Well it was an interesting Con that is for sure, a few standard things happened and in general not a lot of issues which was nice = aka things ran fair smooth for the most part, which is always a nice thing at a con.
We arrived early Friday morning just past 9am, got our badges and reported in for unofficial duty which means we ended up roving around the con space taking in what was going on and getting familiar with the layout (or in my case putting what I had worked on for the con book into physical perspective). Until our official shift started at which point we settled in to things then went to do our Canine Meet and Greet (which actually ended up having more furs in attendance then we where expecting to have, since at 6pm when it was scheduled tends to be a common time for many furs to be going for dinner – which we where blessed with about 20 furs who attend it with us – for which we where most pleased). After that we started our second shift of the day and then after shift went for our first bite to eat of the day (yes that means Kantu and I went from about 7am till close to 10pm without putting food into ourselves – which wasn’t a good thing at all).
We actually chose to splurge and ended up going to Jack Asters (I’d never actually until now ever been there before, I know of about it yes but had never gone to one) – for one it was the only place open that late that actually served food that I am able to eat (got to love allergies to various foods) so we went there and I actually was surprised at how good the food actually was and the service was excellent as well – our waiter made us feel appreciated even though he forgot our 15% discount when it came time for the bill (it happens). Kantu had a Burger with Fries while I ended up with the Shanghi Lettuce Wrap mmmmm talk about delish and blllllleeep spicy! After that we headed back to the hotel and watched a little TV before falling asleep only to have to wake up like 4 or so hours later to get ready for our first shift of the day.
Saturday dawned early and bright, we got up at 6am to get ready for our first shift which was to last until noon at which point we’d have a few hours off to do as we chose before things for the fursuit group photo shoot was to take place followed by the parade. We spent a good hour in the lounge talking with various furs and in general just relaxing (and Kantu getting a bit to eat while I watched on) till we knew we had to get to our room and get into our suits.
Got into our suits and headed down to the gathering area and waiting for stuff to happen – they ended up doing the suiters in 4 groups which took some time to complete since there was over 200 suiters to position and go though. After everyone had been gone though the parade started, and that went fair well though all I do remember from it is that I was almost 100% deaf in my suit (seem’s my hearing has gotten worse then I remember it being while in suit – which is annoying since I know its an issue as it is already). But at any rate things progressed and soon we where back where we started and almost everyone was taking their heads off to breath and cool down. At which point I was making plans on what I was going to be doing with the group shots and trying to go though what I had seen in my head and pre-plan how I was going to get things working to look as natural as possible in the time frame that I had open to me to do so.
Once people started leaving we headed off to make sure things where alright and if there was anything we needed to do before our second shift started, turned out that ya there was stuff to do and that it had a deadline attached to it – that being as early in the morning as possible (once dealers den opened) that the con fur suit pic needed to be ready for delivery to be printed and sold. So we got the images from Red Wolf Photography (he was the one who took the group shots and was doing the individual suit photos as well in the dealers den, which can be downloaded until August 1st of this year) and loaded them onto the laptop (while that was going on Kantu and I went to grab food once again from Jack Asters and brought it back to the hotel so I could continue working on the image) and one loaded I started going though the images he’d given me and started picking the best ones from each set to work into a larger format print.
I ended up not pulling the second shift do to various reasons, but mostly do to the fact that I had to keep what I was doing under wraps and there was no “safe” space to work on the project at the location we where stationed at, so ended up asking Pearl to cover my shift so I could work on the project. Not long after that about an hour or less Kantu comes up and ends up staying with me having been told to come and keep me company, which was nice of them to do. Got the prelim up and running and stitched so headed down to con-ops to show the chairs what I’d come up with and to tweak it further as necessary which meant that by time it was completed it was the early morning hours.
But that wasn’t the end of the day, we got back to our room only to smell something that wasn’t right. Which in the end meant that hotel management ended up switching us to another room do to allergies and what not being an issue – all of this meant that instead of hitting the hay and being able to get up for 8am we ended up sleeping in until just before my second panel was to take place at 10am – so needless to say we didn’t get much rest at all nor what rest we did get was peaceful or for that matter restful.
Sunday Blindsight Wolf (the con’s co-chair) and I gave our Spirituality panel like we do each year (or have dun for the past two years at any rate) and unlike in years past it wasn’t as well attended as it had been – I think the 10am time slot was to blame since many furs at that point in time where in the process of packing up and checking out, so not able to attend panels that they other wise would have dun so. After the panel Kantu and I packed things up in our room and checked out, by then it was getting time for our last shift of the day before closing ceremonies would be taking place.
All in all the weekend went well, the dealer who was selling the prints of the group photo donated a portion of the sale of each print to the con (or to the charity don’t remember which it was) but at any rate he was going a good run of it enough so that he ran out of ink more then once in the process of doing so apparently, don’t think he was expecting the number of fur’s to be ordering the prints that was happening.
Closing ceremonies went well, we learned that we have in attendance over the course of the weekend over 700 furs of which over 200 where suiters, so almost a 25% increase over last years suiters, which was a great thing to see and hear. It was also announced what next years theme will be, that being the Circus (which was theme we’d been debating about for the past 6 months on and off) so with that in place for 2014 everyone has an idea of what to put together for their suit or look for the next FE convention.
I enjoyed the weekend for the most part, didn’t really get enough down time to actually enjoy enjoy it but over all it was fun to be there for the most part, would have loved to have had time to go swimming or just to relax more then a few moments here and there – but its how it is when you choose to work a con instead of being just someone who is attending (don’t think I could ever just attend a con Ive been working them for to long to really ever just attend it does feel/seem).
Well take care everyone, will be postings pics and badges over the course of the week and into the rest of the month as I get them finished.
Wolfka
aka Nyxks
aka CC