ohaha..i smiled reading all those entries..and it feels like 'yeah,i belonged here.'i didn't plan to share anything at first,but then,as i read,i felt like i want to share my stories too..
My first drama ever was My Girl.I remember staying up at night just to finish the episodes..and went to the lectures in daze the next morning..My first ever kdrama dvd box set that i bought was MNIKSS.The show aired every weekend,and since i lived in hostel,we had to share the television.One day,some other group of students came early to the tv room and they watched other programme.I was practically squirming on my seat,i wish they'll change the channel fast or i'll miss the opening!But they didn't.Damn!To tell them out loud will be impolite,since they came first and all..so i went in search for other tv rooms in other blocks.But still no MNIKSS for me.It's either the students were watching something else or the tv was not working.I spent like 1 hour or so moving from block to block, just to watch the show.That same evening,i persuaded my friend to accompany me to the city and bought MNIKSS dvd box-set.That night,i marathoned all the episodes.On my semester break,i rewatched the series.MNIKSS will always be my favourite tv show.

That was 3 years back.Now,i'm a third year medical student.The long hours of study and all the busy schedules didn't keep me away from kdramas,at all. In fact,i'd become even crazier,but in a controllable way. I say 'controllable' cause i restrained myself from watching dramas if my examination is around the corner. If studying medic is hard enough, the medic examination is even harder and scarier.During the exam period,i find solace in reading about the episodes in this blog..so,thanks jb.^_^
When i was watching BOF,i even skipped the lectures.I only went for the morning lect,and skipped the evening lect. Even if i did go,I'll be sleeping anyway..so,it's better to spend the time watching junpyo..haha.I think i finish BOF in like 5 days,which was the shortest amount needed ever. Usually,i took 2-3 weeks just to finish 1 drama.What with the study and all..

For my exam,we'll have 1 week of study week.I remember watching Queen of Housewives and falling in love with the show during my study week. I just could not restrain myself anymore.If it's not for the exam,i'll be wasting the time away in front of my lappy..however,i came up with emm..so called 'plan'. I'll finish like 3 or 4 notes,and i earned myself an episode..and let me tell ya,medical notes are a lot.In my 2 years of studying, the notes,all piled up can even reach my waist..So,i study,and study,and study,thinking that i can watch Tae-bong and the ahjumma at the end of it all. Somehow,it became the driving force for me.But sadly,i failed the examination..well,not because of QoH though..my own fault,and the questions.damn hard!!50% of medic students failed too.That's how hard the question was.I failed and learned my lessons. On the next exam,i study harder but no more kdramas for me.Instead,i turned to jdorama.haha..coz the episodes are shorter,about 45 minutes or so,enough for me to relax for a while before continuing study..

Now i'm on my semester break,and the only thing i did was watching dramas, and more dramas.I didn't even bring home any notes, at all.My everyday schedule is,wake up at 10am,eat,do some household chores,and on the evening,locked myself in my room and watched dramas,untill the wee hours of the morning,5 or 6am.That's why i wake up pretty late.My mom could not even nag at me anymore for waking up late,she'd given that up long time ago..haha.But after so many weeks of living like this,it does get boring..but my holiday will end in another 2 weeks!!Then i'll have to face the endless medical facts,thick books and notes again..so,i better savour this free time.=)

My drama collection is huge..i had people i didn't even know came knocking at my room asking for certain dramas.haha..my friends always come to me to copy or borrow my dramas.And i'm pretty sure my collection will just keep increasing over the time.

Sorry for the long post..i have the tendency to write and not stopping.Thanks for reading..
So,that's my story.I'm a student who is well aware that her course is the toughest course out there and she should not waste time watching endless dramas. She should focus on her study,but she watched them anyway...^_^ Who can stop a kdrama addict??

i'm not sure if its that great but ok here goes....i was watching one of the dramas (can't remember which one :S) and only got to watch the first episode. Then the next day i went to school and came home with a bug that really killed me, the whole of my stomach just felt like it was constantly burning and i kept vomitting (don't think you'd want to know that but yeah, its true). Because of this my mum phoned the doctors and they sed that if it was on the left side of my stomach (which it was not, thank goodness) it would be some sort of poisoning. So i had to stay home for two whole weeks! my teacher heard about it from my mum and was saying that he hopes i get better soon (and also gave me all the homework that i missed out on...lucky me T.T). I was supposed to finish all of this while feeling pain of almost dying yet the only trouble out of everything that was on my mind was to finish that drama.
Sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo MY homework over the two weeks was.........FINISH THAT DRAMA OTHERWISE I'LL GET KILLED!! (one of my friends was watching the same drama and we were keeping up-to-date with each other....also if i didn't watch the drama she would've murdered me O.O). In the end i finished my drama (YATTA!! ^_^) but totally forgot to do the homework so i told my teacher..........i was so ill i was almost dying and i couldn't do anything...i couldn't even eat let alone pick up a pen!! (yeah right) and yet nobody suspected a thing :D

LMAO!!!!..the entries had me laughing (my boss must think I'm nuts) all day..I've been trying to be discreet pretending to do work while checking out these posts, and guess it's not working but that's alright.=P

Although my story isn't entirely mine, both my sister and I would like to share it. A couple years ago, I was with my sister during the last two weeks of her pregnancy. We would stay up late every night munching whatever the baby craved while watching bad television. But this one night, we came across MNKSS and it was love at first sight. We quickly got addicted, although it had no subtitles,and we didn't understand a word; we just wanted Samsoon to get her man!!! So we decided to download the entire series. We watched 10 episodes the first night before going to sleep at 5 am. When we woke up, we started to watch where we left off...omgg episode 11 was amazing, and my sister went into labor. We rushed to the hospital, carrying my laptop, forgetting to bring her night bag (which by the way took us 2 weeks to pack). I drove like crazy to the hospital through boston traffic while she was either screaming in pain or at Jin Hun for being a douche (pardon my language). We finally get to the hospital...and when the nurses came to get my sister..she starts shrieking..telling them that we have to watch the show. So my sister, the laptop, and I are rushed into the delivery room. The doctor, and the nurses thought we were nuts, the lady who shared the room with us thought we were insane..but we kept watching. After 6 hours of labor, 5 hours of shrieking, and 10 mins of awwing, we finally got to welcome my beautiful little niece to this world. Her middle name is SAMSOON!!! and we're not even remotely korean!!!

We still have the kdrama bug, every holiday we sit glued to the tv-- (hurray for HDMI cables and online streaming) for about 24-48 hours oohing and aahing!!! But you never forget your first!!!

@3 Labchick -- OMG, I love, love, love the story! Wouldn't it be a really funny scene in a Kdrama? I'm assuming that you finished watching MNKSS before the baby came? I would have loved to have seen the faces of the OB/GYN and the nurses!

Here's my side's 2 cents - a year ago, my mom was very sick, in & out of hospitals and my heart just ached so bad. Felt like an ant on a hot pan. Family & friends' comfort only last a few minutes. They can't hug/hold your hand 24/7. I turned to online dramas especially romance/comedies. It distracted my worries/crying sprouts and eased my pain. I got to like Korean dramas a lot because they make my heart feel, whether it's joy or that aching yearning of loves of yesteryears. The actors/actresses are good looking/charismatic to last through the episodes.

Now my mom is okay, 95 yr. old and here still. But the drama habit has become my way of life. I watch it while eating breakfast, lunch, and dinner & beyond. I learn a lot from it - simple Korean expressions, diverse cultures, scenery, foods. Since some characters stem from music idols, I have found a few awesome bands/groups to also brighten my days with their songs. Here are a lot of talents to enjoy, to learn. It's luxury with almost O expense (except for a nice computer/screen/speakers). This cyber drama habit is my therapist and friend who enrich my life. :) It's great and I don't feel guilt at all when some might say "you watch them for so many hours?" It's my hobby and I watch if I want to !!

I only got two extremes that I did for k-drama. They are not like stories but rather SWEET memories.

1) Watching Full-House, all 16 eps, in one day. I remember it clearly. It was sunday and I was just finished ISWAK and looking for another nice drama and after reading lots of reviews I had downloaded all the eps. It was my first kdrama! Then my addiction kick off from that point onwards but I never did 16 eps in 1 day. I started watching it early in the morning till night. Without leaving the room! Just I had a instant ramen in cup as lunch&dinner. I was feeling my legs fall asleep but couldn't make myself quit so, for sometimes I watched it on my bed lying... My eyes totally turned red and it was physically inconvenient but I never regret even a minute of that day^^

2) I just wrote one paper in 2008 and submitted it to a conference which was in Macau. And my only intention was to do a short visit to see the scenes I saw in Goong! The church the hotel the egg tart shop, library, the place they ate the tarts, the place they see each other first.... I just skipped one day of the conference and made a trip to find all those places. Problem is that I really have no idea where they are. So decided to explore the surrounding starting from the tart shop which is actually pretty famous. I couldn't find which hotel it was but I managed to find the church and egg tart shop and take lots of photos. It was a little surprising to see that actually the scenes are edited. Like when YEH saw the JJH while she was standing in front of the library, she can't see the view that JJH standing from that direction^^ But still it was so satisfying. And believe me just the egg tarts worth to visit Macau!

