ito repo
Firstly: I'm home and mainly alive...currently I have no confidence at all in not falling asleep at some point this avo but I am at least going to attempt it!!
secondly: OMG WTH DEFAULT AVATAR CHANGE??? Haha yeh so this was going to happen eventually anyway what with a new SC booklet being waited on and, well, you know...
as to the actual picture here it is in it's fullness:
http://t.co/ogQzKwLS
and more on it (as well as everything else) under here
So I got out to Shinjuku at just gone 1 and proceeded to have 'fun' working out just what the simple, on sight, directions for the MARZ were on about! Luckily I had done a little pre-live Street View stroling in Google Maps so I knew vaugly what landmarks I wanted and what to expect as far as venue appearence!
Basically you want to go out the east exit of the station, up the larger staircase around that area so that when you get out on the street and glance back at the station you can see the sign stating "east exit". From here continue down the hill, avoiding the under pass and basically staying on this road until it turns round under the bridge and directly infront of you there's a large, brown brick, building (the prince hotel Shibuya).
You now want to cross over on the crossing that's to your right (when you're facing the hotel) and then up and around so that you're now passing the front of the Prince on your left, keep straight (you'll know you're going in the right direction if you spot the Sebu-shinjuku station sign appearing from out under the Prince) until you pass by a large family mart and then you'll want to take the next possible road to your right. The Marz is a few buildings in on the oposite side of the road and it's street presense is bascially a set o' stairs going down with the 'Marz' sign pasted across the top.
Anway so I got myself turned around and ended out getting to within sight of the place at aproximatly 2:30...some ladies were hanging around outside so I passed by with the thought of securing drinkies/nibbles, putting my feet up for a few and then comming back to see if I could get a clear venue shot for FB.
Stroling along I looked up and spoted a familiar head o hair...for a moment I thought "fangirl" then I registered the staff member at his side and the nose...at which point I fled like a coward to the over side of the road, which realy should have given me some hint as to how much actually meeting him was going to mean to me...
but I get ahead of myself...
Eventually at 3:00 I circled back to the venue, got my shots, got some mints for my nerves and lurked.
In the following hour between that and meeting kikki_morra for the first time in RL I got into a conversation with one nice Japanese dude and pretended not to know Japanese at all for two realy creepy ones...aparently it's rare for gaijin to be in that part of the city or something...
Anyway then the meet happened, I got some unexpected Russian chocolates which are being saved for special occations and we chatted/took a stroll/eventualy lined up....at which point we learned that she was ticket #6 so we'd be able to spend the entirety of the concert together.
Again actual specifics of what went where song wise are gone but we got selections from his solo stuff, some covers in gloriously bad yet amazingly performed Kenglish and an amazing rendtion of Beauty and Beast which had me so hyped it wasn't even funny!!
Being that close just felt so bizarr...there were several occations where I litterally could have touched the Ito if I'd so desired and a few where my pinkies utterly itched to snitch a few snatches of hair so I could take them somewhere to get exact hue match!!
Personal highlights:
. I got a Ken smile sent in my general direction as well as a wink which had me a little weak in the knees (seriously what is it with winking at me???)
. Bashi and not only a further display of his beautiful English but his outfit. I mean there was a bow tie.
. Random Kinya cameo...not to sing but still.
. Ken bascially having to stop himself crying over the fans gifting him not only a new guitar but a whole heap o' Apple Merchendise as well as a Mac!
. The one fangirl who was in Bashi cosplay!
. Bashi still had SCARECROW picks and Ken introduced him as being from SC!!
. The one moment where I thought the Ito was going to sing an SC song and I litterally stoped breathing!
as to afterword....
I'd gotten a nice little phrase from Ikuya a few weeks before hand that I decided to use while handing my gift over and had written it down on a piece of paper that I basically staired at for the whole 5-10 minutes as the fangirls before me got their pictures taken.
3 more shots until my turn I started abreviating the thing, 2 shots and I'd decided to just go with "happy birthday" then...
...then I giggled like mad, handed over the present, explained it was our first time meeting yet failed to actually give my name, got the photo done, shook his hand and then breathlessly responeded to his "see you again" with a very weak "hai"...
by the time I got back down to the merchendise stall I was shaking like crazy, let me tell you!
Honestly I'd somehow convinced myself that though I was going to be nervy I'd be fine outside of that, I mean I respect Ken and his music but I'm not crazy mad in love with him like I am with Rin, right?
Ugh I blame his stupid tallness...my necks still aching for having to look up at him while he was playing and then again to talk to him for the photo...it made me feel all fragile and feminine!!
Such an amazing experience, to the point that 3 days and a time zone shift later I'm still processing...I keep looking at that picture and being all "nah that's not actually me at all, it's some body double..." because how can my having met one of my heros be real???
