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MWFF2014 aka the "All the Feels" report
11 years ago
So here it is 10pm on Monday and I'm home from MWFF and I'm about to type my con report. I'm going to forewarn you this is probably going to be one of the longest con journals you will have seen me written EVER...
Firstly let me say - to those of you who I've only known on FA or Twitter that I finally got to meet in person and say hi to and hug OMG it was great to finally turn you from 2D to 3D!! Meeting people who I've known but never MET is always one of the fun experiences of conventions for me. Of course I got the occasional "OMG I love your pics with *insert random celebrity here* but honestly not that much! Mostly it was "OMG it's so great to finally put a face to the person i've tweeted back and forth with so many times". I look forward to continuing those tweet-friendships to the best of my ability even though you know what my ugly mug looks like IRL now.
Secondly. PANELS. OMG PANLES. So Saturday evening I had panel after panel after PANEL! Some were my own, some I was a guest on! To be asked to sit in on Alkalibismuth and xandertheblue 's Dragget Podcast once again and then furmedia 's panels was fantastic. I mean - I'm sorry I'm just like - this guy. Who am *I* to be sitting in on these panels!?! But they asked and there I was! CONGRATS TO FURMEDIA!!! your panel was so amazing they had to pull the tables out MID PANEL (not kidding - i have the pictures on twitter to prove it!) I fully expect your show to gain viewers from this event! AND DESERVEDLY SO! Both the dragget show and furmedia are amazing shows and you should tune into them FYI :D
After the podcast panels Xander and Alkali and I did our "Three Headed Monster" panel where the three of us each do 20 minutes of standup. So I'm gonna say this. This was the BEST Three Headed Monster the three of us have done. Xander NAILED IT. Alkali NAILED IT. I... well I'm gonna say I did pretty well cause when I looked at my phone and was like "oh hey looks like i'm about 2 minutes over Alkali waved at me and said "no dude keep going" and when I tried to call him up kagemushi shouted "KEEP GOING DAMMIT" .... so when Kage tells you to keep going on stage you ****ing DO IT! >< Everyone seemed quite pleased with the hour (cough and 15 minutes cough) we did of standup between the three of us. Then aside from going 1/4 (i think they said i went 2/4 but i dunno.... it was kindof like ENNNG we'll say it was 2/4) in the dating game, Whose Lion went really well too! People had a blast and we had OODLES of fun right til 12:30 in the morning! Then we got together for a congratulatory drink before each heading out to bed or off to parties or whatever...... OR SO WE HAD PLANNED...
THIRDLY - The Chlorine incident.
So for those of you who didn't know - the hotel was evacuated due to a chlorine smell.
There are multiple stories online - including CNN NBC FOX - The Onion - Multiple Overseas news sites - yup international news people
Here are the links if you want to see them
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way.....ies-convention
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/.....207-story.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art.....onvention.html
https://news.vice.com/article/someb.....h-chlorine-gas
http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/07/us/il.....on-evacuation/
and many many ........many more (just google it if you want to)
The super basic run down was - we all had to evacuate into the cold while hazmat teams ran through - found the source of the contamination - dealt with it. Meanwhile police (and possibly FBI) were investigating it as a "possible/probable crime scene"... Furries were scurrying about outside trying to keep warm. Some with little to no clothing on. This was at like 1:30/2am at this point... and vehicle after vehicle after vehicle poured in from rosemont, chicago and all the surrounding areas (EMT/Fire/Police) trying to come help handle the situation.
Now let me tell you what I *SAW* that night.
I saw fursuiters run up to half-clothed people they didn't even know and start cuddling them to help keep them warm.
I saw people take to social media on their phones or laptops
"HEY HAS ANYONE SEEN ____ ARE THEY OK? - YEAH they're with us they don't have their phone so they can't reply!"
" FRED BARNEY and WILMA are at the doubletree if anyone is looking please pass the word!"
"Does anyone know where there is water or food?" "There is a water fountain at the second floor of the ____ hotel come to the lobby i'll show you where it is"
"The Hilton has opened up the ballroom to anyone needing shelter come over if you need it!"
I saw the staff of MWFF handling an unprecedented incident with dignity and efficiency.
I saw staff members of OTHER conventions go up and offer to help the MWFF staff and say "what can I do?" even though it wasn't their responsibility.
I was - TBH - drunk - and KNEW it - so the best thing I could do was get OUT of the staff's way and help with the social media. Tweet and RT and tell people where there was shelter and water and vending machines and etc etc.
