All right, so a few notable things have happened that are of personal interest to me in the past several days, and may or may not be of interest to you. I thought I’d share, in case you are.

Warning: Very loooooong, possibly rambling post.

(This first part is mostly personal; for Gyu-related bits, scroll down to the section Did you hear about Gyu?).

Oh my, we had a coup…

First of all, the military staged a coup d'état in my country (Thailand). This happened following months and months of political unrest and continuous protests in our capital city, and also the declaration of martial law. A curfew was declared (no one is to leave their place of residence without reason from 10 PM to 5 AM), and all the major media outlets (TV, radio, and some online news sites) were taken over by the army. Schools and universities have also been ordered to close for a  few days. Thankfully, we still have internet, so we’re getting most of alternative news that way.

Now, for anyone who’s never lived in a country where a coup has taken place, you might be thinking, “Oh my goodness, bloodshed! Violence! Chaos!” And indeed, there is some of that, but only in select places. I know I’m going to sound blasé about this, but really, for now, things haven’t really changed much, aside from what I said above. And you might even be wondering, Why isn’t she more worried? Of course, I am worried—I mean, we don’t have a government at the moment and one of our primary industries is tourism, and ain’t no one gonna be wanting to come to some random backwater nation under military rule, let’s be real here—but here are some facts that might explain my tepid reaction a bit better.

This is the second coup I have lived through; that’s right, coup number two. The last one was only eight years ago, so that means, there is a significant amount of Thai people who have yet to reach such major milestones as voting for the first time or even shaving for the first time who have experienced a sudden, dramatic change of government—twice. The first time was scary, let me tell you that. It was late evening when my brother came to tell me there were reports of tanks all over downtown Bangkok. Can you imagine how you would feel if you heard of tanks showing up randomly in your country’s most major city? Yeah, that’s how we (those in the dark; there were many who were not) felt.

It was a bloodless coup that time, though, and things slowly went back to normal. Until it happened again. And people are mostly saying (or hoping), it’s going to be like last time, as well. This not being because that’s how it turned out last time, but because my country has had at least 18-19 known attempted coups, 12 of which were successful. So, yes, I am a bit jaded by the whole situation; many Thais are. It sounds so ridiculous, but we’re actually kinda used to the whole thing. It , trust me, and we are always aware it could turn out far worse than what we believe, but when it happens this often, can you blame us for being a bit indifferent to the whole matter? I mean, last night, the real-time Twitter trends in the country, of course, were about the coup—but also on the list was Infinite’s Last Romeo and EXO’s upcoming concert. Can you sense the jadedness?

The whole situation is highly nuanced, and there is a lot going on behind the scenes that I, as an average citizen, know I will never be privy to. And it’s so weird that today’s Dictionary.com quote just so happens to be this one from Anna C. Brackett: Do not seek for information of which you cannot make use.

I can get behind that. However, that does not mean I endorse blatant, willful ignorance or the blind consumption of questionable media. On the contrary, I think that is absurd, and even dangerous, in our information-rich society to unthinkingly take things at face value.

Which brings me to my next topic:

Did you hear about Gyu?

EDITED TO ADD: According to new information given to me by negiramen (found here), this rumor has already been disputed. In which case, please read my speculation as just that - speculation that was formed in the period before I was made aware of the new facts. However, the core truth remains the same - Kim Sunggyu is flawless!

(Thanks for the information!)

********

Infinite came back! I am psyched, naturally. While searching for news on them, though, I stumbled across this article from Soompi:

Infinite’s Sungkyu Reported as Agency CEO’s Nephew

Basically, this says that in an article that has now been deleted by Sports Seoul, it was alleged that Sunggyu is the nephew of Woollim CEO Lee Jong Yeop.

Now, if that’s true (and there are some people saying it’s not, that it’s just a mistranslation or a misreading of the original article, which again, has been deleted), it does bring a few questions to my mind.

However, not one of those questions is: Does this affect his status as my ultimate bias?

The answer, quite simply, is “no”.

If it’s true, yes, it may be construed as a case of nepotism, but honestly speaking, does that make Gyu any less of a good singer, any less of a solid entertainer, any less of a dedicated leader?

(Ahem, any less of a too-smoking-hot-to-exist-but-OMO-there-he-is-wondering-if-you’ve-listened-to-his-latest-solo-Light­-yet babe?)

No.

Do I think it might be true? It could be; I would only be about 25% surprised if it turned out to be legit, but that’s because I always did wonder why he was so freakishly close to the boss, to the point where they hang out all the time and Sunggyu was even given free reign with the man’s personal credit card. Yes, it could just be because he is the beloved one (what’s not to love about Gyu, seriously?...She says, bias glasses firmly on), but the family connection would make sense, too.

Still, the fact that the original article has gone poof is a bit suspicious, and if there is one thing living in a coup-ridden country has taught me: always question the “facts”.

However, like I said, it’s not like he isn’t talented (we can agree on that, right? Even people who are not Gyustans? Bibimbaby’s definitely got some pipes), so it’s not like he’s not deserving of his current position.

So, my ultimate bias he stays for now, no matter the danger to my wallet, my heart, my nose, my ovaries, and my sanity.

I am way too tired to get into a full-blown discussion about this right now, but I do believe there are only a certain set of reasons to unstan a bias (other than having another bias edge them out), and this is definitely not one of them. I’ll save the reasons I would leave the Gyu behind for another blog post. (And trust me, I would leave him. My love isn’t that unconditional. I’ll be honest about that.)

Also, people were linking to this Tumblr post, about how this article is just a harbinger of doom for our boys. It’s an interesting read, but as with all information, take it with a grain of salt. As long as no crimes or emotional abuse were committed by anyone, I’ll stay an Inspirit and a Gyustan, thank you very much.

This post approved by Kim “Alleged nephew” Sunggyu and Lee “Alleged uncle” Jung Yeop sajangnim, a.k.a “Them Some Cuties Nonetheless”.

*Picture credits to their owners