Convention Things

Midwest FurFest
Originally uploaded by agius.

I went to Midwest FurFest this weekend. I had a blast, and met some really great folks. Say what you want about furries or the fandom in general, but I met more interesting people in 48 hours at a con than I do in 48 weeks otherwise.

At most conventions I go to, I spend most of my time hanging out with people. Chatting, in public areas, or back to someone's hotel room for some GameCube-related shenanigans. There are generally panels, tournaments (for DDR or Smash Bros.), dances, and many other things to do, but on the whole I skip most of them. I didn't go to any of the panel discussions, RPG's, the dance, or participate in the DDR tournament after qualifying for it. I didn't even take that many pictures - all but 3 of the good ones are on my Flickr set.

What I did do was meet some fantastic new people - too many to name here, honestly. You guys know who you are. I saw one of the new video game consoles, watched one of the funniest Picto-chats I have ever seen on a Nintendo DS, hung out with people I haven't seen for 8 months, and gave hugs to about 50 random strangers. I did play in the Smash Bros. Melee tournament, and did pretty well for not playing more than once a week on average. I came back without spending every dime I have. I dressed up, and even went fursuiting in my panda outfit for a while. I got professional photos of that done, but they didn't give me the web site of the company that did the photos, so I'm not sure how to get ahold of them.

I had a blast. I wish I could go to more of these things.

What's awesome is that after today, I leave to go home for Thanksgiving break. Two vacations back-to-back is hopefully going to provide the level of break I need from stressful projects.