'how they met' stories

it should come as no surprise to anyone that i'm a romantic. i "awww" when i see sweet couples on the street, whole-heartedly adore sappy taiwanese dramas (and other chick flicks), and matchmake like its my job (sometimes even successfully :P). one of my favourite things to do is to collect romantic/sweet/unusual "how-they-met" stories - especially when i'm involved haha. no matter how prosaic a 'how-they-met' story seems on the surface, there's always an element of awe when i hear about it - it seems so amazing and wonderful that two people managed to find each other.

i was thinking about this the other day, and thought i'd list out some of the more unusual stories i've heard - and of course, felt like sharing the joy.

in no particular order:

1. boy meets girl in a cab - boy is the driver and gives girl his number after having a ton of fun flirting. girl actually texts him one day, and sparks fly.
2. boy is a grad student ta-ing a class, girl is a sweet little undergrad. they go on a date after slight nudging from mutual friends, and the rest is history.
3. boy and girl meet on a train in a foreign country. they spend summer together, but never exchange contact details. upon returning home, girl realizes she misses boy, and emails all potential name combos at his university until she finds the right one. love finally triumphs, and the missing boy is found.
4. boy and girl are both separately looking for marriage partners to suit their traditional families. by some strange fate they end up going on a date together, and 3 days later are engaged.
5. boy and girl are friends in the same dance team. one day she notices he has cute hair; he thinks she stands out from the rest of the girls on the team. after a few disasters, a couple comes together.
   
6. girl likes boy from afar forever. she tells him of her love, but he totally rejects her. by some unfortunate circumstances, she ends up having to move into his house, and after several loooong years of mutual existence, a never-ending love is borne.

okay i admit that last one was stolen from ISWAK (it started with a kiss) :P anyone have any other lovely stories to add to my collection?

My current top 6 favourite t-dramas

1. It Started With A Kiss/They Kiss Again
2. Smiling Pasta
3. Hana Kimi
4. Devil Beside You
5. Fated To Love You
6. Tokyo Juliet


Other notable series (not all taiwanese):
Coffee Prince, Goong, Bullfighting, Meteor Garden I, Prince Turned Frog.

Smiling Pasta

Okay a quickie post about my new fav drama "smiling pasta", which i've already mentioned 15 times before I run off to bed since it's ridiculous a.m.
okay, i tried to resize the pic but it's still pretty big! but i guess it just goes to show how much I adore this drama :) An adaptation of the famous k-drama "Full House", Smiling Pasta stars two young taiwanese idols, Nicholas Teo and Cyndi Wang.

A long long time ago, Xiao Shi (Cyndi Wang) semi-dated this boy that she adored named Ah Zhe (Gino). However, on their 3rd month anniversary, he broke up with her, telling her that he allowed her to love him for 3 months, but since he couldn't reciprocate, they were over. Since then, the poor girl has never had a relationship longer than 3 months (neither has she had one shorter than three months though :P). Until today, which is the day that Xiao Shi and her uber-supportive family are sure that she will break the curse - after all, she's dating super nice boy Peter.

Unfortunately, Peter dumps her in the middle of the street. Xiao Shi is heartbroken and just wanders around the streets of Taipei, until she accidentally bumps into famous pop star He Qun (Nicholas Teo). They kind of stumble over each other and fall to the ground entwined with each other so it looks like they are kissing on the sidewalk. Papparazzi take pictures, which are published in the tabloids the very next day.

In order to save He Qun from gossip, He Qun's agent publically declares that the two are engaged (what a leap!). It's a bit of a tricky situation, because up to now, He Qun's girlfriend has been portrayed as childhood friend Rita (Joyce Zhao), who He Qun has liked forever. Unfortunately, Rita has just told He Qun that she wants to go out with his estranged brother, Ah Zhe. Broken-hearted He Qun thus agrees to play along with the ruse...as does Xiao Shi, who doesn't want her family to feel sorry about the 3 month relationship curse anymore.

Over the course of the next three months, the four main leads start to fall in love with each other. Initially, He Qun liked Rita who liked Ah Zhe who was in love with his ex who died tragically in an accident (He Qun was involved, hence the estrangement), and who was also liked by Xiao Shi but was actually going out with Rita. Confusing much?

Anyway, due to the rumor, Xiao Shi and He Qun begin to spend a lot of time together - He Qun is drawn to Xiao Shi's bubbly and optimistic personality, while Xiao Shi falls for He Qun's gentleness. Her status as He Qun's fiancee causes her to get into a lot of scrapes with his fans, but he sticks by her and supports her through this tough time...always a plus in relationships no?

