Well day four of doing a daily blog, not bad for a man who normally quits this kind of thing after only the first few attempts. But this is good, I'm enjoying it and I hope if you happen to read my ramblings you are enjoying it to, be a nice bonus. So what am I going to discuss in this one, I have to be honest I wasn't entirely sure until I sat down listening to a bit of Iron Maiden and the song Wildest Dreams just blasted into my earphones. I do love when inspiration can take a metaphorical frying pan and beat you across the head to get the message through. So that is what I'm going to talk about, dreams, ambitions and how they keep me sane.
So we start simple, hobbies, there are a few I quite enjoy and in particular there are two that stand out, to the point they allow me to express myself in ways I had never really imagined. I'll start with cosplay, to those unfamiliar with it, I'll just break it down. Cosplay is derived from two words, costume and play and that should give you a massive hint already. I get to dress up as some of my favourite characters, attend various events and have a great deal of fun doing it. I can imagine some already going 'but that's just fancy dress' trust me, it involves an element of that, but the reality is much more interesting. Being honest, depending on who you ask, cosplay is described in many ways. But if I was to try and sum it up in a sentence, its a form of roleplaying where you can bring characters to life from your favourite things (film, TV, comics, animation) through costume and play with the bonus of attending events and be part of a fantastic community. I'll be honest, that doesn't do it justice, because the level of some of the costumes, man you wouldn't believe, the effort people put in, from the person who buys their costume to those who create things so visually stunning its beautiful. Everyone, from those who are starting out to the veterans, they are all so amazing and the community is equally so, ok not perfect, but tell a fandom that is.
So what attracted me to cosplay, well, honestly, pure escapism and just giving into that mega geek within. For a few hours I could be anything I wanted to be, I could be a Sith Lord, Crime boss or even a classic goon for some villain. The freedom I felt doing it, one of my first characters was a Sith Lord I created, an original character, called Lord Stryfe. I had no real craft skill, no real talent for making things, so I actually used bits of old Halloween costumes and modded them best I could. Threw on a cheap ski mask, cut up an old long leather coat and with perfect timing, my brother and sister in law bought me a lightsaber toy. So first take him to a photoshoot (which funny enough will be something else I'll talk about) run by a good friend who was so amazingly kind to me and let me join in. Now I add amazingly kind because if you saw the people who turned up to this, we had a Harley Quinn that looked like she was lifted from the pages of a comic, Jessica Rabbit, brought to life (again epic) hell I could go on, we had the most Wolverine looking Logan I've ever met. There were so many amazing ones, that I could do an essay on each, but lets say its surreal to realise you are in a room with such epic people and characters. Do you know the best part, there is me, in my frankly knocked together outfit, looking nowhere near as good and all of them, every single person made me feel part of the shoot, part of the group and as time went on, part of an ever growing list of friends, good friends.
Trust me, I could write for hours how amazing life has been since taking up the hobby, being part of this cosplaying community. Through it I've gained friends, overcome many of my confidence issues and its given me a means to cope. I now attend conventions, actually had cosplays requested and get invited to wonderful meetings, it just opened up my life. See when I do cosplay, as I mentioned earlier, I have that sense of freedom, that escapism, it all helps me, but it does extend further. Now I build things, I create new cosplays, learn new skills and I do a photography, only as a hobbyist, but its fun. These new things, these extensions of the hobby can often keep me busy when I need to be, give me an outlet that allows me to focus my mind. You could quite easily say that cosplay saved my life in many ways, but I will add there are many other things and people that also do the same but have nothing to do with cosplay. Not underselling cosplays importance to me, but it is just one part of my life, as I stated at the beginning, I have many hobbies, but I also have many wonderful diverse friendships.
Wow, just realised how big this is and I was going to cover two hobbies, tell you what, I hope you can forgive me but I'll not do the second now, I'll do that as a kind of part two to this one. I am reading back over this and thinking, man have I missed so much out, but I am travelling memory lane and blogging it is going to take a few posts I think. But maybe that's something I need to consider, I want to talk about my past, but I need to talk about my present more to, maybe even some plans for the future. So I'll leave this here, come back and I'll finish this off with its part two, which is pretty much going to about my love of photography and how I was inspired.
Great blog mate!
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