Okay, so today has been an oddly stressful day, but it had some great news, though that has been to blame for most of the stress to be honest...

I didn't mention this when I first heard about it in case it didn't happen and, to be fair, after a while I didn't think it was GOING to happen, but a couple of weeks ago, I got asked to go as press to see MUCC, which means I get to go for free and take photos and write a live report That's tomorrow and I found out it was going ahead TODAY.

The late notice of being told this is actually happening poses several problems. I can get TO Birmingham but I can't get back very easily coz the trains and buses and stuff don't run that late to where I need to be.

But I was so excited when I found out about it two weeks ago, but due to the travel problems it's kinda not as exciting at the moment, like I don't have the time to be excited.

Also, I have rent due on Friday and once the cheque for the £400 I borrowed from my Mum to pay for the first installment of rent cleared, I now don't have enough money for THIS rent so she's had to lend me £200...

And I ripped my nail off on the freezer...

Though I found a Kamen Rider Kabuto figure which I'd been after for FOREVER on eBay, so I bought that, but it was after that that I found out I had no money.

And it's my Mum's birthday this weekend so I had to buy her presents and also it's one of my best friend's birthdays on Halloween so I'll need to buy her stuff AND we're going out and... I'm just very poor...

So it's been a kinda mixed day...

I'll be in touch xXx

Oh my GOD the concert was AMAZING! One of the best things in the world ever!

There really wasn't much in the way of merchandise when we got there, both in things and the amount of them. Considering the queue was surprisingly small and it barely grew from the time we joined it, when we got inside, they only had a couple of tubs with badges in, one bag, one men's T-shirt and about five or six girls' T-shirts left. If the concert had been full then a LOT of people would have been angry at not being able to get anything. I bought a T-shirt, as is the way, but I didn't even really look at the badges and the bag was £15 and not really that great so I didn't get one.

It was a pretty small venue, so it was really intimate and you could make eye contact with the band members. Unfortunately, there weren't as many people as there really should have been, but I think that might have been because there wasn't much time in between the concert being announced and the date itself. Still, that meant that I got to be really close to the front. There were three people between me and Tadashi and Ryuutarou was pretty close too. Unfortunately, I didn't see much of Akira and for a long time, all I saw of Buchi was his arm because there was a massive amp between me and the drum kit, but I saw him when they came back for the encore and everyone came out at the end.

Anyway, the concert itself was awesome. For a small crowd they were really energetic and encouraging, but I still felt a little sorry for the guys for not having as many people as they should have done. The sound quality was actually really good, which is rare, but considering Ryuutarous's voice that was definitely a good thing. Ryuutarou was amazing. He was just... unreal in a way, you couldn't help watching him, like you were transfixed. But of course, with Tadashi being RIGHT in front of me, I spent a LOT of the concert just watching him. I now have this MASSIVE thing for him, haha (Like the second time I saw Dir en Grey and completely fell for Toshiya. Must be a bassist thing...) Tadashi was taller in real life than I expected him to be - and Ryuutarou's hands are really big! Also, I didn't know that Akira had that many tattoos!

They started the concert with Nemureru Mori and I love that song, so that was great. They didn't really play that much from their latest album really, but they played a lot more older songs than I was expecting. In all honesty, I don't think they splayed a single one of THE songs I would have wanted, but they played loads of my other favourites which I hadn't been expecting. Melancholic was awesome, as was Himitsu no Carnival. Also, Head.Red, Dip.It is now an amazing song (even though I loved it anyway) because during that I TOUCHED RYUUTAROU'S WRIST!!!!! *faints* I screamed SO loudly and might have had myself a little happy cry, haha Yeah, I know I'm a loser. Later on in the concert I also got a couple of his fingers and managed to grab a thumb

