I know I'm slow at updating these, but I had to post about this tonight...
http://blog-project.net/shimizu-saki/62256 (http://blog-project.net/shimizu-saki/62256)
Saki freaking Shimizu mentioned how I told her I translate her blog... on her blog!!! XD lol
I was back to work today, but this is really such a wonderful conclusion to the weekend......
When I saw that blog entry pop up on my RSS feed I was really tempted to send you a text message about it! XD On that note, I wonder if she understood what I was actually trying to say to her when I flubbed my Japanese...
Anyway, time for MY recap!
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Day negative 1 and Day 0
Yes, my journey actually starts they day before the day before the con! I booked myself a red-eye flight for Wednesday night to give myself a whole day to mentally prepare after my last minute rush for Erina Mano two years ago...but as I'll mention later, it was impossible for me to truly stay on top of everything. The days leading up to my flight were filled with anxiousness, and before I hit the airport I found myself quadruple checking my luggage to make sure I didn't forget anything and debating whether to bring my copy of Hello Channel volume 1 for signing--ultimately I decided to leave it since that was originally meant for Mano to sign, so I was to head into this whole thing empty-handed with hopes of nabbing some merchandise there. Said goodbye to my mom at the gate (she works at the airport), boarded the plane, and wandered off to slumberland shortly after takeoff.
I woke up with the plane already flying over the Garden State in the morning sun; looked out the window to see if I can spot the convention center from the sky, but that wasn't gonna happen. Instead, I was greeted by a more impressive sight: the New York City skyline! It was the first time in 18 years that I saw the Big Apple with my own eyes. Landed at Newark Liberty International Airport around 8AM local time...and began THE MOST EPIC WAIT OF THE WHOLE TRIP.
I made prior arrangements to meet up with some Hello!Online users as they trickle in at the Newark Airport; first was Yvette (who says she's also registered here at JPH!P, so look out for her) coming in from Canada, who I spotted easily thanks to her Gaki graduation shirt. We chilled and walked around the baggage claim area, sharing our own H!P experiences while waiting for the next person to come in, as well as starting the first speculation of which airport will see the arrival of Berryz and when.
Hours passed and we finally saw the other people slowly show up as noon came and went...and even more discussion of when/where Berryz will arrive continued. It was during this time that I looked up what flights from Tokyo would be coming into the NYC area...and noticed one flight at 4:30 coming in directly from Narita into Newark! Could it be the one???
The afternoon went on, and as we all got to know each other and debated over whether to wait for this 4:30 flight one of us got word that our beloved idols were actually flying into JFK International Airport and had in fact already arrived! :panic: But that didn't make sense to some of us, who rightly pointed out that the event is happening deep in the heart of New Jersey and Newark would make the most sense for them to fly to. I was determined to wait it out, because sticking around and being wrong seemed like a better situation than leaving early only to find out they were there. We found the international arrival exit and began our wait...but when 4:30 rolled around doubts started to set in for some of us. I had to remind everyone that international visitors still had to clear customs, which triggered a flurry of crazy jokes ranging from Berryz disguising themselves as Jewish rabbis to the TSA confiscating Miya's chin for being a deadly weapon. :lol:
Time passed to the point where even I was starting to lose patience...of course, having waited at the airport the longest out of everyone I had every right to to lose patience, but the situation was flipped the whole time: Derek, the last of us to arrive, had the most doubts, whereas I, who was never in any rush to get anywhere the whole time, was still determined to give it a shot...I mean, I waited this long for our group to come in, what's another hour or two? Then came the first sign of validation: one person looked off to the side and recognized someone as "The Dragon Lady"! Perhaps my instincts were correct??? 5:30 finally rolled around, and just as we were all about to give up I looked on above the barriers towards the hallway exit and noticed a few camera flashes amongst a group of females...why such an unusual place to start taking pictures? I then noticed that there was a bit of a height difference in that group...you know, like how Yurina towers over Momo! Then came the ultimate confirmation: A SNEAK PEAK OF MAASA SUDO'S EASILY RECOGNIZEABLE FOREHEAD OVER THE BARRIERS!!! My 9 hour wait at an airport that Amplifier deemed "complete shit" was vindicated! :w00t:
