Hullo and good evening to everyone reading this. Anthrocon '09, my second furry convention ever, and my first time at AC... was fan-freakin' tastic. :)

First off, I want to yell at Rimpala for tagging me for a meme LITERALLY HOURS BEFORE I LEFT! And in lieu of giving you the response to it, I'm writing this FIRST. So sorry, Rimpala, can't do it now. :P

I left on Wednesday afternoon around noon with a local fur-friend,  Liztail. I drove his car up there the whole way. Was a beautiful ride through the West Virginia mountains. Even when I stopped in a gas station at 8pm and ran into a couple of stoners heading to Dead Days (an annual Grateful Dead gathering) who were offering some 'high quality stuff' to help pay for the trip. It was still a nice drive. Got to Pittsburgh just before 11pm, and saw a few furs out and around town, but because my roommates wouldn't be getting there until the following afternoon. SOOOO LizTail got the brilliant (and I do mean brilliant) idea of renting out a motel nearby. It wasn't pricey at ALL, and I'm REAL glad we stopped in for the night. Though the guy running the place was a bit creepy. x3

Early Thursday Liz and I woke up and got ourselves a parking space in a parking deck halfway between the two hotels. We were at the DoubleTree, but parking there is RIDICULOUSLY expensive. The parking deck was a much better solution. ^..^ So since I wasn't going to be able to do anything until our roomies showed up, I grabbed my box of Apples to Apples, and brought it up to the Zoo, which was open. :P

So anyways, skip a lil' here (I met some people who's names I knew during the con but I don't remember perfectly now) I start up an Apples to Apples on one of the long tables that they've got in the Zoo with myself, Liztail, and one other guy whom I had just met that was shorter than me and didn't give me a card or phone number, so I don't have him in my phone to remember who he was. But he was cool. So cool guy, if you're reading this: Rock onnya. We played for a lil' bit, then another guy came and sat down (whose name I also forget), and then another, and then a few more sat down. Pretty soon I had a full table of about 8 players. We were running out of room, but not for lack of more people wanting to play, just... we needed more table!

I stole some empty tables then and added them onto the one that we had going. And then we keep playing. ^..^ I think at its largest point, I counted 18 players (so don't criticize me for not remember NOW, two weeks later, 'cos I could remember them when they were sitting there). Anyhow, midway I get a text from Darius-Kei, who tells me, "I'm at the bus stop, where's the convention?"
"Its across the street."
"Which one?"
"The one across from the bus stop."
"There are a couple streets here, and I don't want to get lost."
"Its the big friggin' building in front of you on the other side of the street you're looking at right now."
This went on a for a lil' bit. It could have taken longer, but instead I told him to hold tight, then told the guys at the table to hold tight, and ran outside, across the street grabbed Dari, and guided him back to the table, where I sat the bugger down and proceeded to learn at this point that another 4 or 5 people had joined the table(s). I should have got another one. :P

I was doing the table for a while and had a LOT of fun. Really - I've not seen so many over-the-top happy faces in one place since my Great Grandmother's funeral (they had an open bar). Around 2:30 in the afternoon, they announce, "HEY! REGISTRATION IS OPEN!!" And I say, "Pack it up!" And pull in the cards and rush everyone out as we all go to registration. And I did not pre-reg.

In the reg line, I met a fursuiter named Nay-Nay, an artist with a Mud-Kip hat (who drew FANTASTIC work, even if I wasn't fond of all the material), a bat named Stoker who wore the same coat as me at FWA, my old friend Wally Wolf, and also seeing my roomie, Sine, who had pre-registered (garrr... wish I had thought to), and a few others. Nay-Nay drew me free art in like... 2 minutes. On notebook paper. Using the Apples to Apples box as a backing. I'll have to post it tomorrow when  Darker-Kain wakes up so I can borrow his scanner. For how fast she drew it, and with NO ref pic - she did a real nice job. ^.-.^ I really liked it. Nay-Nay is a fursuiter, who, if you know - please send her my way so I can send her luvs and credits for her stuff. Oh and here's a fun line story:
At one point, there's a guy who walks by, wearing the exact same t-shirt as me. In my silliness I say, "Well sir, we simply cannot have. One of us will have to change. And I'm not getting out of line." So I took my shirt off, and had my jacket resting across me in lieu of it. :) An hour later the air con cuts on, and I start getting chilly tits, so I decide 'best to put this thing back on - taking it off was silly anyway.' I turn around so that the people in line aren't staring at me, and as I turn, I take off my jacket to reveal my naked upper body in front of a TV camera crew that just happened to be walking right there.
"SHIT!"
I turn around quick, put on my shirt as fast as I can, then my jacket, and I sulk for the next couple hours before I finally get registered. For anyone who watched the news that evening, I heard the convention was covered - if I showed up topless on any of the channels for any amount of time, I'd sincerely like to apologize for that rather embarrassing moment of partial nudity. I swear I thought I was going to have a heart attack. And that afterward, Uncle Kage was going to come down to the hospital and finish me off.

