Freyarule

So, three events have passed since my last journal, what surprise for me, wow

They all went pretty well! I shall now sum up each one in a convenient paragraph haha!

London MCM Comic Con May 2014 - White Robed Traveller
I only went on the Sunday to save on money, and I'm really glad I did! Well, to a certain extent. I still wish I had gone the weekend as I missed out on seeing so many friends ;___; there are some I haven't seen since Kitacon (but October is drawing near!) so I was glad I had the day. Although most of it was spent preparing for my performance in the masquerade. The only issue with the Sunday is if you're at the masquerade and need to be judged a lot of your day is spent on the masquerade - you have to be judged and then you get like a couple of hours before you have to come back and queue ready to take part. I moan but it is a lot of fun and I wouldn't give it up unless I really had to haha!
I got some lovely photos of my stage prop as well which I will upload soon.
I was driven in in the morning by my dad (as the statue would've been horrible on the train and tube) and was in early enough to go straight through the queueing hall, collect my day wristband and then hover inside the ExCel for the expo doors to open! I hung out around the cosplay desk talking to friends (I kinda helped out a bit on the cosplay repair desk) and then after judging, I went and had photos and video with my good friend ! 
The masquerade went a bit awry to begin with. For some reason my music file was cut off halfway through when the tech team downloaded it, so when I was onstage expecting more music to come....it never did. It was so embarassing! Lucky the cosplay team let me perform it again, as I had a backup file on my USB (thank goodness I'm so prepared!) and the second time went very well. So well I received a Judges' Award for my costume and performance! I was well chuffed XD 

LFCC July 2014 - Amazi-girl
I've recently put up the photos by my usual partner in crime MangaGirl Photography ! 
This event has some mixed feelings by me. I arrived too early for the standard entry queue, so had to hover with friends by the entrance XD there were so many people! Too many people! We all blamed Stan Lee for the amount of people inside the halls. It was like an oven inside and even though my costume was comfy it was still stifling and I got a bit grumpy haha. I still met up with some friends and had my photoshoot, but then when trying to find my other friends who had stalls I couldn't find them. Going up and down the stall aisles took so much time because of how crowded it was >___< luckily I found them in the end! And I hung out with them til the end of the day (which was good as I was contemplating leaving early)
However because of the massive rush I decided not to attend on the Sunday. I was going to rewear my LSP cosplay but after how frustrated Saturday was I was like Naaaah. I'd done everything I wanted to do anyway on the Saturday, so it was best to spend the Sunday working on my props for....

...Hyper Japan July 2014 - The Rain Card
Again I only attended on the Sunday of this con, though I found it so much better than LFCC in terms of space and amount of people, of which I am so grateful! I was there primarily for the European Cosplay Gathering preliminaries, which I was entering with my dear friend who rewore her Syaoroan Li cosplay, with some added elements like a spanking new hat! I was worried how she would be during the competition as it was her first time competing in such a high standard contest, but she really did make me proud. Not only did she shine in her first acting skit, she also produced amazing parts for her costume and the judges were very impressed. Our performance went very well, there were some minor hiccups but no one really noticed, of which I am glad XD. Of course we didn't win, or I would be more like OMGOMGOMGOMG. The winners were well deserved, my good friend Nomes won the group category of which I am very proud of her. I can't wait to see what she does for the finals
I'm still planning to enter next ECG prelims, but this time with my boyfriend as we will have more times to work on costumes together and rehearse. We are also going to try out for WCS this November in our Ice Climber costumes, which I will try and repair in terms of the hammer and other little bits!