But when the girls finally came out, they came out quickly! In fact, Momoko and Yurina were pretty much right in front of us before we finally started making some noise to greet them. Me, I was still in a bit of shock that not only did I make the right call but also that BERRYZ FREAKING KOBO were live and in the flesh right in front of us! I struggled to say hi while I whipped out my iPod to record this historic moment (which I'm sure you've all seen by now):
Berryz Kobo arriving at Newark Liberty International Airport (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=436VNl-MQh4#ws)
While Momo and Yurina zipped past us and Captain seemed to have disappeared into the crowd for a bit, Chinami clearly smiled at our welcoming committee, and as you can see, Miya and Maasa were kind enough to wave. Risako was there too of course, also seemingly sneaking past our sights but easily visible thanks to her new bright hair color (and for some reason she already had makeup on while everyone else didn't). In a revelation that simultaneously surprised me and didn't, Yurina and Maasa looked a lot shorter in person than on TV. :lol:
We also had a banner Derek brought to bring as a present for the group, and as the girls settled to meet with Yaz we unfolded the banner to complete the awkwardly small welcoming party. As the girls went off towards an elevator one person in our group, Danny, slowly walked after them and waved, culminating in Yaz and Yurina waving back as they disappeared into an elevator.
Having started our journey on the right foot, we proceeded to make our way to the train station, with Yvette proudly dubbing us "The Berryz Avengers"! I actually don't remember exactly when she came up with that name, but it stuck around for the whole weekend. I was tired, hungry, and thirsty, but the night was still young. We took the train to New Brunswick and waited for the free shuttle to the convention center, which came a lot later than expected, forcing us to miss the dinner gathering at Ruby Tuesdays. I thought no big loss at the time, after already having one hell of an experience at the airport. We finally got to the convention center and did the pre-registration thing for our badges, then word came in that Berryz had also eaten dinner at Ruby Tuesdays while we were stuck at the train station!!! After meeting with a few other H!O users we walked over to the restaurant, found out it was still gonna be an hour long wait for tables, and went back to the DoubleTree, where we finally got some food at a bar. Me and Danny, having booked ourselves at the Econolodge the next block over, made a Harold-and-Kumar like trek into the sidewalk-less night streets of rural New Jersey, finally checking in after midnight and knocking the fuck out.
To be continued...
As promised, here's a much better view of what happened at the airport (complete with annotations) courtesy of Derek, AKA -=o=- at Hello!Online. Honestly, if it weren't for him organizing this airport meetup amongst us fans I don't know if I personally would've waited around for the girls to arrive (then again, I probably would've made it to the Ruby Tuesday dinner and seen the girls there anyway) so big thanks to him for stepping up.
| Berryz Kobo arriving at Newark Liberty, June 7, 2012 (-=o=- view) Part 1 of 2 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTiQWQajcqU#ws) | Berryz Kobo arriving at Newark Liberty, June 7, 2012 (-=o=- view) Part 2 of 2 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUf_eotpF78#ws) |
As you can see, Captain is very very sneaky. :lol: Take note of Miya's friendliness towards our welcoming committee, as it's the first sign of a little dilemma that developed for me over the weekend that I'll cover in my Day 2 report.
I also forgot to mention that after learning of Berryz appearing at Ruby Tuesdays we also learned that they were also encountered at a local grocery store by a very small group of fans who decided to eat elsewhere that night. This led to us questioning just how many people will be coming up with stories of meeting them on this trip. "Hey, I saw Momochi in the sewers!" one person in our group joked. :lol:
And now, on with the story!
