Wow guys...Anime Expo this year was great. If you haven't talked to me about it you should. XD I'm gonna try and do this in order...but first I wan to explain what S.K.I.N. is:

The band, S.K.I.N., consists of 5 members: Gackt from Malice Mizer, Yoshiki from X Japan, Sugizo from Luna Sea, Miyavi from Due la quartz, and Ju-ken from Gackt's band. United, they want to make a new revolution in music. With Gackt on vocals, Yoshiki on drums, Sugizo and Miyavi on electric guitar, and Ju-ken as bassist, they can change the outlook on foreign music...

Okey dokey, despite geting only 6 hour sleep over a period of 2 days because of stress and excitement, I still managed to get up at 3:30 a.m. on June 29 to get ready for the expo. This was the day that I would see Gackt, my favorite japanese singer, LIVE. Gackt, Yoshiki, Sugizo, Miyavi, and surprisingly Ju-ken are in a newly formed band called S.K.I.N., and were having their debut at Anime Expo 2007 this year. I'm really excited because I have been a hard fan of Gackt for about 4 years now, and it has been a huge dream of mine to finally see him live one day. XD It almost makes me cry just tryping this because this was one of the greatest days of my entire life...

I get picked up by my friend Josh and we're on our way there. We made it to AX after about an hour and a half on the road. We get in the line, which was pretty long, and we're waiting for it to move cause they SHOULD HAVE opened up the ticket booth thingy at 8. So, we're waiting there, and I'm looking around for hot/awesome-looking cosplayers cause I wanted to take pictures. We see a lot of Naruto characters, some Kingdom Hearts, and a few Fullmetal Alchemist. But...I'm looking around, and I see this amazing, sexy, super hot Kakashi Sensei just come walking near the line. I'm like OMG OMG OMG Josh friggin' look at the Kakashi Sensei!!!! I'm like hitting him on the arm and telling him to look and he said the guy looked really awesome. All I'm doing is standing there and almost drooling cause he was so sexy and Kakashi Sensei is my favorite character in Naruto. He even had the Romance Novel and everything!!!! XDXD Josh noticed that I was staring at him so friggin much he was telling me to ask to take a picture with him and all I could do was stand there and marvel at his greatness...*shiver* man he was hot...Anyways, I did see a really awesome Dark Sora from Kingdom Hearts 2 and I couldn't even take a picture of that cause I was too lost in the greatness of the cosplaying...>.< (Ok, just to let you guys know, out of this whole experience, I was not able to take even ONE picture...not even ONE, cause I was just too stunned in this whole thing...) The time we had to wait in line was unbelievable, due to the lack of preparation of Anime Expo.

I'm gonna skip right to the concert part, cause nothing TOO exciting happened. I had bough a premier ticket online assuring me that I would be close enough to the stage to actually enjoy myself in a 6,000 seated arena. I'm in there and I'm 22 rows back. That wasn't too bad, I knew at least I would be able to see their faces clearly, and they had HUGE screens set up cause of all the cameras. I was happy just to be inside cause I had been wearing boots to the Expo and my feet were KILLING me. I had some really nice people around me and we had talked about Gackt and all the people in the band. One thing we were talking about is when Yoshiki plays piano, cause he's so beautiful when he plays it. Then we were talking about when Gackt plays piano, and how aweosme he is at it. Then we were making jokes about "What if they do a duet together!?" I had a lot of fun talking to those people. Everything was starting to heat up cause people wanted it to get started. We had been waiting outside for an extra two and a half hours cause of AX, and people were starting to get tired of waiting.

When their opening video FINALLY came on, people were screaming and yelling and jumping up and down. I was sreaming as well of course. After that, there was a sheet that fell down off of the stage and then: there they were. I almost started crying becuase I couldn't believe that Gackt was right here, in front of my eyes, about to sing songs with his beautiful and sexy voice. Of course I was excited about the other band members as well, cause Yoshiki, Sugizo, and friggin Miyavi were there!! So I was screaming for them as well. But OMG when everyone was screaming for a little bit, Gackt puts the mic up to his lips and yells, "WHAT'S UP!?!?!" And everybody was screaming their heads off. I never though I would ever witness Gackt speaking in english live. It was so amazing, I was jumping up and down and screaming his name and holding back the tears of the moment. Then he says, "Are you ready to ROCK!?!?" And there was more sceaming. Then they start the first song.

Wow, the screens and the background and the music were awesome! XD This is when I also niticed that Ju-ken was on the stage with them, playing the bass. I know about him cause he was in Gackt's band when he wasn't in Malice Mizer. Ju-ken was amazing. XD Man, it was so wonderful watching some of the most famous japanese musicians playing all together on one stage. During the song Gackt was yelling, "SHOUT! SHOUT! SHOUT! SHOUT!" and then we woul repeat it. After the first song they did kind of a slow one, and Gackt was saying some stuff in english before he started singing. I couldn't hear too much cause of how loud everyone was, but I did pick out, "You know...being in love...is sometimes a hard thing..." And everyone was screaming. OMG I was still amazed that I was hearing Gackt speak in english!!! The backgounds were going and I was enjoying the song and trying to scream and yell for Gackt and Sugizo. The song was so beautiful and just hearing Gackt sing made me want to cry.

Bwa hahaha! This is my blog for my prom. It was really amazing, I'm really glad that I went. Plus, I had some of my coolest friends with me. ^^ I have a ton of pics, so just go through. I might have some captions or something, depending on the pic. But I'm gonna try and do this like a story...

