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Open Thread #360

 
Herz Analog – “여름밤” (Summer night)Download ]

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He Got Married

:O

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Ha for a moment I was confused until I remembered xD

At least it gives you (us) more Rim... Hopefully of the dorky kind :)

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LOL

(Also I feel terrible not replying to all you nice people when I don't have anything substantial to reply anyway. I miss the like button.)

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Don't worry about that ;) I don't get pissy bc of that :D We have twitter as well so....

(yeah I miss it too!)

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You will always be the queen of his kokoro

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pfffft huihuihui

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I heard! Thought of you at once!

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Oh noes! Or yays?

On the up-side, maybe lots of little cuddly Rims?

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O____________O

Oh lords, I sincerely hope not. Won't they have to censor We Got Married if actual baby-making happened???

Although I'm not averse to him finding a girl. As long as he gets to squee a lot and be adorkably in love. Huehue

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Haha, I was at work when I wrote that (on a darned teeny tablet ugh) - I thought he was married for real! I was immediately sad for you! So I am relieved on your behalf. No baby Rims! Just squee and more airtime for your honey!

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Mary, at one level, I find your obsession with SJR spooky.

But then, having watched you over the months - So, I don't even know this SJR guy. But the WAY you fangirl over him has turned me into a bit of your fan. You are truly the goddess of fangirlism. *bows down*

First time fangirling over a fangirl..? Heheh. Oh, the places kdrama love takes you...

Glad to know the marriage is fake.

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> " ...having watched you over the months"

O.o

Who's spooky now?

*closes blinds and hides Rim altar*

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LOL too funny! :D

BTW are you the same Mary from the TPOTU blog?

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Heeheehee you mean there's another crazy mary running around talking nonstop about Rim?

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There can only be One.

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Mary is an institution. She's the fangirl we all want to be and everybody LOVES her.

Plus she is more famous here than Song Jae-rim himself, right?

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Hahahah.

I wish I could take my Oppa Love craze to similar heights.

That's allz I'm gonna say for now.

*continues sly business of secret stalking*

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It will sure crush long time SoEul shippers.... If there's any.
Are you approving the pair, Mary?

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Kim So-eun is good in my book.

I only saw her in BOF but I like her for some strange reason. :)

She is cute, she likes cats, AND SHE HAS A TWITTER ACCOUNT. Where she oh so generously posted a picture of her and Rim on their first filming day.

So yes, I am very much open to loving her. Especially if she keeps posting Rim pics. :D

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Kim So Eun was an adorable princess in Horse Doctor with a huge crush on Jo Seung Woo's character^^ I really loved her there :)

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But it will be fun to watch. WGM is such a crazy concept. As i watch it I continuously shake my head for a long long time, I don't get it.

Perhaps someday it will be SJR got mary-ed. Wishing on a star :)

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yay! Me too! I was so glad when I heard of that.

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And to Kim So-eun! I love/don't see enough of them both so I might actually watch WGM all the way through for once. I usually just check out an ep here and there out of curiousity LOL.

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This is shaping up perfectly for Mary!! Kim So-eun just picked up a lead role in new drama Liar Game which will of course require her to drop out of WGM, leaving Rim all alone to be Mary-ed!!

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Happy OT

I don’t know why but I’m still really heartbroken over the deaths of EunB and Rise of Ladies’ Code. I wasn’t a fan and just heard about them here and there but this whole accident affected me very much! Maybe because I just watched the old Running Man episode where Rise was a guest a few weeks back and thought she was so enthusiastic and bright… This is all so tragic and I sincerely hope that their families and the other members are able to deal with this loss =( No parent should have to bury their own child T_T

On a more positive note my grandma is finally out of the hospital after her hip replacement surgery and now the focus is on getting her walking w/o crutches and it seems like it’s gonna happen fast ;)

IOTL: Aww the ending was really great and sweet and I’ll really miss them =( Another crack drama gone and no other in sight… But oh well^^
Also may I say that I’ve kinda fallen for Kwang Soo. Gah I want to see ‘Confession’ so badly T_T

9 Boys: I really, really love this one. It has this really great feel to it which I totally dig! There is humour but there’s a lot of heart as well. Jin Goo kills me with his crush and I really hope he gets his happy end! I’m so curious about the whole back story of Kwang Soo and Da In and I want to know more like NOW^^
Dong Goo is such a star *lol* and I love how Choi Ro Woon is playing him! Kid’s got a bright future ahead!
I hope to get more of Min Goo and his flame bc the lack of screen time for her just makes me not care about them and I want to care about them ;)

Blade Man: Aah here we go… lots of WTF! But the good kind^^ You know the kind that makes me laugh out loud :D Just… Shin Se Kyung needs to stop crying and screaming bc it’s annoying! I don’t really care for the leads (yet?!) but I already adore little Chang and Secretary Ko! He’s awesome :D

