Stuck in the Middle: Sunshine State of Mind

The past two days have been nothing short of exciting.

Friday was Korean Music Wave which featured 10 bands - Big Bang, 2NE1, FT Island, Miss A, Teen Top, U-Kiss, X-5, The Boss, Touch, Dal Shabet. I wasn't planning to go for it originally but Stef and I got last minute tickets and I gotta admit that it was money well-spent. Comparing it to K-Pop Night last year, this one was so much better, in terms of venue and the sound system. And of course it healed the pain in my heart because I was really sore about not being able to see FT Island. Heh :$

The line-up was awesome too! It was totally like a 2NE1/Big Bang concert in the end! I'd say that I enjoyed myself.

Minhwan stuck at the back playing drums while his hyungs ran about.

Yeah so FT Island was the first band to perform, which was totally expected since before the concert even started, Jonghun's acoustic guitar was already on stage. They performed 'Love Love Love', 'Hello Hello', 'Bing Bing Bing' and my favourite 'I Hope (Barae)'! I was kind of expecting them to sing a couple of songs from their new mini album though. It would have been awesome if they had sung 'I Confess', after all, that is Stef's and my song. Hurhur. When they sung 'Barae' it was total deja vu all over again because I screamed at the intro of the song. Except this time I learned the fan chant LOL the Primadonna beside didn't do the fanchant pfft I felt like a loser. But no worries because the next time they come, I'm gonna have my Pentastick with me.

X-5!

Supa Luv!

Miss A! Fei was so pretty omgosh. But Suzy looked kinda sick and she was coughing while going backstage. Take care, poor girl!

0330 - U-Kiss. Argh I love that song

2NE1 rocking the stage!

Starting off with 'Fire', they got the audience singing along with them. Wasn't difficult at all seeing that the lyrics were, 'eh eh eh eh eh eh eh eh' LOL. 'Lonely' was so awesome and I found Dara totally charming while she sang her parts although they were really minimal compared to the rest. 'I Am the Best' no doubt pumped up the crowd and I was just screaming my lungs out for the fanchant. They also performed 'I Don't Care' and 'Can't Nobody' but I was totally expecting 'Go Away' and 'Clap Your Hands'. Bummer. Hahaha.

Seungri who loves Singapore beer.

Stef was so pumped during 'Strong Baby'. I don't blame her though! He put up an amazing performance! In the words of him, 'Awesome! Cool! And.....Awesome!' Adorable max.

Taeyang with his chilli crab song! Hurhur too cute!

I totally enjoyed his performance of 'I'll Be There' and 'Where U At'. I wanted 'Wedding Dress' and 'I Need A Girl' (a surprise appearance from Dara would have gotten me crazy) though! Still, his sleek dance moves and his smooth voice had me drowning in his awesomeness and it justified why he was the first K-Pop artist to have caught my eye in the very first place. Hahaha I'm trying to sound as un-fangirly as possible here.

G-Dragon!

TOP! Should have followed him club-hopping heh.

GD&TOP definitely did rock the house and when they kicked off their segment with 'Knock Out' it definitely got me singing (chanting/rapping) along. Proceeding with 'Oh Yeah' and 'High High', they brought the atmosphere at the Indoor Stadium to an all time high!

Big Bang as a whole, without Daesung unfortunately, performed 'Tonight', 'Love Song' and 'Hands Up'. His presence was obviously missed though, especially when Seungri sang his parts. Haha poor boy I know you did your best!

'Tonight' was basically flawless and although my heart broke at the sight of G-Dragon smashing the guitar I must admit that it was well..really cool, and awesome! Heh.

The beginning of 'Love Song' was a tad off though. TOP couldn't reach his low notes LOL too much rapping and shouting before that I reckon! But the rest of the song was just, beyond words. Well just one look at the reaction of the person beside me and you'd know. :P

I wasn't particularly high or overly-excited when FT Island performed though. And I attribute it to the fact that I was too far away and since they were the first act I wasn't pumped yet. And they weren't playing their instruments live, which I was pretty upset about to be honest.

Still, I'm really glad I got to hear 'Hello Hello', 'Barae' (again), '0330', 'Syo Hajima' and 'Love Song' live - all of which are on my favourites list heh.

I'd like to say a huge thank you to all the performers! Thank you for putting up such wonderful performances and I thoroughly enjoyed the full 3.5 hours. Thank you very much, Stef, for asking me to go with you, and of course for the company! I really would have regretted so so much if I didn't go! Also, thank you to Jiaqi for helping us get the tickets!

And Stef, although our stalking plans totally failed, trust me, one day we will be able to catch whoever we wanna stalk. Haha but for now, B1A4 from the airport on 7th August! And we can do the same for SHINee in September!

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The next day we were on a mission to assist perfectionist Eden plan for Dee's 19th birthday! Well I guess it was a success and luckily we didn't miss the fireworks. It felt so awesome watching fireworks from the 58th storey of Swissotel The Stamford with my favourite people.

I definitely had fun including a bathroom photo shoot with the girls.

Epic jump shots by Keith and I!

Stef and I at our Little India station.

Happy birthday again, Dee! And I hope we made your 19th really memorable! You are really precious so please stay in our lives for a long time to come! :)

/picture credits to Brenda!

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Speaking of birthdays, it is already 18th July in KST so I definitely gotta dedicate a birthday post to my favourite maknae, Lee Taemin!

I have to admit, just like any other human being, I was superficial and started liking you because of your look in Lucifer, you were really... *breathes in* ...hot. Hahaha. And you were one of the main reasons why I actually started taking notice of SHINee.

You are no doubt one of the most adorable idols I know. You are a crazy dance machine, you can play the piano, and your singing has improved tremendously from your debut days.

You are really dorky sometimes. You say you want to be seen as a more 'manly' person, but you always use your aegyo for every situation that calls for it. Although you are now legal, in my heart, you will never stop being the child that you are.