Dreams Come True:

I’m serious.

Sunday, April 27, 2008, I gave a bouquet of flowers – irises, roses red, Star Lilies, and Matsumoto asters – to the one and only, Domiyouji (a.k.a. – Matsumoto Jun).

I ordered the bouquet when Tiffany was at my house, and yeah, from a flower shop in Little Tokyo called Kurgami’s Flowers. At first  I wanted to order from a local flower shop called Flowers 4 Less, but they were closed on Sunday – which is the day I would need them. But the lady at F4L was SOOO nice in helping me name the flowers in the bouquet (I printed out pictures of the 2 bouquets that had won the vote and brought them with me), and she was so awesome, I definitely want to buy flowers from them another time.

Then I talked to Mary, from Kuragami’s flowers and ordered them on Thursday – Tiffany, my friend, can attest to how crazy happy I was when it happened. I was screaming, jumping for joy, just absolutely ecstatic (Tiff was hanging out with me that day).

Anyway. Moving on. I had made my wristband the weekend before, and I was so excited about it. It was green – Aiba’s color – with all the Arashi colors beaded around it, and a “A” (for “Aiba” and “Arashi”) in white pearls in the middle. :)

So fast-forward to the day of the event.

It was so hot which made me sad, because I really wanted to wear my “Domiyoji black trench coat” that I bought, that looked so cool on me, and I was hoping (*if* Matsumoto saw me in it) that’d Jun would recognize and think it a pretty cool coat. (I know, I’m just dreaming, aren’t I? Oh well, it’s sometimes good to fantasize).

My brother had homework to do, and although we were running late, I didn’t mind, because he was going to take me, and he was sacrificing his whole Sunday to dedicate to taking me there, and I was so grateful and happy. In the morning we took the cars to the carwash, and then my dad filled up gas in the car while John (my brother) and I ate lunch my mom made for us.

Then we left – my dad giving us strict directions, telling us to call when we got there, etc. etc. I felt so homesick already as soon as we got in the car. I was super worried we would be late picking up the flowers, but I tried not to show it to my brother, so he wouldn’t stress out, or drive like a maniac to get us there on time.

We entered the 5 freeway, and THANK GOD it was open, and not trafficy, but of course as soon as I said this – you’re right. We hit traffic. It was terrible bumper-to-bumper, and I’m like, OMG, we’re not going to make to the florists at 12:30 (which I called to tell them was the time to pick it up – I told them we’d be late, not 12:00 but 12:30), we’d be lucky if we made it there by 2:00!!!

Then we saw the reason why: on the South 5 freeway (not the North – we were taking the North freeway) was a total CRISPIFIED car—with 2 fire trucks (and one police car) blocking the first to or three lanes (if not the whole freeway) going South. The people looked so like, depressed or worried. All was left was a charred metal frame of the car.

And although it wasn’t funny, my brother and I laughed at it being crispified, burned to a crisp car. I pray those people are okay, though.

So way made it to Kurogami’s Flowers EXACTLY on time: 12:30!!! John parked outside and waited for me to buy it. When I saw the flowers I was like, “Yay!” My second reaction: this is not what I expected. It wasn’t as bright nor colorful as the version in the picture I was looking at when I placed the order. Oh well, it cost me $50 and I asked the guy for a pot – and some water, which he gave me, that later I put between my feet so that when we got to USC, I could keep the flowers in the water so they wouldn’t die. *deep breath*

Then there was a girl – Hispanic – that came up to our car before we left, asking directions on how to get to Huntington Gardens. Like we’d know, but luckily we had a Thomas Guide map, and my brother tried to give her directions while I called my dad and told them we’d got the flowers.

Then I called Destini (which sounds so awesome to say –Destini, you have the most awesome name EVER and I love you!!) for the first time. I was surprised to hear her voice, and I told her we’d be there in 15 min – she said awesome, and that me and her would be the only non-Japanese there, hahah. I was like, whoa, and relayed the info to John. He got nervous, because my brother hates standing out, but I was like, hey, whatever, that’s cool. Also, Destini sounded WAY older on the phone, lol. I thought she was like 30 or something.

Anyway, depressed over my bouquet, but whatever we drive to USC. Lo and behold, on the way, we pass by these DOZENS of flower shops lined up. I ask my awesomely kind brother to pull over and I went into the closest shop and asked them to add 5 or 6 more red roses to the bouquet.

