First Siwon Post

What a cutie blah blah blah! No seriously, Siwon is like Mary Poppins. He's practically perfect in every way. When I grow up I want to be like him. But not necessarily for the cosmetic reasons. Sure being extremely good-looking would be nice. Having the ability to dance and sing in such an amazing way would probably raise my self-esteem. And then there's the fact that he is excellent at everything he does. Nope. those are NOT the reasons why I want to be like Siwon. I want to be like him because he is a good person. The following is from a recent article in a Japanese magazine. I know it's long but it does a pretty good job of showcasing his charm, work ethic, and faith. A lot of it is kind of goofy, but read it for yourself, and no, I did not translate this:

 

Q :Kissing scenes in Oh My Lady was hot topic ..
SW : Opening scene in Episode 1, I had to kiss (actress’ name) and I was nervous because I had met her first time. But being a man, I could not show my anxiety.(laughed) Luckily there were fans present and I proved that I had no ‘other’ intentions towards her. Then that scene of kissing Chaerim noona in front of the refrigerator. Because I got to know her quite well, so I was not nervous..keke..it was work..(laughed)


Q : Have you thought of starting a family ?
SW: Have not considered when (at what age) should I marry. Nothing to do with age. When I have the confidence to be a good father, good husband, good son-in law, good son..then I would marry.


Q : In drama, you bared upper body?
SW: In the script..’chocolate abs’ was listed. So I had to exercise. Once filming started, there was no time to do it. Therefore the scenes of my ‘abs’ were shot beforehand, in early stage. Where I stripped off my shirt in 5th episode, I sacrificed sleep to exercise. In 2 weeks I lost 8 to 9 kilos. But losing weight too fast, I also gained back immediately.


Q : Shooting drama and SJ activities, very busy ?
SW: Straight filming for 48 days without a day of rest. Towards the end of drama, I was also working on the album, dance practise, album recording, MV and cover shoot of album. Slept for only one hour and then had to rehearse dancing. Two nights of MV making without sleep (laughed). At the same time, I had to prepare for the stage performances in the drama. And I contracted throat inflammation, but no time to go to hospital. After the drama ended, only then did I undergo surgery.


Q : Does Siwon the idol and ‘Min woo’ differ a lot?
SW: If my having a lover (girlfriend) is exposed by the media, I think I will reveal. Because I have the confidence to say “No need to hide my love”. I do not have to hide it because my fans understand me.


Q : Because you are not concerned about fans’ reactions ?
SW: I am not sure about fans of SJ, my own fans will understand me. Because they are all honest people. (laughed) In SJ, only my fans and Shindong’s fans..at airport or during activities, even our hyung managers do not block us. The fans do not surge (rush) towards us. It’s like some obstacle..they will keep a distance.


Q :Your impressions of Japanese fans ?
SW: Personally I pay a lot of attention to Japanese culture. Because I grew up reading manga and watching dramas. Japanese fans tend to hide their emotions, will not express unconditionally. In the beginning, I thought, “Not interested in me?” However, those stuff that even SJ members do not know about, the fans can remember long forgotten issues. Amazing. They like me for being so courteous. Touching on this topic, I heard there are not many Christians in Japan. Given a chance, I’d like to organise a Christian activity in Japan. During SJ’s Japanese concert, hyung manager even took me to a church.


Q : Your feelings on working with Chaerim?
SW: Chaerim noona is really the greatest actress. Always compensating for my incompetence. Truly fortunate.


Q : How did you get along with child actress Yubin who played Ye-eun ?
SW: Even just sitting still, she’s so adorable. And I like children (laughed) This time round in filming, what I gained the most was to understand the feelings of parents. As such, I wished to do something for Ye-eun. On Children’s Day..that day I gave Yu-bin a school bag and sunglasses as gifts.


Q : Ideal girl ?
SW : I like a girl whose pretty looks are ‘clear’. With ability to see probable crystal clear visions of other people, to see ahead and be understanding. To know how to compromise and also be good to parents. To make my parents happy is my biggest joy in life. Because there are my parents..then there is me. My father is my good role model.


Q : What was atmosphere during filming :
SW : I was thinking, “Will I be able to work with this kind of crew and director again ? Laughing at start and laughing at end of work. I was the youngest, acted ‘aegyo’ (cute) and made the atmosphere lively. Although the anxious tight schedules made us all tired, I made a funny face, cracked a joke to make everyone happy. In actual fact, I am not this type of person (laughed)


Q : As an actor, what roles would you like to challenge ?
SW: Not a policeman, prosecutor or a student..these are stereotyped roles. Would like those traumatic roles and such works.


Q : Any Siwon’s opinions or ideas in the acting?
SW : In the drama..that scene, after deciding to abandon Ye-un, Min Woo returned to his room and was heavily troubled. I asked myself, “How to express (convey) Min Woo’s inner turmoil so that viewers could understand him ? I thought of using Ye-un’s doll to help out.However, Min Woo’s personality was such that he could not possibly place Ye-eun’s doll, clothes and school bag in his room. And then there was this taped recording of Ye-eun’s performance in the kindagarten. Used this to convey Min Woo’s troubled mind.


