epik_noodles: (Default)
So the concert was totally AWESOME!!!! 15th row YEAH!!!

Guess who I saw while I went out to eat after the Jin Akanishi concert....
FRIKKIN JIN AKANISHI!!!

Jin sighting!!!!!!!!!!!!
JIN WAS IN THE SAME RESTAURANT WITH ME!!!!!!! HE WAS PRACTICALLY NEXT TO ME!!!!
*spaz*
I got to hang out with Jin Akanishi indirectly!

We went to go eat Korean BBQ because we were hungry. Jin walked in shortly after we arrived. He was with two fellow Johnnys. I was freaking out in a calm way (if that makes sense), He's soooooo hot up close. I was so sad because JE policies forbid photos, so I couldn't get a picture with him. WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!! I was sooooooooooooooo close to getting an autograph. I was clutching my poster too.

We asked the restaurant employees if we could buy Jin ice cream or something, but they said it's in their policy to not disturb celebrity customers. Jin left at the same time we did. One of Miho's friends told us that the employee said we were free to stalk Jin after he leaves the restaurant. So he asked me, "Hey Tessie, you wanna go around back to get Jin's autograph?!" I said, "Are you implying I'm a stalker?! I shall do no such thing!"

I was in the same restaurant as Jin, good enough! No need to bother the poor guy. BEST CONCERT DAY EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

epik_noodles: (Default)
OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG I'M GOING TO THE JIN AKANISHI CONCERT TODAY!!!

Miki scored some tickets last minute. At first we couldn't grab any tickets was JE was an ass and released the dates super last minute. All the tickets were sold out because of this issue and most people weren't informed, thus missing their chance.

I can't believe I'm going! I've been moping all week because I couldn't go. Now I can go!!! Ahahahahaha!!!!! I'm so frikkin happy!!! If there's one guy who can make me squeal like a fan girl, it's Jin! Sorry Nishijima, I still love you.

Drawing is on hold till I get a gagillion pictures of Jin at the concert.
AWESOME!!!!! See ya!

epik_noodles: (Sleepy)
I'm really tired right now and I really want to go to sleep.
But I will say that the concert was really fun!!!!
I wish the night would never end. It was a memorable concert indeed. The concert was worth every penny. The audience too had so much energy. Actually, WonderGirls will be returning again next month, but this time with 2AM as an opening act. Today's concert really wore me out. Okay, super tired now.

Here's a low quality teaser thanks to my phone that can't take pictures in the dark.

There's hundreds more where that came from! I had a real camera with me too and I captured many excellent quality shots! Please wait until tomorrow.

Good night!

epik_noodles: (Default)
I checked my e-mail earlier and Arata finally responded to my favor. Okay, so I've learned that there are several ice rinks nearby. The prices are insane though. Over here admission + rental is about $7, but in Japan, it's about $20 for both. Wow, I could buy a meal with that. If I brought my own skates with me, it'd be about $14 just for admission. That is crazy, but understandable since their public skating hours are almost every day as to the rink near my house which is open twice a week during skate season and once a week any other time.

What interests me most is the synthetic iceless ice developed by Mitsubishi. It's a type of plastic that was designed with 90% the slick surface of ice and it doesn't need to be maintained often, it lasts. But it's only for hockey games/players, because figure skaters would tear that thing up so fast when they would launch. It's so cool, but probably won't be available anywhere else.

Oh yeah, the WonderGirls and 2PM concert is tomorrow. I can't wait!!! I'm so excited. I got special meet and greet tickets with Miki. It's a pre-show thing, so we need to get there early. I get to take pictures with WonderGirls and 2PM!!! I get to speak Thai with Nichkhun since he's the non-Korean guy in 2PM and he's Thai. Ohh... maybe I'll ask for his autograph, but we'll have to see what the record label's rules are on that kind of stuff. I know that some companies are super strict about autograph policies. I need to go to sleep quickly so I can go to the concert early. I'm super excited... I'm just wondering where Miki went. Miki still isn't home yet, it's late.

