Kpop Running Playlist

About a year ago I decided I hated that I sucked at running.  I didn't want running to defeat me.  So I started training for a 5k, and then later a 10k, and then I started slacking so I'm back at the 5k level... but that's ok.  I'm still doing it.  And one of the reasons that I love it now is because I've got a pretty sweet Kpop Running Playlist.  When I'm less motivated to go, I just think of the lovely music I get to listen to, and that helps motivate me.

So does the lovely fall weather that we have right now, and the early summer mornings, and the start of spring... I am a sissy, though, and I don't run outside after Christmas.... It just gets too cold.

K-Con LA 2017 Final Day: Wrapping Up the Trip

Is it ridiculous that most of our adventures of our last day took place outside of K-Con?  We were trying to find someplace, and our information was wrong.  That day was the huge exception, and even though we went to 3 different places, we ended up not finding what we were looking for.  But we did get a sort of tour of different parts of LA because of that.  Saw some different views and some residential areas.  It was nice, I guess.  But it meant that we got less K-Con time.

But a good thing happened after the wild goose chase we went on.  When we got to our sketchy under the parking lot parking, some girls were just leaving.  Seeing our wrist bands, they offered us their parking they had bought, because they were leaving already.  So we got free parking!  #blessings #kconersunite

K-Con Concert Day: Trip Day Three

The day that we're all waiting for, Saturday, the day that we'd go to all our artist engagements and eventually the concert.  We would have loved to have gone to both concert days, but that was a lot of money for groups that we had less investment in.  We're not made of money.

We like those groups, but we LOVE Vixx and Super Junior.  Let's be honest, I also love Girl's Day.  So it worked out that they were all going to be a part of the Saturday Concert.  We had to prepare well, because this day was going to be an all day thing.

192. Falling For Challenge 도전에 반하다 (2015) Korean

Kim So Eun, Xiumin, Jang Hui Ryoung, Jang Yoo Sang

Drama Rating: 6/10     Neck Score: A-

This was another cute, short web drama.  I like Kim So Eun, so I thought I might as well watch it since, with 6 nine minute episodes, it is only an hour long.  That always makes things rushed, especially in the romance department.  But this was about working together and growing together.  It's about a struggling club that's purpose is to take on challenges.  It only has two members, both girls, but magically it gets two boys to join (hmm, two boys and two girls?).  One of them is Xiumin, who is a mime, or Pierrot as they call it, in training.  Anyway, I spent the whole show being weirded out by all the people that Xiumin reminds me of.  Basically I would describe it as this: If G-Dragon and Baek Jin Hee were to have a love child... and if Yoon Doo Joon was somehow also related, or at least around to train him in facial expressions, then that about sums him up.  At least I know why he is one of my friend's Exo bias (especially when she also loves G-Dragon) because he's cute and has a great smile.  But he also looks like he's twelve, so I only want to pat him on the head and tell him he's cute, that is all.  It was a good little web drama.  I liked the documentary style.  It made it a bit different, so that was nice.

Kpop One Liners: Song Lines for the Occasion

Lately we've been using a lot of lines from Kpop songs in everyday life, like random inside jokes, etc.  Some lines are just so appropriate for the situation, that we have to shout out these wonderful lines in certain situations.  It makes them better.

Here are some of the perfect one liners that we use pretty much every day.

Kpop for the Frustrated

Frustration happens to us all off and on.  Right now I am frustrated with life, meaning work and other businessy obligations that make me fall into a busy rut where I feel like a robot with no control.

When times like these come, I have to listen to a certain kind of music to get those pent up emotions out.  And yes, that means another Kpop playlist.

Kpop for the Day Picker Upper

In the mood when you want to feel happy, laugh, energized, peppier?  I've got a playlist that I keep for these occasions.  Because my last Kpop post was sad and super personal, I figured the next one should be happy.  So I decided to make a list of the Kpop songs I listen to so I can get pumped up and feel happy.

I'll be honest, half of these are because of how ridiculous they are, or how fun the MV is (which usually means the song is fun too) and not necessarily for the song alone.  Sometimes the song is even sad, but because of how fun the beat/dance/MV is it makes me happy.  So here are some of the songs I listen to when I am super happy/silly or just want to feel happier, because these songs always put me in a better mood.

Kpop for the Brokenhearted

Sometimes, I wonder why I bother to like real boys, because that somehow just ends in hurt.  But then, so does most Kdrama crushes, either through relationship envy, too many feels, or just dying of frustration at the stupidity of drama peeps' choices.  However, real relationships are good, and at least we have Kdramas and Kpop to get us through those times when the inevitable hurt comes... as is does more than we'd like.  I hear sometimes it works out, but this time was not that time, I guess.

I find myself once again getting over a real life boy, maybe one of the hardest ones yet, because he was one of the best ones yet.  (He's even watched some Kdrama episodes with me, in seriousness, so that seemed like a winner).  Anyways, he's leaving so not much I can do about that, unless fate brings us together or I chase after him dramatically, buying a last minute plane ticket and running through the airport to stop him, etc.  It might just work.

