I think this entry will be short. I forgot of what happened this month or at least I forgot when I did certain things during the month so I might clump those all at the end miscellaneously.
=====09.02.11=====
Happy birthday to me. Yes, I am now 29. It was nice to read all the birthday wishes on Facebook and to get a few people texting me.
I had no real plans for the day since the party I had was to be the following day. The only thing I wanted to do was watch the SND concert DVD I got a few days ago. It was really fun to watch and sing along with and get into. Plus it was just great to watch it in crispy video quality via my laptop and an HDMI cable.
And then...disc 2 wouldn't play on my laptop, d'oh. So I continued watching it through my DVD player. And then...it started skipping and freeze towards the quarter of the concert. I tried it through my PC and it got a little farther before it started to skip again and then freeze. Upon close inspection of the disc I found a tiny warp on the disc. So yeah...I didn't get to see the end of the concert or the extra features. I had seen clips of the end of the concert, but it would have been nice to see it in its entirety.
And then...I got a call from someone who I had not seen in a while asking for help. I basically spent the rest of my birthday dealing with the law. That didn't end until 2AM I think followed by a late night meal.
=====09.03.11=====
Had a lunch with AN and his sister JN. Nothing like a nice meal. Just chilled and talked. Went back to the apartment and greeted their mother and eventually we split.
Returned home to rest a little before setting up and cleaning for the party. I hooked up my laptop to the TV downstairs and made sure it was working properly. When the first few friends began to arrive, I started to play the videos from the "Summer Reunion." I also debuted the "Fireball Classes" video for everyone before getting to the reason everyone got together; to watch the edited version of the variety show we filmed for my birthday last year, "Forever Graceful Impact XXVIII."
It was great having everyone there since most of them weren't present for the live filming and just to see/hear everyone's reactions to the finished product, which I'm very proud of. Not everyone caught all the little things, but that's better left for maybe fewer people and me giving commentary.
=====09.04.11=====
The last group of people left around 2:30 I think. I cleaned up and ate a little before I started to feel bad and tried to go to sleep. I couldn't. My stomach wasn't feeling good (felt like vomiting, but couldn't), my heart was racing and pounding hard, and I just could not go to sleep. My heart racing was really worrying me because I couldn't calm myself down. I woke my parents up around 3 for help because...I just didn't know what to do. If it was just a bad stomach, I wouldn't have bothered them, but my heart was just beating so fast that I needed help. They gave me water, cold towel, made soup, and just stayed up with me. My mom came to the conclusion that it was due to me drinking a lot of Guayaki during the party...sucks. I've had Guayaki before, but only one can at a time. So yeah...no more caffeine for me. At most, I'll do one soda a day if I ever have one. My mom also just chalked it up to being an anxiety/panic attack.
I think I ended up going back to my bed around 4AM. I kept falling in and out of small spurts of sleep, but I know I was up until 8-9AM before actually falling asleep from 10-1.
=====09.13.11=====
A DJ on Soshified I listen to faithfully is DJ Cesca. She's just very entertaining and I like her interaction with listeners on the shoutbox. Cesca created a section on her show called "Challenge Cesca" where listeners type a challenge for her to try live on air (as long as it's not really dumb). I've gotten a reputation of not only hitting on Cesca on air, but also coming up with creative challenges for her. On this episode, I challenged her to do the Pokérap. It was highly entertaining and I couldn't believe she actually did it. And once the audio from that show was available to download, I took a couple days to create the following video.
=====09.14.11=====
My parents had planned a trip to Europe so they asked me to drive them to the airport along with an aunt and uncle that were going with them. I was driving the SUV since they had a lot of luggage. My uncle asked how many girlfriends I had and how my business was doing. Didn't have positive answers for either question so I just quickly answered them and didn't elaborate. After dropping them off, I accidentally took a wrong turn heading back and paid an extra toll, boo. On the way back, I stopped by Best Buy to purchase "The Big Bang Theory" Season 4 on blu-ray.