The Mexican man did, while complaining about the bouquet, saying that whoever did it  made it poorly, taking out one of  the star gazer lilies, all the while. His appolagetic son said, “he’s just trash-talking the competition.”

I said, “Yeah, right. It’s okay… it’s because it’s…”

“Competition.”

“Yeah.”

It was cool out he got out the roses. The flower part was wrapped up in a white net, holding the bud closed until he removed it.

I was sad that the rose buds were so “closed” (not “open”), but I took heart in the fact that they may open up as the day went on, in this heat.

So with the new bouquet (he gave us a new plastic wrap, saying the other people had really thin plastic – insulting them) we drove on to USC.

It wasn’t very far, and we passed by streets, “Washington”, “Adams”, etc. Waiting for Jefferson Street. We were trying to remember what order they were in, haha. I told John there were 2 Adams presidents – Father and Son, like George Bush, and George W. Bush.

After driving past the shady side of town, we made it to USC!!! Yay!! I’ll go over in detail how we drove around, until we found the place we were supposed to park at.

There was a black (African American) security guard who told us where to park, but when he showed us on the map where the Norris Theater/Frank Sinatra Hall was, my eyes probably widened: it was SOOOO far!! Oh my goodness, and we had so much stuff to carry:

1.       Large Bouquet of Flowers

2.       Big bag of jackets

3.       Books of homework, et. al.

4.       Two chairs

5.       Pot of Water

6.       John’s big leather Jacket

Yeah, and in this heat? That far? It wasn’t going to work. So we decided that John would drop me off as close as he could to the theater – and I would take as much as I could. Then he’d park, and walk back all the way with the rest of the stuff (God Bless you, John! Now I see how unfair that sounds. *sniff*).

But yeah, that was our plan. John dropped me off (passing by the place where his film professor wanted to run over USC students, haha).

It was hot… I was wearing his big, brown leather jacket (because it was easier than carrying it in my hands) which I was sweating in, and had slung the chairs over my shoulder (I think… I don’t remember now), and had the big, fat bouquet melting in my hands, a baseball cap on my head. I don’t remember, but I had a lot of other stuff with me – I think the card, too, was there.

Anyway, I passed the Steven Spielberg building (sweet!), and came across two white girls (one blonde, one brunette, I think. Whatever, I was jealous because they were cute. Damn) and asked them where the Frank Sinatra Hall /Norris Theater building was. They told me it was the same building (I thought they wuz crazy), and pointed me in the right direction. But damn, it looked far. Especially because I was carrying so much damn luggage, and it was hot as hell, and I was wearing John’s big leather jacket.

Um… anyway, I walked the far distance, over this little hill of grass, and found the gals ALL lined up, back around the end of the building. I was wondering where I was going to sit, and who was Destini. (I saw some other girls had also bought flower bouquets. There’s a much prettier peach color) I didn’t have to look too far, because one girl, who was so friendly and familiar (with huge, bug-round sunglasses) introduced herself to me, and brought me to the gang.

                I was actually nervous and a little shy, but I sat down awkwardly, and told them my brother had taken me, and that he was going to be coming soon. Some people already fished out the money for the cards. When I couldn’t break any more 20s, Destini was generous to put in her twenty, and get four $5 bills, and then break it for someone else. I think all in all, Destini had paid the most money, but I guess she was enthusiastic about the whole thing.

                I saw the stash of awesome Arashi goodies – TIME concert goods, and even the little action figures from the Pikanichi Double movie (with the flying squirrel Aiba!!), and eyed them with envy. It was like being a kid at a candy store – without being able to touch or enjoy any of the candies, anyway!! Haha.

                Destini was really friendly and nice, and was like, “Welcome to the non-Japanese group” or something like that. I was like, wow. Apparently they had gotten into an argument with the native Japanese fans over on the other side of the wall…  who apparently weren’t nice. Most of those Japanese girls were dressed in black, with high heels. They were on the length side of the wall, and we were in the front, next to the lobby doors – which looked kind with golden door handles framing the glass doors and window-wall things. It was like a theater, or maybe an auditorium look to it. I peaked excitedly at it… really wanting to know what it looked like inside. Destini took a picture of the entrance way, which is on her VOX blog, I think. I wish I did that.