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Day 1: Taking FOUR STEPS BACK into history
Uploaded my airport greeting video and went to sleep shortly after 1. Woke up around 8:30, having slept through my phone alarm and several missed calls and messages. This would be the most sleep I would get for the rest of my stay. After a minor incident with my contact lenses that resulted in a fortunate improvisation, I finally headed towards the convention center at 9:30; failing to grab contact info for my fellow JPH!P users the night before, I made sure to wear my black JPH!P shirt that I won in the Rika birthday contest earlier this year for recognition/visibility purposes. I made it to a grassy field between the DoubleTree and the convention center where a line for Berryz merchandise had already formed before the dealer room officially opened; fortunately my fellow Avengers (minus one, who was busy broadcasting a Ustream of the line to those who couldn't make it) were gathered and allowed me to tag along. It was also at that time I met up with Rokun and Writerjunkie...and someone else with a JPH!P sticker on his clothing that I did not recognize at all and who said isn't really on the forum; I later learned that was TakeoRey, who helped out with organizing this year's Hello Party and rallying other fans in general. (on a side note, his Youtube account--which got shut down unfortunately--was one of the ways by which I explored H!P in my early days of the fandom, so in a way he's a big contributing factor to me being out there)
And thus began our first experience of WAITING AND WAITING IN THE HOT AND HUMID NEW JERSEY SWAMP. I forgot how long exactly we were stuck outside, but it took a while before convention staff finally let our long and growing line into the building; as we snaked around near the Berryz booth to begin the second phase of our wait, we all did running high-fives with the early linegoers as we passed them by in an attempt to revive our excitement during this long, dull moment. I found myself parked next to some booth selling K-pop merchandise; too bad I'm too unfamiliar with anything in that realm. :nervous Eventually security was forced to split up our line due to complaints from other booths; we got snaked around to an area behind the Main Event section on the other side of a short divider wall, and apparently I was at the front of this new line.
Unfortunately we were still forced to wait even more; once the merchandise went on sale the first people in line took their sweet time shopping around and snatching up as much as they could. Supposedly there was also an incident involving people trying to cut into the early line that slowed things down even more. It was during this wait that my JPH!P shirt continued to work its magic: I was recognized by Ping and HashirePomeranian/PomPom as they came in to do their press thing. Also during this wait is when I checked Twitter and saw that the Berryz booth also featured flyers for an upcoming appearance by You Kikkawa in Atlanta (http://forum.jphip.com/index.php?topic=33118.0)!
Still no sign of the early line finishing up, and we were getting constant updates about all the merchandise that was selling out at a quick pace. Eventually we were left with only CDs of the latest Berryz album available, which led to a lot of groans about why this new team of H!P resellers failed to properly estimate how much stock was really needed or why they didn't limit individual purchases. When the line finally got moving I made my only purchase which was fortunately enough to qualify for autograph priority but unfortunately ruined my plans of having the girls sign the visual book I intended to get with the album (which also came with a clearfile, though mine wasn't signed--still better than nothing). I heard that there was gonna be more merchandise available early at 7:30 AM the next day, but it was an unofficial announcement...turns out it was just a rumor, or maybe I just didn't wake up in time.
I ran back to my hotel for a bit to secure my new cargo and met up with people again at the booth. On the way back to the booth I noticed a line forming outside for the Opening Ceremony which would feature Berryz Kobo's first official appearance at the convention; naturally me and several others skipped it in anticipation for their upcoming booth appearance. And thus the first signs of antagonism between us and con staff began: as our crowd around the booth grew the staffers and other vendors became a bit antsy that we were blocking normal convention traffic, leading to the first request that we all NEED TO TAKE FOUR STEPS BACK. This would become the official AnimeNEXT motto amongst H!P fans everywhere. :lol: It was during this time that Avengers organizer Derek whipped out his welcoming banner for all of us fans to sign and give to the girls, who we saw on the entrance room screen as the Opening Ceremonies commenced.
The crowd continued to grow. FOUR STEPS BACK continued to be the official chant by security. Then it got really loud: Berryz Kobo slowly made their way towards the booth and we were once again just a few feet away! Lots of screaming by security to put our cameras away, to the point where even press people got yelled at even though they were allowed to take pictures. :lol: Then came the low point of the convention...
