August 08, 2023
I'm gonna hold on to spinning around. I'll point to the pictures and tell them your name. LA 8/8, my Era's Tour date. I woke up really early. I went down to the hotel to get some coffee from Starbucks because I knew it was gonna be a long day. I went out and got breakfast, which I could swear stretched time slowly while simultaneously making time, and everything I saw blurred so quickly in motion. I went back to the hotel to fix myself up and I noticed that the lobby had this little friendship bracelet-making booth. It was the cutest thing ever. I had already made mine since way back, so I just walked past it. I got up to our room and finally got myself ready. I had a purple dress on, going as Speak Now, and wore a purple bow that had such a long lace like the one Gracie wore when the Speak Now TV was released. I also had to put glitter on my hands, and then fix my hair and makeup. It was so fun. I had Long Live playing in the background, and it was such a cute little get-ready-with-me moment. I went to the Sofi Stadium with my cousin from LA to meet up with Sirko, since we're pretty underage and needed a guardian. We arrived there, and the merch line was already pretty long. I knew what I wanted, and I'm so glad I got there early. When I met with the girl who was selling the products, we had such a lovely conversation, and I swear I just love all Swifties with my heart. Sadly, a lot of the small sizes were running out, so I couldn't get my hands on some of them, but I still got quite a haul because I'm insane. I also got Sirko something because she knew by the time she'd got there it would've been sold out. After I got the merch, I went to entry 4. I met so many people. I talked to so many people. My first trading interaction was with these two people who complimented my dress and everything, and it was my first ever successful trade. The first bracelets I got were Haunted and Long Live because this would later become a pattern of people giving me Speak Now bracelets to match my outfit. I kept on trading, met with so many personalities, and my arms were losing circulation. Sirko finally arrived, and it's good I made so many bracelets that I could still trade and talk to people with her. She came with her cousin, mom, and older sister, and they took pictures of us like parents do. We had the time of our lives and we hadn't even entered the stadium yet. We scanned our tickets and got in. We got the light-up wristbands, and I actually broke mine, so I went back to ask for another, and they just gave me another one. It wasn't long until I fixed the previous one I broke, but they told me I could keep it. We reunited with the people we were with and first got food before finding our seats. The seats. How'd we end up on the floor (top) anyway, you say? That's an inside joke. Anyway, we went back down to finish trading the bracelets we had left, which was still quite an amount and just had our share of interactions with a lot of Swifties. For the first act, we had Gracie Abrams, and I am obviously her biggest fan, so I told Sirko we should go down so we could scream her songs (I screamed all of her songs). It was her last Era's Tour date with Taylor, and it was such a moment. She was so pretty in person. I love her so much. She's literally my favorite artist. Haim was next, and after I got home, I started playing their music because they're actually such a great band. We waited for Taylor in our seats, and the countdown clock finally appeared. The whole concert was great. She owned the whole night, and it's honestly so unforgettable. Me and Sirko did the chants, and one highlight of the night was when we gave her this 8-minute long standing ovation. Our surprise songs were "I Know Places" and "King of My Heart," and we loved it. You'd think that in such a steep stadium, we wouldn't be able to jump around, but we actually did, and my throat was dying. Midway, I could've sworn there was no going back and my voice would forever be gone, but it came back, and me and Sirko are offering our greatest apologies to the people beside us because we were the loudest women you'll ever see. At the end of the night, Taylor's scent was stuck on my clothes, and I hoped it'd linger for longer. There's glitter on the floor after the party. Me and Sirko wore our Taylor merch over our shirts and took some pictures before leaving. We parted ways, and that will be the last time I'll ever see her for at least quite some time. I took my shoes off and walked with just socks on to the nearest convenience store since we knew the traffic would be terrible. Unfortunately, literally, everyone else had that same idea, so I think I even fell asleep on this sidewalk ledge. It was 11 pm. Longest, but best night ever.
Also, I don't know if you've noticed, but there are a lot of Taylor song lyric references I used while writing this entry.
Here’s Taylor’s and Gracie’s setlists, and here’s the actual whole setlist + "King of My Heart" and "I Know Places."
You'd think we'd go straight to the hotel, but no. We went to our cousin's house in Victorville, so I had like a 3-hour car ride, and I got home around 1 am. Obviously, I couldn't sleep without taking off my makeup and showering again because that's just an impossible bargain for me, so I did that. Then I talked to Wacky until 5 am, which is so concerning.