I started following Kdrama about 6 years ago. Winter Sonata was the first drama that got me hooked to Kdrama. I was so crazy about the dramas that at one point, I managed to finished watching 3 dramas over a weekend started from Friday evening (a total of 48 episodes).

I am a Chinese but i started eating instant noodles from the cover of the pot. As and when i will go and have the Korean grilled meat wrapped in lettuce and trying to imaging myself as a character in the drama. I have changed from calling my significant the half "dear' to 'Oppa'

I tend to watch my favourite dramas twice and my all time favourite is "Goong" which I watch 4 times and to the extent that i know what the is the next line at certain part of the show.

I am planning to learn Korean so that I don't have to depend on subtitles (which may not be very accurate at times and thus loses the essence of the show).

I love "You're beautiful" and will be over the moon if i can get the limited edition box set that I am not able to get here.

I used to prefer reading books than watching TV.
But since I watched Endless Love aka Autumn in My Heart in 2002, I've addicted till now. I watched the K-drama and T-drama. I became the loyal buyer to the DVD vendor. Every time, she had the newest dramas, she'll contact me, and I always make time to visit her counter to buy. I also watch the drama on line.
Now, my books stand in the shelf waiting for me to read them....

Best form of entertainment ever: two bowls of makgulli + your stories.

Bring on the crazy! I LOVE IT!

This one's really more of like a funny effect of my kdrama addiction.

As practiced at work, we always have a one on one discussion with our managers. At that time, most of my colleagues at work were either always late or absent. So when it was my turn, my boss asked me, what my motivation was to coming to the office. Without batting an eyelash, I answered I wake up early because I need to watch a kdrama. My manager's reaction that time was either amazed or shocked. He had this really baffled expression that looks like there's this huge "HUH?" in his face.

I think he already overcame his initial reaction to my surprising answer when he asked another question, "Why not go back to sleep after watching the drama since there's still some time left?" I don't think he quite connected how watching a kdrama made me arrive at work so I simply explained this to him. I wake up early watch the drama. Since I'm all hyped up after watching the drama, I couldn't sleep anymore so the most logical thing for me to do is go to work already even if it's still early. (Note that even if I get to work early I still get off work at the same regular time as my colleagues. LOL)

With that he ended our session. I don't know if he thinks I'm crazy or whatever. Probably he was still trying to understand my response to his questions. On the other hand, I guess he must have been thanking the heavens for Kdramas.

Whenever, I remember that I can't help but smile. I truly am a kdrama addict. I think at that time I've just gone as ditzy as some of the kdrama characters I've been so eagerly watching. And in case, you're wondering i'm still working for the same company. Aside from my Kdrama-related status messages, I guess they got used to seeing my ever changing Kdrama wallpapers in my desktop after I end my presentations. Hahaha!

My sister and I are really close and we share our love of k-drama. My sister was really stressed and tired while she was writing her thesis so my Mum wanted her to sleep early, and not to watch any movies or drama on the computer. I used to sneak up to her room with my computer and earplugs while my mum was sleeping and we watched My Name is Kim Sam Soon together everynight :)
In the end, my sister ended up thanking Kim Sam Soon on her thesis for all the laughs she brought us... it really helped her get off the all her stress.
This is my best memory of a k-drama addiction. At the end, we lacked sleep but we shared such good memories!

I don't really know if my story qualifies as wacky enough(or if it's even funny at all), but I'd like to think of it as my pride symbol of desperation over kdramas.

First, a little history. My Kdrama addiction began around 2004. I was on vacation in the Philippines, and Lover's in Paris dubbed in tagalog started airing in a local channel about a week before I had to go back. I only saw one weeks worth, which in Philippine episodes only translates to about one full Korean broadcast episode(they only show 30 minutes a day, and half of that are commercials), but i liked it enough to want to know what was going to happen next. Keep in mind that this was before I discovered torrents, or even youtube. I knew of Yesasia then, but i was like 13 and my dad was sure as hell not going to let me use his credit card to buy some dvds in a fancy box for $100. Then one day my brother who still lived in the Philippines back then calls me, and tells me to watch my mail coz he sent me a present. Tah dah! Bootleg Lover's in Paris dvds! finished it in a day, and I was hooked like a junkie. Apparently my brother discovered this great little bootleg dvd stall in the Philippines that sold bootleg kdrama sets. I waited a year to raid that bootleg dvd stall. Alas, a year later, which is really where my story takes off, I'm back in the Philippines for another vacation. Bootleg dvd stall did not disappoint. It was the first place I wanted to go to when i got there. It was like Korean Drama bootleg dvd heaven at the tenth of Yesasia price. The store owner told me that there'd be more coming in the next week, and apparently you could pre-order too(LOL like some sort of illegal drug deal)! By the end of my trip I was on first name basis with the bootleg dvd stall owners, and had bought off all they could offer me in terms of Kdramas. I probably bought around 40 dvd sets, and I resisted the temptation of watching them there because I was looking forward to having some sort of kdrama marathon when i got back. Then one day my dad hears a story from one his friends about some Filipino guy who got caught at JFK airport in New York for trying to smuggle in a bunch of bootleg dvds. Suddenly my dad was like "NO! WE'RE NOT GOING TO JAIL FOR YOUR STUPID DVDS!"....and i was like " NOOOO!!! WE CAN"T LEAVE MY BABIES!" My brother and I immediately started brainstorming for loopholes to solve my kdrama dilemma. Then we came up with this genius solution (atleast we thought it was) to burn the bootleg dvds on to blank dvds(you guys get that? basically double ultimate bootleg LOL), and then not label them. The normal bootleg dvds had pictures/titles on them, and could easily be traced as fakes. Our brilliant solution was to have them pass off as just normal blank disks. No laws broken by carrying around blank disks, right? So we basically spent a whole week straight burning about 200 bootleg dvds. Made it through the Philippine airport customs without a problem. Then we get to San Francisco, and customs stops my dad at the luggage xray machine. The world stopped for a moment there, and i was like "CRAP! WE'RE GOING TO JAIL BECAUSE OF MY DVDS!" ....turns out they stopped us because of the pork sausages my dad was trying to get by them. LOL

...and as a bonus story, as if I didn't already learn my lesson at the airport, I worked out a deal with my brother to send me more dvds in the mail from the Philippines. He used his then girlfriend's name/address as the senders information, and used my grandma who lives here, as the recipient, that way neither of us would get in trouble if my bootleg dvds were discovered by authorities sometime in transit.

LOL I think all kdrama fans at some time go through some sort of a climax in their addiction, where they go through a momentary lapse of judgment, and end up doing something absurd just to get their fix. I'd like to think that I have somewhat matured as a kdrama viewer throughout time. I like it no less, but methods of viewing have definitely mellowed down some since that 2 minute almost heart attack at the airport over kdrama dvds.

Thanks to dramabeans and to everyone else who can withstand reading my massive story!

okay,here's what I remember..

I actually become addicted when I discovered you blog,jb.. become addicted to kdrama when I watch BOF, tough I don't think it's a very good drama..keke..I watch the drama and laugh hysterically at the silliness and made my family worried about me.. every week I waited for the new episodes and will visit your blog straight away after finishing an ep..

I remember watching Sweet Spy on tv.. I can't enough for the series n watch the repeat on 3am in the morning! I know my mum would not like it so I get the remote control,get a pillow and watch the series lying prone in front of the door of my room...and holding a mirror the kept watched of my father in the next room..a soon I hear a tiny sound, I will off the tv and closed the door..u know how a sound sounded more loud at night,so the tv kept on and off in the early morning,coz I'm anxious..=DD I felt myself as a spy that time..haha.. it's fun when u can imagine it XD..

my friend at college also thought it's a torture to watch an ep without subs.."yan ko bleh tengok cite ur beautiful ni xde sub??" that's what my friend said..but in the end,she end up watching You're Beautiful without subs with me..hahaha

Hi JB! 1st time to post a comment but I couldn't resist sharing my k-drama obsession with my fellow addicts :)

I started watching k-dramas in 2003. My 1st series was Beautiful Days. After that, I was hooked. I watched whatever series my sister and I could buy.

