I have had Con on the brain for months, as the costuming process has consumed almost every bit of my life (and every moment of my free time). Here is a breakdown of CONvergence and the weeks leading up to what is always the best weekend out of the year:
Weeks leading up to con:
Sewing
Gluing
Gluing
Headache from glue fumes
Harrison is 18 months, is in the 95% for height (which is why he is in 2T clothing already)
More gluing
I decide I am entering by myself in the Con Masquerade for the first time.
More gluing
Then, it's time for CONvergence:
Wednesday
I went up to the convention on Wednesday to pick up my badge early, volunteer a bit and go to a Social Media Department meeting. Giddy with excitement, I pick up my badge within 5 minutes, no problems there. I head to the volunteer table, where they tell me they have nothing for volunteers to do at the moment... Agh.. It was only about 3:00 and my meeting wasn't until 8:30. Luckily, I ran into Jessa and her friends who run The Prancing Pony and was able to volunteer a little, help setting up and playing My Little Pony with a toddler :) It was a good time! I also offered assistance for Friday night at the room, which we'll come to later.
8:30 rolled around and we met upstairs in the hotel. It was a fun meeting with many delicious snacks. Then I had to drive home.
Thursday:
Con is here!!! We were all up bright and early, having already packed. I went through everything twice making sure I didn't forget to bring anything to the hotel and traveling with a toddler always makes things more interesting. Harrison got his own Thomas the Tank Engine backpack for the weekend (he picked it out himself- Trains are the new airplane). We were at the hotel by 10, giving Matt a chance to get his badge without having to wait in any sort of line.
Harrison met a little boy his age, also a red head, and they became fast friends running up and down the Garden Court ramp together. Thursday morning was nice because there were so few people around, Harrison had some free reign to explore.
Harrison ate his first real fast food lunch at Burger King. He got a crown and a toy and was rather happy about it. Our hotel room was ready at 1:00, two hours early, so Harrison was able to take a nap and not be crazy fussy the whole day. His nap was so silly. I was in charge of putting up down, it took and hour for him to fall asleep. He kept sitting up and talking to himself, but he slept pretty well.
After nap time, we went back downstairs and met jedi Matt. We got a great picture with all the jedi dads that happen to be in the garden court.
Friday:
Matt got up early with Harrison. I was grateful as I had a hard time sleeping while Harrison rolled into/kicked me all night. We did con things all morning, the usual Dealers Room (Harrison saw a lot of Pikachu stuff and was very excited by it), Consuite etc. I was dressed as Dean Winchester, Megan was Sam. Harrison finally changed out of his pajamas into Ash Ketchum. We stopped often to talk with friends. Harrison got a very awesome set of foam dice from Moondoggy and Pete (Thank You!). He has since tried to eat them...
I got some pictures at a large Supernatural meet-up right before Supernatural themed Yoga Quest. I didn't participate, but the leader was dressed at Dean Winchester from the Gym Teacher episode.
Matt did nap time so I could make it to my first live-tweeting panel of the weekend. It was "You Can't Cosplay That" discussing current social standards for cosplayers and the horrible bullying that can happen if you don't "look like the character". It was a lot of preaching to the choir, but it was a very good panel all the same.
Harrison was set to be picked up at 6:00 and he wore his costume downstairs for grandma and grandpa to see. He was very good about going with them, no tears and I was told he was very well behaved all weekend. After that, Matt and I were free to run around without worrying whether Harrison was well taken care or not. We were able to take in a dinner at TGIF without too long of a wait (AMAZING!) and ate real food (not Burger King). After dinner, I changed into my Arwen gown and headed to the Prancing Pony for some volunteer hours.
I stood outside the room for two hours, goading passers by into coming in and partaking in 1919 root beer. It was really fun! I got to people watch and interact with others, see some old friends who were enjoying their first year at Con (Dante & Richard!). I also made a new sister, as we had almost matching dresses! It was awesome! Plus, cucumber water is very good :)
Matt was at the room to collect me at 11, and we went around the convention, finding friends, visiting party rooms. I think Matt and I headed upstairs around 1, but I don't really remember. I had to be up the next morning for Masquerade orientation. I slept so well, it was great!
Saturday:
I am up before my alarm and double checking the time for orientation. There were two printed times, so I made sure I was downstairs (in my owl onsie) by 9. Orientation was quick and nerve racking. I cannot describe to you the level of anxiety I had about competing on this day and the days leading up to it. I had not been that tense in a long time.
After orientation, I run upstairs and start the process of getting ready for my workmanship judging, which was at 1:00. Megan was going to assist my in my "skit" so she was coming with my to my time slot. Matt came back upstairs after breakfast and I helped him into his Data wig and make-up, which was great! He looked just like Brent Spiner! I took almost the whole two hours I had left to get ready into Elsa. My hair and make-up took awhile, and while the costume was pretty quick, it was a bit of effort to get on (I also can't do it by myself).
