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Midwest FurFest 2021 Report
4 years ago
Wow... it feels great to have a reason to come back to my FA page again. Like, seriously. I'm dying to post content here regularly, but I've just been too busy and creatively dead. I hate it. I can't tell you how many times I've cried my eyes out over my lack of inspiration to do anything creative, or to capture memories in pictures, or even try to create my own experiences with other human beings. I've just been so bottled up lately, living alone and spending more time with family than normal during the past two months. Last year in November, my 3 year old nephew was killed exactly a week from Thanksgiving. My parents are still having trouble coming to terms, and during this time of year it has now become difficult for them to be alone, so they usually want me to spend more time with them. And other family fly in to town to see them as well, who also want to see me, so I've been doing that a lot on my days off for the past two months. I don't work on music production on a work night, but I know I really should start. Anyways, con report now, while it's still fresh in my mind:
So, I went to MFF, and decided to go within 30 days of the con actually happening. I was supposed to go to BLFC this year but due to just being freshly hired from my contracting company by the company they contracted me to, I was starting over fresh. I had no PTO, and they treated me like I had no seniority either. I couldn't get any time off for BLFC, despite having a reservation and money in my Southwest account that could pay for a flight there. So I cancelled my BLFC registration and got a refund. I still wanted to go to a convention this year though, so my acquaintance Arashi asked me if I wanted to come help him run a room party at a suite that he and his at-the-time boyfriend had supposedly reserved at the Hyatt. They told me they needed one more person, so I asked my dear friend Navos if he wanted to join us and he said yes. So we were going to have a nice suite room at the main con hotel. We each paid the room owner and Arashi's at-the-time boyfriend $250 for the room. The same day I did that, I applied for time off and was only able to get Friday and Saturday off, because my new permanent status with the company was still fresh with them, and they did not want me taking too many days off while I was still so new. Already have sun and mon off normally, so that helped. After that, I bought my plane tickets and pre-registered for the con. But sadly, two weeks before the con started, we started getting suspicions that the room wasn't actually rented, because he and other folks who were supposed to room with us, were not able to get proof that the room was ever rented, and he wouldn't even give me or Arashi a room number. Since the guy paid me through Venmo, I had his real name. I called the con hotel and found out that no reservation was ever made for him or his fur name. And shortly after that, this ass-hat's social media blows up with pictures of a new fursuit he finally paid off. So yup, the three of us, including Arashi, were scammed out of our money. To this day, I still have not been able to get refund from Venmo, despite having payment protection. If my damn paypal account weren't frozen, I would have had my money back within a single business day. So this unfortunate incident left us scrambling to even find a way to still go to this con. I was fortunate that another dear friend had a room with a pull-out bed that they weren't planning on using. But he was checking out of his room Sunday, so we had to find a place for us to stay on Sunday night as well. Arashi really helped me out by finding me a room with some furs at a separate hotel, for $50 for a single night.
On the first day of the con on Friday, I got there before my con roommates did. Immediately after checking my luggage in, I went to pre-reg, and I had virtually no wait in order to do so. There was absolutely no lines for that! Right afterwards I got in the Dealer's den line and while I was there, I got to see Mr. BLFC pizza boi waiting in the line in his green fursuit. People were fist bumping him left and right. The people literally right behind me in the line were just laughing and talking about how much of a legend he was, after they spotted him. It's surprising how famous that incident made him. There was even a pizza plushy in the adult art auction that had white blobs on it, which I can only assume was an homage to the BLFC pizza incident. And he must have won that pizza plush because I saw him walking around with it at the Dealer's Den on the following day, surrounded by fursuiters, one of them parading him around like a dog on a leash, haha!
As far as con events went, I didn't make it to half as many as I'd have liked to. I...
- Went to the Art of Needle Felting panel, because I wanted to see how people did that stuff. It involves a ton of stabbing. I was kind of hoping that the presenter would allow folks to come up one at a time and watch her work on something, but that didn't happen. I wanted to see the fine details, but that didn't happen. The best they could do was a video on a projector. But it was still interesting
- Played Red Dragon Inn in one of the game rooms, with my con roommate who I was staying with. I think he said he had all the expansions. I played as Wrench the Kobold ^.=.^ his cards were so cute I kept giggling whenever I'd see a new cute one.
