Saturday I went to the capital to meet up with an online lolita friend and her friends.

Lots of lolitas came to Belgium because there was a tea party the next day, I didn't attend because it was a little out of my budget and I'm not very good with big crowds unless it's a concert...I'd like to try going to one in the future, though. For the occasion I wore my new Twinkle Heart Tartan JSK with the matching minihat (and 7 bobby pins embedded in my skull to keep it in place), it was a big hit! I really liked it and people complimented me gehehe <--likes praise

I wore my heart buckle shoes but I knew they were 1 second away from breaking for good so I packed a pair of black mary janes with me. They broke before i could even reach the subway lol. I swear I am SO cursed with these shoes, I love that design and bought several pairs across the years but they're so flimsy, no matter what glue I use they end up breaking and flaking all over the place (＃`Д´)

I met up with M. and her friends at their hotel and they were all so lovely, we had such a good time walking around even though the weather was super chaotic, we got hailed on and then a few minutes later the sun was out shining ever so gently on our faces lol. We went to some antique shops first then took refuge inside a japanese cafe where we met other lolitas including K. (who I hadnt seen in years!). We all sat together and got to catch up, I talked about Sylvanians with a fellow fan for probably 20 minutes lol, it was a good time. I ordered matcha strawberry pancakes with a matcha lemonade there and it was amazinggggg *_*

We parted ways after promising to hang out sometime and our group headed to the Manneken Pis then to some quaint little shops hidden in corners. We met more lolitas on the way including D.C whose posts i always liked back when daily_lolita Livejournal was a thing!! I couldn't believe it, I told her about this and how excited I was to meet her in person, she was the sweetest ever and we all took a selfie together :D Then, just as I kept thinking I couldnt believe I met her we came across Misako Aoki herself taking pictures in Grand Place! No way! I was freaking out a little, I'm not one to put people on a pedestal regardless of their popularity but 14 year old me could never imagine being decked head to toe in her favorite clothes from her favorite brands and meeting Misako in her own city, it was crazy.

I'm a nervous person and a bit shy especially when it comes to talking to someone first, but in my head it was now or never! I didn't even hear M. and T. saying that they knew the person Misako was with and that they could ask for me and I just...dashed because I thought that if I didn't do it right now I'd lose momentum. I'm embarassed because I was SO nervous my voice went up an octave and I probably sounded like a weeby weirdo trying not to stutter in my best japanese...Misako was, off course, very nice and returned my greeting warmly while M and T caught up to talk to their friend and greet Misako as well. I kept bashfully smiling the whole time not managing to say anything else from fear of embarassing myself further but I said what I had to so it's okay T_T After that we headed toward the restaurant to have dinner.

Arrived at the restaurant we were sat in a very nice spot close to a fireplace and the window with a view on the Grand Place where T. spotted one of her friend from her local comm wandering around with her husband so she ran outside and invited her in. We did the same thing we did during lunch and pushed tables together to chat and get better acquainted, I was very glad to meet R. and her husband, she was wearing Melty Ribbon Chocolate and I thought it was so appropriate for Brussels hahaha.

Despite my social battery being very low I was so happy that I stayed quite chatty until the end, T. treated me to a cocktail for showing them around the whole day and I was really touched ;_; Her and M were really cool and I was glad to meet them. Also, every german lolita I met that day knew my good friend E lol, if she sneezed today that's because of me.

I talked to D. through messages about my day because they couldn't come and they compared the small groups of various lolitas scattered around Brussels as "random video game encounters" bahahaha. It really felt like it. Actually, it felt almost surreal to see so many lolitas outside and it made me so immensely happy, I love lolita so much. I'm not part of the comm because it's not really my thing so whenever I encounter a lolita in the wild I get super excited and it brightens my day! I had the best time and made new friends plus I even got to talk to Misako so I wasn't sad at all about not attending the next day, I went home with a full heart and a very full stomach that day ♥

I miss when we didn't have so many "influencers" in hobbies like lolita. I know e-famous people and their wannabes are a thing since forever but short form content made it so much worse. If you need a stranger with a mic to tell you what to wear what to buy and what to think when it comes to something you supposedly personally enjoy then i don't know what to tell you…

It's like those girls buying a dress then asking others to coord the piece they just bought, as if people have stopped thinking for themselves. Sometimes I ask myself why would someone want to be considered an "influencer"? I think it's very human to seek validation from peers but if you try to please everyone you'll dilute your true self down to nothing and become the human equivalent of a saltine cracker.

And don't get me started on purchasing things deemed rare or expensive for status, getting yourself into debt over material goods is crazy. I feel a little bad for the 20-something years old relying on buy now pay later services like Klarna or Afterpay because they're about to have years of debt ahead all because they wanted the numbers to go up on their little virtual account.