Last night I got back from Confuzzled, but I have some kind of con crud (sore throat, fever, cough, headaches) and so haven't been doing much today.

CF was a mixed bag for me. There was some good and some very not good stuff that happened. Overall, I admit I am so glad it was over, however I'm only going to talk about the positive things (and a gripe about the hotel) here.

On the positive front, the dealer's den went really well for me. I got to meet loads of lovely people who were really enthusiastic about my art, and that helped my confidence somewhat. :)

I also got to meet some awesome people that I had been waiting to meet for some time, like  wingedwolf  evilsquirrel  navitastracer  pony1982 as well as seeing some other amazing folk that I always enjoy seeing, like  godzuki  agrajag  redrussell  theodor  snowyfox  missixis (and more that I will inevitably forget :P). And meeting some nice new folk like  tinyteadragon Diamond Dragon (don't know your FA!),  ndrs and the Spanish trio! :D On top of this, a friend of me and Simon from WoW, Joe, lives in Manchester and agreed to come down to the convention for some drinks. It was so good to see him again! He is a great guy and damn I wish we lived closer by to hang out more. <3

I took part in the Banner Brawl too, on the girls team with  tanidareal and  eosfoxx. I was extremely nervous beforehand (lots of rum was consumed to ease my nerves :P) and...yeah probably on stage too. :P But, it was quite fun, and I would do it again (if asked). I felt a bit dumb though when asked to draw Marlon Brando - I had NO idea what he looks like :|

Confuzzled is an incredibly well-run con and they have extremely attentive, committed staff who really push it to do their best. Really excellent stuff and if you've been considering going to the con, then definitely do it next year. Excellent programming, excellent everything. 110% to them.

My only gripe about the convention was the hotel. It was split into the "old section" and the "new section". From what I saw, the new section rooms (including all the superior rooms) were lovely, typical con rooms in big hotels. The old section rooms were, however, horrific. First room we had was a smoking room (despite the hotel supposedly being entirely non-smoking :/) and it was so bad I couldn't stay there for more than 10 minutes, my throat and chest hurt and I was breathless. I have been in the homes of chainsmokers that were better, and the entire corridor stank. On top of that, big black pillow stains. Urghh. The very helpful con ops managed to get our room changed however, to a non-smoking room which was very stuffy, hot and a little musty but habitable, so we said nothing more, since we appreciated being changed at all. The new room did come with a big bloodstain on the back of the door, mystery brown stains on the walls, a big brown carpet stain, brown stains around the showers and a dirty carpet (it made your feet dirty if you walked on it barefoot). It was so small you had to climb across the bed to get to the other side of the room. :/ Another person stated they found roaches in their room in that area. Ergo: if you go to CF, pay the extra £20 for a superior room! I definitely would if we return next year. :S

Anyway, that's my overly long con report. Thanks to everyone who came by and chatted or bought art at my dealer's table. :) And...thanks to the blue dragon fursuiter. You know what for, if you are reading this, and I appreciate it.

Sarah / Korrok