Warped Tour 2016 Salt Lake City Utah [and some recounts of 2013]

Warped Tour usually isn't my cup of tea. Before 2013 I hadn't even considered going to one, and I had only gone that one time because a band I liked at the time was going to be there. With my luck however, the band decided to be like "lol we don't want to do Warped Tour now." and dropped the fuck out. [I have sense lost interest in that band, oh well.]

Admittedly, my time at the 2013 Warped Tour wasn't a bad one. My brother, who I went with, wanted to see a Japanese band that he started to like. And since he knows I like Japanese bands, he dragged me to their set. The band was Crossfaith, and while their set was amazing and I liked watching the band play.....I still have yet to put their album on my computer. [I'm such a lazy person sometimes.]

Hiroki of Crossfaith
Warped tour 2013

I got to meet the band, though my interaction with the band is a little iffy. The only one who really stuck in my mind was Hiroki, because he was so friendly and smiled a lot. The others were probably just really tired and have met a lot of people already, but they were nice enough to give me a signed poster. And I got a tank top. [I plan to give it to Reida, but I forgot where I put it.]

So the rest of the time after Crossfaith was a little iffy, because as I said-I had gone there for one band and they dropped out. So I was just hanging around, watching Vegans run about handing out pamphlets and listening to some of the bands that were playing.

Fast forward three years later, and I got tickets to Warped Tour again JUST to see Coldrain. [I kept thinking with my luck, they'll have to drop out for whatever reason. I have a mindset like this ever since the first Warped, orz]

However, luck was on my side and they played their SLC date. Having already seen them before, I knew that the show [despite being thirty minutes] was going to be amazing. And it was! Since this is their first Warped Tour, I can only hope this opens so many more doors for them to possibly headline their own tour in the States.

 My brother and I got to the place early, because I told him if we miss Coldrain because of him sleeping in-he will go to sleep permanently. [Just kidding just kidding!] It ended up that we were right in coming early, as Coldrain was second to play after Cruel Hand.

When we arrived, I immediately got maps and located the stage|the merch tent. I found the Hopeless Records tent first though, and he led me back to the stage where the merch was. The girl who was selling merch was really pretty, and really cool|nice. When I bought two shirts, she gave me a pair of chopsticks.

Two shirts I bought+the complimentary chopsticks.
Both shirts cost 25 dollars each.

 After that we went to eat, but eating at Warped Tour is always a little expensive and the food I got was supposed to be a Teriyaki chicken but tasted nothing like it. I was a little disappointed. [And my Dr. Pepper tasted iffy, if you don't know me-I get really peeved if my Dr. Pepper is messed with....]

My brother really wanted to see this band that was playing early, but I decided to just hang around the Monster South stage until Coldrain came on. Cruel Hand played before them, they took forever getting set up and getting on stage though. I remember while waiting for them, I knelt down because my stomach was hurting [stupid Chicken Teriyaki!] and I almost fainted cause I saw Sugi through the gates.

There was also Yoko, but before I could snag a photo for my friend-he looked my way and I got shy and went back to watching Cruel Hand set up.

Cruel hand came on, played their set and the only thing I have to say about them is that they're very interesting and people look stupid when they mosh sometimes. The lead singer jumped off stage during the last song, and the crowd nearly hurt the two girls in front [who were also waiting for Coldrain].

Then it was time. I managed to snag the middle, right in front of Masato. :D

The band was setting up, so I got to see a lot of Ryo, Yoko, Katsuma, and Sugi. Though Sugi only came out to do a few things, then went back. One thing I remember is that Yoko was dorking around a little bit, and he drummed on Ryo's back and Ryo sort of gave him a look like 'what'. Yoko just walked off with a smile on his face.

I kept sending pictures of the two to Reida, but when I tried to snag one final photo of Ryo for her-Yoko was like 'lol nope' and walked in front of Ryo as I was taking the picture.

He knew what he was doing.