Tell me, tell me...t-t-t-t-t-tell me!
Again and again and again and again...*beeping sounds*

Sadly, "Again and Again" is the only popular 2PM song I know.
I'll probably get pictures from the meet and greet and concert up by the day after tomorrow because I'll be too wiped from the concert to actually post anything. It's a maybe.

See you after the concert!
epik_noodles: (Default)
Today... quite early in the morning...
We headed off to Lincoln Park for the seasonal farmer's market. You know, the outdoor market where local growers, farmers and harvesters sell their products. All of the produce there is freshly picked and most of it is organic and homegrown. Nothing beats the freshness of a farmer's market.

I took a look around and I saw the most beautiful Stevia plants. They were very healthy and had big leaves. I bought it later because I didn't want to carry it around with me everywhere. I found a stall that only sold apples, ohhhh they had the sweetest.. crunchiest Honey Crisps EVER!!!! I bought half a dozen of them, they were so yummy! I walked around a little more and there was a place that sold rhubarb smoothies. I bought one thinking that it tasted like a rhubarb soda... To my surprise... it didn't taste like rhubarb soda. It was really tart, like... worse than a lemon, it was super sour. I kind of tasted like rose apples! For those unfamiliar with exotic fruit, rose apples are small pear shaped fruit with a peel as slick as a tomato and flesh like styrofoam. The info about the rose apple is here. After my super sour drink, There's another stall that sold crepes. They made them at the farmer's market. I ordered a herb and cheese crepe and it was delicious. It was so cheesy and gooey, so yummy! Miki and I sat under a nice shady tree and ate our crepe. Miki said it was good, but it'd be even better if we added snails! Soon after eating we started to head out, on the way out of the market I bought two Stevia plants... for my little sugar project.

We did pick up some groceries on the way back home at a local grocery store near our house. I just got myself some Coke and Iced Tea. Not long after we arrived home, we continued watching "Castle." That mystery series is just getting better and better! We took a little break after two episodes and "watched an episode of "CHUCK" too. Miki had to leave to the gym not too long after we watched CHUCK.

While Miki was gone, I watched my newly arrived "AAA 4th Anniversary Concert DVD" with my roommate. I've never seen the concert yet because I've patiently waiting for my disc to arrive. So, I saw this concert for the first time today!!! Yay for our "region-free" DVD player, we can watch DVDs from any country. I was able to watch the concert on our awesome flat screen!

While we were watching the concert, my roommate was wondering why I liked AAA so much. My roommate is fascinated by my love for foreign music. I replied, "There is no language barrier in music, music is universal and so is the expressive love for music... you should at least know that." My roommate shut up and watched with me. My roommate recognized "Nishijima" off the bat! My roommate shouted, "AH! That's the guy that crossdressed for that one show right?!" I showed my roommate "Otameshika" before. My roommate started to get hooked to the songs and kept saying how catchy the songs were. I was surprised that my roommate was enjoying the concert for someone who doesn't care much for AAA. I started hearing comments like, "They're so cool, I like how they dance, they sing well, they're good at singing live, a true band!" My roommate is starting to like Naoya? Something about Naoya appearing to be the most masculine...

Around halfway through the concert, AAA started to use hand-held microphones. My roommate told me something rather ridiculously stereotypical. A little disclaimer: This is not true(at least not to my knowledge). This is not a fact, but it's more of a silly theory. Don't take my word on it, because I don't believe this theory to be accurate. But rather a coincidental occurrence, which most cases were proven to be true. So here is what my roommate told me...
My roommate said that, a singer's sexuality can be determined by "how" they hold or position their "microphone." Being in and out of the music industry often makes people keen in the sense of psychological cold-reading. Specifically, my roommate said, "if the singer holds his microphone with his pinky straightened out or sticking outwards, it's an indication that the singer is gay." If you imagine yourself holding a microphone, normally all of your fingers will be curled in and completely wrapped around the microphone handle, right? But that could also be based off preference.

My roommate made an example of Naoya by saying, this is how normal people hold microphones.

