Ok, enough with that, it’s been some time since my last entry so there’s a few things I need to mention…

First, I hope you guys like the new layout~ It was a fairly simple ‘make over’ job, the hardest thing was trying to figure out where to place each colour, some of you may have seen some changes happening as you visited, lol! The layout is the same, just different colours, a background [stolen from my twitter account, hehe~] and no random header images any more [they may come back on my next layout change].
Tell me what you think~

Also, if you missed it, check out the temporary page I had up -> temp homepage. Cute or no? :3

Second, posts for my Chile trip have been placed aside for a while still, have had so many things to do since I got back, it’s not funny [ok, it is ;P]. I’ll probably get to them after SMASH!.

Speaking of smash, we have an artist table on Sunday~! My brother, now known as Ou7, will be the main person there during the day but I should be there most of the time too, so say hello~ We’ll be selling a few pieces of Yoko fanart and some other goodies I still haven’t finished, running out of time D: There will be a few gifts to give out [Yui postcards, yay~] and maybe a give away, not sure about that just yet.
Plans are to visit the karaoke room often for free singing on Saturday and the competition on Sunday. Adun of Moe Moe Rabu has a ABJD photography panel happening, so I’ll be there as well. For more info on events and happenings for smash check the SMASH! 2009 Schedule Map.

Hrmm… was going to sticky this post but no need ^^;; I may have another post up with more details on the items we’ve been preparing for our table.

Don’t forget to attend on the 8th and 9th of August if you’re in Sydney~!

Edit: Forgot to mention, I’ve signed up with Zazzle, so expect some stuff to show up every now and then on the right–>
Feel free to either visit the United States version or the Australian version ;3

First off, spent about 10-20 minutes calling up my local JB Hi-Fi store on Wednesday 29th, and slowly working my way to the city ones. The Parramatta George St store offered to order it in for me, but I said I’d get back to them ^^; called JB at the Galleries Victoria after that and bingo~! Organising a time for me to pick up [sometime between 3-4pm] since the cameras were on sale at 10% off, Natalie mentioned it was likely they’d be sold out otherwise.

Shin and I cut it quite close as we arrived at Town Hall at 3 and we had trouble finding an atm for my bank in TGV and the Queen Victoria Building >.<; finally decided just to go up to the one near Woolworth >.>;

When we arrived it turns out there was some sort of mix-up and my camera was put on display even though it was set aside for me. I still got it, and with an extra discount on top, hehe~ bought a 4gb 15mb/sec Sandisk card which was on special too, normal price was $38, got it for $29 <3. The sales girl, Natalie, was pointing out the 20mb/sec card, but too expensive, $50 x_x; do I really need that much speed at the moment? I didn't think so... Also got a carry bag, but not too happy with it as it seems a slightly tight fit =/ meh.

Went upstairs to Kinokuniya to pick up Shin's Shana novel after, but it turns out they got the order wrong and brought in the manga instead >.>;; placed another order, hopefully no mistakes this time ^^;;
Also picked up a manga ‘phonebook’, hehe, I think it’s by Kadokawa? It has a Phoenix on the spine =/ It also came with a freebie~ will post sometime soon so you can see xD;

Headed across to Ichiban Boshi after for food~

We arrived when it was still quite empty, so we got a really nice window spot :3

The rice green tea was really nice, the only problem was if you left it sitting for too long, the tea was really strong from the pot xD;; I opened it up when it was nearly finished and the bags they use are big~! Click for a close up of one of the cups, my favourite shot for the day :3

So, what did we order?

I ordered Tokyo ramen~ very nice, I enjoyed it, but it took me so long to eat that it was getting cold near the end u_u~

Shin’s order was Miso ramen, I didn’t try it, but he enjoyed it. He also had the last bit of my ramen even though it was cold, want not, waste not eh? xD;

We actually ordered the set which was $16 each, so our ramen each came with a plate of the above. We were so full by the time we finished the ramen, there was no space for this! We simply asked for a container so we could take it home with us, hehe~ And the container’s pretty big, we easily fit in the two dishes =D [especially as we didn't bother with the red part top left... it was spicy >.<;;]

World Square was our next stop~ and look what we found x3

Konata’s choco cornet~ :3 ok… so it’s like not totally the same, but close xD; And you can see by the label that they call it a “Choc Horn” =o