They disappeared a little while the band next to us played, and after that it was their turn and the members came out accordingly with Masato coming on last. I can't really explain the feelings when I finally saw Masato though, as he's my favorite out of the group [along with Katsuma *A*].

I had the setlist saved on my phone-but since it's destroyed I'll have to do this from memory.

The first song they played for sure was the Revelation, I believe after that it was Wrong, Runaway, The War is On, No Escape and then Gone was the last song they played. I believe that was all, as they usually only play 6 songs during a 30 minute set.

Before I get to the member's actions [and my mind is already foggy], I'll have to say I was a TAD bit disappointed I didn't get to hear EVOLVE again live. I fucking love that song, BUT I did hear it back in November so.....

So since I'm a lazy fuck, I'll just put their actions in a bullet list as opposed to writing it all down in a couple of paragraphs.

• Ryo moves around a lot, and he makes the most interesting faces. [He's basically a walking meme, just like Reita.] 
• Ryo also raised his fist a lot and pounded his chest. He wore a bandana over his mouth the first half of the set, but took it off the last.
• Also about Ryo, his sound system might have been off during the War is On because he was playing around with something and he looked perplexed. He talked to Katsuma quietly, and Katsuma made a :O face at him. But they continued on with the show, so it either got fixed or I might have been overthinking and nothing was wrong at all.]
• Sugi and Ryo showed love to Katsuma a lot actually, they were facing him quite a lot.
• Katsuma, my sweet Katsuma, I'm sorry I didn't pay much attention to what he was doing. He was playing drums as always, always killing it.
• I didn't really notice anything Sugi was doing either, but I did catch his guitar pic. [Well I reached out for it, and the guard gave it to me. Which caused one of the girls next to me to glare at me....] 
• Masato moved about the stage a lot, but he was in the middle for most of the show. He demanded we jump a lot.
• He sort of did this rap thing at the end of Runaway, like did the hand movements like a rapper would. He sort of reminded me of Ruki LOL 
• Masato and Yoko were smiling a LOT. [I think Sugi was too, but again I wasn't paying attention.] 

I'm going to be posting pictures of the live [which I took during No Escape I believe, but I did it quickly so I could enjoy the rest of the show. Taken by my ipod cause my phone -which is now broke anyways- is a piece of shit.] PLEASE DO NOT REPOST, if you do post it anywhere-give credit...please.

The Meet and Greet

So once again I am lazy, and will put things in a bullet point because I'm really tired. I'm going to try and edit this once I'm not as tired, but it might not happen either. So first things first, I am a very awkward person to begin with and I already sort of embarrassed myself in front of Masato before-so I was hoping maybe he wouldn't remember me much.

• After a couple of minutes of panicking, trying to find a line for the meet+greet I found it. Met and talked to another fan in front of me. [She was the nicest fan there, god bless her.]
• I looked over and Masato looked at me, but he didn't really smile-I just took it as he was preoccupied. Though this sort of made me nervous.
• My brother had to buy me the Revelation so they could sign it, as I had nothing for them to sign at the beginning. [The album itself was 10 dollars, I needed the Physical copy anyways.] 
• When I turned the corner and it was almost my turn, Katsuma noticed me and smiled a little while saying 'hi'. 
• When it was my turn, Masato actually said hi to me-but I was too shy to say hi back really. So I just smiled at him.
• After that I did muster up the courage to tell them I had seen them back in November, but he didn't hear me at first and leaned in to hear better and he smiled at me. 
• They signed the album for me, but I was just going to leave. However I took one final look at Katsuma and asked him for a hug. He obliged, then Masato was sort of like 'hey' so I hugged him too. Then I sort of was like 'might as well hug the rest of them' and went to Ryo and hugged them and such. I noted that Sugi was like not for human contact? But he hugged me anyways? And Yoko hugged me last, and he had a smile on his face [a smile of an angel...]. I pulled away from him and he said "Have a good day!!" 

They also were nice enough to shake my brothers hand and sign his hat.

