I'm pretty sure everyone and their second-cousin-twice-removed has heard about the chlorine attack, but the most memorable thing for me was what happened afterward. I'll get to that in a bit, but let's start at the beginning.

Thursday:
Picked up  mavuriku around 3pm EST and made our way to the Hyatt. Traffic wasn't as bad as I'd anticipated, but I'm not gonna complain. Checked into hotel, found my roommates, and wandered around the hotel a little bit before calling it a night.

Friday:
Took the L to downtown Chicago with a couple of my roommates to check out the Christkindlmarket, where we had the best hot chocolate ever. Strolled along the Mag Mile for a bit, stopping at the Hershey Store and Ghirardelli's and had hot chocolate at both places. (I like hot chocolate, in case you couldn't tell.) Passed by some great street performers on our way back to the L, then suited up for the Dance Comp prelims (I didn't make it through, but I got some good feedback). De-suited, met up with more folks, popped in on the dance in time to see  draconicarcher propose to  ino89777, then went to sleep.

Saturday:
Woke up, ate pizza for breakfast like the adult I am, then made it down to rehearse for the dance comp's opening number. Skipped the fursuit parade and Floor Wars to Skype in to my nephew's birthday party, but that didn't happen, so I wandered Artist's Alley and Dealer's Den before they closed for the night. Got my drink on at a room party and was actually headed back to my room to go to bed when they evacuated the hotel. Didn't have a jacket, so running into  ghimno and  kodypup in fullsuit was a stroke of luck. We made our way over to the Hilton, where  infinityfire was nice enough to offer his room as a place for us to crash. Once we got the all clear, I went to my room, plugged my dying phone in and went to sleep.

Sunday:
Woke up and went down to the final rehearsal for the opening number. At this point I'm running on 4 hours of sleep, some Dr. Pepper and a drinkable yogurt, but I was still focused on getting the routines down. Before we all went on, JD gave a speech about how we were the first bit of normalcy after the chlorine attack and that we had to show everyone that we as a fandom wouldn't let it get us down. Thoroughly inspired, I joined my team and we tore up the dance floor.

Now, I've wanted to be a part of the dance competition for some time, and between the stress of getting the routines down, the lack of sleep from the previous night and the joy of pulling it all off and hearing the applause, I did something I've never done after a performance: I took my fursuit head off and I cried. Just... everything leading up to that point came out all at once and frankly, it was something I really needed. (Many thanks to  tyzin for literally being my shoulder to cry on.) Once the dance comp was done, I de-suited, showered, then went down to the con suite for a massive sandwich. Caught both the last part of the fursuit games and the closing ceremonies, then managed to squeeze in some last-minute partying before sleeping.

Monday:
Packed up my stuff (I was kinda sad that I had to wear my boots instead of my feetpaws like I'd been doing all weekend), had lunch with  mavuriku and  spacedogspiff, then went back home to GR, where I got a work trip to Toledo not 4 hours later. Trust me, I was hoping for a Chicago trip.

All in all, this was an excellent con, and after this weekend I can completely see why people arrive on Wednesday. I might just save my vacation week from work for MFF 2015. We shall see.

MCFC might be my next con pending finances, otherwise you'll definitely see me at GLFC. Hope to see you all soon!