| I decided to write a journal of this past week to commemorate the whirlwind journey to my next BSB concert. Since it was crazy circumstances on the way, I figured what better way to remember it than to document the journey as best as I could. Sometimes when you remember a special moment, you forget about the little things that happen. I didn’t want to forget this, because it’s more than a concert to me. It’s about the special friendship that I have with two other girls in my life, and I wouldn’t be able to take the chances that I do without them. You are supposed to look back at your youth with the fondest of memories, and I have a feeling that this will be one of my fondest yet. I’m just glad that I have Deana and Ro to look back on it and smile. This is my present to them, and I just want to say to them that they mean more to me than words can say. August 30, 2001 I can’t believe it... I just can't believe it. You know how things start slumping and there's no end in sight, then things just pick up again? That's how this week started, and now I'm in absolute heaven! It all started when my friends, Ro and Deana, came over my aunt’s house tonight. We were watching television when I showed them the Denise McLean interview on 20/20 that I had taped. As we were watching it (and getting quite teary eyed), Ro asked if there were tickets still available. With a look exchanged by Ro, Deana and myself, we ran to my aunt’s computer and headed to Ticketmaster.com. First place to check out was searching for Backstreet Boys. Sure enough, both of the shows we wanted had seats available! Second place, Nassau Coliseum on September 4th. Found seats on the floor, but in row 42. “Nah, couldn’t see anything if we tried to,” I said. OK, then off to check out the shows to Continental Airlines Arena on September 6th and 7th. We checked out the 6th and saw section 110, row 15, seats 3-5. “Holy shit!” said Ro. “Huh?” I replied. “That’s right near the stage! I mean, right next to it!” A collectable scream was shared, as Deana pretended to faint on my cousin’s bed. “But it’s so much!” Deana wailed. “That’s why it’s called a credit card.” I shook her shoulders. “Just pay me back when you can. Deana, I don’t care if it’s a month or a year from now. We’re going!” “Wait, who’s opening? Shaggy?” “No, Sisqo and Krystal,” Ro responded. Deana screamed again as I finished the process. The 6th it was. Thank God for express accounting, as I had my credit card number in their database, and clicked on the purchase button. When the confirmation notice came up, we looked at each other. We screamed once again, as probably the whole neighborhood was woken up, and one of my enemies who was outside was probably wondering what the hell was going on. We went outside as we turned off the computer, and gloated proudly to everyone there. Let me put it this way; I haven’t done a conga line on the street since the Yankees won the World Series in 1998 with a sweep against the Atlanta Braves, and now it’s broken. My second concert for this tour; 4th total—Deana and Ro’s 3rd from this tour and 5th total. Only thing is how am I going to wake up on Friday morning for work? Who cares! September 1, 2001 Been on a BSB high for two days now. I e-mailed Amy to let her know that I got the tickets, and she was jealous of course. I just called Ro and she said she was watching the Pay-Per-View concert, while she trained her 3-year-old niece. She pointed to AJ and asked, “Who is that?” She proudly said “Uncle AJ!” I feigned anger, as we have this thing about our favs. Deana’s is Nick, Ro’s is Nick and AJ (After she read Elegance, she’s fallen in love with him), and mine is AJ. After our usual confirmation phone calls, I went to pick up Ro and Deana to go for our usual night of stalking in Manhattan. We usually know what hotels and limousines arrive in Manhattan that hold celebrities and such by the license plates. (No I’m not giving secrets away.) As we were circling Central Park West and saw The Trump Hotel, Ro screamed and giggled. “I spot a limousine!” She was right, it was a celeb limo. Two in fact, with a tour bus on the corner. “Turn around, quick!” Deana and Ro yelled. I managed to get around, as we left Deana on Columbus Circle so she can pretend to walk past and “wait” for us as I parked on the corner of 63rd and Central Park West. She walked to the corner where we were hiding out. “Gimme your cell phone,” Deana asked me. “So I don’t look too suspicious and fake a conversation.” I handed the cell phone to her and she walked again. She was good, the ever loving actress. I got on Ro’s cell phone and faked a conversation as we pretended to wait and not look too suspicious. Deana came back after a few minutes. “Well, it was some sports type person, because some guy asked for his autograph.” She stood at her former position and “talked” on the cell phone. A few minutes later, she came back with a guy who was showing pictures to her. “This kid’s a stalker too!” Deana laughed. “He’s met everyone!” Ro and I got out of the car and looked at his pictures. His name was Alex, and Deana was right. This kid did meet people: everyone from BSB, N Sync, and LFO, to Mandy Moore and Marc Anthony. He showed us literally about a hundred pictures, and informed us that the “sports type” person was Mike Tyson. “Deana, you don’t know who Mike Tyson is?!” I laughed. She was kinda miffed at our tauntings, then Alex said, “You know, you can park behind the limos. You can get a better view from there.” I couldn’t believe what I was doing. I let him in the car as we drove around again and parked behind the limos. We got a much better view of the entrance of the hotel, and got some dirt about the bands from Alex, none of which I will say due to the fact that some things if I publish might