Q : First lead role..lots of attention, any pressure ?
SW: Pressure..huge pressure. It was extreme important period of time for SJ..and I was only one to return to drama acting, tremendous pressure for me. Luckily netizens, viewers and the press media came to watch..it was fortunate.


Magazine scans credit: HappyTalk WWW.CHOISIWON.COM
Translation credits:
Translated into Chinese from Japanese by hanahuahwa @Baidu.choisiwon
Translated from Chinese to English by Wendy at Soompi.com
If taking out, please keep credits intact. Do not add your own.

Sacrificed sleep to exercise? Are you kidding me? I have sacrificed sleep for many things but exercise is not one of them.

Worked 48 days straight without a day of rest? Besides nursing babies and changing their diapers I don't think I've ever done any kind of work for more than 5 days straight.

Star in a TV show, record an album, shoot music videos, intense dance practice, limited sleep, AND sick  enough to require surgery all at the same time? Heck, at my house, multi-tasking is cause for some serious freak outs and a mild cold will get you out of school for nearly a week.

Wants to bring Christianity to an entire country? I'm still working on getting up the courage to send him the Book of Mormon. I even have it sitting out where I can see it so I won't forget.

Things to do this week:
1- Really get up and exercise at 6am, no excuses
2- Clean my house every day, for 48 days
3- Keep it up even when life gets busy or I get sick
4- Send a copy of the Book of Mormon to Siwon
5- Start on those applications for grad school

It's really not that long of a list. I can do it. I can really do it. I hope.

Job Security

Leetuk is the oldest member of Super Junior and will, therefore, be the next to fulfill his duty to his country by serving in the army.  In recent months he has expressed concern that when he returns to Super Junior after 2 years of service that the fans will have either forgotten him or won't like him so much. I really don't think he has anything to worry about since Super Junior fans tend to be at least slightly fanatic (like me, for example). Anyway, he has mentioned that if  the Super Junior thing doesn't work out for him then he will do trot music.

Trot music must be why they have 84 year-old groupies. I'm sure my great-grandmother would have enjoyed watching trot entertainers on the Lawerence Welk show if they had been around then. I even think my in-laws would like them after they got over the fact that they sing in a different language. Apparently this must be Leetuk's idea of job security:


Credit: HANrel + Yangallrise.blogspot.com
TAKE OUT WITH FULL CREDIT ONLY
I love it! It makes me giggle. Leetuk, I will be a fan of whatever you sing. But can this really be the same guys that made this video?



Oh, it is. Aren't they just amazing? The singing, the dancing. Sigh. Now if I could only do the Macarena half as well as they danced in the trot song I would be happy.

But back to the theme of job security. My time will soon be up as stay-at-home mom. My kids are growing up, and they soon won't need me around so much. And really, I need to get a life. It's scary thinking about my future. I mean, didn't I already do this in college? Ugh! For the past few years I've been thinking about this topic and let me tell you, you really CAN think something to death. The decision has to be made, and I may as well make it now. Time to go back to school and get my master's degree in social work. There! I said it. I'd better get busy on those applications.

If You Give Me a Korean Language Program...

If you give me a Korean language program then I will figure out how to install it on my own. If I install it on my own, then I will gain confidence in my technical abilities. If I gain confidence in my technical abilities, then I will believe that I can start a blog. If I start a blog, I will learn to post pictures and videos on it. Since I am now spending so much time on the computer learning Korean, blogging, and enjoying all manner of Super Junior stuff I will probably have an achy back since my chair is no good. In order to try out a different chair I will have to clean my room. If I clean my room then I will have to vacuum it. When  I go to dump out the vacuum container, there will be a huge cloud of dust that will cover every surface in the kitchen. After cleaning up the kitchen, I will move a different chair into my room. When I am finally able to try out the different chair I will discover that what we have won't work because the desk is too high and the chair is uncomfortable. Since the whole computer set-up is somewhat lacking ( no room for the key board and mouse, desk too high, chair too low, no speakers to listen with, uncomfortable head phones, ad nauseum), then I will plead  with Dude-man for some enhancements. When I persuade him to take me to the computer wonderland super store to buy some speakers and a slidey-outy thing for the key board, I will spy some comfy desk chairs. After trying out all the chairs, I will decide that I MUST have the most expensive one in that store. Since Dude-man will immediately say no to my choice we will "agree" to a certain price. When no chair can be found to make us both happy, negotiations will begin. Since Dude-man is being stubborn, I will decide to try my feminine ways on him. When that doesn't work I will try pleading and crying.When pleading and crying won't soften Dude-man's heart, I will resort to emotional blackmail. Since even that won't work (his heart can be very stony), then I will get it anyway. Clutching the ticket in my hand, I will march proudly to the cashier to purchase the chair of wonderfulness only to be informed that the chair is sold out. After waiting many minutes I will be told that It can be found at a nearby store. Dude-man and I will then head to said store without any clear idea of it's exact location. When we do finally arrive at the store my prized chair will be waiting and we will be able to purchase it with much speediness. And THAT, my dear friends, is the story of how I can now use my computer in comfort and with ease.