THEY WERE ALSO NICE ENOUGH TO LET ME TAKE A PHOTO WITH THEM.

Katsuma, Masato [ugh, me] RxYxO, Sugi, and Yoko

After that I hung around while my brother checked out different bands, I wanted to make sure he at least got his money's worth. He really likes Chelsea Grin and he got to see them. We did go see Yellowcard and they played a few older songs, but also announced they were disbanding so.....

The last show I wanted to see was Against the Current and of course they played last. And that was it!

Chrissy of Against the Current

Overall this experience was far better than 2013, let's hope to more years of Warped Tour with Coldrain!

OR

Coldrain headlining their own tour in the U.S.!

One can only hope!

Two months late-but a memory of my first real Vacation.

Of course I've taken time off for myself before, but never like this. Up until May, I haven't really gone out of state [Nevada doesn't count, that was for a work party and it was bleh]. If I took time off, it was for in-state things like Anime Banzai and certain concerts. There aren't very many bands even that I would go out of state for-unless it'd be for the GazettE/Coldrain.

The trip to LA/Anaheim was spontaneous, the minute I bought tickets for the GazettE concert back in January my brothers and I started planning. I was so anxious. I didn't want to fly at first, but now that I think about it I'm glad that we did. It was my first time flying, and it wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be. I was surprisingly calm the entire ride.

On the Second of May we flew out to LA. We left pretty late in the morning, but early enough to make it to Cali by noon. When we arrived at the airport we had to go get our rental car [my brothers didn't make me pay for it, since I wasn't driving. I did give money for gas though.] After that it was an hour drive to our resort in Anaheim.

I was thoroughly against staying in Anaheim at first. As I said, it was an hour drive [two hours if the traffic was super horrible]. I wanted to be near the concert venue, I was even adamant about it for the longest time. However, Jeff insisted that we stay in Anaheim because he wanted to go to Disneyland, which he ended up doing when I went to the concert. [It all worked out in the end, oh well.]

view from our hotel

When we got to the resort we hung out for a while, walked around the area and looked for things that we could possibly get as souvenirs. Granted, I didn't really find anything FROM California that I wanted, I ended up just buying for my family. The only thing I got from the trip was my RAD Jacket and a few items from Reida.

That night was I supposed to meet Reida, we had originally planned to eat at a Korean restaurant. We drove back, hung around Korea town for a while [all the while I'm searching for the venue]. It was a little while away from the venue, but we walked to the Wiltern and that's when I met Reida. We nearly ran across into oncoming traffic to hug each other. My brother Paul had to be like "Ashley" before I realized I couldn't cross quite yet.

I still laugh at the guy, but snagged this photo.

Meeting Reida was fun, since we've been talking for almost two years at that point I believe. We always talked about meeting, I even had made plans [that sadly failed] of going to Seattle for the fun of it and meeting her. I never really thought that we'd be able to meet like this however. When I was asked my both my Mom and brother why I didn't choose to Dallas show, I simply said I based my decision off where my friends were going. Which most of them were going to LA, but I ended up only meeting/talking to Reida.

We went out for Korean BBQ, which I already forgot the name of the Restaurant that we went to. It was one of those restaurants that you had to cook your own meal, and since I don't know much about Korean food [other than the one near my work] I was a bit nervous. It was still good food however, and it was nice to hang out with Reida and talk to her a bit.

I don't remember much of what we talked about, but we simply talked about GazettE and the concert the next day. After that we gave Reida a ride to Little Tokyo to meet up with her hotel mates [?] and went back to Anaheim to go to sleep after that. After we dropped her off though, my brother said he needed to go to a restroom so we stopped at a nearby Mcdonalds and the area was sort of shady so we were nervous.

Ended up having to pay to use the restroom, which I never heard of. Also, some guy tried to sell him his cell phone. [?]

I surprisingly went to bed easily that night.

