Worshipping at Wu Bai's Feet

OK, I'm back from Hong Kong, and while I wait for my hair to magically turn into a beautiful light copper shade, I'll write about the pub shows I went to on October 27 and 28.

That whole week was pretty busy for me. I had to get all my school stuff finalized (photos, health exam, fill out visa application, school app, etc.). I'd promised to do the daytime queuing since there was no one else available, but then I got a lovely surprise when Kennie ended up with days off and could keep me company.

So, after running my final errands on Wednesday a.m. (this is October 25 I'm talking about), I headed over to 京華城 to join the queue, which had been started by Charlene Tuesday afternoon. A couple others had joined her during the evening, and Kennie had showed up at 9:00 a.m. so Charlene could head off to work. When I arrived at 11:30 a.m., Kennie was all alone, just reading up on the 12th floor outside the Partyroom. We spent a couple hours chatting, after moving to a sofa outside one of the other pubs. The place was deserted, I guess because the shopping center is not really that convenient to get to, and it was a little eerie being all alone except for the cleaning staff and the poor girls at the restaurant that had no customers. Xiao Niu showed up at lunchtime, and she and Kennie took off. I had to run back over to the hospital at 1:30, and it took me two whole hours, just to get another original of my health exam! Sheesh.

Anyway, no one else from other groups showed up to queue until late Wednesday, when Ling Ayi and Mei Xue arrived. Charlene and Nat arrived probably close to 8:00 p.m., and Charlene brought with her the new CD, yay! Nat gave me a ride to the MRT station, and I got home around 9:15 p.m. I quickly converted the CD to MP3, then gave a listen to the CD. I didn't like it much at all, but that turned out to be because I was only using the laptop speakers, which suck. The next morning when I listened to the MP3s on the way back to 京華城, I decided it was quite good.

Charlene and Kennie were waiting for me when I got there, both very cold and tired. Although during the day and the evening we're allowed to queue inside, at night we're booted out onto the street. And then that morning one really pissy floor manager had given Charlene a lot of shit about how they didn't want us to line up there, how messy it looked, how the customers would complain, blah blah blah. However, we all trooped in at 11:00 a.m. as soon as they opened the elevator, and no one said a word to us all day. What a kerfuffle!

Thursday was another boring day of sitting around, but at least I had the new CD to occupy me. I had forgotten to bring the lyrics book with me, so I had to keep borrowing Kennie's. There were now quite a few more folks lined up, and more trickling in occasionally. My friend Kayun showed up in the afternoon, and I went to have lunch with her, then she hung around with us, using Kennie as a resource for some Chinese questions she had. When Nat and Charlene showed up that evening, Kayun and I caught a ride to the MRT with Nat, and once again I was home around 9:15-ish.

Friday it was back to do it all over again, but this time at least there was a concert at the end of the evening! Sharrie showed up early in the morning, after having taken a bus from Pingdong all night. Dino came by early in the morning. He'd been staying at a nearby hotel, the same one I'd stayed at in December 2002 when I was there for the shows at Plush Pub. He chatted with us a bit, told us that rehearsal would be at around 2:00 or 3:00. It's always nice to see Dino, and I really appreciate the way he treats us like friends.

The rest of the day was basically the same boring wait, and then when Charlene showed up in the afternoon, she told us that Nat's boss had taken her off to Xinzhu! It was unlikely Nat would be back in time for the show, but we held out hope until the last minute, then ended up selling her ticket. What a drag :(

Xiao Zhu and Da Mao both showed up around 2:00 p.m., and Dino was already inside. Wu Bai didn't make his appearance until 4:00 p.m., walking in surrounded by his security entourage, as if they expect we'll jump on him or something. Yeah, right. We get hugs and kisses from Dino, and the "don't even think about approaching this man" from Wu Bai's crew. I know it's mostly his wife, but still.....we're not like that, you know? Practice sounded pretty good, and knowing what songs would be performed made it easy to decide which lyrics to try to learn first! Kennie, Xiao Niu, and Sharrie busied themselves making signs, and other fan groups were also working on concert projects. Charlene brought our signs from before, so we didn't have to make any.

Hey, finally, it's time to go in! Ah Ci had come to hold our first place in line while we were inside, since he was only going to the Saturday show. By this time Xiao Huang was there, and P.J., so we had them, Kennie, Xiao Niu, Sharrie, Charlene, Xiu Chun, Shun, and me. We got in, and Charlene, Sharrie, and I planted ourselves right smack-dab in front of the microphone, which was horrifyingly close. I had no idea it would be that close. Wow. Well, I just had to hope Wu Bai would be too busy to notice how terribly fat I'd gotten (not that it matters, since he's going to see me tomorrow during broad daylight at the autograph session, but hey, I worry).

