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Fur-Eh 2016 Recap
9 years ago
It's been two weeks since I attended my first furry convention ever, so I thought it was time to do a short recap on it.
I've been wanting to go to a convention for a very long time, and after a fair number of the local fur group went to Fur-Eh last year, I decided there was no way I was missing it this year. As usual the planning was atrocious however, so I ended up having to book a room entirely for myself. (Already got a potential room-mate for next year so yay for actual pre-planning and cost reduction!) I booked the room just in time too, as not even two days later the Fort McMurray fires happened...
For those that didn't see the international headlines and coverage, a massive wildfire sprang up in the wilderness a few hours north of Edmonton close to Fort McMurray. The city is the heart of Alberta's oilsands industry, and the entire city was put under evacuation with near ninety thousand people being forced to flee. About half of the evacuees went to Edmonton, filling up any available accommodations including the hotel hosting Fur-Eh. While I did not directly interact with many evacuees, it was something I constantly thought about while attending the convention. Entire families would come and go, people bringing groceries up to their rooms, evacuees dining in the hotel restaurant or drinking at the bar. I did get to see some children interacting with some of the suitors though, so I hope that the presence of the furry convention brought some light-hearted comfort to the families.
Unfortunately my offer to house a Fort McMurray fur in need went unanswered, and I think part of that has to do with poor timing as my tweet didn't get retweeted by the Fur-Eh staff until after the convention was over and we'd already left.
-The drive up
This deserves it's own section as the trip up to Edmonton was an experience all it's own... after my boyfriend and I finally secured a ride with a friend we were among the last to leave on Thursday night. The van was loaded with our friends equipment, as he was to DJ for an hour on Friday night. Everything seemed good, the vehicle in good condition, and we got our snacks. The first leg of the trip was uneventful.
Things changed as we entered Calgary however a few hours later, effectively the half-way point of our trip. Without any prior indications that anything was wrong, the van's engine had a loss of power on the hill entering the city limits and began making noises. We took the ring road, and pulled over a short time later for my friend to try to determine what was wrong with the engine. After starting up again we figured it was something internal, as they could not see anything, and thought it best to drive into the city to get the engine checked, and parked at a Petro-Can parking lot. Keep in mind it was after 10PM at this point, so most mechanics were closed... The decision was made to call AMA for them to come assess the vehicle for us and determine if we could make it to Edmonton.
The diagnoses truck arrived, and told us to immediately turn off the engine after not even two seconds of listening to it. He determined it to be a catastrophic failure, and highly recommended that the van never drive again... it would have also cost more to fix the engine than the van was even worth, and if we could even find a replacement engine there's no telling how much longer the van would have lasted anyway, as it was already well past the average mileage of the vehicles make. The tech was amazed we even made it into the city, and though the van was still technically drive-able chances were high we'd break down on the highway... The rod was ready to go through the engine block at any moment, seizing the engine and spilling oil.
The tech was generous enough to allow us to park the van at their parking lot for free over the weekend so we could retrieve any remaining belongings in it on the way back from the con. We were left waiting with a pile of luggage in the parking lot as we waiting for a taxi, where we then went to the airport as fortunately for us a vehicle rental company was still open there. To simplify this section, my boyfriend rented the vehicle and would be the driver for trip to Edmonton. It was past 2AM when we were finally on the road again...
So yeah, was roughly 6:30AM when we finally checked into our rooms, my boyfriend deciding to stay with me for the first two days of the con before spending a week with his family.
-The con
I managed to have a good time despite the fact I had little 'fun' money left after our little emergency. Decided to go to most of the writing focused panels as I'd like to get back into writing. The dragon panel was interesting too, as well as the CAH game I went to. One of my friends ended up placing second in the tournament, losing to the guy that won my table in the first round.
Met a couple of new people, and met up with the local fur group a few times throughout the con. Being a smaller Canadian based convention I was unfortunately not able to really meet up with online friends, as none really went to Fur-Eh.
Managed to get some tips on when I eventually get a suit of my own made as well, and an estimated ballpark number to save toward. Ideally I'd like to try and have a suit ready for two cons from now, but we'll see how my finances fall in place and what other large investments I decide to prioritize first.
Anyway, not much else comes to mind for the moment, so thanks for reading!
I've been wanting to go to a convention for a very long time, and after a fair number of the local fur group went to Fur-Eh last year, I decided there was no way I was missing it this year. As usual the planning was atrocious however, so I ended up having to book a room entirely for myself. (Already got a potential room-mate for next year so yay for actual pre-planning and cost reduction!) I booked the room just in time too, as not even two days later the Fort McMurray fires happened...
For those that didn't see the international headlines and coverage, a massive wildfire sprang up in the wilderness a few hours north of Edmonton close to Fort McMurray. The city is the heart of Alberta's oilsands industry, and the entire city was put under evacuation with near ninety thousand people being forced to flee. About half of the evacuees went to Edmonton, filling up any available accommodations including the hotel hosting Fur-Eh. While I did not directly interact with many evacuees, it was something I constantly thought about while attending the convention. Entire families would come and go, people bringing groceries up to their rooms, evacuees dining in the hotel restaurant or drinking at the bar. I did get to see some children interacting with some of the suitors though, so I hope that the presence of the furry convention brought some light-hearted comfort to the families.
Unfortunately my offer to house a Fort McMurray fur in need went unanswered, and I think part of that has to do with poor timing as my tweet didn't get retweeted by the Fur-Eh staff until after the convention was over and we'd already left.
-The drive up
This deserves it's own section as the trip up to Edmonton was an experience all it's own... after my boyfriend and I finally secured a ride with a friend we were among the last to leave on Thursday night. The van was loaded with our friends equipment, as he was to DJ for an hour on Friday night. Everything seemed good, the vehicle in good condition, and we got our snacks. The first leg of the trip was uneventful.
Things changed as we entered Calgary however a few hours later, effectively the half-way point of our trip. Without any prior indications that anything was wrong, the van's engine had a loss of power on the hill entering the city limits and began making noises. We took the ring road, and pulled over a short time later for my friend to try to determine what was wrong with the engine. After starting up again we figured it was something internal, as they could not see anything, and thought it best to drive into the city to get the engine checked, and parked at a Petro-Can parking lot. Keep in mind it was after 10PM at this point, so most mechanics were closed... The decision was made to call AMA for them to come assess the vehicle for us and determine if we could make it to Edmonton.
The diagnoses truck arrived, and told us to immediately turn off the engine after not even two seconds of listening to it. He determined it to be a catastrophic failure, and highly recommended that the van never drive again... it would have also cost more to fix the engine than the van was even worth, and if we could even find a replacement engine there's no telling how much longer the van would have lasted anyway, as it was already well past the average mileage of the vehicles make. The tech was amazed we even made it into the city, and though the van was still technically drive-able chances were high we'd break down on the highway... The rod was ready to go through the engine block at any moment, seizing the engine and spilling oil.
The tech was generous enough to allow us to park the van at their parking lot for free over the weekend so we could retrieve any remaining belongings in it on the way back from the con. We were left waiting with a pile of luggage in the parking lot as we waiting for a taxi, where we then went to the airport as fortunately for us a vehicle rental company was still open there. To simplify this section, my boyfriend rented the vehicle and would be the driver for trip to Edmonton. It was past 2AM when we were finally on the road again...
So yeah, was roughly 6:30AM when we finally checked into our rooms, my boyfriend deciding to stay with me for the first two days of the con before spending a week with his family.
-The con
I managed to have a good time despite the fact I had little 'fun' money left after our little emergency. Decided to go to most of the writing focused panels as I'd like to get back into writing. The dragon panel was interesting too, as well as the CAH game I went to. One of my friends ended up placing second in the tournament, losing to the guy that won my table in the first round.
Met a couple of new people, and met up with the local fur group a few times throughout the con. Being a smaller Canadian based convention I was unfortunately not able to really meet up with online friends, as none really went to Fur-Eh.
Managed to get some tips on when I eventually get a suit of my own made as well, and an estimated ballpark number to save toward. Ideally I'd like to try and have a suit ready for two cons from now, but we'll see how my finances fall in place and what other large investments I decide to prioritize first.
Anyway, not much else comes to mind for the moment, so thanks for reading!