Megan and I are in the green room early, but we don't have to wait long. We get to run our tech first, which goes well. Megan does her thing of rolling my snowball on stage and we get a giggle from the tech crew, so it's a thumbs up. After running through the skit, I have to wait only about 5 minutes before the judges are ready to talk about my costume. I had put all my progress pictures on my iPad, so I remember what to talk about. It went really well! at the time, I was so nervous and wouldn't admit to myself that it went well. I've had decent reactions from Workmanship judges in the past, but still didn't win anything. I also forgot to show off my snowball...
I stayed in the costume for about another hour, took some pictures, met with friends and then changed until the evening show. I was too afraid I would get something on it, or it would get stepped on. I finally got to eat something, I had been way too nervous before the pre-judging to eat anything. I bought some new con merchandise (Gargoyles theme T and CONvergence Alumni sweater). It wasn't long until I had to change back into Elsa.
I was so nervous. I kept warning everyone that I might pee, I was so nervous. I sat backstage shaking, hoping that I would be in the queue early for the show. I was third from last... but the show went by so quick, it didn't feel long. I made some backstage buddies (Astrid was awesome! Her costume was so amazing!). I had a lot of people coming up to me, checking on me, so I probably looked about as nervous as I felt. I felt very loved when my whole group of friends came backstage to wish me luck :)
My skit went on without a hitch, we got a good laugh when Megan rolled the ball on stage. I'm really glad I didn't trip in those shoes. After I was off stage, I felt so much better about everything. Now we only had to wait for the judges deliberations (two of the skit judges were Yancey and Damon and I had a total nervous moment when I learned about that- they are exceptional costumers with talents I can only hope to one day match). This was a much easier part of the night. I honestly didn't care too much if I won (maybe a little), but I honsetly, honestly didn't think I was going to win anything (there were so many amazing costumes and I am sure plenty of them worked just as hard and used techniques I never even thought of). When they called the names of winners to the door, the list was long and I was called last. We didn't know what we won, but we had to be prepared to go on stage (my first thought when I was called was "I have to go on stage again...").
I won BEST JOURNEYMAN!!!
I cannot describe the level of disbelief. I held it together until I got off stage, then I cried. I finally felt justified as a costumer. This was my 13th year at CONvergence and my 9th time competing in the masquerade (5th time as journeyman?) and I just felt like I had been working at this for so long and it just feels like a reward for all of that rather than just the one costume. I am officially in the Master category for competing in the future. Though, after the anxiety of doing it by myself I don't think I will be doing it for awhile.
When we exited for the photo ops, Sean was waiting right outside and proved he was louder than any mob of people. Once I reached the my group of friends, cheers erupted, Sean yelled things like "Who are you wearing? Who's your designer? What's your next project?" which was hilarious! I was informed that everyone playing the masquerade drinking game had to take a shot when I won, I was happy to assist in their shenanigans.
The rest of the night I felt so giddy and happy. I was walking on clouds. My costume was also super fun to wear. I got a picture on the Iron Throne, which was a goal of mine from day 1. I went to party rooms, had a snow cone ;) and avoided thinking about the fact that the next day was Sunday. We went over by Cinema Rex when we needed a break from the loud, noisy party area (which Amy Berg referred to as The Circuit, a name I completely think the convention should adopt). I ate so much junk food, I had barely eaten all day due to anxiety and after the masquerade I felt super hungry.
I made it until 1:30, when I gave in to the tireds and went upstairs. I new it would take me awhile to get ready for bed, with how much make-up I had on and my wig and hair. (I got a lot of compliments on my wig, which made me really excited! I really enjoyed playing with fake hair :))
Sunday:
Short and sweet. We were up and out of the hotel room. I was dressed as Hipster Elsa. I live tweeted a penl with Amy Berg, Paul Cornell and Joseph Scrimshaw. It was hilarious and fun. Then I had a post-masquerade meet-up, where we got to talk shortly about our costumes. I really hope I get to volunteer for masq next year, even though I don't want to compete, I want to be involved.
We finished our convention at Consuite, eating Davanni's and chatting with the handful of us left at the hotel. We left at 3:00, had to get home to Harrison who was unimpressed at our arrival. Though, he was certainly happy to be back in his own bed.
It wasn't until I got home that I realized I didn't really get any pictures of the commissions I made for the convention. My biggest regret every year is not getting enough pictures/videos, but there's just so much going! I might organize a cosplay photo shoot at my house this summer. Any interest?
Now I cannot wait until next year. Tentatively, I am not planning on taking any commissions. There are so many things I would like to get done and take part of in the next year that I am taking a hiatus. I am excited to sew for my friends' wedding this fall, a nice change from the crafty sci-fi/fantasy costumes back to bridal wear.
Hope you all at a great 4th of July weekend!