After the girls waved hi to us all and prepared to sign the booth banner, head of security came out of nowhere and TOLD US THAT WE WERE CREATING A FIRE HAZARD AND NEEDED TO DISPERSE IMMEDIATELY. WHILE OUR BELOVED IDOLS WERE BUSY SIGNING THE BANNER. Imagine being a famous performer, travelling to an unknown part of the other side of the world and seeing your foreign fans' faces light up as you appear right in front of them, then you turn around for a bit and they're all gone. :cry: To be fair, they did have a point about safety, but as the late Mitch Hedberg once said: "If you're flammable and have legs, YOU ARE NEVER BLOCKING A FIRE EXIT."
With security performing lockdown around the booth until the girls left, I decided to take some time to explore the rest of the convention, checking out what other booths had in store and eating my first real meal of the day. Once we were allowed to gather around the Berryz booth again I began to stress about needing a premium pass, having stopped by an ATM prepared to pay whatever I needed to. Fortunately Eddie, a member of our Avengers crew, came through and simply gave me a spare he had--I pestered him about how much I owe, but he said not to worry about it. :twothumbs A little bit later my JPH!P shirt once again came in handy, as I was recognized by user needextrasalt; he saw that I had his favorite member, Miya, on my premium pass and offered a trade for a higher (or is it lower?) better waiting number. I also learned that he's currently a student at Cal Berkeley, so dude, if you're reading this (and apologies for forgetting your real name) we should hang out some time.
More convention exploration followed before eventually deciding to hit up the Main Event line area again. The non-premium line was growing quickly while premium holders were organizing by number. I fetched some green glowsticks for myself from Yvette and also helped her out distributing her remaining glowsticks to any fans that wanted/needed them. Anticipation was growing quickly, despite the wait outside lasting a bit longer than expected...when we were finally let in we were greeted by the stage screens playing "Shining Butterfly" by Dream Morning Musume, followed by the latest singles from each H!P act. I saw the new Mano song completely for the first time, wondering if she would ever return to our shores...but it was when a certain familiar rhythmic synth organ pattern and choppy vocal kicked in that everyone got really loud! The Dance Shot of Momusu's "One Two Three" came on, and already hyped by the upcoming concert I was totally feeling the song! Everyone got amped and chanted and waved their glowsticks...AND THE MAIN REASON FOR US BEING THERE HASN'T EVEN STARTED YET! XD
But yeah, eventually the concert did get underway, with Berryz starting things off with "Rival"...or did the VTR of the group's history come on first? To be honest, the concert was a bit of a blur for me looking back on it, partially because of my lack of sleep, and partially because I spent most of my energy during the concert just trying to keep up with songs I barely knew and struggling to get the best view I can behind two tall guys; this was the first of my main regrets of this vacation, not switching places with Danny who was next to me the whole time and stands like half a foot taller than me. Anyway, a few points that stuck out for me:
1. I couldn't help but notice that some of the girls were wiping tears from their faces every now and then between songs. It made me a bit paranoid that a sad announcement was coming at the end of the concert, but fortunately no such thing occurred. So I think it might have been caused simply by stress/tiredness from jet lag, or still being upset by the booth incident, or both.
2. The girls did a short Japanese lesson for us, each girl picking a word and giving us the English meaning. Maasa's word was "kuchibiru", which she says is "beautiful lips"; it's really just "lips", but you gotta admit she does have a nice set herself. Momo translated "kawaii" as "beautiful"; can't argue with her. Captain's word was "yakiniku", which she translated as meat--keep this in mind for what I'm gonna show next.
3. The winning song of the fan vote was "Jiriri Kiteru"...it took me a second to recall which song exactly it was, but as soon as that low bass kicked in I knew to expect the pianos next.
4. I got so crazy with my jumping (especially with "Maji Bomber", which I like now after initially having reservations about it when it was first released) that I accidentally landed on some girl's foot. :nervous She seemed to take it in stride as the landing didn't seem too hard, but still, if you're reading this, I'm sorry for my recklessness.