Well, first of all, there was me, Kaori-chan, Raki-chan (Raquel), Jania, and Chase. We took a lot of pics at Jania's house before we got in the limo. Our joke...: "Roooooooyyyyyyyyy".

Then there was the "Myspace" pics...

(That's Apple Cider by the way...)

A good and old friend Chase...

Then there was the limo. We had a pretty cool driver. Too bad I didn't get a pic of him...but we were joking on bending really low to get inside the limo. (Cause of our booties :P)

Inside was really nice :)

We had a lot of fun...

There was this mirror thingy on the roof of the car and I took a really cool pic.

Our crappy "Myspace" star and our friggin foot shot, lol.

Gangstas...

Alrighty, we went to a Japanese restaraunt called Shogun and it was so friggin awesome! XDXDXD Unfortunately I didn't get any pics. But I remember getting there and when we got seated Chase sat next to me. When the cook came he asked if we were getting married...it was so flippin weird...lol! But the food was SO good. I couldn't even eat it all.

Wel, we get to prom and it's as expected...people squealing and hugging me and all of us freakin out cause we're wearing dresses and look pretty. But it was great. I loved seeing my friends. We even took a couple of group pics...11 friggin people, LOL. These next pics are me and some friends that I care for dearly...

Of course...me and Raki-chan! ^^

The beautiful Donica...

Me and ma Fiyah Fizz! Yae YAE!! We were out there raving and everything. (yes, I brang my friggin glowsticks! I TOLD YOU!!!) Oh yea, we're the bomb...

The cute little Sarah...

AAHH! Rachel!!! ^^

Miss Danielle...

One of my good and old friends from Esco High, Kate Sontag! I was so happy to see her! ^^

Inside the Hotel was pretty nice. I didn't get too many pics of the inside...

Well, that's pretty much it. I enjoyed myself very much and I'm really glad that I went to my prom. I'm just glad that I'm not in a friggin dress aymore...lol. Thanks for taking time to read or look through this. ^^ And to all, Goodnight!

Ok, I'm really sorry that this is late again, but I needed things. I'm automatically gonna start once we got to The Wiltern, for the sake of time. But don't read this unless you're really bored or you're really interested. Here goes:

So, we have all our crap and we pull up. There are about 50 people in front of us, which is a good number for arriving around 11:30p.m. on the 22nd. We get in line and pretty much right after we sit down a hobo comes up to us and asks for money. We kindly tell him no and whatnot and he goes away...for a little while. lol. Within the period of an hour we get asked, "What are you guys waiting for?" or "Who are you seeing?" about a hundred times. It was really annoying. We even made a sign that said "Dir en grey" so then people would leave us alone.

Waiting in line was much of an experience. We met a lot of people, and they helped us out from time to time. It was me, Ely, Victoria, Raki-chan, and Donica. I had Ely braid my whole head so then I could have headbanding capability. But it also passed about 4 hours of our time. We were freezing our butts off, and Donica and Victoria got mistaken for bums. lol. We all say it was Donica's fault because she was wearing a T-shirt where the collar was torn or cut off. We get such a laugh out of it...

Other than seeing hobos and being mistaken for hobos, there were buses coming about every 5 minutes. Some of the were FULL of people. But there was a different kind of bus set apart from the others, which we called "Hobo-buses". I was on the phone with my mom and the Hobo-bus pulls up. A woman shouting and screaming came of the bus and her pants were falling down. We were so freaked out because she was totally scitsafranic (sp?)....saying stuff like,"You want me to jump off a bridge? I'll jump off a friggin' bridge!! I hate this!! Why is it always me!!!" My mom even asked me what in the world was going on and all I said was,"Mom, there's...people...out here.", and she didn't say anything else.

After Ely was done with my hair I tried going to sleep. We had some asian guys ahead of us and they were messing around most of the night. I had my favorite guy and he had glasses. Victoria said that one of them looked like Gackt, lol. I didn't agree. It was SO freezing!! >.< Around 5 or 6 a.m. on the next day there was a guy (Dan, I think his name was) who asked if we needed another blanket. I was half asleep when he was asking, but I could hear everyone else say, "No, no thank you." to him while I'm freezing my butt off on the concrete. I burst up and I was like, "What in the world is wrong with you guys!? YES, PLEASE, GIVE ME THE BLANKET!!!" He smiled and gave it to me and everyone else was laughing. I curled up in a friggin' ball and I tried going back to sleep. Later on we went to Starbucks (THANK GOD) and got some hot chocolate.

After that, it was mostly talking to more people and having fun in line. But we did have this one joke for the whole time we were in LA...and thats was..."Take off your pants." LOL It's based off a Dane Cook joke I got off a DVD. But we had a lot of fun with that...you can imagine...

Around 3 or 4 we rotated back to the motel and got ready for the concert. The rest was waiting in line for 2 1/2 hours with the wind blowing on the shady side of The Wiltern. I was shivering so bad. I get cold really easily. Dan was really nice because he always gave us blankets and he would let me use his jacket. While it was getting closer and closer to going inside a lot of people were cutting in line. Raki-chan was getting so pissed. (Well, who wouldn't? We have been waiting out in the cold for a whole friggin' night and people are cheating their way to the front!) Even the people behind us were like, "Back of the line! Back of the line!" We got the security guard too, and everyone near us was totally backing us up. Although not ALL of the poop-heads got to the back, while the line moved forward we got in front of them.

