Watch What You Say

I sometimes have trouble with the English language. My thoughts can come too quickly and end up in a garbled mess like this:

While playing with my new baby at a mountain lake a woman older than me comes up to me and we begin talking.

Lady - How old is your baby?

Me - She's three months old.

Lady - She's cute. How many children do you have?

Me - I have two. Do you have any grandchildren?

Lady - Oh, I have x number of grandchildren and x number of great-grandchildren. (This was 19 years ago and I don't remember the exact numbers)

Me - Wow! You don't look YOUNG enough to have great- grandchildren!

At which point the lady looked at me in amazement and walked away. It took me at least two minutes before I realized that my intended compliment had really been a put down. I have since wondered how young a person should look before they are a great-grandmother.

Here is another gem:

Me - I sat between my mom and another man on the plane.

Really? My mom is a man? This is news to me. (But that would explain some things...)

Another problem with language in general is putting things into proper context. This is a conversation that I was having with my sister-in-law when my son thought he'd help the conversation along:

Me - My mom blah, blah, blah ...

Sister-in-law - How is she doing?

Son - Oh she's alright but she still rubs her bum on everything. (referring to our cat).

Erm...

And if I didn't already have problems with getting my English sentences straight, now I'm adding Korean to the mix. Korean sentence structure is different than English. In Korean a basic sentence goes subject-object-verb (English is subject-verb-object). I can understand that. The trouble comes when trying to say something a little more complicated. Like this - "I gray sweater purple sweater rather than more like." (The exact translation from my most recent lesson.) What the what? Do I like the gray sweater? Maybe it's the purple one? I don't know! And context doesn't help much either. I feel a cramp in my brain coming on as I try to puzzle this out.

I can just imagine a conversation in my future -

Dude-Man - Should I wear this tie with cats or the one with constellations?

Me - You cats tie constellation tie rather than should wear. You look too young, another man rubs her bum on everything.

For Liz

My two oldest daughters are friends with Liz. Liz is awesome because she introduced them to Super Junior which is how I became a Super Junior fanatic. She will always have a special place in my heart because of that.

Liz loves Eunhyuk and I can understand why. He is funny, cute, a great dancer and singer, blah, blah, blah. He is charming beyond belief. Sweet, awesome, you get the picture . Today I found this video clip of him singing "It Has To Be You", live on the radio. It is adorable -



Did you notice how nervous he was in the beginning? And through the song he kept getting embarrassed. I think it's so cute.  Liz, I hope you like it.

Leeteuk, you one silly boy!

The other morning when I looked at twitter I saw this picture of Leeteuk -

There he is being all sexy and manly and using a yellow ducky phone to take this picture. I love it!

And now here is Sungmin showing his pink things and explaining why he has so many pink things -
sgentertainmentcom | October 20, 2008

I think one of the reasons I feel so passionately about the Super Junior boys is because they are not afraid to be who they are. They wear awesome clothes and strange ones. They are all silly and to some degree nerdy. Most of them cry easily and don't seem embarrassed about it.   They are emotional about their fans, their families, and each other. Maybe it is the Korean culture or maybe it is just how they are. I love them for it.

Recently I made some purchases at a craft fair and I decided to let my choices be based on what I really like instead of what I should like. And so I bought these -

In general, all of my earrings are sparkly and usually silver so these colorful earrings are a pretty big step for me. The hair clips are totally impractical for my hair. Just look at them! The 2 small ones are clearly meant for a little girl. But I don't care. I think they are fabulous and I will wear them anyway.

Then I saw these -

The picture doesn't do them justice. These are freaking awesome shoes and are the opposite in every way possible of the type of shoes I typically buy. First there's the color, RED! All of my shoes are either black, brown, or white. Second, They are HIGH heels, not the sensible type at all. Third, they call attention to themselves, which I generally try to avoid at all costs. All in all, they are completely out of my comfort zone and I love them.

When I first showed the shoes to my sister she had a lukewarm reaction to them. My 3 year old nephew thought they were perfect for me and so I bought them on his advice. When Dude-Man saw them he predicted that there would be some kind of accident in my future. And my oldest daughter just shook her head and rolled her eyes at me. Her prediction was that I would never wear them outside the house.

Ha! I wore them to church last Sunday and got complements on them too. I will have to practice walking in them because I'm rather wobbly when I walk. I only lost my balance once at church so I call it a success.