As a lawyer, I consider myself a logical person. But when it comes to my dramas, I become so emotional and illogical. I get mad at my sister if she tries to watch our dramas without me. I discuss with my fellow K-drama addicts from the office the episodes we're watching dissecting every scene. My fashion sense got influenced during the heydays of Goong - I wore a lot of Chae gyung-inspired outfits then. I had (and still have) cravings for jjajangmyun because of Fantasy Couple (JB, whenever I asked Chinese restaurants here in Manila, I get a blank look. Is it only found in Korea?). I try to convert my friends into watching my fave dramas and I feel mighty proud whenever a friend would become hooked. We subscribed to MBC before Personal Preference aired so we can watch it (we get Arirang and KBS World). But to our dismay, we found out the dramas do not come with subs. So what I will do is try to watch the episodes in Korean and read your episode recaps the next day (which works out fine since you post your recaps so quickly). In my work, whenever I deal with Korean lawyers, I try to break the ice by greeting them in Korean and they will ask whether I studied Korean and in front of my bosses I would be forced to admit I'm just a bit familiar with certain words because I watched K-dramas. Talk about losing my "serious lawyer" face with the bosses!

Because of this obsession, my sister and I booked a flight to Seoul this coming October. We plan to do all things we saw in our fave K-dramas :) I said we should be systematic and list down all the stuff we wanna do and try to fit our top must-do's in the 4 days we're staying in Seoul. I am super duper excited with that trip. Would appreciate any suggestions on what to do and where to go once we're there in Seoul.

Thanks, JB for this opportunity to relive my fanatic moments :)

My kdrama addiction started after local tv stations started to broadcast korean tv series.
I was only 11 years old and that is 2007.
I'm born in a poor family that cannot afford computer even though most of my classmates own a computer.
As i have no computer to watch kdramas and my parents always told me that internet cafes are dangerous places , i started to save my pocket money just to buy kdrama dvds to satisfy my kdrama addiction. (Local tv does broadcast kdramas but it's not enough )
I remember i will keep going to dvd shop to see what dvd interest me and do some research on the drama using school computer.
I bought over 10 different kdrama dvds/vcds .
My biggest purchase are 'Famous Princesses(2006)' and Pure 19 (2006).
I spent over SGD$200 on these 2 dramas (SGD$100+ for 1 drama).
I spent over SGD$500 for 10+ dramas vcds/dvds and coffee prince ost as well as princess hours ost.
Interesting part is that a while after i bought the series , it happens that the local tv stations will broadcast the drama.

On 2008 , i realise local library provide something similar to internet cafe.
I stopped buying kdrama dvds from dvds shop and spend my money on the internet in local library.
I found your blog and started to follow the latest kdrama and i started to read kdrama recaps too. Didn't watch much kdrama as i spent my money on internet and local library internet is slow :s

I finally got a computer in 2009 and i started to watch kdramas and catch up on some drama =D

Sorry for my bad english....
My english have been worst ever since i started to buy kdramas dvd to kill my kdrama addiction.
Chinese subtitles are cheaper than the ones in english subtitles .

I don't have a story of my own to add, but I just wanted to say that I'm sooooo glad I'm not the only one guilty of staying up all night to finish a drama and then calling in sick to work/class the next day. Seems like it's more like a rite of passage into true fandom rather than an anomaly. I feel much better about my little drama obsession. Hooray for solidarity. \o/

so this is my crazy story: i've watched dramas without really knowing it since i was little. my mom would always get these vcr tapes [i know, old school] from my aunts with chinese dramas, you know the ones with the flying and swords and really bad special effects? well i got really into them, so much that i would tell my mom to not watch it when i'm wasn't there [that did not happen] i then grew out of that phase partly because i was tired of the fact that every drama had the same dubbing voices even the characters in the same drama [these were vietnamese dubs] and it wasn't until 2008, i want to say, that i got back into them when i saw that my mom was watching this drama called "fated to love you" and then i got sucked in again.
it was winter break and i had virtually nothing to do so i went online and searched every where for the show with english subtitles and low and behold i found it and was glued to the computer screen for two straight days without any sleep and i finished the whole thing.
but let me tell you that, i was in-the-closet about my addiction and i had to use headphones and learn how to silently laugh because i couldn't make noise in the night. and so when i was watching "fated to love you" i had to keep it a secret, i think i was embarrassed or something. my dad sometimes gets up in the middle of the night and my computer screen gives off a light so you know what i did? i put a blanket over my head and the computer screen until i knew i was safe.
i got my little sister addicted too and over that same winter break i think we were watching "it started with a kiss" and my relatives were over. the thing with watching with my sister though, is she's a slow subtitle reader so we have to pause the video. so i kind of got frustrated with her after a while and i yelled and my aunt, cousin and little brother heard and came into my room and saw what we were doing. to my surprise though, they stayed and watched the drama with me and my sister
[sorry just another story...this is kinda fun] one afternoon i came home from school and i heard my mom laughing her head off in front of the tv. i went into the living room to check it out and guess what she was watching?.....You're Beautiful and she beckoned me over and said to me that i have got to watch this it's so funny. my little sister came over and got sucked in too and she did an all nighter to watch it too, i think the funny part just was that i had watched it months before and now my mom and younger sister were watching, without knowing that i had finished that months before. i kept that secret to myself.
it's just funny how there are so many people in my life that are addicted that i had no clue about. my aunt from new jersey was on mysoju watching movies like "100 days with mr. arrogant" while at my house. my 30 something year old cousin and i discuss good drama sites where we can watch with english subtitles and other drama related stuff and i tell him what good dramas are out there, i'm 16 and i think our relationship grew. and once i was at a family party and my aunts were raving about this hot new drama, "pasta" and i just sat there looking like i didn't know what they were talking about but i was secretly smirking in my head because i had already finished that one too
[last one i promise]when i was at my uncle's house i found out that my 14 year old cousin, he's a guy, was watching boys before flowers so he would have something to talk about with all the girls at his school because that's all they talk about :]

i am now proud to say that i have come out-of-the-closet about my drama addiction to a few people and i have dramabeans mysoju viikii and a handful of other sites bookmarked on my computer. i think i am going to be addicted for a long time XD [whew that was long...sorry]

Before telling you the story itself, and this will show how desperate for drama I was, I have to brag a little and admit I'm a secretary at the Prime Minister's offices here, and my boss is the 3rd most important man in there.

I wanted to watch... well, you've guessed it, a drama episode. Actually, not one, but 4 or 5. Now you have to understand, what I love most is to discover new dramas, so I watch a lot of pilots/series premieres even if I have strictly no intention to watch the rest of the season. That day I was in one of these pilots crave, and I had a DVD burnt with episodes I had just downl-... hm. Anyway. Let's just say the night before, my computer didn't get any sleep.
Yes, this was a premeditated crime.

I didn't call in sick, no, I went to work as usual. I got there as fast as I could, in fact, and walked straight to my computer, opened my boss' time table and started to call as many people as possible to set up meetings. At first, I had a few victims in mind, because I knew my boss would see them regularly anyway, but when it appeared many of them weren't available, I called people randomly and made up meetings. Around 10am, my boss came back from his first (and completely official meeting), and I announced that he had meetings planned for the rest of the day. I would go on and give details : I was waiting for an answer for this one, oh this one had been there for months, don't you remember ?, and other lies so that he would accept all of them. I even gave him good reasons to go to the one that really made no sense because I was desperate for one hour and a half. Now my boss, I have to say, is adorable, and sadly for him, he trusts me.
Well, never trust a girl who has a DVD full of dramas under her keyboard, my friend.

He went away, and it took me, I don't know, maybe 15 more minutes to book the rest of the afternoon. Sent him an email about the new meetings so that he wouldn't have to come back to his office. I even told security at the entrance of the building so that they would stop him, in case he didn't read it.

And then, of course, came drama time. Closed the door, turned off the light, and all day, watched the episodes I had brought. If that day, everything went wrong in the country because my boss spent the day in made up meetings, blame it on me.

I'll be honest with you, this might happen again this summer.

it was october of 2008, it was my first yand last year in med school(and guys, dont start to watch kdramas when you are in med school because you might fail!). i usually went home for lunch after class and after reaching home at 12 noon i turn on the tv and boom! a korean drama. since we dont have cable that time and we're using antenna i just let that single channel play while eating. you might call it destiny. this single channel televised a re-run of korean dramas once a day every 12 noon. at that time i was able to catch Princess Lulu. it might be funny to you guys that it was princess lulu but thats just my first. i got curious on how it ends so after class i went home immediately to finish it. i even skipped free lunch and ice cream from my classmates. after princess lulu ended, they televised another kdrama MY GIRL and i got hooked. man, its like a drug. i cant wait for the ending so instead of studying, i checked it on youtube to mysoju and then it goes on and on. although my grades were failing even at the start of the year, during the final week of class i was absent. since it was raining for a week also, i made an excuse that i had fever and cough.

after the school year, of course i failed, i watched different kdramas all summer long... and never stopped then. it's different though if you are a guy. its easier for girls to admit that they are watching kdramas. and hell im not gay. haha.. im not a religious person but i even went to korean church, tried eating kimchi. and i want to try suju in the future with you guys.

