[FANACCOUNT] 100612 Wonder World Tour - Anaheim, CA USA
It's time for me to tell you my..."fan account" with 2PM on June 12th, 2010 in Anaheim, CA. BTW, all the photos related to this fanaccount can be found here!
*DISCLAIMER* please don't kill or hate me, okay? ^_^V. Also, if for some reason you want to post this somewhere else or translate it into a different language, first off, please link them here! Let me know if you're going to post it elsewhere too, please! If you agree on these terms...then let's continue!
Serendipity has been my favorite word for as long as I can remember. The dictionary defines it as: "a fortunate accident". I see it more as destiny, disguised as a fortunate accident, but that's just years of American romantic comedies talkin'. What happened on June 12th was definitely that ~ accidental destiny.
Let me give ya a little bit of background first. Most of you probably don't know, but I am involved in several different "projects" ~ there's hypnoticASIA.com of course, vitaminOC.com (hiatus), moderator on 2OD (pro-2PM mods fighting!), and this new one that hypnoticASIA staff is taking part of: Droku Magazine (an online magazine / internet hub for Asian American entertainment that launches late this summer). Long story short, I was assigned a piece on American K-pop fans and pitched a dual piece that turned into JYPE's venture into the American music market. TBH, it was originally supposed to be a piece about Americans in K-Pop, aka Taecyeon and Nichkhun....but they didn't go for that, directly..lol.
Droku is a "project" of Plan C, an Asian American Lifestyle Company, which covers a reallllly wide spectrum from music and film to advertising. It even includes the club scene...so when JYP was in LA for KMF, they took him out to party...lol. Anyways, they were able to pull some strings and get me and a photographer press passes to the Anaheim show. I didn't find this out until just two days before the LA show...and I was told that I'd be given 5 minutes to interview the Wonder Girls. Which was awesome already, I was psyched! But my original pitch was to interview Taecyeon and Nichkhun...and they'd be there too, so why couldn't I interview them? T_T.
I didn't really have enough time to process everything. I was working on the Hottest City of the Day Project with my amazing partner in crime, Davonna, plus I had a VIP ticket for LA and so...I was just not in the right state of mind to process that I'd be interviewing the Wonder Girls. I tend to freak out juuuust before I do something, but can pull it together to be professional when the time comes. I was supposed to meet up with WG's manager at 5:30PM. He texts me and tells me that they're running behind and it won't be until 6:30PM. I'm waiting around outside, nervous as hell. I dont know the photographer that well, so we were somewhat awkward waiting outside. I see the AKP team also (you know, that girl that fell during the 2PM video interview? yeah, i will NOT comment on them, lol)...and we all have trouble getting our press passes...>_<. So we just wait patiently for WG's manager to come get us and he finally does. He takes AKP up first, then comes back to get me and he's rushing me and says, "alright you have 5 minutes with Wonder Girls. you have to make it quick, okay?". So I walk in, and the meet and greet stuff is all set up still so that's where the interviews would be conducted. "cept AKP is already with Wonder Girls....so the manager grabs my arm and goes, "alright Wonder Girls are busy so why don't you go to the otherside and interview 2PM."
WHAT?!?!?!?!? Seriously, internally, I wanted to burst into tears. Not only because omfg, I get to talk to them, but because I wished they had prepared me for this! They didn't tell me and this was what I had originally asked for. I was pissed, to be honest. Also because I didn't expect to meet them at all that day, so I was not even lookin' cute...not that it matters to them or anyone, but it would've made me feel better and more confident T_T.
