Swap meet, followed by getting stranded
I went to a Harajuku fashion swap meet in the city yesterday. It was... well, it was fun! But I was saddened at the same time.
The rain was killing me. It was killing all of us, really, but the people who were supposed to be selling out front had to do so inside of the little hall the organisers rented out, and it was so cramped and noisy inside, impossible to move at times! And yet the sky kept pouring, pouring, pouring... I died. Thank God I brought my umbrella with me.
Not many people were actually selling Harajuku fashion lol. I would have even taken even Jirai or Gyaru stuff, which is still J-fashion even if it's not out of Harajuku, but people were selling stuff from my country's equivalent of Hot Topic 
and not anything good either.
When people (and not many people were selling) were selling J-fashion, it was mostly Sweet Lolita or Fairy Kei. I've got nothing against either of these styles, but coming in I really wanted to see if I could get a re-start on my aristo wardrobe. I did not. Maybe next time.
Of course, I came as the Angeler I am. Are you surprised? Only one person recognised the brand, and it was one of the organisers of the event, who also happened to be the only person I bought anything off of... LOL.
It's tough to go to these things on your own because it's hard to be social on your own. I did what I do best and I complimented people on their outfits. There were some Lolitas around, Fairy Kei fans, a couple Aristocrat types, some regular old goths and one kid in Jirai Kei, but many people were not dressed up at all. It makes me wonder, is there such thing as the local community? I'm not a Lolita, so I haven't bothered to check what they have going on here in Brisbane, but is there such thing as a wider J-fashion community in our city of Brisbane?
To be honest I don't think so. There are no posts ever made on the Facebook group, no regular meetups. Community is connection, and when the connections come every 6 months and then fizzles out even online, I don't think you can call that much of a community. It might be selfish or naive to say, but I think events like these are more a point of attraction than a place for connection.
I still had a good time. I bought a Listen Flavor hoodie with a panda on it, and someone who saw me last time in November gave me a bracelet she specifically made with me in mind! I made friends with two emos and one extremely queer individual. After everything was over and done with (event ended at 1:45), I went to grab food at McDonald's with said queer, but we chatted for so long that it was past 5:30 when we left. It was really fun! But then...that's when things went south 
To start things off, on our short walk from McDonald's to the bus station we almost got hit by a car lol.
Basically, the green man light came on for just a moment, and with how little we could see thanks to our umbrellas we trusted it. But it must have shorted or something. We both saw it so it surely couldn't have been stupidity on one of our parts. Maybe stupidity on both our parts...
But it was a really busy road and the cars were still going fast across it, and we were already in the middle of it by the time we realised! We freaked out but managed to get across safely... sigh
It should have been smooth sailing from there, as I only had to take two buses directly home, but it wasn't 
I, the exhausted mouse I was, made the foolish mistake of falling half-asleep on the bus home. When I woke up, I had just barely missed the stop I was supposed to change at. I had no idea what to do! I got off immediately, but I found myself stranded on the side of the highway with nowhere to go. Maps was telling me to walk up the highway (on which there was no footpath) and I was terrified. The rain was still coming down heavy and I was cold and tired and dizzy and on my own.
Really embarrassing, but I had to call a relative for help 
I was so scared and after a while of freaking out it was all I could do. I was there for like an hour and retreated to an alleyway where I didn't have any risk of being hit by a car (again) until I got a lift home.
I took a long hot shower, complained online, and then passed out. My review: I think it was an alright event, if you're an average alternative person, which I am not. Oh well. I wish things were easier for me!
