So FWA has come and gone and i actually managed to return as some may have seen that weekend. It was a new venue at the palatial Marriott Marquis (Yes the Hunger Games one) and the opportunity came where i was able to attend after 4 years of missing out. It also meant a bit to me as FWA was my first con when i started going and thus my first real furry experience. So how was it you ask? Well...

Thursday:

This day started waking up at  antimon 's place and loading up my moms VW Passat which i took as my trucks A/C was giving out and i wasn't about to do 7 hours of driving with no AC. Heck no. So we loaded up the car and gassed up hitting the road around 1 or 130 PM. The drive up was fun and since i had a car with AUX ports and Bluetooth Antimon and i got to jam out alot more. Plus the car got like 33.2 MPG all the way so we ended up in Atlanta with a quarter tank to go. Upon reaching th hotel though it was a madhouse. The ramp was jam packed with people and cars trying to offload. To add to the chaos two ambulances pulled up right behind us (non con related incident). So there Anti and i are with bellhops valet guys and EMS running around. We manage to find ourselves a bellhop who was real nice and apologized for the zoo and hed hook us up blahblahblah, same with the manager. I tipped them both and they put our stuff on a dolly and over to a waiting area while my car was valeted. We were supposed to have our stuff split and sent to two rooms but were sent to Antis room so i had to go up and get my stuff back to my room. We had dinner at a Chinese place and just spent the evening walking round and that was it.

Friday, Saturday and Sunday:

So these 3 days are being lumped together because i pretty much did the same thing each day which was walk around the con, eat, meet people, take pics and stuff. However there were a few things, "plus" moments in fact that broke up the monotony. I went to a motofurs meet hosted by Captain Otter which was fun! I attented  tiltlongtail 's panel and saw the debut of his Candyman video which i helped make. That was so fun! I suited up and did the fursuit parade which was cool though it took FOREVER to get out of the ballroom. Hehehehe. I attended the Elliot's Spring Gathering Dinner for people who were planning to attend the event come May. I helped my roommate  stardustfur get some pics of his Nyota lion fursuit dressed up as a hipster complete with Starbucks cup and Apple notebook. Finally on the last night while roming the con i was asked for an interview with  hedgehogoalie in regards to FWA and my con history and so on which was fun as he interviewed me in suit. Later on i ran into  wolvenwuff who i had been seeing the night before and we ended up roaming the con together with him in suit. Such a cute little wolfy, and just being by his side as his handler made my night.

Monday:

The day started with the rapid hectic emptying of con goers from the hotel, no emergencies just the equivalent opposite of Thursday. Antimon and I said goodbye to our respective roomies gathered our stuff, picked up the car and started the journey home. We spent most of the drive talking about the con and stuff and jamming to tunes and stuff. The weather was bad from south Georgia to central Florida driving through storm after storm, concluding at Antimon's parents house. Despite a hasty emptying of his stuff from the car i still ended up in another storm as i headed back home.

Pros and Cons:

+ Getting to meet new furs that ive only known online till then such as  sammystowes ,  XepherSicarius ,  rontao2 ,  artie ,  gemini1 ,  destiniihusky, etc etc etc

+ Seeing friends i usually see at other cons like  galefrostbane ,  tiltlongtail ,  wolvenwuff ,  eaglebeagle ,  starrik ,  grandmaster ,  kryphosdrgn etc.

+ Getting to meet Lucky Yates, AKA Kreiger on Archer.

+ Seeing Tilt's videos.

- Like with most cons lately, the elevators were a huge issue taking so far long due to 3 events happening at once that waits wer like in the 20 minute range and having to go up to go down or vica versa.

- Giving gratuity to hotel staff expecting better than what i experienced

- Spending alot of time at the con by myself just roaming the 3 cloors of con space taking pics. Didnt really hang with anyone i met or saw again or whatever, except for the random sit with someone for a few minutes and of course the walk i took with Wolven Sunday night.

Overall:

This con weekend was...well...mixed really. On a scale of 1 to 10 id have to rate this a 6 or 7 at most. And before i explain i will spare the usual elevator and con logistics issues because that's been done to death by everyone else. When i was deciding to go to FWA i sort of signed up with my heart rather than my head. I was driven by memories of the past 4 FWAs i attended not realizing just how big its gotten and how many people have in fact stopped going. Alot of the people i know from this con weren't there this year so it was a bit of a let down. There were even people i knew that went that i never got to see like  wayajarrard etc. But honestly i think the biggest issue that weekend was me. I decided that i wanted this to be a drama free con for me in that i would be as behaved as i could so no one would have a reason to complain about me as with past events. For the most part it paid off as i had no real complaints from anyone about my behavior. However my plan for keeping myself in check meant really keeping to myself and busying my time with photo taking and con wanderings and often handling for  stardustfur. In the end most of my interactions with people was random greetings and hugs and things of that nature. I didnt spend an extremely long time with anyone there, didnt bring anyone back to my room nor really hung out in anyone elses, I was mostly a passing ship in the night.

Don't get me wrong though. Just being there for me was a plus cuz it was much better than not going and working. I love an opportunity to go to a furry con or meet when i can. I guess im just so used to being more outgoing and affectionate and such like, even though my lack of knowing when to stop being that isn't winning me any favors. I need to somehow find a perfect balance so i get what i want without the fallout. As to whether or not ill go back to FWA though, i cant say. I mean its gonna always be special to me though it felt like the magic it had for me has faded somewhat. Its not the airport hotel con i remember it to me anymore and even at the Hilton it still had a not so huge feel to it. Plus the issues which led people to hashtag it #CrimeCon I.E. thefts and cars impounded or stolen is kind of a put off even though its something you expect in a big city. But i have a whole year to decide if i wanna go back and before then i have Elliots events Furloween and Megaplex to look forward too so its all good.