Concert

Firstly, i'd like to say: I AM NO LONGER A CONCERT VIRGIN!!! LeeHom stole my virginity right from under me! hahahahaa!!! shuddup, i'm still tired. i think that's funny anyway.... sorry leehom. :P

(btw, this post is really really long... hope u don't fall asleep halfway thru like i will... but at least i have the lack of sleep excuse... i'm gonna try to stay up and finish it...)

so, when we got to the mohegan sun casino, we were ALL in glasses. i changed into my jeans, but was still wearing andrew's vball sweatshirt (and therefore way too big for me). but i had my interview jacket over it, so i looked a little more decent... but still, GLASSES, and my eyebrows were done in the dark, and i don't think any of us were wearing make up of any kind. basiclaly, i don't think we looked too hot. we did later, but not then.

the first place we needed to scope out was the entrance of the arena where the concert was gonna be held so we'd know where to go at 1AM. THere were security guards all around the front entrance, so at first, we didn't go too close. we walked around the rest of the casino (none of the fancy shmancy stores were open cuz it was so early [10AM]), checked it out so we don't get lost, and then we went back to the front entrance, and talkd to the security guard there - Frank. he told us what there was to do around the casino, where the closest parking lot was, etc etc etc. he was really friendly and cool. viv and i talked to him for maybe 3min? during that time, a couple of ppl walked right into the arena - they all had this miniature version of the concert poster hanging around their necks (backstage pass) ... so now we knew what we needed to get backstage! time to photoshop it like in Ocean's Eleven!! hahahaa! anyway, frank told us there was another entrance to the arena, so we went that way to check that one out. then we checked out the parking lot entrance, and were lucky enough to see a bunch of guys with the backstage pass hanging around their necks. (maybe they WANTED attention, but if i were staff, i would hide my backstage pass to avoid harassment by *cough* ny-girl... maybe those guys liked attention tho) ... so anyway, we tried to talk to them. but they don't speak english. only mandarin. and my mandarin isn't good enough to speak to them... they were uh... basically, they were much like Allen from high school - gangsta-ish, and i'm sorry, but even when Allen was my friend, we didn't have much to talk about... he just told me about taiwan, and i tried to teach him english. anyway. whilst i was in the middle of the convo with viv tho, this chika comes up to us, and asked us how to say "发炎" in English... 'cept i thought she was asking for "发言" ... so i was like "how do u put it in a sentence?" (in like, HORRIBLE mandarin!) ... and she said smt like "喉咙发炎" ... but that makes sense as 发言 too!!!!! cuz u hafta use ur 喉咙 [sorta] to 发炎!!! so i thought she was writing her friend a speech or smt... and i was gonna ask that, but the only word i know for "speech" is 发言 so that was useless... then, vivian the lifesaver, realized that she meant 发炎 (inflammation)!!!! so ya... then she asked me if i could help her friend buy some drugs, and i did. he wanted anti-inflammatory medicine (he said aspirin) cuz his throat hurt... but obviously couldn't convey it in english, so the store owner (who was extremely impatient and rude) gave him acid-reflux medicine! anyway, they didn't have aspirin, but they had Bayer or smt, and they didn't have any other sorta anti-inflammatory medicine either... so i told him that this was sorta like aspirin, but it's more for headaches... and i think at that point he could tell that the storeowner was mean and that there was nothing else for him, so he said "ok, 试试看，反正也吃不死！" hahahaaa! and then i tried to pull info outta them about leehom... i found out that leehom hadn't even showed up yet (he should've by then), and i said smt like "ya, he's probably having fun with his family"... they were supposed to do rehearsals, but leehom wasn't there. they didn't gimme much info, and then at the end, the guy said smt like "i'll see u from the stage" and we parted ways. that was all... but THEN, waaaaaaaay later, i found out that those two people *pause, get this* are leehom's most famous backup dancers!!!! the girl was DaoDan (the one who gets to strip leehom and pretend make out with him), and guy's name is Seven. admitedly, i only knew DaoDan's name (from the concert DVD), but had no idea about Seven. When DaoDan and Seven walked by us later, he recognized me and said hi. Elly was there, and was like "that's Seven" ... to which i thought "ok... um... that's so weird... leehom numbers his backup dancers?? so there's an one, and a two, and a three?? that's mean... why doesn't he just call 'em by name? or maybe his dancers have a fast turn-around time or he just doesn't care... but he seems so caring!!!" but then she told me that Seven is popular/famous... and that his NAME is Seven (not number! hoho!)... but still, i didn't know who he was... later, other ppl knew who he was too. i had no clue when i was talking to them tho!! not a clue!!! ... i guess it's good i didn't know who they were... i would've been nervous otherwise! or maybe seemed stalker-ish if i knew who they were... i honestly didn't tho. :D glad i met 'em. they have no clue who i am.