And, and~

Shana’s Melon-pan :3
We bought 2 of these, they were nice, but didn’t really have a ‘melon’ taste, it was just nice bread with sugary outside layer. If you don’t try this one, then try one of the many others available, they’re really nice~

And it looks like I’ll be revealing what’s in the bag next time xD;; Some of you may already know what it is, but I’ll be reviewing it with more details anyhow so please stay tuned~

Warning, post is pretty long =o

I’ll start off with the trip to the venue, met up with Nina (Rikku from the Smash forum) and two of her friends to catch the train together. She was dressed up as Yuki with the witch costume, she looked really cute~ Unfortunately as I figured I’d see her again later, I didn’t quite manage to take a proper photo orz. Sent her a message, see below for photo she sent~

Ahh~ so cool x3 Poor thing was freezing ’cause of her short skirt, lent her my jacket while we waited for the train :3

Anyhow, got separated as her friend was late so she got off at the next stop with one friend, but Amy decided to go on ahead with me. Spent the trip talking about anime and jdorama so time went by really fast! (Trip takes one hour to city, felt like 20mins xD).

Amy and I got separated on arrival (around 10:05) as she hadn’t pre-registered u_u~, didn’t get a very good shot of the line, but…

Then another line started forming… o.O;

What bugged me in the morning was that the pre-reg line took longer to get in than the other line, when I finally got in I had lost Amy ;_;

View from upstairs~

Anyhow, first thing~ Kidchan~! Omigoshlikewatthe! She so much cuter in real life x3 She was still unpacking some of her goodies when I got to the art area but bought her artbook straight away >=D I even got her to sign it for me <3~! She had a lot of trouble finding a pen that worked though, must have been the cold weather, sorry for troubling you!! I couldn’t even look at her other items as I wasn’t going to be able to buy anything else anyways orz… please donate so I can spend more next year? xD;;
Either click on her name for her homepage or check out her deviantart page: kidchan@da. I’ll post some more on her later… am planning something special for the artists that were at SMASH, kukuku~ Leave a message if you’re an artist and wish to be involved! (Australia only please, preferably Sydney, exceptions for specials guests like Kidchan =3)

Made my way down to the Karaoke room after, I had to change my song choices as I forgot to bring my music u_u~ song list was missing so I couldn’t sing just yet (freeplay, no heats just yet!) so I went back upstairs to the art area to add to the Travelling Artbook. Forgot to take a picture of my entry orz… but here’s the cover instead, hehe~

Illustrated by the lovely Kimiko~ (also known as “Dev Kimiko” on the forum). It was an incredible compilation of works from very talented artists from around Australia, I had a flip through it before I started on mine *o*. Heard from Arutea later on in the evening that it went for just over $200 at the auction, proceeds were donated to the Fred Hollows foundation.

Took some photos of the stalls in the artists circle upstairs, more on that next week I reckon. A few cosplay ones too, most of the time I caught them as they posed for other people, ehehe~ ^^;; Also took 1 or 2 photos of the vendors downstairs.

Back to the Karaoke room! Found my brother outside~ <3 (I left early as he wasn't ready yet) Sang a few songs, then the heats started, I was so nervous, lol. My song was one of the many that had disappeared u_u~ no worries, chose to sing 'Passion' by Utada Hikaru from the game Kingdom hearts II =3. As my song wasn't on the list even though it had been time-stamped and everything, I had to look at the lyrics every so often but I was told I wasn't going to be penalised too much for that. Made it to the finals~! Omigosh, shock! Sang Alumina from Death Note before leaving the room again, fun fun~. Oh yeah, ran into Fonzler (& his little sis, waii~ she was so cute!) from Dannychoo.com =D not sure when exactly, but it was in the Karaoke room.

More walking, eating (forgot to take photo orz), checking out the vendors downstairs again with Shin (my bro David, I call him Shin xD). Bought some stuff which I’ll post about later, good stuff including Shana and Tony Taka artbooks along with a Haruhi figure.
Optic mentions on his blog that there were bootleg figures at the con, I wouldn’t know if they were myself, but I now suspect my Haruhi is one orz…

Karaoke finals was a very, very long and nerve wrecking wait orz. Our song order kept changing, had directions from a few different people lol. We did have a lot of support from the judges and other finalists (2 guys and 1 other girl). Everyone was really nice =D
No I didn’t win, that honour went to Janet Yuen =D. Forgot the name of the song though u_u~ By this time a lot of people had left already =o

Which is a shame because they missed out on a great performance by Kross Junkie!

