6-Day Trip To South Korea!

I suddenly had an urge to start a new blog, and then I thought, "Why not use the one I already have?"

So here I am, blogging about my upcoming trip to South Korea!

I've wanted to go to S. Korea since last year, mainly after I became a Running Man fan, but S. Korea always seemed a little off budget. So last year, my family and I went to Guilin China instead, which was no doubt a very relaxing holiday.

This year however, we decided to up our budget to RM3k per person and see if we can actually make it to S.Korea. Surprise, surprise, we can!

You're probably going, "RM3k? Only?" Yes, it might even add up to less, but I can only tell after the trip. The answer to a cheap holiday is the word, 'plan'.

As a family, we dislike following tour groups. You have to wait for people, you can't choose where you want to visit, AND it's expensive. Since Guilin, no.. since my parents were caravan-ing around the world, we have always planned our trips. This round is no different.

We will be spending 3 nights and 2 days in Jeju Island, and 2 nights and 2 days in Seoul. The rest of the hours are spent on the planes. It might seem rather short, but we've planned to captured the best of S.Korea... and 4 full days is enough.

For Jeju Island, we will be getting a taxi tour guide. Not much planning needed as we would just go with the flow and take the 'professional' suggestions of the taxi guide. However, we do have a list of a few places we would wanna visit, but it might change. The taxi guide is also rather cheap, so you might want to check them out if you're planning to visit Jeju Island.

For Seoul, the planning is much more taxing, especially on my brain since I'm doing it. Unlike Jeju Island, we do not have a guide in Seoul. We found a hotel which is a 5 minute walk to a subway station, so we'll be using the subway to get around. Through Google maps, I've managed to get a rough estimate of the traveling time, but that excludes the number of hours we would be on our feet. I'm not complaining though, walking is good for you.

The places we are visiting in Seoul are; Namsangol Hanok Village, National Museum of Korea, Myeongdong Shopping, Namdaemun Market, Changdeokgung & Secret Garden, Insa-dong, Cheonggyecheon Stream, N Seoul Tower, Namsan Park.

I will post the itinerary and other details later on, since the trip is only in September. I'm just so excited right now! Maybe I'll blog when I'm there, we'll see :)

Swooned... Again

Have I blogged about him? Nope, I haven’t.

I’ve fangirl-ed a lot growing up. I used to adore Jesse McCartney, talk day and night about Tom Felton, and swoon over Raymond Lam. I’ve had celebrity crushes just like every other girl out there, but those days should be behind me. After all, I’m an adult now… I shouldn’t have celebrity crushes, it’s such a high school thing to do. Unfortunately, I couldn’t help it.

After Raymond Lam disappeared from the TVB scene, I had no one else to fangirl over. And I was happy, because I didn’t have to waste time dreaming of the day I would actually meet him. But then I stumbled upon a Korean drama called Emergency Couple and by the end of it… I knew I was done for.

All his pictures look so freaking good,
I struggled picking the best.

Choi Jin-Hyuk has stolen my heart. Raymond Lam gave it back and now Jin-Hyuk Ssi has taken it. Give it back to me, you ultra hot man!

It’s not his fault, really. It’s mine. I have no idea why, but I smile every time I see him in a drama. It’s like… I’m watching a boy I have a crush on in high school in a stalker-ish kind of a way. It’s scary! What am I becoming?

This is pretty much a confession that I have a high school celebrity crush on Choi Jin-Hyuk. I’ve watched all his dramas, except for My Daughter The Flower because I could not find one with English subs, Gu Family Book (which technically I did watch it, but only the episodes he was in. I know, it’s weird) and I Need Romance. I’m now watching Fated To Love You and I adore that drama so much. He looks so fine in it, and the story is rather humorous.

If I ever see him one day, I don’t know how I would react. I won’t scream, cause I’m not that kind of a fangirl, but I would surely turn red. Saying this, I wish I did not have a celebrity crush on him. Can’t he just be a favourite like Leo DiCaprio and Johnny Depp? Nope, apparently not at this moment.