So my heart feels like it's going to burst, my stomach is filling up with butterflies and I can feel myself start to tremble...it's a short walk from Wonder Girls area to 2PM's and in my head, I'm yelling at myself, "SUCK IT UP. THIS IS YOUR ONE SHOT. YOU GOTTA REP FOR DROKU DUDE. YOU CAN DO THIS." lol. So I walk through the black curtains and into their meet and greet area and I'm immediately on my game - I turned the fangirl off 100%. The manager quickly tells me, "you have 3 minutes, make it quick!" but the coordis tell me (in really clear english, by the way...) "oh no, not yet sweetie, we need to touch up Junsu, okay?" lol Junsu. xD
I kind of bow a little and say okay, no problem! And I go stand in front of the meet and greet screen with my photographer. The boys are right in front of me at this point. Like, 7 feet in front of me. And guess what they're doing? They're just playing around, in their own little worlds. My two biases, Taecyeon and Junho are to the right, just allll over each other, loving and teasing each other. Chansung and Nichkhun are chatting. Junsu is with the coordis, getting his makeup touched up. I didn't notice this whole time standing there that Wooyoung was standing pretty much 2 inches away from me, looking through some papers...*facepalm*. I mumble to my photographer to take pictures of them playing around because they were all being so cute, but he refused. T_T
Chansung and Nichkhun are talking in Korean and they look over at me...so Nichkhun comes up to me and bends down to get eye-level with me (I'm 5'5. I'm not that short, but you know, it is nice not to have to look UP to someone when you're talking to them.). He says, "so are you from Allkpop?" and in my head, I scoffed and wanted to smack him (LOL.) HELL NO, NICHKHUN! But I smile sweetly and say, "haha, no actually I'm from Droku.com! It's an Asian American entertainment magazine." and he goes, "Oh really? Wow, that's pretty cool! Dr--dr--droku...? how do you spell that?" and by the way, his face is just all up in my face...I mean it was amazingly sweet of him to bend down to get eye-level with me already, but his face was so close to my face, lol. And he had the most genuinely warm smile...AND I could tell from the look in his eyes that he was genuinely interested. It was so crazy you guys...I mean, I could feel my mouth watering...but I hammered down my fangirl feelings down as hard as I could. He was so close, I could've just reached forward and kissed him, LOL. And if I let those feelings get to me, I wouldn't be able to make it through my time, so I kept my composure.
Anyways, so I answer him.... "d-r-u-k-o."
He tilts his head to the side and goes, "mm, really? are you sure?"
damn. so a little of the fangirl in me came out...lol. "oh, whoops!!! my bad, yeah it's d-r-o-k-u. it's brand new, we haven't launched yet ^_^V"
He's like, "cooool. what does it mean?" and he has this like, super interested/curious smile on his face and he's just looking at me, waiting patiently for an answer.
"oh, ahaha, unfortunately it doesn't mean anything! >_< but it's a good name, right? ^_^V" and he just giggles with me.
That smile is so pure...so genuine. He really is a prince. his skin, even though covered in makeup, was just so fresh and milky, his hair was a perfect, princely blonde, his lips were so pink and juicy, his eyes, even though lightly lined in black eyeliner, man I could just swim in them. My goodness, he is just HANDSOME AS HELL. (he doesn't like pretty remember?! but damn, he really is pretty..). His eyes are so huge and so puppy like. Seriously, he is breathtaking!
And before I go on, because by now, you probably REALLY hate me. I am not cute okay? lol. Make fun of me all you want, you'll see my other pix with them in a bit. Nichkhun was not interested in me because I was pretty or hot (unless he likes cute, chubby girls, in which case, maybe he was! lol jk jk jk) and for this fact, I can definitely say that from my personal experience, 2PM boys are genuinely awesome. I was deathly afraid that they were going to be terrible in the interview because I wasn't hot...one of my biggest fears with those boys, lol. But they didn't disappoint me at all :D. Couldddd be because I was interviewing them...but still. Anyways, continuing on..
I was hoping for a few more moments to talk with Khun because he was so sweet and I wanted his face to stay where it was, lol. But Junsu came out and Khun looked up and nodded at me with his adorable no-teeth grin, "okay we're ready~!" So all the members line up and it's like one big wall of HOTNESS. HOLY SHIZZ. WALL OF 2PM right in front of my eyes. So they're all lined up and I'm standing in the left corner, like 10 feet away from them like a dork. They're all staring at me like 6 big giant puppy dogs, with smiles in their eyes and curiosity on their faces. Oh shit, here we go...lol.
So I introduce myself and the magazine once more...and I'm trying my best to be cute and fun, yet professional. I have a very long background in public speaking, giving workshops, running meetings, etc. on the fly, so this was going to be a breeeeeze. 'cept it was 2PM, my boys, my whole world. I think I surprised them when I started speaking because I probably looked a bit shy and stuff when I first walked in, but when I started officially speaking, haha I get into another "mode". By the way, I only have audio of the interview, which I can't release just yet. But I do have the amazing Droku photos, which you've already seen to a certain extent..lol.