5. There was an attempt by us fans to sing C-ute's "Shiawase no Tochuu" when "Because Happiness" came on; the girls seemed to notice and held out their mics at us during the appropriate parts, but from where I stood we were barely audible, and I personally couldn't memorize the song in time so I just chanted nonsense to the tune of it. :P
6. Fun fact: I actually had an orange glowstick in my left hand during the concert due to Danny not needing it. I made sure to raise it up whenever Chinami came to our side, though there was a point when I actually switched my glowsticks and forgot about it for a second. :nervous
7. One of the funniest moments was when Chinami posed for a camera on our side and Maasa had to leave her spot to drag her back to the proper dancing position. Gotta love her.
Overall the concert was chock full of energy, and it was tons of fun finally being part of some sort of genuine H!P concert experience. AND THEN THIS HAPPENED AGAIN...
Berryz Riot 2 : The Return (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXZxUkF6PT0#ws)
At about 14:30 you can hear me chanting songs from the wrong H!P group. :lol: TakeoRey naturally followed it up with "I want yoooouuuuu....I need yooooouuuu...."
Security prevented us from waiting by the exit for the girls to appear one last time, so the Avengers crew assembled in the parking lot far from the exit but still in viewing distance from the waiting vans. We held out Derek's banner as the girls appeared; I don't remember if they waved at us but I'm sure they had to have seen us. We then decided to have dinner at Ruby Tuesdays; the food took a while but not as long as what I've heard everyone else had to put up with the night before (but at least y'all got to see Berryz there so don't complain too much). We then headed back to the convention center and split up for the night; I stuck around the DoubleTree for a bit to see what was going on there before finally heading back to my hotel.
At midnight.
In complete darkness.
I actually saw a wild deer cross my path. :shocked
As I approached the Econolodge someone asked me how the rave was, as I still had my glowsticks out. Obviously the rave was awesome. :P
Still thirsty and wanting to both save money and drink healthy, I skipped the vending machines and drank tap water from the bathroom sink. That turned out to be a big mistake...
To be continued...
That's similar to what Up Front Link has posted in their official recap of the event on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/notes/up-front-link/en-berryz-koboanimenext-new-jersey/378409302217993 (https://www.facebook.com/notes/up-front-link/en-berryz-koboanimenext-new-jersey/378409302217993)
It's great that they acknowledged our attempt at singing the C-ute song as well as the post-concert craziness!
I know there are several group photos from the riot and some other gatherings, but nothing exclusive for JPH!Pstas that I know of...unless someone else has that covered. That was another thing I wish I did a better job being on top of.
Forgot what else I was gonna write here, but I'm sure I'll end up covering it with the rest of my story...
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Day 2: Trolls? Marriage proposals? Flipped tables? Oh my...
Woke up at around 3 in the morning finding myself unable to go back to sleep. Remember how I drank tap water from the bathroom sink? New Jersey doesn't filter their shit the same way California does! I didn't throw up or have massive diarrhea or anything, but still, I found myself wide awake for a bit just feeling generally uncomfortable, and thus my sleep/energy rhythms would be permanently thrown off for the rest of my time out there.
Somehow I managed to get back to sleep eventually, but keeping in mind what I heard about merchandise being sold I was still determined to wake up at 7:30, which I did...painfully. Didn't bother with my contacts or hair gel for the time being as I was in a rush; stepped out into the hallway just as Danny did, since it turns out our hotel rooms were just a few doors away from each other. We groggily made our way to the convention center and looped around to the main entrance. The additional merchandise thing didn't come to fruition, but there was one guy who was taking down people's names for the eventual line-up for the Q&A/autograph event that was taking place in the afternoon. We put our names down, our proto-line moved back to the grassy area behind the Main Events room, and once our spot was settled Danny and I went back to the DoubleTree and grabbed "breakfast" from the hotel's gift shop, which I took back with me to the Econolodge for consumption while I readied myself for the long day ahead. Grabbed my backpack with the recently purchased 8th Berryz album stowed away and headed back to the "line".