Ryuutarou spoke to us a bit as well and he was SO adorable! To look at him, you wouldn't have expected him to speak the way he did. I know that his English isn't very good so I was looking forward to hearing what he'd say. They were all short sentences, one of my favourite being: "I came to London." It was so cute. We think he had a little bit of paper hidden away coz he kept wandering away towards the back of the stage for a bit and then coming back to say something else. He said a few little things in Japanese too, just simple things again like "arigatou" and things. But he was so sweet. The other members spoke very briefly at the end too and they took presents from the crowd about halfway through. One girl (Who was dressed as Reita from The GazettE) handed him a drawing of the band and he looked at it and pointed to one of them and just went: "Me?" It was beyond cute. He also did some little dancey things which were quite sweet and for one song he got out a black umbrella and sang underneath it then was spinning it round and dancing with it a little. Oddly though, I'm pretty certain that song WASN'T Kuroi Kasa (Which means 'black umbrella' ) but I couldn't place exactly what it was. I'm not very good with Plastic Tree titles in all honesty Or lyrics for that matter.

They went away for a little bit and then came back for an encore, with Ryuutarou dressed in a kimono I thought that they were really good live, like they played Kiokuyuki, which is my least favourite song from their new album and it was ages until I realised that was what the song was because they'd done it in a slightly more rocky style and it made it so much cooler than the recording. Oddly, right now I'm not sure what the last song they played was, but maybe it'll come to me. Like I said though, I'm not great with their titles. Don't know why, they just don't always stick in my head.

But anyway, the concert eventually ended and everyone came to the front of the stage to say hi to the crowd. Matt managed to touch everyone but Buchi, but I only got Ryuutarou. It was so amazing being that close to them though. Oh my god, there was one point where Tadashi hit his face on his microphone and I'm pretty certain he saw my reaction to it. I tried to ask him if he was okay, haha. He was though. He didn't get himself that hard - I probably wouldn't have seen it if I hadn't been so close. After that, one of the roadies gave himself the job of turning the mic away every time Tadashi got close to it, bless.

I wanted SO MUCH to touch Tadashi and I was kind of disappointed when they left and I hadn't managed to get him. That was, until I turned around and eventually headed back to Matt, who grinned and held up ONE OF TADASHI'S PLECTRUMS!!!!!!!!!! I screamed SO LOUDLY and leapt on him and sort of burst into tears a bit, which surprised him, but he thought it was really sweet. Matt is the best boyfriend ever. Tadashi threw LOADS into the crowd (the roadies replenished his supply like twice) but I didn't manage to get one. Well, it turned out I did in the end because Matt's amazing. He comes with me to a concert of a band he doesn't really know at all and gets me a plectrum. I mean just wow. He's an awesome boyfriend I've never got anything thrown from a concert before and I've never touched any members of the band, so that was just an amazingly successful concert I had such an awesome time. I can't believe I touched Ryuutarou and have a Tadashi plectrum I'm so pleased! Photos of my Plastic Tree stuff can be found here: [link] [link] [link]

Seriously, that was one of my favourite concerts ever. I had such an awesome time. We were shattered by the time we got home, which was about 2:30am. We got on the coach a little before midnight and then got a taxi from the bus station to my house, but it was totally worth it. I absolutely ADORED that concert. Gonna go to eBay now and look for Plastic Tree posters.

I'll go now. That was long. It needed to be xXx

Well, my first week back at uni was both pretty fun and surprisingly stressful! We got given a little research project to do for a really tiny presentation but it turned out to be SO hard. This is what happens when you get an art teacher for Drama... Sigh. Still not sure about Drama but oh my god it's good to be back with Creative Writing! Our Tuesday group is awesome, had so much fun but the Friday group is mostly English students (They had the choice to do CW as a module) so it feels dead weird... And Beckie and I are hardly with any of the people from our workshops last year. Never mind though. I'm really excited about getting back into writing some more though.

Matt came to visit from Fri to Sunday and gave me a cold, goddammit. I don't even REMEMBER the last time I had a cold, how dare he!?!? It was dead nice to see him though but now I miss him... I stayed up until 2am buying Alice Nine posters on eBay Hells yes. I won all four of them, despite one or two bidding wars, mwahahaaaa!!! I seriously need to stop spending money now... Oh my god though, I bought the most delicious pair of shoes yesterday! I'll have to post a pic I also got some leopard print trainers But seriously, the more stressed/bored I get the more money I'll spend. Like the shoes got bought yesterday coz I tried to go home to collect my Plastic Tree tickets but there weren't any buses running to where I live so I couldn't and had to walk all the way back in the cold and rain with my cold. But I'd been wanting the shoes for ages (*cough*a couple of days*cough*) but they only had ONE in my size. And I mean one. A left with no right... So I grabbed a pair as soon as I could! Plus, temporary double student discount meant I got them for £24 instead of £30. So I HAD to buy them then... I'm going to wear them out on Tuesday/Wednesday even though I know they'll kill me...

