#i like went from watching perth try not to cry on stage

[tinycowboybro]

violently pinball-ing back and forth between being a lil emotional that kinnporsche is coming to a close (it was the second drama i had ever watched) and wanting to chew the floorboards because of how Absolutely Illegal Bible looked in his outfits

[rwbyconversations]

The four RWBY girls alongside Michael Jones and Vic Mignonga had a panel on July 14th at Florida Supercon. 

Panel finally starts after five minutes and a tangent about Titanic. Michael does a runway walk while people queue up for questions, Vic beatboxes for him.

Would the RWBY girls say that their friendship is as close as RWBY’s friendship? A: Basically, yes. Lindsay notes that she’s more like Weiss when talking with Kara and Kara is more like Ruby in that Lindsay constantly dunks on Kara. Arryn notes that Blake never talks to Ruby, so she’s got that over Blake.

Of all the characters in RWBY, which would you like to see development for? Also can I have a hug? A: Hugs are promised at the booth after the panel. Arryn: “I will touch you so hard.. in the most appropriate way possible”. As for the question, Lindsay would like to see more of Neo. Kara says Mama Schnee. Arryn says Zwei. Barbara says that she’d love to see Ruby get some development. “Out of all the main cast, we have yet to learn more about her.” Vic goes with Oscar, partly for the selfish reason of getting to hang out with Arron Dismuke (Oscar’s voice actor). “He’s my little baby brother who’s now 7′4, and he went from ‘brother!’ to ‘BROTHER.’” Michael chooses Neptune.

How is everyone today? A: Great! Q: In between all the voice acting stuff, do you find the personal time to do what you want? A: Lindsay: “I mean, we had a kid, so... yeah.” Barbara notes that recording for RWBY and other RT Animation shows is just something that takes an hour a week. Arryn notes that since acting is her full-time job, she doesn’t exactly like having downtime. “Please give me a job!” Vic stabs the viewer in the heart by saying “I’m doing what I want right now.” 

Does your voice ever get tired out, especially among the people who shift from Achievement Hunter to RWBY? A: Lindsay notes the big difference in going from AH to RWBY in that “Achievement Hunter is... Achievement Hunter and RWBY is family friendly!” She goes on to say that the most exhausting thing is ‘efforts’ or battle sounds. Ruby’s voice is difficult when it comes to crying and yelling. Michael admits he takes horrible care of his voice- other VAs have special teas and honeys to calm their throats down, but when Michael’s not doing VA work he’s usually screaming. Sun is based on Michael’s normal voice and as a consequence, he’s pretty hard to do if Michael is just out of a Let’s Play. Vic notes you can damage your voice from over-usage and that it’s important to know when to stop.

Would you rather ship Jaune with Pyrrha, Weiss (Kara raises her hand) or Ruby? A: Lindsay: “Let’s remove that third one from the equation. Ruby’s in a relationship with herself right now.” Barb: “I would like to see some Jaune/Sun.” Arryn: “Sun’s in love with Blake.” Michael jokingly laments that “volume after volume,” Sun’s been doing his best for Blake. Arryn more seriously says that “Jaune needs to focus on himself. He had his chance with a girl and he screwed it up.” Arryn then notes that Blake also needs to do some introspection. 

If RWBY fought Sun and Qrow, who’d come out on top? A: Lindsay isn’t sure Qrow would go all out against Ruby, even if it was a training match. Arryn and Lindsay both consciously snub Yang. (Lindsay: “Would Qrow really fight his lovely niece?” Arryn: “The one he’s so clearly obsessed with? I’m sorry, who are you again Yang?”) They pretty much all agree that Qrow’s Semblance would sabotage Team Drunken Monkey. Michael says Sun would hang back and let Qrow figure it out.

Vic, how did you come up with Qrow’s voice? The girls do Qrow impressions of varying quality. Vic shares a story of how he got into RWBY; at a panel in Perth back in 2014, Lindsay and Michael shared some footage of RWBY that got Vic hooked. As far as the voice, they sent him some test images of Qrow and some lines that he recorded in LA and sent to them. He did a few different voices, they picked one and the rest is history. Most of the rest of the group used something close to their natural voice. Barbara initially had a higher pitch for Yang but she toned it down. Arryn uses the same voice but changes her speech pattern. Lindsay based Ruby’s squeak on her own self-deprecating jokes about being the chubby kid. Ruby’s Volume 1 voice was because they weren’t sure how innocent Ruby was supposed to be. Michael says Sun’s voice nowadays is based on a surfer bro without the accent. There’s another bit of teasing for the Black Sun fans when Michael laments that Blake keeps shooting Sun down (”He’s trying though!”) and Arryn bemoans how oblivious Blake is. Barbara tries to fit in a Bumblebee joke about her loving Yang. 

Q: Did Ruby have a goth phase? Lindsay notes that Ruby is now sixteen as of Volume 5 (Arryn wonders if this means that Blake’s finally eighteen). Lindsay jokes that Ruby likes going to Fall Out Boy concerts. Arryn once had black hair with red tips like Ruby.

What weapons would the show be able to come up besides what’s already been seen? A: Arryn: “Well the show isn’t capable of ideas.” The question was meant to be “What kind of weapons would you come up with for a new character?” Barbara says a “gun-gun,” a gun that shoots guns. Vic: “I like to keep it simple. What I do is I take a bottle, and I break it. And then I cut you.” Arryn would love to see some kind of fan weapon. Kara: “What about a frisbee?” Michael likes the idea of a game controller that turns into a whip. The fan also has a statement that Blake isn’t the only black cat he knows that’s completely oblivious to love (Adrian from Miraculous Ladybug)

What does RWBY mean to you? Barb: “It means Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Yang.” Vic: “Can we change it to QRWBY?” Arryn talks about how much RWBY changed her life and let her find her dream job. Kara: “It’s been amazing, I have no words.” 

A Ruby cosplayer made bracelets for RWY. Arryn got hers on-stage. Q: Any advice for anyone who wants to get into voice acting? A: Lindsay says getting into VA work is a little bit of luck, but it comes down to who you know and how you network with people. Fan dubs are a great jumping off point since directors keep up with that. Yuri Lowenthal (Merucry Black) and his wife Tara Platt (Kali) have a three-part series on Youtube that covers how to make a great demo reel as a voice actor. Vic says to take any chance you can to develop your skills. Most of the actors he knows didn’t start as voice actors, they just performed wherever they could. Basically, never say no to any acting gig, get into community theater and go to acting school. “One thing you need more than talent, is a thick skin.” 

If you guys could switch characters with someone here who would it be? A: Michael: “I’M YANG!” Lindsay and Weiss would swap. Arryn would be Sun or Yang. Barb would do Qrow. Vic in his Qrow voice: “I’m Weiss. I drink a lot.” Lindsay: Like mother like daughter! Vic at the end of the question: “I’d like to play Winter so I can lose to myself in a fight!”

How do you guys get into character? Arryn: “Don’t really have to do anything any more.” Kara watches the most recent episodes to get into Weiss’s mindset. She also records in heels since it helps her posture, unless it’s a fight scene. For Chibi/Volume 1-3 Yang, Barbara would cause chaos and build her energy up, but for Volume 4/5, she’d wear a big hoodie like “emo yang.” Lindsay finds a theme song for her characters. For Ruby she uses anime OPs like Lucky Star (Beacon) or Red Like Roses Part 2 (Volume 4-5 Ruby). Michael runs in circles to build up energy for Sun, if he plays Max from Camp Camp he starts swearing up a storm. When he’s driving in he’ll shout along with songs on the radio.

Michael, favorite character that’s not Sun? Winter. 

Who can do the best robot dance? Barbara.

Who do you ship in RWBY? (DAMNIT WE NEARLY MADE IT TO THE END WITHOUT THIS FUCKING QUESTION GAAAAAA) Barb- Bumblebee. Kara- White Knight. Lindsay- Nuts and Dolts. Vic- the USS Enterprise. 

