Is There Room on the "I Hate Kobe" Bandwagon?

Dear Kobe Bryant,

I would like to start off with the disclaimer that I am a lifelong LA Lakers fan.  Okay, maybe not lifelong, but since the mid 90's (when we sucked...Eddie Jones, Anthony Peeler, Sedale Threatt, Vlade Divac, and Cedric Ceballos were our stars).  You brought the Lakers back to basketball glory, where we rightfully belong.  And when everyone and their mothers blamed you for dismantling one of the most talented teams ever assembled in 2004, I defended you.  When columnists and reporters were ripping you for exiling Shaq to Miami, I believed that the media was simply painting an ugly picture of you, and it was REALLY Jerry Buss's fault.  I convinced myself that Caron, Lamar, and the expiring contract that was Brian Grant were even better than Shaq.  I didn't blame you for shooting about 30% in the finals that year, nor did my allegiance waver when you were on trial for rape.  And when you dissed Ray Allen and Gilbert Arenas, I blindly supported you (even though Agent Zero was nothing but gracious in his blog after he went for 60 against you).  I even smiled excitedly, like an idiot, in an attempt to get your attention at the Pirates premiere.  I have been the biggest "Kobe Bryant is as talented as Michael Jordan" proponent.  I am, and will always be, a Laker fan.  But soon enough, I will no longer be a Kobe Bryant fan.

WHAT ARE YOU DOING?  I understand your desire to have the Logo return to LA.  I think Jerry West is one of the greatest GMs ever!  But why do you need to abandon and betray Mitch Kupchack?  Sure, he wasted draft picks on Brian Cook, Kareem Rush, and Sasha Vujacic (who I still love, even though he's incredibly streaky and basically sucks), but he has always defended you in the face of media scrutiny.  He has been committed to doing what YOU want and has basically been your puppet.  I can't explain away his failure to land any big names...and to an extent, I can understand your frustration.  After all, we were SOOOO close to landing J Kidd or B Diddy (a few years ago).  But that is no excuse to throw him under a bus.  On top of that, you have basically erradicated any chance of Jerry West's glorious return with your childish ultimatum.   And now, by demanding a trade, you've ruined any hopes of landing someone awesome this off season (a la Kevin Garnett, Pau Gasol, or Jermaine O'Neal) and taking the NBA by storm next season.

If you are dissatisfied with management (which you rightly should be), you can be gracious and speak to them IN PRIVATE, and not through every large media outlet in the city of Los Angeles.  Have you no sense of loyalty or even propriety?  Please...act like a middle school girl by talking trash, causing strife within the organization, alienating all of your teammates and the management.  The Lakers are already the Yankees of basketball.  You have only added to the many reasons why people hate us.

YOU'RE DESTROYING MY LAKERS.  If you leave, all I will have to say is "Good Riddance."  My hope is that the "mess of a front office" trades you to a crappy team and drafts Arron Afflalo.

Sincerely,
A disgruntled and angry Laker fan

P.S. If, by chance, you come to your senses and retract all the idiotic statements you've made in the past 2 weeks, please ignore this angry letter.  As long as you're a Laker, you will have my allegiance.  But once you're gone, I am hopping on the "I Hate Kobe" bandwagon.

How I Love Thee. Let Me Count The Ways...

Hello!!!  Welcome back ME!!!!! This is in no way my official return to Xanga, but I just needed to declare and share about my love for...

KOREAN DRAMAS!!!!  Where have you been all my life, and how did I live so long without you?!?!?!?!

Upon finishing my collegiate career and thus having nothing to do at night (since I have no homework, suckas!), I needed to find something that would keep me from dying of boredom.  Enter dramas. 

Now, I must begin with the disclaimer that I grew up in Alhambra, CA...the land of zero Koreans (except maybe Kenny Yee).  I had my first (glorious) taste of Korean BBQ 3 years ago.  I have largely been unexposed to this wonderous culture of great meat and even better romantic love triangles.  But now that I have seen the light, I have learned to embrace my Korean (higher cheekboned) counterparts across the Yellow Sea.

