=====07.04.11=====
How I spent my Fourth of July, by Arnell.
Beat and completed "The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D" 100%.
=====07.05.11=====
Remember the SMTown Flash Mob mentioned in the last entry? Today was the first rehearsal for it at Soundbox. I did emulate a lot of BS's ways of teaching, said a few things she would normally say, and threw my flavor in there, which worked. It was very interesting seeing a bunch of new faces and feeling a whole group of young energy wanting to have fun and work hard. I made it fun for them by making them laugh with my unique way of teaching and pestering, ha. All in all, it was a great first day of rehearsal and it was cool making a bunch of new friends. Those 4 hours did take a toll on my body though.
=====07.06.11=====
My copy of "All About Girls' Generation" came in. I actually didn't watch it the first day because something I can't remember happened to occupy my time, which was more important. I did watch all 6 discs within the span of the next couple of days. That was tons of content and plenty of hours to watch and enjoy.
=====07.07.11=====
Day 2 of rehearsals went smoothly. There were a few missing faces and a few new faces. Again, more goofiness, but I do remember being more of a dic...tator at points to try to get some of them in line and try to motivate them to do better. Another 4 hours of practicing and that was it before the big day.
=====07.09.11=====
The day of the SMTown Flash Mob finally arrived. I wasn't feeling nervous about it really. I was just ready to do it. The flash mob was to happen at the Woodlands Market Street. I had never been there before and I actually passed by it when driving out there. When I did get there, I could easily see where we were going to do it; this small field in the middle of the town area. Looked good. I parked and went to meet everyone in Borders.
It was a long wait to see people slowly pour in. I actually didn't see anyone for maybe the first 15-20 minutes. More of them trickled in and I waved them in and had them be somewhat around each other upstairs. BR and MC arrived shortly around the same time. Then it was just a waiting game for a while. I did bring them out at one point to give a general talk of what was going on and then had everyone split up again. An hour later, more mobbers arrived and we all met up again in a small vacant area behind Borders to go through a couple of dry runs of our routine. That went well and that made me confident that everyone was at their peak and ready to do this. At that point I made everyone split up again to meet at the field area in a few minutes. I changed and then went out to set things up.
We were going to do it at 7, but we delayed it a bit because we were waiting for a tank prop. That actually gave time for YD and JP to show up. It was at this point that people in the area were becoming aware that something was going on (seeing a camera set up, seeing a lot of people dressed in similar colors, seeing a large pink tank prop wheeled in). That's alright, it was good to have an audience.
Honestly, throughout the whole performance I don't remember thinking about anything. Normally when I dance and when I performed in the past, I at least was capable of thinking (ha), but I was just on auto-pilot apparently. All the chaos afterwards was fun. The girls lifted carried me and threw me into a fountain, ha. They also gave me a bunch of "thank you" notes as well as a box of cookies. We stuck around and started taking a bunch of photos. The majority of them were just hanging around. BR left. MC, JP, YD, and I went to go eat. I luckily had a second pair of clothes to change into. We made a reservation at one of the marketplace restaurants. Most of the mobbers were still taking pictures. I actually did my first plank...on top of them. Yeah, a bunch of girls holding me up as I plank on them. We then went to a cupcake place to kill time for dinner.
After dinner, we went around to other places in the Woodlands area. It was actually very nice. A lot of places to eat and hangout, nice water fountain displays shooting about, and it's family friendly to still have kids out and playing at a late time of night. Wouldn't mind going back there to hangout or go on a date. Hours later, we ended the night and went our separate ways home.
=====07.10.11=====
Attended a birthday dinner for AT. After a Korean flash mob, I ate Korean food, ha. Forget where it was, but it was nice. I wasn't full off it though.
A few of us then went to the Town & Country City Centre to hang around more. Never been out there at night so I liked the feel and ambience of it. AN called and was heading over to hang with us, but everyone started to leave because they were tired. When AN arrived, he and BT and I went to eat a late night dinner. Again, can't remember the name. It was good. BT never sat in on a personal dinner chat with AN and I so it was nice having a new person see how we are and delve into what we talk about when we're not all in a big group.
