Well I've Been Waiting Like All Week Long

So the last week has been awesome although there were exams but now that I have gotten that out of the way... partehhh!

After we finished our last paper, Overview of Producing, Chapmanites '14 (students of Chapman students bascially) gathered at Mary's place to celebrate Christmas. It was, for lack of a better word, great. And it was also the first time I sang properly in front of my Uni mates. Haha. Here's a snippet of it that Rowena took.

HAHA my rapping

With Faseha, Lilin and ze TKBand senior, Sijia

Much thanks to Mary's husband for being Santa!

My secret Santa gift to Zhenhao and Pavandeep's gift to me. (P.S. everyone seems to think that I'm really thin le sigh haha)

The beautiful/awesome/crazy/funny party people :)

Met up with the Poly bunch just now for Eudora's birthday dinner.

We went to Vintage Delicafe which was around Haji Lane. The food was delicious but I think I waited for almost an hour for my grilled chicken. Freaking grilled chicken. Gotta avoid that place on Friday nights and weekends for sure.

I can't emphasize this enough but honestly I will never ever feel as comfortable around anyone else compared to these wonderful people. They don't judge me, they put up with all my nonsense, they laugh at my horrible jokes and they make me tell them stuff that I honestly would prefer not to say...

AND they got The Script concert tickets for my birthday.

I was really, really surprised - that's a big deal by the way - I have a knack at spoiling surprises that are meant for me. Lol. I absolutely can't wait. Yiyun's my concert companion too so that's double the awesomeness. Sigh, guys I really don't know what to say. Here's a heart for y'all ♥, another one ♥, and many more ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

All these meetings with each other really assure me that things are gonna be just fine when the five of you (Stef, Rach, Dee, Mel, Brenda) go to Perth for further studies... I hope.

Anyway, happy holidays everyone! One week to Korea oh man am I stoked or what?! Hehe.

P.S. I'm not being biased but everyone has to check out Boys Like Girls' new album. It is amazing and it has got to be their best work yet. So proud of them.

Cuz You're My Obsession

Oh Kim Jooyeon, how can one be so gorgeous, sexy and adorable at the same time?

Oh look we share the same love for caps too. Hehehe.

And she sings well too. Kill me.

AND she's really dorky too I would go on but no I shall stop. Okay bye. /goes to a corner and cries/

12월

*Warning: Image and video heavy*

Here comes the last month of the year. It certainly has been a crazy year, but woah, the first week of December has been insane! And I mean it in a good way.

29th, 30th November (I know this ain't December yet, but shh):

These two days are what I'd like to call 'Pre-Sundown Festival', simply because I spent the night of 29th at the airport waiting for BtoB's arrival, which was actually a last minute decision and the 30th trying to catch them again but ended up catching other artistes at the rehearsal. Lol.

Here's a pic I took of my favourite member Ilhoon hur.

Stef, Brenda and I camwhoring while waiting at the venue for rehearsal the next day. Hahahaha I'm so gross.

Ended up seeing Anthony Neely and Liu Li Yang! Anthony acknowledged us when we waved by showing us a peace sign. Hehe cute. See why I like HIM artistes? Haha!

BtoB did go for rehearsal after the fanmeet at J-Cube, but by that time we were already sitting comfortably at Stef's place munching on pizza and watching MAMA (Mnet Asia Music Awards). Check out Justine's and Cheryl's write-ups at Dinoseoul about Sundown Festival 2012's press conference and concert. Photos here, here and here. Video highlights below.

1st December:

This day was insanely insane really. Brenda and I went for 2NE1's soundcheck which I won tickets to. It was pretty cool seeing them again after their guerrilla concert at Clarke Quay last month. I was really happy to hear 'I Love You' live. They also sang 'In The Club' and 'Stay Together' which I wasn't very familiar with, but I love the former. The girls were really friendly and pretty (Dara, please stop all your perfection) and it was awesome to see them so up-close. No pics for this because security was darn strict and I almost died when security caught us taking photos. Eek. Anyway, do check out Mel's review of the concert (photos here) and yes here are video highlights again.

We then went over to MBS to catch PSY at his showcase.

As many of you might know, 'Gangnam Style' is a highly overrated song to me. But I was won over by this man who had so much stage presence! I will not go on any longer because you can just read my review over at Dinoseoul, photos here. And yayyy video highlights... again.