Speaking of boyfriend...
Life plans
The main aim of the journal is to inform of my new plans! I am moving out of my parent's house after two years from uni graduation XDD I am moving in with my boyfriend! In the last month, we found a cute little flat together, obtained said flat, and I have recently had an interview for a job of which I was then successful in obtaining! So I handed in my notice at my current job and have a few weeks of that before I move and settle down so we've been crazy busy buying furniture and sorting out internet...
As a result of our move and the sudden responsibilities of paying rent and bills, I am not planning to make too many cosplays next year, hence why our WCS cosplays are rewears. I am making two new ones for October Expo, and then I plan to have a lot of rewears for next year

Cosplay Plans:

London MCM Comic Con October 2014
~ Amazi-girl - Dumbing of Age (rewear) - 100%
~ Juniper Woods - Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies - 10%
~ Sayaka Miki - Puella Magi Madoka Magica - 10%

Hyper Japan Winter 2014 - WCS prelims
~ Nana the Ice Climber - Ice Climbers/Super Smash Bros (rewear) - 95% (some repairs to be done)

Yeaaaahh sooo I haven't updated since last year......and so missed doing journals for October Expo, Minamicon and Kitacon. GO ME!

I have an excuse though XD I got a job in September last year! It's at my local convenience/grocery store so it's a bit naff and I am looking elsewhere for another career change, but I'm just happy to be earning money and being able to buy things without being on benefits! ;___;

Anyway, the last few cons have been pretty sweet and I've been happy with my cosplays and performances. I'm gonna be uploading a ton of photos now so sorry for the spamming! 

As for my plans for this year - well I will only be attending May Expo on the Sunday - it's too expensive to stay over the weekend atm after dishing out moolah for the Hilton for Kitacon! And I'm rewearing my White Traveller from Journey and doing a performance (if it gets approved) so I'm taking a short break from cosplay making - but I am still looking up wigs and fabric as I will be making a new cosplay for LFCC! And then Hyper Japan in July will be hectic as I'm entering the ECG qualifying round in a group (I'm wearing my Rain Card costume) so fingers crossed! I will be attending October Expo for the weekend though

So that's my life! I'm still with my boyfriend, this year marks our 5 year anniversary of dating and so we're taking a trip later in the year to celebrate  
Here's to a smoother middle of 2014!

Whoops I forgot to do a Pre-Ayacon one OH WELL |D;;;

WHAT I'M UPDATING MY JOURNAL A WEEK AFTER EXPO AND NOT MONTHS AFTER WHAT IS THIS
WHAT
IS
THIS
SORCERY

Well my costume making work experience finished this week so now I am back to the days of looking for jobs and catching up on video games. Animal Crossing 3DS comes out a few days after my birthday so I am totally spending birthday money on that, I am excite. As much as it irritates me, I did enjoy the DS Animal Crossing, and it got totally addictive. I also have Tales of the Abyss to START despite being in my 3DS since like January ;~; and I also have a bunch of LEGO games to start and complete: Batman, Batman 2, and the Star Wars collection. Also Skyrim is pretty cheap on Steam and I'm really tempted to see what it's like now the initial hype has gone down...

Anyway, so last weekend was the London Expo, or as it's now called MCM Comic Con. Of course everyone is still calling it Expo because that's what we've gotten used to calling it for the last 4/5 years. Yes, 5 years since my first ever Expo. Ah I was such an excitable weebish teenager then....*gazes off into distance*

I'd be lying if I said I had an amazing time. It was far from terrible, just not incredible. Don't get me wrong, meeting with all my friends and hanging out with them and winningBestPerformanceintheSundaymasquerade was epic, it's more the majority of attendees and the event itself. I was talking to a few other Expo veterans during the weekend and we agreed that the magic is starting to fade. I remember 5 years ago on my first Expo, I was so excited to wear my Ebay-bought Tohru Honda outfit and see all the cosplayers. I remember being amazed at the hall and all the stalls. I remember fangasming over people in FFIX cosplay, which in turn inspired me to get into making my cosplay myself. Little did I know those cosplayers would become some of my dearest friends <3
Now I understand the event expands each time so there is more room. And I will say it wasn't as bad as last Expo, especially on the Saturday, in terms of crowding. But it was still very crowded and people were just shoving past one another, and you have to be brutal to get from point A to B. There were a few new additions to the stall, including a photo studio that was very fantasyesque, with smoke machine and lights, and I wish I had tried it out (hopefully I will see them in the future), but other than that it was the usual suspects. I didn't visit many stalls apart from those I knew owners and had gone to say hello. Oh, and I bought an alpaca too. heheheehhhhhhhhhhhh His name is Special Alpaca-san and he is kawaii desuuguuuuu. But other than that and a trip to the Cybercandy stall, I rarely visited the stalls. My boyfriend and I did sample the games they had out though. I played a bit of Tales of Xillia which was nice (reminded me I need to start Abyss EUHUG) and James tried a few seconds of the new Resident Evil before giving up, awwwbless. I also tried out the new One Piece game made by the same people to make Samurai and Dynasty Warriors, so I was familiar with the set up and that was quite satisfying to beat up a giant bunch of enemies at a time (should I be worried?)
Anyway so this is the lowdown:

