My BlueMoon Adventure
I know posting this is a little late. BlueMoonPh is so last week and that BlueMoon Beijing is just around the corner, but yeah, here’s my Bluemoon story. =)
Even before Dream Kpop Fantasy materialized, there were already rumors of CNBLUE having a solo concert in Manila since the first half of 2012. I was a bit disappointed then that it didn’t happen that year but thinking back now, it was all great timing. 2013 seemed to have started off as a good year for my fan girl life. As we all know, DKFC in the Philippines happened this year in January where I got to finally meet the Seo of YongSeo. We tried to welcome her and her sisters at the airport, unfortunately, the airport security was so strict, they shuttled them to Terminal 1 when they saw the number of fans awaiting their arrival at Terminal 2. I swore at that time that I will never do airport stalking again. I literally cried that day because all our efforts were wasted but dude, lucky us, we got a glimpse of Seobb when they arrived at the concert venue and she rolled down her car window and waved before immediately rolling it back up. Uri Seohyun, the fan service queen, eh?
Now what does this to do with my Bluemoon experience? Nothing. LOL. Joke. Well, during DKFC, one of my dongsaengs shared the good news that CNBLUE is confirmed to visit Manila and June or July was the tentative date. Since then, we were already planning what we had to do when the boys arrive. After being disappointed with what happened at the airport with SNSD, we decided to forego stalking CNBLUE in NAIA.
On February 19, the date was finally confirmed when we saw an updated schedule of BlueMoon Tour on a CNBLUE fan page and oh boy, you don’t know how we flipped tables out of happiness. Phone calls here, SMS there, status updates on every wall and tweets of thanks to Ms Happee Sy, the organizer. I filed for Leave on the 13th and 14th already just to make room for CNBUE stalking. Yep, stalking, despite our “wasted” efforts during DKFC, we just can’t NOT go welcome the boys, right?
We literally crossed 7 mountains and 7 seas before we saw Blue Moon. Ticket selling was scheduled in April, but I was surprised that there was a bulk ticket reservation going on exclusive for the fandoms. We all know there are unavoidable issues among groups and it was so hard to swallow my pride and reserve my ticket through the “official group”. It was already nearing official ticket selling date and I still didn’t get any confirmation that my reservation was approved. My worries were worsening by the minute and I was close to hunting down whoever suggested the bulk fandom reservation. It was one of the rare times that I regretted defying people from BPH. Thankfully, Indi of YSPH helped us avail good seats, but still it was so hard to completely give someone the responsibility of picking your seat for you just because some people imposed on an originally non-existent rule…and all you just wanted was to have the liberty of picking it yourself. I kept nagging her every day for info and I can swear she’s already beyond annoyed and was close to snapping at me but I salute her for being so patient and juggling all her responsibilities like a pro.
Ticket reservation was one thing. Ticket delivery was sure another. LOL. I only got to hold my ticket 6days before the concert…but I know of some who had it worse. They only got to see their tix hours before the concert. I cannot imagine being in their place as I am a very impatient person. I would have panicked already.
And when I thought everything was doing okay, my boss announced a week before June 15 that I have to go to work on Bluemoon day. What the, who does that? They asked me to retract my leave for the 13th and the 14th as well. I was hysterical and panicky and angry and annoyed and frustrated. It was a moment when I had to choose which to prioritize, my fangirling or my real job. Of course, at the back of my head, the real job weighs more. All the more reasons I wanted to strangle my boss so much. Instead, I forced myself to be as calm and racked my brain up for a good compromise that I can propose to my supervisor. After a series of negotiations and begging (yep I begged. huhuhu), leave for the 14th and early shift for the 15th were approved. My other office mates turned out to be CNBLUE fans and they begged with me to let me have the important days off. Daebak right? Hihihi
This is getting way longer than I planned it to be, but I cannot stop myself from typing. I hope I am not boring you with my sentiments so let’s move on to more important things. Like buying gifts! Hihihi, it was so easy for me to think of gift ideas for Seohyun and the BIL’s, for Yonghwa it was a different case. He has eyes for good things, though he proved to be very appreciative of fan gifts, I still put in much much effort in buying him something. After so much thinking and discussing with my dongsaengs, I decided to buy him a jeepney toy car (jeepney is Manila’s sort of national transportation mode…Minhyuk said he liked jeepney during the concert LOL). It just came to me when FA’s of him buying car models in Australia came out. I scratched the idea of a shirt as a gift since I thought many other fans would have bought him one already. For YongSeo, couple watches from Sophie Martin Paris. Yay! I hope Yonghwa delivered it well to Seohyun. I’m not expecting them to wear it, (but praying hard they do)..but I just hope the gifts reached their rightful owners.
