Work Updates

Totally failed at this whole updating the behind the scenes blog post a while back, things just went into absolutely Marisa stole the precious overdrive mode the previous week but then again that's pretty much my life in general.

Anyways, been having an interesting week, watching Tokyo Hardcore grow significantly after we went through the "Skyrim Slump" (jk, most of our customers were just at uni).  Been working hard on the website to get it up and running hopefully by this week if all goes really well.

However I guess most of the news that's been quite exciting on my end has been around Neko Nation, with lots of huge and exciting news such as making it down to Perth soon, exciting new decorations being worked on plus some pretty awesome super secret stuff that I'm hoping to reveal later this month.  Basically, I'm starting to get the work noticed, which is pretty epicly awesome and very exciting.  ^^

More different posts on different things soon.  ^^

November Behind the scenes - Tuesday

Short post this time.

Usually, I have quite interesting and varied days revolving around all sorts of tasks.  Today, basically struggled with CSS coding and various E-Commerce testing and failing hard.  In the end I've given up on the hard way and basically going to get something practical done hopefully by the end of the week even if it's nowhere near what I originally planned and wanted.

Work was interesting tonight since I got to do my E-Train at ANZ so I got to learn about criminal and terrorist banking, plus also sanctions in regards to countries where it's illegal to do business and banking with.  When you've been doing repetitive work for hours upon hours on end this was a nice break.

Failed at Starcraft miserably but things with Neko Nation are looking interesting, Adelaide is getting more and more exciting for our show.  Hopefully good news is coming my way and many others in regards to the rest of the tour soon.

Should be a much more interesting day tomorrow, with pictures too as well too.  ^^

November Behind the scenes - Monday

First day out of seven on behind the scenes blog posts, here we go!

Morning
Wake up in the morning after a pretty decent sleep but it's never enough, especially with a pretty long day coming up.  After the usual getting ready process, I get onto my Evernote, a lovely program which helps me keep a track of my to-do list, on my computer but also on my mobile, it's pretty handy stuff, simple but effective.  My list for the week is insanely long as you can see in the picture.

Afternoon
Spend most of the day fighting of troubles with photoshop, quite simply getting the new graphics ready for Neko Nation Adelaide and all the future shows, which involves some pretty huge graphic files which probably aren't suited for such a laptop like mine.  With many frustrating moments spent, I've got enough work done for now and having a pretty flakey day in regards to concentration and trying to struggle with getting the new website done up and making much more progress on the tour.  I did get a chance to meet one of my favourite peeps who I don't see often, Mel from Miss Pixies which was pretty cool.  ^^

Night
Head off to my work at ANZ, pretty ok day but am absolutely drained from exhaustion with failing to get far on the website.  Arrived back home to my lovely catgirl and had plans to really get onto the website but failed and crash dramatically and hard.  Was originally aiming for an all night caffeine binge but a refreshed morning and a chance to try my work from home tomorrow or in a do not disturb mode will do wonders.  Despite a pretty blah day, things take a much interesting turn for tomorrow once I get back to my messages and e-mails.   ^^

Also chilling out with Starcraft, so Korean.  XD

Survival of the dead and alive

It was an absolutely brutal week this week, insane amounts of dramu, workloads and an insanely high pressured week which far from saw everything go to plan.  It was a case of one small domino screwing up Monday morning and a lot of bad follow throughout the week.

It's been an insane week to get through, I work a minimum of 11 hour days at the moment, 12-13 hour days are not too common and of course that's not excluding work I have to take home or work that I've been somewhat behind as well.  It's looking like there is a solution to everything though as me and Susannah are trying to work our schedules and our roles, plus we're both pretty high achievers so we just want things to go faster and better in terms of the store and Neko Nation.

Getting ready for big things with Tokyo Hardcore preparing for major stock additions across the month and on my end I've decided to turn what was just a Brisbane and Perth show into a 2012 national show tour.  It sucks with the amount of work that has to be done but I'm absolutely over the moon with how things are going there.

Despite all the work, I'm very excited about the tour, there's going to be some amazing people and some amazing experiences along the way, in particular over the moon about Brisbane, which has fallen head over heels for the night!

Anyways, hoping to have a more chillaxed weekend, trying to understand and master Starcraft and also looking to play some ITG as well, while practising some DJing in particular trying to get into some new genres as well this weekend which should be good.  Looking forward to also chatting with some peeps which has been near impossible to do with my recent workload.

