Perth - September 2011

Bogans, bad driving and an insane abundance of cranes aside, it was very good to be back in Perth.

Here's a bit of a behind the scenes look at what happens during possibly Neko Nation's biggest weekend of the year.  ^^

Thursday

A dash to the airport and it seemed like it was wasted as our plane was hit with numerous delays, thanks to an engine problem, this delay ended up going for 6 hours so we didn't get into Perth by around 9pm.  After all the delays and drama, we pretty much ended up crashing as soon as we got to our base in Perth.

Friday

We woke up, went to Ikea and got breakfast as is the tradition with every show.  We ended up sorting out last minute things which we were supposed to do yesterday but the plane flight really held us back.  We collected up the sushi, re-packed our bags for Neko Nation and the Tokyo Hardcore stand and left for The Bakery.

 

We arrived at 5pm and slowly the staff for the event trickled in, the stalls got setup, the catgirls worked on their outfits and last bits of makeup and the DJ's started practising on the decks, we got some staff sushi in, while Eugene start getting some photos before the action started happening.

The doors opened and for once, there was very little to stress about.  Tokyo Hardcore had a bit of a less than stellar showing and I spent a fair bit of time behind the store although it was good in the sense that I got to talk to see my various Perth friends on the night and barely not having to deal with too many issues or problems.

 

Once we shut down the stall, I ended up getting a chance to properly party and I had an absolute blast dancing and properly being able to run free in the venue.  I finished off with my set which I had a bit of fun with even though the event was dying and I had to come off one epic set from Susannah.

Went over to the after party, barely anyone could hack it on ITG so it was mostly fighting games although I didn't stay long due to getting tired and having to get my sexy sleepy catgirl back home to a bed more comfortable than the Game City floor.

Saturday

You know it's a good night when your body is absolutely wanting to kill you.  Mostly sleep deprivation and an aching body, we decided to go to Iku Sushi and test out this whole cheeseburger sushi thing which everyone was raving about the night before, I had a bit and it was delicious but there wasn't much left by the time I got to it.  We aimed to eat 18 pieces between the two of us and we were struggling to get through it.  Honestly, it was the most delicious thing I've ever eaten and it's quite possibly in my opinion the best sushi place I've ever been too, up there with Sushi train.

The second part of our day involved meeting up with one of our sponsors Attitude Oz who wanted to talk to us about the Miss Alternative competition.  For those who don't know what Miss Alternative is, it's a beauty pageant that is aimed at goths, punks, ravers and the alternative scene in general.  Basically we met up with the couple who run Attitude Oz who are pretty awesome and lovely people doing something absolutely huge and amazing both with the competition and the business.

 

We ended up getting the chance to work on the Melbourne heat which is virtually the alternative capital of Australia so while Adelaide would have been convenient this will be a big chance for us to do something really big and different, although it is in an area which I'm fairly familiar and experienced with.

We came back home in the evening and I got down and cracking to power through 5-6 hours of solid accounting work for Tokyo Hardcore and a bit for Neko Nation as well.  My life may involve sexy catgirls, delicious cocktails and wild parties, there's an unglarmous side to make this happen.

Sunday

While I said there's some unglamourous sides to my work, there's some pretty amazing parts of my life and I think today was the best day of the trip.  Topless catgirl photoshoot.  Enough said.  I still pretty much shake my head in disbelief that this is all happening.  XD

After that was done, we met up with the Perth Anime Committee who specifically invited us down to one of their general meetings.  We had a chat to the various committee members who gave the go ahead to create a catgirl cafe for Wai-Con plus the ability to create a Neko Nation afterparty for the con, which should be a whole heap of fun to put on and also I can't wait to actually party on the night as well.

We later met up with Eugene and Arty.  Absolutely lovely pair of people, I spent most of my time talking to Eugene, discussing Kafe Jijo in regards to our new cafe and sharing his wealth of experience in the cosplay and anime convention community which was invaluable knowledge to walk away with.  We discussed Neko Nation and just a good chat about life which was a chat I walked away from feeling mindblown and very satisfied with, it was possibly the best chat I've had to someone all year excluding some of the ones I've had with Susannah.

Had a bizarre night which saw the car I borrowed in Perth being locked in a garage, having a weird playfight with Susannah which saw most of my left arm covered in all sorts of bruises and scars.  Then having to call it an early night, although I did hear from my old friend Mark in Singapore about doing business with him, so it looks like I could be set to make it internationally soon.  XD

Monday

So the trip so far had been amazing and perfect, we got some last little bits sent to Adelaide and looked forward to a day which we thought would continue our awesome streak.  We got the exact opposite.

We had a meeting with our graphic designer for Tokyo Hardcore, basically we had a deal where I'd complete his tax in exchange for Susannah getting some graphic design work done.  Unfortunately he didn't actually hold up his end of the bargain.

We ended up being offered a free tattoo session so he was kind enough to offer us a lift, I'll give him that, however we wasted time doing circles in the city for no reason and he if I didn't yell out, he was going to take an illegal U-turn right into the path of a 4WD which would have T-boned my catgirl.

It didn't get much better after that with him swerving down the freeway at 100km/h, while trying to hold the GPS and read it with one hand, and spending most of the trip driving with one hand while rambling like a speed addict.

Thankfully I took over with the trip but things got worse when he proceeded to rant about Neko Nation staff members for 30 minutes, made even worse by claiming that he had a psychological condition which apparently meant he had every right to do so.

All this drama and fighting meant I ended up not getting a tattoo at all despite all of my promises to have one.  Things got more insane and dramatic and I was amazed that he didn't crash the car.  So yeah, had one person pretty much completely ruin that day.

Tuesday

We got packing and left for the airport early next morning.  Last minute dramu aside it was quite an amazing trip with lots of amazing adventures, people and times, plus we managed to cheat death as well, XD.

Looking forward to being back in Perth in January but for now, definitely happy to be back home in Adelaide, I'm looking forward to catching up with you all soon.  ^^