Your addiction stories: Giveaway winner announced
by javabeans
Goong (Princess Hours) kick-started its share of obsessions
When we asked for your kdrama addiction stories, we were expecting some funny, outrageous tales of wonder and woe. But even so, we were amazed at the extreme lengths you’ve all gone through in the name of your passion.
We’re also tickled by the hilarious situations that this passion has put you in — whether that’s watching dramas without audio to keep from waking spouses (ai*, comment 230), literally making yourself sick because Coffee Prince made you determined to start drinking coffee (Angela, 172), quitting a second job to give yourself the time to watch dramas (luraaa, 25), or going to extremes to hide your addiction from parents, boyfriends, or disapproving friends (practically everyone).
Below are the highlights, the honorable mentions, and of course…the winner. It’s a compilation of the funniest and craziest things done in the name of kdramas, and we’re proud to give voice to the self-proclaimed, flag-waving addicts among us.
obsessed (378) gives us the eye-opening, official diagnostic criteria for substance dependence, as defined by the DSM-IV:
A maladaptive pattern of substance use, leading to clinically significant impairment or distress, as manifested by three (or more) of the following, occurring at any time in the same 12-month period:
- tolerance, as defined by either of the following:
– a need for markedly increased amounts of the substance to achieve intoxication or desired effect
– markedly diminished effect with continued use of the same amount of substance- withdrawal, as manifested by either of the following:
– the characteristic withdrawal syndrome for the substance
– the same (or a closely related) substance is taken to relieve or avoid withdrawal symptoms- the substance is often taken in larger amounts or over a longer period than was intended
- there is a persistent desire or unsuccessful efforts to cut down or control substance use
- a great deal of time is spent in activities to obtain the substance, use the substance, or recover from its effects
- important social, occupational or recreational activities are given up or reduced because of substance use
- the substance use is continued despite knowledge of having a persistent or recurrent physical or psychological problem that is likely to have been caused or exacerbated by the substance (e.g., continued drinking despite recognition that an ulcer was made worse by alcohol consumption)
Who, us, addicted? No way! Not a chance. Hardly. Maybe just a little…
You’re Beautiful was a popular source of drama-induced madness
SACRIFICES
We’ve all made sacrifices, whether it’s sleep or study time or chances to socialize with friends. jt (113) had a somewhat bigger sacrifice to the drama gods:
it was october of 2008, it was my first and last year in med school (guys, don’t 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 noon I turn on the tv and boom! a korean drama. since we don’t 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 korean dramas once a day every noon. at that time I was able to catch Princess Lulu. 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 MY GIRL and I got hooked. man, it’s like a drug. I can’t 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.
GIVE ME ACCESS, OR ELSE!
These days access is as easy as a torrent, a viikii account, or some minimal downloading knowledge. It wasn’t always that way, as some of us know, having endured some very roundabout, inefficient, and inconvenient methods just to get our fix. Example: xiaoSxin (16) resorted to watching camcorder recordings of a TV screen, taken by an enabling helpful friend.
On the other hand, CG (55) had to contend with super-slow internet just when a You’re Beautiful addiction was peaking:
I decided to run to the library every day during Thanksgiving break to catch up with episodes. It was so cold and I don’t know how to ride a bike. The library is about 10 minutes away by car, and since I’m so athletically limited, it took me at least 30 minutes to get there. But my parents found out about my obsession and they banned me from the library and my computer. By the time I was off the hook, school had resumed again.
The public library’s right next to my school and I’d go there everyday during lunch to watch episodes. There was this one time when I was watching contently when the librarian loomed over me:
Librarian: Get off RIGHT NOW. Didn’t you read the sign? It’s reserved for the public ONLY today (and not students). [It’s the stare that gets me every time. And she was staring at me like her eyes would pop out]
I tried to walk dignified into the library the next day, but gave up because the librarian was there again. I went as far as to track her schedule down. Then I’d walk home really late and I’d lie to my parents about having projects. I guess they didn’t realize the pattern to the days I did the project.
chacha9891 (106) got hooked on Lovers in Paris on a vacation to the Philippines, but it wasn’t until after she left that her brother discovered a bootleg DVD stall (in the Philippines). One year later on another vacation, she raided the bootleg dvd shop and “probably bought around 40 dvd sets.” Then:
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. Then we came up with this genius solution (at least 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. 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
My Name Is Kim Sam-soon
PRIORITIES
Sometimes our priorities may get just a leetle bit skewed. Imagine that you encounter an apartment fire and have seconds to grab your precious belongings, as CoconutJuice (207) had to do. (She grabbed her (1) money and (2) Full House DVD.)
On the other hand, beng (158) was working on a major Powerpoint presentation that delayed her Coffee Prince watching. On the eve of the big presentation:
I told to myself, i’ll watch 1 episode before I go home. Before I knew it, i’ve watched several episodes and the sun has risen. Oh no, so what did I ended up doing? I presented with the same clothes that i’m wearing the day before. Gosh, everytime I remember it, I just laugh at myself, coz everyone thought i’m quite dedicated to my work.
