My Ghost Adventures - Knocks in the Night

To start at the beginning of this series, click here!

Even though I live in a haunted house, we have periods were there is no activity at all. And usually the activity we get isn't very scary. But a few days after Halloween, I did get a little scared.

It was evening and Emily was already in bed. I had been in the bathroom when I got very cold all of a sudden. It's been really unseasonably warm here in NC, so I knew at once that it was a cold spot. The hair on my arms started to stand on end so I finished up quickly and went back to my room.

I love to cross stitch but I generally only do it in my bedroom after an unfortunate experience where one of my cats got my threaded needle in his mouth. I got it out before he swallowed it, but it freaked me out. If they eat even the thread, it can give the cats issues.

So on this night, I was sitting up in bed watching TV and cross stitching. My orange cat, Sam, kept scratching at the door, trying to get in. I got up several times to shoo him away, but one time amid the pawing at the door, there was an actual knock.

It was 'knock knock' like a human would do. It wasn't a noise that Sam could have made. I got up, turned all the lights on in my bedroom and opened the door. No-one was on the other side besides Sam the cat. It freaked me out enough that I didn't go to sleep until Todd came home from work!

Up Next - Ghostly Whispers!

Disney Plans!

This October, Emily and I are heading to Disney World for our first girl's only trip. It will probably be the first of many because Todd is not as into Disney as I am. We are going to be doing several things that Todd thought Emily was too young for on our last trip.

Firsts for Emily is going to be going to Epcot for the first time plus going to the Halloween party. We are eating at some old favorites but some new restaurants as well. My wonderful travel agent was able to get us all the dining reservations we wanted!

Just for fun, here's our plans!

Saturday - October 1st - Arrival Day! Because I'm driving and can't drive straight through like Todd does, we are stopping the night before. I hope to be on the road nice and early to get to our resort, Art of Animation, in the morning.

We aren't going to do early check-in, mostly because Emily wants to be able to watch Disney cartoons in the lobby. I don't think that our room will be ready right away so we are going to head over to the Magic Kingdom.

In the late afternoon, we have a dinner reservation for Ohana at the Polynesian Resort. Emily really wants to ride the monorail and I really want to eat at Ohana. So we are going to take the monorail there and back. We probably won't stay too long at the Magic Kindgom after that, maybe ride a couple more rides. We'll have to get into our room after and I'm sure I'll be tired at least.

Sunday - October 2nd - Epcot Day! I'm hoping to get there at rope drop and then we'll take an early lunch because we have a reservation for the Nine Dragons a little before 5 pm.

Emily's never been to Epcot though she says it's her favorite park. I'm really excited to ride on Spaceship Earth, which I haven't rode since I was a kid. Emily is looking forward to playing the Agent P game and doing the Kidcot stations.

Monday - October 3rd - Hollywood Studios Day! My main goal is to see the nighttime show. It was raining too hard when we were at Disney for our honeymoon and last trip it was our last park day so Emily was a bit worn out. I will see Fantasmic! this time!

We will probably try to do rope drop, especially if Emily changes her mind and wants to do the Jedi Academy. Otherwise, we'll probably just try to get there early but not stress too much. Probably will head out for a nap after our character lunch at Hollywood and Vine.

Tuesday - October 4th - Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party day! So we are sleeping in, though we do have a character breakfast at 9 at Ohana because that's the only way Emily can meet Lilo.

We might go to Disney Springs after that, but mostly we'll be resting and napping until it's time to head to the Magic Kingdom for the party! We'll be there close to 4 pm so we can maximize our Magic Kingdom time!

Wednesday - October 5th - Rest Day! We are going to sleep in and do a whole lot of nothing this day. Probably will hang out by the pool and maybe go put-put golfing. We have a dinner reservation for the Whispering Canyon Cafe which is at Wilderness Lodge. This is a new restaurant for me and I'm looking forward to seeing Wilderness Lodge too!

Thursday - October 6th - Animal Kingdom Day! We'll probably do rope drop again this day if possible. I know we'll want to go on the Safari at least once plus I know that Emily wants to see both Festival of the Lion King and the Finding Nemo Musical.

