Vakkotaur

When jmaynard and I went out for breakfast this morning there was a bus in the restaurant parking lot. We timed things about right and arrived as the group was paying and getting ready to depart. Everyone in the group wore an orange button with a pawprint on it. It identified them as being folks riding with JAG Tours (note the pawprints at the ends of the bus - the buttons pawprint wasn't slanted, however). The buttons reminded me of the_gneech's Proud to be a Furry logo. It was a bit surreal to see a tour group in this town wearing what looked something like Furry Pride buttons.

I'm still pondering Rocket City Furmeet though I likely won't be able to do anything about it until sometime in February. But now something else is happening on the very same, Memorial Day, weekend: The new Des Moines Renaissance Faire. This fair will take place at the site that Salisbury Faire once used and it's being put together by a group that not only has some experience but is successful at it.

Before, the choice was really easy: if I had the time and money, I'd go to RCFM. Now it's not quite so easy.

Pro Faire: The Faire is would be cheaper to go to since it's only a few hours drive. There'd be no hassles with airport check-in. I'd see some folks I know and haven't seen for several months. I don't know, but it might be a chance to see Minstrosity - which I won't see at Waterloo this year as I'll be in Sioux Falls that weekend. If I took any time off work, it'd be only an afternoon.

Pro RCFM: I'd see a smaller, and I'd expect therefore friendlier (not that AnthroCon was unfriendly - it was just so easy to be lost in a sea of people) furmeet. RCFM is established, at least in that this is the second time for it. I'd meet at least one person, kinkyturtle, I wouldn't have seen in months. I'd almost certainly meet others I've only read about or such. While getting there wouldn't be cheap, the admission is low and it might be the least expensive way to find if furmeets agree with me or if AnthroCon was trying to tell me something. Also, it'd still be somewhat new to me.

Anti Faire: It's yet another Iowa faire, and there'll be a few more in the year, with many (though not all) of the same people. While the site and organization is proven, it's still a new faire and will likely have new faire problems. It will be at the mercy of the weather. Sure, all faires says 'rain or shine' but all but the lightest rain stops things pretty much dead unless there's good cover.

Anti RCFM: It'll mean either dealing with the hassles of commercial air travel, or a two day drive (maps.yahoo.com says 16 hours each way - I can do 12 hours on the road in a day, but it isn't something I'd want to do. Eight is a reasonable limit). Either way it's more expensive than Des Moines. I'll need to take at least one full day off work and probably two, three or four if I drive it.

A couple other factors are: One, that the very next weekend is the Siouxland Renaissance Festival and I'd like to get my folks to visit it, which means finding them a room for a couple nights as well. And as they'd be visiting, that's probably more time off work. Not that I'm against taking time off, I just have to balance it so I do so without problems. And two, I don't know Jay's schedule (neither does he, for sure). While I can fly alone just fine, I've never done the rental car bit myself and am always leery of driving around a strange place. Doing so in a strange car wouldn't help.

Somehow, I'm still leaning toward RCFM. If it were just me alone, I'd probably take the extra days off and drive it. I'd still have to drive in unfamiliar areas, but at least I'd have a car I know.

While I did enjoy AC, it wasn't as good as I had expected. I suppose that comes from a few things. One is that my expectations were based largely on the cartoon diaries, and those tend to show the highlights rather than the whole - or at least it's easy to overlook the less than wonderful bits when you are not experiencing them. I might revise that some when the AC03 diary is (more) complete. Also, KT has attended several furcons now and knows (and is known) by a good many people. AC was my first.

In a way, it was kinda like when I first went to MNRF. It was big, it was interesting, but I didn't really know anyone. It took my going to the little Iowa faires to actually really meet people (other than Bronxelf, anyway) and start to feel more like I belonged. Not that I was vending or performing or anything, just that I wasn't simply a customer/consumer utterly interchangeable with any other. AC didn't really do anything wrong as far as I can tell. The attitude was generally very relaxed and friendly and open. But somehow I just didn't belong. I attended as a complete outsider. This is to be expected, yes, but it still leaves me feeling like it was an illusion or something.

I suspect that had I started with AC in 2000 as KT and others did, it'd have been different. Mainly as the group got together at AC and were a ready-made group of folks. Rather than being just one or two, it was many and the dynamics had to work different.

Also, there is the matter of not being a talent of some kind. Not necessarily an official part of things, mind you, but there were folks who made incredible fursuits, folks who were good (and some utterly fantastic) artists, writers, those in fursuits even if they had been made by others, and so on. It makes one realize how much talent one doesn't have. Should I carry a sketchbook? Only if it was just for others. Anyone who asked me to draw would be in for a terrible disappointment. Stick Figure Theater is about all I can manage, if even that. Hrm, there's an idea, I suppose. Can you imagine a workshop "Remedial Sketching" and it being off limits (if only by suggestion) for good artists (I know that's a fluid definition - few artists seem to consider themselves good - and usually the wrong ones do) or something like that? Not even how to draw furries or cartoons, just the utter basics. I suppose there's a book somewhere I should look into... (And it sure isn't 'How to Draw Anime' or 'How to Draw Manga' - at least not for me.)

KT, being an artist, is an insider by now. Even if all he did was the cartoon diary (and I am sure that at times it seems like it is, to him) he is a Known Figure. This was brought home when I acted as translator for a moment between him and a fursuitter before Kage's Story Hour. Some fursuitter spotted KT and tried to communicate (without speaking) and didn't quite get the point across to KT. ("I think... he.. wants you.. to draw him.. in the cartoon diary.." *acknowledgment*) I am not a Known Figure, nor do I ever expect I will be. And that may be just as well. Less pestering, less drama, and all that.

And then I got back and realized not only did I spend much time looking for folks, I completely forgot to look for some. I knew the_gneech and xydexx would be there, for instance, but somehow it didn't register enough for me to remember while there.

I am pondering going to Midwest Fur Fest this coming November. It's smaller, though I don't know how small. It's within driving distance. It's in a nice cool time of year, and after Road Constriction Season. The downside is that it's in Chicago (Okkay, Schaumburg, which for me is effectively Chicago). Yes, wendyzski, jmthane, I know. But I normally do what I can to go around Chicago rather than into it. Went through it a couple times and had enough of that. Well, at least I ought to be able to find a proper hot dog there.

Anyone know what the MFF attendance was? Or perhaps more importantly, what it is projected to be? And is there anything I ought to know about attending MFF? What to bring along, or suchlike?

Anthrocon stuff still pending.

But it has occurred to me that I should not judge furry cons by Anthrocon alone. pharwarner suggested on IRC this morning that he may have seen it the last time it was still small enough to be nice (a couple years ago). So now I am pondering going to another furry con somewhere. I don't know I'd make anything more this year, unless perhaps it was rather late in the year.

Ideally it'd be in the midwest. Really ideally the northern midwest. And really really ideally be in cooler season and be not all that big. Anthrocon was nearly 2000 this year and I expect it will break 2000 next year. To me, 2000 people is not an attendance. It is a population.

While I have glimmers of information about various cons (mainly due to kinkyturtle's cartoon diaries of those he has attended), I do not recall having seen any one nice index of them. If there is one, please do point it out. Failing that, what do folks recommend, and when and where are they? Further Confusion? MFM? ConiFur?