「我一看到你，I go Cra Cra Crazy」- 表白, Henry Lau
Hello everyone! It's been a while! For the past month, given a few days, I've been spending it as I usually do, in Taiwan, visiting family and just having fun.
(Btw, this is a long intro so I would just scroll down instead of hearing-er, reading me blab xP)
I often think of myself as having extreme bad luck when it comes to kpop encounters, the things that are always on my lame. How lame right? But you see, whenever I'm not in Taiwan, my favorite groups decide to drop by Taiwan and hold a concert. When I am there, people seem to boycott my little island. Thanks a lot, right?
So I wasn't particularly surprised when I found out Super Junior M's long stay in Taiwan was coming to an end a good full week before I returned. You rock SME. However, they were returning the day after I arrived for a fanparty, which I was not able to attend due to the fact that whenever we first arrive, we immediately head down to southern Taiwan, and not Taipei. Sigh.
Yeah sure Siwon and Donghae were still around somewhere filming for Skip Beat but it's not like I would be able to find their location and stalk them. That's creepy. Oh and then then filming finished.
So imagine my excitement when I discovered that Henry arrived in Taiwan the same day I made my way up to Taipei. This was my chance, my last chance. Erika had previously said to me "T___T you have to see sj-m or any member before you leave though!"
How I wanted to, so so badly! Knowing my luck, chances were slim, especially when Henry tweeted photos of himself in Yilan, the same place where we had almost gone, but instead had gone to somewhere else. /FACEPALM.
I had also secretly hoped that the SM Store was opening before I left. Finding out that it opened on the day when I was leaving (but that was ok, since my flight was late at night) and then finding out that Henry freaking Lau would be there as the special guest left me speechless. OH THANK YOU GOD. THANK YOU SO MUCH.
So the store planned to give out tickets for the lucky 330 fans on Day 1 (630 on Day 2) for the sneak preview where they could actually purchase things at 11 am. I figured, a few hours early would be decent enough, right? But due to my annoyingly slow moving dad when he's not the one who's in a rush who tagged along although I was perfectly fine by myself, I arrived a little after 10 to see dozens of girls there. Oh and then we found out that the line I was standing in wasn't the line for the ticket at all. That line went around the corner for another block and a half.
Check it out below: (this was me walking from the back of the line to the front of the store)
A store worker was telling someone that he was shocked when he arrived to open the doors this morning because many many girls had already started to queue up.
Anyways, I made a new friend while in line! She's the same age as me, but then again most of the girls there seemed to be around high school age, I'd say about 70%. Her favorite member is Donghae and she attended Super Show 3 along with the Fan Party. Lucky duck ;____;
So we eventually made our way to the front of the line and managed to secure a ticket. Alas, it was for the 9 pm entrance, which I could not make... oh well. I was #319/330. x) I offered my ticket to my friend who had refused hers from the lady because she couldn't stay that late either.
People had already started accumulating by the front and also across the street to wait for Henry, who wasn't due for another 3 1/2 hours. My original plan was to just hang out in the nearby Starbucks or 7-11 until around 1 or so but if that happened, I'd be in the back and unable to see Henry at all probably. So we made our way across the street and after a few people near the front left, we managed to squeeze our way into the front line! It was a loong...long....I repeat, LONG....wait for that black van (which turned out to be dark blue lol). There were many false alarms. The first one was the funniest because a silver van stopped directly in front of the store and everyone who was sitting (including me) jumped to their feet amidst the screaming that had started. Then two middle aged women stepped out and everyone went "Aww.." lol. It was pretty hilarious.
The audio speakers were set up soon afterwards in which they played SJM's Perfection CD on replay until Henry arrival. Yeah, remember when I said long wait? Yeah, let's just say I memorized the 'Perfection' fanchants by the time he arrived. xP
After reading multiple news reports, it seems the total estimate of fans there were over 1000. DANG! I was guessing a couple hundred but over a 1000? That's crazy! I forgot to mention that the area was especially cramped already. Add a thousand fans and that equals craziness beyond belief.
Screaming arose when Henry's blue van FINALLY showed up, a good half hour early than expected because apparently the police asked them to start the show sooner because the crowd was getting out of control. The van pulled up and first exited some people and then finally Henry's orangy hair color was seen and then he came out, waving to everybody.
