Stray Con 2010 Recap
Stray Con Highlighted behind the cut -
Well here it is Monday, the day after the 4 day stretch of the first Stray Con, the original strays met up just outside of Gol in a rather nice Cabin. The cabin itself was like walking into a solid block of ice at first but a bit of crazy vixen with matches and some wood + 3 different "fire places" and it was fairly cozy by the time the rest arrived :) I was a bit late perhaps with some of the meal times, I left Breakfast up to everyone to scavenge for themselves (bad mea, I know but I needed at least one small break) It worked out rather nicely I think, no one seemed to complain but then they can be too nice so I hoped they would at least tell me if they rather things a bit different or if they prefer something else to eat. The fun was almost instant, I ended up with a hella surprise when they arrived, it started with one giving me a pickle in a can before the rest bolted out to find their gifts, soon enough 2 more pickles in a can were in my paws followed by a lovely EF #16 Shirt! and one for pro as well! Silly me was about to cry because it was really such a sweet gesture, when I inquired as to why? whatever for? the response was simple, we wanted to pay you back for the badges. I had to laugh a little, and told them that wearing the badges was more than enough thanks :) (and it is too :) ) But I won't say the gifts weren't nice! I am planning on cracking into one of my cans later today, I would have devoured them this weekend but most the time was spent hovering over the stove and getting doodled on there ;)
On that note I had forgotten a couple things, to my horror I remembered that I had forgotten the Stray Con shirts D: I had contemplated how to drive back and get them and the best way to possibly avoid heavy traffic, it boiled down to Profox saving things with a rather brilliant and unique idea. Next day I announced the sad news and we went down to the local shopping plaza and found some white t-shirts on sale :) them plus a couple textile pens = such a winning success that we plan to keep this up thru out the years! :) except maybe in the years to come the guys won't be stuck wearing womens shirts *snickers* it was truly all they had available in shirts and the long-sleeved one's would NEVER have fit them. but then I say this if they wanted to feel more manly we could have cut the sleeves off ;) at anyrate it ended up in several hours of hilarity and some wonderful, unique gifts of the Con with fond memories 8D I'm honestly too afraid to wash the shirt for fear of losing all my doodles so I'm going to just hang it up in the closet :) and keep it safe that way.
I can say we honestly had a ton of fun, I adored and loved seeing and hearing the rest play with Nikka and her wild laughter, in all honesty I think if we ever needed to we all would survive just fine under one roof :) There was no fighting, no fangs bared, no ill-tempered air at all, not even fur rubbed wrong (at least not as far as I know). Things just worked very nicely. Not many games were played, in fact I think we just enjoyed each other's company so much there was no real want or need to play games for entertainment we just had fun as it was :) I'm still exhausted while I write this, some things that stand out in memory was as I said everyone playing with Nikka was adoreable, wuffie helping us out with Kelly! (thank you!) everyone just helped us with the kits, like one big den :) It was awesome. Friday I had decided that why not get things really going with the con and thus the day started with the envelopes for the gift x-change. It was rather amusing all day long, interesting enough when it came to exchanging of gifts.. we were content to keep what we had :D Ofcourse I'm not sure what possessed me not to swipe Pro's Partial Dungeon re population kit D: I think it was part wanting to ask Nikka to pick something to open up as she really wanted to :) I got a shark stuffed in a tiny lil plastic fish bowl XD All I could think was Looney Toons it was great :) It'll go a bit smoother next year too as we were all new to it :) I think Saturday? yes Saturday night we had a couple drinks around the table after the girls were soundly and safely asleep, a bit of "here try this one" and face twisting and "dear gods...why" XD Always amusing if you ask me. We had some laughs for sure and chattered and joked about. Things were all in all very tame and relaxed, silly as they should have been and fun as expected :)
I honestly cannot think of much I would change, perhaps less time in the kitchen would be nice, I really love to cook for them and I hope the food is good enough for them to like me cooking it for them :) But I really think I would rather be socializing more with everyone :) Though I loved having company in the kitchen and the occasional random doodle on me while I'm cooking XD And now I have a spice rack well right in easy access whenever I wear that shirt :D Thank you Kal ;) There are many things I would love to talk about right now I cannot think of everything :) I can just say that I know if anything we all learned a bit more about each other rather than our usual meets of a couple hours, stuff em til they cry and then send them on their way (honestly wish we had maybe a big spare bedroom or two so our guests could at least stay over night sometimes :) ) it was really nice to spend time with all of them I don't think it would work with many more under the same roof in that cabin simply because of space and bedding arrangements etc...
Next Year - Well we are going to let the dust settle a bit on this con, collect our thoughts and go live next year :) I think we'll be looking at one of the local hotels right in town as Gol really is beautiful, it has all kinds of fun little shops and things to do and see. I think a Hotel might better suit what we need and it will allow us to grow some. Depending on how many become interested in this and plan to attend next year will also make up the events we may or may not have. I think it will be a bit before any workshops or shows just yet but in time :) patience is the key. I think we'll also be better dividing the work load of planning and setting things up out a bit simply because the stress really got to me this year on a level I really don't want to repeat. Other than that....well next year we'll have fursuits :D so it won't be everyone but the foxes :P Other than that the only one and only regret.... No group picture D: I don't think we took any pictures really we were tired and just relaxing everyone was stressed from whatever was bothering them so this came as a great way to reset, relax and destress right before the Holiday chaos. :) Next year its group photos for sure. Pro perhaps will want to be the photographer in years to come to do fursuit photoshoots? who knows :) I would like to see Stray Con remain family friendly, ofcourse we'll have to make some rules to ensure this but other than that I think we can pull it off just fine ;) Anyhow.....I guess in the end I can say THANK YOU GUYS! You really are the awesome-est! I can hardly wait til next year :D
Well here it is Monday, the day after the 4 day stretch of the first Stray Con, the original strays met up just outside of Gol in a rather nice Cabin. The cabin itself was like walking into a solid block of ice at first but a bit of crazy vixen with matches and some wood + 3 different "fire places" and it was fairly cozy by the time the rest arrived :) I was a bit late perhaps with some of the meal times, I left Breakfast up to everyone to scavenge for themselves (bad mea, I know but I needed at least one small break) It worked out rather nicely I think, no one seemed to complain but then they can be too nice so I hoped they would at least tell me if they rather things a bit different or if they prefer something else to eat. The fun was almost instant, I ended up with a hella surprise when they arrived, it started with one giving me a pickle in a can before the rest bolted out to find their gifts, soon enough 2 more pickles in a can were in my paws followed by a lovely EF #16 Shirt! and one for pro as well! Silly me was about to cry because it was really such a sweet gesture, when I inquired as to why? whatever for? the response was simple, we wanted to pay you back for the badges. I had to laugh a little, and told them that wearing the badges was more than enough thanks :) (and it is too :) ) But I won't say the gifts weren't nice! I am planning on cracking into one of my cans later today, I would have devoured them this weekend but most the time was spent hovering over the stove and getting doodled on there ;)
On that note I had forgotten a couple things, to my horror I remembered that I had forgotten the Stray Con shirts D: I had contemplated how to drive back and get them and the best way to possibly avoid heavy traffic, it boiled down to Profox saving things with a rather brilliant and unique idea. Next day I announced the sad news and we went down to the local shopping plaza and found some white t-shirts on sale :) them plus a couple textile pens = such a winning success that we plan to keep this up thru out the years! :) except maybe in the years to come the guys won't be stuck wearing womens shirts *snickers* it was truly all they had available in shirts and the long-sleeved one's would NEVER have fit them. but then I say this if they wanted to feel more manly we could have cut the sleeves off ;) at anyrate it ended up in several hours of hilarity and some wonderful, unique gifts of the Con with fond memories 8D I'm honestly too afraid to wash the shirt for fear of losing all my doodles so I'm going to just hang it up in the closet :) and keep it safe that way.
I can say we honestly had a ton of fun, I adored and loved seeing and hearing the rest play with Nikka and her wild laughter, in all honesty I think if we ever needed to we all would survive just fine under one roof :) There was no fighting, no fangs bared, no ill-tempered air at all, not even fur rubbed wrong (at least not as far as I know). Things just worked very nicely. Not many games were played, in fact I think we just enjoyed each other's company so much there was no real want or need to play games for entertainment we just had fun as it was :) I'm still exhausted while I write this, some things that stand out in memory was as I said everyone playing with Nikka was adoreable, wuffie helping us out with Kelly! (thank you!) everyone just helped us with the kits, like one big den :) It was awesome. Friday I had decided that why not get things really going with the con and thus the day started with the envelopes for the gift x-change. It was rather amusing all day long, interesting enough when it came to exchanging of gifts.. we were content to keep what we had :D Ofcourse I'm not sure what possessed me not to swipe Pro's Partial Dungeon re population kit D: I think it was part wanting to ask Nikka to pick something to open up as she really wanted to :) I got a shark stuffed in a tiny lil plastic fish bowl XD All I could think was Looney Toons it was great :) It'll go a bit smoother next year too as we were all new to it :) I think Saturday? yes Saturday night we had a couple drinks around the table after the girls were soundly and safely asleep, a bit of "here try this one" and face twisting and "dear gods...why" XD Always amusing if you ask me. We had some laughs for sure and chattered and joked about. Things were all in all very tame and relaxed, silly as they should have been and fun as expected :)
I honestly cannot think of much I would change, perhaps less time in the kitchen would be nice, I really love to cook for them and I hope the food is good enough for them to like me cooking it for them :) But I really think I would rather be socializing more with everyone :) Though I loved having company in the kitchen and the occasional random doodle on me while I'm cooking XD And now I have a spice rack well right in easy access whenever I wear that shirt :D Thank you Kal ;) There are many things I would love to talk about right now I cannot think of everything :) I can just say that I know if anything we all learned a bit more about each other rather than our usual meets of a couple hours, stuff em til they cry and then send them on their way (honestly wish we had maybe a big spare bedroom or two so our guests could at least stay over night sometimes :) ) it was really nice to spend time with all of them I don't think it would work with many more under the same roof in that cabin simply because of space and bedding arrangements etc...
Next Year - Well we are going to let the dust settle a bit on this con, collect our thoughts and go live next year :) I think we'll be looking at one of the local hotels right in town as Gol really is beautiful, it has all kinds of fun little shops and things to do and see. I think a Hotel might better suit what we need and it will allow us to grow some. Depending on how many become interested in this and plan to attend next year will also make up the events we may or may not have. I think it will be a bit before any workshops or shows just yet but in time :) patience is the key. I think we'll also be better dividing the work load of planning and setting things up out a bit simply because the stress really got to me this year on a level I really don't want to repeat. Other than that....well next year we'll have fursuits :D so it won't be everyone but the foxes :P Other than that the only one and only regret.... No group picture D: I don't think we took any pictures really we were tired and just relaxing everyone was stressed from whatever was bothering them so this came as a great way to reset, relax and destress right before the Holiday chaos. :) Next year its group photos for sure. Pro perhaps will want to be the photographer in years to come to do fursuit photoshoots? who knows :) I would like to see Stray Con remain family friendly, ofcourse we'll have to make some rules to ensure this but other than that I think we can pull it off just fine ;) Anyhow.....I guess in the end I can say THANK YOU GUYS! You really are the awesome-est! I can hardly wait til next year :D