- Went to the Colorado Furries meet & greet panel, but me and Navos left together before the photo shoot occurred, because we didn't want to wait for people to return to their hotel rooms to suit up for it.
- Danced my ass off for the final two DJs on Friday night of the con with my long time friend Midekai. It was so great being able to dance again <3 but I danced so hard I gave myself a headache.
- BTW, out of everyone I knew at the con, I knew him longer than everyone there, so it was fucking awesome getting to spend valuable time with him again <3 He once again reminded me why I love the guy so damn much <3 <3 <3 He was there for me when I was at my lowest point at the con and really helped me do a better job of keeping a stiff upper lip.
- Watched some fursuit Charades for a bit, which was funny and entertaining.
- And finally, I attended the Vore Furries meet & greet. I've never once considered myself a vore furry, and I've never joined their community, but Navos introduced me to so many great and wonderful people in that community that I have now become very much open to the idea of feral Jaiko getting used in such commissions. I want to make others happy and if that involves getting some commissions of feral Jaiko eating them, I'm more than happy to oblige, as long as they are quality commissions.
Positives
This con was a much needed wake up call for me. It relit a fire in me that I needed. A burning desire to actually do more with myself in this fandom. To really get serious and get a fursuit finally.
- The retail therapy sessions I had in the dealer's den really lifted my spirits. I bought a lot of gorgeous dragon/scalie merch and I stayed within my budget.
- I feel like I got closer to a popufur I really admire. Someone I really want to be like. It seems he's taken an interest in me as well, which is huge <3 Dare I say, I love the man to death and I want to be lifelong friends with him. He has so many amazing ideas for how I can do more with my fursona and he even knows how to find amazing, fast, trustworthy artists who I can commission. I want to collaborate with him, maybe do music for him or something. He definitely inspired me and I really hope I can bottle this creative flame that he sparked in me during the con.
- I got to meet a longtime friend I've spoken to online off and on for many years. He's the guy who owned the room I stayed in for my first two nights at the con. We got to spend time playing Red Dragon Inn in the game room together. I think he said he had all the expansions for it too. We also had breakfast together the following day, and got a chance to talk for a little bit. It was nice! I hope to do this all again with him someday.
- Got to meet up with a most wonderful, long time friend of mine named Midekai, who I've known longer than anyone else who was at the con <3 <3 <3 We chatted, caught up, and danced together for nearly two hours straight! I'll never forget that moment, I took so many videos so that I never would <3 <3 <3
- Got to meet the gentleman I just commissioned a couple weeks before the con, to make thumbnail art for a song I released on my Soundcloud account. He cool and I'm grateful for his work :)
- Witnessing and even participating in a most spectacular event that would not have been possible if not for Navos' connections. (PM me for details. I won't be naming names. Just describing the event.)
Negatives
- Sleep deprivation (Four hours or less) every damn day of the con. Mostly my fault for being out until 2 AM every day of the con, but I hate missing a single moment of the cons I go to, so that's always going to happen.
- Thursday night, before I left for the con, I just could not sleep. I had a lot of anxiety over the fact that I was realizing that I would know almost nobody at the con, and which lead to me considering taking a sleeping aid, but deciding not to because of useless anxiety that I would somehow sleep through my alarm and miss my flight.
- Friday night, because Arashi really wanted his friend to join us in the room, we split a tiny pull-out bed between the three of us. I had to sleep on the very edge, with a metal bar digging into my back and legs while I was sleeping. This caused me a lot of pain, so once my friends in the bedroom part of our hotel room got up for the day, I finished crashing in their bed.
- Saturday night I decided not to make the mistake of sleeping in that pull-out bed, so I shared the queen bed with my friend and his housemate. Sadly, due to how light a sleeper I am, his snoring kept me up, even through my earplugs. (I'm not upset over this. Nobody can help the fact that I was born a light sleeper and that my con roommates developed snoring in life and to feel upset about that would be immature of me).
- Sunday night, when I changed over to a separate hotel, once again it was sometime shortly after 2 AM when I entered the room. I didn't really talk to any of the folks in that room prior to rooming with them. I didn't spend the time or effort to talk to any of them after they agreed to let me room with them. So, because of that, it was extremely awkward for me, having to hop into bed with people I didn't even know. One of them was awake and the way he was posed and acting seemed like this situation was also very awkward for him too. Though, he could have just been so exhausted he didn't know how to act about that. But when he finally did fall asleep, his snoring prevented me from sleeping (again, even through my earplugs). Then at 5 AM, the guy who was asleep when I came into the room woke up and started packing to catch his flight, which woke me and the other guy up.