Airport stalking. June14. There were only a few boices at the airport, as most of the fans opted to wait at Mega Mall for the open press con. I, being hopeful that I could hand my gifts personally, went through the roughs of dealing with airport security once again. Our VIP passes weren’t approved, thank you very much. So we stayed outside, with our big YongSeo banner, and waited patiently for boys to come out. Once again, security tried to troll us and usher us to the exits saying that’s where the boys will go out from. If not for the Korean staff, who were kind enough to let us know that the boys are already in the other exit, we would have completely missed them. Still, we weren’t lucky to see them closely though. My goguma friends only got to see Jungshin right before they were ushered to their vans. He was the tallest one, so of course, he’s the only one visible ahaha. His hyungs, nada. Korean photographers taking close pictures of our YongSeo banner. My dongsaengs also were interviewed by a local news station reporter, daebak! Unfortunately, Dooleys joined in the interview, not minding looking stupid that they were behind a Goguma banner. LOL. Mapansin lang din.
When we arrived at Mega Mall, it was already packed. We couldn’t find our Goguma unnie deul who we agreed to meet with. We couldn’t get a good place already. So thinking like a pro stalker, we positioned ourselves near the backstage where we knew the boys will be walking through to enter the venue. My first official memory of seeing Yonghwa in person was when he went down the stairs with his brothers,, in his oh so cool posture, stopped in the middle , gave a “Wazzup” pose, smiled, walked down a few more steps and he saw our YongSeo banner and waved. Aigoo, I swear at the time I didn’t even think about handing the gifts and didn’t mind that my fancam was shaky. I went wild with the fans. Hello, Jung Yonghwa and CNBLUE just walked in front of me, hahaha. (A security person asked if they’re “aliens” coz they don’t look like Earth people. haha. I love that guard already!) We still tried to give them the gifts, though. My dongsaeng, Mae, called JungShin’s name as he was the closest,, unfortunately he just looked at it and us, and walked by. =( I guess they weren’t allowed to get gifts from that event. I didn’t get to see Minhyuk clearly, he was behind JungShin and as usual, the maknae tends to cover his brothers from people’s line of sight haha. Jonghyun was very funny with his dimples, he was smiling so wide and covering his ears due to the wild screams from fans. It was deafening. Even the security guards were shaking their heads coz we were too loud.
The highlight of the day was actually during the presscon itself. There were YongSeo fan boards. Fans shouted “Seohyun Seohyun” when MC asked Yonghwa about his inspiration for writing great songs…which made us gain more haters. Hahahaha. Another is when, MC asked them which Filipino food they tried and Yonghwa enthusiastically answered “Dried Mangoes”. When did he have time to eat dried mangoes in between airport and the mall? We were guessing that Seohyun shared some of the dried mangoes that we gave her back in January. LOL. (fanfic mind)
Let me mention, it was raining that day. Definitely, it was a Perfect YongSeo day.
Concert day!!! I woke up at 4am as I have to be at the office by 6am. I was running on a 2 hour sleep but I have never been more hyper active than I was that morning. I was working but already thinking about our projects. I ate lunch alone, while thinking about my goguma chingus having a pre concert lunch together (the one that I missed because of emergency weekend OverTime huhuhu).
3PM. Finally, it was time for me to get off work, retouch a little and go to the concert venue. When I arrived, there weren’t as many people just yet. I guess I was a little early. I rounded the area a bit, and saw people giving out freebies here and there, selling last minute merchs, and food stalls around the Coliseum blasting CNBLUE songs! A few minutes more of being a loner, my friends arrived one by one. A little reunion for us chinggus and I could finally meet some gogus whom I can only talk to on the page. We queued up together for the distribution of project materials. That’s when it came to me that there really were a lot of YongSeo supporters in Manila. The long lines were proof enough, and the number of people holding YongSeo merchs! Knowing that, I can only smile to myself, feeling proud.
It was fun to finally meet Pinky, Timay and Kwaii, my dear seatmates for the concert! Never expected Pinky was that loud haha! We trolled some dools a few times, looking for the girl who threatened us with a machine gun. No show. =P
Another highlight of my BlueMoon adventure was meeting Hannah Cao at the coliseum hallway. Hahahaha! I just recognized her dress actually. I saw it on a pic earlier that day, she was already way past me when I shouted her name. The other girl who was with her told her someone’s calling her name and so she said “Yeah, Im Hannah.”
It was like meeting a celebrity actually, hahaha! Mianhe, but Im not even exaggerating. She was so cool and very approachable. We conversed for a bit and wesnt on with where we were going before I called her name too loud. I really hope I didn’t freak her out. Mwahaha!
