It's been about a week since TFF2015 started for me, so past time to write it up! So here goes!

Pre-con!  Kaynusvulfe flew in Tuesday, we enjoyed some dinner at NXNW, and started planning things out. We ended up spending Wednesday with some fellow furs, including EthPee and  Kage13, playing disc golf at a couple of courses. We spent the evening at art night and helped  Whines and  Fades with loading their vehicles for the trip to Dallas, then spent the next couple hours readying our own con-mobile for travel.

Thursday! After some much-needed shirts failed to arrive in time for the con (due to the dicey weather out east), an emergency trip to the mall yielded several replacements for Edgewise! We were then on our way to Dallas. Per ritual, it seems, Cracker Barrel beckoned like a gravy-laden Siren, and we enjoyed a big meal on the road before hitting the con. We got to the con early, found great parking, checked in and unloaded. After orienting things in the room, we headed down, visited Whines, EJ, and Rheld in Kempi's, then went and got in line for registration. This year registration went really smoothly. In fact, this year seemed quite smooth all around. After reg was done, we enjoyed some dinner at Jason's Deli with Whines, Fades, and Ethpee, then got in-suit and started off the con with dancing, poi, and general exploration of the con while in-suit :). Bacon scarves made a great impression, hehe. We ran across some locals, including  Tylenn, who was unloading while in-suit, hehe.

Friday! This was, for me, the most incredible day of con I've had in all the days I've con'd. The day started with picking up a new con badge from Mary Mouse for Edgewise, which came out amazing! A quick breakfast was had at a new place, Cafe Brazil, which quickly became our go-to breakfast place each morning, followed by jumping in-suit for opening ceremonies. Love Bird Edgewise spent time offering up flowers and hugs to any who wished them, and I actually visited Mary Mouse again to thank her for the awesome badge while in-suit :). After about 4 hours of suiting the Baconizer and Love Bird Edgey jumped out of suit and snagged lunch, then attended panels, concerts, and browsed through the dealers den and artist alley a few times. We ran across  yuudokukawa, an old friend from last TFF, and he joined us for the rest of the con whenever possible. I also finally got to meet Corvin Dallas while I was out of suit, and then eventually ran across him several times in-suit! I wish I could have spent more time with a fellow bird! The same goes for Winston, who I kept running across but never had a chance to sit down with or enjoy a meal with. I jumped in a panel with  Pacerfox for alternative materials in fursuit construction, which was a very enlightening panel. I have a few new things to check out! That evening, as the raves grew closer, the excitement was just palpable. We got our glowy on, made it to the raves, and danced, spun poi, etc. Prior to the con,  scottytheminotaur dropped me a line and mentioned dancing, so we eventually met up. And we danced, oh gods we danced, for hours. This was, to me, one of the most enjoyable times I've ever been in-suit. Ever since I started suiting and observed other suiters dancing I've wanted to slow dance in-suit. It has been an experience I've wanted for years. And Scotty, in his white griffin suit, shared this incredible experience with me. I was a moving experience in so many ways (and, if anyone has pics of us on the dance floor, please send em along, I am still looking for them). We jumped from the main rave to Kempi's to enjoy Kaynus' trance set, which rocked as we slow danced. It was just... yeah :). I finally got out of suit and found my bed around 3AM. I didn't want to sleep, heh. All together I was in suit ~12 hours Friday, which is a new record for me. I did not want it to end!

