Hello Liebster Award Mania!

It's raining Liebster awards in the KDrama blogger community! I love the name (and wonder who came up with it?) and I love that I got nominated - or rather, WE got nominated, because I'm definitely not blogging all by myself... lafer, Shuk, JoAnne, bcook, latteholic, this is for you, too! *clap, clap, clap* 

Thank you so much, kfangirl, for thinking this blog is mention-worthy! It means a lot to me to be nominated by you in particular because I love your blog - you do the best (and probably the longest) reviews ever. I particularly value the ones you did for Vampire Prosecutor and Vampire Prosecutor 2 because VP is among my Top 10 KDramas and I cannot wait for Season 3.  Friends of VP are friends of mine ... and good friends of VP are good friends of mine!
So, the rules for receiving this award properly (after being nominated) are:
  • List 11 random facts about yourself.
  • Answer the questions designated by the blogger who nominated you.
  • Place YOUR nominations for the Liebster Award! Nominate five (or more) other bloggers that have less than 200 followers. Make sure to notify them via comment/email, etc.
  • Make up a set of questions for those nominated bloggers to answer.
  • Display the Liebster award badge on your blog!
I already did the last, so I guess it's time to list 11 random fact about myself. What, only 11? Haha, only kidding. It's not that easy to come up with 11 things that don't put people to sleep.

List 11 Random Facts About Myself 

1) I love bacon. In fact, I cooked pasta with cream, ham, AND crispy bacon (broken into lovely little pieces) last night. This morning, there was a lingering memory of bacon-taste in my mouth, yum. And the whole apartment still smells deliciously of it.  
2) I make a lot of gifs. Cheongdamdong Alice did that to me - and now I'm stuck with it. Gifs forever. Yay. 

3) I do not listen to KPop. I mainly listen to Heavy Metal music, particularly Melodic Death or Melodic Black metal. It helps me get focused. In fact, when I write a text, I often only get into the necessary writing space when I listen to that kind of music.
4) In my real life, I am a Lecturer at a major university in Switzerland. Yeah, I teach students. They do not know about my secret life of KDrama obsession (thankfully). I specialize in (critical) security studies, and mainly look at cybersecurity and risk politics more generally (and oh wow, I just gave myself away completely. Hello, students! Yes, it's me!). I've become more and more interested in International Political Sociology over the years. One of these days, I plan to write about cybersecurity as displayed in KDrama.
 
5) I almost became a professional musician. I play several instruments but do not practise anymore at the moment. That's a shame. But I am sure the time of more music will come again! I chose a different path, but my sister is a professional musician instead. She has a band and does a lot of theater and film music. I love her stuff. I wish her a lot of success in the future.

6) I have a very full - and often very stressful - life between work and my small family. KDrama helps me to relax in the evenings and forget about everything else. However, KDrama is probably taking away too much time from me and my husband, I've come to realize - especially when coupled with blogging. I need to find a better balance there.

7) I am running out of things to say about myself. My favorite color is ... purple? Or blue? I also like red. And orange.

8) I often go to the mountains (Swiss Alps) because my parents moved there a few years ago. I love to hike. I love the air up there, and the peace and quiet. I am looking forward to taking my 4year old daughter to a hike this summer - I've been getting her ready for it, mentally, by constantly praising her "strong little legs". lol.

9) I have never been to Asia. But I really want to go, of course, to visit (at least): Japan, China, and Korea. So I am thinking about going to a university in Asia (Singapore, most likely) for work for a few months, maybe next year? But when you have a family, such things are a little bit more complicated than when you are alone.

10) I also want to learn to play the drums later in life.

11) I used to dye my hair for years, but now I'm letting the dye grow out. I am shocked by how gray I've gotten. Not sure I can pull through with going all gray ... I'm not that old yet.

Answer the Questions that kfangirl Asked

Q1: Of all the posts you’ve written, which one are you most proud of and why?
Of course that's the first shower scene post: My Top 5 ... Shower Scenes. Because it took me ages to identify those scenes, hunt down all the video files, and make the gifs. If I want to be remembered as a Blogger, then let it be for that post. lol.
The TEN2 recaps that I am doing atm are equally time consuming - and I really, really like doing them. Definitely more brainpower going into those posts ... But by far the most hits on my blog go to Lee Min-ho's Hair (though some of the #WAML Squeecaps are catching up slowly). This continues to amuse me - and scare me at the same time. Why are so many people interested in Lee Min-ho's hair?! Seriously, world!
Q2: What’s the biggest thing you’ve learned through blogging?
That Blogger (this blogging platform) really sucks. At least sometimes. But I'm too lazy to change it. Oh, and it is due to blogging that I have met so many awesome people online. Love this little community of ours. Also, blogging is hard ... it takes a lot of time and effort and sometimes, it's not entirely clear why we keep doing it. But then, somebody tells us how much they like what we are doing and we grow wings again ...

