Time 100 Gala: Rain

On Tuesday night I was prosperous enough to see the Time 100 Gala and dinner in NYC to keep Time Magazine's 100 most influential people in the world. This position is number two of four. I took so many photos and met so many interesting and illustrious people, one post simply won't do.

Rain, a South Korean pop star and actor, has a vast fan following about the earth and has been number one on the Time 100 list for by 3 years.

However,not many Americans know who he is. This is exact reason why I was the just person at the Time 100 Gala to select and print a fan photo with him {I believe}. I had only seenRain once before when he appeared on the Colbert Report in a hilarious dance off. The man can dance, and evidently has a keen sense of humor. He is fluid and very handsome!

This is a tale near the king of work and social media. When I tweeted this photo during the dinner, the project was immediately "retweeted" by Rain's loyal and attentive fans on Twitter. My phone vibrated for 20 minutes straight with notifications from Twitter as Rain's fans retweeted the picture my husband took of us - it was the first see of Rain at the gala to be tweeted. They were dying for more info and asked me if I had talked to Rain.

So today, while I don't get any more clear photos of Rain to share {sorry}, I can share my position on meeting him and what I noticed about him during the cocktail reception. I hold one more fuzzy photo of him standing in the dining room - see the last photo below.

Me and Rain at the Time 100 Gala in NYC






































Rain arrived at the Time 100 Gala cocktail party fairly early. Once I noticed him, I wasted a lot of time wondering if it was in fact him. His hair was much shorter than when I saw him on the Colbert Show in 2008. I watched him as he spent most of his sentence with a friend moving around the room.board to table with his jewel-covered phone in hand. Once I saw his rhinestone-esque covered phone, I knew it had to be him. Then he vanished!

I spotted him again in the dining room on the minute level standing with his friend drinking a glaze of champagne before the dinner began. Rather than walking up the steps to the third level dining area where our table was located, I walked over to Rain. I said," Hello, Rain. Could I get a picture with you?" He said, "Absolutely."

My husband quickly snapped the picture with my iPhone of me standing with the new and oh so suave, Rain. I promptly said, "Thank you so much, Rain! I really enjoyed your dance-off with Colbert. It was hilarious."

Rain said, "Oh, you saw that? Wonderful! That was a lot of fun."

That was it. I like I would've spent more time chatting with Rain after we posed together but we rushed up the steps to our board for dinner. Once I sent the pinch of the photo, his supportive fans were hungry for more photos of him and details about his sentence at the gala. I actually tried my best to get him later the dinner but I didn't see him again.

I must say, in the few moments we spent together I was slightly enamored by his quiet charm. If I were 15 years younger, I'm certain he would've made me swoon. His execution and dance style reminds me of Michael Jackson laced with the smooth, sex appeal of Usher. He's got IT, for sure.

So now the picture of me with Rain is scattered round the Web on Rain fan blogs and websites. His fans are asking "who is this Chanee Vijay?" The short answer? But a lucky blogger {and new Rain fan} that was bold enough to ask for a photograph with Rain.

Here are a few more shots of the red carpet and the venue.just for Rain fans.
Entrance to the Time 100 gala and red carpet
Time 100 Gala Check In
Time 100 Gala Check In & Table Assignments
View of NYC & Central Park from the cocktail reception
The Dining Room. {view of Brian Williams' back- I didn't even know he was in the shot!}
View from my table. Rain is standing with his friend on the left.