Ah, back to life as we know it. (I sigh in saracsm). So here is the annual con report!
Definitely an off year, from my perspective. I'm not sure what it was but I didn't got to NEARLY as many things as I have in the past and oddly didn't run into people I knew as often as I have. Some people I didn't even see at all. People kept saying there were so many people but I didn't feel that it was any more crowded this year. It was much more organized though, and I think that helped with smoothness.
Meet-up was good. Played ridiculous games, as always. Ended up with a lot of swag. I'll come back to this in a bit.
Cosplay trends this year: Rapunzle, Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt, that online troll thing that doesn't make any sense to me, and Pokemon jumpsuits. I found that after working 70-80 hours on wigs, it's become something I focus on. Oh, how I wish people would just put them on properly. And I can tell you right now, the internet does not tell you the proper way (at least that I've seen).
Anyway, along these lines, I ran into a guy from school on the last day I was there and we got to talking about how it's a little hard to spot the Stocking cosplayers. I brought up the point that it's probably because of the normal/lolita clothing that makes up Stocking's repetoir. He said then that it makes it harder because girls will just wear lolita, even if not for costume, just for the heck of it. Why is that? Everyone wants to make con their excuse for dressing up. Personally, that doesn't make any sense to me but whatever.
Another cosplay story. My friend was cosplaying and every once in a while, I'd run into her and we'd get talking. Every third second someone wanted a picture. But the story part: we're talking, yadda yadda, then this middle aged woman comes up and says to my friend, "I've been commissioned to only take pictures of hot girls." Best quote from the whole weekend.
So, going back to the meet-up, I got asked the question, "Why aren't you more active on theOtaku?" I babbled something out but later on I was thinking about it and figured I should give a more formal response. It's a valid question (though maybe not appropriate for camera? (I'm not good at speaking on the spot anyway)). So here's red:leaf's response to the question:
First and foremost, I'm an introvert. I don't like to talk about myself if I can help it. I don't mind putting my work out on the internet, as long as I like what I've done. Once upon a time, I posted fan art here. It's been years since then, due to technical hinderances and just a general lack of drawing on my part. I do still post articles but those have become few and far between. Going back to the introvert bit, I realize that makes posts like this sort of pointless.
This pointlessness is made even worse that I don't reveal much about myself here. I don't like to be limited by any sort of identifier: gender, location, age, whatever, I don't want it boxing me in. I know clues slip out in what I choose to talk about or how I write. Relationships are based on mutual sharing and trust and on these points, I'm ashamed to say that I have not been very good to my friends here. Please accept my apology.
Know that I aknowledge the fact I'm being very paradoxical in regards to my relationship with this community. If I were practical, I'd probably just leave, cancel my membership here. But this online community is my main outlet from something that has become a large part of my life. I try to be social, really I do, but this is not enough. I will work harder in the future to be a better friend and be more active here.
(Someguy, don't feel bad about asking me this question at the meet up. :) It was a reasonable question and I don't mind.)
