FA+
Shop
3rd & Final Day of Contime! 134th Journal
4 years ago
This is my head.
Since StratosFur 2021 was a first year con, I figured Sunday would be slower than the usual affair at most cons as everything are shutting down and thus quite a downer. But it was actually surprisingly busy on the last day.
It started well enough. I woke and did my morning routine. The I padded over to the windows of my hotel room that look out over the lobby area. I took a peek and I saw something interesting. There were other guests not attending the con at the hotel for the weekends too and a group of them was walking back from enjoying themselves at the pool judging by the their attire along with the inflatable pool toys. It appeared to be a dad with his two young kids (maybe 5 or 6 years old as far as I can tell). The two younguns spotted a small group of fursuiters as the family was walking into the lobby area and started to jump up and down with excitement while pointed at the furries. The father tried to keep them from straying too far from him as they kept running toward the suiters.
Another small group of furries emerge from the hotel's restaurant area and walked past the kids. I didn't think the suiters saw the kids as they walked by but it would have been cool if they did and got some pics and stuff. But still, I think the experience sure make their day. Must be like going to Disneyland for them. I wonder what the dad thought though.
After seeing all of that, it was time to suit up and roam the lower level before getting some breakfast. I decided to debut my cyberpunkish goggles that I 3D printed last year ago. I originally planned to show it off at ACFI 2020 but that was canceled of course. But I do want to wear it at this year's ACFI (coming up in a month of so 0..0 ).
So I wandered around a bit, getting some good compliments on my goggles. By the way, I recently got back the pics from the con's photo studio room where individual fursuiters can do various poses and such. I'll show those later. But here is a YouTube video of me as I happen to walk by. It starts at https://youtu.be/X2_vy-8Wrqo?t=10 with me showing up in the mirror and then walking by at around the 55 sec mark. I was heading to the headless lounge. I didn't realize they were filming but then again, there were in from of the doors and I was quite crispy with those goggles blocking some of my airflow. I also had just picked up the sponsor swag and was wearing the bag on my back.
There was no fursuit parade but instead they had a group fursuit pics. To keep the size manageable, they split up in groups of around 20 or so and had us go out in turn to the open area to get our shots. I haven't seen any of them posted yet though but I'll be on the lookout.
So I roamed around some wore, visiting the dealer's den and plop another $20 to the charity donation jar on the way out. I also got a few stickers and a pin as well. Then it was off to get ready for the costume contest.
The contest warrants a journal post by itself but I am too lazy to do that so here goes. I didn't think I'll win anything but decided to bring out my old viking garb that I made for Halloween many many years ago just to bring it out again . I did wore it in the fursuit parade back at my first TFF but been in storage for a few years.
At first only three of us entrants showed up. As there was three prize level, we were all assured to win a top spot. But more people slowly arrived, giving us a total of eight contestants. All eight of us wore fursuits although that itself was not a requirement to enter. But that how it turned out. A few more minutes of waited for anyone else to show up, it was time to go up in front of the stage and do a little skit of something about us.
No one wanted to go first of course so it took some proding for someone to volunteer to be the first. That person did well as the judges gave high scores. A few more contestants and it was my turn. Oh boy I was not ready but I did my viking routine (that I came up moment before), trying to get to audience to go on a raid. I, of course, forgot all the stuff I planned just before. But I think I did enough to get some good scores. I took over first place at the moment.
It didn't last as I was overtaken... by like one point. I still manage to hold on to second place. The winner suggested a group photo before everyone disbursed. Got that done before heading off in our separate ways.
I visited the headless lounge before going back to the photo studio to get individual pics on my viking getup. Did a few posed before heading out for some more roaming. I was back in the headless lounge where I was tracked down by one of the staff. Turned out that there were cash prizes for the top three winners of that costume contest. Since I was second, I was awarded $20 dollars to spend in the Dealer's Den. Hmmm, $20, I sense a pattern here. I am sure you know where this is going. I told the person just to drop it in the donation jar like I been doing and told them it was from Monty.
I did missed the Tech Furs panel as it was scheduled on top of the costume contest. Oh well, I later heard it wasn't all that good but still I would like to at least checked it out. The VR panels was also stacked on to pf the contest. I know the people who ran them so it would have been nice to attend those too. Hopefully in the fallowing years, the panels are spread out better. But still, fairly bust for a Sunday.
