This is what happens when I'm stuck alone and I don't know the current wifi password. I was writing this on Saturday night and in the small hours of Friday morning, so the tense tends to skip. Essentially, any reference to "today" is Saturday and "yesterday" is Friday. It was rather late and this is mostly written as a reminder to myself, but I'm leaving it unlock in case anyone finds it of interest.

TL;DR: I enjoyed myself and things worked out okay-actually really well- for me, but some people got completely screwed over by the lack of crowd control outside the venue, and you'd think they'd have learned from yesterday, but apparently not. Also the concert itself was excellent, but that was pretty much a given.


( Crowd control and the hours before the concertCollapse )

( the concert itselfCollapse )

- The Ko'olina mariott notified guests that they received notice about 45 days ago, and it was previously set to be held in Waikiki. (Which begs the question, where the hell in Waikiki can you fit this thing?)

- Tom Moffatt said he hadn't heard of them before 6 weeks ago. there was a post on his facebook in may, but the most probable explanation is that someone else runs his facebook page, which would make sense. (He noticed that most of the fans knew to look for the helicopter.)

- I find the fact that the lighting/staging industry calls moving parts "gags" inherently charming. (I'm also charmed by said moving parts, but I freely admit that I am strange like that.)

- it was really hard to decide where to look. Really difficult. Things were going on EVERYWHERE.

- I wish I had worn covered shoes, it was dusty. I'm thankful I decided against the wedges, though, even if it would have been really cute with my outfit. There were a ton of people with hats and umbrellas, so it would have been okay for me to bring mine for the line. Well, hindsight.

- As a mother/daughter experience, it was pretty cool. Also Mom likes "Ai wo Utaou."

- Uchiwa and muffler towel. the weather demands it. Also, the local craft store has a machine that will die cut paper in to shapes and they let you use it if you buy the supplies there. One of said shapes is a template that fits a normal sized uchiwa, which is an awesome thing to know if you were say, planning a wedding. (It also has box shapes. My aunt was like "Did you know how many of those I cut out by hand?!? D:" It is also really fun to play with.)

- They opened parking way earlier than originally stated, which was cool.

- People were getting kind of peeved in line. Namely the line for the bathroom. Did I mention that there were only two stalls in the nearest restroom? There were only two stalls.

- Tour buses were booked solid. Apparently so was Waikiki? I really felt for the girls in the taxi queue.

- the heat really kills the appetite.

- I'm running on less than an hour of sleep because I accidentally woke up at 6 am.

The line organization was terrible.There were no barricades save for the first section of the crowd, which made it easy to leave to go to the bathroom, but I saw a lot of people cutting (not joining a group that was already waiting, but cutting) once they started to let people in.

Speaking of leaving to go to the restroom, there was a severe lack of facilities. The one closest to the line? Only two stalls. I also saw a long line outside a single portapotty by the parking lot. This other lady I talked to said she expected that portable bathroom trailer, which was what we were expecting as well.

It took forever to get out of the parking lot.

The staff at the restroom said they were closing it at four. While in line, I heard something like an announcement that they were letting people in at four, which worried me. I ended up going to the next closet one, which was....pretty damn far away. At least a quarter mile, I'd say. No line, though.

I have this theory on how one should navigate those steel barricades they herd people through and I get kind of pissy when (not that there were enough of those for the outside, but maybe they'll learn for tomorrow? I wish I could see the entire line.)

The seats they gave us were pretty awesome, though we didn't use them much. They're really comfortable, so they came in handy.

I now understand why they always have those towels on the goods list. I was thankful I had mine. My cousin and her friend bought one each on the way in. The people behind me in line went to go buy one. (IT IS FOR THE SAME REASON THAT I ALWAYS ADVISE PEOPLE WHO WILL BE TRAVELLING TO JAPAN TO BRING ONE OF THOSE HANDKERCHIEF-TYPE WASHCLOTHS. WE WERE SWEATING BUCKETS.) note that this is also why bringing an uchiwa is an excellent idea. I might bring my normal-sized (as opposed to jumbo) one that I made as a backup, because the cardboard I used to make the large one negates the....flappiness of a good uchiwa. They also gave away free koolina fans once you got inside, but that does you no good in the line.