Concert. It was a few mins past 8PM, when the introduction video played and fans were already screaming “CNBLUE” expecting the boys to come out. When they did, we were all standing and singing along to Where You Are. Yonghwa was playing around with his voice. He was making it sound like a kid, more like a chipmunk actually. LOL. He did it for almost every song during the first half of the concert. And yes he was definitely dancing king. He couldn’t stay still in one place. It’s either he was rocking his guitar with Jonghyun and dancing with JungShin or just walking back to Minhyuk’s drums and nodding off his head to the beat. I did a little live tweeting during con where I already said most of what Im about to write next. Jonghyun was very active, initiating interactions with fans. He stood at the very edge on his side of the stage, making him closer to us. I still couldn’t believe that there were just a row of 5 people separating me and CNBLUE while they’re rocking the whole place. Minhyuk and Jungshin talked a lot. Minhyuk was stuttering a few times, but he has good English. Their Tagalog was very impressive! Out of all the foreign artists who came to do a concert in my country, CNBLUE was the only group who didn’t speak the usual Mabuhay or Salamat or Mahal Kita. Though they had their scripts and cheat sheets, knowing that they tried to¬¬¬ learn our language is very touching. It means that they want to be closer. They’re reaching out to us by trying to break the language barrier. It is not easy to read Tagalog words, especially for Koreans who have difficulty pronouncing the r sound already. It was really overwhelming. They introduced themselves in crazy Tagalog. Missing all the pronouns, it was funny. The moment I heard Jonghyun said “Sabay sabay”, I was hooked. I didn’t expect him to speak much, as Ive seen from previous BlueMoon legs where he was passive and tend to lose himself with his guitar, he was surprisingly very active that night. He posed a few times for fans, smiled, messed his hair and flexed his muscles (consciously? haha). I couldn’t see much of Minhyuk. He was hidden behind cymbals.
I was expecting to hear silly Yongrish, but his accent was actually good, except that he was talking a bit slower. Seems like he’d been taking serious lessons, from whom? =P Before the concert, I said I will just sing along and will take minimal fancams. But lo, no fan girl in her right mind will just watch Yonghwa dancing like that and Jungshin being funny and Jonghyun being too hot to handle and Minhyuk being lovely twirling his sticks without taking a single photo or video. But I fulfilled that during Waetoriya and Im Sorry. I just sang along Im A Loner and even went wild when Yonghwa dropped his guitar and walked around the stage singing their debut song so sexily, dancing a lot. Im Sorry was the best. I was jumping my heart out, singing along as loud as I could, holding my “Im Cray for Yong” banner with Pinky until we couldn’t breathe.
Now the projects. I became a more active member of YSPH during preparations for BlueMoonPh. I took part in the project suggestions and planning group. For starters, there was food support. The “1248 days of loneliness is over” banner for Waetoriya. Jonghyun even squinted trying to read what was written on the banner. They later posted a picture with the said banner after the concert. Yee!The Sarangbit project was kept a secret to everyone until the day of the concert when the masks were already distributed. Seeing Yonghwa’s reaction when he saw our Hyun Senorita masks was beyond daebak. I wonder what was going on inside his head at the time. With that kind of smile plastered on his face, and the way he went to Minhyuk, hiding, obviously trying to contain his laughter. LOL. I still cannot get over it really. =)
During BlueMoon Hongkong where the boys surprised Jonghyun for his birthday, Yonghwa has been excessively dropping hints for his birthday in June. As if we’re going to forget something that important, right? A real choding! I jokingly posted in the planning group page “Hey Yonghwa’s reminding about his birthday again, since he’s a choding, why don’t we throw him and Minhyuk a kiddie party, complete with balloons, party hats and a kiddie bday cake?” We all agreed so the party hat project was born! LOL. Unfortunately, balloons weren’t allowed and cakes from groups couldn’t be brought on stage (but don’t worry they had it backstage!) I didn’t know about the boys’ surprise for the leader, they spoke in Tagalog reading their cheat sheets saying “Kantahin natin siya” (Let’s sing him a song.) “Kantahin natin yung……nang sabay sabay”(Let’s sing him “that” altogether) “Huwag niyong sasabihin ang pangalan. Hindi niya naiintindihan” (Don’t mention his name, he doesn’t understand a thing.) True enough, the clueless leader watched each of his brothers read their lines from their cheat sheets and wondering what they were saying. When Jonghyun and Jungshin led the singing of “Happy Birthday”, only then did he realize the surprise. But knowing Yonghwa, I bet he was expecting something LOL, and he always had the knack for figuring out