Then it was time to head up to my room to take off the viking gear before going back down for closing ceremony. After the usual stuff, they announced the total donations for the charity. It came out to something like $520 for the attendees. The con itself doubled that to $1040. However, someone suggested someone suit go around with something like a hat and garner more cash before the con was over. I made one last dash to Dealer's Den.
I finally spotted someone selling Balaclavas and they had a special of buying three of them. I don't remember exact price but was a good enough of a deal that I got three spares. Always can use spares as I have a bad habit of misplacing my original and have to search all over for it. I got two of my usual black ones plus a white one as someone told me it was cooler. I'll probably stick to black though as I don't want to white to show up when I open my maw too wide.
I also got a face mask too. I was a basic one with a sharp teeth design. Not too furry related so I can (and did) wear it to work. It was only $5 bucks too. I also garnered some last minute stickers and a flat plastic dragon cutout that fits in a stand. And I made a last pass at the donation table.
I plopped another $20 into the jar, making my total a cool $80 (including the prize money) in donations. I told them it was me who gave them my prize winning. The person I told to do the donation didn't give my name. Oh well, at least they know now. I decided to also pick up a t-shirt of the charity as well even though I could have gotten one or a hat each time I visited before.
One of the reasons I wanted to donate so much is that I was pent up from not donating at cons for so long. Plus it was a first year con and I wanted to ante up the pot so to speak. I would have added more to get a cool $100 but the Dealer's Den was winding down and lots of the vendors was already packed up and gone.
The only official event left as the Dead Dog Social. No dancing though there was a Karaoke set up. I ventured in there a few times and it was bad, quite bad. But that is how those things usually goes. I roamed around the open area some. I ended up talking to a few furs that was still about.
In one of the conversations, One fur and I ended up discussing the charity. He stated he also donated $80. That means between us, we donated almost 35% of the amount from attendees and around 18% of the total. That is just crazy. We both wanted the charity to get going on the right foot. Hopefully next year there would be a bigger push.
Anyway, a very enjoyable con indeed. My fist in a long long time, like a good year and a half. We took the precautions and wore masks in public. I am well vaxxed myself as well. I did took a virus test just in case a couple of days later after I got home. It came up negative so no worries there.
ACFI is coming up next in a month so I am so wanting to go too. Vaxxing and/or a recent test is needed to attend so it should be fine. Hopefully none of them numbskulls with fake cards will try to show up. Some people are just pure evil. Oh well, here is it going off without a hitch. Cheers.
It started well enough. I woke and did my morning routine. The I padded over to the windows of my hotel room that look out over the lobby area. I took a peek and I saw something interesting. There were other guests not attending the con at the hotel for the weekends too and a group of them was walking back from enjoying themselves at the pool judging by the their attire along with the inflatable pool toys. It appeared to be a dad with his two young kids (maybe 5 or 6 years old as far as I can tell). The two younguns spotted a small group of fursuiters as the family was walking into the lobby area and started to jump up and down with excitement while pointed at the furries. The father tried to keep them from straying too far from him as they kept running toward the suiters.
Another small group of furries emerge from the hotel's restaurant area and walked past the kids. I didn't think the suiters saw the kids as they walked by but it would have been cool if they did and got some pics and stuff. But still, I think the experience sure make their day. Must be like going to Disneyland for them. I wonder what the dad thought though.
After seeing all of that, it was time to suit up and roam the lower level before getting some breakfast. I decided to debut my cyberpunkish goggles that I 3D printed last year ago. I originally planned to show it off at ACFI 2020 but that was canceled of course. But I do want to wear it at this year's ACFI (coming up in a month of so 0..0 ).
So I wandered around a bit, getting some good compliments on my goggles. By the way, I recently got back the pics from the con's photo studio room where individual fursuiters can do various poses and such. I'll show those later. But here is a YouTube video of me as I happen to walk by. It starts at https://youtu.be/X2_vy-8Wrqo?t=10 with me showing up in the mirror and then walking by at around the 55 sec mark. I was heading to the headless lounge. I didn't realize they were filming but then again, there were in from of the doors and I was quite crispy with those goggles blocking some of my airflow. I also had just picked up the sponsor swag and was wearing the bag on my back.
There was no fursuit parade but instead they had a group fursuit pics. To keep the size manageable, they split up in groups of around 20 or so and had us go out in turn to the open area to get our shots. I haven't seen any of them posted yet though but I'll be on the lookout.
So I roamed around some wore, visiting the dealer's den and plop another $20 to the charity donation jar on the way out. I also got a few stickers and a pin as well. Then it was off to get ready for the costume contest.