What happens when a secretary at the Prime Minister’s office really, really wants needs to spend the day watching kdramas? ladyteruki (112) says:
I went to work as usual. I got there as fast as I could, 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.
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 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.
What happens when a pregnancy coincides with a drama addiction? icechocolate (185) tells us:
I calculated that BL would end before my second’s due. So, I feel a little bit worry but also happy, when they announced to expand the series by 2 episodes. Nooo.. that’s my due! What to do? I wanted to see Hwan and Eun So happy at the time. I’m kind of person who flip the end of the book to know who end up with who, now you want me to delay for some days? Please, don’t! Just please..
Thank you, son, you were listening to me.
And then there’s labchick (203):
A couple years ago, I was with my sister during the last two weeks of her pregnancy. This one night, we came across MNKSS and it was love at first sight. We quickly got addicted. We watched 10 episodes the first night before going to sleep at 5 am.
When we woke up, we started where we left off… and my sister went into labor. We rushed to the hospital, carrying my laptop, forgetting to bring her night bag (which by the way took us 2 weeks to pack). I drove like crazy to the hospital through Boston traffic while she was either screaming in pain or at Jin Hun for being a douche. We finally get to the hospital… and when the nurses came to get my sister.. she starts shrieking… that we have to watch the show. So my sister, the laptop, and I are rushed into the delivery room. The doctor and the nurses thought we were nuts. but we kept watching.
After 6 hours of labor, 5 hours of shrieking, and 10 mins of awwing, we finally got to welcome my beautiful little niece to this world. Her middle name is SAMSOON!!! and we’re not even remotely korean!!!
Boys Before Flowers also accounted for its share of insanity
EXCUSES!
oh! tht! chick! (19) not only invented an excuse, she invented a person — a relative created solely to be killed off, allowing for her to take four days off work to “attend the funeral,” which in her case meant a Boys Before Flowers marathon.
leesja/J2 (240) decided to drive home during lunch every day for love of So Ji-sub and I’m Sorry I Love You (MISA):
There weren’t enough hours in the day to watch this. There I was a grown woman with a family, and a very demanding job, trying to sneak in every free moment to watch this.
So, in my lunch breaks I would drive home to watch 30 minutes. Just another minute, I would tell myself … And yes, the inevitable happened… One day I cut it sooooo short, that I had to sneak in to work via the back door. It was after one of the heart-wrenching episode. There I was, trying to sneak back into work without anyone noticing my lateness or even more importantly, my tear-stained face & very red, puffy eyes.
The boss took one look at my face and inquired if everything was OK at home? Did something happen to upset me? He told me to take the afternoon off – to go home and just let it all go, to come to terms with whatever has upset me soooo much.
For just a second, no a milli-second I hesitated. [But] The elation I felt as I drove home so out-weighed any guilt I was feeling.
Pink (339) had to contend with the Boys Before Flowers finale coinciding with a big friend-of-family event (a surprise party for friend’s parents’ anniversary). The night began after “a grueling 12 hour shift and long drive,” followed by a cupcake-frosting session, only to find that the laptop charger had been forgotten. The next day was the finale. So… make a three-hour drive back home, or go without the finale?
Drastic times call for drastic measures. I had to drive back home, get my charger, drive back before my friend found out.
My bff is not a drama watcher and has actively tried to end my addiction through countless interventions. I needed an alibi [so] I told my friend that I was headed to the store. I said I need tampons that he doesn’t have. Mention of the T word shut him up for good.
I got in my car, dirty uniform still on. I raced on the highway like a mad woman, reached my home in an hour, grabbed the charger, and was on my way back.
All of a sudden, there were sirens and a flashy car coming racing after me. I stopped in the middle of the highway. The sirens and flashes continued as a man approached my vehicle.
“Madam, do you know how fast you were going?”
“Oh hello Mr. osifer, I think I was going a bit fast.” That was an understatement considering I was driving 140km/h in an 80km/h zone. He looked at me and asked where I was headed.“To work. I am late for a shift.” I flashed him a smile as he looked at my scrubs.
“Well, we would all like to get there in one piece. Please slow down and next time, don’t stop in the middle of the highway. Pull over to the right side”.Phew! No ticket.
But hey, I watched BOF, series finale, LIVE!
Only to be thoroughly disappointed in a non-ending ending. I mean, what kinda stupid ending was that?
HIDING THE ADDICTION
Ri (4) got hooked on Success Story of a Bright Girl, only she wasn’t allowed to watch much TV. So how did she catch the last few episodes?