surprises!!! Minhyuk said “You were surprised right?” in Korean and YH answered “I am surprised” in English. He sang “Happy birthday to me” and made conducting gestures when the crowd sang along. My Nodame Cantabile feels! Hihi! I screamed YongSeo when Jonghyun helped Yonghwa wear the party hat from YSPH, and when Minhyuk did as well, I screamed some more. You thought, the YongSeo daebak moment would end there? No, while they were singing Love (in which YH and JS trolled us so much about) YongSeo fanboards, YongSeo banners and YongSeo everything were flashed on the screen a number of times, which caused all Gogumas to jump with joy! It was really a very daebak moment.. We could see how we looked from the stage, and our banners were very clear. Yonghwa and the boys read and saw them for sure. Im just glad we could convey our messages to them clearly. I didn’t feel sad when the concert came to an end. I don’t know. They boys sang Try Again, Smile Again and it wasn’t a sad song. We still ended on a happy note, with a promise from Yonghwa to comeback soon. They did a few fan service, posing for fans. Would a bluemoon concert be complete without selca with the boys? Hihihi. This time there was a 5th member to the selca, named Project England, the mic stand that YSPH gave Yonghwa for his 25th birthday. (It was the first time that a staff took the picture for them.) I admittedly thought it was a very ambitious project at first, but Im glad we pulled it through smoothly. It was dubbed as the “most impressive effort” so far by one local journalist. And I can’t help but feel very happy and proud that Im part of this fandom. Im too happy that I couldn’t even spare some time to the hating burgers who kept on pestering us about respect and all. Someone from their group said that Philippines is not a Goguma country. We just proved her wrong right? YongSeo projects stood out, heck I didn’t even see or hear about other groups’ projects LOL. I guess their bitterness roots from witnessing through their own eyes how much we support Yonghwa and his group as well as how much Yonghwa appreciates our efforts.
I have finally heard One Time, In My Head and Y, Why (my ultimate fave songs) live. I feel like spending that much wasn’t enough for the fun that I had and for the satisfaction that I felt from the success of our projects. BTW, the organizers put up boxes at the gate entrances for fans to drop their gifts. I nagged the girl who was at the post asking ‘Are you very very sure that this will get to them? Like 200% sure?’ She gave me a smile and said “Yes Maam, actually they (Korean staff) already took the first 2 boxes backstage”. I was still hesitant but a bit relieved though.
After the concert, I was scheduled to go with some friends at the after concert party with CNBLUE at KPub Taguig, but at the last minute, we decided to stay back. One unnie even told me that CNBLUE might be there despite the previous confirmation from the staff. We had a little surprise birthday party for our very own Roxan unnie, the Goguma warrior and her famous itak. LOL. It was then later confirmed that the boys really were there when FAs and pictures came out. By then, I was already home with Jera unnie (the girl with the YongSeo fanboard flashed on screen!!!!), Jervy and Chery chingu. When we saw the pics, they said they wanted to see the boys at the after party, as for me, I think I have seen them enough to last me till next year!!!! Kumbaga, quotang quota na ako sa CNBLUE! (I have reached my CNBLUE quota). We spazzed about the concert till 3am, watched our fancams and shared stories as if we didn’t witness them ourselves during the concert.
My airport encounter with the boys the next day was very unintentional. I just wanted to send off my goguma unnies for their flight back home. We were at Terminal 3 (domestic flights) then. When they had to check in, I was left alone. They actually wanted me to go see the boys, too. And like a very “masunurin na dongsaeng”, I took a cab to Terminal 1 where international flights are. It was a 25minute drive (it was that far) and I even thought I might have missed them already. When I got there, there were still a lot of Boices waiting discreetly, trying not to anger the security people. It was already 11:45 and the boys were running late, we thought maybe they entered a different gate for security purposes, but then I saw the same Korean photographers come out of a door that we never knew was there. The security people started lining up outside and we were told to step back a bit. A little while later, 3 tinted black vans parked just outside the door and JungShin was first to come out. He walked by so fast followed by Minhyuk who was looking down. Jonghyun, as usual was flipping his hair. =) Yonghwa looked our way for a bit, so hopefully he saw my YongSeo fan =)
With all these, I feel blessed that I have finally met the Yong of YongSeo. When I saw Seohyun in January, I thought “Yonghwa is so lucky.” But when I met Yonghwa, I also thought “Seohyun is so lucky.” Hahaha. Then let’s make it “They’re so lucky to have each other.” Im a happy Boice and a proud Goguma.
