FA+
Shop
FC Prelude
16 years ago
Commencing FC Dump…
Wednesday: Prelude to the convention
I don’t think me and Fox got any sleep that night, between going from point A to point B collecting last minute items for our journey, but we tried to plan for it. It was about four in the morning when we were finally able to accept the state our luggage was in as “ready.” This was it, we we’re finally ready to go, now all that’s left to do is wait.
Zero hour came closer than we thought, with alarms ringing alerting us that it was finally time to go, we gathered our belongings and loaded the car. Driving down the street it started to seep up into us, the overwhelming feeling of the main event itself, Further Confusion. I don’t know if any of you can pin point an exact moment in your life time that you can describe as the happiest day of your life. I can. It was Wednesday January 23rd 2008, the smile hit me at exactly 12:15 in the afternoon, I’ll explain why later.
With smiles bearing, we arrived at Solana Beach Station, and there we sat in the cold early morning, on cement benches, ready and waiting. This seemed to be an eternity that the train would never come, then low and behold, a horn sounds in the distance, and moments later our hero arrives to take us from this world to another. We boarded the Pacific Surfliner and headed up stairs eager to get a good seat, the energy now more abundant than before. Since the train was operating in “push” mode (where the engine is at the back of the train and a “cab car” is at the front) we were able to get just a few seats away from the front and see the outside through the window in the front. I had too much energy to sit down, and as a result I spent most of my time standing in the aisle looking out the front window, and this is where train travel has the ability to feel like you are going faster than a plane. You look out the window and you see things flying by at incredible speeds. From where I stood you could see a speed indicator that would find its way up to 89 at some points. We soon found ourselves at a familiar place, inside Los Angeles Union Station, waiting for half an hour, or should I say, half a century. After people watching for a while, we heard the announcement that we had been waiting for, the boarding call.
The Coast Starlight, the very mention of it will instantly bring me back to a state of complete joy. We sat down on the left side of the train, the west side, which meant we would have an ocean view. Glancing down at my phone I saw it lit up with 10:14, then ticked over to 10:15, and just a moment later I look out the window and see us slowly start to leave the station, exactly on time. Looking by at the platform coming to an end and looking back to see us leaving Los Angeles, northbound headed for San Jose and ultimately Further Confusion. Immediately I noticed we started picking up speed as we left the city and passing by various houses and crossings. It was until Oxnard when I decided it was time to checkout the lounge car. Seeing it again was like seeing it for the first time. Two long rows of seats facing the sides of the car, which were from floor to ceiling window, and even the edges of the ceiling were part glass. With cameras at the ready I was prepared to capture anything that went by. After an hour more or two, I heard our lunch reservation being called and Fox and I headed for the dining car, we met a nice gentlemen who’s name I can’t remember, but somehow if you read this, thank you for everything. We were seated at table 7, and again, after everything that is happening, great things were still yet to come. After getting our drinks and watching the scenery go by and even look down at some cars on the road beside us as I casually raise my glass as if to “toast” them, poking fun at their inability to dine in comfort, then notice they start to slow down and a line of cars in front of them as they were waiting at a crossing when our train crossed over. Say whatever you want, but that was the best damn cheeseburger I’ve ever had. We returned to the lounge car and went downstairs next to the snack bar and discovered joy in all its one hundred and ten volts of awesomeness, an outlet. Having done this before, I brought with me a power strip. Plugged in my camera, laptop, phone, and listened to music as we started to pass through the most beautiful stretch of track on the trip. I’m talking about the coast route from Santa Barbra to San Louis Obispo, through Vandenberg AFB, where it’s just you, the ocean, and nothing for miles around you. This magical part lasts for 70 miles, as we make our way along the coast line, the sky opened up and let through streaks of sunlight that reflected off the water and provided us with a dazzling show. It was then later on when we started heading inland a bit and into the farmlands and eventually into the mountains. The beauty of this is we headed back to our seats, reclined them and took a nice long nap in silence, save for the low rumbling of the air and a gentle rocking back and forth. Waking up to the announcement that we were at Paso Robles, and that we would be arriving at Salinas at about 5:10, I realized we were about an hour and a half early. I made my way to the dining car again for dinner to see if we could be seated early, and the gentleman who was so nice to us was able to squeeze us in early. With the excitement starting to build exponentially I treated myself an amazing flat iron steak with a baked potato. The sun was starting to set and you could see streaks of black and blue across the sky. With our appetites fulfilled for the time being we made our way back to our seats to try and calm ourselves, that worked until we heard “Ladies and gentlemen we are now approaching San Jose, if San Jose is your final destination please look around…” It all started happening at once, we got our bags then started to see familiar sights, lights, streets, then the station itself. We stepped out onto the platform and went on our way, I glanced back briefly at the silver beauty that had just taken us from a world rules boundaries and restrictions, to an open minded fantasy land, where we were no longer known by our human names, we now were known by the names of our liking. A portal to another world, if there was such a thing, was what this train, the Coast Starlight, had taken us through.