The show was fantastic, even with Wu Bai having to have the words of the songs laid out at his feet since he hadn't memorized them yet. He was more talkative than usual, too, and always laughing and smiling at us. Definitely looking good these days, with that long hair that suits him so well. He's lost weight, too, but I kinda like him a little chubby, because he looks more hug-able. I got my 10 seconds of special attention while he was singing the new song "Cherry Lover" which Charlene got a kick out of and kept nudging me in the side afterwards. All I know is that when he looks at me and smiles like that, I just wanna die. One line in one of the new songs is 我知道我幻想的都不可以 沒有關係 - I know I can't have any of my fantasies; it doesn't matter. That's how I feel, too ;)

After the show I said goodbye to Sharrie, who had to take the bus back to Pingdong, hung around a bit with Charlene, and then I waited for Guoxi to come pick me up, since he had insisted on doing so. Who am I to argue? I ran into Da Mao and his wife while I was pacing around waiting, and he thanked me (and the others) for spending all that time in line. It's nice to be appreciated. I ended up getting home around 1:30 a.m., listened to my pissed off cat chewing me out for being gone so long, took a shower to get the smoke out of my hair and the sweat off my body, fell into bed for three hours, up at 5:30 a.m. and back to 京華城 at 7:15 a.m., where Charlene and Shun were sleeping and holding our place in line.

You guessed it - another boring day in line, this time suffering from lack of sleep. I dozed a bit during the day, but not much. As soon as we got inside that morning, Ling Ayi's group started a big argument with Charlene, because they seemed to think we should give up our first place in line and allow them to stand in front of Wu Bai. WTF? Hey, you wanna get that spot, then YOU show up Tuesday afternoon! They claimed that Sharrie had told them on Friday that it would be OK, and this fight went on most of the day. Charlene was so calm and cool, while the other chick who was carrying on was loud and obnoxious. I told Charlene that I didn't mind standing in the second row as long as no one taller than me was in front of me, but I still thought it kinda sucked that they figured they had the right to ask. But I hate fighting, so I said it was OK with me. Shun was furious, though, and he did a lot of yelling before stomping off somewhere. Eventually, Charlene said they'd worked out a deal for the five of us to stand on the right of the microphone, in two rows, while the 20 or so of them would be on the left. Since Charlene and I were the shortest in our group, we'd get front row. Shun was too angry about this and said he wasn't going at all, which turned out great because Natari got his ticket and was able to see the show. Late in the afternoon Xiao Yu showed up, and she said she'd just wait at the end of the (by now) very long line. It was too hot back there, though, so she stayed with us, only going to the end when we started to go in.

So, there we are, waiting for 8:00 p.m. I'd seen Dino, Xiao Zhu, and Da Mao all go in, but I hadn't seen Wu Bai, and it was quiet inside. Suddenly, Wu Bai's wife came out and took off. Hm, he must be in there, since she rarely lets him off the leash, so why isn't there any rehearsal? Awhile later, Dino came to the door, saying he was waiting for his coffee, and "Oh, there is it now." Here came Mrs. Wu carrying a bunch of coffee. Wow, never figured she'd play gofer herself! The rehearsal didn't actually start until like 7:00 or so, and damned if they didn't keep going until 8:30! We were a bit unhappy about this, and so tired of waiting. But, we finally got to go in.

And more trouble began. We got our agreed-upon spots at the front and to the right, and then the other group wanted to push us over even further. That's when we dug in our heels and said "fuck you, we ain't moving." Sometimes it pays to be a lot bigger than most of the girls in Taiwan, because ain't no way that little bitty gal on my left was going to be able to budge me. Surprisingly, Xiao Yu and her friend managed to fight their way over to us, so at least Xiao Yu could see (she's about 4 and a half feet tall and needs to be up front). Xiu Chun and Ah Ci were behind me, Charlene on my right and Nat on her right. We had a great view of Dino and Xiao Zhu, but could barely see Da Mao. Wu Bai, of course, was right on top of us.

Another great show, this time with Wu Bai dragging the rest of the guys out on stage to perform a little disco number to "You Are My Flower." The night before, Wu Bai had done it alone, cracked us up big time. Saturday we were trying to do it along with them, but I was failing miserably. I am just not co-ordinated enough. And I was laughing too hard. I also popped in my custom-made vampire teeth for one song, since it was close to Halloween and there was a Halloween party scheduled afterwards. Not sure the guys could see the teeth, but it was fun, and the fans around us got a kick out of it.

Afterwards we went across the street for hot pot, and I can't believe I didn't fall asleep in my food. I decided not to stay at Nat's, since I'd have to sleep on the floor, and I took a cab home. Never had such a slow driver, so of course it cost me more money, and the guy never shut up the whole time. I was barely awake and just not up to a conversation in Chinese, but he just kept yapping. Got home at 2:30 a.m., didn't even bother with a shower, just collapsed on the bed, dreaming sweet dreams of the sexiest guy on earth (yes, this is just my opinion) and the greatest band of all - Wu Bai & China Blue.