Sooo what I did was call up one of my good friends and ask her to watch it while telling me exactly what happens, all while I pretended to be asking her about school work. She was really sweet, she turned her TV up louder so I could listen (it was dubbed in Mandarin so I could understand) and then she would semi-explain facial expressions and what they were doing. Ever try to LISTEN to a kdrama? Yea, it’s not easy! Haha but in retrospect, it was kinda fun!
Flower Pot (43) sez:
My boyfriend and I just started living together when I discovered MY NAME IS KIM SAM SOON around 2005… since I tend to become pretty obsessive, I watched all 16 episodes in one sitting that I filed for sick leave the day after…
Now, my boyfriend was soooo angry that I was not sleeping at all watching the show that I had to pretend I was sleeping when he wakes up … I would turn the TV off in a panic when he alights from sleep and pretend that I am already in bed and then stealthily turn it on again and watch in silence while just reading the subtitles when he’s back to sleep…
after My Name is Kim Sam Soon our PC crashed and my boyfriend was aghast to find that there were more photos of Hyun Bin stored on it than that of us, family and friends… hahaha!
The lengths we’ll go to conceal our addictions! Monika (184) skipped classes to watch Cinderella’s Sister. But she had to conceal that from her sister, whom she had to then meet for dinner:
I had to run to the station, which is around 1 hour away from home, I had to take a train, then change to tube, but not just one line, two tube lines. So yes it takes me 45 minute to get to the station where I was supposed to meet her.
The one thing is that there are only 2 exits from the tube station, and they are connected. My sister used to wait at one of the 2 exits, and once I walk out of the tube station she’ll see me right away. That’s why I came up with a plan. 30 minutes before the time I was supposed to meet her, I went on the train. When I arrived, I called her and said my classes finished but my teacher wanted to see me, thus i’d have to stay late. So I told her to wait at the shop across the tube station, which she said she would.
But then I thought what if she forgot and waited for me at the station. So I had to take the long way, by bus. So on the bus, I was trying to be patient, but it was 5pm and the traffic was so heavy. In the end, I only took the bus to the next tube station, then I went to the underground instead. On the way I thought of how to tell her if I happened to see her right at the stations, then I thought I should say I was walking with a friend and forgot that she was waiting.
Luckily she waited for me in the shop, so well in the end, I used up all of my brain cells to think of excuses for my watching the drama and skip school :”>
lessaofpern (215) has made a few excuses in her day:
It got so bad that my husband had to disable our internet connection for several hours a day, so I would watch less. I had to promise to watch only 2 hours a day to get it turned back on. You know who had her fingers crossed behind her back when she agreed to that one. I’ve lied more times about watching K dramas then I have in my whole life put together (and I’m a Sunday school teacher to boot) SAD SAD SAD. My computer has been infected with every virus known to mankind, from watching them. I keep telling my husband that it’s the kids that have crashed our computer, when it is actually me. (BAD MOM).
MOTHERS!
Kdramas can lead to some role reversal when the bug gets to our parents, as Yuki (195) found out:
One day, I was watching the first episode of You’re Beautiful. (Note: My mother is an Chinese woman around the age of 60.)
Mom: Is it airing today?!??!
Me: Yes, but mom, I’m late for school…
Mom: I know, I know, I just wanted to make sure…Have a great day!Mom: IS IT OUT YET? IS IT OUT YET??
Me: It’s out but it’s not subbed.
Mom: What do you mean it’s NOT SUBBED?!?
Me: Mom, dramas in Korea don’t air with Chinese subs…
Mom: …right. Well remember to check every 5 minutes for it, okay?
Me: Mom, I have homework…
Mom: Well, I’m sure you can do your homework while you check, right?Me: Okay, I have the episode, we can watch it later.
Mom: LATER? Why later?
Me: ‘Cause…I still need to finish my homework
Mom: Then go do your homework. I need this NOW.
Me: …you’re not waiting for me…?
Mom: No.
FREGEEK‘s (167) mother could probably relate:
My mom watched a couple of episodes with me and she said that she liked Hwang Tae Kyung. I was mad at my mom for liking Tae Kyung because I’m the only one who can like him. Because of my rebelion, my mom was pissed and she refused to cook me dinner for almost a week, causing me to eat instant noodle for dinner for a week.
Another frequent offender: Coffee Prince
TRAVEL
Traveling was a frequent theme, as many of you just had to go directly to source, aka Korea. Some of you, like kitkat (108), have trips to Seoul planned. Others like diadda (146) have already been there, and related your stories of navigating neighborhoods with numerous wrong turns and minimal Korean language usage. rorikurama (34) describes the travails of taking not just a wrong turn but the wrong ferry in search of the Full House mansion.
purty.sunshine (166) has a story closer to home — she braved a six-hour drive and a severe snowstorm to see Se7en in Seattle.
And then there’s Chameleon88 (129):
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 in LA. All I had to go on was an address. So, Naturally, I Google it. I set off to see if I could meet the actress/singer in person. 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.
