The funny thing is, half of this entry was written in 2008 and completed only now. Most of the details have already become fuzzy, but thanks to the AAA 2008 DVD we get to live through their wonderful Kokuritsu performance again and again. Written because.. I owe myself -_- and it wouldn’t make sense to write about 5×10 if I haven’t finished this.

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

( Concert Day 2 / Note: Very long entry ahead.. )

You must be wondering why I am taking forever to write this concert report.. but all I can explain to you is, AAA was overwhelming and even words alone can’t describe how fabulous the concert was =) oh yes besides that I was busy to death in school.. Everytime I recall about the concert, there’s always something fresh that sticks out from my memory and I guess this is what you call unforgettable ;)

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

15 November – Concert Day 1

As I was saying, the Satoshi智 and Masa雅(ki)… uchiwas took hours to make from the uchiwa ribs I got from daiso. Having not owned one in my life, they ended up in the wrong size as compared to the official ones which are larger, I realised only afterwards. Despite the silly mistake, I think the Ohno one is still cute hehe, and I had fun lining the silver ribbon for the border and wrapping it around the handle and taping the end with black tape. It was like… a magic wand! XD

Unbelievably I completed this entry, wooo! Sorry if my thoughts on the concert became disconcerted (pun fully intended :D) and my sentences became repetitive and weird. THIS IS THE FANGIRLING SYNDROME, MWAHA. I will describe the concert and set list in a little more detail in my next entry. Keep visiting! XD

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

Firstly… I’m back in Shanghai again (since I’m done with VPESS, and FYP proposal is due only at the end of this week) for a 5 days 4 nights trip, apart from showing my mum around and doing a wee bit of shopping, to attend Arashi’s concert! It’s their first time holding a con here and the tickets are in very high demand. Even the hotel we are staying at is Arashi related; A-live Design Hotel (their newest album? “Dream A-Live”, and no, it wasn’t the reason why I chose this haha. *but why is the key card also purple!*) located at Nanjing West Road, an area very accessible to food, shopping and the MRT.

-while im struggling with textman…arashi’s..in shanghai-_- says:
arghhh ur in shanghai
…arashi’s in shanghai
maybe ur in the same hotel
x.x
lol ok nvr mind my imagination
i was tinking of full house -.-l

est ; AAA!!! says:
ahahah OMG you got me imagining…………..
LOL
sho showing up at my door
OMG!
to borrow shampoo, or something

*oh the influence of dramas.. T___T if you get the joke, haha*

We’ve been here for two days, visited the AKQA office in the evening and had steamboat with some colleagues at HL’s place for dinner =) Tomorrow, or rather this evening, my mum and I are gonna be at Arashi’s concert omgicantbelieveit! The concert venue is called Shanghai Grand Stage, near the SH indoor stadium. When the venue was first announced, I found it kinda weird for a jpop group to perform there instead of the latter because the seats are arranged in a semi-circle facing the stage and it feels more like a venue for orchestras and stage plays. But apparently other popular singers have had shows there in the past, so I assume it’s not gonna be that bad afterall.

I’m not about to describe the whole process of buying tickets in detail; it’s too long and nerve-racking to recall. Maybe next time? I have my reasons for spending so much on this concert that’s not even in Japan. All I can tell you now is:

August >> Got news about AAA
August – Sept >> Checked for updates almost daily at Superdome, the official organisation promoting AAA. (the way they did things was… SCREWED UP BIG TIME I TELL YOU)
Sept – October >> Managed to miraculously register and book two tickets from Superdome for the 15th Nov show. Paid 2000rmb for two lousy tickets that the man delivered. So pissed that I decided to buy another two tickets for the 16th Nov from scalpers on Taobao.com and paid a frigging large sum of X amount.
November >> 15 (it’s today!!!!) & 16, concerts at 7:30pm

If you look at the seat map above, my tickets for the 15th are at on block 5 row #10. Tickets for day 2 are fabulous – arena, front area row #13 (which I heard, is in fact the 8th row because the ‘first’ row starts at #6 cause of the special arrangements for the extended stage) and pretty near the stage! Sweeeeeeet~!

Oh did I tell you? I decorated uchiwas (Japanese fans) with ready made ones from daiso for my mum and I! Ohno for me and Aiba for mommy! Yeah!! And talking about uchiwas, I was discussing the concert goods with Ade and Erfa just now……

Adel says:
can you imagine on the bus from ntu to boon lay
wah damn hot
and then i use ohno’s uchiwa to fan myself.

