Friday, October 5, 2007

Gosijo's Post on Toronto Gathering

My dear sisters .... I am reposting gosijo's wonderful article on her impressions after the Toronto sisters' gathering from Quilt since the 'comment' function still does not work overthere. Please feel free to write her a comment here so she can read your feedback. Please enjoy :


Toronto Sisters 2nd Anniversary Reunion - Impressions

On Friday September 28th, nine Toronto sisters met at the brightly lit Graceful Vegetarian Restaurant to celebrate the 2nd anniversary of the group’s original get together. The first meeting had been in September 2005 when AS came to the Toronto International Film Festival and the sisters (alas, I wasn’t part of the family yet, sob sob) overcame some not insignificant difficulties to be in attendance.



This time around, there were no meeting-for-the-first-time jitters. Time flew by while we exchanged news and keepsakes, and brought messages from far-away sisters. Coco, whom many of you know and who was present at the 2005 get-together, even called all the way from Vancouver!

This picture is to thank all of our generous, creative and resourceful sis.



Be sure we know how lucky we are to be able to exchange these tokens of family-ship and that we cherish even the little hand-written notes that may have come with them!

This reunion set me to thinking, once again, about the puzzling question of “what has that impossibly beautiful man brought into my life that others have not” or “have I grown personally since I started paying attention to this particular celebrity”.

So here are a few personal reflections and anecdotes from this past year to illustrate what I think:

1) Undeniable attraction

For most of us, the initial trigger for our bae journeys was seeing YJ’s portrayals of one or more among Joon Sang, Min Hyung, Dong Hyuk, Chan Woo, Cho Won, In Su, Jaeho, etc. They struck enough chords in our hearts that we simply had to find out more. About other roles and about the person behind the roles. About why they affected us so. And it seemed that the more we knew about YJ, the more we admired the whole person (“To know him is to love him”, as cloud nine says), the more beautiful, the more unique he seemed in our eyes.

“Have you been swept away so badly?” Dam Deok seems to ask us, as he did Sujini. “No matter how swept away you are, you must keep your dignity as a woman”, he adds and then, teasingly, as he opens his arms wide “Is this what you want?”



Others have asked what we would do in Sujini’s place. My question is: Is there a double-meaning to this dialogue? Is that sometimes-shy young man teasing us too beneath his Dam Deok mask?

I like to think so.

Therefore, here’s winking back at you, YJ ssi! Prepare for a looooong session of free hugs! Your whole family’s in line!

***

2) Learning new skills, honing old ones

The best catalyst to learning is strong motivation, a strong desire to reach a goal. Our overwhelming interest in YJ has meant keeping up with communication technologies at a pace many of us would not have otherwise followed. Many of us visited internet bulletin boards and personal blogs for the first time in order to learn the latest news about our favourite celebrity. Given the multi-lingual nature of the Family, many have tried their hand at translation. Others pour their admiration into artistic creations and writing essays and fan fiction. Others have built the sites where we exchange news and views. Many have extended the limits of their skills or accumulated a body of work of a size they could only have dreamed of before. A few have even spearheaded charitable initiatives as a way to channel our love for YJ into a constructive force for helping those less fortunate than we are. While none of these are unique to YJ’s family, the skills we’ve learned or honed under this powerful motivation will stay with us for the rest of our lives as his legacy.

***

3) The BYJ Family



How visionary of our dear YJ to see his fans not as a club, not as a mere community, but as a family! We meet mostly on line and sometimes in person. We share information, technical tips, our creations and our thoughts which are, at times, very personal. For the most part, we feel as if we’re among kin, among others with considerable common ground, even if we’re scattered all around the world and live in societies imbued with very different cultures. Sometimes, our bae journeys take us in unexpected directions such as re-visiting the past and looking at it in the context of the present. This has happened to me quite a number of times this past year in my exchanges with bae sisters and every time was a revelation, one I would have missed if not for YJ, even though he wasn’t the focus of the enlightenment, only a small light along the way.




***

Music

Everyone loves music. I’ve loved music since as far back as I can remember. What’s so unusual, then, about BYJ’s Classics - Hero collection? For me, it was what he wrote, especially “Although these selections are something very personal to me, I believe that after you've heard them, there will be a very real, almost tangible bond and common ground between us.”* I saw this as a very powerful manifestation of his feelings for his family. True, the lingering skeptic in me wondered if this might simply be a product put out to make money and masterfully marketed to appeal to the hearts of hundreds of thousands of people who already love him, but countless other of YJ’s actions point to the fact that he’s always utterly sincere. I’m still bowled over by his willingness to get closer to us, to share feelings he could easily keep for himself, to bare his soul, not as an actor behind the mask of a role, but as a the private person he actually is. Even in this picture, he seems to share a private moment, listening intently, feeling the sound’s vibrations through the floor, lost in the beautiful music.



