After 4 years of going, I finally spell that right.

A quick somewhat belated hiss and purr on the recent Con of Fuzzled in rainy tea land, where I had a lot of fun once again. Well, it's mostly purr.
The con was well done and all of the folks running it did a great job for as far as I can tell, Jym's gameshow was super hilarious again, and the pawpet show was also quite good, and all was fun and went smooth, so thumbs up for the con team and crew there.

Special thanks go to team Krllcon around  gojiza for arranging that awesome macro meeting, that the kaiju and stomp lovers among will soon hopefully see plenty of pictures and videos of.

Aside from my usual furry con shenanigans I also got some poor souls to testplay my macro game in making MACRO MONSTER MAYHEM, and I got a lot of data and feedback on it. Thank you all very much for participating!
I realized it will never be as casul-friendly as Fluxx, Room Party, or Cards Against Humanity. I have to accept that it will be a medium-complex game. And that a group of 4 players will never finish a game in 30 minutes either. It will always be a medium-long game too.
(but it does require less card text reading during a turn than Fluxx or CAH, less counting and table estate than Room Party, and less carrying space than CAH > > )

And apparently it is playable and some people can have fun at it. So I shall keep pursuing that project and see if I have a real version for Eurofurence.
(If someone knows someone willing to do the cover image or a good place to print custom MagicTM-sized game cards, let me know. :) )

And yes, OF COURSE all the cards will have proper picture images, the stupid sketches are clearly place holders only. Silly playtesters. But thanks for liking the pixel artwork. At least better then scrappy placeholder skteches. :D

PS: I found some leftover confetti in my bag the other day.

Finally getting to write down about that, so much to do after con in addition to everyday chores you postponed while preparing for the con...

So, I had a great and awesome con, and I want to thank you all for it! It was amazing. :)

I also got a good lot of stuff done, leaving me even more sattisfied with it.
Handed out all but one of my pixel badges, enjoyed Kage's Story hour, and the 3-hours pawpet show, and most of the fursuit game show, been to the awesome macro meet panel Lucky Esel organized, did an egyptian tomb themed fursuit photo shoot with 3 other raptors, been to most of one of the two karaoke nights, performed two songs at it, checked out 4 different dances and spent a bit of time at two, went out for food with a group of friends 4 or 5 times, spent lots of other time in the beer garden and at the bbq, test-played my macro game 3 more times (which took, explaning included, about 1:45 hours each even with only 3 players, which is the biggest flaw to it that I still need to work at somehow), drew 2 sketches, saw the art show, been to the dealer's den, had lots of beer, pina coladas and kalte Muschi, suited for some 19 hours total, and got to enjoy countless hours just hanging out with old and new friends.
Yep! That's why I enjoy Eurofurence so much over US cons - If you take all the extra days, it is long enough for ALL of that, AND even some rest in between. :)

Thanks everyone!

I just decided I want to make some silly themed giveaway things for this EF for some friends again for the fun of it.
Since I can only make so many, and don't even know who will be coming, I put it up here, despite knowing that few people ever read journals and I am not usually one of those either...

But in case you do read it and are interested, drop me a note, and I MIGHT have a little something for you at the con. :)
(And yes, sadly, depening on the amount and the time I find and the feasibility of the characters, it might also not happen, in which case I am already sorry.)

Requirements: Coming to this EF, knowing me well enough to find me at the con, and a full body character that can stand on two legs and that will work with what I have in mind.

Back from AC 2017 and finally getting to write a few lines.

The convention was great, and especially with seeing New York before that totally worth the long trip to Trumpland (especially since it did not feel that much different thankfully). New York was cool, seen the big apple, climbed the Empire State Building, all that cliché kind of stuff, super special thanks to Rez Raptor for showing me around there. Amtrak-ing up to the Pitt through the rust belt was not super exciting but also not too dull either, and interesting to do and see once. And the shorter flight to NY and extra days helped me to arrive at the con not as zombie and cold-ridden as the endless flight chain to Pittsburgh usually has me.

So, totally great convention, all you great people I met made it that way, especially yous of the "XXL" crowd. :)
I still have to do a lot of catching up to do with all the ones I met and stuff that went on while I was away from my real keyboard, and scan and upload the bit of sketches I finished, so bear with me when it takes me while to say hi.
Thanks for having been so great company and putting up with me. You folks are awesome!

edit: "XXL" refers to the height of the characters, not something else Brynn.

