Notes for myself, as always...

TFF was pretty fun this last weekend! In all honesty, it was kinda lonely and could have been better, but it was my fault for planning it the way I did.

I traveled with  Magnus_Crawford to the airport and down to Dallas. Upon arrival, it wasn't completely clear where to go or how to get anywhere. Ryker was planning on taking a shuttle and I was planning on taking public transit, but I found out it would take over two hours and five transfers to get to the convention that way. Needless to say, I jumped in the shuttle van with Ryker.

After sitting in a parked van for about 25 minutes total, looping around the airport three times, stopping at a random gas station so the driver could pee, and crawling through Dallas rush hour traffic, we finally made it to the convention. Turns out the shuttle wasn't necessarily as good as I thought it would be. This is my second time dealing with SuperShuttle, and I'm really starting to dislike them (they never showed up to get my from the hotel at RMFC).

I arrived at the hotel and met my security staff supervisors, then set out to grab something to eat. I have a terrible habit of not eating when I'm super busy/stressed, which is probably why I've lost over 20 pounds during the school year. Given some circumstances which I will not fully describe, I was then picked up by some old family friends and taken to an "open house" of sorts. My childhood's friend mom had recently passed away. Although the occasion wasn't a happy one, it was a neat opportunity to see some people I hadn't seen in 15 years.

Following the open house, I was taken to meet the wonderful  Teric, who was kind enough to open up his home to me during the convention. I want to thank him and his family again for being so hospitable. I enjoyed the opportunity to be a temporary member of their family for a few days. (As a side note, they have cats!!! Given my sona, I'm always happy to greet distant relatives... unless they pounce on your face in the morning and make you bleed... _{true story...})

The convention itself was extremely well-executed. Everything from the venue to the signage was very professional and well planned-out, despite the con chair joking that he had done everything last minute. I would definitely recommend TFF to anyone- there is an incredible amount of fun to have. The schedule is jam-packed with panels and activities, and the area surrounding the hotel has a ridiculous amount of restaurants.

This is where the "not as good as it could have been" part comes in. Despite being in the middle of a convention with so much potential for fun, I found myself feeling rather lonely at times. There was a particular individual that I wished was there with me, and the fact that I didn't have any friends there that I consistently hang out with made things a little worse. I do realize that there are many friends to potentially be gained at a convention, and I definitely have the capacity and ability to make friends quickly. The problem for me is finding friends at a convention that I would actually want to be around for a long time. I realize people have the right to make their own choices and live own their lives, but I simply have no desire to be around people who swear, dress and act inappropriately, talk about "how they're wearing a diaper right now", or tell me how to get sex from any girl at a bar. As you can likely guess, I had people talk about all of these things over the course of the convention.

On top of missing a particular someone, knowing she wasn't too happy about me not being around, and feeling relatively alone in being a "straight arrow" at a furry convention, being on security staff didn't help a ton either. Now, I don't mean to say that being on staff is bad- I staff RMFC and love it! The thing that was most different about RMFC was the time commitment required. I was basically walking (semi) mindlessly around the entire convention for eight hours at a time, doing something I don't necessarily enjoy doing. I am thankful for the skills I strengthened in having to get after people for smoking in the hotel, but getting after people in general is not my cup of (herbal) tea. I worked with wonderful supervisors, so it's not like my "meh-ness" had anything to do with them whatsoever, but the nature and length of the job just made things a little worse. I know they'd like me back on staff, but I definitely wouldn't do security again. If they put me in a place that enables me to have time to be people I love and do things I enjoy doing (such as A/V, IT, and many more), that'd be perfect. Regardless, I'm glad that I was able to make a small contribution to the success of the con.

There were some fun moments throughout the con, though! I finally had the opportunity to meet the wonderful  KazulGFox and  FrosteeFox. I was able to eat some lunch and play some games with Ryker, Teric, and them. I'd love to see them again soon, but it may be a year before then!

Something that really made me happy was finally getting a sneak peek at my Myles fursuit by  RainCoug! I tried it on, and it turns out that my DTD gave my some kind of pelvic tumor haha... so he's bringing in a few seams and brushing up a few things on the suit before sending it to me. Needless to say, Yonoa made Myles look super sexay and I am pumped to finally get to wear the suit (and suit with my friends)! I am constantly impressed by the progress Yonoa makes with each suit and how willing he is to try something totally new. It's only natural I entrusted a feline suit with a feline maker, and he took the idea for Myles and made it even better. A few circumstances made my commission a long process, but many of those couldn't have been predicted by Yonoa or me.

As the con gradually started collapsing in on itself and things were taken down, I had that same weird feeling that I usually get at the end of cons. Despite my planning not making it the best it could be, I was still disappointed it was ending.

The weather started getting really bad on Sunday, and it wasn't clear if I'd even make it out. Ryker and I took a taxi to the airport (since I really don't trust SuperShuttle from hotels to airports), and he accidentally left his wallet in the taxi. I felt super bad for him and stuck around for a bit while he called the cab company to get it sorted out, but I finally had to leave him so I could get back for some midterms and classes the next day. Teric came and rescued him and he was finally able to make it, but he still hasn't found his wallet. After waiting in the plane for 1.5 hours before takeoff, I finally took off and made it home at about 1:30 AM.

In short:
-TFF is an awesome, very well-executed convention.
-I would love to go again.
-I don't think I will ever go to any convention again unless I am with friends who I will be with the majority of the time.
-I'm more attached to certain people than I thought I was.
-I'm happy I could help on staff, but security is not for me.
-Teric, KazulGFox, FrosteeFox, and Magnus_Crawford are wonderful.
-I'm stoked out of my mind for my Myles fursuit.

It was a great trip, and I'm really, really excited to be with people I know and love at BLFC in a few months!