MIYAVI CONCERT!!!!

Avalon Los Angeles, CA

May 16, 2008; 8:00 PM

Best weekend of my life!!! Hands down, no question!  >w<  The bolded titles are what I posted on Twitter.  They help organized things nicely.  ^^  Also, I'm not putting any of this under the cut because I want this post to look as massive as it is emotionally is for me!  Oh, and this entry is pasted from word, so that's why the font is different.  XD

Gah. So early. –squirm–  (4:30 AM)

Getting up at 4:30AM to get ready to go to the airport?  Amazing.  But SO WORTH IT for what was to come!  Picked Kaitlin up at 5:15AM and left for LA at 8:00AM (our time) and arrived in LA at 9:06 (California time).  We all slept for a good portion of the plane ride, but later on Kaitlin and I couldn’t sleep so we made videos of ourselves lip-syncing to Miyavi!  I’m sure she’s gonna post it, so be on the look out.  It was hawt.  XD

We’re here! LA LA LA LA. (9:06AM)  Cali has such nice weather!  (11:23 AM)

Arriving in Los Angeles, after having slept most of the way on the plane ride, we were met by the California sun.  And even after having to wait in line to get our rental car, which ended up taking about an hour, we were still pretty stoked about the day in general.  Because it was only 9, we had a lot of time to kill.  And we were hungry, so my mom said we should head over to Santa Monica for lunchie.  We passed by a really busy café (to which I said, “Oh!  Let’s eat there!  It’s crowded!”) and stopped to eat.  It was called the Urth Café and it was really good, expensive, but gooood.  They had these awesome lattes there.  The baristas drew in the foam (God only knows how) to make pictures!  They had a swan one and my mom got a chai tea and they drew a leaf in her foam!  (see pictures, which will be upped later)  The sandwich I got was also super delicious.  ^^

Burnt my toes off in the sand. Then froze them in the Pacific.  (1:11 PM)

Afterwards my mom and Kaitlin decided they wanted to go to the beach.  Personally, I didn’t want to go because I wasn’t ready to go to the beach… mentally and physically.  It might sound weird… but I was really against going because for one, I wasn’t dressed for the beach and in my head all I came to LA for was to see Miyavi.  That’s it.  I didn’t need to go the Pacific and stick my toes in – that’s not what I went there to do!  Plus it was super sunny and hot, and I was wearing my converse, and I didn’t want to get my toes all sandy.  But they wanted to go so I couldn’t say no.  So we dug my sandals out of my suitcase in the trunk and went off.  And it WAS utterly sunny.  So sunny, in fact, that when Kaitlin and I took off our shoes to walk through the sand to the water (a good stretch away) our toes started to BURN.  It hurt like CRAZY.  Kaitlin gave up sooner and threw on her shoes (we had wanted to avoid getting our shoes dirty), but I thought I could handle it to the water.  Boy was I wrong.  Even though there was only a little ways left, my feet felt like they were on FIRE so I threw my shoes on and nearly fell over.  All the while Kaitlin was laughing at me.  How nice, huh?!  XD  j/k I was laughing too.  ^^  Soon after we finally made it to the ocean, which was freezing, and put our feet in, causing a completely opposite reaction.  And now our feet were really dirty (b/c wet feet pick up a lot more sand than dry feet do!) so we couldn’t put our shoes back on.  So my mom suggested walking along the water until we got to the boardwalk so we wouldn’t have to walk so far in the burning sand.  The board walk was pretty far away, and we did end up having to walk in the sand for a while more, which still hurt, but it was a good plan.  The only bad part was that we had to walk all the way back to the car!  And even though it wasn’t in the sand, everything was super hot because the sun was out and there was no cloud cover at all.  XD  Needless to say, we sweated a lot, but Kaitlin said that she had never put her feet in the Pacific, so it was all worth it.

