MFM 2005
This past weekend was MFM, and as usual, it was a great time.
Thursday,
Tinbender arrived just in time to help move the patio furniture out of the garage and back onto the patio. I had stored it there to prevent any chance of it blowing into my living room window when Katrina visited. That night we ate at Outback and then watched the Vincent Price episode of the Muppet Show. That spawned a topic of conversation about a new costume idea that popped up every now and then throughout the whole weekend.
Friday, I got to leave work a little early, so I went to the hotel and managed to find a few people right off the bat. As usual, I can count on finding
Linnaeus at the MFF table, so I talked to him and
Rustitobuck a bit before quickly browsing the dealer room. I ran into Tinbender there. He gave me one of his radios to contact him when I got to the hotel, but he turned it down so he wouldn't have to be obligated to respond.
For dinner, Tinbender, Linnaeus, Fulminar, and I went downtown to pick up
Jaggs at the bus station. We then ate at the Huey's downtown. Right after we ordered, the waitress bent down to me and asked if we were evacuees from Katrina, which I said, "No." I thought we had decent clothing on, but perhaps not.
GWM arrived at the restaurant later and ate with us. Linnaeus and I had to get back to the hotel by 9:00pm to go to a Meet the Guest of Honor party. We managed to get there in time, but there wasn't much going on at the party other than mingling.
Saturday, Jaggs, GWM, Tinbender and I got up early and went to the hotel in time for the Fursuit parade. I was going to wear Rorwarr again. (I need to get a new suit!) On the way to get the badge made for Rorwarr, a little kid dressed in a black cat costume (or black snow leopard) ran up to me. "CHEWIE!" he screamed excitedly and wanted a hug. "I have all your movies! I have the whole Star Wars trilogy!" he was thrilled to say the least. For the rest of the time while I was in costume, if he saw me, he would yell to get my attention and wave enthusiastically.
At the start of the parade, Rorwarr received a ribbon from The Gneech for "Not Ripping Anyone's Arms Off." After the parade, I gave my sketchbook to White Wolf who had drawn the WereLion and WereStitch badges for me a few years ago, and I commissioned a WereBoar badge from Tosh Bibb who had drawn the WereRhino badge last year. They wouldn't be finished until Sunday.
Around 4:00, Tinbender, Fulminar, and I went to the pizza feed. We practically formed the line just by standing around. I started noticing people standing near us, and when we moved they followed until they realized we weren't the line and dispersed elsewhere. The pizza wasn't that great, but it was pizza.
That night, we made a Wal-Mart run so Linnaeus could purchase supplies for his party. We made it back in time to see most of the Tiger Haven charity auction. Tinbender had donated two plush dogs to the auction. He had bought them from another charity drive in Kansas City, so they have helped two charities. They went for about $25. Linnaeus bought two bottles of Moxie which we tasted at the party later where we were joined by Rusty, Phil, and
Sly. I'm not sure what that is supposed to taste like. (It's not a soda. It's an elixir.) Similar to the way Nutrasweet works for me, while drinking Moxie, it tastes fine, but as soon as you pause to breath, there is some strange chemical reaction that causes it to instantly taste like turpentine. Phil seemed to like it. Jaggs was woken up from his catnap to taste it. He thought it was great and chugged it down. Later we realized that he did that because he thought it was some sort of mixed drink. We got to open some Kinder Eggs that Linnaeus was peddling at the MFF table (free with a membership purchase.) These are hollow chocolate eggs with a plastic container inside which contains a toy which usually has to be assembled. I ended up with a knight with a grinning sword.
On the way home, we saw a stream of Illinois police cars with their lights flashing escorting two equipment trailers. They turned off the interstate probably either going to some base or hotel for the night. They were heading south, so I'm sure they were going to New Orleans.
Sunday, we got up early again so we could go to a TSA panel. We were mostly curious who was running it since we knew it wasn't Phil. It turns out it was Growltiger. He was the one that started MFM nine years ago. I had no idea he was on the TSA list, and he apparently knew who I was (or at least he recognized the name.)
I picked up my badge and sketchbook from the dealer den (I'll get some scans of them later.) Both were great! White Wolf drew a lion, and of course Tosh Bibb drew a wereboar on my WereBoar badge. I spent a lot of time just hanging around with Linnaeus, Tinbender, and Fulminar. There weren't any panels I wanted to attend, and I didn't want to spend any more money in the dealer's den.
Tinbender won a free Sponsor upgrade to MFF this November, so I guess he's going to have to go now. We watched most of the masquerade and closing ceremonies, and then went to eat at Pig-N-Whistle which is out near where I used to live in an apartment. The food is still good, but there was hardly anyone there. After we finished, we went back to the hotel to hang out and attempt drawing in each other's sketchbooks. It's been a while since we've done that.
Monday, everyone left. Jaggs and GWM went to find a shooting range. Tinbender got on the road early to head home. When I was going to the hotel to pick up Fulminar, I noticed that GWM had left his boots in the garage. Fortuntely, they were still trying to find a range that was open. We met at the hotel, so he could get the boots. I picked up Fulminar and dropped him off at the train station.
I then had to go to my parents' house for my Grandfather's 81st birthday party. I gave my little cousin (who's about four) two of those Kinder Eggs. I hope she doesn't choke! She ate one and got a bunny toy, and she was wanting to get in the other egg. We didn't let her yet. Of course, that egg may contain a skull or something.
I got home around 9:00 and the house seemed empty. Polar was even looking for the guests. I didn't feel like I really did much at the con this year, but I did start having a slight big of post-con depression. Although, I think it was mostly because everyone is gone, and I have to work the rest of the week.
