14 August 2009 hasn’t been anywhere near as fan-fuckin-tastically awesome as 14 August 2008.
(It was, in fact, the polar opposite as the workday was insanely busy and sucky and stressful.)
A year later, and it still feels surreal! A lot of things had to go right and I guess the stars do align sometimesK! \o/
THANKSSSS UNIVERSE, I TOTALLY OWE YOU ONE! :D
And the cherry to top it off: my fave photo EVERRRRRRR.
Still 100% my future husband, y’alls.
I got a lot of grief about my desire/decision to go to Ma ni la but despite that, I went through with it because I knew it was something that would make me happy and that I would regret it for a long time if I didn’t do it. And y’know, life is short so why deny yourself of something that will give you joy?
Yes, it was expensive. Yes, I was tired from traveling so much. But it was so absolutely worth it. \o/ \o/ \o/
May 16 2009 and August 14 2008 are absolutely Days to Remember for me. :D
(Lots of babbling, a few pics & links to YT videos of Dave’s set!)
So ermmmm, I may or may not have bought concert tickets to see my Dave (and Ar.chie)… in Manila.
I know, I know. Headdesk, facepalm, zomgwtf??! etc etc. It’s already an established fact that I’m a lunatic. :P
But it gets even more interesting. The concert is May 16. And I’m due to arrive back from my Eastern Euro.pe and Shan.ghai trip on the 15.
O___O
*CUE PANIC*
So, it seems I’m very likely gonna fly home and almost immediately fly to Mani.la to see my future husband. I’m trying to figure out the logistics, but it depends on what time my flight home arrives and whether I wanna skive off work on Monday. At this point: I’m thinking fly to M.anila Saturday morning and then fly home Monday and take an MC. LOL. Which gives me Saturday to enjoy the concert and figure out a way to meet Dave. Sunday for shopping and meeting my aunt/family and then homeward bound on Monday morning.
Oh, the things I do for love. Heheheheh. I told my mom and she was incredulous that I’m gonna do this. But as a responsible, salary-earning adult, she can’t really do anything about it. Muahahahaha!
But it’s C o o k! And the Platinum tickets we (Nat & I; she’s the one who very gently nudged me into going) bought are less than $200! My greedy heart wants the uber-expensive Tita.niu.m tickets which are almost $400, hahahaha. :x
I’m really excited. I’ve been in a light, happy mood for the past week cos the thought of seeing Dave in concert is making me feel really buoyant and giddy and full of glee. \o/
I was really disappointed when I had to miss Sin.gFes.t due to my NY trip. (Well, okay, I was disappointed but it was a tradeoff I was willing to make since I had seen Mra.z once and I wanted to see Coo.k really badly. Besides: NY!) I didn’t expect M.raz to play here again so soon but I suppose the promoters saw the craziness over him and saw the money signs. Well-played, Mida.s Prom.otions.
Firstly, I want to rant about how I have rotten luck with Si.stic. For both this concert and the M5 one, I was online trying to book tickets the moment sales opened, but didn’t manage to get awesome seats. I was Row 15 for M5 (yeah, still bitter about that) and for M.raz we were stage-left 3rd row along the side, around 17 rows from the front. Utter madness. I need to find a way to play the system because y’knows I need front-row center when Dave comes here. LOL. Heck, I would pay $250 for Dave.
Okay, sorry digression. I talk about Dave too much, I know. :P
I went with the posse, of course. Our seats turned out to be pretty decent. And M.raz is the kind of artiste you need to listen to, more than anything, so I wasn’t too miffed. Everyone got a fan with his album details and a pic that we likened as “orgasm face”. We had too much fun playing around with it before/during/after the show. We decided that that facial expression had many uses. i.e. “How do you feel about the concert?” *waves Mra.z Orgasm Face pic frantically*, or “OMG he’s singing Unfold!” *waves Mra.z Orgasm Face pic like a lunatic* HAHAHAHAHAAA. We did that all night. And we also took pics of us emulating the Orgasm Face. HAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!
ANYWAY. We were lamenting about how the crowd seemed quite screamy and we hoped there wouldn’t be too much screaming cos we wanna hear him sing. And y’know for all that, when he came out, we ended up screaming a bit. Haha! But the crowd, though very enthusiastic, wasn’t too loud and we did get to hear him.
