Tea with Mr. Hatter: March 2012

3.24.2012

Living the Dream

It's about time that I fessed up what I've been up to, and mind you, it is very important, life altering things. You see, there are very few things that I have so far on the do-before-I-die list, and these are they:
1. See Mana in real life
2. See Rhapsody in concert
3. Try a macaron
The first two are almost impossible, very improbable things if you are familiar with those scenes - Mana is a Japanese visual kei musician and fashion designer that I have been obsessed with since I was 13, and Rhapsody is an Italian power metal band so great that they have even inspired Christopher Lee to start his own metal band at the age of 90. But I digress... Both are foreign musicians that live half the planet away, and have only been to the US once before (as is typical for the type of music I listen to - and I'm talking power metal/symphonic metal here - a "World Tour" consists of Europe, Asia, and South America). So I would have never dreamed that with me being at the young age of 23, BOTH would be coming to the US within 2 months of each other, on the west coast!
(And that being the case, it makes me wonder why I have not tried a macaron yet, as it seemed to be the most attainable of all 3 goals...)
So I have been plotting, plotting how to make this all work.

The Rhapsody concert will be simple - they're playing at a club in San Francisco, I've been to plenty of metal shows in SF before, not a big deal. I'm super excited to see them, I'm a huge fan of their singer Fabio, I saw him with Kamelot a few months ago and it was the best show I've ever been to in my life! And my friend Austin saw them in Utah and got a picture with Fabio and I am infinitely jealous you would not even believe, so now my goal is also to get a picture with Fabio, although I don't know how that is going to happen. I'll need to ask for advice on that one.

But Mana, I can't even describe how excited I am to finally see Mana! No one person has had a greater influence on my taste in music and fashion and gothic aesthetic as Mana has. I cosplay as Mana. I listen to his music when I'm sad. Every 13 year old has a band they obsess over and mine was Malice Mizer, and my favorite member of the band was Mana. I never expected to see him in America, especially not after he just came to LA 3 years ago and I missed it, and I especially didn't expect him back on the west coast, but guess what, he's going to be in Seattle in 2 weeks, playing a concert with his band Moi Dix Mois at SakuraCon, and I'm going! Yes, Seattle, a 13 hour drive, on Easter weekend, and I have to wake up at the crack of dawn to make sure I can get tickets to even get in to the convention, but you know what? I'm excited. I'm excited to take a risk, do something seemingly stupid, because that's what is called living your life with passion, something that I've desperately needed these past few months. So the planning begins, the hotels are booked, this is going to happen!

And that macaron is gonna happen soon too, I swear it will!

3.08.2012

Nerdy Home Decorating

For a brief second there, home decorating was my new internet - it was my crack. I was addicted to cleaning out closets, rearranging bookshelves and furniture and entire rooms, until eventually my energy was spent and I wound down on the couch and hey, what's this? Internet? And here I am.

I'm not especially good at decorating yet, I am still fairly new to this hobby. And with a husband who is an action figure and book collector and adamant about having those things on display in the front room, there is the added challenge of compromise. In the end, I had fun playing with themes and incorporating nerdy elements in an aesthetically pleasing way: