In which I visit some anime peps and learn about the 'anime crowd' here in Perth.

So Saturday was an important day. After setting up everything I needed to job wise, apart from signing up to an agency, I was read to do just that. But it was Saturday, and I knew that there were some anime gatherings on Saturday. So me and a guy that moved into my six bed room in the hostel went into town to go to the information desk and find some job agencies. We found the name of one and then time was getting on because we left late. Then something strange happened that I must say only seems to happen when you're doing something completely new and unstructured like this though. We bumped into Matt's dad. The guy I was walking around with was called Matt. So of all the people this could have been that was shaking my hand saying 'hi Matt' haven't sen you in a while, yes those two things, I thought it could not have been his dad because why was he letting his son live in a hostel? But then I thought about things like marriage seperation and things and just went with it. I was heading off anyway so I said goodbye and headed to the bus station. I caught a bus from St Geogre's street off into south Perth, the bus didn't leave from the station, and it was free. In south Perth I got off the bus too early and walked to find where I was looking for.
When I got to the community centre I was surprised and not surprised to find the room full of thirty year old or something and fat gamers. I could not have set up a stereotype better than this I thought. Luckily they didn't get many wild cards like me so they weren't afraid to talk. I was introduced to play on Halo... the anniversary edition which is the first one re-done. To be honest I don't find halo that fun but there I was anyway. Then I surrendered my seat to someone else to have a go and perched myself by some other gamers, completely engrossed in their laptops, PSPs and Dss. Someone was handing out cheese and ham yaki balls (like takoyaki) which could barely be described as food and then she switched to nutella yaki oh and they were too hot as well. Then it was coming up to screening time and I'd have to pay to stay so I wondered about the other place I had read about in Tactics. As I hadn't had anything much to eat this day I wondered to a guy who wasn't doing anything and I asked about the society I was at. It was more of a screening and gaming soc and so not so much drawing with comic aspirations. I headed out for that reason and traevlled back to Perth, where I discovered to my horror that the bus service was only free inside the city and not... well where I was. Anyway I got back into town feeling silly and just wanted to go back to the hostel. But then I rallied myself and knew what I had to do so I maned up and got some chicken. Then I tried to find the place and trust me it is one of the hardest places I've ever had to find but with perseverance and wit I managed to find the door, which had bars across, and the woman seeing someone who appeared to be the last customer out. Then I asked her about the anime group that was supposed to be meeting there and she told me they were running it downstairs and she invited me down.
So this is where the fun begins. After basically crashing this place I showed off my things and got on really well with the girl (I say girl... I don't know her age). So I got on really well with the people there and we talked about things and I did some drawing. It was really refreshing to be around people so far from home that draw manga have a passion for it. So.. we talked about the convention in January, theres a convention in January, win! They plan to do draw characters from popular anime and sell them for a small profit at the con, good idea I thought, so I was instantly on board and by the end I suggested doing some, but I'm humble about it because its such a level up. I read some little manga on the table by con goers who have sold their things, and they're very good. I feel like I'm stepping into that half way place I had believed didn't exist. The level above Britain that I was surrounded by where I hadn't met anyone who had drawn manga and the other side where doujin artists parade amazing and impossible things. Here in Oz there is middle ground where story writers draw storyboards and sell it at the conventions but its not as good as professional artists.
I met everyone there and we played an unintentional but very fun game of anime trivia. Someone starts describing an anime they're thinking of but can't remember the name and we have to figure out the name before they remember. As they all knew each other and I was friendly we all got along and I had some sweets, oh how did the sweets mention get in there, ahem. I also found out that you can approach three different comic selling shops in the city and they will sell your comic if you bring it to them to sell, they have a rack. I was like wahhhh this is an amazing find.
Then I discovered something else that sent me reeling back to the dark corners. Something a group of art students had done either at school or at uni, but I think school, it was an amazing colourful fan book and looked so damn amazing you would have no problem believing it was professional. These guys are good, not just good but professional level, basically the potential best... and these are the guys you're competing against... O_O but hey, this is a point where you don't go 'crap, forget it' you go... 'what a tower to topple' and you aim for their level. The other great thing about having good artists in the city is that they are meetable. At the con and made also in a soc or gathering. Talking to them about what they've done and how is invaluable. I intend to go next week too and by then hopefully I can have some drawings to show off ohoho. So in all a productive day :D

In which I spend a couple of days there

What happened during the first few days.

