Through the lens of a Level 1 Autistic Individual

DREAM FADE I'm at work, in my favorite Space Suit costume to celebrate Halloween. A bunch of us get on a bus to the fair, and the ride is a happy one, like a bunch of kids going to a favorite theme park. The whole scene is of awesomeness as we roll up to the fair. We pour out of the bus to check out the booths out front, and get photo ops with the costumed characters before we go into the main building for a banquet party. Finally, it's my turn to get a photo with the superheroes, but find that I need to "round them up" to get a group together before they split off. The camera clicks, and I notice that the heroes are all distracted, and there is even someone walking into the frame. There is no re-take though. I go to the door to the banquet hall, only to be told that everyone has already gone in and the event has started. Perhaps I can come back next year. I'm alone out there in the now empty fairground. Maybe Next Year ...  

Destined to be the Lone Wolf Throughout my cosplay effforts since 2009, when I made and wore Chouji (Naruto) to San Diego Comic-Con, I wanted to be a part of something epic. Cosplay would become my Social Outlet, and the space suits with the plastic bubble helmets became my favorite, since not only are the helmets themselves my favorite costume element, the suit made for David Vetter, the Bubble Boy, just yelled out to me as the perfect match for my outlook as an autistic person trying to escape from isolation, and something unique in cosplay gatherings. As time progressed, I would find out that I would be on the outside looking in, with a particular pre-Halloween gathering in 2016 being the writing on the wall. From someone turning to me and spitting "what the hell are you supposed to be?!?" when she spotted my AIM Suit (Marvel Comics) to never being included in the photo shots (no one cared to tell me that the photogs there were commissioned) -- I spent the whole time sitti