"NIGHT OF THE WHITE SHADOW"
6.12.2011
Kit, Georgie and I wandered up to Hammerstein at around 8:30am thinking we'd check out where we had to go and we were surprised to find some die-hard Echelon already in line that had been there since 7! That's what I call dedication! We had breakfast at a nearby diner then headed to a wig store just around the corner to rummage for white hair to adorn ourselves with. It was then time to go home and get ready.
I had luckily planned on rocking an all-white outfit regardless of any official theme so was suitably ready for the white night theme that had been announced a mere 12 hours earlier. I threw on my gear, grabbed my stuff and headed out the door.
We got in line at Hammerstein, already freezing… the light rain just enough to make us uncomfortable at around lunch time and stood around mingling with the others in wait. A saviour brought us trash bags to put over our heads, with Georgie turning hers into a makeshift raincoat. Then the wait began. As 4pm rolled around, our line divided and we were about 30th in line in the Golden Ticket queue. When we were finally let in through bag check and check-in with the fabulous Sarah, we headed downstairs to the Meet & Greet room where we would leave our stuff. We dried off and sorted out our gear, all the while we could hear Jared upstairs doing sound check. Silence fell over the room as he sang, almost everyone captivated by the voice emanating from above.
After a quick hello and introduction, Sarah led us upstairs to the ballroom. Kit, Georgie and I had planned to aim for the corner join of the stage and Jared's catwalk, but when everyone headed straight for that spot too, I called the girls and headed right for the front, centre at the end of his catwalk. I had been in that spot in Hong Kong and I knew the view would be unrestricted, but I was a little disappointed remembering how little Jared ventured out to the end of it in Hong Kong. We tied my banners (Moves like Jared / Thankyou) to the barrier and awaited the GA crowd to come in.
Once everyone was in and settled the lights went down and Skylar Gray performed. She was actually really great, a song she sang with Marilyn Manson capturing me instantly. After a short intermission the lights went down and the crowd erupted. It was time to Escape.
As always, the haunting drumming of Escape began and through the darkness Shannon appeared upon his drum kit, followed by Tomo to the left until Jared's voice resinated throughout the room, yet with no sign of Jared to be seen. As the song approached the goosebump-enducing "THIS IS WAR" cry, a light rose in front of the massive Triad perched on stage and out of nowhere, Jared, donned from head to toe in white, appeared in front of the symbol of Mars. In a united roar, we threw our arms up and screamed. THIS. IS. WAR.
A Beautiful Lie was the first song played, as it had been at every show I’d been to previously. It was followed straight after with Jared leading us in a chant. “This is War. This is War.” We screamed repeatedly as the band broke into the song. As the song hit the last chorus, out came the big red MARS balls, today accompanied by a bunch of others that looked like they’d been stolen from a pool party. These things were EVERYWHERE and I lost count of how many times I got hit by them. Jared broke into 100 Suns, bathed in the spotlight and then one of my favourite tracks started up; Search & Destroy. “Jump, Jump, Jump!” Jared ordered, the crowd obeying before joining Jared in singing “A million little pieces.” As the intoxicating start of ‘Vox Populi’ began, I was pleased it had made it onto tonight’s set list as it wasn’t on the past two shows I’d seen. As Tomo marched to the beat, his guitar held up symbolically, Jared suddenly ran down his catwalk, shining his spotlight in our eyes now singing. Night of the Hunter was up next, with the accompaniment of a bunch of inflatable lobsters.
At the end of the song the band left the stage, with Shannon them emerging through the darkness and running a tool around a huge bowl upon a wheeled cart, creating an eerie hum. As he tapped the side of the bowl and pushed the cart away Tomo was now playing his guitar, eyes closed, drenched in a beautiful blue glow. The whole room looked like the ocean. Shannon came back out to the stage, with guitar in hand and joined Tomo, now playing the beautiful melody that is L490.