We'll probably go back to the resort early for lunch and a nap because we have a Yak and Yeti reservation last afternoon. I really hope that the Animal Kingdom nighttime show will be up and running by then. Either way, we'll probably not stay at Animal Kingdom too late.

Friday - October 7th - Magic Kingdom Day! This will actually the 3rd time we we'll have been to the Magic Kingdom this trip but this is our main day in the best park (in my opinion) at Disney World.

We have a pre-rope drop reservation for breakfast at the Crystal Palace so Emily can meet Eeyore and Piglet. For rides, we'll probably mostly focus on what we haven't gotten to earlier in our trip. We have a counter service reservation for lunch at noon for Be Our Guest because Emily wanted to eat in Beast's Castle again. We'll probably just stay at the park until 7 because it's a party night and we'll have to leave once the party starts!

Saturday - October 8th - Departure Day! I'm hoping that we'll be on the road fairly early. I'm hoping that I can actually make the whole drive home without having to stop for the night. I'll play that by ear. I'm sure we'll make our normal trip to the food court to use up any extra snack credits so we can have snacks to go home with.

Both Emily and I are really looking forward to this trip!

Halloween!

Most of our Halloween activities happened before the holiday itself. We had the Halloween Carnival, went to the corn maze with Emily's Girl Scout troop, and visited the apple orchard. But of course on Halloween, we had trick or treating to do.

We have always gone trick or treating at the Asheville Mall. It's warm, bright and easy to get lots of candy. This year, because Halloween fell on a Saturday, we also had Todd with us. Emily was Anna from Frozen this year and I put on my Kaylee costume.

We got to the mall early so we did some looking around in Build-A-Bear and Barnes & Noble. Finally the time came and we started trick or treating. We did a circle around the mall, stopping in the food court for some supper.

After we ate and Emily played in the play area for a bit, we went back to the stores we hadn't hit yet. Emily's sack was filled up with candy and other things. She also got to get her picture with the Chick-Fil-A cow too!

It had been a very grey day outside and it started to rain on our way home. That made me glad that we opted to go to the mall again. While it would be nice for Emily to get the experience of running around in the neighborhood in the dark, ringing doorbells, our neighborhood is generally very quiet on Halloween so we'd  have to go to a whole other neighborhood which seems like a huge pain.

We got home and let Emily have one piece of candy, then it was time for her to go to bed. Even though it was the time change that night, I also passed out soon after. It had been a long but fun day!

Career Day Instead of Halloween

Today my Facebook feed is filled with kids who are dressed in their Halloween best for school today. Today my child is dressed as a police officer because it's career day.

While there is nothing wrong with having a career day, but I think it's a cop out when they do instead of Halloween. Partly because I had to buy Emily two costumes this year, and partly because part of the fun of Halloween as a kid is being able to wear your costume to school!

Emily is excited to be Officer Emily today and be in the costume parade. So I'm keeping my opinions away from her. Tomorrow she will don her Anna costume to go trick or treating. And it's an extra treat this year that Halloween is on a Saturday because that means Todd gets to go trick or treating with us.

Mourning Memories Lost

A lost memory

As I've talked about before, I was very sick last November. I lost five days and woke up in the hospital the day before Thanksgiving in the ICU after having a series of seizures. Those five days are completely gone, though I'm not missing much - according to my husband, I mostly slept.

My brain is weird. That's pretty much the only diagnosis I've ever gotten. This is the 2nd time I've lost time, but this case was different. For a while, I didn't remember much of everything from last year. A lot of those memories did come back, but I knew the closer we got to November, I would get to a dead zone where I didn't remember much.

Memories are very important to me, probably in part because my mom is passed away and I don't have a ton of pictures of her. She is suppose to live on in my memory and she does - thankfully my long term memory was not affected.

For a while after I got home from the hospital, it seemed like every day I was finding something that I had forgotten. I was so excited to watch the movie Divergent again because I did remember that I had loved it in the theater, but when I started the movie I didn't remember any of it.