Thursday,
Tinbender arrived just in time to help move the patio furniture out of the garage and back onto the patio. I had stored it there to prevent any chance of it blowing into my living room window when Katrina visited. That night we ate at Outback and then watched the Vincent Price episode of the Muppet Show. That spawned a topic of conversation about a new costume idea that popped up every now and then throughout the whole weekend.
Friday, I got to leave work a little early, so I went to the hotel and managed to find a few people right off the bat. As usual, I can count on finding
Linnaeus at the MFF table, so I talked to him and
Rustitobuck a bit before quickly browsing the dealer room. I ran into Tinbender there. He gave me one of his radios to contact him when I got to the hotel, but he turned it down so he wouldn't have to be obligated to respond.
For dinner, Tinbender, Linnaeus, Fulminar, and I went downtown to pick up
Jaggs at the bus station. We then ate at the Huey's downtown. Right after we ordered, the waitress bent down to me and asked if we were evacuees from Katrina, which I said, "No." I thought we had decent clothing on, but perhaps not.
GWM arrived at the restaurant later and ate with us. Linnaeus and I had to get back to the hotel by 9:00pm to go to a Meet the Guest of Honor party. We managed to get there in time, but there wasn't much going on at the party other than mingling.
Saturday, Jaggs, GWM, Tinbender and I got up early and went to the hotel in time for the Fursuit parade. I was going to wear Rorwarr again. (I need to get a new suit!) On the way to get the badge made for Rorwarr, a little kid dressed in a black cat costume (or black snow leopard) ran up to me. "CHEWIE!" he screamed excitedly and wanted a hug. "I have all your movies! I have the whole Star Wars trilogy!" he was thrilled to say the least. For the rest of the time while I was in costume, if he saw me, he would yell to get my attention and wave enthusiastically.
At the start of the parade, Rorwarr received a ribbon from The Gneech for "Not Ripping Anyone's Arms Off." After the parade, I gave my sketchbook to White Wolf who had drawn the WereLion and WereStitch badges for me a few years ago, and I commissioned a WereBoar badge from Tosh Bibb who had drawn the WereRhino badge last year. They wouldn't be finished until Sunday.
Around 4:00, Tinbender, Fulminar, and I went to the pizza feed. We practically formed the line just by standing around. I started noticing people standing near us, and when we moved they followed until they realized we weren't the line and dispersed elsewhere. The pizza wasn't that great, but it was pizza.
That night, we made a Wal-Mart run so Linnaeus could purchase supplies for his party. We made it back in time to see most of the Tiger Haven charity auction. Tinbender had donated two plush dogs to the auction. He had bought them from another charity drive in Kansas City, so they have helped two charities. They went for about $25. Linnaeus bought two bottles of Moxie which we tasted at the party later where we were joined by Rusty, Phil, and
Sly. I'm not sure what that is supposed to taste like. (It's not a soda. It's an elixir.) Similar to the way Nutrasweet works for me, while drinking Moxie, it tastes fine, but as soon as you pause to breath, there is some strange chemical reaction that causes it to instantly taste like turpentine. Phil seemed to like it. Jaggs was woken up from his catnap to taste it. He thought it was great and chugged it down. Later we realized that he did that because he thought it was some sort of mixed drink. We got to open some Kinder Eggs that Linnaeus was peddling at the MFF table (free with a membership purchase.) These are hollow chocolate eggs with a plastic container inside which contains a toy which usually has to be assembled. I ended up with a knight with a grinning sword.
On the way home, we saw a stream of Illinois police cars with their lights flashing escorting two equipment trailers. They turned off the interstate probably either going to some base or hotel for the night. They were heading south, so I'm sure they were going to New Orleans.
Sunday, we got up early again so we could go to a TSA panel. We were mostly curious who was running it since we knew it wasn't Phil. It turns out it was Growltiger. He was the one that started MFM nine years ago. I had no idea he was on the TSA list, and he apparently knew who I was (or at least he recognized the name.)
I picked up my badge and sketchbook from the dealer den (I'll get some scans of them later.) Both were great! White Wolf drew a lion, and of course Tosh Bibb drew a wereboar on my WereBoar badge. I spent a lot of time just hanging around with Linnaeus, Tinbender, and Fulminar. There weren't any panels I wanted to attend, and I didn't want to spend any more money in the dealer's den.
Tinbender won a free Sponsor upgrade to MFF this November, so I guess he's going to have to go now. We watched most of the masquerade and closing ceremonies, and then went to eat at Pig-N-Whistle which is out near where I used to live in an apartment. The food is still good, but there was hardly anyone there. After we finished, we went back to the hotel to hang out and attempt drawing in each other's sketchbooks. It's been a while since we've done that.
Monday, everyone left. Jaggs and GWM went to find a shooting range. Tinbender got on the road early to head home. When I was going to the hotel to pick up Fulminar, I noticed that GWM had left his boots in the garage. Fortuntely, they were still trying to find a range that was open. We met at the hotel, so he could get the boots. I picked up Fulminar and dropped him off at the train station.
I then had to go to my parents' house for my Grandfather's 81st birthday party. I gave my little cousin (who's about four) two of those Kinder Eggs. I hope she doesn't choke! She ate one and got a bunny toy, and she was wanting to get in the other egg. We didn't let her yet. Of course, that egg may contain a skull or something.
I got home around 9:00 and the house seemed empty. Polar was even looking for the guests. I didn't feel like I really did much at the con this year, but I did start having a slight big of post-con depression. Although, I think it was mostly because everyone is gone, and I have to work the rest of the week.