I was SO ready for this concert! I'm getting all excited just thinking and typing about it! XD They padded us down and we went inside. I got my THE MARROW OF A BONE album and a T-shirt and gave it to Raki-chan to put in her bag. I go inside the actual theatre and I was a little disappointed cause I thought it would be bigger. There was a lot of confusion about the pit, so it was moving a little slow. But there was a LOT of pushing. (Which was expected) Raquel and Victoria went to the second level, and they were encouraging for me and Ely to go too, but I was like hell no, and I took Ely to the pit with me. I was not gonna throw all that away after waiting so long in the cold to see my favorite band in the whole wide world in concert. Doncia was in there before both of us. But I handed the woman my ticket and got the wristband. (I didn't get to keep my ticket though...:( ) I ran right over to Kaoru's side, and there was only 1 person in front of me. XD I noticed the asian guys next to me too. *smirk* They only let a certain amount of people in so there wasn't really anybody behind me at all. OOOOOh yeah! That made me really happy. I was SO ready!! XDXDXD Ely went to Donica near Kyo's part of the pit. That's where most of the people were at. I wanted to see my Kaoru up close. ^^ I wasn't really nervous at all, I was just anxious. They sent on the first opening band...

The first band was pretty ok. I didn't like them too much. But they were ok. They were called Bleed the Dream. The singer was kinda cool. But my eyes were on the bassist pretty much the whole time. And he was right in front of us. He did so many things with his bass, and I loved it! (bass is my favorite...) He was totally rocking out and eveything! I did a little bit of nodding to the music as well. I enjoyed the bassist, lol. Thats pretty much it. After they were done I yelled out, "You friggin' ROCK, man!!!", and he said thanks. He came down and reached out his pick, which was totally what I wanted from him, but the dude next/front to me got it. >.< I didn't even like him, he didn't NOTHING during the WHOLE concert. NOTHING.

The second band was called Fair to Midland...and they ROCKED!!!! I really liked their type of music, and their guitarist was friggin' awesome!!! He was rockin out and going all over the stage and everything! The singer was pretty sick, too. He did all this shaking and moshing moves and yelling and spilling water. They had a sick piano player too. He had the biggest pants I've ever seen! But they were so awesome! I really enjoyed them!! :D After they were done I was totally screaming for the guitarist and he came down and he touched out hands! I felt so honored to touch his hand! WAH!! XDXD Too bad I didn't get his pick either...But anyways, while we were waiting for Dir en grey I was apologizing to the people around me for what they were gonna get: my braids. My hair is really long, and it hurts. The asian guy next to me was real nice. He was like, "Ah, don't worry. We're all fans here, we all understand." It was cool. Closer and closer...and closer...

They start showing this slide thing of "Dir en grey: INWARD SCREAM Tour 2007" on the screen and everybody was screaming and shouting. The rodeys come out and are tuning the guitars and things like that. Then they finally dim the lights. Everybody is screaming and shouting and OMG it was awesome. Then they start playing G.D.S. One of my favorite songs. (Even though it's the opening song, lol.) Everybody is moving and some jumping and then there was a little pushing. But there was nobody behind me. :P We're all chanting and doing the thing we do, and Shinya walks out first. Then Die, Toshiya, Kaoru, and of course, Kyo. We're all cheering and all that. Kyo says, "Foocha" and its has started.

This is the set list, it's also in order as well. This is it:

G.D.S.
THE FATAL BELIEVER
AGITATED SCREAMS OF MAGGOTS
THE FINAL
Mr.Newsman 
-saku-
GRIEF

Kyo a capella #1 
(Lyrics changed) [itoshisa ha fuhai ni tsuki] 
[kodoku ni shisu yue ni kodoku] 
[ryoujoku no ame]

Kyo a capella #2 
[shokubeni]
Merciless Cult
dead tree
OBSCURE

[kodou]
C
THE III D EMPIRE
CLEVER SLEAZOID

They opened off real good, headbanging mania, and I was loooking at Kaoru cause he was so manly!! XDXD I swear we made eye contact too! I mean, there wasn't really anybody near me that much so I guess it could've been possible! lol. Of course they played some of their new songs and those were fun to song. Especially GRIEF. "Shut up! Shut up!!" Thowing fists in the air and rocking out like crazy. It felt so good to sing AGITATED SCREAMS OF MAGGOTS with them as well. After a couple of songs Kyo did this little a capella thing, and it...was...BEAUTIFUL. Everyone was watching him in awe and I actually almost started crying. He was leaning on his box face down with the mic laying down, and he would lift up his arms and do these beautiful notes with his voice. But the thing is, some 40 year old Toshiya-lover was coming from behind me and saying "Toshiya!! Toshiya!! Throw me a pick!! Thow me a pick!!!" A whole bunch of people were like, "Shut up! SHH!!!" But she still did it anyways. I wanted to sock her in the face. Then there were normal songs for a while. But they did [itoshisa ha fuhai ni tsuki], but the lyrics changed. So everyone enjoyed this new version. I can't remember which song, but Kyo of course did his little mouth cutting and scratching thing. Let's just say that Kyo was really amazing the whole way through. That's it. More songs went by, and Kaoru threw his pick, I friggin' almost caught it! >.< The Toshi-lover was all over the place trying to look for it, and I knew where it went, but I was so dumb not to go get it. I didn't want my spot taken...LOL. Kyo did the a capella thing again and then they surprised me with OBSCURE. I FRIGGIN LOVE THAT SONG. All the headbanging and EVERYTHING!! XDXDXD (I did A LOT of headbanging, just to let you know. Sometimes I would do it so hard that I would almost fall over. But I could feel the asain guy kinda pull me back up with my arm) Kaoru was always coming up near us and doing the little "I'm the King" thing with his arms. He was so SEXAY!!! Toshiya would sometimes come up and just stare at us while playing and he was really hot doing that. Then a little later they surprised me again with [kodou]. This is one of my favorite songs of all time and it was awesome to hear it live. I didn't even think that they would do it! XD It was amazing. I had a blast! When they did THE III D EMPIRE I was jumping all over the place. "Spark and Spark!!!" I know that they ended with CLEVER SLEAZOID and that was pretty sick, but I don't like it for an ending song. But Kaoru was throwing his picks and I really wish that I could've gotten one...He's my favorite...Toshiya was throwing some, and I don't know about Die, cause I don't care about him, really. :P (Sorry if that offended) Actually, I didn't even really see him at all throughout the concert. I only saw him once, and he just happened to be flipping off the crowd at that moment. Die's still cool though. Shinya threw his sticks and then that was pretty much it.