Killed some time before going out to a hot pot dinner. Just before leaving, we had a black out in the neighborhood. Figured it was a good time to leave. Instinctly, I pushed the garage door button, but the power was out. So I went to manually open the garage door, but I accidentally pushed the latch to lock the door. Didn't have the key so I tried to open the door to the garage, but we had that barricaded due to it being broken into and items being stolen. So my car was stuck in my garage...so I continued using the SUV for the night.
Hot pot was fine. We wandered around a bit afterwards and did further wandering around at the Galleria before splitting around 10.
=====09.15.11=====
Time to get my car out of the garage. Thankfully we had 2 cars outside. I took the Bonneville and picked up AN. Headed back home and we went to work. I actually thought it would take longer, but we were done in less than 10 minutes. Took a break afterwards before driving out to Best Buy, the Galleria, and then the studio. AN convinced me to just take his class for free even though I wasn't dressed in my normal studio garbs. Went home afterwards.
=====09.16.11=====
I couldn't sleep at all the night before. I decided to just watch all of season 4 of "The Big Bang Theory" and I did. I think I finished around 8AM and even watched all of the extras included. Then I slept for a couple hours before doing whatever I did that day.
=====09.17.11=====
Hip hop class was fun as usual. On the way home, I saw a package at the front door and knew what it was. I had ordered a Psylocke Vampy poster and it finally arrived. Vampy threw in a few extras including a pin I wear every time I go out. She also signed it and left a little message for me. Unfortunately, the poster did have damage on the right and left edges even a tiny tear on one side. It sucked seeing that so I actually messaged Vampy on Facebook and she wasn't too pleased either citing that she's going to send me another one. How awesome is she, very awesome.
Made plans with YD to go out and just catch up. We met at the Town and Country Center and walked around figuring out where to eat ultimately landing at an Italian place. It was fine, not the best food, but it all came out quick. We then walked around more and YD bumped into a friend from highschool who I had also known from another mutual friend. She asked us to join her for drinks with a couple other friends who were meeting her.
We ended up going to Straits. We thought sitting outside would be good, but it had rained earlier in the day and the sofas were still soaked. The other 2 girls met with us and we took a table inside. Cool girls. Funny situation seeing AN's mom and her boyfriend there also. She said she was going to text AN saying I'm there with a bunch of girls, ha.
The 5 of us left Straits and then had more drinks and talk more at The Yard House. Close to midnight we all split, but I ended up going to YD and DS' apartment to continue talking. DS come home after work while YD was cooking. I stayed a little longer sharing another drink and then left before they had a late night meal together. Good day.
=====09.18.11=====
AT asked if anyone wanted to join her and her sister for some Dim Sum. I was just about to eat before I saw the message so it was great timing. Told AN about it and he was in. Picked up MP and headed out. It was a nice reunion of Kempner alumni. A lot of silly conversations popped up including us being a mob, disciplining kids with candy, and other things.
We moved elsewhere so a few can get drinks and so we could continue talking. A really dumb situation happened where I ended up laughing and crying a lot, ha. I had not laughed and cried at the same time in a long time and it felt great. Don't worry about what I said because it was really really dumb.
=====09.19.11=====
Beat. It was a challenge. Mega Man died many times thanks to me, ha.
=====09.21.11=====
I started a new series of videos involving friends. It took a while to land on a title, but I came up with "Miscellaneous Misfits." It can involve anyone and be about anything. I completed the first one with clips AN and I took on our drive from Denver to Houston back in July.
=====09.22.11=====
To celebrate SNSD's Kim HyoYeon's birthday, I set aside a large block of time to dance. I ended up dancing for 90-minutes non-stop to routines I learned. Man, that was draining. Had not done a long session like that in a looooooooong time.
=====09.25.11=====
I completed another "Miscellaneous Misfits" episode. When AN and I were dealing with the garage situation, I filmed it. Funny thing, I remember thinking to myself that I could just set a camera on a tripod...and then realized my tripods were in my car trapped in the garage, ha.
=====09.26.11=====
My parents returned from Europe. I was actually about to go out and get dinner, but my dad insisted to cook even though they just got home. Hey, hard to refuse a home cooked meal. Good to see them back.
