I like reading fan accounts, and now that I’ve had some time to reflect upon my trip to New York, I decided to give it whirl. I hope you enjoy it. It’s a bit on the long side.It all started when I logged on to the shoutbox on Jan 24th and saw the chatter about the Girls coming to New York. My wife was sitting right next to me doing something on Second Life (look it up if you don’t know what it is) and I told her what was going on. She is truly my Genie, and even though she does not like SNSD even a little bit, she instantly said that we must go. Hearing this, I immediately went on Letterman’s website and applied for tickets. I tried to do the same for Live With Kelly, but for some reason I could not enter any info and eventually gave up. I also booked two nights in a hotel on Central Park West a block away from the park. The next day at work, I secured the necessary days off, which due to short staffing was not a given. But I got Tuesday and Wednesday off, and I didn’t have to be at work until Thursday night at 930pm, so I figured I could maybe make the fansign and still drive back in time to make it to work.After I got home from work the next day, I got a call from a representative of the David Letterman show. They had received my application for tickets, and would award them to me if I could answer a single trivia question. She asked me what Dave’s announcer’s hair color was, and I totally blanked out and said brown. She replied “It’s a bright color” and not being able to think of any other bright hair color but red, I blurted that out. She said “Congratulations, you’re coming to the show!” and I breathed a heavy sigh of relief that I didn’t totally screw that up. I couldn’t believe that this was happening. You have to understand that up to this point I had considered the possibility of me ever seeing the Girls live a remote and unlikely thing. I figured that even if they did a US tour, and even if I was able to get tickets, and even if I was able to get off work, I probably wouldn’t go because I don’t really fit in that well with the usual crowd at their shows. I just couldn’t see myself in a crowd of spazzing, screaming people much younger than me yelling TIFFANY!!! and TAYEON!!! in my ear for 3 hours. But this situation was ideal. All of the sudden, I had the opportunity to see the Girls perform live, while totally blending in to what I knew was going to be a bunch of older white people like me in the Letterman audience. And this was before I even found out who Dave’s guest was. Up to this point, I didn’t really care who else was on the show that night. I would have sat through just about anything as long as I knew what was coming at the end. But when I heard it was going to be Bill Murray, I just couldn’t believe it. I realize a lot of people here don’t know or care much about Bill, but he is truly one of the greatest and most beloved comedic actors of our time. Ghostbusters, Stripes, Meatballs, Groundhog Day and especially Caddyshack are some of my favorite comedies, and he was absolutely brilliant in every one of them. He is a legend. I had seen him on Dave’s show many times before, so I knew that he was Dave’s best and most favorite guest of all time. It was more than I could have ever hoped for. And my wife was almost as excited as I was, as she had never been to NYC and had always wanted to go. In addition, her father passed away just a few weeks ago after a short battle with liver cancer. So she was more than ready to get away for a few days.So we were all set. We got someone to feed the cats, I had my Jeep serviced a few days before the trip just to be on the safe side, and we loaded it up early Tuesday morning and set off on the 135 mile drive to NYC. I had to pick up the tickets for Letterman between 2pm and 3pm, and I had read that the Girls would be arriving at the show around 1pm, so I wanted to get there as early as possible. It was smooth sailing until about an hour into the trip, just east of Allentown, Pa. All of the sudden, the main 3 lane highway (Rt 78) into New Jersey was closed. I would later find out it was due to a truck crashing through the median. The detour was an agonizing crawl that consisted of moving ten feet and then stopping for a few minutes. I was out of my mind. At this point I was experiencing the thing I had feared and even had nightmares about for almost a week: that something would happen to prevent me from getting to the Letterman show. There was no way of getting around this situation, as there is really only one way to get from Pa to New Jersey and then on to New York from where I was. So I crawled and stewed and fumed and fretted for over an hour, surrounded by gigantic tractor trailers. Mercifully after what seemed like an eternity we got back on Rt 78 and it was 80 mph the whole way to Manhattan. Thanks to my brand new GPS, I had no trouble finding the hotel, and traffic in the city wasn’t too bad so we were early enough to park, check in, and get over to the Ed Sullivan theater. It was about noon.After dropping our luggage at the hotel, we grabbed