Now, on to the good stuff.  To enlighten and advise you on which dramas to watch, I have provided a brief synopsis and review of each one I have seen.  But beware, they are quite addicting.  I often joke that they have ruined my life because i average about 4-5 hours of sleep when in the middle of a series.  You laugh because you just don't understand yet.  There are two sorts of dramas:  the melodramatic, tear-filled, depressing dramas where someone is always stricken with cancer or hit by a car (sometimes both), and the cute, funny, but often frustrating 20 hour chick flicks.  Because I don't like to be all emo, I have only seen the funny, chick flick sort.  So here it is:  Desiree's Top Korean Dramas:

Goong/Princess Hours

Rating: 9.5 out of 10

Okay, the rating might be biased because this was my first KDrama, but it is seriously awesome.  This story is set in an alternate reality in which a Royal monarchy still exists in Korea (like in the UK).  The prince, no-fun, proper, and emotionless Shin, is forced to marry the sweet, naive, and free-spirited commoner Chae Gyung, because of a pact their grandfathers had made years before.  The marriage begins with mutual annoyance and hatred, but eventually, the two begin to grow fond of each other.  Chae Gyung transforms (or maybe uncovers the real but unseen side of) Shin in to a sweet, thoughtful, and compassionate guy, and the two slowly fall in love. Now all would be perfect and dandy since they are already married, but what kind of drama is that?  Enter Hyo Rin and Lu Yul.  Hyo Rin is Shin's ballerina ex-girlfriend who regrets rejecting Shin's proposal and is on a quest to win him back.  Lu Yul is second in line to the throne (Shin's cousin), and Shin's main competition for Chae Gyung.  This love square has it all...betrayal, unrequited love, jerk turned nice guy, nice guy turned jerk, evil (but pretty) girl, real and enduring love, and cute clothes!  Unfortunately, it is also 24 episodes long (8 extra episodes!) and can drag in some portions.  There are also a lot of other uninteresting subplots.

My Name is Kim Sam Soon

Rating: 6.5-7 out of 10

My Name is Sam Soon is Korea's version of Bridget Jones' Diary:  the tale of an approaching-middle-age, overweight, unsuccessful, single woman.  Sam Soon meets Jin Hyon, a handsome, younger, wealthy hotel owner, shortly after a breakup (she was cheated on), and lands a job as the pastry chef at his restaurant.   To fool his mother, Jin Hyon pays Sam Soon (she needs the money to pay for her mom's house) to be his fake girlfriend.  Again, the mutual hatred between the two develops into attraction.  Meanwhile, Jin Hyon's ex-girlfriend whom he was never able to forget returns to Korean after abandoning him for three years.  His initial anger and resentment melt away when he learns that she had been overseas being treated for cancer and the two reconcile.  Although the story is cute and pretty funny (and who doesn't love it when the not so pretty girl gets the hot guy?), it lacks a real villain.  And Dr. Henry Kim serves as just eye-candy, as his acting skills are not the best.

Full House

Rating: 8.5 out of 10

Ji Eun is a sweet, naïve, orphaned girl who is conned by her friends in to going to China while they sell her house to Young Jae, one of the most popular movie stars in Korea.  With no home and no money, Ji Eun agrees to do all the housework and cooking for Young Jae in exchange for a place to live.  Meanwhile, Young Jae is hurt and devastated after his childhood friend and lifelong love (Hye Won) rejects him, and tries to make her jealous by marrying Ji Eun.  Upon spending weeks together trapped in their house, Ji Eun and Young Jae begin to develop feelings for one another.  But because we need a villain, jealous Hye Won (homewrecker!) then decides to try to win Young Jae back.  To make matters more complicated, rich, handsome, successful, and player Min Hyuk, another one of Young Jae’s childhood friends and the object of Hye Won’s affection, begins to fall in love with Ji Eun.  Although Ji Eun and Young Jae have amazing chemistry on screen, this drama was definitely the most frustrating one that I’ve seen. 