That said, my favorite kind of uchiwa is a free uchiwa and there is a reason they give them away in the summer in Japan. There is also the time one of my classmates found one in the restroom during a summer trip, which was duly dubbed the toilet uchiwa and a source of great hilarity. And utility. And grossness, but it was pretty funny.

Setlist was pretty much a retrospective of singles, as expected. No member solos, which surprised me.

They use the entire place- every section is a good section, though ours made it hard to see the main stage. They did a lot of planning to take advantage of the sunset. Also, a ton of fireworks, which started earlier than I expected.

They had a Hawaiian-style songs segment right next to us. People rushed the stage. Mom watched our bags, so we went too. (This is when I got close enough to Nino as he was leaving the stage that I was fairly certain that he saw that I had made an uchiwa with his name on it. Must have been within 20 feet? That was cool. Speaking of which, I envy the...laser cutter? They have at Tokyu Hands and the like? So cool. Some of the other fans I saw were also impressive. The girl next to me had one with the design made out of rhinestones.) (finding the way back from there took some doing, but some guy had his kid on his shoulders in front of us pretty much the whole time, which was obnoxious, but also the only way I found my seat.)

Some of the edits the Japanese fans made to the concert merchandise were really cool. Highlights include a peasant style blouse+skirt made out of the aloha shirt, a lot of changes to sleeves, and edits to the tote bag. Also this kid dressed as Kaibutsu-kun, so cute. There was someone as Taka from Ohmiya SK near me.

oh god, I found the tumblr of these girls near us in line.

The little carts that they push them around on? Never ceases to amuse me. But we were by the moving stage tracks, so they didn't come down our aisle.

I forget which song they had the high-pressure water guns on, but Jun was nearest to us and he looked like he was enjoying himself, but we weren't close enough to get sprayed. Which would have been nice, as it was really, really hot. (And yet not as insufferably hot as last week.)

Member color flames during Monster! Also, I'm not a great fan of most of the choreography when they bring in professional backup dancers, but the only ones here were fire dancers, which brought about a really cool infinity mirror-type shot with the main screen.

notes: Sho came by first! (With Ohno on the other side.)


Matsumoto also came by on his own. We were able to get really close to Nino when he and Ohno left the the Hawaii segment.

When Ohno came by later, we were close enough to see sweat dripping.

Sadly, aside from the brief bit after the Hawaiian-style songs segment, we didn't see much of Nino (or Aiba for that matter) at all, though he came by with the rest of the Kaze Trio on the moving platforms at the end. (We saw a lot of Sho and he is now Mom's favorite.

MC notes: They went to see the cruiser and were surprised about it. They talked a bit about the song that turned into the novel for Aiba's movie. They were really happy to be back.

Aiba told his story about how he found out 3 days beforehand and tried to make Sho be Johnny as he recreated the dialogue.

Ohno talked about how he was asked to record about a week beforehand.

Jun wanted to hunt for the pineapple field. Something about taking private pictures. Sho took some, Jun asked if we wanted to see it. (obviously yes.)

Ohno will be choreographing for the next concert. Sounds like only one song. On Jun's orders. (Jun: What?) Jun wants to know if Ohno would choreograph all the songs if he were so ordered. Ohno thinks that it would be like his own concert, and would people really be interested in that? Jun disagrees and asked the audience for confirmation. (We confirmed.)

Apparently they all went out to yakiniku together right before the debut and Nino went back alone right before they came to Hawaii. The Obaa-chan that ran the restaurant was really excited.