After dinner, we were just enjoying the area. AN started to get some dancing ideas because of the setting (night time, water, fire). BT started recording AN do a routine (sans music) and I stupidly planked in front of him while he was doing it, ha. BT then left us to go home and AN and I went to have a drink at 101 and talk a little more before ending the night.
=====07.14.11=====
BT and I made the plans to go watch "Horrible Bosses" at Studio Movie Grill. MP and AJ were invited and made it out. Hilarious movie. We all enjoyed it. All 4 of us stayed around and loitered outside the theatre to just talk about whatever. There were a lot of Harry Potter fans showing up in costume since they were having a midnight opening. AJ heckled a few of them, ha. There were also people from 5-Hour Energy passing out free samples, mostly to the Harry Potter fans. I got one of the ladies to give us 4 free samples. We ended up making plans for the future for AJ's birthday. Can't wait for that. After that, we all went home.
=====MISC=====
I don't remember what days these happened so I'll throw them all in a few small paragraphs here.
I spent time to finally pack up stuff for the Soshified Field Trip. At one point it became apparent that MC and I would be working as RFM a little with just getting a lot of photos and videos from everything. I had trouble figuring out how to pack a tripod and monopod and everything together, but I finally got it to work. That bag came out to about 40 pounds.
I was also informed about another Flash Mob event. I was on board of course, but with the trip going on, I'd be missing the first day of rehearsal and others would have to fill the spot for teaching. More on that in this entry later.
=====07.19.11=====
Finally, the day of the Soshified Field Trip has arrived. MC and I made plans for me to pick him up since he didn't secure a ride to the airport. So I picked him up and we waited for about half an hour while I was finishing a few things in preparation to leave. I didn't get much sleep the night before (anxiety/excitement) and that was further cut by being woken up by a text message. To help with that, I drank the 5-Hour Energy shot I got a few nights ago before we left for the airport.
My parents drove us there. Mom was being protective and making sure we were fine, ha. Going through the airport was fine, no hiccups in the plans. We were early by at least an hour so we just waited. MC tried out Zelda and a few other games on the 3DS since he was curious. Then it was time to board the plane. Unfortunately, my luggage was too big to fit in the overhead bins so I got it checked. Lame. And the plane took off, Houston connecting to Denver.
I always have anxiety flying. It usually hits when we take off and when we land. I was ready to deal with that because I always experience it. I started to tense up and feel nervous, got hot, very uncomfortable, and felt like I might throw up. I removed my sunglasses and brushed my hair back. The guy sitting next to me handed me a barf bag.
I then woke up to the guy next to me pushing my arm and calling out for an attendant. Less than 20 minutes into the flight...I passed out. That has never happened before. People were looking at me, I felt warm and didn't know what was going on, and I had 3 flight attendants helping me out. I still didn't know that I had passed out until the guy next to me explained. He and another witness said I had a seizure. I didn't realize until a few minutes later that I had dropped my laptop, which is what caught everyone's attention during this whole fiasco. Even MC, who sat behind me with headphones on, heard it. The attendants brought me water as well as a couple of cold towels. One of them started asking medical questions to see if he could figure out what was the cause of everything. He also took witness accounts to see if anyone saw any other signs of the possible seizure. Yeah...I was embarrassed and a bit scared after all that. The flight continued on as normal, but the landing sucked. I could feel the normal anxiety kicking in, but it was getting close to the same feeling before I passed out. It didn't help that we were going through really rough turbulence and it was raining and there was lighting outside and I could see everyone gripping onto their armrest...yeah.