Four hours after waiting in the reg line, I finish. On my way out, I ran into the  blotch team. When I went to FWA, only Kenket was there, but at AC, I got to meet the other half of the team, Blackteagan. ^..^ She stamped my book in the Dealer's Room the next day. OH AND IF EITHER OF YOU TWO READ THIS I'M SORRY IF I GOT YOU MIXED UP!! x..x Big thanks to them for signing and stamping my book. Which I've finally gotten around to reading - this thing is HILARIOUS!! ^..^

By this time all the members who I'd be rooming with had finally shown up,  sinecurve,  darius-kei,  syntax0,  gar-yulong, who I knew from #Dragons on Furnet, and also  foxchild and Icefox, who I only met then at the convention. Some of us got together for a bite to eat at one of the local restaurants (I can't remember what it was called), and then since most of the members were gathered and accounted for, LizTail and I went back to the car and got our luggage, then hauled it to the group's room at the DoubleTree. There wasn't really anything going on that day, and by that point it was pushing 8pm, so I headed back to the convention center with Liztail and Dari, started up another game of Apples, and just played on for a while. ^..^ Saw my friend  Turic, who i bumped in to several times later throughout the convention, and also learned that my  xpanther was there selling his Panther Pouches (which btw, are among the MOST comfortable things I've EVER worn). I also saw that  MissMab was there, and said hullo and offered to buy her lunch, 'cos I've been reading her comic for the last 6 years now and am a rather big fan of hers. :3
Lastly, I learned that  AgentElrond was there. I'm a HUGE 2 Sense fan. I downloaded every show he's ever done, and burned it to disk. With separate disks of all his rants. Agent Elrond started doing the cover art for his episodes around #120~something, and I've been a fan of her art since then. Though I don't use DeviantART much, which is her original home, so I never really passed along my fanboy-hello's. The note she had left on the Bulletin Board said that if you found her and picked her out, she'd do a free sketch. O..o So I was completely pysched out to try and find her at some point during the convention. :P

And thus this is how my first AC began. :)

The following days were So full of different things going on, I don't think it would be fully possible to list the events of what I did in any particular order. So here's the many different things that I'm excited about having gotten a chance to do while at AC. :3

I met a gal named BluStorm, who was short. :P And fun to hang out with ^..^ I also met  Zylana, who was a lot of fun to chat with, and also  rah-bop, who is an AMAZING artist who you should go watch. Do it now. :P Also I ran into FoxFlux, another cool fellow that was fun to meet, and I had coffee one morning with Donamer:.

OH! Story for Donamer. At FWA, I found out that there was a suiter going around with the suit name, "Mr. Scribbles". Word go around to me about it that there was another Scribbles at the convention, so I set out to get some contact information on this guy and wound up chatting with him online, NOT REALIZING he was the famous/infamous Donamer, creater of a certain Flash video involving Crome some years before. When I found out THIS, a mere month before AC, and found out he was going, naturally I had to meet him and shake the man's hand. ^..^ Turns out, Donamer is one of the nicest guys to just sit down and hang out with. ^.____.^ So, Don, if you're reading this - you're an outstanding guy, and I'm glad we got to have coffee. ^..^

Lets see... I also ran in to a bat furry named Stoker, who I knew from FWA as the guy who was wearing the same damn trench coat as me. Which I brought to AC, just in case I ran into him again. :P

