So, MiDFur has come and gone.

So much to talk about, so many memories made, and so many people met.

To coin a phrase from my very good friend Paul Kidd,
"It’s a good con when I can reconnect with old friends! It’s a great con when I can walk away with 3 or 4 new ones! But I just went to MiDFur, and have made 200 new friends!"

Whilst MiDFur was not perfect, it certainly was worth it! To put faces to names, to reconnect with old friends, to embrace those who I may not have seen eye to eye with for the last 12 months, and to have an incredible group of people come together for one reason, to celebrate our similarities, whilst respecting our diversities, that, my friends is what this was all about!

And for allowing me to be apart of that, I thank you!

So, a few highlights to my week that was MiDFur:

Thursday: Dinner with the Guests of Honour. Lygon Street still has the best Pizza in Australia! If you are ever in the area, I highly recommend you visit the cafe and pizza district in Lygon St. (And don’t forget to invite me!)

Friday: The Furries Invade!
*The Mezzanine Level at the Vic Hotel was inundated with beautifully colourful and oddly attractive furs from all over the world! It was surreal
*Walking up the stairs of the convention centre, about to officially open the doors to the convention. The emotion... the vibe... the electricity...
*"Ladies and Gentlemen, Welcome to MiDFur!" Doors open to cheers and squeals of delight as a cascade of Furries stream down to the convention centre! Listening to everyone as they caught a glimpse of our "ground zero" for the weekend... I almost cried!
*Meet the Guests!
"MiDFur, Please welcome your guests of Honour, 2 the Ranting Gryphon, Dr Samuel "Uncle Kage" Conway, and Paul Kidd!
*The house red! The best house red I have had for years!

Late Friday night:
Listening to a beautiful 86 year old woman play the most sound, and emotionally charged rendition of "Memories" fro the musical "Cats!"

Saturday: Rain Rain Go away...
*Waiting 2 hours for Pizza (Thanks Pizza Hut!)
*Walking down Little Collins St, and seeing Furries everywhere!
*The Gala Ball! Wow the Gala Ball was electric!
With the introduction of Zaen Kreecha, Our 4th Guest of Honour, The First ever Furry Hall of Fame induction (Thank you Goldfur, Anthrocon (Uncle Kage)), beautiful food provided by the wonderful Hifi Bar and Ballroom, an explosion of colour as the dance got underway, and the free flowing wine and photo opportunities in the Mezzanine Level, This event was certainly by far the most memorable to me! 2 and Kage put on an awesome "Unplugged, Uncensored" show. I didn’t want the night to end!

Sunday: The con with More MON!
* The Panels! 4 awesome panels, filled with interesting insights into the furry life. From fur suiting, to Costuming, to defining ones furriness and general chat about furry life with the Guests of Honour. These panels were awesome!
*The No Talent Night! Marko the Rat playing air guitar! GOLD! Nightfur singing my very favourite song in he whole world... Dude, that took fuck loads of guts! Kudos to you! The puppet show... our very own puppet show! Loved it. The Wolf Growls... Anthrax, no one is more metal than you brother! Rock on!
*2 and Kage... the show that never ended... at least, we didn’t want it to! Are these 2 guys the best of what?! And we have videos of ALL of it! (Its true... we really do!)

*Monday: Can it truly be almost over?!
*More panels! The Art panel was AWESOME! So much information, demonstration... the audience seemed captivated! And to have the creator of Doc Rat, Jenner as apart of this panel, as well as one of my personal favourite artists, Ashiland, Plus Con Book cover designer Carnival, and Vice Chairman Kraden all on one table... it was like learning from the gods!

*The MiDFur Committee: Tell us what you think Panel! Having a group of your peers tell you that you have done a great job, and that they want to input to help make it better next year... that was awesome! Every single thought, question and queries were noted, and we will be doing our best to ensure we step up even more next year!

*The Art Auction!
I have never been so proud, so emotionally struck to call my self an Australian! To watch over 150 ppl pull everything they had together to make sure that a piece of AUSTRALIAN furry history STAYS in Australia, and not in America... What an incredible... mind numbing experience! This one moment will live on in my memory.

When the American bidder placed a bid of $550, and then the Aussies all pooled together, throwing more and more money in, long after the former bidder pulled out... to watch the Aussie furs count the money, and keep calling out how much money they had, long before there was no more competition... and then to be handed the historical Poster, and asked to look after it, preserve it, ...

Words cannot express the deep sense of patriotism, honour, and humility I felt!

The poster is in the process of being framed. Once framed, it will be put on display at every single MiDFur convention from here on. It will serve as a memory to us all that we were there... we made history... and no amount of money can take that away from us!

To then get the final count... over $3800 raised for the RSPCA (Yes folks, that money will go directly to the RSPCA. We will have a photo of me handing the cheque over put us as soon as we can make the appointment to meet with the National Director of the RSPCA)

MiDFur, all in all, was a huge success! To all of those who made it possible, from the bottom of my heart, I am for ever indebted to you!

Kraden, I love you man! Thank you for your support!

Kaz, Thanks for keeping my feet on the ground! I love you!

Firey, you truly are an incredible dude! You were there with me for all of it. The highs, and the lows. Thank you for everything you have done, but even more than that, for being loyal to me, even when I was being difficult. Thank you for who you are!

Fala, your job was tiresome, and some what stressful. So much was riding on you being able to pull figures together, and make it happen and you did a firkin awesome job my friend! Consider this a refusal to accept your resignation!

To the rest of the committee... Past and present, you are all my heroes! Thank you for being there... all year!

To our wonderful volunteers without whom MiDFur would not have been possible, for your tireless efforts, I give you my thanks, and respect! Thank you, every single one of you!

Kelthoran, Thanks for helping me out all weekend mate! You kept me sane!
Barbary, you scrub up nicely! Thanks for your work at the Gala Ball
Jenera, Wicked job kitten! Love you to bits!

To all those I have forgotten, please understand that with out each and every single one of you, this would never have happened!! Thank you and I can’t wait to speak with you through out the year!

To 2, Uncle Kage, Paul and Zaen..... Imp speechless!
2, I fell in love with you! You are a credit to the fandom. It was truly an honour to have you here! Can’t wait for July!
Uncle, I near on cried when I said good bye to you. Your words of advice, wisdom, and encouragement did not fall on deaf ears! We will make you proud! Thank you for being apart of this!
Paul, you are the strangest, zaniest, wackiest person I have ever met! Where have you been all my life?!
Zaen, YOU... SCARE... ME...! You must have some F*CKED up dreams! But geez, you and Allen added that extra special touch... it was pure magic!

And finally, to everyone single person who attended... Please, take a bow, pat yourself on the back, buy yourself a drink, and know that you did something special last weekend! You made history! For allowing me the honour of travelling with you, I thank you!

I will now leave with you perhaps the most remarkable comment I received from one of my very best friends in the world, just after MiDFur ended!
"It’s a good Convention when I reconnect with old friends! It's a great convention when I make 3 or 4 friends. But I just came home from MiDFur, with over 200 new friends!"

Peace, I love you all!!!

Onward to 2009!