Slowing Down

I wish I could I say I was busy, hence the lack of posts. I really do, but reality doesn't quite come close. I'm working at a vinyl shop now on minimal wage and it has been a fulfilling time to indulge in some free time, get back to what I like and generally take things step by step. I haven't felt peaceful in a long time, but things are rearing its ugly head again. 

Minimal wage means minimal spending and I can't afford luxury and even had to cut down some things I wouldn't have blinked twice on spending on previously. And as much as I had hoped I would get bumped up to a full time post at work, things aren't looking up, so it probably means I need to look for a job that pays much better. Being an adult means having to fork out money on alot more things and I still really wanna go to Japan next year.

I have't felt creative in awhile and even my cosplays are slowing down due to the shortage of funds, so I guess it's just time to get back to real life and start the hamster wheel of working at a regular job once again. 

I'll update soon, heck I've got alot of posts I've been wanting to post up, so just be patient and gimme some time to clear them kays?

ICDS 2014

I almost didn't attend International Cosplay Day Singapore (ICDS) but when I heard that the amazing Kamui Cosplay was gonna be a guest and teach a workshop on armour/prop making, there was no way I was gonna miss it!!

Pic with the amazing Kamui herself. I learnt quite abit about Worbla and foam for prop making from her workshop 

Bought all 3 of her books as a gift for the bf, she even autographed them!! I also got a poster autographed by her, I'm thinking bout redecorating my room and framing the poster and Vampybitme's signed poster to display on my wall.

For a small event, there were many amazing cosplayers who turned up, including this incredible Iron Giant cosplay!!

Look at that thing!!

The incredible man behind it named Orvis. He laughed when I asked if I could take a pic of him saying that it was the first time all day that anyone asked to take a pic of the man behind the robot.

Unfortunately, after the event, I woke up the next morning to find my cosplay appearing in the local paper.

It wasn't so much as me appearing in the paper that irked me, it was the complete lack of respect of the writer and photographer, who chose to take this sneak picture of me while I was busy posing for a photo with Rescend instead of respectfully asking for a picture. This is especially annoying when a local law was fairly recently passed regarding requesting permission to post identifiable information of anyone. The fact that the local newspaper didn't give two hoots about it is especially infuriating. I wrote to them to explain the matter but failed to get a reply, so I'm considering taken other actions elsewhere.

It's not that I'm trying to act like a big shot or something, I'm just concerned that these reporters think they can get away with such behaviour especially with the local cosplay community, simply because we're the "weirdos" or something. 

Anyway, to avoid turning this post into a major ranting session (which is pretty much halfway there), I'll end this post now... till next time!

Cosfest 2014

Cosfest is one of the cosplay events I look most forward to every year, partly because it's one of the bigger local events and also nearly everyone in the community chooses to stay in the nearby chalets, so at night the place becomes one huge party fest. 

I chose to do simpler cosplays this year as I didn't have any team, and I didn't feel like stressing myself out with preparations due to the stresses I had from my last job.

Cosplayed as Reira Serizawa from Nana, and took this pic with Candy. Need to trim my wig's bangs abit more, but I love the texture of the wig.

With some of the people I admire in the local cosplay scene, Xiaobai, Kanasai and Cvy. All of them were cosplaying Vocaloids.

For day 2, I cosplayed as Celty from Durarara!! 

With Jo and Jas, both cosplaying different versions of badass Major Motoko from Ghost in the Shell.

Managed to snag a chance to meet Yuegene Fay!! She had run out of cosplay cards by then, but she very sweetly autographed the back of my Celty helmet.

With Jo, Hana and Drefan while watching the stage performances. Drefan's cosplay was especially funny, he kept throwing and body slamming willing people onto a mattress as part of his wrestling cosplay.

Pic taken by Kappa

Pic taken by 8bitwonderland. We actually posed next to random black colour motorcycle and quickly scurried off to avoid being confronted by the bike's owner.

There were also many crazy fun stuff during the chalet too!

Esther brought her little birdy pal, Popcorn, to the chalet and word quickly got round bout her little feathered friend. Popcorn seemed to really take to Dan throughout our stay.

What's a party without awesome junk food?!! Nearly every room had different pizzas resulting in pizza deliverymen scuttling from room to room.

There's also Rescend's annual Cosfest parody video. This year's video was inspired by Hangover by Psy and Snoop Dog, see if you can spot me in the video (hint, I'm polishing my Celty helmet).

Besides the pain of being forced to leave midway through my day 1 cosplay to attend a ridiculous concert for work, Cosfest was as fun as I ever remembered it to be.

Funan Anime Matsuri 2014

Attended the small Funan Anime Matsuri event back in June, I think? I usually don't bother much with smaller cosplay events at malls due to my work schedule, but I made an exception for this event as one of my favourite cosplayers, Sakuya, was a guest for the event. 

