Trip to the L.A.~

Wah!! Sorry I'm so late with posting this... My desktop pc is having issues connecting to the internet again.. and my laptop is sooo lame -_- *sigh*

Remember a few days ago when I said I was gonna update with super exciting details? Well I changed my mind, while writing this I realized it's actually not very exciting at all lol... but I decided I'll post it anyway ^_^

Lets start with the purpose of my trip in general... to go see the Korean Music Festival at the Hollywood bowl!! In case you're wondering, I've been a fan of Korean/Asian music ever since I traveled across the globe and watched MTV Asia practically everyday I was there... It was bound to happen, there's like... so many catchy songs just waiting to seduce your ears! @_@ haha, So I've been really looking forward to the KMF@Hollywood Bowl all year long! In Feb. I managed to get pool circle tickets and then I also made reservations at the same hotel the celebrities were said to be staying at in hopes of seeing them roaming the lobby or hallways! Weee... :b

OK, here goes..

Day 1: Friday (leaving for the L.A.)
I was sooo nervous getting ready to leave that morning, I really didn't know what to expect from the trip since it was my first time going to L.A... Also I was really worried because my brother had spread another freaking sinus cold to me!! The Chinese horoscope was true! I got sick right in the beginning of May!! Not horribly sick or anything but I thought it might be enough to ruin the trip if I felt bad and if I had to deal with people that would all be assuming I must have the Swine Flu.. -_- (Pffft... anyway, I ended up getting some medication and it wasn't much of a problem for me during the trip)

Moving on, at the airport I had issues getting through the metal detector as usual (I seriously thought I took everything metal off this time!).. Then we got some crappy cab driver that tried to rip us off.. and he did because we just wanted to get the hell away from him!! Gahhh! Thank god we finally made it to the hotel though~ The hotel was really nice and check-in was pretty smooth, however we were given the wrong room type. We were suppose to get a double junior suite (room with living area and 2 bathrooms) but instead we got a regular room but on the executive level (on the top floors with decent views). I foolishly thought I'd have a better chance at seeing the celebrities on the exec level but I found out later that they were hidden on the other regular floors... I think they were on the floor I was suppose to be on with the junior suite! Those Korean popstars stole my room!! T_T lol

So we hung around in the room for a couple hours before going out to explore downtown L.A. We shopped for bit then went to eat some pizza at the California Pizza Kitchen I think ?_? haha, After eating we went for coffee at Starbucks and headed back to the hotel. I was trying to look all glamorous walking around in heels and it was the worst mistake ever! My feet were covered in hideous blisters by the time we got back!! Grrr!
Back at the hotel there was complete chaos. (I guess a celeb had just left or arrived or something). We went in the gift shop for awhile until the crowd cleared from the elevators. Since I was still feeling a lil bit sick we went upstairs to rest and I later read online that I missed all the k-pop stars arriving back at the hotel from rehearsal by like 30 mins!! Damnit, it was so disappointing ya know? ;.;

Day 2: Saturday (day of concert)
We started the day by going out to get breakfast at Denny's. We were suppose to have free breakfast at the executive lounge but we didn't even know where the hell that was! (and I wish we never did find out, you'll know why later)... So I tossed on a hat and my giant sunglasses since I didn't have makeup on yet and headed out. (I wore my hat and giant sunglasses a lot while there, so if you happened to have seen me wearing them in-doors and wondered why... now you know! :b )

I was in a hurry to eat and get ready because I had arranged to meet people from the Quainte forum at the Hollywood bowl before the concert to spazz about SS501 with. (SS501 were the headliners of KMF)... Unfortunately after we got ready and took a ride on the subway from downtown to Hollywood/Highland, we were lost as to were to find the connecting transportation and actually ended up hoofin' it up the hill about 6 blocks! :O It had to of been a couple miles... or at least that's what if felt like. We were all hot and sweaty by the time we got up the hill and I was running 20 minutes late for the meet! I didn't see the group anywhere in sight.. I felt sooo bad about it too, I really wanted to socialize and meet other fans... but... sadly I also forgot to write down the number to contact them so we just decided to walk around on our own collecting concert freebies and eating lunch. lol We ate at a place halfway down the hill and then we had to walk back up again!! My face was like melting because I had put super thick makeup on... you see, since I was in pool circle I knew it was likely I'd end up on camera at some point and I wanted to look nice ya know?! Anyway, yeah, it just made me really sweaty though. Gross!! ;.;

