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my anthrocon story. (long)
11 years ago
this is the LONG version of the journal. only read this if you are REALLY interested in my weekend. i'll post a much shorter journal covering highlights in a bit.
i should have made this sooner. like a dream, the wonderful details are already growing hazy as i fondly look back at anthrocon. once again it has trumped every other convention weekend to be the best i've ever had.
thursday i barely remember now xD i know i picked up my badge. then i fursuited around a little, and met a few people.
friday: i fursuited for 7 solid hours, taking a break for an hour in my hotel room in the middle of this. i felt absolutely amazing. my first full convention fursuiting with the new halfsuit, and i felt like a goddamn rock star.
its the 4th, and both the tourists and the pittsburgh natives were so incredibly welcoming and friendly towards me. countless people running up to me and asking for photos, piled on top of meeting so many friends, i couldnt even begin to name them all here, and i'd be too afraid of forgetting one in the list anyway, but if i saw you, and i hugged you or did anything to try to get your attention or chat it up even briefly, you are one of those people who made my weekend great!
During friday, one random guy with a nice camera pulled me aside as i looked for the game room, asking for a photo. i posed for him on the roof of the con center, and he got an incredible shot of the roof area and sky above, with a rather small looking me in the center. it was impressive! he asked me if i had instagram and i said no. but i made an instagram on saturday to discover a photo by a well known indie photographer with hundreds of favs already! http://instagram.com/p/qCRGAMIHG4/ i was speechless. i felt so wonderful not only to be welcomed by the locals so thoroughly, but to even be unknowingly representing the fandom for the start of the con on this guy's feed was really nice. and then i checked twitter and my mind was blown. valdor fox pointed out that i had managed to end up on a pittsburgh radio news site. http://wesa.fm/post/updated-furries.....anthrocon-2014 apparently one of the photographers for the site thought it was quirky and cute that i was checking a text on my phone as i walked the path of the convention center's beautiful water display on 10th street. in reality i think i may have merely been checking the time, wondering if it would be feasible to wait for a shuttle on the street above :P at some point throughout the day, i went the game room in fursuit for a bit, and kicked everyones ass in smash bros. still not sure how i did that with the fursuit on. later, i ended up wandering the dealers room. met a lot of artists and friends from past years, mingled, checked out some merchandise, talked to someone selling necomimi ears about my plans for a fursuit head using one, and then i found a steel battalion machine. i couldnt believe someone had brought steel battalion to anthrocon! i had always pondered the idea of bringing my own copy to a convention to let people try, but never did out of fear for the device and the possibility of it being damaged. then i found out this guy had 6 of them there and was doing a tournament that night! damn right i was in! i also found the new Zoo. it looked like a prison cafeteria, but it had food and ice cream stand. still a VERY unappealing atmosphere though, especially compared to the ballroom we're accustomed to from prior years. but i didnt have long to the tourney. i went to my hotel room for the second time, got out of fursuit, cleaned up, got some food, and went back to the con center for the first time out of suit that day. made it to the roof of the con center just in time for the fireworks, and then ran over to the tournament. as one of the few people who actually owned the game, i made it to the last round with ease (a bye helped, too). in the last round there was a lot of error and confusion, leaving me with a somewhat sub par mech due to a mistake, and nobody could find eachother to fight. i ended up getting shot from behind while everyone was lost. oh well. i still took second, and won some neat stuff! it was 1AM by then, so i went back to the room and collapsed into bed being thoroughly satisfied with a mind blowing beginning to the convention.