=====09.28.11=====
I went to see a doctor this day. Remember earlier when I mentioned I had an anxiety/panic attack after my birthday? It happened again on the 20th-22nd. I asked for help from my brother on the 20th, YD came over after work on the 21st, and AN talked to me over the phone on the 22nd. It was weird because they just came out of nowhere. The following days after had similar symptoms, but not as hard or racy as the other days. I decided to wait for my parents to return and talk to my mom (the nurse) about it before just going out to a hospital.
So I ended up going to a nearby clinic to get checked out. Normal check up, told my symptoms, and mentioned where most of us thought the problem was coming from; me passing out on the plane. YD and I figure that it's a mental thing and it might be, but the check up was to see if there was anything actually wrong with me internally in another way. Results from a blood test, urine test, and EKG revealed nothing out of the ordinary. I'm scheduled to return for an ultrasound to be performed on my heart just in case. The doctor prescribed 2 different types of medicines for me. One is to take daily to help reduce my anxiety over time. The other is to take in severe cases of anxiety/panic attacks. Unfortunately, I ended up taking one of those the very same day. I attempted to try a small bit of exercise and that turned out to jack up my heart rate a lot. At least I know the pill works.
Leave comments and give us feedback, please. Thank you.
=====Final Thoughts=====
- I RSVP'd to a friend's wedding in November. Should be fun.
- I rearranged a few things in my room. I moved my shelf of games/DVDs in front of a window instead of against the wall and it freed up some space. I also put up some anime posters I had taken down originally with just any space I had available.
- Bought "Star Fox 64 3D." It's the great game I remembered it to be. Unfortunately I've only played through it 3 times. The nostalgia novelty wore off quickly.
- Galerians...Galerians...Galerians
- A video unboxing of the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 25th Anniversary Collector's Edition" on blu-ray convinced me to buy my own copy. Retail still sells it around $60, but I found it on Amazon for $25. I did watch pizza watching each movie over time. And I enjoyed each one. Loved the first 2, the 3rd isn't as bad as I remember or as everyone makes it out to be, and I never saw the 4th animated one before so it was new to me.
- I'm not collecting them, but I bought a couple of tokidoki UnicornO. I didn't get the ones I wanted, but ended up with Stellina and Ritmo.
- I've started to watch JoKwon and Ga-In's episodes of "We Got Married." I had seen a few parts of their time on the show and enjoyed it. Watching actual episodes has me really entertained.
- Kara had their comeback recently and I'm totally loving it.
- SNSD released a teaser for their upcoming album.
- Vampy...yeah, I'm crushing on her hard. Enough said.
Thanks for reading. Be healthy, be thankful, and be loved.
My cousin Pauline asked to hang out and we rarely do. So we made a plan and I went out to her place where she was waiting with Erika. I met their new puppy, Fluke. Cute little thing. I brought my harddrive that had all the footage I took from her Debut back in January. Now Pauline can watch all the clips I didn't use in her Debut video. After dumping those clips to her PC, the 3 of us and Fluke went to Pauline's work, HEB, to buy stuff and then went to meet another cousin, Gina Faye.
Poor Gina, she had just gotten her wisdom teeth removed so she was in pain and not that talkative. Unfortunately, I caused her a bit more pain by making her laugh a lot, ha. Sorry, Gina Faye. The biggest cause of laughter, the following photo:
And I said "Look, a watch dog."
Anyways, we brought Fluke back home and I said hi to my aunt and uncle. Then I took the 3 girls out for dinner at Dave & Busters. None of them had never been there before. After eating, we played a bunch of ticket games. There was one we played where you pull a lever and the wheel turns and lands on a ticket amount (ala The Price Is Right). I made Pauline take a spin when she didn't want to and she lands on the highest amount, 500 tickets, awesome. We played enough to get each girl a Domo-Kun doll. I think it was around 9 that we headed back and I dropped them off.
Much love, Cousins.