I used to have them all. Korean songs in my car, Korean alphabet pasted on my wall, Korean Dictionary, Korean cute accessories, kimchi, ramen, soju. You name it I had it. I followed Javabeans before it’s even Dramabeans back when the blog was a wordpress blog.

In short, I have been a Korean drama addict for as long as I remember.

Added to that is the following story….

I once stayed up a whole week in my apartment watching MNIKSS, Spring days, and Stained Glass Window. For a week, the curtain of my apartment was drawn, newspapers left uncollected in front of my door, mails unopened. I survived the whole week only by eating ramen and kimchi, drinking gazillion cups of coffee. I turned myself into a cave woman.

A week later I went out to collect my mountain of newspapers, a really cute guy from next door apartment jumped to his feet when he saw me.

Cute neighbor: Jesus Christ, You are alive!!
Me: *smile sheepishly* “what do you mean? Of course I am alive!”
Cute neighbor: Well, I heard rumor the girl who lived in that apartment killed herself like a week ago over some Asian drama actor or something. You aren’t a ghost are you coz now, you kind of looked like one.
Me: *pout and slam the door*
(Now, not so cute) Neighbor: *laugh loudly* I was joking, I was joking. Come out for a moment I have something for you.
Me: Go away!
A moment later he was speaking in front of my door: “I heard Korean drama blaring on your TV all day and night for a week and thought you may like this one.” (He slips a gift certificate from a local Asian Drama DVD store)

One “a suddenly really” cute guy and a gift certificate from my favorite store?..…. I kneeled and thanked God for my addiction...

Believe it or not, a year after we got married. Kdrama IS the Love of my life, because it leads me to my man.

My story is an ordinary one... for a K-drama addict.

Back then in early 2000 I used to like J-drama and thought K-drama sucked (please forgive my language). I only relied our local TV, and the first K-drama I watched (I even forgot the title) had so many tragic things - many tears, deadly illness, switched identities, accidents, etc. They made me depressed. I love sad scenes, tears, and angst, but not so many and twisty for the whole episodes!

In 2006 I watched Goong, and I loved it. (Note : I still love it and have re-watched for 3 times it after I purchased the DVD in 2009. I'm sucked for Cinderella-ish story, especially with Joo Ji-hoon in it *sigh*) It made me change my point of view of K-drama, but still not addicted enough. I have a friend at work who loves Asian drama and buy at least one title of K-drama (the whole episodes) every week! At that time it amused me, actuallly I found this kind of silly and told myself that I would not be like her, spending so much time for K-drama.

Then in 2008 I had my window shopping and saw this Coffee Prince DVD and I decided to give it a try. And I fell for it! I could not stop watching it and I even re-watch it for 3-4 times right after the last episode! I fell for Eun-chan & Han-kyul, deeply! I stil do! I browse anything about CP in internet. That's how I find this site. (Thanks JB, for this wonderful, superb site. You rocks!)

SInce then I cannot live without K-drama. I still like J-drama but now I love K-drama more. Now I'm the one who hunt for K-drama DVD at least once a week. Since I'm a working mom with a 3 year-old son, I can only watch K-drama after my son get asleep. Sleeping for only 3-4 hours a day has became a habit for me (I used to love sleeping!), so I can watch at least 3-4 episodes consecutively. I know it's nothing to be compared to other K-drama addicts. I also download many K-drama OST and listen to them anytime I want (which means most of the time) and I don't know Korean.

For MNIKSS, I stay sleepless for 3 days & 2 nights because I cannot stop watching it. That's the only K-drama who put me awake for the longest hours in my life. I even lost my appetite during my watching it.

That's my story.
And for every hours I have spent for K-drama, I will never regret it.

I got hooked on k drama's in 2nd year of college.My addiction grew so big so fast that on one time i missed 3 days of class to watch the series "star of my heart ".This was without bathing or sleeping.On the fourth day i pulled away from the computer because ,in school if you miss a maximum of 3 classes for each subject its a straight F so i went to class. Guess what? on my way ,i dropped to the floor in a faint.It seems that is what happens when you don't sleep for 3 days straight.

Hi!
Just wanted to share my story.
I study law at university in sweden, and one time I was so exited to watch You're beautiful episode that I've watched it on my Iphone during my seminar, I think I forgot that I was in the class and screamed out loud, when Go Mi Nam/Nyu kissed with Hwang Tae Kyung :D, my teacher came to me and said something but I kept watching and said "just a second mom, I'm almost done" (which I tell my mom almost every day, when she wants something and I just happen to watch dramas) :P, she was so angry, and kicked me out of the classroom.... The best day of my life hehe

Thanks for this website! it's awesome and inspiring, keep up the good work!
//Gosia

First K-drama i watched was The successful story of a bright girl (year 2005) since then i keep on watch k-drama and i do not know why so sudden, i was lost my mood to watch k-drama.. huhuhu... i start watch k-drama again after a few years i ignore k drama. It's hook me again with k-drama was because of "Boys over flower". And since then i start watch the other drama.. and follow up what's entertainment going in korea..:)

Does logging on to Soompi every single hour count? haha..XD

I think my addiction isn't as "serious" as some of yours here. But I'll share anyways.

The craziest I think I've done so far in my 13 years of watching K-drama-

1. Asked my mom to record every single episode of Goodbye My Love and Sunflower by Ahn Jae Wook and Kim Hee Sun (I know it's really old school stuff) so that I could watch it when I get back from school. Still have the tapes with me.. gosh, after 13 long years! >.<

2. Bought every single K-drama box set that was available back then. Take note that there weren't that many to begin with because Hallyu hadn't even reach Malaysia yet back in the days.

3. The real "crazy" thing happened when I watched Delightful Girl Chun Hyang. I finished the whole drama in 2 days, and re-watched it TWICE after that, consecutively. Fell in love with Jae Hee, and downloaded whatever, and I mean, whatever movie/MV/variety show he had appeared in. Don't think I've missed any of his movies/dramas... save for his most recent 3 Dads and 1 Mom, which I thought was pretty damn awful?

4. Watched Full House, fell madly in love with Bi. Downloaded every single stage performance of his back in his Rainy Day/It's Raining days. Was literally mad for 2 years.

5. Fell hard, really hard for Lee Jung Jae in Air City (I know it was a bad drama, but he was hella sexy in there). Again, downloaded every single movie he acted in. Bought a Sandglass box-set just because of him.

6. And oh wellz, can't miss the crazy days I had when My Girl was airing. Re-watched the drama more than 5 times. Became a fan of Lee Da Hae and still going strong after 5 long years! =D

I had contemplated not posting, but after reading a few entries i realized i was in denial. I too am an addict, and I too shall make my confession. :P

Where to start?! Let's just list the dramas one by one and explain my addictive (and maybe-rather-a-little-bit-pathetic) behavior.

1) Sassy Girl Chun-Hyang: One of the first dramas that I was addicted to. A freshman in high school, I would attach my eyeballs to my computer screen until almost 4 in the morning. I was worried that I would get scolded if my parents woke up and saw that I was still awake, so I would keep my finger on the off button for the computer monitor. As soon as I heard a sound (or thought I heard a sound) at my bedroom doorway, I would turn off my monitor and stare out into the darkness of my room trying to adjust my eyes to see if anyone was there. As soon as I was sure the coast was clear, I would turn my monitor back on and continue watching! :P Needless to say, I was extremely paranoid, but the annoyance I felt from having to pause my precious drama and turn off the monitor was far less important than the fact that if I played my cards right, I wouldn't get caught and could keep watching!! [When I watched the kiss scene in this drama, I replayed it in my head for an entire day. I remember thinking about it as I was falling asleep in history class the next day. ><]

2) Goong: I've watched this drama at least two times, maybe three. In the beginning of my drama watching career, I had never heard of youtube, and never even thought about watching dramas online. (In my defense, I'm not old!! Only 19!) I watched Goong from a DVD set. Since the english subtitles for the DVDs were so bad none of the characters made any sense, my chinese skills were put to the test. Too bad my chinese is horribe. There was no way for me to keep up and read the translations as the characters were speaking, since it takes me a while to read the Chinese characters one by one. So, I would wait for a character to finish speaking, pause the screen, read the chinese, then play, and repeat the process. It look me forever to finish watching each episode, but in my addicted delirium, it was well worth it.

3) My Girl: I watched the beginning of this drama from a DVD. But while I was still in the middle of it, I went with my family to Taiwan for vacation, leaving me with no computer and no My Girl. This was when I had first heard of youtube, so when I got to my uncle's house in Taipei, I would go out with my family during the day, and in the evening I would hog my uncle's computer until early morning watching My Girl on youtube. Then, one evening while I was watching, I finished an episode and found that there were NO MORE. I'm not sure whether the drama was still airing or whether the uploader had simply not uploaded the entire drama, but after 10 minutes of trying to find the next episode, I gave up. Now that I think about it, I remember feeling so empty and thinking: "What in the world am I supposed to do with myself now?!"