next step: calling elly to get tickets for michelle, and to meet up with her in general cuz i told her i would. so i called her from a payphone cuz roaming+LD charges add up to about $2 per minute! ... anyway, elly called us back, but on the payphone! it was a little weird, but lucky for us, we didn't leave the payphone area!!! so we met up with elly at the hotel lobby, met MJ and the malay girls too. apparently, the malay girls were in the lobby for SIX hours the day before waiting for leehom!!! as u'll find out, we were in one place for 6 hrs too, but at least we were having soooooooooooooooooo much fun!!! i think they just sat together and waited.... anyway, shortly afterwards, we went to get smt to eat, ate it in front of the arena, and then went back to hotel... during this time, leehom checked in. elly poked him and asked for a pic but his ass't was an ass and said no... oh well. at least she got to "touch" him! hahahaaa!! (and btw, we think the ass't is gay)

next thing to do: go to hotel, change, go back to casino to "stalk" ... viv drove us there, and we were in front of the arena again. we saw frank inside, so we went to talk to him... initially, we were like "oh... can we come in??" and he was really nice, and said ya, so we did. and we talked to him for literally 6 HOURS. half-way in between, elly and MJ came by, and hung out with us too. actually, initially i thought frank was pretty mean - he kept on picking on me! cuz i guess i stood out from the other three girls: i'm mando, they're canto; i was born in SH, they were born in canada (therefore, i wasn't a "real" cdn, according to him); my purse was colourful, theirs were all somber normal colours, etc etc etc. but when MJ came, he started picking on her. he told MJ to kick my ass (which i thought was pretty mean!!! i was thinking WTF! but it was cool in the end i guess), and of course MJ's not gonna kick my ass, she doesn't even know me! so then she was the "bad" one. anyway, he was all jokes. by the end, we had formed our own little cult, aka. Frank's angels, we had our cult moto (and t-shirt), and plans were in the works for an angel website!! I'm the president of said cult (from amoeba to president, i moved up FAST, it was acknowledged), Frank is our "god", and viv's our attorney. ade and michelle had roles too, but i forgot what they were. :D .... so, point being, Frank was really really nice. he let us sit in his chair too (our feet were killing us). we watched as ppl went in, and flirted with some of them in order to get an "in" ... but to no avail. :P heheheee... at some point during the convo tho, i showed him what i brought for leehom (cookies, ball), and he offered to get it to him for me! i totally didn't expect that, but it was wicked! so we put a note in there that said "dear leehom, the four of us drove all the way from canada to see you. we hope to meet u soon. we're at box office front. love from canada" ... but i still don't know if he got the note or ate the cookies... :S i hope so! oh well! elly and MJ came and went at diff points of the day, and one time they came back with the scrapbook which was/is soooooooooooooo nice!!! it's awesome! she spent so much time on it, and it really shows. honestly, i'd LOOOVE to receive smt like that, and i'm sure leehom loves it too!!! :D so Frank offered to give THAT to leehom too! elly was initially gonna just hand it to him while he was on stage, but it was amazing that frank could get it to him. so another guard was paged, he came up, and brought the book to leehom's dressing room. but i guess he bumped into leehom halfway there, and leehom saw it, and asked if we wanted the book autographed, or what. (we heard this over the radio) so we were like "NOOO! it's for him to keep! keep it!!!". and the deal was done. elly wasn't there for this, i don't think, but it was done. she also left us this bag with a bunch of flowers she hand-made for him and a little pink dragon (it was cute), and asked that we give it to him if we see him. suuure, we thought slash hoped!!!!