My Girl

Rating: 9 out of 10

Gong Chan is the heir to the biggest hotel in Korea.  His grandfather, nearing death, asks Gong Chan to find his long lost granddaughter (Gong Chan’s cousin) in an effort to clear his conscience (the grandfather had disowned his daughter, the granddaughter’s mother.  Shortly after, the mother was killed in an earthquake).  After desperately searching, Gong Chan is still unable to track down his cousin.  Instead, he, by chance, meets Yoo Rin, a con artist (forced in to the occupation by her cheating and gambling father) who agrees to pretend to be Gong Chan’s lost cousin.  Although the agreement was for Yoo Rin to make a one time visit to the grandfather’s bedside, his miraculous recovery forces her to reprise her role.  She moves into their home, brings new life into their family, and captures the heart of Gong Chan.  Meanwhile, Gong Chan’s ex-girlfriend, tennis star Seo Hyun (who abandoned him 2 years earlier to play tennis professionally) re-enters the picture and struggles to regain Gong Chan’s trust and love.  While Gong Chan is preoccupied with Seo Hyun, his best friend Jung Woo begins to fall in love with Yoo Rin.  Although it sounds confusing, the story is actually fairly straightforward.  It took awhile to get used to the (fake) cousins falling in love…while it’s not incest, the thought is still a little gross.  Nevertheless, the storyline is fairly original and the acting is good (decent anyway). 

As you can see, the stories are full of twists and turns, with numerous obstacles coming between our two protagonists.  You’ll cry, you’ll laugh, and you’ll scream your head off out of frustration, but that’s all part of the beauty of Korean dramas. 

I think one of the reasons why girls love them is that the sweet, nice, but not as hot girl is able to change the hot jerk into a nice (but still good looking!) guy. It's like a Walk to Remember but 20 times longer!!!!!!

Still not convinced?  Then maybe this will convince you:

Can I be Korean? JUST KIDDING!!!!!!!!

The Dating Levels

Hello All!  Sorry for the sporadic updates.  I simply have not been inspired lately.  And Xanga is a cruel, harsh world--one that is pretty stingy with eprops if your name isn't Mat Kishimoto, king of Xanga.  But with his encouragement and guarantee of eprops, along with the unauthorized reproduction of his MSPaint creations, I am back, and back with a vengeance.

And because the topics pertaining to male/female relationships seem to garner the most interest, I have decided to tackle the heavy topic of....

DATING LEVELS!

Background:  One day, on our way to a Mexicali/Mount Hermon/whatever else meeting at Wintersburg, Kenny Yee and I were discussing our love lives (or, at that time, lack thereof in his case) and we pondered, "How do we know when a relationship is getting really serious?  When do I take my boyfriend to Tiffanys to hint about rings?  Is it really appropriate to take her to Lawry's on our first date (fyi, it is always appropriate to take me to Lawry's, regardless of what number date it is. hint hint. just kidding, you can breathe a sigh of relief.)?  What if we go to Disneyland right after we DTR and we run out of things to say, and she dumps me because she thinks I'm boring?  Don't worry, dear reader!  I'm here to rescue you from a potential dating faux pas.

Disclaimer:  The names of those involved have been modified to protect their identity.  Their stories are all completely true.

One day, Marvin* is walking along his merry when suddenly, a beautiful girl stops him dead in his tracks.  He peers at her through her apartment window sill and watches her cheerfully washing her dishes.

He thought to himself, 'I must meet this girl!'  But fearing that she would suddenly turn around, Marvin continued on his way and trusted that God might one day bring her in to his life.
*Fast forward 2 days*
As Marvin readies himself to emcee the weekly meeting of ACF, he looks up and sees a familiar face.  "It's her!!!!" he thinks to himself, excitedly.  After large group, he approaches her and strikes up conversation.  She, let's call her...Desiro, is friendly, and they exchange screennames. 

After having countless of late night conversations via AIM, Marvin decides he wants to ask her out on a date.  But as he ponders how to ask, what they would do, and most importantly, how to convince Desiro to say yes, he must first consult this list:

Level 0.5:  The "I need a date for these sorts of events so I'm asking you" date

e.g. High school dances, dormals, work functions, maybe even weddings

You can use these as an excuse to spend some time with someone you're interested in, since he/she can't assume you're interested because these functions require a date.  Who knows, maybe you're asking him/her because he/she is the only one who is still dateless.  Bottom line, the other party doesn't want to seem presumptious, so he/she cannot read too far into the invitation.

Level 1:  The Lunch/Coffee/Boba date

Restaurants:
Acceptable:  California Pizza Kitchen, BJs, etc.
Unacceptable:  Buffets, Costco, fast food, Dennys
Bottom Line:  It can't be too fancy shmancy, otherwise, you're setting the bar way too high!  On the other hand, you can't take the girl to Jack in the Box for 2 for 99cent Tacos on your first date because she'll think you're a cheapo.  If you're too broke, don't get a meal!  Get coffee, boba, ice cream, etc.  And most importantly, offer to pay!!!