Other sentences stayed with me and took on meaning as the year unfolded. Words like “Is there a hero whom you and only you love, or maybe an unknown hero whom you've kept in your heart quietly?”* Where music is concerned, there are many such pieces and personal heros and these words spurred me to find them again and get to know more about them. Simultaneously, new pieces got added to my list of favourites. In one case, I still remember hearing it for the first time and feeling I was being transported to heaven. It reminded me of YJ’s words about Rachmaninov’s Symphony No.2 in E minor, Op.27-3 Adagio: “Listening to Rachmaninov, I indulge myself in his sweet music and I feel what is called 'God's love', which is rather different from the love of man and woman or family love.”*

***

Sincerity and giving all of our heart to a task

At first, this notion didn’t strike me as particularly unusual and I kept wondering why this theme came up over and over again in YJ’s discourse. With time, I noticed that it seems to permeate Korean culture more than the other Asian culture I may be familiar with (not very many and none of them very deeply, I admit). The day after our latest bae sisters get-together and after a busy morning, I was eager to take a break and watch some of episode 6 of TWSSG before launching into a busy afternoon. As it happened, though, my family asked me to prepare dishes that, although simple, took a fair amount of time. Stress levels were increasing yet, as many will recognize, a part of my thoughts were with dear wuri YJ and, in that particular instance, his admiration for his omoni. And then, it came to me that waiting an extra hour to relax was nothing compared to the joy I could bring into my family’s life, compared to the memories they may, one day, have of a simple meal like that day’s, a meal prepared with joy in my heart and imbued with all my love for them.



And now, I truly understand what YJ meant and thank him for this gift, with all of my heart and greatest sincerity.

***

* The first and second quotes from BYJ Classics - Hero were translated into English by happiebb from kyouei Chinese translation, while the third was translated by cloud nine, from Japanese.

Thanks to all whose pictures I reposted here.

19 comments:

gosijo said...

Dear Jaime,

Thank you so much for re-posting here!

I know we’ve been asked for details, details, details. As it happens, blogspace is probably better suited for that than bulletin boards.

So, point-form, here were some of the topics discussed and even debated last week:
Jaime’s trip to Japan and encounters with our kind Japanese sisters
Ivy’s trip to the Hallyu Expo’s opening ceremonies and her brief visit with coco in Vancouver
TWSSG: who’s watching; who’s waiting for the DVDs; the ratings;
The long hair: who likes it; who doesn’t;
After TWSSG: will he take a break; is there any way we can entice him to come visit with us, poor neglected Toronto sisters
Past close encounters for two ultra-lucky sisters
Magane Ichiba tissue pouches: how we’d feel using one to wipe our lips or tears.

Between that and looking at the magazine brought along, is it any wonder we didn’t pay much attention to what we were eating? Still, for me, there was a memorable dish. This was shaped like two fishes but was, in reality, made with taro root. Must confess, I’m a taro root nut, mmmm, mmmm,mmmm!

Btw, great music playing here, dear Jaime. What is it?

Anonymous said...

Hi gosijo,

Thanks for your great write-up, it's so nice to hear about Canadian sisters getting together like that. What a wonderful group you have there in Toronto -- if I didn't love Vancouver so much, I might think about moving there, hahaha!

And thanks for your emails, I will reply very soon!

love,
coco

Anonymous said...

Hi Chinggu!

Thanx Gosijo & Jaime for sharing your wonderful time together with the Toronto sisters.

I really enjoy reading how each & everyone must have felt during that meeting so much as how you forgot what you ate, hehehheheh!

Thank you so much everyone!

Love lots,
judy

gosijo said...

Dear coco,

Seems that very few Vancouverites would leave that lovely city for ours, unless there's a major REASON!

Perhaps WE should be considering moving west. Added bonus: closer to DD-land!

Thanks for your encouragements and take good care!

gosijo said...

Hi Judy,

or may I also call you chinggu?

Ah, but think about it, if HE'd been among us, that night, we would have even forgotten to eat!

Anonymous said...

Hi all my dear Chinggus!

Of course dear Gosijo. We all are Chinggus around here.

OMG! What a blast it would be if HRH was there with you and what a battle for HIS attention that night could be, hahahhahah! Not to mention me boarding the earliest flight to TO to join the battle, LOL!