Imagine being in a situation of a fire inside your apartment. Well, this happened to me a couple years ago and the house next door left the stove on and left the house. The fire detector went on and there was smoke all over the place. I quickly ran into my room and grabbed two things: 1) My money that I hide inside my pillow and 2) HAHA my Full House DVD. Yes, I just had to grab that DVD! I ran outside and my older sister gave me the "-.-" look, asking why I only took a pillow and a DVD. Buahaha because I'm a drama addict, duh!

During the summer, when I’m living under my parents, I have to play my part and abide by their conventions. One is that my sibling and I need to be in bed before 11 PM, no exceptions. Another rule is that during the night, we must all keep our doors opened to let the air within our house flow freely. (Interesting theory, I know.) My parents are also both light sleepers, who often wake up in the middle of the night and roam around the house. Hence, it’s a problem for me when I’m on a Korean drama watching marathon.

On a particular night, it was thirty minutes till 11 PM and I was down to my very last episode of “What’s Up, Fox?”. I didn’t want to stop watching, especially since I was going to go on a family vacation the next day. I decided that I was definitely going to watch the last episode without my parents finding out. But where would I watch my beloved drama? At the time, the only logical place to watch it was in the garage downstairs. While my parents were busy preparing for bed, I got everything ready. I set up my laptop, laptop charger, portable desk, and downloaded the last episode before I snuck up back into my room. I literally laid in my bed and waited for about two hours until I felt that the coast was clear.

Since our floors were squeaky, I basically had to tiptoe my way downstairs. Periodically my steps would make a little noise, so I had to pause for awhile before taking another. It was tough work, yo! But I was doing it in the name of Chun Jung Myung, so there was no way I was going go back on my plan. I felt like Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible, and I could hear the Pink Panther theme song as I finally reached the doorway of the garage. Watching that final episode was satisfying and the hour went by unnoticed. When I finished watching and sneakily tried to lurk upstairs, I heard my mother get up. Thankfully, she only had to use the restroom, so I waited in the dark before finally making it safely back into my haven. Although by the time it was over, it was about 3 AM, my heart was pounding, my palms were sweaty, and...you get the gist. However, if I had to do it again, I would!

Other “craziness”: (1) After watching Full House, I decorated my entire room with pictures of Rain and I happened to visit Taiwan for the summer. There, I bought all his CDs and DVDs, ‘cause they were cheaper there, plus no shipping & handling. (2) My friend and I had a You’re Beautiful sleepover in the dorms a week before midterms, where we watched the episodes and laughed our heads off. It’s too bad the R.A and the rest of the floor didn’t find it to be so funny. (3) I made a scrapbook that contains the photos of all my favorite Korean actors/actresses to entertain myself while waiting for drama episodes to come out. (4) My entire family watched Dae Jang Geum together from morning till past midnight for about three weeks, skipping meals and forgetting deadlines. It was great. (5) I paid (in food, not cash) my Korean friends (who happened to be going to Korea) to buy me Chun Jung Myung posters or take pictures of anything related to him. (6) Many a times, I'll decline to attend a party or gathering, just so I can watch another episode of my drama. Ah, good times, good times.

Autumn Tale's is the first Korean Drama that I watched and what got me hooked. I live in Seattle, WA and was visiting my mom in Portland, OR for the weekend with my boyfriend. My mom was watching the drama Sunday afternoon and I saw Song Seung Hyun on the screen. From then on my eyes were glued to the set!. When my boyfriend told me it was time to leave, I refused. He lefted without me. I continued to watch the entire series (missing sleep)until Monday afternoon...missing work and end up having to take the bus home. A 3 hour commute. I told my mom I was going to marry SSH. How's that for love at first sight? 8 )

One day, my family decided to go on a trip together. Being inside the car for nearly 4 hours, was probably the most boring time ever! It was getting dark time and everyone but my dad [who was driving] and I decided to sleep. I was the only one who was wide awake and the only thing I wanted to do was pop out my drama DVD [Witch Amusement / Witch Yoo Hee] and watch it, and so I did. My dad, driving for a long time, decided he needed to watch something or he would fall dead asleep! He scolded me to sleep so that he could watch some boring sports show. Me, being a drama addict, screamed "NOO!! IT'S GETTING TO THE GOOD POINT!! PLEASE, DADDY, PLEASE." But, no...my dad was being stubborn and demanded I put on his sport channel on. I tried changing his mind saying, "I'll do your laundry and wash the dishes.."At this point, my father had enough. He parked his car at a convenience store, looked at me and smiled. I looked back and was thinking, what did he do. All of a sudden, I smelled the most disgusting thing a girl could ever smell in her life. He had farted. I gave up. He took over the tiny TV we had and I began pouting. BUT THEN, hehe...I had remembered I brought the Witch Amusement manhwa. Overall, without my dramas or manhwas, this trip would've probably been the most boring one ever!

I started watching korean dramas because of Boys before / over Flowers. But I think I have to start from the beginning. I don't even know when it started but somehow I got hooked on from animes to mangas - and to the adaption of them into drama series. So I got addicted to Hana Kimi, read that there were two adaptions of it - japanese and taiwanese. I searched these series found them - downloaded them and watched them in one session (I didn't sleep for two days - luckily it was a weekend). I do remember it clearly that I downloaded the taiwanese version of it, fell crazy in love with Wu Zun and started searching other dramas he played in (Tokyo Juliet, Ko One, Romantic Princess). I fell in love with his band - Fahrenheit and bought every single album on ebay. But I also fell for Oguri Shun and did the same. I found Hana Yori Dango, learned that there was also a taiwanese version - Meteor Garden and got totally addicted to this series. I even searched for the anime version of it, watched it in crappy qualitiy online and bought the whole anime series on Ebay. Needless to say that I bought Meteor Garden I and II, both Hana Kimi versions and Hana Yori Dango I and II as well - although the qualitiy of the subs sucked in comparison to the versions I had already on my laptop.
I followed my favorite actors - oh I have many favorites- and downloaded nearly every series I could find. One Day I found out that Korea would also make a version of Hana yori Dango and I started to look for a site to provide me with more details - but as it didn't air at that time, I put it of my mind.
When it started to air, I didn't even realized it at first, being to busy with my japanese and taiwanese dramas, but than I remembered it and started to search for it again. This is how I found this site. I read your first two recaps of Boys before Flowers and it peeked my interests. I watched the first episode somewhere online and I didn't liked it. Not the adaption but the language - don't hate me please - I am half German & half Thai and I loved watching & hearing & listening to japanese, chinese and thai and somehow korean was much harder for me to listen to, I don't even know why but my first impression was, crap this is going to be harder to endure than I had thought. But then I fell for it, somehow the language wasn't so terrible to listen to anymore. I started to download the episodes as soon as I could find them, read your recaps waited frantically for the english subs of it, laughed, cried and got angry with Jandi..and then it was all over...and I started to read your other recaps, your recommendations and tried Delightful Girl ChoonHyang, Dalja's Spring, Soulmate, My name is Kim Sam-Soon, What's up Fox, Who are you. I even hopped on the train called My too perfect son aka Sons of Sol Pharmacy - that was my first drama with more than 30 Episodes. I got addicted to it due to your recaps and started to watch it when 30 Episodes had aired already. At first I downloaded only the first two episodes and then I couldn't stop myself I had to catch up to the latest episode. So many hours passed by but I couldn't stop watching. The wait for the next episodes to air is always cruel but here it was really really extremely hard. So I decided to only watch a series when its already subbed and finished. But I just can't!!! You're beautiful (I bought myself that supercute pigrabbit, waited 6 weeks for it to arrive and now it lies right beside me) came , City Hall, Tamra, and now Coffee House and again I'm waiting for the next episodes to air, to download and watch them, regardless that I have to watch it without the subs, regardless that my korean isn't good enough to understand a whole episode, regardless that my boyfriend of seven years hates it when I watch my dramas. I just can't stop it, I'm totally addicted now to korean dramas, the actors & the music. My Addiction now goes so far that I take an external hard disk with me to work to watch some series due breaktimes and work hours, there even was a time when I downloaded episodes there, which could cost me my job, so I stopped doing that !!! I'm on this site several times a day waiting for every tiny bit you post.

