Sunday, January 26, 2020

The Big 2020 Update



I hope everyone has been having a good start to the new year! January has been my calm before a very big storm starting soon.

While nothing is set in stone yet, I will be making a very big transition this spring. Many of you who have been following my updates regularly are already aware that I'm working on relocating, which means a new apartment and a lot of paperwork, cleaning, errands, etc.

With that said, the timing of group pre-orders and shipments have to be planned precisely so that there's as little clash as possible with my own personal matters. Similar to my previous blog, here's a month-by-month summary of what I'm expecting:

February

  • My group order for ANOTHER WORLD ~White&Black~ and NuiStar dolls will open. I will be attending the exhibit, but I can't promise that I'll be able to buy any merchandise because I expect a lot to sell out and because I likely have nowhere to store it while I try to move to a new place.
  • Shining Store items will be arriving in mid- to late February, and some in early March. As you might remember, I had the orders separated between trading and non-trading items. Since I want to take about one to two weeks to trade, I'll be processing orders for people who didn't buy trading items first. Please be ready to pay invoices as soon as possible!

March

  • I'm aiming to move out by March 19th, so I hope to have all Shining Store shipping invoices paid and packages shipped before then.
  • Unfortunately, I think 7th Stage Merch will be arriving around the time I'll be moving, so there may be a slight delay while I try to sort items and trade.
By April, I'll be moved into a new place and busy adjusting. As of right now, I am NOT attending 7th Stage because I don't have a ticket. Of course I'll update if that changes.

Lastly, I know I'm backlogged with posting photos of the UtaPri exhibits I've attended, but I hope to post some in the near future! Be sure to follow me on social media for updates:

Fingers crossed for a smooth transition this year! It'll be busy but I'm up to the challenge!☆
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Thursday, December 19, 2019

End of Year 2019 Update


Needless to say, I got caught up in so many tasks that I totally forgot to update. Things are a bit up in the air for me after March, as I'm still working on trying to relocate and looking over my options, but here's a timeline of what I have planned:

This month:

  • I've sent all orders where the shipping invoice has been paid. If you haven't gotten back to me, you'll have to wait until after the new year for me to ship your items.
  • I'll be out of town from December 19th to January 6th, so sales will not be happening during that time. I'll still be sending invoices for the PRINCE CAT group pre-order!
  • And about the PRINCE CAT pre-order: The sign-up form is open! Release will be in June/July and I've set limits on how many cats you can buy per person. Hopefully this will go smoothly and not take too long!

January:

  • This is up in the air, but I would like to do a clearance sale of my own collection and unsold items in order to prepare for possible relocation in the spring. I may include some bonuses and special deals in there!

February:

  • Shining Store items will be coming in. As stated before, these items will not be combined with other orders because they need to go out as quickly as possible! Although I wanted to send shipping invoices for the Shining Store group order early, PayPal changed their refund policy (which really hurts sellers) so this throws a wrench in my plans. I may just go with my usual procedure of sending shipping invoices as I calculate them. 
  • On a related note, for future group orders, I'll no longer include the option to choose a shipping method AFTER the release date, in order to speed up the invoice process.

March & Early April:

  • The sit & wait game for 7th Stage merch begins. Hopefully I'll have a new apartment to ship everything to by that time. I'm also expecting to be starting a new job, but hopefully that won't interfere with processing time.
It'll be a tiring few months so do expect a couple of delays in case I need to take a break. I currently no longer have plans to quit doing group orders completely but I'll continue to scale back. Thank you for everyone's support this year and I'm looking forward to continuing in 2020!
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Friday, October 11, 2019

Love Week

In the early morning of September 25th Japan Time, Jinguji Ren appeared on Twitter to promote Rose Rose Romance. That night, I called my mom on the phone. We talked about a few things, some small and some serious, and then she said she’d send some money for me to book a flight for winter break.




I found out later that it was National Daughters Day in the U.S., which made the phone call even more special. But...





...three days later, my mother died. The money she had given me to fly home for the holidays was instead used to book a flight for her funeral. She was only 60 years old.



I had a few things to take my mind off of the trauma. I managed to visit the Shining Store. I went to see Starish Secret Party with one of my closest friends as originally planned, which really helped. Tokiya was the MC for the show. Nonetheless, for the first few days I didn’t even know if I’d be able to make it through the day without having a breakdown.



And so on Twitter, when I said that I really needed Ren, it was because I was away from my family for several days while grieving and anxiously waiting to see my mother’s face again, knowing she had already passed away.




Throughout the next two weeks, I thought not only about my final conversation with her, but I also watched Ren’s tweets. He never got to know his mother face-to-face, but he knows that her spirit lives in him, much like my mother’s spirit lives in me.



Those messages may have come from a fictional character, but the love--and the roses--were more than real for me. As I cried everyday, missing her and trying to figure out how to adjust to life without her being on this earth, Ren provided a comfort so fitting and well-timed that my love and appreciation for him grew even stronger than I could have ever thought possible.



The poster advertisement for Rose Rose Romance was posted in Ikebukuro Station the day before my flight to the USA.



The album was released while I was on the plane, trying to hold myself together.



The day after my mother’s funeral and burial, Ren sent his last bouquet of roses with the message, “I love you.”




As I am still awaiting my upcoming return to Japan and readjustment to everyday life, I want to remember not only my mother’s life and the joy, inspiration, and wisdom she gave me, but also the joy, inspiration, and affection that Ren and UtaPri gives me while I grieve over her death.



Of course, I haven’t forgotten all of the love and support I received from social media followers and group order members, even when I didn’t give specifics of what was going on. I was somewhat afraid that people wouldn’t trust me, after I had already suffered mental anguish earlier this year which affected my ability to do what I enjoyed doing for UtaPri fans. This year has been incredibly rough, and though I knew I was capable of handling it, you all encouraged me to put my well-being first, which I have been doing especially for the past few weeks.



Thank you, and I really appreciate you. And that’s why I will continue to do whatever I can for the UtaPri community, even if it’s a little bit.


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