Hopefully can summon up the energy to rave tonight as well but we'll see, the thought of me going to someone else's event is really something else, it's been a long time!  XD

Adelaide - Feels good man

After what has been one of the most insanest months of my life, the store has finally opened and a lot of stress relief has finally poured out over the pre-opening week but alas it has been a more than amazing week to make up for it.  Overall it has been an interesting experience in the store, finally being able to be seen in public rather than hiding away in my room.

It's been an interesting week where I've finally gotten a chance to hangout and really start to talk a lot to the cosplay, anime and lolita community, I may seem a bit rude and quiet but the reality is I'm still pretty shy, plus it's been a bit difficult to talk to people here in Adelaide as well since I'm struggling to remember so many new names, trying to learn more about people plus Susannah has a tendancy to talk over me when I'm talking to people as well.  XP

For the record Susannah is pretty much the one running the show but a lot of things have to go through me first since while Susannah has some pretty epic visions, ideas and knows how to work her loli magic, I've got a lot of work in seeing how to realistically make everything work, keeping an active eye on stock, accounts, technical work and in general I do a lot of heavily analysing work in regards to seeing what works, what's the most important things to do write now.  In short Susannah is an amazing creative person who comes up with a lot of ideas, however it's basically keeping a lot of the goals in focus.

I'm starting to enjoy life properly in Adelaide now that things are going well, since it's been a crazy time coming here and I haven't properly enjoyed myself, Susannah pretty much made me start getting to work on Tokyo Hardcore as soon as I landed in Adelaide (=although I did get a trip to Japan out of it, downside was that I was exhausted from overworking to save up for Tokyo Hardcore, exams and just general stress.  Got back to start a new job, new business and quickly got into starting the Neko Nation Tour which over time, has been a lot more work for me as I've been leading the way with the tours, in the same way Susannah has been leading Tokyo Hardcore.

Anyways, things are starting to relax a bit more and with the decision not to work Sundays in terms of taking days off and finally getting a chance to party.  It will be good to get out and finally let myself loose after not properly getting to party at the last Neko Nations and being homebound for so long.

With that said there's always more work and I'm getting excited about the 2012 Neko Nation tour again, so much excite.  ^_____^

Saccharine Catalystic - Backstory for fan page (Oct 2k11)

 For those who are curious, a bit of a timeline in regards to the whole story behind Saccharine Catalystic so far.

March 2009
Catalystic flies over to Adelaide for the first time by himself for the Adelaide show of Tokyo Electro Invasion featuring DJ Sisen, GPKism and Aural Vampire.  Catalystic meets Saccharine for the first time, brief conversation was made and no contact details were exchanged either via phone numbers or online details (Myspace, Facebook, etc.).  Catalystic went back home having an awesome time vowing to come back to Adelaide soon.

June 2010
The first Miss Alternative is launched, Catalystic is a sponsor as Hairlucination and representative of the event for WA and Saccharine enters as a model and after getting back in touch with each other when she orders a LED gasmask off his website they realise they already knew each other and start talking as friends.

October 2010
Saccharine runs looks to start running her event Altered Indulgence, an event which features alternative designers in Australia in a hybrid between an alternative markets and a nightclub.  Catalystic and Saccharine start talking through Catalystic's hairfall business Hairlucination who expresses interest in coming down.  However pulls out of the event due to university commitments.

December 2010
Catalystic finishes off university and seeks help to starta  new project in the holidays, an anime club event featuring Japanese music and free sushi served by catgirls.  Susannah is incredibly excited about the idea and does her best to help out, claiming that she is happy to fly down to become Neko Nation's first catgirl.

January 2011
The fliers for the first Neko Nation are released and tickets are sold at Wai-Con.  Saccharine is very excited to go to Neko Nation and in the process sells one of her most precious and favouritest lolita dresses to fly over for the event.  Saccharine also starts designing for her latest fashion line "Saccharine Desolation" a sexy latex fashion label.

February 2011
Saccharine and Catalystic finally get a chance to meet and catch up properly for the first time and both of them get along insanely well.  Both get excited for the event which turns out to be a great success.  The next day Saccharine discusses plans for an Adelaide Neko Nation.

Saccharine and Catalystic both start falling for each other and after an amazing day to themselves to hang out as "friends" they both fall for each other and Saccharine asks Catalystic out before the end of her trip.

Saccharine announces her fashion parade launch in March and Catalystic promises to fly over for her parade.

March 2011
After being 6 weeks apart, Saccharine and Catalystic had an emotional reunion after many nights of phone calls that tested their long distance relationship.  Saccharine's show turns out to be a massive success and in the process, Catalystic is introduced to a lot of new people from Adelaide.  Catalystic enjoys his trip immensely and likens the idea of moving to Adelaide after his uni semester is over.