I entered the church and sat down quietly trying to look like I belonged. (All the while praying that my own religion’s God would forgive my blasphemy and not to strike me down with lightning).
As I was waiting, I overheard some girls talking that indeed the actress was on premises… in the other building. And before I could even get up and leave, 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. The whole time, I was thinking, “What have you gotten yourself into?!”
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. Suddenly, I hear screaming and people shouting the actress/singer’s name. I watched the woman I had been so fervently stalking come out of the lecture building and climb onto the tour bus. The teenagers crowded the bus and started chanting her name. A few minutes after taking pictures with the crowd, she got back onto the bus.
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. I was arguing with myself out loud about why I was doing this. 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.
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.
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. 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!
byul1232 (83) started out writing Shinhwa fanfic, which led to full-length online novels: “I somehow ended up getting a book publishing deal with some random company in Thailand. I still get royalties to this day.” Her friends thought she’d grow out of it, but instead she continued to work kdramas into as many school projects as she could. In her senior year of university:
I figured since I watch Korean dramas all the time, I might as well get some credits for it. My independent study course was called “Korean dramas, and their effect on Society.” I wrote a 10-page essay and a 60+ page novel, both typed in Korean, highlighting what I found out during my “research” process, aka watching 80+ hours of Korean dramas. I got an A in the course.
Now I am currently writing a new chapter of my life: moving to Korea and enrolling in a drama academy so I can once and for all, fulfill my childhood dream of becoming a Korean drama writer.
REAL-LIFE ROMANCE
We think cingdoc (17) officially has the most understanding husband:
Well, my favorite was (actually still is) Coffee Prince. I adore Choi Han Kyul/Go Eun Chan. My Hubs knows how much I especially LOVE Gong Yoo. So he asked me to go ’somewhere” with him…. the local Mini Cooper dealership. My adorable, sweet, but crazy, other half actually was going to buy me the EXACT Choi Han Kyul’s car…. Now, I might be a certifiable nutty Yoo gal, but I’m very practical. Besides working part time, the bulk of my time involves Mommy taxi-ing… the mini is NOT going to cut it. We only test drove the vehicle, and did NOT make the purchase. BUT for the rest of my life, I will always have fond memories of the brief moment of driving my Yoo’s car, from my favorite kdrama, from my loving REAL life husband….
pabo ceo reom (403) has a sadder story:
My ex-boyfriend took me on a vacation to Hawaii for 5 days. He’s an avid surfer so he had set up a date on the beach one day. I faked a stomach flu because I just couldn’t wait to finish two episodes of Coffee Prince in our hotel room. When he came back, he said I had puffy eyes (apparently I cried at some point in the drama). He thought I was upset about not being able to go to the beach and took me to a bar to lighten the mood. Basically I got piss drunked (bad bad bad idea..) and told him in my drunken stupor that I was crying because of some guy named Choi Han-kyul. My boyfriend (who’s Korean) started getting mad asking me who the hell is this Han-kyul guy and if I was cheating on him. I then apparently blacked out from the alcohol.
The next day I was lying in our hotel bed with the fattest hangover ever. When I fully woke up, I found out via a message at the receptionist desk that my boyfriend had flown back home and left me in Hawaii by myself. My first reaction was “that fcuking jerk!” because I couldn’t remember what had happened the night before.
Annnnnnnyhow, long story short, I flew back, made a huge scene, kicked him in the ass, FELT LIKE AN ASS MYSELF when I found out the entire story, and we were both speechless about how the hell this all went down. We eventually broke up because of a multitude of reasons, which I can assure you were much more significant and normal than the situation I talked about. However, to this day, my close girlfriends like to taunt that I singlehandedly destroyed my love life because of my addiction to kdrama.
They ask me all the time why aren’t there rehab centers for kdrama addicts? I just ask myself: where the hell are all the cute, rich, and loving male kdrama addicts out there? Holler!
But bleu‘s (115) is quite possibly the cutest one:
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.
And last but not least, the winner…!
Success Story of a Bright Girl
Alert (30), We salute you for your perseverance:
It was 2003. I just got my first job, went to the office by public transports, and just moved in a halfly shrewded place that I rent just because it’s the cheapest one I found, with two people I hardly knew. I was desperate at that time, so that’s the only choice I had. The house was very gloomy, with half the lighting’s gone, and a kitchen that’s barely touchable. But it was half-furnished, with some furnitures, and a tv. And as for rats? They’re everywhere. they were hiding when I first moved in, but decided to show themselves right after (they so love the kitchen!). You have no idea how scary rats can be. I DESPISE RATS. I could cry for hours just seeing rats. I almost thought of going to therapist because of rats. I was traumatized by sights of rats to the extend that when I slept I had to stuff my ears with headphones and loud musics so I could never hear rats screeching their way outside. And I slept with a broom right on my side, just in case.
So why didn’t I move out? Well here’s the story.
