The Belated AnthroCon Posting

[vakkotaur]

This is a rather lengthy post, so...

Friday

jmaynard and I got up early. We were on the road at 4:30 AM. Made it to airport around 7:00 AM. Waiting in the airport is a lot nicer in the World Club, at least when it isn't full of people talking loudly (well, one guy was quiet about it) on their cellphones. Flight was different in a couple ways. It was "peanut-restricted flight" as at least one person (maybe more) had a real peanut allergy. Folks were told to keep anything that might have peanuts in it sealed. Also, while there were many young children (of the "must state the obvious endlessly until acknowledged" age) there were exactly zero screaming babies. No babies at all, as I recall. Did use earplugs to deal with kid noise and engine noise.

Got to the rental (A Chevy Impala which surprised Jay with the power it had) and ventured into Central City.. a place of too narrow streets and too many people and traffic that doesn't so much flow as blorp [kinkyturtle's description] along from time to time. Had a real Philadelphia CheeseSteak sandwich. Yes, the bread there is the exact right bread for those. Just crusty enough to hold, but not a concrete canoe of a crust.

Downtown reminded me a bit of a county fair. I had whiff of some overly sweet bakery or such, mixed with the diesel fumes, and the crowd, and the rumble of the engines from the "traffic" and the heat - it was much like the midway of a county fair.

Got to the hotel. Found out why the elevators made last year's cartoon diary. Evidently they were large enough that a group of folks could crowd in and overload them, and that one would go into safety shutdown. This meant more demand on the remaining elevators, and would result in a classic cascading failure. Signs were put up (eventually) giving a limit of how many person per elevator. More than once during AC were folks greeted by one stopping.. only to be told it was full up. But at least they were operating after that, for the most part. As our room was on the 21st floor, this was something we considered rather important.

After checking in and getting out stuff settled, we went down to the convention area and checked out the Hoofer seminar or such. No, not dancing.. well, not as such. How to make and walk in hooves. This turned out to be far more interesting than expected - mainly as one fellow had the most amazing system (yes, system) of horse hooves. Standard shoes (for people) on a metal frame with leg braces and modified door-closing springs. They still need some work, but it was quite impressive, once revealed. I had been wondering how he managed to stand in them so long before the construction was shown. See, it looks like walking in high heels - only without the heels. While this can be done, it cannot be done for very long.

After that we looked through the art auction area and Jay placed a bid on a Jim Groat work for someone we know. We saw it. We thought of this person. And it Had To Be Done. I admired another piece, but didn't place a bid. After that we went to the dealer's area and met Bill Holbrook. Jay and they discussed Macs some while I bought an On the Fastrack book from him. KT found us and gave us our custom con badges (we already had the boring official ones, of course).

Then it was time (or past time) for supper, so we ventured out again and not into central city. We both rejected the nearby Denny's as it was merely Denny's. Chili's would have been acceptable but it was crowded in the extreme. We wound up at an IHOP. It was disappointing in a way. It was blue rather than Baloney colored. We got back and decided sleep was more important than anything else.

A couple notes: Fursuitters are neat, but NUTS. So, here it is, hot, humid (air conditioning doesn't quite keep up the AnthroCon crowd) and these folks put on full-body fur and a headpiece which further restricts cooling. Neat to see. Great to be around. And completely mad. The ones with little fans in the head have it a bit easier, at least. Also, quite a few folks saw my con badge (the one KT drew) and said things like "Cool concept" or "neat badge" - though Jim Groat (Sunday?) did say "That's wrong!" Silly person. Of course, he had no comeback for "Thank you!"

Saturday

We went and about for breakfast and eventually Jay found what he was looking for: a typical Philadelphia diner. It looked neat, I'll grant. But it meant a wait, a crowd, and a very loud crowd at that. The food was good. Y es, I had scrapple. Not sure how to describe scrapple. Imagine if ham were ground or made of tiny chunks and then breaded just enough to hold together into a patty, that's scrapple. Pennsylvania's version SPAM.