When the boys had finished, Jared re-appeared at a platform toward the back of the crowd where he performed Alibi acoustically followed by Was It A Dream and finally; The Kill.
He made his way back to the stage and the band treated us to a full-band rendition of From Yesterday. It took me right back to my memories of the Taipei show and I grinned to myself stupidly. The song ended and Jared warned us it was going to get crazy. “That can only mean one thing” I thought to myself. Surely enough, Closer To The Edge was played next and it was incredible. We jumped and fist-pumped the air like it was the last time we’d ever get to do it. The MARSfetti sprayed all over the front of the crowd, raining down on us like snow. Jared, now right in front of us, stood there with a determined look on his face as the MARSfetti fell down around him and he led us in the final “No, No, No, No’s” of the song. “I love you guys so much” he said as he ran off stage.
Something different tonight was that usually this is where Kings and Queens starts, but today Jared walked out onto stage with his guitar alone and sang an acoustic version of Hurricane. I’m guessing maybe he was supposed to play it in his acoustic set but had forgotten so was making up for it now.
As the song was coming to an end, I noticed Steev (Mars' manager) walking around the gap between the stage and the barrier. He walked straight to where we were standing and pointed directly at me. At this point my heart jumped out of my chest. "You" he said. He then proceeded to point to Kit and Georgie beside me, and then waved his finger back across the three of us before turning and signalling security over to us. "Get them on stage." he said. Kit jacked me up over the barrier and a security guard pulled me the rest of the way. I was the first of the three of us to clear the barrier and I now headed down between it and the stage, the Echelon high-fiving me as I made my way to the side of the stage where I was told to wait. By now I was shaking uncontrollably. I honest to God thought I was being taken on stage to do a show photo with Jared and my Aussie girls and I was ecstatic that I would have such an incredible piece of memorabilia.
When Georgie and Kit finally got to the side of the stage where I was already waiting, I said to them both seriously "You need to hold me" because I was shaking so hard in excitement at doing the photo. It turns out we were actually just the first selected to go on stage for Kings & Queens, with Jared pulling a couple of guys with pomhawks on stage for the show photo while we were waiting on the sidelines. I won’t deny that I was a little disappointed but the let down quickly turned to excitement. I was ecstatic that I'd get to go on stage. The security guard beckoned us up the ramp and onto the stage and there we stood watching as more and more people started joining us. Like always, I had to fight for my life to stay at the front of the group, I've learnt the hard way that this is the one time you have to put your politeness aside. I started off in the centre behind Jared's microphone stand but ended up way over near Tomo but still in the front line of the group. Kit and Georgie ended up getting separated from me but I didn't care, I just wanted to sing, jump and go nuts with whoever was next to me. I grabbed the girl beside me and another Aussie; Tan, who had managed to sneak in behind me and sang my heart out.
It was (of course) an incredible experience, the feeling of the stage moving under your feet with the weight of 100 or so Echelon all jumping on it and the unified chant rising from the crowd in front of you something you simply cannot ignore. We snapped a few group photos as we cleared the stage then headed back downstairs ready for our Meet and Greet with the band.
For what was a bit of a 'trial run' for #MARS300 and the #VyRT, one thing was for sure. Tomorrow's #MARS300 show, which was also being simulcast to thousands of Echelon around the world, was going to be absolutely incredible.
-----
We made our way back to the Meet & Greet room downstairs, grabbing some bottled water and nibblies before finding a spot on the crowded floor to wait for the boys to arrive. Private Meet & Greets happened in this time, but we didn’t mind waiting.
I sorted through all my stuff and dug out the three Triads I had ready to give to the boys, each numbered and named. Jared was to receive number 1; ‘This Is War’, Shannon number 2; ‘MARS300’ and Tomo number 3; ‘Echelon’. I had allocated number 6 to myself and had named it ‘In Defence Of Our Dreams’; a line that summed up my years’ experiences with the band perfectly. I had also kept number 4 aside for charity and number 5; ‘We Are One’ for The Hive, which I handed to the gorgeous Dai the following day.