Coco, it was so sweeeeeeeeet of you to call the TO sisters on that night.

So happy that our dear Jaime gave all of us something to smile about daily.

Love, Judy

Anonymous said...

Dear Jaime,

Thank you for reposting Gosijo's writing about Toronto sisters' gatheirng here. I can easily imagine that you girls were having so much fun talking about just HRH. I know I know time really flies!

Dear Gosijo,

I'm flattered that you refered to my words. As for 'Sincerity', when
I cook I often imagine that I cook for HRH giving all of my heart to a
task. Is it a wrong sincerity??

cloud nine

bbmag said...

hi hi jaime!
thanks for reposting gosijo's sharing here :)

and... pray tell, who're the two ultra-lucky gals with those ultra-lucky encounters? hehe, lord knows i've heard and read many bae-encounters, but i never seem to tire of hearing them :p

... am glad you gals had fun... bae gatherings are nearly always good huh? any singaporean bae-fans here? hey, when's our next one?!!

p.s. i wanna go DDland!

jaime said...

dear gosijo, that deep dried taro fish was my favourite too, yum yum. I email you about this music, I am a bit confused about its origin too.

hehe chinggu, are u thinking like chief and considering moving to TO too?

hahaha dear cloudnine, imagining cooking for HRH every meal? Please go easy on the kimchi unless your hubby can take spicy food :)

hihi princess, your Singaporean grand scale gathering sounds really fun too. I wish I could attend and see it for myself someday ;)

Thank you dear sisters for your comments to gosijo's writeup.

bbmag said...

well, we've had fellow fans come from japan and thailand join us before :p

and... there're also fellow singaporean fans who are residing overseas like the US join us as well.

so.... maybe next year, jaime? :)

gosijo said...

Dear cloud nine,

Glad to see you're back on-line!

I can relate to what you describe! IMHO, it would only be wrong if it's represented falsely, which I'm sure it's not! Otherwise, it's between the cook and the serving plate;)

It was wonderful to hear Jaime relate the special memories you and other Japanese sisters helped realize for her!

gosijo said...

hi, hi, bb,

Well, one is Ivy, as Jaime wrote and, as for the other, she's S and I don't know the details except that it involved having her picture taken with YJ. Twice!! I think she's a fan from way back.

I echo Jaime's sentiments. She spoke about seeing two episodes of WLS on the big screen in Tokyo and of the overwhelming feelings of having so many family in the same space!

Also, there are rumbles about a North American gathering next summer. Too soon to tell, of course but it would be great to have sis from all over join!

bbmag said...

s...? could it be sulhee from way back? :p

Anonymous said...

Dear Gosijo,

What wonderful reading on a late Sunday afternoon for me here in the U.S. It all rings so true.

Thank you also for directly us to Jaime's Blog.


Dear Jaime,

I have never posted before but wanted to let you know ........
I am hooked on your writing and I absolutely love the music. Would you mind sharing about the music please? It would be so appreciated.

I'd like to buy the cd so I can download to my walkman and listen as I walk. Perfect music to accompany me as I think about you know who : )

By the way, I am going to spend a leisurely Sunday afternoon going back thru your past blogs.

Regards, byjforever

jaime said...

hi bb ..... you're right, it's sulhee. hi gosijo, hope u don't mind me answering. :)

jaime said...

Hi byjforever,

Thank you for writing to me. I appreciate your kind comments very much. Both you and gosijo love this music too. Sorry, I am not too sure about its origin. Please allow me to dig some more, ok?
Hope to hear from you soon :)

love ... jaime

Anonymous said...

Hi Jaime,

I've gone thru so many emotions reading your blog. From thinking you and Gosijo have nailed it to laughing so hard I hurt. You added so much joy to my day.

Yes, please dig around and I'll keep my fingers crossed that you'll remember the music source.

I am so happy to have discovered your blog and I'll visit often.

All my best, byjforever

gosijo said...

Dear byjforever,

Thank you so much for your comments! Our Jaime is something else, isn't she? So quick-witted, so friendly, so sensitive, all rolled into one!

Dear Jaime,

I know it's incredibly hot here today so, sorry if I made you blush. Thanks for responding to bb. Her baecyclopedic knowledge is astonishing, don't you think?

jaime said...

Hi dear gosijo,

Happy thanksgiving! You had eaten your Turkey dinner yet? Hehe, I buried myself in the basement to clean up today, so pretty cool for me.

Thanks for your kind words. You are so right, nothing escapes bb's eyes in the Bae world :)

Last of all, thanks gosijo for allowing me to post your wonderful article here.

love ... jaime