Return from RADfur
Return from RADfur, Adelaide, OCt 3rd-5th
Well...I'm back in the land of cold wind and politics, Jeneara and I just returned to Canberra from what ended up being both an amazing and relaxing trip to Adelaide for it's first official furmeet, RADfur.
We stayed up late, got hardly any sleep, and ended up eating very badly.But was it relaxing? Surprisingly...yes.
Having been to and helped run meets before, usually there is far too much going on in far too short a time to actually enjoy yourself and the company of new friends. The lovely thing that happened at RADfur was that the events were far more free-form, and there were enough gaps in-between events to both enjoy yourself and get to the destination. The relaxed feeling may have been a result of us all getting utterly Rat-arsed at the house party Saturday night, but it was just relaxed and Fun and enjoyable. Organized by Fiery Dragon of Adelaide (who also put the website together, clap clap for the dragon) I had a brilliantly laid-back blast meeting our southern fandom.
So what happened? We flew down to Adelaide, Friday night was dinner and greets at the Pancake Kitchen, Saturday was a wander around Rundell open-air mall, and a house party at Mea's. Sunday was supposed to be a meet at the Pancake house for breakfast but the previous house party transformed Sunday into our recovery day. Then fly home and try and get sleep before the next work day.
FRIDAY
I like flying.
Flying is fun, quick and not really that much more expensive compared to driving. So despite a small delay giving us time to bust out with some RPG games on the PSP\DS at Melbourne airport during a connecting flight delay, it was all good fun. Arriving in Adelaide we were greeted by a contingent of about 15 furs! Having a welcome like that just for the two of us was really really nice. 15 Hugs and hellos later we headed to the nearby IKEA store for food (yes IKEA sells food 'Checkout style'),...at least it looked like food. They suggested I get the 'Meatballs with Beige'. Think breakey nasty cheap American meatballs covered in a thick gravy-esque sauce laced with cocaine and colored like an old-school IBM PC.
It was delicious...
So after feeding our faces, getting lost amongst the innovative and oft-times downright stupid home-wares we headed on over to Arctic|Pete's (also Firey & Trinnexx) house to unload and chill. They recently moved in and I gotta say it'll be a really nice pad once it's lived in for a while. We hung out, then got ready and went out to the Adelaide Pancake House for Dinner. The Pancake House is a Pancake Kitchen that has been continuously open since 1961. That's open for 47 years solid 24 hours a day without closing. And the pancakes, steak and drinks they made are very VERY good. Highly recommended by the secretary of Kradens' stomach.
Meeting everyone was fantastic. Some furs I've met before at earlier meets and last years Midfur. But Daymn are the Adelaidians friendly. There was almost no malice, arguments or stress between them, it was great. I was especially happy to see Pete, Firey and Kaz again this meet, elated to meet Fala too having worked with him electronically on MFX for a while now. But I was also excitedly looking forward to meeting Kelthoran, since he used to do a segment on tour old podcast. And yes, for those who used to listen to the podcast he is as charming as his voice depicts.
SATURDAY
Saturday was comprised of running around setting up the AUSFA (Australian Furry Association) details, and enjoying the sights and sounds of the Adelaide CBD. Pete treated me to one of the most delicious caffinated beverages I've ever had the pleasure of swallowing. Somewhat like the love child between a Cuppachino-Latte and a Hazlenut Brule'. It was around that point that I realised that knowing your city is a great way to indulge your friends in new tastes and flavors. Something my city lacks much variance or flare in. Apart from the now semi-famous Megashake race, Canberra has very little that you'd count as unique cuisine, as engaging as it is there's not much you couldn't get elsewhere. Once our business in the city was complete we ended up heading out to Glenelg, a busy back and forth beach side suburb dotted with street stores and cafes'.
Take away the beach and larger buildings and it oddly felt like home. Our destination was actually a beach side games arcade, adequately named 'the Beach house'. Jeneara and I spent at least sixty dollars bouncing back and forth between random game machines and Iceball (Skiball for the Americas). I learned two things. One, that after collecting tickets from games a $2 Frisbee that in reality cost you $25 is a very rewarding experience. And two, Jeneara kicks ass at Skiball, she must have won at least 200 of our tickets on that game.
The afternoon wound down into a balmy warm evening as we headed over to Mea's place for the RADfur house party. A Mid-suburban house easily found by the blaring music and emergency light strapped to the roof of a car, casting it's rotating orange beam around the front yard (Surprisingly, the neighbours didn't complain).
We all got (to put it lightly) mildly inebriated. Kelthoran brought along two gorgeous bottles of red from his family's cellar, both of which we finished throughout the evening amongst other beverages and laughter. Despite the alcohol nobody became angry, stressed or confused. The overall feeling of companionship and frivoloity was a ripe and shiney fruit, spilling it's juice into the mindset of the evening and brining us to a enjoyable high.
SUNDAY
Oh my....
Some perhaps...drank too much. And the stories in the morning were entertaining when we actually arose to greet the sunshine. The plan for the day was to head on out to the Pancake kitchen and enjoy the city again...we decided this was a bad idea and the entire group spent the next hour or so deciding whether to get breakfast or stay sitting on the couch staring at the wall.