After our beach excursion we decided to head over to our hotel, which was in Hollywood!  ^^  It was a decently long drive from Santa Monica (plus traffic and us not really knowing how to get around), so Kaitlin and I ended up falling asleep.  But we woke up in time to see the Hollywood sign!  (the one on the hills)  Actually, our hotel was pretty much in view of the sign, so Kaitlin and I rushed to get pictures for nothing.  ^o^  We got to the hotel around 3:00PM, and we chilled for a while and napped a bit (because we’d had a long night ahead of us).  In the lobby I found a magazine of sorts that had all the events going on in LA for the week of May 16 – May 22, and I snagged one.  Riffling through it, I found what I was looking for: an article proclaiming Miyavi’s concert and a small picture add.  ^^  After that fangirlyness we decided to try to get a bit of sleep.  Even though I was super tired from not getting much sleep the night before (only 4 hours), I couldn’t seem to sleep then.  I guess I was pretty anxious because I only slept for about 30 minutes before I woke up and couldn’t sleep anymore.  I felt like we should BE there already because I KNEW there’d be a line.  So I got up and changed (because I was sweaty from the beach) and then we were ready to leave.  Now onto the REAL ACTION of the night!

OMG some people got here yesterday to get in line! It's 4, the concert starts at 8. The line is LONG.  (4:34 PM)

As we drove up to the Avalon, which was located on Vine St., we saw the line!  It was already a block long!!!  So we parked really fast and ran to get our place.  As the Twitter says, the first people in line – super hardcore fans – came on THURSDAY at 2PM and got in line!!!  Their group spent the night on site.  CRAZY.  (though, if I could, I would have wanted to do that… stupid school and Eco AP!  whoa, thinking of it now… the Eco test seems like it was YEARS AGO!)  As we walked past the other people in line, we were asked if we wanted to sign a banner that had been made for Miyavi, and of course Kaitlin and I signed it!  ^^  Finally we made it to then end, and ahead of us in line was a group of people from Utah.  When they told us they were from Utah they clearly expected us to be surprised, but we blew them away by saying that we were from Texas!  XD  Moreover, I’m pretty sure almost everyone in that line had skipped school that day!  My mom was super nice and said that she’d stand in line while we went to find food and stuff.  Luckily, two blocks down there was a nice shopping center that had a Smoothie King, Gamestop (lolz, I didn’t even think about looking in here.  Not really – again, I was in I’m-only-here-for-the-concert mood), and a Borders.  Kaitlin and I were really hot and thirsty, so we chose Smoothie King to revive us.  Both of us got a Instant Vigor and, man did it ever work.  The smoothie cashier man was like, “whoa, you guys aren’t going to be getting any sleep tonight with these!”  and we went, “GOOD.”  And after getting a strange look, we proceeded to explain that we had skipped school that day and flown in JUST to see Miyavi in concert!  He found us super awesome (nya, English skills? No.) and gave us both two coupons for a buy-one-get-one free smoothie!  I love it when employees are fun to talk to. ^^  We returned to my mom’s spot in line, but then decided to go check out Borders and go to the bathroom (b/c we didn’t want to have to go during the concert).  Oddly enough, Borders didn’t have a public bathroom – in fact, there were hardly ANY public bathrooms ANYWHERE.  So where do you go when you have to go in California!?!?!?  (oh, and laughing when you have to pee doesn’t help things at all!  As Kaitlin and I found out as we were joking about how she was going to hold her purse around her neck and have it come back and hit her in the face as she was jumping around.  XD  and then we said she’d end up taking out the whole middle section, like the domino effect!)  Luckily, Kaitlin and I found one in the Cinema that was a little further down.  Afterwards we looked around in Borders for a while, and then I got a text from my mom asking for water.  We got some from the Borders café, but when we got back in line, which had looped around the corner and continued on for a few blocks, I could tell my mom was pissed.  I felt bad, but Kaitlin said she had to go the bathroom one more time, so we went off to try and find one that was closer.  We snuck to the back of a pizzeria and found a line for the bathroom.  The guy at the front (it was one of those single bathrooms) was like, ‘I just want to wash my hands!!!”  So I gave him some hand sanitizer and he left.  After waiting for around 5 minutes, Kaitlin started knocking on the door, but there was no reply!  So I though, “Oh, maybe you have to have a key to get in?”  And sure enough!  Kaitlin went to ask the counter and came back with a key!!!  XD  We felt pretty stupid after that.

