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Post-AC Report
12 years ago
Yeah, I'm definitely going again next year if I can afford it. o.o
So lessee. I left for the States on the Wednesday with Virgin Atlantic, and much to my relief I managed to get through the whole thing without encountering any major difficulties. I had all my paperwork, I got to the airport on time, I had my passport and I didn't miss my flight. No missing luggage, no crashes, no security guards fisting me or anything! Upon landing I was greeted by
and his boyfriend, with whom I'd be staying, and at his apartment I also met up with 
and the epically-bearded 
, both of whom were very nice chaps indeed, and Rath's three very vocal cats.
After a nightcap we all loaded up onto Rath's boyfriend's car for the six hour drive from Newark to Pittsburgh, which was interrupted only by a friendly Pennsylvannian policeman because we were speeding. I have to say, I was quite struck by the scale of wilderness in Pennsylvania. It didn't really occur to me how much of the East Coast was still largely unsettled and taken up by forest. That definitely pleased me; large forests on that scale don't really exist in Britain any more.
We arrived at Pittsburgh in the afternoon and booked into the Doubletree, with only a slight hiccup when we were accidentally handed a room with only one bed instead of two as we requested. Deciding to defer the second bed in the new room to the others, we managed to knock together a third bed from an armchair, a coffee table and some cushions from the sofa so I could sleep on something other than the floor. The cushions kept slipping along the table's smooth surface if you moved too much, but otherwise it was surprisingly restful. Once set up I pretty much claimed that corner of the room in the name of Her Britannic Majesty, where I laid down a Union flag and a photo of the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh. Along with the tea I'd brought for everyone, I think I suitably Flanderised myself. The party at our room was joined by
and his non-fur friend (although she pretty much screamed "KITTY!"), 
, 
, 
and 
. Later on we were also joined by the last roomie, 
After exchanging a brief tete-a-tete and getting glomped by Gillian, we headed to registration.
FUCK MY TAIL THAT QUEUE WAS LONG. Next time I'm pre-registering.
Fortunately I was briefly entertained with a survey I was handed by some chaps in labcoats, the contents of which dealt with furries and their spiritual identities and beliefs. Rather interesting; I look forward to seeing the results. After all that was over we went to Jimmy John's for a meal before I parted ways with the others to scout out the location of the Trinity Cathedral to estimate how long it'd take me to walk there. Once done I retreated back to the hotel room to watch the fireworks from the window before heading to bed.
Woke up fairly early on Friday, so I had breakfast at the restaurant downstairs before heading to the day's writing panels with Gillian. The panels in question were exceedingly helpful and I honestly feel more motivated to write again because of them. I was honestly in danger of spending the entire convention simply attending them. I had a wander afterwards around the Dealers' Den and Artist Alley, where I commissioned a Torii Gate badge from the incredibly talented Makoto. At the Den a copy of Nordguard and the 10th edition of Heat were picked up as well, the latter with the some very embarrassed flustering. I met up with Rath, Tagg and Fen again and hung out with them a bit before heading to the Adult Writing panel with Gilian and Kitty. The panel, being about penises and boobs, was pretty hilarious as well as being headed by Kyell Gold and Rukis, who are both too awesome for words. After that was done I stumbled blearily back to the hotel for sustenance, a shower and sleep.
The next day I hung out with the others a bit more to make up for being cooped up in the panels all day, during which we did our rounds at the Den again. I picked up my badge from Makoto and ordered an additional one from
, along with numerous prints and a copy of Heretic by the aforementioned Rukis. I also managed to snag a sketch from 
. On display were also a pair of freakish ears that moved in accordance to your brain waves. If you were relaxed, they relaxed, and if you were attentive they perked up. While purchasing one was certainly a temptation, a desire not to spend too much money and a genuine fear that it'd transmit my thoughts to the CIA discouraged the thought. Somehow during the day I also managed to pick up a pair of pauldrons from an SCA stand. Only I would travel thousands of miles away from my re-enactment haunting grounds only to spend $175 on some equipment.
Afterwards we went back to the hotel for food, to the bars for drinks, and to the rave for tinnitus. Unfortunately Rath started feeling a little under the weather, so we beat back to the room and perplexed ourselves with some exceedingly strange anime before falling asleep.
Sunday was first at the service in the Trinity Cathedral, which I greatly enjoyed. As is typical of worshipping at different churches I was caught off guard a lot by the slight variations in litany and ritual, but it was nice spending a couple of hours at prayer nevertheless. The rest of the day was spent mostly chasing around the Den for last minute purchases and retrieving orders from artists. Then after spending a good hour or two saying goodbye to everyone we bundled back into the car and sped away to Newark. Tagg and Fen left the next day, while I stayed with Rath and his boyfriend for the rest of the week, where I got a good gander at New York Library, the Metropolitan Art Gallery and Central Park. I then left that Friday.
Alas there were many people I wanted to meet up with who I didn't get the chance to and Anthrocon was nothing if not a nightmare for scheduling -- there was so much I wanted to do and only so many hours in the day. But I'll definitely be going next year if I find myself with the means to do so. If not, then definitely 2015. The theme for that year has my interest.