Instead, I find myself drowning my sorrows in an unhealthy dose of sad kpop.  Is there such a thing as an unhealthy dose?  Only maybe there is, because I not only listen to a ton of sad songs, but I listen to them on repeat.  It works, ok!  These are the songs that speak to my wounded soul!

When Following Peeps on Instagram Makes You Like Them Less

Following my biases and other Korean and Taiwanese stars on Instagram and Twitter is generally a delight.  Countless hours have been wasted browsing their goofy, cute, and fun posts.  But then there is always the problem of a little TMI.  You get less impressed with them because of what they post.  This has happened to me one too many times to not write about.


It just so happens that the monotony or the stupidity of their posts just annoy us enough to where we end up thinking less of them to even not being able to take them seriously any more.

2015: The Year of Sexy Necks

Every year I make a calendar for myself, so I get exactly what I want and that sense of accomplishment.  I usually have a different theme each year (such as smiles or flower boys), and this year I decided to use my list of the Top 10 Sexy Necks as the general theme of 2015's calendar.

There was so much I could have put in here, and so many ways to do this, but I finally decided to count down to the number 1 on this list, and use the two remaining months for the other honorable mentions and general hot guys that I like and wanted to use.

My Norebang: Singing Kpop in the Shower

I actually sing karaoke in my living room too, but my day wouldn't be complete without me singing in the shower at the top of my lungs.  The acoustics are great, and I think no one else can hear me because of the water and the fan and all that, but really I just know they can hear me and I just don't care.

Here are some of my top songs sung in the shower.  Or at random times during the day.  Those catchy songs that get stuck in my head and just have to be sung no matter how actually good they are or how well I actually know the words.  They're just the songs I love to sing...

Some Kpop MVs that I Totally Know the Dance For

Sometimes you just watch a MV so many times that you can not only sing along with it, but dance along with it as well.  There are some that I literally have to jump up and dance if I can.  I guarantee I look nothing like them while doing their moves, but I totally have those moves down.

Drama Picking Bias Syndrome

I've been called out on this before, and I probably won't stop doing it ever.  As much as I love Kpop, and I do at that, I have problems finding new bands or getting into their music, until I have a bias for that band.  I don't pick a bias until I have a reason to like them, and that reason usually comes from seeing them in a drama first.  I think it's possibly because I tend to just appreciate them as a collective until I know one of them enough to love him individually.

A prime example of this is my history of liking Super Junior.

Throwback Thursday: 10 Kpop MVs With Super Sexy Necks

Let's throw it back a bit and explore some MVs that came out a while ago (like before I knew what kpop was) to the good old days when DBSK was still together and Big Bang looked like babies.  Well maybe these are not all that old... but...  It might be nostalgic for some, but for me it's more of a sign that I really love these peeps because I've pretty much watched every MV of theirs that I can get my hands on... or something like that. (In the case of SuJu, I am just getting started on that sort of thing, it took me a while, but I'm coming around).

So here are some of my pre-kpop-discovery discoveries that happen to also show how incredibly sexy these boys' necks are too.  Woo woo!

Men That Make Me Watch Dramas Against My Will: Smile Edition

Some actors just have that amazing power of making me watch a drama in spite of my better judgement.  I know the show will be crap/lame/bad/cray cray/super dramatic and so on, but I still watch them because of that one actor.

Sometimes it's to the extent that I've watched every show they've been in, and some of them were so bad (I'm talking to you, Yoon Si Yoon!)

Sometimes it's because of their smiles.  Those smiles that can make me watch even the dumbest of dramas.  Stop killing me with those smiles, you... super attractive and beautifully smiling men.

Sometimes watching that show ends up to be not that bad of a deal, but sometimes you finish and say to yourself "why the heck did I just watch that?" and then you see that man's smile again and you know why and feel no shame.  In fact, you hop online to look up another show he's been in, because you just can't get enough of that smile (or that neck and the rest of the face/body too).

Those are the some of the ones that I'm talking about here.  Bad or good, these dramas were watch purely for that man and his amazing smile.

In Flight Films Fail... or Win?

I recently went on a trip to Northern Europe and flew with SAS Scandinavian Airlines.  It was a 9 hour flight from Chicago to Copenhagen on the way up and an 8.5 hour flight from Stockholm to Chicago on the way back.  Besides the long cramped flight time (and weird beans they made me eat for dinner on the way up- they put them in the salad and the main dish!  I think they were Lima Beans...) there was the problem with their movie selection.  I'm there for 9 hours, at least they should give me something good to watch!

Ok, I did enjoy watching Captain America 2 on the way up, but other than that the movie options were weird and the same both times.  You'd think that after two weeks they would have some new movie selections.  Nope, same weird collection of foreign films, including less than exciting American films that I had either no desire to see or had already seen.  Result: I ended up watching every Asian film on those flights.  Also, don't try to watch Grand Budapest Hotel on a flight, it just doesn't work even if you are interested in watching it.  Wes Anderson on a plane just isn't compelling enough.

Summary:  Chinese comedies which were hilarious with plenty eye rolling moments of ridiculousness and Japanese dramas that left me thinking either "wut?" or "hmmmmmmm.... k"  So here we go.  They were actually pretty good, not the worst thing that I watched, and some I would actually recommend.