While browsing through my YouTube feed a while back I found one or two videos describing the '"Free Fur All" con debacles, and while my first thought after watching them was "Thank [insert_deity_here] that I have an entire [explentive_deleted] ocean between me and these goddamn [explentive_deleted] [explentive_deleted]-ups", after a bit I started thinking about the few furcons I've been to - and the distinct probability that no more will be added to the list.

Prehistory
Back in the days of the late 20th century when "Avatar" was the main online furry art repository and not a movie made by James Cameron, your humble correspondent was a heck of a lot younger and looked upon those attending furcons such as "Conference" with envious eyes from across the vast gulf of the Pacific Ocean. At that time, you could count the number of known furries in New Zealand with one hand and still have fingers left over, so it was less "furcons" than "micro-furmeet" territory with assuming you could find anyone in the first place. And as anyone who has seen a world map know, the distance between New Zealand and North America is huge - US furs who might baulk at the idea of travelling a few hours to a furcon will be shocked to learn that the average flight-time between Auckland and Los Angeles is in the vicinity of eleven to thirteen hours, with airfare costs to match.

The closest then that I got to attending a "furcon" in person was when a bunch of Australian furries (including  goldfur) came over to join NZ furs at the NZ National SF convention "Conspiracy" in Wellington in 1997, having enough of us to have a "furry party room" to hang out together. It was loads of fun, especially the art sessions where we tested the idea that "if we pour enough alcohol into [random artist present], will he draw as good as Terrie Smith?"

The Great Euro Con Tour
With joining Big Blue (a.k.a. IBM) in '97 and immediately being put on overseas assignment in the UK, I now had an opportunity to not only meet up with British furs at gatherings such as the Yateley Housecons and London Furmeets, but also attend an actual furcon: Eurofurence 3. Because getting to Barth on the Baltic coast of Germany from Watford UK was a hell of a lot cheaper - and quicker - than from Wellington! And it didn't end there - when I returned to the UK on another work assignment in 2000 I went to Memphit Mini-Con in Bickenbach, Germany, and in 2001 I attended (in company with some British furs) Eurofurence 7 in Kirtchen, Germany. This would turn out to be the largest furcon I have attended to date, and was a lot of fun - highlights including introducing Eurofurs to Vegemite...

Back in NewZild
By the time that my overseas assignment days completed in 2003, I have managed to achieve the distinction of being the only NZ fur to have attended at least one European furcon and no North American furcons. By this time the furry fandom in NZ had grown to the point where there were sufficient numbers to have a furcon, so in 2010 and 2011 I hauled my fuzzy ass up to Auckland to "FurConz", looking forward to revisiting that con experience.

But it was at this point I found that things had changed... both in terms of the fandom and for myself.

For one thing, it became readily apparent that by that stage I was one of - if not the - oldest fur present, with the majority of attendees being at least ten years my junior. In fact, I was roughly the same age as one of the parents of one attendee who'd dropped them off at the con, which was a tad unsettling. And for another, the emphasis for furry creativity was less "art and comics" and more "fursuits and modelling", which while enjoyable left me feeling a bit on the outer edge. I'd brought a box of surplus furry comics and fanzines that I've collected over the years for people to help themselves to, but no-one was interested...

Don't get me wrong: it's not like I had bad times at FurConz. I loved the work that had gone into the fursuits, the activities were fun, and it was a great experience to just meet up with other NZ furs. But on the way home after my second FurConz, I realised that expecting FurConz to be a southern version of the UK and Euro furmeets that I'd attended ten years prior was unrealistic, and it was time for me to let it go for the new generation of NZ furs.

The future?
It's increasingly unlikely that short of winning a metric fuck-ton(1) of money I won't be going to any more furcons outside of New Zealand due to the sheer expense of hauling myself to the other side of the planet (or even the other side of the Tasman Sea). And maybe not even then - I've found that I don't really like being part of large crowds which seems to be a feature of overseas cons at least. When a "small" US con can pull in more people than the entire National NZ SF Convention, that's a lot of people to deal with that I'd rather I didn't have to - and seeing some of the YT reports referenced in the start of this journal makes me wonder whether even if I decided to attend would it really be worth it?

Addendum:
And speaking of the United States... recent events linked to the Trump regime's(2) crackdown on immigration where European tourists are being detained by ICE for no justifiable reason, as well as kidnapping and 'disappearing' pro-Palestinian students with the intent of deportation makes me think it's no longer safe for non-US nationals like myself to travel to the USA at all for the foreseeable future. It was bad enough when in the US in 2003 when I felt I had to watch what I said in public about my opposition to the invasion of Iraq - like I was some kind of political dissident - in the "land of the free" and the First Amendment, but now... fuck that noise, I'm out.


(1) We only deal with SI units here at Te Whare Mayfurr, imperial fuck-tons are not supported.
(2) Yes, I'm going there. What else do you call a government that turns on its allies, threatens to annex (read: invade) its neighbours, trashes the rule of law, tears up international agreements, and cuddles up to an authoritarian warmonger?
EDIT: And to cap it all off, the US is now on a human rights watchlist for decreasing freedoms, now being considered on the same level as the Republic of the Congo.

He aha te mea nui o te ao?
What is the most important thing in the world?
He tangata, he tangata, he tangata.
It is the people, it is the people, it is the people.
- Maori proverb

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