Four months ago I would have looked longingly at these things and pass them by, thinking that they just don't fit my "image". Whatever! Super Junior has opened my eyes to embrace things that just make me happy. I think I'm a more lighthearted person because of that. Thanks guys!

How Can One Pair of Ears Be So Wrong?

Several of the Super Junior boys have their ears pierced and so do I. Normally, I don't much care for guys wearing earrings. But when these guys do it is usually adorable and I would like to be adorable. So I have started buying cute earrings in an effort to up my adorableness factor. Look at how adorable they are -

The first time my ears were pierced I was 3. Since my mom is a nurse, it was decided that it would be a good idea to have a doctor do it at the hospital where she worked. This was fine in theory, but doctors know nothing about piercing ears. I was sent home with thread loops in my ears and told to ease them through my earlobes for x number of days and, voila! I could wear earrings.

Things did not go as planned. The holes almost immediately closed up with that thread just dangling there. "Easing" it through my ears? That's a joke! And my ears got infected. This 3 year old was not a fan of the whole earring idea. Fortunately my mom had the sense to cut that evil thread and yank it out of my ear lobes. Everything healed up very nicely after that.

Then I turned 5. No self-respecting Indian woman has unpierced ears so my mom thought it was time to give it another go. She had learned from the last attempt to put in some earrings in immediately following the piercing.

She settled me snugly on her lap and proceeded to pinch one ear to "deaden the pain" (this does not work). 
Once my ear was sufficiently "numbed" she used a hypodermic needle (one of those long ones) to pierce my ear.It was unpleasant. Then she put in an earring she had gotten in India and I'm telling you those posts are thick! And the backs have to be screwed on. Ouch! And then the whole procedure was followed on the other ear. Happy Birthday!

Fast forward 40 years. Now that I have become a Super Junior fan I'm trying to be more aware of my appearance. I wear makeup more often. I'm working at losing weight. I pay more attention to my clothes. And I'm wearing earrings more often.

 Dude-man gave me a pair of lovely pearl earrings for my birthday and I wear those a lot. Then I noticed the cute earrings the Super Junior boys wear and I thought I would follow their example. I bought some smallish hoop earrings and noticed that they didn't hang the same way in each ear. At first I thought it as because I had purchased cheap earrings. I decided to fix it by bending one of the posts until it hung the same way as the other ear. I had to bend it nearly 45 degrees and almost snapped off the post. Hmmm... Maybe it was my ear and not the earring? This was made clear when my daughter tried on another pair of earrings which looked perfectly fine on her and ridiculous on me. Sigh.

 So I decided to go a different route and try some really cute earrings that are a little bigger than I usually wear. Then I noticed it, no matter how tightly I had those earrings in, one of them always looked as if it was about to fall out. Once again I thought it must be the earrings and not me. Oh, it was me alright. Sigh.

 Here's what I think happened: Back on that fateful fifth birthday my mom messed it up. On my right ear she angled the needle towards my head thereby making any hoop earring lopsided. On my left ear she angled the needle upwards so that the earring looks like it will fall out. And why didn't I notice it for 40 years? Because I didn't ever wear hoop earrings before and because I never paid attention to my ears either. And now that I've noticed it I've decided I can't live this way. It's just too shameful.

I looked myself in the mirror and proclaimed, "I will not let crooked ear piercings keep me from being the cute girl I want to be! NO! I will  rise from this obstacle a better woman, and I shall have my ears pierced again!"


And so I did.

And that's the story of how I FINALLY got my ear professionally pierced. (And they look really cute too!)

Meet the Boys Part 1

To those of you who already know who the Super Junior boys are, you will probably want to skip this. To those of you who don't care who they are , you will definitely want to skip this. But for those of you who a little curious and wonder who the heck I'm talking about, this one is for you.

• Leeteuk

He is the leader of the group by virtue of being the oldest. In some ways he is like a mother hen to the other guys. He works really hard to get everything right and if there are any problems with a performance he will apoplogize profusely even if he isn't the one to mess up. He is really funny and has one of those laughs that can make other people laugh just because they heard it. Listen - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzLmd28TCQ0. He is very kind to the fans and actually considered touching my hand at the SM Town concert that I recently attended, but didn't because I was in too precarious of a position. Really.

In 2007 he was in a roll-over accident with several members of the group and two managers. He had glass shards embedded in his back and face. More that 170 stitches were required.
In addition to being a member of Super Junior, he is part of two different subgroups: Super Junior-T and Super Junior Happy; he is a DJ for the very popular Kiss the Radio show; an MC for Strong Heart weekly variety show; and  a model.

