The day of decisive destiny was upon us. We woke up around ten in the morning and Levi was rather antsy to get to the con. My friend, McFads, decided to whip up some breakfast for his visitors, a kind gesture. It was a rainy blah morning, so bacon and pancakes would bring much contentment. For a brief background, McFads is a pretty decent chef. (Rare for my group of friends, including myself) Even though pancakes come with foolproof instructions and are flipping easy to make. (tee hee) When I expected a delightful treat, I was instead brought down to my knees by the atrocious blackened and disfigured corpses of a normal breakfast meal. It was a massacre of my beloved fluffy heart-warming companion. After eating bacon and pancakes wet with tears of a destroyed feast, we finally set off to the furreh convention.
The ten minute drive there was the worst, my stomach tense with what the harsh world was going to throw my way momentarily. A vision of middle-aged horrors projecting their messed up sexual fantasies through drawings and dweebs dressing up in animal suits and going at it made me cringe and have a surge of regret for coming. My mind was racing as we approached the convention center. We hastily parked and started heading to register for the convention. All was well when we were walking ... OH SWEET BUTTER FUCK!!?! A FURSUIT BEHIND ME!! WALK FASTER. The escalator to the registration was reached and seemed as if it was chugging along as slow as a snail, but we finally arrived at the top. I didn't dare look behind me. I didn't want to see its blank face staring back at me. Urg. I don't think I was truly prepared for such a wide span image at the top for my mind to process. It was pretty overwhelming. I saw a few fursuits, endless spans of ears, tails, and paws. We shuffled over to the long wait in line for registration and awkwardly talked for a bit until we began to feel slightly more comfortable with the people in line. An hour and a few short conversations later, we got to the front of the line. Most of the people we interacted with were kind enough, at least there weren't any jerks so far. Our badges were in our posession! VICTORY, WE CAN LEAVE! I DID IT! Wait, no.
First up on the menu, dealer's room and artists alley. Levi and I walked into the humongous room, a combined artists alley, dealer's room, and art gallery. It was filled with individuals of all sorts and sizes. Observation #1: Much bigger than I imagined. Later to find out 3500+ were at the con. I saw probably 20 or more fursuits in this room, so I was sticking rather close to Levi. One thing that I did not want to be right now was alone. We browsed the dealer's section and the art was phenomenal. I was expecting to see a few sub-par artists there, but I was not disappointed in the least. Although expensive (Just cause I'm near broke), it was really neat to see artists I had heard of in person. My interest and comfort level were slowing waxing and my urge to buy drawings increased. Alright, not too bad. We headed over to artists alley and wandered through the talented artists' tables set up. It was quite the time. There were plenty of unique styles and interesting concepts that made me happy.
Levi and I then headed to the game room, the most comfortable I had been yet. It really weirded me out at first seeing a bear fursuit playing rock band, but I guess it comes with the turf. At this point, I was becoming more used to seeing fursuits and it was becoming more in my comfort zone. I wasn't freaking the shit out of my gourd whenever I saw one now. Now we found ourselves in a room filled with SSBB, BlazBlue, Rock Band, Street Fighter IV, and some freaking button-mashing music game. AH! YES! I played Brawl for a bit and Levi found a friend he knew, so they went off and I was left by myself. Night was slowly approaching and a new world was slowly unveiling itself.
Day 2 of Anthrocon ~ Survived and iffy about fursuits, kinda scared of em
Showing posts with label anthrocon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label anthrocon. Show all posts
5.7.09
A Tale of Furry Endeavors - Day 1
I've managed to muster up the courage in past years to explore the world of anime and gaming. They were quite the experiences, with new faces, new information, and unknown boundaries being broken. So that brings me to this weekend. Well, this was the first time I've ever ventured to a furry convention. I ventured to Anthrocon, which just happens to be one of the biggest furry conventions. (I think?) This was the mother of the masses, unable to be topped by other gatherings in the furry world/ community. Honestly, when I considered going a few years ago, I shared the same feelings as a man without an oxygen tank plunging into the unknown depths of the oceans, oblivious to the lurking monsters in the murky water. I was half expecting to see the devil himself take the form of this Pittsburgh convention center and deliver it straight unto the fiery pits of hell. A little before, my bud Levi happened to ask if I would like to go with him and create a grand duo for the adventure. It sounded more like a painful extraction from the normal world into some twisted, sex-filled get-together. Now was time to think.
