Actually, it's not so obligatory because I've never done one before, but here it is.

First of all, fuck American Airlines. If the voucher they gave me is transferable, I'm going to sell it and use the money to book passage on Southwest next year. Their luggage fees added $50 to my airfare, making their fee directly inferior to others', whereas Southwest apparently does not charge for the first or second checked bag (which would have been more than enough for me). Also, everything - and I do mean EVERYTHING - they did wound up being late, in both directions. If the voucher isn't transferable, I'll use American one more time (to use up the voucher), then never again.



--- THURSDAY ---

So, I get to the Westin about half an hour late, severely pressed for time; I need to get checked in to my room, get back downstairs, meet  FizzOtter in the lobby, pick up my glow badge, then get something to eat so that I can attend the MLP party. Well, the good news is that I found FizzOtter, and he gave me my glow badge (which is awesome). The bad news is that the guy running the MLP party A) wasn't in the lobby when he said he would be, B) didn't post the room party's number on the board like he said he would, and C) when he finally posted the room number on the Anthrocon forum, he posted the wrong one. I didn't get the right number until I openly called him out on it, which was hours into the party; I think I might've been there for 15-30 minutes before it shut down.

Also, hey, guess what? Motel 6 gives out deodorant. The hotel where I now work gives deodorant. The Westin? nope.jpg. They also insisted that there were no stairs that went to the sleeping floors whatsoever, and that the elevator was the only possible way up. I don't know why, but they were kiiiiinda dicks towards me.

Also, the Super-Shuttle guy gave off a serious creeper vibe and drove like his head was on fire. I normally tip no matter what, but when I'm white-knuckling it all the way to the hotel? No.

Also also, I wanted to give a shout-out to Duneari, to whom I spoke in the airport both on the way from and on the way to Dallas, who was kind enough to give me some pretty cool dice. I'm gonna use them next time I play D&D!

--- FRIDAY ---

Friday went better, but there were still some issues. I started off by attending the Looney Labs demo, getting in some Fluxx and Aquarius and meeting what is quite possibly the single most socially awkward fur I've ever seen. Great games, but I was really glad when this guy wearing a Meowth hat left, because he was making everyone uncomfortable. (Same guy went on to embarrass himself at one of my panels and at Furry Improv.)

My panels went fairly well, except for one major snag: while Pokefurs went off without a hitch, the outline for Transfurmations went missing somewhere between my room and the panel itself. I ad-libbed the entire thing with the help of  comus and  catmonkshiro, which is part of why the introductions were so long. And, yes! The feedback forms were a RESOUNDING success. I got lots of useful feedback, and what I can read of it tells me that most of my feelings about what I can do better are matched by the people who actually attend. The timing of the panels was atrocious, though; the first was up against the dealer's den opening, and the second was *immediately* after the first, with no break between. I need to mention that for next year. Afterward, I went to snap some pictures of the fursuit parade with my new camera...which promptly died on me.

Unfortunately, I didn't get to attend Bucktown's concert (which sucked, because I really wanted to go), but I did get to spend a little time walking the dealer's den and picking up a few comics, a couple of shirts, and a pretty slick Werewolf deck before attending the Nintendo 3DS Furs panel. It was there that I gave a small army of very powerful pokemon to someone who had asked for only one in advance, and discovered that - while I don't own Mario Kart 7 - my fundamental skills carry me well. Not to first place, but within the top three!

I got to attend the Iron Author Rules panel, which sparked my interest; I wrote an atrocity in about fifteen minutes and sent it in, only to be informed later on by Ashe that my writing wasn't even in the same ballpark as some others'. Oh well. Turns out I can't write as badly as some others, but I can write fairly well, as my song (yes, that's a song) made it into the Anthrocon conbook for the second year in a row!

After that, I went to play some Lupus in Tabula...or maybe 'play' is the wrong word. See, I sat in for someone who had to leave in the first round, but I'd already seen who the werewolves were, so I obviously couldn't play. (Fortunately, said person had already died.) So that consisted of me spending two hours watching other people play. When the next game finally started? I was the first one killed. I didn't relish the idea of spending four hours playing half of one round of Werewolf, so I apologetically excused myself (which didn't seem to thrill Rigel one bit) and wandered off.