Thankfully, I didn't pass out again, but I did feel weak and shaken. One of the attendants helped walk me out to the terminal where they had medical staff waiting for me. Answered a lot of similar questions and more. They took my blood pressure, which was shockingly way too high. They were trying to figure out what it was that could have triggered that spike in blood pressure. I had flown earlier in the year so I knew it wasn't just me being nervous to fly. With no pre-existing conditions, I narrowed it down to the 5-Hour Energy Drink. It was the only x-factor in everything. Due to there being no pre-existing condition, the medical staff suggested I go to the hospital to get checked out just in case it's anything worse than the possible seizure. Arrangements for my luggage to reach San Francisco were made as well as rescheduling our flight there the next morning instead of the original plan.
We rode in an ambulance over to the Denver University Hospital. First time riding in an ambulance. The guy riding in back with me took blood samples, gave me an IV, and asked similar questions that others have asked me. About 10-15 minutes later, we arrived at the hospital. MC went to the waiting room while I was wheeled into the ER. It was very busy that night and I was only able to sit out in the hall on a patient bed. There were others around me that needed more attention than myself (woman screaming in pain in the room I was outside, a crazy homeless man with tons of liquor in his backpack kept walking in and out of his room and harassing staff, and a man that didn't want to be touched and kept making a big enough fuss that they were getting ready to strap him down). A couple of doctors checked on me, asked me questions, checked my heart and blood pressure before getting the blood samples checked. They also ordered an EKG in case there really was any irregular heart activity. Never had one of those before. I was there a while. They at least brought me a sandwich and small drinks from the lunch room to eat. The IV had run out a long time ago, but no one would come around and remove the needle in my arm. That was very annoying after being there for over an hour. MC finally joined me saying that the waiting room was chaotic as well. Soon after, I was discharged. They couldn't find anything wrong with me. My blood pressure had returned to normal and everything else checked out fine. The doctor prescribed valium for me in case I was going to continue the trip to Korea as well as recommending some therapy type methods I could try if I didn't want to continually take medication for future air trips.
=====07.20.11=====
The guy at the front desk of the hospital arranged for a taxi to come take us to a nearby hotel. We had received a voucher to take care of the hotel from the airport. We waited forever for the taxi to arrive. During that time, MC was calling our Soshified contact in San Francisco telling her what our situation was. I went to the front desk to ask about the taxi. He arranged for another one to come. Shortly after, the first taxi finally arrived. I don't even remember the hotel's name, but it wasn't far from where we were. We were told that they didn't have any rooms available and I was ready to give up. Too many things were going wrong and that last one made me lose any faith I had for this whole trip. Thankfully, they gave us a room because the people that reserved it never showed up. It was one of the more expensive ones, but we had the voucher so it didn't matter.
After settling in, I made my decision. With no medical personnel on the 12-hour flight to Korea, I decided to not continue on with the trip. Sure I could have just taken the valium and just knock out and not have to worry, but the fact that I passed out had been engrained in my head too much that I might pass out again. And yeah, that might be a small thing to happen again, but the thought of it just kept freaking me out. What if this? What if that? It was too much of a mind thing that even thinking about getting back on a plane was making my heart race.
I called home to let my parents know of what happened. I was still a bit frantic with things and had not come up with a plan on how to get home yet. Few minutes later I called AN and explained what happened and asked if it was possible for him to come to Denver and then we drive back together somehow. At this point there was no way I could fathom being back on a plane. He agreed and we were going to figure out the plan the next day since it was 1AM Denver, 2AM Houston. MC was busy trying to figure out his plans for the rest of the trip because he'd be cutting it close to missing the flight with the other Soshified members meeting in San Francisco. At some point I finally removed the 10 EKG patches attached to me. Not fun removing it when you have leg hairs. I tried to get some sleep around 3, but was waking up every 10 minutes due to my stomach still being weak and my body just getting abnormally hot.