Thank you for reading. :)
Fancam: Check my Youtube channel, though they're really shaky haha http://www.youtube.com/user/cherepee
Pictures: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151620909257459.1073741824.770072458&type=3
Even before Dream Kpop Fantasy materialized, there were already rumors of CNBLUE having a solo concert in Manila since the first half of 2012. I was a bit disappointed then that it didn’t happen that year but thinking back now, it was all great timing. 2013 seemed to have started off as a good year for my fan girl life. As we all know, DKFC in the Philippines happened this year in January where I got to finally meet the Seo of YongSeo. We tried to welcome her and her sisters at the airport, unfortunately, the airport security was so strict, they shuttled them to Terminal 1 when they saw the number of fans awaiting their arrival at Terminal 2. I swore at that time that I will never do airport stalking again. I literally cried that day because all our efforts were wasted but dude, lucky us, we got a glimpse of Seobb when they arrived at the concert venue and she rolled down her car window and waved before immediately rolling it back up. Uri Seohyun, the fan service queen, eh?
Now what does this to do with my Bluemoon experience? Nothing. LOL. Joke. Well, during DKFC, one of my dongsaengs shared the good news that CNBLUE is confirmed to visit Manila and June or July was the tentative date. Since then, we were already planning what we had to do when the boys arrive. After being disappointed with what happened at the airport with SNSD, we decided to forego stalking CNBLUE in NAIA.
On February 19, the date was finally confirmed when we saw an updated schedule of BlueMoon Tour on a CNBLUE fan page and oh boy, you don’t know how we flipped tables out of happiness. Phone calls here, SMS there, status updates on every wall and tweets of thanks to Ms Happee Sy, the organizer. I filed for Leave on the 13th and 14th already just to make room for CNBUE stalking. Yep, stalking, despite our “wasted” efforts during DKFC, we just can’t NOT go welcome the boys, right?
We literally crossed 7 mountains and 7 seas before we saw Blue Moon. Ticket selling was scheduled in April, but I was surprised that there was a bulk ticket reservation going on exclusive for the fandoms. We all know there are unavoidable issues among groups and it was so hard to swallow my pride and reserve my ticket through the “official group”. It was already nearing official ticket selling date and I still didn’t get any confirmation that my reservation was approved. My worries were worsening by the minute and I was close to hunting down whoever suggested the bulk fandom reservation. It was one of the rare times that I regretted defying people from BPH. Thankfully, Indi of YSPH helped us avail good seats, but still it was so hard to completely give someone the responsibility of picking your seat for you just because some people imposed on an originally non-existent rule…and all you just wanted was to have the liberty of picking it yourself. I kept nagging her every day for info and I can swear she’s already beyond annoyed and was close to snapping at me but I salute her for being so patient and juggling all her responsibilities like a pro.
Ticket reservation was one thing. Ticket delivery was sure another. LOL. I only got to hold my ticket 6days before the concert…but I know of some who had it worse. They only got to see their tix hours before the concert. I cannot imagine being in their place as I am a very impatient person. I would have panicked already.
And when I thought everything was doing okay, my boss announced a week before June 15 that I have to go to work on Bluemoon day. What the, who does that? They asked me to retract my leave for the 13th and the 14th as well. I was hysterical and panicky and angry and annoyed and frustrated. It was a moment when I had to choose which to prioritize, my fangirling or my real job. Of course, at the back of my head, the real job weighs more. All the more reasons I wanted to strangle my boss so much. Instead, I forced myself to be as calm and racked my brain up for a good compromise that I can propose to my supervisor. After a series of negotiations and begging (yep I begged. huhuhu), leave for the 14th and early shift for the 15th were approved. My other office mates turned out to be CNBLUE fans and they begged with me to let me have the important days off. Daebak right? Hihihi
This is getting way longer than I planned it to be, but I cannot stop myself from typing. I hope I am not boring you with my sentiments so let’s move on to more important things. Like buying gifts! Hihihi, it was so easy for me to think of gift ideas for Seohyun and the BIL’s, for Yonghwa it was a different case. He has eyes for good things, though he proved to be very appreciative of fan gifts, I still put in much much effort in buying him something. After so much thinking and discussing with my dongsaengs, I decided to buy him a jeepney toy car (jeepney is Manila’s sort of national transportation mode…Minhyuk said he liked jeepney during the concert LOL). It just came to me when FA’s of him buying car models in Australia came out. I scratched the idea of a shirt as a gift since I thought many other fans would have bought him one already. For YongSeo, couple watches from Sophie Martin Paris. Yay! I hope Yonghwa delivered it well to Seohyun. I’m not expecting them to wear it, (but praying hard they do)..but I just hope the gifts reached their rightful owners.
