Kummacon 2023 - surprise visit in Oulu

Yeah, I know, it's been ages since the con but working and studying have been eating up my time and I haven´t had time to write this summary, sorry about that x__x
But enough of excuses, let's roll~!

Frankly, I have as much to tell about how I ended up in the con as about the con itself; don't get this wrong, I really enjoyed Kummacon, but the way I ended up there was... Interesting... xD
I was supposed to spend a long weekend with my best friend Gure at her and her girlfriend's place. We left Eura early in the Thursday (18th of May) morning to get as much time to hang out as possible. Since we live a few hundred kilometers apart these days, each minute counts when we see each other. This time our reunion was... A bit shorter than we had expected xD

We got to their place and went straight inside. Her girlfriend had been sewing me a cosplay costume since I really wanted to do a photoshoot but didn't really have time to sew myself this time. The costume in this case was Miku Hatsune's Rotten Girl, Grotesque Romance - I will sew that myself when I have time but frankly, I don't have much of that at the time really, no pun intended.
After exchanging a few words I noticed that something was going on; Gure's girlfriend seemed to be deep in thought. The conversation that followed shortly went like this:

Le girlfriend: How long were you planning to hang out exactly? Like, how many days?
Me: Over the weekend. Why?
Le girlfriend: ...Gure. Did you actually forget you booked flights on 20th of May..?
Gure: Wait what I was sure it was 21!? I haven't even started packing yet... And I have no idea where my passport is!
Me: Ehm what? How do you forget a thing like that? And where have you seen that passport last time?
Gure: I... Think it was in my student apartment... In Oulu...
Me: ...roadtrip, anyone? :D

So that's how I ended up in Oulu in the first place; my dear best friend had accidentally double-booked herself and now we had to fetch some stuff from Oulu! Gure, if you ever read this: never change, please, I need entertainment in my life xD
We left in a hurry; it was "OHMYGODISITALREADYTHATLATE" o'clock so yeah, had to start driving to reach Oulu before 3 a.m. or something x__x I also took the cosplay costume with me; the upper part of it didn't really fit but I don't blame Gure's girlfriend of it; after all she had been sewing the costume without seeing me even once during the process. It's not that badly off, I just couldn't fix it on the road, but I will certainly do that! The skirt, however, was very beautiful and nice to wear. Thank you so much! <3

We only stopped once; I think it was at Viitasaari when we stopped to eat something at the local ABC service station, otherwise we just drove to reach our destination in time. During those way too many hours we concluded that a mosquito made out of toxic masculinity is a masculito and also begun to plan what we could do when we actually do have time to hang out next time xD
It was past midnight when we finally reached our destination and went almost straight to bed - or, well, two mattresses spread out on the apartment floor. I was a bit tired after driving so many hours so I slept pretty well - only woke up a couple of times when I slept in a bad position and my back started hurting. 

We woke up during the Friday morning, Gure found her passport - and then surprised me by saying that I could have a mini vacation there since I drove that far! She lent me the other key to her apartment and shortly after took a train back to south. Still thankful for this gesture; I've been stressed out to Hell and back for a few months now so I could really use a vacation <3
So yeah, now I was in Oulu all by myself so it was time to start figuring out what to do. I started googling events on 20th and 21st of May and immediately stumbled upon Kummacon's website. It lit a light bulb over my head; I had my Miku cosplay stuff with me since Gure and I had planned to take a photoshoot during the weekend (she would have been my KAITO) so I could attend the con and even cosplay in it! I first thought about informing my northern friends about my arrival but then decided to keep it a surprise this time - after all I was quite sure I would bump into at least some of them. And I was right! <3