MC stayed up all night and came to wake me up around 5AM. We checked out, boarded the shuttle, and headed to the airport. MC made the plan to arrive in another city close to San Francisco (can't remember which) and then take a short drive to he airport (if I remember correctly). So we got his ticket changed and then we parted ways before he went through security. I went to get my luggage that was checked in. I had to wait for a while since they weren't open yet. During that time, my mom called asking what the plan was. She tried asking if I could fly back because it would be the easiest and cheapest thing to do. She tried asking over and over and I kept refusing. During that exchange, I was actually getting worked up again and felt that uneasiness I felt on the plane. I told her about AN coming to Denver and that once we finalized the plan that I'd tell her. MC called updating me on his situation. Our contact in San Francisco said on the possibility he misses the flight with others then he would just take the next flight to Seoul himself and meet everyone there. He was going to get there, I had confidence in that. After that, I went to claim my luggage, but it was already in San Francisco. Since they knew I was going to Korea, they tried to make sure my luggage was there on time. The attendant arranged for the luggage to come back on the next flight to Denver from San Francisco and that they'd call me when it came in in the afternoon.
Still wasn't of a sound and steady mind. So much was going through my head. I just knew I needed to get a hotel room to stay in for a day or 2. I got into a taxi and tried to find a hotel. Unfortunately there was a Microsoft convention going on that week and most places were booked. I think I tried 6-8 different hotels/motels before finding a Motel 6 that actually had a room to reserve. Thing is was I had to wait till noon to check in and it was 7AM. At least I had a room waiting for me. There was a Denny's in walking distance so I went there to finally eat something. My stomach was still uneasy so it took a while to finish the chicken strips I ordered. I knew I had no where else to go afterwards so I asked my waiter if he was cool with me staying there for a few hours to wait for my motel. He was fine with it. I called YD to let her know of the situation. I also had my laptop with me and videos to watch at least. I did get looks from a lot of people there, whatever
Left Denny's, but still had about an hour left before check-in. I went to see if I could get in early, but was told to still wait. Didn't know what to do so I just went and walked around to see the nearby areas. It was mostly convenience stores and small food chains. I stopped once I reached train tracks and turned back around. At least the weather was nice outside; hot, but not humid and a breeze was blowing in. Half an hour past and I returned to the Motel 6. This time they let me check-in and I was finally in a room where I could relax.
Finally showered. No shampoo available though so my hair still felt dirty. Still had my same set of clothes though. So I just waited for the airport to call me about my luggage. In the meantime, I slept...tried to at least. Probably got 2-3 hours worth with interruptions here and there. Exchanged calls with AN and my parents and we came up with a plan. AN was to get a cheap one-way ticket to Denver the next day (Thursday), we stay the night to rest up, then we rent a car the next day and make the trip all the way back to Houston nonstop. It was the cheapest and quickest way to get me back home. All parties involved were fine with the plan.
During the last few exchanges on the phone, I realized I was running low on battery life. Both my phone and laptop were low on energy so I tried to make phone calls quick and limited my laptop use. Too much time had passed so I decided to head to the airport at 7PM to see if luggage arrived after eating some Wendy's for dinner. Took a shuttle and went to claim my luggage. I was informed that my luggage was AGAIN sent to San Francisco. The original attendant I talked to didn't leave instructions as to what to do with my luggage so the new attendants for the shift just thought they had to send it to San Francisco. Thing is, one of the attendants knew my name because the story of me passing out and needing my luggage to go ahead of me to get to Korea had made its rounds. The attendants said it was possible that my luggage hasn't left yet. They looked around and I waited. I looked outside and watched the luggage on the turnstiles and saw a familiar one. Thankfully, my mom attached a bright yellow elastic rubber rehab strap to my luggage and I spotted that. I got up and asked to see it and it was mine. I put a business card in the visible slot and confirmed it with the attendant. I noticed that my 2 charms were missing from it (a 10+ year old charm from Sensei and a Jessica one that WC and CC got for me in Japan). Oh well. At least everything else was still in there. I felt a lot more secure getting my luggage back. Took my stuff, got in a taxi, and returned to the motel. Showered (with shampoo) again and changed clothes finally. Started charging everything I had, checked things online, then went to sleep.
