Summer Brings Splendid Things (PCC 2012)

Hey, guys. Aloha here.

It’s been a while since I blogged, which I will contribute to school, finals, and writer’s block. Fortunately, IT’S SUMMER NOW! 😀 And time for a bunch of awesome things. (My eloquence. It’s stunning.)

—No, Aloha, this is NOT tumblr. You can’t just use gifs instead of formulating valid sentences and original ideas. That’s not how this works.

This past weekend, I attended my first convention, which was extremely awesome. Eight of my coolest friends and 32,000 of my casual acquaintances gathered for the Phoenix Comicon. We stayed for four days and pretty much just derped around. It was like anime, comics, video games, and the internet come to life, all in one place. And I cosplayed! 😀 This was my first time investing a lot of time and money into a really good costume, and it was totally worth it. I’ve been collecting pieces for my Daughter of Evil cosplay for almost a year now, so it was really neat to finally wear it in public.

The thing I love about cosplay is the escape. It’s like you get to be someone else for however long you want, and forget your own problems while you take on the persona. While no, I didn’t get too in-character for this one (didn’t think my friends would appreciate spending all weekend with the Daughter of Evil, ruthless princess with a superiority complex almost as bad as the one I have IRL), it was still fun to dress like her.

Not a lot of people knew who I was, because the emphasis at PCC was really comics and anime (Daughter of Evil is a Vocaloid song sung by Rin Kagamine), but I did get recognized a few times. And I had a heck of a good time wearing the costume, anyway.

Another cool thing is that I’m more or less totally unrecognizable… which means pictures! It’s pretty blurry, but it’s the best full-body shot I got that day. (Background altered to protect the innocent my family.)

Other cool things at PCC:

• Party Like a Time Lord (Doctor Who dance party and costume contest, where Daleks roamed free and everyone brought a banana).
• Vic Mignogna‘s concert, where he serenaded us with music so sweet it was like vocal glucose. (Not using that simile again.)
• An entire room set up with Brawl and Streetfighter games, and the room next to it filled to the brim with DDR fans.
•  A panel and photo op with one of my favorite cosplay groups, BanzaiPro.
• An entire exhibitor’s hall full of every geek’s dream: comic books, action figures, posters, plush, autographs, costumes…. You name it, it came in Loki’s colors.
• Cosplayers representing every fandom. EVERY fandom. (Genderbent Korra? Yep. Group of teenage guys dressed as My Little Ponies? Check. Alice in Wonderland zombies? Of course.)

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Long story short, it was a great con. I got to hang out with awesome people and celebrate things that I like with tens of thousands of other people who like the same things… how often does that happen? (Okay, smart aleck, like once a year.)

Today we leave for Alaska, which should be interesting. There’s no internet OR cell service on the cruise, though, so I downloaded all Doyle’s original Sherlock books and short stories onto my Kindle.

–That’s right, I admit it. *flinches* Feel free to egg me, or paperback me, or whatever book enthusiasts do to those who slip over to the dark side. E-books. I was a hater too. Until I realized that I could fit Les Miserables, the Hunger Games trilogy, all the Sherlock Holmes stuff, everything Kristin Cashore’s ever published, some sappy paranormal romance,  and a selection of nonfiction reads into a space the size of a small novel.

It’s like a TARDIS…. but for books. (Bigger on the inside… eh? Eh? No? Worth a shot.)

Long story short, I no longer consider e-books the scum of the planet. They’ve risen somewhere above nails on a chalkboard and One Direction, but they’re still lower than, like, NPR. Think of me what you will.

I intend to start blogging FO REALZIES this summer, once we get back from the arctic cold and Huskies and Canadian bacon and the Space Needle. Until then,