Barbara, how was it to provide your voice for Blazblue? She rapid-fire says “I nearly lost my voice from all the power up sounds.”

Barbara, how can fans support Rooster Teeth beyond just buying First? A: Watch the shows, First is the absolute best way to support them.

Do you believe in destiny? Yes. Favorite OST song? Lindsay- Red Like Roses Part 2. Arryn and Michael- This Will Be The Day. Barb- Gold and Cold. 

Barbara, is Yang gay? Barb: “I don’t know, I kinda hope so though.”

Where are Yang’s puns? A: Watch Chibi. 

Arryn, when is Blake gonna stop being so melodramatic? “I’ve already ended it. Just wait!” 

[kateahontas]

JET Program Final Mission

Just a warning that this post is horrifically sappy. Please comment the amount of times you cringed or rolled your eyes and I'll eat a mint chocolate flavoured product for each one.

Matt sent the modems back to Softbank today, so the internet in our apartment is long-gone and that is a real occurrence to cement all the happenings right now.

JET Program Final Mission was on Saturday night. It was a great success in that it was a beautiful time, but it really sucked in terms of having to be a farewell party, meaning that we will be leaving the country and the date is approaching too quickly. 

The party was in a fancy hotel in Tachikawa and had a much too expensive price of 7,000 yen per person. We had absolutely no problem with people not being able to justify coming because of the price. A few non-English teachers from my school were present (teachers being present from my school at all that aren’t Kenichi is a huge thing in itself) and that made me tear up, because who knew you could mean anything when you often feel like you don’t?

Matt and I were officially announced and walked into a room of our pals standing and applauding. We were greeted by life-size print-outs of ourselves from our Australian wedding, who we of course got photos with part-way through the celebrations. We were shown to our seats and Party Master gave a few words. He is always self-appointed MC, and it’s definitely the most fitting. Matt and I had to give a speech in Japanese that we were not even secretly terrified about. It’s really difficult to articulate feelings to these people in English, and even more difficult to do it in Japanese. We did a lot of tag-teaming, involving giving messages directed at our schools. I said a chunk about Kenichi, and that was the only part I asked for assistance from a Japanese person for. I found a really fitting sentence in Japanese about having a telepathic relationship with someone, but I was unsure of the nuance. My chosen Japanese pal to lend me assistance was Miki, who was also present at the party. She has been so good to me over the years and speaks English pretty much fluently despite never having studied or lived abroad. Also, her children are adorable and her husband works at Matt’s school, so we’re all meant to be. She helped me in making the sentences a bit more coherent. It got a really great reaction at the party, so I was relieved.

Kenichi had told me the day before of the table Matt and I would be sitting at. Kenichi, in true Kenichi style, seated me next to him. Before we even made our speech, we were sitting at the table taking in the scenes and Kenichi turned to me and said “I can’t imagine my life without you” and that was really the beginning of the end for me personally. Kenichi drank throughout the night to try and deal with his emotions (which he has A LOT of) and it didn’t work at all. He became more emotional and was pretty much bursting into tears any time something happened.

There was a screen located to the right of the stage, and while the food was being brought out, a short presentation of our three years in Japan played. It was edited by a teacher from Matt’s school who has basically given her life to us. It featured all the photos we gave to Party Master a few weeks back, a million photos from our Japanese wedding party and also photos from our Australian wedding. The food started coming out and Kenichi made a quick toast so everyone could drink as much as possible. 

Kenichi had mentioned to me a few weeks earlier that he was preparing for some kind of performance. I assumed that a few teachers would do the same thing, but that was not the case. He presented a speech that contained four separate stories about our lives together while being backed on piano by another English teacher from my school (who I did not know even had such a talent?) The speech was in Japanese, but we are being promised copies of it in both Japanese and English. 