I'm so doing it again as/when I can!!
secondly: OMG WTH DEFAULT AVATAR CHANGE??? Haha yeh so this was going to happen eventually anyway what with a new SC booklet being waited on and, well, you know...
as to the actual picture here it is in it's fullness:
http://t.co/ogQzKwLS
and more on it (as well as everything else) under here
So I got out to Shinjuku at just gone 1 and proceeded to have 'fun' working out just what the simple, on sight, directions for the MARZ were on about! Luckily I had done a little pre-live Street View stroling in Google Maps so I knew vaugly what landmarks I wanted and what to expect as far as venue appearence!
Basically you want to go out the east exit of the station, up the larger staircase around that area so that when you get out on the street and glance back at the station you can see the sign stating "east exit". From here continue down the hill, avoiding the under pass and basically staying on this road until it turns round under the bridge and directly infront of you there's a large, brown brick, building (the prince hotel Shibuya).
You now want to cross over on the crossing that's to your right (when you're facing the hotel) and then up and around so that you're now passing the front of the Prince on your left, keep straight (you'll know you're going in the right direction if you spot the Sebu-shinjuku station sign appearing from out under the Prince) until you pass by a large family mart and then you'll want to take the next possible road to your right. The Marz is a few buildings in on the oposite side of the road and it's street presense is bascially a set o' stairs going down with the 'Marz' sign pasted across the top.
Anway so I got myself turned around and ended out getting to within sight of the place at aproximatly 2:30...some ladies were hanging around outside so I passed by with the thought of securing drinkies/nibbles, putting my feet up for a few and then comming back to see if I could get a clear venue shot for FB.
Stroling along I looked up and spoted a familiar head o hair...for a moment I thought "fangirl" then I registered the staff member at his side and the nose...at which point I fled like a coward to the over side of the road, which realy should have given me some hint as to how much actually meeting him was going to mean to me...
but I get ahead of myself...
Eventually at 3:00 I circled back to the venue, got my shots, got some mints for my nerves and lurked.
In the following hour between that and meeting kikki_morra for the first time in RL I got into a conversation with one nice Japanese dude and pretended not to know Japanese at all for two realy creepy ones...aparently it's rare for gaijin to be in that part of the city or something...
Anyway then the meet happened, I got some unexpected Russian chocolates which are being saved for special occations and we chatted/took a stroll/eventualy lined up....at which point we learned that she was ticket #6 so we'd be able to spend the entirety of the concert together.
Again actual specifics of what went where song wise are gone but we got selections from his solo stuff, some covers in gloriously bad yet amazingly performed Kenglish and an amazing rendtion of Beauty and Beast which had me so hyped it wasn't even funny!!
Being that close just felt so bizarr...there were several occations where I litterally could have touched the Ito if I'd so desired and a few where my pinkies utterly itched to snitch a few snatches of hair so I could take them somewhere to get exact hue match!!
Personal highlights:
. I got a Ken smile sent in my general direction as well as a wink which had me a little weak in the knees (seriously what is it with winking at me???)
. Bashi and not only a further display of his beautiful English but his outfit. I mean there was a bow tie.
. Random Kinya cameo...not to sing but still.
. Ken bascially having to stop himself crying over the fans gifting him not only a new guitar but a whole heap o' Apple Merchendise as well as a Mac!
. The one fangirl who was in Bashi cosplay!
. Bashi still had SCARECROW picks and Ken introduced him as being from SC!!
. The one moment where I thought the Ito was going to sing an SC song and I litterally stoped breathing!
as to afterword....
I'd gotten a nice little phrase from Ikuya a few weeks before hand that I decided to use while handing my gift over and had written it down on a piece of paper that I basically staired at for the whole 5-10 minutes as the fangirls before me got their pictures taken.
3 more shots until my turn I started abreviating the thing, 2 shots and I'd decided to just go with "happy birthday" then...
...then I giggled like mad, handed over the present, explained it was our first time meeting yet failed to actually give my name, got the photo done, shook his hand and then breathlessly responeded to his "see you again" with a very weak "hai"...
by the time I got back down to the merchendise stall I was shaking like crazy, let me tell you!
Honestly I'd somehow convinced myself that though I was going to be nervy I'd be fine outside of that, I mean I respect Ken and his music but I'm not crazy mad in love with him like I am with Rin, right?
Ugh I blame his stupid tallness...my necks still aching for having to look up at him while he was playing and then again to talk to him for the photo...it made me feel all fragile and feminine!!
Such an amazing experience, to the point that 3 days and a time zone shift later I'm still processing...I keep looking at that picture and being all "nah that's not actually me at all, it's some body double..." because how can my having met one of my heros be real???
I'm so doing it again as/when I can!!