I had "teralble" (from twitter - i don't know your FA name!!) offer to give me phone charge so i could keep going once my phone got to 5% and was about to die :(
While I did not see it at the time I heard of furs heading over and buying cases of water from nearby outlets (gas stations/ drug stores??) and bringing them back to hand out - no not SELL - HAND OUT to their fellow furs in this time of need.
I saw the city of Rosemont come and open the Convention center to the shivering people of the Hyatt and give them shelter even though there was a Convention going on there
I saw the Hilton and Doubletree let people from a "rival" hotel in during a crisis and HELP them.
For HOURS it COULD have been a giant whine and complain fest but NO we as a group came together and proved that we are not *just* a fandom as we purport to be. we are a Family. We came together in a time of crisis and proved that we are furry brothers and sisters and we supported one another in a way that I truly feel NO OTHER FANDOM WOULD HAVE in other circumstances.
I will not name names in this journal - simply because there is not enough TIME to name everyone. So i will say to every single person - on security - on MWFF staff - on the Hyatt staff - attendees in rooms at other hotels, the rosemont convention center, in the lobbies of various other hotels who all kept CALM and didn't panic and did everything they could to make sure THEY and their fellow furries were taken care of that night - My heartfelt thanks to each and every SINGLE one of you for doing exactly what needed to be done that night. You made me prouder than ever to be a part of the fandom that night - and someone who has made MWFF a con on my "must attend" list since 2008 (my first year IN this fandom).
Not that I could EVER compare MCFC/iFC to the 4600 people of MWFF - but God Forbid we ever have any event we need to handle at either of the conventions I work for - I hope with all my heart we can handle it with the grace and professionalism that you good folks did this weekend - and if you EVER need me ..... .... (and i HAVEN'T been drinking post 6 hours of paneling *cough*) I am there in any way I can be!
Finally I want to specifically thank perro for being a fantastic chair at MWFF these past 3 years, and I wish woody all the best in his years as new chairman!
It's 11pm - Not sure what else to say. MWFF was amazing. This fandom is amazing. I'm about to cry if I try to write any more so... Peace out everyone.
Dez
Firstly let me say - to those of you who I've only known on FA or Twitter that I finally got to meet in person and say hi to and hug OMG it was great to finally turn you from 2D to 3D!! Meeting people who I've known but never MET is always one of the fun experiences of conventions for me. Of course I got the occasional "OMG I love your pics with *insert random celebrity here* but honestly not that much! Mostly it was "OMG it's so great to finally put a face to the person i've tweeted back and forth with so many times". I look forward to continuing those tweet-friendships to the best of my ability even though you know what my ugly mug looks like IRL now.
Secondly. PANELS. OMG PANLES. So Saturday evening I had panel after panel after PANEL! Some were my own, some I was a guest on! To be asked to sit in on Alkalibismuth and xandertheblue 's Dragget Podcast once again and then furmedia 's panels was fantastic. I mean - I'm sorry I'm just like - this guy. Who am *I* to be sitting in on these panels!?! But they asked and there I was! CONGRATS TO FURMEDIA!!! your panel was so amazing they had to pull the tables out MID PANEL (not kidding - i have the pictures on twitter to prove it!) I fully expect your show to gain viewers from this event! AND DESERVEDLY SO! Both the dragget show and furmedia are amazing shows and you should tune into them FYI :D
After the podcast panels Xander and Alkali and I did our "Three Headed Monster" panel where the three of us each do 20 minutes of standup. So I'm gonna say this. This was the BEST Three Headed Monster the three of us have done. Xander NAILED IT. Alkali NAILED IT. I... well I'm gonna say I did pretty well cause when I looked at my phone and was like "oh hey looks like i'm about 2 minutes over Alkali waved at me and said "no dude keep going" and when I tried to call him up kagemushi shouted "KEEP GOING DAMMIT" .... so when Kage tells you to keep going on stage you ****ing DO IT! >< Everyone seemed quite pleased with the hour (cough and 15 minutes cough) we did of standup between the three of us. Then aside from going 1/4 (i think they said i went 2/4 but i dunno.... it was kindof like ENNNG we'll say it was 2/4) in the dating game, Whose Lion went really well too! People had a blast and we had OODLES of fun right til 12:30 in the morning! Then we got together for a congratulatory drink before each heading out to bed or off to parties or whatever...... OR SO WE HAD PLANNED...
THIRDLY - The Chlorine incident.
So for those of you who didn't know - the hotel was evacuated due to a chlorine smell.
