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AC 2012: The Recap
14 years ago
General
I can't just let the biggest con of the year go pass by unmarked! And since I didn't say anything about it beforehand to most people...well, it's worth catching up on.
Day 0/1: Worked until 9 something PM, then hightailed it to LAX for a flight that left at 12:15 AM (yes, just after midnight). One early-morning layover and an uncertain number of absolutely delirious hours in a plane later, I was on the 28X Airport Flyer (which I like to call "the furry bus") to downtown Pitt, along with
anjuneko, who I would constantly run into throughout the con (seriously). Once there, caught up with 
beastlybahamut, who had extended me the courtesy of staying in his room with him and 
Sabrewing and 
jazzwolf after my previous arrangements kinda sorta completely fell through. Dumped off my stuff at the room, checked in to get my staff packet, surprised 
DarkShift and 
KazeWolf and 
notveryathletic and 
dragonfireny by materializing in the Zoo when they totally didn't expect me to be there (though, to be fair, I kinda wasn't expecting me to be there either), and then...honestly I can't remember. I know I dropped by a local CVS to pick up Breathe-Right strips for Sabre (who is purportedly a legendary snorer), and was impressed to find that I was the only pharmacist in the building (apparently the ubiquitous-around-here /pharmacy part in the name means something). Ran into Dr. Shazzy, from the Furry Research Team (including 
NukaTiger and Dr. Gerbasi, among the growing, international team), who I chatted with about research while stuffing an Arby's MAX in my face. Collided with 
Kyotsu, who was suiting and gave some excellent (if slightly damp?) hugs, and resolved to meet me again later. Notified the Art Show staff that I was present, went to a staff meeting thinger, and at some point I crashed. Given that I basically went without sleep for about 48 hours, I was absotively running on fumes, but somehow still had some kind of astrophysics-related discussion with room people. Somebody who I think was named "Drake" also spent the night with us. And also 
mapdark. Somebody snored. A lot.
Day 2: Staff breakfast at 7:30 AM. Had some kind of turkey-arugula-cheese omelet thing (has the Penn City Grille always been that frou-frou?). Most of the Art Show assembly had been done on Thursday while I was the walking dead, so I spent a good chunk of the morning checking in new bidders so that they could have a nice silent auction all weekend for art and/or porn. Bidded on a few pieces myself (none of which I would eventually win). Then went searching for commissions, but found most people were either already full (having filled while I was working) or would take a commission from me after the con, but not during, which was a bit unsatisfying but of course better than zilch. I met and chatted with
Stigmata for a while and found that he's every bit as awesome as expected. Dropped off a commission with 
nightfell (still pending as of this writing), who is cool as all hell, if you didn't know already. At some point, possibly that day, I caught up with 
Strype and 
Cooper, who I've been wanting to see again since forever, and found them to be in reasonably good health and spirits, to my delight. Ran into Kyotsu again. Went to dinner at Pizza Parma later with Jazz and Homit, and they forgot about Jazz' order for about 20 minutes--and ran into Kyotsu again out front. Bumped into 
Jack on the way back, who I would also keep crossing paths with for the rest of the con. Then worked the Artists/Dealers Reception bag check from 9-11, and hobnobbed with a bunch of important types. Also, chatting with an awesome individual whose FA may or may not be 
Angelseal. Still pretty zonked and totally still went to bed early-like.
Day 3: Staff breakfast mercifully an hour later; had the blueberry orange granola pancakes, which were a lot tastier (and less chunky) than they might sound. Worked bidder signup some more, as well as mature gallery guard duty, from 9-11 and 3-5, during which time I (perhaps unsurprisingly?) encountered
suck_mcjones. In between, lined up more post-con commissions, notably with the pleasant and British 
Skaifox, the talented and lovely 
LauraGarabedian, the Canadian and affable Redic-nomad, and hibbary, who I've wanted a commission from since always. Spoke also with AdriOfTheDead, who I've known of since ages ago and proceeded to keep running into all over the con. Filled out this year's Furry Research Survey, checked in with the team, and dialogued about setting up a satellite for the West Coast's cons. Finally managed to meet up with Kyotsu out of suit, and treated him and Sabre and Jazz and Homit and this ForFauxSake guy to dinner at the Golden Palace. Then hung out in the Zoo with people a while, skipped 2 and Kage because it didn't seem right without shenro along, and then went to Kyo's room at the Omni so he could "pre-game" (something I'd never heard of before) with Sake, bombafur, Alkali, a guy named Dodger, and Dodger's evidently like...new mate prospect or something? Much King of the Hill and Family Guy was watched, along with some Youtube poop, and way too many inside jokes I totally didn't get (but what else is new?). Went back towards the Westin with them, and collided with a bridal reception party entering the lobby, who took lots of pictures with Kyo (courtesy of one lady who initially tried to go back outside, stating "furries make me nervous!"). Helped a 10-shots-drunk Oni and less-drunk DF bring hot wings back to Zoo, comforted Kaze a bit, returned to room, ran into Adri on the way back, crashed.
