Midwest FurFest 2008
MFF 2008 was pretty awesome. :D Con report in the cut.
Thursday:
Got together with Equino around 2 in the afternoon, and went to pick Panda up from his house. Then we left, heading for Chicago. The trip over was uneventful, and having Internet along the drive made it very enjoyable. We did get turned around once when an entire side of the highway was closed down, but after some quick turnarounds we were back on the way. We arrived at about 8 (CST, mind you) and I met up with Kimmy. We waited in the lobby until Penny and Josh arrived with Mitsy. I got pre-reg done, and we hung out for a while before I left with Josh and Penny for their house so I could unpack and sleep. Penny had the most -comfortable- and warm blanket on the planet... it was fuzzy on one side and insulated with faux fur on the other. So sofffftttt...
Friday:
We left for Josh's work after getting up and getting ready, since Penny had left her con badge in his car. Once picking that up, we went for the con. Hung out, explored... I got a commission from Fishyboner (which you can see on my FA gallery once you're logged in). We ended up shifting our plans, and went to Mitsuo market that night, and even though it was a much further drive from the convention than last year, it was still delicious getting real Ramen, and seeing all the strange foods. Seraline and Espent (her fiancee) also came along. Then it was back to the con, where I participated in the "Whose Lion" panel again this year. I even had someone comment after me "I can't follow that up", which was immensely satisfactory. On the negative, someone apparently tried to smoke in the hotel and managed to set off the smoke alarms, which sucked, but it happens. Finally, we dropped the others of the group off and headed for sleep again.
Saturday:
Tokoz showed up! :D We went for breakfast at a little mom and pop place near where Penny lives, and even though I'm not really a breakfast person, I got these apple waffles that were absolutely delicious. They didn't use pre-packaged apple mix... they made it all from scratch. Delicious. Then more con stuff. The real fun happened later that night, when a good number of us went to Penny's and Kimmy cooked us all baked ziti, while Tokoz made mincemeat pie. They watched me play "Mirror's Edge" (I've gotten over the motion sickness that game initially cased me), and then we watched "The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension)", and MST3K'd the thing to hell, which caused me to laugh hysterically. Josh and Tokoz were feeling tired, so they stayed at home while Penny and I went back to the con and went to the charity improv. This was supposed to occur yesterday, but due to the fire alarms pushing the programming an hour later, it was rescheduled. Seeing Kage run around in a Hamtaro suit was hysterical, and I was also able to inquire a tipsy 2, Jibba, and Kage when the most drunk they've ever been was, which started a very amusing little story from each of them. The dance took a turn for the worse though... they followed the AC pattern of cranking the bass up to max, which generally causes the melody to suffer. Now, while I'm sure some people dance to the bass grove of a song and were appreciative, I much more appreciate dancing to the melody of a song, so these sort of dances don't really do much for me. At any rate, we finally decided to head back to Penny's place in order to get a good night's sleep for the last day of the con.
Sunday:
Final day. Always sucks, but I think I might be getting used to it. At any rate, it was another fun day of running around the con. I started catching up with the people who were leaving earlier and wishing them a safe drive home, and thanking them for coming. Seraline and Espent left first, followed soon after by Tokoz, and then Penny and Josh (they were just feeling rather tired [I'll be the first to admit that conventions really take a lot out of a person]). This left me, Kimmy, and Mitsy, although Mitsy had to go to the airport to for his flight soon after. Kimmy and I hung around for a while, just wandering and chatting, before I ran into Furyfire. We were both kind of hungry, and Kimmy had disappeared for a little bit with some friends, so we went up to the con suite to get some food. This took care of lunch, and was free, so it was really pretty awesome. Then I caught back up with Kimmy, and we continued wandering around until I ran into Onyx and Darktiger. I asked if we could hang out in their room, since I was waiting for Panda to get done with his stuff so Equino and I could leave, and they said that would be fine. We hung out there with Draco and some other pretty cool friends of his, until finally I went to find Equino, and Kimmy and I parted company. Equino and I waited for another hour before Panda got back from his trip to get coffee with some of his friends. Then we were off, and I just finished typing this report while we're on the trip (at 12:35 AM, no less... GPS says we'll get home at 3:30 AM, so after this gets posted I'm going to sleep). Such is life, I suppose. As stated previously, having Internet does make the trip go by so much quicker.
