Why are these pictures so funny to me?
Everybody else’s photos are normal looking.
Apr18
Marines! The Musical
Category Archives: military service
Apr16
The news from Park Kyung
Park Kyung apparently won’t be discharged this month because he became a public-service worker due to health problems. (If you don’t know, public-service workers usually serve for about two years instead of the roughly year-and-a-half for regular military service.)
This of course seems very, very sudden to us, and my initial reaction was to go, “OMG! Health problems! Aaaagh!!”
But then I thought about it, and I think if it’s affecting his discharge date, then this change probably happened quite some time ago. It was probably more like what happened with Jaehyo–Park Kyung tried regular service, but his long-time health issues (allergies, digestion, general wimpiness) meant that he couldn’t handle it, hence the switch to public service.
The label held off making the switch public because you always have to do that with Korean celebrities and military service. As we saw with Jaehyo and Zico as well, there’s always flak whenever a K-Pop idol gets easier service. (Unless, apparently, they work for one particularly well-financed group, in which case it’s 100% OK to never serve! Rules for thee and not for me, motherfuckers!!) So it makes sense to hold off on releasing the news until it simply can’t be avoided.
Most important, I don’t think that Park Kyung is having some sort of acute medical crisis, even though we’re getting this news in a sudden way. It doesn’t make sense to me that they would handle a crisis by switching him over to public service–that seems like a weirdly “ho-hum” response if something is seriously wrong.
Anyway, if you need to soothe your nerves (and don’t we all these days), here is a cute picture of Jaehyo with the Block B bear!
Mar28
Da cutest!
Aw! He’s the cutest little Marine evah!
ETA: Not bald enough, apparently….
Dec3
Welcome back, Taeil!
Since, unlike some people, Taeil performed his patriotic duty, he’s coming home!
He’s still technically in the military until next month (this is a COVID-19 protocol, you basically take your leave at the end of your service term), but it will be nice to see him out and about soon!
ETA: There he is!
Translation here!
EATA: Oh my GOD!
https://www.instagram.com/p/CIX1WK_jEEA/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Nov21
Ah, Taeil….
Taeil wrote us another love letter–there’s thankfulness, thoughts on life, and frozen urine. He’s getting out in a couple of weeks (!), so he thinks people should stop sending stuff to his military address. (Thanks again to Yezi for translating!)
It will be nice to have him singing again, but I will miss these letters, if only because they were so unexpected.
ETA: And there’s a cute letter from U-Kwon, too! Score!
Nov8
Howdy!
B-Bomb is looking fine….
Park Kyung managed to survive basic training….
https://twitter.com/yoyoonas/status/1325318647766609921
And I’ve never been into Shinee’s music, but I suddenly have an abiding love for Key!
Oct31
No-hair Kyung!
He doesn’t look THAT bad….
Oct27
If you want to write Park Kyung
There’s a little tutorial here (thank you!). Again, it’s going to have to be an electronic letter–once Kyung is out of basic training, he should have access to social media again, so you can always wait a couple of weeks and send support that way.
ETA: Oh, wait! There is an address for physical letters here!
Oct18
A good thing to read
Park Kyung has written a letter as he enters military service–thank you for translating!
Sep18
My Other Blog 