1)Something unusual that happened that day

I bade farewell to my new and old long lost friends. We are bonded together by a common interest, a interest not many in the Singapore have or even care about. We are bonded by cosplay.

It all started when I was making my way to my friend's home to do project work after a meal with my family at Parkway. As I left the restaurant, I stared at a bunch of friends in fancy costumes of many cartoon characters. Some of them include Naruto, Spongebob and many more. Many people merely glanced at them while almost all the children stood dumbfounded, some younger children feeling afraid and were crying.This bunch of people seemed like close friends as they were chatting and laughing like a family.

My initial impression of this bunch of people were a bunch of hippies dressed in their favourite cartoon characters. I also thought that they were attention seekers, trying to entertain the public and trying to grab attention. I felt weird , thinking that they were simply wasting their lives away, wasting time dressing up as characters.

Curiosity killed the cat - being inquisitive about other people's affairs may get you into trouble. However, I beg to differ as today, curiosity has opened up another chapter to my life. As I wanted to know more about the bunch of "hippies" and probably learn more what are their motivations and what cause them to behave like hippies.

I never knew that Singapore has such a culture.

What I discovered was that all of them were close friends with a lot of energy and enthusiasm.What I saw next gave me the biggeset shock in a long time. My ex-classmate, Jerald, who was like a class gangster when we were in the same class during primary school was also participating in cosplay. In fact, the group of 'hippies' who I followed were Jerald's friends.

"How are you doing? Which secondary school are you in now? I never knew you like dressing up?" I asked the instant I spotted him.

We caught up with one another's lives. Surprisingly, Jerald was no longer the gangster I knew. In fact, he was more gentlemanly than I. Apparently, after doing badly for his PSLE two years ago, Jerald received the wake up call and has started to improve his attitude and work hard in his studies. Jerald's friends were all gentlemen too, unlike that of Jerald's 'ex-brothers'.

While chatting with Jerald, he also thought me a few facts about cosplay. I learnt that cosplay, short for costume play, originated from Japan. Cosplay is a performance art in which pariticipants dress up as characters with accessories. Cosplay is so famous that people all over the world practises it. Despite its roots coming from Japan, cosplay is being practised all over the world today. Jerald also taught me some basic rules of cosplay. One of which is that no outfits that are too revealing or any signs of any indecent exposure are permitted.

Cosplay caught my attention. Fortunately, Jerald had an extra costume. I was ecstatic as I changed into the Naruto costume.

Next, we had fun in Parkway Parade in our unique costumes. We went to the arcade, went shopping and had dinner together. What caused discomfort to me was everyone looking at us, some, even stared at our outlandish costumes. Despite the publicity, we really have a great time.

As the saying goes, time flies when one has fun. Before we knew it, it was already eight at night. I bade farewell to my new friends and Jerald, although we are not in the same school or tuition class ,we will keep in contact with one another. I learnt about cosplay today. Cosplay not only entertained me, cosplay reunited my long lost friend and it also enable me to make new friends.


This end my post