Welcome to Part 2 of the October 2012 Soshified Spotlight.

Just like every other month, we’re once again highlighting a regular member in Part 1, and a Soshified staff member in Part 2.

Just a reminder, in Part 1 we featured Sh1kamaru, a Latvian SONE who also has a variety of different interests. In Part 2 we meet Holly, a Moderator for Soshified. A clinical laboratory scientist from Kansas, Holly has been able to maintain her fervor for Girls’ Generation despite her minimally Asian surroundings, and her passion has even rubbed off on her co-workers. Joining Soshified just may be the one time Holly was not lazy, though according to her being a fan of Girls’ Generation has somehow made her even lazier. Yet, she is still able to find the energy to bombard her co-workers with Tiffany and try to make it to Singapore in the future.

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What is your first name?

Holly

How did you find out about Soshified and why did you decide to join?

Way back in 2008, I missed my chance to join Ambition, and basically when the time came, I really didn’t feel like joining it anymore due to the jarring green background it had. I saw an ad for Soshified, and I basically took about a month, deliberating whether or not I should join. You see, I’m super lazy and I hated joining a community especially when I knew I had to post and join in conversations. Too much effort! xD But finally, after watching Soshi Subs of MTV’s Lifestyle on veoh.com, I couldn’t get enough, and decided to overcome my laziness and joined. Never looked back.

Has Soshified and Girls’ Generation helped you overcome your laziness overall? Or are you just not lazy when it comes to Soshified and Girls’ Generation?

Oh trust me, I’m still lazy hahaha it seems like I’m proud of this……. perhaps, MAYBE! Though sometimes I may not look like I’m lazy, rest assured, I’m just very good at masking it! Believe it or not, the girls made me even lazier! Why? Because of them, I had to forgo a lot of things in order to make it to those SM Town concerts! So in other people’s eyes, I’m still lazy. And let’s keep it that way!

My life soundtrack (and I’m sure Jessica Jung’s): Lazy Girl.

Like idols, like fans.

How did you come up with your screen name?

My name is Holly and back then, Holly was still available. xD

Where are you originally from, and where do you currently reside (city and country for both)?

Originally, I was born in Vietnam. My family immigrated to the US when I was almost ten, and I’ve been living in the US ever since. Currently, I reside in Kansas. I don’t blame you if you don’t know where Kansas is. If you’ve ever watched the Wizard of Oz or Smallville, yes, both Dorothy and Clark are from Kansas.

If we were visiting you where you live for one day, where would you take us? Why are these places so significant?

Oh gosh, a lot of my SONE friends have made fun of the fact that I live in “cow country”, but that’s not all we offer. Besides awesomely good and cheap beef (the steaks are to die for and only twelve bucks!), the city I live in isn’t big but it’s not small either. I’d probably take you all to try some authentic good food around town. We have a surprisingly good variety of restaurants, especially Mediterranean, Italian, Spanish, and most importantly, Vietnamese food! If you feel like a home-cooked meal, my mom is more than ready to whip up an awesome offering of delicious food.

As you can tell, I talk mostly about food, my favorite topic, but we do have a nice river running across downtown, so I’d take you for a walk there. Also, we have two malls here, and if you’re into shopping, you probably wouldn’t want to leave, just because the prices are so cheap and the selections are endless.

How did you end up in Kansas?

Great question! I should ask the US Immigration services about this. Everyone else who was with us on the same plane left for California and other Asian-friendly states except my family. lol All things happen for a good reason, and I’ve come to love and appreciate Kansas and my city, best big small town ever.

Tell us a little about your life. What do you do full time and in your free time?

I currently work in the hospital as a clinical laboratory scientist. It’s quite a mouthful and sounds really technical, but what it really means is I examine blood/fluids/specimens in the lab in the hospital. And no, I’m not a nurse, just to put it out there.

Normally, in my free time, I attend church and I’m quite involved in it. It takes up a lot of my time, especially during the weekends since I’m part of the worship team for church. Also, I like to catch up to my weekend doses of Korea dramas like Arang and the Magistrate (love!), Faith, and Nice Guy, and I’m faithfully addicted to Running Man! It’s my de-stress routine. Watching the girls is also a wonderful way to de-stress, but Running Man really kicks it up a notch with all the silly antics.

