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MFF Aftermath and Thoughts
11 years ago
Just winding down til it's time to leave the hotel, and while everyone else is asleep, I might as well occupy myself with putting out some thoughts on the whole thing before it's time to head home.
It's certainly been....interesting, to say the least. I know by now everyone's heard about the chemical attack that happened Saturday night. The staff did a fantastic job of handling the evacuation of the hotel in a quick and orderly fashion, which is even more impressive when you consider the difficulties that come with herding thousands of furries. It really could have been a far more disastrous situation, so mad props to the staff. You guys rock!
Business was pretty good, and I thank all the peeps that commissioned me for sketches, cuz you guys made this con financially worth it. I feel, though, that it's really my friends, and awesome fans that make MFF stand out for me. And I don't know if it's just lack of sleep that's making me emotional and philosophical about this whole experience or what, but it's been getting my mind churning. More than any other con in recent memory I've found myself feeling more camaraderie and concern for those around me. A couple of my friends were caught up in the attack and had to be looked at by the paramedics, and I was more worried for them than I normally get when shit goes down. I've had stronger reactions to seeing people in weakened states, both physically and in one particular case, financially (I commissioned them right away ,both to help, and because they have rad art), and I also found myself a little more moved by the sights around me.
Like this http://t.co/BFQERYsy3p I snapped this pic a few hours ago while travelling the hallway between the main hotel and the executive wing, seeing these two peeps gently talking and hanging out. I asked if they were cool with me snapping a quick pic, cuz they looked cute (and thank you guys again for saying yes!) but the more I think on it, the more I feel touched. Here's a couple dudes just... being themselves, while they still have the time. I dunno if there's love or simple friendship or what, but I know these two will probably have to go home in a bit and go back to their normal lives like most of the rest of us, go back to their normal jobs and do normal people things. But I guess I feel a beautiful honesty there, like they're living in the moment. It just happens their honesty involves animal costumes.
I dunno, I've seen stuff like that at pretty much every con I've ever been to. That Sunday night party and hang out. The artists jam, the suiters party, peeps get drunk, but it's all people being happy while they've still got the time, and it was right there where I really, truly noticed. And I wont lie, I actually cried a little when I was thinking on it. And considering that someone tried to kill people with chlorine gas in the middle of a convention, I think this time, there was that little extra special feeling to this night. Maybe it's just me, but I think we're a little more cognizant of how important it is to cherish the moments we have.
And I think it's kinda funny that it was a gas attack that gave my heart a breath of fresh air.
COMMISSIONS (the fullsize huge scenes, not the ones I'm doing nowadays)
1/ Rogern (inked, restarting colour)
2/ 9Lion (pencilled, plus one other)
3/ Mechaman
4/ Chazore (pencilled)
5/ yutrah (inked)
6/ rageki (inked)
7/ Twitch The Dragon (inked)
8/ Kipeo
9/ Opeoaslam
It's certainly been....interesting, to say the least. I know by now everyone's heard about the chemical attack that happened Saturday night. The staff did a fantastic job of handling the evacuation of the hotel in a quick and orderly fashion, which is even more impressive when you consider the difficulties that come with herding thousands of furries. It really could have been a far more disastrous situation, so mad props to the staff. You guys rock!
Business was pretty good, and I thank all the peeps that commissioned me for sketches, cuz you guys made this con financially worth it. I feel, though, that it's really my friends, and awesome fans that make MFF stand out for me. And I don't know if it's just lack of sleep that's making me emotional and philosophical about this whole experience or what, but it's been getting my mind churning. More than any other con in recent memory I've found myself feeling more camaraderie and concern for those around me. A couple of my friends were caught up in the attack and had to be looked at by the paramedics, and I was more worried for them than I normally get when shit goes down. I've had stronger reactions to seeing people in weakened states, both physically and in one particular case, financially (I commissioned them right away ,both to help, and because they have rad art), and I also found myself a little more moved by the sights around me.