Other H!P fans started to trickle in as the summer sun started blaring down us. I recognized a few (or at least assumed identities) from past online encounters, but didn't really reach out to them--another thing I regret in retrospect, but hey, I was struggling to stay awake! XD At this point, due to both my lack of sleep and the long wait until the next Berryz appearance, my memory of things becomes a bit muddled. But it was a long wait, so the memorable moments still managed to stand out, so I'll try to cover them quickly:
- Derek whipped out his banner again to get more people to sign. It filled up quickly and quite nicely; people had to get creative to find space for their messages.
- Observed lots of interesting cosplay of varying qualities; one dude dressed as Billy Mays approached our line and proceeded to give us generic sales pitches. I accused a TF2 Engineer cosplayer of being a spy, to which he appropriately replied "NOPE!" One guy's costume consisted only of a box of Gorilla Munch cereal over his head, with labels declaring how his jimmies have managed to stay unrustled. Oh how I wish I took more pictures and videos of these things...but I'm sure y'all can just look up this stuff on Google or something.
- Lamenting my lack of Berryz merchandise for signing and wondering if I should stick with using the 8th album's booklet (at this point I still haven't really heard it, lacking a CD player out there), I left the line for the dealer room, remembering something I saw the previous day: the booth next to the Berryz booth was selling CDs, one of which was the 7th Berryz album! Still beating myself up a bit for not going to Seattle last year, I decided to buy the last copy available to give myself an additional option as well as have myself more H!P music to listen to once I get home.
- The Japanese fans who flew out to see Berryz were giving away stuff to all of us! I managed to snag a copy of the "Ai no Dangan" single; other people were sorting through photosets from different H!P acts and eras.
- Terrie swung by and started asking us if we had filled out our cards for messages to give to Berryz; I had totally forgot about it and my blank card was still at my hotel room! Luckily she gave me another one, though it still took me a while to come up with something to write.
- It almost rained on us! Clouds were gathering in the sky and looked a bit too dark for comfort, but fortunately we only felt a few drops now and then. I checked weather reports the week before and worried about possible thunderstorms, but my whole stay out there was completely dry.
- Another big regret of mine came when it was only right then and there that I came up with an idea for a gift to give to Berryz: CDs featuring all the H!P remixes I've done. Then again, as you'll read later, a gift of CDs probably wouldn't have been a good thing for me to give...
Eventually the convention staff shuffled our line against the wall as the Q&A event drew near. Getting hungry again, I left the line and grabbed more food and drink from the DoubleTree gift shop, and got back in time to see staffers roping off our line. Within minutes one of them announced that anyone who leaves the line will not be allowed back in! :shocked Looks like I dodged a bullet there. We continued our wait, until a bit of commotion started up in the direction of the DoubleTree: it was Berryz Kobo walking from the hotel towards us! Despite warnings from staff that we would lose our place in line, we all rushed over as close as we could without leaving our area to greet them and take pictures/video! Unfortunately I only managed one good photo of them, but I'm sure you've already seen the stuff Rickker posted earlier in this thread. Here's another good video from my friend Derek:Berryz Kobo walk by fans at AnimeNEXT 2012, (-=o=- view) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mO8J94nIJiM#ws)
It was funny how Chinami continuously lagged behind to smile and wave at all her American fans. :lol: She seems to really enjoy visiting us. Come on, UFA, you know what to do! Third time's the charm!
Finally, after hours of waiting in the hot and humid New Jersey atmosphere, we were finally let in to take our seats. Unfortunately it took about half an hour before things got started, and once they did, we were hit by a few rule changes:
1. The Q&A would now be combined with the gift-giving process, instead of saving the gifts for afterwards.
2. People had to pick between giving a gift or asking a question, not do both.
Still, the Q&A session was pretty fun overall...except yet another thing that I ended up regretting: I couldn't come up with a decent question to ask until it was too late! :banghead: I was debating between asking the girls of their awareness of fan remixes of H!P songs, or asking Captain about the status of her nickname now that she has the most seniority in H!P. By the time I decided on the nickname question the line got closed off for further questions! I didn't fret about it too much at the time, since I was gonna interact with the girls shortly after anyway, but in retrospect I dropped the ball there.