There are still loads of little things wrong with out house. The landlord doesn't have a clue what she's doing, it's just beyond annoying now. But at the weekend Sarah and I wired the phone in Coz the only phone... socket (???) is in my room, but obviously that's not a very convenient place for a phone, so we got an extension cable and put it through the wall (There's a little box with doors either side where the gas meter and stuff live so we didn't tear anything down), along the corridor, under my door frame, round the corner into the living room and down that wall. All by ourselves With a pink hammer! We rock. Seriously, we're so proud of that! We then phoned our families to tell them what we'd done coz we're just THAT cool. Free weekend calls though so why the hell not?

Can't believe I've been to the library twice in one week - the FIRST week!!! Sigh... I've got a nine o'clock tomorrow so I probably shouldn't be here now but meh. I'm going imminently anyway. Oh yeah, recent work includes my Kato Kazuki drawing, so go check that out if you're in any way interested. I MIGHT do Ikuta Toma tomorrow if I get time but I don't know. Also, expect more in the way of literature. I've been writing this short story I started ages ago but couldn't be bothered with. I now have four stories on the go... I'll try and return to Shelf Life as well, that kind of... got away from me.

Anyway, have fun everyone! I really should go to bed now... BYE!!! xXx

OH MY GOD IT'S OCTOBER.

Well, it is here anyway, don't know what date this'll come up with. Seriously though, where did the year go??? Best start my list to Santa...

Monday was awesome, when i went with Beckie and my Mum to be in the audience of The Paul O'Grady Show It was really fun. There were doggies AND BUSTER!!! Oh my god we were so excited to see Buster (Paul's dog) with his little waggy tail It was a LONG day though. Beckie and I left the house at 8:30am to get the train, then Mum picked us up at the station and took us to a different station where we got the train to London, wandered a bit, ate sammiches (Yeah, Claires don't say 'sandwich' any more) and then went to find/queue at the studio. Then after the show we ate at a Garfunkel's in Oxford Circus and caught the train back home, then Dad drove us back to our house at uni. We got back a little before midnight. So we were out of the house like fifteen hours. I don't think I've been out of the house that long all week! It was a long day though, we were both knackered. It's a long journey for an hour-long show. Oh, the guests wer Pink and Joe Pasquale (British comedian) if anyone's interested. And after the show we saw one of the dogs that they were talking about, coz they try to rehome abandoned dogs, so we've stroked a dog that Pink's stroked Hehe. It was a really fun day though.

But then we had a nine o'clock... Joy. We were in for two hours, then a bit of a break then the three hour practical thing. All Drama. God, I was shattered by the time I got in today. And wet coz it rained. But seriously, after London and the busy Tuesday I'm surprised I haven't fallen down! Don't start until 12 tomorrow but I finish at 5... Got a break in between though. But crap, I didn't know I was in till 5 again... Sigh. Starting to think my timetable's not so great after all.

So, tomorrow is a bit of a lie in, finish catching up with Neighbours online (God that show is bad. It's so bad it's amazing) and then off to lectures. If the weather's nice I'm gonna go to town too but I don't think it will be. If not I'll go on Thursday coz I've had stuff earmarked for a while and I intend to BUY THINGS!!!

Our aerial's meant to be getting fixed tomorrow. Bet it won't though; it was meant to be fixed on Thursday too... Matt's visiting again on Friday Yay! Last time he visited he left my bread out and it went moudly... Sigh xXx

Hey guys, just a quick thanks for the 8,000 pageviews! Ace.

Uni officially starts on Monday, though I don't have anything until Tuesday. When I pretty much have 9-5... Joy.

I'll let you know how it goes xXx