It’s a brand new year, and I don’t really want my first blog post in the year 2012 to be depressing. What I’ll just say is, even though it has only been two weeks into the new year, so many things had happened, and you might think, “Ah, this is just another teenager whining about her first world problems.” But no. Shit did get serious, for real. I just didn’t want to trouble anyone about it, because I don’t think any most of my friends would understand the things I have went through anyway. But well, all is well again, for now. An old high school classmate of mine said, “In the mean time, you just got to enjoy the moment.” So, I am taking his advice, and just I shall just live, laugh, love. (:
So, yeah, I was at a Foster The People show last Friday. I would have loved to brag and flaunt and say, “Be jealous!” But, quite frankly? It was the worst concert-going experience ever.
Ok, let’s start from the beginning. Shiv and I took the LRT from Asia Jaya to KLCC and when we got there at 3.30pm, there was already a line outside the hall, with 20+ people in front of us.
The wait outside was excruciating, because we had to listen to other people’s crappy conversations, so much so that by the end of the day, we knew how old they were, what their names are, what other bands they love, etc, without even speaking to them. This might sound normal and all, but trust me, the way they speak was just too darn annoying, it’s like a tie between bimbo and diva, and yeah, those are the right words to describe the boys there, too. We were cold, and our legs were numb, but we were still grateful that it was held indoors or else we would have been soaked by the rain. When the door opened at around 7pm, we ran and grabbed ourselves a good spot close to the stage.
Take a look at that. Our view was so good, right? While waiting, Shiv was telling me about all her tactics on how she usually manage to get to the most front at concerts, and it was really funny and scary at the same time, haha. To me, 2nd row was actually good enough, but of course, I am always curious how standing in front and holding on to the barrier feels like. But well, I was laughing at Shiv because the girl in front of her kept grinding on her as if she was in a night club. I took a video of it, but well, I would get murdered by Shiv if I were to post it up, and I don’t really want to mess with her after getting to know the fierce side of her that night.
When the show started, things turned into a total chaos. Shiv told me to grab on to her arms, and if I didn’t, I swear I would have been pushed to the back already. The crowd was so crazy, it was even worse than MTV World Stage, or the free concerts I have been to, and even worse compared to the K-pop concerts I have been to. And here I thought K-poppers are the craziest, oh how wrong was I! It was like there was an alien invasion, or a bomb blast or something, and everyone just ran to the front even when there was no more space. We were literally ass-to-crotch with the people in front and behind of us, there wasn’t enough breathing space, let alone space to dance! A few girls fainted in the first few minutes of the concert alone. My glasses turned foggy, too due to the heat even though the venue was air-conditioned. I swear, this was the first time in my life where I hope the concert would end much earlier, and that is saying a lot considering how much I love FTP. No, I am not dissing on them, the boys of FTP were amazing, Mark sounds wonderful live, and he was really close to us, walking to the edge of the stage and everything, and Cubbie, Pontius, Isom and Sean were all giving it their all, I could see that clearly. Their live performance was so full of energy, and I squealed on the inside when I saw Mark doing his infamous shoulder shrug dance and back-shuffle. Too bad that I didn’t enjoy it much because the crowd totally killed it for me. Mark told the fans to stop pushing but of course, no one listened. It was rather saddening, hearing those fan girls shouting things like, “You’re so hot!!” when Mark was telling us the touching back-story to the song, “Broken Jaw”, and when he sang the slow-paced, unreleased track, “Ruby”. I was so looking forward to hearing “Ruby” live, because all the other versions on Youtube were so crappy, but again, I didn’t get to enjoy it much unfortunately. ): Shiv wanted to leave the concert ground early, before they even played “Pumped Up Kicks”, and she was so dead serious about it that I felt bad for making her stay but I knew it was the right thing to do, because she would have wasted her money if we didn’t stay for their biggest hit song. She had been holding on to the barrier throughout the whole concert, and her hand was hurting because the girl in front of her had been dancing like a maniac as if she had a seizure or something. And she only did that just so other people would keep their distance from her. Shiv was so pissed that she even spat into her hair twice, and I know that was really mean of her, but I totally understood where that came from and I couldn’t stop laughing. I told her to let go of the barrier when “Pumped Up Kicks” came on because I knew things would get worse, and as we expected, the crowd went so wild and fanatic that we were pushed to the 6th row, and we almost fell a few times. FTP performed all the songs from their record, Torches, in their 1.30hour long set, and they also did a cover of Weezer’s “Say It Isn’t So”. When Mark hit the last note of “Pumped Up Kicks”, before the boys even left the stage, we had already turned our backs to them, pushing through the crowd to get to the exit because we just couldn’t stay there any longer. Our clothes were soaked wet, and I bet our clothes absorbed not just our own sweat, but other people’s, too. Ew.
