NYCC

I've been going to NYCC since 2013. It was the outlet that filled my love for Halloween, but being only one day a year and I wanted more than one day/occasion to dress up. It's funny because I've always loved Halloween. I even went home from college during the first few years to take my baby sis trick or treating still since I wasn't the partying type. I just like the dress up part.
And in spring of 2013 my friends suggested we check out NYCC. I knew about it but not what it entailed. And this was back when cosplay was not a big scene yet and you had to make/put together your own costumes. There wasn't a big commission community yet and the designs were all very primitive. It was a lot of trial and error. There weren't a lot of "good" cosplays either and nerds got a bad rap for being, well, nerds. Basically, if you cosplayed you got made fun of unless you were really good or really hot.
Today, cosplay has become more mainstream and popular and there are a lot more outlets and resources when it comes to making your costume or commissioning one to be made and the end product is much better in terms of quality and end product than before. And cheaper too since there is also more competition. And people are more supportive. But with all things that evolve and become bigger, it comes with a price. Cosplay is not all it's cracked up to be. There's a lot of negativity, drama, backlash, controversy, snakes and hypocrites in the community. When I started in 2013, for me and my friends, it was simply putting on a costume and attending a convention. Then as we delved into the world of cosplay and the community it entails, I learned there's a darkness unto it and a world that can be pretty draining, time consuming and a wasteful money sink of a hobby. 

In 2013 I dressed up as a minion, Iron Man, and Sucker Punch's Babydoll. These "costumes" were very bad so feel free to laugh. 

Photos by Eddy Suarez (besides my obvious phone photos because first year as a noob)

In 2014 I attended again as Sailor Moon, Harley Quinn and Nurse Joy. Sailor Moon was pretty ratchet and Nurse Joy I still am pretty ashamed of, looking back. It's funny because at the time you personally think to yourself "This looks great!" But seriously I look back and I'm like wtf was I thinking. My Harley tho. I will always love her. I'm still proud of her today. She was my original design and it was the year I got married so I was my best shape at the time training for my wedding and stressed out from wedding mishaps and wisdom teeth removal literally a week before NYCC. 

Photos by Eddy Suarez, Jaycee Estrella Photography

In 2015 I attended again but started going 4 days. This time I was my own version of Suicide Harley, Alice: Madness Returns' Royal Suit Alice, BioShock's Little Sister and Tinkerbell. I was actually pretty proud of these and how they came out. I went big with the props and invested more into the cosplays in making sure they looked decent for this year. I would love to rewear Alice and Little Sister again. Harley I actually threw together as a joke because the trailer for Suicide Squad just came out that summer and people were rooting for me to do her but I wasn't in love with her original design for my body type to be honest so I threw together a crop top and high waisted version. Ironically she didn't turn out so bad and I wore it purposely on a Thursday as a throwaway costume since Thursday is the lowest turnout but it ended up being a hit and a lot of people really enjoyed it. Tinkerbell was a fun one to do as well and I loved wearing the wings and seeing all the kids light up when they saw me. I rewore it later that month for my first Disney Halloween and I loved it. 

Photos by: Sage Studio, Ron Gejon, View Beyond Sight, Future Photography by M3,  Maze Studio, Hero Hotties, Kim Photos, Jaycee Estrella Photography, NYC Traveler TV

 In 2016, I attended again all 4 days as a Suicide Squad Harley and Sailor Moon fanart mashup, Super Sailor Moon, Falcon and Fleur Delacour. I prob shouldn't have done the mashup as my body was slowly going downhill this year so it wasn't the most flattering. But the design itself I liked. I would love to redo those pics now though in my current shape. Super Sailor Moon was one of my dream cosplays but I wasn't in love with how it came out especially since my hair just would not cooperate and there were so many hiccups that day. It was also my first time handling a big group. I give props to the girls for bringing it altogether in the end and making my dream cosplay a reality but truth be told, groups are stressful and a LOT of hard work. I never want to put together another one again. Its great when it all comes together but it's a really big thing to juggle.  

