I was contemplating whether to wait or to share with you now my experience on Nov. 19th. But I think I owe it to my regular co-followers from sixtofive1982 my own account of that day. And by the way, my thoughts and experiences were with all of you: jorain, asmaroc, busybee1982, pluie625, triplegreen, anya, and everybody I have not mentioned, sorry. I really wished we were all together those two nights.

As usual I couldn’t catch my sleep, so on Wednesday night I spent my waking hours reading comments from this site (where else could I have gone) and also watched Legend of Rainism concert in Japan. I was still awake by 8:00Am the following day. The last comment I wrote was when I said that my hands are paralyzed , I cannot comment anymore,I’m getting pretty excited for tonight’s event. After that I got ready, for I have to pick up Terisaurus and Snowball at the Burbank Airport at noon. My husband driving, it took us 10 minutes to get to the airport. It was not hard for me to identify them cuz Snowball sent me her picture.

As it turned out, they were two of the most down to earth people I’ve met. They were both very nice and friendly. And to think that we’ve just met but it seemed that we were like old friends. Later I’ve come to realized the closeness and camaraderie we shared all because of Rain. Anyway, the only things I was able to show Teri and Snowball was the place where Michael Jackson was buried, the Greek Observatory and the Hollywood sign on top of the hill. Soon we were at Greyhound Bus Station to meet dear Kongsao, whom we know is really a Rain fan. She was wearing one of those six to five T-shirts that she ordered online.

We were at the place in front of Grauman’s Chinese Theater around 3:00 pm. Yes, that early. But that’s okay because we were able to get good spots. There was a whole family of Hispanics next to us. Can you believe that? They know about Rain more than myself, and longer to boot. They carried with them all sorts of memorabilias that they purchased from a novelty store in Koreatown by Olympic and Western Avenues. They have life size posters of Rain, some large pictures of Rain made with clothing material. They carried with them music from his different cds. It was really awesome. I felt so proud and embarrassed at the same time. Here I am, an Asian, but not overly enthusiastic as these family. And they were waiting there since noon.

Anyway, across the street from us, the construction crew were busy building the scaffoldings that they used as props for the premiere night. After these were finished, men wearing Ninja costumes climbed these scaffoldings and entertained the fans and the tourists. They played soundtracks from the NA movie. Pretty soon the venue was filling with the media crowd. Stretched limousines were slowing down in front of the theatre, only to find out they were just passing thru. It was getting darker and tension was mounting among the spectators. Everyone was getting excited by the minute. We finished signing our names in those Rain banners provided by Diane from Rain Listings. She is so sweet and friendly. Then Jay from R-USA gave us fan posters. Actually, at the party, Jay gave us a lot of things: posters (2), a cd, a little keepsake bag with an R initial; Diane gave out little ninja toys. (Thanks Jay and Diane). Anyway, standing next to me was Paulina. She is from Hongkong, flew all the way here just to see the premiere. I told here to stay with us because she was by herself. She is another friendly character and so thoughtful, very nice lady. She goes everywhere wherever Rain has an important event to attend, say, concerts and fan meetings in Korea, China, Japan. Isn’t she something. I must say she is a loyal groupie. Around 7pm, a stretched limo pulled over in front of the theater and out came Rick Yune and a lady. Mr. Yune went across the street to greet the fans escorted by a couple of bodyguards. He was smiling while greeting the fans, signing autographs on those fans that Jay provided for us. He was saying ” this is a dream come true huh ! , and he signed all the fans’ fans from beginning of the line to the end and then he crossed the street back to the theater. There they started interviewing him, taking his pictures with the other casts and crew of NA. And then fans from across the street started screaming which of course signaled the coming of the main attraction of the evening, none other than Rain himself. He waved to all the fans. A few minutes later he crossed the street, shaking hands with the fans, saying ” Thanks for coming”. Once he was in front of us, he shook hands with kongsao’s left hand and she wouldn’t let go of Rain’s hand. But, Rain had eye contact with me and said Thanks for coming and shook my hand too but I was holding a camera, so I was able to touch him with my pinkie only. (darn camera ! !) Oh my Lordie ! ! I cannot believe it. That stare just melts me away. I thought I was going to have nervous coughing spells. The photographer caught this on camera, did everyone see that? You bet it was exciting. I don’t even remember if I was able to shoot some pictures of Rain after that. After all the excitement from the fans from this side of the street, Rain went back in front of the theatre and there he started answering all questions and took about millions of pictures of Rain for that evening. When they all started walking inside the theater, our group started planning how to go to the get together party. We were about to go to the meeting place to see my husband with my group when this man carrying a bunch of screening tickets for NA asked us if we wanted to attend the premiere showing. Is he kidding us? No, he was not. We grabbed them and on we went inside the theatre. But we were all seated separately. I was assigned at the left side Row 15, seat # 9 ( my lucky no.). Everyone watching was so excited, screaming, clapping their hands and everytime Rain appears shirtless, the girls would be screaming and shrieking and wowing. The men were also screaming. It was so much fun. At the end of the show, everyone stood up and applauded for a well complimented and entertaining movie.