I was first to go to sleep, and first to wake up! Not gonna talk about the actual concert, that was in another post before this one. I arrived there at around 9 in the morning, got breakfast [which was the only meal I had all day] and hung around until the concert started up.

That night I couldn't sleep. I was so hyped up after the concert, that I went to 'sleep' for two hours and woke up at 4 and stayed up the rest of the night. I ended up staying out in the balcony so I wouldn't bother my brothers with anything. I listened to the GazettE while looking out at the night and pondering the concert.

At around 8 I woke my brothers up, I seriously needed an actual meal in my stomach and I needed it soon or else I was gonna die. [Okay I wouldn't die, but]

We didn't really have a plan for that day, but I really wanted to see the Ocean. So we decided to head out to breakfast, then get ready for the beach. I didn't pack any swimwear, which I wish I had-at the same time though it wouldn't matter. It was too cold to go into the water. We had originally planned on going to Venice beach, but decided on Newport as it was closer and we didn't want to deal with LA traffic again.

Balboa beach was really REALLY pretty. I felt at peace there. I didn't even have time to have post-concert depression because I was so happy here. We didn't do much other than stick our feet in the water, find a restaurant with some good seafood in and shopped around. I got my dad a hoodie, and my mom some trinkets.

I forgot what I had gotten my sister though, but I got Harley a seashell that he could hear the ocean from.

I can't really think of anything else to say about the trip, other than the food was REALLY good and I miss it. Surprisingly the best meal I had the entire trip was at the LA international airport. We only ate Asian food too! We found a local Filipino restaurant and she made us homemade Pork Adobo....mmmm...

I also got to try bibinka for the first time.

Salmon

Pork Adobo and Bibinka

 The next way we went home!

And that's about it for my Cali trip!

~The GazettE~

If I had gone back in time and told my 15 year old self that I would see the GazettE, actually hear them with my own two ears-I would have laughed.

It had been a dream I had sort of given up on, but came to terms that even if I never saw them that I would still support them no matter what. And then I had the opportunity, and what a blessing it has been for me. I'm going to be honest. I don't like to go places as much, I don't usually like crowds [unless it's for a concert] and I don't usually like to be social.

But this vacation/concert has had a good effect on me. I don't even know how to explain my emotions right now.

The day of the live, I waited 9 hours to get in. At first I wasn't too happy, I'm sorry to Reida [and Mikki, who I didn't even say hi to....]. God bless Reida though, I didn't really have a group to hang out with and to save my spot to go do anything so she offered food to me and what not. And god bless the girl two people away from me, during the fourth hour I was getting a little tired and I put my head down.

She tapped my shoulder and gave me a bag of candy, to at least get some sugar in me so I wouldn't fall asleep. It was my own fault for not preparing, I really just wanted to be at the live early. And I had only eaten Mcdonald's that morning and the only thing I had to drink that whole day was a sprite. [Which might explain why after the live, I got a charlie horse in both my legs....and I couldn't walk for two hours.]

When they moved VIP line to the other side, I was a little sad. And the two girls in front of me kept having people come and cut everyone off. I know they were in a group, but it was rather irritating because we've been there for 9 hours...

Anyways, moving on from the negative!

I thought I couldn't get in line for Heresy, I explained to the staff lady that I didn't get an email when they switched sites and I had to switch emails. She said I had to do something with my e-mail, which made sense. But she let me show her my Heresy card and my ID and she gave me a bracelet. I moved to the fanclub line, and I got to talk to this fan from Japan for a while.

She was super sweet, and told me that she went to both San Fran and LA. She said she attends most their lives in Japan. She kept apologizing for her English, though I don't really mind.

Then we were let in, I put my gift to all of them in Ruki's box. [My mom had made them a card, it was the only thing I gave them. I hoped he liked it.]

I only had eyes on one item of merch and that was the jacket, I was super happy that I got it.

Despite being irritable at first, I got to my seat [WHICH BTW, was super confusing to find. I ended up sitting in someone else's seat, and when I found my seat-someone was sitting on it. Thank god they were super nice about it!]

