I’ve been super busy so please forgive me for these posts are going to suck for a while…
1/21/2013
I didn’t have time or money to pull together a costume this year. I always regret going to cons without costume. These costumes (Cosplay is the term we use although I’m still an amateur myself) are possibly my favorite thing about conventions. I love to make them myself and I love to see well made ones.
This year all I have is my homemade moogle hoodie. It’s cute sure enough, but it’s not so fantastically crafted and I totally forgot that the wings were in the attic with my Halloween supplies.
So anyway Ray-Hay shows up at the door. I follow her with my over stuffed orange bag in hand. (It’s really a large purse for I do try to pack light.) Her sister is riding shot gun so I climb in back. The drive to Columbus doesn’t seem too long as we ride down the highway with silly pop music blaring in our ears.
It’s past six in the afternoon by the time we get there. Ray-Hay and her sister get in line for their badges immediately while I set off to wander and explore the surroundings. I usually take an obnoxious amount of pictures at these things however I discover right away that I only brought one pair of batteries and they’re dead. Feeling rather bummer my orange bag suddenly seems so much heavier and more of a nuisance.
Badtz is supposed to meet me but she isn’t feeling well and she’s got homework. Alone I wander up and down familiar hallways that now feel crowded and oppressive.
I find my friend Sea-Bass dressed as Nabeshin. This familiar face beaming with genuine enthusiasm for the event suddenly helped to pick up my mood. We find Ray-Hay and her sister still waiting in line so we join them and chat for a bit.
They go for a smoke while I tag along. Out here where the smokers smoke you see some of the most hardcore goth costumes. There was a guy with white eye contacts chunks of his head shaved, chunks of his hair colored different colors, no eyebrows, a lot of makeup, a lot of facial piercings and a really realistic gory hole in his face. His girl friend had a very similar look, shaved head chunks and all. They were both skinny as stick figures and rather ambiguous like a unisex pair. You actually get a log of gender ambiguity at conventions. It’s kind of awesome because that just goes to show how vary excepting and welcoming the nerdy people are.
Some girl said she wanted my hoodie in passing. Some guy swatted at my red moogle head ball (which really is a painted cat toy.) He actually ended up passing me three times and he’d swat it every-single-time. It’s like an acknowledgment that could be flirty, friendly, or simply cheer up kupo you look bored. In any case I felt a weird mixture of socially awkward with social success. A stranger noticed I exist. But I didn’t know how to respond.
You might all be quite surprised to hear that I can be a shy and awkward individual. Yeah sure I have many friends and many adventures but I have come to appreciate these things because I once lacked them so.
Anyway Sea-Bass and Ray-Hay started getting really into some anime conversations. I admittedly have not watched much new stuff at all in the past year so I had nothing to offer this conversation and well I was getting bored as I do.
Off I went back into the crowds of crazy costumes and bright colorful wigs.
Yaoi is my former roommate from my days living in Orlando. She (as the name implies) is really into yaoi. Yaoi for those of you who don’t know is anime boy on boy. I’ll admit to a moderate interest in the subject however I’m not a hard core fan girl.
Anyway this is only Yaoi’s second con so she’s still excited and eager to see everything. We talk for a bit and get some pics on our cell phones. It’s good to see her again and I’m kinda sad we didn’t have more time to hang out.
After she disappears I simply loiter against the wall until Badtz finally comes to pick me up. Back in the bedroom above the stairs I watch Portlandia as she does math homework. It was a calm Friday night.
I really hate camera phone pictures…