- Also, different room mates being active at different times of the night/day when I was trying to sleep. Again, this is understandable given my situation, and unavoidable without prior planning.
- Room stuffing. 3 people to a pullout bed that can only sleep two people comfortably was a mistake and only served to hurt my back and legs. We did the best we could, given our situation.
- Using the skybridge too much. It took a great deal of energy out of me to do so much walking and standing on hard flooring for most of the con. When I first arrived to the con, I was only using the sky bridges because I wanted to avoid getting cold at all costs. But when I actually stepped outside, I was quite baffled how little the cold affected me. It didn't feel comfortable or ideal. But I didn't find myself shivering or feeling myself lose any body heat at all. I felt like a fiery furnace walking out there! So afterwards I avoided them whenever it was possible, especially whenever I needed to walk between the Hyatt and the Embassy.
- Getting dragged in multiple directions at once, or experiencing communication blackouts from everyone I could possibly hang out with at once. There were some moments at the con where I would find myself alone with no idea what I wanted to do. And there were moments I would get separated from my group because I wanted to stop and give a quick chat to someone I spotted. And there were moments still, where I had to pick and chose who was most worth hanging out with at that time. I'm sure if you've been to a convention before, you've experienced at least once of these. Definitely sucks.
- Experiencing a massive inferiority complex event during the con. Whenever I spend time with people who are some combination of interesting, talented, and charismatic, I can sometimes start to feel massively inferior to them, wishing that I was just like that person. A wonderful friend of mine at the con started making me feel very jealous of their ability to just converse and have fun with such a vast diverse amount of people. He's handsome, witty, intelligent, fun, creative, passionate, loving, sexy, and just the best guy you could possibly know. I love his predatory behavior whenever he's around folks he's intimately interested with. And I love how he can make anyone melt and feel like the most special person in the world. He could have anyone he wants. I find absolutely no faults in anything he says or does, and as far as I know, everyone who meets him likes him. I can't see a single reason why anyone wouldn't like him. And I want to be just like him. He is more than a model furry. He is a model human being. I very nearly idolize him. And even though I've known him for awhile, I only came to this conclusion about him yesterday. He makes me want to be an even better person. To surpass my natural limits and strive to be more witty and attractive to others like that, so that I could increase the chances of making more life-long friends. Do you happen to know someone who makes you feel like this? I wanna hear some stories!
- Prices for food at and around the con hotel. Unless you want cheap crap like McDonalds and Dominoes, affordable food options were scarce. Hell, at the convention center, two-slices of pizza and a one-size drink was 24 friggin' dollars! Glad I didn't pay that much (went with the single slice combo instead).
- Busted or empty ATMs everywhere. Seriously, what's up with that? Virtually every single ATM I approached at the con and hotels (Save for the one at the Aloft) was either locked up and not responding, or devoid of cash. I hope con staff is aware of this problem and can possibly bring that to the attention of the convention center and hotels in the area.
Takeaways
Next time I go to MFF, I'm doing the following:
- Renting a car
- Bringing a wallet stuffed with cash
- Hopefully getting Thursday and Tuesday off in addition to the convention weekend
- Forgoing a coat for a light jacket and avoiding the toaster oven sky bridges at all cost (I am seriously stunned how well I did in the freezing temps. I was outside walking around at 2 AM every day of the con this weekend in it, in nothing but a tank top, and still wasn't shivering.
- I heard a story from a guy who said that one of his buds asked the Hyatt front desk why the sky bridges near the Hyatt were so hot, and he was told that it was because the hotel wanted to save power, so they moved the thermostat for the sky bridge into their loading dock. We both remarked that it was counter-intuitive, because it was making things too hot.
- If I get a room with strangers, and this applies to more than just MFF, I'll want to at least meet up and chat before hand. Maybe just talk to them over the telegram chat and get to know them a little bit. That way, when I finally join them in bed for the night, we don't have to be complete strangers to one another.
- I would say things like "Making my own damn hotel reservations" but given the fact I wasn't even planning on going to this con until less than 30 days until, it was inevitable that things would go the way they did.