Variety:

RM: What I got from this episode is that Ji Chang Wook is adorably innocent and I loved how frustrated Kwang Soo was with him :D Whenever maths is involved I just blank out and let them do it bc…well maths :P The stealing and hiding of the numbers and arithmetic symbols was fun to watch but the punishment… Damn for a second I feared for Suk Jin’s and Jae Suk’s lives xD And damn Sung Jae that TROLL! I think Chang Wook might’ve killed him if he hadn’t known the solution^^
Looking forward to this week’s ep! Seems like we have a bunch of fierce ladies competing =)

1N2D: LOL at the horror part^^ Defconn being all ‘What are you so afraid of?’ and then being the one nearly peeing his pants :P Ju Hyeok being totally cool and Junho trolling everyone beforehand and then… Well being afraid himself xD
YAY for the staff getting involved and I love how Yu PD had to eat plain old ramyun at the end of the day xD

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"I don’t know why but I’m still really heartbroken over the deaths of EunB and Rise of Ladies’ Code"

I know right, I'd never even heard of them or Ladies' Code until last week. All I know is I hope there's no trucks of doom or other vehicular related deaths in dramaland for a few months.

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The Ladies' Code situation was truly very sad.

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Yeah I have no clue who ladies code were when the news came out. But no matter its devastating what's happened. All these car accidents that's been happening in the korean entertainment industry in general is horrible, and this one especially so. Hope they would use this incident to make changes. But I don't really see that happening which is a shame.

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Pretty much all of this. I didn't know the group either but a loss of life is always sad. It's lingered with me because of how it seems like a symptom if a much larger complicated issue. I hope that the industry at large can find a way to become a safer and healthier environment for everyone involved.

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Yeah one of the major problems really is both the competition aspect of things and the schedules. There is just no rest for anyone, be that the artists or the managers and drivers. It's hard on everyone, and in a way we're lucky not to see even more deaths.

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The thing is I'm not sure we can blame the industry for Ladies' Code's accident. They only had the one recording on their schedule that day and let's face it they weren't a top tear group yet so most likely they and their manager got more rest than they wanted.

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I don't know of their schedual. Though it was something that made them drive late at night in rainy weather 8if I remember the reports right). But yeah I agree its definitively something about the driving culture as well. Especially if Korea is anything like China.

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Yeah, I don't know Ladies Code before but their accident is just horrible. The entertainment industry only thinks of them as cash cow, not human being with need of rest and relax too.
And just this morning Seungri Big Bang also involved in a car accident. YG stated he's okay initially with no injuries, but now he's admitted to a hospital and has to rest for a week. WTH with the agency!! Why they hide the real situation? It can be worse and human live and health condition should be their priorities, not just making money.

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Yeah I hear similar stories before. They will take 1 day of rest and then get back into it, while in reality it should have been weeks of rest and recovery.

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I am saddened by the fact that they had just started their journey as idols and they did not even get to enjoy the fruits of all that hard work. I just hope that the korean music industry take good care of their artists as people and not just as a product.

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Defconn was hilarious. I must say, though, that I would have been just as scared (or even more) if I were in his shoes.

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Happy OT beanies

How's everyone been?
My week was fun. Made new friends, watched a fun movie: Detective K starring Kim Myung Min who was hilarious. It was such hilarious seeing him in such a role.

Still enjoying Three Musketeers and Surplus Princess. Apart from that, things have been quiet on the drama front.... Seems weird that i have not seen ANY reaps/ reviews for the 2 new dramas that premiered. Did anyone watch? Which would you recommend?

P.S. I miss the Like button. Pls fix it DB

Have a great weekend folks

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I miss the like button too. For someone like me who doesn't post comment that much, liking what we read can be fun as well.

Hoping that they'll put it back^^

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So do i

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me too!

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I miss it too, the plugin upgraded and then broke the site, so I had to take it down. If it can be fixed, it'll be put back up!

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Yayyyyy!!!! Many many likes to this!

Let's pray and hope the button comes back.

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Panda Pooh!

I actually started a tinsy winsy bit of My Spring Days. It feels VERY, VERY, VERY old school. Although that's not necessarily a bad thing. Watched only bits before falling asleep (mostly due to exhaustion,hah, not because of the show) but I feel like I might like it if I pursue it. It's got a breezy, laid back kind of feel. And Sooyoung feels pretty spunky for a woman post-heart surgery.

Iron Man, on the other hand. Hahahahah. It's so outrageous, I cannot help but think it's a very deliberate choice on the part of the makers. The shots are stunningly beautiful. And it's very stylised. It's clearly not made by "intelligent people who are not intelligent". Or, wait a minute, maybe...

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Namaste :-)
I have been very interested in My Spring Days and I hope it does well. Planning on watching the first 2 episodes this weekend.

As for Iron/Blade Man, mmmmm.

It was just strange that I hadn't seen any news of either on my regular blogs. Maybe it's still a bit early

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Iron Man was a blast for the first two episodes, for sure. Very stylised in a really, really good way. Nutso characters who sneak you into caring about what happens to them.

Ok no love for Kim Gap Soo in yet another turn as an awful, awful father. But pretty much everyone else, yes! I have a feeling most especially for Secretary Ko, he of the patient personality and dead pan face.

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A question for beanies around: has any K-drama ever influenced your choice of career?

It sure had for javabeans and girlfriday =) but I'm talking about something along the lines of becoming a gynaecologist after watching a medical drama .... (not that recent medical dramas have been any inspiring...).

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Given how incompetent and unprofessional most characters are in their given professions in K-dramas, I certainly hope not :)

If it's not too nosy to ask, javabeans and girlfriday, do you do this full-time? I thought you had referenced having another job as a main career, although maybe that was a whlie ago.

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Oh, right. I was about to rant on how STEM fields are far more underrepresented in K-dramas than J-dramas. Now that you mentioned that, maybe this is a good thing.

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We are starting to see more doctors, as in the medical dramas. It would be interesting to see characters who are engineers, software people, etc., especially in a company with two huge electronics companies.

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They did have Enrique in Flower Boys Next Door ... and made it look like you can be a star video game programmer without doing any code-crunching.

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Ah, but he did intern as a baker in King of Baking. YSY, fighting!

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Yup - STEM fields are almost totally absent in k-dramas except in those Hospitals of Doom. I have commented before on how terribly limited the number of professions shown in k-dramas is compared to j-dramas.

I was actually surprised to see a lady forklift driver in the new drama My Spring Day.

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LOL :P so true. It is no wonder so many of the k-drama corporations have money problems with all the incompetents in charge.

But I think I would become a street vendor, so that I can meet lots of hot chaebol princes that we all know wander around Seoul eating food cart food all day.

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Definitely not for now. Rather than influence my choice of career, I'm more interested to Korean culture, foods, and if possible travel to Korea.

I don't know how k-drama would influence my career. The last time I watched a kdrama about my field, TK2H, they did it pretty badly.

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What I write here is a bit off from your question,,, But while I was watching the Discovery of Romance, I thought that Sung Joon's character being a plastic surgeon is a bit strange. That is because I had this prejudice against ps and I thought those surgeon would like to change their faces first. Yet Sung Joon is one of rare species of K actors who seem to keep his natural look. PS surgeon who keeps his natural look and his GF is also naturally pretty,,, is it rare or normal in Korea, I wonder?

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I don't know if it's my career but I draw cartoons and I'm featured today on "the site that can't be named" that shows International dramas.
I never would have drawn a cartoon of K-Drama had I not spent so much of my life watching K-Dramas. : )

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I love your first one. Wud you do a sequel? How about a take on variety show or makjang dramas?

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Thank you. Actually I didn't really even think I would do more than the first episode. But it was kind of fun, so I kept going. I don't know if I'll do any more. I might.

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Now you made me so curious to know about this mystery site

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Drama Fever.

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Thanks! Now I'm wondering why it was initially forbidden to say the name. Lol

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I was curious too, lol!

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Hey, Wag_a_Muffin, I wasn't aware of the extent of your cartooning talent, very nice.

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Happy friday and OT!

After 2 not so good (at times quite bad) last weeks I've now returned home. Norway is rainy and cold.. Can I go back? Though I wouldn't want to do that journey again (though Europe was the problem..)

I'm pretty much behind on everything of dramas as I've had no internet the last 2 weeks. Have one last toddler update to make but it will come at some point once I can locate my notes for them :p

So how are you all?

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Hi Manin! Glad you're home safe! Has it been a year already? That's crazy. Is it odd being back? I remember when I came back from a year in Egypt, everything looked too shiny and too clean and not really real enough. Do you miss the toddlers? I'm going to miss their dramas for sure, especially The Player.

What are you going to do next, when you've settled in?

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It has! It's gone by so unbelievable quickly. It's a bt odd being back. THough not been back for a long time. It's o green here! And so many trees! And clean air and and no tall buildings! And people speak norwegian and ques up for stuff and use seat belts in cars!

I'm already missing the toddlers. At least I got a bunch of pictures before leaving.

I'm home for a week (as my dad put it "enough time to wash clothes and repack) and then I'm off to England to get my master degree.

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Ooo whereabouts in England? What subject will you be taking it in? If you're close, we could have a mini-micro-beanie meet up!

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I'm all up for mini-beanie meet up! (close or not :p)
I'll be in York, studying medieval history :D Where abouts are you located?

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Saya and I are in London.

You have to come to London if you are coming to the UK. We'll take you to Koreatown for tons of food.