I don't really recall all of the mc, but I was 1) pretty much able to get what was going on- so was mom- so the vocab wasn't that difficult, 2) completely convinced that they really need to include it in the dvd, and 3) really curious to see if there are changes in tomorrow night's commentary. Obviously, if it is different, they need to include both mc's, it is not like we don't know that they were filming.

The sunset (and ocean) behind various bits looked spectacular on the screen, but was hard to see from my angle. It was a very nice sunset, though, and I was thankful to not be looking directly at the sun.

The audience really sucks at chanting "Arashi" in unison while asking for an encore. (Chants kept getting started, but they weren't in time with each other. it took a really long time.) (We did manage to mostly sing Arashi during the encore.)

I noticed a lot of watery eyes during the thankyou's, but Ohno actually cried. This threw off Aiba, who followed him (he admitted that he forgot his speech,) to the point where it sounded like he kind of messed up when he was saying his own name.

Mom thought Nino wasn't really making as much of an effort, but I suck at body language. Mostly this made me worry if he was doing okay. She thought Sho was much more handsome in person. I'm in a different section next time, so I'll see different things. Oh, and also Nino's butt was definitely pointing in our direction for that one bit of paradox. short jackets this time, excellent.

On a related note, the weather was really fucking hot. And humid. Also, when you strike up random conversations with people in Japanese, 99% of the time it will be about the weather. I don't know why, but it is so. (The people near us in line were pretty cool. They praised my Japanese, which is the cue for me to go "noooooooooooooooo" and Mom to comment on how they sent me on study abroad, so really, isn't my current proficiency a disappointment? Well, she didn't actually say the last bit, but it's usually heavily implied. Let's not get started on my accent, which sucks. Mom went to Japanese school, so she can hold simple conversations, and she caught that they actually found the field they were looking for earlier.)

Ohno did his Carnival night backflip, but what surprised me is that I saw cartwheels when they did ARASHI.

I walked right by the tower things on my way out. They're pretty cool. I hope to see more of the moving bits of the stage in my next section- those boxy things that raise up? They shot fireworks out of it this time, and also had some segments off to the side which move independantly. I'M REALLY LOOKING FORWARD TO A BETTER LOOK AT THAT.

Using the helicopter is actually kind of genius- it conceals where Arashi came from and where they are headed, which is important as this venue doesn't really have much of a backstage area. Also, it's cool.

TLDR: I am easily impressed by moving bits of the stage, the members all came really close and it was awesome, and if Jun manages to finagle Ohno into choreographing entire concert, it would be the best thing ever.

This weekend marked the beginning of the local film festival's Spring Showcase. I found they were playing the Phoenix Wright movie. Twice.

"!!!!," said I.

Unfortunately, last night's showing was while I had something else to do. (Surprise birthday party for mom at a hotel buffet- I was determined to eat enough seafood to make up for kid brother's lack of appetite. I ate a ton of sushi.)

The other showing was today at noon. Mom offered to come with me if the time was right, but she said she had to go to the Dalai Lama instead. (I assumed that meant a different movie, but found out during lunch on Friday that no, she meant she was going to see the Dalai Lama give a speech. Which disappointed me as that was something I would have liked to see. Brunch on Friday was red velvet pancakes- excellent.)

This morning, I was still feeling the aftermath of last night. (I had eaten entirely too much food. I regret nothing.) I was on my way to leaving the house, but I realized I hadn't charged my phone properly. Mom offered to take me to the theater, but on the way, stuff happened, including a trip to the ER and I ended up going to see the Dalai Lama instead of Mom. (You know those life alert commercials that are "I've fallen and I can't get up!" It's actually like that, unless they've pressed the button by mistake.) (Also, the hospital continues to have the best fried saimin, although mom claims it used to be better when her friend's mom worked there.)

The speech was supposed to be on World Peace and Aloha, but it was actually on whatever the Dalai Lama decided he felt like speaking about. Which was a bit disjointed, but rather interesting. (He doesn't prepare for speeches because he likes to keep things conversational.)

