PART 4: MY DREAM CAME TRUE, SEEING GUITAR GODDESS ORIANTHI PANAGARIS IN PERSON!!!

READ PART 1, PART 2, PART 3 HERE!

After the non stop screaming and shouting and being extremely envy of my friends because they got to meet Orianthi (as mentioned in the previous post), soon there were announcements about Orianthi’s performance in Australia. OMG!!!! How unbelievable! I felt that God took pity on me and he then decided to fulfill my dream! Of course, the news spreaded first on Twitter. Fans were talking about it and I saw links flying all over on my timeline. Although I wasn't sure about it, I asked mom to get my friend to bring the CDs over here :D Brilliant!

As the date got nearer, I wanted a confirmation, I tweeted Orianthi and she replied! Awesome! She said "see ya there" when I told her I wanted to go to meet her at the airport! Perhaps you can imagine how hyped I was back then!!! I was jumping in joy, literally jumping in joy in my room x)

I posted this little note right in front of my study table so I could stare at it everyday! My friends really couldn't stand my craziness ==''' I waited desperately desperately desperately desperately desperately for that week to come. I was prepared to go to the airport to see her. I didn't plan attend her performance because she was just a guest for Michael Boulton. I WANT HER PERSONAL CONCERT! Only a guest, as a guitarist, for sure she didn't perform every single song and the freaking tickets were awfully expensive. Well, perhaps not for the locals, the cheapest one was 145Aussie dollars. Convert it to Malaysian Ringgit, you could've bought a VIP/Rock Zone ticket. (Last time the ticket I bought for Orianthi's concert was just RM170.)

The week that she's coming was no longer my holiday week. In fact, it's the first week for my second term. I was counting and guessing which day would Orianthi arrived in Melbourne. The concert here was on Friday and her Sydney stop had ended on Tuesday or Monday I suppose, so I somehow just jumped to conclusion that she would arrive here on Wednesday or the latest on Thursday for soundcheck. I was praying so hard that she's not going to arrive on Wednesday because my schedule starts at 9am and ended at 5.15pm, if she arrived on Wednesday then for sure it's GG for me :S However, later I found out that Wednesday was a public holiday. For that split second, I really felt that God was helping me out a lot. My 6th sense got triggered and it told me that Orianthi would arrive on Wednesday....

I went out to buy marker pens. Damn it, marker pens are so expensive here. 2 marker pens = 7Aussie dollar (the two on the left). WTH! In Malaysia, I can buy more than 5 with this price already! *Bang Head* Plus the original 2 marker pens that I already have in collection, total up 4 marker pens. Throughout that week, I was in a on-call-24-hour stage. I carried those 4 markers with me plus 2 Orianthi albums plus Michael Jackson's This Is It album with me, practically everywhere I go. Even to school.

My phone

iPod

iPad lock screen

iPad home screen

I was prepared that once she tweeted something about leaving for Melbourne then I would rush to the airport. For the past few days, my Malaysia Panagaris Ninja family and I were busy asking Orianthi which airline she was going to take and which exact date she would arrive, but she didn't go on Twitter as often as she used to be during that week. Not being discouraged, I still kept my hopes HIGH~~I was in an ORIANTHI FEVER MODE :p See my phone and my iPad and my iPod!

Tuesday went passed without any sign of her coming, she only tweeted she was having a great time  with her sister in Sydney. Wednesday, *heart breaking* still in Sydney. So now left Thursday, that night, I couldn't sleep, so nervous, I was so afraid that I wouldn't be able to see her.

On Thursday morning, around 10am, when I was still in my literature lecture, suddenly she tweeted that she was going to the airport and heading for Melbourne. Damn...10am heading for the airport. If she's coming from somewhere further I wouldn't have to be so anxious, the thing was that she's coming from Sydney, which is only 1 and a half hour flight to Melbourne...NO NO NO...My heart sank because my class would only end at 12.30pm and from my school to the airport, I needed AT LEAST 40minutes.

Seriously felt like crying but then I convinced myself that I would definitely see her for sure as long as I kept my hopes high and my fingers crossed. 30minutes free time before my English class, I went to put on my makeup because I didn't wanna look like a piece of shit in front of my guitar goddess. Malaysia Ninjas were busy helping me to track which terminal would Orianthi come out from. And it's not just merely Malaysia Ninajas, even Australian fans were helping me out. The whole Twitter was in riot x) And then Orianthi tweeted something about eat berries and reading an inspiring book on the plane….*sigh* I couldn’t sit still throughout the entire English class.