Photos courtesy of Shiv. Heh
Shiv found out that the guys were staying at Parkroyal Hotel and suggested that we head there to wait for them outside the hotel, so I agreed. We got a bit lost and had to ask around random strangers for direction. Haha. We took the LRT to Dang Wangi, and then switched to a Monorail to Bukit Bintang, then, we finally found our way to the hotel, which was 3 minutes away from the station. But the epic failure moment was when we sat there waiting in front of a different hotel for a few minutes until I asked, “Wait a second…this says ‘Royal Hotel’, not ‘Park Royal Hotel’. Is it the same ah?” Then we realized our mistake and left embarrassingly and went to the right hotel. We waited outside because we saw a bunch of other people waiting at the hotel lobby, including the one girl I really dislike, and the girl who dry-humped Shiv at the concert. While sitting outside, I asked her, “Eh, you already met them at the airport what. How come you wanna meet them again ah?” Then it hit me that we were there not because of her, but because of me, because she knew that I missed out on the chance of meeting them due to my work, so she wanted to help me to meet them after the show. Ngawhhh, right? Haih. But I felt shitty because at that time, her birthday was less than an hour’s time, and we were waiting like fools outside of the hotel, and we were so tired and thirsty, and sore. I mean, could you imagine that we were so tired that we even sat on the escalator because standing up was too much a chore for us? But she was all like, “If I got back home also I would be sleeping, right?” But isn’t sleeping much better? But then, we saw a van stopped outside of the side building, and when we ran there, we saw Isom Innis getting out of the van, into the hotel. The others who waited in the lobby didn’t see him because he didn’t use the main entrance. I asked him if we could take a picture and this other guy said to us, “I’m sorry, he’s very sick right now, so he has to rest.” Isom looked at us apologetically and said, “I’m really sorry, I have an ear infection. Thanks for coming to our show, though.” He took a couple of steps forward, then turned around and said, “Alright, I can do one picture.” Ahhh, how sweet of him, right?? He has the softest voice ever, a little feminine, but he was just so friendly and sweet.
I tweeted him, “Thanks for taking a photo with us last night. Hope u’re feeling better now. It was great meeting you!” And he actually tweeted back saying,
:’) Too sweet of him.
Anyways, Shiv and I decided that we wouldn’t wait for the others because we were sure they went out probably clubbing instead, and they wouldn’t be back until 2am or something. So, we took the Monorail straight to KL Sentral. We walked to some deserted place where the LRT Station was supposed to be, but decided to turn around and assume that it has closed since it was already midnight and all. So, I called my brother to pick us up from KL Sentral instead. KL at midnight is such a scary place, with so many drunkards and perverted man who Shiv described as, “Men who stares at anything with boobs.” Haha. Because of them, we couldn’t even wait at the bus stop like normal people, and instead, we had to sit at the curb side, but my brother got there pretty quickly and we left KL safe and sound. Haha.
And oh, Shiv opened the present I got her in the car, which is a limited edition Star Wars Moleskine notebook. Phew. I was so glad she liked it, I mean, I felt pretty bad cause I didn’t even have the time to write a note or anything and I only wrapped the gift in the morning. But yeah. It was so funny because she made my cousin, my brother, and his friend who were in the car with us to wish her a happy birthday. And they all did what they were told to do. LOL. I have such hilarious friends and relatives. But yeah, happy birthday, Shiv! (:
Oh, yeah, my cousin, Chuen came down to KL for a surprise visit with my uncle and aunt. And on Saturday, we went to have ice cream waffle at Rock Cafe, then we went to play an hour of Left4Dead 2 at the cyber cafe. Gosh, it was so good to just be able to chill and relax. And at night, all of us went to Restoran Haeun Khon at Amcorp Mall for dinner, including Wei Nee, my brother’s girlfriend! Then when we got back, we celebrated Ma’s birthday with a Secret Recipe cake Pa bought for her. And mom said that it was her happiest birthday ever. :’) And of course, I had so much fun torturing my brother and Wei Nee by taking pictures of them and making them feel shy in front of the family. Haha. All of us played Crash Bandicoot on PS1 at home, too. The whole atmosphere was great, like, it actually felt like things are finally all well again, and I really do hope it will stay that way. (: So, like I said. I am just gonna enjoy the moment for now, and not worry about a single thing about my life. So… Peace out!
