Summary
Well Kantu and I got back from being at Furnal Equinox last night (got in about 10pm), talk about being tuckered out after – didn’t realize how tired I really was until trying to wake up this morning (that so didn’t go well – I did’t really won’t to get UP!).
The con was interesting, many new faces, fursonas, and several others who I’ve gotten to know over the years I’ve been involved over the years in FE and the local furry community – it was great to meet everyone, old and new alike. Sadly I wasn’t able to talk with everyone that I would have liked to have chatted with during my time at the con, but such is life. If I missed saying hello to you, here’s a belated one to you from me ::grins::
Out side of that, I spent my time between floating around the con helping out as asked and manning Kantu’s dealers table, to which he was selling mostly fursuit related items (paws, tails, and a suit) but I also had several pieces of my own art work up plus baked goods. We had a number of sales, though not as many as other’s we didn’t alright for our first time having a dealers table in the dealers den (and if we do it again next year, a few things will be changed which isn’t a bad thing just called a learning experience).
Gave out almost all my business cards that I had brought with me and had a few people looking at the cards and asking questions about my personal outside of the furdom business options – so might yet see something from a few in that regards, which would be cool.
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Thuesday
Kantu and I arrived on Thursday afternoon (around 4pm – several hours later then we’d planned on arriving thanks to traffic and a few other things happening our lives that day), got our room without issue save we where on the wait list for a fridge (which we never did get) not to pleased with that, but I knew when I asked for it that it would be a first come first serve deal to start with so I’d made sure to bring a couple of chests so I could keep my med’s cool (unfortunately that turned out to be its own issue over the course of the weekend).
We settled in and then went down to get our badges for the weekend, plus to see what the damage to the conbook really was (I know the original and I’d seen the digital print of what as going to be printed) and oi oi oi the digital copy didn’t express the true scope of the mess up that had actually taken place – needless to say its not something that will be making its way into my portfolio (without printing out pages of the original file at least as a comparison option).
So after that I headed off to Con Ops to see what was going on and to pick up anything that I’d be needing over the course of the con, and make sure all files that I’d uploaded for the con had been actually gotten (and they had), after picking up what was needed Kantu and I head back up to our room to have dinner and relax since we had to be up early enough to get into the dealers den to set up kantu’s table and me off to a meeting.
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Friday
Woke up just past 755am and started getting things together to take down to the dealers den and in the process made up breakfast (for allergy reasons eating the breakfast that is in hotel isn’t a option so we brought our own that I could eat without risking an allergic reaction), after that I helped Kantu get the first load down to the dealers den and then headed off to my meeting.
After the meeting I headed back to the dealers den to see how things where going for Kantu, turned out he was progressing well with setting things up, just a few things needed to be finished and that was soon taken care of. I popped up to our room and got my laptop and wacom tablet, got back to the dealers table and must have spent the next hour or so fighting with the printer trying to get my laptop and it to talk to each other (they had talked just fine at home, yet for what ever reason under the sun where not on speaking terms – never did figure out why, but they did eventually start talking again). Once things where connected I tried to print out several of my files that I’d spaced on while at home only to find out that for what ever reason the files hadn’t been transferred to the cloud (yet I had seen them there before we left – yet at the con there was no sign of them for some reason).
So after printing off what files I had on my laptop since I couldn’t print the files I’d specifically been set up to showcase my badges and art work in general – I set up my part of the display on the table, and with the brain I had at the time totally forgetting to put up the two current badges that i’d actually printed out and made ready for the con, yet forgot to take off (I was wearing it instead of displaying it ::Facepaws::)
After everything was set up and going things started to pick up and the fun Paw Print Pride Badges that I’d dun up actually started selling (and became semi popular of the items we had to sell). Sold a few of my Gluten n Dairy Free cupcakes, cookies and brownies as well, which was good (just not as many as I’d been expecting to be able to sell).
Meet and talked with several furs over the course of the day and tweeted several things over the time of the day, mostly from my business account – kept forgetting to log into my personal account to tweet (but then again the table was under my business account and what not so stands to reason) at any rate Opening ceremonies took place and went well though getting told that ComCon and Department Staff was going to be called up onto the stage was less then great to degrees (no issues being on stage but I’m not a fan of lights in my eyes), but it went well regardless.