Q3: If you could re-watch only one drama for the rest of time, which drama would you pick and why?
That would be TEN2. Why? Because it's perfect. Story, actors, cinematography, all there, all perfect. I am so happy there will be a third season! And I'm SOOOOO in love with Joo Sang-wook right now. Omg, it's rather unhealthy. I was a bit tempted to post a screencap from the movie "90 minutes" here but thankfully, I held back. It would have been of his only barely hidden naked ... behind. I don't mind posting abs and stuff on here, but that?! 0.o ... 19+ rated.

Q4: If you could have one k-related superpower, what would it be?
I would like to be able to travel through time in order to watch more KDrama. The plan is: do all the work that I need to do, then travel back in time and watch KDrama for hours and hours and hours. I wouldn't mind having Lee Jin-wook beside me, of course.

Q5: If your life were a kdrama, who would be cast as your co-star and why?
You forgot a plural there, right? There would be three co-stars. I would cast Lee Jun-ki as my bodyguard (we might have a little romance on the side of course and chat about his Swiss trip from time to time), Joo Sang-wook would be my lover and private detective (he would be first lead), and Kim Ji-hoon would be my best friend. Yeah, sorry, Kim Ji-hoon, you've been friendzoned ... I am a bit surprised at that myself, because I think you're awesome and funny and sexy, but Joo Sang-wook has the upper hand at the moment. This may, of course, change.

Do Nominate

There is something slightly amusing about the Liebster award: there are tons of double-nominations (and even triple nominations?) already, because even though the community of KDrama bloggers seems to be growing by the day, it is also still a rather small community. We all "know" each other fairly well, especially the ones that also tweet about our obsession. Yes, we may be bloggers, but some of us are also microbloggers. Wouldn't want to miss the Twitter interactions with all of you guys!

So, this is what I am going to do (cause I'm a little rebel sometimes): I will not nominate real "blogs" - but I will nominate microbloggers, my most active Twitter friends. All of them, even the ones without "proper" blog deserve a special mention because they are ... AWESOME! And they have enriched my life in the last few months in unexpected and wonderful ways.

I nominate (in 140 chars or less):
  • because she is my first co-blogger and bestest TwitterBuddy and will always be my KDrama friend! And I'll meet her this year in RL! 
  • and because they are my beloved SqueeCap gals and snarky-witty commentors of everything overall. 
  • Shel@caahjumma for being such a warm-hearted woman who shares so many beautiful things about her life: thank you! 
  • for being such a lovely and interested person and for coming to my attention very early in my Blogging life (your blog was one of the first of the "small" blogs I noticed)
  • for being such a loyal (but not crazy!) PSH fan and for being a professional musician like my sister! Also on the cello!
  • for being so funny and truly entertaining - and for being a man! A Man who is into KDrama! YAY!
  • Orion@OrionsRamblings for her wit and her sharp mind, for loving Lee Beom Soo, for hating kyaaagirls and everything related to "The Diva".
  • because she caught my attention a long time ago on Dramabeans with her comments, chapeau, madame!
  • because I'm in awe of her "My Drama List" and because we have very similar tastes.
  • , one of my newer acquaintances, but I feel we've hit it off right away!
  • jubies33@jubies33 because she lives in the desert and likes TEN2. Another Diva hater.
  • because she really knows this Asian stuff and her crazy Kpop tweets make me giggle. A lot.
  • because the Finnish red frog who loves chocolate and is an awesome cook is so special - love every tweet.

The Questions

I'll continue to bend the rules, cause I'm a rebel like that, and will ask these microbloggers to just tweet a 140 chars description of their all-time-favorite KDrama (if they want to accept their nomination). They will obviously not be able to follow the other rules for the Liebster Award (as given above) on Twitter, but those of you who have proper blogs: feel free to Liebster away on it! Make up your own questions! Share the love!