4) Last one, PROMISE! = Coffee Prince: Oh how I loved this drama!! It was how I found dramabeans and I began to follow this blog from that point on. I've watched this drama probably three times, since I watched each episode twice as it came out. I would watch it without subtitles, read the summary here on dramabeans, and then watch the episode again when subtitles were out. This was the first drama I followed religiously every week, and each week was torture waiting for the next episode. OH THE PAINS OF ANTICIPATION!! horrid.

I am an addict, but in many ways I don't feel too shameful for it. For one, there are so many others ^ who are just like me, if not worse. :P But in addition to that, I have learned about a new culture and have begun to learn a new language as well. As I listened to more and more Korean, I began to understand some of it. I wanted to learn, for the sake of watching drama episodes as they came out and understand the gist of it instead of being confused into frustration. I found the Korean 'alphabet' and rewrote every symbol again and again until I memorized them, and now I can read Korean fairly efficiently. From accidentally stumbling upon KimSamSoon on TV and loving it, to sleepless nights devouring a drama, dramas have changed me. I believe I've been changed for the better from learning so much and expanding my horizons, and for that I am thankful.

I was in the midst of my obsession with My Name is Kim Samsoon when it came time to start studying for a big standardized test that I needed to pass to start working in my field (it's a very painful exam, and half the people fail this test every year). At the time, I was on my fourth or fifth re-watching of MNIKSS, and I was utterly obsessed with the show and Hyun Bin. Samsoon was my first kdrama, and I loved every minute of it! I knew that I would fail the test if I did not do something to tear myself away from the show, and it would break my little heart if I would have to blame my love for it for causing me to fail and be jobless forever and ever...so I sent the DVD to my sister with the explicit instructions that, no matter what, she could not send the DVD back to me no matter how desperate I got for it until the test was over.

Turns out that my sister started watching the show herself, and she and her husband got hooked, and loved it too! (They had no idea what kdramas were before all this...) And I was able to get some time away from Samsoon and her contractual love troubles, squeeze in my studying and eventually pass the exam (even though I did catch a few scenes every now and then on Youtube).

You know the saying, “If you love something, let it go. If it comes back to you, its yours forever.” Well, I got my copy of Samsoon back as soon as that test was done...

First of all, I'm having a blast reading everybody's crazy-ass stories about satisfying their Kdrama addiction! What a great idea JB!

Compared to what others have described, the extent of my "wackiness" for fulfilling my Kdrama fix sounds like standard fare ..... namely, watching several episodes in one sitting and into the wee hours of the morning. But I can honestly say that my foray into Kdramas has helped improve my relationship with the parentals, piqued my interest in all things Korean, and helped me make a potentially life-changing decision.....intrigued?

For perspective, a little background is warranted: Unlike most DB'ers, I'm a late bloomer to Kdramas....in more ways than one. I first became addicted to Kdramas in October 2009, and I'm in my late (late) 30s. My sister and I were born and raised in the Bible Belt, and at the time, there were very few Koreans where we lived. Although I started watching Kdramas regularly last fall, I generally knew about Korean dramas....at least the dramas that my mom watched. I remember that she would visit the one small Korean grocery store that was in the city to borrow the VCR tapes to watch Kdramas (her favorite being the historical dramas). I can't remember what dramas she watched, but she definitely fit the mold of an addicted Kdrama fan! She would borrow 10 tapes at a time and watch them over and over again, even if the tape was messed up (you know, where static blocks half the screen and you're getting dizzy watching because the image is shaking violently). I remember looking at my mom with some disdain because of her addiction to these dramas. Occasionally, my parents would watch a "modern" drama on KBS via satellite, and on several occasions, my mom would try to convince my sister and I to watch these dramas, saying "They're so much fun!" Although my younger sister always rolled her eyes and just left the room, I sometimes stayed behind and watched a snippet here or there, but here's what I remember seeing -- A lot of crying, a lot of yelling, a lot of over-acting, and women who seemed shy or passive -- i.e., not a lot of fun for me.

So, the years passed, and I eventually became a stressed-out lawyer, trying to figure out how to leave the law firm life, and more importantly, trying to figure out where I wanted to work after sacrificing 7 years of my life to the firm. When I wasn't working late and had time to watch TV in the evening, there were a couple of shows that I liked watching, but I never felt the frustration or anticipation of waiting for next week's episode.

And then last fall, I discovered My Name is Kim Sam Soon. Here's how it happened. For the past couple of years, I occasionally ordered Korean books from Hanbooks.com for my parents (e.g., The Alchemist, Obama's Audacity of Hope, Harry Potter books, etc). Given that my mom still loved her Kdramas, I wanted to get her a DVD set of a popular, more modern Kdrama. I knew that she already watched Winter Sonata, but I didn't know what other dramas were popular. So, I googled "highest rated korean dramas" and lo and behold! There's a wikipedia list of the top rated Korean dramas since 2005. Given that MNKSS had a 50% rating, I ordered the DVD set for my mom. And then for some unknown reason, I also ordered the DVD set for myself. I guess I was curious to find out why MNKSS was so popular.

I ended up watching all 16 episodes over the weekend and then re-watching the DVDs again during the next work week, often staying up until 2 am. MNKSS was hilarious and sweet with the right touch of angst, and I loved Kim Sam Soon's character -- She was loud, opinionated, honest about how she felt, and gasp, she had sexual desires! And then of course, there was dreamy Hyun Bin! I couldn't stop thinking about this drama, and I couldn't wait to get home from work to watch the DVDs again, and I became somewhat obsessed trying to find more information about the show.

MNKSS kicked off my addiction, and I then watched Coffee Prince, My Girl, Dae Jang Geum, etc. While watching these Kdramas, I searched the web for websites summarizing or discussing the episodes, but I was never satisfied because there was a lot of (what I have learned is) fan girldom. A lot of gushing over the dramas and stars, but no real substantive or intelligent discussion about the dramas. And then I stumbled upon Dramabeans! Even before I perused the website, I knew from the title (Deconstructing K-dramas) that this site would be promising, and I haven't been disappointed. Using your ratings as a benchmark, I've expanded my Kdrama watching resume. Like others, I check this website on a daily basis for updates, and Dramabeans has replaced "Us Magazine" as my favorite website to surf when I have downtime at work.

Speaking of work, I finally figured out when I want to leave the law firm and what I want to do afterwards. Starting next year, I am taking a year-long sabbatical (or two) from law to live in Korea! After 4 years of complaining and saying that I need to leave the firm, I'm finally getting off my ass and doing something about it, AND importantly, I'm excited about it! I'm taking two different Korean language classes, looking into opportunities to teach English in Korea, and trying to figure out whether to take my goldendoodle with me.

I now have several Kdramas under my belt, but my favorite is still the one that started it all for me....MNKSS. It really is hard to beat.

JB, thanks for giving everybody a forum to reminisce about their addiction, and thanks for all the work you (and now GF) put into this website.

Like most entries here from Filipinos just like myslef, I started this drama watching craze when almost all the whole of Philippines was watching Meteor Garden (Taiwanese Version). I was a college student then, and my classmates and I would stuggle our way in a very crowded eating place near our university just to watch every episode in between classes. Then, one of the major TV Stations here showed the three seasons' series ( Autumn in my Heart, Winter Sonata and Summer Scent), My Name is Kim Sam Soon,What's Up Fox, Coffee Prince and Jumong and I mesmerized even more! When i first started working, I would saved half of my salary every month just to buy Korean DVDs. I''ve been and still am the ever avid buyer of these in the place that I'm frequenting that sellers know my personal number and immediately informed me if a new series is on sale. I will then immediately go there even if its three hours before end of my shift just so to ensure that I'll be the first one to get the merchandise. I began doing my now ever famous house routine of stocking food in my room for two whole days( I always have Sat/Sun restdays)/gluing my eyes in front of our family's television (which I put in my room to my siblings' disbelief)/without even realizing that its Monday already. I would go to the office with dark circles under my eyes but with a smile in my face that my friends thought I was having some issues at first like taking some happy pills haha. I learned how to speak some Korean words and would even call my friends Unni,Sunbae or Ahjumma even. Eventually, i influenced my friends to watch YAB and Full House and they sure were glad that I persuaded them. We daydreamed that someone will eventually piggyback us if we are too tired to walk, will be saying I love You in the most unexpected but sweetest way possible just like Hwang Tae Kyung in YAB and other stuff like that. We went to Korean restaurants here and would order the same dishes that we saw the characters in the drama ordered. I also tried to make my own Kimchi dish so that I can have that every meal just like Koreans! I also sponsored a contest of eating a big bowl of ramen ( like what was done in BOF) and my prizes were new series I bought. I would dress like Yoon Eun Hye in her role in Take Care of the Young Lady at work whenever I can. I bought my make up as well in Etude House because I adore Lee Min Ho, Park Shin Hye and JGS! :) I am so Koreanized right now because of these dramas that I am currently saving for a trip to Korea sometime next year!