=====08.04.11=====
Girls' Generation's 4th Anniversary. This was actually the first day I started to listen to SNSD's music and watch their videos ever since missing out on the SSF Field Trip. I also asked if it was okay to finally make public the video I made for the LA Meet Up back in January. Got the approval and posted the video up in celebration of the 4th Anniversary.
=====08.06.11=====
BD's wedding day. I took YD with me. My cousin Sarah actually got married in the same chapel a few years ago. Saw a bunch of familiar faces I had not seen in a while. AND I finally got to see BD's beau in person. BD looked absolutely amazing in her wedding dress. The ceremony went off well and didn't last too long.
There was a lull of time between the ceremony and reception so YD and I ate a little and then met with friends who were bowling. We caught their last game before they headed out for dinner. YD and I killed some time by going to FIT since it was close to the Kim Son where the reception was held.
LL was there. She didn't come to the reception since she stayed up late doing all the girls' makeup for the big day. No big surprise seeing her at the reception, ha. Unfortunately I didn't have a seat reserved. Before the wedding, the first flash mob was supposed to happen on the same day and BD (now BM) and I talked about it and she was okay with me missing the reception. Well, when the date kept changing for the flash mob, I forgot to tell her I would be making it to the reception. Luckily, they sat us with LL and her boyfriend since there were empty seats.
The reception was very fun. There was a photobooth set up in the back so people could take commemorative photos that were to be made into an album for the bride and groom. We also had an 8-10 course meal. At one point, our whole table just gave up around the last 2 meals, ha. I actually stopped a few courses in since it was just so much food. They did the money dance for the bride and groom and I danced with both of them. MM actually said he was expecting me to dance well since BM told him a lot about me, ha. I was surprised he knew a lot about me. We shared a few words here and there just to greet and share good wishes back and forth. He's a good guy. I approve.
There were a few touching moments like seeing BM's siblings cry when giving speeches. By this time, many guests had drank many drinks so many were feeling good and FINALLY getting on the dance floor. Good times there. A funny thing, when it came to toss the garter, BM forgot to wear one. Quick improvising ended with a tie being used. MM tossed it, I went for it, me and another guy struggled a little on the floor for it, and he came out with it, ha. Oh well. I don't think it counts since it wasn't an actual garter. It was at midnight that they announced the party continuing at a club. YD and I decided to just head home instead. We said our byes and wished the new couple well and left.
=====08.13.11=====
A few of the flash mobbers put an event together for WorldWide Kpop Day. We had a small picnic out at Hermann Park. It...was...hot outside. There was a slow gathering and ultimately ended with 10-15 people only with a few ending up not going last minute. It was still fun. Met some new people who were cool. Some of us danced to Korean songs that were being played. I started the whole "wave at the train as it passes by us" thing. I said we should flash mob the train, but we never did it, ha.
Remember how I said it was hot? Well, the Earth thought so as well so it decided to rain. It was a little frantic with everyone gathering the food and drinks to make sure they don't get soaked. Everyone took shelter under a nearby tree. During the last flashmob, I promised them that I would dance to Rain's "Love Song" if it rained while we were out doing the flash mob. Well...
Yeah, not to perfection, but it had been a while since I did that dance. The rain settled and we continued on with our crazy selves. The park then decided it was too hot and turned the sprinklers on us, ha. Again we frantically gathered our stuff and this time we decided to move to a grassy area to lounge on. We had fun feeding chips to a local squirrel as well as playing Spoons with each other. We all started splitting up around 7.
Came home, showered, and saw a message from AC about going out. I was actually still in the mood to do something. A few of us gathered for karaoke, but unfortunately it was a little blah. It was just a small group of us, more than half of us didn't pick songs, and we skipped a bunch of songs. Oh well.
=====08.14.11=====
BT and I went to NH's apartment to watch SummerSlam with him and a few of his wrestling friends. I had met one of them before at the last RAW house show. A lot of us were wearing CM Punk shirts, awesome. It was pretty fun to watch with a group (albeit small) of wrestling fans that knew the product well. We cheered and screamed and made our jokes all in fun. We were all very pleased with how the PPV was as some of us had low expectations due to the low number of matches on the card. I had prepared for the night by watching previous SummerSlams before heading over there. While this was a good one, it still doesn't beat my favorite SummerSlam which saw Rock VS Brock as well as the return of HBK.
BT and I left a little after and got some snacks at a nearby Kroger's before heading home.
=====08.17.11=====
AN had asked me to come take his class. He said he was very proud of this piece and wanted me to experience it. And I thank him, it was a very fun routine. I also had not taken a hiphop class in a while due to other things coming up so it felt good to learn something at the studio.
=====08.21.11=====
I had been itching to do another silly video, but I didn't want to shoot knew footage. So I took footage from Sunday Fun Day we had back in May where a few of us played sports. I watched some of the footage and came up with an idea. Took a couple days to find the right sprites and sounds I wanted to use and then put it all together. The video was all done on this day, the 21st, but I kept running into exporting problems.
The video would come out completely, but one scene would be off sync even though it would be perfectly fine in the project timeline. I remember having issues like this when I made the "A Day At The Park" video and the solution was the same...except for 6-10 frames that would always mess up no matter how little or big I changed it. Here's the quote from my Facebook after I finally settled.
"Trying to fix 1-6 frames of video, having graphics be off sync (even though it wasn't on the timeline), sfx mysteriously changing, sfx magically vanishing, 30-40 exports to see if everything synced up only to settle on it still being off by a couple frames...yeah, settling after 7 hours. And it's only a 55 second video..."
=====08.22.11=====
I had a note left on the front door about a package being sent back to the post office since I wasn't home to answer the door. Finally got around to picking it up. My Jessica 418 SPAO hat arrived from Korea. I was planning on buying this had I gone on the SSF Field Trip, but since that didn't happen I ordered it online. I wore it the rest of the day.
=====08.23.11=====
Happy Birthday, BS!
And...the IRS demanded some money back...
=====08.24.11=====
Celebrated AJ's birthday with a few friends at Brenner's. Most of them had never been there plus it was still Houston Restaurant Week/Month. Brenner's is great (if you've never been). Had been there before so I was glad that AJ chose to go there.
Afterwards, we went to Yardhouse to get some drinks before splitting and heading home.
=====08.26.11=====
I was invited to BS's birthday party at Nori's Sushi Bistro. Pretty good place for sushi. I was part of the first guests to arrive and BS's mom asked me to help decorate, ha. BS finally arrived and other familiar faces came afterwards. Met some new cool people and had some interesting conversations. I had fun. Thanks for the invite.
=====08.28.11=====
"Gargoyle's Quest" was released on the 3DS' Virtual Console on the 25th of August. I loved "Demon's Crest" on the SNES and never played any of the prequels so I downloaded this title and enjoyed it. Just add it to the list of games I've beaten.
The owners of RFM had a meeting to talk about a few things. The main thing is a redesign to the website. Stayed tuned for that change to come around the end of September or early October.
=====08.30.11=====
BT wanted to do another deal since it was still Houston Restaurant Week/Month. He chose Sullivan's. It was just BT, AJ, and I in this fancy place. It was pretty good. They both preferred Sullivan's over Brenner's, but I was the opposite. At least our waitress was cute.
I also started listening to the "Ghost Trick" OST. I added it the night before to my iPod after finding it. Loved that game and its music. I'm pretty sure it was the last normal DS game I bought before any 3DS stuff. I highly recommend it.
=====08.31.11=====
The 3DS Ambassador Program was officially supposed to start on the first of September, but the games were available on the last day of August. Got those downloaded onto my 3DS as soon as I could. Played some "Balloon Fight," "Donkey Kong Jr.," "Ice Climber," "NES Open Tournament Golf," "Super Mario Bros.," "Wrecking Crew," and "Yoshi." Such fun classics. I will play "Metroid" using the code I had in the end when I beat it on the Wii's Virtual Console rather than playing it all over again. Then I'll conquer the 2 Zelda games in order. Anticipating playing Zelda II because I've never beaten that game before the few times I tried it when I was young. It'll definitely be a challenge.
My copy of "Girls' Generation - The 1st Asia Tour: Into The New World" DVD came in. I'm planning to watch it on my birthday.