As for everyone else, there were some memorable gems.
- One guy surprised the girls by wearing a Tsunku mask and pretending to be him for a bit before asking his question. If only he brought flowers too. :P
- One guy in an all-pink outfit had a gift to give to Momo, who he referred to by her normal name of Momoko; she proceeded to correct him with "MOMOCHI!", which elicited a "you got told" sense of laughter from everyone in the room. XD
- Yvette got designated as the person to present the fully-signed banner to the girls! You can see a photo of her doing so in the official reports.
- Possibly the highlight of the session: TakeoRey brought a little kid to the mic for a question...the kid then proceeded to ask Chinami for her hand in marriage!!! Even better, Chinami called him over to the stage for a more direct interaction! It was the cutest, most awesome thing to come out of the Q&A.
- On the flipside, the low point that I'm sure you all are aware of by now: One guy announced that he had some gifts to give, holding a pack of CDs in his hand. As he approached the stage, the crowd proceeded to groan and boo as we saw the back of his shirt sporting those three notorious letters: AKB. After he gave his "gift" and turned around to get back to his seat, the girls got a glipse of what we saw and reacted in shock, pointing and screaming at him, though I'm sure they took it in stride better than the audience did.
Now I gotta be honest: at the time, I found the trolling to be hilarious, mainly due to the audacity of someone wearing such a shirt to an H!P event and me not yet knowing what was on those CDs. But of course, in retrospect, upon learning of the true nature of the "gift" and that guy's actions later that night (attempting to steal a microfiber towel at Hello Party), that shit wasn't that funny at all. So apologies to anyone who saw me laughing my ass off, I honestly did not know.
Then came time for the autographs. I thought we were gonna go by the order that we originally lined up in, which I wouldn't have minded at all due to signing up fairly early, but instead it was a mad rush to create a really jumbled, messy line! I simply ran for the corner and did my best to hold my position at the outer edge of the gathering, which worked. As for what to get signed, I had decided on the booklet from the 7th album, because again, I missed out on Seattle, and plus the photos in the 7th album's booklet looked a lot nicer and had more empty space for the girls to sign compared to the 8th album's booklet. In an ironic twist, once I got back home and started listening to the CDs I actually found myself enjoying the 8th album more! Oh well, at least getting the 7th album signed helps balance the value I personally hold for each CD.
While we were waiting, the dude in the pink suit started talking to me, saying he recognizes me from YouTube. :? While I do have a video on my account that does show my face, it's not H!P-related at all. He then asked if I made something for Ai Kago, to which I pointed out the remix I made of her song "No Hesitation". Then the confusion finally got settled: he recognized me from [noembed]the Kago support video made last year in response to her suicide attempt (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thltrDo4NMc)[/noembed]! It was also right then and there that I realized that I still haven't met and talked to Holly, the person who organized that project, despite having already seen her around a few times before. :nervous I made sure to set aside time to talk to her once the autographs were taken care of.
So yeah, my time for autographs eventually came about, naturally encountering Captain first. While she signed my booklet I hastily tried to tell her, in Japanese, about seeing Berryz at the airport when they arrived...except I used the word for airplane instead! I got the words mixed up and actually didn't realize this until days later when I was leaving my hotel for the airport! :banghead: Thinking back to what I actually said to her, it would be a miracle if she managed to figure out what I actually meant.
