Fuel of life.

I knew this question would appear eventually, BUT I AM STILL NOT PREPARED TO ATTACK IT. The thing about me, is that I'm a serious melomaniac. For as long as I can remember, I've been a huge fan of music in all it forms, that's why it's hard for me to pick a favorite genre of music, though I have tendencies to choose a few over others. I make this introduction because I'll talk a bit about the bands that have marked me along the course of my life, until I reach the favorite group I have now, and you'll find a HUGE music change in its style.

The first band I sort-of was a fan was Good Charlotte back in the day where I was like... 11. The record 'The Chronicles of Life and Death' was one of the first I bought for me and it still remains as one of the most important records in my life. Then, came what could be considered my first favorite band and it's one that still has a very big part of my heart, and that is My Chemical Romance. Yes, I was considered one of those emo kids that cut themselves over nothing, but just like every prejudice, it didn't apply to all the fans of course. The thing is that, I never really showed the style of a typical MCR fan showed, so it always felt I was left out. Anyway, I just talked about a subject that has nothing to do with the topic haha sorry about that. So! The point is that I still love them dearly and I treasure the five records they released before they broke up (Insert ugly crying in here). I've been a fan of them ever since 2004 so almost 10 years now. Around 2007-2008, I started to like another band that was kind-of related to MCR because of the circle of friends they had (I'm speaking about you, Fall Out Boy guys), and that band was Panic! At The Disco. I've always seen them as a quite unique band, and I loved the different style of music they have in each of their records. I think P!ATD is proof of the wide variety of music I can be into. Then, in 2009 I'd say, I don't know if it can actually be considered a band or a group, since it's a TV Show, but since they release a lot of music, you could consider them. I've been a Glee for as long as the show has been running, and I really really like their covers, especially since I have a soft spot for Broadway.

Wow, I finally finished that long paragraph, but I think now it's gonna be just longer! Since now I'm going to talk about the favorite group I have nowadays. If you read my previous entry about my interest in South Korea, you should probably remember that I named the group I like. That group that makes my heart flutter and knees go weak (I sound like a crazy fan that was part of the Beatlemania oh my god) is SHINee! What do I know about them? Well... I know a lot. Seriously. A lot. But let's do introductions first. They a five-member group from South Korea and their ages go from 23 to 20. From youngest to oldest, first we have Lee TaeMin, age 20, who is the lead dancer and one of the vocalist of this group. Choi MinHo, age 21, who is the main rapper and also vocalist and my second-favorite member. Kim KiBum widely known as Key, age 22, in charge of rapping, singing and dancing. Kim JongHyun, age 23, who is the lead singer. And last, but definitely not least, Lee JinKi widely known as Onew, age 23, who is the lead singer, as well as my favorite member of this group. For their music, it's classified as K-Pop, which stands for Korean Pop, but it's not common K-Pop. Because of their management, S.M. Entertainment, they constantly change styles for each of the singles they put out, so for a normal person, you might love one song but hate another! But I think the common factor is pop, ballads and R&B. Lately though, they've been going to the electronic side! They are coming back this October 14th with a new song and it's best birthday present I could have ever asked for! 

Why do I like them? I find them a bunch of charming boys with amazing talent. They really put up their everything on the stage, and one of my favorite things about them is the way they complement each other; their harmonies are to die for. They are really passionate of what they do, and you can see it in their performances. Also, they are very very very very VERY handsome. My favorite song from them... Man, that's a hard one, I think I need to pick one from every record. But the ones that pop in my head immediately are To Your Heart, Quasimodo and In My Room.

Now it's time to publish videos! Since I talked about them having a lot of styles, I'm going to publish around three so you can see the difference. 

First we have Sherlock! The song is called Sherlock and this was their comeback of 2012.

Here we have one of my favorite songs from their Japanese promotions! (Yes, they have Japanese albums too) It's called "Boys Meet U".

And finally, I'll leave you with the teaser of 'Everybody', their new song which video hasn't come out yet!

And I'm putting this one from their Japanese promotions as well since I freaking love it. The name of the song is 'Why So Serious?'

His hand in mine.

I must admit that with this topic, a lot of special days came to my mind and I think that's actually quite a good sign... I have been blessed with such good memories in my short life that I can't help but be grateful of. It could have been the day I met Uberlinda, a schizophrenic girl from Lebu when I was doing my ethnography in January this year. It could have been the day that I had my 15th birthday party, or my 18th one! I don't know, there are really a lot of days.

But I finally chose the topic that came to my mind first, and that was the day that I met him. (Warning: A very cheesy and sort-of romantic-oriented entry ahead. Don't tell me I didn't warn you when you're about to complain.) I'll just call this guy by his initial, M. I met this young man three years ago, in a completely random meeting that involved two people that were very bored, me and him. Have you ever had that feeling that you just click with somebody? Either in a friendly or romantic way, it just happens and you're done for a very good time, if not forever enchanted with that person. That happened to me, to us that day. We shared a lot common interests, and the things we didn't share, we became very interested in those because of the person we had in front of us. I'd have never thought that the guy I met that day could have become the person that turned up to be. Okay, since we were very bored, we just started talking about random stuff, and I remember long conversations about animals, specially frogs, cows and bunnies (Don't even ask me why). Then, since one of our common interests was the Harry Potter saga, we spent three entire hours watching the show A Very Potter Musical in YouTube. I had already seen it like three times, but with him... It was like I was watching it for the first time again, and we enjoyed our time together. That eventually led to two more times we hung out to watch the other musicals of the series. I have that day burnt in my memory and my heart, and it will be that way until who knows when.