I'm really glad that I didn't stop watching Boys before Flower, glad that I overcame my difficulties with the korean language because now I really love the language and I can't think of a life without my korean dramas. And I'm really thankful to this site because I got to know a lot of dramas I totally loved. Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dude. I cried once because my mom had to return the videos to the store. It was the old school drama "Glass Slippers", I had already watched all of the episode and we probably shouldn't have kept all of the episodes in the first place but when I saw all the VHS tapes wrapped up in a white plastic bag to be taken to the store, I burst out crying. Like "WHYYY ARE YOU TAKING MY BEST FRIEND AWAY FROM MEEE?!!" sort of sobbing and crying. My mom was shocked. Heck, I was shocked. It was so involuntary. I guess just the thought of the actors in that drama physically leaving me (not really because they were on TAPE) was tragic to my dumb, obsessed, 11 year old brain. I was mad at my mom for WEEKS. She eventually had the VHS lady make me copies but I refused to accept it because I knew it wasn't the same exact copy.

Yes, I was crazy.

Oh god. Oh GOD. I have so many crazy "K Drama fan" stories that it would take me a long...LONG time to type them all.

I should say that I'm really new to kdramas, but as all my obssesions, when they hit - they hit hard.

The first that comes to mind (maybe not the funniest of them all, but oh well), was right after I finished watching Que Sera Sera. I was *SO* (I really can't stress this enough) obssesed with Eric that I even dreamt of him; I'm not the kind of person that goes all gooey-eyed about an actor, so I was extremely surprised at my own reactions.
Anyways, umm, a couple of days after watching the ending of QSS, I looked like a living corpse - I couldn't find another drama to "insuflate" life into my body, and the fact that all the other dramas Eric appeared in were crap didn't help. My friends were worried about me, mainly because I was the smart one in the class and now I wasn't paying attention and we had a term test the next week and they needed me to explain the stuff to them (yes, I have such good and altruistic friends), so they kept trying to cheer me up. One of those days, a friend of mine came super excited and told me that she had seen a guy at our college that looked just like Eric (because, you know, I kept showing them all his pictures as if I were a widow mourning the death of my husband XD). I perked my ears just like a lost puppy and pretty much ransacked the whole building searching that student, already thinking of how to ask him to let me take a photo with him without sounding too stalker-ish. I had done everything short of entering the little boys room but I couldn't find him, when my friends appeared out of nowhere with a cake and with one of Eric's pictures on top. It turns out it was my birthday, but I had been so crazy that I hadn't even remembered.

I calmed down, and that week-end we got together and studied for our term test. I've never reached that point of obssesion again and, frankly, I hope I never will.

....I do keep that picture they put on top of my cake in my room, though.

wow. these entery are good. ok. the first k-drama i watch is Full House with Bi Rain, in 2006. when i started watching drama they were only j-dramas. the new dramas that were coming out were either boring or doesn't interest me that much i decide to seach the internet for more dramas when i came up on mysoju. catalog i decide to stroll down to korean. that's when i came up on full house. i began watching it, the first episode i was hook. Bi Rain and the other guy capture my attention. j-dramas were dead to me. (lol. i watch from time to time) every episode kept me hook. because my T.V doesn't have asian channel so i watch it on the computer. it got really bad that i was glue to the computer my mom was so piss she gave me a curfew. but that didn't stop me, i play sick one week to watch the rest of the house. when i read the last one. i was pissed a 16 episode! i curse, i went crazy i dream about Rain that i loved up all his other dramas. (2) then came the The 1st Shop of Coffee Prince. when that came up i check the computer for new episodes. the drama blew me away. the actors (men) are mouth watering. when a person is sick, pity is always knocking at the door, it was really bad. because i didn't want to go to school, i pretend feel pain. my parents went crazy. they took me to the doctor got pills. "ok, we all know when people take pills for pain they want to sleep." s

I would say watching Kdramas is like smoking, once you start, you just can't stop.I will confess I'm a chain drama watcher. As soon as one drama ends, I need my fix, and scramble to find a new drama.I even watch up to 5 dramas at a time. .
I'm Pakistani / American and K dramas are like a longer and cleaner version of an Indian movie (romantic comedy). I felt at home watching them. Culturally we are very family orientated too.
Now, on to the addiction part.... It got so bad that my husband had to disable our internet connection for several hours a day, so I would watch less. I had to promise to watch only 2 hours a day to get it turned back on. You know who had her fingers crossed behind her back when she agreed to that one :P. I've lied more times about watching K dramas, then I have in my whole life put together (and I'm a Sunday school teacher to boot) SAD SAD SAD. My computer has been infected with every virus known to mankind, from watching them. I keep telling my husband that its the kids that have crashed our computer, when it is actually me. (BAD MOM).
You know things are bad, when you go down to your local Korean Video rental store and you know more about the dramas than they do!!!! I started subbing K dramas to Urdu on Viikii so that I could watch the dramas that were licence pending. (that's how desperate I was).
Needless to say all the songs on my MP3 are Korean. My ringtone is a BIG Bang song. I get the weirdest looks from Asians when it goes off. I know more about K actors (thanks to dramabeans) than American ones. I missed the series finally of LOST, because I was watching Prosecutor Princess. My computer has become my best friend . I no longer watch T.V. I used to read all the time. I have not picked up a book in ages.
My daughter is worse than I am. (SHE'S THE ONE WHO GOT ME HOOKED). She's learning Korean right now on Live Mocha. She cried when she found out that Wondergirls and 2pm concert was sold out in San Francisco. Her best friend is Korean, and she knows more songs than she does, and she watches more dramas than her. LOL
My husband used to say.... What's this trash you are watching all the time. So, one day I forced him to watch a drama with me. With great reluctance he did, but I could tell he loved it. He laughed a lot. ( It was Birth Of A Rich Man). Needless to say he ended up watching the whole drama with me :D
I feel like one of those people from a cult, that has successfully converted a new follower. Now he comes home at night, has dinner, then we spend an hour or two of quality time watching our favorite K drama (and commenting on them).
(Currently watching My Country Calls).
You know things are bad when your kids want to go to Korea for vacation instead of Pakistan to visit their family!!! They even throw Korean insults back and forth at each other!!!! LOL
My pantry always has kimchi noodls in it. You should have seen me and my daughter do the happy dance when we saw the value pack at COSTCO (30 in a box)!!!
Gotta go make some fresh kimchi now. You know I'm only doing it for it's probiotic qualities. :P So, I tell the world and my K drama addiction continues.
P.S. Darn the World Cup for postponing my dramas for two weeks!!! I was rooting for Korea though!!!!

so i told them i was going to be ok, that they should got to work if i feel pain again and it's too bad i should call. i lied and said "ok" in a weak voice, before they left i pretend to sleep. once i made sure neither was coming back to check on me, i start watching my drama. i laugh, smile, even cried. once i watch everything i erase my evidence of being on the computer. i was off school the week, my grades won't go down, i have a doctor's note so failing classes was not a must. so i watch more k-dramas. every since then i have been hook on korean dramas competely i have forgoten about japanes. taiwan didn't came into the picture until 2008. my new wish is now "married a korean man by all means necessary"
a big shot out to all the actors of You're Beautful i loved the drama. the soundtrack i have. Jang Geun Suk i will married you.
if any one wondering about the pills i plush them down the toilet when i ever i have to take one.

WOW, giveaway! LOL. Before anything else, yes I love freebies but even more if I have to work for it to get it. (I guess that won't be a freebie anymore hmmpt)

Anyway, what lengths did I have to go through to satisfy my K-drama addiction? (as you start reading along this blabbering of mine, you will notice that I am not a writer or the best blogger for that matter... but I'm gonna try). Here we go. Boys Before Flowers or Over Flowers or BBF whatever you want to call it... took me to a different level of addiction. It's still fresh to me, it was a wintry evening back in 2009 when I was prowling around the net, hopping from websites to websites hoping to come across some interesting K-drama that would take me through the night. Yes, I was still an amateur to the world of K-drama and little did I know that that very night, BBF would take me to different heights of craziness. I was hugging my blanket while staring at my good ol' laptop, it was almost midnight and I felt so lost and frustrated of what to watch next. I was just about to call it a night until I came across mysoju and BAM! (as my best friend would yell at me out of the blue to scare the hell out of me) BBF was there. I was so so at first when I first saw the 1st episode not knowing that it was the beginning of a very long night worth staying up for! My eyes felt like they were about to pop out due to tiredness (I guess - I have been watching a lot of Korean movies prior for hours already) and I tried reducing the brightness of my laptop thinking it would reduce the discomfort. My mom already knocked a few times to check on me if I've gone to bed or not... and told me a few times 'go to bed already, omg'. Yet I ignored and carried on with my journey at mysoju.com. Even the coldness of the night and the comfort of my bed didn't lullaby me to sleep nor the call of nature stop me from pressing pause! (I did have to go in the end ... to avoid accidents! LOL) I just kept going and going, clicking each episode, waiting for them to load, opening so many screens at the same time to load each episode so by the time I finished the first one, the next one would be hot and ready for me to watch without the buffering time! (I hated this and I blamed all of this on my slow network! shame on them!) The time flew so quickly that I didn’t realise that it was almost 1am and the chipping of the birds outside of my window got louder and louder! I was due to wake up at 6.30am to get ready for work and I do take my time to prepare myself (and girls, I am sure you do as well). But I was so awake that my eyes were about to pop out for all the right reasons this time and I knew I couldn’t just tell myself to switch off and go to sleep! The last time I remembered was I could hear my Mom turning on the knob of my door and me closing my laptop so fast like the speed of light and I pretended I was asleep (yes... I think I even pretended to snore. note: I don’t snore as far as I am aware). I just got so engrossed in the drama that I actually got out of my blanket and sat on my bed with the laptop on my lap wearing the smile of excitement. Yes it was serious business people. I could see the light creeping in and the annoying birds (yeap, they started to get on my nerves at this point) just kept on going like I was. But the episodes just got better and better. Jandi and Jun-pyo just had everything like coffee has caffeine. I was getting worried of my state but my mind wanted more. When the call of nature forced me to get out of bed again it was already 3am... and there was too little time to finish the rest of the episodes or sleep for that matter. I ‘zombied’ out my way to the loo and did what I had to do and then crawled back in my bed debating what to do. I couldn’t wait for the next episode I thought. I wanted it to be next week so I could watch more! Forget about sleep or rest, I could do this some other time, I said. Crazy? Yes. The time was ticking and there I was laying on my bed staring at the ceiling while witnessing the day taking over the night, and I said, why? why? Why didn’t I find BBF before? Let’s just say, I had less than 2 hours sleep but I slept with a smile on my face and woke up aching and groggy! But the pain and sleepiness at my dest at work were all worth it for the sake of my K-drama addiction. It was by far the fastest addiction I had when it came to dramas, one doze was enough to make me want for more. I was always looking forward for the next week to come like I was going on a cruise holiday! Rehab? What rehab? I can safely say those amateur days have gone for me and now I am simply a K-drama addict who also loves this site.

