Something About Singaporeans :)

I was a wee bit disappointed by the Singapore Poly cosplay event today. I got there late because I had stayed out all night and had to get enough sleep before going out again.

Coupled with that fact was that I had some birthday to attend at 6pm. Timing was REAL tight.

After a pretty bumpy start because:

1. I tried to get there earlier to maximise time at the event.

2. I could not locate any cosplayers at all when I first got there, and for some reason, Wolfy didn't pick up his phone so I did not know where they all were.....:P 

3. after walking around Singapore Poly for 45 mins, I finally located the cosplayers by chance...

4. You bet I was terribly angry with Mr Wolf. I almost decided to leave SP because I had failed to contact any of them. When I saw him, I lost my temper... and I think unfortunately, people saw it.

5. I finally changed into my outfit at about 3.30pm. Well, instead of walking about, the group decided to hide in one corner instead. I was a bit annoyed, but hey, its a group thing so I decided to go with the flow.

(You bet after this I got some of the cosplayers' mobile numbers.... just in case .... for future events)

 I had to leave at 5.30pm. And to be honest I was .... annoyed... for a variety of reasons. I was feeling pretty nasty and was thinking about how stupid (and what a washout) everything was... and also because I had to attend some stupid person's birthday... a person who has on prior occasions shown that she dislikes me and wants to compete with me on some inane stuff...


Well, I COULD have taken the high road and been mature about the whole thing, but I guess I was feeling childish and annoyed and well.... I really didn't want to meet up with the birthday celebrants at 6pm. 


I decided that since I struggled to get into my period outfit at 3.30pm, it would be too much of a hassle to get out of it at a loo and then take the train to see those people. In fact, I might end up being terribly late. So I decided to get onto public transport looking like this:

I was thinking Fuck all those silly girls, I think I'll just tell them about this one aspect of my secret life.... see what they say/stare/whatever..... :(

One of the biggest biggest things about my life now is that it is just ONE BIG MASQUERADE. At home I'm pretending to be a "good, conservative person", at work I'm a "staid, conservative worker", with my old school friends I'm "not doing anything interesting".... and so on...

At the very least, I'll be able to say that I did something ballsy.  

I learned something about Singaporeans.... if they want to ignore something... my god, they are masters at being blind. Sure, some people on the train stared at first, but then they turned away in 1 second, especially when they think I'm turning to look in their direction. It's like they were "scared" I looked at them or something.... The only person who maintained eye contact was a lady with a toddler who was fascinated by the whole spectacle. 

At first the kid seemed a little afraid of me. But I think he was in awe or something. The only decent thing for me to do was to wave at him and interact with him in some way.... that would create good vibes all round and a good impression of Ezio as a character. Yeah, at that point in time, I understood how mascot-people felt.

Throughout the entire trip down to town, some teenage guy standing behind me was giving a running commentary about cosplay and characters... he didn't say anything nasty so I ignored him. 

What's funnier was the fact that, in a semi-packed train. No one... and I mean, no one wanted to grab the pole I was holding. I was courteous and did not lean on it, but heck, no one wanted to "share the pole" so to speak. Even people holding the pole backed away. Two ladies boarded the train at Buona Vista stood to one side instead of holding the pole. 

It's like, they didn't want to look into my face.

I'm sure some people felt it was downright inappropriate or disgusted... but I think for the most part, people were a little bit intimidated. 

It's just weird. Why should anyone be intimidated by a videogame character? And yes, I am mature enough to take off ALL my weapons before getting on the train. It's completely illogical. 

Anyway, I decided that the best response was to act nonchalantly. I mean, I have a good looking period outfit and why should I behave as if I am ashamed? I walked out of the train at City Hall as if I was in normal attire and headed up and out of the station. As I got out of the turnstile and into Citylink, I think I heard a very very audible "Whoa!" from the crowd. And City Hall station is a bustling hub on a Saturday. 

Walking through Citylink Mall, I am soooooo amazed how many people can breeze past me without a single stare... heh heh... I think some people were either so deep in conversation or in their thoughts they didn't know that a guy in a period outfit was walking past them.

Sooooo did I go to a fancy Italian restaurant as Ezio? Sadly, I chickened out at the last minute and changed into my normal clothes.

So much for ballsy....

I think I really enjoyed the experience... yeah I guess I'm either a wee bit attention-starved.. or.... I am turning into B, my "otaku" friend.., and am revelling in the inappropriate.

I have been doing some.... spiritual stuff that does affect my personality and behaviour. Perhaps I'm finally learning to accept the parts of me I have despised previously... the parts that were quite dominant in my criminal lifetimes....

I think as I was doing the stroll of City Hall, the words of Alain Robert (the french "spiderman"/freeclimber who likes to scale skyscrapers) rang in my mind. He was asked if he had ever reconsidered this career decision... he replied, "... I'm living a life of bravery and courage... and why should I give it up for.. what? A desk job? A "normal" life?" 

Hmmm "a life of bravery and courage".... that's a really nice thought. Can I ever live that kind of life?

"Update ur blog more often...."

"Update ur blog more often.... " that was what Wolfy said in between cigarette puffs last night....