It's been months since I've experienced finding out something I forgot until last week. I saw on Facebook that one of my online friends had passed away, and thanks to the Timehop app a few days after that, I saw that I did know that he had died, but I had forgot.

We weren't close friends. Mostly online friends who met a few times at local Browncoat events but I felt extremely guilty that I had completely forgotten that he was gone. It's silly I know, but that's how I felt.

It also means that I'm in the dead zone now. From now until the day before Thanksgiving, my memories of last year are fuzzy at best. And a lot happened in October of last year that I wish that I could remember.

The only thing I can really remember about Emily's birthday is running to the dollar store near our house, but I don't remember why. The only things I remember from the Browncoat Ball is playing Cards Against Humanity with lots of people including Mikey Mason and then feeling sick to my stomach during the dance itself. Halloween I don't remember anything.

Because I had gone through the memory merry-go-round earlier, I didn't think it would be a big deal when I got to this point. But I realize now, that I'm still mourning for the lost memories. Thankfully I'm a big fan of social media and taking lots of pictures, so I've pieced together some of what happened. But I just don't remember it.

I'm sure I'll get over it, but the next few months may be harder than I anticipated. The healing just continues. I'm going to try and focus on making new memories as well.

Christmas Overreach

I love Christmas. I want to get that out first thing. But I don't love Christmas in the beginning of November or in late October. I'm not even very fond of Christmas in July. But the Christmas overreach has been creeping in and taking over other holidays.

Yesterday I read and shared an article from Jezebel called Christmas Must Be Stopped. Let's Declare War on Christmas. The author talks about the war on Christmas being the overtaking of Thanksgiving and now even Halloween. She also mentions that too much of a good thing can be overwhelming. I totally agree with her.

When I was a kid, the Christmas stuff didn't show up in stores until around Thanksgiving. Black Friday was a thing but didn't happen until early Friday morning. My family had our own traditions. We stayed home on Thanksgiving, preferring to make the 3 hour trek to where most of our family lived for Christmas.

On Thanksgiving, we'd watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. We'd have a small lunch of cheese, crackers and summer sausage. While my mom got our feast ready, my dad would watch the Lions play football while my sister and I would decorate our rooms for Christmas.

Over the rest of the weekend, we'd go cut down our tree and and deck our halls. My mom loved Christmas so nearly every room of our house was decked. Christmas lasted all December and it was wonderful and joyous.

After my mom passed away, Christmas lost some of its' magic. When Emily was born, it regained some and we started up some of my old traditions. We do generally travel on Thanksgiving - either to see our family in GA or Charlotte. But we generally get our tree and our halls decked in late November / early December.

Once the end of December comes around, I'm ready for Christmas to be over with. Commercialization rules the roost instead of the birth of Christ (which is the reason for the season for us since we are Christians).

I refuse to do anything Christmas related until after Thanksgiving. The snow rule is the only exception and I've already used that up this year. So I'm all for a war on Christmas - go Halloween and Thanksgiving!

Old TV and Gender Roles

Image: jimhalterman.com

Autumn is here! It's the time of year for cooler weather, changing leaves and watching my favorite Halloween themed shows.

Every year, I bring out my DVD of Roseanne Halloween episodes. I watched the show when it was on the air, but I don't really watch it anymore expect the Halloween episodes. I decided to watch a few of the first episodes the other night.

In the episode Trick or Treat, there are two different story lines. In one, Dan is very concerned that his son DJ wants to be a witch for Halloween because witches are girls. He struggles a lot with letting DJ dress how he wants.

In the other story line, Roseanne and Jackie's car breaks down on the way to the Haunted House put on by Dan's lodge. Roseanne is dressed up as a burly mountain man and the costume is good enough that even her friend thinks she's a man. She buddies up to the other men in the bar to see what men talk about when they are alone - it ends up being sex, sex and more sex.

Now Trick or Treat aired in 1990 and the world was not as enlightened as it is now. Roseanne being a sitcom usually doesn't get very heavy but it's nice to see them tackling gender stereotypes a bit.

