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.