YOLO, YOLO, YOLO, YO

"Just for today, rather than worry, go

오늘만은 고민보단 go 해버려"

I’m not great at math. But I have been working on a problem. How long do you have to be vested to grow out of baby ARMY phase into a regular ARMY? I’m thinking since BTS debuted about 9 years ago and people come of age at 18. We will multiply 9 by 2 to come up with the adult ARMY age. I have been ARMY for nearly 2 years so 2 x 2 is 4, making me a preschool ARMY. That sounds about right.

Some people would rather measure by the amount of effort you have put into the rabbit-hole, variety shows, music streaming, and concerts. However, does it make you less of an ARMY if you haven’t done anything but love them? I think not.

I am surprised at the way BTS has swept into my life and taken over. It's difficult to believe that it has only been a couple of tick-tocks on the clock of my life.

I’m guessing that if you are not a fan of BTS like me you have stopped reading this by now. I tend to ramble when it comes to the guys.

Let me tell you, my ARMY friends, what happened to me last month.

My daughter, Sierra, has spent most of her adult life in Seoul teaching English. She finally got her first job in the U.S. this school year teaching ESL to high school juniors. She was planning on going back to Seoul this summer but last month she decided to stay another year.

One morning I was up early and I saw that BTS was going to be in Las Vegas! I am a hotel rewards member because of my job and I have racked up tons of points so I quickly reserved hotel rooms for the nights that BTS would be in concert. I didn’t think I was really going to go but it felt nice to pretend. I figured I could always save the rooms and then let ARMY friends know before I canceled so they could swoop them up.

I texted Sierra.

She decided she was going to take her travel to Seoul savings and use it for “BTS in Las Vegas make memories with Mom” instead.

YOLO, YOLO, YOLO, YO!

She had the pre-ticket sales jitters. She was stressed. We were both lucky enough to get the code the night before pre-sales. On T-Day, she decided to optimize our chances by going to Nerdvana, a local internet cafe that has speeds of 90 gazillion. While I stayed home and used the Mac on home wifi. We both entered the queue at 2000+ for each of the three days we had chosen. She zipped through the line. Within 20 minutes she was our choosing tickets: Gold VIP soundcheck in the coveted section A4. (I was skeptical about getting floor seats because we are short but Sierra insisted and I realized that we should at least try it while the opportunity presents itself. We can always go for 100s next time.)

With the congrats from the people of Nerdvana, she was on her way home. I stayed in my queue just in case something went wrong. By the time my turn came, there were only upper-level 100s and above left. She came in still shaking. We squealed. I immediately booked the cheapest flights available (through Spirit Airlines, I’ve heard horror stories but we will see.) It’s a good thing I did because a couple of days later the prices had raised by $200 on those fights.

We are now excitedly making plans and sucking in information about BTS concert experiences. I’m making little BTS goodie bags for ARMY who we interact with, much to Sierra’s chagrin as she is an extreme introvert. I am too, but this is like a family reunion with a family you may only see in person once in your lifetime. I am going to try to be brave.

We are planning to be in Las Vegas from April 7th to April 11th. Our show is on the 8th. Are you going? What are your plans?

This preschool ARMY is going to Vegas! YAY!