And so...the end of the Gu Family Book

Rather unexpected ending but it does make the drama a whole lot better! I do really hope that the ending leaves us with a possibility that there might be a part 2. I had watched this drama because of Suzy (from Miss A, also starred as Go Hyemi in Dream High and Jang Mari in BIG) but I was introduced to the rest of the awesome cast like Lee Seung Gi (planning to watch My Girlfriend is a Gumiho soon), Sung Joon (in the drams Lie To Me) and Choi Jin Hyuk (Panda and Hedgehog).

A short takeaway, a quote from the final episode which I'm not sure anyone caught it, but it means a lot to me.

"The first love helps one grow up, and the last love completes a person."
(Cho Ryeon Soo In, Jin Yeon Wan In 초련수인, 진연완인)

At least that's what I think it is written..It was used in the context of Yeo wool as the last love and Chungjo as the first love. Wonder if it does apply across different people.

Panda & Hedgehog ^^ 판다양과 고슴도치

Just completed watching this korean drama, pretty short - 16 episodes only but quite a sweet (and once again childsafe show). I decided to watch this because of Choi Jin Hyuk (plays Gu Wol-ryeong in The Gu Family Book) but I think I fell in love with the bad-boy character, Ko Seungji/Jang Minwoo, played by the famous Super Junior member, Lee Donghae! And yea, he is 26 (old enough to call Oppa) and SUPER CUTE...Ok now, Super Junior just won over one more fan..lols..not as if that matters.

The drama is named after the nicknames of the 2 main characters - Pan Dayang (Panda) & Ko Seungji (Hedgehog) and around the theme of making cakes and pastries - makes me wanna learn to bake nice cakes too!! Anyways they met when Panda desperately wanted to hire a new pastieur to save her debt-ridden cafe and Seungji decided to help her while looking for a job after being in prison. Unknowingly, they fell in love and realised that they had already met 20 years ago, and fate has brought them back together again! So sweet huh? Choi Jinhyuk plays a guy who also likes Panda but loses to Seungji. Turned out they were friends too and so, the story actually ended quite happily; something I like. Only the baddie is caught and everyone lived happily ever after :D

That's why Korean dramas are my favourite. They transport you to a fantasy world that seems so real and takes the worries (like the haze now) away from you. Though it makes me feel envious of the girls, they always have wonderfully eligible and goodlooking and nice guys fighting over them. What about myself? I don't even get the guy I like (although he doesn't seem very eligible, but I'm happy if I do).. Sheeshh..

Moral of this story: Don't bother about a guy's past as long as he's nice and goodlooking. And bad boys are actually always the nicest of all people..Bad on the outside but mostly pretty sweet on the inside.

Packed Weekend - JAY CHOU CONCERT OPUS & Aquathlon Handover Party

On friday, we had a test-brick training at ECP NSRCC which was like a resort and although it was super hot, we had quite a lot of fun.

Went for my 2nd Jay Chou full concert, this time with Leon - the last 2 times (concert and F1) I went with Minli and paid a lot more ($112) this time :/ I wasn't too bothered or excited with it because of the other more interesting stuff that was happening to me but I guess I would associate the concert & Jay Chou's songs with my teenage years.. All the songs brought back memories and strong emotions that I actually cried when he sang songs like Secret. He bantered with the audience, saying that he trained for a 6-pack (WHICH WAS LIKE OMG!!) because he didn't want to be called an uncle. Rather funny and the songs were pretty nice too. He sang many of his new songs and got Cindy Yen to be the guest star.However, I felt he used too much time to promote his new movie and gave his buddies a lot of air-time; which is a bit messy because of the lack of flow and the fact that you paid for a JAY CHOU concert and expect him to sing most of the time. Nevertheless, it was pretty good quality.

The next day I had Mt Faber training with the Aquathlon team and although it was only 11.7k, because of the slopes, it felt super long and I was glad that the girls were behind because I was so tired trying to keep up with the guys. Handover party was on that day at CP Tay's house and I realised that aquathlon guys are pretty rich - 2nd house which I went that has an elevator. O.o Anyways the house was huge.

It was a pretty cosy potluck party with yummy food. And attention went to the couples of the team, especially Yew Wee & Sherlynn. I mean, I was happy for them - the most fashionable guy of the team & one of the most good-looking with the sweetest girl & fastest swimmer. Pardon me but I couldn't help but feel jealous of all the couples in the team.They all seem to last & it was really nice that everyone can fit in so well because both were from the team. This made me kinda emotional & sad. Why not me? It's not fair - should I have joined earlier? :(

It's really not fair.

Lie To Me (내게 거짓말을 해봐) - Postdrama thoughts

In order to curb my impatience for waiting for the Gu Family Book, another Korean drama has occupied 4 days of my time. Lie To Me (내게 거짓말을 해봐) stars Yoon Eun Hye as Gong Ah Jung & Kang Ji Hwan as Hyun Ki Joon who met accidentally in an attempt to cover up Ah Jung's lie to impress her friend Yoo So Ran, who snatched Ah Jung's first love away. Because of that Ah Jung has been trying to get back at So Ran via different means to make herself feel better. She embarrassed herself time and again and also in front of Hyun Ki Joon, getting herself and Ki Joon into trouble. Sang Hee decides to help her since he was also infatuated with Ah Jung and made things worse. There lies the main plot. Ah Jung tries to continue impressing her friends and signed a 'marriage contract' with Ki Joon. Well, things were awkward at first but slowly, Ki Joon realised that he loves Ah Jung and has let go of his old flame,  Oh Yoon Joo (which Sang Hee also fell in love with). Its cute but sad to see the brothers liking the same girl a second time but things changed. Sang Hee decided to let go of both (although I was hoping for a better ending - getting together with Yoon Joo). Many crises also tested Ah Jung & Ki Joon's love but this time, Ki Joon wasn't going to make the same mistake and he did many extreme things to solve their problems. In the process, we see all the characters in the story mature, which was rather heartwarming, letting go of their pasts and starting afresh :D

