Marriage and How To Start it Right

Marriage has a meaning of legally or formally recognized union of two people as partners in a personal relationship (historically and in some jurisdictions specifically a union between a man and a woman).

In our culture, an Indonesian marriage has three components: civil, religious, and a celebration which follows regional customs and traditions. Before the civil registration, we need to hold a religious blessing which eventually becomes the basis for the marriage registration. The religious blessing will be in accordance with the couple's religious view. 

With marriage right now more focused on the celebration or we called it 'wedding reception', we often forget on what really matters - about the marriage itself. What kind of attitude we should be prepared on welcoming the new phase? Are we prepared enough mentally to be married? 

There are three principles of marriage as taught in Catholic; 

1. Marriage Is a Divine Institution Given by God as a Part of the Created Order.

2. Marriage Is the Union of a Man and a Woman to Become One Flesh.
3. Marriage is for Life and meant to last for a lifetime. No Divorce. It is monogam dan indissolubile.

from Brides.com

For Catholics, marriage, also known as holy matrimony, is considered a religious sacrament and it often involves specific, time-honored rituals. Before couples can get approved for a Catholic wedding, they may be required to submit certain documents, participate more in church activities, and go through an intensive marriage preparation process with a priest. The major portion of the marriage preparation is to sit down and to get into what the church teaches about marriage. In our diocese it’s a six-month required waiting period. There’s a whole program of marriage preparation directed towards the couple examining certain areas in their lives that they hadn’t before. Some of it is also the technical, canonical, or legal aspects necessary for the church. In the Catholic faith, the church is considered a sacred place where Christ is present, and since matrimony is believed to be a covenant with God, the only place a wedding ceremony can be administered is indoors, inside a church "to emphasize the sanctity of the ceremony itself. So unlike many other religious and civil ceremonies, Catholic weddings do not allow outdoor venues.

With such a length process, we are taught on what marriage is and how we start it right. When we commit our lives to Jesus, we become His disciples here on earth. We are called to be a light to the world, to follow His example of living, to love, to serve, to care, to be generous. We become God’s earthly representatives. Or as Mother Theresa puts it, we become “God’s love letter” to our spouse. 

A good friend of mine, who's married for 2 years now, introduces me to this book, "The Meaning of Marriage" by Timothy Keller and "Starting Your Marriage Right" by Dennis & Barbara Rainey.

Actually what surprised me is that, "You Never Marry The Right Person", when I read this statement, it made me feel what's with all the fuss about finding the one and such? I realized the actual meaning is that actually our expectations, the self-fulfillment ethic that assumes marriage and the family are primarily institution of personal fulfillment, necessary for us to become "whole" and happy. 

We always assume that there will be someone just right for us to marry and that if we look closely enough, we will find the right person - and this assumption overlooks a crucial aspect to marriage. It fails to appreciate the fact that we always marry the wrong person. Even if we marry the right person, give some time, maybe he/she will change...and we are not always the same person, we do not know what we would be in the future. The thing that we need to learn is how to love and care for the stranger to whom you find yourself married.

Over the years, we will go through seasons in which we have to learn to love a person who we didn't marry, who is something of a stranger. You will have to make changes that you don't want to make, so will your spouse. The journey may eventually take you into a stronger, tender, joyful marriage. But it is not because you married the perfectly compatible person - THAT person didn't exist. No one is perfect and we should accept that. 

In any relationship, there will be frightening spells in which your feelings of love seem to dry up. And when that happens, you must remember that the essence of a marriage is that it is a covenant, a commitment, a promise of future love. So what do you do? 

You do the acts of love, despite your lack of feeling. You may not feel tender, sympathetic, and eager to please, but in your actions, you must be tender, understanding, forgiving and helpful. And, if you do that, as time goes on, you will not only get through the dry spells, but they will become less frequent and deep, and you will become more constant in your feelings. This is what can happen if you decide to love. We live in the world, so we don’t have much power over things that happen around us and to us, but we do have the ultimate power of choosing how we will respond in any given situation. But we can choose our attitude every morning. Choose whether you are going to let things upset you or whether you are going to let them go. Choose whether you are going to be joyful and thankful or miserable and ungrateful. Choose whether you are going to forgive your spouse and yourself or whether you are going to hold onto unforgiveness and hurt.

Always remember this:

Choose to compromise, it is better to bend a little than to break.

Choose to let your love be stronger than your hate or anger.

Choose to believe the best of your spouse rather than the worst.

True friendship is the basis of every relationship. Choose to treat the person you are married to with the same kindnesses and courtesies that you bestow on your friends.

A long lasting marriage requires - commitment, understanding, give in take, open communication, honesty, compromise, forgiveness, being faithful, always being true to each other and LOVE. 