The concert itself was great!! Maybe a little boring on occasion since it lasted for 5 hours and I was mainly interested in the people performing at the very end. Quite a few of the earlier performances were pretty good though and I smacked hands with some of the performers! I wish SHINee could've performed more songs~ I heard they were suppose to sing four, but one of the boys got really nervous or something while waiting to perform. Seems understandable, some of the guys in that group are like only 15 or so. Gawd, that makes me feel so old! XD

^SHINee

^Baek Ji Young

^SNSD

^SS501 left to right: Kyu Jong, Young Saeng, Hyun Joong, Hyung Joon, Jung Min

The best part was SS501 of course!! I couldn't believe how good looking they were in person O_O Christ they were beautiful! Even better than in the pics from their professional photo shoots. I always assumed they looked so nice thanks to photoshopping.. How silly of me huh?! I feel like... sooo not good looking after seeing them in person! XD Hahaha! And guess what?~ I even smacked hands with Hyung Joon (the adorable baby of the group) and Hyun Joong grabbed my hand as he walked by! (he's the leader of the group. I know, they have names that are almost identical).. I watched a video of it later and he was like smiling and looking into our faces as he held our hands and I didn't even see his face because I had put on a hat and it blocked my view! A huh huh huh! And he didn't see me.. he only saw my stupid hat! -_- Damnit~ I also was kinda sad because I thought I touched Kyu Jong but it was actually one of SS501's backup dancers. lol.. but oh well, he was cute and a good dancer too! :b


Hyun Joong @ Hollywood bowl~ photo by Miximel

Look how happy he is interacting with us! So cute! I actually read from some other fans that he hasn't smiled this much in quite a while! ~ photo by BETCHAY@SOOMPI

SS501 left to right: Hyung Joon, Jung Min, Hyun Joong, Kyu Jong, Young Saeng~ Photo by Budydub@soompi/flickr

More SS501~ photo by Budydub@soompi/flickr

And more~ photo also by Budydub@soompi/flickr

This was adorable! Hyung Joon (left) fan interaction and Jung Min (Right) posing for pictures!~ Photo by Songielove@soompi

SNSD! Gee gee gee gee baby baby baby~ photo by Budydub@soompi/flickr

SHINee at KMF! I was shouting Amigo with them!~ photo by Elle in California@flickr

Mini G.O.D. Reunion! These guys got everyone pumped up and outta their seats jumping!~ photo by Budydub@soompi/flickr

Baek Ji Young at KMF! I LOVED her performance of "give your lips"!~ photo by Elle in California@flickr

Ending fireworks~ photo by Elle in California@flickr

Concert ended~ and we headed out. We heard screams because apparently some people saw SS501 and Son Ho Young waving from a car on their way out! How lame I missed it, I ALWAYS MISS EVERYTHING! Ahhh!.. So we walked all the way down to the subway, got on a car full of horrible, horrible bogans! (bogans = people that walk around purposely trying to bother others and cause trouble).. It was a freaking nightmare! They stayed on for our entire ride and got off at the same stop so we just ran to get away from them lol... and went to eat dinner at a place close to the hotel. When we finished eating it was already around 1 am or later, and we arrived at the hotel to see a huge group of people waiting to see some celebrities. I was tired and just slightly still sick so we went upstairs. I logged on a forum to find out we had just missed all of the performers returning while we were out eating! DAMNIT! Missed them AGAIN!!

Such a nightmare! Everyone was posting their experiences meeting them and pics of all the items they got autographed.. -_- *sigh* Woe is meee...

Day 3: Sunday (Mother's day)
In case you forgot, I brought my mom on this trip to L.A. since it was Mother's day weekend and all.. I feel badly for putting her in the pool circle during the concert but I warned her and she seemed to think it'd be ok! I kinda wonder if she'll show up on vids of the concert looking all furious that girls were screaming in her ears and stomping over her to touch a performer's hand or whatever. Which reminds me, I totally got slapped across the face by someone trying to touch one of the G.O.D. members. I couldn't find the girl that did it though!! Grr! (Not like it really matters, it didn't hurt)... Hehe kinda got of track here... We had planned to do lots of junk Sunday but we just ended up going out for small breakfast, then we shopped a bit, and went back to the room to get ready to go out later for lunch. Yeah, we're lazy so we didn't do much on Sunday. We went to lunch, had the slowest service ever, shopped again, back to the room, then back downstairs and BAM!!!