Had an itch to take a hiphop class so I took AN's class. It was good. There was one part I just couldn't get, but I just made sure I got the rest of it. Good fun.
Leave comments and give us feedback, please. Thank you.
=====Final Thoughts=====
- I've had a lot of trouble falling asleep this month. Sometimes it was because I was sore or my back hurt, but usually it was just because I could not fall asleep. There were quite a few nights that I stayed up watching videos on my laptop. Every now and then it would be accompanied by a late night snack like ice cream.
I did change the position I sleep in. Now the sun doesn't shine in my face in the morning. It didn't take long to get adjusted to that.
I've also got to say that I've had way too many weird dreams lately. None of them make sense, but the involve people I've met. One of the first ones was of a waitress I know and her and I working at an arcade. It ended with both of us getting harassed by a group of thugs. Her boyfriend happened to be our boss and tried to take care of things, but he ended up getting shot...yeah.
- I made a few last minute edit changes to "Forever Graceful Impact XXVIII." I had the time so why not. They were mostly minor changes, but things I've thought about adding for a while. And soon the show will be viewed by the public on my birthday.
- To start this small section about video games, let me share this quote from an episode of Feedback on G4.
"That's why I'm attempting to patent 'feeling bad about myself' because I'm just worried that some other people are going to try to encroach on that." - Adam Sessler
I downloaded "Kyotokei" for WiiWare. It's pretty much "Ikaruga," but horizontal. It's tough and I still haven't beaten it.
I also downloaded "10 Second Run" for my 3DS. It's my first DSiWare title and man did I get my money's worth. It's a 50 level platformer and you have 10 seconds to reach the goal at the end of each level. It...is...difficult. To give a general idea of how hard this game is, it should take less than 50 seconds to beat 5 levels. One time it took me 20 minutes to beat 5 levels...mm-hmm. And I'm stuck on level 42.
And when I felt like it, I went back and played "Super Smash Bros Brawl." I didn't do everything in that game so I've been going through a lot of the challenges.
Speaking of Brawl, Game Informer recently released a documentary on their attempt to break a Guinness world record. I found it a good watch and am inspired to attempt a gaming marathon (not break a world record) with a few friends sometime in the future.
- Oh...Vampy, she is so awesome. I've known about her for a while and seen photos of her modeling and cosplays, but only recently have I been crushing on her a lot. It's probably because of her recent Psylocke cosplays, which are absolutely perfect. Look up photos of that and you'll see what I mean. Vampy has taken over my PC, latptop, and cell phone backgrounds. Soon, she will own space on my walls. Anyways, I'm a fan and would love to meet her someday.
Thanks for reading. Be healthy, be thankful, and be loved.
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. Bothmy 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.
DW had a life-telling story. It was very interesting. I did learn a few things I did not know about him. Felt good bonding with the guy. Plus I do enjoy hanging with his group of friends. Which is why...
=====06.03.11=====
I hung out with some of them this day. It was also CD's birthday. We ate dinner and then tried to make a plan to do something afterwards. We ended up going to watch "X-Men: First Class." So we crammed into a couple of cars and went to the nearest theatre...and they were sold out at the time we wanted. So we drove out to a farther theatre...and they were sold out. So we started to just end the night and be done with CD's birthday. Once we did, CD was all up into doing whatever, ha. So we drove back to the original theatre and got a later time for the movie. CD, DW, another guy (forgot his name), and I went to the bar to get some drinks and talked for a bit waiting for the movie to start. We were all pleased with the movie.
=====06.05.11=====
A Saturday. That means hiphop class with BS. She also invited her students to take a workshop elsewhere with Stuart Bishop and Charlotte Stevens, dancers from London. My first workshop and it was fun. I wish I did better. I could do Chralotte's dance better than Stuart's. I think I was getting tired out and that's why I wasn't getting his stuff that well. Plus I was cramping up a bit in my thighs. It was a great experience though.
Needless to say, my back was killing me later that night. The following day was nothing, but back pains. One of the slower days I could remember.