=====07.21.11=====
Received a decent amount of sleep. I was feeling a lot better; had more energy, my stomach felt fine, I was clean, and I just felt normal again. Took some food back from Denny's to have breakfast in the motel, added an additional night stay, and started to catch up on things I missed online (videos, news, etc). AN called when he left for the airport. And around 4PM, AN arrived at my motel room. I felt so relieved to see a familiar face. Gave him about an hour to relax while we were deciding what to do for the night.
The plan was to go to 16th Street (or 26th, I forget...the one on a map I found listing hot spots around town) and get dinner and a few drinks and just enjoy what was there. The weather was nice so we decided to walk to save money on taxis. By the way, there were a lot of gopher holes. About 30 minutes into our walk, we decided to find a bus heading where we needed to go. Good thing we did. The bus ride was another 10-15 minutes. We were laughing at ourselves thinking how long it would have taken us to walk, ha.
We walked around just to see what was there at first and seeing where we might want to eat. We did notice that there were a lot of pianos around for anyone to just play. Pretty interesting. We also noticed that there weren't any other Asians around. We saw a group of Asians that were obviously tourists so we didn't count them. Other than that group, the only other time we saw Asians were at the airport and they don't count either. Actually, I just remembered that we found a Lollicup while walking. Stopped in there to get drinks and saw 3 Asians there. That was it.
We ended up eating at some place I can't remember the name of (I guess I forgot all the names of places we went). It was a nice place and food was good. Our waitress was actually born in Katy so that was cool. AN asked for a suggestion of where to go and she suggested a bar (can't remember name). Pretty much like every other bar. We just drank and talked. I performed a scam I learned on AN, ha. Didn't go perfectly, but he applauded the trick. We then walked around to see what else was around. I saw a group of Filipinos in front of a restaurant (they all had shirts with the Philippines flag) and I raised my hands up in the air and started pointing and waving at them. Some time after that, it was time to head back to the motel.
A map we were given by a bus driver didn't help us that much, but we were able to figure out which bus to get on. While waiting for the bus, AN was dancing around. A pimp walked by and asked if he was a dancer. He replied with a "yeah" and then the pimp said "dance for me." So...he did, ha. The pimp then started shouting out numbers saying to call him and that he'll make AN famous. Man...awesome. We got on a bus and transferred to another bus that dropped us close to the Motel 6. It was already late so we needed to get as much sleep as we could to prepare for our adventure the following day.
=====07.22.11=====
Woke up around 10 to clean up and pack up. Called a car rental place and arranged to get a car. Checked out a little before noon and waited for a shuttle to take us to the airport. We were then shuttled to the car rental place and got all the necessary paperwork completed. We got into our rental car, set up the GPS, and we were ready to start our 19-hour drive from Denver to Houston.
The GPS set the path that avoided tolls and was the quickest way possible, but it was also the most boring path because we saw almost nothing interesting the whole way. While some things were amazing to see (empty fields, mountains, rain from a distance, windmills, etc), there was a lot of nothing to see. We did keep ourselves entertained though. Other than listening to music and talking about everything like we always do, we filmed ourselves being stupid on the road, we gave the GPS silly voices, and a whole cluster of stupid/silly things, ha. Like I said, we saw a lot of nothing.
Our path took us through Colorado to a small corner of Oklahoma and through the panhandle of Texas. We stopped only a few times. Stopped twice for food and another 2 times for gas. We were maximizing our time. Not only that, if we returned the rental car after the 24-hour mark, we'd have to pay for another day's worth of renting. AN and I switched everytime we made a stop. My favorite part at night was when AN and I were trading off singing songs as awesome as we could. Had to stop at one point because my throat hurt and just being tired was getting to the both of us.