P.S. I watched BBF again this year on a much slower pace, just enjoying every moment of it without the chipping of the birds or my Mom checking up on me! It was a ‘me’ time only.

Blabbered and out.

hahaha.. reading this is so funny. I am a fanatical about Kdramas. I have the necklace from boys before flowers, pig from my lovely samsoon.. and other stuff from kdramas. Growing up I never liked kdramas. I was more into the HKdramas... but when i saw full house.. i never look back!. I watched the whole thing on youtube.. bad quality too might i add. I had spring break at the time.. so I didn't mind spending all my days watching kdramas. Then i saw My lovely samsoon. It was just awesome. I went to atlanta last weekend and actually used some korean words i learn from watching kdramas. LOL. I impressed the koreans. I went to the sauna, eat korean bbq, visit korean supermarket.. ahhh.. i feel like i'm korean. I even eat with a long spoon. LOL. my mom even said i should be korean. hahahaha. Anyways.. that's my rant for today. I'm currently watching coffee house!

Its not addiction, its mere commitment...

Dang it! End of the month and work overload BUT I DONT CARE! I have to share what became not only addiction but maybe a way of life. I mean, is it really addiction or true commitment. That is a question we should all ask ourselves.

Take this as if I was giving my oscar speech.

I have one to thank and that is my eldest borther Thorne. He must have known how lonely and sad I was until then. Turning 28 in 2006 and gettting a FULL HOUSE GIFT SET (dubbed in Thai) as a present was life changing. I LOVED IT! Not because it is the best kdrama ever made BUT it was my first so I LOVED IT for that matter. I became an instant kdrama addict.

It is now embedded in me.

Searched the web like I searching for cure for cancer. So many kdramas so little time! NO TIME to waste. What used to take up my days...Jesus, family and sports became non-existence. I was in my own world of kdrama for the next two years. Would you believe that I saw most of all the kdrama made from 2004 to 2006 by the end of that summer. My usual summer tans was no longer. Toned body no more. 20/40 vision not in sight. My language became babel. No one understood.

It is embedded in me still.

I finished Full House in two days. Started watching late that night and did not sleep. Went to church. Came home and stayed up watching until work that morning. Worked for 4hrs. Took half a personal day (family emergency is what I said) and finished it that Monday Night.

And I kept going....

Resurrection revived me. Dae Jang Geum made me believe in pure true love. Capital Scandal showed me what it takes to be independent, that we need to be dependent on one another to gain our independence. Oh Dal Jal gave me hope for my 30s. I'm lovin it! And I am becoming Kim Sam Soon day by day...Not Jennifer, Annie, or Britney. My name is Tha.....

I've comed a long way since 2006. For two years, all I did was EAT (never had korean dishes before---now at least once a week), SLEEP(kpop/kdrama osts runs through my head at night) , and BREATHE (using korean lingo when I speak) kdrama. But my family finally intervene. I am actually a little tan, a little tone but still blind as blind will be. I, along with my family, have learned to incorporate kdrama into my so called existence. I can now say that my family supports the way I live through kdrama. My sisters and brothers are watching and seeing what I saw years ago and is seeing what kdramas really are all about. Good, clean, dramatic fantasy. And we should, just a tad live this kdrama life until the coming of the Lord. Amen.

Sorry again for a third post! But I just keep on thinking of things! This summer actually, I've been slightly deprived of dramas since both dramas that I'm watching are on SBS and well (yes it's only been two weeks but it feels like ages!) Anyway, my friend was going to China and she said that they have shops there that sell drama merchandice :) So.... I actually made up a list of things for her to buy, (pig rabbit, necklaces, earrings, huge posters with hot actors faces etc etc) and I've been staying up late to see if she gets onto facebook so I can get a daily update of what she bought and add more things to her list! I feel sorry that she's buying so much for me... but it's all to decorate my room and wake up to beautiful smiling faces :)

Seriously, the posts are too much to read and looks like it's fun to read them, so I'm taking my time tomorrow to read them one by one and roll on the floor while at it.
So basically, my experience isn't as crazy as some of what I've read so far but I have to add my 2 cents here, I'm a drama lover, what do I do?

The things I've done for a KDrama were just, join SOOMPI [check if there are new posts every 5 minutes], join a FANSUBBING TEAM [for KDRAMAS], grouped/created a FANSUBBING team [for KDRAMAS], help post RATINGS at soompi, tweeted about them like 90%, rant about them on that silly blog of mine & influence my relatives to watch them. I do all of that everyday, which is promising and I love every bit of it already. It's a habit already.

I still remember the time we were watching COFFEE PRINCE & WITCH YOO HEE, both dramas showed some cute and memorable moments with JJAJJANGMYUN [Black Bean Noodles], it looked so yummy that we had to have a taste of it and do it as well. In the name of being like the characters in a KDRAMA, stupidly, we 'tried' to create one by being stupid and using SPAGHETTI NOODLES, GROUND BEEF & TERIYAKI SAUCE. I hope you knew how bad that tasted! The number of times we had to add SALT, SUGAR, SOY SAUCE is just unbearable. But it turns out that JJAJJANGMYUN need a certain thing called BLACK BEAN PASTE to be successful. Sadly, 'till now I haven't tasted what the real taste is, so we had to settle with GoGuMa instead. :P

I wasn't going to post anything at first, because reading the other ones, I felt like I was reading my own :) But 200+ posts later, I thought I'd share my story anyway. Even though I've been watching kdramas for almost 5 years now, I think the one that made me turn into a blank stared zombie the next day was MNIKSS or My Lovely Sam-Soon.
I think this was one of the few dramas I didn't get my own boxed set for, so I had to resort to watching it off of Dramafever when they debuted their site.
I have to admit, thinking about it now, it was terrible... not the site... my addiction :)
I watched all 16 episodes in one day.... the one day stretching all the way to 8am the next morning...
After I got to the third or fourth episode, I couldn't stop watching it. I closed my internet browser maybe around midnight, telling myself I'd go back and watch the rest the next day... but then, twenty mins of tossing and turning later, I was back up and my laptop was running.
You'd think that after a whole day of running into walls from sleep deprivation that I'd learn from lesson and pace myself the next time.
But no, I did the same thing with Delightful Girl Choon-Hyang, not once.... but four separate times, and Brilliant Legacy, which I watched at least twice (my favorite episodes anyway). Both went through the morning and gave my eyebags over the eyebags I already had from the other dramas.
Delightful Girl Choon-Hyang is actually my secret drug, which is why I'm ending this post by sharing that I actually put the DVD on at 3 in the morning when I can't sleep, which doesn't even help matters since I stay awake shaking my fist at Byun and the unfairness of life...
Let me just tell you, don't watch dramas with potential crying factors at night, you'll definitely age about 15 years overnight

** I forgot to mention that after the MNIKSS marathon, I could recite the words to the Sinupret commercial in my sleep...

ok..i think i have to share mine too,and i hope my mom wont read this...yours truly was grounded from using the internet and watching korean dramas for almost 5mos!...to be exact from january 20 to june 20...you see i failed 2 subjects because of jang geun suk...i really want to join his asian tour and i tried every means of persuasion..hunger strike for 42 hrs!..you name it!
Finally my mom deported me..sent me to my grandma in US (we live in
Canada)..now i'm back w/a promise to my parents that i will break up w/ tae kyung...

