Literally in awe reading her entry. You better watch the video and see for yourself. From there, you can say how big fan she really is. I’ll have my spotlight soon. Hahaha! BSB4Life! Keep the BSB Pride Alive!!!!!!!!
My parents were surprised to see me home from work early. They thought there was some kind of emergency and asked me what’s wrong. I just looked at them with a wide smile on my face and told them, “Nanalo ako! Mame-meet ko ang Backstreet Boys!”
I managed to fix myself up for the meet-and-greet in less than 30 minutes (which was a personal best) and at a little past 2PM, I was already on my way to the SM MOA Arena.
I had to wait for quite a long time outside the venue together with the other winners. It even came to a point when we thought we wouldn’t be able to see the Boys at all but being the big fans that we are, we waited patiently and told ourselves that we already got this far to even begin losing hope.
After a couple of hours, we were finally ushered in to the VIP area of the concert venue for BSB’s soundcheck party. Everything from that moment started to feel super surreal. It was like being in a dream sequence where you felt super light and everything was extra bright and dreamy.
I was taking pictures of the awesome stage lights set-up when AJ suddenly came out from the backstage followed by Nick. Everyone started saying “hi”-slash-shrieking to the boys and got busy taking pictures and videos. Then Brian and Howie also came out a couple of minutes after.
Seeing/watching the Boys in their soundcheck party was totally different from what I was used to seeing in their YouTube concert clips. Aside from the fact that I was less than 100 meters away from all of them, I felt like I was just watching some close friends chatting, fooling around, and belting-out a few tunes on some stage. They were all super nice to their fans taking the time out to say hi to everyone who shouted their names, stopping to pose for pictures, and asking us what songs we wanted to hear.
Brian even took a picture of us, their soundcheck party crowd, and posted in on his Twitter account (@brian_littrell).
You could really just feel how much they loved/appreciated their fans during those moments. It was priceless. <3
The Backstreet Boys performed three songs, answered a couple of questions then it was time to have our picture taken with them. This was the moment where I got to shake hands with all of them (twice with Howie. Haha!) and where I got my chance to “chat” with Nick. Because if most of you could remember, the Backstreet Boys lost to Westlife in MTV’s poll for the ultimate Battle of the Boybands just a little over a month ago. Nick got really upset about it that he even accused the Westlife camp of cheating in the voting process. I couldn’t believe the results either. I mean I LOVE Westlife. Seriously, if the Backstreet Boys didn’t exist, Westlife would be #1 on my list. I even watched their Manila concert last year. But let’s face it, BSB is way bigger than the Irish lads.
So anyway, when it was my turn to shake hands with the Boys, I suddenly just asked Nick, “Hey Nick, how’s Westlife?” with a naughty smile on my face. He paused for a few seconds, stared at me, then he made a face and said, “Ooohhhhhhhhh (yeah, that long) shit!” then (we) laughed then we shook hands. And BOOM! I COULD JUST SUDDENLY DIE ON THAT SPOT CONTENTED AND SUPER SUPER SUPEEERRRR HAPPY. I could just barely remember posing for the picture then after that, we were finally ushered out the concert venue.
Once I stepped out the door, I started shrieking not minding who saw or heard me. Walang pakealaman, I just saw BSB, shook hands with them, and got to talk to Nick — Gawd, I could have even rolled on the floor if I wanted to. Hahaha!
The effort, the sleepless nights, and the eye strain were all WORTH IT. I was suddenly glad that I went through all that trouble because the outcome was just AWESOME. Magical. Priceless. AWESOOOOMMEEEEEEE.
Of course, the meet-and-greet experience was made even more special by the new friends I met — both BSB and NKOTB fans alike. It was super fun exchanging stories with them on how we made our videos, what we had to go through to win the contest, what Danny and Howie D. had in common. LOOOOLLLLL!! NKOTBSB fans are the best! Haha. :D
Truly, that day was LEGENDARY. Something I wouldn’t dare to forget ever. Magtutuos kami ng amnesia if ever I hit my head on the wall or something. Nothing and no one can ever take this precious memory away from me!
So, yes, some things really do take time before they can happen not because God does not want you to have it but because he wants it to be extra special and super worth it. If, you, in yourself know that you have prayed and worked hard for it, then know that He will give it to you in His own special time and way. No matter how long (hello sa 16 years) and hard it takes, tiwala lang.