In the end, I wandered into the Furry Improv panel, which was AMAZING. I absolutely adored the entire thing from start to finish, whether or not I was participating; next year, I need to make this a priority. Alphabet game, and I get the X? Pffft. Handled like a boss, thanks to Xevious! Anyway, that lasted pretty late, so then I toddled off to bed.



--- SATURDAY ---

Saturday was sort of weird for me. The entire first half of the day really had nothing on the schedule for me except for that day's Looney Labs demo, which I gladly attended. That was also the day I learned how to play Chrononauts, which is surprisingly fun and one of the games I now need to make a note to pick up when I have a bit of spending cash again! I have clear memories of getting lunch, ambling about the art show for a while, and doing several other things while waiting for mid-afternoon to arrive, but don't ask me what other things I was doing; it's all kind of vague and noncommittal. I know I spent some of that time writing up my Iron Author entry, so there's that, at least.

At about 4:00p, I wandered into the Matthew Ebel concert. He'd been present at Furry Fiesta in a previous year, but con chair duties had kept me from attending the concert, and I wanted to see what I had missed.

HOLY DAMN.

For anyone who hasn't actually attended a Matthew Ebel concert, this man is damn amazing. I tweeted later that Jonathan Coulton should learn from Matthew Ebel, and I meant it. Whether we're talking about strength in lyrics, musical prowess, or sheer showmanship, that was one of the best concerts I've ever attended. I hear there's going to be video of it somewhere; GO FIND THAT VIDEO.

Now, after that, it had been my goal to go set up for the TF Art Jam...except that I smelled like a gym sock and I knew it. I wound up on the Line Ride to go up to my room, get cleaned up, do a bit of grooming, and come back down. Worse yet, I'd discovered that the shoes I'd bought a few weeks before AC simply had not been sufficiently broken in, and they'd given me a nasty limp; I took Aleve for it, but it still took some time for the stuff to kick in.

After an hour or two, I went to go attend the Werewolf game that was going to be run by the guy who MC'd the Furry Improv panel, except that it was nowhere to be found. Sad me! So, I hung around the TF Art Jam for a while longer, got to see all four issues of the Xfrmations comic as published by Flinters (which I then purchased from his Dealer's Den table the following day), then went to make a quick stop by the party given for the Furnando's supporters. It was fun and all, but I didn't stay for too long, as I wanted to attend the Can You Read It? panel. Unfortunately, the answer was no; the line was simply too colossal for me to hang around and wait.

Midnight rolled around, and I decided to go play Are You A Werewolf in the Somerset. At least...that's where it was on the printed schedule, and on sched.org. Unfortunately, they put it in the Fayette room elsewhere in the *same schedule*, which meant that there were many of us who simply didn't have anywhere to go. Eventually, I stepped in and gave people a nudge to go to the convention center's gaming room. This lasted for an hour or two until the convention center closed down, after which we returned to the now-vacant Somerset for more games. I played and played until about 3:30a, after which I finally went to my room and slept.



--- SUNDAY ---

It's weird, Sunday is often the day I have the least fun at a convention...but I think I might have had the *most* fun on Sunday at this one. After getting not nearly enough sleep, I made my way over to the Looney Labs demo with the GIANT pyramids - an idea which looks near on paper but doesn't really work out - I made my way over to the art show to unsuccessfully defend my bids. On the upside, I did ensure that one of  silverclaw1 got more than $50 for one of her items, so that was a success! I wound up spending less money than I expected, but I only won two (admittedly quite nice) adult pieces.

After this, I wound up going to a presentation for The Incredible Hare, a fascinating study in cartoon-turned-novel by one  comus. I got to see a lot of the process he'd done on the character over the years, and I even got to take home the first chapter of his story; how cool is that? From there, I made my way back to the art show to pick up what I'd won - by the way, kudos to ShiroTora and the others, the art show closings were fast and smooth this year - before heading back to my room to do some preliminary packing. My roommate had to leave on Sunday this year, meaning I had my room all to myself on Sunday. Woot!