The first story was the story of the purple hair. About two and a half months before we came on JET, I had my hair dyed bright pink and purple. I always obviously had the intention of changing it before Japan (and actually only found out I had been accepted into the program the morning of the day I had my hair dyed). I worked at a Steiner school with the crazy hair, so nobody cared. ANYWAY, I entirely blame Ben for the story of the purple hair. He started messaging me a few months before we came to Japan (when my hair was bright and popping) and he told Kenichi about it EVEN THOUGH I had conveyed to him my full intentions to dye it brown before coming to Japan (because I am not an idiot). Kenichi has revealed to me on a few occasions that he was terrified to meet me, and it was exacerbated by me having purple hair. He thought he would have to tell me that I would not be able to show up to my school like that. He said he even practiced telling me in a stern voice (before he met me) to dye my hair brown. I imagine he practiced in front of a mirror, because that makes me do a weird side-smile.

The second story was the story of Otosan. Otosan is “father” in Japanese, but for the purpose of this story, we are referring to Otosan, the lovable hound who is the face of the Japanese phone company, Softbank. I needed a phone contract with Softbank, because of how deep my love for Otosan ran, even though I knew nothing about him. In our first week of being in Japan, Kenichi took us to the Softbank store in Tachikawa to get us both phone contracts. It took three hours and once I started working at my school, it didn’t take me long to realise that that kind of time is really precious for someone who works as much as Kenichi. Kenichi told the person signing us up at Softbank that I loved the pupper that was the face of their company, so they gave us a stuffed toy of Otosan that speaks in Japanese when you press his tail. We still have it and I will never forget such a gesture by a man who was probably properly flustered with us at the time, but never showed it.

The third story is the ongoing story of how Matthew knows everything. Kenichi was telling us about a Japanese celebrity once when we went out for dinner with him, and Matthew already knew who it was. This particular story isn’t so impressive. I believe the story of Matt having to reprogram the Rakuten Mobile page so that I could sign up with them is more impressive. Last week, Kenichi asked if I knew where a place was that is related to moving out stuff we have to do. I said “Matthew knows. He knows everything” and Kenichi said “ああ！さすがマシュー！" Which is just like “as expected, Matthew genius’d again”. I Kenichi would marry Matt if it were allowed.

The final story was the story about Kenichi’s birthday last year and Christmas. It took me a really long time to get to the point in our friendship where Kenichi invited us to his house. I tried really hard for a long time, thought that I was probably being a pushy jerk and then I backed off a bit, and Kenichi would be the one to initiate hangs, which was a huge break-through for me. We had already been to his house at least once before his birthday. His birthday party first took place at Kenichi’s favourite restaurant close to his house. Matt, myself and a few other teachers from my school (one an ex-teacher) were all there. We later went to Kenichi’s house where he showed off his Google Home and the cake was brought out. Matt helped Kenichi cut his cake and then I fed him his first bite of cake using a huge spoon and getting it everywhere. Then, everyone else also fed Kenichi one bite of cake each. We later found out that this isn’t normal for Japanese peoples’ birthdays. On Christmas eve last year, Kenichi invited Matt, myself and some other pals to a community centre that his parents run to make udon. We made udon noodles from scratch, cooked them, ate them, did some craft and had a really good time. Then on the way home, Kenichi took us to a hill nearby that had an amazing view of the entire area and we all hung out there for a bit. It was perfect at the time, because we really wanted to be in Australia for Christmas and we couldn’t, but we still got to spend it with our family anyway.

Finally, Kenichi broke into song for a bit for the last part of his performance, but I was already crying at that point.

Some time after his speech, Kenichi and I were talking at the table about all the times we’ve had. He said “there is another thing I remember clearly” and he went on to mention the night that Matt had to fly back to Australia to be with his mum. We had just spent Christmas in Perth, and had flown back to Tokyo the day before. Matt got a message from his brother saying that Matt’s mum had taken a turn for the worse, and things didn’t look so good. We were able to get Matt on a plane the following morning, but I had to stay here. We ended up apart for three weeks, then I went back to Perth for our wedding. The day after our wedding, I flew back to Japan alone to spend another three weeks away from Matt. On that first night, when Matt had just left to be with his mum, I was sitting on the couch in my pyjamas watching Gilmore Girls and I had just eaten avocado toast for dinner. I got a phone call from Kenichi who said “what are you doing? Come and meet me at a cafe in Tachikawa.” I got dressed and met him there about half an hour later. We spent three or four hours together talking about stuff and practicing Japanese and English. He said to me “this is going to be the hardest night for you and you shouldn’t be alone”. That whole period of time was unbelievably shit. I look back on it and I have no idea how I managed to function and go to work and be a person. When Kenichi brought that up at the party, I couldn’t even. I said to him “you saved me that night” and I told him how I don’t even know where the strength came from that got me through that. He said “you know that I have trouble just calling people up like that and asking them to hang out. I just don’t do it. I knew that you needed me that night” and the whole exchange is honestly going to be the thing that makes it impossible to get on the plane.

The food was fancy and tasty and difficult to eat consistently because we had to make the rounds. I tried to let all the teachers from my school know that it meant a whole few truckloads of existence that they attended. I hope they do know, because it’s true. 

I saw Miyo, a beautiful human who works in the office at Matt’s school for the last time, and it was so heartbreaking for the two of us that we just had to walk away from each other.

We were presented with a cake that had a beautiful chocolate message on it authored by Party Master. A retired teacher from Matt’s school who is a beautiful soul came up and gave us two pictures that he had painted the night before. One was of Matt’s school building, and the other was of the cafeteria at Matt’s school. They look amazing and they are framed and he said “never forget our school”. 

Kenichi and Kosuke presented us both with bouquets of flowers and some other people showered us in gifts. Cake was eaten, photos were taken and I only got to consume two alcoholic beverages. We gave our final speech and then it was time for the second party at everyone’s favourite sports themed karaoke place: BASEBALL.

Lico rocked up part-way through this party and she said “I want to sing Korn with you” we were like “you want to what?!” and it turned out she actually meant Natalie Imbruglia’s “Torn”. We made dreams come true. We are going to karaoke with Lico and Kenichi on Sunday, so we have decided to show her some Korn then.

Kenichi and I sang Don’t Look Back in Anger because it’s our thing and he said “this is the second last time we’ll sing this” so the finale is definitely happening on Sunday! 

To be frank, it was too much and I would say I don’t deserve what these people do. Other feedback from other JETs confirms things we always thought were true: no other schools have a Party Master or a Kenichi or a Lico and I wonder about the inner workings of the universe and how your outfits might not always match, but I am sure you don’t look as shit as you think you do.

We are allowed a few repeats on Friday as Matt’s school is having their end of term party, and we are very much there and on Sunday too at karaoke.

[mikeyd1986]

GOOD THINGS FESTIVAL (MELBOURNE) @ Flemington Racecourse, December 2019

A couple of years ago, I made a silent vow to myself that I was done with attending music festivals. There were a number of reasons for this: the large crowds, the lengthy duration, getting dirty and sweaty in the moshpit. It just wasn’t my thing anymore. Though I did push myself to attend Unify in 2018, it wasn’t an enjoyable experience for me. The lonely overnight camping plus my unruly neighbours and my fragile mental state also didn’t help matters. It was more to say that I did it and crossed it off my bucket list. But I wouldn’t do it again.

However, when I considered going to Good Things this year, it felt like a throwback to the days of the Big Day Out (1999-2014) which I used to go to. Similar lineup of bands. Similar layout of stages, rides, food trucks. And it’s only a single day festival. I said to myself “You know what? I’ll give it a shot.” And so I opted for the pay over time installment option as I couldn’t afford the full cost of the ticket at the time. I used to complain about how expensive festival tickets are but if you consider how many big international bands are on the lineup, it’s actually pretty reasonable.