Thanks for taking the time to read all this. If you're someone I talked about in this journal, and you don't mind me name-dropping you, please let me know. I named friends I know would be okay with it, and avoided naming some who I'm not sure would want such publicity. Also, if I seem loopy, or this appears not to be proof read, it's because I still haven't gone to bed since getting back from the con! I have to get up tomorrow morning at 5 AM for work (Couldn't get that off either), so I'll be draggin' all day.
So, I went to MFF, and decided to go within 30 days of the con actually happening. I was supposed to go to BLFC this year but due to just being freshly hired from my contracting company by the company they contracted me to, I was starting over fresh. I had no PTO, and they treated me like I had no seniority either. I couldn't get any time off for BLFC, despite having a reservation and money in my Southwest account that could pay for a flight there. So I cancelled my BLFC registration and got a refund. I still wanted to go to a convention this year though, so my acquaintance Arashi asked me if I wanted to come help him run a room party at a suite that he and his at-the-time boyfriend had supposedly reserved at the Hyatt. They told me they needed one more person, so I asked my dear friend Navos if he wanted to join us and he said yes. So we were going to have a nice suite room at the main con hotel. We each paid the room owner and Arashi's at-the-time boyfriend $250 for the room. The same day I did that, I applied for time off and was only able to get Friday and Saturday off, because my new permanent status with the company was still fresh with them, and they did not want me taking too many days off while I was still so new. Already have sun and mon off normally, so that helped. After that, I bought my plane tickets and pre-registered for the con. But sadly, two weeks before the con started, we started getting suspicions that the room wasn't actually rented, because he and other folks who were supposed to room with us, were not able to get proof that the room was ever rented, and he wouldn't even give me or Arashi a room number. Since the guy paid me through Venmo, I had his real name. I called the con hotel and found out that no reservation was ever made for him or his fur name. And shortly after that, this ass-hat's social media blows up with pictures of a new fursuit he finally paid off. So yup, the three of us, including Arashi, were scammed out of our money. To this day, I still have not been able to get refund from Venmo, despite having payment protection. If my damn paypal account weren't frozen, I would have had my money back within a single business day. So this unfortunate incident left us scrambling to even find a way to still go to this con. I was fortunate that another dear friend had a room with a pull-out bed that they weren't planning on using. But he was checking out of his room Sunday, so we had to find a place for us to stay on Sunday night as well. Arashi really helped me out by finding me a room with some furs at a separate hotel, for $50 for a single night.
On the first day of the con on Friday, I got there before my con roommates did. Immediately after checking my luggage in, I went to pre-reg, and I had virtually no wait in order to do so. There was absolutely no lines for that! Right afterwards I got in the Dealer's den line and while I was there, I got to see Mr. BLFC pizza boi waiting in the line in his green fursuit. People were fist bumping him left and right. The people literally right behind me in the line were just laughing and talking about how much of a legend he was, after they spotted him. It's surprising how famous that incident made him. There was even a pizza plushy in the adult art auction that had white blobs on it, which I can only assume was an homage to the BLFC pizza incident. And he must have won that pizza plush because I saw him walking around with it at the Dealer's Den on the following day, surrounded by fursuiters, one of them parading him around like a dog on a leash, haha!
As far as con events went, I didn't make it to half as many as I'd have liked to. I...
- Went to the Art of Needle Felting panel, because I wanted to see how people did that stuff. It involves a ton of stabbing. I was kind of hoping that the presenter would allow folks to come up one at a time and watch her work on something, but that didn't happen. I wanted to see the fine details, but that didn't happen. The best they could do was a video on a projector. But it was still interesting
- Played Red Dragon Inn in one of the game rooms, with my con roommate who I was staying with. I think he said he had all the expansions. I played as Wrench the Kobold ^.=.^ his cards were so cute I kept giggling whenever I'd see a new cute one.
- Went to the Colorado Furries meet & greet panel, but me and Navos left together before the photo shoot occurred, because we didn't want to wait for people to return to their hotel rooms to suit up for it.
- Danced my ass off for the final two DJs on Friday night of the con with my long time friend Midekai. It was so great being able to dance again <3 but I danced so hard I gave myself a headache.
