Diary || Neko Weekend

Hey there pudding friends ^^

These past few days have been some of the best times I've had in a long while. In the lead up to Neko Nation, I was going up, down, and all around the place with one of my best friends, Dani ♥

Thursday night, Dani and her partner came up to Mandurah to have dinner with Jacob and I. It was really nice to see her again. The last time I saw her was when she came to visit me at work. Unfortunately, it was really busy that day, so I only really got to say hi and bye, so it was good to be able to actually sit down and have a proper conversation with her. After dinner, I said goodbye to Jacob, and the three of us all piled in the car to make our way down to Bunbury.

Friday mornings breakfast was at the lovely Cafe 140 - one of the seemingly rare places that can actually make a good chai latte. After breakfast, we went for a bit of a stroll around the block and found some groovy artworks. Not long after we opened up the store, some new friends came in. Dani must have a good taste in friends, because I feel like I instantly got along with them all, and really easily, too. A couple of hours later, the group of us went to Motts Cafe for lunch. Although, I was still a little full from breakfast, so I didn't manage to eat as much as I would have liked to - which sucks, because Motts does some of the best Malaysian food, it tastes almost like what my grandma used to make for me. Later on, after our food babies had settled, and most of the group had gone home, I went Op shopping with a new friend. Bunbury is such a nice little town to explore. I don't know if it's because I'm an outsider, but everything seems so much more calm there. My new friend left a bit after that, and when it came to evening time, Dani and I closed up shop and took a walk around town. We had dinner at a place called Tokyo Jacks. It was super expensive, but the sushi really was amazing. Looking back, it seems like most of today was centred around food, but I promise that was just a very small part of it! I had a really nice time today, and got to meet a lot of interesting people - so much, that I'm a little sad I have to live so far away that getting to spend more time with them doesn't really seem to be in the cards.

(a lot of what me and Dani do together is based on food // Iku Sushi + Food Haul)

We got up early on Saturday morning, got dressed, and hit the road back up north so Dani and I could check into our hotel in Perth city. An outdated version of google maps, and a hidden entrance made it a bit of a trial to actually get to the hotel, but we finally got there. The room was adorable! We had a mini fridge, and these super cute window-couch type things. We dumped our bags there, and went to have lunch at Iku Sushi. After filling the massive hole in our stomachs, it was time to hit the shops. I got a few new threads, and lots of supplies for my snack shelf from the Korean convenience store. Dani wanted to check out the Too Faced stuff in Myer, and even though that wasn't much to do with me, on Dani's behalf, I feel like I should mention that we were basically ignored in there. Dani and I (both working in retail) take customer service very seriously, and were both a bit put out when we barely got a 'hello' from the staff. Dani went in there with the intention of buying, and we actually had to go out of our way to get some attention. We even had a girl make eye contact with us, and then immediately duck into another line of shelves. We did eventually get the attention of a very helpful girl who worked there, who was super friendly and made the experience a whole lot better. But yeah, if you want good customer service, I don't recommend the Mecca section of Perth Myers.

The best part about having a room in the city was that when we became worn out from shopping, we got to do a bag drop and recollect our energy in the comfort of our own private room. We had some snacks, and did some people watching from the cute little window seats. Once it started to get close to dinner time, we took a walk around Northbridge to check our our options. We ended up eating in Utopia. The bubble tea was awesome, but the food kind of tasted like a frozen meal. It came out to us super quickly though, like in about 4 minutes from the time we ordered (which unfortunately supports my suspicions). We walked off our full tummies by exploring Northbridge. It was really relaxing, the weather was perfect. We found not only an adorable vintage store, but a massive Asian convenience store! We probably spent 20 minutes in there, just looking at everything. I didn't even notice the time was going by so fast, until Dani mentioned that it was 9pm. We had planned to arrive at Neko Nation at around 10pm, so we headed back to the hotel and made our magic girl transformations into cute catgirls.

