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It's Been A Long Time Coming: A Con Journal
11 years ago
Yes, it really has been. Three years, in fact. And man was the wait worth it. Midwest Fur Fest was just as awesome as I remember it being.
That being said, I suppose I should get this out of the way first. As you've probably heard by now there was a chlorine gas leak in the main con hotel that sent nineteen people to the hospital and caused the hotel to be evacuated. Unlike a lot of people I'm hesitant to call this an attack. Yes, there does seem to some sort of planning involved here. One doesn't carry a container of chlorine powder around with them just because. On the other hand, I have a hard time believing that someone would hate the furry fandom so much they would deliberately go out and try to hurt people. And even if such a person did exist I can think of a lot more obvious routes than chlorine gas. All that aside, I was thankfully not effected by it. While I was in the con hotel at the time the leak was first reported I was about as far away from it as you could get while still being in the same building. I also missed the evacuation because I'd already left the building when that happened so I didn't even know something had happened until my dad called me about it the next day. Coincidentally, while I was walking back to my hotel room that night I noticed a clump of police cars and an ambulance outside another hotel. Still don't know what that was.
Anyways, with that out of the way, here's my highlights/thoughts/observations about MFF 2014 in easy to digest list form!
-Seven hour drives suck. But it was totally worth it.
-I really liked having my own hotel room. What I didn't like was the twenty minute walk from my hotel to the con hotel. Said walk involved climbing over a wall (which I once did while toting several art prints and a stuffed animal) and traversing what I dubbed The Gates to Hell. I called it that because it felt like it was hot enough to be hell. Most of it was lined with heating units every couple of feet all of which were set about five degrees too high. I was usually sweating by the time I made it to the con hotel. I can't even imagine what it was like for the suiters.
-The toilet in my hotel room stank. It clogged on no less than three occasions.
-I found that one of the best ways to kill time was to just wonder around and take pictures of the suiters. Over the course of the con I took exactly 500 pictures.
-I heard some people refer to it as Elevator Con. I dubbed it Line Con. Seriously, I spent so much time standing in lines. There was the line for prereg. The line to get into Uncle Kage's Story Hour. The line to get into the dealer's den. The line to get food in the con suite. The line to get in an elevator. The line to see Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind. There were so many lines.
-Kage was awesome, as usual. Seriously. If you go to a con you have to go to story hour. The man has an absolute gift for story telling.
-Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind was awesome. Seriously, if you're ever in Chicago you need to get see the show. It is amazing.
-There was also the improv panel Whose Lion is it Anyways? (Yes, I know.) It's amazing how creative people can be when you put them on the spot. And lewd. There were a lot of sex jokes.
-Speaking of which, there was also X rated fursuit charades. I'll leave that one to your imagination.
-I also went to the FurMedia panel on convention horror stories. I was glad I got there early because it ended up being so popular that half way through a member of the hotel staff had to come in and move some of the tables out so everyone could fit in the room.
-My haul:
--Five t-shirts
--Eight prints
--Three books
--Three stickers
--Two buttons
--One plush African wild dog
My bank account has since filled for divorce.
-An amusing coincidence: for those that don't know across the street from the con hotel is a convention center. Guess what the convention center was hosting the same weekend as MFF? A dog show. Clearly whoever is in control of the cosmos has a sense of humor.
-I liked the little touches the con hotel added for the weekend like some of the staff wearing ears and the hotel restaurant adding a menu item specifically for the con.
That's everything I can think of right now. All in all I had an amazing time and really want to go back. Even if it takes another three years.
That being said, I suppose I should get this out of the way first. As you've probably heard by now there was a chlorine gas leak in the main con hotel that sent nineteen people to the hospital and caused the hotel to be evacuated. Unlike a lot of people I'm hesitant to call this an attack. Yes, there does seem to some sort of planning involved here. One doesn't carry a container of chlorine powder around with them just because. On the other hand, I have a hard time believing that someone would hate the furry fandom so much they would deliberately go out and try to hurt people. And even if such a person did exist I can think of a lot more obvious routes than chlorine gas. All that aside, I was thankfully not effected by it. While I was in the con hotel at the time the leak was first reported I was about as far away from it as you could get while still being in the same building. I also missed the evacuation because I'd already left the building when that happened so I didn't even know something had happened until my dad called me about it the next day. Coincidentally, while I was walking back to my hotel room that night I noticed a clump of police cars and an ambulance outside another hotel. Still don't know what that was.
Anyways, with that out of the way, here's my highlights/thoughts/observations about MFF 2014 in easy to digest list form!
-Seven hour drives suck. But it was totally worth it.
-I really liked having my own hotel room. What I didn't like was the twenty minute walk from my hotel to the con hotel. Said walk involved climbing over a wall (which I once did while toting several art prints and a stuffed animal) and traversing what I dubbed The Gates to Hell. I called it that because it felt like it was hot enough to be hell. Most of it was lined with heating units every couple of feet all of which were set about five degrees too high. I was usually sweating by the time I made it to the con hotel. I can't even imagine what it was like for the suiters.
-The toilet in my hotel room stank. It clogged on no less than three occasions.
-I found that one of the best ways to kill time was to just wonder around and take pictures of the suiters. Over the course of the con I took exactly 500 pictures.
-I heard some people refer to it as Elevator Con. I dubbed it Line Con. Seriously, I spent so much time standing in lines. There was the line for prereg. The line to get into Uncle Kage's Story Hour. The line to get into the dealer's den. The line to get food in the con suite. The line to get in an elevator. The line to see Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind. There were so many lines.
-Kage was awesome, as usual. Seriously. If you go to a con you have to go to story hour. The man has an absolute gift for story telling.
-Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind was awesome. Seriously, if you're ever in Chicago you need to get see the show. It is amazing.
-There was also the improv panel Whose Lion is it Anyways? (Yes, I know.) It's amazing how creative people can be when you put them on the spot. And lewd. There were a lot of sex jokes.
-Speaking of which, there was also X rated fursuit charades. I'll leave that one to your imagination.
-I also went to the FurMedia panel on convention horror stories. I was glad I got there early because it ended up being so popular that half way through a member of the hotel staff had to come in and move some of the tables out so everyone could fit in the room.
-My haul:
--Five t-shirts
--Eight prints
--Three books
--Three stickers
--Two buttons
--One plush African wild dog
My bank account has since filled for divorce.
-An amusing coincidence: for those that don't know across the street from the con hotel is a convention center. Guess what the convention center was hosting the same weekend as MFF? A dog show. Clearly whoever is in control of the cosmos has a sense of humor.
-I liked the little touches the con hotel added for the weekend like some of the staff wearing ears and the hotel restaurant adding a menu item specifically for the con.
That's everything I can think of right now. All in all I had an amazing time and really want to go back. Even if it takes another three years.
I had my baller ass time back in October, with Unthrocon. No lines, because it was tiny as shit, and I bought one book because I am poor.
I will call it doorcon, because I spent about four hours of it carrying a door around and throwing candy at people while threatening them with molotovs and my terrible irish accent. Did I mention it was halloween and I was a terrorist? Grand times.