It was still raining after a week long of heavy rains and floods. Yes, Manila included. And TEARS FOR FEARS is having a 2-night concert at The Big Dome on August 10 & 11!

I was driving that Thursday morning and i told myself that if the sun comes up at around noon, I will call Amur, Jan, Gie & Lori and will have dinner at Shangrila Hotel. Why there? I had the feeling TFF would be there – I dunno…I just “felt” it. At noon, the sun was shining bright….after more than a week of no sun! It was a sign. 🙂

At 6pm,  I was already at the hotel and asked for a valet parking (’cause I didn’t want to stress myself looking for a parking slot). I went to the powder room and decided to wait there for Amur and Gie. My iphone alerted me for a notification from CURT SMITH! My heart jumped. I had a hard time reading the whole message ’cause i forgot to bring my eyeglasses! LOL  I had to ask Amur to read the message for me. Mr. Smith asked: “How many Manila KOOKS are there?”
A lot of things were on my mind I couldn’t absorb what Curt was saying. I thought he was asking how many of us were there at the hotel. I even looked at Amur wondering how did Curt know that we were at the hotel? So I  said: 5 – then changed my mind – 6. Then changed my mind again – 7. (section removed for the sake of email/text privacy, long story short, these 7 people were notified that they would be able to have a few moments after the show to speak with Curt)

We headed to the lobby and decided to stay and have dinner there. We all thought: Lucky if we’d be able to see TFF that night but if not, all’s good. We were already on Cloud 9 after learning we were going to get to speak to Curt after the show.

At 7pm, while waiting for our food to arrive, Jan asked: “Is that Charlton Pettus?” I said: “Yes! – oh no, I have the feeling they will go down and spend some time there!” My third eye was working that night!  After a few minutes, Jan said: “Oh no, it’s Curt Smith!”
And yes, it was indeed Mr. Curt Smith!!! The whole group (Amur, Jan, Rica – Jan’s wife, and Gie) started to approach Curt who was all smiles.
Me? I was there, glued to my seat ’cause i froze! After a couple of minutes, i started to join the group.

From afar, i could hear Curt say: “Oh Joyce, my textmate!”
That made my knees weak i almost fell to the floor! My heart even stopped beating! Believe me, the whole time we were w/ the Good Man, i didn’t utter a word to him! Where did my tongue go????

We spent that Thursday night listening to some good music, having dinner while the whole TFF group was at the next table. Yes Roland Orzabal was there too but we were all behaved and noone had the guts to approach Roland. I wanted to, but I was having butterflies in my stomach. I had with me the sketch I made for Roland in 2011. I desperately wanted to hand it to him personally. Finally, I stood up. Amur asked where i was going. I said: “I’m going to Roland” then i started to walk.
My friends were surprised and Amur even shouted: “Hey!”
I didn’t look back – i was afraid that if i look back, i’d be going back to my chair and do nothing. I thought: if i go back and think of the things i’d say to Roland, i’d stammer and it would be worse. I also thought: Roland is the elusive one – I  won’t let this moment pass doing nothing.

I was standing beside Roland and politely said: “Hi – sorry to disturb you but i just would like to give this to you. It’s a simple present i made.”
Roland: “Wow! Thank you.”
Me: “Btw, i’m Joyce”
Roland: “Joyce….nice name. Btw, i’m Roland” he offered his hand.
Me: “I know!”  🙂
Roland: “What is it?” (referring to the envelope i handed to him)
Me: “It’s a simple sketch i made for you”
Roland: “Can i take a look? Oh, but i won’t be able to see it. I don’t have my eyeglasses”
Me: “It’s big – you can see it”
He opened the envelope and took out the sketch.
Me: “It’s ink on paper”
Roland: “Wow! Amazing! I look the same!” (wide smile)
Me: “Of course!”
Roland: “Can i have it?”
Me: “It’s for you!”
Roland: “Thank you! It’s beautiful!”

He opened his arms for a hug and kissed me.
One of the best nights of my life! Dreams do come true. ❤

For my TFF videos (2010 and 2012), you can visit my YouTube channel. I have uploaded a total of 17 videos – there were 18 songs on their setlist. Sorry, I wasn’t able to record Floating Down The River.  😦

Username: wattsjoyce

Videos from the shows:

(EWTRTW)

(Shout)

(Falling Down)