The sex-crazed man bit got old quickly especially since they implied all men care about it getting laid. But the part about DJ wanting to wear a 'girl's' costume was much more interesting and has become more so since I became a parent.

Eventually Dan gets the advise that it's just a phase that DJ is going through. It's a bit of a cop out, but not surprising for the time period.

This year, Emily wants to be a Ninja for Halloween. She also wants a Ninja birthday party for her 6th birthday. A lot of her interests are 'boy' stuff - it makes me crazy with gender descriptions on toys because she likes what she likes. I don't think her interests are just a phase, though they may change as she grows.

Not having do to with gender roles, I do find it odd to see Jackie and Roseanne having to use a payphone to call Dan after their car breaks down. Even though it's only been 24 years, it's hard to imagine a world without cell phones. At least if my daughter ever wants to watch these episodes with me, I can teach her something about the past!

Want Vs. Need - The Frozen Conundrum

Emily and her own "Olaf"

As you may have noticed, I love Disney. Disney World, Disney movies, Disney music. Because of my love affair with all things Disney, we went to see Frozen in the theater. I actually saw it twice because Emily and I went to the Frozen sing-along too.

The DVD came out the day before my birthday so I got it as a birthday present to myself. Emily and I have seen it about a dozen times since then. But we have no Frozen toys, clothes or other merchandise in part because of the scarcity and in part because my kid has too many toys to begin with.

Emily is an only child, and I know we spoil her. But we try to keep the spoiling to a minimum. She's no Veruca Salt and doesn't get everything she wants. So there is no way I would be willing to spend even a $100 on the hard to get Frozen stuff.

Nobody's kid NEEDS an Elsa dress. They may want it, but when faced with the choice of no Elsa dress or having to pay tons of money for one the choice should be easy. But apparently parents are trying to get their kids the dresses, no matter what the cost.

Yes, Disney dropped the ball with Frozen merchandise, but I'm sure they are already ramping up production. And as soon as September hits and the Halloween stuff starts coming out, there will be a ton of Frozen costumes to buy.

I did ask Emily what she wanted to be for Halloween. I thought she'd say Anna, Elsa or possibly Sailor Moon. But she said that she wanted to be a pirate! That we can do but she'll probably change her mind before October.

The world isn't fair so while it's hard to not give my kid what she wants she needs to learn that the world isn't fair and you don't always get what you want. I wonder how those kids whose parents are stressing so much to get them Frozen stuff will turn out in the end.

My Ghost Adventures - Help Me!

Last year, I wrote a post about how I always thought my basement was haunted. I never had any concrete evidence to prove that though.

When I went to college, I had a great interest in ghosts even though they freaked me out. When October rolled around, I saw that they were offering free ghost tours of the campus the night before Halloween. One of my roommates and I decided to go.

It was the first year for the ghost tours and the people running it hadn't expected such a large turnout. We waiting in the cold for hours but finally it was our turn. Our tour guide had a flashlight but we were pretty much in the dark.

We walked around the oldest part of campus learning about all the ghost stories. One story was about a girl in one of the dorms that would see the words "Help Me" in the bathroom mirror after a shower. We ended up in the courtyard of Barnard Hall which was not being used at that point in time. We heard about the most famous ghost of CMU which was Carolyn.

Carolyn was a girl who had gone to Central in the 50's. She had gone to a dance with her friends but had gone back to her room complaining of a headache. Her roommate found her dead in the morning. It is said that she roamed the halls of Barnard ever since.

It was the eeriest part of the evening and I had a hard time getting to sleep the next day. I didn't have any early classes in the morning so I had the dorm to myself. I locked the door and took a shower. When I came out, the words "Help Me" where on the mirror.

Needless to say, I was extremely freaked out. I never mentioned it to my roommates, because I didn't get along with the majority of them and knew they could have been playing a joke on me. I took cold showers for the next month of so.

When I was brave enough to take a warm shower, it appeared again. And would every time I took a warm shower in that dorm room. It was extremely freaky but still not a solid case for a ghost.