I ended up being center, and being able to see all the members [aside from Aoi at times, and Reita] perfectly.

I really cannot explain what I felt when they stepped out onto the stage. Or when Ruki started singing.

The whole live seemed like a blur, but I was determined to make the memory count. I can't even remember being this happy, in a super long time. It was like everything that was wrong in my life stilled and I was in a place where nothing could touch me. The girls next to me were rocking out, the girl even hit my arms with her hair a couple of times.

When Vortex played, and Suicide Circus-I tried to headbang but it wasn't happening. [I'm super awkward at it, idk. Also during Vortex I almost yelled at the guy in front of me, as he was recording it and he kept putting it in my way! I'm short enough as it is, I was super happy at the balcony because I didn't have to stand on my tippy toes so I was mad when I had to for Vortex!]

-cough- Anyways....

When FITB started playing, I was like 'Fuck it', looked at the girls next to me and started to headbang. [My neck is paying for it now, thanks Ruki.]

Ruki said "Turn the fuck up" at least twice, and I swear he looked up at the balcony at the fans up there and I believe he pointed at us. [HE MIGHT NOT HAVE, BUT LET ME HAVE THIS MOMENT IN MY HEART.]

I have chills just thinking about it.

When he came out for encore wearing the US flag like a shawl [?], and he turned to us and asked us if we were ready. I about died when we screamed louder the second time he asked and he was like "SHUT THE FUCK UP!"

I literally felt the floor shake underneath me that entire live.

And it was the most amazing feeling in the world.

When they bowed, the girls next to me [who said hi earlier and asked me if I was having fun!] grabbed my hand and we held them above our heads. [And now we're friends, yay!] I even bowed with them....omg.

That's all I can recall, though I can barely manage to come up with coherent words even now.....

Best....day...of...my...life.

Ramblings.

It's weird, a week from tomorrow I'll finally see my Dream Concert.

Sadly, I won't be able to meet them-but I've learned to be gracious to even have this opportunity. I've followed the GazettE ever since I was in High School, it was ten years ago that I popped in the mix that my friend had made me into the CD player and gave them a shot. At the time I thought it was just another band I'd casually listen to, I never thought that I would go this far and for this long.

It got to the point where even my family began to notice my obsession [though usually it's not hard for them to notice, especially my sister.]. At first they made fun of it, even to this day they poke fun at it-but they never discouraged me either.

When I was in High School especially, I dealt with a lot of anxiety and depression. Listening to that mixed CD [which ironically, I still have] when I got home from school calmed it a little.

Little by little, I interacted with the fandom-got to see some of my friends see their moment and was jealous and scared that I never would get the chance. Then I had thought to myself 'Well, why does it matter if I see them or not? I still support them no matter what they do.' I suppose I felt that I would never have that moment, that I wouldn't be able to see them.

I haven't eve come to the realization that I am seeing them quite yet. I won't be able to believe it until it actually happens.

Ah, I'm just gonna end this here before it gets too sappy.

Goodnight.

Within a Year, I would have seen all my dream concerts.

Last year, I found out the Symphony of Goddesses were going to be in Salt Lake. I was so excited, and of course I bought tickets. It was a great experience for both me and my boyfriend, I nearly cried when they played the main theme to the Legend of Zelda and all around I got to be a total nerd. Not to mention that the next day we went to Anime Banzai.

Then Coldrain announced they were also coming to Salt Lake, and I bought tickets for me and my brother. The experience was also amazing and I also got to meet two band members [and waved at RxYxO-sadly I didn't meet him]. Masato was sweet, and Katsuma was shy and also sweet. It was a great experience and tbh I would've seen them again in Las Vegas if it weren't for circumstances.

And then if you go back six or so years ago, I saw my favorite band [next to the GazettE of couse] at the time. Flyleaf, with the original singer-and it was the last time she had been in Utah as well. I was so happy for that to be my official first concert. Lacey was amazing live, and if she came back to Utah I'd definitely see her again.