I was such a drama addict in high school that I got my dad to buy me the Full House VCD box set which cost him about four times the amount it costs now.

Then when I was 16, to catch the last episode of Attic Cat (I was at a training exercise away from home), I went over to the sailing club's pub (it was morning, nobody except a teacher who was watching over us) and made him switch channels. He got bored rather quickly... At least I got to watch the ending!!

I've lost count with the times I made my parents sit through Korean dramas with me but they never caught the bug. So I had to deal with my parents' criticisms about how the guy was TOO PRETTY, the women SO PLASTIC and what BAD ACTING. Their words never had a profound effect on me coz I'm still here... =D

Here is my crazy k-drama addiction.

Everyone knows Princess hours. One day my sister and I decided to go and buy the dvd set and watch it. We started watching it from 3 pm and it was on a school night too. It got pretty late and my sister knocked out cold and left me watching it. Boy does time fly by. Before I knew it I was only on ep 18 and it was already 6:25 am. I had to get up in 5 minutes to catch the school bus. So I turn it off and had a five minute sleep. I went to school with blood-shot eyes and a face that looks as if I came back from the dead. All my friends thought that I was high on something. I told them, "The only thing I'm high on is K-drama, girl." The entire school day, I couldn't wait to get home and finish the rest of the episodes. By 2 pm I felt as if I was going to die from not having enough sleep. Hahaha... Once I got home, did all my homework and went right back to watching princess hours. I spent 2 days without any sleep just to finish watching it.

Another crazy thing that I do, when Boys over Flowers came on watched it Monday and Tuesday, and then dreaded the whole week just waiting for the next episodes. Re-watching old episodes so I don't get anxious about waiting. When an episode ended I cried because I'll have to wait another whole week again. It's like being high on something and when I don't get it I panic. LoL...

When watching You're Beautiful, me and my sister went berserk. We made fan signs all over the walls to show support to them. We pretended that we were dating the three handsome boys and that mi nam was our rival. Overall, staying up late to watch it was worth it.

Depending on the drama, I tend to do different crazy things. Who can resist watching k-dramas? It's what I'm living for.

I'm like a walking and talking zombie feeding off of korean dramas.... Hahaha....

I first became interested in You're Beautiful (my first K-Drama) after seeing a video on youtube while going on one of my "K-Pop field trips through youtube" watching Korean videos. Once I started the drama (which was well after it ended) I was hooked to the point where I couldn't do anything else. I discovered the drama mid-afternoon one day, and didn't do anything else but watch You're Beautiful until I finished. When I began, it was about an hour before it was time to eat dinner, and when the time rolled around I was so hooked I told my mom I wasn't hungry. Then, when it came time to go to bed I played the old "just one more" game, thinking each time I'd go to sleep after the next video. But, of course, at the end of every episode, which left me hooked and wanting more, I kept going. Only to find myself at 6am the next morning. A Thursday morning. A SCHOOL morning. When a big paper was due. That I was supposed to have written the night before. While I was watching You're Beautiful instead... Yeah, I screwed myself. And just as a side note, not ONCE during my whole high school career, even as an avid AP and involved student, did I pull a true all-nighter. Once or twice I'd gotten close, staying up at the latest until 2 or 3 to write a paper or finish some last-minute assignment, but this was my first and only true all nighter. Of course, even having watched the drama through the night, I wasn't finished. And I hadn't written the paper. So what did I do? I faked sick and stayed home. I told myself as a reward to writing the paper, I would finish the show after I had finished all my school work. Did I? Nope. I watched the show through the day, then stayed up until 2 or 3 the next morning writing the paper I reluctantly started around midnight that night, after watching You're Beautiful non-stop. Yeah, it was insane. After that my friend and I had to make a pact to only watch one episode a day (I failed... A lot) to keep a repeat of that happening...

These stories are great hehe. Mine isn't too extreme, but I got my mom and my younger sister addicted to You're Beautiful during the holiday season last year. And on New Year's day, we had 4 episodes left. We were supposed to go over to my aunt's house for a New Year's dinner with the whole family. But since my mom and I wanted to finish the series badly, we stayed at home UNTIL the very end of the series. Yeah, we were pretty late for the family dinner, since we started watching late. But watching the last scene in the concert with Taekyung and MinAm was well worth it, even if Shinwoo and Jeremy didn't show up in the last 5 minutes.

The thing is, even if the episodes were all out, and we could wait to watch it, the most enjoyable part was watching it with my mom and sister and fangirling over the characters.

i know i will survive this break up w/ tae kyung...since Gong yoo is back and he is Mine! Mine!...sorry girlfriday...pls.pls.dont tell my parents!

P.P.S.
I forgot to say, I wish someone could invent a device, so that we could still watch K dramas while we were sleeping. That's a good 6 to 7 hours of K drama heaven right there, that is being under utilized!!!!!! :P
I must admit though, I sometimes dream about what I would wish would happen in the next episode of the current drama I am watching. LOL :D
I also have a great story for a drama. Just wish I was one of the Hong sisters right now, so I could get my favorite actors to star in it. (The ones with the chocolate abs)
Sorry, had to pause right there to wipe the drool. :D
My life would be dull without K dramas!!!! I don't know how I survived without them before!!!!!!
Thank you Dramabeans team!!!! The first and last thing I do eveyrday is to read your witty posts!!!
:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D

Okay, these stories are all so much fun, I have to share, too.

I'd seen bits of other kdramas on our local "international" channel, but it wasn't until another friend loaned me the first third of Dae Jang Geum that I got really hooked. My son was only a few months old and slept a lot, so I'd get up with him, snuggle on the couch and watch three or four episodes while my husband was at work. Then one night my husband came home early while I was still watching it and he was intrigued. I started watching the series over again with him in the evenings. So, I was watching, say, episode 12, 13, 14 during the day and episode 3 & 4 at night with my husband.

Unfortunately, the friend who had loaned me the first set was away on vacation and I was almost out of episodes (horror!) so I went online and bought the whole set so I didn't have to wait for the rest of the episodes. When my husband and I were finished we decided that it was too good not to share. We started holding viewing parties for some co-workers of his and my best friend. I think I watched the whole series three times through in the first month.

Then we started loaning it out. I loaned it to my mother in law, who really got hooked. She teaches biology classes at the university level. She said she started asking her grad students if any of them spoke Korean or knew anyone who did who could answer some cultural/linguistic questions for her, so that she could better appreciate the historical bits of the show.

Meanwhile, I started doing research on traditional Korean dress and sewed a hanbok for myself to enter in a costume contest. I was part of a group that got an honorable mention prize. And I have to say, hanbok for women is one of the most comfortable styles of traditional dress I've ever had the pleasure to wear!

Of course, there was no looking back. I've seen about a dozen series at this point. My current obsession is Coffee Prince. That show is so freaking good. I'm making everyone else watch that, too.

Thanks for such a great blog.

Since I adore You're Beautiful, watched it in a span of about 3 days, and have been searching all over for a way to get a copy of the Director's Cut DVD set, I have to give this a try. :)

I'm an early-20s American female, born and raised on the east coast, USA, and I have no Asian in me that I know of. However, I'm regularly told I look half-Asian (my eyes actually reflect some Native American, not Asian, ancestry). Based on being constantly mistaken for part-Asian, I seem to have developed a slight wannabe-Asian syndrome. But that's been immensely enhanced by Korean Dramas...

I first got into Kdramas through my brother. Back in 2006, a friend told him about this awesome and popular Korean drama called "My Name is Kim Sam Soon." I had run out of American TV shows to watch at the time and was up for something entirely new, so that summer, my brother and I decided to start watching it together. We were enjoying it and got through the first few episodes before he went away for a summer internship. I, of course, had to watch the rest of the show, with or without him. So I stayed up to ungodly hours many nights in a row, watching MNIKSS marathons and barely sleeping before heading to work at 8 am every morning. And in a nutshell, this is how my Kdrama fascination began.

I was young and naive back then. I did not know about the extent and popularity overseas of Korean television and did not know where to find the catalogs of Korean shows that are available online. So I just searched around youtube for other Kdramas to watch. I found Autumn in My Heart and Stairway to Heaven and developed a new hobby: watching mainly Kdramas over the summer, as most of the American shows I watch take a break then, and since I have extra disposable time in the summer.

As I watched more dramas, I began to pick up bits of the language and customs and slowly developed an interest in Korean culture in general. I downloaded drama soundtracks, started listening to other Kpop, and discovered that I had been hit by the "Korean Wave." I tried kimchi, loved it, and got excited when my school's dining hall served it at dinner. I considered performing in my college's annual Korean Cultural Show so I could do that Abracadabra dance. I had a sudden desire to learn Korean and actually go to South Korea to meet Lee Min Ho-- oh, I mean...to experience the culture first-hand. ;) Maybe I could even pass for half-Korean? Nah, something tells me Korea would not be fooled.