Anyways, I'm like so far away from them, but I have my voice recorder in hand, so I start moving towards them to get closer and they all grin at me and they put their arms around one another and come in a little bit closer. I'm such an idiot, I didn't think to have them do their introductions. I should have. *facepalm* but since it was just audio, I didn't go all out with the formalities. Especially since I only had 3 minutes, I wanted to get in as much as I could! At this point, I am about 12 inches away from them all. I was so focused on the time limit, that I just threw questions out there without making sure that all of the boys contributed some answers. I held the mic in the middle of them all, which just so happened to be where Nichkhun stood. It was a good thing that Taecyeon answered a lot because I wanted to put the mic in his direction rofl, but I didn't have to do any extra anything to have an excuse to stare at him, rofl.
The whole time, the 6 of them had their eyes on me, with smiles on their faces. They were actually really hyper...their responses were very animated and they were just being their normal dorky-selves. I wasn't being awkward with them, so I think they opened up a lot better than with that otherrr publication, rofl. But my theory is because there was no video camera so there was less pressure. When Nichkhun answered questions, he really looked like a cute little boy who was just so happy to be able to express himself in english. He was actually kind of goofy, compared to what we're used to seeing. Taecyeon was all over Wooyoung, mostly because they lined up that way. Wooyoung seemed to be listening very closely because he wanted to respond or agree with everything that Taec or Khun were saying. He also looked at the camera a lot during the interview, as you can see below. I guess that's out of habit, lol. Junsu didn't really participate much, sadly. It's my fault for not trying to directly involve him, I was just throwing out questions and they'd answer so T_T. Literally, I only talked to them for like 2 minutes and 45 seconds or something, LOL. Honestly, the piece I'm writing, I wouldn't be able to get the answers I needed/wanted out of them anyways because I wanted to do a more indepth interview, but since that obviously wasn't going to happen, I just rolled with it and just...tried to chat with them a bit more naturally...or as naturally as 3 minutes would allow me too. I'll transcribe the audio word for word, ready go:
Q: How's the tour been so far?
Taec: been going great! the tour's been getting all sold out.getting a lot of good feedbacks. we're kind of amazed that a lot of people, you know uh, show support and love for us so...!
Khun: a lot of non-koreans too actually, we're really surprised!
Chansung: all gud!!
---- I was so surprised that words came out of Chansung's mouth, so I grinned at him and said, "yeahhh! good!!!" more like, good job you're responding to me, or at least you're trying bb! -------
Chansung: that's right!
---- LOL magnae, you're too cute T_T ------
Q: Difference between Korean fans and American fans
Taec: i mean, i don't...i don't know. they're all like very passionate. and they love us a lot which we really thank for. and...
Khun: Uh huh, and they both, they both sing along!
me: oh yeah? *looking all nervous now cuz I asked about the fans, me being a super hardcore fan*
Khun: Yeah, which is really surprising! because a lot of non-korean fans, you know, they obviously don't know Korean, but they sing all the lyrics!
Chansung: yeeeaaaah!
--- okay Chansung's responses are killing me by now. he gave like, the goofiest, 'duh' sounding "yeah" response, but seriously, I was so proud of him for trying to participate in english, lol
Khun: -- that I don't even know!
--- k so I don't know what Khun meant but "that i don't even know!" but okay bb, lol.
Q: Did you know that you had so many American fans?
-- lol at me asking too much about the fans....I am doing a piece on American k-pop fans, mmkay?! but i really wanted to know...
Khun & everyone: nope!
---the rest of their boys shake their heads with satisfied smiles on their faces--
Taec: I mean, it's, what, we've been to America like a couple of times and we didn't, yeah, it's our 3rd time here, but we didn't have a lot of non-korean fans before so yeah, we're just surprised this time.
Wooyoung: mmm, mmmhmmm!
--- in my head, I am like, WTF are you BLIND?! I was a bit heartbroken to hear those words, to be honest AND I was so internally flustered because I was literally asking questions on the fly so the first thing that rolled out of my mouth...---
Me: So during this tour, like there's so many.....I mean, I'M A FAN, actually....I'm a HOTTEST, for sure!