Saturday - Chie Satonaka from Persona 4
With James as Yosuke. We weren't originally going to attend Saturday so chose these cosplays as simple ones to wear for the day. It was as I predicted, last time we wore them it was October 2011? So the anime had just started to come out and people didn't recognise it as much. This time with the anime and the fighting game out (which we did play in our cosplays and everyone else there were going yay persona cosplays) we were recognised a lot more. There was one bit where a little girl dressed as a Touhou worked up the courage to offer us sweets because she recognised us and loves Persona 4. Our hearts melted.
Since I hadn't been staying the night before, I brought my luggage with me into the hall and left it at the cosplay desk. I took a small suitcase and a large carry-all which ended up being ridiculously heavy >__<;; and met James there so he could change into Yosuke. Then we met friends and had a wander before lunch of noodles (I had BBQ pork with mine, it was nice but a bit stew-y) and then we took our luggage to our hotel, which was the Travelodge Excel. Most people only know the Travelodge that's across the bridge at London City Airport, but this Travelodge is like, walking past Ramada and Premier Inn, and it's down a road. It's quite new, and really nice inside. We got free brekkie in the morning that had bacon and sausages so I was happy XD our room was really nice too. We always end up on the top floor of a hotel no matter when we book it, it's so weird o__o I don't mind because I like the views, but it's a strange coincidence! Our room was right on the end on a corner, so we got two full windows, from ceiling to floor.
Anyways, we decided to change into civvies (and me in a gradient wig) before going off to the masquerade! It was the first time I've watched a masquerade and not been in it. Usually, I feel like "IWANTTOBEONTHERE" but this time I was happy enough just watching and cheering on my friends. I was really happy that my friend Gemma won a judges award for "Cutest Couple" - she and her friend were cosplaying Syaoran and Sakura from Tsubasa Resevoir Chronicles, and I know how much suffering she had with the costume so to be recognised was a real boost for her! And the Winx group that won Best Performance has a couple of my friends in it, so I was happy they won too! Every award was well deserved, especially the Eurocosplay qualifier. She did an original design of Daenarys from Game of Thrones, and although it wasn't massive and wow factor it was well constructed and crafted, so I wish her all the luck in the finals!

That evening we had Chinese food at a restaurant that we don't understand why we keep going back to as they take forever to deliver food, and some friends who were there also had to walk out as they weren't getting served at all not good!