HOW MY OBSESSION WITH K-DRAMAS TURNED ME INTO A SACRILEGIOUS STALKER AND ULTIMATELY LED TO AN UNSUCCESSFUL HIGH SPEED CHASE ON A SOCAL FREEWAY.

I had been watching this k-drama/reality show for a while and I was obsessed with this couple on the show. The female half of this couple is known for doing a lot of charity events and I happened to read her Soompi page which stated that her charity organization would be doing a benefit concert or charity presentation at a location in LA. All I had to go on was an address. So, Naturally, I Google it and being the geek that I am, I Google earth it and do some virtual recon on the place. I had the general idea of the neighborhood, so I set off to see if I could meet the actress/singer in person.

Though I conducted some virtual recon on the place, I thought it was some kind of meeting hall or public arena. Imagine my surprise when I pull up and lo and behold, it's a church. Can't remember now if it was a Korean Christian Church or a Baptist one, but I went. Alone. Which automatically brings attention to myself because apparently, Asians tend to travel in groups. And well, I was group-less and attracting all kinds of attention. Though, not ethnically Korean, I tried to blend into the crowd by smiling and periodically interspersing random Korean phrases into my speech like, "anyeonghaseo," "Ommo," and the like. I walked all over the church, but alas, the actress/singer was not to be found.

My information from a fellow fan and the Soompi website stated that the charity organization performed in the location to raise awareness of their cause (which for the life of me, I couldn't tell you now... maybe something about orphan children or two legged puppies, who knows?!). So I entered the church and sat down quietly trying to look like I belonged. You know, like doing Christian/Baptist-y things like looking solemn and trying hard to look like I was talking to God earnestly. (All the while praying that my own religion's God would forgive my blasphemy and not to strike me down with lightning ... at least until I got to see the actress/singer).

As I sat in the church, more people started piling in and the band started to warm up in the front. Soon, the preacher/priest was lowering a projector screen and the ushers were closing the door. Intentionally, I chose a seat at the back in case I needed to make a quick getaway, but alas, my plan was foiled by the same people who closed the door acting as sentries at those same doors. It was like they were afraid someone (not me!) would try to get out or something... Jeez!

As I was waiting, I overheard some girls talking that indeed the actress was on premises but the charity organization had already done the presentation/singing thing the previous day and today was the lecture in the other building. And before I could even move to get up and leave the church, the preacher/priest began his sermon with a bellowing, "Resist evil and temptation, you lambs of God!" What followed was nothing short of an honest to goodness hellfire and brimstone sermon straight from the early 1700s. To add insult to injury and complete and utter embarrassment, it was the teen service. And I can assure you, I was not a teen and had not been one for quite a while! So, not only was I not Christian/Baptist, but I was sitting in on a service meant for Christian/Baptist high schoolers! The whole time, I was thinking, "How did this happen?!!!" and "What have you gotten yourself into?!"

So, with the impassioned, for lack of a more polite word, priest at the front and the sentries at the exits closest to me, I had to stay for the entire service. But that wasn't the worst part... not by any stretch of the imagination. There was a point where the priest said, "Ok, now everyone take out your bibles" and being the only non-Christian/non-Baptist in the crowd, guess who was the only one in the entire building without the book of God complete with highlighted passages and spiffy personal book cover? Yup, you guessed it - ME! Not knowing the rituals, I just followed what everyone was doing, saying and singing. I'm just glad there was not much more crowd participation than that.

Near the end of the service, the sentries left their posts at the doors. And I hightailed it out of the building with the priest/lecturer's words ringing in my ears, "There are a few unfamiliar faces in the crowd and I invite you to come up to the front so we can all meet you." To which I internally replied with a huge resounding, "HELL NO!"

Upon reaching the parking lot, I saw a 78 ft tour bus still parked near the church. So, I reasoned that this tour bus must have been the means of transportation for the celebrity charity delegation and that they couldn't be far away. So, I went searching for the actress/singer in the other buildings where the actress could be and I eventually found it, but there was this smiling old Korean woman standing in the hall at a table with pamphlets about the organization. Instead of chancing my way past her, I just smiled warmly and left.

Utterly defeated, I sat in my car in the parking lot for a while contemplating the sadness of my life and the past few hours. With what little rationality I had left, I reasoned that they had to come back to the tour bus sometime, so I hedged my chances in the parking lot. Suddenly, I hear screaming and people shouting the actress/singer's name. I sat frozen in my car as I watched the woman I had been so fervently stalking come out of the lecture building and climb onto the tour bus with other actresses and actors. The crowd of teenagers crowded the bus and started chanting her name. I couldn't even get out... maybe because of embarrassment, maybe because I knew that as soon as I got out, a meteor would come crashing down on me or something impossible like that. Because, yes, that would JUST be MY luck! Turns out, a few minutes after taking pictures with the crowd, she got back onto the bus.

Most would think that was the end of the story, but not for me. Without thinking, my fingers went to start my car and before I realized it, I was peeling out of the church driveway and following the tour bus down the street and eventually onto the freeway.

As I followed the tour bus onto the busy LA freeway. I was arguing with myself out loud about why I was doing this. It wasn't as if I could get out and ask her for an autograph as soon as she got off the bus. Then she would totally know that

I was stalking her and had chased her bus from the church. And, that was a line I was not yet ready to cross. So, I did the only thing I could do, continue to follow them but keeping a few cars behind so as not to give away that I was following them. Eventually, the tour bus exited and I pulled up alongside them. So as to not draw (any MORE) attention to myself, in case someone recognized me or my car, I turned into a gas station and let the bus go ahead. Eventually, I tried to reenter traffic, but there were too many cars and the light was too long, so I lost the bus. I lost a 78 ft tour bus on a two lane street! But not one to be discouraged, I continued on along the main roads upon the assumption that if the bus had turned, it couldn't' have turned on the smaller streets. A few miles later, I had to give up because I could not see the bus anymore. Alas, I never got to meet her or even see her up close. But I did learn a couple of things about myself - (1) I don't blend in as well as I think I do and (2) I suck at high speed chases and conspicuously following people by car.

Honestly, at the beginning of this adventure, I never really had a plan. I only wanted to see her and possibly speak with her a bit (despite the language barrier). But not in my wildest imagination did I even think that I would have become a stalker, be able to sit through a service that was not my own religion and under no circumstances, be able to give chase to a tour bus on the streets of LA! I only thought that this could be an interesting adventure... and as unsuccessful as it was, it was an interesting morning indeed.

And there is my sad, sad story about the lengths and depths of irrationality and humiliation that my K-drama obsession led me to.

hmm.. i've been watching korean series over years now... though i'm not korean but i'm satisfied of reading subtitles (though sometimes these subtitles makes my mind boggling because of some wrong grammars and spelling.haha!.) but what matters to me is that i understand them with all my heart.. perhaps this is what you called an avid fan.. :)

i watched dramas over the internet... i waited for hours of buffering just to watch the series i got addicted into.. i also watch during pee hours just not to miss my favorite series... our electricity consumption increases whenever i watch series...luckily, my parents didn't scold me...hehe..

i'll never forget the last episode of you're beautiful.. it was released over the net, all my friends in crunchyroll who are also addicted to it already watched but because of our internet problem, i didn't watch the episode at the peak of its released... i was devastated... i went out and go to internet shop,, though my money is not sufficient for long hours of renting, hehe... i just read the review of the last episode here in dramabeans just to satisfy my cravings.. then thankfully, days after, our internet connection worked fine and i finally watched the series i've loved.. :))

My story isn't THAT crazy compared to the others, but it is pretty funny or maybe just crazy/gross. LOL. I'll try to keep it short and sweet. I want that DVD set! >:D

My first ever drama WINTER SONATA. I had to pee my pants in front of my relatives just to watch it. XD Keep in mind, this was a loooooong time ago, LOL.

It was summer, BORED! Flipping through the television. Channel 69, AZN? I see this drama with subtitles. I thought is this a Filipino drama? (Some of their words kinda sounded tagalog-ish, lol) I got addicted when I saw BYJ<3 Lucky me it was a two day marathon!

