Further Confusion
Hwæt!
So I made Further Confusion for the first time in 20 years (yes, literally, my last time attending was 2004). And while I have attended several cons since then (AC '05, FurFright '10, '11, and '13, MFF '17), Further Confusion was always my favorite. Pretty much because it was my first back in 2002, it set the tone for what a con should be like. This one was definitely a return to form for me.
I ended up staying with Tauvix and Res, since they lived about 10 minutes from the convention center, and Lyfted back and forth most of the days. I managed to hang out with friends (Scritch, Buckley, Rab), and reconnect with some old friends (Tugs, Navajo, Leo) that I haven't seen in forever. (Though, I only got one "Wow, I haven't heard your name in forever.) I did miss seeing a few others--I hoped that Sabot, Carol, Al, and Dex would have made it, but they couldn't get a room and so skipped out on things. I would have been awesome to meet Procyonid, as well, but maybe next year.
I will say that the con was mostly a positive experience for me, but the Night Market was the thing that really pushed it over the edge into awesome. I have never seen so many pups rocking out their gear before, and even more than a few diaperfurs (myself included) going around. NeonBunny, another DL Fur, was the DJ and he was rocking his pamps up on stage. If you saw some pup walking around in leather gear and a black diaper, that was me. I know Dodge would have loved the whole experience, since he's into pups and exhibitionism--I've talked it up enough that I think he'll join me for next year if I make it.
Hanging out with Tauvix and Res did allow me to spend quite a bit of time with them outside of con space, too, which was ideal. While I enjoyed being around so many other fuzz butts (5,276 in total), my ideal number is 2000-3000. My introverted nature kicked in a few times and it was nice to be able to just escape and have some time outside of con space. (Not coincidentally, the FCs I attended back in 2002-2004 were 1100-1400 attendees. Califur was in the 300-500s; FurFright was around 1300-1500 when I attended; AC was 2000-2400. So I definitely aim for the smaller cons. MFF was 8,771 which was just too large for me to feel like I connected with people; I can't imagine what it feels like today with 15.5k attendees.)
I also miss the feeling of the 'hotel con;' the convention center space, while nice, was just a bit too expansive. I think the issue was that it was so linear; if things were closer together it would have been fine. But I understand that with more attendees comes a need for a larger space.
Anyways, the con was a hell of a good time, and I'm glad to be back on the West Coast where it all started for me. I'm looking forward to attending the next one, continuing to reconnect with friends, and just being more out there now that I don't have to worry too much about 'professional issues' if you know what I mean.