AllDC FLOPS GB GBA GCN GENESIS GG N64 NDS NEOGEO NES NGPC PC PCE PS2 PS3 PSP PSX SATURN SMS SNES Wii X360 XBX

Editorials and Features

The Pre- Dear Friends WU   Article by: MrCHUPON

WU: The Pre- Dear Friends WU [Written 2005-02-21]

This weekend was special -- it was the weekend that Nobuo Uematsu's "Dear Friends: Music from Final Fantasy" concert was to be performed in the Rosemont Theatre. Following is a journal of the weekend's events leading up to the concert. One of the perks of my job is being able to fly people over to Chicago for visits in exchange for not flying back to New York for the weekend. The airfare is charged to the company. This weekend was special -- besides it being the NBA All-Star Weekend (props to Josh Smith), it was also the weekend that Nobuo Uematsu's "Dear Friends: Music from Final Fantasy" concert was to be performed in the Rosemont Theatre, which was a 30 minute train-ride from Chicago. With that knowledge in tow, I flew up AnTiPoDe so that we could tag team the event. Following is a journal of the weekend's events leading up to the concert. I left the office at 3PM to catch a PACE commuter bus, which transports people to the CTA trains that lead into the heart of the city. The bus ride was a bumpy 40-minute-long ride during which I fell asleep listening to the HALO soundtrack (...while reading the HALO book. Hey, it's better than playing through the second half of the game. Sue me.). After that, I arrived at the Rosemont train station, and hitched a ride (another 30 minutes) into the city. Touching down I had to run to catch the #22 bus -- which I promptly missed because the correct bus stop was across the street from the one I was actually waiting in. I had an arrival time at the Days' Inn of 5:20. AnTiPoDe wasn't due to land until 9:37 Chicago time, so I promptly unleashed my Gamecube on the hotel room. Before I began vegging out, I called AnTiPoDe at around 5:30 to (a) tell him that I was in the hotel, (b) ask if he was on his way to the airport for his 8:00 flight -- 7:00 Chicago time -- (which he was) and (c) that the hotel room sucked, had no ethernet, and was about as big as a closet. After hanging up, the Wind Waker promptly frustrated me with a Halo-style first dungeon, so attention was turned to R: Racing Revolution. Happily, the NBA Rookie-Sophomore Challenge was on TNT. I turned it on at 7ish only to get a call from 'Pode. Wasn't he supposed to be on his flight? "My bus was stalling in the traffic, but my flight got delayed." Yea for flight delays, for they alloweth the late to obtaineth their seat. Nay for flight delays, for they are annoyingeth. In any case, he was set to take off at 9:20 (8:20 Chicago time). LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony proceeded to grab my atention for the next hour and a half or so, when I get another call from 'Pode. Wasn't he supposed to be boarding? "My plane hasn't arrived at the gate yet." Wondrous. Well, at least it gave me time to finish watching the rookie game, which the Sophomores won (Yea for Lebron James, as he is the next coming of Neo in Basketball form). At 9:45 (8:45 Chicago time), his plane finally arrived, and he and his GBA were in the air happily frolicking with attractive stewardesses and Mario Golf (...or so I assume). I would prepare for his touch-down at 11:22 Chicago time by leavin the hotel room at 10PM Chicago time. A 10 minute bus ride and a 40 minute train ride later and I was waiting for him with my HALO novel. After fetching him from the airport, we went back down to the bus station I had missed my first time around to wait for the bus to the hotel. We decided on a taxi because (a) the damned bus was late, (b) it was 2 degrees and (3) we started talking about Street Fighter III, whose parrying system I abhor. In the hotel room, it was now 1AM and pizza was in order. As was, of course, Ikaruga, DS sampling and sleep. 3:30AM bedtime equated to 9:30AM wakey time, for free breakfast and an intense session of 2 player Ikaruga which we promptly failed at. I introduced him to Chipotle Burritos in the downtown area, and we headed towards Rosemont Theatre at 6PM playing Mario Golf on the GBA. (I think I caught him dozing off between turns. I should have taken his turn for him and made him lose.) Arriving at 7:10, we took a cab to the theatre to find out that it was a mere 15 minute walk, and that the cabbie was charging a $3 tip ON TOP OF waiting in heavy traffic just to jack up the fare. We left after not wanting to take anymore and walked to the theatre, where a massive line the likes of which only console hardware launches have ever seen. I wish I had taken a picture. Once inside the theatre, there was a healthy wait as everyone got seated. There were people dressed up in tuxedoes for the event. Wow. I was in black jeans and 'Pode was wearing boots. We tinkered around with my DS for a bit, seeing who was on PictoChat (in fact, 3 other people) at the time. By that point, it was 8:20, the lights dimmed, and a wonderful night of music was about to start. Read about the concert in an upcoming article, soon on Trigames.NET -- whenever I get out of this hell-hole office.

The entire contents of this Web site, unless otherwise noted, are Copyright © 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 Triumvirate Games. All Rights Reserved. ™ and © for all copy, products, characters, and indicia related thereto which are contained herein are owned by the companies who market or license those products. This Web site is not endorsed, sponsored, nor otherwise affiliated with ANYONE unless specified otherwise. It has been created for the sole purpose of entertainment, knowledge and hobby. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form without consent from Trigames.NET is strictly prohibited and is punishable by law.