a cab and headed over. He let us off at the front under Dave’s marquee, and I was surprised to see nobody hanging out there. So we went around the corner and there it was-a sea of very young, spazzing mostly Asian-American kids waiting for the Girls to arrive. You’ve probably seen the vids so I won’t go into further details about the crowd. Earlier in the week, I had chatted with a couple of guys on Reddit that said they had tickets, and from the description they gave (two fat guys, one with a scraggly beard), I found them almost immediately. I went over to say hello, and we talked for a couple of minutes while we waited. They didn’t exactly fit in with the crowd themselves. They were younger than me, but they were both fat white guys. So we got along just fine.Next thing you know, the bus appeared and the place absolutely exploded. There were some barricades up here and there to keep the crowd back, but you could pretty much move around anywhere you wanted. So I got into what looked like a good spot and readied my crappy little Vivitar camera. After a minute or two, they emerged from the bus and the crowd exploded again. They walked directly to the line of people behind the barricades across the street from where the bus was parked to sign autographs, waving and smiling the whole way. The line for autographs was at least 5 or 6 people deep, so I knew I wasn’t going to get close enough for that. But I had a good view, and I started snapping pics. Again, you’ve all seen the pics and vids of this, so I won’t go into the details of how stunning they looked and how cute Hyoyeon’s spirit hood was. Let’s just say that it was totally surreal to see them right in front of me. They did not spend a whole lot of time signing before they scurried off into the theater. It was at this point that I realized that I had not cleared out the memory in my camera, and ended up getting only one or two clear pics. I was not happy about this, but I had just seen something I thought I would never see, and nothing was going to ruin that.By this time, it was almost 2pm, so we went back to the front of the building and lined up to get our tickets. That went without a hitch and with tickets in hand we went upstairs and had a bite to eat at Angelo’s right above the theatre. It was outstanding, and we had just enough time to finish eating before we had to be back downstairs to get into the theater. We got in line, and they herded us into the lobby. And I do mean herded. For some reason, they packed us all into a very small room and made us wait there for a good half hour. The woman behind me was freaking out from having to stand in one place for so long. Meanwhile, the CBS pages tried to keep us entertained by telling lame jokes and asking stupid questions. They then explained exactly how we needed to act once the show started: no yelling out, no “wooing” or whistling, no pictures or cell phone use of any kind, just laugh at everything Dave says no matter if we think it is funny or not. Just before it really started to get ugly, they let us in to the studio. We filed down, down, down until we reached the 4th row. I sat in my seat and looked up and I was dead center of the stage where the Girls would be performing. Once again, fate had smiled upon me. After everyone was seated, I looked around and saw mostly middle age white people. There was a smattering of younger people here and there, but it certainly was not full of sones. I worried about what their reaction to the Girls was going to be.After a few minutes, the warm up comic came out and told a few jokes and introduced the band. Dave then came out and said a few words and the next thing you know the show started. The monologue was lame, but we all laughed and clapped like trained monkeys and Dave finally took his seat. The top ten list was so good that I can’t even remember what it was. Dave then did the bit about Brad Pitt, and then it was time for Bill Murray to come out. Bill was as great as I expected, and there was good back and forth between him and Dave. Then the two of them left the theater to do their little field goal kicking bit in the street next to the theater. We watched from the monitors, but I was much more interested in watching them set up for the Girls. I was very surprised when they wheeled in three large platforms, one with a drum kit, one with a dj stand, and one with a keyboard. I had seen them back there when we first got in to the theater, but I thought they were for something else. I went in there fully expecting the usual Boys routine I’ve seen a hundred times on YouTube, and boy was I ever in for a surprise. Shortly after they had the platforms all set up, the Girls appeared from behind the stage. They looked absolutely fabulous, and just kind of milled around the stage a bit while the football thing was going on outside. Eventually, they all got together in a circle in the middle of the stage and did their little huddle, and then Tiffany and one of the other Girls (Sica or Yuri maybe, I can’t remember) went over and high-fived the three black