TL;DR Version - Had fun, looking forward to next year

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Coming off the heals of Anthrocon, RMFC was definitely a change of pace. Where Anthrocon filled up something crazy like 4 complete hotels and the entirety of the Pittsburgh convention center, RMFC didn't fully fill one hotel and the activities were confined to that hotel's modest ballrooms. That is not a knock on RMFC. Obviously not every con's going to be as big as AC and, to be honest, it was kinda nice to be at a smaller, more relaxed con again. I've been so accustomed to attending huge furry cons lately (FC, AC, and to a lesser extent RF) that I've forgotten what it's like to attend smaller, more regional get togethers. The very first furcons I attended were like this, where it was more about hanging out with friends and less about the loosely collected assortment of panels.

That's not to say I didn't attend panels.

- I finally saw the famed '2 the Ranting Griffon' show. While some of it fell flat, the vast majority of it killed and it was an hour well spent. Doing a full hour of comedy is *hard*. I've heard Famous Well Known Comics ™ say that it can take up to a year just to fine tune a 20 minute set, so to get up there for a full hour earns my complete admiration and respect. And if I'm honest, some of the parts that 'fell flat' for me probably weren't because they weren't funny, but because they hit a little close to home.

- I also attended a panel in which Kyell Gold read excerpts from two stories, one Harry Potter like magical short story up for consideration in a magazine and *drumroll* excerpts from the upcoming 'Red Devil'! I can't wait til that comes out! I loved 'Green Fairy' so much that I gave a copy to my doesn't-know-I-have-a-snow-leopard-alter-ego mother to read and she liked it too.

And... That was about it for attending panels. But that's okay. It was really more about meeting new folks and hanging out. And sometimes turning into a snow leopard.

<--->

On Friday evening I escaped the con with Fox, Weasel and Coyote. We headed down to the Yard House on the 16th street pedestrian mall. It was very yummy food at a very reasonable price, but... it was... sort of... loud. Only hearing every 4th word and trying to piece together what other people are talking about can be amusing. For example: *mumblemumble* counting *mumblemumblemumble* placenta** *mumblemumblemumble* thunderstorm *mumblemumblemumble* soccer. (Go ahead! Try it! 'I was counting all the people I know who've kept the placenta and planted it in the ground and that number was just 1. And that guy was a little bit kooky, having been struck by lightning in a thunderstorm while playing soccer several years ago')

However, it can also be embarrassing if you introduce a 'new' topic only to realize that others at the table had already thoroughly discussed it already 5 minutes ago. Such was the case when Fox, Coyote and Weasel were--I only realized later--discussing the rumor that RMFC might be looking for a new hotel next year. Coyote'd mentioned how RMFC used to be downtown and how the fursuit parade walked up and down the pedestrian mall. She loved how there were so many restaurants nearby and hoped it'd return downtown again. Of course, I only heard every fifth word (some combination of 'unconfirmed rumor', 'used to be', 'next year', 'moving'). I nodded my head stupidly, pretending I was following along when in fact I was lost. Then 5 minutes later I opined 'Hey, I wonder if RMFC will move to a different hotel next year?'

*facepaw*

(** - Yes, the word 'placenta' really did feature prominently in our conversations that night; Or at least I THINK it did)

<--->

I did not make it to the group fursuit photo shoot or the fursuit parade on Saturday. I could blame Dachshund because he was still in the room asleep at noon (!!!) and I didn't want to wake him up while transforming into my spotted self. In truth I still had flashbacks from the death march that was Anthrocon. That, and I still am not very good at the whole parade concept. I know, I know, it should be simple but I'm just not very good at it. I've never been a wave-initiator, I've always been a wave-reply-er, so it's awkward to go out and wave to people who may have no interest in waving back. Ugh. As I type that out it sounds sooo lame. I'll have to make sure to remove it from the final edit.

Anyway, my personal parade-phobias aside, I thought it was very clever how the RMFC folks set up their parade route. The suiters entered the dealers room and immediately were bunched up at the photo booth. Each suiter then had their photo taken, which was cool for two reasons:

1) Suiters in the parade definitely got an individual photo taken of them.

2) After the photo booth bunch up the suiters were spread out so each suiter could get individual attention as they walked/bounced/crawled/danced through the dealer's room

<--->

I did suit up for a while on Saturday and milled about for a few hours. I briefly met SuiterFox and SuiterHyena/Raccoon in the hallway, along with Snowleopard/Lynx and SuiterOtherSnowleopard (I'm starting to regret using generic species identification here rather than just proper names). The one downside to suiting at RMFC this year was that there weren't a lot of places to go. It was pretty much either mill about the dealer's room, traverse the long and sometimes narrow hallway, or hang out in the crowded lobby. I could have gone outside for a bit but the hotel was at the intersection of 2 busy streets and the surrounding property was almost entirely comprised of parking lot asphalt. In short, the hotel didn't really lend itself to outdoor suiting. Hopefully next year's site, whether it be downtown or at the Tech Center or somewhere else will be better.

<--->

On Saturday night I joined Wolf, Fox, Weasel and Dachshund for another trip downtown. It was pouring rain. I'm talking whitecaps-in-the-streets rain. I almost had to put the rudder down in my car to successfully navigate some of the intersections. The downpour lead to one of the more interesting sights of the weekend that, strangely enough, did not involve furries at all.

While Fox and I waited under some shelter to stay dry, two athletic guys came whipping around the corner through the downpour, one pushing the other in a wheelchair. I've never seen a wheelchair do a power slide before, but they were carrying so much speed trying to get out of the rain they had no other choice. They were followed by two attractive women who had both tugged clear plastic bags over their heads. I thought about suggesting that wearing plastic bags over one's head while running might not be the best idea when it comes to, you know, oxygen, but they seemed pretty intent on keeping their hairstyles dry and awesome so I kept my mouth shut.

Eventually the rain trailed off and we made our way to Old Chicago's. I had forgotten at first that we went to Old Chicago's, but was reminded of the fact simply by looking at the wall and seeing a Chicago Cubs jersey. Or a Chicago Bears team photo. Or a record sleeve from every album the band 'Chicago' ever recorded. I think they even had a pair of lederhosen used in the parade in Ferris Bueller's Day Off, which was filmed in... Well, you know.

I had a non-standard 'liquid diet' that night, but that's a whole nother story.

I wanted to get another suiting run in for RMFC and it pretty much came down to either a dance on Saturday night (if you want to call the strange twitches and gyrations I do 'dancing') or a return trip on Sunday. With strawberry lemonade still sloshing about inside me I figured I'd be better served waiting til Sunday.

<--->

I spent a good chunk of Sunday making two trips to Autozone. Turns out the battery on Wolf's car was on its death bed and he needed a new one to get his car out of the parking lot. And also to drive his car back to California.

I bought more stuff at the con (way more stuff than I expected to buy; Thanks a lot, Corgie! *grump*) and suited up one last time on Sunday afternoon. I was glad to be able to get some photos with SuiterHyena/Raccoon and SuiterOtherSnowleopard, as well as with SuiterYetAnotherSnowleopard and SuiterBatHusky. There were also pics with random humans too but I'm not going to try to give them individual generic nicknames.

And then suddenly the con was over. It ended too fast, but then again it always does, doesn't it? I took a quick shower and changed into my 'normal clothes', then rode the elevator down with two non-furs. The hotel was starting to go through it's transformation now, from fantastical furry gathering to mundane place where normal people sleep at night when passing through town. One of the non-furs looked at me and quipped 'you're not wearing a tail', to which I patted my suitcase and remarked 'It's packed away'.