Some years, stuff doesn't work. Not major things, but just moments I say to myself “well, that didn't work”. This is how I felt through most of it, until something happened that blew me away.

My immediate roommate group this year was Astrid Sunnybunny, who I had met previously, but had basically a minor mental breakdown and left the con I met her at early. Also in my room was my new non-con roommate Rylie and her mate Maggie, the latter of which has spent most of 2019 in the hospital.

After waking up at stupid o'clock because I still can't do originating flights well, our group made it to Chicago. Checked in with no problem, went across the street to Embassy Suites to help the other group I booked a room for check in as well. The group there was first time MFF goers Jasmine (who I met at Anime North a year prior) and her girlfriend. Also included was Sundae who I met last year briefly at dinner. Finally we had Flora, who I have seen many pictures and such throughout my Facebook and Twitter feeds. Got all that done, met up with our next door neighbors for the con, Angel and her mate Northpaw, Lauren and her mate Shrag, had dinner and called it a night early. Before we did, we saw the group collaboration of Rage Berry, Afrodyte, Samantha, Neko and Cici as a performer of a 5 person sheep girl crew wander about. Afrodyte even let Maggie try on a mask, which Maggie loves trying on stuff!

Friday began the trend of things not working well. I realized that Maggie was still weak from almost a year in hospital care and would need a wheelchair. This was something in the back of my mind but something I had not game-planned. I contacted con staff about renting/borrowing a wheelchair for the weekend but had no success. Asked the front desk the night before similar questions and was directed to a company about 15 miles away, which having no transportation, I couldn't use as an option. I ended up having to get a taxi-cab to a Walgreen's, picking up a transport chair (and learning the difference throughout the weekend between wheelchair and transport chairs), and the day resumed. Picked up Giordanos for Maggie and me as the group chat was indecisive on food stuff. Ended up spending most of the day in bed keeping Maggie company as the prior day walking had taken a lot out of her. Was able to get her con registration later that day as well as go to the femme shoot which was great and led to Angel getting several pictures of me smiling like a loon. Also got to see Flora debut her new squirrel Sprocket which also went over well.

Saturday marked a blur of activity, again with things not working well for me. Maggie was absolutely drained from her time at the photo-shoot and ended up spending most of the day in bed. Not wanting to have her alone most of the day, I ended up resting most of the day as well. Tried seeing what the group wanted to do for lunch plans, but nothing worked there. It was a quiet day mostly in and out of the room and seeing the con briefly. Dinner we did a small group and went to Murray Brothers Caddyshack and enjoyed it.

Sunday, helped the Embassy Suite group check out a day early, and thankfully was actually able to get the extra night removed from the room since no one would be there. Said my goodbyes to Jasmine, her girlfriend Jessica, Flora and Sundae, all of whom I did not get to spend much time at all with but wished I did spend more time with all. Had another things just aren't working moment. For over a decade, with a one year break, me and my long time friend Ricochet, famous for the Radiolawn Podcast, would go to a local sports-bar during MFF and watch his Cleveland Browns play and usually lose. This year he couldn't go, which was rough, and left me with an empty schedule all throughout the day. Took a few more pictures, and finally prepared for our yearly end of con dinner at Portillo's.

This year was a slightly larger than usual group, as it included first time folks like Cici, and a few other friends of Angel, as well as the usual group of me and Angel's group. Early on, while reading Twitter, I began to sense all eyes were on me, which was weird. I looked up to notice Angel directly in front of me, as well as Maggie and Rylie to the sides of me, much closer than usual at a dinner setting. Then I noticed the T-shirts.

Before I knew it, several of the group had taken off jackets to reveal Mac's Angels t-shirts, (think Charlie's Angels except with silhouettes of Angel, Maggie and Lauren). Angel then proceeded to tell the group how she has known me for over 15 years now, and how she would not have been able to go into furry or meet all these people if not for me. She let me know how several in the group did love me and said how wonderful I was. Anyone that knows me deeply knows that due to past dating issues as well as my mother issues, I am not used to out of the blue complements, especially like this! Needless to say I was crying up a storm! Was such an unexpected moment especially seeing who all bought said shirts! Finished dinner, did one final look at the con and headed to bed, and said my goodbyes to most of the group that night and in the morning when we headed back home uneventfully.

Thank you to all of you that made things unexpectedly end memorably! Folks like my roommates Maggie, Rylie, Astrid, and the other folks I saw this weekend like the previously named Angel, Lauren, Shrag, Northpaw, Sundae, Flora, Jasmine and her girlfriend. Then folks I saw briefly like Weretiger and Lomax, Samantha Kemple and her wife, Miezekatze, Kira, Jovina, Afrodyte, Rage, Ezra, Cici, Neko, Wildfox, Yuri, Natalie and probably a few others I am forgetting!

Only other post con thing to note was an unusual situation. During the con we had someone not in our group show up to a few events and ended up wandering with Neko and Cici throughout the days. I even met said person and was happy to meet up with them as their posts were present on my timelines a few times!

After the con however, the other shoe dropped with this person. While waiting for an interview Wednesday, which turned into a job offer the following day, I was reading Twitter. It turned out this same person, that had wandered our group, been in our shoots, was also someone that was actively trying to get M*lo Y. invited to the convention (name truncated to avoid bot bull-crap). Even worse it turned out this person was also very involved with the Alt-Right fur group I will not name here. This was a bit of a gut-punch. It was disappointing to learn someone that made a good impression turned out to be a truly horrible person.

Overall, the con was alright! With a couple minor things that didn't work, combined with the totally memorable end of the con, overall, the con wasn't bad, and I hope Maggie gets better for 2020!