Honestly, I wish I am more ‘adult’ about this. I hope this blows over soon… which probably will once he goes off to serve in the military. That’s both a good news and a bad news for me.

Survival Plan vs God's Plan

The past weekend was a ‘questionable’ one. It was a weekend where I reflected where I am in life, the small changes that I’m facing (losing a stable freelance job), and the question of how to move forward. It was also a weekend where my mum advised that I should not stay in the same company for too long and find a better place to go to, which is what everyone should do anyway. But while thinking it through, I became a little afraid, unsure, and muddled.

So, I decided to sit down and have a talk with God.

The conversation started with me saying “I don’t know” so many times, because I didn’t know if moving on is a good idea in terms of where I want to go in life. I was worried I would have to give up my dream along the way, and I didn’t know what to do. It all started with a bunch of ‘I don’t knows’ but the conversation ended with clarity.

Funny, how a conversation with God can really bring you peace and clarity. I didn’t know how long I was talking to Him, but I knew I slept rather late last night. AND I slept with a smile. He realigned my path to His and now I know what to do. Here's what I know:

My day job is merely a survival plan. It is stagnant with no growth because survival plans, once established, do not require any more tinkering with. I should not be spending my time and my thoughts worrying about this survival plan because God has it covered. Should I move forward and find another job? God will take care of that. Should I try to get another freelancing job? God will take care of that. This survival plan should be left to God to handle, after all, He will provide for my needs.

The plan that I should be focused on is God’s plan… the one where I continue to write for him. Writing novels, short stories, and running my blog are part of God’s plan. Yes, God’s plan is unpredictable and I have no control over what happens, but it is God’s plan. It may be odd to some that I have decided to focus my energy and time on God’s plan where the journey is uncertain, but it is what I am supposed to do.

The only reason why I have the ability to write is because God gave me that ability. Even if I don’t meet success immediately, I will trust that God knows best. So if anyone asks why I write fiction and keep my blog going, my answer is simple, “I'm writing for God.”

At the end of the day, I want to store up treasures in heaven. My survival plan is merely a plan to store up treasures on earth that will cease to exist once I die. The treasures in heaven however, will last forever. The day I meet God, I want Him to say, “Well done, good and faithful servant,” because that will mean I lived a life to the fullest of its purpose.

The Cheesiness Is Making Me Smile

You know that scene in a movie or TV show where the guy would say something so cheesy and sweet that you as a viewer end up smiling?

Yea.. I've hit the romance part of my first novel and I'm smiling. I don't know why, but the cheesy lines I've made my protagonist say somehow created such a response from me.

I have never read a romance novel, unless you consider YA love triangles as romance novels, so I'm not sure how people usually respond to such scenes. Maybe it's just me...

This post is too short to be a blog post, but I'm publishing it anyway.

A 2nd Edition

I recently went back to my first novel with a plan to release a second edition. The idea of doing a second edition is to rebrand the book under a collection. Hence, I’ll be doing a re-launch of the second edition around the same time I release my second novel (which will be in the same collection as well).

I’m far from done with the second edition, but I’m pretty sure I can get it done in time. The only question I constantly ask myself is, how much should I change?

The change the book needs is not in the plot, as I don’t intend to rewrite the whole story, but in the sentence structure. Just going through the first chapter had me changing a few sentences to improve the flow and the description.

Let’s just say, I wasn’t a very good writer back then. Some sentences were acceptable and those I do not touch, but some ended abruptly and had a very rough flow. Being able to spot all those now could only mean one thing; I’ve improved.

It’s no surprise that I’ve improved, but it’s quite a surprise that my first novel wasn’t very well written. Back then, I thought it was pretty good… or at least, I told myself it was. After all, you got to believe in yourself, right? For a first novel with no editor, a lot of people said it was a good effort… but looking at it now, I know it can be much better.

I guess it is now time to push out a good second edition. It will not be the best of my works for sure, as I can’t rewrite all the chapters, but it will be much better than before. Hopefully, when it comes out together with my second novel, more people will give it a chance. And I hope YOU will be one of them :)