From The I Did Not Think It Was Needed Department:

I really do not know how well this will be taken by workers. In March 2021, a Korean ministry designated the last Wednesday of every month as "A Good Day to Wear Hanbok," but a new scheme is more detailed and makes traditional attire part of the dress code for some jobs.

The new initiative, part of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism's basic plan for promoting traditional cultural industries, was announced during Thursday's ministerial meeting on social affairs that it aims to build a sustainable environment in which the traditional cultural sector can grow without losing its essence and adapting modern concepts.
Under the plan, the government will designate Hanbok as the official dress code for national holidays such as the March 1 Independence Movement Day, Liberation Day, which falls on Aug. 15, Hangeul Day, which falls on Oct. 9 and the Oct. 3 National Foundation Day, as well as 57 other commemorative days to recommend people wear Hanbok.

Also, the government will introduce Hanbok as work wear next year starting with fields where employees frequently interact with visitors or the public. These include museums, art galleries, overseas Korean cultural centers and public institutions.

Second, it never occurred to me that this happens: Surfing while under the influence of alcohol will be legally banned in Korea starting June 2025. According to the Korean Coast Guard, the revised law of water-related leisure activities will come into force on June 21 next year to prohibit drunk people from riding water leisure crafts such as a surfboard or a kayak. Currently, only motorized ones like jet skis are banned.

Under the new rule, a person who is found to have ridden a surfboard while drunk — a blood alcohol content of 0.03 percent or higher — will be subject to a fine of up to 1 million won ($685). Those who refuse a sobriety test can also be fined 1 million won.

ahhh

ok after some days off - went to Viljandi, lit some candles - the cemetery was so full of them. I feel bad for the environment but it is still very pretty. and I think they collect the containers and press them into sandboxes, buckets and such. then, for 2 days nothing much to do, it was really quiet. But we have no snow and it is both weird and worrysome because pests stay alive.

back at work but still lazy

watching Rented in Finland. ah Lee Je Hoon, you are so frustrating but now even Kwak Dong Yeon has a weakness? He cannot touch earthworms.
It must be nice for them, nobody follows them around they can eat pancakes in peace.
I hope they catch some fish next time

also watching When the phone rings, it is nonsensical and kinda conveniently jumps over the natural logic of things but still watchable because the acting has a lot of soul
I think the reporter is somehow involved, or then someone from presidential office. perhaps not a guy.

been trying to find Seoul Busters and failing. nothing in my region.

since we had a break I have nothing to share from the library.
situation on the Baltic sea is bad, energy cables cut which means another price rise like 12%. people already have it bad enough.
we really need submarines, there is no other way to protect our interests.

Merry Christmas and Happy Last Friday of 2024, Beanies! 🎄

Ngl, I'm not sad this year is ending lol, but won't deny it was a productive one. Mainly for LYN, ofc, compared to him hardly anyone could sincerely call themselves busy))) Next week will be madness of content, so I'm glad to mostly focus on old stuff for now. Not that it stopped this crazy man from releasing a new song (was supposed 2, but one got postponed to tomorrow) in very last days of the year... Well, he did say he wants to carve himself a special place in industry if not by quality, than by sheer amount of content^^ I have no complaints about quality either, he's being too critical on himself here.

I mean, he made it to Top7 of most popular male stars on Tencent in their fresh yearly report – with only OSTs, variety shows and secondary roles in dramas that weren't even rating hits! And got 4 (!) more awards from China Music Group annual report: “All Media Recommended Artist Of The Year”, “Quantity Quality OST Singer Of The Year”, “Most Loved OST Of The Year” (for YOLO movie – told ya it was a huge hit!) and “Top 100 Excellent Songs Of The Year”.