Important points:
- action creates results
- but not just any action, it has to be reasonable action
- be realistic about things
- your perception is major part of everything.
- fear is okay as long as it's logical. being afraid of ghosts- not logical. Being afraid of a mad dog...you'd be crazy not to be afraid.
- the Dalai Lama thinks President George W. Bush is a good person, but does not think some of his policies were very realistic.
- they bonded over cookies.
- this is an overly simplistic explanation of the speech.

Afterwards I went to have frozen yogurt and was not fast enough to get the check. (I was with my parents friends. They confiscated my credit card while they paid the bill- I felt bad because it was Yogurt Land and they charge by weight there.)

Strange dream last night: I had just pulled an all-nighter when I realized I had a paper for a different class due the next day. And I could not find the prompt. And I was inexplicably still in high school.


Also, so I don't lose it, my "I AM NEVER GOING TO USE THIS RED, AM I?" -themed nails.



(It's raining men by Deborah Lippman with Konad special white on plate m57....and I need to upload this to my regular scrapbook, but that's entirely too much work.)

I've juuuuuust bought a konad nail kit. It wasn't something I was intending to do, it's just that I went to go look at it and it was on sale until today.

(If I had more time, I'd have picked out which plates I wanted in advance.)

Conclusion 1: It's pretty damned easy to use. Less aggravation than actually painting the nails, actually.

Conclusion 2: It does require a bit of hand-eye coordination. I suck at hand eye coordination.

Conclusion 3: I filed my nails crooked. (The shape would have been fine if it was rotated a few degrees right? I have trouble seeing what I'm doing.)

Final conclusion: LET IT DRY BEFORE YOU APPLY THE TOP COAT, MORON. ;____________;


It's cute so I won't redo it, but seriously, that was kind of funny.

There are certain points in a book where you are absolutely sure that you have picked a winner.

"I also discovered that the US government employed a 'deputy fish coordinator,' a marvelous title.)"

- My Life in France, pg 172


Oh Julia Child, I love you forever.

http://www.testyourvocab.com/blog/2011-07-23-New-results-for-native-speakers.php

What they forget is that the people with impressive SAT scores are the ones who are more likely to want to report it.

And, perhaps, be interested in taking this test.

This reminds me- I need to look up the family crest.

I had thought that we had "wisteria," but apparently on Dad's side there's 九枚の笹　（きゅうまいのささ） (nine grasses)　(grandpa?) and 桔梗（ききょう）(chinese bellflower)(grandma???).

Not quite sure on Mom's although one of her cousins that mon are usually passed down through the maternal line, and we confirmed with her mother that SHE was an 揚羽蝶（あげはちょう） (swallowtail butterfly) which means that therefore grandma, mom, and I all share that crest.

WHICH LOOKS WAY COOLER THAN THE WISTERIA CRESTS, EVEN THOUGH I DO LOVE WISTERIA. ♥♥♥ (I also really, really love kikyo- icon related)

Downside is that "Ageha" is associated with a certain breed of kogal. XD

I've been meaning to get a hula hoop ever since we've got Wii fit.

The hula hoop mini game is my best game, so I had been looking for one. Most of them were depressingly expensive, though- okay, so the only ones I saw were at the Disney store.


So you can imagine how pleased I was to see them at the supermarket (!) for $2.50 each.(!!!) I ended up coming home with a couple.

Mind you, I've never been able to hoop in my life. The last time I had tried it at all was in elementary school, and I was terrible at it then.

It turns out that I'm still terrible at it now. (A sense of rhythm? I have none.)


I was trying it out in the living room, and Dad came out to see what the noise was. It turns out that he knows how.

[edit: this is one of those things where even googling youtube how-to videos does not help. IT'S LIKE TEACHING SOMEONE TO WHISTLE BY TELLING THEM TO PUCKER THEIR LIPS AND BLOW.]