Why, hello there! You're in the 2nd installment of my Hanson Hangover series. If you've missed the first one, be a doll and click here to read the first part. I tell you, it's sick (but fun)!
March 31, 2012
10:00 AM
There we were at the Mactan Cebu International Airport, waiting for Hanson to finally arrive. We were informed by the promoters (whom we have gotten relatively "close" with due to the full-force Street Teaming activities we had successfully carried out) that the boys' flight was delayed. Instead of arriving at 10:20 AM, they were rescheduled to land in Cebu at approximately 11:15 AM. We waited patiently. The pick-up trucks that carried the drum and bugle corps (for the motorcade around Cebu) were ready and waiting at the parking lot, and we were anxiously and patiently lurking around the domestic arrival gates. During that span of time, we had already made friends with the guards, airport personnel, and some of the Waterfront Hotel staff that were tasked to bring Hanson from the airport to the hotel. During that time as well, we met several other Hanson fans who were waiting for them to arrive. The group at the hotel were also ready to meet the band. I was growing impatient, but I had to wait. After all, I waited 15 years. I could wait some minutes more. (A lot of the word wait huh?)
Only in Cebu, haha! Balloon colors were inspired by the Shout It Out theme.
Then it happened. Chezsa was waving at us, signaling that they finally arrived. I felt giddy and ran toward the arrival area. I promised myself I wouldn't scream or faint or just plain die when they came out.
Then this came into sight:
I was dying when I took this photo.
All my senses left me, and I felt my eleven-year-old self take over. I was screaming and dying at the same time. How hard can that be? It was one of the most amazing emotions I have ever felt in all my natural human life. Taylor was all smiles and took photos of us. I'm sure I looked like a dork in all of them.
I was already in pure shock when Taylor came out. You could only imagine how I felt when I saw this:
Zachary in all his bouncing-hair glory! By this time, I was really dead. It's my ghost who took the photo.
I failed to take photos of Ike at the airport because, as I have said, I was already dead. My hands were shaking, and no decent photos followed afterwards. My mind was blank, and all I remember after that moment was Mel calling me to get into the vehicle we rented so we could follow the motorcade. Of course, we had a slot at the convoy, so we had to go. All the while, I was screaming and crying and heaven knows what else I was doing. The driver had to rub his ears a couple of times and complained about him getting damaged eardrums.
We followed the convoy, and while we were driving through and passing the van they were in (we had to go ahead so we could greet them at the hotel), Taylor snapped photos of us with his Leica. It was amazing. Look how cute he is:
Yeah, that's us on the reflection. That's my friend Irene's forehead you see. And that's me in the front seat, taking a photo of Tay, who in turn was taking a photo of us.
So then we had to move quick and went past them so we could arrive at the hotel before they did. We had the driver break all traffic rules just so our goal could be met.
Waterfront Hotel and Casino
~12:00 NN
We did it. The Cebu Team arrived just in the nick of time. As we took the corner along Salinas Drive and Archbishop Reyes Ext, we heard the drum and bugle corps and knew that they were already near. We rushed and arrived the the hotel a couple of minutes before they did. When I got off the vehicle, I ran right toward the entrance and found that nobody was there. THEY WERE ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE LOBBY, the wrong side! I had to run a couple of meters just so I could signal at least one of them that they were coming through the other entrance. I saw Marianne and told her to tell everyone else to go to the other side. What happened afterwards was like a stampede. People were running. The guards could only look, and I even heard one of them say, "Abi nako'g naa's sunog." (I thought there's a fire going on.)
I was eagerly waiting among the other girls in the small crowd, together with the hotel staff. My camera was ready as always, and my tears had stopped falling down my face. I was all shaky still though.
I strongly believe that Isaac was smiling at me. Seriously.
Hanson---in the flesh. At such a close proximity (redundant?) My ghost was happy while tagging along my already dead physical self. They went into the hotel, and we started singing a verse from "A Minute without You," but that failed. There was more screaming than singing. Girls started running down the hall, following Hanson and attempting to shake their hands. My ghost was tagging right behind, from afar. I could not bring myself to be all over them. I was too dead for that.
