for...:-).

Suffice to say, the casting and characterization are pretty well done, but my main grouse is still there: I still hate Jin-Heon's character, so I'll only rate a 3 and a half out of five for characters.

Conclusion:
This series is quite an engaging K-drama to watch. It is well enough that there weren't any sappy and/or unbelieveable story arcs, and I'm grateful that the creators did not try to extend the story by adding more drama. I'll rate this a 4 out of 5 stars in general. Try and watch it if you can, it'll be worth your money!

Some useless trivia:
(1) Noticed that the two main leads share the same surname as the characters they play?
(2) There's actually a localized Phillipines version.
(3) People actually say that this series is like an Eastern adaptation of Bridget Jones (overweight and unattractive, much?)
(4) There's a beautiful poem in this series. It goes like this:

Dance like no one's watching.
Sing like no one's listening.
Work like you don't need the money.
Love like you've never been hurt before.
Live like there's no tomorrow.

(4) I finished 16 hours worth of drama in 2 days.
(5) That's why I'm owing two more blog posts...hehe.

P.S. Due to the demands of my *fans*, I've allowed for anonymous comments already. Cheers!

Friends

I originally meant to make it a habit to update at least once a day; if not to inform my dear beloved readers (in my case, it's actually just a single reader, as judged by the comments left) on my how-a-bouts but also to keep my writing in practice. Hence, this post, even though its still very early today (5/5/2009).

Last night, I went out and indulge myself in the very common Malaysian-esque practice of drinking tea (yamcha) though another friend and I were the only people drinking tea. It was a gathering of friends from my high school, so it was a reunion of sorts.

What amazed me the most throughout the entire duration (from 9.30 p.m. to 12 a.m. - that's why I did not answer any of the MSN) was that this was the crowd which I did not really fit it with during my school years. They were the chinese educated Bentongites, meaning they converse almost fully in Cantonese and are well-briefed in Mandarin. Thus, being the lone 'banana' amidst the crowd used to be unnerving and uncomfortable, to say the least. This led me to perfect my lone-wolf act during my teenage years, and garnering the moniker as a stuck-up dude as well.

But then, there I was, sitting and chatting amicably with the rest of them. Sure, we still have communication problems, but I've learnt more Cantonese since then and they've practiced a little more English. So, in a utter mix of Cantonese and English, we manage to carry on conversations pretty well. We chatted on alot of things, with them hounding me for a treat since I was flying soon, and a wide critique on recent movies, games and sports.

However, there were a number of silent intervals at which we were all looking for things to talk about. Perhaps it's just me, but I think that this unnatural periods were probably due to the lack of contact we maintain amongst each other when we are all separated and studying in our respective universities.

And I noticed as well that our interests probably diverged along the path to adulthood as well. Being so accustomed to discussing politics with my friends in INTI, I was a little surprised that the word politics was never even mentioned once throughout the two hours reunion. I guess the small-town kids really do have a different mode of thinking as compared to big-town kid :-).

Nevertheless, the reunion was still fun, and I'm looking forward to the next one when my friend comes back from U.K..

Before I take my leave for the day, a dedication to my friends:

What's more than a shadow,
That sticks by you from day to night,
And shares all your joy and your sorrow,
The wind that lets you take flight?

He is the helping hand,
She is the fellow fighter,
Your wounds they mend,
Your burden made lighter.

They are your friends.

Thanks for being a friend!

Words

It's been quite some time since I've last updated my blog - I'm lacking in both inspiration and motivation to at least come up with something new for everyone to read. What with me being such a self-professed ardent lover of the written word, I can't but not feel a little hypocritical especially when I kept pestering my friend to update hers :-).

A quick survey through all that I've posted reveals a very harsh truth - nobody likes my poems. That said, not many enjoy reading the fanfiction I posted either. Conclusion: People who visit my blog lack the subtle touch of artistry that is required to appreciate such fine works of art...or I plain suck in writing. I'm inclined to think the former, but like my friend once said, "If everyone feels the same way, then something must be wrong."

I would like to paint a picture whereby I can boldly declare that I've always enjoyed the written word. Sadly, that is as far from the truth as possible. I HATED reading when I was young. I was such a slow reader - my parents actually tried bribing me to read finish a Bobsey (spelling?) Twins adventure. They offered to buy me a bike if I managed to do so. I was six at that time, and a bike seemed like an adventure. I'm twenty this year, and I still can't ride a bike. Needless to say, the book was simply cast aside.

I could pretend and say that perhaps my folks just used the wrong bait to lure me to a reading habit. It wouldn't be much of a lie, I guess. Bobsey Twins was as dull as a school textbook. But then again, I just hated looking at words back then. I would beg my sisters to "play with me" sans all the possible innuendoes any sick people reading would imagine. Of course, they had to play with me - no one throws a bigger tantrum than me back then :-). So, as a result of my illiterate days, I only learnt how to read when I was in Standard 2, which was very bad. My brother had already started devouring encyclopedias when he was three. Sigh.

But in any case, my earliest memories of reading came from Reader's Digest. I enjoyed its humor while briefly browsing through its tedious articles. From then on, there was no turning back. I swept through the mini library I have at home even the 'forbidden' books my mother has - books written by my namesake, Sidney Sheldon, or the illustrious Jackie Collins. I was beginning to develop a fondness for the written word, and I soon start dreaming of producing my own works.

I could still remember my first foray into the realm of authoring a book. It was based on the fantasy series by Terry Brooks, entitled (I still cringed in abject horror as I recall) "The Druids Of Shannara". Anyone familiar with the Shannara series would know that it's not original nowadays, for the author himself has produced a novel with that title. But back then, I didn't know better, and I thought I was producing a masterpiece. Candor compels me to admit what I merely did was to write one paragraph before tearing it to pieces when my siblings laughed after reading it.

My intense interest of writing came to a head in Form 3, when I was studying for my PMR. It was somewhere then when the novelty of fanfiction was just beginning to set it, and I was swept into its addictive current as well. I would lock myself in my room, rocking to the music of "Accidentally In Love" by Counting Crows (it was really popular then), and draft out long pieces of fiction - all under the pretense of 'studying'. The fact that I only got 6 As for my PMR can probably prove how long I spent wasting my time.

My interest bloomed in Form 4 and 5, whereby I actually started dreaming of a writing career. I told my siblings that, and they enlisted the eldest to actually 'talk some sense into me'. I began writing furiously, even for class homework, to which my English teacher would just roll her eyes and probably chuck my papers somewhere.

Thus, when I came to INTI, I was first excited by the thought that since I'm with all other top students, surely there would be some who would love writing just as much as I did. There were, of course, but those were people I wasn't that close with. My friends were just so-so with reading and writing, and they had an insane vision of me being a good writer. Honestly speaking, I personally feel that there are tons of better writers out there, and I'm just an average one at the very most. I love writing, but I'm not that good at it. In fact, I've actually planned so many things to write, long epics which could take anyone's breath away, but all these projects just dwindle down into nothingness in the end.

A list of my weakness in writing amounts to something like this:
a) My vocabulary needs an expansion - I don't really describe things well enough
b) When writing fiction, I tend to get carried away and lose my plot
c) I'm probably lacking in brain cells (my mum attributes this to the computer), so I can't really remember phrases I love, making my product sound all weird and funny
d) I'm a perfectionist, so when I spot something I don't like, rather than just editing it out, I tend to delete the entire thing (I hope this explains for my lack of updates)

My resolution to these issues:
a) Intensely study all Reader's Digest Word Power articles
b) Copy out nice phrases
c) When reading, take note of how authors construct their description

These will probably take time, but I'm serious about writing. Wish me luck - cheers!