Falcon I was excited about and I enjoyed this cosplay but the day was so busy for some reason I honestly never got good pics of this. I don't even really remember the day, honestly. It was all a blur. Fleur was a short day because of how cold it was and it was on a Sunday, the day everyone starts to feel burnt out and lazy. I didn't get a lot of decent pics that day either.  

Photos by: Jaycee Estrella Photography, Cantera Image, Odin's Iris, NYC Traveler TV, The Junkman, Chris Narvaez, Maze Studio

In 2017 I attended all 4 days but with 3 costumes. I came as Lollipop Chainsaw's Juliet Starling, Valentine Harley and Wonder Woman. I was my heaviest this year so in retrospect, I wasn't happy with how these photos came out. They were okay at the time but looking at how I look now and then, I wish I had taken my fitness more seriously and buckled down to make these look better. I hated how I look as Valentine Harley with my stomach bulging. My Wonder Woman looked a little too chunky and I was struggling to hide rolls in my Juliet as I posed. 

Photos by: Jason Laboy, Jaycee Estrella Photography, Ron Gejon, NYC Traveler TV, Boris Quezada

For this year, I honestly have no plans because I did pretty much all the dream cosplays I wanted to do. There are still some on my list I would love to do but I'll live if I never get around to them. I might just rewear my favorite cosplays again since I'm in better shape now and would love to just finally do them some justice.

I've actually neglected cosplay all year since I've been working on my weight issues and fine tuning my body and my health. I've been working out for the past 6 months and I really hope to keep it up for the rest of the year. It's my biggest goal I've set for myself years ago and I'm finally achieving it and being much healthier. 

It also felt good to not waste money on cosplay although I didn't really save any money, it simply was allocated to different things. I saved in the sense that my money was better vested in different outlets. I spent it on traveling instead and adventures in Paris. No regrets though. I do think that my money is better spent on travel and experiences since cosplay is starting to get monotonous and not as fulfilling anymore. Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy it, but it's starting to get boring and the same old- same old after a while. I don't really get as much out of it anymore. But my adventures and sightseeing and experiences in Japan last year, Paris, and even back to California? I enjoyed a lot more. And I want to spend my time making memories with the ones I love most. I would love to spend more time with the boy since cosplay isn't exactly something we can do together. So this year, I've limited myself to just NYCC and no other cons. And again, slowing down on cosplay, or rather a halt altogether on new cosplays. 

If I redo cosplays, I would love to redo my original Harley, Juliet Starling, Sailor Moon, and Royal Suit Alice. 

If I work on new cosplays, I would like to do Ranma 1/2's Shampoo, Chobits' Kotoko, Oh My Goddess's Belldandy, and Silent Hill's Pyramid Head (this project is forever ongoing actually, idk if I'll ever complete it.). 

Everything else I would love to just reshoot and get nicer out of con photos. 

It's also been refreshing to take a step back from the people in cosplay too. I realized I've grown apart and out of it with the people in it. Honestly, cosplay is on the decline for me. It was a lot more fun when it had its mysteries, but over the years from getting to know people and see their insecurities, their selfishness, shameless self-promotion, sell-out ways, daddy issues, rudeness, hunger for drama - especially dumbass bullshit drama that doesn't even matter compared to real life serious shit, and everything else, the magic has faded. This is why they say don't meet your heroes. You find out the ugliness behind everything. 

I've never wanted to climb this ladder. I just wanted to put on a costume for a day and have fun with my friends. I just like taking pictures. So this year, I attend for the sake of just having fun with my friends and family. I want to keep it simple and enjoy the day. Maybe take more time to look at booths and see everything and experience things. This was how 2013 was when we didn't know anyone. We simply enjoyed all 3 days there and took our time exploring and soaking in everything. Back to basics. But with a bigger attendance since NYCC has grown a lot since 2013. If you see me there, feel free to say hi, but don't be creepy. A lot of people are creepy. I've had those experiences too. Last year, a weirdo asked to take a pic with me in my Juliet Starling costume. He tried to touch me and I moved his hand several times indicating my boundaries, but of course some people just can't take a hint. Then he proceeded to ask me to "share my lollipop with him." WTF. Get out of here. Don't do this. If you do this, you're a fucking weirdo. Just leave. Do yourself a favor. Before you start a scenario with someone in real life, think about how it plays out in your head. If your own mother would rate it a heavy 10 on a creepy scale, don't do it. Step away. Go back to your basement. 