I have never been to York. Damn, I'm not even sure where exactly that is (I'm not from here so that's allowed --> goes to find it on a map).

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Saya, I'm back in town by the way, just flew in this afternoon.

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Ohh, Yeah I think York is about 2 hours away by train from London. Or something like that, so not so bad. A meet up can definitively take place with that!

Would be nice to go to Koreatown. I got to eat bibimbap and kimchi soup in China which was quite tasty.

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oh goody! Glad you're back safely, alua! Let us know when you're in town, Manin (leave a comment on alua's blog to pass on your email?). We were thinking of doing a 'Korean night' (or day, actually), where we eat all the Korean food we can conjure and watch a to-be-decided drama. Maybe even marathon it! (Did we decide on My Secret Hotel?). Or we just eat. Eating is fun.

(If there's anyone else local and interested, let us know! Now is a nice time for trips and meets.)

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PS - I've never been to York either...all I know is Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain. And, you know, English history stuff like York vs Tudor. I think it's northish. Northy. Like Yorkshire-type? I could look at a map, but that would be too sensible.

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"northish. Northy."

bwahahaha. I love you Saya, you crack me up!

It is north by the way. Just a wee bit below Newcastle. I don't understand how it's two hours from London (I checked, it is) because Birmingham is two hours from London and that's going north (or northwest) too but it's so much more south than York!

Yeah, I was going to suggest the same, Manin, leave comment on my blog and then I'll send you our contact details.

Not sure about marathoning My Secret Hotel. Can I vote for IOIL? Or how about White Christmas? I haven't seen that.

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If it fits into your schedule, you might want to consider coming down for the London Korean Film Festival, which will be on in November. They are releasing the programme soon (next week I think).

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ooo White Christmas! YES I VOTE FOR THAT. I tried to make my sisters watch it but one watched 1 ep and gave up, and the other keeps telling me not to tell her to watch stuff. I think IOIL isn't their cup of tea - it's too introspective and 'mature' and they...aren't mature. HAHA.

I think it must be a fast train - you can also get to Manchester in less than 2 hours apparently, so it makes sense. Sort of. In as much as anything Englandish makes sense. Also, ha! I knew it was somewhere in the Shire of York! Who needs MAPS when you can has LOGICK?

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Haha my knowledge of where York is is that it's somewhere north in England :p

I feel excited for this! Haven't seen secret hotel so am up for marathoning that (its on the marathon list anyway). Though White Christmas is awesome, so am up for rewatching that as well!

Comment added to the blog on the "About the blog" section!

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Manin -

Good to see you! How are you?

So glad to hear you're back home safely.

Thanks for sharing your toddler stories while you were in China. In a way, we're going to miss those little kids.

Doing ok here, just melting in the heat. I think we'd like some of your Norway cold and rain!

Take care and get some rest before jumping back in to your next adventure!

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Korfan-

I'll trade you some of that heath! Had a stay over in a hotel yesterday and the aircon was on in the room, but was too tired to find out how to change it. So ended up sleeping wrapped up in two duvets.

Yes the toddlers will be missed. I'll already missing them a lot.

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Manin -

Oh my goodness, I just read! You're off to England next!

You're such the world traveller. How cool.

Best of luck in your upcoming studies! :)

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Korfan:

Thank you! Yes off to England to be a student again. I'm both dreading it and looking forwards to it.

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Hi Manin! Glad you are home safe and sound, weather notwithstanding. I referenced you in the comment section of plus nine boys epi 3 recap because someone was skeptical of love triangles in kids below 10. I mentioned you had hilarious toddler love stories which you have been regaling the past few months :).

Good luck with the master's in UK. Air should be considerably cleaner!

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Enz: Haha I will go have a look! And yes my toddlers has definitively showed that drama land romances and antics can happen among small children no problem :p

Thank you! Yes I'm happy to be somewhere where I can't taste the pollution in the air with every breath. I'm expecting coming down with a cough though to cough out anything that's in my lungs. Like smokers do when they quit.

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Are you going to keep working with kids( toddlers)?

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Hullo beanies! Happy OT.

Is no one watching what happens to my family? I am really enjoying it. Park hyung sik's rage face is incredibly cute and it is extremely satisfying to hear the aunt rant on the ungrateful eldest son, who seems ashamed of his family.

Loved it when she went " yeah, you just fell out the sky, didnt you? No one gave birth to you, no one fed you, no changed your diapers, etc etc". I was going "preach it, ku mo!!!!"

But my favourite out of the current bunch has to be Plus nine boys. Really looking forward to it. Well balanced with humour and heart, which is my favourite combination.

Watching others too but not much into them. Suddenly loving running man a lot and am excited at the news they may be coming for a fan meet in malaysia in november. Whooot..

Have a great weekend, all.

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I am currently watching What's happening to my family too.. love all the characters there, seems like real life though some situations are OTT I guess.. I like the leads a lot esp Kim Hyun Joo..

I've started watching Plus Nine Boy coz I really like Oh Jungse after watching him in Happy Together, such a natural actor and super funny guy, for real..

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Yes, the characters are exaggerated little for dramatic effect but otherwise, pretty much within two std deviation of the curve. I like kangshim too. I have a real issue with the doctor brother though and the director is a bit overacted. Still, overall, very cute drama with a lot of warmth.

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Oops.. Sorry! I dont know how this happened. I was replying to owl with a series of quotes, which doesnt seem to have been uploaded. Oh well. Sorry!

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Owl: I'm unsure. On one hand I do enjoy the work, and I wouldn't mind going back to China to do it.

On the other hand, my subject is history, and I would love to be able to do something actively related to it. Weather museum job or research.

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Glad to see, that you had a safe trip home. :)

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Thank you Newbie! It was definitively an interesting journey. Though the part I was dreading most went the smoothest.

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YAY!!!!!! You're home!!!! When does the new school senester start?

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Have to move into the uni accomandation next saturday. so only home for a week. Then it's orientation week and stuff from the 22rd of september.

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Welcome back Manin!!! Good to read that you made it back home to Norway safe and sound traveling from China.
“Where we love is home, home that our feet may leave, but not our hearts.” ― Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.

Memories & Time Spent in China:
“A moment's insight is sometimes worth a life's experience.” ― Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.

Congrats on pursuing your Master's Degree:
"One's mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions.” ― Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.

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August:

Thank you :) nice quotes. Makes me think of this one:

"The change their climate, not their souls, who rush across the sea" - Horace

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Happy Friday, fellow beanies! It feels like it's been a very long week.

K Drama-wise:
*Still loving "The Three Musketeers." The plot and pacing are very engrossing. I hope they can keep it up for three seasons.

*I finished "Shut Up, Flower Boy Band." What a sweet show that turned out to be! I wanted to adopt all of those boys. I LOVED the ending - even if it wasn't exactly what I thought or wanted to happen originally, it was so satisfying. And it was unexpected without anybody dying or too much ambiguity! See, K-dramas, it can be done.

*Did not have time yet to finish "It's Okay, It's Love." Without giving away anything, were people satisfied with the ending? (On a scale from "Bad Guy" to "Shut Up Flower Boy Band," where did it fall?)

Real life:
*Oddly enough, someone brought up football in last week's thread, and I mentioned how I'd given up football this season because of the Ravens' light treatment of Ray Rice. That turned out to be a prescient discussion, wasn't it? Sigh.

*The big news of the day is that I don't know if I'll be able to get home after work, LOL. My neighbor a few blocks over is hosting a political fundraiser which will be attended by . . .the President (of the United States). They had tons of military helicopters flying over yesterday, and Secret Service scoping out the streets and knocking on doors. The worst part is they won't tell us which route he's taking, for security reasons, so nobody on my street or the surrounding ones know if we'll be able to get onto our streets. Many families in our area have multiple children, and nobody knows how they'll get home, as school buses also won't be allowed on the streets. What a mess. So, here's hoping I get home at a decent hour!

Have a nice weekend, all.

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I still haven't seen Shut Up so I can't compare endings, but I enjoyed IOIL ending. I think probably episodes 13 - 15 were the strongest.

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IOIL's ending did not fall! very satisfying, i thought...

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>I finished “Shut Up, Flower Boy Band.” What a sweet show that turned out to be! I wanted to adopt all of those boys.

I know! I watched it with my 13 year old son (who adored it, had a huge crush on Su-ah, and now wants to take guitar lessons), and my overriding reaction was that wanted to go buy groceries for them all and make sure they were eating properly.

Proof you're an old lady, I guess, when the pretty high school boys on TV make you want to cook for them instead of flirt with them (though Byung Hee did strongly remind me of all the bad boys I pined after in the '80s. Rawr.)

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LOL, right? I'm 35, and I am definitely at the age when the poor tormented flower boys seem to need mothering more than loving to me :). Granted, I never was one for the bad boys, although none of these guys was ever *really* bad.

And I think one of my favorite lines in all of K-drama history will be Do-Il saying in wonderment, "I never tried studying before, but . . .it's really fun! Solving a math problem is like playing the drums!" with his eyes wide in amazement. That cracked me up so hard for some reason.

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>I’m 35, and I am definitely at the age when the poor tormented flower boys seem to need mothering more than loving to me

::laugh:: I'm 50, so they really look like babies to me (it's also why "High School King of Saavy" made me so grossed out. ::shudder::)

>Granted, I never was one for the bad boys, although none of these guys was ever *really* bad.

I dunno. Byung Hee was that sort of guy who makes girl's panties fly right the hell off - waaaay too dangerous for a high school boy. ::laugh:: I always dated the nice boys back in the day (and married one, too!), but I stared longingly at a few dangerous ones all the same. ;)

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No harm in looking :).

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eps 15 and 16 IOIL did not disappoint in wrapping up the drama. Because of that it moved into my top 10 fav dramas.

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Glad to hear people are liking the ending!

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What's not to like in IOIL ending? Every specie of a doctor and a patient got a loving mate to hug at the end of their journey. So cute - sitting on a couch two by two, like the passengers on Noah' Ark. I was kind of disappointed there were no dogs, cats, or hamsters shown getting happily settled with a love interest (or a mother) at the end of that lovey-dovey episode 16.

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Same here. Expected nothing from this show and was totally surprised how good and convincing it was (not talking about the medical details, it's fiction after all). Wonderful ending to a strong show.

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I enjoyed the ending because the happiness was hard earned, but I would have preferred them to show us how Hae-soo's family ends up accept Jae-yeol rather than sabbaticals and time-jumps.

I can't blame them though, they were probably exhausted by the end and wanted to keep it light!

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Hi Alua,
The ending wasn't happy for me because they sent off the best character I cared about - Kang Woo. Kang Woo, the abandoned Kang Woo, with his brused face and his bloody feet that kept running ...nowhere, coz no one would help him - not in a past, and looks like, not in a future. Poor Kang Woo, who is the epitome of what's wrong with S. Korean society, was let go, kicked out without any justice served, only his feet washed.

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Kang-woo might have been a character, but he wasn't a person.

I don't think we need to start feeling bad about abandoning a hallucination.

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I don't think Kang Woo was abandoned or sent off. He was absorbed back into the person who separated from him in a time of desperate need.

That Good-bye scene was painful, memorable and powerfully played - especially by JIS.

JY had to accept he wasn't all that cool - he WAS a tattered, barefoot 16 year old who didn't deserve to have the sh^t kicked outta himself. When he could look KW square in the eye and accept that facet of his reality and personality, KW returned. How much it must have hurt to embrace the pain again, but it also allowed himself for the first time to start to heal.

KW will always be with him, just with a different face - his own.

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I agree with you jomo. That scene was wonderfully done and JIS was perfect in that moment.

I disnt love this show much but i did like Jang jaeyeol very much. The medicine was awful and i didnt believe any of the stuff but i did like the romance and stuck it out for that.

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Yes indeed it was a prescient discussion.

NFL Players Facing Domestic Violence Charges & Still Playing/Practicing with Teams:
Greg Hardy (Carolina Panthers)
Ray McDonald (San Francisco 49ers)

NFL's past penalties for domestic violence 'a different story'
http://www.cnn.com/2014/09/09/us/nfl-players-domestic-violence-accusations/

14 NFL players arrested for violence against women in last two years
http://www.si.com/nfl/2014/09/11/nfl-players-arrested-domestic-violence-assault

What the Numbers Show About N.F.L. Player Arrests
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/13/upshot/what-the-numbers-show-about-nfl-player-arrests.html?_r=0&abt=0002&abg=0

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Another one -- six-time Pro Bowler Adrian Peterson -- was indicted today for Child Injury. Can only hope Roger Goodell is gone by Monday.

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So in case anybody is interested I finally got home. It was a strange feeling having to get permission from the Secret Service to enter your street, and helicopters are circling above. But the President is safely ensconced several blocks away and will hopefully leave soon so traffic around here can get back to normal.

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Hi everyone, happy Friday!

So: Blade Man/Iron Man: not actually bad...except for trivialising violence. I didn't find that funny at all. It left me with the same feeling Secret Garden did about its 'romance', like...show is selling something I'm not buying. The boss beating up his employees for lols and then promoting them? NO. Kicking and punching everyone? No. Serious anger management issues? YES. It's not the violence itself I find problematic (which I can't handle too much of generally), it's the way it's legitimised as expected and/or acceptable behavior. Is there a cultural basis for it, does anyone know?

And yet despite that, in ep1 at least, it's kind of compulsively watchable XD I liked the heightened senses aspect, that's a kind of neat lead-in to bladey angst. I haven't watched ep2 yet, but I'm going to give the show a go. What did you guys think?

I haven't had a chance to start Discovery of Romance yet, but I snooped at the last recap and now I'm not sure I want to...is it worth watching?

In other news, term starts soon! If anyone in the London area is looking for Korean classes, check out King's College's courses here: http://www.kcl.ac.uk/artshums/depts/mlc/evening/level/syllabus/korean.aspx
(There are also discounts available, eg for University of London alumni or staff.)

More later, work calls, sigh

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I must admit to reading the intital plot for Iron man/blade man and thinking "uhm.. no" also after seeing the photoes of knives sticking out of his back. (Which was followed by the thought "sso.. hedgehog?")

But if it's actually watchable I might give it a try.

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“sso.. hedgehog?”

Oh, snap! That's exactly what I thought, too! And then lol-ed my head off.

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Haha pretty much what I was doing as well!

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I think I'm going to like Blade Man. I know people are skeptical that the blades are not metaphorical, but I doubt I would be this positive about the show with out them. It feels like Snow White and her seven dwarfs just met the Beast in his strange castle. Twist, I don't think he knows he is the Beast.

The violence is seriously disturbing, not in the magnitude but in the acceptability, in the lack of censure. I actually like battle scenes and a good fight, but these are not fights. There is just abuse of position.

That being said I like Secretary Ko and the way he tries to protect his pup. I am excited with reservation. There is definitely great potential for character growth, it had just better happen.

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I was expecting nothing from Iron Man except that maybe I would drop it 30 minutes into Episode 1. But I think I'm going to like it too. I totally get the fairy tale vibe. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs meet the Beast - exactly right. I even got a little bit of a Rapunzel thing with Lee Dong Wook as Rapunzel. He seems to live in not so much of a house as a tower.

About the violence, I like battle scenes and a good fight as well and have a surprisingly high tolerance for gore for a pacifist (I Saw the Devil is one of my favourite movies of any genre). The violence in Iron Man is over the top cartoony but the casual acceptance of workplace abuse by bosses to underlings or older to younger in domestic situations in K-drama is upsetting. I assume it's reflecting something that exists in real life but I don't know. It's like a hierarchy of abuse and someone is always inhabiting the lowest rung of the societal ladder.

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But this is what I was thinking: even if it's socially acceptable for the boss to dole out a certain amount of abuse, when it results in severe injuries, couldn't you, as an employee, file for assault? If you can file for unfair dismissal (as per other dramas), why not assault? Because that's what it is, plain and simple. If you did that to someone in the street, you sure as hell ain't walkin' away without an arrest warrant chasing you...so what makes the workplace different? That's why I wonder if it's just a badly-realised world rather than a reflection of social conditions.

Then I thought about it again, and I still don't know. Or if it's a bit of both - that of course there are systematic abuses that are an accepted part of the workplace-world, but it probably can't acceptably go to the level this show is portraying. Or maybe that's they point they are trying to (stupidly) make: that LDW's character is a crazy even in crazyland.

Seriously, who knows, dramaland ethics are mysterious and slaves to convenience XD

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I know right? There's a good fight, and there's beating someone to a pulp for lols. I had to stop and swear at my screen so. many. times. because it was just...incredible. Wtf was he doing? Why were they letting him and saying thank you? WHY ARE THEY ACTING LIKE THIS IS OKAY?? I liked bodyguard-secretary bromantic overtures, too, but his casual acceptance of whatsisname's unacceptable crazy makes me not like him as much as I could.

I admit, I nearly stopped watching it about 8 times in the ep, I don't know why it didn't stick...but here's to hoping that at least this senseless violence ought to be the thing he gets cured of, and therefore, there will be less of.

So I'm basically watching this show.

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Totally agree on Iron Man. I stopped watching after 15 minutes because the way he treated his workers was not funny. This is something that bothers me about Korean dramas. Sometimes the subordinate gets hit on the head or the face by the boss or "sunbae." Or an older person feels they have I the right to hit another because they are younger. I understand the cultural differences, but that doesn't mean I have to enjoy watching them when they are something I disagree with. I think that is why bullying and teen suicide is such a problem in Korea. Sunbaes sometimes feel it is okay to push around the younger ones, and the younger ones don't always have the emotional stability to handle that kind of stress. As a teacher it makes me incredibly sad.

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I agree. We were really looking forward to it, but the violence wasn't cartoonish enough. And being a jerk isn't funny to me. So I dropped it too.

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yeah...i really had a problem with the violence in blade man as well. I'll admit that i would've put up with it even though i thought it was just cruel but I left it for other reasons.

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Are you the same Saya that's recapping My Secret Hotel?

I'm watching and still enjoying Discovery of Romance.

It was far from intentional but somehow I ended up binge-watching Lee Dong-Wook dramas. I completed Scent of a Woman last month and now I am currently marathoning Mandate of Heaven. And this week I checked out episodes 1 & 2 of Iron Man/Blade Man.

Like you and other commentators have mentioned, the seriousness of violence should not be downplayed or trivialized. Han Jung-Soo as Secretary Ko and Lee Mi-Sook as Butler Yoon are entertaining and interesting characters. Every time Lee Dong-Wook appeared on screen in wearing that flowery shirt, it was like a flashback to the 80's.

I found myself asking what if Han Eun-Jung (Kim Tae-Hee) and Shin Se-Kyung (Son Se-Dong) switched roles? Han Eun-Jung as the 1st lead female and Shin Se-Kyung was the 2nd lead female.