Got back and went through Artist's Alley where we saw film2edit (aka ChillyMouse). I bought a few items from other artists. Jay checked on the auction artwork and found he had been outbid, for the moment, by one dollar. He planned to rectify that later. Another trip through the dealer's area and I bought a CD for rdfox (Shouldn't that be <lj alleged_user="rdfox" >?)

There was bit about furry anatomy and artwork. Much was "How much fiction do want in your fiction?" with a vet (amongst others) giving good reasons for why digitigrade bipeds wouldn't really work. This explained why the hoofer group can end up with all that engineering to get digitigrade looks for plantigrade wearers. Oh, yeah, the vet is Tyler Hutchinson, or Mercury on FurryMuck. (And no, I'm not on FM.)

The charity auction was more amusing than we had expected. We were there as kinkyturtle had some Animaniacs stuff and Jay had to have it. The auction benefitted a ferret rescue (they also had a display in the dealer's area and took donations and sold some stuff there). Yes, Jay did get the Animaniacs stuff. A very limited edition of a 2_gryphon CD went for $200.. no, $220..no, $222. Kage's kidney stone (he said of all the things he had to do that weekend.. that it was the least painful) went for $200. Yes, really. And when Kage was auctioneering the (infamous) "fanboy magnet" lab coat, the people in ops placed the winning bid over his radio, much to Kage's annoyance ("Sold for $61... to the bastards who work for me.") He then shut his radio off so that couldn't happen again.

Somehow we got separated. I wandered through the dealers area more and bought a little "WHINNY" button, picked up a few business cards from various folks for stuff I might be interested in when I have more to spend. After a while of looking for Jay, I figured I might as well eat and went to the "zoo" where many folks were and the hotel had small food service going. Jay found me there, after not finding me to go with KT and Lou for supper. Blast. We realized that if we do something like this again, we'll have to bring radios so that separation won't mean lack of communication.

Somewhere in all that I met Plush-She who was "90 percent of the female attendance the first year" and added the -She to point out that yes she was a she. And that "Yes, they are real." Evidently a few forward folks thought otherwise then and felt for themselves... and then promptly turned rather interesting colors. And then even more so when she introduced the fellow next to her... who was her fiancee. Also somewhere in there I met Jen (just Jen) who said her art wasn't good. Sheesh, her mini sketchbook was better than a lot of art being displayed. I may be biased, though. She drew horses, and there just aren't enough good equine artists. And since she works with horses, she actually has a good idea of what the animals really look like.

After the zoo supper, such as it was, we headed for Uncle Kage's Story Hour. A story of wine, of snow storms, and of poorly navigating the Bronx.. multiple ways. KT's cartoon diary will likely cover it well, or at least better than I just did. We stayed for the Maskerade (yes, spelled that way) which was series of sketches performed in fursuit. Some were okkay. Some were... just moving to bad alleged music (the rap and metal).. and then there was the Chicken Dance...(in which ChickenLou did *not* participate) which summoned a demon.. who demanded a sacrifice. This was, as far as I can recall, my first and only exposure the the Chicken Dance. It seems to me that the Maskerade was perhaps the one legitimate venue for the thing. And the demon did help it, yes.

I had planned on staying up for 2's comedy bit and such... but it was late, we were tired, and long before the doors opened there was a quite a crowd waiting to get in. (I've since seen one report that someone simply *couldn't* get in.) So we called it a night.

Sunday

We managed to meet up with VPG/Desiree and Astrid Armadillo, though only for a few minutes. Still it was nice to meet them. I passed along good wishes and such from Phar. We all were in the con suite for a bit (Astrid was doing some volunteer stuff there). After that, Jay and I met up with KT and the three of us went out for breakfast. We had figured on Lou being along, but evidently he wanted to attend a forum and so did.

When we got back, Jay went to place a final bid on a piece of artwork, and I wandered about the dealer's area and bought a few more things, including some BushyCat art. I've only seen her canine and similar stuff, so when she had an equine portfolio.. *snag*. Jay and I had agreed to meet up again but I was a few minutes late as the Fursuit Parade went through the dealer's area while I was there and nobody else could really move much. Or at least nobody really wanted to. When we did meet up, there wasn't much going on so we headed to our room for some rest.

