The Not So Excellent Adventure of Mystique and Hystrix

I was checking my Twitter timeline when I noticed this tweet:

"Sydney tomorrow"? Tomorrow?? Ryan Higa in Sydney?

Oh. My. God. This couldn't be real! If Ryan's coming to Sydney, I might have a chance to meet him! I quickly called Hystrix, my roommate to have a look at the tweet. I read it out loud to her although I knew she could read it by herself. We were suddenly filled with an extreme excitement. I checked Ryan's tweets to find out why he was coming to Australia and where and when exactly he would come to Sydney.

After a quick research, I found out that Ryan was having a tour with many other Youtube stars like Kevin (Kevjumba), Janice and Sonia (Jayesslee) and some other people whom I didn't really know in a show named BOOMBOX Tour 2011. The tour was done in four big cities of Australia, which were Melbourne, Adelaide, Sydney and Perth. I discovered an event regarding the show in Sydney in Facebook, and from there I knew that the exact venue for the event would be in the Sydney Town Hall starting from 3 pm to 8 pm.

There's a great thrill in the air; I can’t help feeling delighted thinking that I would be so near to Ryan Higa. We wanted so much to go there to see him, but we realised that assignment must be given a priority. LING218 had been waiting for some days. We decided that we would only go to Town Hall after - at least - going through the text that we had to analyse.

Later on that day, our friends - Mint and Nadiah a.k.a. Abang Handsome (yes, that’s her nickname) - informed us that they wanted to visit our new house the next day. My housemates and I have been living in the new house for about a week, and we would of course welcome any visit from friends that were wondering how our house look like.

So, in the next morning Mint and Nadiah came over and we had our lunch together. After that, I informed them about our plan to meet Ryan Higa and although we were not very serious about it, we invited Mint along. But she said that she had to do something later on that day and thus couldn’t join us. They left the house and we started to decide whether we really wanted to go to Town Hall just to meet or at least see Ryan Higa from a far distance. We thought that we would be happy enough if we could see him from far away, so we were determined to go to Sydney Town Hall.

Biru (that’s a nickname for our housemate) wasn’t very sure about following us to the city but she didn’t want to be left alone in the house. After a long thought, she finally agreed to come along with us. As we promised to ourselves that LING218 must come first, we switched on our laptops, faced each other, set the time of when we want to stop and get ready to go to Town Hall, began our discussions, and try our best to understand the text extract by reading the original one. It was a heavy text and we took quite some time to figure out the main ideas.

After some while, the time for assignment was up and we got ourselves ready for the city. At about 4 pm, we left the house and took a bus to the Macquarie University train station. From there, we took a train to the Town Hall train station, which is about 10 stations away. We didn’t pay close attention when the train passed the Town Hall station and we had to get off at the Central station and took another train that stopped at Town Hall.

As soon as we arrived at Town Hall – at about 5.30 pm, I started to feel nervous out of no reason. Most probably it was because I didn’t know what to expect and whether we would be able to accomplish the mission of meeting Ryan Higa. We went to the Town Hall building and found out that there were several security guards guarding the entrance. It seemed like only those with valid tickets would be allowed to enter the building. And we DID NOT buy any tickets, for three reasons. First, we just found out about the event. Two, we were not very serious about watching the show. Three, the price was quite expensive; we’re short of money. Thus, being unable to enter the building yet wanting so much to see Ryan, we decided to wait outside and just hope that he would eventually come out and we would (at least) see him from a distance.

It may sound crazy for most people to wait in cold (around 10°C), for about two hours (yes, TWO HOURS), but we did it. The show was going on. At times, we could hear screaming voices of the fans inside the building. The show ended at 6 pm and the people with general tickets came out of the building. We predicted that Ryan would come out but there was a ‘Meet and Greet’ session until 8 pm. So we waited for another hour.