Still waiting in line! Delicious.  (6:43 PM)

After our last bathroom trip, we went back to the line for good.  My mom wandered off for a bit, but I figured that was fine b/c we had kinda been unfair for having left so long.  Our line, which consisted mostly of people that were dressed in either goth or Lolita fashion with spiked colored hair and piercings all over, got a lot of stares from passersby, and several stopped to ask, “What is this line for?!”  Kaitlin and I actually didn’t have to wait that long in line because we were let in at 7:00PM.  As soon as we started moving I could feel my adrenaline start pumping.  By the time we got into the Avalon and stopped at the swag table that was by the doors, my hands were actually shaking a bit!  My mom went into the theater area to save us a spot while Kaitlin and I stopped to buy things.  The line wasn’t orderly, so you just had to grab the attention of a sales person.  I bought two shirts tour shirts (one that was a lady’s pink shirt and one black t-shirt; I had wanted to buy a “lion shirt” that had a different pattern, but the sale’s person didn’t seem to know what I was talking about, sadly, and I wanted to get to our spot, so I settled with two tour shirts) and a huge tour poster.  All that surprisingly only cost $70, but no complaints here.  Kaitlin bought two tour shirts also (one for Emma, but more on that later).  Getting to the “seats” (in quotes b/c there weren’t actually any seats; it was all standing) was confusing because the main way in was blocked off by a security guard and ropes.  I was scared that they had blocked off the moshing area (where my mom was) but to get to that spot you had to go around the side and down.

OMFG WE'RE IN AND SO CLOSE!!!!  (7:32 PM)

We got to where my mom was, and she kindly enough said that she’d take our stuff to hold during the concert, so we got to enjoy it with free hands and not having to worry about anything!  (so nice~~~)  I kept my phone and my camera on me (even though they said absolutely no cameras, our bags weren’t searched and even when we were sitting down waiting for the show to start people were taking pictures with flashes, so I guess they didn’t care so much).  They told us to sit down, but I got more and more anxious as time went by, and so were the people around me.  People went from sitting to squatting and before long, as if a signal went off, everyone stood up and smooshed to the front.  In the rush, Kaitlin and I managed to get a place pretty close to the stage and off to the right a bit.  It sucks being short!  I really couldn’t see anything, but I wasn’t fussed about it then b/c nothing was happening yet (I knew all that’d change as soon as the concert started though!  But I figured it wouldn’t matter much b/c we’d be shifting around a lot with all the jumping)  It was already hot in there when we were just sitting close together, but when we were standing next to each other – so close that you were touching about ten people you didn’t know all at once – sweating was automatic.  The air-conditioning was on, but you could only ever get a whiff of it if you stuck your head up really high.  In this lovely position of crampage and anxious waiting, there really wasn’t anything to do but get to know the people you were squished up against.  ^o^  The girl closest to us was named Yoko (actually Lisa, but no one called her that apparently).  She was there on account of her fandom, but moreover, the fandom of her mother!  Apparently her mom is also way into anime and j-rockers and yaoi even!!!  Not only that but Yoko was wearing real leather pants(courtesy of her mother) and had spiked hair that she had cut just for the concert.  Hardcore.  Meanwhile, the crowd was a mass of screams because by then the techies were having fun walking across the stage (just so we’d scream at them, Kaitlin speculated).

