What Have I Been Up To?

So what have I been up to? Well, life has been mundane. Since I came back from my trips, I'd been in Kuching all the time. 

I got a new car! 

At the end of April before the election, I drove to Perodua one afternoon, test drove the new Myvi and booked it. Heh. It was a rather impromptu decision. It made me feel reckless, lol. People said the wait for the new car would take a long time since demand for it was great. Well, I merely waited a month for mine. The car arrived on 30 May .... but since I was away, I only collected it on 21 June. Post election, there was no GST and I got a rebate of more than RM3K .... I thought it was a good buy overall. I'd been enjoying my new car thus far. It's only a Myvi and not some imported expensive car, but it had everything I needed at a good price. I loved the reverse camera and also the media player of course. 

One day, my friends and I did drive out to Gunung Gading National Park in Lundu, just to see Rafflesia. It's the very first time I'd seen the flower, and so I thought it was a precious experience. 

 Rafflesia 

Wilted ones too!  

We also dropped by this resort .... 

Union Yes Retreat and Training Centre, Lundu

Quite pretty, eh? 

 The beach was beautiful as well .... 

We normally had lunch before driving back to Kuching. My favourite restaurant was Fung Ling which sold decent dishes at decent prices. 

Having good food with friends ..... 

Must drink their lime juice! It's VERY yummy! 

My parents were away in July. They went away to Melbourne and I was home alone. It was pretty nice to be home alone for a change. I loved that freedom .... and I loved cooking my own food and it did not matter that I was eating more or less the same things all over. 

My attempt at a Korean bapsang ... heh .... 

I made bulgogi with pork, and I thought it was pretty yummy. The meat was marinated with a blend of apple, onions, garlic, soy sauce, sesame oil. A quick stirfry and it was ready to eat. I served with some greens, Korean laver and kimchi which I had brought home all the way from Seoul. 

I was surprised when my friend W contacted me. She was in Kuching and wanted to meet up! She's just retired now at 60! Gosh, how time really flew by. I remembered celebrating her 50th in Miri and it seemed like it had not been that long ago! Had it really been 10 years??? Goodness! Really glad to meet up with dear W and wish I could see her more often. 

Bing's Coffee Latte .... pleasantly surprised to see so many people there on a Sunday afternoon! 

For a large part of August, I was busy with work - marking especially, because it was exams season. For about 2 weeks, I'd buried my head in exam papers, marking and processing marks and writing reports .... everything was only finished a few days ago. So much so that this year, I did not even go to the Kuching Festival. Another reason why I did not go was the weather .... the heat was rather unbearable. Well, I did attempt to go one evening ... then it rained so I changed my mind. Heh. 

I'd also been obsessed with Korean drama, needless to say. 

The hottest Korean actor now is probably Park Seo Joon. He was on the television a lot - in commercials especially - when I was there in South Korea. Plus, the re-run of Youn's Kitchen Season 2 was being broadcasted at the time. So every time I turned on the television, I would see Park Seo Joon on screen.

His latest drama, "What's Wrong With Secretary Kim?" had been a hit. I did watch it, and personally, I felt that the story was good from Ep. 1 - 8. After that, I found the plot to be only fluff. Much as I enjoyed Park Seo Joon as the handsome and narcissistic hero, Lee Young Joon, I did not care much for his leading lady. I did not think she was pretty, and I did not like the way she said her lines. People said their onscreen chemistry sizzled ... but how come I did not feel the sparkle? Hmn ....

Park Seo Joon on WWWSK on UnifiTV

I couldn't remember how I first knew of Park Seo Joon. Was it through Running Man? Hmn .... I wasn't sure. I recalled watching his interviews on Youtube .... but funny I did not think he was good looking at first. I did watch Hwarang last year, and in that production, while Park Seo Joon was the lead, I somehow preferred actors Park Hyung-sik and Choi Min Ho. 

I did also watch his movie with Kang Haneul called Midnight Runners - and well,  it was pretty enjoyable! The story and acting were both solid. But still, I wasn't too crazy about Park Seo Joon at that point. I wasn't even that excited when I read that he was casted by PD Na Young Suk in Youn's Kitchen Season 2. 

Now, Youn's Kitchen was a show that I actually enjoyed. I watched all episodes in Season 1 when the cast operated a restaurant in Gili Trawangan near Lombok. While I was excited about a second season, at that point in time, Park Seo Joon's potential appearance in the show did not really thrill me at all. 