Day 4: Slept in and skipped staff breakfast, since I didn't have to work until later in the morning; instead went to Hanlon's (aka Big Momma's aka Steel City Diner) for breakfast with Kyotsu. They forgot about and/or neglected our orders, and the food was only so-so, sad to say, but at least it got the soccer fox in out of the spontaneous downpour. Lined up post-commissions with Gideon and Spelunker_Sal, said goodbye to Nightfell, then proceeded to work basically the entire rest of the day (because that's how we do in the Art Show). Staff dinner provided a welcome break, as well as two giant Pixy Stix from the leftover supplies (thanks Joatmon!) that were salvaged before throwing the rest to a piranha-like horde of fursuiters near the Headless Zone (not Lounge, evidently). Sold lots of people art, met fellow furry pharmacist Delako, supervised volunteers in packing up lots of unclaimed pieces, and fortunately PeterCat didn't have to blow any fuses in the process. Proceeded to go to the Fish Market thereafter with dragonfireny and a British guy named Patrick whose FA name I never did encounter, and sneakily paid DF's tab while he popped outside to have a smoke. Floated around the zoo a little longer with Kyo et al., then hung out in the lobby of the Omni on a couch with DF, who I incidentally love to pieces. Went back to my room alone when he needed to get to bed in preparation for his early departure. Slept, which is unusual for my usual "Vigil Night" protocol.
Day 5(/6?): Awoken early by the departure of Homit and Sabre. They accidentally left behind Homit's cooler...but not his Arizona iced tea. Half-slept awhile longer, before rising to prepare for leaving myself--and finding Mapdark chilling on Homit's vacant bed. Went to breakfast with him and Jazz at the Brown Bag Cafe, then checked out at the hotel, saw Jazz off to his Super Shuttle, and hoofed it over to the Doubletree, bags and all, so that Mapdark could collect his own things and then be guided to the 28X pickup. Took the 28X to the airport early, along with (I'm pretty sure) DracoJeff and Vir-no-Vigoratus, since the Zoo was closed, most people I knew had already left, and hanging around was proving kind of a downer. Spent several hours at the airport just chilling and chatting and wandering with Mapdark, who I introduced to the American cultural wonder that is Cinnabon. Bought several Godiva truffles. Found out Jack Talon was actually at the airport as well, and got him to join us for a while before I had to board my plane. Short flight to Cincinnati, briefish layover with Chick-fil-A, and evidently left the remaining truffles on either the plane or somewhere in the airport. Much longer flight back to LAX, with no readily-identifiable furries; worked on some tarot exercises. Bit of a cluster in terms of getting back home from LAX, but eventually got back in around 1 AM. Discovered I left my cell phone charger in the hotel room.
If I could go back and copy-edit...
-Shenro, Tremorwolf, and t0ra would have come along
-Probably wouldn't have been staff
-More time with DF, Kaze, Oni, Strype and Coopie
-Would have gone to Furryland (aka Furnando's aka Fernando's) for its last hurrah (so sad!)
-Would have scheduled more time off to make for more time at the con
-Wouldn't have left behind my bleeping charger
But that's life. We live, and hopefully, we learn. Still a good con, all in all. I'll just likely have more time for the fuzzies next year, when I plan to be a supersponsor instead of a superslave! (:
I'm sure there are more people I met, most of whom probably don't remember me, but chances are good that if you do and I didn't, I'm just forgetting your FA username. Feel free to shout out!