But I'll find out. Because this fall, my senior year of college, I intend to study introductory Korean as an elective, and my rationale is that it will help when I go to Korea next summer to teach English between graduation and grad school. I have a bunch of friends who've taught overseas after graduation, especially in Korea, so I've done much of the requisite research. I'm planning all this in advance because I'm determined and psyched for this to be my post-grad traveling adventure.

I actually couldn't wait to begin, so I started learning the Hangul alphabet and some key phrases on my own. If it were not for MNIKSS (and the subsequent Kdramas), the thought of learning Korean probably never would have crossed my mind, and I may never have planned to set foot in South Korea. But most importantly, I never would have watched You're Beautiful and fallen in love with Jang Geun Suk, which would have been an incalculable loss.

;)

I'll be straightforward: I am a huge drama fanatic. Missing school to watch final episodes of my favorite dramas like Boys Before Flowers, My Name is Kim Sam Soon, You're Beautiful, etc was just basic. Then, I started to get a bit more crazy and woke up at 3 am before SCHOOL BEGAN and watched dramas that I truly enjoyed. My mom thought I was wacko at this point. Then, the addiction got worse - I started having continuous dreams about dramas. CLASSIC EX: Boys Before Flowers - I was Jandi and my crush was Junpyo. The dream itself was so hysterical and frightening that i almost wet myself (kinda gross.. it happens though!) Then, I started spending gazillions of money on those infamous dolls or items featuring in dramas.. In Boys Before Flowers, it was the necklace. In You're Beautiful, it was the pig rabbit. In MNIKSS, It was the pig doll..etcetc. My mom always scolded me for being too obsessed with dramas. When I was watching "My Girl," i was SO OBSESSED that I missed dinner for consecutive nights. i just needed to fulfill my drama obsession.

:)

My first drama I've actually watched is You're Beautiful. After my cousin was watching it on my iPod touch I wanted to watch it too because she was laughing really hard. But the problem is that my parents don't feel that I should watch it so I keep it a secret. ( Even though I'm old enough.) I'd wake up super early in the morning to watch it then at night, I'd stay under the covers watching it. Ever since then, I've been hooked up on them, pretty much addicted to dramas. On my birthday, I found out that they were selling Pig-Rabbit stuffed animals, I thought that I just have to get one. So I told Mom that my friend brought in the stuffed animal from school and I thought it was so cute, I wanted it for my present. She didn't agree to it so I kept begging and reminding her every minute. I've never done that before so it was probably my first time begging over and over again, until she gave up. When I did get the Pig-Rabbit, I was incredibly happy. This is also my first time getting a stuffed animal from a T.V. series. You're Beautiful somehow inspired me to watch more dramas. ( Weird right? I know!) And so far, I've been watching/ watched over 60 dramas. I also like Boys Over Flower, Coffee Prince, Personal Preference, Princess Hours, etc... Then after awhile, I watched their movies like 200 Pounds Beauty, and I have to say that its really good! Even though I'm not Korean, I'm surprised at how I now easily adapt to subs since I don't understand what they say. Korean drama has changed my life into a new direction and I hope I will never get tired of them

oh i forgot... did i tell you my mom and sister watched "you are beautiful"while i was in US ... they are Kdrama addicts now...they bought all the kdramas at orientall mall.. we ate 3weekends in a row at a korean bbq restaurant..people think we are koreans now,my mom started learning korean words. she orders food in korean,and greet them in korean..you see my mom is a doctor,and she's really smart..
Now we never run out of kimchi at home,she even bought this bbq thing,i think we will use this on Canada day.
She even bought a portable DVD so she can watch while eating,she refrain from cooking fish so as not to be distracted while watching ..afraid to miss the subtitles...She's watching Coffee prince now..of course i recommended it, but in a subtle way.. hehehe so she can see my han kyul... first step to introduce her son-in law to be:)
.

Well, here’s my story.

I’m Indian and about two-and-a-half years back I had the luck to get KBS on our dish. Fell in love with K-dramas altogether after watching my first show “Sassy Girl Chun-Hyang’s” re-runs. And I can say just one thing for most dramas I have watched of Korea after that; beautiful.

My mom still thinks I’m crazy if I can be [still] so obsessed with South Korean culture; especially when I got a crush on Kang Ji Hwan [yep Javabeans, I’m gonna fight you to the end for him!] and when I started using Korean words in my daily conversations even. I still need subtitles know what’s happening on Korean programmes but can mostly understand the gist without subs; effortlessly!

I’ve been an addict to your blog since around the same time as I fell for Korean Hallyu. Been lapping up your recaps since a couple o’ years by now. KBS is no longer being beamed to my dish anymore, so I watch them online along with your amazing recaps. [and yours too Girl Friday! ;)]

Hong Sisters are the best, but Coffee Prince is probably the best drama I’ve experienced in all of Western, Indian and Korean soaps. You don’t want to know about how awful Indian telly-soaps can get. It’s all about vicious in-laws, plastic surgery, comebacks and people who just don’t die. Korean dramas were like godsent! Well, not all K-dramas are awesome either. But they are far, far, far more wonderful than anything else.

I still plan on going to Seoul someday and wish to date some guy from South Korea. Yeah, I sound really cheesy, but you oughta know I’m THAT much star-struck by the Korean culture. But I’m still not too sure if I can handle the food. But I can handle if I get a chance to meet Kang Ji Hwan and Jang Geun Seuk. Yeah, was a great fan of Hong Gil Dong, even though it got all depress-y towards the end. In fact, that’s how I came upon your blog. Watched re-runs of Hong Gil Dong on KBS World, and searched it up online, and ta-da!! Reached your blog and fell in love.

I collect snapshots of the dramas I watch and read recaps of, from your blog. I still pretty much swoon at the pictures of the cute cast of “You’re Beautiful”. Be it jang Geun Seuk, Park Shin Hye, good ol’ Lee Hong Ki or Jung Yong Hwa.

In fact, I’m so in love with South Korea altogether, I wish I could marry it and keep it beside for Ever!

At the moment, by now, I've gotten at least 15 other friends interested in K-dramas too!

Okay, I'm back from college and now I have more time to write. This time I bring you three other stories from the last... 3 years XD hahah.

1) I discovered dramas during my last months of high school. THANK GOD. I don't know if I would've been able to graduate otherwise. During the last week of classes, before our final tests, I became hooked on Dal Ja's Spring. I couldn't stop watching it, no matter the hour or homework I had to do the following day. I was on edisode 18 when I realized it was 5AM - and I couldn't just leave it like *that*. So, thanking to the heavens that my classes began at 13:30PM, I went to the kitchen, made myself some coffee and hurried back to my bedroom to watch the rest. When it was over, I checked my cell to input the alarm and I saw that it was 10:40AM. I had less than 3 hours to sleep, but I was just sooooo tired that I couldn't not sleep (you see, I had already stayed awake the other night with another drama), so I closed my eyes to "doze off" for a while. When I woke up, it was 13:20PM and I had to change, do my hair and run. My high school was 6 blocks away from home, so at max it would take me 10mins to reach it, but that particular day we had a whole powerpoint slideshow to show our teacher during the first turn, and *I* was the one with the slideshow in my PC, so I loaded it to a pendrive, forced my jeans on top of my pijamas, put my shirt, my tie, somehow managed to not forget my backpack. I ran outside and actually took a cab, so as not to get late.

I still don't know how I got to my classroom before the bell rang. Against all odds, everything went okay XD

For this anecdote I have to tell you guys that my native tongue is not English but Spanish, as I was born and currently still live in South America.
2) My second story is about my first "induction". Just for fun, I usually picture-spam my friends' MSN with pictures from my favorite actors and actual caps from the shows I'm watching, but the first person I succesfully dragged to our side came of her own volition. It was during last year's summer break; I went to my grandma's "summer house" (we call it like that because it has a pool, but it's nothing fancy XD) with my notebook filled with k movies and 5 dramas, three of which I had already seen but hadn't yet burned on a DVD. Back then I was practicing my skills with timing and subtitling raws, so I also brought tons of english translations. One day, my aunt came to me and said:
" Mich, you've been sitting there for 6 hours straight. What're you doing?"

" Oh, I'm putting subtitles to this show here. See?"

My aunt was pretty amazed at the whole thing and made me promise her that I would show the end result when I was finished. I was pretty excited at the idea of showing her what I was doing, but that was it.
Anyways, hours later (at the beginning I was really slow at timing), I called her over and showed her my subtitles. She just stared at the screen, and then:
"...It's in English."

" Yes, of course it's in English. I was using English translations and timing them."

" I don't understand English ): I though you were translating them to Spanish. Don't you have others that I can read?"

