Wow. I don't even know where start with this con. This is a con I've been dying to go to for the past two years, and finally having gone is just...hard to put into words, haha.

I got there Wednesday night, and was immediately overwhelmed when I set foot inside the Westin hotel. Took me a little while to finally adjust to the fact that I was finally in the hotel I'd only ever seen in videos. It didn't take me long to meet up with my friends and get dinner. So I got a taste of the city fairly quickly.

Thursday was spent reuniting with a TON of friends I hadn't seen in a while. A lot of my west coast friends didn't come to AC this year, so that gave me the chance to see friends I only ever see at east coast cons, and God, it was amazing to see these guys again.

And of course, this was the night of my set, which I was immensely excited for. This was Anthrocon, where the biggest and best dances take place, so playing here, only after having played at two other cons, was a tremendous honor. And it was going to be the same line up as FWA's Friday night; Firr, then me, then Skroy. I felt like this was going to be the biggest night of my life. The first time I set foot in that main ballroom, I was just amazed. Amazed that I'd made to this con, amazed that I was standing in this room, amazed that I would be playing here. Soundcheck was cool, because it allowed me and  skroy to rehearse for his keytar solo for the one of the songs I'd be playing. Fast forward to later that night when the dances actually took place. Due to a last minute change, DJ EAR ( huepow00 played instead of Firr, and I was really glad he went on, because EAR's also one of my favorite DJs, and one I have a ton of respect for. I loved his reaction when I showed him three tracks in my setlist that I'd be playing, all taken from his amazing set at FC earlier this year. I hung around for his set, just surveying the crowd, nervous as fuck. Seriously, I'd never been more nervous for a set; it was almost the same feeling of anxiety I get when I go out on stage for a fursuit dance competition. But it was multiplied here, because I'd never had a crowd like this. Skroy and others gave me a lot of encouraging words, though. :)

So then, it was my turn to go on. Protocollie literally stood up on top of the DJ table to announce me, haha. That pumped me up. Then I just...played. And I can't even describe how I felt for the next hour. The crowd was mine, the stage was mine, the ballroom was mine, and I threw down the hardest set of my life. And then all of a sudden, a TON of my friends showed up.  toayk,  flipsta_lombax and  strobes all joined me on stage and we owned that shit. But not just them. Soon enough,  Galefrostbane,  skyryd3r,  tyfusky,  atsufawx,  Euchre, Vince,  JDPuppy, Skroy,  Reccasenli,  WolfPupTK  humphreye45, Kalypso, Neokai, Sadie and others all joined me on stage, and we went fucking crazy. And just as I hoped, Skroy's keytar solo when I played that Apollo remix was a huge surprise, and people loved it. It was great. :3 I honestly, can't put into words how wonderful it was to have all of these people on stage with me while playing to the biggest crowd of my life. It was the best feeling ever, one of the best nights I've ever had. And it went by so fast. It didn't feel like an hour at all. And then Skroy went on, and as I expected, he absolutely blew the stage apart. As I said earlier, this was my second time in a row opening for Skroy, and I wouldn't have had it any other way. I think we have wonderful chemistry with our combined stage presence, and our styles really compliment each other.

Humphrey was actually going to wear Valentine during my set, but I couldn't the body zipper working properly, so he didn't get to wear it unfortunately. :( I actually had to ask Gale to help me fix the zipper during Skroy's set, and she did fix it thankfully. So I wore Valentine myself for the last of Skroy's set, and I went hard as hell on stage with everyone. Playing a huge set, and then dancing in fursuit afterwards...you have no idea how fucking tired I was afterwards. I was so exhausted, I had to ask someone to help me carry my action packer back to my room.

Friday was pretty cool. I spent more time with friends, explored the convention center more, did the prelims for the fursuit dance competition, which I'd been pretty nervous and anxious about for months. And it was pretty grueling, too. Probably the toughest prelims I've gone through so far. I was originally in the novice category, but I was moved to the veteran category. And I made it. It came down to the very last round, it was me, Kwik and Bemani. Just the three of us. When we stopped onto that floor, I immediately pulled the two of them into a group hug. I felt this was necessary. Solidarity, support, sportsmanship, because we were all competing for a limited number of slots. But we supported each other and wished each other good luck. Because at the end of this, we're all still a family and while we try our best, we all still root for each other. It was tough. Me and Kwik got in. However, after injuring herself later on, Kwik decided to sit out of the competition, and Bemani got to compete after all.