Okay, I'm super tired, so I'm going to sum up...the two fall in love - he writes a song for her, she confesses her love for him publically and kind of pressures him into doing the same (he refuses to say "I like you", though he doesn't mind singing it to her etc). Lots of misunderstandings occur, of course, but the story ultimately ends happily - on their 3 month anniversary, He Qun proposes for real, and is accepted.

I loved loved love this drama - it's an unabashed romantic comedy and doesn't pretend to be anything else. It's optimistic and bubbly, with a great soundtrack. The chemistry between the two leads are also fantastically adorable - how can one not love it?

DWTS Season 7

Omg. So I was watching the latest episode of dancing with the stars (otherwise known as DWTS), a show I've been addicted to since my friend G introduced it to me at Columbia, and came across an amazing group dance by the pros. How on earth did I miss it???



I forget how much better the pros are when they're dancing with each other than when they're trying to choreograph and dance around their celebrity's weaknesses.

OST Smiling Pasta

I'm in a "Smiling Pasta" phase! In a couple of days, I'll do my traditional t-drama wrap-up, but I just wanted to post some videos from its OST first - I love love love this soundtrack (and series)!!!



This first video is "小乌龟", or literally, "Little Turtle". It's sung by the main lead, Nicholas Teo. In the drama, he writes it for his fiancee, played by Cyndi Wang, and is pretty much his confession of love for her. Ahhh, I'm getting goosebumps thinking of the series again :)

Okay, I'm a little ashamed of myself for posting this...but here goes! I love this song that Cyndi Wang sings in the soundtrack called "I Do" but I can't find the movie for it on youtube, so to put it up I had to post part of a concert vid. go to the 3:01 in the video and you'll see it!




Haha okay, this is -beyond- pop-py.

Eleven Roses

My new favourite romantic fact (from my new fav drama, "Smiling Pasta", which has kicked Meteor Garden off my top drama list :P):

When a guy gives a girl 11 roses, it means that he will only love 1 person in this 1 lifetime.

Mushy, but I hope that when I get engaged, my loved one will give me 11 roses :P

Two Left Feet!

So one of my goals when I moved home was to start dancing. I did a measly year of ballroom at Columbia, but it never got anywhere; I had no time to practice, what with the crazy BME workload and my club commitments, so I dropped ballroom after my freshman year. I kind of regret it a little, but luckily it's one of those regrets that don't have to stay regrets :) Fortunately, my best friend N also loves dancing, and so we signed up for an intro salsa course for the month of October.

The studio that we signed up at is an exclusively salsa school (with special workshops on other street latin dances, yay!). Classes are pretty awesome - a course is four weeks, two hours a week, which is just enough time to actually get into the dance and but not long enough that you get bored - though I always find myself wishing class would go on longer each week :) Three weeks ago, we had our first class, which was excruciatingly painful - we spent the first hour just learning to count the salsa beat, and the second hour getting used to the closed hold. Most people seemed really uncomfortable at first - which I understand, because closed hold is a lot more intimate than the regular salsa hold (basically just holding each other's hands). After that first class, N and I were a little...flabbergasted, I suppose is the word - we expected something completely different...

Our second lesson was so much better! Everyone had secretly practiced, I think, and so it was a lot easier to dance - the guys led better, the girls followed better, and everyone had the step we learned last class down. The next move we learned was the cross body lead, where the guys lead the girls across them (using a Push) to get to the other side. Our teachers were trying to teach us how important it was to properly lead and follow, and so they split us up by gender. Us girls were told about the importance of the Push - no Push should equate to no forward movement, regardless of all else. I wasn't paying that much attention - I was too busy watching the boys, who had gotten into this football like huddle around the guy teacher. After, we got back into our circle, and started practicing the cross body lead again. I was teasing my partner about the huddle, and he got really uncomfortable and changed the subject. I didn't think more of it, and started the steps again. But then! right in the middle of the lead, my partner didn't give the Push, and I was so confused...ha! it turns out that the boys had planned a test for us, to see whether we were moving on autopilot or actually following. Can you believe? I want to have a test for the boys next time - but I guess that pretty much every move is a test for the boys :)

Anyway, after class was the bi-weekly social night at our school - N and I were the only people from our class to go, and we were really nervous at first, since we knew all of three moves, two of which we learned that day. Can you say newbies? Everyone there was at least a couple of levels ahead of us, so the two of us sat meekly on a bench, oohing and ahhing at how awesome everyone was. Whenever we were asked to dance, we would give this little warning - um, sure, but we should warn you that we're only in 1a :). It was so much fun though! And dancing with boys who can lead? Heavenly! After a few hours, N and I decided to head home, and went to find our teacher to say bye...she told us of a street chacha workshop that was starting the next day, and we signed up on the spot...but that's a story for another time.