As of a few weeks ago, I really had some serious reservations about going to Anthrocon. The travel was expensive, the hotel = expensive, there was a great potential for mucho drama to fall upon my head, time to get there was excessive, the list just went on and on. Most of all, I was worried I was losing my ability to truly enjoy these cons. The spontaneity and sense of adventure seemed to be lacking out of my last few con experiences. I really was wondering if it was gone for good.and it was time for me to retire from all this once again.

Anthrocon 2012 changed all that for me!

This was my second AC and I thought my last, due to the convention dates next year. Now I'm really, really wanting badly to go back if I can. Time will tell if that'll happen, but if it doesn't, I know this was a great way to go out.

I'm not going to bore you with detailed con happenings, but I'll touch on a few things below:

Fursuiting -- Both my suits were with me, although one took a detour through Phoenix and didn't get back to me until the next day. I can easily say this was the most suiting I got in for any con and, oddly enough, it didn't seem like enough. Hunt was my representative in the record-breaking fursuit parade and I kept in him for a few hours afterwards for some miscellaneous fun. Bjorn rolled out the night before the con began, decked out in his San Francisco Giants gear. When I returned to the room, I noticed Matt Cain was 8 innings through pitching a perfect game for the Giants. Got to catch him achieve that significant milestone on tv. Amazing! I kept Bjorn decked out in the same outfit the rest of the con to celebrate.

Friends - Met lots of new ones, hooked up at least briefly with some old ones and unfortunately never really got to find some others. For a convention that size, that's unfortunately going to happen. If I missed you, I'm really sorry. Please, please track me down when we're next in the same zip code and I'll make it up - promise!

Fondue - Last year, I conned  diesel_rottie,  hitsugaya1987,  rain_oubliette, and  noob-mutt into joining me for fondue at The Melting Pot. The experience was so amazing that I knew right away I had to duplicate it this year. Same crew reunited for the 2nd Annual Anthrocon Fondue night, with two new additions in  skippyfoxcub and  spatsbear. The experience was even more amazing the second time around. It was like an episode of Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations -- Great food and great conversation was in ample supply. At the end, I told Diesel to make sure a third AC fondue night is organized if I can't make it back. Perhaps I can make this my Anthrocon legacy?

A few other fond memories and shout outs:

HUGE one to  mooglepower! Not only was he my duct tape dummy maestro (of which I still owe him dinner!) it was because of him that I knew my missing fursuit had arrived on a later flight. Thank you so much for making sure baggage services was aware of it!

East meets West: Not since Gorbachev and Reagan got together has the world seen two heavyweight titans come together for the first time! While at Tonic having some drinks with car nut  Dogbomb (California - dog), I noticed car nut  coopertom (New Jersey - cat) had arrived on the scene. I called him over and introduced the two to each other. My biggest regret? 1) Not photographing the moment and 2) Not hanging around long enough to see if a Furry Top Gear episode would have resulted!

Dinner at the fancy Omni joint with  autumnfox and  cadpigjr. Sorry you had to watch us tear through our steaks while you were trying to simply enjoy a light dessert, but I'm glad we had you along! Also props for coming to Maxarcade's rescue with your Maytag Fursuit repair door-to-door service!

 Hysterium and  BalooBear - Wow. would have really loved to spend more time with both of you! I'm hoping I get the chance to do that sometime soon in the future. Hyst, I hope things get better soon for you and we can get you out to FC. Baloo? I'm glad I got to see you at least a few times. I was very glad to finally meet Molbie. He seems like a great guy (just get him to tweet more!) Also, I think you'll also know what I mean when I say thank you for facing a tough challenge like a pro. :)

 mehndix and  sunstreak - Same thing. Too many people, too little time. I'm pretty sure you'll both be at FC and if you are, a special dinner will be waiting for you when you get here. :)

Noob - I'm really glad you made it! I'm especially glad you seemed to have a great time while there. It wouldn't have been the same experience without you there.

Finally, my roomies Diesel and DJ. Sorry I goofed on the room (especially sorry to DJ, who bore the brunt). DJ, thanks for the great Mehndi commish! Diesel, thanks for warmly hosting and chauffering again and putting up with my moodiness with my missing suit. Most of all, thank you both for being wonderful friends and working hard to accommodate me. I'll always appreciate it.

Geez, I know there's more I wanted to say, but even this edited version is getting lengthy. Maybe I'll post some more thoughts later. Till then, back to reality!