[Work, life, balance, and K-dramas] The perks of being a night owl

61 June 14, 2018June 14, 2018

[Work, life, balance, and K-dramas] The perks of being a night owl

by Guest Beanie

Shut Up Flower Boy Band

The fact that I can get by on very little sleep has never been as useful as when I discovered K-dramas. I didn’t just come across a K-drama here and there; I careened headlong into a whole world of K-dramas past, present, and future that sucked me in like no other phenomenon I’d ever experienced.

The details of how it all started are blurry; I recall that my brother’s friend from Indonesia asked if we’d ever seen a K-drama. (“No,” we said. “Are you kidding me?” he said.) Somehow we ended up marathoning Coffee House. That’s when I discovered other K-dramas on Roku. Cute stories, pretty characters, dark tales, plot twists, something called skinship, school uniforms, back hugs, noonas and oppas, those shower scenes, chaebols, gender-bending, Seoul life—I was entranced.

Coffee House led to Coffee Prince, which led in rapid succession to Rooftop Prince, Boys Before Flowers, Stars Falling From the Sky, and Shut Up Flower Boy Band. And when I thought that my heart couldn’t take another flower boy, there was manly Lee Byung-heon in IRIS and Jang Hyuk in IRIS 2. The K-drama wave became my free-time obsession practically overnight. Now I wonder what I used to do between 8:00 p.m. and 2:00 a.m.—the largest available slice of my 24-hour pie—before K-drama viewing.

This is the advantage of being a night owl. After running errands, eating dinner, and sometimes an occasional assignment for my part-time job (I, of course, also have a 9-to-5 job), the night has only begun. With a second wind kicking in, I get pumped for several hours of dreamy couples walking beneath the cherry blossom trees, part-timers working hard to pay off their family’s bills while dodging ruthless loan sharks, and rude chaebols with money dripping from their lapels turning desperate and charming after meeting a girl who couldn’t care less that they are the top one percent.

1% of Anything

You may think that I merely sit and stare at the screen for hours, but alas, tossing in a load of laundry, mating socks, and folding are mindless chores during episodes. So is opening mail, paying bills, and shopping online—all results of creative multi-tasking. I wipe down the bathroom, take out the trash, and pick up clothes to episodes of Dancing 9. With a Cinderella spin and a spoonful of sugar, I dash up the stairs two at a time for the latest episode of Law of the Jungle and a vacuum run.

Granted, it’s not every night that I watch K-dramas for several hours. I haven’t abandoned all responsibility, and I meet friends and go out, too. I think that I’m not overdoing it with K-drama talk to my friends, but then they cut me off, reminding me that I’ve already told them about the handsome warrior who time travels to the future to meet a doctor and brings her back to Goryeo to save the queen, or the ’70s lovers who lost track of one another and decades later fall in love only to discover that his son and her daughter have already fallen for each other.

Sometimes I feel like I have to justify my K-drama viewing, but think about it: my brother watches 300+ basketball games a season not including the playoffs and NBA finals. And tens of thousands of football fans are glued to the TV from September until the Super Bowl in February. Watching K-dramas is my non-sports equivalent.

Black

Here’s today’s schedule, for example: I dropped my car off for repairs before work at 8:30 a.m.; watched Hello Counselor highlights and picked up two books on hold at the library at lunch; and wrapped up the workday at 5:15 p.m. Then I stopped at the market for a few things. At 6:30 p.m. I tossed some veggies with rice for a fairly decent dinner while watching Heart Signal followed by an episode of Miss Hammarubi. I cleaned up the kitchen, called Mom during a walk, and watered the flowers and tomato plants. After texting two friends to arrange a vacation with cheap Southwest fares, I watched an episode of About Time.

Then I took a speedy shower, dried my hair, put on my pajamas and jumped into bed. I checked out a new drama, Are You Human, Too. This was followed by a 45-minute episode of my first Chinese drama, Nirvana in Fire, because so many Beanies have raved about it that I finally checked it out. (I like it.) At 1:45 a.m. I called it a night. That’s six drama/variety episodes, no sweat. My days aren’t especially affected, but I think I’ve developed a vampire-like reliance on K-dramas. Under the cover of night, I am energized by the continual supply of dramas to my system. I don’t see any slowing down in my future. Somehow I think I am in good company here.

Answer Me 1997

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1 blnmom

June 14, 2018 at 8:26 PM

"Watching K-dramas is my non-sports equivalent."

Yes! I never thought of it that way! I used to watch about 12 hours of football a week (NFL, not soccer), so since I gave that up, I'm allowed to watch that much kdrama! Right??? Thanks for your post!

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