(by Raito Photography)

Neko Nation is an anime themed nightclub event that comes to our city once every few months. I haven't been in over a year, so I was really excited to go back there! It was so much fun! I can't believe how long I managed to keep dancing, the atmosphere was just so good. I made a couple of new friends there, and had a really good time. Too much of the night was spent trying to avoid creepy, persistent men, but apart from that, I had a super good night. Dani and I arrived back at our room at around 2:30am. We showered all the yuck off us, and finished the night with 3am cup noodles and Becker. It was really chill and a good end to the night.

We were running on about 5 hours of sleep on Sunday, as we had to be checked out of the hotel at 10am. We went to Gelare' to have some morning waffles, which were delicious. I had fried eggs on my waffles, which was a surprisingly good combination. We tried to go shopping for a bit, but it became apparent that we were both a bit burnt out, so after about an hour, we decided to go home. I had to be at work from 4-9pm, and Dani had a long trip to make.

(hotel room did not have very selfie-friendly lighting // one of the catgirls gave me a glowstick!)

This weekend was just what I needed to be able to let go of the stresses of the year. I'm really grateful I got to spend this time with such a great friend of mine, and that she actually made this possible for me. Due to money troubles, I was going to do the bare minimum by going up to Neko at around 8pm, and then catch the train home at 12am, but Dani convinced me to spend the weekend with her, and even paid for a lot of what I was able to do. It means a lot to me that I have someone in my life who is willing to put this much effort into giving us both such a great weekend, and I hope that once I get back on my feet, we can do it all again sometime soon ♥

Diary || SM Town The Stage

Today Jacob and I drove up to Innaloo to see the movie that been jumping up and down about for the past week. I saw the trailer for SM Town The Stage on Facebook when a friend shared it, and luckily I did, because I didn't see it advertised anywhere else. There were only two sessions showing in my part of the country, and the cinema was an hours drive away, but it was so worth it.

The only cinema in West Australia showing the movie was Innaloo Event Cinema. I'm glad that out of every cinema here, it was this one. The place was massive and looked so classy, I felt a bit out of place with my green hair and platform shoes, but the people there were so lovely, they made me feel right at home! I wouldn't call the people at my local cinema rude, but the people at this place were so friendly and gave us such a good experience, I'm considering making the trip back up there sometime just to feel that classy again.

The movie was amazing; it was like a concert DVD and a behind the scenes all in one. We got to see amazing footage of some of the stages performed at the SM Town tour, and it was really nice to have commentary from the artists themselves. The movie really helped rekindle my love for groups like Super Junior and TVXQ, because there was a big personal element in there. I may not be that into their music anymore, but I feel more of an appreciation for the members hard work and attitude.

I'm not gunna lie, I did cry at one point. There was a very emotional stage involving Girls Generation, where they sang a ballad version of their debut song Into the New World. They were all standing in a line, and there was a clear gap where Jessica was supposed to be. I'm not sure if they did that on purpose or not, but it hit me right in the feels. I thought I would be okay, but then Sunny began to cry while singing and by the end of the stage, half of the members were either crying or holding back tears. There were a lot of feelings there. I felt so emotional because singing their debut song as they are now really shows just how far these girls have come. Jessica was my bias, and it hurt me the way that she left - either by her own choice or by force, whichever story you want to believe - but seeing how emotionally invested these girls still are, I'm still going to continue to support them. There are hundreds of Asian girl groups like them, but none are really like them if you know what I mean?

(Girls Generations little sisters, Red Velvet were in the movie, too!) 

This was such a good movie, and I'm so grateful that SM not only took the time to produce it, but allowed it to be shown in my country. It gave such a good insight into everything that goes into these concerts like this like the setup, the preparation, the emotion, the dedication, just everything. It was really informative and entertaining, and I would honestly recommend it to everyone, even those who aren't into kpop. If you're interested in the music industry, this really is a must see.