I felt pity for Biru because she did not really have wait along with us in the cold weather since she’s not a fan of Nigahiga or any other YouTube celebrities that were there that night. What’s more, she just found out that she had to complete a German online exam by 12 am when Mint called her that night (they take German language as their elective subject). I felt bad because I was the one who were craving to meet Ryan the most, but I had dragged my friends into trouble when I made them wait along with me. We were also feeling rather hungry because we didn’t eat anything after the lunch. I felt like asking them to leave first so that they didn’t have to wait, but they refused to do so. We discussed a bit and came into decision that we would leave the place and go to a nearby KFC – if Ryan still had not come out until 7.30 pm.

While waiting, we had some chat about the possibility of Ryan going out from that very main entrance. Hystrix kept saying that Ryan might want to avoid the crowd so he might take another door. But I was in total denial of that prediction. I said that Ryan is not that kind of person; he might be popular, but he would not act like some over-proud celebrities that would avoid their fans because they’re “too famous” and are afraid that their fans would chase after them and grab and grip their clothes (and skin) to pieces. Ryan is one-of-a-kind celebrity who cares for his fans and appreciates all of them. Okay maybe I’m not his friend to describe him well, and maybe I was putting a very high expectation upon him, but I could sense it; my strong intuition said it. Ryan is a very pleasant and friendly person.

There were people coming out of the building, each of them had a paper that’s full with the celebrities’ autographs. We didn’t hope for any autograph, we just hoped that we could at least see Ryan. There were no sign that Ryan would come out. But we saw someone who wore “ARTIST” name tag, and there were some people who approached him and snapped some pictures with him. We didn’t know him but we stood right next to him. He’s good-looking and cool though, I thought.

The security guards were still there. We saw several people approaching the guards and said something, and they were let in without much interrogation. I felt like trying to ask the guards whether they could let us in just to see Ryan’s face. Sound ridiculous huh?

We waited. And waited. And hoped. Until the point that I said to Hystrix and Biru, “Let’s wait for another 5 minutes. If he still hasn’t come out, we will leave. 5 more minutes”. I felt like I had turned into a fanatic fan because I waited long enough - for someone I had never met before – to be called “some crazy fan”. I wondered if there were any other fans of Ryan that would do exactly the same as I did, as we did. Or maybe worst? But seriously, I had never thought that I would ever do what I was doing. I had never thought that my admiration towards Ryan was that immense.

After 5 minutes, Hystrix and Biru were ready to leave. But not me. I was determined to go and nicely ask the guards that ridiculous and silly question – “I don’t have any ticket, but can I come in?”

I told Hystrix that it’s the last thing I would want to do before we leave. If the guards don’t let me in, I would leave without any disappointment, because I at least tried. But if I don’t try and just leave like that, I would feel totally regretful. And someday I would recall that moment and thought: ‘I should’ve tried to ask the guards.’ I should. At least. Try. Or else our hardship of waiting in the cold, and with empty stomach would be absolutely worthless.

Hystrix looked at me for a moment before she said, “I’ll accompany you.” We walked towards two of the guards and started the ‘controversial’ conversation.

Me: Excuse me, I was just wondering if you could let us in for a while because we waited for quite a long time outside here.

Guard 1: Oh, are you waiting for your friends or relatives?

Hystrix: No, uhm... Is there anybody inside? Are all the artists still inside?

Guard 1: Er, well yup... Who are you coming to see actually?

Hystrix: Well, we actually want to see one of the artists.

Me: Yeah, we had been waiting for quite a long time, we’d be grateful if we could even at least see him from far.

Guard 1: You need a blue pass for that. What pass do you have? White or blue?

Me: Er, we don’t have any pass; we didn’t buy the ticket because we just found out about this event.

Guard 2: Oh. Uhm, we cannot let you in if that’s the case. Even if we let you in, there’s another guard at the other door; you will still not be able to enter.

Me: Oh please, we really want to see him. We don’t mind if we can only see him from far away. *I was begging the guards without me realising it*

Guards 1: *Paused for several seconds* Well... Okay, let’s make a deal. 50 dollars each person.

Me and Hystrix: *Shocked*

Hystrix: Uhm, nevermind. We’ll just leave.

Me: *Unexpectedly asked for a lower deal* Can you lower it a bit?