so anywya, now for the oh very very very important part: WE DID SEE LEEHOM!! It was the first time i've seen leehom, EVER, in real life. i.e. not in pictures, movies, etc, but in flesh-and-blood, in real life. (side note to ade: HE'S REAL!!!) ... the event: we were at the desk, just chatting away, having a blast talking to ppl and bonding, when the door opened (we stared at the door whenever it opened), and a bunch of dancers came out, in single file. half-way in this "file", leehom came out too!!! me and ade were at the desk, viv and michelle were standing around us. our jaws DROPPED. leehom saw us, acknowledged us, nodded to us, and then kept on walking out of the "room". we were good - we didn't scream, we didn't go "OMG LEEHOM!", we said nothing... we were SPEECHLESS, but i'm sure he could tell that we were fans by our gaping jaws.... he then stopped right outside with his ppl and viv took the initiative and followed, we ran after her! hahhaa!! we're such chicken shit. viv asked him if we could get a picture, and leehom said either "ya, just a minute" or said "no, i'm busy", couldn't tell, he was mumbly ... but he smiled and was really nice. we didn't take any pictures cuz we didn't wanna be the paparazzi. i guess we respect his privacy more than those asian girls!! but anyway, he was having a "meeting" with the dancers, listening to the ipod, and talking to them (could not hear what they were saying, so don't ask). then, i think it was michelle, well, SOMEBODY said smt about elly's presents for leehom. so i ran back in to get it, and had problems with the bag... when i finally got it out of the bag, i looked outside the door to check that leehom was still there, and when i saw him, i caught his eye! he was looking right at me! and i at him! and then quickly, he looked back to his dancers again (no, i was NOT imagining it, and no there were no other ppl around me. of course, he could've just been staring into space in my direction... i do that too). iunno... maybe my shoes were really loud, so maybe that's what caught his attention, but i DID catch it! :D i was so happy, but didn't say anything. :D i think i would've been squeeky if i did say anything at that time. anyway, i walked outisde with the flowers and the dragon in the bag, then got the plastic bag off the dragon, and michelle held it for me. I think i must've looked REALLY stupid holding the flowers and the dragon. so i gave ade the dragon - spread the stupidity! hahahaaa!!! anyway, i kinda felt stupid too, cuz the presents weren't even mine, i didn't make 'em. ... but just then, as if by magic, MJ and Elly came by! we were like "Look over there!" nodding our heads over in leehom's direction... No response. we were like "LOOK! it's leehom!" (really quietly, cuz we didn't wanna make a scene), and then they got it. so then i returned both things back to elly. just then, leehom was obviously getting ready to back into the arena for some more practice. and it was the ONLY time basically that we could've given it to him. but elly didn't really make a move to give it to him... so as leehom walked back into the concert hall, i grabbed the flowers out of her hands, then grabbed her with my other arm, and walked over to leehom to give it to him!!! she said smt to him, and i oculdn't say ANYTHING!!! oops! hahhaaaa!!! BUT, more importantly, i was literally 2 feet away from him, and i touched his hand slightly when i gave him the flowers!!! :D ... hehheee... okay, GRAZED his hand, not touched. still. he's warm (ade, he's real! not a ghost! nor a hologram! :P). i think he said thank you (i was too flustered, i don't think my brain was working), and as they were walking away, he said smt like "sorry, i don't have time, really busy right now" re: pictures... (correct me if i'm wrong girls... four brains are better than one that's been fried and sleep-deprived)

So, the real leehom is really skinny, not 5'11" or 6'2" like a lot of chinese ppl believe. but he's more like 5'10" .... he's also really really pale. the guy looked sick! poor guy... i'm sure he's sleep deprived too! but then at the concert, he looked wicked (we think he was wearing bronzer, and that his muscles were shadowed. i also think they put some sorta lipstick stuff on him... or maybe he was just chewing on his lips...)

anyway, shortly after that, we went back to the desk. eventually the dancers came out without leehom. that's when DaoDan and Seven came out, and that's when i found out that Seven was famous, and made the link with DaoDan's name and face... anyhow. they left, and eventually leehom apparently left too, so we left, went to Chili's while i ate next to nothing (see previous post). then we went back to the hotel, tried to take a nap, got ready, and left again around 10:30PM. we headed back to the front of the arena, and met leehom's cousin there. i was in/out, so i think i missed a lot of the convo... i was trying to get the stpuid tickets for the 2PM show, but they didn't have it in the end anyway. grrrrr!! anyway... we took pics with Ryan, and before with Frank. and it was really fun, again. we took pics with the Toronto sign and the Homsweethome sign too. me and elly, and everyone else too. eventually, frank went home, and we were on our home. we waited for sooooooooooooo long before FINALLY going in. we took a billino pictures, and then the concert started at around 2:15AM or so. it was much expected, 'cept leehom didn't drop down from the ceiling - dang. he looked AMAZING. it was breathtaking to see him perform live (no lip-syncing! altho he did mess up some words, but that was just funny more than anything else). the show was awesome. i can't use words to describe it. it was just plain wonderful. he sang an english song, spoke mandarin and english (half half), and sang his other songs too. only complaint: it was too short, only 2 hrs not even. ... other ppl are posting the songlist, so i won't. this is just the munkee-and-friends-and leehom experience. for the concert itself, youtube it. for my pics, flickr it.