A week after I moved in, Success Story of a Bright Girl was just showing on a local tv and I happened to watch the first episode, then the next, then without knowing, I was totally sucked into the drama (I hadn’t learned downloading or watching online yet). I had to come back from the office early on days Bright Girl were on, since I used public transport, and a delay would cost me another hour of waiting for the bus, and would make me miss my Jang Hyuk *cough* Bright Girl. I remembered giving excuses after excuses to my boss on why I need to go back early (the show was at late evening). Oh, I wasn’t feeling well. At first it was headaches. Then gastrics. Then food poisoning. And after I’ve used up all the not feeling well excuses, I simply had emergency family matters LOL (we all’ ve been there, don’t we?!).
The living room of where I’d watch the tv then was situated in between the kitchen and my bedroom. So it’s like a common thing to see a rat or two crossing in front of the tv. I couldn’t moved out yet, because even if I found a better place, the new rental, and the cost for living (transports, food etc) wouldn’t allow me to BUY A TV, for at least another few months. And that ratty place, regardless how bad it was, I can watch Jang Hyuk, and it all that matters that time. So preparing myself to watch Bright Girl every time it aired was like going into a battlefield. I equipped myself with a broom in hand and would drag the tallest chair I could find, and seated myself in front of the tv – with my two feet off the ground. The whole I hour would solely be dedicated to the show, but I would stomped the broom once in a while, to scare off the rats.
I moved out a week after Bright Girl ended. At least now I can say I’ve went to rat’s hole and back to watch Kdrama. That’s why Jang Hyuk hold a special place in my heart. I’ve suffered for him. I went to battle for him. I sacrificed my life for his drama. I’ve cried hours just so I could watch him. Even when he’s speaking in a dubbed Chinese, which I don’t even understand. Yep, am crazy, I know.
Only as crazy as the rest of us, but your story definitely takes the cake.
Congrats to Alert for the winning entry, and thanks to everyone for sharing your stories. It makes us feel a little bit like crack dealers, but they say the first step to recovery is acknowledging that you have a problem…
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51 Carla
July 3, 2010 at 11:29 PM
i was cracking up..so many good stories..definitely can relate...my favorite one was the person who double bootleg the dvds hahaha
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52 Snikki
July 3, 2010 at 11:30 PM
Grats, Alert!!!
This giveaway/contest was a good idea, JB and GF! It was fun reading the entries and made a lot of us glad that there are others just like us or even crazier (in a fun way :-)) than us.
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53 pinklover
July 3, 2010 at 11:31 PM
Congratulations Alert! It's no surprise that your story won. I really enjoyed reading all the stories. I actually had my bestfriend and bf read some of those stories just to prove that I am not the only one addicted to asian dramas. lol. It's funny cause it was my bestfriend who coerced me to watch Goong, I hated watching movies/dramas with subtitles, but when I gave the first episode a try, I can't stop anymore. When it ended, I kept looking for more dramas. My bestfriend somehow, was able to preserve her self-control and unfortunately did not become an addict like myself...hehe
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54 Ann
July 3, 2010 at 11:32 PM
CONRATULATIONS TO THE WINNER!!!
I enjoyed reading everyone's entry and copied them all for future reading. Love it!
Thank you Javebeans & Girlfriday.
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55 hbfrack
July 3, 2010 at 11:34 PM
congrats Alert! i like bleu's story so cute :)...
glad to know that i am not alone in this addiction.. and what i am exactly doing now? i promised myself that i have to finish the complete working drawings for my project until july 1, so that i can buy you're beautiful dvds and watch them without interruption (i wonder if it's a motivation or i am just making up excuses to buy you're beautiful dvds)... but wwaahhh.. i extended the deadline only because i found some other kdramas to watch... tsk tsk tsk.. i broke my own rules and i am still halfway through my project... bad bad bad...
anyhow, thanks for the stories and thank you dramabeans for the wonderful blog :)
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56 Larissa
July 3, 2010 at 11:38 PM
Oh, these are brilliant! It's such a consolation to know what people do just to get their fix. I'm in the lucky position that I don't have to lie about it. My roommate sometimes shakes her head at me, but I've made her watch Coffee Prince and Kim Sam-soon just so she knows what kdramas are all about. I think she liked them, but she didn't get addicted. My addiction comes and goes. Sometimes I can't be without them, but at other times it can be months when I don't watch anything. Still, I can't imagine my life without them, and I don't even want to.
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57 cingdoc
July 3, 2010 at 11:55 PM
Congratulations. @ alert...enjoy your prize :)
@JB Thanks for the "honorable mention"...I was reading all these posts,and didn't think my "little" story was "worthy" enough. I shared this post with Hubs,and he just smiled (possibly rolling his eyes when I turned around,hehe) :P
I'm really glad that you had this contest. I think most of us didn't mind that we didn't win (ahhhh??), but I think it's cute how we shared our (personal) stories and deepened our "common" love...kdrama addictions.