The contest warrants a journal post by itself but I am too lazy to do that so here goes. I didn't think I'll win anything but decided to bring out my old viking garb that I made for Halloween many many years ago just to bring it out again . I did wore it in the fursuit parade back at my first TFF but been in storage for a few years.
At first only three of us entrants showed up. As there was three prize level, we were all assured to win a top spot. But more people slowly arrived, giving us a total of eight contestants. All eight of us wore fursuits although that itself was not a requirement to enter. But that how it turned out. A few more minutes of waited for anyone else to show up, it was time to go up in front of the stage and do a little skit of something about us.
No one wanted to go first of course so it took some proding for someone to volunteer to be the first. That person did well as the judges gave high scores. A few more contestants and it was my turn. Oh boy I was not ready but I did my viking routine (that I came up moment before), trying to get to audience to go on a raid. I, of course, forgot all the stuff I planned just before. But I think I did enough to get some good scores. I took over first place at the moment.
It didn't last as I was overtaken... by like one point. I still manage to hold on to second place. The winner suggested a group photo before everyone disbursed. Got that done before heading off in our separate ways.
I visited the headless lounge before going back to the photo studio to get individual pics on my viking getup. Did a few posed before heading out for some more roaming. I was back in the headless lounge where I was tracked down by one of the staff. Turned out that there were cash prizes for the top three winners of that costume contest. Since I was second, I was awarded $20 dollars to spend in the Dealer's Den. Hmmm, $20, I sense a pattern here. I am sure you know where this is going. I told the person just to drop it in the donation jar like I been doing and told them it was from Monty.
I did missed the Tech Furs panel as it was scheduled on top of the costume contest. Oh well, I later heard it wasn't all that good but still I would like to at least checked it out. The VR panels was also stacked on to pf the contest. I know the people who ran them so it would have been nice to attend those too. Hopefully in the fallowing years, the panels are spread out better. But still, fairly bust for a Sunday.
Then it was time to head up to my room to take off the viking gear before going back down for closing ceremony. After the usual stuff, they announced the total donations for the charity. It came out to something like $520 for the attendees. The con itself doubled that to $1040. However, someone suggested someone suit go around with something like a hat and garner more cash before the con was over. I made one last dash to Dealer's Den.
I finally spotted someone selling Balaclavas and they had a special of buying three of them. I don't remember exact price but was a good enough of a deal that I got three spares. Always can use spares as I have a bad habit of misplacing my original and have to search all over for it. I got two of my usual black ones plus a white one as someone told me it was cooler. I'll probably stick to black though as I don't want to white to show up when I open my maw too wide.
I also got a face mask too. I was a basic one with a sharp teeth design. Not too furry related so I can (and did) wear it to work. It was only $5 bucks too. I also garnered some last minute stickers and a flat plastic dragon cutout that fits in a stand. And I made a last pass at the donation table.
I plopped another $20 into the jar, making my total a cool $80 (including the prize money) in donations. I told them it was me who gave them my prize winning. The person I told to do the donation didn't give my name. Oh well, at least they know now. I decided to also pick up a t-shirt of the charity as well even though I could have gotten one or a hat each time I visited before.
One of the reasons I wanted to donate so much is that I was pent up from not donating at cons for so long. Plus it was a first year con and I wanted to ante up the pot so to speak. I would have added more to get a cool $100 but the Dealer's Den was winding down and lots of the vendors was already packed up and gone.
The only official event left as the Dead Dog Social. No dancing though there was a Karaoke set up. I ventured in there a few times and it was bad, quite bad. But that is how those things usually goes. I roamed around the open area some. I ended up talking to a few furs that was still about.
In one of the conversations, One fur and I ended up discussing the charity. He stated he also donated $80. That means between us, we donated almost 35% of the amount from attendees and around 18% of the total. That is just crazy. We both wanted the charity to get going on the right foot. Hopefully next year there would be a bigger push.
Anyway, a very enjoyable con indeed. My fist in a long long time, like a good year and a half. We took the precautions and wore masks in public. I am well vaxxed myself as well. I did took a virus test just in case a couple of days later after I got home. It came up negative so no worries there.
ACFI is coming up next in a month so I am so wanting to go too. Vaxxing and/or a recent test is needed to attend so it should be fine. Hopefully none of them numbskulls with fake cards will try to show up. Some people are just pure evil. Oh well, here is it going off without a hitch. Cheers.