As a bonus, check out my favourite song from him.

Just hear all those people singing along. One thing's for sure - you go to a PSY gig, get ready to enjoy yourself, A LOT.

5th December:

I turned 20. And I had Feature Analysis exam that day. Luckily the movie we were made to watch was 'Finding Nemo' and not something like 'Out of Africa' or 'Citizen Kane' or I'd have killed someone. Faseha and Mary bought me food and drinks for my lunch (hehehe free food) and my awesome classmates dressed up like me.

Sigh Hirzi you really... LOL.

Met up with Stef and Brenda after school for dinner. Thanks for the cupcakes hehe love you both. Thank you too, to those who wished me be it in person, through text, Facebook or Twitter! ^^

6th December:

After finishing our presentations for Overview of Production, our school had a pizza party (yay free food again) and I went over to meet Brenda to get ready for RaNia's Singapore stop for their Asia Tour. It got delayed for quite a bit but overall it was a pretty nice event. The only thing that marred the night was this 'official' videographer/photographer blocking everyone's view for a nice group photo of the girls during the autograph session. Not to mention, she kind of shoved me out of the way when we were walking past each other. Omg, disgusting inconsiderate stuck-up fat piece of shit. The next time I see her she's gonna get a high-five from me... on her face... with spiked gloves.

Anyway, the showcase itself was really enjoyable. I wasn't familiar with their songs but they certainly did impress me quite a bit.

We were really close to the stage - closest to ANY K-pop concert/showcase I will ever be. We even got to shake hands with Xia. So cool. Deserving special mention is main vocalist Riko, who sang a solo song, 'That's Me', and who totally stole my heart that day. Sheesh, I think I'm a little infatuated with her. She's so gorgeous and just oozes a kind of elegance and innocence (though that doesn't seem to fit when one thinks about RaNia LOL). I swear I couldn't take my eyes off of her throughout the whole night. HAHA. Sorry not sorry.

Hi I think I love you.

Read my full concert review here (don't worry there is no spazzing in there), you can also check out the rest of the photos here.

8th December:

Freaking SHINee World 2! I would first like to thank Radio 1003 for the tickets that I won through their Facebook contest. I got more than I asked for when the tickets turned out to be free standing tickets. The concert was... wow, just wow. And although my life decreased by many years from the sound of the fireworks I really enjoyed myself.

My concert companion, Sziyi!

Let me just say how flawless the boys were. They were all so happy and I'm sure their emotions went on as much as a roller coaster ride as much as mine did. And Taemin... whenever I see him I just feel so proud of him. I was in awe watching his solo performance of 'Get Up!' originally by Korn ft. Skrillex. Was that really the cute maknae of SHINee screaming 'SHUT THE F*** UP, GET UP!'?! And his performance of 'Internet War' with Jonghyun absolutely got me crazy again. I already saw it live at SMTOWN, but this time it was 352748 times closer... and better.

Just five metres away from me during 'Internet War' and just working it during 'Lucifer'.

But as manly and badass he may look during these performance, I guess SM's not going to let him shed his innocent, and uh, feminine side yet - he appeared on the VCR of 'Tie a Yellow Ribbon' as Minho's girlfriend. Sigh.

Jonghyun thoroughly impressed me with 'Y Si Fuera Ella'. There was so much emotion. And the whole rose petals, water and blood plus needing a dancer to help him off the stage combination was a nice touch. The last part was funny though, if anything.

The most touching part was when a VCR of the boys since pre-debut days showed and they started crooning 'The Name I Loved'. It was beautiful and I couldn't help but tear. Yeah okay I know I cry every concert, go away...

I was sad to see them go but they came back for an encore and the boys started throwing balls everywhere and I managed to catch one that Onew threw. LOL uh here it is...

LOL no judging allowed please.

The fans and SHINee also celebrated Minho's and Onew's birthdays and it resulted in a cake fight initiated by Jonghyun. Haha, and Key was being really cute and all with his Buzz Lightyear glove.

Got to meet Wenhui and Vinnie after the concert too.

All in all, I thought that the first SHINee World was better, despite the number of awesome stages. I think too much rock remixes and screamo makes me wanna die (and because I was quite bummed that they didn't sing '1000 Years Always By Your Side'). And because they sang 'Romantic' the first time round. Heh. But you know, they never disappoint and it was still a stellar concert - great way to end the K-pop craze in Singapore for 2012.