(WRITTEN ON November 7, 2008)

So this is kind aof a continuation, I guess I forgot most of what happened.

I know we moved the line from one side of the wall to the OTHER, more sunny side of the building. *sad face* Because those who registered stood in the sun (alas) and those who didn’t get a chance to register were on the shady side.

A few Asian (Japanese?) girls complained to my & my brother, accusing me, “What time did you get here?”

I kinda lied, but told the truth: like, 1:00-ish, and they said they were standing here since 8:30 in the morning. Dang! So I got pissed off because I wanted to sit with my VOX group of people, but pissed off,  I was like, “FINE! FINE! No, you’re right,” and moved a few people back. But not a lot.

Me and John set up camp real soon. I was worried about the bouquet melting in the sun and heat for all those hours. Other girls were there too, and I guess they had bouquets too… but yeah. I wasn’t too happy about how there wasn’t enough roses and colorful blossoms in the bouquet, but too late to change it now. I had the bucket of water, and leaned the flowers against the brick wall of the building.

I tried to keep it in the shade. So me & John talked. I felt bad for dragging him out here, to sit in the sun, waiting with me. I kept flitting to the group of VOX people up ahead, and coming back. Like, at one point they were singing Arashi songs up there… and from where I sat in my part of the line, I sang the lyrics for Love So Sweet outloud. The Asian women/girls around me probably thought I was weird or obscene to do that, but oh well.

I tried to make friend with the girl behind us… she was from San Francisco, or L.A. or something. She was older than me – like, working and stuff, too. But I guess we really didn’t hit it off. It wasn’t bad, but just, yeah… weird.

She eventually became friends and talked to a woman behind her—she was a much older lady, like in her late 40s, which I thought was weird, but I guess MatsuJun has fans of all ages! Which is a good thing.  

I guess the parents of the VOX ladies were really chill, and bought ice cream for everyone. I wanted ice cream too, but they didn’t buy me any cause I wasn’t there. But I guess I wouldn’t want to free load on them.

Anyway, the MatsuJun meeting was a day of miracles. We were hungry… well, we called mom & dad earlier, and they told us Liza Hourcour was there, and I was happy, because I prayed for them to have fun, too, while we were there… the next thing was, they told us to eat. I said we would, so they wouldn’t worry, but eat what? Well, since John was bored and stuff, and I think he wanted to (?) I sent him on an expedition to find food for us.

This is when the third miracle of the day happened (The second was finding a place to add roses to my bouquet). This, by far, was one of the biggest miracles. Well, John found food. AND water… BOTH! For FREE!! God says, don’t worry what you shall eat, because He will provide it for you, and He did, because John miraculously found FREE food for the both of us, and near by!! There was so much of it, we couldn’t finish it, and left half of it to eat later that evening! John was very happy with the miracle too. There was sandwiches, baked potato chips, water bottles, punch-juice, even I think it was potato salad!! A feast!!

I was hoping it’d get cooler as the day went by, but no. Destini got out her laptop early on after we moved to THIS (SUNNY) side of the wall… and was playing her TIME concert DVD. IT was so fun and happy to watch it with them, even if we couldn’t see the screen because it was sunny outside… and the volume was rather low… :( I forgot now how far we got on the DVD, but the battery at last died, and we couldn’t enjoy the Arashi music.

Destini or someone was asking who was who’s fan (Jun fans, Aiba fans, Nino fans, and Ohno fans…). Destini was the only Sho fan, haha.

Some of the girls decided to play charades. Almost all the answers were “Ohmiya SK”, haha, as Destini says on her blog. :)

 (EDIT - WRITTEN ON APRIL 26, 2009)

Anyway, when it got closer to the time to go inside, I went to change my shirt from my red, sleeveless tank top (which I wore because I knew it’d be hot, and I’d get sweaty and gross in ), to my more “formal” white blouse for the premiere. The bathrooms have certainly gotten smellier as the day went on, I noticed, which is kind of gross.

When I exited the bathroom, I saw there were these camera crews, and a camera was running along side the line filming everyone (and I wasn’t there to be filmed, which was kind of sad). I rushed to my brother’s side and asked what was going on. He smiled and shrugged and reassured me that they just started filming. Actually, that footage would be the one in the movie DVD special features, which is why I’m not in it, sadly. I hurried to join my girls from the Arashi Secret Agency (ASA), and saw they were being interviewed.