Then what I noticed was Shuta!
Shuta is the only one who holds his microphone with his pinky out for the majority of all the songs! Shuta held his mic like that for 92% of the songs that required hand-held mics.My roommate kept pointing it out. I was getting a little annoyed, but Shuta wasn't the only one.


Nishijima actually holds his microphone like Shuta too!

Nishijima held the mic like that almost as much as Shuta did. Compared to Shuta's percentage, Nishijima had his pinky up for about 40% if the songs. However, Nishijima's pinky was up for about 95% of Deai no Chiikara. But strangely he was less frequent in the other songs.

Random observation led me to noticing someone I least expected...

Surprisingly, I totally didn't notice until my roommate pointed this out. Shinjiro has his fingers poised outwards for most of the concert too. Even more so frequent to that of Nishijima. Around maybe 55% for all of the songs. At this point, I figured my roommate's theory to be the as useless as an empty roll of tape. Shinjiro, as far as I know, does not swing that way. Shuta and Nishijima, sure, possible candidates, but Shinjiro is the last person I'd expect. What a dumb theory, but my roommate said it was proven true in many cases regarding the music industry. I'm still in disbelief. I personally think it's based off of comfort and preference of how a person held their mic. My roommate believes otherwise.

Because I enjoy arguing with the roommate I so despise, I made another point by saying how the extended pinky is a well mannered gesture in the United Kingdom for drinking tea. When holding a teacup, it is proper to hold the teacup handle with your pinky extended out. I don't know why, but that's how they do things. It was a bit irrelevant, but I wanted to make another point as well to bring up more possibilities other than that silly theory. The microphone deal might be for comfort reasons. That would be my opinion.

In conclusion, according to my roommate... "Shuta is undeniably gay!!!!"
The theory is nice for thought but it isn't a solid claim and it lacks justification. I won't let it get to me, I told my roommate to not believe any stereotypes they hear.

We also watched an episode of Tumbling after the concert. Now my roommate is hooked on Tumbling. My roommate asked in such a sad voice, "Why is Nishijima so mean in this drama?! He seemed so nice on stage." My roommate is badgering me to watch the next episode of Tumbling, which I haven't gotten yet. You'll just have to wait silly roommate!!!

Until next time, bye again.
epik_noodles: (Default)
I can't believe it!
"Wonder Girls" are going to be touring the states and their opening act is "2pm"!
They're having their Chicago show on June 8, 2010 at House of Blues.
For those unfamiliar with Wonder Girls, they are a cute(turned sexy) female Korean pop group. Although they seem to have lost a member(rumors said she quit). The Wonder Girls are excellent dancers, very skilled, but their vocal talents are "questionable..."(crazy fans might shoot me for saying that). My theory on why Korean artists dance so well is that they were robotically programed from birth to be able to dance with mad skills...


Anyways, their music is always fun and catchy, mainly addicting, yeah... there's something about the music, it's just fun. Oh yeah, can't forget about 2pm, the opening act. 2pm is pretty good too. They can pull off the hip hop and acrobatic moves really well in their performances. One of the 2pm members is Thai, his name is Nichkhun:

I'm not a 2pm fan, but I have to say... that song of theirs, "Again and Again," was REALLY good. The choreography 'for that song' (no offense) really sucked(interesting, no doubt) but... not hot. Imagine... slow-mo + treadmill + moonwalk + reaching for that far TV remote... Interesting visual right? No, I am not killing the fandom, I believe 2pm is awesome in songs and dancing abilities(I still think AAA is better). I just really loved the Again and Again song, but I disliked the dance for it, that's all.

Wonder Girls was one of the first female pop groups I listened to regarding the Korean music industry. I love their songs, the Wonder Girls themselves were good role models for young girls. The Wonder Girls were cute, sassy, and respectable, but they were mostly empathizing on the cuteness factor. But lately... they've been getting sexier and sexier, with their image changing slowly. I really like their upbeat music and their easy to remember choreography, courtesy of JYP. The sampling used in their song tracks are very nostalgic, because their music editor mixes songs from the early 80's that were produced by JYP himself. Their songs are awesome no matter what.

