Crossroads

I'm honestly happy with how things have been with Neko Nation, the fact it's well supported and growing is one thing but on my end, personally I feel like I got over the slump I had in the middle of last year.  In the middle of last year, we had completed the first tour and just did the epic show at AVCon and while it was awesome to reach such highs it was a case of, well what more can we really do.  Neko has been a lot more fun behind the scenes working some incredibly awesome people who have been able to bring things to the next level, it may be hard for some people to notice (maybe CDJ-2000's might not mean much to some, but pew, pew, pew lasers might!) but I feel the last few months and shows have been great since rather than just being complacent with how well things are it's been a lot of evolution behind the scenes but when you get up to the stage we're getting at it's a bit harder for people to notice.

Beyond Neko in my personal life things have taken a bit of a twist, I'm likely to be diagnosed with hemochromatosis which is an overload of iron in the blood stream, which is odd for someone who doesn't eat red meat.  You know something is up when you feel more energised from donating blood instead of feeling weak which certainly was an interesting view of things.  It's been a bit of a wake up call to start eating better as well and looking after myself, exercising has been easy but being fit has been a nightmare, passing out after 5 minutes of running wasn't very fun.

University is about to come next month and normally I'd be excited to return but once again I'm plagued with admin problems, nobody knows what course I should be studying at all which is incredibly frustrating with one week till I'm starting.  It's really annoying because I'm looking forward to this course, I know I'm extremely good at marketing and advertising, especially after last year where I had to do a god mode with a whole bunch of lectures virtually missing and people not knowing when assignments were due.  I know unis aren't well known for their admin but I would love to seriously see a uni actually get their shit into order for once.

The uni problem comes at an interesting time, I want to study at uni because I don't see Neko as my life, I see it as a fun excuse to go out and put an event that I want to go too, travel around and party with awesome people and hang out with great friends across the country.  I see my career coming in from a professional realm such as marketing but seriously, it's been 18 months since I've last studied at Curtin in person and since then I've been thrown all sorts of uni admin issues from Uni of Adelaide, Curtin and now Uni SA.  With Neko booming and gaining more support from those involved and my universities trying to make my life difficult before I can even make it to the first class, I'm thrown into an interesting crossroads right now.

Brisbane: A new beginning

Neko Nation Brisbane was an absolutely huge show, besides the obvious being our first sold out show, it was our most expensive show in history and it was definitely one of our hardest shows to put on ever.  With that said it only made it an incredibly fun and rewarding experience to put on the show, Neko Nation Brisbane was definitely a huge highlight not just with Neko but in my life.  Yes I've probably going to do the thank you thing a lot but seriously, all the media, catgirls, DJ's, street team, bar, venue, security, sponsors and fans mean a lot to me, you all make the magic truly happen.  <3

Brisbane has always been an emotional city for Neko, I still remember the original drama with the first planned show, which we were hoping for 20 people to show up that was to take place in a venue that virtually fell of the place of the earth.  So the fact we were even in this position is beyond our wildest dreams.

Coming into the show, there was a lot less excitement, a forgettable birthday, personal drama and sickness wasn't something I enjoyed taking into the event but the show must go on!  Anyways, Brisbane is a city I always enjoy, people are really nice, the city is a lot of fun and they have a great alternative and geek culture up there too.  Outside of the show, in particular I've enjoyed Southbank and MOS Burger is truly one of the epic eats for interesting Japanese food, up there with Iku Sushi in Perth.

Today, sadly, it's been a case of crashing back to reality with my evening job, getting ready for uni but there is Neko Purrth coming up which is always fun.  Looking forward to Perth since we're working with Maid Latte, Byte Nyte, F.O.R.C.E., Solid State and Gilkisons which makes for one epic combo.  Going to be a very scary challenge, the bar is pretty high already for the Perth show and I'll be making over the trip without Susannah for a change due to her work commitments.