Airport stalking. June14. There were only a few boices at the airport, as most of the fans opted to wait at Mega Mall for the open press con. I, being hopeful that I could hand my gifts personally, went through the roughs of dealing with airport security once again. Our VIP passes weren’t approved, thank you very much. So we stayed outside, with our big YongSeo banner, and waited patiently for boys to come out. Once again, security tried to troll us and usher us to the exits saying that’s where the boys will go out from. If not for the Korean staff, who were kind enough to let us know that the boys are already in the other exit, we would have completely missed them. Still, we weren’t lucky to see them closely though. My goguma friends only got to see Jungshin right before they were ushered to their vans. He was the tallest one, so of course, he’s the only one visible ahaha. His hyungs, nada. Korean photographers taking close pictures of our YongSeo banner. My dongsaengs also were interviewed by a local news station reporter, daebak! Unfortunately, Dooleys joined in the interview, not minding looking stupid that they were behind a Goguma banner. LOL. Mapansin lang din.
When we arrived at Mega Mall, it was already packed. We couldn’t find our Goguma unnie deul who we agreed to meet with. We couldn’t get a good place already. So thinking like a pro stalker, we positioned ourselves near the backstage where we knew the boys will be walking through to enter the venue. My first official memory of seeing Yonghwa in person was when he went down the stairs with his brothers,, in his oh so cool posture, stopped in the middle , gave a “Wazzup” pose, smiled, walked down a few more steps and he saw our YongSeo banner and waved. Aigoo, I swear at the time I didn’t even think about handing the gifts and didn’t mind that my fancam was shaky. I went wild with the fans. Hello, Jung Yonghwa and CNBLUE just walked in front of me, hahaha. (A security person asked if they’re “aliens” coz they don’t look like Earth people. haha. I love that guard already!) We still tried to give them the gifts, though. My dongsaeng, Mae, called JungShin’s name as he was the closest,, unfortunately he just looked at it and us, and walked by. =( I guess they weren’t allowed to get gifts from that event. I didn’t get to see Minhyuk clearly, he was behind JungShin and as usual, the maknae tends to cover his brothers from people’s line of sight haha. Jonghyun was very funny with his dimples, he was smiling so wide and covering his ears due to the wild screams from fans. It was deafening. Even the security guards were shaking their heads coz we were too loud.
The highlight of the day was actually during the presscon itself. There were YongSeo fan boards. Fans shouted “Seohyun Seohyun” when MC asked Yonghwa about his inspiration for writing great songs…which made us gain more haters. Hahahaha. Another is when, MC asked them which Filipino food they tried and Yonghwa enthusiastically answered “Dried Mangoes”. When did he have time to eat dried mangoes in between airport and the mall? We were guessing that Seohyun shared some of the dried mangoes that we gave her back in January. LOL. (fanfic mind)
Let me mention, it was raining that day. Definitely, it was a Perfect YongSeo day.
Concert day!!! I woke up at 4am as I have to be at the office by 6am. I was running on a 2 hour sleep but I have never been more hyper active than I was that morning. I was working but already thinking about our projects. I ate lunch alone, while thinking about my goguma chingus having a pre concert lunch together (the one that I missed because of emergency weekend OverTime huhuhu).
3PM. Finally, it was time for me to get off work, retouch a little and go to the concert venue. When I arrived, there weren’t as many people just yet. I guess I was a little early. I rounded the area a bit, and saw people giving out freebies here and there, selling last minute merchs, and food stalls around the Coliseum blasting CNBLUE songs! A few minutes more of being a loner, my friends arrived one by one. A little reunion for us chinggus and I could finally meet some gogus whom I can only talk to on the page. We queued up together for the distribution of project materials. That’s when it came to me that there really were a lot of YongSeo supporters in Manila. The long lines were proof enough, and the number of people holding YongSeo merchs! Knowing that, I can only smile to myself, feeling proud.
It was fun to finally meet Pinky, Timay and Kwaii, my dear seatmates for the concert! Never expected Pinky was that loud haha! We trolled some dools a few times, looking for the girl who threatened us with a machine gun. No show. =P
Another highlight of my BlueMoon adventure was meeting Hannah Cao at the coliseum hallway. Hahahaha! I just recognized her dress actually. I saw it on a pic earlier that day, she was already way past me when I shouted her name. The other girl who was with her told her someone’s calling her name and so she said “Yeah, Im Hannah.”
It was like meeting a celebrity actually, hahaha! Mianhe, but Im not even exaggerating. She was so cool and very approachable. We conversed for a bit and wesnt on with where we were going before I called her name too loud. I really hope I didn’t freak her out. Mwahaha!