Ni.ck Cart.er (yes yes, the original OTL) has abs. I kid you not. (See 1:13 at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3t8Fti67lg) Um… what? Brain does not compute, ZOMG! o__O
(Okay, there was also that OMG thing about the Dark Lord aka Kevin making an appearance and singing the encore with them. All 5 Boys, YAYYYYY!)
He killed my brain cells two years ago, and he was still chubby then. And I already thought he was hot as hell when we saw them in KL earlier this year. But now? I don’t think I will survive meeting him. Between how ridiculously gorgeous he is nowadays and how happy, zen-like and at peace he seems, I think this is the Ultimate Nicky C. He has never ever been more attractive and that’s saying a lot coming from me, who thought of him as attractive like 95% of the time.
Third time’s the charm, right? I sure hope so. I NEEDS TO MEET HIM. He’s like the only OTL I haven’t met and he’s the first one. Please, Universe, work with me here.
And speaking of blasts from the past, fTbB has emerged from the cave he was hiding in (which apparently was a studio) and has released a M.alay album. I told myself no more stupidity… so now, I have to enforce it. I’m def over the stupid phase but it’s mighty tempting to wanna make him wanna regret his inaction. Like, hey bb look what you missed out on. AHAHAHAHAAA. Ugh, let it go already, woman. *kicks self*
Sometimes, I really think that FB is TEH BEST THING EVAAAAR! Awesome pics from the W.ade workshop.
:D :D :D
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJkWvXxyXbU
I know I link a lot of dance videos and I rave about this and that and OMG THIS IS SO HOT/AWESOME/WHATEVER. But really, even if you’ve never ever bothered to humor me and watch the video, WATCH THIS ONE. I promise you, it is beyond worth it.
I don’t even know what to say about it, because there are no words. None. As a dancer, it amazes me in a rational sense. But it’s not about reason and acknowledging their movements, their musicality, their use of space; all that is just a vehicle through which they externalize what they feel and them sharing the experience with you.
I would love this if it had been choreographed, but the fact that it’s all improv? There’s this level of honesty, vulnerability that astounds me. This is quite possibly the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. Every moment is just complete and utter perfection. This is what they mean when they talk about dancing from your soul.
It’s quite evident that I was in the COOKIE-FTMFW!!1!!!-camp back in May. Lil Archie was like a talented non-entity in my world.
But that sneaky little thing has been growing on me like fungus. It probably really started the night he did With You cos wow that was hilariously awkward. Yet endearing. And then the finale results when he was just so cute and nice and so so gracious. If you hate on Archie, you have a heart of stone yo. I don’t know how it’s humanly possible to be that adorable. He’s like a puppy!
ANYWAY.
Fast forward half a year later, after watching post-finale Coo.kleta interviews, months of Cookl.eta adorableness (I READ COOKLETA SLASH! *FLAILS* BUT IT WAS REALLY REALLY WELL-WRITTEN. REALLY.), the concert I saw and I’m a convert. I am hooked on Ar.chie’s “Crush” like woaaah. It’s so damn catchyyyy.
And *cough* the lyrics resonate with me *cough*. It’s like, OMG I TOTALLY FEEL THAT WAY WHEN I HAVE A CRUSH ON SOMEONE!1!!1!! I dunno, the song just encapsulates that exhilarated-nervous-uncertain-high feeling of liking someone. Le sigh.
…. oh God, or am I just still 14 on the inside? (That could be true.)
I’ve been listening to it a lot in the past few weeks cos (a) it got stuck in my head; and (b) it puts me in the right frame of mind to write fic. Heheheh. I’m weird. And I love it more than I love Cook’s Li.ght On. Who would’ve thunk???
Arch.ie’s album is out today and I’m in the middle of acquiring it, lol. His AI stuff is still yawnfest to me so I hope the album strikes a balance between showing his great voice and reflecting his young age. Bonus: our dear JC Cha.sez has songwriting credits on the album!!! Fandoms collide yo.