So lessee. I left for the States on the Wednesday with Virgin Atlantic, and much to my relief I managed to get through the whole thing without encountering any major difficulties. I had all my paperwork, I got to the airport on time, I had my passport and I didn't miss my flight. No missing luggage, no crashes, no security guards fisting me or anything! Upon landing I was greeted by
and his boyfriend, with whom I'd be staying, and at his apartment I also met up with 
and the epically-bearded 
, both of whom were very nice chaps indeed, and Rath's three very vocal cats.After a nightcap we all loaded up onto Rath's boyfriend's car for the six hour drive from Newark to Pittsburgh, which was interrupted only by a friendly Pennsylvannian policeman because we were speeding. I have to say, I was quite struck by the scale of wilderness in Pennsylvania. It didn't really occur to me how much of the East Coast was still largely unsettled and taken up by forest. That definitely pleased me; large forests on that scale don't really exist in Britain any more.
We arrived at Pittsburgh in the afternoon and booked into the Doubletree, with only a slight hiccup when we were accidentally handed a room with only one bed instead of two as we requested. Deciding to defer the second bed in the new room to the others, we managed to knock together a third bed from an armchair, a coffee table and some cushions from the sofa so I could sleep on something other than the floor. The cushions kept slipping along the table's smooth surface if you moved too much, but otherwise it was surprisingly restful. Once set up I pretty much claimed that corner of the room in the name of Her Britannic Majesty, where I laid down a Union flag and a photo of the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh. Along with the tea I'd brought for everyone, I think I suitably Flanderised myself. The party at our room was joined by
and his non-fur friend (although she pretty much screamed "KITTY!"), 
, 
, 
and 
. Later on we were also joined by the last roomie, 
After exchanging a brief tete-a-tete and getting glomped by Gillian, we headed to registration.FUCK MY TAIL THAT QUEUE WAS LONG. Next time I'm pre-registering.
Fortunately I was briefly entertained with a survey I was handed by some chaps in labcoats, the contents of which dealt with furries and their spiritual identities and beliefs. Rather interesting; I look forward to seeing the results. After all that was over we went to Jimmy John's for a meal before I parted ways with the others to scout out the location of the Trinity Cathedral to estimate how long it'd take me to walk there. Once done I retreated back to the hotel room to watch the fireworks from the window before heading to bed.
Woke up fairly early on Friday, so I had breakfast at the restaurant downstairs before heading to the day's writing panels with Gillian. The panels in question were exceedingly helpful and I honestly feel more motivated to write again because of them. I was honestly in danger of spending the entire convention simply attending them. I had a wander afterwards around the Dealers' Den and Artist Alley, where I commissioned a Torii Gate badge from the incredibly talented Makoto. At the Den a copy of Nordguard and the 10th edition of Heat were picked up as well, the latter with the some very embarrassed flustering. I met up with Rath, Tagg and Fen again and hung out with them a bit before heading to the Adult Writing panel with Gilian and Kitty. The panel, being about penises and boobs, was pretty hilarious as well as being headed by Kyell Gold and Rukis, who are both too awesome for words. After that was done I stumbled blearily back to the hotel for sustenance, a shower and sleep.
The next day I hung out with the others a bit more to make up for being cooped up in the panels all day, during which we did our rounds at the Den again. I picked up my badge from Makoto and ordered an additional one from
, along with numerous prints and a copy of Heretic by the aforementioned Rukis. I also managed to snag a sketch from 
. On display were also a pair of freakish ears that moved in accordance to your brain waves. If you were relaxed, they relaxed, and if you were attentive they perked up. While purchasing one was certainly a temptation, a desire not to spend too much money and a genuine fear that it'd transmit my thoughts to the CIA discouraged the thought. Somehow during the day I also managed to pick up a pair of pauldrons from an SCA stand. Only I would travel thousands of miles away from my re-enactment haunting grounds only to spend $175 on some equipment.Afterwards we went back to the hotel for food, to the bars for drinks, and to the rave for tinnitus. Unfortunately Rath started feeling a little under the weather, so we beat back to the room and perplexed ourselves with some exceedingly strange anime before falling asleep.
Sunday was first at the service in the Trinity Cathedral, which I greatly enjoyed. As is typical of worshipping at different churches I was caught off guard a lot by the slight variations in litany and ritual, but it was nice spending a couple of hours at prayer nevertheless. The rest of the day was spent mostly chasing around the Den for last minute purchases and retrieving orders from artists. Then after spending a good hour or two saying goodbye to everyone we bundled back into the car and sped away to Newark. Tagg and Fen left the next day, while I stayed with Rath and his boyfriend for the rest of the week, where I got a good gander at New York Library, the Metropolitan Art Gallery and Central Park. I then left that Friday.
Alas there were many people I wanted to meet up with who I didn't get the chance to and Anthrocon was nothing if not a nightmare for scheduling -- there was so much I wanted to do and only so many hours in the day. But I'll definitely be going next year if I find myself with the means to do so. If not, then definitely 2015. The theme for that year has my interest.
V.