Fan Meeting: Yoona Fanmeeting Tour “So Wonderful Day #Story_1”
Date: 28 September 2018
Venue: Zepp @ BIG BOX in Singapore
After my unpleasant experience at Hallyu Pop Fest, I began to develop negative feelings towards other Kpop idols alike. I felt like it was a Kpop thing. All the ordeals I had been going through with Taenggu were attributed to this complicated Kpop industry. I felt like all these Kpop idols are really fake. I didn’t want to involve myself in their lives anymore, so I unfollowed most of them on my personal instagram account, including Taenggu. It seemed like it was something that had been carefully staged by Heaven. It happened at a time when I felt all the Taiwanese singers whom I used to follow were also slowly coming back to my life again. I began to turn towards these Taiwanese singers like S.H.E who are much more genuine and can behave more like their true selves in comparison to Kpop idols. In doing so, my heart also felt much lighter as I watched them.
But I had a problem. Before Hallyu Pop Fest happened, I had already bought a ticket to Yoona’s fan meeting in Singapore that was scheduled 3 weeks after Hallyu Pop Fest. Trying to shut all these Kpop idols out of my personal life once and for all, I had initially thought about just forfeiting the money I had spent on the ticket and not attending the fan meeting at all. But as the date of Yoona’s fan meeting was drawing near, Yoona started showing her anticipation for the upcoming fan meeting and her love for the Singaporean fans openly through a series of instagram posts.
She even did the nanoblock of our Singapore symbolic Merlion statue which was given to her as a gift by our Singapore fanclub (if I didn’t remember wrongly) when she was here in Singapore for a H:CONNECT event in Bugis (which I also went) about 2 months ago.
After seeing these posts, I remembered there was a moment I was walking back home when I heard a voice say “她很感动。(She is touched)” in my head. It always puzzles me who is the “she” the voices are referring to. But if you were to ask me directly, yes, I was indeed very touched by Yoona’s actions.
And so, I made up my mind. I decided that I would still attend Yoona’s fan meeting but in a more silent, low-key manner. I would just go watch her and then leave. I didn’t even reveal where my exact seat number was anywhere publicly online. The fan meeting was held on a Friday. That day, I didn’t even think about putting in any effort to dress myself up extra nicely. I just wore my usual office outfit to work just like any other ordinary weekday.
Some time during lunch, Yoona posted more photos of herself indulging our famous chilli crab and black pepper crab dishes here in Singapore, which made me even more happy to know that she was literally eating our local food and enjoying it (sometimes even when celebrities themselves said they had tried and liked eating our local food in verbal words only, I would still doubt if it was true without proof photos like Yoona’s 😝).
That evening, I knocked off from work punctually and took the train down to Jurong East. I made sure I had my dinner first at Westgate before making my way to Zepp @ Big Box when it was about time.
There were already many fans waiting outside the hall venue and I began to feel anxious for some reasons. I suddenly felt like Singapore is really small and there was a high chance I might bump into anyone I might know among all these Singapore SONEs around me.
When I felt ready, I walked towards the entrance, had my security bag checks, took out my ticket and had it scanned by the staff before I was allowed to enter inside. I examined the details on my ticket and realised my seat was located at the one of the last few rows at the furthest top righthand corner section at the back (I had actually forgotten that I had chosen a seat at this section when I purchased the ticket. I probably had decided to buy the cheapest ticket category back then 😅). But I was pretty surprised that the hall was actually kind of small that could only accommodate about a few thousands fans or less? But I knew it was going to be a rather cosy and intimate kind of fan meeting. (It was my very first time to a fan meeting so I wasn’t sure if fan meetings are meant to be on a much smaller scale like that.)
As I settled down on my seat, I had a strong sensation that “something” was reading my mind. “Section A2, Row L, Seat 5…” My seat number was flashed across my mind, just once, but with a strong impression/affirmation. (The same thing actually happened to me not too long ago before the fan meeting during a lucky draw at a Mid-Autumn Festival event I attended with my family. I was holding on to all 5 pieces of lucky draw tickets that belonged to each person of my family and then came a moment when one of the numbers on our lucky draw tickets was read and flashed in my mind with that same strong sense of affirmation. Not long later, that number won one of the prizes at the lucky draw. And it turned out that number actually belonged to my sister’s boyfriend. Only I knew why it happened. That “whoever” who was reading my mind was very touched by his acts of filial piety towards the elders and so he rightfully deserved a prize. 😊 With this precedent, you could have guessed what was going to happen to me later on during the fan meeting. 😆)
I had already forgotten the exact flow of the fan meeting by now. Yoona probably first appeared on stage to perform a song before formally greeting the fans and then interacting and answering some questions posed by our local emcee (He is a radio DJ from one of our local chinese radio stations). The atmosphere was pretty comfortable and light-hearted as I watched them enjoyably from afar (mostly on the big screen in front of me).
Then, Yoona sang my favourite song “To You” which I happily sang along to. Could Yoona hear the voice that was projected out from my head from the stage? 🎤
After a change of outfit, Yoona turned up on stage again for a segment where she prepared our local dish called “Rojak” (some sort of a mixed fruit salad mixed with a sticky black sauce and chopped peanuts) which she had just learned live on stage. I was amazed by how well she did the dish like a pro and how particular she was in making sure the apple was thoroughly washed and cleaned first before she cut it. I took a considerably long video to capture the front part of this segment while secretly thinking to myself, “It’s a pity I don’t really like eating / seldom eat Rojak though.”
And then came the game segment. Yoona was going to play 3 different games with the fans. Some lucky fans were going to be picked randomly according to their seat numbers that would be drawn from a lucky draw box personally by Yoona. For the first game, 4 lucky fans would be picked. Just when I thought I could just sit back and relax and watch the whole segment comfortably, Yoona picked the third seat number and the emcee announced out loud, “Section A2, Row L, Seat…5!!” OH MY GOD. Shit just got real. I was stunned. I hesitated. I didn’t know what to do. A part of me felt too shy and embarrassed to go up on stage to play a game with Yoona in front of everybody while another part of me thought it was such a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get chosen like this and meet my idol. I stayed stuck on my seat for quite some time not moving at all as the emcee repeated my seat number again when no one stood up. Should I just pretend that the person at this seat number doesn’t exist at all? But almost everyone in my section was already turning around and looking at me, telling me to hurry go up before the emcee forfeits my draw. There was no way I could hide anymore. So I finally plucked up my courage and went up. “You only live once,” I thought.
With 3 other lucky fans standing on stage, I worried what kind of game we were going to play. “Please go easy on me,” I thought. It turned out that it was a game of charades. Yoona would be acting out each word and all I had to do was to guess that word. I don’t have to act, sing nor dance. I heaved a sigh of relief. The “whoever” who was reading my seat number from my mind at the start of the fan meeting indeed knew me very well to pick me for a suitable game like this (coz the other 2 games that followed after that involved more body movements and knowledge of SNSD songs). LOL.
Each of us were given 30 seconds for each round of charades. The person who managed to guess the most number of words correctly would be the winner. Because I had gone to the fan meeting alone, I didn’t have any friends to film the whole game segment for me but I managed to find some clips posted by some other fans on instagram.
When it was my turn, I walked up to the front of the stage and met the eyes of Yoona for the very first time. She smiled warmly and waved at me and whispered “hello”. I waved back and said hello too. “Did she already know about me? Perhaps.” I thought. But everything felt very natural. The way she treated me was no different from the other fans. Very warm, friendly and kind.
We did our game round for that short 30 seconds. The words were not too difficult to guess by looking at Yoona’s actions and with the very helpful prompts given by the emcee at the side. I was leading with 5 correct words in total, but it was a tie with another fan.
I was very lucky to have a fellow Singapore SONE whom I happened to know through my @lovestorieswithtaenggu instagram page to have taken a video and some photos of me during the game play and sent them over to me!
The emcee eventually decided that we would decide the winner via scissors paper stone and the winner could get away with the rojak that Yoona had previously made on stage. The other fan whom I was competing against looked very nervous and eager to win lol. Just before we were about to start scissors paper stone with each other, I heard a voice said “石头 (stone)” in my head. But somehow I refused to listen and did a scissors/paper instead. It was a tie. For the next 2 or 3 times, it was still a tie. It was indeed a “fierce” competition between us. 😂 Eventually I relented and gave a stone instead. And I lost. 😝
And so, the other fan got away with the rojak and some innisfree free gifts. But I wasn’t too disappointed because I remembered what I was thinking earlier on that I don’t like to eat rojak. Lol a way to comfort myself for my loss I guess. And I, too, received a bag of innisfree products minus the rojak plus a photo opportunity with Yoona! LOL. I had my rare opportune moment of shaking hands with Yoona, putting my hand on her waist and did a twist with her as we posed for a photo. 😆✌🏼
Did I look kind of shy and awkward beside Yoona? Coz my friend said I did when I showed her the photos later on. Lol.
I went back to my seat with my bag of prizes / free gifts. One of the fans sitting at my section congratulated me. I said thank you with a smile. The surreality of what had just happened to me and on stage awhile ago started to sink in. Not sure if the air-con blowing above me was too cold, I could feel my hands, my whole body trembling for a long time and I couldn’t focus on watching the next 2 games and in fact all the remaining segments and performances that followed. I couldn’t believe what had just happened. Was I dreaming? 😱😱😱
That night, I went back home, feeling proud of my unexpected new prized possessions that I had received from the fan meeting. It was indeed a So Wonderful Day!
Some of the post fan meeting reflection instagram posts by me and Yoona.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BoULNgkBNdl/
https://www.instagram.com/p/Boa1_p7BRyT/
Thank you Yoona for the wonderful memories and pleasant first meeting with you in person! Looking forward to your return to Singapore for a second fan meeting soon! 💕💕💕
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