And then all of a sudden it happened.  The background music stopped, the lights went out, and the Kabuki boys were on stage!!!!!!!!  The crowd including me = fjka;fjajfkdajfjsdafjskhglaghjshg;asghjl;asjsljfg!!!!  *spazz spazz spazz*  *SCREAM*  and then… IN THAT GLORIOUS DARK THERE WAS A LIGHT!  AND THAT LIGHT ILLUMINATED A GLORIOUS BEING!!!!!!!!  IT WAS HIM!  HE WAS RIGHT FRIGGIN THERE!  IN THE FLESH!  ONLY A MERE FEW YARDS AWAY!!!!  My lungs felt like they would burst I was screaming SO LOUD.  But it didn’t matter.  I didn’t care.  All pain or worries or normal restraints were GONE.  NOTHING MATTERED BUT MIYAVI!  The spot light that made him glow was my only focus.  My brain was a puddle of mush and my heart was beating so fast.  The crowd became a wave that surged toward the stage and we all screamed for him to intoxicate us with his voice.  Ecstasy in a bottle, who needs drugs?  He was decked out in his Neo Visualizm gear and posed with his guitar that was utter SEX.  Moving his hand down its neck and turning his face to the sky.  If my eyes had been working properly I’d swear to you that he licked it, but then again, my broken brain could have just been imagining that!

My state of utter fandom was so complete that my brain died a little: I know this because I can’t even remember his opening song!  (Something I’d usually make SURE to remember!)  The smuggled in cameras came out and videos were being captured second by second.  I whipped out mine too, but 11 seconds (yes, exactly 11 because I just watched it again) the security guard found me and tapped my shoulder telling me to put the camera away.  There was no way I was being thrown out for getting video, so I put it away quick!  I figure all the other people who practically got the whole thing on their cell phones would have it on youtube soon enough!  (oh, and going back to watch the video, the opening song was JPN PRIDE!)  The mosh pit was certainly doing its job: we were rocking to the point of death.  I couldn’t breath, literally.  The heat was so intense.  All the bodies being smooshed together and the sweat.  I was SOAKED, and because of the close proximity, I knew everyone else around was soaked too, and it had only been a few seconds!  Some people couldn’t handle it and had to force their way through the crowd to get out, which no one minded because that just meant you were one person closer to Miyavi!  At first I didn’t think I could survive the night in the pit, and I remember looking back to see the people in the balconies, who I KNEW had a better view of him (b/c even though I was so close, I could only see him from about waist up because of all the people’s heads and arms… there were even points when I couldn’t see him at all and could only see the Tap Dancing man (God, I should know his name…)), but come the second song I knew there was no way I was leaving!  The sweat stopped mattering, just like my need to breathe fresh air!  XD

The pit had a constant current, and people were always moving.  I tried to keep near Kaitlin, but soon enough it became impossible and I lost her.  Normally, this would have bothered me to no end.  We came together to see the concert together!  But, again, all normal emotions and instincts were down the drain.  And I thoroughly enjoyed the concert just by myself.  (it would have been nice to have been together the whole time, but it was just impossible)  The music, it was all that kept me alive.  I swear I kept my arms up the entire concert, jamming and head banging and clapping.  And what’s more, I ended up having a lot of room!  The reason?  I JUMPED SO MUCH!  After a while I noticed that I could feel the air-conditioning, and for a moment I thought that I had somehow been shoved to the edge of the moshers, but when I looked back there were loads of people behind me.  I also noticed that, pretty quickly, people got tired.  Sure, they’d rock with their arms and shout now and then, but sooner or later they’d drop their hands and have to rest.  But for some reason, I had LOADS of energy – more then I could ever have imagined was possible for me to have.  Understand, I’m not athletic and when forced to run I get winded pretty fast, so all the while when I was jumping and screaming and rocking my arms I was just waiting for the point where I couldn’t do it anymore.  The point of utter exhaustion, but it never came, and I kept jumping!  And ya, I ended up jumping on loads of people’s feet, which lead me to conclude that the reason I could breathe was that I was jumping!  People don’t want to get stepped on, so the gave me a little room~  ^o^  Plus when I jumped my hair kinda sprayed sweat.  XD  (eewwwww, right?  But everyone was rather spraying sweat… and the girls with long hair, ugh, that was bad b/c your arm would get all caught up in their sweaty mess and their hair would get in ur face… blech.  Luckily I wasn’t by many long-haired people.)  Another plus of jumping when most people aren’t?  You get noticed by the band!  Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying Miyavi noticed me because I was jumping (God, that would have been amazing), but I’m nearly 100% positive that the Tap Dancer noticed.  From where I was in the crowd, it was basically right in front of him.  (good old, wiki tells me his name is Saro~)  I’m pretty much positive that he looked and smiled at me.  =^^=  It was a sqee moment b/c, well, he’s one of Miyavi’s crew!  Plus he rather looks like Kenji03 from BACK-ON with his goofy smile and the fact that he’s tall and super skinny.  (Actually, oddly enough, Miyavi’s DJ looked like Shu from BACK-ON and his rapper Tyco looks kinda like Teeda!  XD