Click to see their names =o

They covered a few anime songs and also performed an original “Sunshine of my Life” you can find their videos and more of Smash on the forum, I’ve linked the thread directly so you don’t have to go searching ;3
Keep an eye out this week or next as I’ll be posting a special entry for these guys =D, I got in touch with Patrick (Spongebob, hehe~) for some exclusive info ;D

To finish off I’ll leave you guys with Gundam!

P.S any question and comments etc are welcome! <3

I’ll be at karaoke early in the morning, after I quickly browse through artist alley.
And~ I’ll be joining the karaoke competition and hopefully be in the finals, not sure what songs I’ll be singing just yet, but definitely “Dhalia – I’ll Be Your Love”.

If you see me there, say hello!

Yes, it’s me orz… Will be heading out to dinner with 2 of my friends tonight to celebrate~! Will probably update this post later with photos (if any).

Plus~! Thank you to everyone who wished me a happy birthday over at DannyChoo.com’s Puchi Blurbs x3 much <3

First up is Australia wide:

It started on the 3rd of this month, but you have until the 16 to catch any one of the great movies they have to offer. There’s:

Appleseed Ex Machina: Japanese audio, english subtitles
Batman: Gotham Knight: English audio
Vexille: Japanese audio, english subtitles
The Girl Who Leapt Through Time: Japanese audio, english subtitles

Unfortunately, they’re only screening at one location for each city, you can see more screening details here.

Lucky for me, there’s only one thing I would have liked to watch and I’ve already seen “The Girl Who Leapt Through Time” (long name xD;;), because I really don’t like visiting Newtown. Last time I visited was to watch Howl’s moving Castle as it was the only place with subtitles, not really worth visiting the area though =_=;;. On the other hand, they are running a competition at participating Dendy cinemas, might interest someone ^^.

Sydney event~:

My favourite event~! The Sydney Manga and Anime Show (or SMASH for short) will be held at the Roundhouse@UNSW Kingsford, very easy to get to. To find out more just click on the banner x3.

Pre-registration has been extended ’till the 18th (you have to pay by then to be eligible for the pre-reg pricing), so you can still enjoy a full day for just $10! If you miss out or still not sure if you’re attending, it’s still a very cool $15 at the door for an all-day event which starts at 10am and ends at 8pm.
I must warn you though, best to get there early with pre-reg or else you’ll be there past 11am waiting to get in =x Happened last year when it made its debut!

The reason I love SMASH so much is the atmosphere and the people behind the event, have had the pleasure of meeting a lot of the committee members even though I’m not a volunteer ^^; You just have to participate in the events!
SMASH is also very artist-friendly~ I’ll be taking lot’s of photos (on my crappy camera ^^;;) this year so you guys can see just how many artists there are, tables were sold out ages ago too x3

I’ll be adding more info on SMASH as the date draws nearer, will mention what events I’m interested in as well ;D

Any plans to head on over to these events? I hope to see you guys at SMASH and maybe Animania… speaking of which, pre-regs are now open, not sure if I can go just yet u_u~

Questions & comments always welcomed & appreciated~ =3

Went to city by myself on Saturday to take advantage of the 20% sale x3. Above photo is the Dengenki issue I bought for my brother, normally 580yen, but paid $15.05au at Kinokuniya orz. Front cover stars a character from Yotsuba I believe.

But it was probably totally worth it for my bro, it came with a Shana shitajiki, hehe~
Click for larger view (sorry it’s blurry u_u;;).


Front I’m guessing… with the back of the special ‘Dengeki 4Koma Daioh’ compilation (front is on the first picture above ^)

The back, I prefer this side, ish cute~ =3
Who watches Shana no Shakugan? I never really got into it even though Shin watches/watched it.

Yay~ Tokyo guide <3
Measuring 106x152mm (approx. 4x6"), very compact and can probably fit in most guys' back pocket and in all girls' bags. Published by Lonely Planet, Tokyo Encounter would probably be the ideal companion to take out with you, it even has a pull out map at the back which I may scan if I get a few requests. I’m certainly taking it with me when I finally do get there… It was $18.94, but I got it for $15.15 with my membership card :3 (forgot to take a photo of the card, it’s really cool, lol… next post ^_~)

And that’s it for now… btw, would anyone be interested in a scan of the Shana shitajiki? Any other requests or questions are also welcome ^^.