This was by far the biggest M&G I’d been to… I’m pretty sure there were close to 200 people, but I barely noticed, loving being around the Echelon and meeting new people.
When the boys finally arrived, they walked into the centre of the room and said Hello before breaking up and starting to make their way around to greet everyone. Shannon was the first to arrive to us. I juggled the Triads around in my hands and pulled his out, handing it over to him. “This is for you” I said to him. He looked at it then up at me. “You made this?” he asked. “Yeah” I smiled back. He looked back at the Triad and then to his ’assistant’ who was travelling around beside him. “That’s REALLY fucking awesome” he said. I was really happy that he had appreciated it as much as he did. I also handed him a list of the 50 Triad names and a little flyer I’d made up about the Charity that sales of the Triads would be supporting; The Save the Tiger fund. I held out my #6 Triad and asked if he could sign it which he did. He made another comment about how cool the Triad was before saying Thankyou and moving onto Kit next to me. Shannon’s assistant was still standing in front of me and now asked me if I’d made the Triad, almost a little like he didn’t believe me. “Yep” I replied back happily.
Shannon stopped in front of Kit, now looking at her shirt that I’d designed all the art for. I’m not sure of his exact words but it was something along the lines of “awesome” and “cool”. “Sugar made it for me” Kit told him, pointing back at me. I shrugged and said “Yeah, mine too.” Pointing to my own shirt, then Georgie chipped in from my other side “…and mine!” she said excitedly. Shannon gazed along the shirts “You’ve been busy!” he said. Kit now turned to show Shannon the back of the shirt. It was a disc shape with “SHAN” across the middle and “Shannon Muddafugga Leto” written around it. He held the shirt out and read “Shannon Muddafugga Leto” out loud and grinned. Kit turned back around, Shannon now noticing the huge picture of his face down her side. He pulled at the shirt again “That’s the Antoine photos” he said to his assistant, before reading the huge “SWEAT” wording on Kit’s shoulder. He smiled at Kit and said “It’s really cool” before stepping over to the next person in line. As he did, he stepped back, now noticing another tiny disc on the bottom front corner of her shirt. He ran his fingers over it, looked back at Kit and grinned. “So cool” he said.
I remember his assistant saying something to me at that point, something about “you really made all this stuff?” again, “Yep!” I replied with a smile. “I love designing stuff” I’m pretty sure I said.
Jared was the next to get to us. Again, I fumbled around to make sure I gave him the right Triad. “You probably already have tonnes of these, but I made this for you.” I said as I handed it to him grinning. He said Thankyou as he looked down at it, playing with it for a moment in his hands. “What’s this made of?” he asked. “Wood?” he guessed, still playing with it. I said yes and handed him the little notes that went with it. “I’m selling them and donating some of the profits to charity, all the info’s in there.” I said with a smile as I pulled out my own Triad for him to sign. ”That’s very cool.” He said smiling at me. I have a slight issue whenever I talk to Jared. My brain just shuts off and I go into auto-pilot, so I always have a hard time remembering what we speak about. It got better as the days go on but since tonight was the first time I’d seen the guys in a while, it was in full effect so my memory is a little hazy. I know we chatted about something, I think I may have been more chit chat about the Triads before he continued on, but anyway…
As Tomo approached I started smiling remembering what I had said to him last time I saw him. I knew I had to make a comment about it. “Hey!” I said with a smile as he stopped in front of me. He said Hello. “Last time I saw you in Tahoe I told you that you wouldn’t have to see me again…” I said trailing off, completely amused at myself. “Oh I knew THAT was bullshit!” he immediately quipped back at me grinning. I laughed loudly at his response. “So this is for you…” I said as I held out his Triad. He took it and said Thankyou and I held out my Triad for him to sign. I handed him the same Triad list and flyer and he said he would read it later. “You better” I said back cheekily. He shot me a look and said “You know I will…” and I believed him. I literally think I was smiling the whole time Tomo was in front of me, he always makes me laugh! :P
I organized my stuff as the boys continued around the rest of the room and we got ourselves ready for our photo. Kit and I decided to do our photo together so we could do a crazy one and a normal one.