Next day, my parents told me to get ready for my cousin's party. Even though I didn't want to, my parents wouldn't let me stay home. Before we left my house I forgot to pee, so I thought of an idea, hey~ why not pee my pants so my mom could take me home? LOL, and it worked! I was in the backyard and started running through the kitchen and living room with wet pants and water dripping from behind me. GROSS! Better yet, there was someone in the bathroom~ I yelled for my mom and she drove me home. I pretended to cry in the car and told her I'm never going back. SUCCESS! She let me stay home by myself. I did all this in less than an hour and I had enough time to watch the beginning until the end of the drama. :D Bad part is, still today my cousins are still making fun of me calling me Peela (My name is Paola.)

LOL, pretty embarrassing. Now that I think about it, it's kind of gross~ Hahaa, but I don't regret it. I love k-dramas<3

I don't consider myself a hardcore addict because there are times when I get tired of k-dramas and go back to embrace Western tv shows. Mine's more like a topical sickness. When exam comes, my cravings would be so unbearable because it becomes the ultimate guilty pleasure.

My stories aren't outrageous but I'll always have a fond memory of this one. When I first watched the first episode What's Up Fox last year, it was hook, line and sinker, instantly captivated. So imagine my anger and frustration when episode 2-4 in the site I was watching were broken. I scoured the net for videos with English subs for those ones, and mysoju was broken too.

if I had been patient new English-subbed videos will always spring up, in months. 'Months?? That Chul-soo is too adorable and I need him. I bloody need to watch him. Going dysfunctional. !@#$ Going berserk. Must watch the drama NOW and must NOT skip any episode. But stubborn me also refused to watch without any understanding (sub), in the absence of a recap (also I couldn't find).

In the end, what I did was: downloaded some srt files, opened them in Notepad and scrolled down manually on the side while playing a Spanish-subbed Youtube. It was a really tiring exercise.

But totally worth it.

Here is what my korean drama addiction got me..working in middle east country recreation is important, when they transfered us to our new accomodation there was no kbs channel available for the whole compound because of the satellite configuration conflicts with the other channels. But that didnt stop me from pestering and begging our housing in charge and technician to find a solution to the problem and put an end to my plea. After months of waiting now we are enjoying having KBS-World (2 days and 1 night, Music Bank, Yu huiyeols Sketchbook, Happy Together, Lets go dream Team, Invicible Youth... ).
And just recently i bought this wrist band supporting the korean football team, honestly i dont have any idea about the team just with the information im reading in the internet, and then a friend of my friend notice this he ask me am i korean or related to anything about korea and why korea...i just said i like anything about korea now.. and the ball is round anything can happen, Go Korea Fighting!

@83 byul1232

I think you are cool making your k-drama obsession your life! not just a hobby, not an afterwork/aftershcool thing but truly being your life! I admire you for that. Having discovered k drama three years ago at age 47, I can only envy you. But nothing's lost, my dream to Korea is alive and hope would happen in a year or two. It would be nice watching your k drama being filmed!

Hey Javabeans,
Thnx for this thread...I always wanted to share my story...though I don't know whether my story qualifies as a kdrama obsession...still I would love to let u decide. I am madly in love with a guy for the last 8 years (hell yeah! Lol!) Never thought I could actually tell him my feelings but watching the k-dramas gave me the confidence of proposing him. But somehow it didn't happen...I was totally devastated, lost and I didn't know what to do now, I was out of the relationship before even getting into it. I was in a horrible state for months. It was worse than a heartbreak...I mean acting normally when actually u r hurting. It was so difficult facing him. Luckily around that period BOYS OVER FLOWERS was released...my savior! ♥ My life changed completely after watching the series. I was totally inspired by JI HOO's character. I could totally relate to him...his love, even after knowing he doesn't have a chance with jandi ever, he still stays by her side, protecting her, helping her, becoming her soul-mate. I understood what unconditional loving is. I never believed in soul-mates before...and always thought just things are rubbish. But after watching BOF, I decided to go with ji hoo's way. And trust me jb...it was amazing! I still love the guy...unconditionally! I don't expect anything from him...but I decided to be by his side forever. Whenever he needs me I will be there for him just like ji hoo. You may think I have completely lost it...and totally gone bonkers lol! But it worked! BOF changed my way of thinking...I came out of my depressed state...and instead of crying over the heartbreak, I found a new meaning of love! U may call all this Stupid! Crazy! or whatever...but I think it is my k-drama Obsession and Addiction which has actually made me implement drama situations into my life. ( I know I am miles away from reality at the moment...but I feel good and happy everyday! ) I get up every morning, I have kim hyun joong as my desktop wallpaper, I see him and my day as ji hoo starts.

I was out of K-dramas for a while but then just a few months ago, three dramas caught my attention. Thankfully they were all subbed already and I could hold a little marathon for my liking as I had a few weeks off. That came out handy you might think.

The three dramas together add up to 131(!) episodes/hours and I had the initial intention of watching just a few episodes each day. Oh, the young naive me. I was quick to be under the spell of it and before I knew it, I finished ONE drama in ONE day. Mind you, it was 16 episodes which means that I have been sitting in front of the computer, not TV, but computer, for at least 16 hours straight. I only ate once a day, had a big can of water and that was it.

A day after that (after fueling myself with ramen and sleep) without even knowing how far into deep I was, I began to watch the next drama. This time it was 28 episodes. I woke up around 9 in the morning and didn't turn off the drama until I hit 12 o'clock in the afternoon, the next day! And if I wasn't dead enough, my teacher called me and asked why I was absent for the last few days. That was when I realized that I still had driver's lessons and a life outside of my house! I quickly made another appointment for the next week and decided to take it on calmly. After all, I did realize that it went out of control.

The first few days after that were great; I ate three meals a day, did what I had to do, lived my life and watched k-drama. I finished the second drama and thought to myself; 'Why not watch the last one as well?'.

Oh boy, was that a mistake.

I was quickly hooked and I downloaded and downloaded and downloaded every episode of the 45 hours the last drama had. There was almost no space on my hard disk but I was delighted to watch the main actors on my screen. They were fun, real and I got lost in their acting. I don't remember when it was that I became almost obsessed with it, but I watched the drama non-stop for the next week. I often watched until 3AM and woke up at 9 to quickly watch it again. Mind you, I did set multiple alarms to get myself up. 6 hours of sleep while you can get 12 isn't that satisfying.

You might think it wasn't that bad, but for the last drama I stayed in my house for a whole month, just because I didn't want to miss a minute of it. Yes, I know... I could've put it on pause, but it was too good to even let a minute slide! My mom made me dinner and sent them to my room while the only breaks I took was for the bathroom. I canceled all my appointments and said that I'll call them back after a week or so. I even missed the appointment I made earlier for my driver's lesson, again!

Quickly after it all ended, I decided to re-watch the last drama. Yes, I went through 45 episodes of it again and I loved it. Even though I practically had no life during that time.

All in all, I have to say that the dramas itself weren't that great. But every bit of it, I wanted to live it too. I was in a slump and decided to escape in k-drama-la-la-land. And it was so good. SO good.

My first K-Drama was All About Eve. ..falling in love because of the death glare shoot by Kim So Yeon. ...manage to drag my sister - who was very annoyed that her sleep disturbed by the volume from the TV and my swearing to So Yeon's character (since she was a pure evil) and Chae Rim's character (since she was a pure naive)- to sit side by side and watched the drama.

This "first love" followed by Autum Love Story (started with crying my heart out and finished by angry exclamation since why would the character choose Song Seung Heon over WonBin ...sigh illogical!!! Disgraceful) and Winter Sonata (stucked at episode 10 and decided that my taste and "this seasonal" writer were unreconciliable ...not to mentioned summer and spring series followed afterward...bleh)

Then I spent a quarter of my miserable life with series of K-Drama, picked up some K-words here and there, drag my family: mom, pop, maid, everybody in the love story with Jang Geum, Iljimae, Hong Gil Dong, QSD etc etc. I got warning letter from the office since I downloaded an episode of Goong of 300 MB through office's firewall, missed to sent out a job application since it has exceeded the submission deadline but still managed to check dramabeans website and soompi sigh..sigh, cultivated hope as characters such Kim Sam Soon and Dalja finally found their other half, visited South Korea twice in less tahn 10 years (which probably the same frequency of me going home to my kampong during the same 10 years) and managed to stop by Hongdae to take a picture at the Coffe Prince's cafe

Last year I created a "monster" by asking a friend of mine, who troughly smitten by Lee Min Ho in BoF by declaring that he was the most handsome Korean ever, to watch you're beautiful. She fell pretty hard...to turn herself to an addict and changed fandom. She bought 6 sets of You're beautiful DVD to circulate among her office workmates, drove them to fill in petition at the site to ask for ur beautiful part 2 and surpressed her subordinate to do the same if not she refused to sign their performance evaluations...almost to the level that she got a warning from Labour Union as one of the subordinate felt intimidated....

