Stadium Tour "TIME" 2013

On June 15th, 2013, I went to the Tohoshinki (TVXQ or DBSK) concert that was held at Tokyo Dome.

It was my very first Tohoshinki concert and I was so excited and nervous about going. Especially since I had no idea where exactly my seat was at the time of entering. All I knew was I was sitting behind the 3rd base dugout...

A little background about Tokyo Dome. It's the home ground of the Tokyo Yomiuri Giants baseball team and it can hold up to 55,000 people depending on the layout. It's were many famous singers from around the world and from Japan have held concerts before. It is a venue where many would love to perform someday and fill up but it's not an easy task.

As for the tour itself, it's the first time for a Korean artist to hold a concert at all the domes in Japan (Tokyo, Fukuoka, Osaka, Nagoya, and Sapporo). This is quite an achievement even in Japan!! In addition, they will be holding a final concert for this tour at the NISSAN Stadium in Yokohama which can hold up to 72,000 people on Saturday, August 17th and Sunday, August 18th. Yes, I got tickets to go to the Saturday performance and am currently waiting for my results for the Sunday performance. I pray I get seats for that one too.

Actually, I was never a concert goer and I never understood the mentally of people wanting to go to several performances during a concert tour. But now I know... It's the "live" feeling that is addictive and amazing!! Just being there and singing out loud and dancing along with the music that's exciting and exhilarating!! There'll be another event called the "a-nation fest" which will be held on Saturday, August 31st that I want to go to as well. Thohoshinki will be performing that day so I entered the lottery for this event as well and am waiting for the results. I can't believe I'm trying for more when I can already go to two (well, one more now...)!!!!

With most concerts, there are always some concert tour goods that are available for purchase. I was so tempted to get stuff but I was a good girl and only got a concert tour towel and the "TIME" photo book. They'll probably release the actual concert photo book later on when they release the concert DVD and Blu-ray. But now I'm tempted to get the concert T-shirt... Hmm...  But then again, my new year restriction doesn't allow me buy any more T-shirts this year...C'est la vie!!

Now about the concert!! I don't know how I can put it into words... It was just so mind boggling for me since it was my first Tohoshinki concert and because I'm so in love with them!! I actually didn't believe that these two existed in reality... But they do!! I finally saw the two guys I've drooled (?) over on the TV screen standing in the flesh in front of me (sorta)!!!! 

They sang a total of 28 songs including their solo songs, introductions of the band members and dancers, some MC talk, and some special movie footages.  They not only sang songs from their latest album called "TIME", but also from the previous album called "TONE" (last year's concert tour title) and what was really great was that they sang 7 of their old hit songs when they were still a 5 member boy band!!!! My friend (who was a fan when they were a 5 member group) who went with me and I were so ecstatic!! We sang and danced at the top of our lungs during these 7 songs!! LOL!! 

The stage layout wasn't so big but it did rotate and rose a few feet into the air. There were three large screens hanging and one huge one on the stage so that we could see close ups of them. They also had trolleys that carted them from one side of the stage and along the wall in front of the bleachers and to the other side of the stage.   Since my seat was in front of the third base dugout and in the 11th row, I got to see both members up close and personal (sorta)!! I haven't waved at someone so hard in my life!!!! LOL!!

from the offical TVXQ facebook account

Their dancing was amazing and so entertaining as always and their singing was just as amazing. Many people may say "they're just lip syncing" and at times I think they must be. But with them, I'd say 80% to 90% is them singing since they do sound out of breath, the sound wavers now and then, and they do add some other phrases here and there.

Now the singing and dancing is really the main part of the concert but the MC talk time is something the fans really look forward to as well. Their Japanese is very good and natural that they joke and tell funny stories and do some ad-libbing for some parts as well.  It's always fun listening to them since the younger one named Changmin (the one on the left in the above photo) is always nagging the older one named Yunho, (the one on the left in the above photo) about all kinds of stuff . You'd think it'd be the older one taking care of the younger one but with them, it's the other way around... So this "nagging" conversation is always funny!! They also incorporate a lot of the latest comedy punch lines in their conversations as well. As you may know, understanding another culture's sense of humor can be quite difficult at times. But, they seem to have a very good grasp of the Japanese sense of humor. Of course, this must be all written out by the Japanese staff during the rehearsal and gone over several times together, but still, for them to be able to do this with out prompts on stage or with an interpreter, it's quite an achievement for them.