“A soul mate is someone who has locks that fit our keys, and keys to fit our locks. When we feel safe enough to open the locks, our truest selves step out and we can be completely and honestly who we are: we can be loved for who we are and not for who we’re pretending to be. Each unveils the best part of the other. No matter what else goes wrong around us, with that one person we’re safe in our own paradise. Our soul mate is someone who shares our deepest longings, our sense of direction.” —Richard Bach

Cheers

How To Heal From Past Experiences (Bully, Being Ghosted, Rejection)

Hello all, it's been a long time I haven't made any personal post. In this opportunity, I would like to write and discuss about insecurity. I know, I have talked about this before, but in this post, I would like to talk more specifically regarding feeling insecurity related to the ability to deal with rejection and how to heal from there. 

Have I ever told this story? 

I used to have a little difference with other kids. Staring when I was 2 years old maybe, I was diagnosed with amblyopia. What's that? So, basically amblyopia or with easier term 'lazy eyes' is a disorder of sight in which the brain fails to process inputs from one eye and over time favors the other eye.
It reduced vision in one eye caused by abnormal visual development early in life. The weaker — or lazy — eye often wanders inward or outward. Amblyopia generally develops from birth up to age 7 years. 

It is the leading cause of decreased vision among children. Rarely, lazy eye affects both eyes.

Early diagnosis and treatment can help prevent long-term problems with your child's vision. The eye with poorer vision can usually be corrected with glasses or contact lenses, or patching therapy. In my case, it affects my left eye, which somehow my left eyes wanders outward. When it was checked, it turns out my left eye diagnosed with -7, which I was prescribed with glasses. At that time, from what I heard from my mother is that, the doctor told my mom to cover my stronger eyes with tissue and force the lazy eye to operate in my daily activities - but as a mother who see such a young toddlers having a hard time to walk with one eye closed is hard. Besides, there was part of my fault too that I kept throwing the tissue. Adjusting daily activities with one eye close seems like very uncomfortable, you just cannot do anything. 

However, those action and excuses are wrong because if treated earlier before I turn 17 years old, it may help the lazy eyes getting better. But, I guess that's the treatment - I have not found the evidence that it can be completely cured. 

During my early days, I had nothing to complain about as I've been living normally with amblyopia - except for the eyes wanders outward. I still can do my daily activity using my right eye - this doesn't mean that I didn't use my left eye, it just that the vision is weaker on the other side. From zero, my right eye becomes - 7 every year (maybe this due to one-eye functioning or the assumption to balance the left eye, thus I've been changing glasses a lot since I was in elementary school). How weaker is the left eye? I can only read huge single letter within 1 meter radius. The smaller there letter, the more I can't read it - but for huge things like chair and table, I can see it properly. Until now, the minus itself still consistently the same, never been reduced nor increased. 

What makes it harder when I was a young child is when those friends around you make fun of my condition - specially about the eye that wanders outward. I remember the time when I walked through my classroom, someone called Kevin suddenly mock my eyes - and it left big scars for me. I didn't do anything which hurts him at that time, but why he made fun of me? Does he think it is something funny to insulted me like that? 

Going to the Ophthalmologist has never been an easy trip. My mother once left me in the street because she's upset that I didn't practice the eye patched - and the condition of my left eye never improved, instead more minus. The more minus it was added, the more I feel down. But, interesting story is this, the Doctor (I forget the name - very old and traditional type), she knew from the first time that I had amblyopia and still expect me to read small letter within 3 meter radius - the more I couldn't read, the more she add more minus into my glasses. Those were times when there is no microscope to check your minus, until I went to Klinik Mata Nusantara (KMN) and they did several test before I met with my doctor. It turns out that my minus for the left eye is still the same, -7, but my glasses at that time already reach -9. So funny, right? I never go back to that old Doctor anymore. 

During my visit to KMN, my Doctor suggested me to go under operation for the wandering eyes, so that the muscle can be fixed. The operation is not intended to fixed the lazy eyes, but it will help the eyes to move 'normally' instead. And so after so many considerations, I went through the operation when I was in my junior high school. After that, my eyes is normal, the lazy eyes is still there but didn't affect my daily life until now. 

What's left maybe those scars, my schoolmate who was mocking me at that time. But since it was fixed, I guess there will be no more story of that - as I am normal now at least according to society standard - the same like any other junior high school girl. Then I entered my Senior High School which a new school, there were few of my old school graduates who enter this school with me.

My first year of Senior High School was not easy. I was a typical young girl who focus on my study, never really bothered about looks and such. I tied my hair in a ponytail, wear glasses and quiet girl. There is one guy, named Greggy who suddenly one day with his group started to bully me. He took photos of my private parts and giggled about. I remembered one time, he threw leftover tissue to my face - I don't know what made him do that. The thing is that I assume that there is someone who report what happened in that class to our Homeroom Teacher and everyone thought it was me. But THAT WAS NOT ME at all. It hurts my self - because it felt that I don't have any friends in that class. I've been thinking what is wrong with me, is that because I didn't look like any other girl in that class who put makeup and let their hair down? So, the next day I changed my look, I let my hair down and put makeup (at least eyebrow and compact powder) but nothing significant had changed. But Greggy had become more quiet after some time. 