As we got to the front of the line and we handed our bags to the girls to hold for us, as I walked forward toward the guys I heard “IT’S THE AUSSIES!” I looked over at Tomo and grinned stupidly at him, loving the fact that he’d said that. I headed straight towards Tomo and as I did, Shannon went to pull me into him but before I realized, I’d already turned into Tomo to hug him. [I seriously adore this guy!] I moved back, leaving my arm around Tomo and now wrapping my other arm around Shannon as Kit moved into position.
Our plan was to tickle Shannon so he was laughing in our photo but apparently he’s not ticklish. He didn’t even flinch as we both ticked his sides! “Crazy faces boys!” Kit said before the camera went off. I pulled my best OMG face as the flash went off.
Kit looked at Shannon and said “You’re not ticklish!” and as we started moving positions, Tomo said “Oh, don’t even try!” possibly suggesting that Shannon doesn't like being tickled. OOPS! lol
We jumped out of our places to switch positions and I slotted myself in between Jared and Shannon. As I put my arm behind Jared, he bent forward, looking toward my shirt as he noticed the design on it, but before he could take a decent look, I had already started turning into him and now had both of my arms wrapped around him. Shannon, once again went to put his arm around me and I had turned away. “Ahhh… Oh.” Kit informs me Shan said when I basically unintentionally rejected him for a second time. With both of my arms around Jared, he put his arm around me and I rested my head against him and looked forward. I actually don’t remember looking at the camera for this photo at all… all I remember were the on-lookers letting out a huge “awww”. I had no idea why and still don’t really. Maybe because I was grinning like crazy and looked somewhat like a little kid wearing that white wig? The flash went off and I reluctantly let go, said Thankyou and walked off, grabbing my bags from the girls. “See you tomorrow” I said as I walked away.
We headed outside and I said Goodbye to some of the Echelon who were still outside before heading back to our apartment. We ended up staying up until about 4am… looking through photos, videos and re-living the night in anticipation of doing it all again tomorrow.
I had luckily planned on rocking an all-white outfit regardless of any official theme so was suitably ready for the white night theme that had been announced a mere 12 hours earlier. I threw on my gear, grabbed my stuff and headed out the door.
We got in line at Hammerstein, already freezing… the light rain just enough to make us uncomfortable at around lunch time and stood around mingling with the others in wait. A saviour brought us trash bags to put over our heads, with Georgie turning hers into a makeshift raincoat. Then the wait began. As 4pm rolled around, our line divided and we were about 30th in line in the Golden Ticket queue. When we were finally let in through bag check and check-in with the fabulous Sarah, we headed downstairs to the Meet & Greet room where we would leave our stuff. We dried off and sorted out our gear, all the while we could hear Jared upstairs doing sound check. Silence fell over the room as he sang, almost everyone captivated by the voice emanating from above.
After a quick hello and introduction, Sarah led us upstairs to the ballroom. Kit, Georgie and I had planned to aim for the corner join of the stage and Jared's catwalk, but when everyone headed straight for that spot too, I called the girls and headed right for the front, centre at the end of his catwalk. I had been in that spot in Hong Kong and I knew the view would be unrestricted, but I was a little disappointed remembering how little Jared ventured out to the end of it in Hong Kong. We tied my banners (Moves like Jared / Thankyou) to the barrier and awaited the GA crowd to come in.
Once everyone was in and settled the lights went down and Skylar Gray performed. She was actually really great, a song she sang with Marilyn Manson capturing me instantly. After a short intermission the lights went down and the crowd erupted. It was time to Escape.