Current planning for 2020: NordicFuzzCon, ConFuzzled cancelled, Eurofurence cancelled, MFF cancelled

Well what a blast... : (

Back and awake again now, I tried Confuzzled this year, that thing that the Brits got established in Birmingham now, wanting to give it a try as it's apparently not that bad given it didn't perish like some other Brit con attempts and made it past 1000 attendees last year, plus it'd be even so much closer than the US where all other big cons beside Eurofurence are.

So?
Good convention, had a nice flair going around it, very jolly and easy-going on things. I had a really great time, met plenty of folks, did fun stuff.

Being a good deal longer than the way-too-short-for-a-far-trip US conventions (while not quite as long as EF) and hardly packed with events, it as a great relaxed convention. Got to do quite a bit gaming and suiting without the feeling of missing out on things.

Hotel, room prices, and breakfast were all good, hotel and con staff friendly, locations fit for such an event, affordable food available, usually enough seating, nice events. Cocktails were meh and overpriced like all drinks at the bar, but 20% discount for con attendees eased that slightly and made you feel welcome.

Travel was awesome. It's like five minutes with consta-going tinyrail from the ariport to the train station, and like 10 minutes walk from there if you don't want to wait on the hotel shuttle, half of that under roofs and then a bit of a park stroll, plus boy, so much better than travelling to the US! None of that degrading procedures, no entry interrogation, no ESTA application, no swearing you did not lend your shaver to anybody that might have put a bomb into it, no signing stupid shit about not being a child abducting plague bearing illegally-immigrating nazi terrorist (I am not making this up), just flying there like you are a self-determined free citizen. I had almost forgotten how that feels like.

Ramble aside, totally recommendable if you are looking for another con to fill your yearly schedule, and I thank you all that I met for making it a great holiday. Hope to see you all next year! :)

Um, yes. I was there, it was great. I was a bit grumbly at first because my fursuit did not quite work out the way I wanted, but I got some of that fixed then and the con was great and I enjoyed it a lot (despite some stuff that was way better in the other hotel and again needlessly long wait for events to start), and a lot of things worked out really well and I did so many cool things and I want to thank you all for being such great company and help and fun. Especially YOU.

Yeay. :)

So, back from the con and back to normal, I felt I should also give a little retrospective in reply to the meme, and thank folks I met for being so nice and fun and putting up with the grumpy raptor.

Thanks folks.


First off, to get that out of the way,
Smartphones suck. They promise to give you cool stuff that only works with internet that then never works because there is no internet. You want dataplan for the US? Costs 20$ for 10MB used. Um... no.
So, wifi. Yeay, cool, wifi! Everywhere has wifi! Only it's just for guests with codeword, unstable, only good for 90 minutes or until you move 5 yards, uselessly slow, or it or plain does not work despite telling you you are connected. Maybe those people that constantly stare at those are busy making sure they still have wifi so they can be reached via all those Apps?
I liked SMS better, that worked without the recepient having to have tubes connection.

Anyway. Anthrocon.

Did I draw some?
Yes, the results will be scanned this weekend, except the one in someone else's sketchbook of course. I am happy.

Was the con fun?
Absolutely.

Was it worth all the effort and the trouble?
Well...
The good thing was, flying in early and just sleeping and then have some time to get preparation and maintenance stuff done along with checking what places are around now was definitely nice. Then hanging out with people who already arrived early was great too. All very relaxed and stressless. That was great.

As opposed to the actual short convention time where everything felt once again so rushed and tightly packed with overlapping stuff.
Plus, despite all my efforts not to I am afraid I have been rather grumpy once again after I caught my apparently inevitably anthrocon cold (I never catch a cold unless at anthrocon, but always do at anthrocon), so please excuse when I was meh and uncheerful while sitting around with dull headaches and aching throat. Special thanks to the air conditioning turning comfy places into a chilly fridge Because We Can ™, once again.

Am I glad I went, now that all the annoyance is over and good memories remain? Yes.

But do I want to go through 2 * 20 hours of travel plus all the travel stress plus immigration and all the scanning plus one extra day before everyone else arrives just to not die from travelzombieness plus stress to find hotel plus stress trying to get roommates plus being sick (cold) and thus annoyed and not so fun half of the time plus one extra day after the con for travel plus two extra days after that to sleep and get rid of most of the cold, not to mention the money for it, any time soon again? Likely not.

