Wow, it's been awhile since I last updated--consider it a testament to my ensemble of bad habits resembling faux-ADD. I also blame DELL, really -- I was on a roll with the blog, but when I got to Pennsylvania, some power problems I'd been having with my laptop finally manifested themselves into something coherent and my AC adapter and battery were toast. That, and I also got an early case of the "con crud" and was temporarily bed-ridden for half of the first day of the con. Anyways, here's the first part of my travels after the wonderland of California:
ANTHROCON, PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, July 5th-8th
For those of you who don't know what Anthrocon is, good--get out while you still can. It's an annual convention held in Pittsburgh, PA in celebration(?) of the furry fandom. If you're still confused, think Disney's animated
Robin Hood movie from way back when. People have different reactions to furries (most negative), but there are a million different kinds, some who don't deserve the heat they get. For the most part, though, it's hard not to make fun of alot of them. It's like any anime convention, really: you see all the different strata of nerd and geek there, from the serious to the casual, from the cosplayer to the gamer. I'd always wanted to go to Anthrocon since I was a Freshman in high school (shameful, I know), and since I was single, I figured I might as well go before I have any relationship to damage.
I literally left for PA the second I got back from California. Dustin's mom picked us up from BWI, dropped me off at my dorm, I grabbed my car, got my friends, and left. I was kinda annoyed, but not from traveling; the two guys comin' with me decided that it was a good idea to bring almost all of their possessions to the convention. I'm surprised I didn't facepalm through my head. In retrospect, if the hadn't, then they wouldn't have brought one of the things that kept me sane those four days. After cramming everything into my Explorer, we hit the road. I got full use out of my TomTom GPS as we headed up through Central Maryland. We were starving by the time we hit Western Maryland, and ended up stopping in Frostburg at a Pizza Hut for a quick bite to eat. Some how, what was going to be a routine stop for food turned into a little adventure itself. The staff at the store that night were a real trip, and we ended up just chatting and having fun. One of the waitresses popped out of no-where with some plush animals from behind the counter and we got caught up in a plushie war. No one was spared, but it was a blast! I wonder how they're doing now... they were a fun bunch.
When we finally got into Pittsburgh, it was pretty late in the evening. The con was supposed to start officially on Friday, but of course everyone was there on Thursday getting all geared up. I parked in a crappy parking garage not too far way from the hotel, and we dragged some of our stuff several blocks to the venue. I was amazed: the hotel was very nice, and I felt a little better about staying there. According to my friend, we had to wait for the guy who we were staying with in the hotel, so we all took a seat in the lobby. There were already people walking around with ears and tails, a few fursuiters here-and-there, just chilling on the sofas and enjoying free wi-fi. For some reason, I didn't feel nearly as phased by all of this as I thought I would. The costumes I'd seen so far weren't at all disturbing, so I was somewhat impressed. My friend caught sight of the guy we'd be staying with, and we started moving up to the room. Now, I failed to mention two things: one, I had no idea about the sleeping arrangements--I was only told we had a place to stay; two, we were staying with a good... five other people? Never--NEVER--let a friend arrange for a room and not tell you any of the details. Luckily, everyone was at the convention for different events, so it was never all 8 of us in the room at once. THANK GOD.
We spent most of the night wandering around, chatting, hanging out with the other con-goers in the lobby and checking out The Zoo, where alot of artists hung out. We ended up talking with 2 the Ranting Gryphon, who I would describe best as Lewis Black + Howard Sturn, but a furry (check out his webpage or Podcast... good stuff). Confusing, yes, but damn he's frickin' hilarious. All of us just stood around exchanging stories and experiences, and it felt like a pretty close-knit group even though we were all basically strangers to one another. I didn't get to sleep until around 6am or so the next morning... on the floor no less. I got something resembling a cold (the "con crud" so I've been told) and thanked God profusely when everyone left the room. I jumped into one of the beds and slept until around 2 or 3 in the afternoon and updated the blog. I didn't do much else, since my charger and battery stopped working, so I was forced to go and check out the convention.
I don't remember the sequence of events at the convention so much as the events themselves. I remember checking out the zoo a couple times to see if I recognized any artists. Of course I was scared stiff half the time, like when a kid sees Goofy at Disneyland or something. Although I consider myself somewhat of an artist, I consider the others to be far better than me, and I get nervous because of that XD. I managed to get by this feeling thanks to a few friends from UMD that I saw at the convention, as well as my little book. I got this great book made out of bamboo and leaves from this new-age store near College Park, and I wandered around Artist's Alley asking some of my fav's to doodle/autograph the book. I got quite a few great sketches, and might try doing the same next time I go to an anime convention. It was a great conversation piece when talking to the artists, and I even got to invite one of my favorites to come play Halo 2 with me. Oh, and FURRY MASTER CHIEF (heresy never felt so good).