=====06.11.11=====
DC came back into town and wanted to take our annual fishing-crabbing trip. AC and BT were in and MC joined us for the first time. I actually stayed up all night heading into the trip. Headed out at 2AM.
Almost immediately after we settled on a spot, I caught a small crab. I did well with getting 5-6 of the nine crabs we caught. I didn't catch any fish and we ended up only getting 3. The last one caught by DC was a catfish, great catch. Headed back home around 11AM.
Unfortunately, there was a ton of traffic waiting for the ferry. I'm pretty sure we all fell asleep that hour just waiting. We stopped at a Jack-In-The-Box to eat something before returning back to DC's to split up and head home. I showered and then...went to sleep...for 16 hours. You can call me Ice Prince, ha.
=====06.13.11=====
BT had himself a birthday dinner at Buca di Beppo. It had been a while since I last was there. Good food. Good seeing a few people I had not seen in a while also. CC and WC just returned from Japan and were handing out some souvenirs. They got the USB keys that looked like a miniature camera for RFM people and got some SNSD key chains for those of use that like them.
Ate dinner, laughed, took silly photos, and we split. Well, I walked around a Kroger's with AC because she was slightly buzzed. Walked it off for a bit and then split.
=====06.15.11=====
The 3DS e-shop opened this month and I purchased "The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX." I know I'll be buying a few titles for the 3DS Virtual Console since I never owned an original Gameboy and missed out on some good titles...like Link's Awakening. Another great Zelda adventure. It was very darn good for an old Gameboy Color title.
=====06.16.11=====
Helped AC retrieve a couch from a friend and bring it back to her house along with BT and WC. Oh...the fun of bringing a couch down 3 stories. At least we made quick and easy. We were treated to dinner and ended the night.
=====06.19.11=====
Happy Father's Day. Gave dad a hug and some money.
Spent the rest of the day indulging in "The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D." It's great reliving one of the greatest Zelda adventures again. Truthfully, I could have beaten the game by now (07.02.11), but I have been busy. I am actually at the end and can fight Ganon, but I'm collecting everything I missed. All I have left are about 20 Skulltulas and then it's time to save Princess Zelda.
=====06.20.11=====
Called up MP at work to see if he wanted to have lunch. I also needed him to print a coupon for me, ha. Had lunch at Lopez, which I love eating at. Dropped him off back at work and made my rounds saying "hi" to everyone and catching up with them. Almost all of them started their conversation with how work sucked, ha.
I also bought some voltage converters.
=====06.21.11=====
I made it a point to stay home because I was expecting a laptop I ordered to come in. Well, it arrived early, really early. MC asked to have lunch so I met him at Kubos.
After lunch, I went to reserve a table for an event happening. Headed to Best Buy to buy a new external harddrive. I wanted to get another one matching the current ones I have, but they no longer sell them in stores, darn. Needed to use the coupon I had MP print out in-store only unfortunately.
=====06.22.11=====
I had recently reconnected with MIM and she mentioned she was heading to Houston. So I just asked to meet up. We had dinner at Cheesecake Factory with some of her friends, a few I had known also. I actually wanted to just talk with her one-on-one to catch up, but this was better than nothing. She seems genuinely happy and I'm glad. The guy she's engaged to is a lucky guy.
=====06.23.11=====
Had lunch with AN. Been a while since I saw him and I had to talk to him about some business stuff. Had a great meal at Macaroni Grill. He then asked me to join him at the studio to help him layout his choreography for his class that day. That was fun. Seeing people I had not seen in a while was good also. I had not been to the studio for almost 2 weeks by this time. I left before his class started.
=====06.25.11=====
Finally back to hiphop class after 2 weeks. Felt great.
Then it was time for the Houston Soshified Meet Up. Dinner was at Tofu Village. There were 14-15 of us there. It was nice to laugh and bond with some new friends. After dinner was karaoke. The married couple left. At the karaoke, not many of them sang, but it was still good fun. Then a group of them left and we ended karaoke. It was only around 11PM and some of us were still wanting to do stuff. We just didn't know what.