My biggest concern going it to this was how my energy levels and tiredness would fare. This is after all a 9-10 hour event so I knew that I would have to pace myself throughout the day and place plenty of rest breaks in between bands. The most important decision of the day was working out which bands to see. It’s good that Good Things offers fans plenty of variety and choice but that means there’s a lot of potential for timetable clashes. The biggest offender would have to be between Windwaker and The Veronicas which actually sparked a lot of outrage, shit posting and memes on social media.

From catching the train from Southern Cross to Flemington Racecourse to lining up outside the entry gates, I felt a huge rush of anticipation and anxiety. Even though I was well and truly prepared for this, my brain decided to overthink things big time. I figured that this would be like an episode of Border Security when it comes to the bag checking process. However, the girl wasn’t even that thorough. She barely giving the contents of my backpack more than a glance.

The only odd thing was having my photo ID checked twice by two different security staff. Not that it really bothered me to be honest. It was more that I expected to be scanned for metallic items and be searched by sniffer dogs, according to the information on the Good Things website. But getting through the entry gates did make me feel more at ease. It took a while to get my bearings of the festival site layout but it wasn’t too difficult to navigate. I had a printout of the map and digital copy on my phone just in case.

POPPY...Like most people, I only discovered this Massachusetts-born singer songwriter a few months ago. Her style is a unique fusion of pop, electronica, metal and industrial often with sweet melodic choruses and heavy breakdowns in the verses. She came out onto the stage with a drummer and guitarist, both wearing weird face masks, platinum blonde wigs and black leather suits. In the words of Kath and Kim, she could be described perfectly as noice, unusual, different. Set List: Concrete, Am I A Girl?, Play Destroy, Scary Mask. https://music.apple.com/au/artist/poppy/1004130511

GRAVEMIND...I can’t say that I’m as invested in Death Metal bands as I used to be. However, I do have a soft spot for these guys. I was particularly impressed by their connection with the crowd both in supporting local bands and the importance of overcoming mental health issues. They delivered a super heavy set with lots of emotion and heart.Set List: Lifelike, Phantom Pain, Volgin. https://music.apple.com/au/album/conduit/1462900465  

WINDWAKER...Okay look. I was honestly very divided about whether to split my time between my boys in Windwaker and The Veronicas. But the more I thought about it, the more it seemed like a pointless idea. Being a music festival, there is so much ducking and weaving between the crowds of people and therefore it’s time consuming getting from one stage to another. So I went with my gut and stayed where I was, which I believe ended up being the right decision.

Today was Liam Guinane’s last show with Windwaker. It was a very bittersweet experience for me. But it was such a pleasure watching him perform a keyboard and vocal solo of the track Colourless with the entire crowd kneeling down. I was crying internal tears, that’s for damn sure! The band had some technical issues early on which delayed their starting time. However, they more than made up for it by the awesome show they put on, complete with plastic beach balls, crowd singalongs and an epic circle pit to rival The Veronicas wall of death! Set List: The Sitch, Grey World, Reject, Colourless, My Empire. Freak (Silverchair cover) https://music.apple.com/au/album/empire-ep/1448666181

TRIVIUM / BAD RELIGION...After Windwaker’s set, I decided to take a break and chilled out on the lawn between Stages 1 and 2. Unfortunately, I began getting myself overcome with conflicting emotions, depression and loneliness. I couldn’t really work out where it was coming from, though witnessing people hanging out in groups may have been a trigger. It’s not a new thing for me as I’ve always been “flying solo” when it comes to attending gigs and music festivals. And yet it’s still not always easy accepting that I don’t really have a close circle of friends around me.

I decided to try meditating, reached out to a few friends on social media and listened to the sets of Trivium and Bad Religion from a far distance away. It was difficult trying to shake the black dog off me but slowly I started to feel better. Considering how far I’d come just to attend Good Things for the first time, it was an important reminder to put things into perspective. Plus I had already met and bumped into lots of amazing band mates so I was far from alone, even though I was hanging out by myself.