It was a terrible start to 2013 but thankfully Brisbane has changed things around, I'm looking forward to heading back there again.  <3

2012

It's been a crazy year and while it's definitely not over, for me the year is virtually over, pretty much everything I'm doing is working towards 2013, so for now, it's probably been the most amazing year I've ever had from a personal achievement point of view.  I turned down an accounting career in 2011 and a pretty steady life in Perth, so I picked the rocky and risky road for 2012 although I'm glad to say that I can made it work out this year.

I guess my major goal at least for the start of the year was to pull of a national tour for Neko Nation and I must say that not only was it one epic achievement but it was an amazing adventure, I never really though Neko Nation was ever going to really explode into a nation-wide thing but it happened and so many amazing people along the way helped make it happen.

With that said, my favourite part of the tour was by touring, being able to fly around and meet so many awesome people, explore many new places and have fun bringing a unique show and experience unlike any other.  Sydney and Brisbane were awesome, especially pulling off those first shows and in particular I will admit Sydney grew a lot on me this year in terms of people, size and opportunities.  Perth was somewhere else that stood out since it's kind of crazy to see the response from fans and friends whenever I come back to Perth.  I may have thought Perth was a bit dull and boring when leaving but returning there made me realise how awesome and special the place was.

Two other awesome things to happen was working with AVCon to put on the AVCon show, I wouldn't say it was a massive amount of work to pull of the show, it was more or less being recognised for the work that I had done and feeling like I had done something significant.  Add on top of this being involved in Adelaide Chinatown Harajuku no Yoko, an absolutely amazing event that I know the Adelaide cosplay and lolita scene enjoy, plus I know of many jealous interstate people who want something similar in their own city!

Beyond Neko Nation, university was another thing I felt pretty proud with this year.  Taking the plunge into marketing and advertising, full time while working and doing Neko Nation was probably one of the trickiest challenges I've ever faced, especially since I had to go up against a pretty terrible unforgiving university because being able to have lectures, assignment details and due dates is easy-modo!  After being massively screwed around, to get a distinction average was pretty awesome and I wasn't many marks off a high distinction average too.

Relationship wise was a rather interesting year, it's been hard with me and Susannah, we're two people with a lot on our plate and despite having a lot in common we are complete opposites in so many ways.  Getting through this year with her was challenging but incredibly rewarding, I've had a few bad moments but honestly the fact we've gotten through so much and we're still together is looking like it's meant to be and when it's been working, it's been working incredibly well.  Despite a lot of things I've achieved and experienced, simply having Susannah is still the best thing for me, I will admit even almost two years into this relationship, I do sometimes flip out and feel a bit mindblown that I'm actually going out with a girl as amazing and as beautiful as her and somehow she picked me of all people.

I think last but not least was figuring out a lot about myself as I've learnt a lot myself this year.  I think figuring out a lot of my social anxiety and introversion was something I noticed way more this year, this wasn't a big deal say 5 years ago but when all of a sudden you're got all these sponsors, staff, fans and friends all over the country, it's nice but not something I've craved insanely, since I'm not the sort of person begging for likes, whoring for Tumblr followers or hashtagging all the instagram pics.  Despite that, I've discovered a lot more of my strengths as well too in regards to events and personal organisation, while my weaknesses thankfully have been balanced out a lot by Susannah.

All up, a massive and crazy 2012 and honestly it was a great year, probably the most intense year of my life (there's so much more I could go on about on here too) and I'm epicly excited about 2013.  Massive thanks to everyone who was a part and involved in my year, thanks for being in it.  ^^

Neko Sydney: November to Remember

Neko Nation Sydney on paper was the show that probably should have broke me, with so much stress, pressure and nerves before the show, I don't think I've been in a much worse state all year.  Yet, I came out by far in one of the best moods possible.  My trip to Sydney may have been one of the most important trips of my entire life.

The show was just incredible, it's always a blast since it's probably the least stressful show from our end that we've done all year probably, considering how stressed and panicked I have been throughout some shows that was a massive relief.  Sydney just has a venue unique and interesting atmosphere that I really enjoy, it's a lot more of a high energy rush and intense show compared to the other events.  I've got to send out a massive thanks to the venue, all our staff and of course all our fans, seriously you guys all made for an epic show.

