NKOTB

Just before I entered my teenage years and lost myself to Take That, I had another love in my life. They're called New Kids on the Block.
They're an American 'boyband'. They got together in 1984. But it wasn't till a few years later they really hit it big time. Girls everywhere went mad for these 5 American guys. Of course everyone had their fave. Mine was always Joey.

                                         
                                                            Joey           Jordan        Jonathan

                                            Danny             Donnie

They were the first concert I ever went to. I was 10 and went there with my cousin (and best friend at the time), my mum and her dad (my uncle). I can still remember my cousin and myself going absolutely mental when these guys came on stage.  Our dream had come true. My mum, who'd been forced to listen to NKOTB's songs all day long, could actually sing along with some of them. My uncle just sat there with his arms crossed the entire concert.

I loved these guys so much. I bought magazine and basicly everything with their faces on. I was too young to really loose myself in them. They split up in 1994. I can still remember their last album being released. But by that time my love for them had subsided as a new love had come in my life. Take That. And they took total control of my life.

In 2008 the band released a new single and album. They also began touring again. Every time they came to The Nethies I went to see them. And I loved them every time.

                                                Joey   Jonathan   Donnie  Jordan   Danny

On May 10th of this year I again went to see them again. And again with my cousin. And this time I didn't just love them.....I fell in love with them all over again. They completely blew me away. It was soooooo much better then I'd expected. I was amazed at how much fun these guys were having amongst each other on stage. I felt like being in one of their living rooms. It felt really intimate.
That evening I experienced one of the most amazing moments in my life. The first loves in my life sang a song from my biggest musical passion. NKOTB performed Take Thats 'Back for Good'. It was a surreal and emotional moment. I felt soooo proud. Of course I filmed it.

I love their latest album so much I have it on repeat. Seriously.
I have a penpal who also loves them. She suggested I'd watch 'Wahlburgers'. It's a real life show about the burgerplace that Donnie owns with his brothers Paul and Mark. They also own a restaurant called 'Alma Nove'. Named after their mother, Alma. It's such a funny and great show to watch. I laughed out loud every single episode. It was during that show that I fell in love with Donnie. He's funny, sweet and gorgeous. I can't stop looking at him. I'm now watching a series called 'Blue Bloods'. Donnie plays a cop in it and a good one aswell. I still prefer him as Donnie. But looking at him and listening to his voice is always a pleasure.

Well, I'm off to watch another episode of 'Blue Bloods'. I'll post something soon again.               

Social Media

Nowadays there are sooo many ways to share your daily life with the world. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. It can be very fun way to share stories, pictures, moment with others. Your 'friends' or 'followers' are kept up to date on what you you're doing every single day. But who says it stays with them?

These social media site have all these privacy settings. But how private can you really make all the info and pics you're sharing with your 'friends' and followers?
I once read this saying: 'If you don't want it on the front page on an international newspaper, you shouldn't put it online.' And I believe that's completely true.

Eventhough I do check the privacy settings on the sites I use, I was still nonchalant about it all. I don't share very interesting things. Not things I'd think others would be interested in stealing. Apparently, I was wrong. And in a way, I could've known. Actually, I should've known.

A few weeks ago I came across a picture of a dear friend of mine and her (and mine) fave actor Robert Pattinson on fangroup page of his on Facebook. I tagged my friend in the post and asked her whether she knew about it. She didn't and asked them to remove it. That opened a whole can of worms. That particular FB group reacted very nasty towards my friend. And blamed me for causing a drama where it wasn't needed.
My friend went to search further and discovered that someone had stolen her pic from Instagram and had tweeted it. As a result several people had retweeted it. One of them even claiming it was her own picture.
Then she discovered her photo on a Russian fansite for Rob. And she also found one of my pictures there. On a further inspection of this site she found a whole entry of this blog there aswell. My story and pictures of me meeting Rob and his singer songwriter friend Sam Bradley. 
At first I was furious!!! How dare they steal my story and pictures. They even watermarked my pictures with their sitelogo. They'd translated my story in Russian. I began writing an angry email to this site. All they'd had to do was ask my permission. I wouldn't have agreed to them watermarking my pictures. But I wouldn't have minded them sharing my story.
Halfway through writing that email I decided to checkout the comments to that post. Most were positively jealous of my meetings with Rob. But there was one comment that stood out for me. It was of someone who'd met me. She said she admired my dedication and persistence to through great lenghts to meet Rob. She knew about my 4 days/3 nights stay at Leicester Square for the last Breaking Dawn premiere in London. She understood how I felt and what it means to me.
The admin of the site responded to her message saying she liked my story and always read my blog with great pleasure. That made me smile. Sure, I still wish they would've asked my permission. But these fans are like me. They love Rob and respect other fans. 
 
Here is their site where you can read my story in Russian.

Unfortunately my friend experienced the bad fans. She contacted several people on Twitter and sites to ask them remove her picture of her and Rob. Some did so. But some reacted very badly. Saying things like it was her own fault for posting it online. So disrespectful. So rude. Unbelievable.

So my message is, please be carefull with what you post online. People just take what is yours. People can be extremely disrespectful. What you see are words and images. Some people don't realise there are real people and real feelings behind those words and images.