Wrapping up 2018

So, as the title tells, this is sort of 2018 cosplay year wrap-up. And those, who have been reading my blog, know that I haven't been that active here... And I haven't been active almost at all when it comes to cosplaying.

I had a lot of plans for this year and I dreamt about making a bunch of new costumes. But, as you can see, that didn't happen. There are a few main reasons for this.

1. I gained a lot of weight. Seriously, A LOT. I'm now on a diet which makes me lose weight and I've already gotten positive results. 
   
2. After graduating I hoped to get at least some job. But, sadly, that still hasn't happened. I've tried and tried, but right now it seems like I'll never get a job. On top of that Finnish government has this thing called "pattern for activating unemployed people", in Finnish "aktiivimalli". I live on unemployment benefits (not enjoying it) and every now and then those benefits get smaller. The idea of this thing seems to be to punish people who are unemployed... I know that there are slackers even in Finland, people who don't even apply for any job, but then there are people like me who try hard and still get punished when the employer decides that they don't want to hire that person. I know, this wasn't the most simple explanation but I'm just fuming because of this. What does this have to do with cosplay? Well, no work = no money = no cosplay. At least that was simple.
3. Losing all con hype. I've been attending cons since 2012 and year by year my enthusiasm has gotten smaller and smaller. Right now it's close to not existing at all. This doesn't mean that I'd be quitting cosplay in the future but it might mean that I wouldn't attend cons except if there was a good reason, for example being a cosplay contestant. I would still make costumes and have photoshoots - I enjoy those more than attending cons nowadays. It just feels like I've pretty much seen it all. 

But what did I actually do this year?

I attended Tampere Kuplii and competed with my Avalon costume. I didn't place but to be honest I wasn't even expecting that I would. I had quite a good time there anyway~ I've already written summary about that, so I'm not going to talk about it that much now.

I hosted Eura's Manga Day III. I'm going to write that summary later, I just haven't had my photoshoot pictures yet. Pretty much my own fault but I haven't had the time to meet with my photographer - we are going to go through the pictures together. Anyway, I closet cosplayed Luka Megurine there, Just Be Friends version. I'm definitely going to write a summary about that event and I don't care that it's three months late, blame also my crashtop which decided that an error for system 32 is a nice thing, thank God I have a new computer now so just wait for it~!

I was supposed to go to Tracon but, surprisingly, ran out of money. We had tickets but in the end decided to sell them - there wouldn't have been a point to go there just for one day in a hellish rush so we just decided to skip it.

But then, the new event at Kaarina's library: Kitsunecon! I noticed somewhere around... February or March that they were looking for cosplay contest judges and I immediately sent an application for that position. And, to my big surprise, I got accepted!

So, in October I left home for Turku and spent a night at Kage's place. Everything went well, except for me being so nervous that I hardly got any sleep the night before con. When it was time to wake up my body was protesting with its every fiber but no can do, I had a job to do! I cosplayed my OC, an elf healer called Rothruindes. I didn't sew the costume myself since I happened to have a medieval times style dress in my closet and I thought that it was good enough. And it was. I know that it sounds quite weird that a cosplay judge uses a costume they haven't sewn by themselves but hey, I truly have gained some weight and thus don't fit probably any of my old costumes nowadays.

The con place was easy to find and quite soon I found the other judges, one of them being jansutti. Almost immediately we were escorted to the small room in which the judging was going to happen, and damn there was hot in there! D: Anyway, we begun our judging - I haven't written that much in two hours after high school and my right wrist was screaming after that. Anyway, it was quite fun to sit there at the other side of the table :D
I didn't do anything else at the con, except for giving the prizes for the winners etc. I didn't feel too well because I was so tired, and as soon as the judging job was over I fled back to Turku and then back home. Short trip but totally worth it! I'm not going to write a more specific summary about that event since, well, I really didn't walk around the con so... Yeah. But I'm definitely going to visit Kitsunecon again~! <3


So... I guess that's it.
Probably my most "empty" wrap-up by far... :/
But this year I truly hope, believe and already can promise that there will be more activity on this blog! And why is that?

Well, I'll be going to host a lecture about Star Stable Online with Merezone at Yukicon, and I've already started to make Alex's costume~! ...also known as knitting her beanie but still.

And I got Chloe for my Rachel so that means a whole lot of emotional pictures~ <3 Chloe will be cosplayed by my best friend and soul sister Gure.

And, well, I plan to do more circle lens reviews when I finally have the money to buy circle lens solution, those bottles aren't actually cheap you know.

But for now I guess this is it.
Stay tuned for future, let's wake this blog from its slumber~!

Firith