• Heechul

 The most important thing I think anyone should know is that Heechul shares his birthday with ME! Heechul is the second oldest member of the group and probably the one with the most attitude. He loves to be in the spotlight and always has something to say. In 2006 he was in a bad car accident and broke his left leg in five places including his femur, knee, and ankle. He came back to the group as soon as the doctors would let him. Previous to the accident, he was very active in the dancing part of the videos. After the accident, his part in the choreography has been more limited  and you can actually see him come in to participate just briefly in many of their music videos. He is kind of the "bad boy" of the group and Siwon tries to save his soul by inviting him to church every week. Critics say he doesn't sing well and that he doesn't dance so great either. I say, he sings great when he wants to and cut the guy some slack about the dancing. I think it really shows the unity of the group by the way they make up for Heechul's physical problems while letting him shine in his own way.

Heechul has been  in several TV shows and my favorite is "Bad Family". He is a DJ for Young Street, a model, and a member of Super Junior Trot.

• Hangeng  

Hangeng is the only Chinese member of the group. I should say former member because he recently sued SM Entertainment to be released form his contract. It's a long story  but suffice it to say, he felt that the management team was taking unfair advantage of the group. The other members do support his claims that they are not financially compensated as much as you might think. The other members miss him and will not replace him in the group.

He worked hard to learn Korean and was the group's interpreter in China. He has a black belt in Chinese martial arts while also being very talented in ballet.  He was one of the groups four main dancers until he left the group. He was the leader of the sub-group Super Junior M and the star of their most famous music video, "Super Girl".And here it is (he is the "nerd") - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pit7RS4mPI0
He now has a solo career in China and his Super Junior fans are still loyal to him.

• Yesung

As one of the members of the subgroup KRY, you might think that Yesung would enjoy great popularity. But because of his quiet personality he can often be forgotten and he is not as popular as he would like to be. This is unfortunate because he is really a good singer. He is currently playing the part of Sir Galahad in Spamalot.
Listen for yourself - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FButhkX6kPo

•  Kangin

Recently Kangin entered the military for his required two years of service. He got in trouble one too many times (which was exactly twice) so SM Entertainment decided it was time for him to serve his country. He did not participate in the last album, Bonamana. However, two other members of the group wrote a song specifically for him and so he has one song on the repackaged version. 

Kangin is a joker and very talkative. He is really strong  but doesn't seem to know his own strength, this can make him seem like a bully sometimes. He probably has the worst temper in the group and that also makes him seem like a bully. But despite his gruffness, he is really like a big teddy bear. Look at this compilation video of him with a bunch of cute kids -http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EI4krtuGros

• Shindong

The first time I saw a Super Junior Video I thought, "Who is that kid and how did he get to be part of this group?" I was sooo rude! Shindong does not have the build that the rest of the boys do. He is chubby and that fact is accentuated by being surrounded by so many lean, muscular guys. Regardless, he is an amazing dancer and brings a really good sense of humor to the group. He helps with the group's choreography and even did the stage direction for their current concert - Super Show 3. He is one of the group's main rappers. He is a DJ for the Stop the Boring Time radio show (isn't that a great name?). He is an MC for the Strong Heart variety show where he does many funny routines with Leeteuk and Eunhyuk.

•  Sungmin

If you look up the word "adorable" there should be a picture of Sungmin. He is adorable on a cellular level. Recently he has tried to "beef up" his image by getting a tattoo. He is still adorable. He has also stopped wearing pink which is sad because he looks really good in pink. He is very kind, thoughtful and really sensitive. The list could go on and on. Check out this video of him preparing a meal for Shindong. I know it's long but it showcases his personality so perfectly http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMsOmvIt8CY

 Sungmin is a great dancer and singer. He has been in a couple of musicals and will be in the KBS drama, "President", which will begin airing on December 8th, 2010. He is in the two sub-groups, Super Junior-T and Super Junior Happy and he is also excellent at Chinese martial arts.

And that's all for now.

Happy Anniversary Super Junior!

Today is the fifth anniversary of Super Junior. Here is a little video retrospective starting with their first performance -




From the Second Album -




 From the very silly movie,"Attack on the Pinup Boys" -



And now Sorry, Sorry -



And finally Bonamana -




They have worked so hard and over come so many difficulties in this time and yet, they remain positive and hopeful. I am proud to be a fan.

If You Have to Do the Dishes...

There is a poem by Shel Silversteen and it goes like this -

HOW NOT TO HAVE TO DRY THE DISHES
If you have to dry the dishes
(Such an awful,boring chore)
If you have to dry the dishes
('Stead of going to the store)
If you have to dry the dishes
And you drop one on the floor-
Maybe they won't let you
Dry the dishes anymore.

(from A Light in the Attic)

I do not recommend this tactic to anyone, especially my children. (You will be made to clean up the mess and possibly buy me some new dishes if it gets out of hand! You have been warned!) And in this time of dishwashers there is really no reason to rebel against drying the dishes. No, this is the time to rebel against the whole process in general. At least that's what seems to be going on in my house. I'd like to say it's a new trend, but it's not. In fact, my poor leadership skills have ended our family in this mess. I hang my head in shame.

I recently claimed ownership for poor kitchen-keeping ways and I have become the primary dish-doer.  That doesn't mean the family is off the hook but the buck stops with me. Unfortunately, this does not translate to my liking to have to do the chore. Most days I resent it. But I found a little secret - a fun mini-album by Super Junior Happy called Cooking? Cooking! When I listen to it I get all happy inside and I start dancing around the kitchen while putting away the dishes. Before I know it, the dishes are done, the garbage is out, and the floor is swept!

And now for your viewing/listening pleasure I present to you some videos from that album
What are you waiting for? Turn on a video and go clean something!






Credits: 2woon.com (video) + ccherjr@youtube (editing)

Now wasn't that fun? I hope you at least liked the videos and actually got something done. If you did, post it in the comments. And if you didn't do anything but liked the videos, let me know that too.

I'm Gonna Kill Me a Duck!!!

We have a duck. We used to have 2 ducks. Recently, we had to put one to sleep because she had a horrible wound with a massive infection complete with maggots. It was very sad and very gross. Her name was Scuba Duck and we miss her. Spitzlander is her sister and she misses Scuba a lot. Today she must miss her immensely. I know this because she will not shut up!!!

Early this morning she was putting up a racket in her house. But that's ok because when she is in there no one can hear her except me. Since I let her out this morning and she has been quacking. And quacking. AND QUACKING!

I left the house for a while and enjoyed the sounds of everything that is not quacking. But when I returned, she was still quacking. I tried to practice Korean, but every time I spoke she would quack. I took a nap. Sort of. It was punctuated by her quacks. They are not gentle. They are not soothing. They sound like this -

Wasn't that pleasant? Har!!!

I am the one who purchased the ducks. I did not choose to have ducks, but I did buy them. Since day one they thought I was their mom. They would come to my bedroom window to be closer to me. When I would go outside they would follow me around. If I decided to work in the garden they had to come and "help". Any place I would choose to sit, they would be right there. They would even snuggle with me-

Isn't that cute?

Here, this is when they were really cute   Awww....

Well, now I just have a big, sad duck. And it really sucks.

PS Since Spitzlander can't fly but Eunhyuk can, here is a picture of him flying and being happy and NOT QUACKING! -

A Shout Out to Thailand

Since starting this blog I've wondered about how people find blogs. My own, very limited, experience is that you start off following the blog of a family member. That person follows other people's blogs and somewhere along the way you happen onto some blog of a random person that appeals to you. And so I told my family members that I have a blog and I have strong-armed them into reading it. One family member ( who shall remain nameless) is required to comment on every post I make. She requires that I comment on all of her posts and, being the good family member that I am, I have diligently commented on every post she has made. But she is a SLACKER and has not kept up her end of the deal. (You know who you are and you should feel ashamed!)

Another way to have new people read your blog is to hope that they will click on that "next blog" button that appears at the top of most blogs. It's random, but hey, whatever works. A third way to get strangers to look at your blog is to post a video and inadvertently not give"proper credit". I was so excited the day someone from Canada looked at my blog until I realized they did some voodoo magic and took away some of the videos that I had posted. Bummer! You Canadians that police YouTube, couldn't you have just told me what I did wrong ? I promise I would have fixed it right away. I shake my pathetic fist at you!

The fourth way to get someone to look at your blog is to set up a profile with your interests listed. I recently did this. I think it was on Monday. Since then more people have look at my blog and this makes me very happy. But I don't know why. Anyway, I like it. I hope more people keep looking at it and that some of them actually like my blog and will COMMENT, because I really like comments.