Sunday - Lumpy Space Princess and Marshall Lee from Adventure Time
Now I will explain that the day was lessened quite a bit by spending time making James up with grey Snazaroo for Marshall. Remember a year ago, when we did Baccano cosplays and spent ages doing my scar makeup and got to the Expo late until we had to queue up for the masquerade? OK, well this year wasn't TOO bad. It was a bit to do with the Travelodge. Breakfast didn't start until 8am, and we were counting on it usually being 6am like most other hotels I've stayed at. So we were delayed by a couple of hours, and it was 12pm by the time we got into the hall. My shoes for Lumpy KILLED because I was REALLY CLEVER and wore them from the hotel to the hall.......................................DERPPDPDPEP$RPEPRPP
I had a couple of photos taken and was going to join the Adventure Time shoot, but they moved to the other side of the ExCel and in my shoe state, I couldn't handle that, plus we had to dump luggage and sign in for the masquerade. I regret it as I missed a chance for awesome photos but never mind. We didn't go outside at all that day and I wish we had as all the photographers were in that area it seems XDDD but in a way I'm glad I have another chance. Lumpy's wig slipped throughout the day and unfortunatly the masquerade photos are awesome but you can see a lot of forehead and yeah >__< it doesn't look very flattering. So, I've sewn in wig clips into the base wig and have repositioned the star so it's easier to see now. I will be rewearing LSP for Ayacon with a AT group so that will be my chance for epic photos!
Back to the masquerade now - we ended up being awarded Best Performance!!!!! I was so chuffed! I was unsure how the performance would go down, and it seems that is a common streak with me before performances that do well. Hmm. XDD I'm glad we had such a good reception and I thank the judges for their decision
We changed back into civvies, and had pizza and then went back on the train home that evening, rather than stay until Monday. I wish I had stayed, but we had nowhere to stay as we only booked the hotel room for the Saturday night

So, all in all, there were good bits and bad bits. Admittedly, some of the bad bits were my own fault for cosplay choices and WALKINGINSTUPIDHEELSALONGWAYWHATTHEHELLWASITHINKING. But a lot of the bad bits were the other attendees. In the queue into the hall on Saturday, I was stuck next to a bunch of guys who were loud, unhygienic, and had no clue of personal space as one kept bashing into me and my stuff despite me moving my lugagge constantly out of his way =___= I know at Expo you have to say goodbye to personal space whatsoever, but this guy was not apologising despite me shooting weary glares at him. Also people kept making the posters from the goodybags into airplanes or ninja stars and one hit me right in the face. I was shocked more than hurt, but no one checked I was alright and I was just ready to set fire to it LMAO...also each evening I was just so appalled at the amount of rubbish people had left behind. The grass areas were covered in plastic bags, litter, pizza boxes, and at one point an empty beer crate and all the empty bottles in a massive pile just sitting on the grass. It was disgusting and no one was giving a shit about who had to clean this up. People wonder why the hotel prices rise up all the time - maybe they should see how much time the cleaners have to put in extra to clean up other people's mess. And yes, it is their job, but they shouldn't have to work harder than neccessary if people just used their heads and put their litter in, or even next to a bin if it's full >8C sorry for the massive rant, but I just get sick of people being irresponsible. On Saturday night, I saw rubbish in the water of the dock!

I think I'm just getting old. I'm 22 next week, and I find all the people who go to Expo these days are young and inexperienced, which is fine, I used to be like that too, but I'm growing less and less tolerant of their behaviour and irresponsibility. This isn't a general comment to all teenagers as I know there are some who know better and I send kudos to them for it, but they are the minority. It's things like this and curb into my fun. Also, expo is beginning to be a bad place to wear awesome cosplays too. I hardly got photos of LSP that weren't in the masq, because I hardly went outside, and while that was mostly my choice, it was still a bit sad. There were friends I didn't see all weekend no matter how hard I looked, because Expo is a massive place. The masquerade was shorter than usual, with most of the usual suspects missing from the lineup, and I assume it's because their Eurocosplay entries are for Ayacon instead, which has less chance of them getting damaged by people shoving past or being total douchebags. The masquerade on Sunday was so short, it ended shortly before the actual event closed! And this was with it being late starting too! It was amazing really.

