Robio, the coolest physical shop in all of Melbourne, now stocks my brand (Pixel Dollies) for Blythe.
Now in stock: Kimono, Yukata, Tights, Stockings and Socks for Blythe, Pullip, Dal and other 1/6th dolls.
Yay Robio!
I know some people think I am more than a little too old for this stuff, but I so want a pair of these ears to wear while I’m out and about in Tokyo next year!
On Friday night, my friend Ilka had her hens.
We started at The Black Pearl, where the barmen can and will make any cocktail you like to perfection - or even make them up on the spot if you just don’t know what you want, but it must contain strawberry.
Then, we headed on over to Afghan Gallery for dinner. Seated on cushions around a low table, the head guy showed us his sense of humour, but lack of any knowledge about wine. They had a riesling on the menu. Perfect I thought, with the mildly spicey food items we had been offered. I ordered a bottle. It turned out to be that god awful, sickly sweet crouchen riesling - a totally different animal indeed. I sent it back, much to the amusement of the head guy, who thought it was all the same thing. The sav blanc was ordered as a replacement, and I have to admit I drank the entire bottle.
It was after dinner and time to totter off to a bar to get the hen smashed. Right next door was Rust - two for one cocktails and shots. Suited us. It was almost empty, apart from the couple having sex in the dark as midnight front room. And I believe we soon found out why. You have to be real drunk or real cheap to drink there. The cocktails were full of alcohol, but not what should be in the one you ordered. My Japanese Slipper was a sickly sweet cordial that packed a wallop - it just tasted revolting. So I switched to tequila shots (my favourite) and was delighted to find them charging only $6 for Ceurvo Especial - keeping in mind I was getting two shots for this price!
I caught up with some lovely people and made some new friends. We sent the bride home when she could no longer put a sentence together. Our last drink was a shared flaming lambourgini - but as they were out of the ‘flame’ the barman used Absinthe instead to light it. I swear I drank three quarters of it, but Ilka reckons she did. We’ll never know. We were both pretty smashed.
Saturday was recovery. I woke up ok, until I got up. Had to use the bathroom about 50 times (no, I wasn’t sick). I don’t know whether it was the food or the alcohol - but I certainly don’t feel as young as I used to. I’ll count this as my second hangover ever.
Sunday was the wedding and it was spectacular. A small group of family and friends in the Edinburgh Gardens - a nervous groom looking at his watch, a radiant bride in a cream bodice with blaze red skirt with beautiful red embroidery and orchids in her hair. No bride has every looked more stunning.
Barefoot lawn bowls and plenty of dancing, drink and food for an emotional reception capped off a beautiful day.
So we now have an apartment to stay in while in Tokyo. Three weeks living in the burbs like everyone else. Can’t wait!
I just can’t get back into blogging.
From my early (in)famous weblog in 1993 (then known as a personal website), to getting nominated for a Bloggie, to numerous press interviews to wide spread hatred in America for my comments about rabid patriotism a year after 9/11, to incredibly kind words from other (in)famous webloggers to leaving internet support to winning web design awards to opening a (now growing) online business…
It’s been a hell of a journey since my first modem back in 1991, and my first computer back in 1983.
I find I have less and less I want to share with complete strangers, and more and more I want to achieve in the Real World.
I’m trying to grow my online business with practically no capital and a hell of a lot of competition. Finally I’m getting good business contacts who are willing to talk wholesale, and I’m even going to Japan to meet some of these new contacts, including *the* name in Blythe.
I’m considering a trip to HongKong as the next place to go, but getting contacts is really hard - most of them are so busy that even though they plaster “contact us for wholesale distribution and orders” all over their websites and eBay Stores, none of them actually reply with real information. Hey, I have thousands of dollars to throw at you, please talk to me!
The people who do business with me are all wonderful, with quality products and great communication. My customers almost always are repeat business (thank you, thank you!) and the word of mouth seems to be happening.
I have a new line coming soon, exclusive to me and carefully designed and developed by an extremely talented designer in Japan. Exquistely hand made, you’ll have to wait a little longer to see it.
My goal is to have a physical shop front specialising in Blythe, Licca, Volks and BJDs with a side line in other collectables - but that’s down the track a little.
So in summation of my ramblings, go look at my shop, contact me if you want anything I don’t currently stock and do contact me if you can wholesale me Blythe goods and accessories!
I really don’t have the time to write extensive entries and articles right now - typical eh?
Instead - go buy things for your Blythe’s and other dollies in my store! Yeah.
Sorry for being so remiss, and not giving you any new goodies for a little while.
The simple fact is I’ve been flat tack with work (that thing I do for money, web design) and attending the Microsoft conference - Remix2007 here in Melbourne.
Remix was brilliant - getting a copy of Expression Web for nix always makes stuffy lectures more bearable - and the panel discussions especially got the mental juices flowing.
It was surprising to see what some of the guys on the panels actually looked like - most were as expected - youngish to 40ish, slightly overweight, slightly underweight geeks. Like me. Some thought they were rock stars, and might need a little less ego next time. But all were damn smart, knew their respective fields like the back of their hands, and were not afraid to share their secrets.
Russ Weakley did a fantastic session on better CSS, which I hope will be available as a podcast soon. It wasn’t anything he hadn’t told me before (not that he even knows who I am) but it was great to be reminded how to do things properly, and not cut corners. I wish I had taken photos and sound bites, cos he had some fantastic things to say.
Things I loved:
Things I didn’t love:
Anyway, back to the slave yard for me, I’m on a deadline!
My next trip to Japan will be in March 2008. This time, the entire stay will be in Tokyo for 3 weeks. I have a brand new list of stores to visit, and will spend a little more time at Palette Town. Yay! You’ll be inundated with tails of the super cute (kawai!), super weird, and super wonderful happenings while I’m there.
Hopefully, it will still be snowing in some places!
It was only a matter of time before I re-launched pixelkitty.net in all it’s scatter-brained glory.
This time though, I hope to be a little more focussed. I’ll be talking about what I do (web development and design, collecting ridiculously cute things and photography) and less about personal issues.
I’ll be clueing you in to great deals on the gadgets and knick knacks I love to collect, raving about websites and online communities, and going into details about web apps and design.
Of course, the odd photo of a Blythe is bound to slip into the sidebar, but I promise you that I won’t do it too often.
Welcome back!