The concert was a total of 3 hours but it seemed to just fly by. I couldn't believe it was over... I so didn't want it to end!! But then again, I don' want the two to die due to exhaustion!! I hope they are resting well now in Korea and getting ready for their "CATCH ME" tour in Los Angeles this July. This is the world tour and they sing their songs from their Korean album with the same title. I wish they held this same concert in Japan too... The "TIME" concert is only held in Japan since all the songs are in Japanese. I'd love to see their Korean concert someday!!

So now they are in Korea and they won't be back in Japan until August for their NISSAN Stadium concert and the "a-nation fest" event in Osaka and Tokyo. I have no idea when and if they'll come back to Japan any time after that... So I guess after the concert and event, I'll have to get my fix with the Blu-ray version of this concert once it's released. Also, they've only released two singles this year; "CATCH ME" and "OCEAN" and one album called "TIME". I shall be listening to them a lot for sure!! I do hope they release at least one more single this Fall or Winter!!

 

  

Physio 7

I had my 7th treatment and three weeks after my last one. Yes, I plan to go in somewhat shorter intervals. Well, as long as both the therapist and my schedules coincide, that is.

This time around, it wasn't painful at all. There were a few times it hurt like h--- but 90% of the time it was fine. My therapist said this is because my muscles have become looser so they move more readily. Yeah!! This is a really big improvement for me!!
But today, we focused on regaining balance. Apparently, the left side of my body is pulled upwards whereas my right side of my body is twisting backwards and sagging...  What I mean is, my left shoulder is pulled up and my right shoulder is sagging and my left hip is up and my right hip is in its normal position.

This time, she focused on three main parts.
The first point she focused on was to realign my sacrum bone. Apparently, the right one is in its normal position but the left one is tilted too far forward so basically, when I'm sitting down, I'm putting most of my weight only on my right butt...

To see if you are sitting properly, all you have to do is sit down, then slide your palms under your butt and use your middle fingers to feel out a pointy bone near the middle of each butt. Then rock your hips back as if curling and then rock forward. Throughout you should feel this bump but if you don't, that means your sacrum isn't in its right position... I can't feel my left one at all...
 
So, the exercise I was told to do is to sit down and find the bones and then rotate my body in a tight circular motion making sure that I feel the bones with my fingers. The more the bones become aligned, the bigger the circular motion can become. I do this with my feet off the ground so it's helping me strengthen my abdominal and lower back muscles too (since I have very weak muscles to start with...).

The second point she focused on was my cervical spine, especially the Atlas (first) and Axis (second). She focused on the right side of my neck this time. Apparently, the left side of my neck was at its proper length but the right side was choking a bit. I didn't notice at all, and it's my body... So she worked on release the tension in my neck and create more space between the two bones and skull. But as she released the pressure in the neck, it created some pinching and tingling sensation along my right shoulder, arm and fingers. So this became the third area.

The third area she worked on was my arm and especially on the triceps. Basically, my upper arm bone and shoulder are twisted forward so my triceps are also twisted and have become rock hard. So, there doesn't leave much space for the radical nerve (main thick nerve that helps control the arm) to function normally. As the tension released in my neck, the tension built up in my arm even more so and started to pinch my nerves making my forefinger and middle finger feel a bit numb. So, I told her this and she quickly moved to my triceps and lower arm to release the tension in the muscles so that the nerves wouldn't pinch. This, was painful!! She also loosened my muscles around my right rib cage and bust area as well as stretching my right shoulder upwards. No pain here. Before I would have been screaming... Big improvement!!

Another exercise for me is to twist my upper body from the hips and swing my arms in the same direction. This is to help loosen my back muscles as well as my chest muscles. The left back side is loose so it's very easy to twist to that side and I can reach behind my shoulder with my right hand. But I can hardly twist to my right and my right arm can't go back at all and I can't reach behind my right should with my left hand (I can only reach my armpit)... In other words, my left chest is tight too... Pretty scary, huh?

So, I have the next few weeks to work on these two exercises, including the one from before (laying on my back and tilting my raised knees from left to right) to help keep my muscles loose. I also am more aware of how twisted my posture is so I can now make a conscious effort to stand or sit properly and to stretch more often when I feel a tightness. My therapist said that now I'm able to notice the signs of discomfort my body is sending out. Before, I had no idea because that's how bad my body condition was. But now I can and this proves I'm getting better. Phew!! Little steps but a huge leap in my mind!!