Oh yeah, and here's your reminder that I'm married. So it's hella creepy. And oh yes, he finds out everything you try to do. And the internet does too. I'll roast your ass. Just unfollow me now while you're at it. 

Hope you have a good NYCC 2018, bitches. 

Happy Go Lucky

Yesterday on my day off, I went on another gram date with my siblings.

flourshop

Our destinations for this trip were:

  1. Mister Dips
  2. Vinnie's Pizza
  3. Flour Shop
  4. Happy Go Lucky
  5. TsuruTonTan
  6. Museum Mile

We made it to everything but the museum mile but that's okay. I have all summer and the museums in NYC are not going anywhere. 

Mister Dips was a foodie place I saw on Facebook last year through those videos showcasing places to eat in NYC. I've been trying to get here for a while now but it's out of the way in terms of my usual route when I'm in the city and something always comes up or I run out of time. This time I was determined to finally make it there by making it the first stop of the day. 
It's known for serving only three items initially but has since expanded its menu beyond burgers, fries and ice cream. I wanted to come here because the food looked good and the ice cream cones looked really pretty, so this was a #doitforthegram type of stop. It actually wasn't as hard to get through as I initially thought. I was afraid I would have to make that dreaded commute through Queens, Manhattan and then Brooklyn before getting there. But the train I usually take into Manhattan actually had an easy transfer while still in Queens. Took the E to the G and then had a short walk over to the place. The location is actually pretty interesting. It's a cute little food truck "parked" on top of an elevated outdoor promenade of the William Vale hotel. We wanted to try a little bit of everything so we ordered burgers, buffalo chicken fingers, loaded waffle fries, and 3 different ice cream cones. It was definitely a bit excessive but I figured why not since I finally made it out there and who knows when and if I would come back. The verdict? The food was good, but very messy to eat. I mean, I should've expected since it's in the name that everything is "dipped." But the burger oozed out grease, the fries were overly loaded and dripping in cheese, the chicken fingers drenched in hot sauce and even the ice cream had strawberry and caramel saucing dripping everywhere. We literally could not eat any of it without needing a shit ton of napkins for each bite. The burgers are good but Shake Shack still reigns supreme. The waffle fries were delicious but may have been better if they weren't so overly loaded. Sometimes a little goes a long away. The ice cream, while instagrammable, was way too sweet, honestly. We had the Berry Dip, Skinny Dip and Jacker Crax 2.0. It was sugar overload. We weren't able to finish it because it was just too saturated with sugar. Diabetic coma. And they don't really give you a lot for the frozen lemonade either for your money's worth. It was nice to try once for the gram but I don't think I would come back again. It's out of the way and overpriced for what it is. It's Instagrammable but doesn't live up to the hype in terms of taste and foodie satisfaction. It's more eye candy than optimally delicious.

After Mister Dips, we headed over to Vinnie's pizza because I wanted to try the pizza-ception pizza that I saw as well in yet another Facebook video of NYC food, lol. Damn these foodie videos luring me into their traps. But unfortunately when we got there, they didn't have any available and we didn't have time to wait since we had an appointment at the Happy Go Lucky art exhibit. So we made it, but we didn't really get to check it off our list since we didn't actually get to try the pizza. Although, the good thing is after eating healthy for so long, I actually don't crave pizza. When I do eat it though, it's good don't get me wrong, but I'm able to control my craving for it and not want it so much anymore. So it wasn't a total bummer that we didn't get to try this. Maybe another time. 

Next to Mister Dips was a store called Stone Flower that sold the cutest things! It's funny because I actually own a few things from this store (gifts from family and friends) but have never been here. It's such a small store but so pretty and has so much unique cute knick knacks. I bought some pens and a cute pair of iridescent bunny earmuffs for the winter. 