So there I waited for a while for the people to leave. In fact I was waiting for my sister inside the movie. There were two entrances, left and right. I was on the left side. When there were just maybe 50 people left inside, I started for the left entrance door to exit. I was waiting there hoping to see my sister. But guess who’s coming instead. Yes, it was Rain. His bodyguards (bulky ones) , about 4 of them were walking ahead of him, then slowly Rain walked past me. It was kind of dark inside, but Rain was visible from the light outside the opened entrance door. I don’t know what came over me. Was it a reflex or something? Because when he walked past me, instinctively I patted his right “behind”, just lightly, but enough for him to look over his right shoulder. My God ! ! ! Why did I do that I said to myself. He might get mad or something. But he just smiled and went on his way. But I just stood there and reflected on what I did. By the way, I have Laryngitis, I have no voice; that even if I want to say his name, nothing would come out. So there, everyone, that was my confession. I never meant to do that but since I could not call him out, I just tapped his behind. I never targeted his behind but hey ! the man is tall, I’m only 5′3″. Figure that out. Not only was I able to feel the texture of his suit that evening, I was able to slightly feel the firmness of his back, not to mention, the eye contact as a special added bonus. So, to say that I was very happy that night was an understatement. Now that I was thinking about the incident, I’m just glad that I didn’t wear a wool coat, otherwise I might carry static with me and suppose at the time when I touched his back and I had static with me, I could have electrocuted him or worse, we might get spontaneous combustion. Lols. See, the night before it was windy here in So. California and usually there’s too much static when this happens.
Anyway, the night ended peacefully. I believe they had a party at Yamashiro in Hollywood Hills and we went to the get together with other Rain fans. There was a big feast. I met Chong there, Darlene, some Filipino fans, and many more. I believe most of them were members of RUSA.

The following night, our group went to KRESS where Rain made a guest appearance. I believe that night was intended for Rain. His posters were plastered inside the club everywhere you look wherever you go on the third floor. A lot of Rain fans were there. Rain finally appeared around 11:15 pm or so. There were a lot of people trying to catch a glimpse of Rain. I only saw his head, at the very least. He was there only for a few minutes and off he disappeared in the elevator. I’m so happy that Rain’s ordeal in Hollywood is finished. Now he can go back to Korea with peace of mind and confidence that the viewing public will patronize his movie.
Almost a year ago, his fans were eagerly anticipating his movie and before we knew it, we already attended the premiere night and seen the premiere screening. I hope we’ll get to see another Rain movie premiere in the near future and perhaps Rain fans will increase in number in the States as well. But for now, let’s just wish and pray that Rain’s Ninja Assassin becomes a huge box office success here and the rest of the world. Aja Aja !!

by felisshi