I meet everyone outside and we go to McD's. Then it's back to the motel. We were doing out little fangirl thing where we talk forever about the concert in the room. Raki-chan wanted to go to the Avalon but we didn't think that they would let us because the club was still open and all that. We decided to go in the morning.

We wake up and all that around 6 or 7 and me, Raki-chan, and Victoria go to the Avalon. Ely and Donica would come a little later. We're just sitting there, like usual, and I see some familiar people. We were about 50 peple back, again, but I didn't mind. (I still got a good spot :P) The best thing about the Avalon was that we actually got SUN!!!!! I was nice and warm. But the air was still cold and some wind was blowing.When Ely came she touched up some of my braids, and then we were hanging out and listening to music. We did a lot of similar things like we did at The Wiltern. We switched off to the motel, and things like that. I wore my new Diru shirt, and some pants. I completely looked like a tom-boy, but I'm already one anyways. I though I looked "hardcore." lol. A couple of hours before the show, a "Kaoru-Rodey" came with a video camera and coming down the line. When he got to me I blew a double kiss into it and said,"Kaoru-san, aishiteru!" He smiled and kept on going. I friggin' forgot to say happy birthday to friggin' Shinya, dangit! >.< Oh, well. We're gonna end up doing it inside anyways...We met more people and blah blah blah and we're finally starting to get moving. We see this HUGE bouncer and he kinda freaked us out. But yea, we're going inside now...

We get inside and I go to the pit and we all had to sit down. I was looking around and I notice the asians and people from The Wiltern in front of me again! I was like,"Hey guys what's up?" The asian was like,"OMG It's the braids girl. I can't remember how many times I got hit with those braids of yours." I was laughing and smiling and I apologized once again. But yea, it was all good. I was looking around some more and then I could hear Raki-chan from a little ways off. I look at her and she was trying to tell me something. I was like "What?" and she pointed to herself and the stage and she lipped,"I get to meet the band." I was like OMG!!!! My face lightened up so bad and I was looking at her and I was like,"No WAY!" and she was fan girl smiling and she nodded her head "Yes." I was so friggin happy for her because she bough like 5 CDs to try and get in. I was trying to friggin calm down but I was almost shaking from the excitement. Then they let us stand up and go up close. When I got up I was pushed from behind, and, as a natural reaction, I held out me hands and pushed the asian guy that was in front of me. He fell to the floor and was holding his knee. I was freaking out so I grab his shirt from behind with both hands and I lifted him up saying,"Dude, you CANNOT fall here. GET UP!" The people on both sides of me grabbed his arms and helped me pull him up as well. There was so many people around me. I really didn't mind, but there were some short girls behind me and they were really annoying. But I had a BIG girl in front of me...which kinda sucked. Although I was taller than her, she was still BIG...She was between me and Kaoru, dangit! >.< But anyways, opening bands again...

Bleed the Dream really sucked that night. And the singer's zipper was unzipped the whole time. I still enjoyed the bassist and only the bassist. Nobody was doing anything for them. Maybe a little bit of cheering. The dumb girls behind me tapped my shoulder and was asking me to friggin move up. I had about an inch space in front of me and I was telling them that there was no room. All I heard was complaining and whining. I wanted them to pass out during the concert. They bugged me so much. The girl next to me was cool. Me and her were so close because we didn't want anybody to get past us. She was older than me too, I think. But she had a Lain tatoo on her arm and thats a sick anime.

Fair to Midland was AWESOME that night. Better than The Wiltern. But nobody was doing anything cause they wanted Dir en grey that night only. I was planning to buy the CD after but I new I had no chance at all. I enjoyed the guitars and the singer from the band once again and I was nodding my head to every single song that they did. I REALLY LIKE THEM. I wish I could've gotten their CD. But anyways, somehow I got past the asian next to me and took his spot. (He wasn't even really trying to keep it. He was getting freaked out by all the people near us anyways) The band was done and people were waiting for Diru and all that. It took them longer to set up but that was ok. People were being really rough. They displayed that video-thing again...

Everyone was so excited and screaming and everything. Then Shinya walks out. (They decided not to play G.D.S. cause of how rough the crowd was. I agree cause some people could've passed out or something) Die, Toshiya, Kaoru, and Kyo come out after that. I friggin love Kaoru, he looked just the same as the night before. FLAWLESS. Everybody started pushing against each other and I could feel the air close in around me. I'm glad that all I had to do was lift my head and I could feel the nice air conditioning on me. It was about to begin.

