It was exactly last year, January 2008 .. I literary took each days, hours, minutes and seconds anxiously in the first 10 days of the month -- waiting for 11 January 2008, OHI's special moment -- our hero would be coming to greet us for the first time. To be honest, I didn't even enjoy my Christmas and New Year's holiday, it was all about stressing out over something that I didn't even know what to expect.
I was approached by the organizer 2 months earlier, I was in shock from the moment I got the news 'till the very last day. It was OHI's first ever big event .. we were just turning 2 years as an Official Fans Club and we were faced with such big event where our idol himself was gonna be there. There were tons of pressure, stresses, sweats, tears, blood (ok, that probably a little exaggerated ^^), though I wasn't the one in charge, but still the pressure was there. At the end of the day, I was totally exhausted, few hours to the concert, I didn't even have the mood to attend the concert anymore .. that was exactly what I felt.
There were lots of things to do from the first day to the D-day -- from local and international endless promotions and ticket booking, ordering flower arrangement, preparing gifts and goodie bags for the crews, tight deadline, neverending uncertain updates, big payment, money issues, long Q at the bank, shocking news about postponed concerts, dealing with organizer and label company, getting permissions for lots of things, fighting to get priviledge for fans club, endless phone calls and emails (my phone bills exploded) -- to name a few ... yes, these were still FEW of other frantic and crazy things during preparations .. and of course there were other things which were consider "classified" to share with anyone.
I couldn't even talk to my committee members regarding few things, I was only able to share with one person and that person wasn't even here with me (if you reading this, you know who you are -- THANK YOU for being there -- to the person who cannot be named *wink*).
After endless preparations .. the day finally here. Counting down to 11 January, I took 2 days off work 'cos I couldn't even concentrate on anything other than the concert, try to make his and his crew first visit to Jakarta as comfortable and memorable as possible and hoping the fans will be excited and satisfied.
Minutes to go .. his plane arrived, he walked out wearing our official tee, he saw me, he showed me the tee he was wearing under his jacket, he approached me, I smiled and gave him his gift and ......... GASP!!! I froze, no words coming out of my mouth, I simply couldn't believe that he was here, smiling in front of me and "Welcome to Jakarta" that's all I could say .. according to a friend who came with me, he was staring and waiting for me to say something, I didn't, I couldn't, I totally froze! "Have fun or enjoy your stay -- something like that" finally came out as he walked out from the terminal. *Stupid Net, scolding myself!!*
Knowing that we'd be in the same hotel as him calmed me down a little bit. It's not impossible to bump into him somehow someway in the hotel, but I didn't ... 'cos I was stucked in the hotel room with the committees preparing gifts, snacks, goodies for the crew members. I only came across with the band members and dancers few times.
- full committee members (minus one), everyone came home for the this big event -
- late and busy nights preparing everything to the perfection -Other than stressing about everything, I was thrilled to have few international friends coming for the concert. On the concert's eve, me and Santi also took them for night supper at Indomie stall across the hotel. This whole fans clubs things have earned me lots and lots of international friends and became my good and close friends, which was amazing!
D-day!! The pressure got worse.. I had adrenalin rush (maybe not a good way to put it). I had a quick meeting with the organizer and LH's assistant to discuss few things before the concert .. which later turned out to be in contrary, more explaining to do. Sigh!! Distributed merchandise and out-towners fans collecting the concert tickets, it was a total madness.
For what it worth despite the stress .. I enjoyed the concert. It was short but the fact that he was there that night with us .. I had fun with the girls and of course amazing times with my international friends the day after the concert.
As Gigi said "11 Januari bertemu ..." it was totally unforgettable moments for us and specially for me.
Just to finish up .. lesson learned, practice makes perfect! This was our first event, there will be more I hope. When that time comes, we'll be ready and more experience in many ways!
1 comment:
can't believe it's been a year since that concert. Great write up Net! brings back memories of Jakarta ;)
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