The Liebster Award!

Woot! Getting this nomination from several sources means a world of awesomeness to me! Thank you Between Wor(L)ds and Lore in Stone Cities! If there is anything I truly love about blogging, it is the blogging community and the friendships (can I say we’re friends?) we have with one another. In that sense, it’s more rewarding than counting stats and pages views, just to know that one or two or more like-minded people and drama lovers care enough to reach out. For that record, every one of you reading this post gets my huge thanks! You’re the best! 

The rules for receiving this award:

1. List 11 random facts about yourself.
2. Answer the questions designated by the blogger (s) who nominated you.
3. Place YOUR nominations for the Liebster Award! Nominate five (or more) other bloggers that have less than 200 followers. Make sure to notify them via comment/email, etc.
4. Make up a set of questions for those nominated bloggers to answer.
5. Display the Liebster award badge on your blog!

Read more for my 11 facts, Questions and Answers!

11 random facts about me:

1. I’m a homebody who’d rather stay indoors on or near a computer, which is probably why the life of a drama watcher and Kpoper appeals to me so much. To be up to date, I have to be near my computer. Duh! 

2. I double majored in History and German Studies in college, all with the intention of doing continuous education. Then I got lazy and became a housewife instead. I have no regrets. I may not use either degree in my current field of work, but I love what I studied, and that part will never go to waste. 

3. I have the best husband in the world. We’ll be married 4 years in a couple weeks. He watches drama with me, and is about as knowledgeable about Kpop as I am. Sometimes he even researches stuff on his own and brings ME new groups to listen to.  

4. I taught myself how to read Korean, or Hangul. I bought some grammar books too, but after a couple of chapters my eyes started to fade. This summer… I will revive my self-studies! I will!  

5. I have a map of Skyrim pinned to the wall above my desk. And some posters of David Tennant as the Doctor in the other room, next to a super large Dalek picture.

Rose and the Doctor

6. I like basketball. It’s the only form of sports I will joyfully watch. Go San Antonio Spurs! Exceptions: soccer/football during the World Cup – when I wholeheartedly support both the U.S. and Germany, and hope they don’t have to play against each other.  

7. My first experience with an online fandom was through Harry Potter. I even ‘attended’ Hogwarts Online, and studied awesome courses like alchemy and handwriting analysis. Those were the days…  

8. I love cats. And most of my animals in my family were/are named after Harry Potter characters. Ex: Hedwig, Pigwidgeon, Flitwick, Fred, Padfoot. I also have an outside cat now that I imaginatively named Outside Cat or, The Starving One.  

9. In honor of my newest obsessions, I really want to start naming animals in Korean. Still trying to persuade my husband, but I think my next cat should be named Taeil, after my favorite vocalist in Block B. Imagine explaining THAT particular spelling to the vet.  

10. I used to watch old Hollywood movies like an obsession. Bette Davis is still my favorite actress to date. I also wanted to be Ginger Rogers so that I could dance with Fred Astaire, and wear gorgeous gowns that shed feathers all over the place.

The ever classy Fred and Ginger

11. Ending on odd numbers freaks me out. 

Questions from Between Wor(L)ds:

What has been the hardest challenge of your blogging career? (e.g. getting people to comment, making headers, placing pictures side by side, etc)

Getting myself to actually start the blog. I used to just lurk around the internet, confident that I didn’t need to actually say any of what I was thinking about dramas in general. Now, it’s making myself write, because inevitably I have a million posts I want to write, but then I get lazy and don’t bother. 

"When life gives you lemons..." Then what are you going to do with them? (you are free to be as imaginative as you like)

“When life gives you lemons…. Don’t make lemonade! Make life take the lemons back! Get mad! I don’t want your damn lemons! What am I supposed to do with these? Demand to see life’s manager! Make life rue the day it thought it could give [Rosie] lemons! Do you know who I am? I’m the [girl] who’s going to burn your house down! With the lemons!”  

Portal 2 - My favorite game I've never played

Okay okay, so that’s my favorite quote from Portal 2 – a video game I never played myself, because logic games and me don’t work well together. I just like seeing other people banging their head against the wall to figure out all the puzzles. :D And I love the story. 