- BTW, out of everyone I knew at the con, I knew him longer than everyone there, so it was fucking awesome getting to spend valuable time with him again <3 He once again reminded me why I love the guy so damn much <3 <3 <3 He was there for me when I was at my lowest point at the con and really helped me do a better job of keeping a stiff upper lip.
- Watched some fursuit Charades for a bit, which was funny and entertaining.
- And finally, I attended the Vore Furries meet & greet. I've never once considered myself a vore furry, and I've never joined their community, but Navos introduced me to so many great and wonderful people in that community that I have now become very much open to the idea of feral Jaiko getting used in such commissions. I want to make others happy and if that involves getting some commissions of feral Jaiko eating them, I'm more than happy to oblige, as long as they are quality commissions.
Positives
This con was a much needed wake up call for me. It relit a fire in me that I needed. A burning desire to actually do more with myself in this fandom. To really get serious and get a fursuit finally.
- The retail therapy sessions I had in the dealer's den really lifted my spirits. I bought a lot of gorgeous dragon/scalie merch and I stayed within my budget.
- I feel like I got closer to a popufur I really admire. Someone I really want to be like. It seems he's taken an interest in me as well, which is huge <3 Dare I say, I love the man to death and I want to be lifelong friends with him. He has so many amazing ideas for how I can do more with my fursona and he even knows how to find amazing, fast, trustworthy artists who I can commission. I want to collaborate with him, maybe do music for him or something. He definitely inspired me and I really hope I can bottle this creative flame that he sparked in me during the con.
- I got to meet a longtime friend I've spoken to online off and on for many years. He's the guy who owned the room I stayed in for my first two nights at the con. We got to spend time playing Red Dragon Inn in the game room together. I think he said he had all the expansions for it too. We also had breakfast together the following day, and got a chance to talk for a little bit. It was nice! I hope to do this all again with him someday.
- Got to meet up with a most wonderful, long time friend of mine named Midekai, who I've known longer than anyone else who was at the con <3 <3 <3 We chatted, caught up, and danced together for nearly two hours straight! I'll never forget that moment, I took so many videos so that I never would <3 <3 <3
- Got to meet the gentleman I just commissioned a couple weeks before the con, to make thumbnail art for a song I released on my Soundcloud account. He cool and I'm grateful for his work :)
- Witnessing and even participating in a most spectacular event that would not have been possible if not for Navos' connections. (PM me for details. I won't be naming names. Just describing the event.)
Negatives
- Sleep deprivation (Four hours or less) every damn day of the con. Mostly my fault for being out until 2 AM every day of the con, but I hate missing a single moment of the cons I go to, so that's always going to happen.
- Thursday night, before I left for the con, I just could not sleep. I had a lot of anxiety over the fact that I was realizing that I would know almost nobody at the con, and which lead to me considering taking a sleeping aid, but deciding not to because of useless anxiety that I would somehow sleep through my alarm and miss my flight.
- Friday night, because Arashi really wanted his friend to join us in the room, we split a tiny pull-out bed between the three of us. I had to sleep on the very edge, with a metal bar digging into my back and legs while I was sleeping. This caused me a lot of pain, so once my friends in the bedroom part of our hotel room got up for the day, I finished crashing in their bed.
- Saturday night I decided not to make the mistake of sleeping in that pull-out bed, so I shared the queen bed with my friend and his housemate. Sadly, due to how light a sleeper I am, his snoring kept me up, even through my earplugs. (I'm not upset over this. Nobody can help the fact that I was born a light sleeper and that my con roommates developed snoring in life and to feel upset about that would be immature of me).
- Sunday night, when I changed over to a separate hotel, once again it was sometime shortly after 2 AM when I entered the room. I didn't really talk to any of the folks in that room prior to rooming with them. I didn't spend the time or effort to talk to any of them after they agreed to let me room with them. So, because of that, it was extremely awkward for me, having to hop into bed with people I didn't even know. One of them was awake and the way he was posed and acting seemed like this situation was also very awkward for him too. Though, he could have just been so exhausted he didn't know how to act about that. But when he finally did fall asleep, his snoring prevented me from sleeping (again, even through my earplugs). Then at 5 AM, the guy who was asleep when I came into the room woke up and started packing to catch his flight, which woke me and the other guy up.
- Also, different room mates being active at different times of the night/day when I was trying to sleep. Again, this is understandable given my situation, and unavoidable without prior planning.