Saturday! With an incredible day behind, two remained. Saturday was a lot of suiting and getting ready for the fursuit parade, but it started with a new breakfast place we found Friday, Cafe Brazil.  yuudokukawa joined us in-suit and got some great pics with our server :). We got back and immediately needed to get in-suit - sadly, the timing of the Super Sponsor dinner was pretty poor, so we had to miss the dinner so we could make it to the fursuit parade on time. The parade start was delayed a bit due to late-breaking changes to the parade route - the result was a rather short parade route. We were queued up and ready for quite a while, and the parade route was maybe 10 minutes of suiting, if that. I'm in no way complaining, but do wish the route was longer and more spread out. Still, it was a fun parade, and had a good atmosphere, all the suiters were in good spirits :). I has the happy opportunity to get pulled into the TFF Avian picture, which was really nice to be a part of - I've never been in a species-specific photoshoot before. Eventually we got outta suit, snagged lunch, hit panels, more dealers den/artist alley, pictures. The Poi Panel was another highlight of this con, and in two short hours a very helpful fur made me realize I was making some elemental mistakes in the way I spin poi - so, slowly, he began to help me correct how I spin. Then, a number of other moves were shown, so I picked up a couple new move ideas and have started to practice. Though I missed a few more panels, it was worth it! After that we ended up getting into a much larger group of folks heading to dinner. OMG, this was a dinner of champions -  Xubuntu,  Fades,  Skepa,  parlancedawn, :iconJasonMiller, Addicus, and a ton of other furs (too many to list!) who joined from Xubuntu's Dragon Meet and Greet Panel. It was an epic train of folks from the con hotel to this wonderful pizza place, then back. It was a pretty off the rails gathering, and I loved it! We got back to the con hotel, got ready for the raves and raved. I sought out the white griffin on the dance floor, but heh, a case of mistaken identity resulted as the suit was occupied by another suiter - we danced a bit anyway, hehe, and I went back to poi and dancing. Eventually, I hit up the Iron Artist panel, trucked some drinks from Kempi's up to the panel for some folks, and laughed hard at the fun there. I ended up calling it a night a bit early - nerves has set in as my own DJ set was approaching.

Sunday! Late on Saturday, we did a quite check of the weather and realized that an ice storm was approaching Dallas. So early Sunday the decision was made to leave the con on Sunday instead of Monday to avoid the ice. Sunday, then, was breakfast with Kage and Yuudoku, which was entertaining as all get-out as Yuudoku hammed it up in-suit with the passerby's and us, and Kage picked on me. As we got back to the con hotel, the rain started. Kaynus helped out with Yuudoku, who quickly packed, as he also opted to leave the con a bit early. I went on, got my equipment set up, and put together a 1 hour, 30 minute DJ set in Kempi's with some of my favorite electro house and glitch hop tracks. All while in-suit as Edgewise. Attendance was low, though, due to other events on the schedule, but I enjoyed doing the set anyway, and picked up some valuable experience while working the set. Kaynus and Yuudoku spun along with a couple others, which I very much appreciated. Minutes after the set was done the decision was made - the predicted weather forecast updated to indicate it was going to get colder faster, so we immediately began packing up the equipment and the room. I got out of suit and within the hour we'd loaded up the jeep in the rain. Loading went fast, as the dance competition was still running while we loaded. I won 3 art pieces in the art auction, so then waited for that to open up, and afterwards got in the Austin Area Furs group pic :). We bid fast hugs and goodbyes then hit the road. We got out of Dallas without incident, but missed the rest of the con - the dance comps, the closing ceremonies, and, sadly, the dead dog dances, which are my favorite dances of the con. Anyway, it was for the best - we hit Buzzard Billy's for cajun on the way back to Austin, got back at a reasonable time, unpacked, and then finally rested.

This con had so many pluses and only a couple of negatives. I regret not spending more time with  scottytheminotaur, I wish I could have gotten to know him better - same goes for Corvin, Yuudoku, and many others. In the 5 cons I've done this is the first where the weather has required we cut the con short to get out of facing major delays.

Saturday was a full day, but was a bit unusual in that my energy level seemed to drop off after dinner. I guess eating 1.5 pizzas does that! Next time, need to control that a bit better.

Con staff was incredibly nice as always - I ran across Sable Griffin and Gwaland a few times, I wish I'd offer to get pictures with them while in-suit. That's something I need to remember for next time!

My DJ set went okay - but I was unable to record it due to me not understanding how to use Serato DJ to record :P. Still, I enjoyed it! Spinning in-suit is challenging, but I've decided to pursue this, see if I can improve, and maybe make more a show out of it. I have a lot to do!

Anyway, the net-net : slow dancing griffins made for an amazing experience, I got 8ish pieces of art to post up, including a badge from Dark Natasha, reconnected with old con buddies and made some new ones :). Thanks all of ya, esp.  KaynusVulfe,  scottytheminotaur,  Whines,  Fades,  kage13,  yuudokukawa, and countless others for making TFF2015 an awesome con!