Moving on...
I heard that the Wonder Girls concert already sold out!
I got REALLY lucky!!!!!! Miki and I got ourselves some tickets, but they weren't normal tickets... we got... the BACKSTAGE VIP PASSES!!!!! We get to meet Wonder Girls backstage and get pictures taken with them!!!!! If 2pm is still wandering around backstage, we could probably catch a meeting with them too. It would be a cool experience to have a brief chat with Nichkhun in Thai, that would be so awesome. Then again... I might get harassed by fangirls online(a common occurrence caused by insane fangirls) *sarcasm* "oooh I'm so scared."  Don't "fellow fan-haters" suck? We've all had our fill of that, right? Let's just hope I don't get beat on for having the opportunity to meet the Wonder Girls and 2pm.

I can't wait for this concert!!!!!!!!!!!
I CAN'T BELIEVE I HAVE BACKSTAGE PASSES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'm so excited!!!!!!!!! I get to meet the Wonder Girls!!! A dream come true!
epik_noodles: (Default)
Okay.... so my phone was confiscated for about a week.
I didn't get the chance to post the pictures for the day of the Utada concert.

So sorry for sounding repetitive...

Starting with my morning...
I was going to post this anyways since someone brought up duck feet and the place I'm house sitting is nearby "Argyle", which is technically the name of the street it's on, but its Chicago's "Asiantown", a large mixed community of all Asians. The picture of the banner was really hard to get because it was up so high and I kept worrying that my phone wouldn't get a clear shot.

Everyone who lives near the northside just calls it Argyle, it's much shorter than saying "Asiantown District".
On the day of the concert, Miki and I woke up early to buy some Vietnamese Subs(we call sandwiches 'subs' in the mid-west), some baos, and some mooncakes for myself. I bought two subs, one pulled chicken sub to eat for breakfast and one pork fat/skin sub to munch on before the concert.

After Argyle, we went ice skating at the indoor ice rink in "Skokie"(the next town over). We always go into the nearby town because admission rates in Chicago are unfair, but at least I have a skater's pass for the place in Skokie. As I have said once before, My sister and I use different skates... we think alike, sound alike, act alike (its kind of creepy), but we are total opposites when it comes to interests. My sister uses "figure skates" like the ones you see on TV where they're doing fancy twirls and I use "velocity skates" which are designed like hockey skates, but built to maintain balance and are wonderful for accelerating. My sister wants to dance on ice and I want to skate really fast until I slam into a wall from being unable to stop.

Well actually, there was this one random guy at the rink who was fascinated by my skates. He's really good at skating since he can skate backwards and do crisscrosses. After public skating session was over, he was talking to me in the locker area. He asked what type of skates I used; whether they were hockey skates or not. I told him that they aren't hockey skates and I'm not to familiar with the types since I'm still a beginner, but the skates are under the "recreational class." He was amazed and asked where I bought them from, apparently we bought our skates from the same store. He then said, "recreational skates do not belong to any category. Unlike my hockey skates, your skates allow you to release more power and speed, as a matter of fact... you're really good yourself, how long have you been skating?" I replied pathetically, "this is only my fourth time...I still need to practice." The guy then said, "oh, if you'd like, I can give you tips and lessons, I'm here in the morning, I'll be more than happy to help you out."

I don't know how to respond to his offer, but I didn't go skating this week because I woke up late. I guess I'll see him again next week.

Then at night...
At the concert, there was a no camera policy, so I didn't take pictures inside, but I took a few pictures outside before it started. While I was waiting in line to enter the venue, I was eating my snacks, which I bought from Argyle. I was happily eating my sandwich when all of a sudden Eric viciously attacked my sandwich while I was still holding it. Eric took a REALLY big bite... my poor sandwich, I wasn't expecting that.

Here are the pictures outside the House of Blues:

Jason and Eric.


Miki and Yan.


The group plus Eric's friend(whom I still do not know the name of).

We all had fun until Eric decided to ditch us and somehow almost got into a fight with some random kid.
I do not need to repeat what happened because I already wrote about it somewhere in this journal.