Conversation:
Acceptable:  What are your favorite books of the Bible?  Who do you have on your fantasy basketball team? 
Unacceptable: So....what's your top 5?  What do you look for in a husband/wife? 

Basically, this type of date is pretty ambiguous but innocent.  Half the time, both parties are wondering "does this qualify as a date?"  You're just trying to get to know one another to see if he/she is someone you want to pursue.  The day setting for a lunch date/casualness of a coffee date makes it a lot more relaxed and makes it ideal for your first few times together.

Level 2:  The Dinner Date, and if you're ambitious, the stroll

Restaurants:
Acceptable:  Macaroni Grill, Woodranch, Cheesecake Factory, ESPN Zone
Unacceptable:  Buffets, Costco, fast food (these all remain to be date fauxpas until you're officially together and have reached a level of comfort)

Activities Afterward:
Acceptable:  Walking around Third Street Promenade, the Grove, the Block, etc.
Unacceptable:  playing Chinese Chess

Conversation:  Same rules as the Lunch Date

The romantic ambiance at these sorts of restaurants, coupled with the chiliness of night (obligating the male to surrender his coat if the female is cold) and the barage of other couples at these "hot date spots" make this date a HUGE jump up from the last.  If there was any ambiguity of your status before, it has been clarified now!  However, although your feelings for one another have already been revealed, it's important not to delve too deep, as it is probably still fairly early on in the relationship.

Level 3:  The All-Day Date

Activities:
Acceptable:  Disneyland, Six Flags, San Diego, Santa Barbara
Unacceptable:  N/A

Conversation:
Acceptable:  anything goes.  Since you'll be spending the ENTIRE day together, you'll probably run out of things to say...so we can't put limitations on what can and cannot be said.

By this time, you are fairly comfortable with each other.  You've probably even met the other's parental unit.  You are now pretty certain that you won't want to feign illness during the date in order to ditch the person, so you're confident enough to want to spend a whole 12 hours together.  Have fun!

Level 4:  Trip? I'm not sure.

Okay, by now you must be wondering...if Marvin followed this guide to a T, what ever happened between him and Desiro? 

I guess we'll never know.

A Poll

Since I have joined the work-force this past summer, I have relied on sites like bricksandstones.blogspot.com and xanga to entertain me.  This afternoon, I read something really interesting on bricks and stones, and I decided to share it with you, the xanga community.  Since I've noticed that boy/girl relationship/burning entries and polls get the most recognition and eprops, here is my sorry attempt at getting some. haha jk. please don't boycott my xanga.

So I am a huge celebrity gossip monger.  I practically live off of vh1 and E!  I read pink is the new blog and bricks and stones religiously, and I love looking at magazines like US weekly at borders.  Don't judge!!! hahaha anyway, today, US weekly blog/bricks and stones posted this about Nick Lachey and Vanessa Minnillo, under the screaming headline "Why Nick Chose Vanessa:"

“She’s a guys’ girl,” says a friend of the couple. “Jessica was always about going somewhere that was a scene with a big entourage. Vanessa can play darts and chill.” Minnillo also scores points for being a fellow sports nut. Whereas Simpson rolled her eyes at Lachey’s passion, Minnillo revels in it.

In fact, when she and Lachey were still in the platonic friendship stage, “Nick commented on his love for the [hometown NFL team], Cincinnati Bengals and Vanessa blew him away by running off the team’s poor stats,” says a Lachey source. “He tells friends, ‘It’s like talking to your best guy friend, but she’s a smoking-hot chick."

Now here comes the poll...do guys like girls who share a love for sports?  Wait, not love.  How about fanaticism?  Doesn't that make them manly and tomboyish?  Or isn't it somewhat emasculating?  Do guys prefer cutesy girly girls who could really care less and think that ESPN stands for dEsigner Shoes and Purses Network or one who would go to games and heckle the players?  Answer honestly--and don't worry about offending me if you know which of the two extremes I fall in.

Or is this just an excuse that guys give to sound a little bit more noble?  Maybe it doesn't matter at all, and all that matters is that she's a "smoking hot chick." 

And how about girls?  Do girls prefer a manly man or one who shares their interests (girly interests that is...getting manicures, shopping, celebrity/pop culture)? 

I hope I didn't offend anybody.  This is all said in jest.

Return of the Top Five