My Further Confusion report, part 1
Well, I made it out for FC, and I had fun, and if you're interested in con reports then here's mine.
Tuesday: I wake up at 5 AM to find my promised ride already waiting for me. After I rush into my clothes and get to the airport, things go well enough until I get on the Cleveland to LA flight. I thought I was on a yo-yo, the way that plane jumped around! Did I mention that flying makes me nervous? Because it sure does, and I still don't know how I kept the provided lunch where it belonged instead of doing the technicolor yawn.
Thankfully we arrive in LA, even though the only way you know you're on the ground is when the tires squeak on the tarmac -- seriously, no visibility at all! Isn't California supposed to be the Sunshine State? I find Ken Pick (my friend who sponsored me out for the con) and we go to his place to meet Steve Corbett aka Ironbadger. That night we see the movie Fantastic Mister Fox at the local theater, nice film. Mrs. Fox is especially cute.
Wednesday is mostly con preparation, due to more rain. Lots and lots of rain. This is a vacation, all right. Ken and Steve introduce me to a magnificent local burger chain called In-n-Out Burger, a 'Christian' business in the sense of Chick-Fil-A (that is, they don't slip Chick tracts into people's dinners or expect their employees to work for starvation wages or the like; they make a great product and pay their employees enough to make them happy to work there and deal with their customers -- Christian employers take note!), which must have made the best fast food burgers I have ever eaten. If In-n-Out ever makes it past the Mississippi, I know who I want to work for.
Steve drives off with local furry/fursuiter Chythar that night. Ken and I go the next morning -- early to beat the rush hour.
Thursday is the drive to San Jose. Mostly done in driving rain, with Ken warning me about the potential threat of town-devouring mudslides along the way. Not much to report aside from stops for breakfast in Bulleton at the Danish Pancake House and a late lunch at a Texas barbeque place in Castroville, both of which I recommend to anyone ever in the area. The latter especially -- MEAT MEAT MEAT!
In SJ, we find the overflow hotel. Nice little place, though when I entered the room I remember saying something like, "Wait a minute, this is the broom closet."
"No, it's the room." Seriously, it was that small. Thankfully it's mostly just a staging area.
So, now it's time for at-con registration. Fun all around! First the computers go down. Then they are up but they can't connect to the Internet. Then they can connect but the program won't work. Then the program works but the people running at-con reg don't know how to use it! Along the way TaniDaReal shows up in her gorgeous Transylvanian Wild Dog Vampire suit Daiquiri and gives me a playful neck nibble. Well, I finally get registered and make it to the great event of Thursday night -- the dance.
That dance was great! Several lovely suiters show up -- Sunstreak Chakat, a Xena-esque wolfgal named Onai, Clementine the Orange Fennec and her new friend Kahlua the ditzy blond coffee-colored fennec, the very curvy and lovely black-backed jackaless Ember Isolte, and assorted deer, horses, wolves, foxes, and other critters. I know I danced with Kahlua and Ember, among others. A surprising nuber of them are female, both suit and character, something I consider a big improvement over the old days. And many of them are quite willing to hug and cuddle while in suit so long as you keep it friendly and polite, which I don't mind in the least. ;)
The rest of the weekend will have to come in a later entry today; I have to dash now. All I'll say for now is that I got very affectionate hugs from both Ginger and Autumn Vixen, they remembered me from prior conversations (no small trick considering just how many people they know online!), and I'm still glowing from it.
Until later...
Tuesday: I wake up at 5 AM to find my promised ride already waiting for me. After I rush into my clothes and get to the airport, things go well enough until I get on the Cleveland to LA flight. I thought I was on a yo-yo, the way that plane jumped around! Did I mention that flying makes me nervous? Because it sure does, and I still don't know how I kept the provided lunch where it belonged instead of doing the technicolor yawn.
Thankfully we arrive in LA, even though the only way you know you're on the ground is when the tires squeak on the tarmac -- seriously, no visibility at all! Isn't California supposed to be the Sunshine State? I find Ken Pick (my friend who sponsored me out for the con) and we go to his place to meet Steve Corbett aka Ironbadger. That night we see the movie Fantastic Mister Fox at the local theater, nice film. Mrs. Fox is especially cute.
Wednesday is mostly con preparation, due to more rain. Lots and lots of rain. This is a vacation, all right. Ken and Steve introduce me to a magnificent local burger chain called In-n-Out Burger, a 'Christian' business in the sense of Chick-Fil-A (that is, they don't slip Chick tracts into people's dinners or expect their employees to work for starvation wages or the like; they make a great product and pay their employees enough to make them happy to work there and deal with their customers -- Christian employers take note!), which must have made the best fast food burgers I have ever eaten. If In-n-Out ever makes it past the Mississippi, I know who I want to work for.
Steve drives off with local furry/fursuiter Chythar that night. Ken and I go the next morning -- early to beat the rush hour.
Thursday is the drive to San Jose. Mostly done in driving rain, with Ken warning me about the potential threat of town-devouring mudslides along the way. Not much to report aside from stops for breakfast in Bulleton at the Danish Pancake House and a late lunch at a Texas barbeque place in Castroville, both of which I recommend to anyone ever in the area. The latter especially -- MEAT MEAT MEAT!
In SJ, we find the overflow hotel. Nice little place, though when I entered the room I remember saying something like, "Wait a minute, this is the broom closet."
"No, it's the room." Seriously, it was that small. Thankfully it's mostly just a staging area.
So, now it's time for at-con registration. Fun all around! First the computers go down. Then they are up but they can't connect to the Internet. Then they can connect but the program won't work. Then the program works but the people running at-con reg don't know how to use it! Along the way TaniDaReal shows up in her gorgeous Transylvanian Wild Dog Vampire suit Daiquiri and gives me a playful neck nibble. Well, I finally get registered and make it to the great event of Thursday night -- the dance.
That dance was great! Several lovely suiters show up -- Sunstreak Chakat, a Xena-esque wolfgal named Onai, Clementine the Orange Fennec and her new friend Kahlua the ditzy blond coffee-colored fennec, the very curvy and lovely black-backed jackaless Ember Isolte, and assorted deer, horses, wolves, foxes, and other critters. I know I danced with Kahlua and Ember, among others. A surprising nuber of them are female, both suit and character, something I consider a big improvement over the old days. And many of them are quite willing to hug and cuddle while in suit so long as you keep it friendly and polite, which I don't mind in the least. ;)
The rest of the weekend will have to come in a later entry today; I have to dash now. All I'll say for now is that I got very affectionate hugs from both Ginger and Autumn Vixen, they remembered me from prior conversations (no small trick considering just how many people they know online!), and I'm still glowing from it.
Until later...