altivo | MFF 2006 report: hugs, fursuits, literature, and broken elevators

OK, I'm not going to be giving an hour by hour report of everything I did or didn't do. That's too boring. I'll just mention a few highlights.

First of all, the MFF staff really does a superb job of organizing a huge and complicated event and keeping it running smoothly. My heartfelt thanks to these folks who spend so much of their time and energy making sure that the rest of us have a good time. I know there's some satisfaction in succeeding at that, but it's also the old "Hug a musician, they never get to dance" situation. Special callouts here for

linnaeus,

takaza,

duncandahusky,

hartree because I saw them all working really hard, but I really do mean to include every staffer in this.

So... I arrived at 10 am on Friday, and though the desk clerk at first said it could be 3 pm before they could honor my reservation and the 10 am arrival was only a "request" and not an obligation, she did have a room for me right away. They were doing some sort of work on the exterior wall of that corridor, and she said there would be odd noises until sunset but then no work done for the rest of the weekend. "Odd noises" turned out to be some minor pounding and a strange buzzy noise that was rather like an elephant fart or a slowed down trip to the dentist, but as promised, it all stopped by 4 pm or so.

Saw

vakkotaur almost immediately, and got to help him break out his new suit, Orvan the Delivery Ox. Orvan delivers packages for Acme (remember Wile E. Coyote's mail order supplier of choice?) and has all the appropriate accoutrements, including the ID badge and summer uniform, clipboard, etc. I played furless lackey for him on his first couple of delivery runs and helped take photos of the actual deliveries. I have to say that Orvan was quite a success, and

vakkotaur took to fursuiting as if he'd been doing it for years. I also want to compliment him on the results of his persistent diet and exercise program, because he has been really successful and looks great.

I spent some time this year introducing

goldenstallion to the con. He's a fine artist and has been RPing for years, but this was his first con. I'm happy to say that he enjoyed the MFF experience and is now planning a fursuit for himself and thinking about participating as an artist too. We also got to welcome our mutual friend

lafcadio who arrived Saturday and was around just for the afternoon and evening. Laf prefers not to be thought of as a "furry" but still has lots of furry friends. (Heh.)

This was a huggier con for me. As I mentioned last week, I really like hugs, and this year I collected them. Got to meet several LJ friends for the first time in person, including

lobowolf and his partner

damnbear,

hartree,

linnaeus,

woodychitwn,

danjidraconid,

mistletoe,

rjtremor (cute and a tease),

brongaar (whom I know from MUCK RP but didn't realize was on LJ until now),

tinbender, and

zachary_geminus (as cute as he is tall.) Also got to see lots of friends from previous MFFs, including of course

vakkotaur,

moose_9335,

animist (overworked as usual) and his fiance Nicole (who may not be a furry yet but I think she may be slipping in our direction),

quickcasey,

aerofox and

loriana (two of the nicest people you could ever know),

innerwolf,

dakhun and

deffox. Greeted briefly in passing were

xydexx,

expandranon,

cbrenton,

genebreshears,

chakawolf,

sofawolf (Malin),

watergazer, and no doubt others that I'm forgetting. Poke me (or better yet, hug me again) and I'll remember to add you to the list.

Both panels I was on went well, though the "Folktails: Once Upon a Time" was scheduled at the same time as

unclekage's story hour and therefore had a small turnout. I was able to attend a reading from three forthcoming books from Sofawolf and I'm looking forward to getting my hands on all of them. I missed the Tai Pan reading though, because there was too much happening at the same time and it was right before the folktails panel that I had to lead.

There were 213 fursuiters in the parade on Saturday, which is the biggest ever for MFF I think. It was lots of fun, and I didn't trip or walk into anyone or anything. Having contact lenses to wear under the suit was a tremendous improvement. Having the eyes of the suit set in a compromise to look more horselike is a limitation though, because I can't see straight ahead with both eyes and therefore lose depth perception. I'm more comfortable suiting now, though, and just need practice. I think I want to do another suit that will be probably a bit more cartoonish and therefore easier to deal with.

Greymuzzle coffee on Saturday morning was fun as always. The sponsor's luncheon was delicious even though I did not eat any of the rich desserts. ;p Oh, and a new highlight was the absence of something: there was no false fire alarm on Saturday night. On the other hand, there were elevator breakdowns. Now, keep in mind the fact that the Hyatt Regency Woodfield is only five stories tall. You actually can use the stairs to move between floors, and many of us did, once we figured out where they were. Elevators are important for people in fursuits though, as many cannot manage stairs easily, and there are always folks who can't use stairs for other reasons as well. On Friday night, two of the three elevators broke down. One was repaired by Saturday and then continued to run for the rest of the weekend, but the other remained out of service up through the time of my departure, 4 pm on Sunday. Shades of Anthrocon 2005 (at which I thankfully was not present.)

Another incident, which hopefully won't become a tradition, was the partial evacuation of Artist Alley. Apparently there was a drain blockage somewhere in the building and the access point needed by maintenance staff to use a snake was a plate in the floor of the Artist Alley room. They carried several tables out into the corridors, put up yellow "crime tape" around the area, and laid down plastic drop cloths over the floor before cutting a hole above the access trap (like surgeons) and bringing in a "professonal size" power tool for running a snake through the drain. Apparently there was concern that if the blockage were cleared, sewage would burst from the access opening and make a contaminated mess. We didn't wait around to see if they pulled up a huge wad of fur from the drain because we preferred not to risk getting sprayed with gunk. As far as I know, nothing that bad actually happened, though.

MFF 2006 gets five out of five possible apples from me. There are always a few glitches, but none of them marred a wonderful friendly and fun experience.