It is fun alright, time and again, but so much effort for the few nice evenings and rushed convention days. And it's not like there were no other options; Eurofurence is only a 6-hour drive for me, the con is much longer, much more relaxed in the daytimes, way more comfortable to lounge at (if the new hotel is like the old, which it looks like), party all night for a whole week, and a single room in case of I-end-up-with-no-roommate is only 69€ a day including breakfast instead of $157 without. (Plus I don't get a cold there. :) )

I'll likely still make it to another US convention again some day, and it may be anthrocon, but there'd have to be something more to it than just me alone going to the con. Because all the effort and trouble for that alone is just... at least not worth it nearly as much as a quick drive to EF is.

Everybody does it!
I guess that's what makes it a meme....

Where are you staying?
Double Tree

What day are you getting there?
Monday. But I will most likely just arrive and fall into bed. You can have me Tuesday.

How are you traveling?
By a lot of flying.

Who are you rooming with?
Rez Raptor will arrive Thursday.

Who will you hang out with during the convention?
People that happen to be around I guess. I gave up making plans for that a good while ago. :)

How is the best way to find you?
Accidentally running into me I guess. Or you could leave a note here or mail or text message if you have my phone number. I'll try to check often.

Are there any panels you might be attending?
The plan is probably out there already isn't it? I have not looked at it. If there's a scalies or macro panel (hello Geemo) I'll probably be there. I'll likely try to be at the main stage things too.

What do you look like?
*scratches his wrist* I wear a badge that says Blue Raptor. :)

Will you be suiting?
Most likely not. I am too lazy to lug the suit safely across continents, too much effort. Plus faraway hotel.

Do you do trades? badges? commissions?
I will likely doodle some and trades sound fine. I never did badges or commissions. - Then again, I drew some for a cocktail once.

What is your gender?
Male

How tall are you?
About this tall.
Some short of 6 foot-ish? You won't accidentally miss me because I'm too short.

Can I talk to you?
Sure. Why not?
(Please do. It's usually most of the fun to meet people that way.)

Can I touch you?
Um... what kind of meme is this?

How can I find you?
By seeing the badge I guess?

Can I visit your room?
I hope not, I thought that's what they have keys for.
It's not like I would sit there and wait until someone comes by either.

Can I buy you drinks?
Yes, I do drink booze and am of legal age for that. Hm, booze... ;)

Are you nice?
No, of course not, I'm a horrible asshole - Who writes this questions?
edit: Actually that is not all that bad a question. I am a grumpy and rambling and ranting raptor. But that does not mean I hate you. :)

How long are you going?
Until Monday morning.

If I see you, how should I get your attention?
By jumping up and down and waving your arms madly, then everybody has something fun to watch. :D
Say "Hey Blue" or "Hey Blue Raptor" I guess? It worked a lot of times and I'd say it's an approved way to get raptor attention.

Where will you be most of the time during the day/s?
Around, I guess. Like I said, I gave up making plans for megaconventions. I will want to have three meals a day though, and tend to want early breakfast, so there's a good chance to catch me on the way to food or looking for food company.

What/where will you be eating?
Meat.
Though in the morning I might live on a good bagel or such. I dunno where. But definitely favor places that don't take half an hour to get to.

Can I come with you for food/fun/etc?
I guess, if you happen to be around and there's room and noone else minds. I cannot guarantee it'll be fun though.

Can I take your picture?
Um. Only if you don't put it online in public.

What's your goal(s) for the con this year?
Seeing if anthrocon is still worth all the trouble and stress it takes me to get there.

In case I stepped on someone's toes.

The raptor wants to be happy and joyful and fun and stay in touch with everyone and comment on everything. But the raptor is often times preoccupied online, focused on something else, or subject to evil timezones, and on top of that a really, really slow lazy bum. :(
The raptor is also rather old-school, after all he is a dinosaur, and should not be expected to keep up on journals or tweets or befriend/like/watch/fave/follow on the social network thing du jour, or know the leetest news already (which means you may surprise him with it!).
The raptor may often appear grumpy or annoyed to the unknowing observer, but that does not mean he is unhappy.
The raptor will often times rant or complain, but that doesn't mean he is all serious, or displeased. It just means he likes to rant and complain. :)

Back from EF I must say it was a blast, clearly rivalling for the best con time I had so far ever, after a long period of OK-ish to meh con experiences, and I want to thank everybody that I met and that helped making it such a great experience!
I hope I could be as much fun to everybody else as I wanted too, I still have my doubts and worry I may have been a bit grumpy or preoccupied at a few times for which I apologize, but it was definitely better already than the last US cons; being on home turf with a familiar time zone helped a lot to prevent travel angst and daytime sleepiness.

