Post-Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo update

The CCEE was awesome! I absolutely loved volunteering there. It was nice helping people to have a good time. Not only that, but I saw a lot of my old friends... friends I hadn't seen in years! The CCEE had brought me together with many new and old people.

Me hard at work helping people, lol. My friend Dustin
and his GF Lorraine in the background.

There were a few hiccups with the Expo. We projected high attendance (especially because of the huge names) but nothing like we had received that weekend. It got to the point where admissions couldn't let anyone else into the Expo because they had met (exceeded?) fire code capacity. Because of that, we had a few panicked exhibitors because they couldn't get their help inside of the Expo, and I had a lot of disgruntled friends on Twitter tweeting about long waits and how the Expo sucked. Interestingly, once they got in, their tune completely changed and they loved the Expo.

I found that kind of funny.

It was definitely a learning experience for all of the organizers. I think what this taught us is that geek culture is a lot more popular than we had all imagined. I learned that not from the backed up lines but from the many costumes worn by people of all walks of life, big and small, old and young, male and female. It really made me happy, deep down.

I volunteered both Friday and Saturday, and tried to keep Sunday open to explore the Expo myself. Sometimes life isn't that easy... I ended up coming down with a cold on Saturday night, and decided to sleep in and give myself some time to recover. It was a bummer because I really did want to see some of the panels and meet some people, but that's okay. I got to look around. I didn't even do any shopping, except for a replacement game for my cousin.

I did, however, get to see a lot of wicked costumes from my nice vantage point at the info booth. Here are some of the pictures!

My friend Devon and I. Devon made his own costume: a warrior from the Companions in Skyrim.

Me and Gir! This kid was sooo cute... he would have preferred
to drink his drink than get pictures with me, haha.

Quistis, (Drunk) Squall and I from FF8, in their SeeD outfits!

My friend Brennan as Gordon Freeman from Half Life. <3

My friend Luke and I... Though I can't remember for the life
of me where his costume is from! But he made it too!

My friend Dara in her Demon Hunter costume that she made from
scratch. She won Best Costume in her category! <3

Not only that, but my Chain Chomp earrings were a HUGE success! They turned out incredibly well. To be honest, I was pretty impressed with myself.

Elspeth. <3

Next year, Club N3rd and I are planning to do a group cosplay. 2013 is Year of the Plainswalkers, and I'll be making a Elspeth Tirel costume. I want to get started right away, too, so that there are no hiccups come Expo time.

The hardest part about cosplay, I'm learning, is it's so hard to just choose one costume and run with it... Bleh! I started playing Final Fantasy 13-2 shortly after my Winter semester ended and I am in love with Lightning's new outfit! She's another potential costume. So let's see... that makes:
- Terra Branford from FF6
- Dark Phoenix from MvC3/X-men
- Elspeth Tirel from Magic: The Gathering, and
- Lightning from FF13-2

... @.@

Anyway, that's enough of an update for now. Take care everyone!

"My Perfect First Cosplay" blues

*Sigh*

Well, as I had mentioned previously, I wanted to make a Dark Phoenix costume for the Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo (CCEE). Last week, I received 2 packages pertaining to my costume: the body suit and the boots. I was excited for both! ... until I tried them on.

I was swimming in the body suit, which was disappointing to say the least. I gave them measurements, weight, and everything. Not only that but I asked for no head attachment and they sent me a suit with the head attached. I was willing to make compromises and fix it myself, but why should I? I wasn't in the wrong... I had ordered it to my specifications and received the wrong item! So, I sent it back... it cost $20 to send it back, and I'm still waiting on word as to whether or not I'll get some of that money compensated. =(

The boots look absolutely fabulous. Unfortunately, my fat calves make it so that I can't zip them up. I tell you, I was so heartbroken. I thought I was making real progress with my weight loss, and even earlier that day commented on how good my legs looked. *Sigh*

... For most of the afternoon, I was on the verge of tears. I felt so bad about myself and disappointed about the situation. Unless I get the suit back in time and lose weight in my calves, I won't be able to do my cosplay for this years' CCEE.

I do want this to be my perfect first cosplay, so I would rather it be right than half-assed and lame. I know this now, thinking logically and not at the peak of my negative emotions. But last week was full of sadness. It probably didn't help that I had 3 tests that week (and another 3 at the beginning of this week). Now that I'm out of the onslaught, I can think a little more reasonably and think a bit more positively. If it doesn't work this year, oh well. Next year will be even better because I'll have time to prepare better, plan better, and a whole year extra of weight loss.

And that, to me, matters more than showing off a nice costume to Stan Lee... *Bites lip* ... there may very well be other opportunities... right?

Emotions... So many positive emotions

So this week has been incredible. So much awesome stuff. I'm about to share it all with you, of course.

First of all, the Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo is going to be fricken AWESOME this year. Pretty much everyone going is amazing. I'm so serious. Check out the list of guests here. I'm probably most excited to see the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Stan Lee, Katee Sackhoff, Jake the Snake, and James Marsters. But to name a few.

{ via }

When I learned that Stan Lee was coming to the Expo, I decided to take on another costume: Dark Phoenix. I would love to get a picture with him in this costume. Jean Gray as always been one of my favourite Marvel characters (along with Spiderman and Gambit). I did some searching around for some costume supplies and it's going to be an expensive costume for sure. There's nothing I can make cheaply other than the phoenix crest on her chest and the shawl around her waist. Everything else I need to buy independently and kind of put it all together. What this means is "expensive." The boots will come to at least $70 (on the plus side, many of the descriptions included the words 'stripper' and 'pole dancer,' so I guess I could always use them if I wanted to do a pole dance routine... x.x).

I'm still gunna work on my Terra costume. In fact, I bought some beads for her belt chain around her waist earlier in the week. Still looking for the red fabric for her dress, though... =(

Second of all, I was offered an opportunity to sell my crafts at the CCEE through a company called Project X. Discussions are still in the works, though after seeing the guest line up, I have no idea if I'll be able to do work it in. I'm definitely going to see what I can do. Maybe the guests could all come visit me at the booth. =P

Also, I got a wicked letter in the mail replying to some of the questions posed in the GTKYFB swap I participated in last week from my friend, Andrea (@lightmoonstone). Pretty much the coolest person ever.
PS: When you said your favourite TV show was Seinfeld, we were TOTALLY watching Seinfeld. <3
PPS: I love mail and penpals! Shooooot! <3

Finally, and probably the most emotion-filling thing yet, is the fact that I've had so many people tell me how much of an inspiration I am. As some of you know, I do a weekly weight loss vlog. I utilized some of the concepts I learned from Social Psychology to stick to a workout regime: namely the idea of commitment to a community to stick with goals. And the craziest thing happened... I had people come up to me, telling me how much I've inspired them! I can't believe it. I'm so humbled. Still a bit shy about it all, but.. I dunno. That was the best feeling, being told I inspired someone to improve their way of life.

It's times like this where I know my mum is proud of me and what I've done for myself and others. All of this was a nice turnaround, as lately I've been having just a crumby time with some of my friendships.

So... needless to say, I've been experiencing a ton of varying emotions this week: excitement, happiness, awe, humbleness, determination, and most of all, love.

Thank you. <3