My big blog joy for the week came on Sunday when I realized that some people in Thailand had looked at my blog. I hadn't posted anything for a while and was surprised to see that I had 7 views from Thailand. One view could mean that someone stumbled upon it, but 7? No, that was definitely not a mistake or a happy coincidence, it was on PURPOSE! Oh joy! Well, they haven't been back. But I was international for a moment, and that makes me happy. Thank you Thailand people for having a look.

Shake Your Bootie

During the last week, I spent an average of 8 hours everyday learning Korean. This meant practicing with the Rosetta Stone program and writing down every exercise that I did. This was tedious and hard work. I started  the program over from the beginning because there were some things that I was just not getting. Also, half way into one the later lessons it was revealed that I would have to type what I heard with out having a written example to copy. RUDE!


So back to the beginning I went, and this time around I understood everything so much better. Go me! My wrist started to hurt from clutching my notebook while writing. My fingers went numb from too much writing. My shoulder started to hurt from being twisted in a skeewompous way while writing for hours on end. Then my back started aching and I just knew that something must be done.


Leeteuk, Eunhyuk, Shindong, and Heechul are all currently DJs. Sungmin and Kangin both spent some time DJ-ing. These are sit down jobs. Or at least I thought they were. Good thing they are in Korea and every moment of their lives seem to be recorded so that I could see this-





And this-




And this-

Contains Content From: SM Entertainment

From these three examples I have decided that even if you've got a sit -down kind of life, sometimes you've gotta get up and dance. Or exercise. Or clean your house. Or work in the yard. Or... You get the idea. So for every 2 hours I'm at the computer I've gotta get up and shake my bootie for at least 20 minutes. Fun! FUn! FUN! And you can bet that somewhere in the house there will be Super Junior songs blasting a way. Because that's just how I roll.

PS Since U is such an awesome song here is the video of it from SUPER SHOW 2 which you can now buy from yesasia and other vendor's. (Yes, Dude-Man I did just buy this one).

Random Thoughts

Since I became a Super Junior fan some random things have happened in my life.

* I started to make my bed everyday. I'm not sure that the boys make their beds everyday, but I know that Koreans are very clean in general. Usually I make my bed as soon as I get up, except this once: My youngest daughter couldn't sleep so Dude-Man and I let her get in bed with us. Of course she sleeps later than I do so I didn't make the bed right away. The day got going and I didn't get around to making the bed, until.... The cat was throwing up on my bed! I went to grab her to put her outside but she just ran to another part of the bed and started throwing up some more. In desperation, I lunged for her only to miss and the whole throwing up thing started again. Aigoo! by now the poor cat was fairly lethargic so I was able to get close enough to notice she had this huge glob of saliva/mucus dangling from her face. As I was trying to decide the best way to handle the grossness, she leaned over the side of the bed, shook her head, and flung that glob right on to my pillow. Ick!!!
Lesson learned - always make your bed so when gross stuff happens you only have to wash the quilt and not every blasted thing on the bed.

* I discovered that wearing shoes is a good thing. Growing up in a home heavily influenced by Indian culture (my dad was from India), wearing shoes in the house is a big no-no. And in Korea It is the same. But when I would try any dance moves barefoot it was a disaster. But then I decided to try wearing shoes while dancing, like the Super Junior boys do, and now even I can do a few very simple Super Junior dance moves. And no, you cannot watch me and my Super Junior moves. Yet.

* I have lost over 15 pounds! This is without really trying because I'm too busy learning Korean and not drinking pop. Those Super Junior boys are THIN! And yet muscular. It must be all of that dancing, and singing, and acting, and on being on what seems like every Korean variety show, etc. They are too busy to get fat. So now I'm getting busy too. Another side benefit? I'm happier.

* I colored my hair for the first time. It's no secret that most of the Super Junior guys color their hair. Although sometimes the things that are done to their hair are pretty astounding, I usually like it.

Super Junior then-

And now-

After a woman thought I was my sister's MOTHER I knew the time had come. And then when the evil sign man threatened to have me arrested I knew the day had come to color my hair. I wasn't really looking to disguise myself, I just needed a little shot of empowerment. So I colored my normally dark brown, almost black, hair a deep shade of auburn. It covered all the gray (which shimmer nicely) and in the sun it has a nice red glow to it. And no, you can't see it. There are no pictures.

And because no post should be too long, that's all for now.