Weekend, Monday
On Saturday I learned a lot, on Sunday I was lazy and Monday was kinda special. :)
The first Saturday of each month has been reserve din my calender for years now; it means I ask and beg and lament until I get the family's car for the day/weekend and drive to Cologne (30 minutes, practically around the corner). The main station is where I'm headed, track 11, block C, 11:30am is when and where the local anime fans have been meeting for years (well naturally not all of them) and these guys are my closest and dearest friends (wether or not I still share their obsession :P). After hanging around the station for roughly half an hour (used to be longer, we're getting old XD) we visit a comic/manga store (or stand around in front of it) and then head over to a Chinese restaurant (cuz Japanese food is way too expensive). If we do have a location (these days we do) this is where we spend the rest of the day and, if possible, the night.
This time was a little different. I left on the light of the car and when I returned after a few hours the battery was dead. Luckily a friend's car was nearby, we organized the required cables and I learned a) how to open the hood of the car and b) how to jump start it. I also learned c) the English vocabulary for the procedure. We took a longer way to our designate dlocation to give my car's battery the time to recharge, which it did nicely.
Still, even regarding the instructive nature of the events, I'd rather live without a repetition in the future.
So, a few days/weeks back I got a message on studiVZ; someone had noticed that I was a member of the Furry group and that I was from Bonn (45 minutes of daily commuting, there and back again, but close enough) and so she went ahead and invided me to their monthly meeting (every first Monday of a month); 6pm is a little late if you still have somewhat of a long drive back home, but I had never met other furries in real life (and hardly online) so I gave it a chance.
I was early, as I tend to be, and when a group gathered that I thought might be them I kept close, trying to grasp a bit of conversation that might hint at their origin, but I couldn't be sure. There had been a photo next to my invitation message, and you'd think I'd remember that or the name next to it, but no. ^^;; So at some point I decided that at the end of the day being shy got me nowehere and talked to the one girl of the group that I thought might resemble that photo. Good idea on my part, so I finally got to meet the first other people of the fandom. Great guys, very direct and open (I liked that), some wearing collars (reminded me of the one I own but haven't worn in years) and overall seeming very nice, but I was still rather nervous. XD I've never been asked before wether I was open-minded about sexual orientations (somehow that's assumed among anime fans and as a slasher... dunno, but I liked the direct approach).
What's really new to me is hearing abbreviations left and right and not knowing what they all mean (but I guess I'll figure it out in time). The more I hear about conventions the more I want to go, meetings of lots of dedicated fans tend to be awesome no matter what the topic. I remember attending a big tabletennis event with my brother and the atmosphere was intoxicating, I actually started playing (for a while anyway). However other than anime conventions I haven't been to many (and the Connichi is family, it's working there with friends that makes it fun) and the whole furry thing is still new to me... anyway, something to consider as soon as I'm not broke anymore.
Um yeah, so after waiting at the station (the rendezvous point XD) we decided to eat at Pizza Hut (I didn't feel particularly hungry, but then I never do when I'm nervous or when my stomach decides I should be) so I stuck to a small salat while everyone else was devouring insane amounts of pizza (or so it seemed to someone who can barely manage half a pizza herself). We talked and it was a fun evening, of a little late since I still had a bus to catch. Unfortunately I missed said bus and had to wait another 30 minutes and was home at about 10pm. I'll time that better next time. :)
All in all I'm really glad I went; it's surprisingly nice to have people ask for one's species, to remark that my liking of striped clothing fits my being a tiger (I'd never thought of it that way!), to have people bicker about a certain animal's criterias and to hear the occasional meow. :)
The first Saturday of each month has been reserve din my calender for years now; it means I ask and beg and lament until I get the family's car for the day/weekend and drive to Cologne (30 minutes, practically around the corner). The main station is where I'm headed, track 11, block C, 11:30am is when and where the local anime fans have been meeting for years (well naturally not all of them) and these guys are my closest and dearest friends (wether or not I still share their obsession :P). After hanging around the station for roughly half an hour (used to be longer, we're getting old XD) we visit a comic/manga store (or stand around in front of it) and then head over to a Chinese restaurant (cuz Japanese food is way too expensive). If we do have a location (these days we do) this is where we spend the rest of the day and, if possible, the night.
This time was a little different. I left on the light of the car and when I returned after a few hours the battery was dead. Luckily a friend's car was nearby, we organized the required cables and I learned a) how to open the hood of the car and b) how to jump start it. I also learned c) the English vocabulary for the procedure. We took a longer way to our designate dlocation to give my car's battery the time to recharge, which it did nicely.
Still, even regarding the instructive nature of the events, I'd rather live without a repetition in the future.
So, a few days/weeks back I got a message on studiVZ; someone had noticed that I was a member of the Furry group and that I was from Bonn (45 minutes of daily commuting, there and back again, but close enough) and so she went ahead and invided me to their monthly meeting (every first Monday of a month); 6pm is a little late if you still have somewhat of a long drive back home, but I had never met other furries in real life (and hardly online) so I gave it a chance.
I was early, as I tend to be, and when a group gathered that I thought might be them I kept close, trying to grasp a bit of conversation that might hint at their origin, but I couldn't be sure. There had been a photo next to my invitation message, and you'd think I'd remember that or the name next to it, but no. ^^;; So at some point I decided that at the end of the day being shy got me nowehere and talked to the one girl of the group that I thought might resemble that photo. Good idea on my part, so I finally got to meet the first other people of the fandom. Great guys, very direct and open (I liked that), some wearing collars (reminded me of the one I own but haven't worn in years) and overall seeming very nice, but I was still rather nervous. XD I've never been asked before wether I was open-minded about sexual orientations (somehow that's assumed among anime fans and as a slasher... dunno, but I liked the direct approach).
What's really new to me is hearing abbreviations left and right and not knowing what they all mean (but I guess I'll figure it out in time). The more I hear about conventions the more I want to go, meetings of lots of dedicated fans tend to be awesome no matter what the topic. I remember attending a big tabletennis event with my brother and the atmosphere was intoxicating, I actually started playing (for a while anyway). However other than anime conventions I haven't been to many (and the Connichi is family, it's working there with friends that makes it fun) and the whole furry thing is still new to me... anyway, something to consider as soon as I'm not broke anymore.
Um yeah, so after waiting at the station (the rendezvous point XD) we decided to eat at Pizza Hut (I didn't feel particularly hungry, but then I never do when I'm nervous or when my stomach decides I should be) so I stuck to a small salat while everyone else was devouring insane amounts of pizza (or so it seemed to someone who can barely manage half a pizza herself). We talked and it was a fun evening, of a little late since I still had a bus to catch. Unfortunately I missed said bus and had to wait another 30 minutes and was home at about 10pm. I'll time that better next time. :)
All in all I'm really glad I went; it's surprisingly nice to have people ask for one's species, to remark that my liking of striped clothing fits my being a tiger (I'd never thought of it that way!), to have people bicker about a certain animal's criterias and to hear the occasional meow. :)