I'm not giving up on Expocomiccon as of yet. Just, I'm cutting down on it. I'm still intending to attend October Expo, as I have a hotel room already booked and am already part of a group, but I don't intend to go next May. I'm skipping it, so that I can afford to go to both Minamicon and Kitacon instead. All friends that I could see at Expo, I will be seeing there instead. After October Expo I'll see how I stand and if I want to carry on. It's a shame, since it was my first "con" and experience of the cosplay world, but I feel I have matured enough to focus more on the proper fan-run conventions. I will still support those working and running the Expo, including those lovely people at the cosplay desk, but next May it will be in spirit <3

SORRY FOR LARGE RAMBLE YAY 8D

Cosplay plans for rest of the year:

Ayacon 2013
~ Lumpy Space Princess from Adventure Time (rewear) - 90% (need to buy new shoes as my ones I wore for Expo were borrowed from a friend)
~ Traveller from Journey (white robe, with Harriett as red traveller) - 0%
~ Ice Climber (pink) from Ice Climbers/Super Smash Bros (with James as blue) - 0%
~ Totoro kigurumi for the omake - 100% (it's arrived! And I'm opening it as a birthday present next week 8D)

London October Expo 2013
~ The Rain Card from Cardcaptor Sakura - 0%
~ Ice Climber (pink) from Ice Climbers/Super Smash Bros (with James as blue) (rewear) - 0%

Hi everyone! Sorry if there are people who watch me and have had barely any updates from me. I've been going through some crazy months and didn't have the time to sit down and update with new photos.

Also as you have noticed I'm absent of the usual skin, my premium membership ran out and I can't really justify paying it off every 3 months as they now do it on a rolling contract instead of just pay a bulk 3 months every once in a while. I can live without it to be honest.

I'll give updates on life, and conventions, and then give my plans for the next Expo which is in a weeks time!

LIIIIFE
Well I'm still unemployed and have had a grand total of one interview which was unsuccessful. All the places I apply to don't want me so I either get rejection emails or just don't hear anything at all. It's been getting tedious...but I've been doing work experience the last couple of months, the first one bein office work and the second one being costume making so I've not just been sitting at home not doing much.

My birthday is coming up, nothing miraculously special as I will be 22 (and I still don't feel like a grown up) but the day after me and my best friend Emma will be going to Disneyland Paris for a few days! I'm excited because its the first time I've gone to Disneyland and actually stayed over XD because of costs we're not staying over at any if the proper Disney hotels, but we are staying at one of the selected ones just outside of the area, so still close to ZE MAGIC.

As for past conventions, October Expo went good, not as amazing as I thought it would be again, I wonder if I'm overthinking how awesome things will be since I never predict how things will go >__< I was happy with Aerith and Dilandau (got some awesome photos so not a waste and I got to send time with friends) and I can now reveal that on the Sunday James and I cosplayed as the Blues Brothers and performed live in the masquerade XD it went down really well, and I discovered we missed the Best Performance award by a slither, lmao! But hey, if losing had made me not want to compete anymore I would've given up years ago I'm too stubborn to not enter, plus I love performing for people anyways! (Despite my self esteem issues telling me otherwise OTL)

In March, James and I went to Minamicon! I hadn't been since 2010, and now I knew loads more people than last time we obviously had a brilliant time. It was so laid back and the only time I got stressed was before the masquerade which is usual for me anyways XD in terms of cosplays I wore:
Friday: Percy the Little Green Engine from Thomas the Tank Engine for a big group!
Saturday: Princess Cadence from My Little Pony along with James as Shining Armour and my friend as Imposter!Cadence. We entered the masquerade and sang "This Day Aria", a performance I'd been planning for a while. It went down really well an we won a prize! We won the "Tesco Lasagne" award lolololololol. I love that about the Minamicon masquerade awards, so spontaneous XD
Saturday night was a bit crap, because there was some party going on in our hotel on our floor, and the guys weren't congoers, so were laughing and yelling at cosplayers, and on our floor they were just making rackets and smoking weed!! I was not a happy bunny. Worst bit was when we heard them having an argument outside our door, and someone got mad and punched the nearest wall, which er, turned out to be our room door. NOPENOPENOPE but I knew better than to go and yell at them because there were so many of them.
The next morning we went to complain because it seemed like the staff hadn't tried to bother, but it turns out they tried to reason with them, and the police were actually involved, but because there were so many the staff couldn't actually force them out, and the police preferred them to stay contained in the hotel than be kicked out onto the streets where they could muck all kinds of shit up >___> makes sense logically, but still! But they were only there for one night, so in the morning with the weed smelling corridor, we were told they would not be welcome in the hotel ever again XD but goddamn, don't want to have that experience ever again...
Sunday: I wore Stocking from Panty and Stocking but the cave girl outfit of which there is only one reference for, lolllol. I was originally going to have my friend Fi as Panty, but she couldn't make it so I went solo. I kind of made the wig bad, I forgot to protect it with spray as it is so long and so it ended up tangled. I didn't feel comfortable in the costume anyway, it turned out to be very unflattering and with my anxiety over body issues, I decided after half a day to go and change into normal clothes and wear a pretty gradient wig XD I doubt I will wear it again.