Photos my ghost took:
Zac, smiling like an angel while waiting for his brothers.
Taylor with his Indiana Jones hat and of course, Leica. Ike looking sizzling right thurrr!
Isaac looking gooooooood in person. And yes, Pauline's hair. Haha!
That's my friend Marianne, holding the tarp we had made and sporting a priceless look on her face.
We went back to our rooms after they "disappeared" into the back entrance of Cafe Uno. For a while there, we were tempted to eat at Cafe Uno, but my wallet was already crying from all the expenses of this escapade, so yeah, we passed.
SM City Cebu - North Wing Atrium
~2:30 PM
After resting for a couple of minutes, Marianne, Dianne, and I decided to head off to SM; but we had to go back to Marianne's house to pick something up. Meanwhile, the other girls were at the hotel lobby, still stalking Hanson while they were eating. On the way to SM, we went to a dimsum drive-thru just to fill our tummies. I had felt a pounding pain in my head and realized that I had neither slept nor eaten. But the drive-thru food was useless. I could not seem to swallow the food I was eating---too much excitement?
We arrived at SM and had a hard time looking for a parking space. Good thing Marianne is such a pro and found us a great spot. As soon as I jumped off Marianne's vehicle, I saw a black van pull up. IT WAS THEM! Oh the heavens must really love me so much! How coincidental. The three of us then waited at the stairs of the mall entrance so we could take photos of them when they got off the van.
T
T
Taylor on his way to the SM North Wing entrance
My batt died on me, and I had to change batteries while I was running toward the North Atrium. How MacGyver is that?!
At this point, I was exhausted and hungry, yet still full of excitement. I can't even write anymore because my brain just froze. This happens every time I think about them. So here you go, photos!
Hanson Meet & Greet - Cebu City
Old Man Badass wiping the microphone, and Zac not paying attention---as usual.
Zac is soooo cute and cuddly!
Flashing his wedding ring again. X_x
Why do you have to have the most beautiful smile ever?! DEMMET!
Looking good, Old Man Badass!
We waited in line to get our shhht signed. Pauline had me take a photo of her and Taylor, but then again, my hands were all shaky and stuff, so the pic wasn't very decent.
Here's a photo of Tay signing autographs:
He's sweating, and his ears are red. It's hot in the Philippines, ain't it, Tay?
CD Signing Convos
Me: Hi Tay! This is the happiest day of my life!
(*facepalm* DORK! DORK! DORK! Epic dorkness amplified a million times!)
Taylor: Oh, wow! That's great to hear!
Me: I've waited for 15 years!
(WTF?! HE DOESN'T CARE!)
Taylor: I am so glad you waited that long. I am so sorry.
(What da hell you sorry for, Taylor? It was a wonderful 15 years! Haha!)
Isaac: HIIIIII!
(Oh my, what a big mouth you have, Ike!)
Me: Hi Ike! You're looking pretty good.
Isaac: You're looking pretty good yourself.
(Not even looking at me, Ike! You liar! Haha!)
Me: Among the three, I should say you're the hottest!
(*facepalm* episode 2. DEMMET, Lean! Can't you say anything sensible?!)
Ike (laughs and fixes hair): Why, thank you!
Zac: Oh hello there!
Me: Hi Zac!
(It took me a couple of seconds to say that. Really.)
Me: When I was eleven, I never wore any other color aside from yellow and blue because those were your favorite colors, right?
(DORK QUEEN LEVEL ACHIEVED.)
Zac (just smiling and looking at me). I can see the thought bubbles with "What a freak!" written all over it.
Me: I LOVE YOU.
(I wanted to just melt away and be gone forever. WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?! Oh shit. I promised myself I would never do anything ridiculous, but apparently, I have been doing everything ridiculously. STUPID.)
Zac: Aww, thank you. Will I be seeing you tonight at the concert?
Me: You bet! I got VIP tickets!
And then that lady had to pull me away. So much for my Zac moment. :(
So after all the stupidity I staged at SM, I finally decided I really needed to get some rest. My friends and I went back to the hotel and I took a nice warm bath in hopes of getting all that dorkiness off my body. Well, a bath didn't help at all.