It just so happened that I *did* have a .srt file I had not only timed but was beginning to translate, but I only had the first 10 minutes in Spanish. I told her so and she was okay with it, because she only wanted to see what I had been doing those first 3 days. I played the video, which was the first episode of The Vineyard Man, and we watched it laughing and enjoying ourselves. When the 10 minutes were up and the subtitles changed back to English, I stopped it and told her "Well, that's it." My aunt stayed in her chair, silent, and I went to the kitchen to grab a glass of water. When I came back she was still there, which was odd, but I didn't think much about it and went to surf the net. After a while, she spoke again:
"... Hey, Mich, that series... are there any Spanish subtitles for it on the red?"

I told her there were (I was only translating it myself as a hobbie) - I fact, the drama had been fully translated by another website. So she asked me to download the subtitles for the first episode and, well, the rest was story. She got completely obssesed with dramas, and we watched all the series I had on my notebook during those two weeks.
At some points I would get bored and would try to grab my notebook to do something else, but then she would snatch it and run away with it!!! D:

3) The third story is the funniest of them all, IMO. I only ever shopped online twice, both in YesAsia: the first time I ordered the DVD set of MNIKSS, on April of this year. It all began because I had recieved a discount coupon of $10 which I simply couldn't pass by, so I grabbed my never-used-before VISA credit card and bough it without thinking twice. The problem, then, was the shipping fare: as I live in Argentina, the shipping costs were actually more than the DVD set itself, and I couldn't afford it. So then I was reading to give up, but I remembered that my family and I were going to go to Orlando, Florida to go to Disney, Universal and Bush Gardens. I discreetly asked my dad the adress of the house we had rented for those two weeks and then calculated the estimated date my package would arrive if I were to order it during the following days. I waited a week and finally ordered it, using that adress, more nervous than HELL. Soon after that we left for the US, and I spent great deal of my holidays sweating over my package. I couldn't believe I had done such a CRAZY thing. My parents were going to flip when the credit card bill came home and they realized I had bougth something and shipped it to an adress that wasn't even ours.
The first week passed... I was more than anxious. At the middle of the second week I was ready to cry. I couldn't even enjoy our days at Universal because I felt so stupid.
Two days before we left for Miami, I crossed our landlord in the hall, who looked extremely confused. I asked him what was wrong, and he told me that a post officer (is that how they're called?) was at the entry hall with a box for our flat, which was impossible so he was about to tell him to take it back. I almost screamed "NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" at him and just ran to meet the delivery man. I had to stop myself from kissing and hugging him. It was my Kim Sam Soon DVD set!!!
I had a really crappy couple of weeks, but I don't regret doing what I did :D I did, however, learn my lesson: I ordered the "Hello Korean!" book but I sent it to my own adress, no matter the cost.

(Oh... well, I obviously want that DVD set you guys are giving, but if the shipping fare is too expensive, I'm willing to pay for it, okay? XD Don't rule me out because of where I live, pleeeease!)

Over the years there have been MANY late nights - or should I say EARLY mornings... any many funny stories of feeding my kdrama addiction, but this one I thinks says it all....

So Ji Sub and I'm Sorry I Love You (MISA)...

There weren’t enough hours in the day to watch this. There I was a grown woman with a family, and a very demanding job, trying to sneak in every free moment to watch this.

A plan emerged.... how could I just sit and calmly eat my lunch when there was the latest instalment of MISA downloaded the previous night waiting for me at home? No it just couldn’t be... there had to be a way... and there was!!

At that time I lived about 15 minutes from my work by car. A plan emerged... 15 minutes to drive back home - 30 minutes of precious time to watch part of an episode - and 15 minutes to drive back to work. Yes, it would work!!!

So, in my lunch breaks I would drive home to watch 30 minutes of JJS. Just another minute I would tell myself - I'll just watch till the end of this scene - I’ll have enough time to get back to work. And yes, the inevitable happened...

One day I cut it sooooo short, that I had to sneak in to work via the back door. It was after one of the heart-wrenching episode - lots of tears were shed and my face, looked A MESS!

There I was, trying to sneak back into work without anyone noticing my lateness or even more importantly, my tear-stained face & very red, puffy eyes. This was going to be difficult but I told myself I could do this - I had SJS on my side!!

Just when I though I had achieved my goal... THE BOSS! who took one look at my face and inquired if everything was OK at home? Did something happen to upset me? (Well, yeah... but there just wasn’t enough time to explain to him about MISA and somehow, I didn’t think he would quite understand my addiction to this k-drama). He told me to take the afternoon off - to go home and just let it all go, to come to terms with whatever has upset me soooo much.

For just a second, no a milli-second I hesitated. How could I do this... how could I let a kdrama rule my life so... it was only just a drama, right? WRONG!!!!! The elation I felt as I drove home so out-weighed any guilt I was feeling. I mean, is there any doubt here?

And there you have it - life has moved on, but kdrama is still very much a part of me. Joining a fansubing group last year has been very rewarding - I remember feeling so thankful to all those who produced English subs so I could enjoy these dramas I had become so passionate about - now I can give back.

So my life is still very much the same - work, my kids, subbing, and staying up to 3am just to watch that last ep of whichever drama I’m into at the moment, but no more quick dashes home to watch the latest. I have my i-phone now, so lovingly bought for me by my family, which feeds my lunch-time addiction!

And that’s my little secret, well it was until now.....

My drama addiction began at the tender age of 12.

My mom one day from work brought home a copy of Glass Slippers and told me that Kdrama's were the new "it" thing to watch. I was skeptical at first, I mean Western movies and TV shows were so good, how can Kdrama compare? But I was so, so wrong. The level of addiction that Kdrama's give is beyond unhealthy. My mom and I literally sat on that couch for 2.5 days straight until we finished the whole thing. By the end we were just zombies. My mother had not cooked for two days straight and the males in the household began to worry. But later on, the boys too wanted to know why we were so addicted sat down and watched with us. And let me tell you, they forgot about their hunger and became zombies too. After finishing that series we had no idea what to do, should we skip school and work and rewatch? Or should we forget about the crazy weekend where we did nothing but sit on the couch crying and laughing like crazy people and go back to our daily lives? Guess which choice won by a landslide? ;)

It's been 6 almost 7 years now that my family experience the Hallyu fever and its just as strong today. Actually, no. It's definitely stronger, because Kdrama's have gotten even better and more addicting! It's like Crack, but you know legal. Kdrama's are our anti-drug and thank god we have friends who are just the same because without them we wouldn't be the same or always have a drama to watch! Since my family's money is tight and we can only enjoy dramas through the expense of other people's DVD set but at least we have that fortune. :)

My new life began in April of 2007. My Mom had been begging my sister and me to come over for the weekend to watch this K-drama called Goong. I had no idea what she was taking about, what was a k-drama? But she was adamant about us coming, and as good daughters, we couldn’t say no. The only weekend we could go was the weekend we had tickets to see Tap Dogs. By Saturday afternoon we were hooked, but we had paid to go see Tap Dogs, so my sister and I still headed out. Within 30 minutes of the performance beginning, we were sneaking down the aisle to leave. Don’t get me wrong, Tap Dogs was phenomenal, but Goong was in my blood. I had to see what was going to happen next. When we got back, we watched non-stop (or at least tried, why do Dad’s have to be so annoying). The minute it was finished we began watching it again. The obsession had begun.

Since then, I have watched so many dramas, I can’t remember them all. I do watch dramas from other countries, but nothing beats a Korean drama. I love them. I have stayed up all night many times trying to finish a drama before work (just did that on Wednesday), and those few times I didn’t, I was mysteriously sick that day and couldn’t go in. Because of Korean dramas, I have also been hooked on Korean music. My IPod is filled with my favorite Korean singers/groups (Mary Story, Monday Kiz, SG Wannabe, FT Island, Super Junior, Bi, CN Blue, Gummy…..I’ll stop) My second greatest joy was when I discovered the Korean Music Festival in LA. Now every year my mom, 2 of my sisters and I go (I can only imagine what our fellow fans are thinking, when they see 4 Caucasian ladies sitting next to them). It is so amazing to see my favorite artists live. And then last year the dream of my heart came true. I was able to go to Korea. It was amazing!!!!!!!!!!!! In Korea I was able to add to my growing hoard of Korean drama merchandise. I was a little kid in a candy store.

@ labchick, i think your story is definitely one of the crazier ones. i hope you win!

How about going all the way to Macau just to try and find the places that were featured in Boys Over Flowers? OK, that was me, my sister and my mom, but we did it - only to discover that most of it was filmed in one hotel :-p

PS The egg tart place where Jan-di and Ji-hoo bought food still plays that segment on a continuous loop. The egg tarts were pretty good, though!

I am one of those annoying women that think they are above stereotypical female trappings, such as romantic comedies, chick lit and other general mushiness. But, you know, every once in awhile something good will come along and I will (clandestinely) gobble it up like I'm Rush Limbaugh at a McNuggets and oxycontin buffet. (Yes, I am looking at you, The Notebook DVD, which I literally have hidden underneath my mattress)

Essentially, overt girly-ness is my dirty little secret.