"What on earth is there to talk about????"

Well, the holidays have been quite a washout for me. Christmas was snoozeville.... and if not for the fact that I asked Wolfy to organise something for the New Year, it would ALSO have been another night in snoozeville.

The only thing that happened over the Christmas - New Year holidays was that a senior student at the swordfighting school who moved to Finland because he found love is back with his wifey for a visit.  The amazing thing is that for a guy who was.... "a really really BIG GUY" (as in really really round)... he's now slimmed down so much he has almost no belly to speak of.... and yeah... arms with a lot of muscle. But that's not the most amazing thing.... he coincidentally... (now, in the world of karma there is really no true coincidence.... ) he looks remarkably like Clar, a friend of mine who moved to Edinburgh for study/work and who ALSO learns martial arts...

The similarities between the two guys is pretty amazing... both are gamers, both like similar games, both are equally well-educated... and er... both seem to have similar taste in women.... 

Of course, karmically speaking, I figure that with the senior student, K, am just now meeting the guy I am supposed to meet.... and Clar my friend who moved away was not truly the one I was to meet in this lifetime. Sometimes, your old friends, acquaintances, even enemies return to you, but just not in the form of the same person... its more like... the same set of personality traits (even in appearance), just in a different body.

There is a spiritual reason for this, but I think I won't get into it here. It's pretty complicated and requires a lot of explanation and ideas that you might find truly hard to accept.

Anyways, I kinda enjoyed my first meeting with K. Firstly, he brought some truly tasty liquorice-flavoured alcohol (terribly strong though) and I had a taste of Elk meat. :D And true to rumour, he is pretty eloquent. I don't know what the lesson is here for me... IF there even is a lesson, but I think the Source is showing me something about the whole situation, I guess I'll just have to figure it all out.

Martial arts wise, I think K and wifey have taught me some useful things. They also made it simple to understand.... gosh I wish people would use less words and just summarise some concepts... I realise that if I am to learn the er..... "medieval Italian martial arts system" taught at the school, I'll have to try and remember the info in really simple terms.... I mean, when you ARE fighting (either for your life or just to win)... can you even remember ANYTHING??? It's got to be simple with simple principles......:P

And no, I cannot for the life of me remember all those Italian words.....:( I mean, that whole walky-thing-with-the-scissor-legs has a similar sounding name to the system of unarmed combat..... haiz..... it was not until I did some googling that I finally figured out the difference with the spelling...... :P

Despite the terminology, and the fact that I'm probably the second newest and least talented student at the school... I am in fact rather enjoying the experience... I do admit, I like physical combat.... even though I look nothing like a fighter. I think I am starting to learn my own strengths through this...

The strangest thing is that everyone in the school is like some kind of karmic mirror for me. Perhaps I am in turn a karmic mirror for them... but.... oh well... we'll see.... I am learning lessons from each of them... from the smallest person to the biggest.... Now, being a smallish person myself (Wolfy I'm sure will not agree with this) who is ... height-challenged... I learned that it is important to not be fixated on conventional means of fighting but to capitalise on one's strengths and find a way around things, no matter how impossible something is.... but more important, not to build the belief that because one is physically challenged, one cannot win a fight by force of arms...

Okay..... well, maybe this kinda thinking only works for me and no one else.....:P So far its been okay..... I did manage to make a few lucky stabs at some people and I'm sometimes surprised at what I can do....

I am pleased with the progress I have made ... even though the triumphs are pretty mini compared to... some other people... but that's related to another lesson I gotta learn.....

Okay... the last thing... before I end this LONG post....

I did another stupid thing today and visited LP to make another outfit......:P

I think when it comes to er.... the outfits, I must have lost all my brains or something....

Anywho, the outfit I got LP to look at is the one below:

My original intention was to make another Ezio outfit like in 2012... but I realised that with things being uncertain in this world, its probably better to do what I wanna do now and not put it off till later. 'cos later might mean that "resources" now available might not be available at the time I want them..... (I'm not talking about money here)

Also, after wearing my silver doublet with the poofy sleeves for like 3 days in a row.. I sorta realised that having 2 outfits is better in terms of look, feeling ( yeah... even if I used the Peppermint to limit odours and sweating, the inner shirt can get pretty grimy after 2 consecutive days in Singapore weather.) and er... heh.... smell.... *grin*.... some gal at STGCC actually commented that I smell an awful lot like cheesecake.... eeeeewwwww... she also remarked that it made her feel hungry... I don't know if that is a compliment or.... 

Well.. she was a pretty weird little girl anyway.... she asked me if I would give her my Ezio outfit.... :P

SOOOOOOO.... I guess I've got my work cut out for me, since I also decided to make the armour myself... (this is to lower cost and er.... I don't really wanna wear PVC armour anyway)

Lastly, I did also think about perhaps getting LP to refurbish my robes instead. It WOULD be cheaper. However, the more I looked at my robes the more they started to resemble.... a nightgown. I mean, its okay for Dumbledore to walk around in a nightgown because he is an old fuddy-duddy.... I think I'm FAR from fuddy-duddy-ism...