I went down the line and wanted to say the same thing to the other girls, but I was both worried about being rushed by staff to move and simply star-struck by seeing Berryz Kobo right in front of me, signing my booklet and smiling at me, that I couldn't really talk anymore, only smiling back like an idiot. XD Despite my relative silence towards the rest of the group, I still managed to get one very memorable interaction: after Miyabi signed her page, I reached out to grab the booklet...but she reached out to grab my hand! Up until that point I had been telling anyone who asked that Yurina was my favorite Berryz member, and even proceeded to rock green glowsticks at the concert. One handshake later, initiated by Miya herself, and I've been questioning my own loyaties ever since, even today. To be fair, Miya was my original favorite years ago and stayed my 2nd favorite since then, but yeah.
My mind melting even further, I struggled with opening to the right page for Yurina--excuse me, Yulina--to sign...her and Risako seemed to have went by quickly. Got my booklet back fully signed and proceeded to take a deep breath at what I just went through. Walked around the room for a bit, checked Twitter, finally talked to Holly, tried to figure out what was next after this...once the autograph line finished we waited for the booth banner giveaway raffle to commence. With no one left in front of the girls I quickly yelled out to Captain, who waved back at me. Yaz announced that we were actually having two raffles right then and there, but unfortunately I can't seem to remember right now what the other thing was that was being given away. Numbers were announced, silly reactions by fans were had. The girls waved their final goodbyes to us before running off backstage, then convention staff promptly told us to GTFO.
Still trying to figure out what was next, I met up with Rokun and writerjunkie and got invited to join them for dinner. But before we took off, we waited in Rokun's car, who was parked by the building exit where a van was waiting for Berryz. We chilled until the girls came out, and once the van took off so did we. Ended up at a strip mall and chose a burrito place; while there I got a text message about some H!P karaoke thing going on. I later learned it was some people who took over a bar at the Holiday Inn. At least I think that's what it was. Got back to the convention center afterwards in time for what I thought was going to be a flash mob of H!P fans dancing to Berryz Kobo's "Maji Bomber"...but apparently most of the people who originally committed to it ended up eating dinner at Ruby Tuesdays again (like seriously, y'all expect Berryz to show up there again just because they were there one night?). We just ended up talking to Gabby, the organizer of the would-be mob, for a while to kill time before Hello Party 3. We all ended up going to some screening of the cartoon Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt, then went upstairs to where Hello Party was scheduled to be...except there was another panel scheduled beforehand, which disrupted the Hello Party crew's ability to set things up and delaying our scheduled events. While we waited, nametags for the party were being given out; still reeling from the autograph session, I reluctantly asked for a purple one. XD
Finally the party got under way, the room decorated with random microfiber towels of various H!P girls. Things started off with random games such as the janken involving mallets and hardhats. Due to the large turnout, convention staff allowed us to take over another room nearby for more space, and it was in that room that someone brought the booth banner signed by the group. Also, Yaz was there...for a little bit.
Just to clarify, Yaz and the Frenchman were there to talk about Up-Front Link at intermission. Unfortunately, because of the domino effect of lateness caused by AnimeNEXT's placing of a panel in our setup time slot, intermission was pushed farther back than we anticipated. As you probably already know, Yaz was pretty exhausted so she left early. Philippe couldn't stay until intermission either.
At this point I was simultaneously tired and energized, like I had alcohol in my system, though I had yet to have any drinks. It was a fun atmosphere but after a long day of waiting and other stuff it was a bit tough to get into the spirit of things sometimes. Nevertheless, I still had a great time. Some guys did a special wotagei presentation, Bryan showed off some Hello Ranker stuff, I managed to snag two more Berryz singles at the prize giveaway, watched people go crazy dancing to H!P songs, including bringing back Mikitty's "Romantic Ukare Mode" and ending the night with Momusu's "One Two Three". Unfortunately due to being forced to start late we didn't have much time to dedicate to more dancing stuff. After all was said and done, we ended things the only way we could...
Bryan flips a table (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncwxTzGxlCU#ws)
Talked to Derek and Holly about the general plans for Sunday in NYC, then Danny and I headed back to the Econolodge in late night darkness.
AND THIS TIME I MADE SURE TO HIT UP THE VENDING MACHINE FOR WATER!
To be continued...