I don't know what it was this time but Sydney just seems to be a place I'm connecting well and clicking well with, it's a city I see with a lot of potential and was looking into moving career-wise in the future for marketing and while it seemed a bit farfetched a few months back, it's looking a lot more likely after this trip. There just seems to be so much variety and it's a place I've enjoyed so much, it's a city that I seemed to like before my last trip but thanks to some awesome friends, Rachel, Mellie, Herbie, Dorian, Jadeabella, Ken, it was quite a special trip where I could actually relax and sort out a lot of my personal problems.

Oh and maybe, maybe it may have something to do with catgirls.  XD

Beating the System

So despite the majority of fighting with my lecturers, mostly about simply getting tossed into the deep end and generally being screwed around by a lack of lectures and a lack of knowledge how to complete the assignments (word limit, presentation, constantly changing due dates).  Somehow I got through in the end with pretty much most of my assignments with distinctions or high distinctions.

The freakish fact that the less help and more problems I was suffering the better I was doing.  There's the less arrogant theory that I was starting to understand the course and get back into uni near the end where the uni was really failing on their part.  Also I guess it's because I was more than happy to stray away from the textbook, too many people I meet in marketing and advertising see this course as a by the book commerce course, oh how wrong people are, considering advertising is often paired up with graphic design which is far more creative than a by the book subject.

Survival was my goal for the year in uni, considering I was pretty happy to walk out unscathed, to walk away with a whole bunch of exceptional assignment marks is a good start, I still don't know my final marks since well there's one more exam and my uni makes it so freaking hard to figure out my final official mark with the number of unit outlines I've received and the grade center giving out wrong scalings.

I managed to come up with ideas of how to sell brands such as Fosters and BlackBerry of all brands.  I think I deserve some credit with that.  Anyways overall, I feel like I've made the right choice to break away from accounting to an area where I feel I have some degree of domination, now it's just a matter of making my way into a comfortable career position but if next year goes to plan, I've got some very interesting directions I can go.

It's not over yet, there's still the case of the last exam on Thursday, Harajuku and The Pad on Friday and a Necro gig on Saturday.  However, reality is besides the exam it's far from work on the night and let's just say hopefully there should be plenty of alcohol and partying for once if my health lets up!

Neko 2013

While Neko Nation might be on a bit of a hiatus, there are rough plans going on in the background for 2013.  Which I'm incredibly excited about, yes, I might be on break from Neko but it's pretty much near impossible to tear me away from Neko Nation.

The main thing I really want to do in my time away from shows is to inject more new ideas into the show, I've done around 20 Neko Nation's and while I am looking for new ways to update and re-invent the show and Neko Nation getting some time off will really help ensure it's constantly evolving.  New ideas, venues, DJ's, catgirls, sponsors and more new features into the show.  Without the pressure of having to quickly work onto another show after Sydney, I've got time to see what more I can do.

Once I get back into shows, highest priority will be Brisbane, having been without a venue for a while, I think I've got a good lead and can finally bring back Neko Nation to Brisbane which I'm incredibly excited, Brisbane is the city I remember for giving me such an amazing welcome and I absolute miss the place.  For fans of J-Core, let's just say, you're going to be in for an epic treat when we come back!

I'm looking to bring Neko Nation into new places, not just in terms of clubs but beyond that.  2012 saw some interesting variety with the show having gone to Midian, Gilkisons and Adelaide Convention Centre, three venues with their very unique offerings.  Once again, looking beyond clubs, at conventions and there's a certain festival I'd like to get involved in if possible too.  I'm intending to make sure Neko goes beyond as a club event.

A bit off topic but I do plan to do more outside of Neko Nation as well too, I had my experimentation into the K-Pop scene this year with Hyper Dragon but in 2013 I'm looking at trying something different, I feel that I can do something different and not just be a one trick pony with Neko Nation.