What’s the most interesting thing about you and/or that has ever happened to you?

A couple years ago, starting in 2008, was the first time I went on a mission trip to Malaysia. It was the most amazing experience as a Christian and an American to go see how people on the other side of the globe live and strive. For most Americans, we take a lot of things for granted, and we tend to overlook the most basic things we have here, and that trip made me take a deeper look into my life. After that, in 2010, I had a chance to go to Korea, also another mission trip, and that was also an awesome experience. Also, in 2011, I had a chance to go to Vietnam for a mission trip and joined in the Christmas program there. Basically, every trip I’ve made overseas since 2008 had been a great learning experience for me. After college, I’ve gotten the chance and opportunity to go to a lot of places, and I hope this won’t ever stop; the chance to see and learn from other cultures.

For people who are first meeting you (like most of us), how would you describe yourself?

Oh, I love this question the best because I get a chance to pimp myself and no one can make me stop! In your face Vi, Michelle, Skinshin, Ezie, Ollie, and Alena! :DDD
I’m fun, nice, outgoing, friendly, outgoing, kind, witty, smart, awesome, and basically every synonym of awesome. Kidding aside, I’m most of what I described above lol. I don’t like pretentiousness, so how I am online is the same way I am in real life. I don’t pretend to be more outgoing or more mysterious, so I tend to make friends with people who exude the same feel.

Tell us some things that most people don’t know about you that you think they should.

I’m an unni fan, and I’ve been a fan of the girls since January 2008. Been with Soshified almost from the start and to see it exponentially grew into what it is today, I am amazed and in awe. Sometimes, I do miss the days of old where there were only 30 of us online and the sbox was much more intimate where everyone knew everyone. Nowadays, we have so many new members, I don’t have the chance to know who’s who anymore.

Also, I’d like to force the girls upon my unsuspecting co-workers lol I feel bad for all of them, especially when I constantly show them the girls’ MVs and forcefully make them identify Tiffany. The best game I’ve created so far hahaha. At every computer workstation, the girls are my wallpaper and I still have the Anycall Soul’s screensaver. Anytime, anyone new who asks me about it, I’d go into a whole schpeal about Girls’ Generation and of course, I’d never forget to tell them about Tiffany while pointing her out in the group picture, “She’s my favorite and her name is Tiffany! Remember herrrrr!”

How many co-workers have you been able to convert in SONEs? Or, how have you survived your co-workers even though you keep showing them Girls’ Generation?

One is coming very close to being a SONE! She’s been forced to identify Tiffany ever since she started working with me five years ago hahaha now she can recognize Tiffany 90% of the time, when she doesn’t have weird crazy bangs or hair color. Recently, I’ve been showing more new co-workers the girls and introduced them to the David Letterman’s The Boys performance, just because it’s the easiest for them to understand. Trust me, my co-workers are quite nice peeps, they’d let me rant and rave as much I want and then we continue on with work. Couldn’t ask for better people to work with. xD

Is there anything big in your life that you’re working on? (This can be related to school, career,hobbies,family,friends, etc.)

Besides my current career, I’m also seriously looking into being an instructor. Recently an opportunity popped up where the director of the Forensic Program at my local university is looking for an adjunct instructor. I’ve applied and hope that I’d be selected. This is a great opportunity for me, and I’ve been swayed by my fellow SONE friends to move to Singapore to be an instructor just for the fact that I’ll be in Asia so I can attend solo concerts more easily. It seems like all major decisions of my life ever since 2008 involved the girls in some way or another lol

So you say this instructor position is at your local university, but you would get to move to Singapore? How’s that work?

I was applying for a local university instructor position as a way to gain experience and pad my resume. So, when and if I do apply for Singapore (this is all just preliminary planning), I can add the previous experience into my profile. It’s all in the beginning stages, and I’m not sure I have enough experience yet to be an instructor, but here’s hoping for the best!

What are your interests outside of Girls’ Generation?