Strangely enough, apart from the Looney Labs demo, nothing I did on Sunday was anything I'd planned to do, but it was all a lot of fun regardless. I spent some time sitting down to play games with people, including a guy named "Ian" who - upon seeing that he couldn't rules lawyer his way into winning a game of Fluxx (yes, rules lawyering Fluxx, I kid you not) picked up his cards and left. Classy, dude, really classy.

The highlight of my Sunday was when I met a new group of friends. Guys, I don't know if you can see this or even have FA accounts, but it was awesome meeting and hanging out with you. Charm, Veyen, and Kronos are the names that stand out in my mind, but I know there were more. We played 7 Wonders and Dominion, we searched for and found a way to get food, and we even got to see each other in the airport on the way out on Monday. Total bros, every last one.

Oh, and I ran into the Dorsai at 1:00a on Sunday night. I didn't even know they worked that late. Great dedication, you lot!



--- MONDAY ---

I went home. Oh, and American screwed up my flight again. Huge shock!

---

Some of the notes from the convention:

CON:

- Friday was packed with events. Saturday evening was packed with events. The first half of Saturday was *dead*. Don't know why that is, just luck, I guess. I thought it was me, then I realized that everyone else was saying the same thing...

ROOM:

- Apparently, you had to have your key shoved into a little slot by the door for the A/C and lights to work. The first was a problem, as the sun turned the room into an oven while you were out. Solution? Tear up a piece of paper and shove something vaguely card-shaped into the slot! Bingo!

- My roommate was at his first furry convention, and forgot an entire drawer full of clothing when he left. Whoops! Fortunately, I had packed an extra bag, so I snagged it. I'll be sending it back to him as soon as I can price shipping.

- The floor my room is on is irrelevant; I will pretty much always opt for the Line Ride over the stairs...that is, unless I can get into the Courtyard Mariott the next year, which apparently has virtually no elevator lines and is very close by.

- I need more roommates. I mean, I NEED more roommates. One roomie is just way too big of a strain on my budget. I need to have three or four, preferably four. (I still need a bed to myself, though. My back will not tolerate the alternative.)

- There is such a thing as pillows that are too soft. They were uncomfortably fluffy, and made for fairly bad sleep.


FOOD:

- Lesvos makes really good gyros, even if they mispronounce them. It's "year-o", folks, not "jy-ro". Their hoagies are equally scrumptious...but good LORD, it's hot in there! Definitely a 'to-go only' sort of place.

- Nobody sells two-liter sodas a casual stroll from the hotel. Blargh.

- Kwik-E Mart was a godsend. Their drinks and snacks were inexpensive, their selection was good, and the guy in charge was pretty friendly. Major thumbs-up there.

- Fernando's was a sight for sore eyes. I'm so glad he's going to be allowed to come back next year! I'm sure other people have reported all about this by now, so I'll save you the repetition.

OTHER:

- I got a note to see someone about getting Furry Fiesta flyers to put out...well after it had been done. Sorry, internet access was not conducive to receiving Twitter messages quickly!

- Man, lots of Dallas furs attend Anthrocon! Good stuff.

- Turns out I actually do have some skills at Brawl. I hardly ever came in first, but I was almost never first out. Also, any time someone plays Don't Stop Believin' on Rock Band, I am compelled to sing along (along with everyone else in earshot).

- Oh my god all the sweat forever. Next time, I need to bring a motorized fan and a handkerchief.

- I think I should look into the bus next year. Apparently, it's pretty simple stuff, and I'd save about $40.

- I should definitely bring my laptop next year! With my phone tethering, it's the best internet option available at the convention, and there were several times when I longed for such a thing.

- FURRIES! SLOW TRAFFIC, KEEP RIGHT. IF YOU ARE NOT FOCUSED ON YOUR DESTINATION, YOU ARE SLOW TRAFFIC. I have a spinal problem and am out of shape, and I was still walking about twice the speed of everyone else. I know the convention is intended for fun, and I don't begrudge you that, but at least keep out of the way and watch where you're going!

---

Overall, Anthrocon was a lot of fun, and I learned a LOT. As much fun as I had, I think I'm going to have even more fun next year if I remember to harken back to the lessons I've learned this year.

# I got back 10 of my Pokefurs feedback forms and 17 of my Transfurmations feedback forms. Lots of useful info for next year!