At the time Lindsey Stirling had been a dream concert, but if I had a choice I wouldn't see her again. I stopped listening to her.

Linkin Park was another dream concert, and I'd probably see them again. Chester is amazing live and to be honest they're probably the best band I've seen live aside from Coldrain.

[Also for Coldrain, I was front row and even got to high five Masato XD]

So naturally when the GazettE announces they're going to California, I instantly buy tickets. I couldn't afford to buy my brothers, but he's going to California with me. He's going to go to Six Flags [with my other brother] while I go do GazettE-related stuff. I can't tell you enough how excited I am, and to realize that this is the final Dream Concert [that I know of] that is going to come true.

My friend from High School even knows how much this means to me, she stated 'You've loved them since High School! That's cool that you're going to go!'

I don't know, I guess I just obsessed over them for too long. Until this, I had given up on ever seeing them.

[My brain is fried, so I'm ending it here. XD]

Why BardXMeyrin might be the best ship in Kuroshitsuji.

When I first immersed myself in the kuroshitsuji fandom fully, I was Nina Hopkins on kurotumblr. [That blog is long since deleted]

I began to delve myself into the fandom, and to be honest I had quite the following on that blog. My huge following probably wouldn't come until I made Bard [Bardalicious] and that's when I began to immerse myself even more. Bard was probably my best roleplay blog, and still is. Probably because of how much I love Bardroy, and how good of a character he is.

But I already wrote a post about that, that's not what I'm here to talk about.

So usually, I found solace in CielXLizzy for a while. Even though, I used it mainly as a coping ship and to be honest-that's not the healthiest ship. [I've come to learn this, so I don't ship them as much as I used to-if at all. Platonically mainly now.]

When I met my official Meyrin, that's when my OTP became the OTP.

Look at them, standing next to each other being badasses. Badass couple ftw.

My first serious roleplay was with a Meyrin, though she's not active now-I still consider her my official Meyrin. [thephantomhivemaid if anyone is wondering!] Our muses interacted in the most sweet way, and I was able to draw on Bard's more gentle side. And I also began to notice different ways that Bard treats Meyrin as opposed to Finny and Snake. [And Sebastian, but again that's another post for another time.]

For almost two years straight we were making alternate universes, even naming their [future] children. Almost all my favorite threads involve MeyrinXBard, and to this day they're still my favorite ship.

And here is why-

• Meyrin is a sweetheart, but she's also tough. She knows how to take charge when Bard is being....well a butt. ["Milk is good for you, so drink it!"-Meyrin looking out for the butt of a chef -and Finny] 
• Sebastian just isn't good for Meyrin-not to mention it would be downright impossible for those two to be together. Or for Sebastian to have any sort of feelings towards her-as he's wanted to murder her before. Bardroy actually treats her decently, though she's not exempt from his rudeness. That's why she has to keep him line. [:
• The two would really have adorable children. Can you imagine babies running amuck with blue eyes and reddish-amaranth hair?
• And yes, I'm going to be one of those annoying shippy girls and say "Well, the author puts them together a lot!" You: BUT THEY'RE ALWAYS TOGETHER???? "THAT'S THE POINT!" 

 Case in point-the Easter chapter.

The best team EVER.

JUST. LOOK. HOW. ADORABLE.

Poor Meyrin. She didn't ask for this.

And then during the Green Witch arc.

HE LEANS AGAINST HER AND LETS HER HAVE THE CHAIR. WHAT A GENTLEMAN.

So in conclusion-do you have to ship Bardrin? No. Should you consider it? Maybe.

That is all. [I'm tired, so I'll revise this later.]

About my life.

I'm pretty sure I'm not unique in growing up listening to music. So this isn't going to be a post about how I'm 'special' because my parents listened to the Beatles, the Eagles, Carlos Santana etc. and I happened to like them.