- Room stuffing. 3 people to a pullout bed that can only sleep two people comfortably was a mistake and only served to hurt my back and legs. We did the best we could, given our situation.
- Using the skybridge too much. It took a great deal of energy out of me to do so much walking and standing on hard flooring for most of the con. When I first arrived to the con, I was only using the sky bridges because I wanted to avoid getting cold at all costs. But when I actually stepped outside, I was quite baffled how little the cold affected me. It didn't feel comfortable or ideal. But I didn't find myself shivering or feeling myself lose any body heat at all. I felt like a fiery furnace walking out there! So afterwards I avoided them whenever it was possible, especially whenever I needed to walk between the Hyatt and the Embassy.
- Getting dragged in multiple directions at once, or experiencing communication blackouts from everyone I could possibly hang out with at once. There were some moments at the con where I would find myself alone with no idea what I wanted to do. And there were moments I would get separated from my group because I wanted to stop and give a quick chat to someone I spotted. And there were moments still, where I had to pick and chose who was most worth hanging out with at that time. I'm sure if you've been to a convention before, you've experienced at least once of these. Definitely sucks.
- Experiencing a massive inferiority complex event during the con. Whenever I spend time with people who are some combination of interesting, talented, and charismatic, I can sometimes start to feel massively inferior to them, wishing that I was just like that person. A wonderful friend of mine at the con started making me feel very jealous of their ability to just converse and have fun with such a vast diverse amount of people. He's handsome, witty, intelligent, fun, creative, passionate, loving, sexy, and just the best guy you could possibly know. I love his predatory behavior whenever he's around folks he's intimately interested with. And I love how he can make anyone melt and feel like the most special person in the world. He could have anyone he wants. I find absolutely no faults in anything he says or does, and as far as I know, everyone who meets him likes him. I can't see a single reason why anyone wouldn't like him. And I want to be just like him. He is more than a model furry. He is a model human being. I very nearly idolize him. And even though I've known him for awhile, I only came to this conclusion about him yesterday. He makes me want to be an even better person. To surpass my natural limits and strive to be more witty and attractive to others like that, so that I could increase the chances of making more life-long friends. Do you happen to know someone who makes you feel like this? I wanna hear some stories!
- Prices for food at and around the con hotel. Unless you want cheap crap like McDonalds and Dominoes, affordable food options were scarce. Hell, at the convention center, two-slices of pizza and a one-size drink was 24 friggin' dollars! Glad I didn't pay that much (went with the single slice combo instead).
- Busted or empty ATMs everywhere. Seriously, what's up with that? Virtually every single ATM I approached at the con and hotels (Save for the one at the Aloft) was either locked up and not responding, or devoid of cash. I hope con staff is aware of this problem and can possibly bring that to the attention of the convention center and hotels in the area.
Takeaways
Next time I go to MFF, I'm doing the following:
- Renting a car
- Bringing a wallet stuffed with cash
- Hopefully getting Thursday and Tuesday off in addition to the convention weekend
- Forgoing a coat for a light jacket and avoiding the toaster oven sky bridges at all cost (I am seriously stunned how well I did in the freezing temps. I was outside walking around at 2 AM every day of the con this weekend in it, in nothing but a tank top, and still wasn't shivering.
- I heard a story from a guy who said that one of his buds asked the Hyatt front desk why the sky bridges near the Hyatt were so hot, and he was told that it was because the hotel wanted to save power, so they moved the thermostat for the sky bridge into their loading dock. We both remarked that it was counter-intuitive, because it was making things too hot.
- If I get a room with strangers, and this applies to more than just MFF, I'll want to at least meet up and chat before hand. Maybe just talk to them over the telegram chat and get to know them a little bit. That way, when I finally join them in bed for the night, we don't have to be complete strangers to one another.
- I would say things like "Making my own damn hotel reservations" but given the fact I wasn't even planning on going to this con until less than 30 days until, it was inevitable that things would go the way they did.
Thanks for taking the time to read all this. If you're someone I talked about in this journal, and you don't mind me name-dropping you, please let me know. I named friends I know would be okay with it, and avoided naming some who I'm not sure would want such publicity. Also, if I seem loopy, or this appears not to be proof read, it's because I still haven't gone to bed since getting back from the con! I have to get up tomorrow morning at 5 AM for work (Couldn't get that off either), so I'll be draggin' all day.