* * * * *

-while im struggling with textman…arashi’s..in shanghai-_- says:
SAY HI TO ARASHI FOR ME XD

est ; AAA!!! says:
why not i make one (uchiwa) with your face
then you can say HI

Lol. Concert goods start selling at 12nn or something outside the concert venue, but it’s not as simple as going to a shop, grab your stuff and pay. No doubt there’s going to be an insanely long queue way before noon (maybe even now??), and I plan to start queueing at 2pm or something. Grabbing, if I can make it all the way to the counter in time before the constarts zomg, member uchiwas, pamphlets and maybe a couple of others for myself and friends who requested.

-while im struggling with textman…arashi’s..in shanghai-_- says:
*CoughkidnapmatsujunformeprzCough*
:3 so yahhhh have a great time^^

YOU BET!! ;) Off to sleep now, although I’m getting butterflies in my stomach, already. No, wait, I can’t sleep T____T”

FACE TO FACE WITH ARASHI! LIVE!!!!! <3

I AM GOING TO ARASHI AROUND ASIA SHANGHAI CONCERT! I am bent on going, anyway.

Today was quite a slack day, while Sean had very minor changes to make to his Johnnie Walker stuff, I had the chance to surf and look through online China ticketing sites and Yesasia. During one of Arashi’s summer concerts earlier on in Japan, they had announced that there will be an Asia tour at the end of this year; the countries are Korea (Seoul I think), Taipei, Tokyo and Shanghai. Now wait a moment – last stop, Shanghai. Doesn’t it sound too good to be true? I only knew of the news a few days back.. and it suddenly dawned upon my laggy brain, that attending an Arashi con and seeing them up front might be more tangible than just a dream; It’s, quite possible omg!

15 and 16 November, finale in Shanghai, the final stop, awesome. I began seriously considering because I’m here to stay for 12 whole weeks, by that time I would have gotten quite familiar with Shanghai than anyone who hasn’t been here before, which means I’m a little closer than ever for being able to get tickets while I’m still here. If they implement the right ticketing system that is. Choosing to browse through ticketing sites wasn’t the easiest start for a first timer. As you know, in China, lots of scam websites that look very convincing are there to deceive unsuspecting individuals, and when they’re all written in Chinese, it makes understanding even harder. I simply don’t know for sure the ‘correct’ procedure and there are just too many concerns like payment, date, booking and all.

Gosh, the idea of attending the concert is making me lose sleep, like really. XD

After work, we didn’t quite have enough cash on us, so me and Sean went back, grabbed some and headed for Zhong Shan 龙之梦 for dinner. One of the typical malls nearby.. to me it’s like Junction 8 or Hougang Mall, just that in a much bigger scale. There were too many restaurants available, even though some even had ridiculously long queues, but we walked into a decent looking one after a while. Decent for its interior furnishing, posh looking seats and tables, European styled walls and modern décors. Not so decent after the very evident lack of even the most basic manners in their service.

We were seated at one corner where the air condition didn’t quite reach, so we moved ourselves a few seats away where the climate was better. The grumpy woman who showed us our seats, when she came to take our orders, gave off a “TSK”, obviously displeased with what we have done. Yes, we have just offended her! We asked her for her recommendation, and asked her a few more questions, she looked as if she was about to stalk off to set somebody’s hair on fire.

We came here after a tiring day at work in search of decent (not even asking for good) food but look what they returned us. Sean was telling me, “they are underpaid and overworked”, and they ARE like this. Well, whatever. I just didn’t want to throw up blood over something small, or else it would be impossible to survive in China. The pasta was, surprisingly, better than Olive’s. Got myself a glass of Baileys (about 25 rmb) to go with it.

In the days to come, 龙之梦 (the arcade, actually) would become our favourite place to destress. Near the Lego shop, there’s a huge arcade called “Tom’s World” and we spent a wee bit of time and a wee bit of money there. 1rmb for a token, which is $0.20 here. Most of the arcade games were very outdated, and it reminded me of Malaysia’s arcades.. the other side had those machines into which you dump your whole fortune in the form of coins, and expect the pool of coins to fall in return for some tickets. These took up like half the arcade(?!) and the number of people playing wasn’t just a handful.

A good thing Sean and I found the basketball machines, 2 tokens for some cheap and healthy (hahar) fun. We played a few rounds I think, but could never get past level 2 =.= If Sam was there, he would have had attracted a crowd… whoosh.

[ Expenses ] :
11 rmb (cab), 5 rmb (午后红茶), 37 rmb (coffee bean), 21 rmb (lunch), 47 rmb (dinner), 4 rmb (cab)