The bully was so traumatic that I ever consider to move to another school, but I survived my first year.
I haven't had any closure to be honest, and when it was time to move to another year, I had this sort of anxiety that I would be the same class with him. So I begged my mother to call school and explain the situation so that I can be in different class and yes, that happened. My second year went through smoothly, actually I was afraid if I wasn't able to make friends. But here I met my best friend from Senior High School and I gained back my confidence. My best friend told me that there is nothing wrong with me and the bullying before is pure because of Greggy's immature action. 

I graduated from my senior high school finally and had fun and exciting times at University, besides things have changed a lot from there. I learnt how to do makeup, I knew which side of my face looks better on camera and such. I became more bold and knew what I want.

Few years later, I also had a crush on someone I met briefly, named Paulus - had exchanged number but suddenly he ghosted me. It took me quite sometime to gain my energy back. I remember how much I wonder why he ghosted me. I knew that we were both stayed in different country but you see, without much disclosure, your mind wanders here and there looking for what I can do better so that the next one won't leave me the way Paulus did. I took all the blame for myself - that I was not attractive enough,
I was not on society standard, I was not beautiful enough, I was not funny enough, I was not good enough and many many more. Till now, I didn't get any closure though. 

After that I was introduced with another overseas guy as well, named Henry. We had never met, but basically I had those image in my mind and thought that this guy seems like a match with me. We chatted several times - and I, myself, had expected something out of it. I thought I should make this work at least coz I am tired of being ghosted and rejected. But things didn't go anywhere until I found out 1.5 years later after I invested my time on him, that he had a girlfriend - an Indo girl as well, a long distance relationship as well. I remembered that time when he told me that he never thought of doing LDR because it's hard but in the end he did with someone else. That girlfriend had already become his wife now. Yes, that was hard blow for me - it took me another 1 year to move on. But during those times, I always thought why he didn't choose me instead, why? Is that because I didn't have nice smile as her? Is that because I was boring and unattractive? Or why? There were too many thoughts inside me, which eventually made me wonder about my worthiness. 

Those story and experiences eventually made me unconsciously thought I was not good enough, that I need to be "normal" & "similar to other people" so that I can be accepted in the society - and I need to do my very very best to be get accepted. Unconsciously, I seek for approval of other people, I seek for their validation that I exist. At some point, because I used to the feeling of being rejected, I thought I didn't deserve to be happy - that I only deserved to be left alone. These are those false belief:

"I feel as though I am not good enough for those who care about me."

"If someone ever falls in love with me, I better do my best to prove myself worthy, because it may never happen again."

"People will only respect me if I'm good-looking and/or successful."

"I modify my personality, opinions, or appearance in order to be accepted by others."

The Bold Type Western Series Review

The Bold Type is an American comedy-drama television series created by Sarah Watson and produced by Universal Television for Freeform. It is inspired by the life and career of former Editor-In-Chief of Cosmopolitan magazine Joanna Coles, who is executive producer of the series. Filmed in Toronto, Montreal, and New York City, the series chronicles the lives of three millennial women, portrayed by Katie Stevens as Jane Sloan - a writter at Scarlet Magazine, Aisha Dee as Kat Edison - social media Director at Scarlet Magazine, and Meghann Fahy as Sutton Brady-Hunter - a fashion stylish at Scarlet magazine, all of whom are employed at a fictional global publication called Scarlet in New York City.

I really love the pilot episode, how exciting it is to work on a magazine company. The idea of a millenial under 30 who works following their passion, feelings, justice and how they bring out about woman empowerment, social issues and social judgment is amazing. 

The series starts with 4 season, which is not yet end. Season 5 supposed to come within next month (May 2021). It centers on a trio of millennial women—Jane Sloan (played by Katie Stevens), Kat Edison (played by Aisha Dee), and Sutton Brady (played by Meghann Fahy)—living in New York City. The three best friends work for Scarlet, a fictional global women's magazine, spearheaded by its editor-in-chief, Jacqueline Carlyle (played by Melora Hardin). The young women navigate their lives in the big city, including their career trajectories and romantic relationships.

Jane begins the series as a new writer for the magazine after working as an assistant, struggling to find her writing voice. Sutton is in a secret romantic relationship with Richard Hunter (played by Sam Page), a Scarlet board member and attorney for the magazine's publishing firm; she also realizes that she is ready for a change in her career and attains a fashion assistant position for the magazine under department head Oliver Grayson (played by Stephen Conrad Moore). Meanwhile, secure in her position as Scarlet's social media director, Kat Edison meets photographer Adena El-Amin (played by Nikohl Boosheri) and starts to explore her sexuality, including the tribulations that said exploration brings.

Season two of The Bold Type follows Jane as she continues to find her journalistic voice in a new media-driven landscape, Kat and her struggle with her racial and sexual identity in addition to her relationship with Adena, and Sutton in the aftermath of her decision to end her relationship with Richard due to the realization that it could hinder her from advancing in her career in fashion industry. As we all know, about work that relates to talent and art, it requires certain connection to make it big into the industry and that's what Sutton is afraid of. She is afraid if someone gonna tell her that she can enter fashion industry due to her relationship with Richard. 