Cosplayed as Annie Leonhart together with my friends, Janice and Beverly. Together, we were the Titan trio.

Met some friends at the event

Had an incredible stroke of luck and managed to find Sakuya while she was backstage watching the stage performances. I kind of called out to her and she immediately turned around and was super friendly!!! She whipped out her phone and took this picture of us before I even asked! 

More pictures once she escaped the barriers around the stage

Group photo with the other Shingeki cosplayers at the event.

Recreating the infamous Levi kicking scene

Bonus picture of her dusting the wall haha

It was such a pity that she had run out of cosplay cards (cosplay business cards) but I gave her mine and I'm just happy enough to have a chance to meet her and take a picture with her! It was also surprising that she was actually tiny in real life compared to how she's usually protrayed as such a masculine figure in her pictures. She's my height (I'm about 5 feet 1") and probably 2/3 of my size, which is sooo skinny!!! She couldn't really speak English but she made alot of hand gestures to communicate with us and my friends and I tried our best to speak to her in our terrible broken Japanese. Still, it was fun to be able to finally see her up close and personal in real life. 

Being Touristy

Globe-trotting gyaru, Kayo, was back in town for a week or so a few months back. it was fun being a tour guide and showing her around town like before, though it was more of a shopping/ sight seeing trip this time, unlike the food driven trip last time. 

Started the day with brunch a la Singapore style:

Half boiled eggs mixed with dark soy sauce and white pepper, Kaya (coconut jam) and butter toast with strong coffee

It was amusing to hear Kayo comparing the eggs to Japan's onsen eggs, and she loved the strong coffee.

After that, we headed to Haji Lane, as she had read up about it online.

Tourist shot! My face looks really weird here

Steph's tattoo artist, Kevin, helped to take this picture after we popped by his store to cool off due to the intense heat.

My outfit consisted of:

Inner shirt: Uniqlo

Lace Nightie: Taobao

Shorts: Lowry's Farm

Stockings: taobao

Denim Jacket: Calvin Klein

Badge: taobao

Shoes: Random shop in Holland Village

Hair clips: Sasa

Final shot before Steph had to leave for the day

It was fun catching up with Kayo again and hopefully, I'll get a chance to head to Japan and she'll be my tour guide the next time we meet.

Shingeki no Kyojin Hanji shoot

It's always fun assisting friends when they do their shoots. It's also kind of a "you-scratch my back, I scratch yours" kind of thing, as people are more willing to help you out too when you need some assistance. 

This shoot was quite awhile back but nevertheless, I had fun exploring a bunch of abandoned colonial houses during the shoot and Rescend was on the ball as usual while Jo looked spot-on perfect as Hanji. 

Setting up and I'm not quite sure what exactly I'm doing in this pic, being silly I guess haha

Posing for the cam!

What's a shoot without some omakes? 

Here's an actual decent pic from the shoot

I was also a hand/arm dummy for this series of story shots. My short stubby fingers have finally come to good use!

The team behind the scenes

Spent the evening sampling Hanjo and Levi alcholic drinks that my friend, Serene, specially ordered from Japan. I think Hanji tasted kinda fruity while Levi had more of a tea taste to it.

Back Again

Image from the movie: The Place Promised In Our Early Days

Sorry for dropping off the face of the Earth for a few months. I'm not sure if anyone is gonna actually read my blog anymore but meh, whatever. 

Anyway, if anyone's actually curious bout what happened to me, I got the job at the PR agency I wanted a few posts back. Started out the first month fine and optimistic bout everything, but after awhile, things started grating on me. The colleagues were cold, I couldn't connect with anyone, the bosses were just existing to throw us work and disappear without any real direction. I was lost, confused and started hating anything and everything related to my job. 

So basic thing is, I switched jobs. My friend offered an opportunity to work at a vinyl store and I grabbed it. The money's tight because I'm on a part-timer's payroll, but the colleagues and boss are exceedingly nice and warm and caring, and I have flexibility in my schedule to do the things I want. I dunno how long this can keep up, but for now, I'm happier then I've been in a long long time. 

I know I can't remain this way forever, and I do have concerns bout how I will be able to last financially in the future with more financial responsibilities. However, in 2 years, this is the first real sense of peace I've had. 

I'm learning alot of things at work bout the turntables and vinyls, more than I ever thought I'd ever learn about them. I'm hoping dearly that I may get an opportunity to earn full time employment, so I need to work hard and prove my worth. 

I'm still uncertain about what the future may bring as things haven't gone as I had planned years ago. But, I'm just glad I'm still here trying to feel my way around and learning more about myself along the way.

I have a great backlog of posts, so I'll slowly update them even if I'm just typing into a blog that no one bothers to read anymore.