Saturday: that morning i found the news pics of my suit. i was in the fursuit parade, and got together with all the other birds i could find for it <3. i entered the grab bag n64 tourney, lost to odendo in fighters destiny. notevenmad.jpg it was an awesome fight right down to the wire. and i hadnt played that game in like 10 years :D, afterward, i got my hands on an autograph from Jim Cummings for Mustel (thanks for helping with that, Yurex!) and went back to my hotel and fursuited more. but it was saturday night! the city was abuzz with activity, and not just furries! sports fans were in and out the whole weekend, and 4th of july tourists were there too. i had a hard time leaving the hotel, because so many people wanted photos with me! and then.. wow. just wow. a guy comes up to me, slightly drunk, asking tons of questions about furries. i answered them all pretty well, especially when it came to him trying to get me to say its a sexual thing. 'it takes all kinds' was more or less my reply. i would've liked to have been funnier, like "well you know, i heard sports fans have sex too. and catholics. and even teachers and doctors. and i heard even antiquing enthusiasts think about sex!". but then as i kept moving and yet another group stopped and asked for a photo, the same guy slapped me on the ass. 0.0 a straight, half buzzed nonfurry slapped my tailfeathered ass. and all i can do is be there like 'waitwat o_o'
Sunday: the fursuit games were top of my to do list. but i wanted to check out the dealer's room one last time too. not enough time to go back and get into suit in between. so i got into suit, walked to the con, walked around the dealers room, then went to the fursuit games. by all rights i shouldve been tired by then, but i had been careful all con to hydrate and preserve energy. and ultimately, we won! got a nice little trophy from it, too! the event kinda forced me to try to dance for the first time ever, too o.o. so, when you find the video, enjoy my lame flailing.
then i did something highly amusing. i went to subway on the way back to the hotel in full fursuit, to save time. ordered my meal, got my cup, got everything together, and left while sipping my drink in full suit. people seemed surprised i could separate the lid and get the straw out of the wrapper x3.
so then i got out of suit, and spent a little more time relaxing and around the con. the zoo was back in the ballroom now, and then the urge to fursuit one final time hit me. so, like any congoer with a little energy left on the final night of the con, i got into suit. this time changing my outfit from the 'tropical' getup to my 'hoodie' one. which proved amusing. im VERY glad i did get back into suit because even on the final night it helped me find a couple more people i had been meaning to locate and spend at least a few minutes with.
the return: even at rest stops on the way i met some new furries, lol. #reststopcon2014 we also detoured through manhattan, and then the bronx. manhattan was great. got some snapshots of the skyline.
everything bad you ever heard about the bronx is true. D:
anyway...
BEST.
CON.
EVAR.
i should have made this sooner. like a dream, the wonderful details are already growing hazy as i fondly look back at anthrocon. once again it has trumped every other convention weekend to be the best i've ever had.
thursday i barely remember now xD i know i picked up my badge. then i fursuited around a little, and met a few people.
friday: i fursuited for 7 solid hours, taking a break for an hour in my hotel room in the middle of this. i felt absolutely amazing. my first full convention fursuiting with the new halfsuit, and i felt like a goddamn rock star.
its the 4th, and both the tourists and the pittsburgh natives were so incredibly welcoming and friendly towards me. countless people running up to me and asking for photos, piled on top of meeting so many friends, i couldnt even begin to name them all here, and i'd be too afraid of forgetting one in the list anyway, but if i saw you, and i hugged you or did anything to try to get your attention or chat it up even briefly, you are one of those people who made my weekend great!