get me a lawsuit. He gave us his phone number, and said we could hang out again and do some more stalking. After waiting there about an hour and a half with no other luck, Alex met up with one of his friends and we left. He then informed us that he was going to the concert on Thursday. We’re gonna give him a call and try to meet him at the concert. Who knows… maybe our dream will come true after all! September 2, 2001 Ro is IMing me as I’m writing this, telling her that I’m working on a surprise for her and Deana. She said that she’d have an anxiety attack if I don’t tell her. I tell her that she’ll find out all about it on Saturday night, and that she’ll just have to be patient. Still on a BSB high. I watched some videos today that I have. I literally have about 30 tapes of the BSB in my file that I have catalogued and ready at a moment’s notice. I ordered the “Around the World” tape from Amazon.com, which should arrive the day it comes out, then marked my calendar for September 19th, when the video for Drowning comes out. I wonder if they’ll perform it at the concert? God I hope so. Since I’m such a meticulous planner, I made a list of what I have to do and bring for the concert. Here’s what I have so far: * Stuff for sandwiches * Potato chips and snacks * Drinks (alcoholic and non-alcoholic) * Ice * Cooler * Camera with film * Binoculars * Remind Ro to bring the digital camera if allowed * Get navy blue tank top ready with cropped jeans * Get all BSB CD’s for the car ready * Wash and clean car out I think that’s it so far. Knowing me, I’ll think of something else to put down. Oh My God, 4 more days! Please let this week go fast! September 3, 2001 I was just talking to Ro, when in my web surfing, I found the pics from the video shoot of Drowning. I sent the URL to Ro, who then sent me a WAV of Drowning. Oh my God! It sounds so good! I keep putting it on repeat on my Winamp so I get psyched again. It seems I get more and more psyched every time I talk to her online. She says she's getting a new outfit for the concert... I'm wearing whatever digs I have, because I have to wait for my next paycheck. Lucky stiff, then she's going to the Michael Jackson tribute concert the next night to see *N Sync. Oh, I added a new piece to my outfit since it might be cold: my jean jacket. 3 MORE DAYS!!! September 5, 2001 AHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! Oh my God... the week did go fast! After moaning and groaning about my new job, which is going to take me time to get used to, I finally have something to look forward to tomorrow! Ro just told me she got a new job too! I'm really excited for her. OK, on to preparations. Got the backpack all ready with my camera, 2 rolls of film for before shots, my change of clothes, and of course my BSB CD's. Did my preparations for Friday, called Ro to get the final plan as follows: 1. Go to work 2. After work, go to store to pick up goodies and film, the new max versatile kind 3. Head to my aunt’s house, where Ro and Deana will be ready 4. Get changed 5. Away we go! OK, now I'm gonna try to get some sleep for TOMORROW, TOMORROW, I LOVE YA TOMORROW!!! It's only a day away. September 7, 2001 Excellent! Superb! I have no words to describe the feeling I am having right now. It seems like I woke up from some great dream, you know the kind when you want to go back to sleep to keep it going… and it does! That’s how I felt last night. OK, got out of work, went to the store to buy film, soda and cookies. I realized that I had forgotten my backpack, so I went back home to retrieve it. Off to my aunt’s house. I figured Ro and Deana would be there around 4, but it was 5 and no sign of them. Finally at about 5:30, I see Deana and Ro walking down the street, but with Deana limping! She tried to run to the other bus, but slipped off of the step and her ankle crunched. Deana then said she brought a green thong! She wrote, “Deana loves Nickolas. Call me! A.k.a. Princess” “I’m gonna fling it at him! I’ve been practicing for a few days already,” she said with a mischievous grin. I gave Deana an aspirin, made an ice pack for her ankle, propped her leg up with my backpack, and away we went. Of course, we hit the rush hour traffic, which didn’t help matters much, because it was 6:00 and we still didn’t cross the bridge yet. We hit the New Jersey Turnpike, and I knew what exit to get off of: 16W. I don’t know how, because there was only a sign for 15W, but before I knew it, I was on the verge of going onto 16E! I pulled over to the side and made a phone call to my Dad. “Just take 3 west, and you’ll end up there. Just don’t panic,” he said. I got onto 3 west, headed towards the exit, and we saw Continental Airlines Arena. From the way we screamed, it seemed like we saw the gates of Heaven. Pulled into the parking lot, and slowly made our way to the arena, with Deana leaning on Ro and I for support. We asked some woman if we could cut in front of her because we couldn’t wait in line with Deana’s ankle, and headed inside. I got to the reservation area, gave them my ID and got the tickets. We again cut in front of another lady, and got inside. We made it to our section, and walked through the curtain. It was utter shock! We couldn’t believe how close we were! We were right off the side, but at an angle, so we could see the whole stage! We were at the level of the stage, so if one of the guys walked up that side ramp, we would be about 15 feet away from them. We sat down, to these two girls who were our age. One liked Kevin, another Brian, so we were exchanging dirt on the guys and such. Ro and I exchanged e-mail addresses with them, so hopefully we’ll keep in touch. There was one woman behind us who went by herself, so I don’t know what her story was. As we were sitting there, we saw