When dealers den closed for the evening at 6pm Kantu and I headed back up to our room with the intent of getting read to head out for dinner – that never happened as we got doing other things and I just felt totally out of it (didn’t feel like driving at all and looking at the places that where in walking distance just didn’t cut it – cost wise to pricy and on top of it allergy issues just meant it wasn’t a option and time we could have ordered was to late the place had closed for delivery, so ended up eating some of the junk we’d brought with us. Not a great option and totally NOT good for my glucose control on any level which spiked like crazy (and I had no fast acting insulin to counter act anything I was going to eat – the box I had though I had checked before we left turned out to be empty – seems I’d picked up the wrong case on the way out the door). Only saving grace was that I had my Lantus with me so I just took more of that then I normally should and it didn’t bring it down fast but by time Saturday morning came around it was under 7 (not a great number but better then the 16 that it had been at).
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Saturday
Woke up early yet again so we could have breakfast and get Kantu into the dealers den while I went off to the meeting, after the meeting back to dealers den to make sure everything was going well for Kantu (and it was) sat down and talked with a few people then got up and did my rounds making sure everything was going well for the various people (and making sure the suiters I saw where staying hydrated – seems many of them where new and really didn’t understand that they needed to stay hydrated while in suit). Spent the day in and out of the dealers den, never did get into the Photo Booth like I had planned to see how things where going there (popped my head in to make sure it was alright, but it was busy and seemed to be going well so just turned around and continued on my way.
Not sure how much time I spent in the dealers den on Saturday, but might have been 50% of the time might have been less I don’t really remember. But I did end up with a couple of commissions that I took on to keep busy while there and make a little extra funds for Kantu. When dealers closed for the day Kantu and I got into the van and drove over to Swiss Chalet to get dinner, I actually got a decent meal and was pleased with what I ordered and the service was actually better then we remembered it being the previous year enough so that we actually gave a good tip this time round instead of nothing (as in bad service = 0 tip, good equals proportionate tip).
Got back to the hotel and I started working on the commission while Kantu played on his tablet and we both listened to what ever movie it was that was playing on Show Case and then what ever shows where showing on Home and Garden Network (we don’t watch TV at home outside of what ever Netflix and YouTube can show us), can’t say the shows where interesting because I don’t even remember them which goes to show that they didn’t hold my attention outside of being background noise to have while i was working on things.
Got to bed at a semi decent hour but didn’t sleep very well unfortunately.
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Sunday
Was not easy to wake up Sunday, woke up with the alarm and I so wonted to go back to bed but get up we both did have breakfast and got ready to start the day. During making breakfast we both finished packing up our gear and choosing what would be taken down to the dealers den vs put into the van since we had to check out by 11am. We had breakfast and I helped Kantu get the first load of stuff down to the main area to take out to the van and headed off to the meeting, after which I went into the dealers den to see if he was there yet and he wasn’t so I headed back to our room and helped him get the rest of our gear down to dealers den – more like helped get part of it down enough so I could start setting things up again while he finished doing what needed doing to get everything out of the room.
Time he arrived back I’d gotten almost everything set up and had sold a few things in the process. Even dun a few tweets and FB postings. In short order his friend arrived who was suppose to have been there earlier so we all could have gotten into suit and dun the last group photo as it was that never happened (we just never had the time to get into suit do go to any of the times that where open for the group shoots). So instead he and his friend made plans to get into suit and at least do a few shoots in the photo booth – I opted out of doing that and said I’d get dad to do a session with us later on and I will.
The rest of the morning went well selling several items and taking a couple more commissions, by time the appointed hour came around for Kantu and his friend things where going well at the table so they took off and I settled into manning the table. During the course of this there was someone who wonted to commission Kantu to make something for her, we talked over what it was that she was looking for and I gave her a base quote about what it could cost and she thought it was reasonable and put down her deposit, needless to say when Kantu got back he was a little shocked at the fact that he’d gotten a complete commission something he’d wonted to get while at com, but wasn’t expecting to actually get a commitment of it (as in people had said they wonted to commission him but only she had put down a deposit to show she was serious and the like).