Day 0/1: Worked until 9 something PM, then hightailed it to LAX for a flight that left at 12:15 AM (yes, just after midnight). One early-morning layover and an uncertain number of absolutely delirious hours in a plane later, I was on the 28X Airport Flyer (which I like to call "the furry bus") to downtown Pitt, along with
anjuneko, who I would constantly run into throughout the con (seriously). Once there, caught up with 
beastlybahamut, who had extended me the courtesy of staying in his room with him and 
Sabrewing and 
jazzwolf after my previous arrangements kinda sorta completely fell through. Dumped off my stuff at the room, checked in to get my staff packet, surprised 
DarkShift and 
KazeWolf and 
notveryathletic and 
dragonfireny by materializing in the Zoo when they totally didn't expect me to be there (though, to be fair, I kinda wasn't expecting me to be there either), and then...honestly I can't remember. I know I dropped by a local CVS to pick up Breathe-Right strips for Sabre (who is purportedly a legendary snorer), and was impressed to find that I was the only pharmacist in the building (apparently the ubiquitous-around-here /pharmacy part in the name means something). Ran into Dr. Shazzy, from the Furry Research Team (including 
NukaTiger and Dr. Gerbasi, among the growing, international team), who I chatted with about research while stuffing an Arby's MAX in my face. Collided with 
Kyotsu, who was suiting and gave some excellent (if slightly damp?) hugs, and resolved to meet me again later. Notified the Art Show staff that I was present, went to a staff meeting thinger, and at some point I crashed. Given that I basically went without sleep for about 48 hours, I was absotively running on fumes, but somehow still had some kind of astrophysics-related discussion with room people. Somebody who I think was named "Drake" also spent the night with us. And also 
mapdark. Somebody snored. A lot.Day 2: Staff breakfast at 7:30 AM. Had some kind of turkey-arugula-cheese omelet thing (has the Penn City Grille always been that frou-frou?). Most of the Art Show assembly had been done on Thursday while I was the walking dead, so I spent a good chunk of the morning checking in new bidders so that they could have a nice silent auction all weekend for art and/or porn. Bidded on a few pieces myself (none of which I would eventually win). Then went searching for commissions, but found most people were either already full (having filled while I was working) or would take a commission from me after the con, but not during, which was a bit unsatisfying but of course better than zilch. I met and chatted with
Stigmata for a while and found that he's every bit as awesome as expected. Dropped off a commission with 
nightfell (still pending as of this writing), who is cool as all hell, if you didn't know already. At some point, possibly that day, I caught up with 
Strype and 
Cooper, who I've been wanting to see again since forever, and found them to be in reasonably good health and spirits, to my delight. Ran into Kyotsu again. Went to dinner at Pizza Parma later with Jazz and Homit, and they forgot about Jazz' order for about 20 minutes--and ran into Kyotsu again out front. Bumped into 
Jack on the way back, who I would also keep crossing paths with for the rest of the con. Then worked the Artists/Dealers Reception bag check from 9-11, and hobnobbed with a bunch of important types. Also, chatting with an awesome individual whose FA may or may not be 
Angelseal. Still pretty zonked and totally still went to bed early-like.Day 3: Staff breakfast mercifully an hour later; had the blueberry orange granola pancakes, which were a lot tastier (and less chunky) than they might sound. Worked bidder signup some more, as well as mature gallery guard duty, from 9-11 and 3-5, during which time I (perhaps unsurprisingly?) encountered
suck_mcjones. In between, lined up more post-con commissions, notably with the pleasant and British 
Skaifox, the talented and lovely 