Ooh, ooh! I love playing Left for Dead 2! I’d like to give a shout out to all mah peeps who I play with all the time. It’s a fun game, and most of the time, our goal going into it is to de-stress, but basically after a game, I always find myself even MORE stressed out than before! Being on the same team as Michelle (FrozenArctic), Vi (pubsquash<3), and Ezie (Riin) is the most stressful thing ever! Friends, yes, but worst partners/teammates ever!

Thanks for making my game fun/hell guys: yulbutt, Alena, Geop, bridgeen, Tommy, Cuna, Sicalegs, Pam (aka fanyshouders), Mako, Dong, Robert, coco, angrycamel, Darren, Darien, etc. I promise to make tea before the game starts and won’t let you die hahahaha

How did you first become a fan of Girls’ Generation?

How to start with this… lol because honestly, I never liked big groups, ever, especially when this group had NINE girls and three of them resembled each other! I actually saw a video of the girls on Park Kyung Lim’s Wonderful Outing, the segment where they were calling people they knew/wanted to know. I was curious to see if the English-named girls Tiffany and Jessica really knew how to speak English. We should know by now that SM tends to exaggerate and blow up their artists’ talents, especially in the linguistic area (prime example: Yoochun). Tiffany was so, so cute back then especially her constant laughs and eyesmiles. I was definitely intrigued.

After watching that segment, I was pleasantly surprised that she had an American accent, so I decided to click on a few related videos of Tiffany’s radio performances, and one of them was with Seohyun. Safe to say, I kept on clicking on so many things that after a while, I ran out of things to watch, since the girls were really new back then. So I found my ways to Ambition, but they were too stingy with their subs, so I moved on to Soshified.

Who is your favorite member and why?

You can guess that it’s Tiffany. xD I am proud to say that Tiffany was the one who got me into Girls’ Generation, and she’s still my favorite until today. Not once have I swayed nor jumped ship! The girl continues to amaze me with every new album/single/performance. It’s the fact that she put a lot of effort into everything that she does, and she tries her best. I really admire that about her, and that just keeps me coming back for more.

What is your favorite Girls’ Generation song and MV and why?

Perfect For You (Honey) is actually my favorite song from the girls. Simply, it was the song that I heard the most when I was watching MTV’s Lifestyle and it stuck with me. That was during the time when I really wanted to know the girls more and that song was there, so basically it’s the induction song for me.

As for my favorite music video, I’m sure all of us would choose Into the New World. Whenever I watch that video, it brings me back to a time when the girls were just little unknowns with big dreams. To see the transformation and the progress they make since then bring tears to my eyes. Although they may not know me, I feel like their unni and proud at the fact that they made it, and made it big and I’m not ashamed to proclaim that to everyone around me. lol

What is your favorite Girls’ Generation moment and why?

Their first win on KBS Music Bank for Kissing You. It was the first time I’ve ever cried for a group and I think I cried just as hard as Sunny did that day. It was such a touching moment for the girls to win first on a major music program, and to know the full story behind why the girls cried so hard, it moved me a lot to appreciate them as artists even more.

How has Girls’ Generation impacted your life, in specific areas or even as a whole?

Like I stated before, the girls are now in some way a part of all my decision making. Anywhere I go, I’d like to check if there are concert dates, or always saving my vacation days in hopes to catch a solo concert one of these days. Also, because of Girls’ Generation, I got to meet a lot of wonderful people who share not only the same interest but the same passion as mine. The friends I’ve met/yet-to-meet, I thank the girls and also Soshified for the being the reasons why I get to know such awesome people from all around the world.

What do you like most about Soshified, and why? Any section in particular you’re attracted to?

In the beginning, I hung out in the subbed videos area and Tiffany, then I branched out to the Soshi Pairings and FanFics sections. From the sections that I’m currently in charge of, you can guess that I’m mostly roaming the Tiffany section along with FanFics. I love reading fanfics and I’d like to give a shout-out to all the awesome fics I’ve had the privilege to read, especially all the wonderful TaeNy fics written by chellie (forever my favorite writer) and donkatsu. Oh can’t forget “who I was, from the start” by darkaslay, basically my favorite non-TaeNy writer ever.

Why did you decide to join the Soshified staff, and why the particular job you have now?