guys on the platforms. Then they all took their starting positions, and Dave and Bill and Regis Philbin (who surprised everyone by playing a referee outside) came back inside and took their seats. Sunny did her little laugh thing (I do not know exactly what happened there) and then froze back into position. Finally, it was time. Dave introduced them, showed the CD, and we were off.I don’t even think I can adequately describe the next 5 minutes or so of my life. I definitely remember a few people yelled out GG at the beginning, and I’m not even sure but I think I was one of them. My wife said she looked over at me at one point and busted out laughing at the look on my face. There they were. Right in front of me. So close I could almost reach out and touch them. And just killing the song. Now, I know that a lot of people don’t like The Boys. I realize the lyrics are kind of silly, and the song is a bit of a departure for them musically. But it will always hold a special place in my heart because it is the very first SNSD song I ever heard. And they were just completely nailing it. I don’t think I will ever forget when they went into that first dance break. It was so unexpected and so powerful and so tight. I’ve seen it several more times since, and trust me, the recording does not do it justice. It was just amazing live. I know this is going to sound totally fangirlly and spazzy, and I would laugh at anyone else saying it, but I swear at one point Sooyoung looked directly into my eyes and smiled. Like I said, we were right in the center of the their stage so I’m sure she was just looking into the camera, but at the time I was too busy spazzing to be thinking clearly. It was about at that point that I realized that without even being conscious of it I was singing along. I watched the rest of the performance in complete amazement, mouthing or singing the words (I don’t really even know what I was doing) and then all of the sudden it was over. I fully expected a pregnant pause from the crowd, but there was none. The cheers and applause were instantaneous and spontaneous. They had done what I thought was impossible. They actually impressed this crowd of mostly older, white people. I was yelling and clapping as hard as I could, and Dave went over and did his thing and murdered saying kamsahamnida and gave Sooyoung the football and the show ended. I looked at my wife and she had a big smile on her face and she told me that even though she still doesn’t like the music, she thought it was an absolutely incredible performance. This made me very happy. As we were getting ready to file out, I watched as the Girls chatted with Dave and everyone else on stage, and I think the last thing I saw was two of the Girls (Sunny and Tiffany maybe? I really don’t know for sure) posing for a photo with Paul Schaeffer while the rest were all waving and smiling and just looking so happy and so beautiful. They knew that they had just pulled off on an almost flawless performance under extreme pressure in front of an audience that wasn’t exactly what you would call friendly, or typical of what they are used to. It was incredible.So we exited the theater into the unseasonably warm New York night and headed over to where the bus was to await their exit. On our way over, two Asian-American (but obviously not sone) girls were walking right beside us, and I heard the one say “That was terrible” and the other say “Well, it wasn’t the worst Kpop I’ve ever heard”. I couldn’t help myself, so I told them how great I thought it was. One of them then made a comment about the lyrics not making any sense, and I replied “Hey, give them a break, it’s their first all-English song”. They just kind of laughed and went on their way. We waited for a little while and the Girls came out to another explosion of cheers from what looked like the same crowd that was there earlier. It was completely dark by then, and my sucky camera is even suckier at night, but I did actually manage to get a few decent shots this time. The bus pulled away and the crowd dispersed and we grabbed a cab over to Serendipity, a nearby restaurant known for its deserts and made famous by the movie of the same name. Afterwards we walked around the city a bit before returning to the neighborhood where our hotel was. Kelly’s studio was only a few blocks from our hotel, so we went over there quick to see if anyone was lined up yet. It was only 8pm, and there was nobody there. One of the ABC employees was outside having a smoke, and I asked him what time to be there in the morning, and he told me 630. I thanked him and we walked down to the end of the block and to our amazement there was the Girls’ bus! I couldn’t see anyone inside, and after a few minutes it pulled away. I don’t know if they were rehearsing or if the bus was just dropping something off or what, but it was just such a surprise to see it there. So we walked to our hotel and waited for Letterman to come on so we could watch the broadcast.We woke up the next day at about 530 to a dreary, rainy morning and trudged down to