God...or in my case Flying Spaghetti Monster...when did we all grow up?

It just feels weird. I mean, when did I start making decisions based on foreseeable financial projections and working out things like "budgets" and "needs/vs/wants"? I mean, did I just become an adult one day and nobody told me? This is totally weird.

I thought about this quite a bit this morning reading a post by an actual artist on here (not some talentless hack with a tablet like me). He was commenting on how he was going to be missing Anthrocon this year for...various reasons...and I just started thinking.

To be honest, I'm not really planning on hitting AC this year, and if I do, it'll be for a day just to...which brought me to another question...why would I be going to AC this year. It's gotten horridly expensive, I don't much enjoy the atmosphere, it's noisy..tho it always was... and it honestly doesn't feel as friendly as it used to. it seems like in recent years, all the luvy-duvy welcome that we used to feel in Pittsburgh has kinda worn off. Like the city's finally gotten over themselves and said "you know what, these people are weird." And not like we've done much as a fandom to help ourselves.

Which kinda brings me to another point. I've noticed myself judging people for their actions like my Fox News addicted grandma. Of course (i hope) not as blunt faced and tactless, but i digress. I mean, maybe it's justified, maybe not, but it seems like all the sudden I find myself saying "these younger/newer people are destructive" or "All anyone seems to want to do is get drunk and high and party" and...i mean, I can't say it's wrong, but I've also been around long enough to remember the legends of conFURence, which, let's be honest, was more like a fur kink sex party than a fuzzy wuzzy furry convention according to the stories I've come across.

So, what happened? did I go on some 5 year furry bender, then wake up one morning to coyote ugly and try to justify my actions by saying the younger generation is just irresponsible? I mean, I'm hardly a beacon of good decision making (I say as my phone rings to the tune of Sallie Mae calling me, probably for the first of 10 times today.) Or has something really changed?

So, about the title of this article. And here's were my 'new sensibilities' are coming into play. I think I'm gonna give up AC and try to focus my con energies on going places where I can meet people. You know, the 'small'-ish cons, around a thousand or so and under. I can remember when I used to do Anthrocon on a $200 budget for the weekend, but now it seems like I can't even secure a room for less than that. Maybe it's furry burnout, maybe it's disillusion, but I just don't' seem all that excited to drop a grand on a weekend where I'll be packed like a kipper in a sardine can and badgered around by overzealous security and a convention center more concerned about clicking overtime hours than giving people a good time.

Maybe my friends are right. Maybe I really have become 'Grandpa' Well, at least I can be a 'bad grandpa' :3