Yes I am an addict, which managed to screw my own life here and there because of this addict. I could not resist to watch all Korean drama ...good or bad (although tried to control it by worshiping this site).

Moreover I managed to screw the society by creating other victims other addicts....Show me where can I sign for "AAA" therapy section..for an addict in drama ...........

wow..tis is really an xciting..erm i had been watching korean drama for sometime...since the "Truth" and totally fall in love to Jang Dong Gun (JDG)and Chae Rim after watching "All About Eve". After that, I just search for all JDG previous work...though some are quite suck..hehehe..but i just bear with it...then I just watched whatever that recommended by friends whether it is soapy or not...but the truth is i really hate all those soapy drama and prefer to watch comedy romantic genre.

When i was watching My Lovely Samsoon..I always imagine myself at her place...hahaha ..not bcoz of Hyun Bin..but bcause she is just like me...old and no bf...sad rite...at least this drama give me motivation that there is someone out there really like the inner beauty instead of just beauty on the face....I even try to bake cakes...hahaha..but it turns out suck...

anyway, i hadd gave up watching korean drama for sometime as after the "Grape Vineyard" i really dun find any korean drama that deserve my time...but dunno somehow I come across to "You are Beautiful"...in end of 2009 n just addicted to it...n after that "Personal Taste"...in this recent drama..as i am not in korea...I gotta tune to Youtube early the next morning just wanna search on the latest episode...and i will download in to my pc just to watch it later during my lunch hour...the funniest things is i dun really understand what they are conversing (as there is no sub yet)...but i just enjoy it...n later i will download again that episode with english sub...

Me still having "you are beautiful" and "personal Taste" full episode with english sub..but all this downloaded from youtube....really thanks to those who uploaded it to youtube wif excellent quality..

ehheh...i dun think my addiction is the craziest one as i can see that some of you really k drama fans...but i just wanna take this opportunity to thanks all out there who takes their effort to sub those korean drama for us to enjoy..n to javabeans and friday girl for their excellent recap.Love u all..........

Annyeong-haseyo,! I'm kate from the Philippines, and this is my story:

Many k-drama addicts have started with ENDLESS LOVE, but in my case FULL HOUSE started it all. I'm totally hooked with this drama, in what ways?:
1. when it was aired in the Philippines, there was only one rule in the house; everybody should watch FULL HOUSE, my dad, mom and even my ever unsupportive bro.
2. At that time I usually cry inside the bathroom, thinking that FULL HOUSE is near to its finale.
3. I bought a dvd (and an extra one in case of trouble) of FULL HOUSE, and watch it twice every weekend. I even watch the replays on t.v. and in my free time I listen to the dramas ost and sing them out loud(sometimes with microphone).
4. I even tried designing a house patterned to the house in the series. I even made contracts with my best-friends to help me financially to build the house in the future( in fact they agreed to lend me money).
5. I usually use Han Ji Eun( Song Hye Kyos's character in FH) as my username in many websites.
6. Sometimes on weekends,(this is how we spend our allowance) we go to a cheap mall and buy lots of dramas, movies posters and soundtracks.( they sell pirated dvd's, I know its bad, but we can't afford original dvds).
7. I've watched many korean dramas, and I've watched them not only once and twice but many times.
8.I was also addicted to MY NAME IS KIM SAM SOON, GOONG, BOF and YOU'RE BEAUTIFUL. I always feel a sensation in my body at the sight, sound, and smell of anything related to k-dramas and korea.
9.My classmates, friends, and family does'nt acknowledge me a filipino at all, because for them I was a korean, korean in heart.
10.whenever the main t.v. or the player in the house is broken, I was the only one to be blamed, because I watch dramas day and night, rain or shine,.
11. when I was in high school, I saw a bunch of vendor's selling photos and posters of GOONG.(omg! I have no money at that time) my solution to the problem?: I borrowed money from everyone in the class so I can buy all the items. and I sneek out of the school to finish my mission.
12. I even lied to my parents that I was attending a religious event in my school just to attend a fanclub gathering of dramas.
13. I can now read hangeul, and mastered singing more than a hundred songs from dramas.
14. We usually go to philippines korean town to eat authentic korean food like those in the dramas and sing in the noraebang.
15. There were times that I went to school with puffy eye bags because of all-night korean drama watching.
16. If a normal person with normal interest would approach me, he would surely suffer from severe nosebleeding because I would talk and talk and talk about kdramas and korea. He would be out of place if he's with me.
17. I also bought every single drama posters that I saw on the sidewalk when I was going home, one time.
18. When my class was assigned to perform kabuki, I went out the stage wearing a homemade hanbok. everyone was laughing, and asking me are you JANG GEUM?
19. My friends would always celebrate with me, not my birthday but the birthdays of the kdrama stars. With cake, and candles, and the korean happy birthday song.( I taught my friends how to sing it, even if it's like tongue twister for them.)
20. I just can't help it, it's in my system. it's a part of me. and I would always be proud to be called the ''brown korean''.( because of filipino's skin tone).

Am i considered kdrama addict? hahaa...
real name: celine kate vasquez
Address: 372 ilang-ilang st., san jose, plaridel, bulacan, zip code 3004. Philippines.

kamsamnida! aza aza fighting!^_^

-HAN JI EUN.

This is the first time I actually posted here. But this is just a fun topic to comment on.

I started my Korean addiction when my girl best friend (I'm a guy by the way) forced me to watch Kim Sam Soon. Back then we made a pledge that I would somehow find a way to steal Kim Sun-Ah away and that she would go for Hyun Bin.

Of course that never happened so since then, I have been on a Korean binge. I did a total Korean make-over so I could have that clean yet stylish Korean actor-look, employed the services of authentic Korean hairstylists who charge me triple than my old barber, I have an i-Pod filled only with Korean Discographies of K-Pop and K-Indie Bands I like (it started with Tearliner from Coffee Prince), several hard drives filled with K-Dramas, I eat Nongshim Korean Instant Cup Noodles for breakfast everyday (this is the same brand usually seen in dramas), I eat bibimbop with lots of kimchi at an authentic Korean food store in the mall, and I even started studying Korean language so I can talk to my family and close friends in Korean (they have no idea what I am usually saying but my mom and dad have gotten used to being called omma and appa and hearing me say yobosaeyo or odiyae over the phone). Plus I have a blog on anything Korean in the Philippines.

But perhaps the craziest thing I managed to do is convince my office to actually produce a "Korean-inspired" TV Commercial since I am an advertising copywriter. It wasn't really my account (brand) but I really managed to convince them that making a commercial that looked like a music video of 2NE1 would sell iced tea. One of the commercial's lead stars even had Dara's matching palm-tree hairstyle! Bwa ha ha ha!

And that's all because of K-Drama Culture! :)

I'm not really a hardcore KDrama addict, I'm more into KPop. My mother, on the otherhand, started her addiction around 2005, and has become this crazy ajumma, COMPLETELY addicted to dramas and Dramabeans.

She loves YAB so much, so I'm entering this competition to quench her addic--- oh wait, no: she already ordered the DVD box set the second it was available on YesAsia.

the person who introduce me to K-drama is my mom in law ... she actually told me to watch the show cause she said that the fashion trend and the actor/actress are beautiful. and the 1st show i watch is lover in paris....

my addiction to K-drama :
1. I buy all the K-drama dvd, now we have a cupboard build specially for storing those DVD during our house renovation

2. Used to watch whole episode in 2 days.... even though i am working during daytime and i have baby to take care. i will wait till everybody sleep then start to watch the show in the middle of the night. watch nonstop till morning. take 1 hr break during journey to office to rest my eyes.

3.now that i hv 3 gals at home, of course taking care of them takes a lot energy but once they're sleeping ... i still continue watching the show in the middle of night.

4. and last sensation at home is that now i introduce k-drama to my gals.... they love to watch you're beautiful
My gals aged are 6,5,3 and all of them can sing all the ost of you're beautiful.... and now their ipod touch is filled with korean song and music video.... My 1st and 2nd gal will go surf internet to find info about korean actor n actress that they like.... i brought them to buy the " pig-rabbit " for each of them. the 3 of them have collection of photos of the fav actor. even the shop that sell the merchandise said my 3 gals are the youngest customer.

my gals are in advance in term of technology cause since young my hubby introduce them to electronic stuff....

5. my youngest daughter 3 yr old said she want to marry jeremy hahaha....