Saturday morning came after an almost sleepless night; that house had walls as thick as paper so I could hear some drunken shouting from somewhere, not directly from behind the wall but I think it was someone at the floor below. People: there is a silence time for a reason. Please, could you even try to obey it..?
So I woke up and started putting on my costume and make-up; didn't really feel like eating (I often feel nauseous on mornings and this was no exception) so I skipped the breakfast. Besides I knew that Sini Helminen would be having a panel in Kummacon and since I admire her work I really wanted to see that panel! She is absolutely fantastic writer and her panel was about writing so yeah, I knew I would enjoy it.
Gure's neighbors got their fair share of my "fuck this shit and fuck my life" monologue I had when putting on my circle lenses; for some reason lenses have recently refused to attach on my eye and it makes inserting them a bit difficult. I guess my eyes are more dry than normally or something, that's the only reason I've been able to come up with.

I exited the apartment and when I checked the clock I realized I would probably be at the con venue the minute the panel would start so I had to hurry. Luckily my Google Maps didn't fail me this time and make me take routes that aren't allowed for cars (it did that on Thusday) or anything.

The con venue from the outside.

 

The entrance hall. There were visible rainbow flags, so nice to see acceptance! <3 There were also a couple of sellers downstairs.

 

All photos in this post are taken by Shiro Samurai if not mentioned otherwise.

I was right; I was at Oulu International School precisely when the panel was about to start so I practically ran into the room in which it was held, went to sit on a fairly empty row - and noticed I had sat right next to Sallukka and their boyfriend! <3 It was such a nice surprise - especially since I know that Sallukka doesn't really write that much so I was surprised to see them at the panel. The panel itself was about writing fantasy literature and what can go wrong when writing the said genre - apparently everything if one isn't careful xD Have to say, I myself have made quite many rookie mistakes when writing backstories for my characters so yeah, have to be a bit more careful from now on to avoid those traps lol.
After the panel Sallukka and their boyfriend decided to hit the town. I decided to stay and listen to the panel about LGBTQ+ literature but they promised me they would inform me when they get back so I wouldn't have to hang out alone. Thank you guys <3
This following panel/conversation was pretty entertaining to listen to. I don't think there were that many new things to me but there were topics I strongly agree with, such as "sexual and gender minorities should be more visible in literature too". I really liked this panel a lot too!

This was located near the panel room. There were different drawings on Saturday and Sunday; this pic was taken on Saturday.

 

After this I decided to sit outside for a while since I was practically dying; I could feel the air stand still upstairs and since I had a face mask (yeah I still wear it when it's way too crowded in my opinion) it felt twice as bad... So yeah, outside I went!
It was pretty warm (if one ignored the freezing wind) so I enjoyed sitting outside and watch other congoers make Tik Tok videos, chat and play different "school yard games" until Sallukka and their boyfriend came back. By the time we all were screaming for coffee so we went to check out Kumma Kahvila (a cafeteria) and saw Shiro Samurai working there! He told us his working hours and I promised to hang out with him after them; after all Sallukka had told me that they wouldn't stay for that long since they had a birthday party to attend to. So yeah, now I was sure I would have company for the whole day! 

Me, Sallukka and their boyfriend drank our coffees (and both of them ate their hamburgers they also bought from the café) and then decided to scout artist's alley that took place in both floors. It was a wise solution; the place was pretty damn crowded at times and it was hard to move around. Maybe next year a bigger event venue would be a good solution since Kummacon apparently has become more popular during the years? Oh, and please, no more sitting on the stairs and blocking the way. It was quite difficult to walk up or down the stairs at times when people had decided to use them as chairs (well yeah there weren't too many chairs around but still)...
We also checked out Kumma Kirppis (a flea market) and both of them found some manga to read. I didn't really find anything to buy and, well, I need to get rid of some of my stuff anyway since I'm moving soon so yeah, no reason to buy more stuff when I already have tons of it x__x

Pictures from Artist's Alley, both upstairs and downstairs.