Finally an official link for iQiyi Scream Night performance in great quality:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWVmiaajd-M

Today's new track – promotional song “Children of the sea” for sea environment protection (?) program of Hainan province. If you think about it, he gets many such regional advertisement gigs – general public loooves his voice as BGM for just about everything))) The song itself is actually more interesting than I thought it would be – those intro/outro chords are almost Joe Hisaishi's “One summer's day”-like (SPIRITED AWAY main theme). Rest of the track went into different, more predictable direction, but it was still surprising while it lasted. And he sang well as usual – in a very comfortable manner, so no additional straining to his already overworked voice, thankfully - but that's a given.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2y1r-4nHZE

It's time to complete Carnation 4.0 coverage, starting with cover of Paula Tsui's retro (released in 1981 apparently) Canto hit “Windy season”. And damn, what a bop! 80s music just hits differently – the best decade of music ever fight me on this if you dare. His attempts at dancing along are borderline hysterical the Goomba vibes intensified, but how can one not move when something like this plays?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7iYMJzCt1k

Next song I'd love to dedicate to 2024 as a whole called “Goodbye” from A-Yue^^ Thank heavens I didn't have to google to much to find the original version because you can only imagine the amount of songs with such title from different artists! Pretty cheerful sound-wise, which is nice:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FT4keUGJvwA

NOTES FROM 9TAILEDVIXEN'S CHRISTMAS WEEK:

(A) LIFE NOTES

Had a good time at Christmas Eve dinner catching up with a branch of the extended family. We all ate too much sugar and just had a really nice time.

I'm getting super antsy with the Aerial Yoga studio closed til 1 January 2025 but I've booked myself for the first class of the year on 2 January 2025 and I will be back challenging myself to reach upper intermediate level.

(B) THIS WEEK IN KOREAN WOMEN'S NEWS

(i) Almost 1 in 2 Koreans of child-bearing age are OK with not having a family, survey shows

Nearly half of Korean adults of child-bearing age believe it is acceptable to go through life without having children, according to a new report.

The report was presented at the Population Forum held in Seoul on December 20, organised by the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs (KIHASA). The survey, conducted by KIHASA, gathered responses from 4,000 men and women aged 19 to 79 nationwide between November 3 and December 6.

https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/family-relationships/article/3291841/almost-1-2-koreans-child-bearing-age-are-ok-not-having-family-survey-shows

(b) Women at the forefront of South Korea's martial law protests

As protesters confronted armed soldiers outside South Korea's National Assembly on the night of December 3, it was immediately apparent that something unexpected was taking place.

Some media estimates suggest that as many as 40% of the demonstrators were women in the age group late teens to 40s. Analysts say this emerging generation of women may be ready to play a bigger part in setting the nation's agenda.

https://www.dw.com/en/women-at-the-forefront-of-south-koreas-martial-law-protests/a-71152185

Happy weekend Beanies and keep Beaning On!

And an early happy New Year!

Last Friday I went to a water park with my friends and we did it all: relaxing in an outdoor jacuzzi in cold weather, followed by wild shrieking in the fast waterslides!😂We rewatched Moana on Saturday noon and then went to watch the sequel in the movie theater that same evening. It was nice to have popcorn again, but it has become so expensive.

Since I forgot dessert, I bought some last-minute snacks to enjoy on my solo Christmas party, but I miscalculated and forgot about leftovers and edible presents…now my secret snack stash might feed me another week instead of just one evening.😅

I am spending New Year’s Eve at my friend’s place again, but this time only one night instead of the whole weekend, and I am carpooling with another invited friend instead of traveling by train. I hope this means more time for me and less (stress with) packing.🧳

Some idol guy is under investigation for allegedly not fulfilling his military hours completely and if he's found guilty, he might be looking at reenlistment to make up those hours. Not only is he going down for this or under scrutiny but apparently others who supposedly helped him or made things easier for him (from what I understand).

The thing is the idol was eligible to be exempt (again, from what I understand) for mental health reasons but he still enlisted because of the criticism he was get for taking the exemption. It's been said that his mental health did suffer during his enlistment and that's at least part of the reason he was on sick leave.

Would it be right to say it's ironic to say he joined the military to avoid criticism about being exempted only to still get criticized for not fulfilling his time due to the mental health issues that qualified him for the exemption?
Obviously he couldn't know the future but I couldn't help but think he should've just taken the exemption in the first place.

Now this is probably gonna lead to more scrutiny and observation to make sure other idols doing office jobs aren't slacking off in the slightest.

TMI: Another year goes by and I feel nothing about. Dramas help fill the void through escapism but the lull in life is still there. Does anyone else also feel that year by year only time passess and you're still there unchanged?