As always, the haunting drumming of Escape began and through the darkness Shannon appeared upon his drum kit, followed by Tomo to the left until Jared's voice resinated throughout the room, yet with no sign of Jared to be seen. As the song approached the goosebump-enducing "THIS IS WAR" cry, a light rose in front of the massive Triad perched on stage and out of nowhere, Jared, donned from head to toe in white, appeared in front of the symbol of Mars. In a united roar, we threw our arms up and screamed. THIS. IS. WAR.
A Beautiful Lie was the first song played, as it had been at every show I’d been to previously. It was followed straight after with Jared leading us in a chant. “This is War. This is War.” We screamed repeatedly as the band broke into the song. As the song hit the last chorus, out came the big red MARS balls, today accompanied by a bunch of others that looked like they’d been stolen from a pool party. These things were EVERYWHERE and I lost count of how many times I got hit by them. Jared broke into 100 Suns, bathed in the spotlight and then one of my favourite tracks started up; Search & Destroy. “Jump, Jump, Jump!” Jared ordered, the crowd obeying before joining Jared in singing “A million little pieces.” As the intoxicating start of ‘Vox Populi’ began, I was pleased it had made it onto tonight’s set list as it wasn’t on the past two shows I’d seen. As Tomo marched to the beat, his guitar held up symbolically, Jared suddenly ran down his catwalk, shining his spotlight in our eyes now singing. Night of the Hunter was up next, with the accompaniment of a bunch of inflatable lobsters.
At the end of the song the band left the stage, with Shannon them emerging through the darkness and running a tool around a huge bowl upon a wheeled cart, creating an eerie hum. As he tapped the side of the bowl and pushed the cart away Tomo was now playing his guitar, eyes closed, drenched in a beautiful blue glow. The whole room looked like the ocean. Shannon came back out to the stage, with guitar in hand and joined Tomo, now playing the beautiful melody that is L490.
When the boys had finished, Jared re-appeared at a platform toward the back of the crowd where he performed Alibi acoustically followed by Was It A Dream and finally; The Kill.
He made his way back to the stage and the band treated us to a full-band rendition of From Yesterday. It took me right back to my memories of the Taipei show and I grinned to myself stupidly. The song ended and Jared warned us it was going to get crazy. “That can only mean one thing” I thought to myself. Surely enough, Closer To The Edge was played next and it was incredible. We jumped and fist-pumped the air like it was the last time we’d ever get to do it. The MARSfetti sprayed all over the front of the crowd, raining down on us like snow. Jared, now right in front of us, stood there with a determined look on his face as the MARSfetti fell down around him and he led us in the final “No, No, No, No’s” of the song. “I love you guys so much” he said as he ran off stage.
Something different tonight was that usually this is where Kings and Queens starts, but today Jared walked out onto stage with his guitar alone and sang an acoustic version of Hurricane. I’m guessing maybe he was supposed to play it in his acoustic set but had forgotten so was making up for it now.
As the song was coming to an end, I noticed Steev (Mars' manager) walking around the gap between the stage and the barrier. He walked straight to where we were standing and pointed directly at me. At this point my heart jumped out of my chest. "You" he said. He then proceeded to point to Kit and Georgie beside me, and then waved his finger back across the three of us before turning and signalling security over to us. "Get them on stage." he said. Kit jacked me up over the barrier and a security guard pulled me the rest of the way. I was the first of the three of us to clear the barrier and I now headed down between it and the stage, the Echelon high-fiving me as I made my way to the side of the stage where I was told to wait. By now I was shaking uncontrollably. I honest to God thought I was being taken on stage to do a show photo with Jared and my Aussie girls and I was ecstatic that I would have such an incredible piece of memorabilia.