Oh, later I met Ami, who asked to take a picture of the bouquet and offered to pay $5 (another girl came late too and offered), but I explained to both of them that everyone had already paid enough to reimburse the whole thing, so it was good. :)

I tried to make sure the card was being passed around enough for everyone to sign. Then I met these two Japanese girls – one was in a green dress that was really friendly, and apparently she was sitting in one of our foldable chairs me and John and brought. We hit it off, and she was an Aiba fan too (that’s why she was wearing a green dress), and I showed her my green “Aiba” wristband I made. Her friend was very quiet and crossed her arms, and didn’t really talk much as me and the girl (I know her name was like, Sakura or something) chatted. She said she liked other Johnny’s bands. I tried to think of one and named “Hey!Say!Jump!” she laughed and blushed and said, no they were too young. She liked bands like Kanjani8. I remembered my friend Meg was a fan, and I tried to remember who she liked best. She mentioned Ryo, or someone, and I got all confused, haha, over which one it was. Anyway, she says she’d seen KJ8 in concert – not in concert, but seen them perform at Shonen Club Premium, which I thought was cool and she was lucky.  I asked if you needed to be a fan-club member to go to those things. She said, sadly yes.

Finally, the card came around, she and her friend signed it in Japanese, and then there came the struggle to tie it all together. There were so many pieces of paper and artwork, even with my stapler and tape, and purple twine, I couldn’t manage to get it all to fit together, and ended up just holding it together by hand, to make sure nothing spilled out.

There were some really nice artworks, including a chibi-drawing of Jun, and a gel-pen drawing of Arashi and rainbows. :)

Anyway, as the line crept closer and they started letting people in (Shh! This is a secret) we talked about sneaking cameras in. I didn’t have much room in my bra, ahem, to hold it there, so we figured out a more creative way to hide it. Poor John, though. :( lol.

Anyway, they let us in, and first we got to our seats inside this large, plush theater. I was sitting in the third row, and sad to be on the very edge of the row (which later ended up being a good thing, which I’ll explain later), near the twins, Destini, and Kytana and others in the front. The press was in the first two rows (so I guess we were in the fourth, not third row?).  Here I regretted not signing up as “press” for this event, because press could bring in their cameras, and who was to say I wasn’t press? Anyway, but I guess if I was press, I never could have given Jun the flowers, lol. Well, moving on to what happened. I wasn’t sure whether to sit a bit further in the in row, or at the very edge. Kytana and others pointed out the “chairs” (which looked like director’s chairs) against the wall, on our side of the theater. Which, we were thinking, meant that they were going to sit on this side, which ended up being a really lucky coincidence I was sitting there then, because it’d mean easy access to the stage and them to give the flowers.

At first I was really eager for all of us to give him the flowers together – that was the plan. But then the Arashi girls were so nice and said I should be the one to give it to him, since it was my idea in the first place. :) Arashi fangirls really are selfless. Shannon (I think?) made a joke about how we should hand it to Jun, with each of us putting a hand on the bouquet, haha.  They said I should say, “From Arashi fans in the U.S. from the Arashi Secret Agency.” I practiced it over and over again, even though I didn’t feel nervous, I guess I looked or sounded nervous. Then I wanted to wear my black coat, but it was too hot so I kept putting it on and taking it off. I even dashed to the bathroom – even though I already went, so I didn’t have to go during the premiere.

We also made friends with the people behind us – it was a guy, and a girl, and the guy was really nice and we talked about why we had different colored wrist-bands (probably if you’re over 21, so you would be served alcohol or not during the after-event). I told him I was almost 21, in July, haha. And him and me and my brother really hit it off.

The girl with the fake nose and glasses sat in our row too, along with Destini, as I said. For a moment, we heard that News Zero was here, we all FREAKED and wondered excitedly if our favorite newscaster, Sho Sakurai was going to be here too. But alas, no, we heard he wasn’t coming. But I think Destini nearly had a panic-attack or something, we were worried. She’s a BIG Sho fan, I know.

I asked John to take out the camera, which he did… but I never used it, because well… my excuse was that there was a security guy by me the whole time (which there was), but also, I didn’t want to get thrown out or whatever. So that’s the truth. I had it, but I didn’t take any pictures. :(