Edit: I got the dates wrong u_u~ Updated with correct dates

Greetings~! Just a quick note that Kinokuniya, a famous japanese bookstore chain, in Sydney are having a sale!

It started today, but as I’ve been so busy, I only just remembered ;_; I won’t get a chance to go myself today for sure, but I’ll see about getting there tomorrow.

It’s 20% off for all card holding members, very easy to get a card, just fill in a form and pay $15 at the front counter and you get your card on the spot. Manga, books, artbooks, travel guides and stationary are all on sale, with stationary at 10% off.

Still on the 19th of June, after taking that last photo of Centrepoint Tower from my Sydney Trip 01 entry, we quickly made our way up George St.

No photos on the way as I still had my ice cream ^^;; Went through QVB (Queen Victoria Building), was going to take a quick photo of her statue at the entrance, but decided not to trouble myself, though I could’ve passed the ice cream on for Shin to hold -_-;;

Was looking at the opposite side of the street at ‘The Strand’ (I think Alex Perry has a store there), when I turned back forward I noticed the barriers. Was like… oh~ there you are xD;

I took a lot of photos, not all are included here, but still a fair amount, click to continue~


While I don’t have any Apple products, who could miss a chance like this while in the city? =o

The nom nomed apple, it wasn’t me!

I got to the cnr of King and George St around 3:30pm.

Ah, this lady was the first to line up, I think a good 30 or so hours before the opening ^^;;
Not much of an Apple fan, just wanted to let her kids in first, aww~
You can read more about the first 10 people in the line at theage.com.au.

Some people having fun, hehehe~ Line was behind the barrier.

End of the line at this time, wasn’t very long… read it was much longer by 4:30 ^^;;
Read more at theage.com.au

Photo taken from across the street, wish I had stayed u_u~

They also gave away special XL shirts to the first 2500 people who entered the store.

Would you sell your Apple shirt if you got one? They’re selling on Ebay for >$51. Read more at theage.com.au
This shot (and the previous one) seems very popular, a straight shot from across the street (George St, Sydney).

I didn’t want to leave but I had church soon, still had to catch train (1hr trip) and then get to church ^^;;

After that, silly me forgot there was a Ticketek on King St and made my way down to Park St to buy my Sunday Supanova ticket. Will buy from door if I only go on Sunday next time as I forgot there was a booking fee u_u; Went straight home after that, was so tired~

How often do you visit your city? I try to go at least once a month, but sometimes it’s just not possible.

Thanks for reading <3
~Koshiko

I’ve also included some photos of our trip, please click to continue reading ;D

First stop was Penta computers, was hoping to pick up a pen for my Graphire 2 but found out they have to order it in, so I was like no thanks >.>;;
After that Shin and I made our way towards Market city, wanted to visit the X-Seven shop but forgot to look up their location >.<;;

Market City was our next stop for food :q Unfortunately, it hadn’t occurred to me to take photos yet, so no photos of our yummy ramen dishes u_u~ Will be sure to remember next time ^^;
Also stopped by Giordano for some washing bags, they last ages and are good for delicate items of clothing. Buy the grey or black ones though as they tend to last longer than the pink ones.

Made our way through Chinatown after that =D

Rawr~
At the exit from what I call food alley~ There’s another pair on the opposite end outside Market City. This area is always busy, you can buy clothes, shoes, asian merchandise, yummy food, sing karaoke, get drunk and then go to sleep there, lol (I don’t drink though, hehe).

On Goulburn St as we made our way towards George St, ran across these guys hehe~

It says ‘CAB’ above, would you ride in one of these? =o

Next up was Baskin Robbins~ Have never tried their ice cream so I asked Shin if he wanted to try :3

I chose the Strawberry Cheesecake one, so yummy~! :q I suggest though, that unless you have an extremely sweet tooth, don’t try this one, was so sweet xD;. Strawberry Cheesecake #2

Picked Green Tea for Shin, we each took a bite of the other but he didn’t like mine, good thing he got the Green Tea one instead, lol~

Obligatory shot of Centrepoint Tower, taken from the cnr of Gouldburn & George St.

No city trip is complete without a shot of this landmark ;D

And that’s it for today, will add the Apple Store photos later so stay tuned ^_~

~Koshiko