Let me just say, I was speechless (not literally though because I was screaming along with everyone else xP). Maybe it was because my dream to see someone while in Taiwan was finally coming true or maybe it was because I had a dang good view, but Henry looked AMAZING. More amazing than he usually does. I'm serious. He looked stunning and his face looked flawless (I can still picture it when I close my eyes).
He's seriously beautiful. After waving a few more times, he disappeared inside the store.
Oh yeah, and asian fans are scary. Seriously scary. The area in front of me was a car zone and security had already told many people that they're not allowed to be there. Of course, all was void and ignored when Henry arrived. Yeah, the girls all around me were screaming "GET OUT OF HERE YOU CAN'T STAND HERE MOVE!"
(Just goes with my theory that international kpop fans are brutal to each other online, while Asian kpop fans are well...both. xD)
Still super upset that I was stupid enough to not think to bring my dad's DSLR camera. WHY OH WHY DIDN'T I BRING IT. OH THE BEAUTIFUL PHOTOS I COULD HAVE TAKEN THAT DAY.
Oh Henry was his usual cute self and appeared in the second floor story window of the store first hiding behind some boxes, and then jumping up, disappearing, and then repeating about two more times. How precious is he? ;____;
I managed to catch a pic of him mid-jump LOL.
Soon after the press conference started. Blah, so much for "the best view would be across the street"! Balloons and cameramen were in the way! We only saw the top of Henry's head, sometimes. If we were lucky.
See what I mean?
Since we couldn't see him, I decided to focus on his voice. Oh, his voice. It's a pretty voice. ;__; The speakers were very clear so we could hear him during his interview, and oh Henry. Such a fail sometimes in Chinese xD Forgetting the word for "fan" (ge mi) and than "vacation" (du jia). Haha oh and he sang the chorus of his song "Off my Mind". HIS VOICE.
The interview was pretty brief and afterwards he disappeared into the store, the other dude than announcing that Henry would have to leave pretty soon. You can imagine everyone's disappointment.
When he was walking out, Henry was clearly supposed to be heading towards his car but suddenly he walked in the other direction, yes, towards the fans! Oh wherever will you find such an idol who loves his fans as much as Henry does? (forever bitter towards the people who ignore fans at airports and wear face masks while walking through them)
Fancam: Watch from 0:20, where he exits the store and decides to give some love back to his fans.
Oh Henry, you see what you caused? You cute little mochi.
My gosh, everyone lost control of their senses, yes, me including. Come on, if one of your biases was heading your way, what would you do? What would the thousands of girls around you do? SWARM.
Lol Henry looked overwhelmed for a second, especially when someone hugged him. Haha he awkwardly hugged back. I suppose it was difficult hugging someone when everyone is trying to edge in on you. Oh gosh, but still he was so kind. He waved and touched a few hands, NOT MINE THOUGH. OF COURSE HE TOUCHES THE HAND OF MY FRIEND WHO'S RIGHT NEXT TO ME BUT NOPE NOT MINE.
Oh well. I'm not too upset, because I still can't believe how close I was to him. How close exactly?
I'm close. I'm the one whose face is clearly visible over the car. LOL THAT POOR CAR WITH A DRIVER INSIDE. Yeah that was a road. With cars. Driving. Well, trying to drive earlier at least. It's probably a tad difficult to drive when the road is overrun with screaming fangirls. This reminds me of Justin Bieber in his movie when he was out on the streets with fans chasing after him and getting practically attacked by his fans. Yeah. The almost exact same thing happened with Henry. Not 100%, at least multiple fans were not throwing themselves at him like *cough* some Beliebers.
I was literally just a car away from him. Omg. That thought alone made me insane for hours. Still does. When I close my eyes I can still visualize him standing in front of me. I only managed to take one shot of him then, granted, not a very good one because my camera was zoomed in 5.0x accidentally and well zoom was not necessary then lol.
Although it was during my one picture of him during the swarming that he touched my friend's hand. Sigh, maybe I shouldn't have taken that photo? Oh well.
Oh, and he did a heart with his arms alskjdflksjdlkf WHY IS HE SO PRECIOUS. I haven't found a photo of that yet though... After a few more seconds he and his security managed to return to the van and drove away soon after, Henry waving from the window and all.
Probably the best shot I took yesterday:
It feels surreal having been so close to that violin prince. I have to say it's amazing to see him receive so much love from so many people. It was tough on Henry during that ONLY13 hate he got (which broke my heart because no one who did anything wrong should deserve so much unnecessary hate), so I just hope he was super happy and pleased with all the love. :)