The third season sees Jane entering a new relationship with a fellow writer named Ryan (played by Dan Jeannotte) and collaborating with Jacqueline on a story regarding the abuse of models at the hands of a prominent photographer. Kat, in a career shift, becomes inspired to run for city council, supported by her campaign manager Tia (played by Alexis Floyd), with whom she also becomes romantically involved. Surprised by Adena's return during her campaign, Kat ponders whether her past relationship with Adena is unfinished. Sutton, while content in her role as a fashion assistant, considers pursuing a career as a fashion designer while navigating her rekindled—and newly public—relationship with Richard.

Season four of The Bold Type tells a story about Kat, Jane, Sutton, Jacqueline and Alex who confront challenges in their various relationships, bringing newfound understanding of their partners or creating irreparable rifts between them. 

First, Jane has her first mammogram and spirals into anxiety waiting for the results. Scarlet reels over their new dynamic, forcing everyone to adjust, while Jane tries to cope with the changes to Jacqueline's role at the magazine. Jane volunteers to write a story about a sex club, while Jane and Ryan try a different kind of marathon to rebuild their relationship. Jane's story on millennial weddings comes to a halt when she uncovers a secret about Jacqueline - her work situation leads to tension with her husband which enables them to get separated for several months and allows them to date someone else who can make them feel valuable. Jane feels like a fraud when asked to speak at a wellness seminar while struggling with a sudden feminine health problem. Jane tries to celebrate with her friends while struggling to process recent discoveries. Jane decides to throw Sutton an epic bachelorette party, but the bride can't quite bring herself to enjoy the festivities. Jane gets career news while facing some devastating personal issues. Jane is overjoyed that her brother, Evan, comes to town, and she introduces him to Ryan. However, her relationship with Ryan ends up because finally she was able to ask Ryan on what really happened during the book tour, in which Ryan slept with someone else while getting drunk. As she cannot forgive him, she finally let him go. With her plan on Masctectomy, Jane isn't comfortable in her post-surgery body, but a visit from her dad change her outlook. Jane tries to emulate Jacqueline's leadership with her new staff. Three months after surgery, Jane returns to Scarlet with new editorial duties. 

Second, Sutton and Richard make plans for the future. Sutton grapples with her complex reaction towards the massive changes in her life. Sutton struggles to balance her career and relationship. Sutton has doubts about how to kick off her plan to get promoted. Richard and Sutton dive into wedding plans. Sutton tries to bond with Richard's mother. And finally after several months, Sutton and Richard's wedding day is here, and Sutton is faced with a big decision as their plan after marriage is to move to San Fransisco, meanwhile, Sutton is offered a stylish position at Scarlet, which what she really wants - and to stay in New York. Sutton and Richard's long-distance relationship hits a snag. Sutton takes stock of her position at Scarlet, as Richard considers a world outside it.

Third, Kat's latest crusade to save a female-oriented sex toy company could lead her to begin dating again,  Kat goes out of her way to help a transgender runner get into the New York City Marathon. Kat tries to move forward at work with a podcast, but her first episode comes with a price. Kat plans her next move as she faces financial insecurity and turns to Alex for help. A blizzard hits New York City, and Kat is trapped at her new job with her nemesis; Kat faces a hard truth when she's forced to take some responsibility; Kat learns surprising information about RJ; Adena turns to Kat for help in dealing with RJ, which causes more trouble between Kat and the board; Kat and Adena need to work together on a Scarlet project, which becomes tense when Adena learns about Kat's most recent relationship; Sutton takes a big risk, but is disheartened when it goes awry; Kat considers her feelings on preconceived gender roles in the bedroom.

My Thoughts:

This series is so addicting. I really love the story of Jane Sloan navigating through the Editor life, how fashionable she is and how she manages to work on her relationship with Ryan. Even though it may not be good all the time, but she knows her worth. She forgive him once, as she was afraid to be alone. But, she finally be able to face the fears and stand up for herself. 

Meanwhile, my favorite couple here is Sutton and Richard. I know it's a big decision for Sutton to follow her passion to search for what her heart goes. As she needs money to stay alive and fine, while she wants to go for something her heart feels, fashion stylish. I also really look forward to her relationship with Richard as they have that future goals. I was really happy actually that Sutton got pregnant in Season 4 until finally she said she was not ready for the baby - and she has no plans to get pregnant. I know, some of them may say no child as their career is going well. It maybe alright that time because Sutton is still young, but relationship between two people should be balanced in my opinion. She cannot always have what she wants without compromising what Richard wants. 

Cheers~

How To Let The Past Behind and Move Forward

One of the keys to living a happy and healthy life is to leave the past behind. It's a piece of advice you probably hear a lot. Everyone has a past, has skeletons in their closet and no one is perfect. 

I've had a lot of sleepless nights. Nights when I was so worried about something that had happened in the past that I let it dictate my future. We’ve all been there at some point. You're not alone. The thing about is it is that, what about the past that is relevant to you right now? So, here is the 6 tips to leave the past behind and look forward to the future and have faith in yourself. 

1. Learn from the past but don't dwell there.

Everyone made a mistake, had a baggage and bad experiences in the past. Those experiences you had can actually be used for learning and future experiences. You can consider it as opportunities for growth, development and improvement, instead of something to be judged. You know, past experiences were learning curves to help us refine what our preferences, choices and personalities now. They build us to WHO WE ARE RIGHT NOW. 

