Ok... So... I don't normally make journals of my con going experiences but I guess this time i'll give it a go. Mainly because this was one of my all time favorite con travels. Now, here is my con recap.

Thursday:

I left work a hour early because I didn't take a lunch break and was trying to dodge traffic. Traffic was had but not so bad. I think it added around 30 mins to my ride. Not the worst, not the best. My destination was  costello &  Tanyar place. I pulled into the parking lot and there were no cars so I was starting to wonder if anyone was home. I turn around to see COSTELLO pulling in about to run me over. Sitting next to him looked was what liked a little boy and while I was dodging the car I was wondering why COSTELLO was driving around with a little kid. Then I realized it was  origamigryphon which was a super surprise because I haven't seen OG since she left to defend to world from evil tyranny, almost a year ago. So it was a great reunion.

We went inside and had a fun youtube party and I was busying myself with cleaning a box fan I was bringing with me. When I was almost done with the fan TANYAR came home and made fun of me cleaning a fan. Then we headed out on a journey to Wal-mart to get a few things I forgot to pack and get some quick grub at Tacobell. I made fast friends with the counter person and he helped me decide to try one of the new cantina bowls. Went home and tore up the food, (which was great for taco bell) and continued the youtube party. I had the bright idea to have a coors light with some of the hot sauce packets from taco bell... gross.... Natty Bo and Cholula hot sauce is good. This was not.... After that we called it an early night.

Friday:

We got up early, a bit before 7am because we had to hit the road. Said our sad goodbyes to TANYAR because she was not coming with us. TANYAR you were missed. We carpooled with COSTELLO & ORIGAMIGRYPHON in one car and me in the second. I was so proud of COSTELLO He drives like a speed demon and I drive like a gray muzzle. But he showed great restraint and didn't leave me in the dust and waited at the pay stations for me. I am thankful to him for this. We finally get to the home of the gentleman who was supplying us the lighting equipment. The guy was awesome and very no mess around strait forward but helpful and kind. I like that when doing business. We fussed around shifting things to make everything fit. Played a bit of car Tetris but we got everything to fit in the two cars. Then it was off to the convention.

We arrived at the hotel in the early afternoon and unloaded all the gear. We entered the main ballroom and liked the stage setup. At the very moment we were saying how this was going to be nice the employees at the hotel informed us they were breaking down everything and building it differently for us and it won't be ready till around 3. On top of that we also found out we couldn't check in until 4. So we all went to go reg. ORIGAMIGRYPHON ran off to get in the reg line and COSTELLO and myself checked in and got our staff reg completed. Then we decided to kill some time and hit the bar. That bar knows how to make amazing Black & Tans. The place was a bit pricey but it was a nice place. So we had a beer and a flatbread for lunch and then ran off to see how the ballroom was going.

Lucky for us they were ready for us to bring our gear in early, around 2. I met the sound guy  lildobe while he was bringing in all his gear. This guy is very talanted and is the Technology & Website Administrator for WPAFW. He was fun to work with. We set up all the audio and light rather quickly and we did a sound check and lighting setup for Matthew Ebel, aka  hali which went rather smooth. The rest of the night consisted of drinks, pizza, going to the Mattew Ebel's show. Which was a great fun time. I was a bit under the influence at the time so I hope I wasn't to loud during the show. After the show we went back to the room and hung out with all the roomies. ORIGAMIGRYPHON  floppybelly  kitt3ns COSTELLO and myself. Things get a bit blurry here but sometime in the course of the night I decide the fan I brought along should die because it was making a clacking sound. I Gears OF War foot stomped it and put the remains in the hallway. Then we all called it an early night because we were all dead tired.

Saturday:

Everyone got up around 8:30 and I was informed that I stopped on the fan while it was still running. Not my smartest moment in time. But I wasn't hurt. KITT3NS had to run around and get down to run the dealers den. FLOPPYBELLY went down to sign up to see if she could get a table to sell her art. After everyone cleaned up and FLOPPYBELLY came back we headed out for some quick breakfast and Dunkin Donuts. While there we noticed a booze shop next store so we popped in there to up our alcohol supply. Turns out they have a fancy cheese section and it's cheese tasting day!!! Lucky us. So we have the lady open so many cheeses and had a grand ol time. During this time we decide to have a wine and cheese party so we bought four kinds of cheese some crackers and two bottles of wine. We had to rush back because we were having so much fun we lost track of time and FLOPPYBELLY was selected for a table and had to be there to claim it. Sadly, we didn't make it in time and she lost out... Sorry FLOPPYBELLY, I still feel bad about that.

ORIGAMIGRYPHON, COSTELLO and myself all got suited up and ran off to be a part of the fursuit parade. We really wanted to do it because of the $10 donation that was added to the total per suiter in the parade. Waiting around was bearable because  shiacoft brought a little cd player down and was blasting PSY - Gangnam Style. So we were all doing the dances from that video. Such a fun time. If you don't know the dance here is the video of the song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bZk.....eature=related

After the parade we all went to be in the group picture. I was in the very back so the only thing I could do was raise my paws in hopes they at least got in the shot. Then we went and chilled in the headless lounge were we met  rawz_the_tiger and we all scooted off down to the bar of a few drinks in suit. Then after hopping out of suit we headed off to get some of tastiest mexican food I ever had at www.titosburritos.com. If you find yourself nearby, stop in. You won't be disappointed.

