Well, now that I'm back home...I think its time I talked of my experience at Megaplex over the weekend.

So two things to start off with, the first is that I managed to get a room in the main hotel for the first time, while I am grateful for what I can get and don't mind walking a block or across the street to attend a con; having the convention center be right across the carpark made for a much more laid back time there.

The second was on a bit of a short notice, but a longtime friend of mine (who I'll be referring to here as 'Blu' ) ended up joining me as well, it ended up being her first convention.

Thursday - The Journey:

The trip up went pretty smoothly for the most most part. Starting from the middle of the Keys, it was a six hour drive and I was in the navigator role for most of it, which wasn't too much of a hassle as the majority of time was spent on the many straightaways of the turnpike. There were a few storms to drive through on the way but in the end, we reached the hotel well on time.

Friday - Day 1:

I went through registration twice to start things off (once in the 'Pre-Reg' line and once in the 'At The Door Reg' line to help Blu out.) We were both pretty excited and spent most of the first bit of time just chilling out in the con space; getting a feel for the convention center's layout and simply admiring the passers by, especially the fursuiters.

I was keeping an eye out for  vixyyfox and upon spotting her, conversed for a bit before Blu and I headed off to our first panel. Being the first day, it went by fairly slowly as it usually tends to. To start, I attended the 'I Don't Know Anyone Here, Now What?" panel with Blu before we both went our own ways. I went into the Dealer's Den to see where everything and everyone was.

It was after I came out when  Onic tracked me down, and we hit it off rather well as friends within the next few hours. Save for a quick trip up to my room for lunch and a recharge, the day flew by from that point on, until Onic and I joined up with Vixyy for Foxes and Peppers Live before finally shooting the breeze with  tic-toc

Saturday - Day 2:

I spent that morning preparing with almost machine-like deliberation and soon headed down at about quarter to ten. Spent some time outside of the fourth panel room, where I ran into Vixyy again and we ended up conversing for a bit prior to the start of the Thursday Prompt panel. The panel was terrifically laid back, and I met a couple of new writers along with some familiar ones such as  Walt46 and  Chiron .

The next few hours consisted of Onic and I having a few avid conversations, with him showing a bit of his prowess on the ocarina and the both of us taking some photos of a few suiters passing through before we rejoined Blu and Vixyy for the fursuit parade, which I must admit, managed to top the one at last year's con.

There was much more flow to this day's pacing than the first, made it all exciting enough to be a joy, but not to the point of fatigue, thankfully.

I had to tear myself away some time later to meet my sister, her boyfriend and her colleague over lunch at a Japanese place not too far from the hotel. Upon returning, I went back down to the convention center to drop a donation to CARE and to watch a bit of the charity gaming tournament (after having gone back to fetch my phone and wallet, as I had forgotten them) which I intended to take part in, but it had gotten rather late, so I took my leave and retired.

Sunday - Day 3:

I woke up early on the last day - 6:30 in the morning to be precise. I'd showered the previous night so preparation was swift and before long I was out the door and waiting out front to meet the others for the grey muzzle's breakfast.

The breakfast itself was another highlight for me, the food was quite delicious and the atmosphere was warm and inviting. I also met  fcneko during this time as well. Though I could have listened and conversed with Vixyy and company for hours, eventually the day wore on. Onic joined me in sitting in on the CARE presentation, which was great (probably the second time in my life I've seen a fox in person.) We stayed and talked a bit during the auction afterwards before heading to the Dealer's Den to pay Tic-Toc's booth a visit.

Once Onic had left for the rabbit fur meet and greet, I spent some more time in the Dealer's Den before deciding to head back to the hotel for a break. But before I had so much as rounded the corner to the entryway, I spotted  aikenwolf out of the corner of my eye - fursuiting as his character, Victor. Quite an unexpected surprise. So I approached, got his attention, mentioned I was a fan and asked for a photo.

When I headed back out, I went straight to the creative writing panel that evening, it wasn't as laid back and cordial as the Thursday Prompt was, but the panelist did a fine job and the tips are always useful. I ended up writing a small, impromptu story featuring a wolfess confronting its protagonist - an antisocial, miserly stag who was more than a bit misinformed. I wasn't able to finish it, but I had written enough. The truly memorable moment that comes to mind however, is that one of the other attendees in the panel was blind, but it didn't stop him from writing a tale of his own and due to the type of paper, he managed to read it aloud in braille; it was a pretty inspiring sight.

I must admit I didn't have the patience afterwards to have waited for the closing ceremonies and few of the remaining events interested me - so I decided to head to the Post Con Depression panel and pay the depressed furries a visit. Even though I never suffered much from the post con blues myself, I still found it to be a good panel to listen in on, and took away some good advice from it.

In conclusion, this was probably the best year so far in regards to a convention experience. I think a big part is simply, with this one being my third, I've gotten much more relaxed and found myself enjoying even the smallest moments more. Megaplex has almost started to feel like a second home of sorts too.

When I first decided to attend this year, I treated it as going big a bit because I was planning to sit next year out. But now, I think this experience just reinvigorated my interest in cons - so I may reconsider and be there in 2020.