2. Express yourself.

Don’t hesitate to get the pain you’re feeling off your chest. Whether it’s talking to the individual who has harmed you (or who you harmed), venting to a friend or writing it down, expressing your feelings can assist you in sorting out what, if anything, needs to be done to move on. Let go of that feeling, closed the book and open new chapter to move on. 

3. Stop pointing finger and comparing.

It is so easy to blame others for the past experiences. The problem is, blaming others gives power to someone else and makes us small. It also prevents you from going forward. So, stop pointing fingers. Besides, do not compare yourself to someone else. Life can't be lived comparing yourself to someone else. You can't be successful based on what someone else has done. Know that you are uniquely you, and you are who you are now. 

4. Focus on the present. 

One of the most effective ways to let go of the past is to embrace the present. Instead of reliving the past and getting consumed with negativity, keep yourself active and enjoy the current moment. Learn a new skill. Meditate. Exercise. Have dinner with a friend. Make a new friend. Whatever it is, just live in the moment - even if it’s just sitting at your desk and watching the clouds roll by. 

To achieve a more mindful state, be aware of what you are thinking and feeling, reduce self-consciousness, seek out new experiences and accept your negative feelings and situations as merely being a part of life.

5. Forgive those who wronged you - including yourself. 

No one is perfect and we all make mistakes. Instead of kicking yourself for your past mistakes, cut yourself some slack and focus on the lessons that you’ve learned. Like Michelle Obama said, "Everyone on earth was carrying around an unseen history, and that alone deserved some tolerance." We cannot judged the future based on what had happened in the past. Look at the present. Also, people change all the time.

6. Count your blessings 

Instead of always thinking about the past, how about start by counting your blessing in the present. Give gratitude that we are still alive and healthy. By doing this, we are risking our heart to give some trust and faith for the future. Why do we have to dwell in the past?

Let the past behind, move forward and have faith. 

Cheers ~

Memories of Alhambra Drama Review

Memories of Alhambra tells a story about a groundbreaking AR game about medieval battles in the Alhambra (a real place in Spain). Yoo Jin Woo (played by Hyun Bin), CEO of an investment company that specializes in optical devices, travels to Granada, Spain to meet the creator of the game, Jung Se Joo (played by Park Chan Yeol). However, Se Joo has gone missing and there, he meets his older sister, Jung Hee Joo (played by Park Shin Hye), who is the owner of the hostel he stays in and a former guitarist. Both get entangled in mysterious incidents, as the border between the real world and the AR world built by Se Joo begins to blur.

This drama deserves a real appreciation for its plot and fresh new story ideas. We haven't encountered an augmented-reality games drama like this for years and I give a standing applause for Hyun Bin. He rocks the role of Yeo Jin Woo so much *applaud* that I have no idea who's gonna fit Yeo Jin Woo other than him. 

It was really exciting to play a game which happens in our reality, Zinu (Yeo Jin Woo's username in the games) gets so excited to explore the game and got level up, but then it's a new game and it is not completed yet. The problem appears when Jin Woo had a fight within the game with Cha Hyeong Seok (Jin Woo's ex-best friend who had an affair with Jin Woo's ex wife - Soo Jin). Jin Woo proceeds to defeat him in the game after leveling up to level 5, where Cha Hyung Seok was. Before their last battle, Jin Woo made a deal with Hee Joo to buy Hostel Bonita, which is under Hee Joo's name. The deal was made because Se Joo put the license for the game under Hostel Bonita, which means if Jin Woo got the ownership of the Hostel, he got the license for the game. 

Hee Joo got 10 billion won from Jin Woo, which was like a magic for her. After the deal was successful, Jin Woo invited Hyung Seok to meet with him in the middle of the night before Jin Woo's flight to Barcelona and go back to Seoul.

Jin Woo says that he’s headed back to Seoul the next morning, which indicates that he’s been successful with the business deal that they were both after. Hyung Seok’s face hardens at this news, and Jin Woo goads that he’s giving Hyung Seok a chance to beat him in the game, even though he lost in real life. He prods, “That’s the charm of games, right? Escapism and denying reality — a world where losers can become heroes.”

Jin Woo continues to jab at him by saying that Hyung Seok should have just taken his advice and spent time with his wife. That’s the last straw, and Hyung Seok attacks. The two rivals engage in an intense sword fight, and they both manage to slice each other’s arms. Hyung Seok paces as he catches his breath and says that he always wanted to tell Jin Woo something when they met one-on-one. 

He clarifies that he didn’t steal Soo Jin from Jin Woo and claims that he saved her from him because she seemed so miserable. He says that he was worried that Soo Jin would deteriorate next to Jin Woo.
Hyung Seok warns Jin Woo not to reject reality and points to him as the problem, since he’s failed in his second marriage. He advises Jin Woo to reflect on his failures unless he wants to continue to fail in his future marriages. Jin Woo smirks and calls Hyung Seok a bastard. He notes that all traitors justify their deeds with the same excuse — that it was for the people. Jin Woo points out that Hyung Seok’s justification is evidence that he’s a true traitor.