I was (still am) thankful for my English teacher's support. Guess what?! He knew I was going to rush to the airport after class and he taught me how to get to the skybus station by tram and where to buy the tickets at the station and which terminal I should go. He even let me out of class 5 minutes earlier than the others so I could rush over as fast as I could. Honestly, I didn't dare to skip class in college because I didn't want my marks to be affected, if I was in Malaysia, I wouldn't care much about classes anymore. I ran like insane towards the tram stop and I had to change another tram.

I encountered a fat lady who was the most idiotic person in the entire Australia. She was big size enough to block nearly the entire narrow pathway. But heck, I know I am puny enough and I could just squeeze through the tiny gap in between her tummy and the tram. Damn her to the max, I went in front and she used her tummy to block my way; I went from the back, she used her fat ass to block my way. WTF! She later screamed at me and demanded a "Please" word from me. I gave her pissed off face and just said "excuse me" with a cold voice, no need to bother this kind of people, not worth my PRECIOUS time >;(

Hopped on the tram then skybus, soon I arrived at the airport. My friends told me that since she's coming over from Sydney, she wouldn't be coming out from the international terminal. The worst thing was that the domestic terminals are all separated by airlines. The Twitter riot continued and they finally the came up with the conclusion while I was in my English class - biggest possibility was Qantas. Arrived at the airport, there was no wifi. I stood at the Qantas terminal and just then there was a plane that landed, from Sydney. I waited with a loud pounding heart….A lot of blonde hair girls but no Orianthi. I asked a China tour guide and I told him about Orianthi’s schedule. He said most likely it was this terminal, I was correct.

After waiting for 30minutes, my friends texted me. So touched, they would sacrifice their phone credit and sms me :’) Orianthi tweeted that she just landed in Melbourne. They asked me to wait patiently at the carousel as Orianthi actually does pick up her things, herself, personally. I waited waited and waited but there was no sign of her. Coincidentally Jet Star was the other domestic airline which had an airplane landing at the same time as Qantas, and BOTH were from Sydney. Oh no….Jet Star’s terminal was upstairs. But I eventually sticked to wait at Qantas. Soon many people went off already and the carousel was empty. Still I didn’t see her. I started to panic. I went up to Jet Star still no Orianthi. It wouldn’t be possible to take 1 hour to walk out from the plane and to claim the luggage. Never before I was felt so helpless and hopeless in my entire life. I couldn’t do anything about it. What if she didn’t take Qantas? What if I just missed her? What if it’s not this airport? A thousand of what ifs popped into my head. I didn’t know what to do except for keep on waiting and searching both Qantas and Jet Star terminal non-stop.

image from Google.com

In total, I actually waited for nearly 3 hours, without eating anything for lunch. Yet, what I got in the end?? False hope…I didn’t see Orianthi TT Frankly speaking, I could hear my heart breaking inside already. All the effort that me and my friends put in had eventually turned into ash. This time I really wanted to cry my heart out, but I remembered I had eyeliner and it would be scary if I cried. I forced myself to hold back my tears. My thoughtful Twitter friends tried to comfort me. One of the things that made me super touched was my phone calls with Max and Peter. Peter actually called the airport to try if they would provide him any info about Orianthi’s flight but they turned him down. While I was on my way back in the skybus, Max called and told me many things which made my mood a slightly better. Both of them are such nice guys. Thank you ^^

Picture 1: Excited until I couldn’t sit still in the bus to airport

Picture 2: Face of going-to-hell

Picture 3: Forced myself to NOT lose hope because I BELIEVE I WILL SEE ORIANTHI

I emailed my English teacher and told him that I didn’t get to see Orianthi. He suggested another plan which was to wait for her to finish her show at the backstage door! I never had this idea before. Hotel and airport I did but I didn’t know this thing's effective. The next day during lunchtime, I went to see my English teacher and he told me his friend managed to meet his idol using this method and he even googled the plan of the Regent Theatre (the place where Orianthi was performing) for me. He told me to try either in the afternoon, 3 or 4pm which was the time for soundcheck or after the show. I decided to try out my luck once more. My friend, Narra offered to accompany me there after she finished her class.

Right after school, I put on my concealer, but this time without eyeliner and went to check out the venue. It’s my first time wandering around at Collins Street. I had never been there alone before. Following the Google Map, I made my way to the front of Regent Theatre.

I walked round and round and round, then to the back lane, then I saw a door, unlock, it says backstage door for Regent Theatre (or something like that)….THIS IS IT!!!! The door that I had been searching high and low for. OMG!!! Unlock?! Perhaps I could’ve just sneaked iN *hahaha…nope, just kidding, I didn’t want to be an intruder by any means*

I saw the backstage workers coming in and out from the door and I didn’t dare to go near it once I saw two people stood there guarding. As Narra came, we stood at the junction of the lane until those people were gone, then we waited in front of the door. Actually Narra only knew Orianthi from the photos which I put in my room and she wanted to see her in person to see how she looks like and also she said seeing a celebrity ain’t a normal thing so she wanted to experience LOL!

