Copypasted from reddit
Thread: What was your biggest "I don't belong here" moment?
I go to anime conventions fairly often, about three or four times a year, and I cosplay a lot, though I'm still considered a beginner craftsman. Several years ago, I won a cosplay contest and part of my prize was a ticket to Costume Con (more about the art of making costumes than anything, which, as a novice-level cosplayer, I was super-excited about)! Man, I was gonna meet lots of people and learn lots of things and improve and it was gonna be incredible and magical! Right? Wrong. Biggest circlejerk I've ever witnessed. Most of the costumers there were expeeeeerienced costumers. I was in my late 20s, but there were people there who'd been master-level since before I was born. Their costumes were beautiful, don't get me wrong, but everyone knew each other, and everyone was at a higher level than I was, most of the awards went to the same people, so it seemed very exclusive. When I managed the courage to strike up conversation with some of the other attendees, it felt really patronizing, especially because I hadn't paid for my own ticket. I had the opposite of a good time (not to mention the one costume I did bring and bother to wear was a poor choice, though I couldn't have possibly known that in advance).
That was a bummer, but I've got a story about owning my not-belonging-ness too: I'm used to being the token brown person among my friends (as I was at Costume Con), so it was business as usual when one of them took me to my first hockey game. Our teams are rivals, but I was on the good side of the crowd and the outcome that night, so all the heckling was focused on her. But when I took another of my friends to a game a few months later, and we slipped into Spanglish, did we ever get some dirty looks. Now we do it on purpose because the reactions are hilarious, especially when we go to away games!
Also I'm playing ALBW, after spending the bus ride not being able to set it up, after downloading the damned thing, after passing out in the middle of the day because I couldn't sleep last night and the coffee I got before I left wasn't very strong, and after dinner. It's cute! I'm only up to the first dungeon, though. I tried liveblogging it on tumblr (WARNING: SPOILERS), but I have too many thoughts so I've given up on that for now. Just gonna focus on playing. :)
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I go to anime conventions fairly often, about three or four times a year, and I cosplay a lot, though I'm still considered a beginner craftsman. Several years ago, I won a cosplay contest and part of my prize was a ticket to Costume Con (more about the art of making costumes than anything, which, as a novice-level cosplayer, I was super-excited about)! Man, I was gonna meet lots of people and learn lots of things and improve and it was gonna be incredible and magical! Right? Wrong. Biggest circlejerk I've ever witnessed. Most of the costumers there were expeeeeerienced costumers. I was in my late 20s, but there were people there who'd been master-level since before I was born. Their costumes were beautiful, don't get me wrong, but everyone knew each other, and everyone was at a higher level than I was, most of the awards went to the same people, so it seemed very exclusive. When I managed the courage to strike up conversation with some of the other attendees, it felt really patronizing, especially because I hadn't paid for my own ticket. I had the opposite of a good time (not to mention the one costume I did bring and bother to wear was a poor choice, though I couldn't have possibly known that in advance).
That was a bummer, but I've got a story about owning my not-belonging-ness too: I'm used to being the token brown person among my friends (as I was at Costume Con), so it was business as usual when one of them took me to my first hockey game. Our teams are rivals, but I was on the good side of the crowd and the outcome that night, so all the heckling was focused on her. But when I took another of my friends to a game a few months later, and we slipped into Spanglish, did we ever get some dirty looks. Now we do it on purpose because the reactions are hilarious, especially when we go to away games!
Also I'm playing ALBW, after spending the bus ride not being able to set it up, after downloading the damned thing, after passing out in the middle of the day because I couldn't sleep last night and the coffee I got before I left wasn't very strong, and after dinner. It's cute! I'm only up to the first dungeon, though. I tried liveblogging it on tumblr (WARNING: SPOILERS), but I have too many thoughts so I've given up on that for now. Just gonna focus on playing. :)
4141 3261 3759