We headed out of Brooklyn and stopped at the Flour Shop next on our way to Happy Go Lucky. I saw the Flour Shop on Instagram and I couldn't not go. The rainbow decor in the shop was calling to me. And then the weekend before I saw that Jellio Design was teaming up with the shop and had their rainbow gummy bears there for the month for Pride Month! How perfect. This ended up being one of my favorite stops for the day. I wish I could own one of these bears for my house, actually who am I kidding, I want all the colors, but I don't have that kind of bougie money to be just throwing away like that. One day though. I would love to own a lot of ridiculous shit in my house, hahaha. The people in the shop, both workers and customers were really nice in letting me set up the bears for my shot. I didn't plan to purchase anything, I just wanted to stop by for the gram and they were so nice about it. 

Afterwards, we finally headed over to Happy Go Lucky a few blocks over. It's another interactive art exhibit that just opened up over the weekend. I found out about it on Facebook last month while they were still building and my sisters were intent on going. It's a ticketed event similar to the Museum of Ice Cream and actually uses the same system to buy tickets too so you have to buy tickets on line and ahead of time to reserve your time slot. 
It's very similar to MOIC, but it doesn't have a central food theme. Their theme was simply creating fantasy rooms that were something out of a dream. Some rooms were like that, but not all rooms, I would have to say. And like the Egg Shop, I do have to say they spent more time on some rooms than others, unfortunately. Overall, it was a nice experience and I would definitely recommend doing it, but be mindful of a few things. I was a little annoyed because when we got there it wasn't too busy but the couple in front of us spent a LOT of time in the diamond room - the most coveted room - and I didn't mind this but when it was our turn, the line had gone out the door and the exhibit got really busy so they limited how much time my group was allowed in the diamond room and only gave us 3 minutes for photos. I wasn't too happy with that since my photos didn't come out as well as I would've liked since I was under a time constraint while several people in front of us that went before us, were not rushed and were able to take their time. The couple was in there for a good 10 minutes for just two people, but when we got in there, they gave us a time limit of 3 minutes for a party of 5 people. The rest of the exhibit was not as nice as the diamond room, I would say. It was their "sprinkle pool" I'd say. I wish I knew that they were going to give us a time constraint because then I would've planned my poses better for my photos. I mean, I understand they had to start timing everyone but it's not fair that the two people in front of us were not timed and were allowed to spend as much time as they wanted while we waited patiently. So if you go, time your arrival just right as you walk through the door to experience the exhibit, and make sure you have your poses ready and take as many as you can in your time allotment. 


As for the rest of the exhibit, I loved the giant clam shell and pearl, and the chili pepper but everything else felt not as up to par. The balloons were pretty but felt a little cheap since they kept having to replace them as they popped. The first floor of the exhibit is brightly lit, while the basement was really poorly lit so it was hard to get nice photos with the neon signs unless you had a professional camera. The rest of the exhibit also requires you to get creative with your photos and use of the space. I would definitely research looks and poses before coming to maximize your time and best shots. Maybe this is a reason why I should've waited to visit later on in the month instead of during the first few opening weeks. But you know, the sell out hype and wanting to do it asap for the gram got the better of me unfortunately. Patience is hard to learn, lol. 

happygoluckypearl

After the exhibit, we had dinner at TsuruTonTan. I've been wanting to try this place too after watching yet another Facebook video last year about how big the bowls and portions are here. I love udon and I've been craving soup since I rarely have it nowadays being on a healthy diet and soup is so full of sodium so it's not the best choice. But alas, today was a cheat day and I was making the most of it. I got the TsuruTonTan Deluxe and it was delicious! Although I couldn't finish it all, hahaha. It's a lot of food! Especially for someone who's shrunk their stomach from eating healthy and eating smaller portions for 6 months. I actually can't wait for my next day off/cheat day because I'll probably grab another Asian soup dish again because man, Asians are the bomb dot com at soup. I miss pho and bun bo hue and ramen (not that instant or cup garbage) so much. Til the next cheat day/gram adventure!

diamond room