Live with Kelly. My heart kind of sank when I saw the number of people lined up outside. But we took our place in line up against the wall of the building, trying to stay out of the steady rain. Fortunately, my Genie brought an umbrella with her, and I had my Gore-Tex jacket on so we managed to stay pretty dry. As we were taking our place in line, my wife almost poked this adorable young Chinese-American girl with the umbrella and we started talking and just had a wonderful chat about our love for the Girls and what we liked and how we got into it. She didn’t seem at all weirded out that I was much older than her, and she really seemed to enjoy our conversation as much as I did. Somewhere around 8am, the bus that I had come to know so well by now pulled up right next to where we were all lined up. Of course, there was an explosion of cheers, and like the previous night, we all gathered around in anticipation of the Girls getting off of the bus. With my wife holding my place in line, I walked across the street for a better view, and although they did sign a few autographs, the Girls did not linger very long and quickly proceeded into the studio. At this point I had pretty much given up on taking pictures, so instead I just watched once again in amazement as they appeared before me. After they went in we all got back in line and buzzed about how gorgeous they all looked.After a while, we were told to move away from the building a little, and a second line formed between us and the building for people that had tickets. Well you should have seen the faces on the mostly middle age (and older) women that had come to see Jlo or Kelly or whatever and had to walk all the way past our line to get into their line. They looked totally horrified at all of the young sones singing and dancing and being all excited and whatnot. They had no idea why we were there, or what they were in for once the Girls took the stage. It was rather amusing. Eventually, people from Kelly’s show came out and handed us numbers. I was number 70 in line, but the paper said that having a number didn’t mean you were getting in to the show. As 9am fast approached and the people with tickets filed in to the studio, it became apparent that there was no way I was getting in. I waited there a little bit longer just to make sure, but at around 915 I saw them take one last person in (they had number 15), so I knew it wasn’t going to happen. So I rushed back to the hotel so I could catch the show. I made it in plenty of time, watched the performance and the little chit-chat afterwards, and then rushed back to the studio so I could watch them get back into the bus.And that’s pretty much it. Although I had weaseled my way into getting Thursday off work, I decided to not try to get into the fansign. There was just too much conflicting information, and when it became obvious that having a chance at getting a wristband was going to require and all night campout I gave up. My wife said she would never let me go over there without her, and I was not going to ask her to stand around outside in what had become much more typical February weather for 10 hours. She was just recovering from a very bad cold, and I hate the think about how that would have affected her. I had accomplished most of what I set out to do during this trip anyway. Actually meeting the Girls and being able to say hello would have been wonderful, but I do not regret my decision at all. The wife and I wandered around New York the remainder of Wednesday and did some shopping and some touristy stuff and had a great dinner, but I won’t bore you with the details. We packed up and left on Thursday morning.The things I found most remarkable from the trip:Tiffany far exceeded my expectations. All of the Girls were absolutely stunning in person, but she really stood out to me as the one that was more beautiful in person than she is in any pics or vids I‘ve ever seen.Seohyun’s voice was so strong and clear at Letterman. I already knew she could sing, but I think she really distinguished herself during that performance. I have actually read some negative reviews of her singing that night, but all I heard coming out of her mouth was pure gold.Watching the instant transition that occurred a second or two before the Letterman performance started. I marveled as these nine tiny, humble, sometimes dorky, sometimes cutsey girls simultaneously seemed to flick a switch and become steely-eyed, take-no-prisoners, total pro bosses right before my eyes. It was really incredible.Sunny has learned to say “the” instead of “dah”.There is an insane amount of gorgeous Asian women in NYC.I need to get a decent camera and learn how to use it.And finally, some rough numbers:Hotel $250.00Food and Drink 200.00Gas 50.00Parking 75.00Taxis 80.00Misc 50.00Total $705.00Time spent in the actual presence of the Girls: probably less than 15 minutesWas it worth it? Absolutely! I would do it over again in a heartbeat.Now if I can just talk my wife into letting me fly to Paris this week…Some of my feeble attempts at photography: