Meteor Garden 2019
Tiffany Crutch
Friends were an integral element of my meteor garden. It was quite something to proclaim your loyalty to a group. In the first place, being accepted into a group was a privilege in itself. And if it was a group that other people looked up to, there was nothing as bright and beautiful as this sense of pride one felt. This group pride was captured so elegantly in the Meteor Garden series. The F4 stole our hearts. I loved how the four were so different, but so inseparable. They made a style statement.
I still remember how I switched groups when my friends failed to understand me. Some of us mean well and have the best intentions, but we attract trouble wherever we go. We are naive, absent-minded, impulsive, and this gives us courage in the wrong contexts. I would thoughtlessly speak up for people, without considering the consequences. It was one such thoughtless act that separated me from my friends. When my friends misunderstood me, I was way too hurt to make up. I listened to all their accusations without responding to any of it- something which was so unlike me. But that day, I made up my mind to walk away from them. Until that point, the very thought of separating from them was unnerving. But on that day, I was surprised at how calm and composed I was, and how easily I walked away. The rifts between Daoming Si and Lei recreated that experience for me.
At that point in time, I was going through a personal crisis and was very close to a friend who was about 5-6 years older to me. I was glad to have her around; she comforted me and drilled a lot of sense into me. I leaned on her all the more when I broke out of my group. Through her, I was introduced to a larger group, and I found myself naturally blending in. This group was more fun because they were more child-like, and this resonated with me. They went about creating and spreading happiness, celebrating birthdays/festivals, indulging in games and sport, and staying out of the politics that erodes a group culture. One of the things I learnt from them was to make people feel special and valuable.
The third group was an accidental occurrence. It was music that brought us together. At some point, I found the courage to sing to an audience and I joined the college band. Though this happened late in my college life, I created beautiful memories with them. I feel an inexplicable sense of bonding with them. In fact, I feel this bonding with all these groups. After all, they were all part of my meteor garden. They are all precious to me.
Three months prior to meeting Dylan in a press conference for his first-ever fan meet in the Philippines, I rewatched the 2018 version of Meteor Garden where he led the infamous F4. Because I loved the reinvented storyline, as well as the fresh cast. Because I enjoyed it as much as the first version I saw when I was a kid. But was I still the fangirl like before?
Being a Meteor Garden fangirl at 21 feels weird, and sometimes even illegal. Age comes with wisdom, some say, and that probably means I should be too old for swooning over a group of troublesome college boys putting red cards on school lockers like attention-deprived kids. Maybe I should be fixated on stuff my age. Not something set in classrooms, cafeterias, or close to meteor showers.
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