SIMPLE PLAN...It’s hard to conceive that this Pop-Rock-Punk outfit from Montreal in Canada has been going for 20 years. Admittedly, I decided to watch their set for the nostalgic value of their classic anthems, mainly from 2002 to 2009. I found myself singing along with the crowd around me to songs I grew up with in my late teenage years and early adulthood. And after such a long time together, they still sounded great and the lyrical messages of not fitting in and not feeling accepted are still relatable today. People were randomly throwing rolls of toilet paper through the air and tossing giant black beach balls back and forth.        Set List: I’m Just a Kid, I’d Do Anything, Addicted, Perfect, Welcome to My Life, Shut Up, Jet Lag, Summer Paradise, Boom! https://music.apple.com/us/artist/simple-plan/150861

KARNIVOOL...This was the band I was the most keen for today. The Perth-based Progressive Rock outfit have been around since 1997 and this was my first time catching them live. I wouldn’t call myself a hardcore fan, even though I do own all of their albums. But their quality of songwriting and musical output in truly phenomenal. Their style is complex and out of the box, touching on important social and political themes such as media corruption, the end of the world, the existence of God and the function of society and governments.

Vocalist Ian Kenny still has one of the best clean singing voices in any Australian band and put on an outstanding performance tonight. And I’m sure many Karnivool fans out there are still wondering when the 4th album is going to drop? I guess you just can’t rush art! Set List: We Are, Simple Boy, Themata, The Refusal, New Day. https://music.apple.com/us/artist/karnivool/85099785

I did consider staying for PARKWAY DRIVE but then remembered the announcement after arriving at Flemington Racecourse. The last train to depart will be at 9.20pm. Which meant that I would only be able to see about half of Parkway’s set. Honestly, I was pretty wrecked after Karnivool and decided to leave early. I saw all the bands I really wanted to see and therefore didn’t feel the need to stay any longer.

Overall, it was a pretty good festival. The very long queues for entry, cloaking, band merch, the toilets and food trucks were annoying but inevitable considering how large the attendance was. The litter on the ground was fairly disappointing considering how many bins there were available. The free water stations and first aid tents were an excellent idea. The weather did get deceivingly warm today and I did get sunburned but it could have been much worse, considering it is meant to be summer now. I’m really glad I came out!

[its-lifestyle]

When Ashwini Sivananthan felt a lump in her right breast, she knew almost instinctively that something wasn’t right. She promptly made an appointment to see her physician who then referred her to the Radiology Clinic for tests. Two days later, she got the results: she had Stage 2 breast cancer.

Ashwini’s world came crashing down in April this year.

“I broke down. The only thing that went through my head was ‘this isn’t possible, I’m only 30’,” shares Ashwini, a special needs teacher who lives in Perth, Australia. “I remember sitting on my bathroom floor, crying for the longest time. I was pretty much mute the next few days. It really wasn’t something I thought I would have to process: I have cancer.”

Everything happened very quickly after the diagnosis. Ashwini met with a breast surgeon who explained that her cancer was oestrogen positive and treatable. She scheduled a lumpectomy and met with an oncologist to plan her treatment.

With her parents, Sivanantham Kanapathi and Selva Rany Appuduray, sister Darshana and brother in law, Balakumaran Balasubramaniam in Perth earlier this year. Photos: Ashwini Sivanantham

But before starting her journey, she wanted to return to Malaysia for the comfort and solace that only home could offer.

“I had tickets to Malaysia for the school holidays and my surgeon gave me the OK to travel home. So I came home before the insanity (of chemotherapy) started. For 10 days, I forgot I had cancer. It was so great to be around family,” shares Ashwini who has been residing in Perth for the past 11 years.

It has been six months since her diagnosis, and Ashwini recently completed her sixth and final week of radiation therapy which followed four rounds of chemotherapy.

“I barely got any sleep the night before my first chemotherapy session because I was so nervous. Sleeping tablets didn’t work either. Chemotherapy really felt like death knocking on my door. I was lucky not to have experienced all the side effects from chemo – I didn’t have mouth ulcers, nausea or vomiting. But the fatigue and bone aches were awful.

