Tales of a Recovering Hikikomori – 7

On this day, I make progress. Real progress. Not just consolation progress, but actual honest to goodness progress. Or at least that’s what I want to think of it. You know, I’m trying to be positive.

The day is June 19, 2010. It’s the first day of Toy Con 2010. It started out like a normal day with me going about my business during the morning. I would never have expected what the day had in store for me.

My story starts when I arrive at Megamall to attend the said convention. Seeing the oh-my-God long line to the entrance sort of discouraged me from venturing in at that hour. I figured that it was lunchtime anyway, so I might as well eat first before going in.

Normally, I would have just went and ate by myself. I’m used to eating alone, and it saves time anyway. But for some odd reason I texted haoson and asked him if he was already there and if he wanted to grab a bite. Lunch was agreeable, so we met up near the Atrium.

To my surprise though, he brought along someone, a girl to be exact. They’re just friends mind you. Her name is Sam, a little ball of pure energy if you ask me. He introduces us to each other… for the third time. Maybe I was the only one who noticed, but then again if you don’t really know a lot of people, you might remember better than others.

So we had lunch, and I had trouble keeping up with the little ball of energy. She speaks really fast, and the combination of her speed and my unfamiliarity with her way of speaking gave me fits trying to have a conversation. Oh and it doesn’t help that I’m a little deaf either.

In any case, I tried to adapt. At one point, she raised her palm up as she agreed to what I said. Now, I’m not exactly sure if that was an intent for a high-five, but I did the high-five anyway. As they said, it’s better to make a fool out of the guy than the girl. Wait, I’m pretty sure a girl told me that…

I looked to my side and I saw haoson snickering. Yeah, I pretty much know why he was snickering. Giving out high-fives isn’t exactly what I’m known for. But hey, I’m learning to adapt to my surroundings, and it’s already a lot less awkward than pure silence.

And so lunch ended and we went our ways inside the convention since I had yet to buy my ticket. I fell in line, realized I was in the wrong line, bought a ticket, fell in line again, and then I went in and had a look around. I took a number of ninja-shots of people, and I also took a couple of proper photos of people.

Now, if you know me personally, you would know that I don’t really take pictures of myself. Call me weird, call me shy, call me awkward, the fact is that I’m not really comfortable being in front of the camera. I only brought a camera for the purpose of taking pictures of cosplayers, nothing more and nothing less. Taking a shot of me with them had no value for me, nor anyone else for that matter. I said to myself that I would only do so if the cosplayer really wowed me.

That was my philosophy going in, but then a cosplayer showed up and shattered my resolve. I knew that was the one. I knew that this was the first, the very very first instance that I want my picture taken with her. Yeah, you may have noticed, she was the Kanu Unchou cosplayer from Ikki Tousen.

And so I looked for haoson. I found him hanging out in the Animax booth. I asked him if remember how I never take pictures of myself with cosplayers. And then I told him how that changes today. I told him that I need someone to take the shot since I really can’t be beside the cosplayer and take the picture at the same time. But well, he was busy, so no chance there.

And so the afternoon went by, and there was no way I could fulfill what I wanted to do for that day. I resigned to my fate. So I won’t be able to have a picture with her, I can survive that. But then, someone came along.

A friend from work, Jace, showed up at the convention. I looked for him and asked him for that favor. He was game, and so we looked for the cosplayer.

We managed to find her outside, and by sheer luck, she was not hounded by photographers. Instead was walking through the crowd. We quickly approached her at the same time that some photographers had asked to take her photo. I waited for the opportunity to approach, since I don’t really want to insert myself in other people’s pictures.

After finding the right moment, I approached and asked to take a picture of her with me. I can’t exactly remember what I blurted out, but she agreed.

While it looks like I ninja-entered the picture, I had consent to do so. By some weird twist of events, she crouched down, so I kinda also had to. It may not be the prettiest of all pictures, but I’m fine with that. And that segment is the story behind my new Facebook profile picture.

To cap things off, let me end with a story that happened before I left the place. The day before Toy Con 2010, Jace had invited me to join him and his college friends in some KTV. The truth is, I’m really awkward around people I don’t know, so I was quite hesitant. I just jokingly asked him if he was going to introduce me to someone.

To my surprise, he jokingly said yes. And true enough, he introduced me to someone on the day itself. To be clear, he introduced me to a girl. She’s cute, and very likable. I really can’t complain about anything, and if you know me personally, you know that that almost never happens.

Jace continued to invite me to join them, but I had to excuse myself. I really can’t handle inserting myself into a crowd at this point; I have yet to learn that part of socializing. Plus, I really had too much excitement already for that day, I doubt my heart could have taken more. Maybe next time… Maybe next time…