Next time, my experiences with the Cinema Ghost!

Disney Trip 2013 - Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party

This is the 6th post of my Disney Trip report – click for  post #1, post #2, post #3, post #4, and post #5!

On our Disney honeymoon, my favorite thing that we did was Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party. I love Halloween and the party didn’t disappoint. I knew I wanted to do the party again this trip and originally wanted all of us to go. Todd felt that Emily was too young and instead of fighting about it, it was decided that I would go solo.

Since I love costumes, I knew I wanted to wear one to the party. Since I wanted to ride the rides, I knew my Kaylee layer cake dress was out even though it would have been so fun to wear. I ultimately decided on my Petit Charat costume since it was fun, comfortable and I could remove my tail if need be.

The party ticket is a separate cost and while the party starts at 7 pm, partygoers can gain entry into the Magic Kingdom at 4 pm. I got dressed and was down at the bus stop in time to get to the park right at 4.

Not all the rides and attractions are open for the party so I decided to use my three hours of regular park time to ride some things I didn’t get to do the previous today. I hightailed it to Tomorrowland so I could go on the Carousel of Progress, which is one of my favorites.

From there, I went to Adventureland to ride on the Jungle Cruise. The line was really long but I decided to

wait for it anyway. After the Jungle Cruise, I caught the last showing of the Enchanted Tiki Room.

It was nearly 7 pm and the start of the party, so I went back to Main Street. I had decided to find a spot and

sit there for the parade, the Villians show and then the fireworks. This wasn’t the best idea because I spent a lot of time sitting. I did have an awesome front row spot for the parade – I even got high fived by Tigger! The Villians show happened after that, and it wasn’t that exciting. They did a couple of songs and then went down in front of the Castle for a meet and greet.

Since I was sitting right in front of the Castle and Main Street was getting really crowded, I opted not to move before the HalloWishes fireworks. The hour arrived and they turned off all the lights on Main Street and the fireworks started. I love the Halloween fireworks and really enjoyed them this year as well.

Once the fireworks ended, I got caught in a brief traffic jam to get out of the hub. I headed off and stopped at the first trick or treat location I saw since I had promised Emily I would bring back candy. I waited for about 5 minutes to go through the trick or treat line. I went to other candy stations and didn’t have to wait at all.

I headed first to New Fantasyland because was really thirsty and I wanted to try LaFou’s Brew. It was really good but really sweet after I had gotten about halfway through. I made my way to my favorite ride, the Haunted Mansion which was awesome as always.

I got caught by the 2^nd parade going through Frontierland, so I ended up doing another trick or treat trail and then some shopping. Once the path was clear, I headed over to ride Pirates and hit a few more trick or treat trails. By this time, it was past 11 pm so I decided to start heading towards the exit. I did some shopping on the way out, finding the Maleficent Ears that I had been searching all evening.

I got back to the room around midnight and I fell into bed. It was a long but really fun evening.

Up next post - Disney's Hollywood Studios

Halloween 2013

Yesterday was my favorite Holiday of the year. We did a lot this year leading up to Halloween from trick or treating with our church to attending a couple of Halloween festivals. On Halloween, things were a little more laid back.

Last year, Emily threw up once the night before Halloween. She seemed fine but we decided caution was the best way to go so we kept her out of school. This year, luckily we didn’t have a repeat and she was able to go to school in costume.

We left for the mall to go trick or treating early so we could run some errands. We got to the mall earlier so Emily could spend the last of her birthday money. She got the Spike she wanted from Build A Bear Workshop. We had a little bit more time to kill so we went into Barnes and Noble to look at books.

Finally the appointed hour arrived and we made our way through the mall. Emily had picked one of the buckets she had gotten from McDonald’s last year and soon it was overflowing with candy. She also got to meet the Chick-Fil-A cow who was dressed as a fairy and get other things like stickers and pencils.

We were all pooped by the time we were done, so we got take out and headed home. Emily picked the Toy Story of Terror cartoon to watch before bed. I haven’t been sleeping well, so Todd and I watched some of the Roseanne Halloween specials instead of something scary.

It was a nice end to the Halloween season. Though I’m not going to take my Halloween decorations down until it’s time for the Christmas ones to go up since I just got them up last week!

Happy Halloween!

I'm in the middle, dressed as Annie

Halloween has always been one of my favorite holidays. When I was a kid, there was nothing better than getting dressed up and going trick or treating. I never outgrew loving costumes though as I got older I started enjoying the spookier parts of Halloween, like horror films.

Tonight we’ll be taking Emily out trick or treating at the mall. She’ll be dressed up as Sophia the First and I’ll be wearing my American McGee’s Alice costume. Once she’s in bed, Todd and I will probably watch a scary movie.

I hope everyone has a safe and spooky Halloween!

The Day of Halloween Events

I love Halloween, I always have. Once my mom passed away, Halloween vaulted over Christmas to become my favorite holiday. Mom loved Christmas so now it’s really bittersweet for me.

When I was not a child but was single, Halloween did become a bit of a drag. I never had any Halloween parties to go to. When we moved into our house, I stayed home and handed out candy. We got maybe three kids each year.

Then I was blessed with my own October baby. She was two weeks old on her first Halloween so we didn’t do much that year. The first few years we would just go trick or treating, but the last few years have been filled with Halloween goodness. Last year, we went trick or treating twice and Emily had a Halloween themed birthday party.

This year we have done a lot more. We went to Disney World for her birthday and I went to the Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party by myself. Last week we went trick or treating with our church and last Saturday was two Halloween events.

I worked Saturday morning and then I started to get costumed up. Emily had requested I wear a costume but most of my costumes weren’t going to be warm enough. Todd had suggested I wear my Hogwarts student costume which is pretty warm. Emily was Periwinkle, though I put a layer of long sleeve shirt and pants underneath it.

The first event was the Fletcher Halloween Carnival. They had a bouncy castle, a bouncy slide, games and a costume contest. Emily bounced first then dragged me all over to play the games. When you won a game (which was pretty every time because the people running it let the kids play until they won) you got some candy. I didn’t think to bring a candy bucket, but luckily they were giving out little bags.

Emily also wanted to sign up for the costume contest. There were

lots of kids in costumes, but not a lot of other adults besides me. There was one four year old little girl dressed as what looked to be a Burlesque dancer, right down to the fishnets. I found that to be in poor taste, but the other kids were cute.

We played nearly all the games, Emily got her face painted like a kitty and she did a craft (a spooky necklace). Then it was time for the contest. Once she did her walk through, I didn’t make her stay over there. We did a few more games and then I let her do the bouncy castle one more time. At that point the carnival was over and they were shutting things down.

From there we headed over to Gerber Village in South Asheville. Gerber Village is just a shopping center but Todd had heard that they were doing a pumpkin wall. We weren’t sure what to expect, but when we got there we did see a pumpkin wall. They also had some games, a lady doing hula hooping (with extra hoops for the

kids) and there were snacks (popcorn and cider). We got there a little before five and they were just opening up.

We got a little treat bag when we came in since the games were giving out prizes. Emily played the games right off and then found the hula hoops. She hooped most of the time when we weren’t doing other things and she got pretty good at it.

Once the event really got going, they had a scavenger hunt where each kid got a prize at each station. They had a cake walk, which Emily was one of the winners. She got a prize bag and later a cupcake. Then there was a costume parade and then a costume contest which Emily participated in.

After she showed off her costume, she went back to hooping. Originally she had left her wings in the car, but got them back out for the contest. She was able to still hula hoop pretty well with her wings on. It was getting cold, though Emily kept saying she was fine (and she probably was because she was moving around a lot more than I was).

Finally it was the big moment and the lit up the great pumpkin wall. It was really cool to see, but I was sore, tired and cold at that point so we got out of there and headed home. I’m glad we went to both because Emily had a great time.

Trick or Treating - Church Edition

I’m still recovering from our Disney trip but I’ll be posting about that soon. Now that we are home, we are trying to get back into the groove of things. But with Halloween right around the corner, we have several Halloween activities we are taking part in.

