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~artiecoon0
So I'm this brown raccoon thing, and my main use for FA is to maximize my daily raccoon intake, which remains grossly insufficient.
I'm nominally a watcher; my creative skills extend to writing non-fiction and guitar noodling.
You can find me on the Twitters at @azzycoon and on the Skypes at tehrakune.
I'm currently living in London, UK, but in an alarmingly short period of time will be moving to Montreal, Canada, where I will be living the dream of having a job doing statistics within a five minute walk of raccoons.
(I am the other half of , and whilst I am loath to use this as an identifying feature, chances are if you're met him then you've met me - I was just hidden by his hair.)
I'm nominally a watcher; my creative skills extend to writing non-fiction and guitar noodling.
You can find me on the Twitters at @azzycoon and on the Skypes at tehrakune.
I'm currently living in London, UK, but in an alarmingly short period of time will be moving to Montreal, Canada, where I will be living the dream of having a job doing statistics within a five minute walk of raccoons.
(I am the other half of , and whilst I am loath to use this as an identifying feature, chances are if you're met him then you've met me - I was just hidden by his hair.)
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Recent Journal
Confuzzled 2013
11 years ago
Rite, so if a convention isn't a sufficient catalyst to writing a journal on here, I don't know what is...
ceeeph (aka CF) and I went to Confuzzled (aka CFz). (It is fortunate that the existence of Califur necessitates the addition of a 'z' to its abbreviation, because even as it was CF's name caused some amusement.) He had it first, though, so really they should be paying him royalties, or something.
It was CF's first con, and only my second (my first was AC '05, which I can barely remember), and we were a little bit skeptical/nervous about it. Fortunately, it was awesome! I can't be bothered to try and write things up properly, so instead here's a quick list of various things I want to try and remember:
Thursday
We were a bit late to arrive, as our lift forgot his passport (which he wasn't even asked for in the end...) but still got there with plenty of time to check in before the first event we knew we wanted to go to: the quiz! Now, those who know us know that CF and I are into quizzes in a pretty big way - we've been on more than our share of televised shows (with more to come later in the year: watch this space) - so we tend to approach a new quiz like an oenophile approaching a new wine (i.e. drunkenly and pretentiously). We got recruited into the staff team, which apparently meant we couldn't win (boo), but also meant we were with some awesome dudes (yay), so that was fun.
The quiz itself, from a "how would I feel if I'd written this?" perspective, was better than expected, although seemed to suffer a little from being difficulty-driven rather than question-driven. (That is to say, there were a few too many questions for my liking that were hard, but not particularly fun.) There was a good range of topics, though, and I think nearly everyone on the team chipped in with some inspired answers, which is always a good sign. In the end we wouldn't have won anyway, coming about third, I think, but it was a nice warm-up to the convention.
All of this had been accompanied by beer, of course, as was the remainder of the evening. This was a theme that would, inevitably, repeat itself over the course of the convention.
Friday
Up ridiculously early for breakfast (by which I mean, in the morning), mercifully not too hung over. Not being too bothered about early entry for sponsors, we wandered over to the dealers den after the rush and poked about a bit. I had completely forgotten how one is supposed to operate in this environment, until one of our friends spotted us looking lost and showed us the ropes. I do wonder if I will ever feel comfortable flicking through someone's folder of prints, with them knowing I am right there silently judging their worth. Still, found some cool stuff and some cool artists, and commissioned a couple for some stuff post-con which is theoretically in the pipeline.
Later onto the sponsor buffet, which was ok, but a bit lacking for vegetarians (although obviously this was to be expected: it's not like we were being sponsors for the food), and it was accompanied by some fursuit charades. I have a photo somewhere of the hotel staff watching this play out - their facial expressions are priceless.
Next up: Smash Bros. tournament! Which started about 40 minutes late, which wasn't ideal, but the tournament itself was pretty fun. I was predictably rubbish, whereas CF briefly dabbled with success before a really unfortunate floor collapse killed off his chances in the next round.
Skillfully, I managed to knock myself out of the tournament just in time to go and 'run' the co-op board gaming event. I use inverted commas because all I'd agree to do was 'help out' with board gaming, and then the next thing I know my name is in the conbook running an event! All I can say to the person responsible (who shall remain nameless) is well played. The event itself was pretty fun, albeit a nightmare to try and run as I can only really demo one board game at a time. Still, we played Flash Point: Fire Rescue (think Pandemic, but with FIRE!), and managed one overwhelming defeat followed by one very close victory, so all in not bad.
After this, we were supposed to be playing in the Halo tournament, but alas the disorganization of the video gaming room continued, and after a while we decided to call it quits and head to the bar. It turned out this would be the night to get absolutely smashed. Ended up talking to all sorts of people, including a veritable hit parade of furries I hadn't seen in years, which was a slightly surreal experience. Went to bed way too late, and way too drunk.