After checking out the artist's alley and Kumma Kirppis we decided to go outside to take some pictures and selfies. I took a few proof picture of Sallukka's school uniform!Takao and then they took a proof picture of me wearing the costume. They also lent me a hoodie to wear since it was pretty windy and I was freezing, thank you! <3

Rotten Girl loves everyone <3 Ignore my photobombing bag lol.

A better la selfie photo of my make-up. I was pretty satisfied with it to be honest, just will use different false eyelashes when I have a proper photoshoot.

Excuse me for phone quality pics that are also pretty big; didn't want to edit their size because, well, it would have had a negative effect on the quality which isn't great to begin with.
Also gotta love how my wig color changes depending on the light conditions lol.

 We also went to a nearby park to enjoy some drinks and talk about future cosplay plans before Sallukka and I decided to see the cosplay competition. Their boyfriend had gotten a bit anxious so he went back to the car to read some manga while we headed back inside to watch the competition. Neither of us has competed in ages and we wanted to see the skill level there is these days. Our conclusion after the competition: we belong in the trash can. But seriously, the costumes and props were amazing! Congratulations to the winners for winning and to all contestants for having the courage to climb up on that stage! <3
After the competition I noticed that Shiro Samurai had messaged me. His shift had ended and he was waiting for me upstairs so I went to search for him and pretty soon found him. We made a plan of checking out the artists' tables and sellers' tables; I, of course, already knew what would be in sale thanks to the scouting before but didn't really mind checking out the tables again. At this point Sallukka told me that they had to leave and we said bye bye to our friend; let's meet again as soon as possible! <3

Urumi's table.

I couldn't resist; I just had to buy a beautiful crescent moon necklace from niramuchu - I had been eyeing it for the whole day and at this point had to buy it since I knew I would feel bad if I wouldn't. I will certainly buy more stuff from niramuchu in the future; it's made with talent and quality!
And, well, I had to buy a packet of Pocky sticks too. Couldn't resist that one either; they were matcha flavored and I hadn't tested them before so yeah, bought them (and liked them!).
Oh, and Shiro Samurai was the best and bought me two key chains from the artist's alley, Klee and Mona from Genshin Impact! <3 I'm a Klee main and I also have Mona on my main team so yeah, precious mages are precious x)

After scouting the area Shiro Samurai and I decided to have some Chinese food to eat - at this point I realized I hadn't eaten anything during the day, oops - and then go to Gure's apartment; you see, neither of us have that much money and it was fine with Gure that he would spend the night at her apartment too so yeah, of course I introduced this cheap option to him.
I don't think we did much during the evening, played some games on our Nintendo Switch consoles and then went to sleep.

Sunday morning. We took our stuff, checked that everything was okay in the apartment since we wouldn't be going back there anymore and then headed out to the convention. Or, well, to be exact, I drove Shiro Samurai there (the con wasn't open to visitors just yet, only for the staff) and visited a local Prisma market myself since I was so damn sleepy I needed an energy drink to stay awake.
I got to the con when it had opened its doors for visitors too and went almost immediately to the room in which people could just hang out. Shiro Samurai was working again so I figured out I could do something productive during that time and do some school stuff; took me a couple of hours to write one essay but yeah, progress.

I think on Sunday I didn't attend any other programs than the lolita fashion show. I'm not really into lolita style myself; by this I mean I wouldn't wear clothes like that since I don't really feel like they would suit me. However, I consider different lolita styles interesting and wanted to see people show off their outfits. The fashion show wasn't that long, only lasted for 10-15 minutes, but there weren't that many models to begin with so yeah, understandable.
I don't think I really did anything else at the con since I had to leave pretty early; long driving distance is long. However, I think that Kummacon really was worth all that driving and I will certainly attend it in the future too! :)
...likely more intentionally next time though xD

My con loot. Sadly can't remember who is the artist behind the key chains but they are pretty darn cute! ;__; The crescent moon necklace by niramuchu.

So yeah, this was my con summary about Kummacon 2023!
Next post will likely be a summary of another, smaller event so stay tuned!

- Firith