Hyung Seok punches Jin Woo, and they grab each other by the collar. The game notifies them that physical contact is prohibited and warns them that they will level down. At the warning, the two enemies release each other and both drop to level 3 in punishment. There’s nobody to stop this fight. The two rivals continue their sword fight, and Hyung Seok manages to fling the sword out of Jin Woo’s hands. Jin Woo just barely avoids Hyung Seok’s swings and runs to grab his sword stuck in the ground. He sees the shadow of Hyung Seok approaching behind him and times his attack to stick his sword right into Hyung Seok’s abdomen.

Hyung Seok freezes in shock as the sword pierces him, and he seems convincingly in pain. Jin Woo pulls out the sword and slices at Hyung Seok a few more times before the final blow that sends bloody Hyung Seok limp onto the bench. He looks at Hyung Seok, and the game congratulates him on winning and earning his enemy’s experience.

The next morning, Jin Woo wakes up to his phone ringing and sees that he’s missed 16 calls from Secretary Seo. Secretary Seo urgently explains that it’s an issue with Cha Hyung Seok. He was found dead on a park bench in the morning — dead with his eyes wide open. Jin Woo freezes at this news, and notice that Hyeong Seok died on the battle ground last night. Jin Woo looks shocked as he finally realizes there may be a defect in this genius game.

The game is magic to Jin Woo because it’s a technological breakthrough that will bring him and his company fame and fortune. And the game (if it functioned safely) would be magic to the world, because the kind of things that can be done with augmented reality, including but also in addition to gaming, could change the world in ways we can only imagine. But this defect is real, even though Jin Woo puts away the game contacts, he is still log in into the game. The border between AR and real world becomes blur. 

As Jin Woo looks through his phone, he hears the thunder outside followed by a guitar playing “Memories of Alhambra.” He looks around nervously and finds that his vision has changed into game mode. He checks his eyes, and once again, he has entered the game without his contacts.
The game notifies him that his enemy has arrived, and Jin Woo fearfully tightens his grip. He hears a knock on the door and asks who’s there. The door opens, and when he sees that it’s just Hee Joo, he sighs in relief. But then, he hears other footsteps approaching. It’s glitchy Hyung Seok with his sword, and Jin Woo looks petrified. The battle continues. Crazy. No one can see Hyung Seok, other than Jin Woo. He finally understands that why Se Joo hasn’t returned and what he’s afraid of. Jin Woo presumes that Se Joo was also under pursuit by someone that only he could see.

Everyone starts to think that Jin Woo had some mental problems, even though Hee Joo seems to believe him. Thus, to end this life-threatening game, is to finish the game with some clues given to him from Game Master (Se Joo) through the game. 

During the adventure, Jin Woo was able to find Emma, the game character of Hee Joo, which functions as healer. There was this quotes is when the golden key meets with the bracelet, the gate will open. The bracelet itself was worn by Emma. Se Joo was then released from predicament and Jin Woo as the game master was given the ability to have instance dungeon in which he can escape and save himself there in case anything happen.

The game was reset and Jin Woo's character was deleted from the game. But after one year, Jin Woo come back to the real world after the AR game was reconstructed and the border between AR and real life has been checked properly. The game was released to the world and it ends like that. 

My Thoughts:

I am seriously mind blown with the idea of this story. This show is so dynamic and actually feels like a reflection of the AR game itself. The plot is unpredictable and unsteady in a way that makes this show gripping. 

The blending of multiple dimensions is blowing my mind. But we never quite know because the rules of the overlap between virtual and reality are still a bit unclear. As this is a story that only the writers know why certain things happen, and despite this ambiguity, I’m actually enjoying this lawless game going rogue because it infuses the drama with an element of mystery that makes everything so unpredictable. 

I’m loving the unexpected surprises, even though they’re mostly terrifying. The way that Hyung Seok just appeared behind the door and ruthlessly attacked Jin Woo made me squeak in fear and pain for all the broken bones that Jin Woo probably just broke again. 

The twists and cliffhangers slap me in the face because they come out of nowhere, and the solid creative writing ensures that the cliffhangers keep me engaged and not infuriated. The cliffhanger endings leave us with a taste of what’s to come, making me intrigued by the unknown elements of this AR. Just when I think that the show is slowing down, it speeds up and then comes to an abrupt halt. There are so many interesting elements and plot points to work. 

Even though it's all mystery, I still don't really like that the writer is not a good storyteller because everything is a surprise. We all need the background why it happens, how could it happens and any solutions to end it need to be tell into a good story telling - which doesn't happen here. The more it gets into the ending, the weirder it gets for me. 

Anyway, Hyun Bin portrays Jin Woo very nicely. He did super super good, I think one of the reason why I continue this drama is to see how much Hyun Bin has grown since Secret Garden and hope that this drama goes well, even though sadly the storyline needs a bit of soft touch. 

I'm sorry to say but the romantic part didn't get me well. The connection was a bit off and no chemistry so far between Binnie & Pak Shin Hye LOL, or maybe I just didn't ship them together haha!