Now time to sleep. @.@
Thursday:
Got together with Equino around 2 in the afternoon, and went to pick Panda up from his house. Then we left, heading for Chicago. The trip over was uneventful, and having Internet along the drive made it very enjoyable. We did get turned around once when an entire side of the highway was closed down, but after some quick turnarounds we were back on the way. We arrived at about 8 (CST, mind you) and I met up with Kimmy. We waited in the lobby until Penny and Josh arrived with Mitsy. I got pre-reg done, and we hung out for a while before I left with Josh and Penny for their house so I could unpack and sleep. Penny had the most -comfortable- and warm blanket on the planet... it was fuzzy on one side and insulated with faux fur on the other. So sofffftttt...
Friday:
We left for Josh's work after getting up and getting ready, since Penny had left her con badge in his car. Once picking that up, we went for the con. Hung out, explored... I got a commission from Fishyboner (which you can see on my FA gallery once you're logged in). We ended up shifting our plans, and went to Mitsuo market that night, and even though it was a much further drive from the convention than last year, it was still delicious getting real Ramen, and seeing all the strange foods. Seraline and Espent (her fiancee) also came along. Then it was back to the con, where I participated in the "Whose Lion" panel again this year. I even had someone comment after me "I can't follow that up", which was immensely satisfactory. On the negative, someone apparently tried to smoke in the hotel and managed to set off the smoke alarms, which sucked, but it happens. Finally, we dropped the others of the group off and headed for sleep again.
Saturday:
Tokoz showed up! :D We went for breakfast at a little mom and pop place near where Penny lives, and even though I'm not really a breakfast person, I got these apple waffles that were absolutely delicious. They didn't use pre-packaged apple mix... they made it all from scratch. Delicious. Then more con stuff. The real fun happened later that night, when a good number of us went to Penny's and Kimmy cooked us all baked ziti, while Tokoz made mincemeat pie. They watched me play "Mirror's Edge" (I've gotten over the motion sickness that game initially cased me), and then we watched "The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension)", and MST3K'd the thing to hell, which caused me to laugh hysterically. Josh and Tokoz were feeling tired, so they stayed at home while Penny and I went back to the con and went to the charity improv. This was supposed to occur yesterday, but due to the fire alarms pushing the programming an hour later, it was rescheduled. Seeing Kage run around in a Hamtaro suit was hysterical, and I was also able to inquire a tipsy 2, Jibba, and Kage when the most drunk they've ever been was, which started a very amusing little story from each of them. The dance took a turn for the worse though... they followed the AC pattern of cranking the bass up to max, which generally causes the melody to suffer. Now, while I'm sure some people dance to the bass grove of a song and were appreciative, I much more appreciate dancing to the melody of a song, so these sort of dances don't really do much for me. At any rate, we finally decided to head back to Penny's place in order to get a good night's sleep for the last day of the con.
Sunday:
Final day. Always sucks, but I think I might be getting used to it. At any rate, it was another fun day of running around the con. I started catching up with the people who were leaving earlier and wishing them a safe drive home, and thanking them for coming. Seraline and Espent left first, followed soon after by Tokoz, and then Penny and Josh (they were just feeling rather tired [I'll be the first to admit that conventions really take a lot out of a person]). This left me, Kimmy, and Mitsy, although Mitsy had to go to the airport to for his flight soon after. Kimmy and I hung around for a while, just wandering and chatting, before I ran into Furyfire. We were both kind of hungry, and Kimmy had disappeared for a little bit with some friends, so we went up to the con suite to get some food. This took care of lunch, and was free, so it was really pretty awesome. Then I caught back up with Kimmy, and we continued wandering around until I ran into Onyx and Darktiger. I asked if we could hang out in their room, since I was waiting for Panda to get done with his stuff so Equino and I could leave, and they said that would be fine. We hung out there with Draco and some other pretty cool friends of his, until finally I went to find Equino, and Kimmy and I parted company. Equino and I waited for another hour before Panda got back from his trip to get coffee with some of his friends. Then we were off, and I just finished typing this report while we're on the trip (at 12:35 AM, no less... GPS says we'll get home at 3:30 AM, so after this gets posted I'm going to sleep). Such is life, I suppose. As stated previously, having Internet does make the trip go by so much quicker.
Now time to sleep. @.@