I was excited about Lee Dong-Wook and Lee Da-Hae pairing up to work together again but I wish they had selected another drama instead of Hotel King because it didn't measure up to their past work My Girl. How different would the response to Iron Man/Blade Man be if the OTP in this drama was Lee Dong-Wook and Lee Da-Hae?

Right now, my mindset is to drop it. I'm drained and I don't care to wade through another 20 episode drama with Shin Se-Kyung as the female lead. It was enough last year when I did it for Song Seung-Heon in When a Man Loves.

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Hi August!

> "Are you the same Saya that’s recapping My Secret Hotel?"

myeah but I've been an OT (ir)regular much longer than that! We've talked before! About White Christmas and other animals! But I have been off here for many months because of reasons, so if I look "new", that's why :D

I want to know why Lee Dong-wook looks so gaunt these days - isn't he eating? Sleeping? He looks much plumper and healthier in My Girl (the only other drama I've seen him in)...or is it just age?

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Cool, I thought so. Congratulations on joining Dramabeans as a recapper. Thanks for recapping My Secret Hotel...I appreciate it. :)

Glad to see you active on the OT again because I definitely had a nice time discussing White Christmas with you and reading your postings.

Lee Dong-Wook is a busy man these days. Earlier in the spring and summer he was pulling double duty with the weekend drama Hotel King and the variety show Roommates. Then he traded Hotel King for Iron Man.

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Thanks, August! It's really my pleasure (seriously, I love my show, and also my sunbaes, and ALSO also everything that I'm learning in the process). Hopefully, we'll all keep on enjoying the show and a) get a happy ending, and b) punish the eeevildoers.

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In some of the earlier episodes of Roommate LDW mentioned that he was on a very strict diet and exercise regimen for Hotel King, and I assumed that's also the case for Blade Man. Not the mention the stress of the actual filming probably contributes as well. I saw a side-by-side comparison somewhere of how he looked at the start of Hotel King and at the end, and I thought the difference was striking, in a not-good way.

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I feel like he looked his best in his My Girl days - he's been getting steadily thinner but, as you say, not in a good way. He's all hollow-eyed and almost not there!

I finally discovered Roommate a little while ago (thanks again to OT; it was so funny, I was dying) but only caught the one episode, where he basically is not in it until the end -- which kind of seems like the story of his life: always working! Stop!

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Saya - Consider yourself lucky as you missed out on the episodes in which he is basically not eating.

I'm not into abs and when I have to see, what these guys suffer to get them I detest them even more.

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Hi Everyone!

I hope you are all doing well and enjoying your last weeks of summer. ....... Melting here again! Too hot!

I'll admit it ......... I briefly read Song Jae-rim news somewhere and immediately my thoughts were with mary. Heh. ...... We all do that now, don't we? It like automatic or something.

Watched this week:

Temptation - Still enjoying this. Half-way through this and at this point, if Se-young started all this as a game, I don't think she's in charge anymore.

Fated To Love You - Whoever was in charge of casting the main characters for this needs to receive an award. Fantastic.

It's Okay, It's Love - Up to ep 10. Oh so good. ....... The way it pivots from light moments to moments of desperation, all while dealing with serious subject matter, is a sight to see ........ certainly due to the cast's great acting.

Summer Romance Shines In Rainbow Colors - Came across this Japanese drama while flipping through the tv channels. I'm not a regular jdrama-viewer, so I honestly don't know what to expect. ........ I also have no idea who the actors are, but it looked interesting so I'm giving it a try.

That's all for now. Everyone take care and have a great Friday!

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Hi Korfan!

How are you? Can I have some of that heath please? Norway is too cold for me.

Song Jae Rim news equals "Ohh what did Mary think?" in my mind now as well.

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Manin -

Hi! ...... Doing ok here. ...... I would be more than happy to send you some heat in exchange for some cold!! ..... We could use some rain also, because it hasn't really rained this year.

*laughing* ...... yeah, I think it's official now, Song Jae-rim is synonymous with our mary!

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Korfan:

I wonder what song jae rim would say/think about it if he knew. At least Mary is quite the sweet and cute obsessive fangirl (and that's words you wouldn't normally put together in the same sentence for a lot of cases.)

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Lately, I keep choking and my ears are itchy.

So it was you, thinking about me? O_____o

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Mary: choking and itchy ears? Never heard that as symptomes of someone thinking about you before :p My grandma used to say that hickuping was a sign someone was thinking about you though. And China has if you were sneezing some one was thinking about you/talking about you depending on the number of sneezes :p

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OOh we have the hiccup symbolism too and if you accidentally bite your tongue someone is cursing you!

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Anyone else hear that Song Jae Rim and Kim So Eun will be replacing Wooyoung and Se Young on We Got Married? I am full of anticipation.

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Too hot? Where I am, it snowed last night. Stop that! Summer isn't even over, yet. Too cold!

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