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Yes, I'm going to write about another furry convention. This one, the Rocky Mountain Fur Con, is held in Denver every year, in August. I've gone before in 2011 (back when I still identified with a lion, instead of a sloth) and again in 2013 (the first year I got to wear my sloth costume!). This year it was held in a different, larger, hotel--the Marriott Tech Center across from the Belleview light rail station.
Now that I'm more-or-less settled in Denver, I will probably continue to attend this con every year for the foreseeable future.
This year's theme was "14ers!"--i.e., mountain-climbing-- getting down into the roots of this con as a "Rocky Mountain" con.
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~ Friday, Aug. 8th ~
On Friday I had to work until 4 p.m., so I rode the light rail to work with all my stuff in tow so that I could go straight to the con on the train after work without having to stop by home first. I had printed, but not yet laminated, the art badges that several people had paid me to make for them, so I brought my laminator to work, then bought some lamination sheets and finished up the badges on my lunch break.
I showed one of my coworkers my sloth head during lunch too and she thought it was awesome X3
This was my first time taking the light rail, and even though it is very expensive for how slow it is and how limited its locations are, I thought it was super nifty. I love trains. In another life I could totally be an autistic boy with a train obsession--there's just something about them, idk.
ANYYYYWAAYY...
The first person I saw when I rolled up to the con w/ my suitcase was Salem. He was standing outside smoking and talking to folk. I chatted for a bit, then went inside to pick up my pre-registered conbadge and the conbook.
I was super pleased to see that the story I had submitted to the conbook was in there! You can read it online here! I bugged basically all my friends to read it, haha. Those that did thought it was cute, which is all I could hope for. I had a 650 word limit because of the limited conbook space, so I decided to write a little fable in the style of Aesop's fables. It riffed off "the Tortoise and the Hare," but the moral of the story is quite different. Have a read of it and let me know what you think ~
After getting my book I went into the Dealer's Den to find Menagerie Workshop's table, who had the sloth feet I had commissioned a few months ago with them there. AHHH I LOVE MY NEW FEET THEY ARE AWESOME! They're all curled in and awkward and perfect. (you can see them in the picture below...!)
Also in the dealer's den I managed to find a few skull pins for my purse, and to snag a copy of the comic Epiphany by Ian Jay. I'm absolutely in love with their art style--and they signed it and drew me a little sketch of a three-toed sloth in the front of the book! w00t!
After I got my feet and merch, I spent a lot of time wandering around the con looking for the people whose badges I had made. I found most of them that night, but had a few I needed to track down the next day.
When Led got off work, we went to go pick him up in Wolf's car, and then stopped by the Elephant Bar and Grille for supper before returning to the con. I had already eaten, so I just ordered some red wine, and Led bought it for me as a belated birthday present <3
Back at the con I got into suit and found my Spring-friend (aka Spring Dragon):
(photo of me in my realistic two-toed sloth costume, waving at the camera, with my arm around my friend in a realistic Akita costume, who is hugging me)
I also managed to find Senshi (aka thewhitesoldier on FA), who was gracious enough to run upstairs and grab the bead badge she'd made for me as a trade. AHHH I LOVE IT SO. I handed her a full-body badge of her character Aircraft in exchange :)
(photo of the badge, a large rendition of Tica's face with a red hibiscus over her ear, made out of Perler beads)
After this at some point Salem and I went to the dance, where I danced in slow motion (and attracted a group of folks who danced in slow motion around me, haha), and Salem found a glowstick bracelet and stuck it in my claws. We didn't stay and dance for very long because we were so exhausted, so we went up to Salem's room after just a few songs. (of course, it took FOREVER for us to get to and from the dance because whenever I'm in suit I get stopped a lot for pictures ^^;)
Salem was rooming with Wolf and Samifur, a good friend of ours (and Led's boyfriend!!) currently visiting from Scotland. Wolf invited me to stay in their room that night too, but I had some stuff to do at home, so I left my suitcase, fursuit and laminator in their room and then Salem walked me to the train station and waited with me for the train (all the while nodding off, haha). He also read my conbook story and said it was cute. ^^;
Then, yeah, I got home kinda late and sunk right into bed, excited for the next day!
~ Saturday, Aug. 9th ~
I got up at about 9 am, drank some tea to wake up fully, and went off to the liquor store and the grocery store to stock up on food and booze for the rest of the con. Got us some Kraken black spiced rum (IT WAS AMAZING), pineapple juice, and coconut cream for homemade pina coladas, and then picked up some Samuel Adams as well for Salem. From the grocery store I just got food and snacks enough to last me for the rest of the con, since I was going to sleep in Wolf's room that night instead of going back and forth from home.