The luckier walkers (myself included), wandered around the house enjoying the company from the chatty guests to the groaning hosts. I ended up drawing one of my first finished traditional color pieces for well over a year, and felt a warm glow of pride in actually holding a traditional drawing in my hands. The group drifted slowly from this dens around the city over to Pete's place (unofficially known as "Tha Vag" for reasons you'll know if you see it). Possibly from the mornings pictures, or the repeated prodding from Jeneara. I spent the rest of the day periodically (and sometimes continuously) doing drawings for the local furs. They're some of my best works and I'm honored to have been able to hand them out to each fur that let me pump some creativity into their character. It's this sort of environment that really lends to inspiration, and I highly recommend it. You get a huge boost to your creativity, and they receive a gift of their character. I must have drawn well up to 10:30 at night. Because by the time I finished we were thinking of going to bed. That was until we realized the pizzas has not yet arrived.
And we were hungry.
Om nom nom nom nom....
MONDAY
With Jeneara and I heading out to the airport for a flight home later in the day, I decided to make good on my promise of breakfast and cook the bacon+eggs waiting in the fridge.
The Kraden-manz Bacon-cooking tip MK-I!!!
Here's a tip for Bacon. Cut off most of the sringey fat at the end of the strips, and put that in your heated pan first. That way the bacon will fry in it's own fats instead of you having to add oils. Works a treat and tastes great.
So with breakfast cooked, and a short time watching 'Interview with a Vampire' in "Super-eye-strain-projector-plus-too-much-lighting-o-vision" we caught a lift to the airport and a flight home.
I'm tired, but very happy.
I'm mostly amazed by the friendliness and laid-back nature of the Adelaidian furmeet. It was more-so a holiday with less sleep than the chaotic buzz of a regular meet. Having been to Manifest the weekend beforehand it was, perhaps, the contrast of the century, but going from Anime-con to a small-local meet was pleasant none-the less.
Thank you so much to Arctic|Pete, Firey and Trinnexx for giving us a roof over our heads. And to Mea for the use of her house. Oh God, Oh god I hope we didn't break anything or re-paint the walls in a technicolor-rainbow (slang name for throwing up btw). The people were great, the weather was great, and I didn't come home too broke either.
Also big props to...
King (Robbie)
Teal Wolf
Dandy
Ari
Seer
Mahees
Marc
High five for the breeders too! I think Jen and I were the only straight couple there.
If you're able to make it to next years RADfur, do so. It's certainly worth the trip.
Well...I'm back in the land of cold wind and politics, Jeneara and I just returned to Canberra from what ended up being both an amazing and relaxing trip to Adelaide for it's first official furmeet, RADfur.
We stayed up late, got hardly any sleep, and ended up eating very badly.But was it relaxing? Surprisingly...yes.
Having been to and helped run meets before, usually there is far too much going on in far too short a time to actually enjoy yourself and the company of new friends. The lovely thing that happened at RADfur was that the events were far more free-form, and there were enough gaps in-between events to both enjoy yourself and get to the destination. The relaxed feeling may have been a result of us all getting utterly Rat-arsed at the house party Saturday night, but it was just relaxed and Fun and enjoyable. Organized by Fiery Dragon of Adelaide (who also put the website together, clap clap for the dragon) I had a brilliantly laid-back blast meeting our southern fandom.
So what happened? We flew down to Adelaide, Friday night was dinner and greets at the Pancake Kitchen, Saturday was a wander around Rundell open-air mall, and a house party at Mea's. Sunday was supposed to be a meet at the Pancake house for breakfast but the previous house party transformed Sunday into our recovery day. Then fly home and try and get sleep before the next work day.
FRIDAY
I like flying.
Flying is fun, quick and not really that much more expensive compared to driving. So despite a small delay giving us time to bust out with some RPG games on the PSP\DS at Melbourne airport during a connecting flight delay, it was all good fun. Arriving in Adelaide we were greeted by a contingent of about 15 furs! Having a welcome like that just for the two of us was really really nice. 15 Hugs and hellos later we headed to the nearby IKEA store for food (yes IKEA sells food 'Checkout style'),...at least it looked like food. They suggested I get the 'Meatballs with Beige'. Think breakey nasty cheap American meatballs covered in a thick gravy-esque sauce laced with cocaine and colored like an old-school IBM PC.
It was delicious...
So after feeding our faces, getting lost amongst the innovative and oft-times downright stupid home-wares we headed on over to Arctic|Pete's (also Firey & Trinnexx) house to unload and chill. They recently moved in and I gotta say it'll be a really nice pad once it's lived in for a while. We hung out, then got ready and went out to the Adelaide Pancake House for Dinner. The Pancake House is a Pancake Kitchen that has been continuously open since 1961. That's open for 47 years solid 24 hours a day without closing. And the pancakes, steak and drinks they made are very VERY good. Highly recommended by the secretary of Kradens' stomach.