But hey, just cos I wanna squish A.rchie doesn’t mean that Cook isn’t still my OTL. Baby’s album will be out on the 18th and I haven’t bought an actual album in a looooong time. But I’ll be buying his to show my love and support. My only disappointment (apart from the first single) is that the album is self-titled. WHYYYY?!?? It’s a letdown coming from the word.nerd who named his indie solo album Ana.log Heart. He can make it up to me by coming to Singapo.re next year, hahahaha.
I’ve been a Wa.de fan since them *NSYNC days. I remember being all o__O when I first found out who their choreographer was and how young he was. I remember watching Making The Tour and being all fascinated by Hilter!Wa.de (my fave Wa.de personality, cos I’m weird like that). It was around that time that I was getting more interested in dance and Wa.de was pretty much my first dancer!boy crush.
I can wax poetic about how much I love his work and admire his dancing but suffice to say, I’ve been a fan for a loooong time.
Being in Wa.de R.obson’s class was like a dream.
I mean, really… I couldn’t have guessed years and years ago that I would be at this point where the idea of being me in his class isn’t completely ludicrous. And that it would be more than just something born out of fangirly-ness. LOL. I wouldn’t have thought that I would really start to get into dance and then to love it so much that I torture myself regularly. And that I’m at a point in my dancer-life where I wouldn’t feel 100% lost in his class.
… I am so bloody effin’ EXCITED about W A D E’s workshop on Friday.
You guys, it’s WADE!!1!!! *flails* I’ll be in his class. OhMyGODDDDDDD.
Who would’ve thought years ago, when I first knew of him during my Pup-fangirl days, that I would actually be taking a class from him. That I would be at a point where it isn’t be totally ludicrous for me to do this. It’s gonna be so weird, surreal and 1000% awesome. I yapped a lot about how last week’s workshops were surreal but honestly, WADE! is gonna be the definition of surreal.
I can’t wait. :D
If Day 1 of PE:SG 08 was fan-fuckin’-tasic, then Day 3 (my second day) was just over and beyond all kind of hyperbolic description.
Mr San Pe.dro was up first and he elicited a lot of cheers when he announced he would teach the iconic La.st Night combo. OMFG!1!!! *flails* He only managed to teach us about half of the whole combo and, while it looks deceptively simple, as with all his other choreo, it’s all about the execution.
But really, it’s not that simple. There’s a lot of weight transfer and getting into the groove. The exact timing can be tough to catch. But once you get it, it just all flows so well that you can just stop thinking and dance and enjoy. I lovelovelove the vibe of the combo; it’s damn shiok to dance!
If Day 1 was Y.ouTube come to life, JP dancing this combo was the height of surrealness. Srsly. I’ve watched that video so many times and to see it in person just blew my mind. I couldn’t believe it. And he hadn’t taught the combo in like a year so initially he was a little rusty on the details of the movement, which was kinda cute. I think he teaches quite well. He breaks down the movements, is encouraging and gives corrections after we’ve danced it for him. And when it comes to the especially challenging weight transfer stuff, he’ll break it down, and he’ll also sometimes mention the kind of vibe/groove of the combo.
Though the choreo is an old one, when he danced, he was onnnnnn. So amazing. Even when it doesn’t seem like he’s dancing full-out, it still looks fantastic. Aaaah. He makes it look so effortless!
And then actually dancing the combo was SO MUCH FUN. Again, with the surrealness. I tried not to focus too much on the actual moves but on feeling the groove. Cos it was really all about the groove. The pesky weight transfer thing threatened to get the better of me but I like to think I didn’t totally massacre JP’s choreo. LOL.
The Y ou Tube-come-to-life theme continued with M ariel; she taught her iconic Go ‘head combo. Cue freaking out. Oh man, that was damn good. She managed to teach us the whole combo which rocked. In the middle of it, there was a bit of scare when she popped her knee but luckily it wasn’t a serious injury. But prior to that, when she danced the combo, it was another one of those OMG moments.
When we switched lines, I was right in front, on Mar iel’s left which was a bit of a pressuring position. Esp with P.Chen further to her left and JP on her far right (they were also learning her choreo). Like OMGGGGG. Yeah, I was close to freaking out but managed to talk myself off the ledge. LOL. Turned it into motivation and focus to get it right!