What kept me sane during the entire convention was Halo 2. Since my friends packed everything, they brought their projector and my Xbox as well, which turned out to be the best idea ever. I set up random games of Halo 2 at various times in different locations around the convention--anywhere that could support a projector. The first night I tried this I set up near the rave (the raves were amazing, btw -- the DJ's they had playing spun out some incredible mixes) and attracted a few players. The next day that I tried it, I set up the Xbox near the zoo and ended up attracting a decent crowd. We switched off the best player every two games, which worked out nicely. Met a few decent people this way, though there were of course a few odd-ones. The highlight of my con experience was when I got one of my favorite artists, Meesh, to play Halo 2 with me. He was pretty good, but some of the other players trounced us. I spent the remainder playing with this other artist and another fur, and I annoyed the hell out of him with a shotgun-punch combo. I almost felt kinda bad... almost.
The convention was, overall, an amusing experience. I didn't feel as shocked or out-of-place as I thought I would, and made a few spiffy friends during my stay. There were some foam boards set up near the Zoo for anyone to post messages, but a fair number of doodles and jokes got posted there... along with a grilled cheese sandwich. It was like I was walking through the internet the entire time I stayed there... though I was surprised to see less disturbing than amusing things at the con. Would I go again? I'm not entirely sure... probably not. But do I regret going? My autograph from Rob Paulson, Pinky, from Pinky and the Brian, says not at all.
My last big outing for the summer was a jaunt up to good ol' Minnesota for my cousin's wedding (on Dad's side). This was actually my second cousin to get married this season, the first being on my mom's side (got hitched to a former panel organizer for Otakon w007!) Instead of leaving together, my dad left a week beforehand to hang out with his brothers. I originally thought my mother, brother, and myself would leave on the day before the wedding, but we were gonna shotgunnit up North the morning of the wedding day. Since the ceremony was around five or so, we had to leave at about 6am... granted no contest to the 4am wakeup run to LAX, but that's not something I like to do very often. The flight was relatively uneventful, and we arrived at the Minneapolis-St. Paul terminal on schedule. The fun part came next--driving the rental car from the airport to my grandma's house in Austin. Thank God I brought my good ol' TomTom GPS (available in a BestBuy near you! *pander*pander*) so the trip was pretty smooth despite the heavy rain. On an eerie note, this was about two weeks after the I-35 bridge collapsed in Minneapolis-St. Paul. Apparently, my cousin that was getting married usually commuted across the bridge every day. That day, August 1, she, for whatever miraculous reason, decided to avoid traffic and dodge the bridge entirely--inadvertently averting the entire catastrophe.
Aaaaaaaaanyway, I managed to get Mom and Bro back to Grandma's house safely and on time, and sure enough Dad was waiting there ready to throw us into our monkey suits. Funny thing, since the cathedral was literally a block away (small town, Austin.) The service was marvelous--Dad and his brothers sang the hymnals and various arrangements with live piano and trumpet accompaniment with a harmonious sound that filled the cathedral. It was great seeing the family together again, especially since we're all partiers--couldn't wait until the reception ;3 After the service, Brian, the father of the bride, got Shane to ride shotgun with him in his old convertible. The weather was far from perfect for having the top down, but that didn't stop him. I rode with Mom and Dad, and I got some great video of the guys passing us, hair and suits whipping in the wind. They beat us to the country club, of course. The reception was the usual -- bunch of family, scattered around the room in different groups, intermingling, drinking, and a DJ that would play "Celebrate!" without fail. Though, I will admit, it was good times. This was the first chance I had to drink with my relatives, so I tried capitalizing on that. I didn't have too many drinks (one can only drink so much when your parents are there too), but I enjoyed every single one I could with my cousins. After a bit of encouragement, my brother and I finally jumped onto the dance floor and made asses of ourselves, like everyone else. Good times, good times.
The rest of our stay in Minnesota was pretty much "meh." The rain that saw our arrival didn't want to quit, so there really wasn't much else to do. Come to think of it, if there isn't a big family thing going on, then nothing else really is either. Small towns kinda have that affect, and my cousins would agree. Luckily, our cousin Kevin helped Shane and me keep our sanity. We finally got a chance to see The Simpsons Movie at the local mall, which was nice. The high point (after the wedding) was the following Monday, when we ventured over to his house. I failed to mention earlier that our grandmother's house doesn't have the internet at all. Shane and I basically slept constantly and went to bed early because there wasn't any good excuse to stay up late. Kevin's place had a high-speed connection, so what did we all do? Download and install StarCraft, duke it out over the LAN, and watch ATHF:MFFT and 23. We didn't get back to Grandma's place until around 9pm or so, but we had our fill. Homeword bound, we got to bed early in preparation for leaving the next morning. I couldn't sleep--little surprise. I ventured over to the satellite TV and had myself a good perusing around for anything interesting. Much to my amusement, I stumbled across a QVC erotic novelties channel. Yeah, that's right: over-the-phone sex toy shopping from the convenience of your own home! They had everything: the phone numbers, the prices, various phallic objects of every color, shape, and size all waiting for you, and it was only a phone call away. They even had two cute young women holding them up and commenting on how squishy or soft the vibrators were, and how they would make a "great gift." My God, this world still manages to surprise me.