Finally something happens here! Eeee! We went into the gift shop and I bought a Hello Kitty purse and orange juice and my mom got a magazine. Then we camped out and watched for possible celebrities. (even though, according to some rumors, some had left already). Anyway, we sat and then I saw someone that looks like Jessica from SNSD.. She was cutely twirling around and acting cute with some friends but I didn't recognize any of the people she was with as other SNSD members. A few other people joined them and they left. I noticed that 2 other girls watching for celebs stood up and watched them leave so I'm thinking it was her. I read the next day that all the other SNSD members had left that morning but Jessica stayed with her friends or something... I can't say I recognized her for certain since I'm not really an SNSD fan, but I'm pretty sure... and then ZOMG!!!

Someone came around the corner at about 11:10 pm. And I DO recognize him for sure!! It's Hyun Joong!! Or is it? 0_o .....


^Random Hyun Joong photo~ credit to DSPent(Thailand)

*Other girls start snapping photos*

OMG it IS!!!! Ahhhh!!! ^_^

Then two other girls showed up and watched also. The lobby was empty except just the few of us. No big crowds like the nights before! So I was watching him in awe as he stood with his friend (or manager?) at the hotel reception desk. I think he peeked my way but I hid my face from his view. Which is soooo lame of me! Why am I hiding from him? I'm such a spazz!! T_T

He started walking away and the first two girls that were taking pics followed him and held out some cds. He took their cds and autographed them on the escalator! Wahhhh!!

I turned to my mom and was like "come on!!" D:

So I run to the escalator (he's on the lower floor now singing stuff) and he sees us and looks up! And.... this is where I act like a freak... I see him look at me and I ~jump back~ outta his sight!! Like as though he has rays of fire shooting out of his eyes that'll cause me to combust!... OmG!... and... and then when I went back to the edge I saw him walking out of view... -_- I AM THE MOST AWKWARD PERSON ALIVE!!!!

Then my mom was all "You should've got an autograph, I bet he would've thought you were cute! ^_^ "

Me: Moooooom! I jumped back when he looked at me! Like an Idiot! AN IDIOT!! ;.;

Mom: He looked amused though.... You know he probably sees fans acting weird all the time..

Me: Yeah, the insane ones!

Mom: Wanna try and catch up? No one else is trying to get his autograph right now...

Me: No... I don't wanna run after him... I'll just look even stupider...

Mom: Well at least you saw someone!

Me: Yeah! Mission accomplished! *high fives*

I wish I hadn't been such a doofus... but I guess at least I did see someone... and possibly amused him with my dumb behavior. Just in case you're wondering, the reason I tried to hide myself is because I actually feel like it's kinda lame to stalk celebs and chase them for autographs. (It seems like something a mature adult wouldn't do... but then I'm immature huh?) I've never been the type of person to wanna approach a celebrity... Or so I thought. Anyway, I felt extremely stalkerish during this entire ordeal.. and I kinda didn't want him to know I had been staked out in the lobby waiting for him.. (like he doesn't already know since I had just thrusted my hand at him the night before and then bounced around in excitement like a crazed fan after he grabbed it lol)... I know that's the stupidest reasoning ever. I need to face the fact that I AM a crazed fan and get myself a damn autograph! It would've been awesome if I could've gotten him to autograph the purse I had just bought before seeing him! Maybe next time huh? XD I found out later that the time I saw him in the lobby was apparently the last anyone saw of him in L.A. before he left~ ^_^

Day 4: Leaving to go home (one last try to spot someone)

(This happened before I learned that all the performers weren't on the executive levels.) I thought we should try out this executive lounge for breakfast and maybe we'd run into someone. Or we could get packed and ready then go for some Starbucks and wait for someone in the lobby. The decision we made caused us to miss all four other SS501 members leaving that morning... Of course because we choose the stupid lounge... I hate how the seating in there was so close and everyone is in everyone else's face. Some guy watched me eat the entire time and it was soooo creepy. Most of the people in there seem really snotty too.. My gawd... I missed Jung Min just to be surrounded by a bunch of bastards...

That's pretty much it... we left the hotel, got on a plane full of annoyingly outgoing people that wanted to have the most boring conversations of all time and then we arrived home... Now I'm trying to decided whether to go back next year or not.. it was fun for the most part!! ^_^

BTW, I have no pictures... I never remember to take them! I only remembered to take out my camera during the concert but then put it away because it totally ruins the experience for me to be trying to hold a camera steady when I'd rather be dancing! *None of the pictures on this post were taken by me and I did my best to credit the people that took them. However, if anyone happens to see a pic I've posted and feel I did not credit properly or would like me to remove it just let me know. Thks!
♥

SS501 Videos!!~

^Deja Vu



^SS501 practices their English! So hilarious, especially towards the end of the clip! We are tha stuurrrrrrrdents! XD