When Georgie and Kit finally got to the side of the stage where I was already waiting, I said to them both seriously "You need to hold me" because I was shaking so hard in excitement at doing the photo. It turns out we were actually just the first selected to go on stage for Kings & Queens, with Jared pulling a couple of guys with pomhawks on stage for the show photo while we were waiting on the sidelines. I won’t deny that I was a little disappointed but the let down quickly turned to excitement. I was ecstatic that I'd get to go on stage. The security guard beckoned us up the ramp and onto the stage and there we stood watching as more and more people started joining us. Like always, I had to fight for my life to stay at the front of the group, I've learnt the hard way that this is the one time you have to put your politeness aside. I started off in the centre behind Jared's microphone stand but ended up way over near Tomo but still in the front line of the group. Kit and Georgie ended up getting separated from me but I didn't care, I just wanted to sing, jump and go nuts with whoever was next to me. I grabbed the girl beside me and another Aussie; Tan, who had managed to sneak in behind me and sang my heart out.
It was (of course) an incredible experience, the feeling of the stage moving under your feet with the weight of 100 or so Echelon all jumping on it and the unified chant rising from the crowd in front of you something you simply cannot ignore. We snapped a few group photos as we cleared the stage then headed back downstairs ready for our Meet and Greet with the band.
For what was a bit of a 'trial run' for #MARS300 and the #VyRT, one thing was for sure. Tomorrow's #MARS300 show, which was also being simulcast to thousands of Echelon around the world, was going to be absolutely incredible.
-----
We made our way back to the Meet & Greet room downstairs, grabbing some bottled water and nibblies before finding a spot on the crowded floor to wait for the boys to arrive. Private Meet & Greets happened in this time, but we didn’t mind waiting.
I sorted through all my stuff and dug out the three Triads I had ready to give to the boys, each numbered and named. Jared was to receive number 1; ‘This Is War’, Shannon number 2; ‘MARS300’ and Tomo number 3; ‘Echelon’. I had allocated number 6 to myself and had named it ‘In Defence Of Our Dreams’; a line that summed up my years’ experiences with the band perfectly. I had also kept number 4 aside for charity and number 5; ‘We Are One’ for The Hive, which I handed to the gorgeous Dai the following day.
This was by far the biggest M&G I’d been to… I’m pretty sure there were close to 200 people, but I barely noticed, loving being around the Echelon and meeting new people.
When the boys finally arrived, they walked into the centre of the room and said Hello before breaking up and starting to make their way around to greet everyone. Shannon was the first to arrive to us. I juggled the Triads around in my hands and pulled his out, handing it over to him. “This is for you” I said to him. He looked at it then up at me. “You made this?” he asked. “Yeah” I smiled back. He looked back at the Triad and then to his ’assistant’ who was travelling around beside him. “That’s REALLY fucking awesome” he said. I was really happy that he had appreciated it as much as he did. I also handed him a list of the 50 Triad names and a little flyer I’d made up about the Charity that sales of the Triads would be supporting; The Save the Tiger fund. I held out my #6 Triad and asked if he could sign it which he did. He made another comment about how cool the Triad was before saying Thankyou and moving onto Kit next to me. Shannon’s assistant was still standing in front of me and now asked me if I’d made the Triad, almost a little like he didn’t believe me. “Yep” I replied back happily.
Shannon stopped in front of Kit, now looking at her shirt that I’d designed all the art for. I’m not sure of his exact words but it was something along the lines of “awesome” and “cool”. “Sugar made it for me” Kit told him, pointing back at me. I shrugged and said “Yeah, mine too.” Pointing to my own shirt, then Georgie chipped in from my other side “…and mine!” she said excitedly. Shannon gazed along the shirts “You’ve been busy!” he said. Kit now turned to show Shannon the back of the shirt. It was a disc shape with “SHAN” across the middle and “Shannon Muddafugga Leto” written around it. He held the shirt out and read “Shannon Muddafugga Leto” out loud and grinned. Kit turned back around, Shannon now noticing the huge picture of his face down her side. He pulled at the shirt again “That’s the Antoine photos” he said to his assistant, before reading the huge “SWEAT” wording on Kit’s shoulder. He smiled at Kit and said “It’s really cool” before stepping over to the next person in line. As he did, he stepped back, now noticing another tiny disc on the bottom front corner of her shirt. He ran his fingers over it, looked back at Kit and grinned. “So cool” he said.