Now I have the horrible decision, of choosing whether to go to Minamicon next year or Kitacon. I am being pessimistic here and assuming I won't have a lot of money this time next year, so have to choose one. Minamicon was great as I could chill with friends and anytime I was stressed wasn't actually to do with the con XD but Kitacon has prettier locations, and DAT BREAKFAST, and I have costume plans that would work better with Kita's Got Talent than the Minamicon masq.....;___; it's a terrible choice. I think I will have to wait until Ayacon!

Anyway, on to my plans to May Expo! Now this has been pretty rocky, because at one point we weren't planning to go at all! What happened was I thought I had booked a room at the PTI, but couldn't find a confirmation email, so rang them up and I found out there wasn't a booking at all...it must have been a case of I had looked it up but then didn't actually book it, but then thought I had. My brain is weird sometimes. Anyway, since prices had gone up loads since, there was no way we could stay anywhere so we decided to not go, or just go for the day.
Then we thought, since we're planning costumes with body paint, we should stay somewhere so we can get up early and prepare, so I managed to snag a last minute room at a hotel for the Saturday night XD this does mean, that we will only be attending the Saturday and Sunday, not the Friday, but this isn't the end of the world I will still be around to see friends! So here are the cosplay plans:
Saturday: Chie Satonaka from Persona 4 (rewear) obviously nothing needed doing majorly, the only thing I've worked on are her shoes - instead of just painting on the crosses that then would chip off, I've sewn them on, ow ow ow my thumb and finger. Hooray for thimbles! But they look way better now XD
We'll be watching the masquerade this time, not entering obvs, so we can cheer everyone on and proclaim how much we want their babies hehehehe then in the evening is PIZZA NIGHT of ye olde expo traditionnnn
Sunday: This day we will be doing a performance in the masquerade, as Lumpy Space Princess and Marshall Lee from Adventure Time! Simple cosplays! (WELL NOT VERY SIMPLE IF YOU COUNT ME HAVING TO MODIFY A DRESS BY TAKING OUT THE ZIP AND ADDING IN A CORSET LACED BACK AND HAND SEWING THE STRIPES ONTO MARSHALL'S SHIRT BECAUSE I WAS INCREDIBLY PICKY WITH EVERY CHECK SHIRT WE SAW)
I'm so excited to play LSP up so much XD XD going to be amazing! I'm trying not to get my hopes up on this being the best expo ever, because every time I think that it doesn't end up like that. So this time I'm just hoping we have a good time and enjoy each others company!

Here are cosplay plans for the rest of the year, will probably be changed knowing me who knows

London May Expo 2013
~ Chie Satonaka from Persona 4 (with James as Yosuke, of course) - 100%
~ Lumpy Space Princess from Adventure Time (with James as Marshall Lee) - 100%

Ayacon 2013
~ Lumpy Space Princess from Adventure Time (rewear) - 100%
~ Traveller from Journey (white robe, with Harriett as red traveller) - 0%
~ Ice Climber (pink) from Ice Climbers/Super Smash Bros (with James as blue) - 0%
~ Totoro kigurumi for the omake - 80% (being dispatched from china lolololololol)

London October Expo 2013
~ The Rain Card from Cardcaptor Sakura - 0%



Wow this turned out to be a massive journal. Mkay see everyone throughout the year!