This is the set list, it's in order as well. This is it:

THE FINAL
GRIEF
AGITATED SCREAMS OF MAGGOTS
THE DEEPER VILENESS
Spilled Milk
 -saku-

Kyo a capella #1 
(Lyrics changed) [itoshisa ha fuhai ni tsuki] 
[kodoku ni shisu, yue ni kodoku]
audience KILLER LOOP

Kyo a capella #2
OBSCURE
Merciless Cult 
[ryoujoku no ame]
dead tree

Pink Killer
C
CLEVER SLEAZOID
Beautiful Dirt
THE III D EMPIRE

Man, let me tell ya, they had a lot of surprises for us that day. During one of the songs Kyo was in the middle of singing and then he came towards us, stopped, and just dropped the microphone down and was staring at us with his mouth open!! He looked totally sexy and everyone was cheering for him! XD Kaoru was super Hot, as always, and Toshiya looked stoned, but he looked all manly and sweaty. XD They friggin did audience KILLER LOOP, and that totally rocked the house! People were shoving and all this other stuff. The only thing that bugged me was this other Kaoru fan coming out of nowhere and jumping all over me to try and get in front. Me and the girl next to be were elbowing her and shoving her backwards. I was totally rocking out and headbanging like I never have before. Kyo was doing his a capella thing again and that was wonderful. Everyone was quiet during that too. I saw no sign of the Toshi-lover anywhere near me. lol. At the small middle break we all sang happy birthday to Shinya like 20 times. I didn't sing it too much cause I was getting really tired. It was really awesome. When Shinya came back out he held up his drumsticks like a little "Thank you" for the crowd and then they started playing music again. I loved it when they played Beautiful Dirt. That song is aweosme. My neck was really hurting form headbanging though. But of course that did not stop me from anything. They really got me when they played Pink Killer. I was headbanging so friggin fast that I felt my head go really dizzy. I didn't feel like I was going to pass out though. But I had enough people holding me up. Then they played THE III D EMPIRE like The Wiltern and everyone was all over the friggin place. I was moving around and I didn't care who I was hitting or where I was. I just wanted to rock out like hec! It was so much fun and I had a great time. They did throw picks again and everything, but I didn't get one...again...but Die came oover to our section and was throwing some. His picks look totally awesome! But I was surprised that he came overe there. lol. After the concert was over everyone was looking around for picks on the floor. The big girl infront of my saw one beyone the barrier and asked one of the bouncers to get it for her and she got it. She got Die's pick. She was crying in her friends' arms. I was happy for her. I wish I could've gotten Kaoru's pick...But I went walking and I founf Ely and Victoria. We went outside.

We were waiting and waiting and finally Donica comes out. I was going up to her and we see someone selling Diru shirts. (Of course they were fake) We go up to her and we ask how much and all that jazz. Me and Donica buy one. I only got one because it had the band members on it. But It was a pretty good shirt. Only the back had some crappy Chibi Diru band members on them, but you can peel it off. We were waiting about 30 minutes for Raki-chan and then we see her walk out with a huge smile on her face. We were all so excited for her. Then she handed me an autographed THE MARROW OF A BONE album by Kaoru. I was almost shaking when I grabbed it from her. She gave Victoria one but it was with Die's autograph. I was so happy that I received that. I almost started crying. I wasn't even expecting it, cause I didn't have anything to give to her for him to sign. But she had so many extra CDs that she had them signed. I was so friggin happy. I kept that thing close to me till we got back to the motel. I didn't want anyone to jack it. Raki-chan told us about meeting them and she got all the signatures except Kyo, cause he wasn't there. But yea, I don't feel like saying all of it, you can always go on her myspace or whatever. But yea, while walking back, I saw Frankie Munez in his car. It was the Oscar's weekend and we were on Hollywood Blvd. So what else could you expect? lol. We get back to the motel and go to sleep. We were all really tired and cold. We left the next morning around 7 or 8 and we got back home around 11. I went to Ely's and we were taking out my braids. I'll remember this the rest of my life. And hopefully I'll be able to go next year and experience this all over agian.

Dir en grey: ARIGATOU GOZAIMASHITA

Well, that's pretty much all I have to share. Please forgive me for any mistakes that I made throughout this whole thing. I was typing really fast. Thank you all for your time.

Ok, I'm really sorry that this is about a week late, but I had to wait for a certain picture before I could post this up. This is gonna be pretty long because I have a lot to say about this. So, read it if you have enough patience. But anyways, here goes!!...

I could barely sleep the night before the concert because I was so excited. I found out that there was gonna be a Meet-and-Greet booth at the concert and I REALLY wanted to meet the band!! I even woke up around 5:30 in the morning and I started to get ready for the concert. I didn't wear anything special, just some sport-shorts and a tank-top. (I wanted to be comfortable) I couldn't wait to leave my house and be on my way to the venue!! After I got done, I got my ticket, sunblock (cause I got a lawn ticket *that's all I could afford at the time*), a 12012 CD for Donica, and a granola bar.

Before I went to Raquel's house my mom had to stop at the ATM and give me some money. We're in the middle of a move right now so I didn't even expect a whole bunch of money. (I swear, I was trying to figure out anything I could do to get money about a week before the concert, but I could only get 10 bucks from my Grandma *I love you Grandma and thanks for contributing!!!*) When we get tp the ATM I wasn't even paying attention to what my mom was doing cause I was looking at my ticket, not believing that I'm actually gonna see Dir en grey live!!! XDXD I turn around and my mom hands me 50 bucks. I almost started crying when she handed it to me. I swear I know I had the most kid-looking expression on my face and my mom just smiled. I told her thank you very much and that I loved her. (lol, she made me promise to save some money for food though) Now we're on our way to Raquel's house!!!

