Hey everyone,
My 10th convention this year is a lot different than my normal cons, in fact this is a type of convention I didn't know if I would ever go to, and if I did... if I would enjoy myself. Furry Cons, you hear a lot about them... sadly what you hear a lot of is from the people who don't like them so you don't really know what to except of them. So when I found out I was going to one, I'll admit I was a bit out of the sorts not sure what to think of it. Though I am willing to try any type of event and get my own view. It's a good way to live, cause you never know what you're missing unless you are willing to give it a try.
This last weekend Miki needed me to help her get to two events, MidWest Fur Fest for Friday and Sunday, and Saturday we had to drive down to a Micky Dolenz (Monkee) concert. So a lot of driving and little sleep. This topic will only cover my two days at the Fur Fest (which was in Chicago). Like normal my review will have photos to follow and this time there will at least be one video put up. It's not in the TMNT memories section, since this event is not TMNT connected.
Miki as most of you know is an artist, so her goals were simple... get a table in Artist alley... my goal I thought was simple... find somewhere to get online to pester everyone on IRC. Though that wasn't till the evening so I had hours to walk around and get to know the convention. We got our badges and she went to the Artist Alley stuff, I met up with HotHead who was staffing the event for the video section. Talked with him for a bit as we watched people in Fur suits hanging out in the lobby. At this time I found free internet in the lobby.... ooohhh free internet
After sitting there for a bit, he had to go set up for video and I wanted to walk around a bit. I found myself checking to see if Miki got into artist alley, and she did. Than I went and found a room called the Den. The Den had food, drinks, computers and tables. A nice hang out, while there I found out that 6pm there was going to be a Pasta dinner up in the Con Suite on the top floor... so I decided I'll like to try and make it to that. I went in and talked with Miki a little, than walked around some more.
One of the things I really liked was that there was a charity there with dogs.
Rainbow Animal Assisted Therapy was there with their dogs to raise money. Rainbow Animal Assited Therapy is an oranization that works with trained, registered therapy dogs to help people, especially children, and those with special needs to improve their health, activities of daily living and quality of life. I would spend a lot of time at their booth getting to meet the different dogs brought in, and talk with the people about the dogs. It was really cool to learn about their work and how much good these dogs do. They had a few items for sale and a donation jar.
I talked with a lot of different people at the con and found myself enjoying this event. The people there were very friendly, the costume designs were great, and it was the first con where I was barely even touched let alone bumped into. My arm was more safe there, than any of my other events I've done this year. I saw a lot of hugging, cuddling, and petting going on around the crowd. Though it was all good friends, and family friendly.
True they did have their adult sections, which Fur cons are known for. But it is handled the same way as any anime, sifi or horror con handles it. To where anything not family friendly is covered up with stickers and such so people can bring their children to this event. And yes I did meet a lot of people who were into that sort of entertainment, but they were all very nice people and not pushing it on those around them. Over all it's one of the friendliest and respectful fandoms I've seen at a con.
I went up to the con suite where I got my pasta dinner and sat around talking with people. We talked a lot of TMNT there. People knew me from Totally Obsessed and so there was plenty to talk about. I shared photos and stories. I asked for people's thoughts on the new and the old TMNT. It was great, we spent a lot of time talking up stairs.
I came down stairs and found a problem though... the lobby internet was down and there was no other free internet provided by the hotel.... in fact people who got rooms had to pay $10/day for internet. So I tried for about an hour and a half to get online down in the lobby with no luck, so I went to the Den and asked them. They did not have any wifi in the Den, but they did have one cord that could be plugged in. Though I had to promise no web surfing or anything, that all I was doing was IRC. I kept my promise as I signed onto the internet and just started to talk with Phoenix and Fae... it's going on 10pm, so much later than I wanted to be on... Artist alley was to close at 10pm (than I was to hit the road for what was suppose to be a 5 hour drive).
As I was finally starting to relax with over 24 hours of no sleep.... a guy came into the Den telling everyone they have to leave the fire alarm is going off. So I went to pack up my computer, they tried to rush me... my line was "I already had one computer stolen from me this year, I'm not leaving without all my stuff on me." So I packed up all of my stuff.... and got lead out with everyone else from the hotel to stand outside with 15 degree weather.... COLD!!!!!!
We were out there for could have been a half hour. Pain was a strong thing for me at this time... pain... cold.... and tired.... I knew if I let the pain take me to the ground it could of got bad... cause of being over tired and super cold.... so I kept on my feet and talked with someone outside who knew me from myspace.
They than lead us in a hall and kept us there till the fire department allowed us back into the hotel. I went straight to Artist Alley and stood near Miki's stuff till she got there, we started to pack up than. I noticed a guy with masks behind us... so I went over and talked to him, the mouths on his masks worked so well it was really cool. He knew me from TV, so I talked Turtles with him and a lady at his table. His company was
Lion of the Sun. I hope that he can make it to a Michigan convention some time so I can show him some of my costume stuff home made and things I've bought.
Than Miki told me that we're going out to eat with Casey and a few others.... I was hoping just to hit the road so we could sleep when we got down to Cincinnati. We went out to eat and didn't get to hit the road till about 1am..... got to our hotel in Cincinnati at 8am... left Cincinnati back to Chicago 2am.. and got back to Chicago at 7am on Sunday morning....
Sunday review coming soon.
