10 Commandments of Laughter and Korean Diary | ‘웃음 10계명’하고 한국말 일기

인트로: I was about to post this blog after proofreading it, but then I can’t seem to categorize it and the ‘Publish’ button won’t work, then suddenly, when I checked my WordPress Reader, I WON TWOCHOIS’ LUCKY DRAW!!! Maybe it was not yet time for me to post it earlier. And thanks for this lucky draw, my unlucky day got twice more luckier. In the following *unedited* post, you’ll know that I’m not in the mood.

Blog proper…

I’m not in the mood to blog right now, but I just can’t skip this progress since this might complicate things in the future. I’m a ‘date’ person, though I don’t do countdowns, or really memorize dates by themselves like birthdays, anniversaries, etc., but I always make sure that I have carbon footprints online, from when I last got my haircut, the day I bought this stuff, the day I first tried to eat this… something like that. Weird, no? But proved helpful for me for so so many times already.

Stage 3: 희망을 품는 순간, 기적은 일어난다

First of all, I’m just proud that I typed the whole Stage 3 title (and about 99% of Korean characters here in this post) without looking at my keyboard (which even if I look at it, there are no Korean characters *ㅡ.ㅡ*), but still. Just the thought that I can now type quickly without looking (even correcting a mistake because I was certain I pressed the wrong key), is a big achievement for me.

Finally, I finished reading three BIGBANG members’ stories (세상에 너를 소리쳐!) In about two days per member, I’ll finally be moving on to read T.O.P’s tomorrow. Now 대성’s story is a bit… uhmmm sad? There were a lot of funny times as how I understood it, but since I don’t understand a lot, I might just be laughing at nothing. I’m not very sure about how the story went, and since I still don’t have a right to judge the story, I’m just not gonna say anything. All I know is that he wanted to be a singer, even his name in 한자 means big voice. He was (I think) hindered by his father to pursue his dream. They want him to be someone else, but since it was his dream, he pushed it, and even fought for it. And I’m not sure about it too, but I think he had two lives being a trainee and a student at the same time, so those moments were hard for him.

But what interested me the most is the ‘웃음 10계명’ part so I’m gonna enumerate everything here.

웃음 10계명

*I got help from Google Translate (it’s okay to throw stones at me now, as I would prefer that over me learning these sentences one by one in my current condition.) I do translated some things here by myself though, except for some parts I just can’t really get. To segue, 지금 기분이 안 좋다… 그리고 감기에 걸릴 것 같다 ㅡ.ㅡ

1. 크게 웃어라. 크게 웃는 웃음은 최고의 운동법이며 매일 1분 동안 웃으면 8일 더 오래 산다. 크게 웃을수록 더 큰 자신감이 생겨난다. (Laugh loudly. A good laugh is a good exercise. When you laugh for a minute, you live 8 days longer. The bigger the laugh, the greater the confidence.)
2. 억지로라도 웃어라. 병이 무서워서 도망간다. (Even if forced, laugh. Sickness is scary, run from it.)
3. 일어나자마자 웃어라. 아침에 일어나서 웃는 웃음은 보약 중의 보약이다. 삼대가 건강하게 되며 보약 열 첨보다 낫다. (As soon as you get up, laugh. Laughing in the morning restores your health. Smiling will keep you healthy, even the next and next generations.)
4. 시간을 정해놓고 웃어라. 병원과는 영원히 바이 바이(bye bye )다. (Smile regularly and say bye bye to the hospital forever.)
5. 마음까지 웃어라. 얼굴과 더불어 마음의 표정까지 중요하다. (Smile from your heart. Smiling with your heart, rather than the face is more important.)
6. 즐거운 생각을 하며 웃어라. 즐거운 웃음은 행북을 창조한다. 웃으면 복이 오고 웃으면 즐거운 일이 생긴다. (When thinking of happy thoughts, smile. Good laughs create happiness. With good laughs, blessings will come your way.)
7. 함께 웃어라. 혼자 웃는 것보다 서른세 배 이상 효과가 좋다. (Smile together. Smiling with others is 33 times better than smiling alone.)
8. 힘들 때 더 웃어라. 진정한 웃음은 힘들 때 웃는 것이다. (During hard times, smile more. Real smile comes out during hard times.)
9. 한 번 웃고 또 웃어라. 웃지 않고 하루를 보낸 사람은 하루를 낭비한 것이나 마찬가지다. (Smile more than once. If you don’t smile in a day, the day will be wasted.
10. 꿈을 이뤘을 때를 상상하며 웃어라. 꿈과 웃음은 한집에 산다. (Whenever you’re thinking of a dream achieved, smile. Dreams and smiles live the same.

Thinking about 대성, his eyes and his perfectly happy smile, I can see how this 10 laugh and smile commandments emanate through him. This is a perfect mantra for everyday, especially the last one (of course, it’s the last one, lol), so I’ll be sure to follow this commandment, and just like a simple dream, whenever I’m gonna think of that moment when I’m in Korea, talking to my friends fluently, working part-time and enrolled as scholar in a university, I will just smile 🙂

Korean Diary

I have a Korean diary in my tumblr blog, but I haven’t updated it in months. I started it way back during the near end of the term of my Elementary 1 when I think I’m already good enough for a diary *even though I was not*. I don’t know why I was more than confident to blog in Korean before, but now that I already know more than what I knew back then, I can’t seem to create good Korean paragraphs, or at least I don’t try to.

I’m actually planning to start this again, more especially, now that I finally half-know the diary form in Korean, and how to write using it. Besides, I don’t put my Korean into practice. I just studied and graduated from Elementary 2 without so much outputs and at least further info, nuances and usages outside classroom. I was limited to school and the lessons. Right now, I still don’t have practice or study plans, so why not do it the old way, write a diary, have it corrected somewhere, and post it. I’m just itching to type multiple Korean sentences again. I’m currently reading a book in full Korean, so I should also try to type and talk about something in full Korean.

My problem in creating Korean sentences is that I’m super limited (grammar wise). All the words I need right now are luckily still intact in my brain since I don’t usually use more complex words whenever I think. I think on an everyday basis so I don’t see myself using words like ‘muscular, solitary, enigma, proprietorship…’ or words that you can get by 100% of the day without using them. I can’t even remember when I last used the word as simple as ‘의자’ even in my own language.

Though teachers are supposed to encourage students to write more and write more, she would usually say ‘간단하게 만드세요~’. I tend to think in English sometimes regarding the style and the sequence of a written material so I often tend to misuse or miscombine grammar patterns as how I would write it in English. Therefore pronouncing my sentences as incorrect. They might be correct thought-wise, but technically, they’re not. I just don’t like formatted sentences. The book presents you an example e-mail and when you’re asked to write, you just format it exactly and just change the particulars with words that will most exactly fit situations. If it’s like that, then it would be more of a vocabulary and handwriting practice rather than legit ‘writing’.

Starting maybe…. uhmmmm. Just maybe when something interesting comes up, I will write in Korean again. It should be this week, so I should motivate myself to review more of the words and grammar patterns that are possible candidates for frequency of usage, so I won’t have to look and look at dictionaries or anywhere else continuously.

I hope this works. I’m turning 중급 but I’m still lacking, in let’s say… A LOT.