So that concludes these past few days. Back to studying. Be back after exams!

SMTOWN Live World Tour III in Singapore

Wow. Just, wow. SMTOWN was just the most amazing concert ever. I was a little skeptical on whether I should go at first, but boy, am I glad that I decided to. I was really impressed with most of the performances and I especially enjoyed the collaboration stages. Anyway, here's how my day went down.

My friends and I reached pretty early - around 1pm, considering the fact that we got seats. We were disappointed when the merchandise booth stated that the lightsticks were sold out, but we were so happy later when we got free ones from Samsung by just waving. Lol. We took it one step further and did body waves as well. SO. EMBARRASSING. We also went around collecting hand banners which was a lot of fun. Most of them were EXO ones though. I'm not complaining - I just wished that I could have gotten some SHINee and the TVXQ one. Uh well.

So cool! But what do I do with them now?

Things seemed pretty bleak in the evening when it started pouring like crazy. The sky looked so dark it gave me such an end-of-the-world feeling. But the ominous clouds eventually cleared and we were all so thankful.

Fast forward to when we entered the concert venue. There were so many people that I think they gave up on bag checks, so we got to our seats pretty quickly. Our seats were pretty decent, and the atmosphere was awesome. And we absolutely had no idea that the extended stage was going to be so close. Haha we kinda freaked out.

Mandatory ticket shot and an awesome view.

My amazing concert companions ^^

Anyway, the concert itself was just uh-ma-zing. I was definitely looking forward to seeing EXO the most... just because. It was my first time seeing EXO, BoA, f(x), Kangta and Super Junior live. And they were amazing. All of the acts were, even though there were some slip-ups (literally - lots of the artistes slipped on stage and some fell).

Thankfully my kungfa panda didn't fall at this part.

While it was disappointing that some of the performances were lip-synced to - EXO's 'History' and 'MAMA', SHINee's 'Lucifer', and the one that upset me the most - Taeyeon's 'Devil's Cry', the collaboration stages were really impressive. I especially enjoyed Changmin's and Kyuhyun's 'Just the Way You Are' and 'Open Arms' by Ryeowook, Onew, Baekhyun and Chen. Of course, it was also great getting to hear TVXQ's 'Humanoids' even before it was released. Lucky us. Hehe.

Oh god Baekhyun please come into my open arms.

Of course my favourite Taemin and SHINee charmed the socks off of me with their cute little antics and English. Haha!

2min moment at 2:37. Urgh Taemin can you get any cuter?

.
And Internet War ft. Jonghyun and Taemin. That totally sent all of us into fangirl spasms. LOL.

Lol at how Taemin has to bend to be on eye level with Jonghyun.

The weather took a turn for the worse when BoA was performing 'Only One'. It was horrible that I missed the Sehun and BoA dance break because I was busy putting on my poncho. I was so looking forward to that part! :(
I was so impressed with f(x) when they performed Electric Shock (how apt lol) live in the heavy rain. It was totally a the-show-must-go-on moment and I was incredibly touched.

And as if on cue, during the last song 'Hope', the rain suddenly stopped. It was like the heavens knew. I was even more touched and even though it was a happy song I started tearing up. It was beautiful. Even as I write this and reminisce I feel like crying. Hahaha I'm such a softie, pfft.

Anyway, to end off, I am so glad that I decided to go for this. It was indeed the biggest K-pop event in Singapore thus far, and I anticipate the next one in 2014.

Do check out Dinoseoul's write up here, photos here.

And also watch the highlights of SMTOWN Live World Tour III in Singapore that I did if you haven't! :)

D-DAY

Today is SMTOWN. SMTOWN is today. Can I just say how excited I am? Wow, seeing so many artistes (of which I all like - I know, so many) performing over a span of four hours is gonna be really insane and absolutely fun! I can't wait to see SHINee perform since they were the first K-pop group I ever liked. But man, am I looking forward to watching EXO? I've been following them since Teaser #1. And I really love them okay.

Okay. So fangirlish. Meh. Goodnight!

Flowers Have Blossomed Again

So I got the limited edition of S.H.E's latest album and the contents are super pretty and they look perfect, the songs are perfect, asdfghjkl everything is perfect.