But it was exactly through this show that I grew to like Park Seo Joon. In variety shows, an actor portrays much of himself as the person that he is. In Youn's Kitchen Season 2, Park Seo Joon was casted as a part-time worker ... and I saw how earnest he was in his role, and how helpful he was to his colleagues, and how well he functioned in and out of the kitchen, and just how his presence led to the success of the restaurant in Spain. I could see how nice he was as a person  

So then I got excited when "What's Wrong With Secretary Kim?" was airing .... but too bad that I only enjoyed episodes 1 - 8. So I back tracked and watched his 2017 drama with actress Kim Ji Won, called "Fight For My Way". This drama engaged me right from the moment I started watching it .... the pace of the story was good, the story itself was meaningful and I liked his leading lady too. Their chemistry rocked and I was really glad they won awards for their effort.

These two were really cute in Fight For My Way :)) 

Kim Ji Won - I first saw her in Running Man and I thought she was so beautiful. That was post-DOTS (The drama Descendents of the Sun was a phenomenon in 2016) and she garnered a lot of love and attention through the drama. I did try to watch DOTS at that time, but I just couldn't get past the first nine minutes of episode 1 when the lead and second lead actors were in a military operation scene. The scene was dark and there was fighting and ... sigh .... so I put DOTS aside first.

Then I also realised Kim Ji Won was in Heirs .... she'd looked different there - perhaps she was younger and her hair longer and she had fringe. So I did not recognise her. I'd watch Heirs and re-watched it many times, but did not like her role as a rich and haughty heiress. Still, she was a rather good actress that made you sympathise with her when things did not go her way.  

This time around, after watching Kim Ji Won in Fight For My Way, I back tracked again and watched DOTS (minus the first 9 minutes, of course). And well, I was pretty hooked on the second lead couple - where Kim Ji Won played the role of a strong-headed but beautiful army surgeon, First Lieutenant Yoon Myung Ju; she knew what she wanted and had her sights set on one man only, and was shameless and forward in actions to get him. Some critics found her role to be too angsty ... well, I thought she was too. She was prickly but not to the point that made her off-putting. I kind of sympathised with her predicament instead of being turned off by her.

Her love interest was a Staff Sergeant Seo Dae Young - a role portrayed really well by veteran actor Jin Gu - who was the strong and silent type. He was lowly-ranked in the army, but he was an assertive and well-respected leader to his men. In love, he was an innocent man with deep and unwavering love for his girl. He constantly ran away from her because he loved her, and thought it was best that she forget him. Noble idiot? Heh ...  Thank goodness she had sense to pursue him relentlessly, disallowing him to give up on her, on them, on love.

While his scenes with YMJ was always filled with tension, one could always sense their profound and steadfast love for each other under currents.They were both genuine. Love was their constant.

My favourite scene where he was on the phone but spoke with his eyes ... 

He never said a word, but his silence spoke volumes; his love and longing for her were so clearly expressed in his eyes ...

And that intensity blew me away. Now, there weren't many scenes of these two in the entire show, but when they were, their short moments together always exuded much emotions. One could not help but to root for this two. It took genius script-writing and stellar acting to portray an understated yet magnetic love story like that of those two.

 Another favourite scene where he recited his will - his last letter to her before he went on a dangerous mission; he did not come back from the mission, and she refused to acknowledge his death and hence did not read his will ... 

Its contents really melted her .... and I supposed it melted everyone else ... heh;

In his will, he thanked her for loving him even though he was cowardly; he wished her a good life without him; and that he loved her with all his heart no matter he was dead or alive. 

I also liked the "third" couple. Heh. This was the bromance between Captain Yoo Shi Jin - Staff Sergeant Seo Dae Young. These two had really great interaction between them, and one could feel their sincere friendship, and their mutual respect for each other. They were really good friends, good brothers, good colleagues. Love them!!

The second and "third" lead couples aside, I could understand why DOTS was huge in 2016 - the plot was rather fast-moving, the main characters were very well-written and well-portrayed by actors Song Joong Ki and Song Hye Gyo (I tried to watch Kill Me Heal Me ... I stopped at episode 1 because I could not stand the lead actress' prolonged screaming in her shrill voice ... ugh .... so off-putting!); there was plenty of humour cutting through, the drama itself was beautifully shot, episodes 7 and 8 were particularly moving and humane. Lots of good points for this drama, and I'm glad I watched it though I watched it pretty late. 

Right now though, I'm not watching anything in particular .... I'm watching a bit of Familiar Wife on tvN - I quite like the two leads, and .... hmn ... just enjoying my short break from work at home. So that was what I'd been up to these past two months. :))