Awesome People We Met at Countdown NYE 2018

Making one final festival impression is always the objective at hand when it comes to any New Year’s Eve get-together. And there were countless Headliners who came to Countdown with that exact mission in mind. Before the clock struck 12 and everyone greeted 2019 with the warmest of welcomes, we posted up by the Alien Checkpoint and grabbed as many people as we could find who sent the year off with a big eye-grabbing bang.

Scroll down and say hello to the Awesome People we encountered at Countdown. Hopefully, you had the chance to exchange a few words with these Headliners who were out of this world.

Name: Rene, Robert, Cesar
Age: 23 (all)
Hometown: Salinas, CA
Occupation: Supervisor at Starbucks (Rene); unit assistant at a hospital (Robert); student (Cesar)
Number of Countdowns: First one (all)

What was your favorite memory from 2018?
Rene: Going to Hawaii with my girlfriend.

Robert: Coming to Escape with my friends.

Cesar: Going to Escape, because it was our first rave.

In 2019, I would like to be more…
Rene: Sexually active.

Robert: Sober.

Cesar: Social.

If we were able to make contact with an alien race, what message would you like to send them?
Rene: Where the fuck have you been all this time?

Robert: Help us out.

Cesar: Show us your technology, and help out Tesla.

Name: Lauren
Age: 31
Hometown: Seattle, WA
Occupation: Social worker
Number of Countdowns: First one

What was your favorite memory from 2018?
Probably EDC Las Vegas. I love the magnitude of what comes together to make it happen, and also, the attention to detail is really fucking fantastic. That’s why we came to this.

In 2019, I would like to be more…
Good with money. It’s an area of improvement, like we all have.

If we were able to make contact with an alien race, what message would you like to send them?
We are all just having the time of our lives.

Name: Christian and Briana
Age: 27 (Both)
Hometown: Santa Barbara, CA (Christian); Whittier, CA (Briana)
Occupation: Carpenter (Christian); vet technician (Briana)
Number of Countdowns: Three

What was your favorite memory from 2018?
Christian: It was our anniversary; we celebrate it at Escape every year.

In 2019, I would like to be more…
Christian: Happy. You could always be more happy, travel more, and spend more time just us outside of festivals. Share more vacation time and get away from work. We always fall into a pattern of work and sleep, and it’s good to spend some time having fun.

Briana: Productive. I need to start working more on my music. I’ve been slacking off a little bit.

If we were able to make contact with an alien race, what message would you like to send them?
Christian: We come in peace, love, unity, and respect.

Briana: Same. And that we know you guys exist!

Name: Carlee and Chelsea
Age: 25 (Carlee); 23 (Chelsea)
Hometown: Bend, OR (Both)
Occupation: Student, waitress and barista (Carlee); barista (Chelsea)
Number of Countdowns: First one (Both)

What was your favorite memory from 2018?
Carlee: EDC Las Vegas.

Chelsea: It was our very first EDC, and we were blown away by the whole culture of it, and how nice everybody was. We’ve been to festivals before where it’s about taking photos or making an appearance. EDC was so comfortable. People were so accepting. We could wear what we wanted, dance how we wanted.

Carlee: And we went with amazing people.

In 2019, I would like to be more…
Carlee: Open-minded and exciting. I feel like I’m a very mellow person, and it’s good to get out there and be more positive—more accepting of experiences and opportunities.

Chelsea: Comfortable with the uncomfortable. I want to push myself a little bit. It’s really easy to try and be perfect and try to make everything perfect. When something goes wrong, I just tear myself down, so I’m ready to accept my flaws and just go with it.

If we were able to make contact with an alien race, what message would you like to send them?
Carlee: Save our planet.

Chelsea: Help us be a better race and take better care of our planet so we don’t have to find a new one.

Carlee: And we will teach them how to rave.

Name: Lili
Age: 23
Hometown: Ontario, CA
Occupation: Kitchens of Disneyland underground
Number of Countdowns: Four

What was your favorite memory from 2018?
I met my rave fam at HARD Summer; I’m here with them right now. I was alone during Virtual’s set, and they took me in with open arms and loving hearts. I can’t imagine my life without them now.

In 2019, I would like to be more…
Powerful, for myself and the ones I care about. I am ready to spread my wings and show who I really am. This is the year of believing in yourself and just going for it.

If we were able to make contact with an alien race, what message would you like to send them?
We come in peace, and we mean no harm.

Name: Ozlem and Oguzhan
Age: 22 (Ozlem); 26 (Oguzhan)
Hometown: Turkey (Ozlem); Greece (Oguzhan)
Occupation: Filmmaker, director and producer (Ozlem); actor and producer (Oguzhan)
Number of Countdowns: First one (Both)

What was your favorite memory from 2018?
Ozlem: Travis Scott concert. I like hip-hop, and it was cool.

Oguzhan: Shakira concert.

In 2019, I would like to be more…
Ozlem: Shoot my first big feature film and get it into a festival and into a big production company.

Oguzhan: A Hollywood star in the movies.

If we were able to make contact with an alien race, what message would you like to send them?
Ozlem: I want some magic on this planet and have the world be more like Harry Potter.

Oguzhan: Take me to your planet.

Name: Karina
Age: 25
Hometown: Riverside, CA
Occupation: Restaurant manager
Number of Countdowns: Six

What was your favorite memory from 2018?
I got more into house music this year. I have always been a Bassrush type of person, and this last year, I have been exposed to the world of house a little more in-depth. I started going to Factory 93 shows, and I’m going to spend most of my time at the Twilight stage tonight. It exposed me to a whole different vibe.

In 2019, I would like to be more…
Productive, in terms of my life goals. I guess it’s because I’m getting older.

If we were able to make contact with an alien race, what message would you like to send them?
I’m sorry for all the stupid shit humans have done, but we are actually pretty cool.

Name: Don and Gabby
Age: 33 (Don); 31 (Gabby)
Hometown: Roseville, CA (Both)|
Occupation: Educator (Don); self-employed (Gabby)
Number of Countdowns: Two (Don); first one (Gabby)

What was your favorite memory from 2018?
Don: We had a son; his name is Dorian. He is in the care of my mother right now. It’s the first time we’ve been away from him, but we are ready to have an adult night, too.

Gabby: We are ready to be kids right now among all of the college students.

In 2019, I would like to be more…
Don: Patient. I get irritable sometimes, and it’s all about enjoying every single moment. I am going to realize it is 100 percent my responsibility to make things great, and I’m going to live that. That’s my discipline; that’s my church.

Gabby: Focused. I think I need to be more focused so I can achieve more things and kill it.

If we were able to make contact with an alien race, what message would you like to send them?
Don: Let’s do this together. Why be separate? Let’s just join and show everyone across this intergalactic galaxy that we are in it together.

Gabby: Although we may have a lot of flaws, we are inherently good people, so I think we can make this all work. We can have a universal love.

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