So the remaining group of us wandered around the area talking. I was the oldest so I was put in the lead role of what to do. We got a drink for one of the girls and then ended up going to shoot pool at a place I said was deemed "shady." But the windows were no longer spray painted black so I led them up to just check it out. It was actually attached to the lounge/club area and we had to pass through that to play pool. The place was kind of a go-go lounge since they had some girls dressed with not much dancing around. Regardless, we played pool. More of the group left. After the hour, we all headed out and ended the night around...1AM.
=====06.26.11=====
BT and I purchased tickets to a live RAW house show. It was our first house show and first RAW show. Man, it was awesome! I actually saw NH there. He was sitting 2-3 rows behind us with his friends. BT and I were front row. Every time a match was over, we ran to the rail with everyone else to get close to the wrestlers. I actually got to touch and a few of them; Justin Roberts, Eve Torres, Evan Bourne, Vikki Guerrero, and John Cena. It was a very good house show. We're definitely going to another one when ever they came to town again.
We then met up with others to plan out the Austin trip. At the time I was going to go, but I ended up not going due to something I'll explain later. We then went to the East Wall to eat dinner and end the night.
=====06.27.11=====
A few of the out-of-towners from the Soshified Meet Up were still and town. MC had lunch with them at Fogo de Chao and I joined them later after finishing my workout and showering. There was no real plan so we just went around to kill some time before their set plans took place. Took them to Starbucks and then took a trip to The Container Store (all of our first times there). Next was Gallery Furniture and oh...my...gosh...I need Tempurpedic everything. Then it was off to the Galleria to go ice skating...were it the open and available time to skate, which it wasn't. So we played a few quick games of pool nearby instead. Next stop was Ranch 99 to meet another friend and eat crawfish. MC left us before we ate. After eating, we lost one more person and then had to drop another one off with her family. We gained one more when we went karaoke at some small secluded area. It was still fun though. I actually got to sing some rock songs I've always wanted to sing at a karaoke as well as a few old school Japanese songs I knew. The night ended at 1AM.
=====06.30.11=====
AT setup a surprise birthday for MW, whom usually doesn't spend his birthday with friends. It turned out well. Nice to see some old faces and meet some new people. We didn't do anything afterwards.
Glad to hear you were alright, LN.
=====Final Thoughts=====
- Christina Grimmie...I'm glad I follow her. She's such a talented singer. Her first album came out on iTunes earlier this month and I got it. My favorite song off it is "Counting." I also bought some of her gloves. I know that if she ever comes to Houston to perform, I'm going.
You can find tons of her covers on YouTube. The first time I ever heard her was with this duet with Sam Tsui, another great singer.
- I aM mE won America's Best Dance Crew. So proud. I made this tribute video for them as soon as I could. Congratulations.
- Been keeping up well with my workouts. Sometimes I miss a day, but I make up for it. I'm liking my results so far.
- CM Punk! CM Punk! CM Punk!
- So I found out about a flash mob being done in Houston. It's actually for SMTown. Out of New York, LA, and Houston, whomever does the best job will help influence SM to have their next concert in their town. The organizers were looking for a media crew, so I offered Royal Flush Media. The photos and video taken will be given to SBS Korea to use for a news story on the Hallyu Wave. I also offered to help teach dances. So not only is RFM going to be there, but I'll be teaching and participating in the flash mob. Rehearsals are happening the first week of July (5th and 7th, 12-3) at Soundbox Studios. The actual flash mob is happening on July 9th. If anyone is interested, please let me know. I've been practicing a lot the last couple of weeks and pretty much added it to my workout. But yeah, this has been my big project as of late. Hope it all goes well.
- I touched on the Soshified Field Trip in the last entry. Well, I'm officially going on July 20th. The converters and external harddrive and laptop I bought earlier in the month were for the trip. I still haven't packed. I'll do that at least a week before leaving. Everything else is taken care of. I can't wait to go and actually see SNSD live in concert.
And on that note, I'll leave you with SNSD's latest music video, Echo, from their new DVD set.
Thanks for reading. Be healthy, be thankful, and be loved.
Take care.