My addiction is fine. Seriously it is not that bad. I can quit whenever I want. Buying two expensive language programs and going to Korea last year in order to better understand the language and culture. Seriously I only spend 5 hours a day on dramas minimum. That is not much when you consider I am trying to learn the language. Thankfully I never had my life in any real danger although some of my friends may disagree with me. I mean there were only those two incidents last year in Seoul and both were normal things that could happen to anyone traveling alone in a foreign country with less than six months of korean. Seriously my addiction is not that bad.

I was informed that my hotel was at the center of everything in the Wangshimni area of Seoul and extremely close to the subway. Unfiltered access to everything is what I wanted and the thought of 10 days of free to explore time in the city made me giddy. All I needed to do was find my hotel. I dug around online and found maps and directions to the place in Korean and english, and I was confident I could point out the location to anyone who asked me. The Airport Limousine Service(Nicer Big Bus) even picks up and drops off less than a block from the place.

I got off my plane and easily found the correct bus, took a seat and started to watch Star King on the monitor provided. I did notice the driver's rather thick and strange accent. My less than perfect seoul only hear, caught all the stops he started calling out in my 21st hour of travel. Hey, I can do this. The streets we are on are correct and eventually he does say my stop. So I get out. Yay! I am in Seoul! Do a little happy dance and a cheer grab my suitcase and purse and start walking toward the big red ho...tel.... Ok so I look up and see that I am not at the right bus stop. I got out one stop to early. Not a problem. Infinite cabs in this busy and bustling city. I stuck out my hand and hopped in the first one and literally seconds later I am on my way again.

Yay! I am in Seoul! Now to find the hotel. I give my written in Korean instructions to the driver. He plops the address into his GPS and away we go. He pulls up to a bakery and points to a building and tells me to go there in Korean. Yay! I understood! My comprehension of this phrase was one of the first full sentences I understood since I got off the plane. So I am delighted. I thank the nice cab driver and start to walk to the building. But I only see a restaurant and shops. Well maybe this is the bottom of the hotel. Larger ones have this sort of feel sometimes. I heard the lobby and main entrance wasn't on the main street. I will just go ask the lady running this nice eatery.

"Hello" and in my worst broken korean ever, I show her my hotels name and address. Now since I have the address in both Hangul and romanized letters I figure it would not be too hard to ask for help from a proprietor. She tells me she never heard of the hotel. Or at least that is what I think she says to me.

This time I was sure I was in the right area, I saw my correct bus stop outside. So I dragged my suitcase back down the flights of steps I took to get to the open restaurant and looked for the big red hotel. It was to be visible from the main street. Hmmmmm. All the buildings look black. Maybe because the sun has already set. It is already past 9pm at least last I checked it was. Ok I can do this.

I will ask someone else who works around here. Ahhh. an apartment building security guard. Yay! I am in Seoul! I walk up to him and oooh another thick accent. K just show him the paper with the hotel and ask where it is. Then hope he points in a direction. K, so he has never heard of it either. Now I start to nervously laugh. I am in another country, barely speak the language and have felt my first urge to pee. This very nice man sees my dilemma and asks a passing ajumma where the devil the hotel is. She has no idea. Never heard of it. K I will get another cab.

This time I will ask to go to wangshimni station exit 2. That pesky complainer on-line that had spent an hour looking for for this hotel even though he spoke Korean, he wrote down instructions for how to get there from exit 2. He said it was off the main street down some alley that had a bank on it. I wrote down his directions as a precaution, thinking in this day and age of google maps and in-car GPS I still can't be too careful. I was smart. Yay! Oh crap I need to pee!

I hop into a cab and ask him to take me to Wangshimi station. He then looks at me as if I was an alien speaking in alienese. 5 minutes later and infinitely wiser, he understands where I want to go. (I was unaware of how horrible my pronunciation was until he kindly corrected me). Well he understands sort of, I told him Wangshimni station. How was I to know that this subway stop covers a 5 block radius. He calls into his cab company. I can only assume to report he has a crazy woman in his cab who says she wants to go to wangshimni but we are already here. What do I do with this crazy foreign woman? I sort of get the gist and ask him if he knows where the hotel is. And he then once again plugs this address into the magical GPS oracle that knows the location of all things... and nothing. Ok now i see why the first guy dumped me on the main street the GPS told him that was close enough.

Luckly this driver is kinder. He even stops the meter and proceeds to look through back streets. Until 10 minutes later we find a sign for the hotel. It looks like the back of the hotel. There are cars and things but I can read enough hangul to pronounce and recognize not only my name but also my hotel! Yay! A Toilet! I thank him in as many languages as I know and proceed go into the back door of the ho..tel...strange it is locked. Ok, there is no visible way to get to the front of this hotel. The small alleyway we took dead ends and there is only another hotel next to this entrance. Uh Oh. I look down and see the tell tail signs of red light party districts. Little cutesy half-dressed girls on calling cards cover this back street. I look up to find a wall of love hotels as far as the eye can see...good grief were the devil am I?
Ok, panicing now is not good. I am not on the main street and I have a hotel room somewhere in this building I can't get into. Ahh ha! I can see the hotel clerk at the love hotel next door I will politely ask how to get to the front of my hotel. I realize I was asking about the competition's hotel entrance and I realize that this man was at least my height (5'10")and big. I also quickly realize that he looked more like a bouncer than a desk clerk and I should leave. Ok So now panic and a bathroom are on my mind heavily and I stop to look around this alley way for some kind of exit. and several youths out for a "good time" walk by...but they are on a different level and behind the hedges of the dead end. there is a hidden stairway that leads to a different alleyway. Yay! This of course takes me out and around to another small street that I look down and see an entrance to a nice 2-3 star hotel with the correct name on it. Sighs of relief!

I had a blast once I found my hotel. Much more stuff makes sense in my dramas and I plan to go back ASAP. I shall not rest until I can watch dramas without any translations at all.

I do not have a bad addiction. Seriously I don't!

I am a total korean addict. i'm gonna sound crazy but seriously i am.

[TRUE STORY}
FOR K-DRAMAs..HABITS:

1. during the airing of YAB, i took advantage of my study sessions at school to watch it, and continue watching it at home. i usually stay back, but for K-drama, i didn't.

2. I spent over 300+ on K-drama collections and watch them over and Over.. i end up memorizing the lines. (i still list my K-drama to get DVD's)

3. I left my work to last minute to watch dramas that had ratings given by dramabeans.

4. each morning, regardless what time, i will always checkup for updates in DRAMABEANS, ALLKPOP & SOOKYEONG WORDPRESS.

5. I love looking at the clock for countdowns.

6.since i am a foreigner, i have to wait for subbings, and usually the k-drama's like coffee house, (THAT I CANNOT WAIT FOR NEXT MONDAY), they get subbed quick, i wake up at 8 and check then watch.

7. continously disobeyed my dad's orders in order to watch online k-dramas.

8. When my friends ask what to watch, they go to me, because i am quite updated and i memorize every scene in ever k-dramas i watch.

9. i don't lie to my teacher, so, one time, when i came to school half-asleep, my teacher asked, why i was so tired and had red eyes, i actually told her that i watched korean dramas all night. i even convinced her to watch it.

10. i spend my allowance on K-dramas =X

11. i Recently had my exams, i seriously couldn't focus because i wasn't able to watch my then awaited drama, oh my lady,personal taste and cinderella stepsister. But, i manage to watch it during midnights till dawn.

12. Now i am exam-free, i still keep my habit on updating and watch k-drama

13. my emotions comes with me when i watch the dramas. so it's like watching wwe hahah

P.s: I CAN"T WAIT FOR NEXT EP OF COFFEE HOUSE HEHEHEH

heheh that is how addicted and willing i am for the name of K-DRAMA.
I MUST AND JUST HAVE TO WATCH THEM OVER AND OVER.

wrong website with right email hehehe

I love reading the entries... so funny! :-D

I don't think I'll win, but here's my share anyway: I've called in sick numerous times to finish a drama; I refuse to work overtime to watch an episode, even on a tight deadline; I've kicked out my boyfriend several times from the computer, always saying it's the "finale," I groan, I pout, I bother him endlessly if he doesn't leave right away; I've added simple Korean terms in my vocab; I've talked so much about the dramas and the actors to my boyfriend that his friends are either impressed or mortified with his knowledge of kdrama stuff.

My first K-drama was Delightful Girl Choon Hyang, and I was totally riveted by it. My sister gave it to me because I needed a break from studying for my final year exams. I started watching it, and for the first few episodes I was able to control myself and stop. But then one night, before my exam, I was about halfway through the series and I could not stop myself. I kept watching and watching and watching until 6:30 am the next day. My exam was at 9 am. I was still on a K-drama high as I entered my English exam. Its a wonder I didn't start spouting Korean whilst writing about Madame Bovary ><.