This was also an amazing amount of fun, cos the choreo fits so well with the song and the hits just feel damn good. The bass is so strong that you just hit even harder. And there’s a subtle sexy groove to it. Fuckin’ awesome. The last eight or so confounded me cos I just couldn’t get the timing and sequence right. But still! I know the Go ‘head combo OMGGGG!1!!!
Patr ick Chen was last and he always dug out an oldie-but-goodie to teach (though I wasn’t familiar with it). It was to Keysh ia Cole’s Falling Ou t. Really nice combo, but my brain had pretty much gone into hibernation mode after using so much brain resources to catch the first two combos. Ha!
He taught it with counts and I found it really hard to grasp. Partly cos my brain-body synch had shut down, haha. It was a little easier once we did it to the music, because the beats are so distinctive (and I’m familiar with the song). It was easier to fit the moves to the beats/lyrics, rather than using the counts. At least for me. It made more sense to me that way. I didn’t completely get the whole thing because I was so tired and there’s a lot of hold/control/tension in the moves but I def got a better feel of it once we repeated it a few million times with the music. LOL.
The day ended with more photo-taking. I finally accosted PCY and got one with him. Then gushed some more to Mar iel, though I can’t remember what we talked about. Hahaha. And, of course, my homeboy JP. I told him about us having the same hair which made him laugh. LOL. Hilariousness. And then I babbled about how awesome he is and that he should come back again and I might’ve said something about def going to his class if I ever go to LA (you know it, bb!). HE IS SO ADORABLE and I wanted to squish him the entire time I was talking to him. /broken record.
A lot of people loitered around after we left the studio. Talked to a few peeps, most of the time it was mostly gushing about the awesomeness of the workshops. Everyone was heading to the Bugis area for supper and I went along. Ended up sitting in one corner, talking dance with A w i while everyone else was eating (it was a Chinese steamboat place so we were the only ones not eating). Mostly we talked about the frustrations of being a tall dancer, heh. It was fun though; I always like talking dance with people.
In the middle of all that, I listened in while Ca leb conducted a short video interview with Ma riel. So interesting to hear her thoughts on dance, and motivation as well. She really is such a sweetheart; talented, down-to-earth and friendly. And you can really tell how much she loves dance. We also got a short shout-out from JP to dancers in Singap.ore and I wouldn’t be surprised if I had a besotted look on my face the entire time cos HE IS SO ADORABLE. /broken record. PChen came by much much later (only half the big group was left), and being the attentionwhore he sometimes is, he randomly said hello to me (he was sitting across the table) in the middle of my conversation with Aw i. Hahahaha.
I got hugs from all three of them when they left; Mar iel left first cos she had an early flight. Then JP. I ended up leaving at nearly 2am, I think, with fellow Easties A wi and Br.yan whom I shared a cab with. PCY, flirt that he is, did the hug-with-kiss-on-the-cheeks thingy, asked if he would see me at S.Wu the next day (nope), and then thanked me for supporting the workshops. Didn’t really talk to him this time around and didn’t quite feel the same level of giddiness as last year. Still love the way he dances and him and Mere.dith dancing the Bed routine on Saturday was some kind of hotness yo; I was bummed I missed learning that!
This year, I was consumed with the JP-awesomeness. Hehe. Yes, he is adorable and all… but beyond all of that, I just admire his dancing so so much. I want to be able to dance like that, as though the music is moving through and out of my body. :)
So, $321 damn well spent. I had grumbled about how expensive it was but if I had missed out on this, I would’ve been inconsolable. An amazing experience to be in class from people whose work I’ve admired, to see their talent and awesomeness with my own eyes. It still feels surreal, I’m still high as a kite and I’m feeling so positive and so inspired to continue dancing.
I also now really feel like taking the chance of doing something crazy that I’ve been thinking about. To save as much money as I can now and then to quit my job and go live a dancer-life in Cali until either I have to leave cos (a) my tourist visa is expiring or; (b) I’m broke, which comes later. Heh. Basically, do nothing but take dance classes every day and just eat, breathe, sleep, dance for as long as I can. Not that I have any illusions about being a profe.ssional dancer but I feel like I owe it to myself to fulfil the dream when I can.
….. In any case, the awesomeness is not quite over: W A D E! Next week! *flailssss*
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