Saturday
Oh boy. If there's one thing worse than a hangover, it's a hangover where you have to get up before 10am if you want breakfast. This morning could best be described as 'delicate'. Still, we just about survived, caught a bit of the fursuit parade out of our bedroom window, and then hopped (by which I mean shuffled very slowly and carefully) to Kandrel's 'mastermind' writing session. Turned out this was about writing geniuses, and not about shoe-horning quiz shows into your furry porn, but good fun nonetheless.
We'd planned to drop by the chainmail workshop, but it looked a bit busy, so instead we headed for ferret racing, which was fun, but after one race we decided we could imagine what the rest would be like, so nipped out to find some lunch. Just as we were about to head to the improv event CF got rung by Con Ops who were hoping he could come and use his magical doctor powers to heal someone. While he did that I went and looked at some ferrets, who were asleep and therefore adorable. Eventually CF had healed the guy (or, rather, not killed him), so we regrouped and headed to the Savannah Revolution concert. This was...an experience. The music aside, though, I once again revelled in the awkwardness of furries: we are not very good at audience participation.
Predictably, the concert overran, which meant we arrived at the Short Story competition just as they'd finished reading all the stories, which was a bit disappointing. Still, it was nice to have a quiet sit down for a bit (because apparently I'm 50) before we queued up for Pawpets.
Pawpets was excellent (and was the first time during the con where the scale of what was being put on by volunteers really sunk in). The only downside was that CF was whisked away at half time to see to the chap he didn't kill earlier, because apparently they wanted to see if he couldn't kill him again. Apparently he was successful, which was nice, and the rest of the evening panned out with us somehow drinking more alcohol, despite waking up with the resolution to never drink again.
Sunday
After such a hectic Saturday, Sunday was decidedly more relaxed. We went along to the furry hypnotism event, which was another experience, but ducked out early to catch the second half of another writing event (3 ways to write a plot). I was tempted by the voice acting workshop, but it was super busy so instead we headed to the art auction, which was super fun. As most attendees know it ended with an epic battle where a guy paid £3,500 for one piece of art. We were sitting right behind him so had this fascinating view of what was obviously torture.
The fursuit dance contest followed, which was another event that exceeded expectations, before the closing ceremony rounded things off. The crowd's ovation for the hotel staff in particular will stand out in my memory: I do wonder if they realize how much this fandom cares about feeling welcome somewhere.
Oh, and then we had some more beer.
Monday
A weird morning as the building gradually shifted from a convention back to a hotel. Although admittedly not helped by the fact my body had finally succumbed to some sort of illness. We briefly got roped into carrying some things around, before the lift back home to normality.
Final thoughts
Overall, a really surreal, but awesome few days. For the first time I think I've felt a genuine pang of regret about the fact we're leaving the country. As it stands we're hoping to make it back next year, although obviously being across the pond will make things a little more inconvenient (and a lot more expensive), but con afterglow makes us think it's worth it.
ceeeph (aka CF) and I went to Confuzzled (aka CFz). (It is fortunate that the existence of Califur necessitates the addition of a 'z' to its abbreviation, because even as it was CF's name caused some amusement.) He had it first, though, so really they should be paying him royalties, or something.
It was CF's first con, and only my second (my first was AC '05, which I can barely remember), and we were a little bit skeptical/nervous about it. Fortunately, it was awesome! I can't be bothered to try and write things up properly, so instead here's a quick list of various things I want to try and remember:
Thursday
We were a bit late to arrive, as our lift forgot his passport (which he wasn't even asked for in the end...) but still got there with plenty of time to check in before the first event we knew we wanted to go to: the quiz! Now, those who know us know that CF and I are into quizzes in a pretty big way - we've been on more than our share of televised shows (with more to come later in the year: watch this space) - so we tend to approach a new quiz like an oenophile approaching a new wine (i.e. drunkenly and pretentiously). We got recruited into the staff team, which apparently meant we couldn't win (boo), but also meant we were with some awesome dudes (yay), so that was fun.
The quiz itself, from a "how would I feel if I'd written this?" perspective, was better than expected, although seemed to suffer a little from being difficulty-driven rather than question-driven. (That is to say, there were a few too many questions for my liking that were hard, but not particularly fun.) There was a good range of topics, though, and I think nearly everyone on the team chipped in with some inspired answers, which is always a good sign. In the end we wouldn't have won anyway, coming about third, I think, but it was a nice warm-up to the convention.
All of this had been accompanied by beer, of course, as was the remainder of the evening. This was a theme that would, inevitably, repeat itself over the course of the convention.