I drew quite a lot this con, and I found most of the outcome to be surprisingly good considering my poor skills and lack of practice. There are some pictures that I am really really happy with, and I also got a few drawings from friends and one commission.

I will upload all that stuff as soon as I can, but need to have it scanned at a friend's, so please be a little patient. :)

Yeah, back from FC and finally getting to post after a nice weekend with our furry Pathfinder RPG group. I want to thank all you guys and ladies I had the pleasure to meet, and hope you had a good time.
As usual I wanted to be fun and actiony and help to make everyone's con experience a good one, but apparently I failed a lot of times again. Having jet lag, being 9 hours off time, often had me tired, the long trip (24 hours total this time) with dry air on the planes, lack of sleep on 'em and the ever present air conditioning always seems to add a creeping persistent cold that puts me down some more, and on top of that I apparently did really blunder / step into it with some folks I though I was cool with.
So I apologize for not having been as much fun and not having made your con as awesome as I should have.

I'm not sure if I'll go to AC this year, given all the above and the complicated planning involved, but will definitely be at Eurofurence. Maybe I'll even stick mostly to that from now on, where I can be sure to be refreshed, awake, well-planned, in charge of my trip, and less in danger to run into any awkward situations and misunderstandings.
And save a lot of travel time and money. O: )

Well, I am back from the recent Eurofurence, and it was nice, and I feel I should apologize for not having been as much fun and bouncy as I should have. I was rather tired a good deal of the time, and maybe a little annoyed as things didn't quite go as a picky Raptorlander envisioned.
So... out of the things I wanted to do this con...
-Draw lots of stuff: Failed. I only finished one sketch in a sketchbook and one other picture (see below)
-Draw epic macro smut: Failed. I lacked inspiration most of the time, then drew one picture of mild macro smuttiness for a friend, but that friend does not want that character in it to be seen in smut so noone will ever see it, and the other picture I finally started did not finish.
-Get a macro commission with Kraken like he wanted last year already: Failed. As we did not meet long enough.
-Getting myself drawn: Minor success. Though I did not stumble on an artist I found nice and capable and that still had slots available while a having a suiting idea matching that artist's field of expertise, I got an older drawing for me (and of me) finished (I was picky on the head there). I will upload that and scraps later.
And I want to thank <that red dragon starting with K> for making me miss the macro meeting I was looking forward to by telling us it was earlier than we thought and already over. Which it was not. Good thing he still made it to it later.
Aside from all that fail, it was still a nice con.
Thank you all!

Thanks to all the cool people I got to meet and hang out with at FC.
Especially you raptors!
RAHR!

Well it's been a while since my last entry here, but that is mostly because I don't like journals and how they spam everything. But since there were once again folks at the con that would have like to meet me but didn't know I was going and then we didn't run into each other or did but they were wearing a name on the badge I did not know or that complained I should have told them earlier (and since having a message up from '08 looks stupid)...

Yes, I was at FC this year. I usually am. I told those I know on LD5, but I'm not surprised even those that know it don't look there. Evil me.
I will likely also go to AC again this year after not having made it last year (chances are like 60/40 right now I'd say) and will most likely be at Eurofurence again too.

But most of all: Yeay raptors! :)

Well, I'm back of course, and it seems furaffinity finally is too now... *pokes it carefully, still disbelieving*
So I wanted to say thank you to all the folks I met and that made it a great con experience and fun weekend. It was a pleasure to meet you, and you too, and especially you! I am sorry I met a lot of you much too brief and missed others and didnt get to invite a lot of folks to a drink, and didnt get to doodle some of those, oh and I still owe you a good meal Tyrnn. : )

Oh, and I doodled SOME. As soon as I get the scans I'll put it up here, promised. Though its rather tame and mainstream and just fun this time I'm afraid.