As for my day today... School and back home, the end...
OMG! THERE'S 14 INCHES OF SNOW OUTSIDE MY HOUSE (I just looked outside right now), WHAT IS GOING ON?! IT'S STILL SNOWING, WILL IT EVER END?! WHY HAS THE WEATHER BEEN CRAZY LATELY?!
CHICAGO HAS NOT HAD THIS MUCH SNOW SINCE 2006.

Until next time, bye for now...
I'm guessing that everyone else will be digging themselves out tomorrow...
Good luck and stay warm everyone.
epik_noodles: (Default)

I got in trouble....
But I will discuss that later.

Utada! Utada! Utada! Utada! Utada! Utada! Utada!
While I was in House of Blues, that seemed to be the only thing the crowd was shouting, so much energy.

 

I had a good spot, a nice center-left area against the railing above the “pit” or sometimes referred to as the “floor” (standing area surrounding the stage). I’m not much of a floor person, I don’t like being squished by a lot of people nor do I like being obstructed by tall people (oh how I despise tall people at concerts). I was standing there with Miki and all of our friends, except Eric who ditched us to go to the floor, plus he ditched (I forgot his name) his “friend” who literally gave him a free ticket to see Utada. We all felt bad for him, so Miki and I knocked people over made some room for him to stand at the railing for a nice view of the stage, he deserved that awesome spot after what Eric did.

When Utada finally walked on stage, the fans cheered wildly, I was amazed that the concert tickets actually sold out (I heard that they were sold out for all the other venues), because they were available for the longest time for the Chicago performance, but Eric then told all of us that they sold out two months in advance. This is the first time I went to a sold out event.

 

Utada gave a small speech about how excited she was to finally visit a cold city (I sensed some sarcasm in that statement). She was talking about how much she loved Chicago because it reminded her of New York, but Chicago was more spaced out and bigger compared to cramped New York (she claimed). She was also amazed that Chicagoans are energetic and built tough to handle the cold weather. She was sweet and was concerned about us Chicagoans freezing our butts off in the snow waiting for her concert, and she said that we all looked completely unaffected by the weather after we entered the venue. Yeah, people in Chicago have gotten used to dramatic climate changes, so we’ve gotten bored with the inconsistent weather to the point where we don’t care.

Unfortunately, no cameras allowed, if you were caught taking pictures from your phone, you were thrown out. Which is why we all took pre-concert photos.
But for me, "tai dai!" ahahaha, learn Thai to figure that out.

The first song Utada sung was "Passion", it was so nice, I was thrilled that I got to see Utada live in America, because seeing Utada live in general is on almost everyone's "before I die list"(come on, everybody has a BID list).

What I didn't like about the concert was that, I had to stand next to this really obnoxious guy, who really didn't care about what he was saying, he was flat out rude. When the opening act came out, it was a famous DJ from New York, his mixes were actually pretty good, but the guy next to me kept yelling "get off the ******* stage!!! You suck!!!!", I think everyone was annoyed with this guy, if you don't like it, keep it to yourself dude. In the middle of the concert he kept yelling at a fan on the balcony, really now, the guy on the balcony was stealing the show, he was passionately thrashing about and soulfully singing his heart out (to every song), no offense but he just looked like a total idiot when he was dangling off the balcony. So the man next to kept screaming, “HEY!!! HEY WHITE GUY  IN THE BLACK SHIRT!!! WHITE GUY IN THE BALCONY!!!! STOP STEALING THE SHOW YOU CRAZY***!!!” I know the poor balcony guy was annoying, but will you shut up already guy right next to me, we’re all trying to watch Utada. The next thing the man next to me shouted out of nowhere to Utada was, “welcome to America!” whoa dude that was uncalled for and really rude, if you were a respectable Utada fan you’d already know that she was born and living in New York.

When the end drew near Utada said “last song”, she finished up and walked backstage. The fools who didn’t have the (concert) common sense to wait around for something called an “encore” just left. Half of the pit just walked out, which left so much space. After two minutes Utada finally walked back on stage and did a few more songs, a loss for those who left. Utada even threw some balls off stage. The show ended…


That was a night to remember.