=====07.23.11=====
Never have I driven for such long stretches of time. My final stretch happened to be at night driving through Texas. I was really falling asleep at the wheel. My eyes were so heavy. I was trying to sing to keep awake, but it wasn't working. I had the air pointed at me, but that just made me more tired. The fact that the roads were so pitch black didn't help either. I was glad to see other cars on the road. Showed I was making progress and it kept my eyes and attention busy so I don't run into them. I tried to stay up the whole just to know where we were. AN told me to just sleep for his last run, but I didn't want to. Well, my body didn't listen and I fell asleep for at about 2 hours.
When I woke up, we were in Houston on the last leg of our adventure. It was around 7AM. About an hour later, we were at the airport to return the rental and to pick up AN's car. Made it home at 9AM. Funny thing, my mom called when I was unpacking things asking when I'd be home, ha. She wanted to ask me questions, but I needed to shower and sleep. I slept for at least 12 hours.
And I'll finally end the story there. I'll give my thoughts on everything at the end of the entry.
=====07.26.11=====
So originally I wasn't supposed to teach the first day of rehearsals for the Dreamstage Flash Mob. I was actually supposed to be returning from Korea on this night, but as you just read, my trip to Korea was abruptly halted. A few of the admins of the flash mob knew about it through reading tweets made by MC and finding out through Soshified. I let them know I'd be there though in case they didn't know.
First day of rehearsals was at HBU. It had been maybe 10 years since I had taught HBU's VSA on that campus. One of the flash mobbers goes to HBU so we were able to reserve one of the rooms to practice in. I was a bit thankful that no one asked about the Korea trip because I didn't want to talk about it yet. One girl did ask how Korea was, but I just put my finger up to my lips to shush her. We started practice, but it didn't last long. Miscommunication with HBU staff had them not liking us using the room we were using. After some negotiating, we were able to practice in another building, but in a smaller (much smaller) room with no mirrors. At least we had a place to practice and it was free of cost.
There were some new faces and a lot of familiar ones. The rehearsals ran similarly to the SMTown Flash Mob rehearsals; goofing around and getting work done. One of the mobbers drew a picture of SV sitting on me at one point, ha. They also added a small story to the flash mob so arranging where couples would be and formations were talked about. The layout was told to everyone and we attempted the whole "fight and break up and get back together" scenario, but that mostly ended up with us laughing a lot at each other. Apparently I can't have a serious fight and end up saying or doing something that makes everyone laugh. It was a 5-hour rehearsal, but I'd say one of those hours was spent moving locations, goofing around, and resting. Very productive though. Ended up taking SV and her sister home since, as we found out, live less than 5 minutes away from each other.
=====07.28.11=====
Since HBU wasn't being too cooperative with us, we took flash mob rehearsals back to Soundbox Studios. Those that had practiced there before were happy to see the familiar studio. This time we took the bigger room because of audio issues in the other. More of the story details were worked out and rehearsed a few times. The bulk of practice was making sure that everyone was at least familiar with the steps.
We split up the room at one point to have the couples work on couple dance steps and positioning while I took care of everyone else and their questions on more specific parts of the routine. Of course, we had our share of goofing around, ha. Overall, rehearsals went well.
=====07.29.11=====
Final rehearsal day was mostly spent making sure everyone knew where their positions were, position changes, and any other movement needed to be made. They were pretty much fine with the steps, just had to brush up on it. WC came by to get some ideas of camera angles and such to help prepare for the actual flash mob day. Other than those things, practice carried on as usual...lots of goofing around...oh, and going over the routine over and over for 4 hours.
=====07.30.11=====
Dreamstage Korea Global Flash Mob day is finally here. It was to be held at Memorial Park. Never been there before so I was kind of lost on where to meet exactly. Drove around for a good 10 minutes until I parked myself. Luckily a few others came to my spot and we gathered. We were still in the wrong spot so we all followed one car and parked elsewhere. The group of us walked to where we were possibly going to do the flash mob. I asked the admins to go ask and make sure it was okay. They came back and told us we were going to move. We ended up moving the group to where we were to practice (where I was originally lost at). Once there, we formed a plan. The admins were to call and make sure everything was okay for us to do the flash mob and where while I was to have everyone do a few dry runs in our secluded area in the park.