I thought to myself, well, what's the worst that could happen? If I sorted through the worst situations in my head and go, I probably would be rewarded with a better situation than thought and a better outlook overall. I soon discovered this was not the best method for reassurance, for it just ripped and tore at my brain with disturbing images and painful mental consequences for attending. I was going to be with Levi though, not alone, so I figured if I felt uncomfortable, I could just leave and never return. Test the waters, if it's dangerous, GET OUT. It was decided, I would bite the bullet and give it a shot. Everything is worth a try at least once, right? Except for rabies, not a good thing to try. Anyway, what did I have to lose? Respect? Dignity? Pffffft, poppycock, those are for chumps. I strapped myself in for a self-pushed roller coaster ride through uncharted filth and undocumented horrors.
The day finally came and the time to leave was upon us. It was a sunny day that welcomed a reunion of two rocking individuals. We met up at school and then took off from there. There was a long six hour drive ahead of us, but we were ready and raring to go. Six plus hours of road was nothing to stop us, even as unsure as I was. It seems, as usual, being in a car for many hours is no reason to skimp out on our idiocy. Levi and I took multiple random car stops for running around the car, pictures and doing unprecedented stupid shit. The journey didn't seem nearly as long as it should have, but from uncontrolled yelling, flailing, and spazing, energy left us eventually. By the time we arrived in the city of Pitt, bed was seeming like a wonderful idea. As soon as we got into the city, a wrong turn was made, leading us down a dreary path to a run-down gas station. I wish this was the shifty part of the city, but no, it was the double shifty section. We got eyed up and two guys were whispering and looking at us, so we quickly got the hell out of there, bodies intact.
After thirty minutes of mindless wandering the Pitt's lands, we got to our destination! The convention center was open, but registration was closed. So, being declined registration and such, we talked to the 4 con admins and we were on our way to check what was up tonight. The night life was quite booming. People were all around, lights, noise, the usual, but something wasn't right. Furry observation #1: Not as nerdy as expected. I didn't assume this is how all furries were. I was just fairly confident that anti-sociability was a plague in the fandom. It seemed like a usual nightlife, just sprinkled with random ears, tails, and paws. Strange, but not so bad.
We wandered the world in search of food, giving up and giving in to McD's. In this search for consumables, we didn't stumble across very many furries, so we ate our food and drove back to my friend's apartment where we were staying. Two of my friends were up visiting, so we mingled with them briefly and then went off to bed.
Night 1 of Anthrocon ~ Survived
<~MISSION ACCOMPLISHED~>
I thought to myself, well, what's the worst that could happen? If I sorted through the worst situations in my head and go, I probably would be rewarded with a better situation than thought and a better outlook overall. I soon discovered this was not the best method for reassurance, for it just ripped and tore at my brain with disturbing images and painful mental consequences for attending. I was going to be with Levi though, not alone, so I figured if I felt uncomfortable, I could just leave and never return. Test the waters, if it's dangerous, GET OUT. It was decided, I would bite the bullet and give it a shot. Everything is worth a try at least once, right? Except for rabies, not a good thing to try. Anyway, what did I have to lose? Respect? Dignity? Pffffft, poppycock, those are for chumps. I strapped myself in for a self-pushed roller coaster ride through uncharted filth and undocumented horrors.
The day finally came and the time to leave was upon us. It was a sunny day that welcomed a reunion of two rocking individuals. We met up at school and then took off from there. There was a long six hour drive ahead of us, but we were ready and raring to go. Six plus hours of road was nothing to stop us, even as unsure as I was. It seems, as usual, being in a car for many hours is no reason to skimp out on our idiocy. Levi and I took multiple random car stops for running around the car, pictures and doing unprecedented stupid shit. The journey didn't seem nearly as long as it should have, but from uncontrolled yelling, flailing, and spazing, energy left us eventually. By the time we arrived in the city of Pitt, bed was seeming like a wonderful idea. As soon as we got into the city, a wrong turn was made, leading us down a dreary path to a run-down gas station. I wish this was the shifty part of the city, but no, it was the double shifty section. We got eyed up and two guys were whispering and looking at us, so we quickly got the hell out of there, bodies intact.
After thirty minutes of mindless wandering the Pitt's lands, we got to our destination! The convention center was open, but registration was closed. So, being declined registration and such, we talked to the 4 con admins and we were on our way to check what was up tonight. The night life was quite booming. People were all around, lights, noise, the usual, but something wasn't right. Furry observation #1: Not as nerdy as expected. I didn't assume this is how all furries were. I was just fairly confident that anti-sociability was a plague in the fandom. It seemed like a usual nightlife, just sprinkled with random ears, tails, and paws. Strange, but not so bad.
We wandered the world in search of food, giving up and giving in to McD's. In this search for consumables, we didn't stumble across very many furries, so we ate our food and drove back to my friend's apartment where we were staying. Two of my friends were up visiting, so we mingled with them briefly and then went off to bed.
Night 1 of Anthrocon ~ Survived
<~MISSION ACCOMPLISHED~>
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