So you will have read that after I arrived I was able to drive a car down to the local convenience store. Well it was rather hot when I arrived, like 30 something, and the sleep was awkward. It was too hot to leave my duvet on and I slept surrounded by my belongings because I didn't have a lock for the lockers. It wasn't cramped because I don't move around much at night anyway. I started reading Katie Price's (it wasn't just her that wrote it) Crystal, before you think anything I did it for the ironic comedy. It's quite Katie Price like and not at all smart or clever, anyway you probably expected that. The characters resemble her... so slutty and thing they're right I walked down to the shop in the heat and wondered what I could buy, but seeing as everything here is really expensive I just didn't get that much. I bought some soup I thought was cheap but have just found out its condensed, what is condensed soup anyway?

This Thursday I walked further than the shop, I kept going until I found the library and looked in there. The air conditioning was an amazing feeling. They have water fountains around the place although the water near the library doesn't taste very nice, water elsewhere is better... if you can imagine such a thing. The library in the art area of the city and there is the museum and other buildings here, and a it is just a nice place in general. The water here is also warm which isn't nice. I walked down a street opposite the art area and found many a food shop and restaurant. I brought something but it wasn't very nice and after using the Library's wireless, that was a hassle to set up, I returned back to the convenience store and then headed back. In this heat it is better to get a good cold shower in after walking around in this heat which I do.

A little about the hostel I'm staying in... other things will be mentioned but I don't want to scare anyone... not that news would scare anyone ¬_¬ there are three showers, on in the toilets that is always being used by someone and two in a seperate room where one is always free. The thing about the showers in this roo is though... one door doesn't lock and the other door... doesn't exist. The shower where there is a door has a very dark moth with a spot on each wing watching you everytime I've been in there as it sits on the ceiling.... just watching you....

I slept in the heat again, this is not a fun thing. When sleeping in the heat, if you get to sleep at all, will be broken into times with a gap in between, this gap is a break where you go to the toilet and drink some water, these are things you have to do.

The next day I got into town, via free bus (there is a free bus in the city area which extends up to my hostel). I was trying to find this Tele something company and I wasted half a day trying to find it, they give the best coverage and their rates aren't too bad. I walked around the main city area twice trying to find the phone shop and instead I found 5 vodaphones and 6 or 7 flight centres, literally that company, not 6 or 7 travel agents, but that many flight centres. In rage quit fashion I went into a flight centre and asked the girl there if there was a shop tele something, she said yes, I asked where was it, she said town. Anyway I lefted and went to Vodaphone. I bought a smart phone for $99 and bought $30 credit on pay as you go which, because of a deal they have, gave me $450 phone credit with infinite texts and free faceboke and gmail. So I was quite pleased with that. I then went back along St Geogre's terrace, the place with all the high rise buildings in Perth, and found the HSBC I was looking for and opened a bank account. I also went to the medicare place but as I didn't know where my address would be in 4 weeks time. Then I returned to the library and booked a computer and was on there for 40 or so minutes, enough time to apply for a tax file number, and then the library was closing at an odd time. I left there and returned to the hostel.

In which the trip is taken to get there

Sit down child and I will tell you the grand tale of how I lost a day of my life.