Hmmm! I actually didn’t want to be a Soshfied staff just because I knew it would require a lot of commitment and a lot of work, which I’m fully aware that I’m too lazy to do any of it lol I’m not ashamed to admit to my laziness, and sometimes it can be an attribute! Back in the hay day, when the Tiffany section was in desperate need of a moderator, and when the staff members, especially moderators, were handpicked, I declined the offer, and felt kind of bad, so I told Wenting that I’d think about it, but I definitely didn’t want the responsibility. Next thing I know, the next day I logged in, Wenting had changed my status to moderator and told the rest of the staff that I had accepted the position with my “I’ll think about it”. >.> From then on, I had to clean up my act and be an awesome moderator. T_T Ezie was the evil one to add me to the FanFics section because she didn’t want to take care of it anymore. Just because I read fics does not mean I want to moderate it. So stress with these people.

What exactly do you do? Do you enjoy this position? What do you like about it?

I enjoy the perks that came with the color, especially back in the day when we get to “pimp” authors to update more often. We were really bored then, waiting for the girls to come back. lol Certain times, this moderating business can be such a pain, but it keeps things interesting. It’s quite tedious, but with it, comes great friends. I love moderating with my awesome peeps. Gotta include Brad in here for being awesome and a faithful minion. Also, ookie for handling the Hyoyeon section so exceptionally well that I don’t even need to do anything. xD And my other lazy minion by the name of Ollie (Icarus), everyone please harass her. As a minion, she sure makes me do more work than I have to! These were the people who had helped me a great deal in indexing. Without you guys, I would have died. Thanks for being such awesome peeps.

What is your favorite project that you’ve ever been involved in?

Best one I remembered was the forum anniversary project where we did a scavenger hunt. It was fun times. I got to be an active DJ for a bit and drove listeners crazy with the songs remixes. I hope Soshified will organize another one in the near future, where all the members get to be involved and have fun.

Is there anything else about you that you would like to add?

Is this another chance for me to pimp myself more? Oh it’s not? Awww shoot.

You could pimp yourself some more if you would like.

I like that I get to pimp myself again, thank you. This is the best kind of interview ever! I’d like to add cute and adorable to my long list of awesome attributes hahaha I have a feeling, a lot of eggs and tomatoes will be thrown my way, but I’ll gladly accept them. They’d make a great omelette!

Oh, I’d like to give a shout out to my friend, who I wrote up there as Ollie, but her real name is Bill. She’s the best ever because she’s true to herself and doesn’t care if other people ridicule the name. I personally love it and stand by her. Bill, you know I’m awesome and I thank you for that.

Also, a special shout-out to my awesome grandkid Jennie, whom I’ve known when I first joined Soshified until now. We’ve been through a lot together, even if we don’t get to see or talk to each other a lot, we still are close and can pick up right where we left off. She’s the one I’ve known the longest, next to Vi, and I’m glad to still know you guys.

Here’s to Linda for her awesome unni style and being a good friend. I love the donuts and I’m so sad I didn’t get to try the bear claw. T__T

Finally, I’d like to give another shout-out to my favorite Toronto people Lisa and Lyl. You guys are the best! You always welcome me with open arms and hearts, especially Lyl into your home without hesitation. Also, thanks a bundle to Lisa for driving us around and showing us great places to eat. Love you guys and your awesome hospitality and friendship. Next time, a week at Lyl’s lake house and a visit to Niagara Falls! Let’s go!

So many SONE feelings right now! It’s supposed to be a space for me to pimp, but ended up with SONE-friend feelings. xD Let’s just put this out there, I’ve met a lot of awesome SONEs over the years, and I’m grateful for Soshified being the vessel for all of this to happen.

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Huge thanks goes out to Holly for participating in Soshified Spotlight this month. As usual, you can submit nominations for future Soshified Spotlights if you’d like to participate or if you’d like to get to know a fellow member better. Instructions on how to do so can be viewed at the Soshified Spotlight Solicitation announcement.

You can also read past Soshified Spotlights by clicking on the “Soshified Spotlight” tag below.

Compiled by: residentbenchwarmer@soshified
Graphic by: cioco@soshified

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