After a few songs, Miyavi took a break to talk to his avid listeners.  And he did it mostly in all in impeccable English!  Major props Meevers!!!  He introduced himself (well, had us introduce him with a round of, “What’s my name!?” “MIYAVI!!!!!!!!!!” “WHAT’S MY NAME!?!?!” “MIIIYYYYAAAAVVIIIIII!!!!!!!” and that wonderfully enticing frantic hand motion that he gives you to wave the crowd to yell louder.  yuuummm~)  And, not only is he sexy and amazing, but he’s funny too!  He began speaking and then paused and went, “Ugh, I forgot all I had prepared to say!”  And we laughed with him while reveling in his sexy English voice.  >w<  (I’m happy to say that my Japanese school paid off!  Because when he did speak in Japanese, I understood it!)  AND, not only is he sexy, amazing, and funny, but he’s DEEP too!  XD  He managed to remember that he was thrilled that his music had broken through Japan’s borders and that we didn’t care about the language barrier.  He said that he wanted to break all the musical barriers and create a completely new sound, mixing the old with the new.  And moreover, he asked us to come along for the ride~  nyyyaaaaa, the smex.  XD

]After this introduction he introduced the tap dancer Saro and they had a guitar/tap dance war.  At first the sound was messed up and we couldn’t hear Saro’s dance, but they fixed it soon thankfully.  There was not as much screaming for this (b/c I know a good majority of the people in that room cared about nothing but Miyavi… actually, I really hadn’t given the other band members much thought before that night either), and I could tell that people were using this a sort of break, but since Saro had been nice enough to make me giddy by smiling at me, I figured it was just fair that I screamed for him!  ^o^  So I did, and thankfully a majority of the other people screamed with me~  Then Miyavi introduced his rapper Tyco by having a similar battle.  Miyavi would play a round on his guitar and Tyco would match the sound, and it sounded exactly the same!  At first, because I couldn’t really see, I thought was just Miyavi playing the same thing twice, but then I got a glimpse and it was Tyco!  Then Meevers played a super high pitched melody and Tyco looked at the crowd and shrugged.  XD  lolz, I love bands with a sense of humor!  After this Miyavi left the stage for a break and to change clothes (which he did two times), but we were never left without anything to listen to.  The second “break” we got to listen to the turntables guy mixing up a bunch of Miyavi’s songs.  Again, most people took this as a break, but I continued jumping and rocking out.  XD  During this mix I recognized Senor Senora Senorita, along with almost everyone else.  It’s too bad the mix isn’t on any CDs b/c it was a really cool mix~