It was very hot outside. More of our mobbers found where we were and joined in, but I think we only did 3-4 dry runs because it was just too hot to make them do it a lot. When the admins got back, they brought up the idea to do it elsewhere. We were limited on where we could do it in the park and most of those places were sparsely populated with people to see the mob take place. At this point, I was hot, irritated, and frustrated. The point of the Global Flash Mob Day was to have each time zone perform at 3PM. Once they told me that it doesn't have to be at 3 because other cities/countries were having issues doing it on time, I was relieved a little. I finalized the idea of doing the mob elsewhere at a later time. I called up the RFM members to meet me at the park and explain the situation. We were going to get out of the heat and move to the Galleria and the admins were to come up with a plan then.
I drove some of the girls since their original ride wasn't around. At the mall, clumps of us met up. I bought an Icee and met with BT. We then waited for the rest of the working RFM members to arrive. BR was next and I briefed both of them on what was up. WC and MC arrived shortly after. I asked the admins if we could do it at the Water Wall even though I had issues with rules/laws set up, but by then we were running out of convenient options. So it was set to do it at the Water Wall at 4:30. RFM split from the rest of the group.
When we got to the Water Wall, I was instructing RFM on where to be. Once flash mobbers started arriving, I explained to them where the "stage" was. At some point a security guard was making his rounds and noticed us with video cameras. He talked to BT and BT relayed the message, "no filming the Water Wall or the buildings in the area." At that point, I asked one of the admins to explain to the security guard about what they were doing (the contest). The security guard said he would walk away and we could do it, but when he comes back we'd better be done. So everything was back on. Only issue left was the Quinceanera and wedding shoots that were going on. I walked over to them, waited for the right time, and asked if we could just take over for 7 minutes and then after that we'd be out of there and they could continue. They agreed and we were set to go.
Afterwards, we were all messing around. We took group photos inside and outside of the Water Wall.SV and others put ice down my back, but at that point it was a grand gesture, not a prank. We were all so hot after doing the flash mob. There were plans to throw me into the Water Wall to mimic throwing me into the fountain for the SMTown Flash Mob, but the wedding and Quinceanera people had returned so we stayed out of their way. There was a plan to go eat and then go karaoke. A good chunk of them went. I know I didn't go as well as a few others. BR left us and the rest of RFM went to a nearby Mexican restaurant to eat/drink. After that, we all got back to our cars, MC gave me gifts from Korea, and we went home.
Showers are great. I did think to call the flash mobbers to see if they were still out, but AT called with possible plans. Those didn't go through and I was somewhat thankful. As much as I wanted to go out, I was out of energy. I just spent the rest of the night transferring the video clips to my external and resting up.
=====07.31.11=====
Hung out with YD. BD is getting married soon and we are going to attend. She needed to buy some things to get ready for the wedding. No problem tagging along. Besides, I wanted to hang out. The bulk of it was shopping for stuff. We also ate and caught up with each other. Before splitting, we made the plans of when to meet and head out for the wedding.
I also finally found some Guayaki while we were out. I think I hyped in my head too much, but I still enjoyed it. Need to get some more.
=====Final Thoughts=====
- A few changes to the blog. First is the obvious template change. It's brighter and hopefully easier to read. Next change is for videos. I know I was posting up Vimeo videos exclusively here, but in general my Vimeo channel has little traffic. So it'll now be YouTube.
- CM Punk is the Best In The World (can't wait for that shirt to be delivered).
- Doing these flash mobs were so fun for me. I don't know what I would've been doing had those not occupied most of my time in July. It was great meeting all these K-pop fans also. I don't have many friends to talk to about Korean music, so this was a great outlet.
I'll never forget doing these things with these kids. The age gap from me to the youngest was a large gap, but we were all friends of the same ilk. I'm glad I was able to connect with them and help give them fond memories. The "thank you" notes I got from them after the SMTown Flash Mob was very moving. I didn't expect to get anything from so this was a very welcomed surprise.
A few jokes were made that I have fangirls now, ha. Hey, I'll take the attention.
I may not show it all the time to those I met during these flash mobs, but I'm glad to be a part of this extra set of friends. Thanks for the memories and let's continue making more.
- So the whole Soshified Field Trip didn't happen for me. Honestly, I'm over it. It didn't take long to get over the fact that I wasn't going. I pretty much had all those thoughts run through my head by the time I made my decision in Denver and all that first day I spent there by myself. Like I've told a few friends already, I can't sulk over it forever. What's the point. I already vented a lot of frustrations about it (sure did cuss more in a few days than I have in years). Also when I got home, I did cry about it while I took my shower. While I was glad to be safe at home, I disliked the circumstances of why I was home.
I tried to not read the recaps that MC was posting during the trip, but I already knew the itinerary so I knew what I was missing. I just wanted to know the details. I sighed while reading them and looking at the photos from there, but it was great to know that they were having a great time. MC did tell me that a lot of the field trippers were worried about me and I didn't want that to be a downer for everyone. I wanted them to enjoy themselves regardless of my absence.
I am forever thankful to AN for coming out to get me. You know I've got your back anytime and everytime.
Before posting this, I only have told a handful of friends the story of what happened. During the time I was supposed to be gone, I did stay off the radar as much as I could. I would send an occasional email or comment on things, but I never told anyone what had happened and that I wasn't in Korea. I just didn't feel like talking about it for personal reasons. I did need to recover and collect myself and interacting with others would have thrown that off somewhat. So if you're reading this, you now know along with that small handful of friends.
I did stay away from watching any SNSD related videos or listen to any SNSD music (minus the portion of "Genie" used for the Dreamstage flash mob). It did suck that I wasn't able to go see them in person so I kind of needed to block them for a while. I did finally start watching and listening to them by the time I'm writing this, coincidentally on the day of the 4th year anniversary.
There were a few people that asked why I didn't still go stating that I "only passed out." True, nothing was medically wrong with me according to doctors, but it was just too much in my head. Like I had explained earlier, I was just freaked out about the idea of getting on a plane again. That first day in Denver alone, whenever I saw a plane fly by, I would stare at it and knew I couldn't be on one anytime soon. I've also been asked about future travels. Well, when that time comes, I will seek out those therapy type methods the doctor recommended. Or I could just medicate myself. Either way, I'll find a way around. There are still countries I'd like to travel to at least once.
This is actually the second time that I've had a trip of going to Korea not happen. The first time was about 10 years ago when I won a Korean music contest. The winner(s) were to fly out to New Jersey/York to meet the show's crew and record a song and film a music video. I did all that. There were plans to go to Korea and then market me to different music companies to see who would be interested. That would have happened had the show not been cancelled. They tried to start things back up, but it never happened and that dream of becoming famous in Korea died. And when the whole Soshified Field Trip didn't happen, it did stick in my head that this is the second time my dream of going to Korea was abruptly ended. I was actually hoping to get scouted somehow and become famous on the trip. I knew I was going to make some effort to at least stand out and be noticed. Someone did tell me that maybe it wasn't meant to happen yet and that when I eventually do go, it'll be worth it. Who knows when that will be, but I'm waiting for it.
I know there's more that I forgot to explain. It is easier to tell in person. I don't mind talking about it and I know not a lot people read this blog anyways so I know I'll still have to explain it to some friends in person. Like I said, I'm over it. It happened, it's done, I missed out on things, but I'm back home and I'm healthy.
- And I leave you with this. Before going on the beginning portion of the trip, Christina Grimmie released her first music video. I fully support this talented girl. Hopefully some of you become fans of her as well.
Thanks for reading. Be healthy, be thankful, and be loved.
Take care.
