The Inexplicable Stress of Cosplaying Gets to the Duck

I’ve been stressing myself out quite a bit lately over my newest costume for the 2015 masquerade. I still need to type up a post on my progress, but for now, suffice it to say, I’m freaking myself out, largely for no reason. I’m sure I’ll get everything done in plenty of time, despite having to work with material I am not familiar with, such as craft foam and resin. And I have to give my wig a haircut… Nevertheless, I think my costume really will turn out pretty good, but my stress seems to be coming out in my sleep, considering the great number of dreams I’ve been having where the masquerade turns disastrous.

The night of 2/11/15, I dreamt I went to the comicon with my parents. I was dressed in my Ghirahim costume, and we walked about this immensely crowded place while looking for something my dad wanted to buy. It eventually occurred to me…I had completely forgotten about prejudging. It felt as if many hours had passed, but it was merely 9:30 in the morning, so I thought I would be okay. And yet, despite the hour, the line was absurd, and I worried I wouldn’t be allowed to enter the contest because they had too many entrants. I waited in line, which looped through all these rooms, and I did get to see the judges after quite some time.

After all this stress and waiting and stressful waiting and…waitingful stress, and after realizing I may have forgotten my music CD, I saw this screen that had the names of many of the people who wished to enter the masquerade and whether or not they had made it through. The word beneath my name switched between several different options before landing on the most insensitive of them all, “Failed”. Devastated, I tried to find a judge so I could beg and grovel and plead with them until they let me perform. I had worked a year on this costume, and I couldn’t stand the thought of having to wait until next year. I found this strange, old man who I believe was in charge, and while I did manage to speak to him (about what, I forgot), I was unable to make myself beg because he was nice, and I didn’t want to bother him.

It’s silly, but this was quite an upsetting dream, and I suppose it just comes from all that silly worry I’ve been feeling lately, including anxiety over forgetting to prepare and sign up and all of that beforehand. I highly doubt I’m going to forget the masquerade, but I nearly forgot to prepare for the other costume contest I planned to attend. Though, in the end, I decided not to enter that contest, after all. This means I will be entering my Ghirahim costume into the novice category, not the journeyman, but the other comicon I planned to attend for a second Kefka performance, I found had no masquerade. There was indeed a contest, but what I found on Youtube was quite disappointing. You merely stood on a small stage, answered a few questions, posed, and left. And yet, their rules were identical to those of the other comicon’s masquerade, which didn’t make any sense to me, and while they didn’t really appear to use music, they still wanted you to bring music, but on a flash drive rather than a CD. And I don’t think I have any spare flash drives. I mean, I have this awesome one that looks like Dave from Despicable Me, but I use that one to back up Wii U files, so… (I would certainly buy a flash drive for the big masquerade, but I was feeling a bit stubborn after seeing how small this contest was.)

So in the end, I will still be attending the smaller comicon, I just won’t be entering the contest, and I think that’s for the best. For one thing, the wig I bought for Kefka is just not fitting me right, nor is the ponytail staying up without extensive clips, and it just looks silly. (Ghirahim’s wig, on the other hand, looks awesome, which is great, as it is a far graver sin to cosplay as a dark-haired Ghirahim than a dark-haired Kefka.) And I decided, why rush into the higher ranks anyway? The masquerade begins with novice cosplayers, then, goes on to journeyman, and then it ends with those with the highest skills of all. This means that when I eventually make it up to the higher ranks, I will essentially be sitting nearly the entire masquerade in the green room. I will only get to watch the end of the masquerade, and how fun is that? So I decided, I’m going to relax and enjoy one final masquerade before I am upgraded to journeyman (you need only compete twice to reach this category) and am no longer able to enjoy the contest to its fullest. And I’m not going to let these pesky dreams psych me out. This year’s masquerade is going to be awesome!

The Duck Doesn’t Fear You, Sunconscious!