Time Kantu got back things where starting to slow down, people where starting to leave the convention and you could tell that it was thinning out. Around 4pm it was getting rather dead in dealers den so we started unloading some of the stuff we’d already had on sale and slashed prices up to 75% off the first days prices which generated several more sales which was helpful and go figure while I was out doing a run someone came by the table and was still there when I got back and was wishing to make a commission of one of my 8 Bit badges that I’d put on display. So got his FA information and took the payment and added him to my Que for digital art (I’d finished my commissions for the weekend and was by then only making commission for after con work – mail out or digital only). In short order we actually started packing up things around 530pm mostly because the den was dying down and Closing Ceremonies was coming up at 6pm (also when what den would close to the public), so we put things away to degrees and headed off to the closing ceremonies, which turned out to be most interesting.
Attendance for the entire con at hit an all time high of 1051 people up form the 900+ who had been in attendance last year which was great to hear. The tally for the number of fursuiters for the parade hit almost 300, levelling out at 280+ and then came the figures for the charity auction now that was impressive to say the least, but before we got that number they did one final auction (a box that at the time no one in the audience knew the contents of – bidding started slow but grew by the end of it 550.00 was the final bid for the contents in the box that where unknown, the winner was invited onstage to open the box and show what was in the box, turned out to have a few items in it that where good I guess, a scarf, game of thrown cards, a figure and a few other items. The person seemed pleased enough for the items (though might have been disappointed not sure). After that we got told the final total for the charity auction and it was exactly 9k at which point someone in the audience raced up to the stage and gave the Chair a few dollar to tip it over the 9k mark and a few moments later another person announced that the coins that where put into his game during the course of the con where also being donated to the charity – so turned out that the Mississauga Humane Society donation topped 9k+
After that the announcement for what Furnal Equinox 2016 would be began and it was an interesting skit they had worked out, cheese but dun well in general – the theme for FE2016 is SUPER HEROS ::grins:: and some of the promotional badge work that had been put out there for people to grab is good art that is for sure.
With that Closing Ceremonies was over and it was the end of another season of Furnal Equinox, Kantu and I headed back to the dealers den to pack up our stuff and get it into the van – that took about an hour to do, longer then we where expecting it to which means by time we did get it pack up I was not feeling very good at all. I tested my glucose levels only to find out I was at mmol 1.8 (32) that is a new low for me I never though I’d see myself go that low and still be on my feet. Needless to say, the first words out of my mouth was “where’s the pop?” to which Kantu was like “no idea” so I grabbed the crispy bar that was in the van totally forgetting that I had glucose tabs in my pouch for such emergencies – just goes to show that pop is the first thing I think of to treat a low and not the glucose tabs. At any rate I was foolish and ate the bar and then drove the van to a near by place to get dinner (hind site being what it is I was foolish to drive and Kantu was foolish for letting me drive [but he though I was alright because I said I was], I really should never have driven regardless of how good i was feeling = I got lucky this time).
Got to the place my brain was thinking of and we went in and got food, I ate way more then I normally do when it comes to sushi (even vegan sushi) and in short order my glucose was hitting mmol 12 (216) I blame the full sugar pepsi that I ordered (uncommon for me since when eating out I tend to always just order water and sip from what ever Kantu orders) for the sugar spike more then the white rice from the sushi (though I am sure that was part of the spike), when we got home I tested again and was at mmol 10.2 (183) so coming down from the sugar/carb boost. Unloaded the van and put the dirty clothing into the washer and started unpacking more of the stuff so we wouldn’t have as much to unpack the next day.
Got to our bedroom and Kantu got Minecraft up and running, started playing that and in short order I was starting to fall asleep yet trying to stay awake to play minecraft – i lost the battle and fell asleep i think with the controller in my hands (don’t remember, all i do know is that i woke up under the covers and the controller was on my laptop where it lives when not in use).