KAT-TUN in taiwan escapade

8/26
- arrived at taoyuan international airport terminal 1 at midnight (with and elli and ver)
- immigration, baggage claim, exchanged Php to NT, rode "FREE" shuttle to terminal 2, arrived at terminal 2 at 2am
- marvelled at the coin changing machine, slept for a few hours on the surprisingly comfy arrival area chairs, waited for KAT-TUN's flight, met lulu and kimika (taiwanese fans who were very nice and helpful)
- witnessed KAT-TUN's arrival, ran to the other side of the airport for another glimpse, ran outside to the van for another one (but didn't get to see them, they were already in the van)
- travelled to taipei by bus, rode the MRT, walked to hostel
- met madette, madette's mom, joanne and herlyn
- too tired, rested a bit, took a bath, travelled to taipei 101
- rode MRT back to hostel, decided to visit some JE shops with , met fellow filipino fangirls (kai and another friend - forgive my forgetful mind), met hongkong fangirls who taught us the art of pre-immigration stalking, bought ryo-chan uchiwas, walked around ximenting til exhaustion, went back to hostel, slept

8/27
- went to taipei arena for concert goods at 11am
- bag's strap broke, kept hurting myself with the (not so) safety pins
- went around trying to find an 8/28 ticket with broken chinese, met some nice fans who were fluent in both english and chinese and who voluntarily wrote the chinese characters on paper to help us ask around (thank you!), showed the paper to the people in line *hides from embarrassment*
- met marilou and her sister
- bought kame (3) and maru (1) uchiwas and concert pamphlet, maru's lookin' fine, kame, so-so
- went around with the paper stuck on kame's uchiwa, hesitant to talk to the old guy fixer who keeps on saying something in chinese, i can only decipher a small portion of what he's saying, kimika to the rescue
- munching-something-fixer led us to another lady fixer with tickets, success!
- 2A seats, met , (thank you once again for the tickets)
- first concert, started with fall down, my favorite of all the new songs, KAT-TUN sang my ultimate favorite - yorokobi no uta, fans held up black and yellow crown-shaped cardboards during bokura no machi de saying something in japanese like 'i'm happy to be a KAT-TUN fan' or something similar (KAT-TUN fans are the best)
- kame's imitation of the translator - beyond cuteness
- one on one, i love, love, love
- ueda hurt his foot, 4-nin KAT-TUN
- 2 encores - NMP + going
- binoculars trained on kame's face (when looking our way) and on his butt (when looking the other way)
- stalking 101, taiwanese friends who speak japanese + filipino friend who speaks japanese = stalking galore
- car chases, counterflows, cab drivers with stalking initiatives, crazy driving, slow-down-i-don't-want-to-die moments
- stood near KAT-TUN's van with door open, koki texting on his seat, kame coming down first with a serious face (imo, pissed) followed by equally serious-looking members (minus ueda) then the slightly smiling koki
- waited outside til after KAT-TUN's dinner, kame more amicable albeit still untouchable, my friends touching koki and maru (best NT500 spent, right?)
- toned down car chase (different driver), van's window blinds up, sleeping koki, grand formosa regent hotel
- tired but happy, went back to hostel

8/28
- bought a new bag, went to taipei arena, tried exchanging tickets
- bought blue glowsticks (we now belong!)
- 3J seats, better than expected, small blind spot
- talked to my left seatmate, she's from shanghai and speaks english
- KAT-TUN fans' penlight project was successful and was really pretty (again, KAT-TUN fans are the best)
- got told off (in chinese) by right seatmate for trying to capture the fan project on video, i couldn't understand her, she refused to hold my hand during the 'we are KAT-TUN' bow, i refused to let it ruin my night and befriended her (i had to delete my video which wasn't really much)
- amazed how disciplined these kids are, i apologized and thanked her
- binoculars yet again trained on kamenashi and his cute behind
- 3rd encore: harukana yakusoku, i was shouting and singing like crazy, i think i had tears in my eyes
- chanted for 4th encore, members won't come out, fans started singing SMILE's lalala part, the whole arena joined in, after a while we heared the KAT-TUN members' voices join in on singing and then they came out, i cried from happiness XP
- right seatmate now held my hand :D (operation let's-be-friends-we-both-love-KAT-TUN-let's-not-let-this-ruin-our-night a success!)
- impromptu stalking, thanks to left seatmate from shanghai, was a success
- hotel stalking, met filipino hotel employee, misplaced my camera (thanks ver for finding it)
- tired but super happy, went back to hostel, agreed on 'me' time for the next day (later that day)

8/29
- went to miramar mall, rode the ferris wheel, went back to ximen, lost herlyn at the station
- found herlyn, shopped for JE stuff, went around ximenting for souvenirs
- taxi to main station, bus to airport
- goodbye taipei, you gave me 4 of the best days of my life :)

while waiting...

for the past 4 and a half months, i:

- saw two plays. rent & wicked. loved both.
- have seen the golden gate bridge and the alcatraz but no photos. (no camera... yes, i know.)
- went around downtown san francisco on my own with a map in hand (and overpaid/underpaid bus tickets.)
- visited japantown for the sole purpose of kinokuniya.
- visited sacramento (still no camera)
- stayed a night in san jose
- went to lake tahoe
- visited nevada
- had thanksgiving at washington dc with my relatives
- fell in love with the washington monument (it still baffles me)
- got lost in brooklyn
- spent a night and a day in new york
- walked around broadway at midnight and in near freezing temp
- saw someone proposing in the middle of time square
- checked out grand central
- went to the apple store on 5th ave. and rode on the glass elevator (really pretty)
- went inside the new york palace (the one on gossip girl - i can just imagine how much it costs to stay there)
- visited MOMA in san francisco
- went to LA
- visited universal studios
- stopped by hollywood blvd
- fell in love with the norton simon museum
- saw monet, manet, picasso, van gogh, rembrandt and renoir paintings (i was awed even when i do not know art)
- visited friends/schoolmates
- made new friends
- learned domestic stuff
- ordered tons of things online

yeah, i worked too.

wicked!

Galinda: it's Glinda. the "ga" is silent.

on Elphaba's makeover:
Elphaba: You don't really have to do that.
Galinda: I know, that's what makes me so nice.

on Dorothy's red shoes:
Glinda to Elphaba: [With effort] I mean come on, they're just shoes. Let it go!

watched Wicked! i love it! i love how Galinda/Glinda seems so ditzy :D i was on the brink of getting irritated (with that voice and all), thank goodness she's so funny :D i loved Elphaba, i loved her songs plus who can hate her. my favorite song would be "I'm not that girl." been listening to the soundtrack, it makes me want to watch it again but i'll probably wait til i can sing along with most of the songs.

RENT the broadway tour

i just saw RENT! with adam pascal and anthony rapp at the curran theatre! i loved it!

i'm a big fan of the movie so i really had a fun time. i got teary eyed whenever a favorite song got performed (which was a lot of times) and i still cried at the same scenes. i liked their maureen this time but still hated the jump over the moon portion. still don't like mimi. angel i think is my favorite character but i loved him in the movie more (he still made me cry, or collins did with that thousand sweet kisses [i'll cover you].) mark, i love a lot of his songs and it's thrilling to hear him sing those songs. roger... roger's voice... *swoons*

been sick the whole week but this was worth the effort (even though i was sniffing, sneezing, coughing and felt cold.)

next one, wicked!

i'm in san francisco! here's to new fun experiences and adventures! :D

nakasalubong ko si sam milby at angel locsin nung papunta akong cafeteria kanina. not a bad way to start my night. i'm really, really, really sleepy though so nakatitig lang ako kay sam tapos nakatingin din sya tapos di ko magawang mag-smile kasi di gumagana ang utak ko. T_T (kung alam mo lang samuel na sa utak ko masayang masaya akong nagtatatalon dahil nakita kita). di ko rin maalala kung nasoli ko ba yung pinagkainan ko or kung uminom ba ako ng pangalawang baso ng tubig at kung anong oras ako nag-time in. and i forgot all of these a few minutes after i did them (yung sign-in, a few seconds.) waaah! 8 hours and 22 minutes to go... T_T

galing pala kaming iba, zambales. ngayon ko lang nalaman na ang subic pala nasa zambales at na ang clark at subic, hindi iisa at hindi magkatabi. XD masaya. kakarating ko lang ng bahay ng 7pm tapos pasok na after (kaya antok na antok ako.) naglaro kami ng pulot-bola a.k.a. volleyball at we got to lie on the sand and stare at the sky. we watched the sunset din. i can't remember the last sunset i've seen. i do remember vaguely the most beautiful one i've seen though, sa manila bay (or sa may pier). now if someone tells me na hindi nag-sset ang sun sa manila bay... whoops.

something happened last week. made me realize how much i love my family and made me appreciate that i have them.

i'm on my very first graveyard shift. started on my 3rd job a few weeks ago. i miss being a bum but reality calls.

started learning how to drive. i never wanted to but then things happened. drove for 5 hours straight yesterday and was too tired to do anything for the rest of the day.

i'm still trying to get used to all the changes. i'm missing all the jdramas and tv series i've been following. sure hope i catch up soon.

i miss ryo. *random*

decided to quit my job a few weeks ago (although i'm still employed til the end of the year.)

while at work today, i noticed that my hand was doing the jajajajan hand movement. wasn't even consciously aware that musekinin hero was playing til that moment.

old news but i was really happy when i heard that rookies was named the best drama in the 58th tv drama academy awards and that ichihara hayato (aniya!) won too. i love that kiseki won in the best theme song category, still crazy about this song (it's still the first song i play almost everyday.)

akame! the surge of akame moments these past few weeks makes me happy. (surge in akame fandom means more than one)

i'm still not a fan of KAT-TUN's white xmas. maybe a few more weeks. NEWS' happy birthday actually grew on me so i still have hope for white xmas.

KAT-TUN's debut in korea... hmmm... any step that would get them nearer to having an asian tour is ok for me.

started watching the big bang theory. finished the first season last night. i love sheldon! but as promised mals, i won't stalk him :P *sings "math, science, history, unraveling the mystery, it all started with the big bang"*