Meeting everyone was fantastic. Some furs I've met before at earlier meets and last years Midfur. But Daymn are the Adelaidians friendly. There was almost no malice, arguments or stress between them, it was great. I was especially happy to see Pete, Firey and Kaz again this meet, elated to meet Fala too having worked with him electronically on MFX for a while now. But I was also excitedly looking forward to meeting Kelthoran, since he used to do a segment on tour old podcast. And yes, for those who used to listen to the podcast he is as charming as his voice depicts.
SATURDAY
Saturday was comprised of running around setting up the AUSFA (Australian Furry Association) details, and enjoying the sights and sounds of the Adelaide CBD. Pete treated me to one of the most delicious caffinated beverages I've ever had the pleasure of swallowing. Somewhat like the love child between a Cuppachino-Latte and a Hazlenut Brule'. It was around that point that I realised that knowing your city is a great way to indulge your friends in new tastes and flavors. Something my city lacks much variance or flare in. Apart from the now semi-famous Megashake race, Canberra has very little that you'd count as unique cuisine, as engaging as it is there's not much you couldn't get elsewhere. Once our business in the city was complete we ended up heading out to Glenelg, a busy back and forth beach side suburb dotted with street stores and cafes'.
Take away the beach and larger buildings and it oddly felt like home. Our destination was actually a beach side games arcade, adequately named 'the Beach house'. Jeneara and I spent at least sixty dollars bouncing back and forth between random game machines and Iceball (Skiball for the Americas). I learned two things. One, that after collecting tickets from games a $2 Frisbee that in reality cost you $25 is a very rewarding experience. And two, Jeneara kicks ass at Skiball, she must have won at least 200 of our tickets on that game.
The afternoon wound down into a balmy warm evening as we headed over to Mea's place for the RADfur house party. A Mid-suburban house easily found by the blaring music and emergency light strapped to the roof of a car, casting it's rotating orange beam around the front yard (Surprisingly, the neighbours didn't complain).
We all got (to put it lightly) mildly inebriated. Kelthoran brought along two gorgeous bottles of red from his family's cellar, both of which we finished throughout the evening amongst other beverages and laughter. Despite the alcohol nobody became angry, stressed or confused. The overall feeling of companionship and frivoloity was a ripe and shiney fruit, spilling it's juice into the mindset of the evening and brining us to a enjoyable high.
SUNDAY
Oh my....
Some perhaps...drank too much. And the stories in the morning were entertaining when we actually arose to greet the sunshine. The plan for the day was to head on out to the Pancake kitchen and enjoy the city again...we decided this was a bad idea and the entire group spent the next hour or so deciding whether to get breakfast or stay sitting on the couch staring at the wall.
The luckier walkers (myself included), wandered around the house enjoying the company from the chatty guests to the groaning hosts. I ended up drawing one of my first finished traditional color pieces for well over a year, and felt a warm glow of pride in actually holding a traditional drawing in my hands. The group drifted slowly from this dens around the city over to Pete's place (unofficially known as "Tha Vag" for reasons you'll know if you see it). Possibly from the mornings pictures, or the repeated prodding from Jeneara. I spent the rest of the day periodically (and sometimes continuously) doing drawings for the local furs. They're some of my best works and I'm honored to have been able to hand them out to each fur that let me pump some creativity into their character. It's this sort of environment that really lends to inspiration, and I highly recommend it. You get a huge boost to your creativity, and they receive a gift of their character. I must have drawn well up to 10:30 at night. Because by the time I finished we were thinking of going to bed. That was until we realized the pizzas has not yet arrived.
And we were hungry.
Om nom nom nom nom....
MONDAY
With Jeneara and I heading out to the airport for a flight home later in the day, I decided to make good on my promise of breakfast and cook the bacon+eggs waiting in the fridge.
The Kraden-manz Bacon-cooking tip MK-I!!!
Here's a tip for Bacon. Cut off most of the sringey fat at the end of the strips, and put that in your heated pan first. That way the bacon will fry in it's own fats instead of you having to add oils. Works a treat and tastes great.
So with breakfast cooked, and a short time watching 'Interview with a Vampire' in "Super-eye-strain-projector-plus-too-much-lighting-o-vision" we caught a lift to the airport and a flight home.
I'm tired, but very happy.
I'm mostly amazed by the friendliness and laid-back nature of the Adelaidian furmeet. It was more-so a holiday with less sleep than the chaotic buzz of a regular meet. Having been to Manifest the weekend beforehand it was, perhaps, the contrast of the century, but going from Anime-con to a small-local meet was pleasant none-the less.
Thank you so much to Arctic|Pete, Firey and Trinnexx for giving us a roof over our heads. And to Mea for the use of her house. Oh God, Oh god I hope we didn't break anything or re-paint the walls in a technicolor-rainbow (slang name for throwing up btw). The people were great, the weather was great, and I didn't come home too broke either.
Also big props to...
King (Robbie)
Teal Wolf
Dandy
Ari
Seer
Mahees
Marc
High five for the breeders too! I think Jen and I were the only straight couple there.
If you're able to make it to next years RADfur, do so. It's certainly worth the trip.