Overall is good, if you want something nice like an AR game drama, this one is worth to try ~ Enjoy!!

Search: WWW Korean Drama Review

Search: WWW is all about the story of three women in their late thirties — Bae Ta Mi, Cha Hyeon and Song Ga Kyeong — who work in the top two competitive web portal companies: Unicon and Barro. I am not an expert in such webtech thing, but Unicon & Barro might be like Yahoo or Google - which is very inetersting enough to see what kind of workplace there and how the three woman manages to survive the working life battle. 

This k-drama is actually 2019 television series, and I already watch it when it was aired on tvn during June 5 till July 25, 2019, which in fact the time when I turned 27 that year and watching those woman series give me such a heartful of passion and faith. I did not expect that this drama will have a huge popularity that year. It all about love life, work life, life as a whole. 

It was all started when Bae Ta Mi (played by Im Soo Jung) got fired from Unicon and she then decided to move to Barro to challenge and make Barro a bigger web portal than Unicon. 

Unicon grew because of Bae Ta Mi and her senior, Song Ga Kyeong (played by Jeon Hye Jin) until it was acquired by KU Group, in which Song Ga Kyeong got married to Jin Woo, the last child of Chairwoman Jang of KU Group. Their marriage was a marriage of convenience - to save Ga Kyeong's collapsed parent business. As a “sacrifice”, many of Unicon's decisions were made for the benefit of the KU Group. One of them is removing real time keywords. A kind of hot trending topic discussed.

One big incident was when the KU Group sided with one of the presidential candidates. That's why when candidate A got caught in a scandal and became a public conversation, Unicon deliberately deleted the keyword about candidate A so that the related article didn't come out. The reason is that they protect candidate A's human rights.

But this did not make sense, as a result the government made it a concrete one. Unicon's party was summoned to attend the trial, on charges of fabricated alias manipulation. Bae Ta Mi as a Unicon employee was asked to be a witness. Even though the one responsible was actually Song Ga Gyeong. But Ta Mi doesn't want to be a scapegoat either. At the trial, he attacked back. His name has become a trending topic and entered the real time keyword ranks.

Because of his behavior, Ta Mi was fired from Unicon. From here he got an offer from Barro, the competitor's web portal for Unicon. Barro and Unicon always compete to be in the top 1. To be precise, it's Barro who tries to tackle Unicon. So far, Unicon has always been number 1 and Barro only second. When Ta Mi entered Barro, Cha Hyeon / Scarlett (played by Lee Da Hee) refused - which is my favorite in this drama!!! 

Finally, Ta Mi promised that if Barro didn't win the top 1 title within 6 months, she would get out from Barro. From there Scarlett accepted. Ta Mi was appointed by Brian, the CEO Barro to form a TF (Task Force) team. This team is aimed at making Barro number 1. Ta Mi invites A Ra (Oh Ah Yeon) and Choi Bong Gi (Woo Ji Hyun) from Unicon to join. Meanwhile, from Barro there are Scarlett, Jennie (Ha Seung Ri), and Alex (Song Ji Ho).

Although others are engaged in IT, the culture of the Unicon and Barro companies is different. If at Unicon it seems stiff and formal, at Barro it is the opposite. Every room is nicely designed, far from "office" impression. Every employee is free to wear any fashion style. Plus, they are called by English names. Like Cha Hyeon who was called Scarlett. Min Ho Jung CEO Barro is called Brian. It sounds fuuun - like that kind of Western company ~!

The concept of Barro and Unicon is similar to Google. The web search portal also provides many features. Barro, for example, has a game feature, books, etc. So it turns out that designing a homepage for a web portal page is not easy, you know. Companies must place themselves in the user. What is the need. His search trends. His interests. How difficult is it to persuade a field that is considered less profitable.

The humanist side of a CEO is depicted when CEO Brian decides to resign because of a scandal. Even though Ta Mi and Scarlett convinced Brian that he didn't need to resign, he was adamant. He said, perhaps a public apology was sufficient for the business area. But when it comes to company image, he has to resign. Why? To convince the public that Barro's image is good. 

On the love life, Cha Hyeon - she is dating a friend at work. But sadly, her boyfriend cheated behind her. The funny thing is that Cha Hyeon's boyfriend was Ta Mi's ex from college. Cha Hyeon describes as a woman who is strong and doesn't want to appear weak. Once she found out that his boyfriend was cheating, she beat him up. 

Cha Hyeon is a woman who can't stay quiet when there is injustice. So the funny part is, Scarlett likes watching soap opera dramas, aka soap operas! She would just laugh, cry, got angry with the dramas go on. SO funny, love her personality here!

In the story, he got stuck with the actor because of some misunderstanding of an action drama and made the actor hurt. Seol Ji Hwan, a rookie actor whose name I never heard of. Finally Scarlett somehow admitted to being Seol Ji Hwan's manager. All for Seol Ji Hwan to be more acknowledged of his abilities. Both by the public and colleagues like directors, directors, et al. Finally they both fell in love.