I moved to Las Vegas a couple years back and I made my very first non-adopted Korean friend, who I worked with. I am a halfie with an adopted Korean mother, so I never really knew anything about the culture growing up, as my mom was raised in the Midwest in the sixties, which was is not the most diverse place. The only Korean thing I ever experienced growing up was eating kimchi (thanks to an aunt that was adopted later in life than my mom or her sister). Well, this fascinated my work friend, who took it upon herself to introduce me to the world of kdramas. (And her mother's DELICIOUS banchan...and the best kimchi I've ever had, ever. I've since moved to Portland and by GOD do I miss that woman).

She innocently told me to You Tube a little drama called “Brilliant Legacy”, completely unaware of the obsession she would start.

I was able to feed my dark side of pure unadulterated squealing girl, but at the same time was able to rationalize it in my head. It was in another language....I wasn't watching it for the love story, I was learning about Korea and my forgotten heritage, duh! (by the way, I was totally watching it for the love story, well that and Grandma and the evil Stepmother, who was AWESOME) I watched the first few episodes, (for the sake of LEARNING, dammit!) and was hooked.

This whole deal was, quite frankly, very embarrassing to me, on a couple of different levels. A: Since I so loudly and snidely decried all things sappy and B: I felt self-conscious about the Korean thing...I mean, there is nothing worse than that a-hole that is excessively proud of their 1/16th exotic heritage, even though they are very ignorant of said ethnicity's culture.

Instead, I decided my best option was to become a world class (or so I thought) sneak. My motivation to keep things under wraps were strong...if I got caught, I would have to admit to watching GIRL STUFF and that was not going to happen.

My boyfriend became suspicious eventually, due to really smart sneak moves like, “Oh, is it midnight already? Yes, I do need to be up at 6am, but gosh, I'm not tired. You go on to bed, sweetie.” and “You got free tickets to Cirque Du Soleil? Sounds like a perfect boys night out to me!” I'm pretty sure the boyfriend thought I was cheating on him or that I had picked up a nasty meth habit.

Brilliant Legacy led to Coffee Prince, then MNIKSS, then Que Sera Sera. I was insatiable. And since it was all new to me, there was so much catching up to do! (By this time I'd discovered dramabeans and the wonderful javabeans. Girl, you have yet to let me down...I used your drama ratings list like a kdrama bible)

So, anyway, I managed to go about 6 or 7 kdramas before getting caught with my pants down. You're Beautiful is the drama that outed me.

YB was the first drama I ever watched as it was airing. Before, I had the luxury of late night marathoning, letting the need for sleep be the only thing that stopped me. I was inexperienced with this new waiting thing and it caused me to get desperate...and sloppy. Rather than wait for the safety of night, I would come home and immediately turn on the computer and fire up the show. I got home about an hour or so before my boyfriend, so I thought I was all good.

I think we all know where this story is headed...one day the boyfriend comes home early...I'm watching the show...I do the super quick nothing-to-see here minimize window thing, looking like I just got busted watching pr0n. To this day, I don't know why I didn't just click on the red X...maybe I wanted to get caught...maybe the pressure of my double life was finally taking its toll.

My boyfriend isn't dumb, so he's knows there is something up, he walks over and maximizes my screen, as I blurt out futile excuses about how I'm just interested in the culture, etc. OF COURSE, the scene that plays out before his eyes is the first TK and MN kiss. I know I am boned, and spectacularly so. Not only do I get caught, but I get caught watching the ultimate girl drama during one of it's most squee-worthy moments. Half of me is like “AHHHHHH!!!! FINALLY!!!” and my other half is screaming, “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!”

My gut reaction is to get really mad, because he's just ruined the kiss and also, anger might throw him off my scent. Unfortunately, my boyfriend is more than ready to get his sweet revenge. He begins to retaliate for every dorky thing I've ever made fun of him for. (Wow, this sounds like a bad relationship, but we just like to goof on each other, its how we show affection. In case you can't tell, I'm not exactly comfortable expressing my softer emotions)

I still have not lived it down. To this day my boyfriend will start singing random kdrama theme songs at me, while I blush furiously and tell him to shut up.

It hasn't stopped me from watching kdramas. Now I'll just tell him that I am going to the computer room to girl out and he will have to leave me alone for the next hour or so.

Even though he's asked, I still won't let him watch one with me, because, well, honestly, he'll make more fun of me and I don't want to hear it.

Not that it is undeserved. I ate crow that day and now keep my disdain for rom-coms and whatnot to myself.

hahaha, omg some of these stories are too funny!
I don't have a ridiculous story to add, but I do have an interesting habit:

I really don't like angst, so when I'm watching a drama, once the suspense gets to be too much, which doesn't take much for me - I think Nicholas Sparks novels have too much angst - I'll flip forward to the second to last episode or even the first/middle of the last episode then go back and watch the remaining scenes.

Sometimes, though, when a drama is really well made and I just don't want to miss a second and I discipline myself not to look at spoilers, I stop watching a drama when I'm almost finished!
I still haven't seen the last episodes of Hotelier or the Last Scandal of My life, and I haven't seen the last few episodes of Chuno and Damo. My heart and nerves just can't take it!

Hi! I’m sleeplesslessinwgtn and I’m a K-drama Addict.

I am a rom-com drama fan, as you can deduce from my name. I watched Sleepless In Seattle so many times and all the other classic rom-coms of the 80’s and 90’s, including some English period dramas like Jane Austen's.

I am originally from the Philippines (hello to my kabayans) and have migrated to down down under. To satisfy my craving for Filipino dramas, I have resorted to watching them from You Tube. In 2008,GMA-7 aired ‘Ako si Kim Samsoon’, the Filipino remake of MNIKSS. I found out later that it’s a Korean drama remake and I became curious how the original is. I embarked into the MNIKSS journey… little did I know it would mark the start of my crazy addiction to non-Filipino Asian dramas. MNIKSS was followed by Coffee Prince and the rest is history…

I’ve lost count of how many I’ve watched, but I have a collection in my 320-Gig portable hard drive, some of which I have to offload to another offline storage.

I’ve hosted three weekend K-drama marathons at home, inviting three Filipinas from work. The 1st was MNIKSS, 2nd CP and the last one City Hall. It was the CH weekend that had a bit of 'drama'.

It was the height of winter 2009 and we had several electric heaters going. In the wee hours of the morning, when we could barely keep our eyes open, the heaters stopped running. To cut a long electrical story short, we overloaded the fuse in the main connection box out in the street. It’s not the indoor fuse so we could not reset it. We thought we should take that opportunity to grab some sleep and so we did.

My friend who’s in the drama marathon actually had a backup plan… if we could not fix the electrical problem in our house, we will go to her house, just down the hill from ours, and continue our drama watching.

Fortunately, my loving husband woke up early and rung an electrician friend who lives close by. He replaced the fuse and that saved our CH marathon.

Our friend electrician would not bill us for the work he’s done so we gifted him with a gift voucher.

But that’s not the end of the fuse story. Months later, the fuse blew out again and this time, we called another electrician (embarrassed to ask another favour from our friend) and he determined that we need to call in some serviceman from our electric company. It turned out the fuse connection was already loose and rusted. That cost us a little over a hundred.

That incident will go down our married life history as the day we busted the fuse because of City Hall.

Other manifestations of my K-drama obsession:
- I have stopped watching TV except for the news and some interesting documentaries. The Western dramas fail in comparison to the K-and other Asian dramas, which include Japanese and Taiwanese.
- My collection of English rom-coms including some of Jane Austen’s are gathering dust
- I now listen to Asian dramas’ OSTs instead of English and Filipino songs
- I have You’re Beautiful ‘Without Saying’ as one of my ringtones (courtesy of jb)
- I visit dramabeans.com once to twice a day while at work
- I check on availability of subbed episodes in viikii while at work
- I am now spouting some Korean expressions and when I ring up my son (who studies and lives in another city), my last words to him are ‘Aja, aja… Fighting!’
- I now call my younger girlfriends dongsaeng.
- I have included viikii and soompi as facebook friends
- Etc.

I am finding the stories in this thread really amusing and can see myself in some of them. Now I feel at ease with my k-drama addiction knowing I’m not all alone.

Cheers to my fellow k-drama followers… may our tribe grow.

Aja, aja! Fighting!

@203 labchick

I just had to tell your story to my 19-year old son. I truly enjoyed it. How crazy was
that!

I hope your niece, Samsoon, grow up to be like our beloved Kim Samsoon... pure... strong.... feisty.

Won't be able to read a zone 3 DVD but just want to say that my mom loved My Girl sooo much, my wee sister's first name is Juyorin [...]
Tried to explain that it should be Yoo Rin only and that Ju is her second name, but she was like "I know what I'm doing'

Now she's 4 and I'm used to it. Damn.