We saw ourselves looking at a familiar sight, in bright letters we saw “Double Tree.” We made our way inside and instantly began to smile; it was like the feeling of being “home.” We met up with Baxter and later QuietFire and concluded it was going to be an awesome weekend. The energy that was coming from within us was palpable; everything had come together in perfect harmony. We checked in and received our awesome room keys, and made our way through a sea of fursuiters and reached the elevators, a quick and easy ride to the second floor and an easy walk down the hall. Once in our room, we did a double take at the room next to us. A sign read “The Black Hole.” That’s right, we were next to the infamous cling-on party room. Take that as you will.
Relaxing was in order, and what better way to unwind after a twelve hour ride than a swim in the pool? With a few splashes we were all in, and to our surprise the pool was heated, this proved even more awesome. It was quite fun, especially when all the noise we were generating caused other furs from their rooms to open up their doors and see what was going on. No idea who the first group of furs was but they seemed to enjoy our stupidity very much. A little later our commotion caused Caspian to make a balcony appearance, a big shout out to you. That moment seemed to be the trigger of all triggers, after he left the balcony, hotel staff came out and announced that the pool was closed, and after she left, the rain started. Thus began a mad dash to get our towels, shirts, phones, keys, you name it, and run up the stairs. With so much fun already occurring, we came to realize, the con had not even started yet, and this was only the beginning, a prelude of an event to come.
Wednesday: Prelude to the convention
I don’t think me and Fox got any sleep that night, between going from point A to point B collecting last minute items for our journey, but we tried to plan for it. It was about four in the morning when we were finally able to accept the state our luggage was in as “ready.” This was it, we we’re finally ready to go, now all that’s left to do is wait.
Zero hour came closer than we thought, with alarms ringing alerting us that it was finally time to go, we gathered our belongings and loaded the car. Driving down the street it started to seep up into us, the overwhelming feeling of the main event itself, Further Confusion. I don’t know if any of you can pin point an exact moment in your life time that you can describe as the happiest day of your life. I can. It was Wednesday January 23rd 2008, the smile hit me at exactly 12:15 in the afternoon, I’ll explain why later.
With smiles bearing, we arrived at Solana Beach Station, and there we sat in the cold early morning, on cement benches, ready and waiting. This seemed to be an eternity that the train would never come, then low and behold, a horn sounds in the distance, and moments later our hero arrives to take us from this world to another. We boarded the Pacific Surfliner and headed up stairs eager to get a good seat, the energy now more abundant than before. Since the train was operating in “push” mode (where the engine is at the back of the train and a “cab car” is at the front) we were able to get just a few seats away from the front and see the outside through the window in the front. I had too much energy to sit down, and as a result I spent most of my time standing in the aisle looking out the front window, and this is where train travel has the ability to feel like you are going faster than a plane. You look out the window and you see things flying by at incredible speeds. From where I stood you could see a speed indicator that would find its way up to 89 at some points. We soon found ourselves at a familiar place, inside Los Angeles Union Station, waiting for half an hour, or should I say, half a century. After people watching for a while, we heard the announcement that we had been waiting for, the boarding call.