Well looks like I'll be going after all!
*bounces stupidly all over the place*
I'll be there from Wednesady afternoon to Monday afternoon, staying at the Westin. Sadly it took me VERY long until I got things settled, despite having started trying months ago. I didnt do any of all the things I wanted to do for the con yet as I totally lacked any motivation not even knowing if I'd be there, but I'll see what I can get done still.

Anyway, looking forward too see you if you're there!

Well, I'd still like to go, although I'm not in such a great mood anymore since I fianlly got word from my potential roommate today that he'll only be staying for three days after all, which isnt compatible with my plans and flight schedule at all, and I am now back at zero with the con being in a few weeks already.
I would have preferred having things settled early for a change this time, and happily having done all the things I wanted to do for the con in the past months when I had lots of free time, but without even knowing if I'd be going I wasnt in the mood for any of that either.

Anyway, if you know me and are planning to go and to stay at least 5 days and dont mind having a male non-smoking non-oversized non-gay non-underage non-overaged rapta roommate, feel free to drop me a note please.

If not, everyone have lots of fun at the con without me. :)

FurCon 08:
Well, it sure was fun, and I thank all those who were there and made it fun.
Yet, I was in a less than optimal mood most of the time, for due to some unlucky chain of events I had to run around feeling like an idiot, looking for a room most of the time. (I had one for the hot days of the con, mind you, but not for the days before and after.) Which is something I totally cannot stand and definitely wanted to prevent for this con, and which perfectly efficiently keeps me from being able to relax and enjoy. That, in addition to the pissy weather I had to run through a lot, partly due to my room situation, made me rather grumpy at times. Which is something I definitely dont want to be at a furry con, and I apologize for having been like that and not so much fun for everyone else most likely.

Further cons in the future:
That said, I assure you this wont ever happen again. Either I have a room at a conveniently close hotel for the entire time of my stay, which will be at least six days, and at least two roommates I know at least one of from somewhere a month or two in advance, or I simply wont be going. Period.
I will NOT be taking a 24-hours trip, one-way, to stay three days only.
I will NOT be staying with people only who come late or leave early or both.
I will NOT be making any needed arrangements at the con site relying on 'there will be so many people around, it will be easy'.
I will NOT take a room for just myself and would rather not have only one roommate.
I will NOT book a flight before I have certainty on the room issues.
I will NOT book a flight when all flights have already become horribly expensive, which they usually do quickly in summer, unless suddenly a bargain pops up which is unlikely.

For the coming anthrocon that means: Either someone I have heard of before rooms with me from 25th to 30th or 26th to July 1st or longer, in the Omni or Westin (or whatever is so close nearby that you can walk there in a fursuit), and all that is clear and settled a month or better two in advance when flight prices are still affordable, or I wont be going.
In that case I am sorry for those I told I'd be there, but I am not taking a trip that long and costing me over a thousand dollars for two days of fun and four days of pain again.

Anybody going and staying longer than just Thursday to Monday morning?
I could still use a safe spot to sleep form Wednesday (23rd) to Thursday and from Sunday (27th) to Tuesday (29th). O: )
If you know something or want details, drop me a line please!

Wooo.... back from my first anthrocon.
Gosh. So many furries. And so many ones that I know from online or FurCon...

They were so many things that I still wanted to have done but didnt. I herewith apologize for all the nice things I still wanted to do with or say to people but was too overwhelmed to by the entire thing or just not there at the right time or already had promised to stay with someone else. As well as for not having been as much fun as I would have liked to be due to a cold dragging me down some and my voice having been mostly gone during the first days.
I thank you all for a very great time, especially Tyrnn and Voco_Letum and DNA and Sabrewing, who made my stay possible and had to endure a hopefully not too annoying me as a scaly roommate. I owe you.

And I will upload the sketch I did as soon as I can get my paws on a safe scanner again. : )
Wow, I'm tired now... gotta go to bed.

*hugs you all*
I just returned from FurCon, which was by the way both great and my first con, and got a few sketches / badges of me i'll upload as soon as i can get my paws on a (furry-owned) scanner.
I even sketched some myself and hope i can put those up too when the ones i gave them too scan them.
Very special thanks go to SilverClaw, for just about everything.

Sorry to bother you with a journal entry after all, but the text was too long for a shout. O: )