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58 ray
July 4, 2010 at 12:10 AM
awwww
god i am not the only one *bright grin* we are many many thousands
just the thought of my favorite star or k-drama brings a huge heartfull smile on my face no matter where i am or how sad i am .....
congrats to the winner \m/
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59 pickles
July 4, 2010 at 12:13 AM
HAHAHA!! Omg, I really had a great kick out of reading all the stories! It makes me rather relieved to know that I'm not the only crazy one out there, nor the craziest! Hahhah, congrats to you alert! :D I'm seriously beyond amazed that you managed to tolerate all the rats just for the sake of bright girl(or rather, jang hyuk!) ahaha. Enjoy your trip to Europe! :)
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60 missy
July 4, 2010 at 12:33 AM
congratulations to the winners!!! awesome stories! :D
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61 cc
July 4, 2010 at 12:36 AM
Thanks for sharing these stories! I love this family!
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62 PrincelyLuna
July 4, 2010 at 12:46 AM
oh i can't stop laughing reading some of stories. i especially love the last one (the rat story) ... visualising the story in my head. k-dramas are like cracks. thank you for sharing such entertaining stories.
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63 zinaa
July 4, 2010 at 12:47 AM
Oh My God..... Now I know that am not the only one.....
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64 chahaya
July 4, 2010 at 12:50 AM
You choose the right winner! She's deserve it!
Bleu's story and mom's story are cute :)
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65 bleu
July 4, 2010 at 1:03 AM
Wow! I saw my story up there tee hee….Congrats to Alert! And thanks to JB & Girlfriday..
@Cingdoc, I too shared this with my husband and his reaction was like..
Hubby: What? Dramabeans? What’s that?”
Me: It’s a Korean drama blog, a famous one at that too. It’s a sort of online bible for kdrama lovers.
Hubby: “And they mentioned our story?. How? Why?”
Me: Well, I kinda wrote to them about my, you know, addiction to kdrama and stuff.
Hubby: Oh! So, I am a minor celebrity now huh, at least in your kdrama land *laugh*. Maybe you should give me the link, I’ll let the boys (his close circle of pals, whom know me only as a “sweet, bubbly AND normal Liam’s wife”) see it. Maybe it's time for them to see who you really are, eh cave woman? *smirking*
Me: *fist up* “Wanna die?!”
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66 jully moue
July 4, 2010 at 1:29 AM
@65 Bleu
lol. haha. you made all our day with your story too xD
and i totally agree. i have been following dramabeans for few years already. and it is my favourite link. it is my bible too..
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67 Kay
July 4, 2010 at 1:44 AM
Congrats Alert!!!
Wow!!! What is A SCARY STORY!!!
lmao
And I just have to say it:
YOU GUYS ARE SERIOUSLY LOSSING IT , MAN!!!!
But I cant love it any other way^^;;
I didnt post since mine has too many similarities with the posted ones (yet, just not as impressive.) Of course the fact that I own a yb D-cut didn help either^^ but it was such a endearing ,interesting and laugh-my-a**-off journey to learn about eveyrone here , and our -take-it-seriously Addction and/ or Obsession for K-drama !!!
After all, I 'm happy to admit that, I am defininitely and certainly NOT THE CRAZIEST ADDICT out there, still we have so much to relate to :)
Enjoy your strip and the Dcut, Alert!!!
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68 crzycpl
July 4, 2010 at 1:55 AM
I totally missed this competition?! Oh well. Thanks for sharing your stories, everyone!
I too have done crazy things, hence my nick 'crzycpl'. hehehe
The other half tolerated my addiction during my last birthday by letting me go to Seoul and hunting down every kdrama site that I had pinpointed during my 'research', despite the -25C temperatures and 2 feet of snow. Love him. The things we went through to find the Coffee Prince coffee house. sheesh! I will never forget. :P
Yesterday, apparently, I was looking a bit glum and sad, following which he noticed and said: 'what's wrong? is there no new drama for you to dl and watch?' lol I really am very easy to make happy. give me a new drama to watch :)
I just shared this blog entry with him and his reaction was: 'you guys are crazy!' :D Yes, we are.
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69 djeedjes
July 4, 2010 at 2:00 AM
awww, I haven't read all the stories on previous post! Will do today!
Congrats to the winner, Alert!
I'd like to show these posts to friends, family, whoever say that my Kdramas' addiction is not healthy! I'm not that BAD!!! You guys are beyond belief...hahahaha.
I never skipped anything, lied anything just to watch dramas..only cut my sleep time or didn't sleep at all to watch drama...and choose drama over friend's invitation, which still I do until now.