What is your favourite and least favourite Asian drama cliche?

Favorite clichés are probably the prelude to the piggy-back ride – The ride itself never looks all that romantic, especially when the girl is drunk and about to vomit down some poor guy’s back, and her legs are dangling awkwardly, but when a hot guy bends down in chivalry/submission? I get weak-kneed. 
Least favorite is almost always the 2nd lead girl returning home after 5 years from America, ready to pick up with the main lead like it was just yesterday. Seriously, girl? Just stay in America and get your medical degree already. 

Which Korean variety show would you like to participate in? 

I don’t watch too many variety shows exclusively. I also am the exact opposite of competitive, and my physical condition kind of sucks. But all things differently in this world, I think it would be awesome to be a cameraman in Running Man, and then I could hole up with my favorite celebs in some dark cozy corner under a stairwell and, well… just be cozy. 

Or hang out with the giraffe-in-hiding Kwang Soo

If you had the chance to personally slap (or punch) one drama character, then who from which drama would it be and why? 

Tae Hyun Sook, the mom from Can You Hear My Heart. Probably because as a cliché, evil Kdrama mom-in-law, I halfway understood where she was coming from, but then she’d ruin it being uselessly cruel to the boys who considered her a mother.

Questions from Lore in Stone Cities:

Hypothetically would you ever appear on the variety show We Got Married? If so, with whom (recalling the hypothetical-ness of this question)?

I would definitely hypothetically appear on the show! I think I’d like to marry Infinite’s Sunggyu. I also think we’d probably have no chemistry, and I’d just want to pinch his cheeks all the time, and give big snuggly hugs, and then he’d whine and complain, call me noona and go hide in a corner. While I fangirled on public television.

The snuggly one

What Korean Drama second lead did you cheer for (and want to end up with the girl)?

Park Jun Se (played by Bae Soo Bin) in Shining Inheritance. Maybe I’m showing my colors here officially, but I am not a huge Lee Seung Gi fan, and at the time of watching this drama, I hated him, and his character. And Bae Soo Bin was pathetically adorable, and handsome, and I soo wanted him to get the girl. 

If you could travel one place in the world for a two week vacation where would it be and why?

Aside from visiting Korea someday (where I’d probably eat my weight in deokkbeokki and not see a single famous celebrity), I still want to visit Germany and put my degree to some use. Wander around smaller towns, just not the usual tourist traps, and pretend to understand everything people spoke to me. 

My favorite television show of all time is ___ because….

Upstairs, Downstairs

Upstairs, Downstairs, the original 70s British TV show (not the remake). Because I almost think it’s a perfect TV show (the last season not completely), incorporating so many fabulous characters: Rose, Sarah, Hudson, Mr. Bellamy, James and Hazel Bellamy, Edward, and Mrs. Bridges. I also love how it covered so many decades of English history through story and character development, and the season during World War I was one of the most inspiring and gripping seasons I’ve ever seen.  

Second all-time favorite (because I’m cheating here) is Doctor Who, the first 4 seasons from Eccleston to Tennant. 

I was happiest in my life when_____

I got married to my best friend. :)

My wedding bouquet

Nominees for the Next Liebster Award:

(Sorry if any of you received this before – the Dramablog world is indeed small!) 

• Adverse Affects
• The Crazy Ahjummas
• Crazy for Kdrama
• Twinklelie
• You Don’t Know Me/Blogphillic

(P.S. Another Liebster Award Winner who basically enticed me out of my non-blogging shell: Outside Seoul, you’re the best!)

Here are my questions:

(Anybody is welcome to answer them too!)

1. What is your favorite Asian drama, that you know isn’t really all that good, but it doesn’t even matter?
2. What drama character would you like to be best friends with (not romantically attached to)?
3. Name a drama character that you most relate to (not who you wish you could be).
4. What is your favorite book that may have also had a huge impact on your life besides entertainment?
5. What is your favorite non-Asian movie that also had an impact on your life?