Tonight was the annual trick or treating at the retirement community that is associated with our church. It give all the people who live in the retirement community a chance to see all the kids in their costumes and give a safe place for the kids to trick or treat at.

Emily’s been looking forward to it all day. After dinner, she donned her Cinderella dress and we headed off. The actual trick or treating was first. All the kids looked cute in their costumes and Emily had a great time filling up her bucket.

After everyone finished trick or treating, we all went to the community room so the youth choirs could sing for everyone. Emily didn’t want to sing, just eat her candy and sit in my lap. The songs were lovely.

We headed out after the singing was done, though stopping briefly for punch and a cookie. Emily skipped all the way to the car. It was a lovely way to spend the evening.

The Tale of a Fat Cosplayer

Me as American McGee's Alice

As a child, I loved Halloween and being in plays in part because of the costumes. I never grew out of wanting to dress up and pretending so it’s a very good thing I’m a geek. But I've also never been skinny at all. As I got older, I got wider for a variety of reasons. I try to exercise as much as I can, but chronic pain issues can get in the way. Despite this, I still cosplay.

I am a fat cosplayer.

My husband and I have been watching Heroes of Cosplay on SyFy. We both like the show because the costumes are beautiful. But it seems like there is a lot of focus put on perfection and less on the fun. In the first episode, it showed one of the cosplayers freaking out because she had gained some weight. In the second episode, a newbie to cosplay competitions said that she thought anyone should cosplay what they wanted. She got looks from the experienced cosplayers like she was crazy. One said that if someone is going to be 300 lbs. and cosplay, they are going to get negative comments.

I've been cosplaying on and off for about 15 years. I've never been skinny but I've never gotten negative comments before. Even if I did, I probably would just ignore it because I love cosplaying. Now I do try to pick costumes that won’t make me look fatter than I am. I never wear skin tight or skin showing costumes because I wouldn't be comfortable and it wouldn't look good.

Cosplaying is fun and that’s why I do it. Even though I’m overweight, I’m going to keep cosplaying. I already have all my costumes planned for Dragon Con and I’ll be walking in the parade again. I'll also be admiring everyone else's costumes - fat or thin.

In Praise of Cosplayers

Emily and I as Snow White

It seems like after ever major convention there is a post that appears on the internet that makes fun of cosplayers. I’m not sure why people feel the need to do this. But I do know why I love cosplaying and why I’ll continue to do it, even if I end up being made fun of on the internet.

My love of costumes go way back to when I was a child. Halloween has always been my favorite holiday, partly because of being able to dress up in costumes. As I grew up, I discovered anime conventions. As I started to attend these cons, my love of costumes resurfaced. It is always so fun to put on a costume and pretend to be a famous character. My favorite costumes at the anime conventions were the ones from the Final Fantasy games. I even had a Summoner Yuna costume that is one of my only costumes I still have from my anime days.

I’m not the best at sewing, but I don’t let that stop me. For some of my costumes, like my Kaylee costume from the pilot of Firefly, I was able to just find the clothing items I needed. When I wanted to do Kaylee’s dress from the Firefly episode, Shindig, I had more of a challenge. But did I manage to come up with a plan to make this costume. I've worn it for several years now and it’s my favorite costume.

The vast majority of the feedback that I've gotten on my costumes is positive. I received a lot of positive comments on my Shindig dress last year at Dragon Con. It made me happy to know that other people enjoyed seeing it.

I also cosplayed as a Disney Princess last year at Dragon Con. I was Snow White because that was what my daughter wanted me to cosplay as when we marched in the parade. It was amazing to see small kids’ reactions to me. Their eyes would get wide as I waved at them in the parade. Those kids’ smiles made me feel like a real princess.

I generally talk to people in my geek groups about cosplay. But there are also several websites online, like cosplay.com, where you can connect with other cosplayers. This is a place where you can talk about costumes with people who love them as much as you do.

If you want to cosplay, I say go for it and ignore the bullies. It doesn't matter if you have the best costume or look just like that character. It just matters that you are having a good time.