You've Come To The Rong Blog: June 2011

One day, I know I'm going to read back on these blog posts and think, "Damn Stephen, you really did it." I mean, not to say that I'm extremely successful or uber famous, but I've come a long way and worked hard to get to where I am today. And with that, I have no regrets. The past 2 months (since my last blog post) have been a rollercoaster/whirlwind adventure. Everyday week is filled with radio gigs, television appearances, news-related shoots, night-market tours, autograph sessions, and even some school performances. I feel like an actual celebrity sometimes! This part is hard to get used to, especially the always needing to look your best part. That, I still need to get used to. Back in Virginia, we used to go to class in our pajamas. Here, I can't even go to 7-11 without doing my hair or putting on a relatively-acceptable outfit. But all-in-all, I am enjoying every moment of my life right now.

Let's get a quick overview of the past 2 months:

Radio! I've probably been on at least 20 radio shows by now and it NEVER gets old! I love talking on the radio cuz you can just talk about anything without worrying about camera angles and how your hair looks, etc. I've had so much fun going to radio shows and doing interviews. The picture below is the very first time I went on the radio. It's Taiwan's HitFM, a very popular radio channel. The cool thing about being part of this compilation CD is that the 10 of us have a really good chemistry, and we feed off of each other and interact really well, so it made the nervousness of doing TV/radio/news go away.

For Best Radio， we were given blank toy bears to design （I don't know what for). This was my design!

The first time seeing our compilation CD displayed on the music store rack. This was a very surreal feeling. Hopefully one day, I can have my own CD! :)

Our first autograph session in Tainan South Park. A lot of people came out and we signed a lot of autographs that day. This was an awesome day

Presents from fans (mostly food)

Our autograph session banner.

One cool thing about the autograph sessions aside from hanging out with the other 9 contestants was that we got to travel a lot all over Taiwan. This also meant we got to try out the many great foods in each section we visited. The picture below is of Deep-fried octopus balls covered in wasabi and mayo from Feng Jia Night Market in Taichung. SOOOO delicious.

Me, Mumu, and Jasper. That night, along with Tee Yau and Eve, we rented a room near Feng Jia Night Market and had a night out together. It was nice to get a chance to hang out with them and we had a lot of fun that night gossiping and watching youtube videos.

iRadio!

Our youngest loyal fan. She went to like 4 autograph sessions (in Taipei and Taichung). She said I "耍帥“ haha..

Eve and I went to a judging event at a high school singing competition. It was my first time as a judge and singing after judging was quite nerve-wracking cuz if you messed up, the students are bound to think, "um...he's a judge?" hahah but the night went really well and the students were really supportive

Taichung autograph sessions

Television show "Million Primary School". EVERY celebrities most feared show because none of us want to look stupid! It's basically "Who's Smarter Than a Fifth Grader" but in Chinese. The questions are all from the Taiwanese Primary school education course, so obviously, I was like a deer trapped in headlights for most of the show. We managed to answer 4 questions correctly, so that was fun.

Kelly Tom came to Taipei for a day! Glad to have been able to see an old friend!

Went to Hong Kong for two days and stayed with my friend Nitsuji (who's English name is his Japanese name backwards "Justin") He lived in the outskirts of HK, so this was his view.

Very different from what you'd expect of HK, but it was a really nice and peaceful place

Had to get my fix of Tsui Wah's Hot-plate meal D (Pork chops in Red Onion sauce) DELISH!!

Nitsuji - Justin is a dedicated Vet.

My cousin's new Eco-friendly product store in HK. If you ever stop by The One Shopping Mall, go to the 6th floor and check out their stuff!

Our CD is sold in HK now! We are going global baby!!! Haha

Eating "Chicken egg Pastries" My friend Livio thought it'd be cute to make the main subject of the picture the half-naked mannequins rather than me eating the dessert. Thanks Livio...

HUGE Sponge cake. It jiggled when you touched it.

My HK friends Livio, Vinci (from Tech!), and Alice. Miss them already! They spent the day with me running around TST

Getting ready for my first magazine photo shoot. Guy on the left was my make-up artist and girl in the middle was my assistant manager.

My auntie in California bought 20 CDs!!! Thanks so much Auntie!! The support I get from all my friends and family is such a nice feeling and gives me lots of motivation to keep going. I will ADD OIL! GO Stephen!

This was a picture taken before a TV appearance we had on "Completely Entertaining" a show that talks about current pop culture events. The theme of this picture was "Look Out of it" Look at Eve's face closely, she looks REALLLY out of it if you look close enough. hahah

Almost walked into a hanging catepillar while hiking. Then took some pictures with it cuz that's the most appropriate thing I could think of. YUM YUM!

I went fishing for shrimp for the first time. After 4 hours, I only caught 8... but now that I know how to do it, I'm going back again soon!!! It's so fun! It's a popular past time for people in Taiwan. Plus afterwards, you get to cook them and eat them.

One of the events we started to do to help promote for the CD was "Night Market" autograph sessions, where we visited the various big night markets throughout Taiwan and sang hoping to sell more CDs. We even sold 90 CDs once at one of the night markets. At these events, they are a bit different from normal autograph sessions because you have to be more engaging with the audience (i.e. shake hands, throw candy, flirt with your eyes etc.) All and all, we've been to about 10 or so and I'm going to miss hanging out on the van with the other contestants during these events. The stage at these events is actually a car that transform into a stage. Transformers...with flashy lights. One of the performances, the electricity went out completely while I was performing. ahhaha it was quite awkward, but the audience was still really supportive.

Two really great fans Sharon and Alyssa.

Night Market crowd

My magazine article came out! Very well-written!

My friend Yoyo and I at the Ice Cream cookie sandwich store in Shida Night Market. Guilty pleasure

My birthday was June 18 and my old friend from HK, Mandy, came to surprise me with a Hello Kitty cake (cuz we were at the Hello Kitty Cafe-- at her request, of course)

Me and Mandy

For three Thursdays in-a-row, we went to Dou Zi's midnight radio show. This was REALLY fun cuz we talked about a lot of issues but in a very relaxed manner since it was so late in the night. There was also a game where they gave us a really fast beat and we had to do versus rounds of us singing Chinese ballads back-and-forth on beat. Then we'd get call-ins from the listeners to see who they thought sang better.

A drawing of the ten of us in Super Idol by a fan. He/She did a really good job capturing all of us...but why do I have black people lips? (the top row, second from the right)

During the night market runs, we would just tell ghost stories and eat night market snacks together on the van. A lot of great memories.

I had to do a night market autograph session on my birthday, but unfortunately it was cancelled due to the rain. My loyal fans, however, still surprised me with a birthday cake. They traveled many hours to get to the night market and wished me Happy Birthday in the pouring rain. I was very touched.

Blowing out the candles to my 25th birthday cake in the rain. Thanks Sharon and Alyssa. It was a wonderful surprise!

The day after my birthday *because I believe birthdays are actually birthWEEKS* Nicole, Bear, Yoyo, and I decided to take a bike ride from Guandu to Danshui. It was a really enjoyable day and extremely fun.