It was fun singing to all his songs, and not just while I was listening to them on my iPod, but when it was live in concert!  Miyavi actually sounds exactly like the CDs sound, which I found amazing.  >w<  I hate it when bands go live and they sound completely different, but Meevers certainly did it right!  You could tell it was definitely him singing too (not that I doubted him at all because I know he values quality too much to even thing of lip-syncing) because, even though he sang familiar songs, he changed them up ever so slightly.  Like, repeating certain parts of the song more or singing higher or faster when it was lower or slower on the recording.  ^^  But that just made it more special because you can’t ever really hear it like that again!  Again, I wish I could recall the exact song list, but my natural high makes things fuzzy.  I know that he played most of the song on his THIS IZ THE JAPANESE KABUKI ROCK CD.  For BOOM-HAH-BOOM-HAH-HAH they had us doing some sort of funny combination of clapping and jabbing our hands out like snakes.  XD  (sounds weird, but hey, you do whatever they do on stage!)  And for 21st Century Tokyo Blues they had us moving our hands up and down like you were driving a car.  Loooolz, such crack, but so fun when you’re in the moment!  I know for a fact that he played Kimi Ni Funky Monkey Vibration.  During Kabuki Danshi -KAVKI BOIZ- Miyavi tricked us by having Tyco and Saro swing towels (part of the swag) around like they were going to throw them into the crowd.  (which reminds me, at the very beginning of the concert… when Miyavi just came on stage, he threw his fan to the crowd!  UGH WHAT I WOULD GIVE TO BE THE PERSON THAT CAUGHT THAT FAN!!!)  They swung those towels around for the entire song!  And then threw them backwards to the back of the stage!  XD  It was probably a good thing though, because I remember the craziness of the Rentrer en Soi swag throw, and I know that if they threw stuff to the crowd… someone would have DIED, and I’m not even joking.  Another song that I remember specifically is Are you ready to ROCK? which he played after the second break.  The length of this song live was A LOT longer than the recorded song because Miyavi repeated the chorus a lot and had us repeat it to him each time!  AND OMG DURING THIS SONG HE THREW HIMSELF AT THE CROWD!!!  He skidded on his knees to the very edge of the stage, and the moshers, with fifty times more force, threw themselves at him!  PEOPLE GOT TO TOUCH HIM!!!  There were people all over him!  I WAS SO CLOSE!!!!  But not close enough!  ToT  He did it twice, once on my side and then again in the middle.  He got really close in the middle (he was holding the microphone out to the crowd) and the security guards had to HOLD him on stage!

Coming closer to the end, all the band members left the stage, and we all changed “Mi-ya-vi!  Mi-ya-vi!  Mi-ya-vi!”  During this period Kaitlin found me again!  I didn’t recognize her because with all the sweat her hair had gotten super curly!  I thought she was a guy!  XD  I knew the concert wasn’t over yet because Miyavi hadn’t said good-bye yet.  And sure enough, soon after they all came back (wearing that lion shirt that I had tried to buy earlier!!!!  GAH!  I so wish I got one now!!!).  Even though he looked hot before, this last outfit WAS SO DAMN SEXY.  He was wearing the black lion shirt with skinny jeans and he had taking down his hair and it was straightened down coming out of his hat.  And to make it that much more intoxicating, HE DID A LITTLE SHIMMY WHEN HE GOT TO THE MIC!  *squee!*  During the last third of the concert he played Hi no hikari sae todokanai basho de and Sakihokoru hana no you ni -Neo Vizualizm-.  Then he began speaking to us again.  He thanked us again and said that the only reason he was there that night was because of us.  >w<  Of course that’s exactly what we wanted to hear!  That we’re as important to him as he is to us!  AND THEN HE SAID IT.  “Aishiteru.  I love you.  All of you.”  Fjdasfhdjlhfgsaghd;afghfjsd;hfjklsjfls  HELL YES.  And then, using his awesome English, he also said the words we dreaded hearing, “But, and I remember this one, all good things must come to an end.”  And the whole crowd went, “awwwwww.”  And then he said, “This is for you: Mawaru, mawaru, seikai wo mawaru!” thusly breaking out into Subarashikikana, kono sekai -WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD- to finish off the concert.  With those ending notes, he left the stage, and the crowd began to disperse.

So.......tired. But....so..... FUCKING AWESOME.  (10:00 PM)

I SOOO did not want it to be over!  But at that point I was exhausted, and Kaitlin and I literally walked over to the side and collapsed.  My mom was on the balcony and spotted us.  She came down with a guy who’s name was Kenji!  ^^  She had been standing up on the balcony with him.  When he shook my hand he said that his son was a happa too, and pointed upwards to an Asian looking boy.  I, being exhausted and still brain dead, ended up shaking his hand twice and being utterly incoherent!  XD  oops.  We had to leave the Avalon pretty fast because they were converting it back into a night club, and when we got to the car my mom remembered that Kenji had given her something to give to us: towels!!!!  Kaitlin and I both got a free towel!  (apparently he had found them and given them to my mom to give to us!  So nice!!!)  All the way back to the hotel we reminisced about the concert, which was interesting because we had gotten separated and because we got to tell my mom about how things were in the mosh pit.  I still can’t believe that the concert was only two hours!  And even though I was exhausted, I wish it had been longer!

And thusly one of my life goals has been accomplished  (10:45 PM)

At the hotel, we cycled through the shower and crashed – or tried to.  Except… both Kaitlin and I couldn’t sleep!!!!  It was so weird!  My body was on the verge of collapse when we got out of the concert, but as soon as I laid down to sleep my mind kept going, replaying the night and spazzing about how unreal it seemed.  The next morning we figured it was the smoothie.  XD  it really did keep us up all night!

Kaitlin had to return home sooner b/c of her band banquet so we had to get her back to the airport by 6:15.  So not much sleep for us!  (but it didn’t’ matter because we couldn’t sleep anyway!)

Dim sum in LA (9:33 AM Saturday)

After taking Kaitlin to the airport, my mom and I decided to explore LA.  Oddly enough, nothing in LA opens until 7 AM at best.  And even if it says it opens at a certain time, don’t count on it opening right at that time!  It was really hard for us to find breakfast!  So, I knew that I wanted to check out Korea town (b/c I remember Gina saying that it was really nice… it didn’t turn out to be anything too special though) and Little Tokyo and Chinatown.  So we drove through all those places, but nothing was open!  Chinatown was the last place we went to, so by the time we went there some things were open.  We ate Dim Sum at a place called Yum Cha Café and it was really good.  After that we walked around in Chinatown and then went back to Little Tokyo.  I liked Little Tokyo better b/c it was a lot cleaner and was better organized.  Plus they were having a Children’s Day festival and they had a lot of cool shops (with CDs and fashionable clothes and anime).

Later we just drove around hitting all the famous places in LA.  We went down Rodeo Drive and Hollywood Blvd, and we drove through Beverly Hills.  Later we decided to go back to the Avalon to get some pictures of the outside (something we didn’t do the day before).  Eventually we wandered back to the hotel and I crashed.  XD  I was so tired!

My first full nights sleep in three days. Feels soooo good.  (7:00 AM Sunday)

I say three days because the night before the AP test I didn’t get much sleep either!  But I feel a lot better now.  Except I’m SO SORE!!!!!  My calves hurt from jumping so much, my toes hurt from jumping in my converse, my neck hurts from head banging, and my throat hurts from screaming!  XD  BUT IT WAS SO WORTH IT AND I’D DO IT ALL OVER AGAIN!!!  My mom and I left LA at 12:00PM (Cali time) and got home at 5:30 (our time).  Lolz, and we met a really friendly Filipino lady on the plane!

*happy sigh*  Best weekend ever.  >w<  And Kaitlin and I are going to wear our tour shirts to school tomorrow!  It’s sad that not everyone will feel this same highness that I do, but still.  I’m sooooo happy right now!  And I can’t listen to Miyavi’s music without spazzing anymore.  Just listening to his voice takes me back that that moment when he first appeared on stage!!!!