---- FACE PALM AT MYSELF. WTF WHY DID YOU SAY THAT.... ---
Boys: wow! *all of their mouths are open*
Khun: ohhhh, thank you!
Taec: -goofy giggle- WOW!
--- me nervous giggle and rambling on... ---
----Taec gives me a greasy, yet satisfied grin...I was afraid he was going to make fun of me at this point but he didn't ^_^V thank you, jagiya. --
Me: ...and I know that there's a lot of fans of all different ethnicities, ----more ramble because i have no idea what i'm really asking at this point O.O ----- and so like, was there any different fans that you were really surprised that like you didn't expect them to react the way they did or did they like, freak you out or...?
--- WTF I have no idea what I'm doing, I'm just nervous at how they were going to act after I admitted to them that I was a Hottest.----
Khun: we didn't get freaked out, but like...today! there was like two old...a couple of old ladies who came in and we were just surprised because she had like a, a 2PM t-shirt on!
Chansung: Oh woooooow!
Khun: right? *looks at the other members* remember that lady? so we were really surprised...! she looks like a mom...
Taec: or like a grand-mom. *waits for reaction*
2PM: oooohhhhh!!!! --everyone stares at Taec, embarassed of him--Taec: sorry, sorrrrry! aaoohh, can you, *makes the snip snip motion*
Khun: that was Taec....
Taec: can you edit that out?
Khun: no no no, put it in....that was Taec
Junho: no can do. (i think that's what he said, but he was doing that snip snip snip snip motion that he does lol. he's so cute)
Taec: alright let's go, next question!
Q: So uhm....are you guys coming back?! :D :D -points at the ground as in, coming back here-
Khun: DEFINITELY.
Taec: DEFINITELY
---Khun has the most satisfied look on his face. everyone else perks up at Khun's answer too!---Me: soon? this summer? (remember they were saying that they'd come back to New York later that summer and JYP had confirmed that to a few fans, so I was trying to find out for ya'll, lol)
Junho: we dunno -- sparkling eye smile, kyahhhh---
Khun: we can't say when, but we're going to have our own shows for sure.
Taec: cuz we're preparing for our own shows in korea, so definitely we'll come back soon...
and that was it for the audio....LOL. Towards the end, I started to feel more nervous and so I ended the interview and they were like, okay let's take some pictures! they all thanked me with huge grins, Taec kind of gave me this reassuring "it's okay, it's just us, don't be nervous" kind of look. I knew he was the guy I thought he was ^_^V They took a few shots, and then we took another pic together. Then I turned around and thanked them for their time and they all gave me cheesy grins and waved at me.
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So a few things to sum it all up
-- Junsu didn't talk, but he made sure to react to everything that either me or Taec/Khun said. He had his hands in his pockets the whole time. I wish I were able to direct a question AT him to get some good Suglish in, but that didn't happen T_T I was scared that maybe he recognized me or something since I had seen him at the airport the day before and people recognize me easily because of my red glasses sometimes. I also ran into him a lot at KMF...you really never know sometimes, LOL. You should know that I love Junsu to pieces, but we didn't get to interact very much which I was super sad about. :( If you haven't read me talk about Junsu before, let me just say here that Junsu is one fine ass boy. Seriously, he's just not photogenic because in real life, he is FIONE. He surprised me the most, in terms of looks.
-- Junho was in the middle and he always reacted, he's like a bobble head that one, lol. he nods a lot and goes, "wowww" a lot, lol. he's such a dork xD He made so many facial expressions too! This probably doesn't make sense but Junho is....the sparkle of the group. I mean you hear me say that he sparkles all of the time, but not just in terms of his looks, but the way that he acts in comparison to the other boys. Maybe he didn't say much, but he makes 2PM sparkle. I don't know how to explain that at all, lol.
-- Wooyoung, even though you can see him looking at the camera in some of the shots, he seemed like he was trying hard to understand the english so he was listening pretty hard. you know him, always studying his english, lol. I wish he said something though. Wooyoung is the one that seems to most proud of 2PM. In a good way, not in an arrogant way. He probably didn't intend on contributing any answers, but he kind of looked over the interview with this like, "taking care of the boys, yeah that's right I'm proud of who we are. we are 2PM!" kind of way. I always knew that Wooyoung was the serious one like that. So it was nice to see him like that in real life.