And that was the day I met my biggest love~

Arirang~

If I'm being completely honest, that's one of the most difficult questions someone could ever ask me. Ever since I was a little fetus (nah, I'm kidding, I wasn't that smart as a fetus), I had this dream, almost need to get out of this conga line that is Chile and meet the world, see its nature, meet the locals, their buildings, their food, everything you could imagine. And until this very day, I feel exactly the same. I guess that's one of the big reasons I'd like to become a Social Anthropologist, have a chance to use what I considered my hobby, what I loved to learn about, as a full-time career.

So okay, after a 5 minute break, I decided what country I'd write about. I guess I want to visit world, but I do have some preferences... And I chose one that has been really close to my life because of what I like, and that is South Korea! I'll be honest, I know quite a lot about it. The thing is that my favorite boy-group right now it's a bunch of cute little (but quite sexy) boys named SHINee, and I tend to watch a lot of variety shows because them. And South Korea has a very wide range of shows, so I get to learn a lot about their culture! When it comes to their palate, they have a really reaaaally spicy one and not as sweet as us Chileans. They use a lot of veggies too! A few days ago, in September 19th, it was Chuseok for them! Chuseok it's the Korean Thanksgiving, and it's a time where a Korean goes back to their home, or travels to visit the house of the head of family (it could be a grandparent for example) to pay their respects. They use a typical clothing too called Hanbok!

If you ask me what I'd do, oh man, I'd probably visit as much as I could. I'd go to Seoul and go to the Hongdae area! I've heard it's very... foreign-friendly I'd say. I'd walk around and eat street food! I've seen something called 'ugly hot dog' and it looks so yummy, I love fried food so it looks perfect for my taste. I'd try to go to a lot of concerts as well since I love their pop so much, it's almost a guilty pleasure. Maybe stalk my idols too...

I'd love to study there! Like I said, because of cultural differences, I think I'd be quite the experience. I think it may have a completely different perspective of everything I've learned so far, so of course it sounds very interesting. Living there? I am  not very sure hahaha, that's why I'd go to study for a while and see if I like it. I think I'd have a lot of troubles getting used to their food... But now that I think about it, it's pretty much the same thing if I go to study there for a year, damn. Oh well, sacrifices you must do in life to get what you want.

If there is anything you'd want to do for a lifetime, what would it be?

You get that question a lot, don't you think? Sometimes because it gets really boring, eventually stressful as well. But in the end, whether you like it or not, you must think about it to make the biggest decisions of your life. It all starts when you are young, when you have no idea all the work it takes to the career you might choose, but you just want it because it's what you like and seems cool. Everything changes when you grow up though, all the responsibilities of being an adult. But even then, I think that you should never eliminate your dreams, what you want do, what makes you happy and that and that only will be your ideal job. 

I might be too greedy when it comes to this topic, but whenever someone asks me something related to this, two pictures appear immediately in my head, and I'll take the time to explain both of them if the words accompany me.

1.     Social Anthropologist

It’s a very wide range of jobs one could have as a Social Anthropologist, pretty much everything that you can imagine that the contemporary human being does. But in my case, I’d love to work with the LGBTQ group. You’d need a lot of empathy, good speech, know how to investigate and tolerate what you learn, know what and when to ask and also ability to approach people easily and be trust-worthy. From the skills that I just listed I think I’d fit the job pretty well, since I feel like I have those abilities, and also the passion to learn all the stuff that could come out from this particular subject. And most important, the will to help the people involve with all the difficult situations that community has to go through just for being ‘different than normal’. When it comes to finding this sort-of job, I think it might be quite difficult, but I’m not sure since I don’t have first-hand experience or know people that work with this topic. But I think that says a lot, maybe there aren’t a lot people that work in this area, maybe because Chile is still so narrow-minded when it comes to this community, just now starting to consider the fact that, yeah, they ‘maybe’ could have the same rights as straight people. Nevertheless, because of that same reason, a lot of jobs that are related could be created in this period of time since it’s needed.

2.     Disney Employee.

Really different from the last one, is it? But I guess this is my childhood dream that I’ve had the pleasure to maintain throughout the years. In the area I’d specifically like to work, it’d be either being one of the characters or just a guide of one the parks at Disney World, any of the four main ones. I had the luck to confirm how awesome and perfect it’d be in 2007, when I traveled with my family. About the skills, you’d need to be a very nice person with a lot of patience, that can handle both grown up and little kids. Know how to work under pressure with a smile on your face always. You have to maintain your best face in that work, because it could be your 100^th day, but for the kid that goes for the first time and maybe never again, it’ll be a memory he or she will never forget. Talking about my skills, I think I’d be able to take part of this job, since I love making people happy, even with the little things. I tend to be a giver, not really a receiver. And to think that I can be part of this amazing experience for someone else, the satisfaction would be immense. If we change the topic to the difficulty of finding this job, it is, very. Starting from the fact that there are like 5 Disney-related places in the world and in only 3 or 4 different countries, so you’re already battling with people from all over the world trying to go and work there. Also, they try to get exchange students from specific areas, so that narrows the chance by a lot.

Who knows, maybe if I visit this blog entry in around 5 years, I’ll have one of those jobs in my résumé.