So, I wake up on tuesday morning at five. It was one of those rude awakenings you get when you turn your alarm off while still dreaming and only come to when its off, feels like you've stopped the world or something and then reality smashes you in the face. Anyway, anyway. So I had a lovely breakfast of sausage, bacon and egg to get our morning started and we faff around putting the last things together like what we're taking in the car and if there is anything I've forgotten, like have I cleaned my teeth? Then we finally set out and its mildly cold in the car so I use a blanket and try to get some sleep. I managed to nod off and pass a lot of the time, like an hour and a half. Then we hit some traffic and there were some delays on the junctions approaching the airport. We got off the motorway and got to Heathrow where I believed I would be traveling on Boeing with two engines. I got to the check in desk for Qunatas and was wondering if this was the right desk because I had got very muddled. Then I went up some stairs and headed straight for the security and passed that, no problem. I managed to find a water bottle for free because the telegraph was doing a deal where if you spend £1.20 on their paper then they will give you a £1.75 drink for free. So I was happy and then I went and got some noms from Eat. It was nice although there was something like water chesnuts in it that really stood out when it was being eaten yet they were not mentioned on the menu name of it.

Then I headed to my gate. I found then that it wasn't a two engined plane but the Airbus A380 which is the one that I really wanted to fly on :3 So I boarded that after a while and realised that the plane is amazing! The boarding is done by row so you don't have to queue, you just sit there and wait and then go in quite leisurely and find your seat. Luckily I found my seat was in the aisle so I wouldn't have to worry about asking people to move in order for me to use the toilet. Then, as the plane is filling up, I realise that its not full at all. There are loads of seats and most importantly there was a seat free next to me so I was able to put some things there. The entertainment screens were awesome, there were loads of films and you could watch any film at any time you liked for the whole journey. There were games but they weren't very good... but there were games!

I watched a bunch of films. I watched Captain America, Up, Transformers 3, Senna and maybe something else, I will get back to you :) The food was nom, I had lamb, and we got random bits of snacks every so often like a twix ice cream and cheese and biscuits... the cheese and biscuits were especially nice :P Then it went really dark and you could see this because they left a screen with the tail spy cam on, oh yeah the plane had a tail spy cam, and all you could see was the lights flashing on the outside of the plane. Everyone started to go to sleep and this is where I lost a day because instead of sleeping I just watched films and wrote nanowrimo ¬_¬ Anyway then we were coming into land after such a long time, but it didn't feel like such a long time which was the weirdest thing. I must have hyped up the length of it so much that I had expected it not to end.

I left the plane and headed across to the next gate... seeing none of Singapore because the gates were almost right next to each other. Then I boarded but found there was just a little bit more of security before this plane so I had to surrender my free bottle of water which I had not drank halfway yet., grrr. Then I boarded this plane which was basically like a smaller version of the plane I was just on because it had the same entertainment system but the plane seats were worse and well everything was slightly worse. Oh and I watched the hangover II on the first flight, that was the other film. On this plane I sat alone for a while, and then the girl behind me found herself in the wrong seat and then I found her sitting by me. I started talking to her, I had no company on the plane before, and I found out her name was Bridget... which I think it awesome because I've not met someone named that before. She had a lot to say and we had no problems talking about what each other was doing on that plane to Perth. She told me she was returning home to New Zealand after a successful two years working in London at various jobs... and I found myself feeling I was in the reverse of her shoes, but she did give me inspiration. She is also coming to Perth in two months so I hope to met her again and have another friend here at the end of the earth!

Then I walked out into the sun.... boom! Massive heat attack. Apparently it is hotter today than normal and will be hotter tomorrrow and then more cool so... not sure what to think of that. At the hostel I learned about many things, like how things can be so bad but still quite livable. I also found out that in Australia you don't need to be insured to legally drive a car... all you need is a drivers licence... driving an automatic is hard... I'll leave it at that. We were at the shops and everything in there seems like they're just taking the mic. On my to the gate at Heathrow I saw a tiny box of celebrations chocolates cost £12 and I thought that was bad, but here there are loads more things like that, and thats just how it is!! I know each dollar isn't a pound but some things just don't add up to be that expensive. I will give more details later. Right thats all I can think of writing for now, there is a suspicious lack of internet here, amongst other things ¬_¬ but I will either go to the library (I don't know where it is) or an internet cafe (I don't know where one is) but the important thing is that there is a free bus service to city centre :P