Like this http://t.co/BFQERYsy3p I snapped this pic a few hours ago while travelling the hallway between the main hotel and the executive wing, seeing these two peeps gently talking and hanging out. I asked if they were cool with me snapping a quick pic, cuz they looked cute (and thank you guys again for saying yes!) but the more I think on it, the more I feel touched. Here's a couple dudes just... being themselves, while they still have the time. I dunno if there's love or simple friendship or what, but I know these two will probably have to go home in a bit and go back to their normal lives like most of the rest of us, go back to their normal jobs and do normal people things. But I guess I feel a beautiful honesty there, like they're living in the moment. It just happens their honesty involves animal costumes.
I dunno, I've seen stuff like that at pretty much every con I've ever been to. That Sunday night party and hang out. The artists jam, the suiters party, peeps get drunk, but it's all people being happy while they've still got the time, and it was right there where I really, truly noticed. And I wont lie, I actually cried a little when I was thinking on it. And considering that someone tried to kill people with chlorine gas in the middle of a convention, I think this time, there was that little extra special feeling to this night. Maybe it's just me, but I think we're a little more cognizant of how important it is to cherish the moments we have.
And I think it's kinda funny that it was a gas attack that gave my heart a breath of fresh air.
COMMISSIONS (the fullsize huge scenes, not the ones I'm doing nowadays)
1/ Rogern (inked, restarting colour)
2/ 9Lion (pencilled, plus one other)
3/ Mechaman
4/ Chazore (pencilled)
5/ yutrah (inked)
6/ rageki (inked)
7/ Twitch The Dragon (inked)
8/ Kipeo
9/ Opeoaslam
Glad you had such a heartwarming time!
I am glad that you are well, and I hope that people hospitalized are quickly restored.
I saw the video on the news.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3_Iu6NmR9Q
Sorry for my bad english, I'm french.
They didn't try to force any form of opinions on people, saying how furries are unusual and what not, just cold hard facts with the odd little quip ('sent scurrying into the night') added in.
That's how news should be, not biased opinionated bullshit
Then again, I never thought Canada would get targeted by terrorists either.
Désolé pour mon mauvais français, je suis Québecois. :P
though I am glad you had a good time, and I'm also glad no one was seriously hurt in the chemical attack, must have been crazy.
Glad something good happened
I could use more words, but that's basically it :)
Live your life when you can, make the best of it before its over/you grow old...
I've had this recently being a skype group call with friends, as we're all laughing, that feeling of becoming some observer and saying "you're fortunate and lucky to have such moments with these people"
It's that thing which you usually think about long after it happened.
But yea it's quite something that happened.
Thanks for being such an amazing friend to me for these many years, and looking out for people. Hope you have a safe trip home, and every one else too,
well written with good thoughts; I too sometimes get amazed at the simple comradery people can display, one of the reasons I love going to cons, just for those moments when you realize how wonderful people can be to one another, for no other reason then because they *want* to
And furs are enigmas. Wonderful enigmas.
Also, was wonderful seeing you again, and snagging a sketch, as is my yearly endeavor.
Hope to run into ya soon, and look forward to seeing ya at Fur-eh in Edmonton !
I made a journal relating to the incident too, I wished that there was more I could have done to help, I started spamming twitter all over telling everyone in the hyatt to get out of the building for their safety on all hatch tags for MFF related I could find. I may have overreacted but I was concerned for everyones safety. >.<
Either way glad ya made it safe, and hope you had a good con regardless, goodnight! :)
Ryoku and I always have a long discussion on our ride back about just how much the community means to us. Having friends from just about everywhere, getting a long and enjoying interests and each others company. It's a really together-ness kind of feeling I can never describe to folks who don't know about furry conventions.
Glad to see you and Coop again <3 It just gets better every year.
This con certainly helped me come out of hermit-mode lol
You just saw people get gassed which might have been fatal, how do you think you and others were going to react. Duh. Not trying to sound like a smart aleck, just stating the obvious.
-There would be a citation here, but I don't know who said it.