So, Khaki and I learned our skit dance a little late o.O tho… that is typical for us, haha. Of course, Rikku was completely on top of things and learned it back in… what March? haha. Luckily the dance was fairly short and some parts were similar, so it was a quick learn We practiced a BUNCH that last week tho. I had the song on my play list while I was sewing, so every hour or so I would get up and practice a couple times

Anyway, on the Friday of the convention, Khaki and I were suppose to sing a song in the karaoke contest… tho we got really distracted and completely forgot that we had to sign up for the contest earlier that day. BUMMER, but it was okay. We were much more focused on our skit.  So that night, Rikku, Khaki, and I practiced our High-King dance! We were really doing well! We got our positioning down, etc. For only having practice the night before, I was pretty impressed with our doings, hehe.

Saturday came very quickly! Unfortunately, Rikku got reeeeeally, really sick So, to not risk her health, she had to sit out (or should i say stay in bed) during the performance. It’s really too bad cause with us three, i think we would have totally rocked it. Tho, we ended up doing the skit with just me and Khaki. I think it still went pretty well! Minimal mistakes and last minute changes to positioning and what not. And I must say, we looked pretty darn cute in those outfits! hehe

We are planning on doing a photo shoot with Rikku sometime soon hopefully! Maybe even a recording of us 3 doing the dance? hehe, stay tuned!

(Click to see the image larger)

More updates soon, I promise! <3

♪ I was recently asked to write a guest blog about the Wonder Girls concert on Ningin.com.  If you wanna check that out (though it is similar to my last blog on here, click here: http://blog.ningin.com/2009/04/09/ningin-reader-recap-minakocats-wonder-girls-roadtrip/25/

♪ I also just opened up a new youtube for myself, http://www.youtube.com/user/FromMina2you , since I will be recording a lot of Solo dances and a couple of Solo songs as well.  I will keep TwilightMusume for mostly our group activities.

Nothing else really to report other than my birthday is this weekend! Hopefully we can record a group song since we will all be together

Take Care,
Minako

So, I drove many hours from North Carolina to Connecticut to meet up with Tia who was coming to the concert with me. Sunday, the day of the concert, Tia and I drove into NYC to meet up with my brother and his family since we were staying with him. And then we got ready

So, I had to the Concert Hall early in order to practice the dance and go once through in rehersal. I got to meet all the other dancers! They were all soo fun to hang out with! We had so much fun watching the Wonder Girls rehearse before the concert! Ye Eun came over and shook all our hands and asked us where we were from. Then she goes, “I’m so nervous!” She was SO nice!

Then JYPark came out to help us get set up and we practiced our dance with the Wonder Girls! Now, I was the one that was nervous! lol. Finally after a long rehersal, waiting, and someone else sitting in our seats (lol), the concert started!

The girls were amazing! I love Sun Mi’s hair like that! I don’t think anyone else could pull that off.

And I don’t think 2PM could have been any hotter.

10jeom manjeome 10jeom!!!
Pretty baby~!

Tia nearly died after seeing them.

…
tho i can’t really blame her, lol.

I was so excited to see Ye Eun at the piano!

The girls are just so talented! They really are inspirational.

I feel like if i could try half as hard as they do and I would be okay.

They are so amazing.

I love how serene the photo came out looking.

♪ I don’t want

Nobody~body.

I don’t want

Nobody~body. ♪

Here we are dancing with the Wonder Girls! Before we went on stage, there was a montage of dance and singing clips from Youtube (tho I was a little sad that my video wasn’t put up there, I was so glad they put Pumashock up there! she is SO amazing). While we were waiting, JYPark came up to all of us giving us High-5′s and saying good luck! He was so nice the whole time. I loved watching him during the rehersal cause he was such a perfectionist.  You can tell he works so hard for all of them. Then all the dancers and I went up on stage and said our names and where we were from since we came from ALL over the place, Ireland being the farthest (You rock Adam!). Then we went into our Nobody dance which was a shortened version of the original dance, including the intro, first, and second chorus.  I was so glad it was shortened cause I only had a week to learn the dance since I learned “So Hot” for the contest. During our dance, the Wonder Girls came on stage and danced with us! It was sooo fun! The crowd really seemed to love it, which I was originally worried about. I’m so glad they enjoyed it! Then they told us to like hug the Wonder Girls. They were sooo nice! Like the entire time.

Here’s a clear video of us all dancing! I’m allll the way on the right.

The Wonder Girls performed a couple of more songs, including “Irony,” which i was SO excited about because I have never heard Yoobin sing the rap of that! She did beautifully of course Then JYPark came out to do his performance!

That… was one luuuuuucky girl! haha. I love how she got all into it and put her leg over his. His show was so entertaining! and he really seemed to care sooo much for singing… since he is a producer for most of the year, he said he loved the month or two he gets to go around and perform. It was very touching

Here is a pic of Tyler, Danielle, Tessa, Adam, and me after the show! Which was soo fun cause soo many of the audience members came up to us and were like you guys did awesome! Some even asked for our pictures!