-- Chansung tried to respond to every question with his babo sounding voice, lol. it was always a "yeaaaah" or a "wowww" but Junho "wowww" a lot more lolll. Chansung is the hype man. He just seemed genuinely excited, especially when his hyungs answered questions. He was so eager to respond and he seemed the most pleased when I said that I was a Hottest. When I responded to him directly when he was like, "all gud" and I kind of looked at him like a school teacher when I was like, "good good!", I nodded at him and smiled kind of like, "good job Chansung!" and he looked very pleased with himself. Such a magnae. Those eyes, they are full of that warm, magnae love that I always fall for. It's real, ya'll. For reals. lol.
-- Nichkhun...Khun Khun, oh Khun. He's not my bias, just so you know. But he really swept me off my feet. I gushed about him enough in earlier paragraphs...but he really is an angel. lol. -- Taec didn't mock or make fun of me at all. I thought he might..actually. I thought he was going to break my heart and be a jerk to me, but he was nothing but sweet. He didn't bend down to eye level like Khun, but he looked me in the eye when he answered my questions. He had a very gentle, friendly, boyish gaze. Emphasis on the gentle, actually! Which, I expected ;) Those...dimples (is that what we call those? you know, these --⊂[┐ '_'.┌]⊃-- ) on his face are seriously no joke. I say it all the time, but Taec is definitely the professional of the group. Even though sometimes he's the one to do stupid things in interviews, he is the spokesperson for 2PM, without a doubt.
*NOTE* yes, I may be a hardcore Hottest that sticks by the boys until the end, but that doesn't mean that this fan account is biased. Well, of course it's biased, but it's not blind. My biggest fear, even before any of this happened, when I was first set to encounter 2PM during KMF weekend, I was afraid the whole time that they'd let me down, that they'd be assholes and my love for them would take a small hit. I'm pretty obsessively sensitive when it comes to things like this, even with my personal relationships, but these six didn't do anything or say anything that made my love for them waiver. They did nothing but make me feel comfortable and participate in a very short conversation. I'm not making these things up. And I do remember every moment that happened with as much subtle details as possible. Even though there were a lot of things going on, I'm an observer so I was able to take in a lot. Having a clearer mind at the moment helped a lot too. Instead of being concerned about taking a photo or getting an autograph, all I had to focus on was talking to them. And since I turned the fangirl off, I was able to digest the scene a lot better than I expected myself to. It didn't hit me what I had done until late the next day. I still can't believe it.
After we took a picture together, I hugged them all. Maybe I shouldn't have done that because they all gave me pretty lame hugs...lol. And after I got through 4 of them, I felt kind of stupid. I was hoping for some nice, warm hugs. >_< But maybe that was too much wishful thinking. I also thought that was a bad move on my part because now they REALLY knew I was a fangirl. *facepalm*. Not that it matters because they've probably already forgotten me by now. But maybe not because Wonder Girls remembered the Allkpop girl and she was quite surprised that they remembered her. But then again, it is Allkpop so they probably SHOULD remember her, right?
Another side note, the weird manager that I've run into like 5 million times definitely recognized me. When he saw me walk in, he smirked at me. One of these days, we're going to effin' figure out his name, okay?!
Anyways....mmm, the piece won't be published for a couple of months, sadly. But it doesn't matter because I gave you everything that you'd want to know anyways. If you have any questions, you can ask. I told you pretty much every single thing that happened though, it was only a period of like 10 minutes so there's not much more to say. lol.
Buuuut, I want to say that even though I didn't get anything profound in the interview, as a Hottest, it was a once in a lifetime experience to be able to spend 3 minutes talking to them. I recognize how lucky I am, which is why I had to share this all with you and why I will continue working hard to contribute to the international fandom!
2PM and Hottests ~ I love you so much!
Special thanks to my friends: Diana, Marina, Patrick, Dee, Monica, and Davonna for supporting me in this! I love ya'll! <3
Special love to my Pieces of Heaven and my Protaectors. Sending me international texts, LOL <3 i love you girls fohehbah! <3