And also I got to meet Terrie Smith's husband. Terrie is a fantastic artist who I personally adore for her work with  mangasama in helping bring his characters Chester and Deck to life. :) I found out from this that there was to be soon a graphic novelization of "HAVOC INC", a comic series by Terrie and Mark that never saw completion due to various complications with the publishing companies. But through the new graphic novels, there is hope that the previously unpublished works will now become available through this medium. ^..^ I certainly look forward to adding them to my comics and graphic novel collections. :3 (for those interested, go to http://www.terriesmith.com/ to see what else Terrie has been working on). My best wishes to the goings on with you and your family Terrie, I heard things were going a bit rough at the moment, and I sincerely hope that matters turn out alright.

I got to shake hands with  DarkNatasha and her mum, both of whom are awesome fun to hang out with, and I was glad Natasha was able to sign one of my comic books that she did the cover art for. :3 Also Eric Schwartz, creator of Sabrina Online, was there - and he generously signed my issue of "Sabrina Online: Year One", that I picked up at my local comic shoppe (SUPPORT YOUR LOCALS!!) I got to say hullo to  Kittmouri, and bought a comic from her that she signed for me - she's such a sweet gal. :3 And her art is so gorgeous ^.=.^ I wish more furs would do family friendly art like hers :3 (Not to say I don't thoroughly enjoy the adult material as well xD ) A surprise to see at the con was  neondragon, who wrote the book "DragonArt", which I proudly own, and purchased at my local Michael's craft store nearly 4 years ago. MANY thanks to her for coming to the convention - I wish I had brought my copy of her book for signing. :3 I also saw and said hello to Bill Holbrook, creator of the Kevin & Kell webcomic, and all-around nice guy. I saw this one guy in the zoo, who I later ran into in the dealers room, named Gordon... who I really can't recall the artistic alias of. >..< But he was an amazing artist to watch work. He's an older member of the fandom, who once had comic books that would get published for small LGBT bookstores, then later self-published. He liked my tail. ^..^ I know I said I'd be wearing the one that my roommate, Cedarpaw, made, but literally the day I left, Darker-Kain: constructed and finished a 1-day tail which I was able to wear through the whole convention and got a lot of nice attention. ^.=.^ Anyhow, Gordon was a great guy, and I would've loved doing lunch with him later, but sadly I never got around to it. :/ Ah well. :P Ah well, it was a busy con. ^..^

I instead got to run into another friend of mine, White-Paw, who wound up introducing me to several wonderful fursuiters that were great to meet. ^..^ I wound up eating at Fernando's, a fantastic diner just outside the convention hotel; I'm glad I got to eat there - our server was a rather big AC/DC fan, and we got to chat for some time. ^.=.^

One of the best things I got to do early on in the convention was see my lil' bro,  redmonkey, who was my roommate for an entire year in San Diego. He's been dealing with some tough shit lately, and I'm really glad I could see him to give hugs. And other things that can't be mentioned. :3 I also met up and hung out with my friend Saberclaw, a suiter I met at FWA, and got to meet the guy who made his fursuit (whose name of course escapes me). :P

Every day when I wasn't doing something like meeting people at random at the con, I was getting to run my Apples to Apples table at the Zoo. And when I wasn't doing THAT, I was at events. I went to a fursuit construction event (cos I really want to build one), I did a lil' singing in the video game room on Rock Band 2, I saw Uncle Kage and 2 do their separate stand up routines, and also I got to see the "Who's Lion Is It Anyway" troupe perform. For which there is STORY~! :D

During their improv, I volunteered as often as I could think of any ideas, and I really had a blast. But early on into it, I got a call from Ice Paws, a fur I had met the other day about trading fishnet t-shirts. Turns out the guy is into engines. <3 Tuner furs. Mmmmm <3 <3 ^..^ We talked for about an hour, and it was all fantastic - but then I REALLY wanted to get back to the Who's Lion event. It was a long one, so there was time. When I got there, I saw on stage a gal making "Avenue Q" jokes as part of her improv. Then later she did a joke referencing "Wicked." Both of these are show tunes that I've seen and LOVE, so being the social hummingbird that I am, I stopped her and said hello. And that's when I read her nametag.