the other wicked cool kickass thing is this: when he sang 龙的传人 he told everyone to get up - so everyone did. after that, we were all still up, he was doing the lower-higher thing during his encore 不可能错过你 song. 'cept now, ppl weren't just standing on the floor, they were on the chair!! the chika in front of me (who was already tall just sitting in her chair) stood up in her chair, so i couldn't see anything!!! so i got up on my chair too... it was soooooooo NOT graceful tho. i nearly knocked over all of the "locked-in" seats cuz i was so off balance! it's hard to balance in heels that make ur feet want to die and fold-up chairs!!!! so ya... i caught myself in time tho... and eventually made it on top of my seat without knocking over anyone or anything... PHEW! ... so back to this lower-higher thing now... as he was going Lower, ppl weren't really listening to him. ppl were screaming "i love you", "leehom", or just screaming in general, and he actually said "shhhhh" into the mic. i didn't scream, and i don't think ade did either. to me, i thought that "lower" just meant voice cuz what does he expect the standers to do, kneel? crouch? no way! ... so i just stood in my chair (if i had TRIED to get off, it would've been DISASTER!) ... i don't think i was the only one standing up at the this point on their chair, but he switched mic hands, pointed straight at me with his right hand, and then said "Lower" really loud into the mic DIRECTLY to me! hahahaaaa!!! to which i responded with defiant head-shaking for fear of falling off the chair and breaking my ankle! and cuz i'm just such a rebel. :P ... i was thinking that that's why the hwole lower/higher thing didn't work here... cuz of the fact that the north american girls are more free-thinking, and we don't obey orders to a tee whenever commanded... we do whatever we want, whenever we want. independent thinking. OR, maybe we all have ADD and can't concentrate enough to go "lower" or "higher"!!!! :D hahaa! many possibilities, but i like the former possibility better. heheheee... so in summary, i saw leehom in person off stage, and on stage AND he looked at me when i got elly's flowers & dragon, AND when he said Lower to me!!

later on, i told elly and MJ about the "lower" thing, and MJ was like "that was to you?!??" ... i guess at first i thought it wasn't a big deal that he said that to me, but i guess it was if others noticed he said it. then, i watched a youtube clip, and seriously, he said it soooooooooo loudly!!! omg.... i kinda felt bad after that.... but in my vid, leehom had a "serious" face when he said it, but then smiled right after that. it was so cute!!! i don't think he was mad at me for not sitting down (i wasn't the only one, i swear!) ... i'm pretty sure he was "joking" ,but u know when u don't know a person, and u don't now if u've offended them? i'm paranoid like that...

Anyway, we didn't see any more of leehom off stage after that. viv and i went to the PM show, where at one point i thought it looked like he was looking at me (for a couple of seconds, which is pretty long), so i thought he recognized me. all i could do was LAUGH actually.... but thinking back, i dunno if he was actually looking at me. i was in a crowd of lots, sitting down, and i don't think i looked as nice for that show as i did for the 2AM show (viv put make up on for me for the 2AM show... i did my own for the PM show - do i know how to do girly stuff?! (rhetorical question... but the ansewr is "nope!" if u dunno... u ppl should know that by now! tshirt and jeans and runners or my hush puppies = yay! uncomfortable clothing = grrrr....) ... and there were no more instances of leehom looking at me after that. we didn't get to touch him either. cuz the stupid fucking security guards were soooooooooooooooooooo annoying. i think leehom saw how mean they were and then stopped "shaking hands" on our side so that we wouldn't all rush to the stage and wouldn't all get in trouble with the stupid security. i hated them. i really wanted to kick them. but i didn't.... one guy also told me to stop using my camera. it's not an SLR cam, and i DID go thru security just like everyone else! i guess i was lucky they didn't notice my camera, but it's not like i hid it either. it was hanging from my shoulder, outside of my jacket in plain sight! ... *sigh* ....

and that was the end of the important parts of munkee's leehom adventure. i'm sure will post some more details later when i remember them.

Funny leehom quotes of the evening: "In mandarin pop music, we also do a lot of ballads, that's like the bread and butter.... that's the RICE, i should say. The rice of chinese pop music" hahahahaa!
his jokes were so funny (in the dorky way that i like!). they're prolly not funny to "cool" gangsta ppl, but they're hilarious to me... and he also said smt like "are you guys scared of me? i'm in a red sweatshirt hoodie. i'm the least scariest thing!" instead of doing the lower/higher thing the second show....
I hope leehom didn't skip the thing cuz of me... i think i already posted my comments on this, so read my last post. i don't think he did. i really hope he didn't. if he did, the good news is that i had an effect on him!! basically, i wasn't the only one that caused the lower/higher thing to fail at the mohegan. i really honestly wasn't.

anyway, i had a kickass, albeit tiring, time. it was obviously extremely memorable, and not smt that i'll forget for a looooong time! thanks for driving us and putting up with us andrew (that's coming from all the girls, incl. me), and thanks for being such a "flirt" viv! j/k! that mouth of urs is grreat! so useful!

nand thank you leehom for the chance for us to see u there!!! (really, like leehom reads this.... well, i thank him anyway.)

The end [of this crappily written 'review', or just the munkee-leehom experience]. woohoo!!!