Last but not least, I have spoken to a few Japanese acts, getting an international down for Neko is pretty much my main goal for 2013.  We just haven't seen Japanese acts coming down to Australia for a while and I'm determined to change this, I can ensure as much as I would love to bring down Dir En Grey, Maximum the Hormone or Kyary Pamyu Pamyu, it's way out of my budget for the time being.  However who know's what's possible in the future.  It's going to be exciting for everyone who can make it down (and a lot of stress and sleepless nights on my end getting this all set up!)

For now, I'm going to enjoy my break, I'm far from over Neko Nation, just resting up and trying to re-energise for even bigger things to come in 2013.

2012 Neko Finale

As I mentioned recently to people, I'm looking forward to taking time away from Neko Nation, while earlier in the year this would never have crossed my mind at all, I've had no choice recently as mentally I no longer feel I can devote enough love, time and dedication to the show as I normally have been.

I'm far from being over Neko Nation, it's a huge part of me and for a lot of people, it's pretty much what everyone associates me with.  While the job is rewarding not necessarily financially (I do have another job), it is personally mostly in how much people tell me they enjoy the event and the satisfaction knowing that I've pulled off an amazing event.  However this is also counterbalanced by the stress and time involved, a few interesting stats, each hour of the event has around a week's worth of work behind it, there's something like 30-50 people I need to deal with per event and then there's the matter of the huge and complex master spreadsheets and walk-throughs.  Despite all that, it's usually worth it.

At the moment, I feel that it's not and it's actually in no part due to my work in Neko Nation, it has been a stressful year on my end, having been caught up in a myriad of work and involvements with Tokyo Hardcore and uni.  There have been many personal problems involving others that have created problems but aren't worth talking about since the best way to deal with them is to move on and not resurrect any drama (which isn't really that exciting or interesting anyways).  I will say the timing of these problems have popped up in times when I truly needed a break.

I've looked back onto my year with Neko Nation and while it hasn't gone perfectly (the recent loss of NYE sticking out), I can be quite proud with what I've achieved this year.  I managed to pull off what was a pretty successful Australian tour and met so many wonderful people along the way, there was the incredible show with AVCon which was something I never pictured was happening anytime soon (in any convention) and our mega show in Perth where we not only proved we could stand up to a Wai-Con event on the same night but also smash attendance records.

So how did I celebrate all this?  The tour, I got involved in some of the worst personal drama I've ever had, AVCon I started uni and had lots of catching up to do and Perth I had two events on the next weekend, followed up by lots of assignments, hitting that final assignment, my body absolutely crashed physically and mentally.  While it could be just bad luck of catching something going around, regardless I'm seeing it more as huge sign of overworking.

While I can't drop my current commitments I can stop taking new ones from Neko Nation Sydney till the end of the year.  I have struggled to unwind and de-stress, so while I may be going a bit overboard with watching anime and gaming, I'm more or less making up for lost time here, heck my girlfriend bought me a PS3 at the start of the year I barely touched.

It's also a good time to actually reflect on what I've achieved so far this year and be proud of what I've done so far.  I've had a habit even after some amazing achievements to start writing notes on how things could have been done a lot better.  For once, I'm actually just going to focus on the positives and soak in some motivation and achievements and remember that if I can't make myself happy I sure as hell can't make others happy.  I've got some pretty exciting plans on the table for 2013 and this time off has allowed me some pretty awesome ideas to come to me, there's some pretty awesome new things I'm trying to involve into the show.

Don't expect to see me out too much over the next month or two, the irony of me working in a job like this is that I'm incredibly introverted and not a huge fan of places with lots of people!  I will be open to talking to people online and very small catch ups but I'm a lot happier being home since I've spent too much of my year being on my feet and dragged everywhere that I'll rarely be out much.

At the moment slowly starting to enjoy my semi-holiday off work, it's not all over yet, I've got involvement with Neko Domination, Chinatown Harajuku, Necromancy, an exam and Neko Sydney, although honestly with that on my plate that makes it the quietest period for me coming up!

For now, I'll see a lot of you later, for those playing LoL hopefully I'll see you on the battlefield soon!