Had a really chill morning, just talking to people and wandering around. I picked up an amazing watercolor badge that Noka had made for me, and while I was at her table I was given this badge from Sesi--Tica dressed as a Likitung! IT IS SO CUTE. Likitung are really under-appreciated pokemon!
Right before the fursuit games I went and put my suit on, and Samifur took my camera and acted the handler for me. The games were in a really cramped room, and they seemed somewhat disorganized... I left before they were fully over. After a short break, it was time for the giant group photo (I stood right in the front!) and the fursuit parade! They let me start the parade and told everyone "PASS THE SLOTH" and about half of the parade passed me before I finished, haha. The parade route seemed really short this year though... I hope next year they figure out a longer route, so that the people watching won't be so crowded together.
After that it was more wandering around, checking out the dealer's den over and over, seeing people I know, dropping off the last of the badges I'd made for people. I only saw Hammond the Hippo once during the whole con (!!) so it was a good thing I had his badge on me when I did manage to see him!
I spent most of Saturday hanging out with Samifur. At some point we decided to go swimming, so we went, and Salem and his date, C-----, joined us after a while. I can't remember what we did after that... ran around getting sketches for Sami's book I think.
Then it was ROOM PARTY TIME!! Salem, C-----, Wolf, Samifur, and I cracked open the rum, drinking it either in pina colada form or in rum-and-pepsi form (I had forgotten to get coke earlier and the hotel vending machines only had pepsi). We got thai takeout to eat, which Salem and C----- went to go pick up, and it was pretty tasty (I had a gluten-free pad thai). We spent hours just talking and hanging out and drinking heavily, haha. There were many cuddles. Sami puked at one point and I felt sorry for him but he seemed to still be enjoying himself, so I guess it was okay.
Then it was bedtime... C----- went home when he was good enough to drive (he drank WAY less than the rest of us) and then in the dark Salem, Sami, Wolf and I had weird conversations until Wolf turned on his CPAP machine and we all nodded off.
~ Sunday, Aug. 10th ~
Sunday was even more chill than Saturday. We got up when we felt like it, packed up and cleaned our room, then got our stuff out for checkout. Everyone put their stuff in Wolf's car except me, since I was taking the train home, so I just carried my stuff in my rolly suitcase all day.
Finally picked an art print to buy from the dealer's den on Sunday--this print of a tribal anteater by artist Dark Natasha. She's a really cool person, and I freakin' love anteaters. (Did you know that anteaters and armadillos are the closest biological cousins to the sloth? A lot of people think that sloths are related to primates, but that's not the case at all!)
Anyway, even though the print already has her signature on it, I asked her to sign my picture in person and she sketched Tica on the back...!! Sorry the picture is all shiny; I laminated the print to protect it from damage, and I don't have a scanner right now, only a camera...
(photo of the sloth sketch from Dark Natasha. Note reads, "Thank you and love your character")
...Come to think of it, turns out I didn't go to a single panel this year, besides fursuit stuffs. I guess I was having too much fun socializing.
I did put my suit on and do the second round of fursuit games in the afternoon... but, while we had more room this time, it also seemed ill-prepared and disorganized. I left sometime after Twister, even though the games continued for like another hour after I left them.
Found Ian the Gecko after that and bugged him to film me for his music video (I was supposed to do the filming with him on Saturday, but I, uh, got drunk instead)... He was doing a furry version of the Weird Al song "Tacky," which you can watch here:
He had to speed my bit up in post, haha...
After this I took my fursuit off for good. I really love taking pictures with people and being silly and suiting, and I kind of wish I had worn the suit more over the course of the con (there's WAY less pictures of me floating around on the net this year than there were last year...), but I was just so busy socializing and hanging out with people I know and stuff that I felt like I didn't have time for it! At least I got *most* of the pictures I wanted to get with specific other suiters.
Eventually I will post all my pictures online somewhere and provide a link here.
After the dealer's den closed, we all went to hang out with Spring Dragon, who had been in there for most of the con and therefore not hanging out with us. We *were* going to go see a movie together, but we all got hit with a sudden wave of exhaustion so we just went across the street to get something to eat. I drank margaritas and decided that actually I don't like tequila very much, and we met up with some other random furries while we were eating there.
After this we all kinda parted ways, and Spring Dragon offered to drive me home which was super nice of him! We met some other people in the parking lot (among them my friends Feathergills and Troj) and talked for a while more before we actually got on the road.
I navigated Spring to my house and we chatted and he dropped me off at my door (turns out we don't live too far away from each other), then I was home and I had to spray my suit down with febreeze and unpack and start reading my comic and keeping up with new contacts on FA and tagging my pictures on facebook and other post-con busywork! I went to bed early as I could so I would be fresh for work in the morning, and that was that...!
I had a blast and I am super excited for next year :D
Pax.