LauraGarabedian, the Canadian and affable Redic-nomad, and hibbary, who I've wanted a commission from since always. Spoke also with AdriOfTheDead, who I've known of since ages ago and proceeded to keep running into all over the con. Filled out this year's Furry Research Survey, checked in with the team, and dialogued about setting up a satellite for the West Coast's cons. Finally managed to meet up with Kyotsu out of suit, and treated him and Sabre and Jazz and Homit and this ForFauxSake guy to dinner at the Golden Palace. Then hung out in the Zoo with people a while, skipped 2 and Kage because it didn't seem right without shenro along, and then went to Kyo's room at the Omni so he could "pre-game" (something I'd never heard of before) with Sake, bombafur, Alkali, a guy named Dodger, and Dodger's evidently like...new mate prospect or something? Much King of the Hill and Family Guy was watched, along with some Youtube poop, and way too many inside jokes I totally didn't get (but what else is new?). Went back towards the Westin with them, and collided with a bridal reception party entering the lobby, who took lots of pictures with Kyo (courtesy of one lady who initially tried to go back outside, stating "furries make me nervous!"). Helped a 10-shots-drunk Oni and less-drunk DF bring hot wings back to Zoo, comforted Kaze a bit, returned to room, ran into Adri on the way back, crashed.Day 4: Slept in and skipped staff breakfast, since I didn't have to work until later in the morning; instead went to Hanlon's (aka Big Momma's aka Steel City Diner) for breakfast with Kyotsu. They forgot about and/or neglected our orders, and the food was only so-so, sad to say, but at least it got the soccer fox in out of the spontaneous downpour. Lined up post-commissions with Gideon and Spelunker_Sal, said goodbye to Nightfell, then proceeded to work basically the entire rest of the day (because that's how we do in the Art Show). Staff dinner provided a welcome break, as well as two giant Pixy Stix from the leftover supplies (thanks Joatmon!) that were salvaged before throwing the rest to a piranha-like horde of fursuiters near the Headless Zone (not Lounge, evidently). Sold lots of people art, met fellow furry pharmacist Delako, supervised volunteers in packing up lots of unclaimed pieces, and fortunately PeterCat didn't have to blow any fuses in the process. Proceeded to go to the Fish Market thereafter with dragonfireny and a British guy named Patrick whose FA name I never did encounter, and sneakily paid DF's tab while he popped outside to have a smoke. Floated around the zoo a little longer with Kyo et al., then hung out in the lobby of the Omni on a couch with DF, who I incidentally love to pieces. Went back to my room alone when he needed to get to bed in preparation for his early departure. Slept, which is unusual for my usual "Vigil Night" protocol.
Day 5(/6?): Awoken early by the departure of Homit and Sabre. They accidentally left behind Homit's cooler...but not his Arizona iced tea. Half-slept awhile longer, before rising to prepare for leaving myself--and finding Mapdark chilling on Homit's vacant bed. Went to breakfast with him and Jazz at the Brown Bag Cafe, then checked out at the hotel, saw Jazz off to his Super Shuttle, and hoofed it over to the Doubletree, bags and all, so that Mapdark could collect his own things and then be guided to the 28X pickup. Took the 28X to the airport early, along with (I'm pretty sure) DracoJeff and Vir-no-Vigoratus, since the Zoo was closed, most people I knew had already left, and hanging around was proving kind of a downer. Spent several hours at the airport just chilling and chatting and wandering with Mapdark, who I introduced to the American cultural wonder that is Cinnabon. Bought several Godiva truffles. Found out Jack Talon was actually at the airport as well, and got him to join us for a while before I had to board my plane. Short flight to Cincinnati, briefish layover with Chick-fil-A, and evidently left the remaining truffles on either the plane or somewhere in the airport. Much longer flight back to LAX, with no readily-identifiable furries; worked on some tarot exercises. Bit of a cluster in terms of getting back home from LAX, but eventually got back in around 1 AM. Discovered I left my cell phone charger in the hotel room.
If I could go back and copy-edit...
-Shenro, Tremorwolf, and t0ra would have come along
-Probably wouldn't have been staff
-More time with DF, Kaze, Oni, Strype and Coopie
-Would have gone to Furryland (aka Furnando's aka Fernando's) for its last hurrah (so sad!)
-Would have scheduled more time off to make for more time at the con
-Wouldn't have left behind my bleeping charger
But that's life. We live, and hopefully, we learn. Still a good con, all in all. I'll just likely have more time for the fuzzies next year, when I plan to be a supersponsor instead of a superslave! (:
I'm sure there are more people I met, most of whom probably don't remember me, but chances are good that if you do and I didn't, I'm just forgetting your FA username. Feel free to shout out!
I'm looking to attend this year, though work may constitute issues--particularly if I happen to procure a new one around that period of time. The finances are not an issue; the logistics, however, could be.