There are multiple stories online - including CNN NBC FOX - The Onion - Multiple Overseas news sites - yup international news people
Here are the links if you want to see them
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way.....ies-convention
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/.....207-story.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art.....onvention.html
https://news.vice.com/article/someb.....h-chlorine-gas
http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/07/us/il.....on-evacuation/
and many many ........many more (just google it if you want to)
The super basic run down was - we all had to evacuate into the cold while hazmat teams ran through - found the source of the contamination - dealt with it. Meanwhile police (and possibly FBI) were investigating it as a "possible/probable crime scene"... Furries were scurrying about outside trying to keep warm. Some with little to no clothing on. This was at like 1:30/2am at this point... and vehicle after vehicle after vehicle poured in from rosemont, chicago and all the surrounding areas (EMT/Fire/Police) trying to come help handle the situation.
Now let me tell you what I *SAW* that night.
I saw fursuiters run up to half-clothed people they didn't even know and start cuddling them to help keep them warm.
I saw people take to social media on their phones or laptops
"HEY HAS ANYONE SEEN ____ ARE THEY OK? - YEAH they're with us they don't have their phone so they can't reply!"
" FRED BARNEY and WILMA are at the doubletree if anyone is looking please pass the word!"
"Does anyone know where there is water or food?" "There is a water fountain at the second floor of the ____ hotel come to the lobby i'll show you where it is"
"The Hilton has opened up the ballroom to anyone needing shelter come over if you need it!"
I saw the staff of MWFF handling an unprecedented incident with dignity and efficiency.
I saw staff members of OTHER conventions go up and offer to help the MWFF staff and say "what can I do?" even though it wasn't their responsibility.
I was - TBH - drunk - and KNEW it - so the best thing I could do was get OUT of the staff's way and help with the social media. Tweet and RT and tell people where there was shelter and water and vending machines and etc etc.
I had "teralble" (from twitter - i don't know your FA name!!) offer to give me phone charge so i could keep going once my phone got to 5% and was about to die :(
While I did not see it at the time I heard of furs heading over and buying cases of water from nearby outlets (gas stations/ drug stores??) and bringing them back to hand out - no not SELL - HAND OUT to their fellow furs in this time of need.
I saw the city of Rosemont come and open the Convention center to the shivering people of the Hyatt and give them shelter even though there was a Convention going on there
I saw the Hilton and Doubletree let people from a "rival" hotel in during a crisis and HELP them.
For HOURS it COULD have been a giant whine and complain fest but NO we as a group came together and proved that we are not *just* a fandom as we purport to be. we are a Family. We came together in a time of crisis and proved that we are furry brothers and sisters and we supported one another in a way that I truly feel NO OTHER FANDOM WOULD HAVE in other circumstances.
I will not name names in this journal - simply because there is not enough TIME to name everyone. So i will say to every single person - on security - on MWFF staff - on the Hyatt staff - attendees in rooms at other hotels, the rosemont convention center, in the lobbies of various other hotels who all kept CALM and didn't panic and did everything they could to make sure THEY and their fellow furries were taken care of that night - My heartfelt thanks to each and every SINGLE one of you for doing exactly what needed to be done that night. You made me prouder than ever to be a part of the fandom that night - and someone who has made MWFF a con on my "must attend" list since 2008 (my first year IN this fandom).
Not that I could EVER compare MCFC/iFC to the 4600 people of MWFF - but God Forbid we ever have any event we need to handle at either of the conventions I work for - I hope with all my heart we can handle it with the grace and professionalism that you good folks did this weekend - and if you EVER need me ..... .... (and i HAVEN'T been drinking post 6 hours of paneling *cough*) I am there in any way I can be!
Finally I want to specifically thank perro for being a fantastic chair at MWFF these past 3 years, and I wish woody all the best in his years as new chairman!
It's 11pm - Not sure what else to say. MWFF was amazing. This fandom is amazing. I'm about to cry if I try to write any more so... Peace out everyone.
Dez
Anyways, was awesome hanging out with you at a con as always. Can't wait till the next convention! :3
Honestly though, your recollection of that horrid night makes mine look like total shit. I was just one of those furs that was walking around, finding the occasional friend and offering them a re-assuring hug or word. Major props to you for standing up and being part of the movement of furs that made a difference in the night. Proud of you dez.
will edit later ^.^
Thank YOU pandez for making me laugh so hard at your Dating Game tries that I nearly pulled something laughing. And you DID get 2 of the 4, with some help!
FURRY FOREVER!!!My other memory from the night which is shorter was once we were in the con center and I ran into ppl I knew we took shelter towards the back on the floor in a tired little fur pile of sorts like everyone else.. cold and haggard a random fur came up to us and offered us water to drink, I only took one mouthful to keep my mouth wet then told him to give the rest of the water to someone else who needs it more and thanked him.
That night I do feel made us all closer. we were really all helping each other like one large team, a pack of furs just trying to get all of us to safety till it was over..