2 men came out of the door and this time I plucked up my courage and asked them, “Excuse me could you please help me to get Orianthi to sign my CDs?” Then they told me that she would be coming out from that door as soundcheck would finish in an hour’s time or so. OMG! This time I was so damn nervous. Much more nervous than any moments in my life, even exams, performances, competitions were no match for this. I waited and there were more people coming out from that particular door. Later on, a guy came out for a cigarette then I asked him the same thing again and he replied the same thing as the other men told me :p Not long after that, the orchestra band members started coming out. Funny thing was that some of them didn’t even know who’s Orianthi when I asked until I showed them her albums then only they told me that she was still in the middle of the soundcheck.

I didn’t care how much longer I had to wait. Even it’s waiting for another 12 hours, I would be willing to do so. Truly. Pity Narra because she ended up sitting on the floor, leaning against the wall at the corner with her coffee while I was prancing around. 2 men who were waiting for Michael Boulton came to have a little chit chat with me and one of them actually met Orianthi before and he showed me a picture of him with Orianthi in his camera.

I decided to calm myself down and tried to find something to do to distract myself since I still had to stand there waiting….so I passed my things to Narra and camwhored!!!!

TO MY SURPRISE, as soon as I finished camwhoring, I turned my head around. I saw…………..something that I had never expected. Or rather someone…..

Blonde long hair! Wearing a black fedora! Totally a perfect figure! GODDESS OF ALL TIME – ORIANTHI PANAGARIS walking the stairs towards the door!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OH MY GOD~ OH MY GOD~ OH MY GOD~ MY GODDESS WAS JUST RIGHT IN FRONT OF MY EYES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Beside her was the guy who came out to have his cigarette. I never thought he’s the stage manager, he actually went to tell her that I was waiting for her. It’s too good to be true….I swear I could’ve just fainted at that split second. I rushed to Narra, got over the albums that she was holding and went to Orianthi. SHE HUGGED ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Honestly, I could feel myself shaking as she wrapped her arms around me. Not that I was scared of her, but I was too nervous. She was (forever is) an angel to me. And her perfume smell was really nice. She hugged me and timidly I asked her “Orianthi, can you sign the CDs for me please?” She was such a sweet person, “Yeah sure!” she said with her goddess voice and  signed 3 of my albums. She even asked what’s my name so she could write it on the CDs. She actually said out my name, ”Fion, there you go.” I had never thought that my name sound good until Orianthi said it~~ From now onwards, I swear I will love my name! I told her I went to wait for her at the airport yesterday but now to be able to see her in person, I feel like it’s a dream. She kept on smiling at me and she even held my hands <3 <3 <3 Narra was still sitting at the corner watching us with wide-opened eyes and I had to signal her to come over x) So inhuman...

My first photo with Orianthi! I looked like a complete mess! :S

The other guys who were waiting for Michael Boulton also came to get autographs from Orianthi.  She hugged them as well, and me as well, another time <3 I purposely said in front of Orianthi, “Narra, meet my guitar goddess, Orianthi.” Orianthi gave out a small laugh and with a shy smile she continued signing for the guys. She asked us if we were going to attend the concert. (In real, none of us were going because those guys weren’t really interested in meeting Michael Boulton, they just wanted his autograph to complete their collection that’s all.) I didn’t know how to answer her, I didn’t want to let her feel that I was not supportive but I also didn’t want to lie to her. (How on earth could you lie to your guitar goddess, lighting would strike you for sure!) I told her, “Too bad I can’t make it tonight for the show, I’m so sorry. But can I bring my guitars to let you sign after the show? Will you come out from here after the show?” she said “Of course, I’ll see you tonight over here.” With her trademark aussie accent and smile. Luckily, she was alright with that and I quickly passed my iPad to Narra and asked her to take a photo of me and Orianthi together.

SELCA WITH ORIANTHI

However, I wasn’t quite satisfied with the photo. And I remembered what Sue Ee told me about taking selca with Orianthi would be awesome. So I asked Orianthi if I could take another picture with her. This time SELCA!!!! WOOHOOOO!!! I don’t think many fans get to do this with their idols.

I also offered to take a picture of Narra with Orianthi in return.

Orianthi didn’t get to stay outside with us for long because the stage manager said the soundcheck had not officially ended and she had to go inside. Saying goodbye to her and she hugged me again *3rd time OMG!* Once she entered the door, suddenly I remembered something. I opened the door, but didn’t dare to rush in. I stood at the door and asked if she could sign my iPad. The stage manager was looking at me with surprise and said, “You want Orianthi to sign your iPad?” Orianthi was laughing and she said “no problem” and got the pen from me and signed it. She said “nice to meet you, see you tonight.” Smiled, waved goodbye, and she went inside. I stood at the door until I couldn’t see her anymore.

OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THE BEST MOMENTS IN MY LIFE EVER!!!!!!!!! I cant express fully about how I feel, the only thing that I kept on repeating on the way home was, “I can die in heaven already right now!” Narra laughed at me non stop. As expected, those pedestrians were looking at me but I was too blown away to give any damn about their stares x)

Outfit of that night. Peace shirt + Michael Jackson jacket + angel ring

Rushed back home, I gobbled up my dinner. At the dining table, I uploaded my selca with Orianthi to Facebook and Twitter. Haha! A lot of people commented "envy!" :p Immediately, I changed my profile picture :D Next thing was to shower, make up, choose my outfit and prepare my guitars. I finished showering and washing my hair very quickly and got Tiffany to help out on my eyeliner because I didn't have the patience to do things carefully and slowly anymore. Lately I had so much homework and I didn't really get to play my guitar, so they were cover with a little dust and also out of tune. I quickly grabbed wet tissues to clean them up and asked Alanis to come down to help me with tuning (I suck at it, need a darn long time).

I actually wanted to go to QV to buy Malaysia Old Town White Coffee for Orianthi so she could remember there's a Malaysian fan in Melbourne but Athira intelligently pointed out that she might not be able to bring that through the custom.


So eventually I made her a Peace necklace myself. Haha...actually I didn't really MAKE it, I just took out the pendant from a bracelet and took remove a pendant from the necklace and put them together. TAH DAH! Nice? Cute?

Necklace's in the little packet. Alanis is talented :D

There's the photo that I took at her KL concert. She's gorgeous!

Thankfully Alanis came to my room. She's very good at art and craft so she offered to help me make a nice packaging for Orianthi's present. When I took out a colour paper which I wanted to write a short note for her, Alanis stopped me. "So ugly if you were to put it that way. I make a nice one for you." So see this was the outcome! And I got to write lots of things to Orianthi. (Now seeing the photo, I really regret...Should have used normal pen instead of colour markers so I could write even more things :p) See the photo which I put on the card? Remember this? I mentioned in the Part 2 Orianthi story. I took this myself for goodness sake! A perfect shot right? I know *applause* xD

After getting the things done, it was nearly 9pm. Narra was running late, so I had to wait for her. I was already nervous like hell, I didn't want to miss Orianthi. The worst thing was the next tram from my hostel to city would only arrive in 20minutes time. And I needed to get the digital camera from Shueh Yin, I didn't want to use iPad's camera anymore because the quality's not really good, and her house's in the opposite direction from Regent Theater TT. In the end, I told Narra to get the camera from Shueh Yin and I carried 2 guitars to wait for Orianthi on my own. People stared at me but I didn't care...

Camwhore at the doorway to dream-come-true.

One of the guys waiting for Michael Boulton came up to me once I arrived there. "Hey, you really went back to bring your guitars?" He told me that Orianthi came out again after I went back to sign for some fans and sad case, he didn't get Boulton's autograph. Hence, he's still there waiting for another chance. Narra came with the camera and stood against the wall looking at me in hyped mode. I chatted with those guys about guitars and music and even about travelling. Both of them guessed I was only 15 or 16 years old, in fact they said "at most 15 or 16". When I told them, "No no...I'm officially 18", both of them screamed! After a while, Narra left for clubbing with her friends so I was alone. Had fun chatting with fans though ;)

I knew the concert ended as more more fans started to gather at the backstage door with us. Most of them couldn't help stealing glances at my guitars. I even heard someone saying, "Look, some crazy fan even brought guitars." (Proud of myself #PanagarisNinja FTW!) Most of them were old fans, as in not teenagers like me, so I assumed most of them were there for Boulton. Standing in front of me was a girl and my mind told me that she's waiting for Orianthi as well. So I asked her who's she after. Her reply was "Ori". I suspected this girl's a Twitter user and might be one of us. And I asked her what's her name. OMG! When she said her name's Bri, I got a shock. She's the girl who I chatted on Twitter. She initially said that her dad didn't allow her to wait at the exit door, that's why I didn't expect to see her. I told her "Oh hi, nice to meet you, I'm Fion, MJandOri4eva." That reminded her xD Another person who I promised to meet was Max. Finally got the chance to meet this dedicated guy fan! He was wearing an Orianthi T-shirt which he told me on the phone on the previous day and I met his wife too who complimented on my guitars hehe ^^. So happy to see them in person! Panagaris Ninjas really rock!