JUWEONNAGO…

THE CALL

// April 3rd, 2009 // 5 Comments » // Australia

The time that TQ would make the announcement for the final 16 (the number of finalists that they decided to increase to from 11) was 11pm UTC on April 2nd.  That translates to 8AM on April 3rd Korean Time.  Needless to say, I did not sleep a wink.  For those who made the cut, TQ said they would be calling about an hour ahead, so I sat by my computer, logged into the MSN chat room that Hailey set up for the other 50 shortlisters on NING (an online community based soley for fans and followers of the Best Job competition who want the latest info on the candidates and the competition) and placed my cell right next to the laptop.  About 20 minutes after 7 AM, Hailey got the very first phone call.  Hailey was IN, and not surprisingly.  Then a couple of people in the chat room said they received emails telling them they were OUT.

RING~~~~~ my home phone rings and I run to get the wireless headset across the house, shattering my knee cap on the desk drawer in the process.  It’s MY GRANDMA’S FRIEND calling to talk to my grandma who’s on Jeju island enjoying a quick 3 day getaway with her friends.  And she would not hang up.  I finally get off the phone with her as politely as humanly possible then BOOM, another disaster.

It was at this point that my computer couldn’t take the excitement any longer and decided to freeze.  I had to reset my computer, which caused me to exit out of the group chat and I wasn’t able to get back in once the computer rebooted.  So basically, I was the cyberspace version of the kid who missed out on the game of dodge ball at recess because I took too long to get to the playground.  So there I was getting updates from James Hill and Steven from TX on separate chats.

James messages me “Cali just got in.”  Followed by Steven telling me “Doug, Linda and Jackie are out.”  And I’m sitting there trying so desperately to take a peek through the cracks of this imaginary cyberspace door that is preventing me from getting back into the chat room.

James speculates it’s pretty much over. Then I get a “WOOOOOOOHHHH” from James. Obviously, it’s good news.

7:40AM no call, no email for me.  I get back on NING to follow the updates coming from Greg who’s relaying the message from the MSN chat.

7:45, 15 minutes till they announce the results on the web, I still haven’t gotten a call or email.

Then all of a sudden my CELL STARTS TO RING… the number on the caller ID is +0000-0000 International Call… my heart is pounding, my breathing gets faster, my fingers are trembling…

I answer and I hear the sweetest male voice I have ever heard, second only to Luciano Pavarotti who I heard live back in ‘94 at the Hollywood Bowl.  Okay, back to the call…

ME:  Hello?

Qld Minister for Tourism and Fair Trading
Peter Lawlor:  Yes… is this Jooo-wee-on?

the rest of my bumbling and trembling phone call was recorded on my built in cam on my macbook which i managed to activate.  god i love macs.  hope you enjoy!

[wpvideo O0Kho8SY]

Go check out the following page yourself by clicking here. If for some reason they still say my age is 32, it’s not, it’s 25. I guess I still have a bit more marketing to do to make myself look young.  (they have now fixed the  web page to display my correct age.  hooray!)

who's that sexy man on the far left?

he would make mighty fine island caretaker!

Haven’t slept in the past 28 hours. I’m going to bed.  Work in 4 hours.

PEACE to the Middle East!

It's not all fun and games

// March 12th, 2009 // 5 Comments » // Australia

Wow, what a week this has been.  I never knew that running a PR campaign for yourself would be this difficult and exhausting.  I could only imagine what politicians and presidential candidates go through.  I’ve been doing this for about 10 days… Barack Obama did it for almost 2 years.  Yes, Obama had plenty of help, but still…

Here are some food for thought…

Obama VS JUWEON

Total Votes as of Friday, March 13th, 4:44AM KST

(combining all the unlucky numbers from the West and East…guess I like tempting fate)

69,456,897 : 5005

52.7% of the popular vote : “yeah, i’m not calculating that”

47 years old : 25 years old (but 27 in Korean age)

born on an odd year 1961 : born on an odd year 1983

5,881,136 members in his facebook group : 216 members in my “best job” facebook group

Help me catch up!(Join “Juweon Jonathan Kim for the Best Job in the World”)

loves basketball : loves basketball

moved halfway around the world as a child : moved halfway around the world as a child

(Hawaii to Indonesia : Korea to the US)

Obama rhymes with “Osama” bin Laden : Kim rhymes with “Kim” Jong-il

that’s all I got so far… not quite sure what I’m trying to argue here.  Anyways, I guess my conclusion is that I’m cool just like our PREZ.