Why I LOVE Heechul

This is Heechul-

I love Heechul.
He is very silly.

He has 2 cute cats and here is a video of one of them-  http://www.twitvid.com/OQUWX
He likes to get people wet-  http://www.twitvid.com/VYMXH 

He would make a beautiful woman:

Even when he's not trying to look girly he does-

I love this music video-

Even when he doesn't feel much like dancing or singing, he does even if you can plainly tell he's not enjoying himself very much, like in this one where he really doesn't care for the dancing part of the whole deal-


And here's what I learn from all of this:
1- It's good to be silly, it makes people happy
2- Cats are wonderful pets and I'm glad we have 3
3- Only pour water on people who won't freak out, and have your video camera handy
4- Make the most of your looks, in whatever form that takes
5- Do what you love
6- When you don't feel like doing what you love then do it anyway

Thanks, Heechul, you always make me laugh, and that makes me happy, which makes me love you.

Happy Chuseok!

Today is Chuseok, Korean Thanksgiving. I didn't realize that this was the actual day until this evening. In Korea, it is a 3 day national holiday where everyone goes to their hometown, eats delicious food, visits their ancestors' graves, leaves offerings thanking their ancestors for a good harvest, and plays games with their families.

I love celebrations! Visiting my hometown on the spur of the moment is out of the question since it is over 1,000 miles away. No ancestors to visit since they are all buried far away or cremated. Not visiting any graves, so I guess I won't be leaving any thanks offerings. So that leaves eating delicious food and playing games. Lucky me, it just so happens that we had everything we needed to make some delicious Korean food. And I didn't even plan it that way. As for playing games, we watched Prosecutor Princess (an awesome, hilarious Korean romantic comedy that you should definitely check out) and loved every minute of our first (very Americanized) Chuseok.

Our dinner:

Dakgogi Bokkum - Chicken with fresh cabbage. My version is not traditional since I used red cabbage instead of green, but it was still delicious!

And here is how Ryeowook celebrated Chuseok:

He went to his home town.

And visited his family. They are so cute.

Later, he visited an ancestor's grave and left a thanksgiving offering.  I think this is touching and I'm grateful he would share such a private moment.

Later, he played games with the family. Doesn't that look like Monopoly? I love Monopoly!

Thanks to Super Junior's Ryeowook, I have a better idea of how to celebrate this lovely holiday. Next year we will visit family, have a korean feast, and play some games. Monopoly anyone?

Take that Dudeman!

Over a romantic dinner, Dude-man asked me (jokingly, of course) if was going to be a one-time blogger. Nice! So in your face, Dude-man, I'm now a two-time blogger! So there!

Seeing as how today is Sunday, I think it is appropriate to have a spiritual theme. During church, I often find myself praying earnestly for individual members of Super Junior. For example, today I prayed for Sungmin to not feel like he needs to change himself in order to change his image, and for Donghae to know that someday his family can be together forever. Then I started to think about my own children and how I don't pray for them very often. As I pondered this I realized that as a parent I rely too much on myself to raise good kids and not enough on the Lord to help me raise good kids. Is it pride? A lack of faith? What's going on here?

The answer is obvious, I am with my children and have influence over them. I can hug them, console them, advise them, and chastise them. I can do none of these things with my suju boys. And so I must rely solely on faith that my prayers for them will have some kind of effect on their lives. However, even though I have direct influence on my children none of the things that I do for them can really have an effect unless they choose it. Therefore, I should earnestly pray for my children because I have faith that Heavenly Father can help them even more that I can to make good choices.

My First Post

Yup, that's me, pretty unoriginal. Anyway, I made a deal with my husband, Dude-man, that in exchange for allowing me to buy a really expensive language program so that I can learn Korean I would give up a few things (3) for one year. Like buying magazines. I LOVE magazines!!! I have some that are over 10 years old and I cry (literally) when Dude-man tries to throw them away. Sigh.

Second, no scrap-booking supplies for a year. I honestly have a shrine devoted to my collection of scrap-booking stuff. However, I am not really a scrap-booker since I don't really have pictures in a format that can be enjoyed by anyone (including me). This also means that I can't buy any books or take any classes related to this subject for a year.

Third, no pop for a YEAR. What was I thinking when I agreed to that one? Life without pop is too awful to contemplate.Honestly, what's the harm? And it doesn't really cost that much either. Oh well, I agreed to it so now I must live with it.

Now for the consequence- if I become weak and buy a magazine, or a scrap of scrapbook paper, or have a taste of pop before September 14, 2011 then I have to get a job to pay for my Korean language program.

But giving up this stuff is so worth it. I love many Korean things like dramas, movies, food, fashion, culture, and last, but not least, SUPER JUNIOR. So this is the start of my year of going Korean and Super Junior will be my guide. Hence the name, What Would Super Junior Do?