Friday
Up ridiculously early for breakfast (by which I mean, in the morning), mercifully not too hung over. Not being too bothered about early entry for sponsors, we wandered over to the dealers den after the rush and poked about a bit. I had completely forgotten how one is supposed to operate in this environment, until one of our friends spotted us looking lost and showed us the ropes. I do wonder if I will ever feel comfortable flicking through someone's folder of prints, with them knowing I am right there silently judging their worth. Still, found some cool stuff and some cool artists, and commissioned a couple for some stuff post-con which is theoretically in the pipeline.
Later onto the sponsor buffet, which was ok, but a bit lacking for vegetarians (although obviously this was to be expected: it's not like we were being sponsors for the food), and it was accompanied by some fursuit charades. I have a photo somewhere of the hotel staff watching this play out - their facial expressions are priceless.
Next up: Smash Bros. tournament! Which started about 40 minutes late, which wasn't ideal, but the tournament itself was pretty fun. I was predictably rubbish, whereas CF briefly dabbled with success before a really unfortunate floor collapse killed off his chances in the next round.
Skillfully, I managed to knock myself out of the tournament just in time to go and 'run' the co-op board gaming event. I use inverted commas because all I'd agree to do was 'help out' with board gaming, and then the next thing I know my name is in the conbook running an event! All I can say to the person responsible (who shall remain nameless) is well played. The event itself was pretty fun, albeit a nightmare to try and run as I can only really demo one board game at a time. Still, we played Flash Point: Fire Rescue (think Pandemic, but with FIRE!), and managed one overwhelming defeat followed by one very close victory, so all in not bad.
After this, we were supposed to be playing in the Halo tournament, but alas the disorganization of the video gaming room continued, and after a while we decided to call it quits and head to the bar. It turned out this would be the night to get absolutely smashed. Ended up talking to all sorts of people, including a veritable hit parade of furries I hadn't seen in years, which was a slightly surreal experience. Went to bed way too late, and way too drunk.
Saturday
Oh boy. If there's one thing worse than a hangover, it's a hangover where you have to get up before 10am if you want breakfast. This morning could best be described as 'delicate'. Still, we just about survived, caught a bit of the fursuit parade out of our bedroom window, and then hopped (by which I mean shuffled very slowly and carefully) to Kandrel's 'mastermind' writing session. Turned out this was about writing geniuses, and not about shoe-horning quiz shows into your furry porn, but good fun nonetheless.
We'd planned to drop by the chainmail workshop, but it looked a bit busy, so instead we headed for ferret racing, which was fun, but after one race we decided we could imagine what the rest would be like, so nipped out to find some lunch. Just as we were about to head to the improv event CF got rung by Con Ops who were hoping he could come and use his magical doctor powers to heal someone. While he did that I went and looked at some ferrets, who were asleep and therefore adorable. Eventually CF had healed the guy (or, rather, not killed him), so we regrouped and headed to the Savannah Revolution concert. This was...an experience. The music aside, though, I once again revelled in the awkwardness of furries: we are not very good at audience participation.
Predictably, the concert overran, which meant we arrived at the Short Story competition just as they'd finished reading all the stories, which was a bit disappointing. Still, it was nice to have a quiet sit down for a bit (because apparently I'm 50) before we queued up for Pawpets.
Pawpets was excellent (and was the first time during the con where the scale of what was being put on by volunteers really sunk in). The only downside was that CF was whisked away at half time to see to the chap he didn't kill earlier, because apparently they wanted to see if he couldn't kill him again. Apparently he was successful, which was nice, and the rest of the evening panned out with us somehow drinking more alcohol, despite waking up with the resolution to never drink again.
Sunday
After such a hectic Saturday, Sunday was decidedly more relaxed. We went along to the furry hypnotism event, which was another experience, but ducked out early to catch the second half of another writing event (3 ways to write a plot). I was tempted by the voice acting workshop, but it was super busy so instead we headed to the art auction, which was super fun. As most attendees know it ended with an epic battle where a guy paid £3,500 for one piece of art. We were sitting right behind him so had this fascinating view of what was obviously torture.
The fursuit dance contest followed, which was another event that exceeded expectations, before the closing ceremony rounded things off. The crowd's ovation for the hotel staff in particular will stand out in my memory: I do wonder if they realize how much this fandom cares about feeling welcome somewhere.
Oh, and then we had some more beer.
Monday
A weird morning as the building gradually shifted from a convention back to a hotel. Although admittedly not helped by the fact my body had finally succumbed to some sort of illness. We briefly got roped into carrying some things around, before the lift back home to normality.
Final thoughts
Overall, a really surreal, but awesome few days. For the first time I think I've felt a genuine pang of regret about the fact we're leaving the country. As it stands we're hoping to make it back next year, although obviously being across the pond will make things a little more inconvenient (and a lot more expensive), but con afterglow makes us think it's worth it.
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