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!

Rise and Fall

I can finally say that I'm finally getting a month which actually isn't looking too crazy for month.  University is over and my god that's one nightmare I can finally put behind me.  Curtin University has proven to be a disaster, with lectures being missing, assignments that were incredibly inconsistent, assignments could be 4 weeks to complete 1,500 words and another one could be one week to write 4,000, final tests were incredibly pointless and easy (I don't see how a multiple choice test that's open book and internet is a test) and marks for completing marketing surveys.  I went to UniSA and unlike University of Adelaide or Curtin the details I needed to enrol took literally 2 minutes to find out, it took weeks or months with the other two.

Neko Nation has finally been put behind me for now, it's been an amazing last month, finally breaking the attendance record in Perth was absolutely a mind blowing achievement I'll never forget.  It was the one show where we feared the worst, having been forced up against the Wai-Con ball and with Perth attendances having been quite stable over the last year, it was insane to see so many people having so much fun, expanding to two rooms and getting gaming and an incredible lighting and staging setup was great.

The downside is that the momentum has been trickling down to a halt, I only got the news about new years eve being cancelled early this month, even though this event was pretty much in production and had the go ahead from March this year, sadly it wasn't meant to be.  It's been frustrating as managing Neko Nation has been proven harder and harder thanks to uni commitments and my personal life.  So while there isn't much on the horizon, I'm glad things are slowing down a bit.

This month has proved to be a quiet one, unfortunately this has been in part to sickness but with that out of the way, I would have been taking it quite easy since I'm needed to catch up on actually chilling out and taking it easy, something which I've barely had any time over the past months due to all the drama and craziness.  At the moment, been investing a huge commitment of time into League of Legends, despite the ridiculousness of getting addicted to something that isn't exactly going to get me anywhere, the reality is the things that have gotten me somewhere have made me incredibly sick and it's the closest thing I somewhat have to a holiday at the moment.