Tuesday, June 9, 2015

Atlanta Trip

Long time no post. I've been completely ignoring the fact that I have a blog. lol. Yet, I decided to definitely write about my recent Atlanta trip, because it was by far one of the best experiences that I've had in a LONG time.

(No photos due to laziness)

So, I managed to get off from work Saturday, June 6th, Sunday, June 7th, and Monday, June 8th. I asked for off on the 6th due to my brother's graduation; however, the second that it was announced that EPIK HIGH was going to be in Atlanta, I asked for the 7th off. The second that I knew that my time off was approved, I rejoiced. I ended up buying 2 tickets for the Atlanta concert the second that they were released to the public. Getting those tickets were a huge success.

Saturday:

I woke up around 6am to finish packing for my trip. During that time, I also was getting ready for my brother's high school graduation that took place at 11:00. It was rough, but I managed to get things in order.

By the time that all the celebrating for my brother finished, it was already 3pm. I went over to my friend Emi's place, since I bought the 2nd ticket for her to go. We were so looking forward to this trip, because we really needed to just get out of town and have a good time. We both have been working too much, so this was a much needed event.

We ended up leaving around 3:30, but there were some slight car issues that arose, which we had to fix asap. So, we managed to leave out of town a little before 5. It was a good thing that we weren't on any sort of time schedule.

Luckily after the fix to the car, we had no issues.

We booked a cheap hotel near the Atlanta airport. The hotel itself was designed nicely. The issue is that there were areas that smelt of weed and there were really loud, obnoxious kids that kept running through the hallways. Aside from that, not many issues and we were pleased for what was paid. Though, I had a difficult time sleeping, since the pillows weren't to my liking; however, I know next time to pack a pillow or two.

We didn't feel like going out to eat, so we decided to order food online. Both of us weren't in the mood for pizza, but the only places that would deliver to the hotel were pizza places. When we checked the menus, we were thoroughly confused with the options on the menu. We ordered from a place called Best Pizza And Wings.

I ordered a chicken gyro and pizza fries. Emi ordered fried chicken. Yes... this is from a pizza/wings place. We were confused.

Anyways, the food took a good 3 hours to finally get delivered. We found out that the place was packed. Yet, we were STARVING. We kicked back and ate the food. My gyro had a ton of jalapeno peppers in it, so I was a bit surprised by that, yet it was tasty. The pizza fries on the other hand were pretty disgusting. The cheese tasted fake and the sauce was most definitely nasty canned concentrated sauce. We couldn't even get through the fries. We lazed around and watched some School Rumble, since it's a series that you can watch without needing to think.

Sunday morning, we woke up really early. It wasn't even 8:00am and we were awake. We got ready for our day and checked out of the hotel. We decided that we would go to Doraville to eat breakfast at White Windmill, a bakery that we were introduced to by a really good friend of mine the previous year.

I ended up paying for our food that morning. We spent $40 on delicious bread and taro bubble teas. Worth it? TOTALLY! Ended up eating Curry Croquette and drank Taro Bubble Tea for breakfast. The rest of the food came into the car with us.

After that, we went to the GA Aquarium, which is extremely expensive, but worth it. Dolphin Tales was an incredibly adorable show. It had dolphin tricks, special effects, and a guy who could sing really well. I was quite happy with the performance. We observed many sea creatures.... went through holes... and I touched a live sea star. All-in-all, very fun. We left the aquarium around 2pm, then went to The World of Coca-Cola.

The World of Coca-Cola was a great deal imo. $16 per person. I bought both tickets for this one. I enjoyed every aspect of this museum. Very well done! We stood in line to meet the Coca-Cola Bear and yeah... it took every ounce of me NOT to go into work mode and cut line just to get obnoxious children to stop beating up the bear. I wanted to though. As someone who knows the character field really well, I really had a ton of notes that I wanted to give the workers; however, it's not my place to say anything. Yet, when I made it to the Bear, I high-fived him and apologized that he was attacked by idiots that didn't know any better. I also explained to him that I understand his position, since I'm in a job very similar to his. After I left, the Bear walked over to his attendants and I overheard one of them saying, "Oh, so you actually liked that one." haha. Apparently, the Bear had been reporting all the assholes to these people, so they were genuinely surprised that he had good things to say about me. lol. Yet, to not get in the way of their work, I made sure to get away from the Bear. Mainly because... I would had gone straight into work mode.

Anyways, each section of the Coke Museum is awesome, but the last room is by far the BEST! You're able to taste sodas from all over the world. There were some really delicious ones (especially in Africa) and some really nasty ones (like Poland). Emi and I took shots of all of them. After that, I got to try out the new soda: Coca-Cola Life. It's tasty. It kind of has a taste to it that I can't place. On the way out, you get a bottled Coca-Cola.