Later we attended a talk about animal first aid which was more interesting than I'd expected. Jay was more into it, or at least understood more with his paramedic background. When that was done, we found that the vet there would doing a talk about being or becoming a vet in another half hour. This talk had been moved from Friday. Jay went to pick up the art he won at the art auction.. and neither of us realized just long it would take. I went to the talk, and it was very informal, as only one person really showed up for it (I came in late and that mainly as I was interested in what my sister is going through or will be soon). When that was over, I went back to waiting for Jay. I was just about to wander off for a bit yet again when I saw him finally finish up. He was Not Pleased. It's nice that everything is checked and double checked so that nobody is cheated, but it takes for-freaking-ever. That's the polite version. Oh, I saw VPG again while waiting.

We opted to not bother with the closing ceremonies since they seemed to be a sort of awards and honorable mentions for people we didn't know and such. Another visit to the "zoo" and we found KT, and mycroftb (who I had not met before), and Lola (also who I hadn't met before) as well as babsbunny. We saw Chilly (film2edit) elsewhere and signed a shirt she wasn't wearing - she was wearing another one. And then back to the zoo and KT & co. and even VPG again, and all got to see the artwork Jay won. One Red Shetland piece he described in an LJ post (which was an unexpected but pleasant surprise to me) and another I'm not gonna talk about until it's has gotten to the person it is for.

Just as we were about to leave, something came up and Lola commented about how she'd likely lift me before I could her. "Is that a challenge?" "Yes." And so then I went back, and with some care, lifted her up some.. to her astonishment ("ohh my gaawww.... uh, Hiya folks!"). Evidently she expected we'd take a tumble. I set her down again and we tried trading places. It was not to be. I remained standing, but she, alas, did not. (Come one, did you really think a bunny could lift a centaur?)

Next was another trip to our room to drop most of our stuff off, then when a bit more rested and Jay finally got through to Eric S. Raymond (ESR) we went off to visit him and Cathy. ESR talked of his books (that he is writing/has written) as well as where he thinks open source might be headed. We ate at a Vietnamese/Chinese place, Linh, which was was very good. The fish sauce was interesting and actually quite good, which is not something I would have expected. I ordered a spicy dish and it was just spicy enough to be nontrivial, but not overly spiced. A perfect balance.

After the meal we went back to ESR's place and Jay showed off his Powerbook and the artwork. ESR and Cathy surprised us by recognizing Red Shetland. More talk followed, ranging from open source to Dr. Who to old operating systems to... any number of subjects.

The drive back to the hotel was amusing due to some joker flicking his brights in a "let me pass!" manner at an Audii TT convertable.. and the TT let him pass... in his Suzuki XL7. The Suzuki tried that again on a commercial (but not semi) truck. It didn't work. The Audi pulled back in behind him and returned the favor. Then again a minute later. And then again.. and so on.

Monday

Not much happened. We checked out of the hotel, returned the rental car, got to the airport early and managed to get our flight changed for no charge. We hoped to avoid lousy weather and delays that way. We wound up on the ground an extra hour or so it seemed, and the flight took a different route to get around lousy weather, but we still got to Minneapolis about when we had expected to. The rest of the day was uneventful. Drive home, unpack, rest... and that's about it for that.

And now I, like many others, eagerly await the posting of KT's cartoon diary of the weekend to see what I missed and to see his take on what I didn't.

Comments

Some quick links

[kinkyturtle.livejournal.com]

Diary: http://www.conmicro.cx/~kturtle/diaries/ac03/index.html

Vakko badge: http://www.conmicro.cx/~kturtle/cartoons/vakkobadge.jpg
Sheila badge: http://www.conmicro.cx/~kturtle/cartoons/sheilabadge.jpg

[pharwarner.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much for giving us all such a great description of the Con! It's really got me thinking about the whole issue of Furry Cons and the fandom in general in way that I haven't done since just after my own con experience. Back then I didn't really have anyone to share the experience with after I came home, nor did I have any other experience to compare it with. I can now see how lucky I was to see Anthrocon at the time I did.