I get there and I'm just sitting in Raquel's room. We were planning a couple of days before to say somehting in Japanese to the band members that we could meet. (I'm a Japanese student but I'm not very fluent. I understand more than I can speak) We looked on the internet for some clues and we finally found the phrase we were looking for. We wrote it down and Raquel put it in her purse. Raquel also put on my red wristband for me. (All Dir en grey fans made a plan to wear one to identify that they were fans) I also got my white flag from her that said "Dir en grey" on it. (This was for The Final when they would perform it) Victoria came in after that and we were all just talking about the concert and things like that. Then one of Raquel's parents (I think her dad) came and told us, "Can't you hear the doorbell!?" Then he walks away and we see Donica come inside the room. She was like "I was waiting outside for, like, 10 minutes!!!" (We were chatting so much we didn't even notice Donica was outside in the cold, lol) I gave her the 12012 CD and about 20 minutes later we were finally off.

Raquel's brother was the driver that was taking us to the venue. He was very nice to have taken us there. Thank you!! But yea, it was 4 fan-girls and one guy in a small car. (Victoria and Donica made me sit in the middle >.<) I don't think we annoyed him...too much...but we talked him into letting us listen to Dir en grey (Withering to Death) on the way there. All of us were talking and we had a fun time on the way there. Victoria was taking a lot of pictures for her friend, Laura, so that was pretty coolio. But one thing Victoria really wanted was a cow...Yea, she wanted to take a picture of a cow...we had a lot of fun with that. (We never saw one, by the way) When we were getting closer, every single sign we saw of San Bernardino, we were like "Only 5 miles left!!! *squee!!*" Yea...oh! We took one stop to get some food from Taco Bell or Dell Taco or one of the Tacos!!! (lol, before we stopped I said to Victoria, "I'm glad we're stopping, I got a major butt cramp!!!" and she just laughed and smiled) >.< (the hot sauce...omg...the hot sauce...)

When we finally were on a road and not the freeway...we got closer and closer. I was getting butterflies in my stomatch. What made it worse was we were driving right behind the tour buses. We.were.so.excited!!!! He finally dropped us off and we had to ask how to get to the lines...lol...there was no line. We were the first ones there!!! It was so awesome! Everything was going so great! About 15 minutes after being in line 2 other Diru fans walked up and we started talking. (One of the had a lyric excerpt from Child Prey tatooed on her arm. It was so cool!!) We saw a lot of Korn fans coming and we tried to avoid them as well. But then around 12:00(after about 2 hours of waiting in "line")  the security guards started to come out. (I thought it was funny how all of them were black...) They told us they would open at 12:30. (Once we got in we would have to hurry to the FYE booth and buy something of Dir en grey so that we could get our wristbands for the Meet-and-Greet)

We finally got in at 12:30 and Raquel was really excited cause she was the first Dir en grey fan to get through the gates! ^.^ Yet again, we had to wait even more. The FYE booth was all the way across the arena and we were on the other side. We had to wait till the sound check was done bofore we could go in. Me and Donica found out that we had to go all the way across the lawn to get to the other side. So we went to our section. (This is now the start of the split of our group. It's just me and Donica now) They opened the gates (I dunno what time) and Donica and I were skipping across the way to go to the FYE booth. When we finally found it we saw Raquel and she told us to hurry and buy something. I bought Kisou (cause I don't have that one until now) and I got my wristband. I almost started crying when I got it.

After that, we went to the lawn and then the bands started to come on at 2:00. The first one was a band called Driod and they were pretty OK. But then Walls of Jericho went on (and I know who they are) and the singer (who is a girl, I might add) totally rocked!! She was screaming and doin all this stuff and it was awesome! Some people near us were moshing (like...4 people) and I was laughing cause I think moshing is quite amusing. A couple of other bands came on after that like, DEADSY (the bassist was friggin' HOT!), Bullets and Octane...and then Bury Your Dead came on. They...were...AWESOME!!! The singer was really cool and two of the guitarists were wearing Dir en grey band shirts!!! It made me so happy!!! On the last song from Bury Your Dead the singer ran to the lawn and was singing with the people in the mosh pit. Then he went down the whole line and was shaking everybody's hands! I even got to touch him and it was really cool. I liked them a lot. I think the next band was 10 Years and they were really nice. It was all slow songs but they were really cool. The singer looked awesome! After them...the Dir en grey banner came up...

I was screaming and yelling and saying things in Japanese. I was so excited!!! XDXDXD (One of the guys next to me was a real pain though. When the banner came up the girl next to him asked, "Who's Dir en grey?" and he replied "Some dumb Japanese band and they're gonna sing in Japanese and we won't know what the *beep* they're saying"...that made me pissed...thought: "OK, mister, you wanna make fun of 'em, I'll sing their lyrics right in your ear!!) They brought out the "Kyo Box" (as me and Donica called it) and we knew it was them after they brang out Shinya's drumset. (He's the only drummer I know that uses 2 drum sets to play. Shinya ROCKS!) Poeple were screaming their heads off! omg Then G.D.S started playing...

I'm gonna list all the song names and explain what I did in every one of them. (I told you guys not to read it unless you have patience)...

G.D.S- Once it came on, I knew...It was actually happening. After about 3 years of waiting...I'm gonna see Dir en grey live! Every Dir en grey fan was chanting with the song as well as me and Donica. (I was saying it extra loud for the guy next to me *smirk*) I was on the railing of the lawn and I was almost halfway over it cause I got so into it...and that wasn't even the first song, lol. I see all the band members walk on stage (I couldn't see who came on first and whatnot cause I was so far away, but I could still see the band members...of course Kyo came out last though) Kyo then says, "Foocha!!!", people were screaming out of excitement...and it all begins...