What a ride. 12 years; 13 albums. It is amazing how they have managed to stay together for so long despite all the things that happened. Every artiste/group has had their own problems and hurdles but honestly, you just can't compare them to those of S.H.E's - Ella's hip-shattering accident in 2003 and her getting depression, numerous reports on Hebe's sexuality, to most recently, Selina's accident which resulted in third-degree burns and the hiatus in their group activities, just to name a few... Just, wow. Of course, Selina's and Ella's weddings did make us feel really happy for them. How sweet was Lawyer 'Ah Tiong' when he took the initiative to make their relationship public at their concert in Taipei?

And this music video of Ella's solo song featuring none another than the leading lady and her husband themselves...

Everyone has to stop being so sweet, seriously.

While many critics have doubted their return after Selina's accident, die-hard fans (like me) have been awaiting it. My dad said they wouldn't, and I almost cried (for real I'm not kidding).

But they did, and it excited me so much when photos from their photoshoot in Milan were released.

After all these turbulence, I'm sure S.H.E has again rooted themselves as the top girl group in Asia. And they are totally deserving of that title - they can sing (all of them have solo EPs/albums), act (Ella's portfolio is growing day by day), host, and they are just the sweetest and most down-to-earth people ever.

I don't see myself ceasing to support them anytime soon, after all, they were my first ever idols... And one doesn't simply forget their 'firsts'. Lol. I'm hoping that they have promotional activities here because I'm really missing them a lot after seeing them for consecutive years at their autograph sessions.

我永远爱你们, 永不说再见.

On a final note, HIM, are you really expecting me to plant these sunflower seeds?

While I Was Gone

I know, I know. I've been away for a very very long as I've been busy with school and Dinoseoul (I'm writing there). So I'm gonna try updating on some significant events that I actually remember.

30th September: Keane Strangeland Concert
I've never been a super big fan of Keane or anything but I got free tickets so why not right? And am I glad that I went! The atmosphere wasn't quite like any other concert I have been to... it was pretty chill. I was especially awed by Tom Chaplin's amazing vocals - he sounds exactly the same as he does on the record! And I did take a slight liking to pianist Tim Rice-Oxley. Hehe.

11th October: Brian Joo Up-Close and Personal Concert
Again, I got free tickets for this - all thanks to Rachy! I think in K-pop now, solo artistes are often overshadowed by idol groups and Brian Joo is one of them. He is an awesome vocalist, he can dance, he speaks fluent and American-accented English (oh yes me gusta) and he is genuine. The concert literally brought fans 'closer' to Brian as the setting in Butter Factory was a really intimate one. Although I wasn't familiar with most of his songs, I still enjoyed it a lot - I really love 'Domino' and 'Let It Die'.

Oh and because of Rachy, again, I got to go up and snap a picture with the man himself! It was funny though, when I had to tell him that my name was Rachel so he'd write her name on the poster. Haha!

27th October: Recording
The Poly bunch met up for audio and video recording of 'Starships'. The video recording was a failure though and we ended up, uhm, camwhoring. What's new? That said, I'm sure we will be more productive the next time we meet for filming.. I think.

Don't ask me what I was doing.

31st October: Halloween/Skyfall Preview
So Chapman students had the privilege of catching Skyfall more it premiered in Singapore! I'm not going to spoil it for anyone but it actually might be the best Bond movie to date! Love it when the antagonist is batshit crazy.
And because it was also Halloween, I dressed up as Bond!

No I'm not that light.

2nd November: 2NE1 Fan Gathering
So my favourite K-pop girl group had a guerrilla showcase in Singapore, which was a big big thing since things like that are rarely held in Singapore, what more a K-pop group? The squeezing from the audience was horrible and there was this inconsiderate girl in the second row standing on a freaking stool but other than that it was fun and amazing... partly because it was free. Haha! Nevertheless, I still managed to take awesome photos!

My personal favourite :)

Check out the rest of the photos here and Rachy's write-up here.

3rd November: Melodi's Birthday Celebration
And then our dear Mel turned 20! Her parents, the Poly bunch and Cally held a surprise for her and I didn't know if she cried because she was shocked by my face or if she was touched. But either way, I'm glad the surprise was a success! Thank you Mel's parents for having us (and to Mel's mum for cooking extra rice for me). I had a blast! Love you Mel!

No prizes if you guess where this is from.

Happy birthday girl! ^^

I'll try to re-visit this space as often as I can! I promise... I really do...