And then, I felt amazing. I felt like I'd accomplished something, felt like I achieved one of my most sought-after goals. I'd made it into Anthrocon's fursuit dance competition. I'd been dreaming, wishing, hoping for two years for the chance to perform at this con, on this stage, for this fursuit dance competition. And I'd just overcome the biggest obstacle standing in my way. And after DJing the previous night, I felt like I was on top of the world.

Then, I immediately ran to the convention center to make it in time for the dances, because I refused to have a repeat of MFF last year, where I was just way too tired to be at the dances after wearing myself out, which caused me to miss Recca's set, because I left the dances early. Fuck that, I was not gonna have that happen here. Especially because fucking  akonite was gonna be playing first, and he's my favorite DJ. There was no way I was gonna miss that. So I waited until the dances started, late, and I was fucking there. One of the first ones inside that ballroom, and I rocked the dance floor as Akonite played. But, of course, then I jumped on stage with Fayroe, and danced my ass off. I never get tired of that. Dancing on that stage, in fursuit, for my favorite DJ's set was one of the best things ever. But this was a night where several of my favorite DJs were all playing, so I also stayed for Oddy and Recca's sets as well. And they were crazy. A bunch of other people came on stage for Recca's set as well.

Something I'd like to note here: I'm really glad to see that a lot of the DJ community is starting support each other, very much in the same way that the dancers support each other. There was a specific moment that night where me and Skroy (both in our fursuits) came on stage during Recca's set, and...there's just such a wonderful dynamic here; that the DJs from the previous night can come on stage and support the DJs the following night. I think that's such a wonderful thing, and I'd love to see more of that at cons. DJs should support each other, because in the end, we all have the same goal; to take the crowd on a journey with our music.

I was there for a bit of Genki's set as well, but I was way too tired at that point, so I did finally leave the dance then.

Saturday was more social stuff. And Floor Wars. I didn't end up competing in Floor Wars, because me and Toay were waitlisted, and Toay forgot it was happening and arrived too late after our team was called. Plus, he was also injured. So we weren't able to compete. It's okay, though. I was fine with not competiting in Floor Wars. My main focus dancing-wise was the fursuit dance competition. Watching others compete was awesome, though. So many people blew me away and performed beautifully.

Later that night, I had a lot of feels talks with other dancers about anxiety I had concerning the dance competition the next day. About the fact that I'd finally be performing on the stage that I dreamed of. And there were a lot of emotions going around, some tears even. But again, that's that dancer fur community for you. So much support and solidarity from everyone, from people who'd seen me dance, who'd watched me over the years, who believed in me. That was quite an emotional night.

The rest of the night was cool, and I eventually made it down to the dances. This was one of the rare times where I decided not to hit up the whole dance, because I wanted to be well rested for the dance competition the next day. But I still wanted to have fun, so I made it down for the last set of the night. Oh Danger dropped some crazy drum and bass and I rocked out on that dance floor with Storm Tiger in his new sexy fursuit.

Sunday. Finally. The fursuit dance competition. I spent a good while nervous as hell leading up to the competition itself. Because I'd finally made it, finally gotten to this point that I'd been hoping for. And being backstage with all the other dancers once again gave me that feeling of solidarity, family, and support that I get from every dance competition, but I especially felt it here. And once I got up there, on that stage, when the music hit...I just did it. I danced my heart out and had a great time. So, again. I did it. I made it. I lived the dream, conquered my goal, and had a wonderful time.

Here's the video of my performance

And afterwards, the dancer furs did what is tradition by going out to dinner at this wonderful Chinese buffet. And it was pretty special. The organizers all gave speeches, there were many feels, tears, emotions, it was a great time and a great dinner. Later we got back to the hotel, and I had more fun.

Later that night, I was actually in a bit of a rut, which is the main reason I wasn't at the dance cypher in the zoo. I heard it was fun, though. I managed to end that night on a good note, though. :)

Then Monday morning, I had to leave. And this was the earliest I've ever left from a con. I was up and ready to go at 9 AM, extremely sad that I had to leave so early. It was hard, I obviously didn't get to say goodbye to all my friends and the people who meant so much to me and helped shape my con experience.

But yeah, so Anthrocon 2014. I can honestly say it was one of my best cons to date. I know AC gets a lot of flak for being too big and being hard to meet up with your friends, and to an extent, that's true, but I had an amazing time. I lived the dream, achieved my goals, and still got to hang out with a load of my friends every day of the con. :) So yeah...my first AC. It was an amazing ride.