Saku-  omg, Saku was a great song to open with cause it has such and energy to it. I started off headbanging a little till I got used to it. I always have fun saying "azawarau kano you ni hakujitsu no moto sarakedashita nodoka ni nagareru aka no kawa!" in the chorus and it was awesome to say it along with Kyo. I was singing, grunging, jumping, and shaking my fist up in the air and I was having the time of my life. (still annoying the guy...) It felt so nice to sing in Japanese with the band. (A lot of people only know the English lyrics to the song, but I like the Japanese better :P) During the whole song I was halfway over the railing and throwing up my fist in the air and singing. I wasn't even out of breath after the song was over. I was always looking at the asian-girl group a couple yards away from me and Donica cause they looked so cute! ^^

Ryoujoku no Ame- I didn't really know this song very well, so I decided not to song along with it at all.(a little break for the dumbnut...) This song was so amazing live! (I've seen the video and I have the song) I didn't realize how awesome it was. I was looking over and I saw a lot of people singing it and things like that. So I just was holding up my palms to the beat of the song and letting it do through my eardrums.

Kodoku ni Shisu, Yue ni Kodoku- I liked this song from the first time I heard it. I knew the words, and I sang along. I even screamed when Kyo did. (annoying the guy next to me once again...) There are a lot of complicated lyrics that Kyo says really fast in the song but I got 'em. Someitimes Kyo wouldn't sing them but then it was kinda like I did it for him, lol. I love that song so much. I wasn't really paying attention to anyone during this song. The guitars rocked, and I was watching Kaoru and headbanging a little as well.

Merciless Cult- *gasp* This was one of the best songs they performed that day. Once the small sounds came on in the beginning I knew exactly what to do: headbang. (although it's not much of a fast song...ask Donica, I was headbanging a lot) Of course, I knew all the words, and I sang along. "Aishi kudasai, koni chi wo, sonna imi wo..." One of my favorite lines in the whole song. (Kyo says after grunging, which I did too...dang! I did a lot!) By this time my throat was kinda hurting cause of all the screaming, but that didn't really stop me. (and I still wanted that guy to learn his lesson...) I think this was also when Kyo was scratching his head or something, I was too far to see. But I heard a lot of people screaming and yelling and cheering for Kyo.

Dead Tree- This is such a beautiful song, and I like it a lot. It had a lot passion in it, I didn't really sing along with this one that much, just my favorite lines. I think in the middle of the song Kyo stood on top of his box and spread out his arms like he was gonna die right then and there. I was yelling out "Kyo-san!!! Kyo-san!!!" I even think after the song he sat on the ground for about 30 seconds and I was saying "Kyo-san!!! Tatte!!! Tatte!!!" I heard the asian girls cheerking for Kyo as well. But that song was amazing.

The Final- oooo!!! Right when the opening music came on I took out my white flag so quick!! I don't know...but during this song I was looking around for the other Diru fans with their flags: there was a pretty good amount, but not much in the lawn except the asian ladies (so kawaii ^.^) that were a couple yards away. I watched them for a little bit mouthing the words to the song, and I looked tat the other Diru fans waving their flags for that song. This song is so wonderful and I didn't sing cause I wanted to enjoy it. Waving me flag, contributing to Diru...

Clever Sleaziod- "Wake up, you're dead!!!" Man, I love this song!!! People were moshing to this one and I was getting really excited! "Wither, wither, wither, wither, wither, wither, wither, wither, wither, wither, wither!" It was so cool to say that!!! My voice was hurting so bad but I didn't care! I was really pushing it on this song. But I had fun! (and I know the guy next to me didn't...lol) I could tell that even some of the non-Diru fans were enjoying it as well. Headbanging, screaming, flailing my arms over the railing, I think I was spitting too. lol. It was SO worth it! Especially the last line of the song...

The IIID Empire- WAH!! The last song already!!! I love this song to death cause of how hard it was to learn, but I got it. "Spark and Spark!!!" My voice was cracking while I was saying that so it made it harder and harder to sing. I could see that Kyo was having fun. But I went all-out because it was the last song. I was getting too tired that I had to take a couple of breaths before I would start singing again. I think I could've fallen off the railing too but I had to keep pulling myself back. I wanted to keep singing and singing until my voice went away, but I was watching the band, and I could heard Donica next to me singing along as well. I couldn't believe it when the song was over...I wanted more...

I watched them walk off stage: I saw Kaoru kiss and throw his pick, and I saw Shinya throw his drumsticks into the pit. I wanted Kaoru's pick so bad...(he's my favorite band member)

After they all got off stage I told Donica that we gotta go...NOW. I could barely walk cause of the lack of food all day and dehydration.We got a little lost finding the FYE booth cause of the wrong directions, but we finally found it. We were near the middle-back but that didn't matter: We were going to meet 2 members of the band!!! XDXDXD We had to wait about 30 minutes cause it was right after the show, but then...I saw them walking...

I could only see Shinya as one of them (which is awesome cause I like Shinya too!!) but I couldn't see the other. Some girls ran out of line to see who it was and they all came back saying "It's Toshiya and Shinya!!!!" I was excited, but I really wanted to see Kaoru, since he's my ultimate favorite...but I didn't want to complain, I'm still meeting the band. The line finally started to move and it went by QUICK. In about 2 minutes I was already up near the front with Donica behind me. We were talking and things like that and as we got closer and closer I got more anxious. omg I get to meet 2 of them!!! XDXDXD

The thing that really surprised me was...right when I turned the corner...THERE WAS KAORU!!!! XDXDXD He was sitting with Shinya!!!! (in the back of my mind I was like "Friggin' fangirls, can't even tell which ones are the right bandmembers!" >.<...I think I even did a double-take to see if I was seeing right) I got a little lightheaded and I stretched out my arm for Kaoru to grab. He did, and it was such a strong grip. I said to him, "Yoroshiku", and he bowed his head. His hair, was flipping out of the beanie he was wearing and I absolutely LOVE his little beard he was growing (man-hairs ^.^). He was SO SEXY AND HOT up close!!! omg I almost fainted!!! He was wearing his sunglasses too! (I LOVE THOSE THINGS!) As I was walking up to Shinya I kept on looking at Kaoru...just amazed...