Concert. It was a few mins past 8PM, when the introduction video played and fans were already screaming “CNBLUE” expecting the boys to come out. When they did, we were all standing and singing along to Where You Are. Yonghwa was playing around with his voice. He was making it sound like a kid, more like a chipmunk actually. LOL. He did it for almost every song during the first half of the concert. And yes he was definitely dancing king. He couldn’t stay still in one place. It’s either he was rocking his guitar with Jonghyun and dancing with JungShin or just walking back to Minhyuk’s drums and nodding off his head to the beat. I did a little live tweeting during con where I already said most of what Im about to write next. Jonghyun was very active, initiating interactions with fans. He stood at the very edge on his side of the stage, making him closer to us. I still couldn’t believe that there were just a row of 5 people separating me and CNBLUE while they’re rocking the whole place. Minhyuk and Jungshin talked a lot. Minhyuk was stuttering a few times, but he has good English. Their Tagalog was very impressive! Out of all the foreign artists who came to do a concert in my country, CNBLUE was the only group who didn’t speak the usual Mabuhay or Salamat or Mahal Kita. Though they had their scripts and cheat sheets, knowing that they tried to¬¬¬ learn our language is very touching. It means that they want to be closer. They’re reaching out to us by trying to break the language barrier. It is not easy to read Tagalog words, especially for Koreans who have difficulty pronouncing the r sound already. It was really overwhelming. They introduced themselves in crazy Tagalog. Missing all the pronouns, it was funny. The moment I heard Jonghyun said “Sabay sabay”, I was hooked. I didn’t expect him to speak much, as Ive seen from previous BlueMoon legs where he was passive and tend to lose himself with his guitar, he was surprisingly very active that night. He posed a few times for fans, smiled, messed his hair and flexed his muscles (consciously? haha). I couldn’t see much of Minhyuk. He was hidden behind cymbals.
I was expecting to hear silly Yongrish, but his accent was actually good, except that he was talking a bit slower. Seems like he’d been taking serious lessons, from whom? =P Before the concert, I said I will just sing along and will take minimal fancams. But lo, no fan girl in her right mind will just watch Yonghwa dancing like that and Jungshin being funny and Jonghyun being too hot to handle and Minhyuk being lovely twirling his sticks without taking a single photo or video. But I fulfilled that during Waetoriya and Im Sorry. I just sang along Im A Loner and even went wild when Yonghwa dropped his guitar and walked around the stage singing their debut song so sexily, dancing a lot. Im Sorry was the best. I was jumping my heart out, singing along as loud as I could, holding my “Im Cray for Yong” banner with Pinky until we couldn’t breathe.
Now the projects. I became a more active member of YSPH during preparations for BlueMoonPh. I took part in the project suggestions and planning group. For starters, there was food support. The “1248 days of loneliness is over” banner for Waetoriya. Jonghyun even squinted trying to read what was written on the banner. They later posted a picture with the said banner after the concert. Yee!The Sarangbit project was kept a secret to everyone until the day of the concert when the masks were already distributed. Seeing Yonghwa’s reaction when he saw our Hyun Senorita masks was beyond daebak. I wonder what was going on inside his head at the time. With that kind of smile plastered on his face, and the way he went to Minhyuk, hiding, obviously trying to contain his laughter. LOL. I still cannot get over it really. =)
During BlueMoon Hongkong where the boys surprised Jonghyun for his birthday, Yonghwa has been excessively dropping hints for his birthday in June. As if we’re going to forget something that important, right? A real choding! I jokingly posted in the planning group page “Hey Yonghwa’s reminding about his birthday again, since he’s a choding, why don’t we throw him and Minhyuk a kiddie party, complete with balloons, party hats and a kiddie bday cake?” We all agreed so the party hat project was born! LOL. Unfortunately, balloons weren’t allowed and cakes from groups couldn’t be brought on stage (but don’t worry they had it backstage!) I didn’t know about the boys’ surprise for the leader, they spoke in Tagalog reading their cheat sheets saying “Kantahin natin siya” (Let’s sing him a song.) “Kantahin natin yung……nang sabay sabay”(Let’s sing him “that” altogether) “Huwag niyong sasabihin ang pangalan. Hindi niya naiintindihan” (Don’t mention his name, he doesn’t understand a thing.) True enough, the clueless leader watched each of his brothers read their lines from their cheat sheets and wondering what they were saying. When Jonghyun and Jungshin led the singing of “Happy Birthday”, only then did he realize the surprise. But knowing Yonghwa, I bet he was expecting something LOL, and he always had the knack for figuring out surprises!!! Minhyuk said “You were surprised right?” in Korean and YH answered “I am surprised” in English. He sang “Happy birthday to me” and made conducting gestures when the crowd sang along. My Nodame Cantabile feels! Hihi! I screamed YongSeo when Jonghyun helped Yonghwa wear the party hat from YSPH, and when Minhyuk did as well, I screamed some more. You thought, the YongSeo daebak moment would end there? No, while they were singing Love (in which YH and JS trolled us so much about) YongSeo fanboards, YongSeo banners and YongSeo everything were flashed on the screen a number of times, which caused all Gogumas to jump with joy! It was really a very daebak moment.. We could see how we looked from the stage, and our banners were very clear. Yonghwa and the boys read and saw them for sure. Im just glad we could convey our messages to them clearly. I didn’t feel sad when the concert came to an end. I don’t know. They boys sang Try Again, Smile Again and it wasn’t a sad song. We still ended on a happy note, with a promise from Yonghwa to comeback soon. They did a few fan service, posing for fans. Would a bluemoon concert be complete without selca with the boys? Hihihi. This time there was a 5th member to the selca, named Project England, the mic stand that YSPH gave Yonghwa for his 25th birthday. (It was the first time that a staff took the picture for them.) I admittedly thought it was a very ambitious project at first, but Im glad we pulled it through smoothly. It was dubbed as the “most impressive effort” so far by one local journalist. And I can’t help but feel very happy and proud that Im part of this fandom. Im too happy that I couldn’t even spare some time to the hating burgers who kept on pestering us about respect and all. Someone from their group said that Philippines is not a Goguma country. We just proved her wrong right? YongSeo projects stood out, heck I didn’t even see or hear about other groups’ projects LOL. I guess their bitterness roots from witnessing through their own eyes how much we support Yonghwa and his group as well as how much Yonghwa appreciates our efforts.
I have finally heard One Time, In My Head and Y, Why (my ultimate fave songs) live. I feel like spending that much wasn’t enough for the fun that I had and for the satisfaction that I felt from the success of our projects. BTW, the organizers put up boxes at the gate entrances for fans to drop their gifts. I nagged the girl who was at the post asking ‘Are you very very sure that this will get to them? Like 200% sure?’ She gave me a smile and said “Yes Maam, actually they (Korean staff) already took the first 2 boxes backstage”. I was still hesitant but a bit relieved though.
After the concert, I was scheduled to go with some friends at the after concert party with CNBLUE at KPub Taguig, but at the last minute, we decided to stay back. One unnie even told me that CNBLUE might be there despite the previous confirmation from the staff. We had a little surprise birthday party for our very own Roxan unnie, the Goguma warrior and her famous itak. LOL. It was then later confirmed that the boys really were there when FAs and pictures came out. By then, I was already home with Jera unnie (the girl with the YongSeo fanboard flashed on screen!!!!), Jervy and Chery chingu. When we saw the pics, they said they wanted to see the boys at the after party, as for me, I think I have seen them enough to last me till next year!!!! Kumbaga, quotang quota na ako sa CNBLUE! (I have reached my CNBLUE quota). We spazzed about the concert till 3am, watched our fancams and shared stories as if we didn’t witness them ourselves during the concert.
My airport encounter with the boys the next day was very unintentional. I just wanted to send off my goguma unnies for their flight back home. We were at Terminal 3 (domestic flights) then. When they had to check in, I was left alone. They actually wanted me to go see the boys, too. And like a very “masunurin na dongsaeng”, I took a cab to Terminal 1 where international flights are. It was a 25minute drive (it was that far) and I even thought I might have missed them already. When I got there, there were still a lot of Boices waiting discreetly, trying not to anger the security people. It was already 11:45 and the boys were running late, we thought maybe they entered a different gate for security purposes, but then I saw the same Korean photographers come out of a door that we never knew was there. The security people started lining up outside and we were told to step back a bit. A little while later, 3 tinted black vans parked just outside the door and JungShin was first to come out. He walked by so fast followed by Minhyuk who was looking down. Jonghyun, as usual was flipping his hair. =) Yonghwa looked our way for a bit, so hopefully he saw my YongSeo fan =)
With all these, I feel blessed that I have finally met the Yong of YongSeo. When I saw Seohyun in January, I thought “Yonghwa is so lucky.” But when I met Yonghwa, I also thought “Seohyun is so lucky.” Hahaha. Then let’s make it “They’re so lucky to have each other.” Im a happy Boice and a proud Goguma.
Thank you for reading. :)
Fancam: Check my Youtube channel, though they're really shaky haha http://www.youtube.com/user/cherepee
Pictures: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151620909257459.1073741824.770072458&type=3