 

After the concert we all went our separate ways, Yan escorted Miki to the train stop because Miki wanted to go home, she asked if I wanted to return with her or go eat with the others, I chose to eat. We bumped into Shin at the end of the concert. It turned out that Jason and Shin were forced to give up their bags at bag check earlier that day. It couldn’t be helped, they had to get their bags. Oh man… Eric did not want to wait. Yet again, Eric ditched us AGAIN! This time it was because he was hungry and wanted to eat something at Micky D’s (McDonalds, for those who don’t use that word). Thanks for wait dude……NOT!

 

Instead of evening bothering with Eric and his friend, Jason, Shin, and I travelled to Chinatown together. I went to Chi Café again; wow they’re open till 5 in the morning. I ate some DELICIOUS BEEF TONGUE. It yummy as usual. While we were eating, I noticed something disturbing on the Chinese television program on the TV. I pointed it out to everyone and we all watched together. There was this muscular Chinese man who was being masticated by people on the show, he was proving how invincible he was. The man laid his head on a pile of bricks and had more bricks placed on top of his head, then another guy smashed his head between the bricks and he was totally fine. The next stunt was him standing underneath a tall ladder and another person dropping a bowling ball on his head and again he was totally fine, HE’S CRAZY!!!! There was MORE, the next thing I see on TV is the same man standing in front of a giant wok filled with sizzling "FRYING OIL!!!" Jason,Shin, and I are just sitting there with chopsticks in hand whispering loudly "YOU CAN'T BE SERIOUS!!!!!!!" The TV people threw a small statue into the wok and then the man just throws his bare hand straight into the hot oil and pulls the statue out. The next thing put into the wok was what looked like doorknobs, it looked like they put 10 of them in there. After the man skillfully without showing pain pulled all of the objects out, he then got a drinking glass and dunked it into the wok filling it up with scalding oil. All of us were just like, "oh no... oh no, no no no no no no no, he isn't!!!" The man then chugs the oil down in one gulp, HE DRANK HOT OIL!!! THE KIND THAT CAN COOK YOU!!! Ahhhh!!!!!! Everyone in the restaurant who was watching was completely mortified. THAT MAN IS INSANE!!!!!!! I didn't lose my appetite but my eating did slow down a little bit...

I was unaware of the time and my phone died(how nice), so I got home around 4am. My mom was freaking out, she was calling everyone and trying to extract information from Miki every half hour. She even made my dad camp out in front of the train station until I returned. When I arrived home my mom started beating me and interrogating me. It was horrible.

Until next time, bye again.

 

epik_noodles: (Default)
I woke up early for my "great books curriculum" class as usual.
Gans wants a term paper soon, so much writing.

Art was fun, lots of pictures to stare at.

Usually, the only Japanese concerts I ever go to are the Dir en Grey concerts. At last year's Diru concert, I got Daisuke's guitar pick, I got lucky that night, I can't believe I actually caught the pick, aww... but I really wanted Shinya's drumstick. But that night when I went with Roel and his friends, we got our cds autographed by Toshiya(my fav out of the band) and Shinya, IT WAS AWESOME!!!

I even got close up pictures of them when they were signing:

This is Shinya.


And this is Toshiya, I love Toshiya!

Yeah... because back in the day I used to be into some insane J-Rock stuff.  This was way before I got into AAA, I was a hardcore J-Rock fan, and I still kinda am, which shocks people, because everyone knows I like AAA now.
This time I got tickets to the Chicago performance of Utada Hikaru's concert.
I'm so excited, I've never seen Utada live before.

I'm really really excited about the Utada Hikaru concert!!!
I'm going to be there with Miki, Jason, Eric, and I don't know who else, but it's people I know.
AH! It's going to be so fun. I can't wait, but I still need to attend my math class in the morning. But before that I go through my usual routine of going to Skokie to go ice skating. Ice skating is really fun until I fall on my head.
I love skating fast!!!!!!

Yay Utada concert!!!!!!!!
I wonder if she'll be giving autographs?
If there's no camera restriction, I'm so taking tons of pictures and posting them.
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