this kid signing autographs. Apparently he was in the boy band Dreamstreet. I didn’t know who he was, so Deana and I screamed out, “Yo, who are you?!” He gave us a dirty look. Pompous ass… We waited patiently for the concert to start, because we knew it would be delayed since they were gonna be at the VMA’s. Finally at about 7:50, Geronimo from KTU came on and introduced Krystal! I absolutely love her album, so it was more fun to enjoy her this time around. Her performance was excellent, although she had to perform “Love is a Beautiful Thing” from the piano since her hand-held microphone wasn’t working. She said after “Supergirl,” that she was going to sign autographs 3 sections away from us. Deana and I looked at each other, she stood up and her and I hobbled over to the section, where people were running on the line. We didn’t’ care about seeing Sisqo, we just wanted to meet her. Thank God I brought my CD, as Deana was on the verge of hyperventilating. “What if I can’t say anything to her?” Deana asked me. Deana holds her as her biggest musical inspiration. She’s going to perform “My Religion” at her next college concert. “Then I’ll speak for you,” I smiled. We heard Sisqo performing songs that we didn’t know from the outside. We finally got to see her. I smiled and asked if she could autograph my CD. She smiled and obliged. I thanked her. I stood aside as Deana stood there completely mute. “You are one of her biggest musical inspirations,” I pointed to Krystal. “Really?” Krystal smiled. Then Deana told her the whole story. Krystal asked her what song she was going to perform, and she thanked Deana. Deana asked for a hug, but the guards yelled at her. Krystal then took her hand and thanked her. We also saw Mook, but I mistook him for Obie Morant. Deana was on cloud nine as we walked inside. At least we saw the end when Sisqo performed the Thong Song. OK, the moment arrived. When the lights went out, the arena just exploded! You know the famous opening… I won’t give it away. Deana managed to stand for the whole show. I couldn’t BELIEVE how close we were! You could almost come out and touch them. When Brian came to our side, we flipped out! Then Nick came over, Deana nearly had a heart attack. When AJ came over, Ro and I almost had a heart attack! It was the biggest high imaginable. After “Not For Me,” they did their usual introductions. Brian came out and thanked everyone for supporting AJ. Then AJ came out… again the arena freaked out. He said he loved Jersey, and he had his friend Dave with his wife and wanted to say hi. Then he said he wished he could kiss and hug everyone in the crowd for supporting him, but the guards wouldn’t let him LOL. He said he was 64 days sober, and he’s gonna try to stay that way. As they were going into the dressing room scene, Nick was holding a stuffed snake. He was taunting the guys with it, and as AJ and Kevin were alone, AJ wrapped the snake around his neck, and said, “It’s the AJ, Kevin and Jamie show!” The night wore on, the crowd pulsating, the music so loud you could barely hear yourself think. My throat was getting more raw by the second. Did that stop me? HELL NO! As they were breaking, I saw between the stage and the floor, two hoochie looking girls walking down. Then another joined them. My jaw dropped! Deana turned to me. “That’s Leighanne, AJ’s girlfriend, and Nick’s girlfriend,” Deana sneered. Can you say clothing? Krystal was also there, dancing at the guys, looking the classiest out of all of them. As they were doing “Time,” people in the crowd were spraying silly string at AJ. One girl tossed a can up to Nick, and he started spraying it at AJ. AJ was wearing Elvis sunglasses, and struck a pose. Thank God I got that shot! When they did “The Call,” AJ was wearing this huge foam cowboy hat, and during “Shape of my Heart,” Nick had on a jester’s hat. Howie mostly spent time on our side, and tossed the Lupus bear our way, but it was caught by another girl a few seats away from us, damnit. The night had to end. Sore throats, sweaty, and one limping, we made it back to my car. We almost finished the 12 pack of soda in the back seat, and we continued to play Black & Blue in my CD player. We were still regaling the night’s events, with Ro and I thinking how were we going to get to work in the morning, and Deana’s leg propped up with my backpack once again. I dropped Deana off, telling her to call me when she knew about her foot, and dropped Ro off at the corner. As I was driving home, the song “Time” came on. I smiled as I was rounding the corner. That song is our theme, a recollection of our friendship, especially the chorus. The three of us have had so many wonderful times together, memories that I will treasure for the rest of my life. Deana suggested that we call this summer the “Summer of Backstreet.” I agreed with her, but it meant more than that to me. I’ve had some rough times this past year, and those two were my sanctuary. I love the times we spend together, the times on the phone or online. We have a connection beyond Backstreet, beyond words. I wrote this diary as a present to them, hoping that they know what they actually mean to me. Ladies, you are the best friends a woman could ever ask for. Deana—I know that one day I will see your name in lights. With the determination that you have, you will succeed no matter what life may give you. Just remember, I want that hot tub! Ro—You also have the determination to succeed no matter what life gives you. I know that you will fulfill your dreams, and I will support you all the way. Oh, one thing SNAKE!!!! |
| Time, look where we are and what we’ve been through Time, sharing our dreams Every little bit of life with you Time goes on and on It goes on and on everyday Time is what it is Come what may. --KTBSPA |