After we got back RAWZ_THE_TIGER bounced off to his room and ORIGAMIGRYPHON slipped into a food coma. COSTELLO and I were sleepy but we realized we told a lot of people about the wine and cheese party but only had two bottles of wine. So we ran off back to the wine store and picked up eight more bottles. When we got back we had to go and set up Look Left for there show. We get to the ballroom and the auction is still going on and running late. So we sit and watch as KITT3NS and  skippyfoxcub have a bidding battle over a signed LookLeft CD which also included LookLeft writing a song for the highest bidder and the band members would to the Truffle Shuffle during their set. It was kinda crazy watching it go on. I think the winning bid was $333 with KITT3NS as the owner of the said LookLeft prize pack. Once the auction was over we started setting up LookLeft. It went rather smooth. I hope people were happy with the lighting setup. I take full blame if you thought it was awful. I did the best I could with what we had to work with. The show was amazing. I seriously love this band. I think they have high quality tunes and they are all, every one of them, the nicest people you'll ever meet in the realm of musicians. Go check them out if you haven't yet http://lookleft.us/

After the show we headed off to the room and started the wine and cheese party. We only invited a small number of people but the grand total was around 40 heads in the room. All in all the party was chill and everyone acted sane and no one caused any problems or broke anything. NOT EVEN A WINE GLASS!! We borrowed all the wine glasses from the pricey wine fountain. Every time we passed by there we would grab a handful of glasses. I think we almost had enough. We bought some rice crackers which tasted like farts so we called them Fart Crackers. All the wine, cheese and crackers were gone by 1am, which is a great time to end a party. The room emptied almost instantly after the wine was tapped. It was nice. We then walked the halls with  peppercoyote and end up back in his room for a bit. And we hung with the guitar player from LookLeft, Derek and their percussionist, Matt, who was passed out. Derek was being a true friend keeping an eye on Matt thought his drunken slumber. Derek was nice enough to share his fried chicken with me which hit the spot since I only had wine and cheese since the www.titosburritos.com.

We next ended up downstairs and ran into KITT3NS and  catofmount coming out of the bar. Apparently CATOFMOUNT had bought quite a few drinks for KITT3NS because he was three sheets past three sheets to the wind. I gladly took the last drink from KITT3NS and we helped him upstairs and into the room. ORIGAMIGRYPHON & FLOPPYBELLY were both asleep so we ended up in the bathroom. I was giving KITT3NS sports drink before he passed out to try and fend of a horrible hang over. At some point KITT3NS needed to use the bathroom and shooed COSTELLO and i out of the bathroom so we went out in the hall. Right when we enter the hallway who comes walking by?  mysteryotter so we start goofing around out in the hall. KITT3NS joins in on the fun and I guess we were a bit loud because right when I was taking a picture the person in the room across the hall pops her head out to say it's cool but we should quiet down. http://www.furaffinity.net/full/8710982/ So all four of us go back into the bathroom and have a fun bathroom party. http://www.furaffinity.net/full/8711025/ After a while we decide to hit the halls again. We found a  dark-dragoncat sleeping on the floor. COSTELLO woke her up and she was pretty upset so he talked her into calming down and instead of sleeping in the hallway she should sleep on the floor in our room. MYSTERYOTTER, KITT3NS and I continued to party for a bit longer on the elevator. We rode it up and down a few times including whoever come onto the elevator. After that we parted ways with MYSTERYOTTER and headed back to the room to finally get some sleep. After everyone was settled I realize I had to grab some pain pillz for KITT3NS in the morning. So I headed off to the front desk. On my way I ran into RAWZ_THE_TIGER who was lost and was having a hard time finding his room. I helped him find his room ran downstairs bought some drugs and ran back to the room to pass out.

Sunday/Monday:

Sunday was very relaxing. We mostly took it easy went to breakfast with a whole crew of people. Came back and went to the Miracle fruit Panel. Stuff is crazy. Makes lemon juice taste like lemonade. It changes the flavors of food. Mostly takes away bitter and sour. We tried apple, vinegar, dill pickles, dark chocolate, grapefruit slices, and tomatoes. Being the alcohol connoisseurs that COSTELLO and I are we took some of the miracle fruit and went to the bar to try some guinness and IPA. ORIGAMIGRYPHON still didn't like the beer even with the enhancement of the miracle fruit. While there we decided to head back out to www.titosburritos.com one last time.

When we got back it was almost time for closing ceremonies. I was teary eyed all during closing ceremonies. Everything was very touching. After awhile I just wanted it to end because the realization set in that I had to strike the stage and head home, which is a 3 hr drive. Once everything was finished we broke down that stage like mad men. Everything went almost smooth. After that COSTELLO took LILDOBE and I out for a drink and LILDOBE shared some of this fantastic rum cake with us. Once the beer and cake where gone we parted ways with LILDOBE and headed to the room. There I got a bit choked up saying goodbye to KITT3NS and then got more choked up when saying goodbye to ORIGAMIGRYPHON and COSTELLO and FAU.

On the ride home it was nice but my only regret this entire con happened on the way home. I stopped to get gas and a bite to eat. Went to a Roy Rogers and got two cheese burgers which totaled almost 10 bucks. They were probably the most expensive and awful tasting burgers I've ever had. Then on my way into DE I got into a fight with the toll person because I said I gave her a $20 and she said I gave her a $10. We stood there for about 10 mins arguing and then finally she gave me information to contact to view the camera so I was on my way again. Sadly.... on my way home from there I realized I was in the wrong and felt like a giant D-bag. Got home loaded out and at around 1am passed out for work the next day....

WOW!!! Sorry for such a long journal. Like I said in the beginning I don't normally do these. Now I know why. I don't really expect to many people to read this all the way till the end but I will like to go back and read it right before next years FAU and remember all the fun that was had. Thank you all so much for all the fun. I left out a bunch of people and I'm sorry for that. Even if you weren't listed you still had a part of this con being one of my best ever.

THANK YOU ALL SO VERY MUCH!!!

Abel Phellan