It was  AgentElrond. O..o In my mind that moment, I felt like I had just located the Lost Ark of the Covenant: Here I was after having done hours of improv comedy alongside people I'd only just met, and I find low-and-behold the one I happen to talk to is none other than the artist I had been HOPING dearly to find at some point at the con, that I could get that chance at a free sketch from the elusive, legendary sketch artist of 2's comedy gold. My heart did something of a tumble at this, and it was SO weird getting to hang out with her while she sketched me in the outfit I was wearing - because she's nothing like any other famous artist I've ever run into. When I told my roommates who I had been hanging out with after Who's Lion for the last 2 hours, they said, "Who?", and I felt like I was in a very small fan club. :< But I don't care, 'cos Rondie - you rock. And my con was made SO MUCH MORE AWESOME thanks to you!!! ^.-.^

I can't remember at what point during the convention this next part happened ~ I believe it was Saturday evening - I went to see Jibba and Spazzfox, two awesome comedians who I LOVE listening to on the web. They performed a very funny, and on Jibba's part, very informative routine. It was informative in that, when Jibba asks, "Who in here has ever done a hook up?"... if nobody else raises their hand, either its because nobody there had honestly ever done one, or I was just the only person fool enough to raise my hand. But whatever the case, in a room of over 100 people, I was the only person to raise my hand. And I sat in the very front row. After the show, some of us went out for drinks at the local gay bar - where I introduced Rondie to the lovely world of Kamikazes. :3 CHEERS! ^..^ And I also shared with Jibba the lame story behind my hookup. If you weren't there, you missed it. You might hear it again if I get drunk enough.

The following morning, there was a memorial held in remembrance of Furp. There's not much I can say about him that hasn't already been said by those who know and care for him deeply. I barely knew the man, but in the short time I knew him, he showed me everything I know about getting around Furnet. Were it not for that, I never would have found #Dragons, and subsequently the people I stayed with at AC this year. For those of you who never heard about what happened, Furp was killed a few months ago in a motorcycle accident. Its still not something thats easy to talk about. He was a great guy, and he'll be missed terribly. Uncle Kage put up a LiveJournal community here for those who are interested. http://community.livejournal.com/remember_furp/ . That's the most I can say for any of this.

BUT ON TO HAPPIER STUFF! (Holy craps its 4am already) Uhh...uh... mmph >..< Okay what am I forgetting? OH! Sunday afternoon/evening Uncle Kage and 2 did their anual duo-comedy charity event together. And the most memorable part for me? 2 standing up and blinding Kage as he stood there in his silver sparkling sequin jacket as 300+ camera flashes went of at once, turning the big bird into a blinding disco ball. It was the most fabulous thing I've ever seen in my life coming from a single person. It was like a giant gaysplosion of fagtasticness and I couldn't stop laughing my ass off about it. x3 If anyone has pictures, please send them to me~ I want to cherish the memory. xD

I think after that, I just played lots of Apples 2 Apples, and hung out with Red Monkey and LizTail. And then I came home to find that has brought home his new puppy, Artie (not named for the Vinci and Arty comics, he doesn't even know about those). Artie is freaking ADORABLE. And so quiet for a dog. >..> I think he may be plotting to overthrow my dragon empire.

Also, since I drove back with LizTail, he and I hung out and watched the Blue Ray version of FFVII: Advent Children at his house before we had to call it a night on Monday - and there's a BUNCH of new stuff. Its worth it. Every penny.

And I worked Tuesday 'till Friday... and on SATURDAY~~~ I saw Joan Jett and the Blackhearts for FREE, at Downtown Live in Raleigh, NC USA! For those of you who don't know her by name, *ahem*, "I Don't Give A Damn 'Bout My Bad Reputation", "I Love Rock And Roll (So Put Another Dime In the Jukebox Baby)", "Crimson and Clover", and "Cherry Bomb" were the three big hits of hers that she played. Also she did her own cover of "Everyday People" as part of the 2nd encore.

All in all, its been a pretty damn busy time for me. Sorry it took so long to post this AC journal, but as you can tell, A LOT OF STUFF HAPPENED. o..O Sorry to those of you who couldn't make it and were looking to come. Don't worry, there's always next year :D