I also think my personal tastes are changing. I used to think robes were okay.... until I realised that er.... one of the guys I dislike wears robes at cosplay too ... probably because it helps to hide fats.....:( Also, during some of the conventions, when I met some of the OTHER "Ezio"s I am pretty glad I don't have 3 spare tires on my tummy nor do I look like a stick in jeans.  :P

I tried googling for a nice robe design, but for the most part, the concept art of most robes look nasty... (they mostly look like crumpled and oversized pjs) and the robes on most neo-pagan and larp sites look even worse than the one I have now.....:P

In fact, the black Ezio outfit does really look much nicer .... and if I wanted to, I could just take off the armour and wear them like robes... heh.

Mannnn.... if designers could just take a totally unconventional view on wizard fashion... we could have some pretty nice things.... I did like the outfit below:

 

But I just didn't want another PVC coat. Yeah probably this design would require a lot of PVC for the leather effect. And what's more, how on earth am I gonna clean this crap???

Soooooo I ended up in a costume for 3 days....

I think I must be super bored. I ended up walking around Suntec and later at Republic Poly for 3 days as Ezio..... :P

This was because both STGCC and EOY fell on the same weekend.... so yeah, Friday, Sat and Sunday....

Needless to say, the outfit went to the laundry immediately after that.....  :P The laundry ladies didn't quite know what to make of the outer silver doublet... and then after that there was the issue of pricing... luckily they didn't decide to charge me the cost of an overcoat in terms of pricing for dry cleaning.....:whew:

Bad news, the red lining of my cape isn't colourfast and 'cos of all the sweat, it stained my silver doublet.... haiz. More bad news, dry cleaning doesn't take it out.

Thing is I found out that going to an event alone is pretty lonely.... :( I ended up humming that cheesy "lllrrrroonnnneeellyy.... I am so llllrrronneeelly.... all on my own...." tune in the Suntec loo.....:( Luckily 'cos it was a pretty isolated loo, no one heard me.....:(


It would be really nice if I had someone other than Wolfy to go to these events with....:( Unfortunately, he was in Australia when I went for STGCC....


The following are some selected pics from both events.

I managed to get some pretty nice pictures
from other photographers at STGCC

Do not be fooled by the lightsaber.
Other than moi and the guy I really dislike,
this is probably the only other
costumed guy at STGCC who knows how to fence.

Some nice older cosplayers I met.

The problem with people who have too true-to-life outfits is that they often also have true-to-life weapons. V's daggers are steel and sharpened. Very dangerous actually since a lot of idiots at these events can just walk into them. That is one reason why I've opted to carry a fake-looking and completely blunt sword...

I do like him... loads of fun, bubbily... and also just 4 years my junior... yup, "Naruto" has found the fountain of youth.

I found them to be pretty inspiring... although their get up is simple.. it is accurate as they are from some Digimon anime. And yeah, they were always perfectly in character.

Being a history buff I would really like to see more historical stuff at future events. Although the uniforms are re-creations, they do look authentic. Apparently the only thing that does date from World War 2 is the gun holster on the Russian's belt.

"Ur outfit really reminds me of the SS...."
At that point I had just taken the photo of
the historical guys, so the notion had stuck in my mind.
"No no," she replied. "It's from...."
(okay... I forgot the name of the anime )
Still... it does look very Herr Kommisar-ish..

I like the group that does free hugs, they are the only ones who made me smile at the 2 days of STGCC... Yeah, the hugs do help my llllrrrronnneli-ness.

This is just too cute. I'm getting the ears and paws....

Cosplay singles competition. Most of the acts fell flat.... especially those with dialogue. The dialogue sound was just too soft.

Most of the group category acts were pretty flat as well.... in the end... dancing Patapons won the audience vote.... :(

Audience Favourite

Apparently, since my own debut as "Ezio" on the cosplaying scene... other "Ezio"'s have also popped up.... The group was a mixed bunch in the group competition... I decided to watch and try to support them... after all they did teach me how to make a hidden blade that works....

I have only one piece of advice for them.

Learn some martial arts... or wushu.... and choreograph ur act before you go on stage again. The "fighting" was soooo soooo bad.... later when surfing around online, I found someone in the local Hardwarezone forum who commented that he was terribly disappointed by the cosplay of the guy who did Ezio (brotherhood version) in the competition cos his costume looked very (CMI - cannot make it). :((((

Wolfy ... as you can see was terribly happy at EOY.

I on the other hand was a bit exhausted by the whole thing.. but had time for a few pics.. especially this one... with the 4kg hat... yeah.. 4kgs... she has a strong neck.

With the exception of moi, everyone in that pic is a furry. Wolfy btw was terribly happy to have found his "furry community"... it was like a homecoming for him.

Wolfy tried to help me take some nice shots... but all the nice EOY shots are naturally not taken by me or Wolfy... and this just reminds me of how short I am ... haiz.

At the end I was really exhausted and ended up sleeping at home for a couple of days... how can I do this? Well... I have semi-bum status...:( 

Enjoy the pics.... let me know if you are interested in accompanying me to the events... and are free to do so.....