It really was the best 15-minutes of fame ever.

I met so many awesome people too! It was so fun hanging out with the dancers and sharing that experience together cause we’re all a bunch of dorks But i’m totally okay with that, lol.

SO, after the show we went backstage……

You can tell from all the pics… we all were EXCITED!

THANKS so much Tia for being our personal photographer…

i pay you with kisses *muah!*

Aren’t the Wonder Girls the cutest??
They really are SO beautiful in person.

I think even more so than in pictures/in videos, etc.

They were SO friendly too cause you KNOW they were tired from the concert and just wanted to relax, but they were so patient and took pictures with us, etc.

In the picture below, it is me with Ye Eun, who got SO excited at the present I gave them!

I printed out a picture of me in my “So Hot” outfit/background with a note to them just pretty much saying they are amazing and how proud I am of them.

And then I really didn’t have much to give them from the trip being so expensive and all, so I gave them a recent watercolor picture that I had done. She absolutely like freaked out and was like oh it’s so great!

I have warm fuzzies just thinking about it, hehe. It was just such a wonderful moment and time, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world.

OH MAN, I look way too excited in that picture of me with Ye Eun… hahah. but it’s hard not to be when you really meet famous people who really, truely inspire you

And finally a picture with So Hee and Tia, my personal photographer! lol,

So Hee will always have a soft spot in my heart. She is really amazing.

I love the picture below of us all in the same nobody pose!! Gosh we had such a good time. I never wanted it to end!

So, that was just the concert night… I haven’t even started with the MTV live performance yet… lol

So, I waited outside in the very, very cold NYC sort of rainy afternoon. I just wanna say I’m so sorry that Tyler, Danielle, and Tommy couldn’t make it! We missed you guys! So we get inside finally and I get a pretty decent spot, which ended up being the spot the singers kept coming over to put their hand out to the crowd It was such a fun time! First came out was 2PM. They were a riot! Just kind of cuttin’ loose and having a good time. I mean, the Wonder Girls’ song “Tell Me” came on instead of “10 out of 10″ and they just like went with it! it was soo funny!

I can’t believe they did all their flips on that tiny stage! They seriously did an amazing job (twice actually… cause there was technical trouble or something, i dunno). Their interview was awesome too! They were kind of kidding around with JYPark during it. I love how natural they are. JYPark was there supporting them, tho he didn’t perform, I assume since he didn’t have any recent singles there wouldn’t be a point for him to perform… except that he’s awesome. hehe

Then the girls came on! Ye Eun even spotted Adam, Tessa, and I in the crowd and gave us that HEY I KNOW YOU look. They were amazing as always! It was so awesome to see them perform THAT close I mean i was literally standing behind that girl on the far right there… lol. (Their microphone stands are super cool looking too, lol).

I really loved their kind of vintage looking dresses too! Soooo gorgeous! During the down time, Ye Eun was so cute cause we were still kind of cheering and what not and she was like save your voices! lol. They did “Nobody,” “Tell Me,” and then “So Hot.” We got to see each performance twice! It was so fun! I even missed my train cause all the performances ended up taking a long time (tho I caught a different cheaper one later that night, lol). Then they did a Q&A time where Tessa got to ask a question! Though they kind of just gave her one to ask… haha. Oh well, it was still fun!

And then the Wonder Girls and 2PM went around and High-5ed all the audience members. It was so fun! Some people even got pictures with the group members (I wish I could have gotten one with Chansung! even tho he’s like… almost 4 years younger than me… lol). OH, and then at the end of all that, Hana pulled all the dancers up on the stage to PERFORM THE DANCE again!!! ON MTV! I really, really hope that they put that video up there! How cool would that be! Though the music was kind of messed up and it wasn’t the shortened version, we all just kind of went with it! haha. It was so fun being able to dance with them again! And so unexpectedly! I seriously could do that every day and be the happiest ever, lol.

So… that was my time with the Wonder Girls. If you read this far, I applaud you! hehe. It was the best time I have ever had. Thanks so much to JYP Entertainment, JYPark, Hana, 2PM, and of course the Wonder Girls!

♥ Minako (Ashley)

2 concert tickets for one member video uploads.
Meet & Greet session with the Wonder Girls.
Take part in a special “Nobody” performance with the Wonder Girls & JYP on stage!!!

I am so excited! I get to meet the Wonder Girls Now, if only we can find a contest for the Morning Musume concert at Anime Expo… haha. Thanks for everyone’s support!

Speaking of concerts, the JYP Tour 2009 featuring the Wonder Girls is going to NYC on March 8th! ☆+゜I (Minako) am entering a contest to win tickets to the concert! Where the Wonder Girls will actually choose the best fan dance video! First place is BACKSTAGE passes! ☆☆☆ How exciting would that be! So, within the next week I will be recording myself doing one of the dances to send in! *^ー^* Please wish me luck!