Huh, it's a relief to know I'm not alone! :P
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70 ambs
July 4, 2010 at 2:07 AM
ooooh i really liked these. i wish i had time to sift through all the stories that had been left for you gals but i decided to pass. my FAVORITE hands down out of these stories has got to be bleu's. that is freaking ADORABLE. although i won't lie i hope bleu does not still pull all weekers for dramas 0.0 ramen and kimchi is only half healthy!! (the kimchi :P)
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71 gorditka
July 4, 2010 at 2:07 AM
i just wanted to admit... that i failed my project semeter examination because of my k-drama addiction. And now i am stuck in my rooom , writtting another project , but i guess... i am failing agian... GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD! i am hopeless! ;-(((
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72 ambs
July 4, 2010 at 2:10 AM
by the way bleu, have you ever written a romantic comedy script before? i have a strong feeling you'd be good at it =]
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73 djeedjes
July 4, 2010 at 2:12 AM
and oh! I envy all of you who have understanding and supporting partner ( husband )!
One of my friend's husband religiously downloading kdramas for her, bought a premium Megaupload's membership, becomes WithS2's VIA member for her.
He prepares the dramas on hard disk, bought Popcorn Hour, and whenever she wants to watch Kdrama, he will set up and play it for her...and I envy her so much.
Recently, she gave me a 1TB harddisk full of KDramas, a media player ( something like Popcorn Hour ) for my birthday present. I said "please pray for me so that I can find a husband like yours who totally can understand my addiction to dramas!" :P
My housemates also gave me an external harddisk for my bday.. They finally figured out that I'm happier with this kind of present instead of new clothes or other girly's stuffs...
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74 fangirl@heart
July 4, 2010 at 2:12 AM
hahaha... the stories are really funny.... but I can totally relate.. sometimes my friends tell me I am being anti-social because of this addiction. hehehe Congratulations to the winnders! =D
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75 rainerust
July 4, 2010 at 2:52 AM
Haha the disease is somewhat terminal, in our cases. Yeah, I've done some pretty insane things to watch kdrama, but my family and friends have given up all hope of curing me LOL and I think I'm infecting my sister with the kdrama virus so...
Lovely stories although I couldn't get through all of them, and congrats to Alert again! :)
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76 ruthie
July 4, 2010 at 3:01 AM
omG! bleu's story is just like reading a fairytale lolz....
i would love to find a man like that! thanks to alert for winning
this is so awesome! u need to do this yearly db!
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77 Kilmenyanne
July 4, 2010 at 3:25 AM
Lord, my addiction is bad but pales, just PALES in comparison to you guys! Congrats, Alert. But I think everyone of us here wishes they had a perfect husband like bleu's :D
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78 Kavitha Ravi
July 4, 2010 at 3:29 AM
an honourable mention woohoooooo! thanks JB and GF!!!
@alert congrats :D
sooo good to know tht u are not the only evil lunatic in the world :P when i did wht i did for a second i was like "do you even realise what you have DONE???" like killing an entire person off (albeit a figment of my imagination lol) to watch a show? that is NOT something a sane person would do!! but i soooo dont regret it!!! now every time i think of it and the eventual act that i had to put on at office when some concerned co-workers would ask me if everything was ok just gives me this insanely evil pleasure !!! and knowing tht this crazy story is now out there has just doubled it muhahaaaaaa!
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79 Orion
July 4, 2010 at 3:32 AM
Ahaha! Congratulations! It was well earned!
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80 anaa
July 4, 2010 at 3:37 AM
good to know that i m not the only one CRAZY!
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81 glencorajane
July 4, 2010 at 4:03 AM
Congrats to Alert!!
And since I am a Jang Hyuk fan, I am really happy that you won!
I salute your courage to overcome your fear to do something you really want to. That is what I call determination!
I can fully emphathise becos I ever brave 3 mths of going to a near haunted compound in the evening to take a course that I really wanted to learn.
I hope there will be more fantastic k drama for us to spend our time on. heeheehee
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82 corner_house
July 4, 2010 at 4:10 AM
i must admit i really really really enjoy reading all these hillarious real stories. congratulation to alert for wining first.
and, i strongly support paula253 (#49)... JB/GF, please consider of making a publication of these stories!
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83 varms
July 4, 2010 at 4:50 AM
I nearly failed my exams because of Winter Sonata and when Full House was airing, I couldn't watch it but I had a good friend who would tell me all the details of the episode the next day. I'm still good friends with her till today... =)
I'm sooo happy there are crazier people than me out there... =D That rat story was epic.
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84 Lockeheart
July 4, 2010 at 4:53 AM
I liked the story about the Philippine customs thing... :))
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85 peter
July 4, 2010 at 5:02 AM
too bad :( I didn't participate in this contest. I also have korean drama addiction story with my mom. Anyway it feels good that I'm not alone in this world with this kind of addiction :)
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86 redchilipie
July 4, 2010 at 5:13 AM
omg laughed so hard at theses stories ..im gonna share them with my sister tomorrow...nd i knw what shes going to say...."see at least theres other crazy ppl like u" ...LOL its so true , thanks for sharing and great idea JB..but i missed this contest but i wanna share it anyway..