“Losing my hair was also terrible. I’ve always been (obsessed) about my hair – I have trims every eight weeks. Any hair masks I read about, either store-bought or home made, I’ve tried them. So having to watch my hair fall was incredibly traumatic. I decided to shave my head bald after a few days of it falling and I have been using wigs, which hasn’t been too bad,” says Ashwini.

Ashwini with her cousin Darshini who visited her in Perth. Ashwini’s advice to women, young or old, is to always be vigilant.

Though chemo and radiation therapy are done with, Ashwini’s nighmare isn’t quite over: she has to be on daily medication for the next five years. “People think that as soon as chemotherapy and radiation are over, everything is done. But it’s not. The medication I’m on for the next five years comes with many side effects. I am still processing all this, to be honest. Breast cancer, like other cancers I am sure, takes a lot out of you.

“I’m grateful that it’s only taken a tiny part of my boob but it has taken my hair and, it seems, it will be taking a significant part of my life. My cancer loves my estrogen, so that’s gone. And my self-esteem was so low, I began to question the high resilience I once had. Life is pretty much never going to be what it was but it’s up to me to make it as normal as possible for myself.

“What has empowered me throughout this journey is knowing that I have come out the other end alright. I am capable of everything I would like to achieve and beyond. To women and men who are going through this, know that there is light at the end of the tunnel. Your body is designed to fight everything it possibly is able to. You need to trust your body.”

Chemotherapy was tramatising but Ashwini is grateful for all the support she has received.

As agonising and overwhelming as it all has been, Ashwini is grateful to have her family with her throughout her journey right from the get go.

“I am blessed with an amazing family. I had five family members who flew in to Perth the morning my results were due. As soon as I was diagnosed, my sister and cousins drew up a roster for everyone to fly to Perth to be with me at different stages of my treatment. At no point was I alone. My mother spend three months in Perth and others came in and out to help.

“I also have a group of close friends in Perth who were there for me every step of the way, from dropping off food, taking me to my appointments to just hanging out with me,” says Ashwini.

Her support network also helped her deal with the many well-meaning but sometimes overwhelming barrage of cancer-related (and sometimes conflicting) information and remedies for her to try.

Selva Rany stayed with her daughter for three months to help her get through her treatment.

“When you are diagnosed with cancer, people around you tend to want to share stories and remedies that they have read or heard about. All this is done out of love, I know that, because that’s how people think they can help. I was glad to have my sister and cousins ‘buffer’ me from the onslaught of information. They’d research the suggestions before they reached me,” she shares.

Ashwini is also passionate about raising awareness about the disease. She’s openly shared her cancer journey on her social media platforms to share her experience with cancer and also to connect with other survivors and draw support from them.

“There are many women around the world who are thriving despite the diagnosis. If you have been recently diagnosed, know that there are others out there. There is even an online community to help you. I connected with women from as far away as America, Canada and Ireland over the past months.

“Cancer can happen to anyone. It’s not just an older person’s disease. Most importantly, it’s not the end of the world,” says Ashwini.

Life as she knew it may have changed but Ashwini is confident that she will continue to live “a happy and eventful life” after cancer.

“It sucks that it happened and I’d be lying if I said that life hasn’t changed. I now take two juices a day – a green juice in the morning and a mixed berry juice in the evening. I’ve never done that before. I’ve also cut out sugar which was exceptionally hard because I have a major sweet tooth. As for living my life, if I want to do something and it makes me happy, I’m going to do it,” she says.

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Ashwini’s advice to women, young or old, is to always be vigilant.

“Check yourself. My cousin was diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer a few years ago and because of that, I became quite breast aware. That’s how I discovered my lump. So my message to women and men is to always check yourself because cancer is a relentless disease that doesn’t discriminate against age, gender or the colour of our skin. If you notice something different about yourself, don’t be afraid to get it checked. Early detection is key to surviving this s*** show,” she says.

from Family – Star2.com https://ift.tt/2qogGrX