Getting ready to Rope It! in Tampa

I am not a fan of Florida in the summer, but if WWH is rolling up for a concert in Tampa...dojeon! (Whooshy gesture)

I am getting ready for the royal visit of one Kim Seokjin of South Korea, the king of tuna, ramen, Gucci, bling, one 7 tattoo, and the eternal facecard to Florida. I am seeing WWH day 2 in Tampa (next Sunday), and I have been prepping to be a social Bangtan butterfly with the freebies.

I’ve never made bracelets before, but have gotten a nice collection of ARMY-made gifts since 2022. I have 18 gifted bracelets, from Augst D to Hobi to PTD LA, which are part of my precious memories of the concerts.

I was not aware of the BTS freebie game back in 2022, when PTD LA was my first BTS concert that I got tickets to. (I failed for MOTS in 2020….and well, we know what happened to that tour. I missed out on not getting tickets for a tour that never happened.)

When I got to SoFi Stadium, and was given my first little mesh baggie, I was like, no thanks. I thought I was going to be charged, cynicism, thy name is me, until the nice ARMY explained it was for me as being a fan. I was like, huh? What? This didn’t happen at the Eminem concert I went to. The Slim Shady crowd isn’t crafty, generous, or bearing signs and costumes to be part of the atmosphere.

I had nothing to give back in LA, and I increasingly felt guilty to the nice people handing me these amazing gifts. Stickers, knock-off photocards, bracelets, lip balm, hand sanitizer, candies, and other fun stuff ended up in my bag. I was assured that not having anything for trade did not make me a loser, sing with me LOOOOOOSSSSSERRR, but I still didn’t like the bad manners. I came home from LA with a ton of great stuff and memories for a lifetime.

Quick aside: The PTD live album that just came out is so good. I loved the stage remixes of Fire, BST/Fake Love, and Idol, because I am all about the low-end bass baby. But I realized something deeper: Not being able to see BTS, when they are performing live, changes your appreciation about their vocal performance. You get caught up in their dance, their clothes, their expressions, their antics on stage. Here on the live album, everything is narrowed to just voice, live band, and the crowd. As somebody on social media so cleverly said, you can hear JK’s abs in Fake Love because of the screams. I love noticing new things, like Yoongi’s “eh, eh” in every song, Joon/Hobi’s hyping things up, JK/Jimin riffing, the piercing clarity of Jin’s voice, and damn damn damn velvet strength of Tae coming in to any part. This was live, they were dancing their asses off and jumping around until they were gasping for air, and yet…this album sounds amazing. Please stan artists who can sing live and not just studio/TikTok experiments who get engineered into tune.

Which is why I knew I needed to see Jin. Aside from the WWH stuff, the guy can sing, and his voice is stunning in strength and clarity. That was one of my unexpected revelations in LA…how damned good Jin was. I knew JK was good (world-class), Jimin would be special (his voice is louder and stronger than you expect), Tae would melt me, and Hobi (yes, part of my vocal line) had a beautiful voice.

But Jin was strong, loud, so on pitch and unique. Not to pull a JK/Charlie Puth, but my pitch is really good. I will never say perfect because I am not professional in any way. I will clock you fast if things are off-key (ahem, Blackpink in your area), and I can harmonize with things. Jin was never off, not even once.

I have always been biased toward Jin, because he has the right body and the right mind - to borrow a phrase. He is smart as hell, even if he won’t openly let you know that. He, to me, is BTS’ no-so-secret weapon. Critics are quick to forget about Jin when it comes to singing, dancing or being the IT boy in BTS. Look, most humans will be secondary to JK - he’s just that good. But Jin will make you laugh, steal your heart with his emotional songs, and then connect with you on something smart.

Jin knows himself well. I’ve never gotten the impression he will do anything against his values to entertain and his boundaries are clear and enforced. Jin’s brilliance lies in using his acting talents and high EQ to always connect in power. He knows how to shape himself, authentically, to put others at ease and be impactful. That’s a gift. It’s easy to lose yourself in the fake entertainment world, because people are constantly demanding things from you. Jin has found the balance of being very famou and successful and still himself. He’s never really taken us inside his house or car, we don’t know much about his family. He’s revealed what he wants, kept the rest for himself, and that is perfect.

Which leads to my newfound talent of bracelet-making. I assembled little mesh packets for Hobi and Yoongi’s concerts, with stickers and hard candies. Of course I used watermelon (suga high) Jolly Rancher for Yoongi’s giveaways.

I wanted to be a little more experimental this time, and I am proud to say I have made 85 bracelets for Sunday. Various designs, saying “WWH JIN”, “BTS”, “RUN JUN”, “ECHO”, “HAPPY” and some with the ornamental koi fish to signify Jin. Each bracelet is truly unique, and I am putting one per purple pouch with a roll of Smarties candy, two stickers, and a little slip with this newsletter’s address for them to subscribe (gotta hustle, hustler).

It’s been fun learning how to do the bracelets, except for when I do something stupid and blow up the string. Small flying beads go everywhere. I thrive on creativity, and this is scratching the itch right now.

I look forward to making people happy with the small gift, adding another layer of joy into their experience seeing Jin/BTS. It’s a shared moment of no-strings attached community, something that does not happen enough in our world.

If you’re going to be in Tampa, D2, let me know! Happy to give you some of my work.

And of course, I will have a FULL report on Jin next week. I plan on being as present as possible during the concert, taking as few photos/vidoe

s as possible. I just want to jump-jump, sing, and smile with Jin.