Liebster Award...? *fist pump*

All righty...coolness...uh...I'm so confused now...

Yes, Sly Cooper is barely applicable here. The
titular character and his gang are a confusing (and confused) bunch.

I'm confused in the sense that I'm not sure exactly how to do this Liebster-Award thing...But, hey, I'm still relatively new in the blogging community and in the Kdrama community, so there's no better time to learn!

The Liebster Award is the "Dearest" Award, I guess - since "liebster" is the German word for dearest, apparently. Basically, the award is a chain letter that gives whomever is nominated a chance to talk about themselves and to feel special. (Here are two links to two posts that explain the award and its origins simply.) Well, then...thanks for the nomination, Lore In Stone Cities! You will now be added to my "Awesome Unnis" list! Now that my awkward acceptance speech - if one can call it that - is over, I'll just answer the questions that have been posed now.

The rules (one set of rules, anyway):

• After being nominated, give a link to the person who nominated you in your Liebster-Award post.
• Answer 10 questions asked by the nominator.
• Nominate (up to) 10 other bloggers for this award who have less than 200 followers. (Okay, the numbers keep changing for this one...so this is part of the source of my confusion...)
• Create 10 questions for your nominees to answer.
• Let the nominees know that you've nominated them by telling them so on their blog.

1. Who is your least-favorite character in Drama land (a.k.a. the one that you wish you could slap)?

*whines* I don't know... *sobs* (Well, this is off to a great start!) It really depends. At this early point in my kdrama-watching career, I guess my least-favorite character would be Kim In Hee from Personal Taste.

I would say Saewa from Smile, Dong Hae because she's an awful, irrational human being who looks just as plastic as Kim In Hee, but then I remember that Kim In Hee nearly brought me to the point of dropping Personal Taste. Much of this drama has been pushed to the far reaches of my conscious memory, so I don't even remember why. My memory just reminds me that she annoyed the crudballs out of me.

2. What is the story behind your blog name / blogging ID?

At first, it was "Hallyu Fangirl" just because I don't know anything about how to do this. (Great ethos, my friend.) Oh, thanks. Anyway, after a couple of months, I kept thinking about how ugly the word "fangirl" sounds. It's a fun word to think about, but it's just such a cacophonous word. So I changed it to a word that still conveyed that sense of obsession...kinda...sorta...ish...

3. Favorite Korean variety show and why? If you do not watch Korean variety shows, do you have a favorite variety, talk, or reality show (from any country) and why?

It's not so much that I don't watch them as much as that I don't watch them a lot. The only Korean variety shows - because the American ones I've seen in my life grew violently boring - I've seen numerous episodes of are Weekly Idol and Running Man. Well...and EXO's Showtime. It's difficult to choose between the three...

4. Why do you enjoy writing?

This is an easy answer to find, but a difficult one to put into words. You see, I started writing when I was about 3. It's something that has just always been there for me to slink into - like Pokemon, Kingdom Hearts, and other fandoms have been, just with more personal productivity. My awkward mental processes began soon after I began writing. My thoughts about exploring other worlds, about experiencing things I would never get to, and playing out my own masochistic fantasies in my head (yes, I've been having that issue since my pre-school years). Writing for me has been a way for me to express these thoughts without having to talk about them with those around me. Writing for me is a way of shielding myself from people without entirely doing so, if that makes sense. Writing for me is both easily awkward and awkwardly easy.

5. If you could choose only one drama to have while stranded on a deserted isle (and could watch it via a magic coconut blu-ray / DVD player) what would it be and why? This would be the only drama you could watch until you were rescued (if you were rescued).

*sobs again* Why are some of these questions so difficult? (I have an issue with decisiveness.) Uh...erm...mmm...umm *panics* Empress Ki! (You know, it's probably not the best idea to  make this decision when the series hasn't even been completed yet...) But... *sniffles* Ji Chang Wook...and the music...and the feels... O~O

6. If you were to describe your personality as a Kdrama character, what type of character would you be and why?

I'm that awkward girl who thought she had to grow up, but ended up being happier when she decided to stop suppressing her cutesy pouts and to acknowledge her love of Goofy and her lifelong obsession with stuffed animals. I'm still that awkward teenager, but I embrace it. As a Kdrama character, I'm probably that cute, sometimes shy side character who doesn't know what to do with herself, but through friendship, learns how to thrive. (There are some male and female characters fitting that bill in dramas, and I love them because they are just adorable.)

7. What is the one thing in a drama that is a deal breaker of you? I.E. You hate it so much you can no longer watch it; why?

Dropping a drama is an experience I haven't yet dealt with. As a result, I don't really know what my deal breaker is. Sometimes with American shows (back when I watched them), my interest would just suddenly dissipate. So my deal breaker's never really set in stone, I guess.

8. Your dream team F4 looks like...?

1. Ji Chang Wook - ohhhhh, yes. He ruins my very existence in the best way possible.

2. Kim Hyung Jun - I could have chosen any Kpop man (in the end, I would have either picked someone from EXO or from SS501...) but Kim Hyung Jun is pretty, adorable, and his singing voice reminds me of a certain anthropomorphic video-game character whom I love, so here he is.

3. Lee Jong Suk - Socky Tree Monkey! (There are way too many people to choose from for this list...Let me just go sob in the corner because I feel bad for not picking everyone...)

4. Riku (Kingdom Hearts) - Sorry, I have to go away from Korea - from Earth itself, really - for a moment. I would have picked a different, more adorable video-game character, but Riku is...Riku.

9. If there was any drama out there that you could rewrite with an alternate ending, what would it be?

Smile, Dong Hae. No matter how it ends (I'm on episode 65 out of 159), I will want to rewrite the ending so that Dong Hae ends up with me. Somehow. (Let me apologize for my intense, fangirling love for Ji Chang Wook...) Although...then I'd end up writing Dong Hae returning to Bongi because I'd feel bad for taking him away...If I were to rewrite the ending for this reason, I'd choose Five Fingers because he's not a part of a canon pairing in that drama...

10. Name one thing you cannot absolutely live without? Why?

(Okay, here's the part where I'm going to let my teenage smart-aleck shine.) My heart because...biology. And feels. O~O

The nominations list is short, but...I'll be on the lookout for other blogs. (I think I broke the rule about the blog being less popular, too...ah, well.)

Stephanie-unni at Crazy For Kdrama
Andrea-unni at Give Me My Kdrama
Fatuma-unni at Looney Express
Laurie-unni at adgirl22
Cherry Cordial-unni

Question time!

1. If you could figuratively punch - let me emphasize the word "figuratively" - any Kdrama writer, who would he or she be? Why?(If you don't know the name of the writer, just write "the writer of [insert drama name here].")

2. Create an emoticon that can embody either feels or emotions (my example: O~O) or something random (my example from eighth grade: o(|)o. It's a rhino.)

3. Quick! What's the first Kdrama scene that you think of?

4. Assuming you listen to K-pop, what was the K-pop song that roped you in to Korean music? If you remember, of course...

5. What is it about a Kdrama that can potentially make it one of your favorites? (Or temporary favorites...)

6. What is it about a Kdrama that convinces you to drop it, if you choose to do so?

7. Since you started your blog, what have you learned about self-expression, writing, or yourself? (Or about other things)

8. If you could live as any Asian-drama female lead you've seen in a drama so far, who would you choose?

9. Write your own Kdrama Romantic Meeting of Fictional Fate.

10. How do you define a Korean drama? You can answer as smart-alecky or as scholarly as you please.

Self-analytical or creative thinking is fun. :)

-Pamela