Ochiba~Con 2013
First time as a cosplay guest! First time as a masquerade judge!
Sadly, also first con to make me scream and have a mental breakdown
Friday:Not an official day of the con, but
Suns-Radiance and I headed out to Oshawa around 1pm or so. We picked up
CosplayCanada from the GO station around 3, he only waited about two minutes or so for us to pick him up.
We went straight to the hotel to see if we could check in. We were able to after a little while as their system was down. We took a bit of a driving tour of Oshawa, going into a couple of geek shops and the Oshawa Centre. I have now seen parts of Oshawa that I never thought I would see. Also, IS THE COSTCO FREAKING BIG ENOUGH? XD
When we got back to the hotel we kinda vegged in our room for a bit before deciding to go for a swim in the hotel pool. So the three of us changed into our swimsuits, put clothes over top and headed down. Started off with the hot tub. OMG sooooo nice
CosplayCanada and I didn't really want to leave the hot tub xD It was just too nice. We did switch to the pool. OMG I am sooo glad that I was able to go swimming. Even did a sauna for the first time
After swimming, we decided on food since we were all hungry. Just... OMG FOOD! Ordered pizza from Domino's. Pizza with pepperoni, mushrooms and bacon, honey garlic wings, cheese bread.... omg soooooo good
It was really delicious. I miss having pizza.
Our friend on staff asked us if we could come and help do the setup of Guild Room 1, 2, & 3, and Harmony Hall. These rooms were the Dealers Room, Photography Room/Green Room, Panel Room, and Event Room. The Event Room had the auction, HOSHI*FURU concert, masquerade, dance, and Penny For Your Thoughts panel.
I didn't mind helping with setup. I didn't mind helping for the simple facts of it was my friend who asked, I had a good team set with her,
Suns-Radiance and
CosplayCanada, and I understand layout and I am fairly strong. What I hated about it though... having to yell at some of the volunteers to work.
Two girls and one of the guys I actually had to yell at to get off their butts and work. They sat on tables, told them to get off! I've seen sturdier ones buckle under people's weight. When the girls would just stand there talking, I'd snap at them that they can talk and work at the same time. To get the three who would just talk to come where we needed, I actually shouted "YO! VOLUNTEERS YOU'RE NEEDED THERE NOT HERE!"
I saw my hotel room at 1am. Did I sleep? NOPE
Saturday:Cosplay: Xemnas from Kingdom Hearts II / Party Grell Sutcliff from Kuroshitsuji
Because my Friday and Saturday bled into each other, this happened:
We started playing Cards Against Humanity and having some drinks. It was a lot of fun, and I learned that Smirnoff Fluffed Marshmallow Vodka is very delicious when put in Coca Cola
At 6:30 I left with
SkyPandaPhotography to go pick up guest Tanya and her assistant. I didn't mind, I just didn't like the one way streets! Moment I was behind the wheel, instantly awake!
When we got back to the hotel I helped Tanya with her luggage. I offered. Getting her suitcase out of the trunk was a little hard, but not too bad. I got it out and moved it easily.
After I had her taken care of, I got my Xemnas cosplay on, makeup and all and headed down to the table for FrostCon & Quinte Mini Con.
I sadly wasn't in Xemnas for too long, but I got some nice photos with
CosplayCanada of us as Xemnas and Marluxia (he changed too).
So we changed into the 11th Doctor & Grell Sutcliff for the rest of the day.
I was originally just supposed to judge the performances in the masquerade, but I ended up doing workmanship too which was pretty awesome! Wow some of the things that the Novices cranked out! Some of them did stuff even I hadn't tried yet (like painting stretchy fabric). Judging the performances was pretty neat too.
It took me and the other judges some time to decide who was awarded what. But we all agreed mutually on each entry. So there was no favoritism (although two friends of mine did get awards, but the other judges agreed on them deserving what they were given).
My personal favourite entry was Squall Leonheart, he had the attitude for his stage performance and did the fluid motions from the game, and even though his cosplay was modified stuff for the most part, what he did modify was excellently done and his gunblade was amazing! He actually had it so that the barrel spun! I was impressed!
After the masquerade I DJ'd the dance with
CosplayCanada. We were asked to the day before by our friend because the DJ backed out the day before ><
This is where I had my mental breakdown. I had two volunteers, a staff, and a few dancers yelling at me because the sound from the speakers was so screwed up. I was being blamed for the music not sounding right. I'm sorry, that is not my fault if the speakers are screwing up. I actually had someone yell at me saying "your computer's a piece of fucking shit you should replace it". I'm sorry, I bought the computer for school and work, not DJ'ing dances. I'd never done it before.
I was sent quickly to my breaking point. I can't handle a lot of stress, and so, I left my computer with
CosplayCanada, and almost ran out of Harmony Hall. Moment I was in the hall I let out a bit of a scream from the stress, freaking out two volunteers. They helped me calm down by making me laugh a bit. I thanked them for helping me calm down. When I walked back in 5-10 minutes later, the music was playing right and I went back up to the stage.
CosplayCanada explained what the problem had been to me, and I hugged him for taking over and thanked him. He told me to just go have fun and calm down more. Dude, you were my hero Saturday night TT_TT
I spent the rest of the night dancing, dancing with Jade at one point and during one slow song she just hugged me and we shifted to the music.
Sunday:Cosplay: Female Sephiroth from Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children
More relaxed day. Though I fell asleep at 4am with
CosplayCanada after mild rp of Gamzee and Karkat. And we woke up around 10am. More roleplay for a bit and then packed up our stuff and checked out.
Most of the day was at the table for QMC & FrostCon again until about 2pm for mine and
CosplayCanada's panel on Thunderbirds. We only had one person, but eh, that's ok xD Just didn't like that there was aroma stuff from the Reiki workshop and that made me sick before the panel.
We became part of the Penny For Your Thoughts Panel. Amazingly
CosplayCanada and I were given recognition for helping with setup and DJ'ing the dance! Though it felt good to be appreciated.
After the end of the con, PHOTOS! And then home to bed.
Spoils of the con:
Gilgamesh figure
Fate/Zero Lancer figure
Dissidia Sephiroth figure
Dissidia Cloud figure
CAPCOM Cammy White figure