Guard 2: *Spoke to Guard 1* Just let them in.

Hystrix: It’s okay, we’ll just leave. *Gestured to walk away*

Guard 1: No, no. Just come in. Forget about the deal. (I made up the last sentence)

Me: Really? *Eyes blinking fast*

Guard 1: Yes, you two come with me.

Me: Oh, thanks a lot! (You can’t imagine how my face looked like that moment)

Hystrix and I looked to each other. Oh my God. I felt like screaming my heart out but fortunately I was able to control it. Be cool, I reminded myself. Haha.

We followed the guard into the hall and saw many people lining up on the stage to get the artists’ autographs and to take pictures with them. My eyes were searching for Ryan when the guard asked me, “Which one is the person you want to meet?” I said, “Wait, uhm... Oh, there he is! The one wearing black shirt, standing behind the table.”

“Go to the front and take a picture,” he said smilingly, seeing that I was holding a camera in my hands. I was very grateful to him and the other guard. “Thank you very much!” was the only words that I could utter to him. I turned to Hystrix and said, “This is unbelievable.”

Hystrix called Biru, who was waiting for us outside, to tell her that we were allowed to enter the hall and would come out in several minutes. We quickly walked to the front of the stage and I snapped several pictures of Ryan, who was taking pictures with some fans.

Hystrix asked me to go up the stage and meet Ryan face-to-face. But I felt guilty to cut the line and head up straight to Ryan, which I actually did.

We went up the stage and I stood right in front of the table Ryan was standing before. He was talking to a crew (or whoever it was) when I called his name. He turned to me and I said, “Hi Ryan!” He smiled and replied, “Hi!”

I was still too excited that I miraculously spoke non-stop and fluently and he only listened attentively to me without saying anything. I said something that sounded more or less like this;

“Ryan, I admire you very much. I feel nervous because I had never thought I could meet you. Actually my friends and I had been waiting outside the building for two hours because we didn’t buy a ticket because we just found out about the event. Well, I feel bad for cutting the line and come straight to meet you, but I’m very happy that I could meet you.”

Hystrix snapped a picture of us when I was nervously speaking to Ryan. I could tell from Ryan’s face that he felt touched and sympathetic to hear my story. Then a crew said to us, “Be quick please, another 15 minutes left”. Ryan said to us, “Oh, do you want to take a picture?” I replied, “Oh, yeah,” and we turned to Hystrix who was holding my camera. Ryan and I posed for a moment and Hystrix snapped a picture. Then I took the camera to take a picture of Ryan and Hystrix. After that, Hystrix said to Ryan, “Nice to meet you!” and Ryan answered, “Nice to meet you too!” and we left the stage.

Me and Ryan

Hystrix and Ryan

I tried to snap another picture of Ryan entertaining the fans in the queue, but the camera memory was full. That picture of Ryan and Hystrix was the last one. We walked out of the hall and passed by the guards. I smiled to them and thanked them. Guard 1 smiled at us as he could sense the bliss we’re engulfed in.

I said to Hystrix, “Let’s act cool as if nothing happened.” We saw Biru and walked towards her. After several ‘cool’ steps, Hystrix ran towards Biru and I couldn’t help running after her! We’re filled with genuine excitement. Yes, pure bliss. We then headed up to the nearby KFC to have our dinner and to narrate to Biru on what had happened.

Biru was able to complete her online exam on time when we got home. And I found out that the artist that we saw outside the building was Christian Joseph, a YouTube celebrity.

Christian Joseph

The end.

We learnt that if we want something, we have to act like we want it. The late principal of my school always told us that if we request for something, it’s uncertain that we’ll get it. But if we don’t request for it at all, we’ll certainly not get it. Moral of the story, hard work pays off.

Biru, me and Hystrix

Thanks to Hystrix and Biru for accompanying me! :)

P/S: The title of the post is derived from the short movie “Ryan and Sean’s Not So Excellent Adventure” by Ryan and his friend, Sean Fujiyoshi.

Thanks for reading!