THANK YOU to Ovation Productions for this opportunity, THANK YOU to my new NKOTBSB friends for the awesome company, THANK YOU to the Backstreet Boys for being the BEST boyband in the whole wide world and beyond, and THANK YOU God for allowing this wonderful thing to happen.
BSB for life and Amen! :)♥♥♥
My good-old-awesome-forever friend got to meet the most WONDERFUL boyband in the whole wide universe!!! <3 I’m such a proud friend. My heart’s still aching cause I didn’t join you. Really :( Way to go, girl! :D
There are things/dreams/plans in life that require a LOT of time before they can materialize. And last Sunday, one LIFELONG dream of mine FINALLY came true. :)
For the past 13++ years (16 to be exact, actually. Mali pala yung nalagay ko sa sign that I used in my winning video. LOL!), I have been a Backstreet Boys fan. From their first cassette tape to their latest CD, posters, books, pictures, news clippings, and whatnots — I have collected them all. My friends, who were also BSB-crazy, and I even made long quizzes to test how each much other knew about the Backstreet Boys. And until now, I still have a huge poster of the Boys plastered on my bedroom wall.
I even remember wanting to learn how to sing and dance “professionally” when I was around 9 or 10 years old because I thought back then that maybe I can become famous and become friends with the Boys. Haha! Crazy. I know.
So, yes, I kind of figured out how to sing and dance but the “becoming famous” part never really worked out. LOL! Good thing there was always Plan B that only involved watching their concerts whenever they came here. I may never have gotten to meet them personally but seeing them perform live was the next best thing.
Fast-forward to 2012, the Backstreet Boys are still together and I’m still one of their biggest fans. I have been watching videos of their NKOTBSB tour abroad and have been wishing that they could do that show here. So when I heard last March that the NKOTBSB tour was staging its final show here in Manila, I made sure I got tickets to watch it with my friends.
Now, three days before the concert day came, the producer of the NKOTBSB in Manila show (Ovation Productions) announced a meet-and-greet contest which required fans to make a video of themselves lip-syncing to any BSB song. I was the never the one who fancied joining those types of promos but when I read that announcement, something in me knew that I JUST HAD TO JOIN.
And so I did. I literally got down on my knees and asked God to bless me with a winning idea for the video. I was in the office, working and listening to random BSB songs, when that “winning” idea popped in my head. Their song “Bigger” came on and I just suddenly imagined myself holding up signs while lip syncing to the song. So I did just that and finished the video in 2 days.
BELIEVE ME, ang daming challenges bago ko natapos yung video and before I could actually upload it. For one, I had to figure out how to shoot the video by myself because I had no tripod with me and I didn’t want to ask someone else to hold the flip cam for me because I know I was going to do something “ridiculous”. Haha! Second, I had to reshoot and re-edit the whole thing because gabi ako first nag shoot and ang dilim ng clips. Lastly, Facebook didn’t want to upload my video because of some copyright infringement thingamajig and naka ilang ulit akong upload naman ako sa YouTube because it kept on failing. I was sleep-deprived for 2 straight days and my eyes were literally painful kakatitig sa PC. But God-willingly, my video finally uploaded during the wee hours of Saturday just in time for the deadline.
View my meet-and-greet contest entry here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZhbY1xKb64&feature=youtu.be
It was already Sunday, concert day, and Ovation Productions decided to extend the deadline for the contest so you can just imagine the agony of all those who joined. I kept on refreshing the FB page of Ovation for hours but still no results came up. I gave up waiting for their announcement a few minutes before 12 noon. At around 1:25, I got a message from a dear friend saying that I won. I was like, “Ha? Nanalo? Saan?” forgetting that I joined a contest. LOL! And then it hit me — I WON THE BSB MEET-AND-GREET CONTEST. I, again, refreshed Ovation’s FB page and saw my name. I was #1 on the list of winners. I couldn’t manage to shriek and to jump & down in delight. I was in the office at that time and all I could do was just stare at the PC screen. My eyes started welling up and my hands started to tremble as well. Then I silently got up and told my officemates that I had to leave because I was going to meet the Backstreet Boys in a few hours.
{ OMG, Random!
