Kalafina Arena LIVE 2016 ~ Keiko produced

Much as I wanted to, I was unable to go to Kalafina's Budokan lives this year.  BUT that doesn't mean that my love for their lives and their music has diminished.  :)  Since I could not go to the lives, I decided to show support by buying their concert merchandise. =D

I asked some friends for help and they helped me pick up a bunch of stuff. :)  THANK YOU!!!  I bought more than I usually would. :P

As they often do, they had the utahime produced again.  Hikaru's was a pretty useful looking pouch and Wakana's was a very cute neck pillow which sold out really fast.  I really did want to get one of the utahime produced but I didn't really have the budget for all three so I decided to get the cheapest of the three. :)

Well....in terms of the amount of yen it's the "cheapest" I guess.  But in terms of value for money.... let's just say that I am well aware that no concert merch is ever value for money. :)

Anyway... enough of that. :)  Photos first. :)

This is Keiko's candy box and it cost 900 yen.  And yes, that's certainly a little expensive for a box of candy that's only the size of a postcard. 

But that said, I'm still quite happy to have gotten it.  It's a box you can keep.  It's not the hardiest of boxes but it is made of a thick enough cardboard that you can use to put stuff in like those Kalafina & FictionJunction phone charms for example.

  

The above are the other photos of the exterior of the box.

  

And the above are photos of the interior of the box and the number and types of candy you get in the box.  I've eaten one of each already.  The marshmallows have chocolate inside.  And the soft gummy candy is actually a tad sour.  I like marshmallows and gummy candy quite a lot so those are the two I like the most. :)

The thing I like the most in the box is this little card that comes with it.

 

It says "Keiko's Candies!" And then states what kinds of candies come in the box.  It's chocolate marshmallow, grape flavored gummy and apple flavored hard candy.

I really have no idea if Keiko drew that cute drawing or if that's her handwriting.  I'm just going to assume it is because I like to think it is. :P

Well....I'll hopefully slowly go through the rest of the merch I picked up over the course of the next few days.   Hopefully I will have time for them. :)

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The following has nothing to do with the unboxing so you can stop reading here if you like.  :)

AND.... now.... I will just say a little bit about why I was not able to go to the Budokan this year even though I had originally planned on going.  I was thinking of not writing why anymore but then I did say I would earlier... so I guess I should make good on that. :)

Actually, my company announced that it would close the Singapore branch in March this year.  Yup, right before my trip to Japan to attend the Kajiura Yuki SAO live in Osaka and to do other stuff too of course. :)  So yes, that March trip was a bit of a mixed bag for me.  I enjoyed myself a lot but at the same time, I was also worried and had decided to cut the budget for my expenditure too.  And it was at that time that I decided that it was very unlikely that I would be able to go for the Budokan lives.

It took a while for me to find another full time job.  In-between, I did some freelance work which helped to settle my nerves.  Yes.... I've never lost a job in all my working life so it was quite unnerving for me.  I really did like the work I did in my previous job too but for me to continue doing the same kind of work, I would have to leave Singapore and work in another country.  Basically, it also meant that I will have to chase the work to whichever country it goes in the future.  In the end, I chose to stay in Singapore for personal reasons which meant that I had make a career switch of sorts.

So in the last few months, I have been trying to level up as quickly as possible in my new chosen profession.  Luckily, it's not that far removed from my previous job but there is A LOT of software that I'm out of touch with and several that I've never used before.  Hence why I've had to put the blog on the back-burner.  Also, I've decided to try and pass the JLPT N2 exams this year too.  So I have A TON of studying to do. *sweat :P

So yup, I'll still blog because I enjoy it but it'll be slow and probably more sporadic than I like.  But it's cool, I really like messing around with all the software I should learn so I'm pretty happy doing that too. :)  And I quite like my new job now that I'm used to it. :)

Things have really settled down and I am very grateful that I have a new full-time job.  Although, I have a bit of survivor's guilt too because I don't know and am afraid to ask just how many of my ex-colleagues and my friends have yet to find work. :(  Our line is just too specialized and there just aren't enough of our type of work in SG. :(

Losing that job so suddenly, the downturn in the global economy and the SG economy has made me a little wary and less willing to YOLO.  So no more travelling for the rest of the year. :(  I need to beef up my savings first.  I'll still be saving up for a future trip though.  Kajiura Yuki and Kalafina lives are my drug. :)  And since they don't come to Singapore, I have to go to Japan (or maybe Hong Kong) to see them.  I don't mind travelling to see them to be honest.  I like Japan and Hong Kong anyway. :)  Of course it would be nice if they come to SG and throw us a live too and I will, of course, keep hoping that someday they will. :)

Anyway... time for bed.  I have to go to work early later today. :)

Good night. :)