I also grew up with six older siblings, being the youngest out of seven. Needless to say my music influence is based on what my brothers/sister listen to. Though despite this, I feel like we all have our own personal taste in music and what bands/musicians we like. If you know me, my favorite band is the GazettE and has been for over 9 years now.

My interests for the longest time strayed towards the Japanese spectrum of music, with a side of Lady Gaga and Paramore and Flyleaf. And Linkin Park. [Okay, let's move forward before I start listing all the musicians I listen to.]

I'm going to admit however, when it comes to music-I am very stubborn.

I do love songs I can dance to [Lady Gaga], and I love music I can chill to [Misterwives]. I love discovering new music, however I love doing that on my own terms. If you tell me that I will LOVE a band, most likely I will ward off listening to them for a long time. My brother does this with me, especially when it comes to Japanese music. [Case in point-Maximum the Hormone. I'm sure they are very talented, I'm just a stubborn mule.]

When I get interested in a band, if it turns out well for me-I sit and I listen to their entire discography. I look up lyrics, I download from itunes and all that jazz. If I like them a little, I get the songs I do like and I have a few songs on my Ipod from them. [This bothers my sister, but meh]

When Aoi [from the GazettE] tweeted about this album he absolutely loved, from a band he loved-I thought to myself. "Well if Aoi thinks they're good, maybe I will too!"

And so, I listened to Six Feet Under by coldrain.

This was about 9 months [?] ago. Since then I spent countless days discovering more of their music, and growing to love them as a band.  I haven't really done something like this since Flyleaf, and defintiely not since the GazettE/Kagrra.

Before I get to the concert bit, I want people to realize this about me. Though I don't know for certain, I tend to suffer from social [?] anxiety, and I've dealt with bouts of depression. Most days I feel stuck, hell last Saturday I didn't even leave bed. I don't ever wanna leave bed unless I absolutely have to nowadays.

Listening to the GazettE was my safe-haven. Reading their interviews was my safe-haven, being in the FANDOM used to be my safe-haven. While the fandom has indeed become more toxic than I'd like to admit-it's still my safe-haven to a certain extent. I use this as my escape from having to deal with my actual emotions, and my own problems. Probably not the healthiest thing for me to do, but it's what I got.

So when I discovered Coldrain, I was really surprised to find another band I could use to help me throughout the day. Not only that, Masato's lyrics of keep pushing forward with life and fighting through things helped me a lot.

And when I learned that I had an opportunity to see them live, I jumped on it. I went to the nearest smiths and got the tickets. [lol I had to get one for my brother too, since my dad thinks I'm gonna die at a Lindsey Stirling Concert of all places-so I figured he wouldn't want me to do this alone either.] I was so excited, I even ran in my house to scream at my friend [Reida] about it. [Well, more capslocking her to death]

Last Sunday I finally saw them. It was a small venue, and I was so close I felt like I could touch them. I almost cried! [I also waved at RxYxO and he waved back at me-idk if he really did actually- and I died]

Aside from that, I also discovered even MORE MUSIC. Northlane is awesome and I even met a local band called Divisions!

After Coldrain's set I got a high five from Masato, and even as I type this out now the whole set/experience is imprinted in my mind. I can remember almost everything. I've been to a lot of concerts, and I can tell you that Coldrain is the best band I've seen so far. And I've seen Linkin Park live!

I even got a picture with Masato, and met Katsuma as well! [I didn't get a picture with Katsuma, my social anxiety kicked in and I didn't want to bother him. I even was anxious about bothering Masato..]

Where am I going with this anyways? lol

I'm a very...anxious person, introverted....quiet [unless I really know you]. I don't like to be around crowds, I won't go if I don't have to.

But.....going to concerts? Especially to the bands that you love? Totally worth it.

Coldrain was worth going out of my comfort zone for. I've been having a hard time lately, and this has definitely helped lift my spirits.

So thank you Coldrain.

Thank you Northlane too.

This girl feels like she can take on the world now.