After that, we ate lunch at a local area on property. Chili-Cheese Dogs, Kettle Chips, and Ice Cold Coca-Cola. Emi bought the food this time. :3 Tasty food and Emi fed some pigeons.

After that, we immediately made our way towards the concert.

We were in high spirits the whole day. EPIK HIGH made our spirits even higher!

We got into the entry line around 4:20ish. We made it into the venue around 15 til 5. The concert started at 5pm. The seats that we got were some of the best. We were very pleased with our view.

The concert started right on time and the place went crazy the second that EPIK HIGH walked out. I was a bit surprised that there was no opening act; however, I was extremely pleased that we got to see them immediately.

Unlike other concerts that I've been to, EPIK HIGH really takes theirs to another level. They are EXTREMELY personable. I absolutely fell in love with their live performances. Tablo was constantly talking to us in English and would joke around and such. DJ Tukutz spoke some English, which was the freaking cutest thing ever I SWEAR. Mithra Jin refused to learn English, which was both adorable and amusing. Everyone in the audience loved every bit of it.

Every performance was just plain fun and you couldn't help but want to participate in all of the songs, which they heavily encouraged.

One of my favorite moments was actually when they were off stage. They still had the mikes on and they were talking about what all they love about America. Of course answers like "hot dogs, hamburgers" came up, but they also said tv shows, names of celebrities, random landmarks, and Starbucks must had come up at least 4 times lol. What made me laugh the hardest was when they said "geocities". That was such a laugh to me; however, it made me feel so much older than some of the people in the room... since.... a lot of them obviously had no clue what geocities is. Yet, I thought that it was hilarious. They even began to list off a bunch of non-American things that they love about America, which sent everyone into more fits of laughter.

It was during that talk that I really felt connected with the group. It's strange how EPIK HIGH comes across. Most concerts that I've been to give you a feeling of accomplishment seeing the person/group; however, you don't really get a sense of feeling connected. EPIK HIGH felt like watching close friends on stage. They have this way of connecting with the crowd. Instead of a concert to show off, it was a concert that they did for the fans. It was awesome.

When I first walked into the venue, I was expecting Tablo to remain my favorite member; however, DJ Tukutz by far won over my heart. The second that DJ Tukutz walked on stage, I could tell that he was going to be my favorite member. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE all of them, it's just that if I had to pick an absolute favorite... DJ Tukutz would be it. All of them paid attention to the full crowd; however, I felt that DJ Tukutz had a way of really reaching out towards the fans in the higher seats (non-VIP fans). I really appreciated that of him. Whenever he wanted the crowd to do something, he tended to look in our higher direction, so of course, Emi and I did everything that he wanted the crowd to do.

The venue itself was small and I found out that night that this venue is the smallest one in their American Tour. I was kind of happy to be able to be a part of that. It really made them happy too. They really appreciated the change of pace with a small venue. They also announced that it would get them ready for their Korean Tour coming up soon. Apparently, they're going to be performing intimately in Korea when they get back, so they felt like they were warming up for Korea in the small venue. They also mentioned that they originally weren't going to show up to Atlanta, but decided last minute to add it. Everyone was so grateful they added Atlanta and not only that, they were pretty surprised with the turn-out. They seemed to have a genuinely great time interacting with our crowd.

They had a segment in the concert where they answered a few questions. Someone asked how DJ Tukutz got his name and Tablo claimed that it was too boring of a question and asked if we all would like to see DJ Tukutz dance instead. Of course, that was AWESOME! You can actually see the footage from this video that someone took at the concert. Ooh, how that made me love DJ Tukutz even more. See, I suck at dancing and seeing dance moves like that really made my day. Seriously, it's an easy way to put a smile on your face.

The rest of the concert was fantastic. After the questions, everyone seemed to be even more pumped up than before. When the concert ended, the entire crowd started shouting for an encore and about 10 minutes later, they came back out to perform an encore with two songs. I was thrilled that my favorite song Don't Hate Me was one of the ones chosen. I was so ecstatic. They ended taking a huge selca with the whole venue.

Once the concert ended, I searched for a working ATM, so that I could buy goods. Unfortunately, they ran out of the awesome hats, but I did manage to get my shirt. I was kind of bummed that they didn't have any albums for sale, but hey, not much that can be done about that. After the concert, we hit up White Windmill again, yet this time for dinner. Emi paid this time around and our food came out to $30. So in total, we spent $70 there. lol. We did manage free bread in the morning though! I didn't eat much. I don't remember what I ate, but I had another Taro Bubble Tea, which was to help my throat... since... well, I screamed so much at the concert that my voice was like gone. It still hurts a bit today lol. After that, we headed back to NC. We got in a little before 1:00am. Monday, we were lazy as all.