It's really a drama, from fan-idol to couple. IS A REAL DAT EVENT? 

Meanwhile, Song Ga Gyeong. As mentioned above, she didn't get married because of love. Finally she had an affair, her husband too. They are not a normal couple. Everything changed when Ga Gyeong asked for a divorce. The reason is so that she can get out of Chairwoman Jang's confinement. Jin Woo agreed. Say at least this is the last thing he can do for 10 years of marriage.

Try to imagine 10 years of marriage without love, what will you do? You don't even live at home. Really got married because of formality and business alone. I am sorry for what happened to Ga Gyeong :(

Not knowing that before the divorce, Jin Woo fell in love with Ga Gyeong. 

The last and most complicated is Bae Ta Mi. The biggest part in this drama is Bae Ta Mi's relationship with Park Morgan (played by Jang Ki Yong). In the midst of stress at work, Ta Mi plays games at some kind of play place. She then met Park Morgan. It's funny. Starting from the chatter, it ended with a one night stand ..... thought Ta Mi. not for Morgan. He likes Ta Mi from the first sight. In the end, Ta Mi was chased. A 38-year-old woman, being chased by a 28-year-old man. 

Ta Mi doesn't want to just play around with dating. Uniquely, Ta Mi has no desire to get married. The concept of "love" for Ta Mi: living together is yes, but marriage is no. In contrast to Morgan, who hopes to get married and have a happy family. Naturally he has that kind of desire. From a young age, Morgan was "dumped" into an orphanage by his mother and was raised her adoptive parents. From the start of Ta Mi and Morgan's relationship, it was this difference in principle that was the source of the problem. It's also complicated, I already understand that both of them have different goals in dating. But still continued. Morgan said, "we can still be in love".

Ta Mi said, how can this relationship work? In the end, one of us will be hurt. Either Morgan who can't fulfill his dream of getting married, or Ta Mi who is forced to get married in order to continue the relationship with Morgan.

It's waaay toooo complicated. But what matters most is how to stay true to yourself and always try to find happiness in small things. Maybe it doesn't work at this time, but who knows it will later on? 

If you need a drama that feels right, challenging, complicated and more real, this one is recommended to watch!

Cheers~

18 Again Korean Drama Review

 

Jung Da-Jung (played by Kim Ha-Neul) is married to 37-year-old Hong Dae-Young (played by Yoon Sang-Hyun). They have have 18-year-old son and daughter. Jung Da-Jung works hard as a rookie announcer and she has a warm heart. She becomes completely fed up with her husband and is unable to deal with him anymore. Hong Dae-Young got fired from his job and he is looked down upon by his family. Jung Da-Jung hands him divorce papers.

Meanwhile, Hong Dae-Young looks at himself as an ordinary jobless middle-aged man. He regrets his life. At that moment, his body changes into that of an 18-year-old year old person, while his mind is still that of his 37-year-old self. Back in his teenage days, Hong Dae-Young (played by Lee Do-Hyun) was an excellent basketball player and also popular. Now, with his regained 18-year-old body, he changes his name to Ko Woo-Young and begins to live a new life.

During his new life, Woo-Young's goal is to get close to his children and become their good friend. Realizing that he has to pretend to be someone else to get close to those he loves, unable to take a good care of them, he realized what matters to him now. When Da-jung learns that Dae-young has another chance to get scouted for basketball by a prestigious college, she breaks things off for his own good. He begs her to let him stay, but Da-jung says that he already gave up his dream once for her and the kids, and this time she wants him to have a chance at a better future.

On the day of the finals game, Da-jung arrives at the school, but the thought of watching Dae-young play is too much so she turns to leave. She’s halfway across the bridge when Dae-young catches up to her, and Da-jung wails that he’ll regret this decision again. She thinks it’s her fault his life will be ruined again, and she wishes she’d never told him she knew who he was.

But Dae-young tells her, “It’s not your fault… it’s because of you.” He says that he used to think of giving up basketball as a sacrifice, but then he realized that those special moments with his family made him happier than basketball ever did. As he tells Da-jung this, she hears his voice change, and when she looks up, Dae-young is back in his older body. He continues that he didn’t realize how precious those moments were and would wish to go back eighteen years: “But Da-jung, you didn’t ruin my life. You gave me a chance. And my decision back then is the best decision I’ve ever made. I won’t miss out on that chance (again). You are my first love and my last. You are my life. I love you.”

They’ve learned some powerful lessons through their unusual experiences, and those lessons will carry them into the future with faith that if you cherish those you love, you will always have happiness.

Dae-young: Thinking back, endless happiness was always in our lives. It’s a common luxury all of us can have. For that happiness, we decided to love our decisions. We chose people based on love, and we are grateful for our decisions. As for my loved ones and myself… I would like to cheer them on to the end of time.

Da-jung: In life, even if you miss out on happiness, as long as you have that one person who will look for happiness with you, your life will be worth living.
Dae-young: Don’t forget that you love each other.
Da-jung: Be disappointed that you cannot cherish each other better.
Dae-young: And promise for a better tomorrow.
Da-jung: Like that, our lives will continue.