During friday, one random guy with a nice camera pulled me aside as i looked for the game room, asking for a photo. i posed for him on the roof of the con center, and he got an incredible shot of the roof area and sky above, with a rather small looking me in the center. it was impressive! he asked me if i had instagram and i said no. but i made an instagram on saturday to discover a photo by a well known indie photographer with hundreds of favs already! http://instagram.com/p/qCRGAMIHG4/ i was speechless. i felt so wonderful not only to be welcomed by the locals so thoroughly, but to even be unknowingly representing the fandom for the start of the con on this guy's feed was really nice. and then i checked twitter and my mind was blown. valdor fox pointed out that i had managed to end up on a pittsburgh radio news site. http://wesa.fm/post/updated-furries.....anthrocon-2014 apparently one of the photographers for the site thought it was quirky and cute that i was checking a text on my phone as i walked the path of the convention center's beautiful water display on 10th street. in reality i think i may have merely been checking the time, wondering if it would be feasible to wait for a shuttle on the street above :P at some point throughout the day, i went the game room in fursuit for a bit, and kicked everyones ass in smash bros. still not sure how i did that with the fursuit on. later, i ended up wandering the dealers room. met a lot of artists and friends from past years, mingled, checked out some merchandise, talked to someone selling necomimi ears about my plans for a fursuit head using one, and then i found a steel battalion machine. i couldnt believe someone had brought steel battalion to anthrocon! i had always pondered the idea of bringing my own copy to a convention to let people try, but never did out of fear for the device and the possibility of it being damaged. then i found out this guy had 6 of them there and was doing a tournament that night! damn right i was in! i also found the new Zoo. it looked like a prison cafeteria, but it had food and ice cream stand. still a VERY unappealing atmosphere though, especially compared to the ballroom we're accustomed to from prior years. but i didnt have long to the tourney. i went to my hotel room for the second time, got out of fursuit, cleaned up, got some food, and went back to the con center for the first time out of suit that day. made it to the roof of the con center just in time for the fireworks, and then ran over to the tournament. as one of the few people who actually owned the game, i made it to the last round with ease (a bye helped, too). in the last round there was a lot of error and confusion, leaving me with a somewhat sub par mech due to a mistake, and nobody could find eachother to fight. i ended up getting shot from behind while everyone was lost. oh well. i still took second, and won some neat stuff! it was 1AM by then, so i went back to the room and collapsed into bed being thoroughly satisfied with a mind blowing beginning to the convention.
Saturday: that morning i found the news pics of my suit. i was in the fursuit parade, and got together with all the other birds i could find for it <3. i entered the grab bag n64 tourney, lost to odendo in fighters destiny. notevenmad.jpg it was an awesome fight right down to the wire. and i hadnt played that game in like 10 years :D, afterward, i got my hands on an autograph from Jim Cummings for Mustel (thanks for helping with that, Yurex!) and went back to my hotel and fursuited more. but it was saturday night! the city was abuzz with activity, and not just furries! sports fans were in and out the whole weekend, and 4th of july tourists were there too. i had a hard time leaving the hotel, because so many people wanted photos with me! and then.. wow. just wow. a guy comes up to me, slightly drunk, asking tons of questions about furries. i answered them all pretty well, especially when it came to him trying to get me to say its a sexual thing. 'it takes all kinds' was more or less my reply. i would've liked to have been funnier, like "well you know, i heard sports fans have sex too. and catholics. and even teachers and doctors. and i heard even antiquing enthusiasts think about sex!". but then as i kept moving and yet another group stopped and asked for a photo, the same guy slapped me on the ass. 0.0 a straight, half buzzed nonfurry slapped my tailfeathered ass. and all i can do is be there like 'waitwat o_o'
Sunday: the fursuit games were top of my to do list. but i wanted to check out the dealer's room one last time too. not enough time to go back and get into suit in between. so i got into suit, walked to the con, walked around the dealers room, then went to the fursuit games. by all rights i shouldve been tired by then, but i had been careful all con to hydrate and preserve energy. and ultimately, we won! got a nice little trophy from it, too! the event kinda forced me to try to dance for the first time ever, too o.o. so, when you find the video, enjoy my lame flailing.
then i did something highly amusing. i went to subway on the way back to the hotel in full fursuit, to save time. ordered my meal, got my cup, got everything together, and left while sipping my drink in full suit. people seemed surprised i could separate the lid and get the straw out of the wrapper x3.
so then i got out of suit, and spent a little more time relaxing and around the con. the zoo was back in the ballroom now, and then the urge to fursuit one final time hit me. so, like any congoer with a little energy left on the final night of the con, i got into suit. this time changing my outfit from the 'tropical' getup to my 'hoodie' one. which proved amusing. im VERY glad i did get back into suit because even on the final night it helped me find a couple more people i had been meaning to locate and spend at least a few minutes with.
the return: even at rest stops on the way i met some new furries, lol. #reststopcon2014 we also detoured through manhattan, and then the bronx. manhattan was great. got some snapshots of the skyline.
everything bad you ever heard about the bronx is true. D:
anyway...
BEST.
CON.
EVAR.
TonyRingtail
~tonyringtail
hey boidie!!!
