before i came to know shinee, i am completely disinterested with everything related to music. i often wonder why my grade school classmates are so obsessed listening to music, dancing to the beat of it, and always keeping their phones updated with the new stuff. i wasn't even to kpop when i joined a site called crunchyroll. that site used to have so many kpop fans before but i wasn't moved at all until i met a person that i want to befriend so much. this person likes onew so much and talks about shinee with every user that left comments on her wall. ofc, i google searched shinee, read stuff about them in allkpop site, and watch their music videos so just i have something to talk with her. as time went on, the two of us became good online friends and became close ones. during those times, however, i have come to know more about shinee, like them a little bit more, and completely fell in love with them in hello baby show. taemin became my bias (calling myself taemincraze afterwards) although i used to silently judge him to be the ugliest of the five when they debuted. (i wasn't a hater btw, being judgmental at first sight was something i couldn't control back then). years after, just as much as how i grew close with this friend of mine, we fell apart due to personal reasons.. i still check her page at times though that's why i came to see how she fell out of love for shinee. i felt so disappointed although it wasn't my right to be.. after all, this person was the very reason how i discovered shinee. if it wasn't for her, i doubt that i'd be here - loving and supporting the boys for more than 7 years already. i wasn't a fan when shinee debuted. i like their juliette song but it's during ring ding dong period that i tried to know them and it was hello baby season that made me a huge fan.

these 7 years for me wasn't really a smooth road. many things happened to me - events that often made me feel so sad, depressed and so unworthy.. and in those moments, my only way of cheering myself up was to listen to shinee songs and watch clips of them in youtube. afterwards, i'd feel a little bit better and sometimes very giggly. however, there were also those days that i feel like i'm the happiest person ever. every single time you guys release your teasers and music video, i would scream so much, hurt my keyboard for trying to make a sentence while spazzing, and coo at how cool you guys are. 

to never forget, you guys had so much impact on how i come to accept the lgbt community. i used to think in a very traditional and most accepted way.. but you guys were different.. there were 'things' that made me realize that love is unconditional in so many ways..

also, i met so many people in these years - people who made me think, realize, and grow into a person that tries to be better..

to shinee, a simple thank you for everything that you shared to me and to everyone. thank you for staying strong for each other, for the group, and for us. thank you for always being true to yourselves and always thinking of the group. most of all, thank you for always voicing out your thoughts, opinions, agreements and disagreements towards each other and everyone else to become better people.

to more years we will cherish, happy 8th anniversary!