April 2011
There was a fetish ball held in Perth this month which Saccharine was sponsoring so she decided to make it down to the night as well, which saw both Saccharine and Catalystic putting in late nights to get their epic hair and clothing done for the night.  Saccharine decides to stay for an extended period of time and they finally get to test out living together which goes impressively well.

Saccharine and Catalystic also took an interesting stroll where Saccharine discussed the idea of opening up a lolita store and going to Japan in June to get involved.

May 2011
Neko Nation Adelaide takes place and turns out to be a huge success featuring two rooms, eight catgirls and an attendance almost doubling the first show.  Catalystic and Saccharine celebrate by getting matching "I choose you" pokeball tattoos.  Catalystic enjoys what is his last trip to Adelaide before finally moving over.

Catalystic completes his last university assignment, requiring him to pick an entrepreneur, he picks Saccharine as his subject who gives a presentation on her work impressing the class and teacher, getting him a high distinction and possibly the highest mark of the class.

Neko Nation Perth takes place, packing out the entire venue and hitting capacity.  The show turns out to be a huge success with a very interesting night which sees Saccharine and Catalystic taking it easy and relaxing at Kings Park.  Catalystic proposes to Saccharine.

June 2011
Catalystic finishes up his last exams with university.  Due to flight dramas, Saccharine is unable to help Catalystic move over, they fly on their trip to Japan where they had set up business meetings via a translator to get them on board.

Catalystic and Saccharine enjoy an interesting trip in Japan filled with adventures with Saccharine showing Catalystic his first time around and Japan and is able to get all the brands she wanted on board for Tokyo Hardcore.


July 2011
Catalystic and Saccharine return to Adelaide and then to Perth to finally move all of Catalystic's stuff aboard, which meant a long drive across the Nullabor, their patience and relationship were tested proving to be happy with each other and are very excited about living together in Adelaide.  Tokyo Hardcore makes it's debut appearance at AV-Con in the month, which goes quite well.  Saccharine starts searching for a store location and decides on a location in Adelaide Arcade.


August 2011
Work gets underway for a Neko Nation tour across Australia.  Saccharine finally manages to get a significant amount of stock in and sets up a double booth at Manifest with Tokyo Hardcore and manages to get a lot of attention and reputation in the lolita scene due to stocking brands such as "Angelic Pretty" at Manifest.


September 2011
Neko Nation hits a few problems but the tour gets underway with shows in Adelaide and Perth, plus an attempt at an all ages event.  Tokyo Hardcore gets a stall at mini-AV-Con and starts getting to work on getting the store up and running.

October 2011
After a lot of hard work, money and emotion Tokyo Hardcore finally opens its door to quite an amazingly huge crowd on opening day, seeing a lot of success and love.  Both Tokyo Hardcore and Neko Nation hit 1,000 likes each and Amy creates the Saccharine Catalystic page.

November 2011 and December 2011
Coming soon!

Catalystic Vs. Melbourne

I'll say it straight up, I don't hate Melbourne but I do believe Melbourne hates me.

On what was my third trip Melbourne has once again left me shattered, broken and distraught.  Me and Melbourne don't have a good history, my first trip was supposed to break Hairlucination into being quite well known around Australia, instead I spent pretty much my entire time in Melbourne sitting by myself and trying to explain to people what dread falls were.  Second trip to Melbourne wasn't bad but I probably caught the worst illness of my life in Melbourne and probably had one of my worst days with Tokyo Hardcore (although the weekend did go insanely well to make up for it).

Last trip was Neko Nation Melbourne and to be honest it flopped insanely, we got kicked out early due to low crowd numbers and while there was positive feedback, it was a pretty horrid experience to have the Perth show which was the best in terms of production to put on this pretty average night.  To make matter worse, it's one week after the event and I'm still trying to wrap up the show,  a process which should usually take a few days tops, something about this city really hates me.

I have to say though I absolutely love the people and have made some awesome friends there and I'm looking forward to returning to Melbourne and meeting them soon.  Also shopping did seem interesting for checking it out but from someone who is used to 9 level malls in Singapore, it wasn't as mindblowing as everyone told me.  XP


Glad to be back in Adelaide although I must say I'm missing Perth a fair bit though, I had a lot of people that wanted to see me and I really should not have wasted the last day in Perth with all the dramu and really should have hung out with friends.

To finish off, I think my highlight from Melbourne was pretty much showing the Visual Kei DJ what J-Rock I was going to play and she exclaimed early on during my set "You do realise you're playing my ex-boyfriend!" We had a bit of a good joke about it in the end.