There are a total of 16 episodes but I feel that a shorter drama is better because at least the story is not too draggy. Personally, I really enjoyed the drama because of its light-heartedness, good storyline, and not forgetting the good-looking casts :) Didn't like Eun Hye and Ji Hwan at first and it was actually Sung Joon (Sang Hee, Ki Joon's younger brother) who caught my eye because he's the good-looking Gon in The Gu Family Book. But this drama is sweet enough for me and it revolves around the theme of honesty, which I only realised towards the end, nevertheless, I think it is a good theme - that honesty is the best policy; and despite the lie that started the relationship, honesty is still most important. A good drama for the younger kids too - totally clean, sweet and pure love; something only korean dramas seem to have. And often, I feel that in today's society, it can be difficult to have clean shows to catch the audience's attention, so, I must commend the producers for this!

While watching this drama, I also came across this article on the difference between boys and men but well, I think I would kind of disagree with this article somewhat. Because I would want a mix of both? A mature man would be good, a reliable wall that can block any wind but I wouldn't like an old fogey who does not treasure life and have fun - that's where a boy-at-heart comes in! :) In this drama, initially we see the charming  'man-side' of Hyun Ki Joon but later on, we see that he does have his boyish charm - miniature toy collection, letting go and having fun at the amusement park, doing stupid things like drinking competitions to impress the dad...etc. That is my ideal guy.

Aigoo..seems like I'm discovering more about myself through these Korean dramas! ;)

Singapore Aquathlon 2013 - A first for me ^^

   A year ago, I ran Singapore Aquathlon as a runner, in the tertiary relay with Enid. We both achieved first as a team but as the race was pretty small, there wasn't much competition and hence, I was happy but it lasted for a short while. However, at that time, I was only a rookie in the field of biathlon/aquathlon (swim & run), my hopes wasn't too high.

   This year, after about a year of racing and trainings (especially my swims), I was a little more confident of my swims (which compensates for the lack of confidence in my runs after being down due to injury) and forked out $70 to take part in Singapore Aquathlon 2013. This event seemed much bigger, based on the publicity, number of participants, Metasports as the event organisers and definitely the higher cost, as it was replacing Singapore Biathlon (not held this year).

   Arrived at the race venue early at 8am, thanks to Leon who decided to go for a morning ECP run and offered me a lift. The event ground was pretty neat, with all the tents clearly marked and I was able to find out where was the information booth, baggage deposit, body marking, drinks station quite easily. And everything was pretty well-organised and there was not much of a queue at any of the stations, despite the high participation rates - I guess Metasports is an expert in organising such events. The only downside, which I was not too happy about were the meals/food for post-race where there was only nasi lemak available (whoever eats that after a race?!) and the electrolyte drink was pretty bad (had to settle for water).

   Anyways, I wasn't expecting much from the race because I was a little shocked when I saw the number of participants for the Sprint Distance was so much more than the Standard Distance and I haven't been back to my usual speed for my run. :( In fact, I was a little more confident for my swim in comparison because I have been working hard at it. Josh Li, Dereck, Debbie and Sherlynn went first at 830 & 840 while me, Max and his brother, Clement waited for 940 and 950 to start our race. Race cap, Oakleys, shoes, goggles, race bib, gel checked. Moved them all to the transition area before Max and I did a short jog to warm-up. You see, unlike runs, there is quite a number of things to prepare for a aquathlon (and even more for a triathlon) - the benefit is that it does diffuses the pre-race tensions :) Looking at the ships direction, I made a mental note on the swim course I should go (following it strictly is another matter altogether though). 

   Watched Max and Clement go off, I made a final mental check on everything and slowly headed to the starting line. Decided to stay at the front and do my best to attempt to draft the front swimmers. hahahas..which kinda failed but at least it was a try. 3min, 2min 30seconds, the organisers were pretty punctual. GO. Telling myself not to be afraid of swim kicks I rushed ahead with the front pack and tried to follow them - at least for the first 100m. The course, though it was only 750m, felt super long but at least the waters were not too choppy.

   Soon, I got out of the water and ran to the transition site. I spotted Yiwei in front of me and recognised her to be the SMU girl who won me during the run in SUNIG 2012. I was quite determined to chase her but my race plan was to tail her from the back until the last 1km. Good thing my transition went rather smoothly and I was out in a jiffy. Following her was quite comfortable for the first 2k all the way to the Sailing Centre u-turn, where my stamina felt it had taken a bashing. Slowed down a little but was telling myself, COME ON, YOU CAN DO THIS!

   At the last 1k, the gap was widening but I managed to catch up with her at the last 200m. Summing all my strength, I sprinted to the finishing line but the gap was a little too wide and I lost to Yiwei by a mere 3 seconds!!! :( Thank God that He gave me the strength to complete the race in a good time and that I managed a 3rd position for the 20-39 category! :D yays!

   

   Although we didn't enter as TeamNUS Aquathlon, it was nice that Coach David, Kenley, Jon Tan and Chunnie came to support us and that there were some of us taking part! Sherlynn and Debs were 2nd and 4th for Standard Distance, Dereck and Josh were 1st and 2nd, Max and Clement were 2nd and 3rd. Pretty good achievements for the NUS family :)

Hopefully, I will be brave enough to up the level next year to do the Standard Distance. But for now, my aim is still to complete a Sprint within sub-40 :)

Yays..i lost to Yiwei by 3seconds but oh well..

Much room for improvements - both run & swim

The $70 trophy - that's how much its worth