Anyways, about my PR campaign and the media blitz… apparently, I’m one of two Koreans who made the final 50.  My local rival is Gina Maeng.  I had a chance to meet her a couple of times for joint interviews and she’s a great gal.  She’s gone through a lot, life handed her a lot of lemons, but she did the best she could with them.  Oh, and from the looks of it, I might have helped her to get a job at EBS, although it was mainly our director taking a liking to her when she was doing the interview with me earlier in the week.  By ABSOLUTE SHEER coincidence, she’s also close friends with my gf… it’s a small world.

As soon as they announced the final 50, there was an article up on Korea’s major internet portals like naver.com and daum.net.  I immediately got to work and started setting up some interviews using my connections in the biz.  The story BLEW UP a day later when the press found out that Gina was the cousin of an actor who is currently starring in one of the hottest TV shows in Korea.  She became the #1 searched name on Naver and I just grabbed on that coattail and jumped on for the ride.  Her Cyworld, which is like the Korean facebook, had more than 60,000 visitors in one day… but the sad thing is, she got less votes than me. go check out my cyworld page

My media exposure so far…

In Korea:

KBS – 9PM evening news

SBS TV – “좋은 아침 +1″ (”Good Morning +1″ TV program)

Arirang Radio – “Evening Groove” (but it’s the station where I work, so I can’t really count it)

Bunch of “Sports” papers like this article from Sports Khan

The Joong Ang Daily – featured article in the “Perspective” (Thanks Rich!)

EBS FM – “Morning Special” (i work at this station too)

TBS eFM – “On the Pulse with Robert Joe” (Robert is also a Longhorn!)

TBS 교통방송 (Korean station) – 이종환의 마이웨이이(Lee Jong-hwan’s My Way)

In the US:

The Daily Texan – The Paper at The University of Texas at Austin: Go read the article

KSAT12 – local TV station in San Antonio, TX on their morning, afternoon and 10pm news

The San Antonio Express News – coming out on Monday, US time

And some Korean newspaper in Houston – I have no clue, but they somehow got my parent’s # and called them.

I just want to give a special shout out to Susan Hamilton for working the local media in SA.

The affect these media exposures give is pretty evident.  On Wednesday, the story was featured on Sports Khan, KSAT and EBS’s Morning Special and my standing, after sliding down to 11th, went back up to 9th.

We got about 12 more days left, I’m just hoping for steady voting, a little spurt this weekend with the Texan and the Express News releasing the stories and a strong kick at the finish after I do a couple of more interviews that’s lined up in the coming days.

I think it is fairly impossible to beat the Taiwanese Voting Monster, aka, Claire, but I do believe that staying in the top 10 is important because the amount of attention I can draw to myself will be one of the variables playing a part in the equation that gets me into the 10 that moves on to the next round.

Still waiting for the power of the “KOREAN NETIZENS.”  WHERE ARE YOU?!?!  I NEED YOUR HELP KOREA!!!!

한국에 계시는 여러분! 그 소중한 한표 부탁드립니다. 투표 하시고 꼭 이메일 책크하셔서 투표 “confirm”해주세용~~~

Oh, I’m sure my friends back home will crack up about this little tidbit… I’m meeting a lady from a publisher next week because they want to give me a book deal.  Gotta love it!

That’s all for now.  Look for some “interesting and intriguing” updates coming up this weekend!

Remember to vote everyone and thanks for all of your support!