I remember his assistant saying something to me at that point, something about “you really made all this stuff?” again, “Yep!” I replied with a smile. “I love designing stuff” I’m pretty sure I said.
Jared was the next to get to us. Again, I fumbled around to make sure I gave him the right Triad. “You probably already have tonnes of these, but I made this for you.” I said as I handed it to him grinning. He said Thankyou as he looked down at it, playing with it for a moment in his hands. “What’s this made of?” he asked. “Wood?” he guessed, still playing with it. I said yes and handed him the little notes that went with it. “I’m selling them and donating some of the profits to charity, all the info’s in there.” I said with a smile as I pulled out my own Triad for him to sign. ”That’s very cool.” He said smiling at me. I have a slight issue whenever I talk to Jared. My brain just shuts off and I go into auto-pilot, so I always have a hard time remembering what we speak about. It got better as the days go on but since tonight was the first time I’d seen the guys in a while, it was in full effect so my memory is a little hazy. I know we chatted about something, I think I may have been more chit chat about the Triads before he continued on, but anyway…
As Tomo approached I started smiling remembering what I had said to him last time I saw him. I knew I had to make a comment about it. “Hey!” I said with a smile as he stopped in front of me. He said Hello. “Last time I saw you in Tahoe I told you that you wouldn’t have to see me again…” I said trailing off, completely amused at myself. “Oh I knew THAT was bullshit!” he immediately quipped back at me grinning. I laughed loudly at his response. “So this is for you…” I said as I held out his Triad. He took it and said Thankyou and I held out my Triad for him to sign. I handed him the same Triad list and flyer and he said he would read it later. “You better” I said back cheekily. He shot me a look and said “You know I will…” and I believed him. I literally think I was smiling the whole time Tomo was in front of me, he always makes me laugh! :P
I organized my stuff as the boys continued around the rest of the room and we got ourselves ready for our photo. Kit and I decided to do our photo together so we could do a crazy one and a normal one.
As we got to the front of the line and we handed our bags to the girls to hold for us, as I walked forward toward the guys I heard “IT’S THE AUSSIES!” I looked over at Tomo and grinned stupidly at him, loving the fact that he’d said that. I headed straight towards Tomo and as I did, Shannon went to pull me into him but before I realized, I’d already turned into Tomo to hug him. [I seriously adore this guy!] I moved back, leaving my arm around Tomo and now wrapping my other arm around Shannon as Kit moved into position.
Our plan was to tickle Shannon so he was laughing in our photo but apparently he’s not ticklish. He didn’t even flinch as we both ticked his sides! “Crazy faces boys!” Kit said before the camera went off. I pulled my best OMG face as the flash went off.
Kit looked at Shannon and said “You’re not ticklish!” and as we started moving positions, Tomo said “Oh, don’t even try!” possibly suggesting that Shannon doesn't like being tickled. OOPS! lol
We jumped out of our places to switch positions and I slotted myself in between Jared and Shannon. As I put my arm behind Jared, he bent forward, looking toward my shirt as he noticed the design on it, but before he could take a decent look, I had already started turning into him and now had both of my arms wrapped around him. Shannon, once again went to put his arm around me and I had turned away. “Ahhh… Oh.” Kit informs me Shan said when I basically unintentionally rejected him for a second time. With both of my arms around Jared, he put his arm around me and I rested my head against him and looked forward. I actually don’t remember looking at the camera for this photo at all… all I remember were the on-lookers letting out a huge “awww”. I had no idea why and still don’t really. Maybe because I was grinning like crazy and looked somewhat like a little kid wearing that white wig? The flash went off and I reluctantly let go, said Thankyou and walked off, grabbing my bags from the girls. “See you tomorrow” I said as I walked away.
We headed outside and I said Goodbye to some of the Echelon who were still outside before heading back to our apartment. We ended up staying up until about 4am… looking through photos, videos and re-living the night in anticipation of doing it all again tomorrow.