The Coast Starlight, the very mention of it will instantly bring me back to a state of complete joy. We sat down on the left side of the train, the west side, which meant we would have an ocean view. Glancing down at my phone I saw it lit up with 10:14, then ticked over to 10:15, and just a moment later I look out the window and see us slowly start to leave the station, exactly on time. Looking by at the platform coming to an end and looking back to see us leaving Los Angeles, northbound headed for San Jose and ultimately Further Confusion. Immediately I noticed we started picking up speed as we left the city and passing by various houses and crossings. It was until Oxnard when I decided it was time to checkout the lounge car. Seeing it again was like seeing it for the first time. Two long rows of seats facing the sides of the car, which were from floor to ceiling window, and even the edges of the ceiling were part glass. With cameras at the ready I was prepared to capture anything that went by. After an hour more or two, I heard our lunch reservation being called and Fox and I headed for the dining car, we met a nice gentlemen who’s name I can’t remember, but somehow if you read this, thank you for everything. We were seated at table 7, and again, after everything that is happening, great things were still yet to come. After getting our drinks and watching the scenery go by and even look down at some cars on the road beside us as I casually raise my glass as if to “toast” them, poking fun at their inability to dine in comfort, then notice they start to slow down and a line of cars in front of them as they were waiting at a crossing when our train crossed over. Say whatever you want, but that was the best damn cheeseburger I’ve ever had. We returned to the lounge car and went downstairs next to the snack bar and discovered joy in all its one hundred and ten volts of awesomeness, an outlet. Having done this before, I brought with me a power strip. Plugged in my camera, laptop, phone, and listened to music as we started to pass through the most beautiful stretch of track on the trip. I’m talking about the coast route from Santa Barbra to San Louis Obispo, through Vandenberg AFB, where it’s just you, the ocean, and nothing for miles around you. This magical part lasts for 70 miles, as we make our way along the coast line, the sky opened up and let through streaks of sunlight that reflected off the water and provided us with a dazzling show. It was then later on when we started heading inland a bit and into the farmlands and eventually into the mountains. The beauty of this is we headed back to our seats, reclined them and took a nice long nap in silence, save for the low rumbling of the air and a gentle rocking back and forth. Waking up to the announcement that we were at Paso Robles, and that we would be arriving at Salinas at about 5:10, I realized we were about an hour and a half early. I made my way to the dining car again for dinner to see if we could be seated early, and the gentleman who was so nice to us was able to squeeze us in early. With the excitement starting to build exponentially I treated myself an amazing flat iron steak with a baked potato. The sun was starting to set and you could see streaks of black and blue across the sky. With our appetites fulfilled for the time being we made our way back to our seats to try and calm ourselves, that worked until we heard “Ladies and gentlemen we are now approaching San Jose, if San Jose is your final destination please look around…” It all started happening at once, we got our bags then started to see familiar sights, lights, streets, then the station itself. We stepped out onto the platform and went on our way, I glanced back briefly at the silver beauty that had just taken us from a world rules boundaries and restrictions, to an open minded fantasy land, where we were no longer known by our human names, we now were known by the names of our liking. A portal to another world, if there was such a thing, was what this train, the Coast Starlight, had taken us through.
We saw ourselves looking at a familiar sight, in bright letters we saw “Double Tree.” We made our way inside and instantly began to smile; it was like the feeling of being “home.” We met up with Baxter and later QuietFire and concluded it was going to be an awesome weekend. The energy that was coming from within us was palpable; everything had come together in perfect harmony. We checked in and received our awesome room keys, and made our way through a sea of fursuiters and reached the elevators, a quick and easy ride to the second floor and an easy walk down the hall. Once in our room, we did a double take at the room next to us. A sign read “The Black Hole.” That’s right, we were next to the infamous cling-on party room. Take that as you will.
Relaxing was in order, and what better way to unwind after a twelve hour ride than a swim in the pool? With a few splashes we were all in, and to our surprise the pool was heated, this proved even more awesome. It was quite fun, especially when all the noise we were generating caused other furs from their rooms to open up their doors and see what was going on. No idea who the first group of furs was but they seemed to enjoy our stupidity very much. A little later our commotion caused Caspian to make a balcony appearance, a big shout out to you. That moment seemed to be the trigger of all triggers, after he left the balcony, hotel staff came out and announced that the pool was closed, and after she left, the rain started. Thus began a mad dash to get our towels, shirts, phones, keys, you name it, and run up the stairs. With so much fun already occurring, we came to realize, the con had not even started yet, and this was only the beginning, a prelude of an event to come.