I got to Shinya and DANG he was skinny!!!(I have to admit that the first thing I looked at when I got to Shinya was his lips, cause they're so lucious! ^^) I was kinda afraid to grab his hand in fear of breaking it or something. But I grabbed his hand and said "Yoroshiku" (just like I did with Kaoru), and he bowed his head as well. When we started to let go...out hands just...slowly slipped out of each other's grip and our fingertips touched. His hand was so soft!!! XD He looked so kawaii up close and he was growing little man-hairs as well!!

This is the hand..this is the hand, that touched Kaoru and Shinya. The soft...asian hands from 2 of the members of Dir en grey...

I turn to walk away and I see Raquel with her face all red and she was fan-girl-jumping in the air and I was doing the fan-girl-huge-smile thing. Then this guy grabs my wrist and friggin' ripped my bracelet (the Meet-and-Greet bracelet) off my wrist. He only got the top part though so I was happy that I could keep it :) I get out and I stood with Raquel and Victoria waiting for them (Kaoru and Shinya) to leave. They get up and while they were walking out everyone was cheering and screaming. Kaoru was sucking up all the glory and making the "victory" sign with his fingers. Shinya just smiled and waved. They get near the end of their exit and then all of a sudden I scream out, "Kaoru-san, aishiteru!!! Aishiteru!!! Whooooo!!!!" I felt really good after that...

We finally go back up to the normal area and we were looking over the pictures that we got. (I didn't have a camera, it was the other 3 that got pics) That's when I found out that Raquel saw Yoshiki and she showed me The pics she got of him. Man, he's hawt!!! (I'm also a fan of X Japan) We even met some other Diru fans and talked to them.

From the time we got out of Meet-and-Greet, to the time we got out of the venue, I witnessed 3 vomitings. (They were all girls to...) I found it funny, but gross. Also during that time we met one Diru fan who got two picks from Yoshiki. (Die's and Toshiya's) Raquel got to hold and kiss Die's and I have never seen her so touched in my life. She almost cried and I was so happy to see her happy :) I don't get why I DID NOT touch the friggin' picks, I just stood there in awe. (how dumb of me >.<)

When we got the call Raquel's brother was there me and Donica had to go through the lawn to get to the other side. It was kinda scary cause there was drunk people that were Korn fans and it was freaky. We tried to walk as fast as we could to get out but people would walk i from of us and then stop (cause they were drunk) But some of them were funny to watch. When we got to the middle of the lawn I noticed 3 mosh pits where people's faces were glowing red. I though: "Cool, they lit some sparks or whatever"...but I was wrong. When we got close enough, THE FRIGGIN' GRASS WAS ON FIRE!!!! People lit the grass on fire and were moshing around it! It was one of the most amazing things I've ever seen in my life! We got a little close to one and it just looked so awesome!!! Donica was saying that it would be funny if one person fell in and then everybody else would fall in and they wouldn't know cause they're friggin' drunk. I got a kick out of that. We finally got to the other side and we walked to the car.

We got inside and Raquel's brother said that we smelled...not of sweat...it was drugs, beer, and cigs. It was so nasty...After half of the drive home I could finally smell it on myself. It was so gross. We just talked on the way home and we got to Raquel's house. Victoria offered to drive Donica and I home, so we got to driving...

This is one of the funniest parts of the whole trip. Victoria asked Donica where she lived and Donica said, "I don't know." *WHAT!? YOU DON'T KNOW WHERE YOUR OWN HOUSE IS!?* So...after talking about it for a while, we are just driving down random streets to find out if Donica recognizes if her house was near them. All we knew was that her house was near Felecita Park...Victoria was running out of gas and we were freaking out cause we would have to push the car or something. We tried going to one gas station and it was friggin' closed! WTH?! We had to drive all the way down to the mall cause Victoria only had a gas card for Shell. We made it to the mall and I went to buy some candy in there and I had to go to the bathroom so BAD!! >.< After we got out, Donica realized that we can go down the street from there to get to her house. So we start driving. We were actually going in the right direction, we can do this!!! We get to these back ways where there were a lot of trees, so we couldn't see the street signs. It was, like, 11:00 at night too. We get a little freaked out, and then BAM! we passed the street we were supposed to turn at. Cause at the last minuute Donica said "There!" after we friggin' passed it. We turn around and then once we got on the street we needed to be on, she knew the rest of the way. We finally get her out of the car and say goodnight. So, it was just me and Victoria. Tori wanted me to be with her in the car cause she didn't want to drive back alone, and we live fairly close to each other...kinda...We get away from Donica's house and then we're like..."How do we get out of here!?" With luck, we get out and we're finally going home. She gets to my house and I tell her thank you and goodnight. That's pretty much it, my mom wasn't home when I got there but my sis was on the couch, so I said hi to her and told her about the concert for a bit. I took a shower (cause I STUNK) and then I plopped in bed.

Well, that's pretty much it. I told you that it was REALLY long!! But I want to thank anyone who read this for taking their time to read it. I had a lot of fun and it was one of the greatest experiences in my entire life! I would appreciate comments and whatnot. Thank you again for all your love and support!!

Hiro Yamani