Whilst watching CS i fell in love with CJM so i decided to watch whats up fox...i watched up till 3 am in the morning and it was a monday nd i had uni...my parents never beleive me when i say im too sick to go..cos i never get sick so they would knw somethings up...so i got ready as ususal and was dropped at the station with my sister...nd so whilst my sister was getting on the train i turned around and rushed out of the station....then i caught the first bus back home which takes about 30 min,...although after this i vowed never to do it again., alas the same thing happened with autumns concerto ..but seriously never again lol
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87 Your Sassy Friend
July 4, 2010 at 5:25 AM
You know what?
None of these stories or the lengths people have gone to surprise me. In fact, I found myself saying "Well of course you should!" right after each one.
O_O
Crazy, crazy, crazy kdrama people.
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88 etee7114
July 4, 2010 at 5:32 AM
Congrats to Alert and all the honorary mentions.
THanks JB for the contest. It was really entertaining reading all the entries.
About Kdrama Addiction : Someone told me that I would have crossed that line if I find my butt wider than my laptop screen. To which I said : "Ooooopps! Too late!"
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89 jt
July 4, 2010 at 5:33 AM
now i know that there are lots of crazy stuff related to kdramas. congrats to the winner!
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90 lei
July 4, 2010 at 6:11 AM
my personal favorites are the stories from bleu (where did you find a husband like that? we all need that :), chacha9891 (being pinay too, i've heard of the stories about bootleg dvds, and the numerous items we try to sneak in through customs :), that was too funny), and yuki (i love your mom :)
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91 indigowine
July 4, 2010 at 6:20 AM
@bleu:
does your husband have any male siblings?????? throw 'em at me =_=
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92 Sushi
July 4, 2010 at 6:51 AM
ahhh bleu :D you and your hubby are both so cute. congrats to alert, that was one crazy story!!
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93 Porcelain
July 4, 2010 at 6:54 AM
I didn't join earlier coz I knew my story was just "regular"...
Calling in sick so I can nurse those puffy eyes from crying at someone dying of some disease again or some star-crossed lover not being able to to be together... or mostly coz I look like a vampire with bloodshot eyes from chasing some finale...
Lying about where my money went to my parents... coz I bought yet another DVD set... expensive I tell ya, those original sets!
Not meeting my friends, coz I just want to watch dramas at home...
For all those, crazy, addicted and survived! High-fives everyone and congrats to the winner! And we are all winner too for how K-dramas enriched our life one way or another!!!
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94 curiouscat
July 4, 2010 at 7:17 AM
i tried hard not to read the stories because i'll definitely use their excuses too, but it's just to hard to resist! thanks to all for sharing their kdrama-addiction stories. i can definitely relate to some! And congratulations to alert! :D
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95 yemie
July 4, 2010 at 7:20 AM
had so much fun reading all the stories... =)) makes me laugh and cry
so much memories watching kdramas....
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96 Spf
July 4, 2010 at 7:46 AM
How many are lucky enough to get a real-life fairytale like bleu (115) 's?
Lucky girl with a k-drama obsession there! ^^;;
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97 Flower Pot
July 4, 2010 at 8:21 AM
Thanks Javabeans... My boyfriend just walked up to me now and asked what i was laughing about... When he saw my nick up there he started reading through it and after five years... he just learnt that i was fake sleeping during that entire time... (well, at least that's one more truth that he found out after all these years together...)
Now he's more irritated than ever but i couldn't care less... by now, he knows that no matter what he says or how much he rolls his eyes, nothing would get between me and my kdrama...
I wish you'd have more of this! I really enjoyed reading through everyone's entries... We should all go to kdrama rehab but the only problem is, i think none of us would want to be cured!
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98 Sobia
July 4, 2010 at 8:36 AM
I loved all these stories... Thank you, JB and Girl Friday, for such an entertaining contest, and congrats to the winner!
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99 zzzmadison
July 4, 2010 at 8:46 AM
great fun!
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100 kahshin
July 4, 2010 at 8:53 AM
hahahahahahahahahaha.... thank you jb & gf, this is really a great posting... i so love to read this ... thought I was the only crazy person. my other friends and families and of course darling hubby think I am so crazy, being so addicted, once i found a series that I love, I would watch non-stop and imagine my darling hubby's anger. And the length I sometimes go and making excuses to him so that I can continue watching the series in peace...
thank you for making me a normal person around you guys. hahaha!!!
everyone has wrote well and thank you for sharing these stories.
thank you to jb's postings on the some of the series. Sometimes, I am so busy and unable to watch the series, I practically live on your postings to keep me going... you can't imagine i check on your blog the first thing my internet is connected!! Keep it up!!
thank you.
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