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

[altivo]

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.

Comments

[vimsig.livejournal.com]

sounds as if you had a great time
;O)

[quickcasey.livejournal.com]

I agree, MFF 2006 gets five out of five bones. Er, apples.

[wolfgrowl.livejournal.com]

Sorry I missed it!

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Indeed. It just went by too quickly.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

How about five foil covered, chocolate money raccoons?

Raccoon coins from MFF 2006 These foil covered chocolate coins were included in the sponsors' goodies.

Oops, I seem to only have four left...

[altivo.livejournal.com]

I am too. It would have been fun to meet you there.

[alaskawolf.livejournal.com]

im glad that MFF an your expereince was good :)

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Thanks, it was. Now you'd be welcome to come down for MFF, as long as you don't bring any Alaskan weather with you. My friend goldenstallion is an ex-Alaskan. He moved to Michigan about three years ago, after living up there for about twenty. Quite a shift for a native Californian. ;p

[pioneer11.livejournal.com]

Personally I've always thought of MFF as the
best of all possible furry cons. Its got the
right mix of fur fantasy and "Hey man, lets
check out the mall".

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Heh. Or go shopping at Ikea and eat meatballs, I keep hearing. So far I've done neither because there's too much happening at the con for me to keep up with. ;p

[goldenstallion.livejournal.com]

Dear Rider,

I was also happily surprised to see no problems of any consequence at all other than elevator breakdowns. Consider this... a thousand people often in fursuits using elevators to run to rooms upstairs to change to or out of suits for various things, to meet and even take a nap (I did) and yet that was the only glitch I saw, period.

Of course Otis or whatever will fix them. I never did figure out the stairs so just used the two available elevators in spite the one would always drop to LL level (empty basement never anybody there) before it would go back up to where the occupants wanted to go. It was funny to listen several times to very gay conversations in the elevator. I think it is good that we can feel relaxed in a safe environment to 'open up' if we want to.

I did check out Okapi on Google pictures and yes, a strange but beautiful relative to the giraffe.

The Okapi guy was very good at playing his character (fursuit acting is a whole fun thing in character being YOU and YOUR SPECIES type thing). I will have such a blast as biker Steed next year I promise. Heh... just bought the fur and plastic canvass today at lunch time at work in fact.

Heck with any negatives... it is nice to see gay couples or friends hugging in the open and a lot of teasing and foofy play. I also saw many lonely guys (usually very fat and/or homely) wandering around hoping for a friend and I never have any problem whatsoever talking with geeks and nerds and people with this dream in their heads. Not always easy to listen to somebody who does not speak well for many reasons or feels out-of-place or alone. We are all different. Horray!

Fun.

Imperator for Steed and Goldy

[goldenstallion.livejournal.com]

I ate one. Not bad, not great. Typical chocolate coin.

Heh.

Steed

Coin robbery ;p

[altivo.livejournal.com]

I had eaten one too, so there must have been six to begin with. Not bad for chocolate. It was a better grade than some, not so sweet and a bit darker (so it doesn't melt too easily, no doubt.)

[kamodragon.livejournal.com]

Good Times, Perhaps next year the mate and I will be prt of Mff too- I have heard good things in the past so I will have to make it a point to go someday soon. Glad things went well for ya!

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Actually there was another okapi suit this year. The wearer was not as tall as Unika himself, and (I suspect) female. I'm sure of that, as a got a good close look in the sunlight. I'm not sure I did see Unika there after all. Perhaps he didn't come this year, except in the form of that naughty drawing of him that was in the art show. *grin* Usually he's very much in evidence and spends a lot of hours in public areas suited up.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

It was good. Something for everyone. I think you'd enjoy it. Depending on the travel arrangements you make, MFF can be quite a bit cheaper than AC or FC, or so I'm told. With well over a thousand attendees and 20% of them fursuiters, it's lively.

[pioneer11.livejournal.com]

And just so. Fun for all really. ^.^

One track mind...

[songdogmi.livejournal.com]

Ah, but was there music and filking and such?

Of course, it's probably hard to play guitar with paws. Hand drums might be easier.

Sure sounds like it was a fun time to me.

[woodychitwn.livejournal.com]

It was nice finally meeting you man... If only briefly!

Re: One track mind...

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Believe it or not, I could probably play the guitar with my hoof gloves almost as well as I can play barehanded. Of course that could be a double entendre but it isn't. I'm certainly not as skilled or professional as you are, but I could still get by for filking.

The hoof gloves have two layers. The inner glove is like a cotton glove, skin tight, and dyed dark brown. The outer layer is coarse knit from brown wool and more like a mitten with the end cut off. Make a fist and your fingers disappear. If I left off the inner glove, the outer mitt wouldn't interfere with the guitar much at all.

Some of the furry paw gloves are almost as dexterous as that, so I could imagine someone managing at least to strum chords. :)

There was in fact a drumming session at this con. I think it's a first for MFF but has already been done at some of the others. I didn't go, I don't know how well-received it was.

If someone with your level of background wanted to commit themselves (double entendre IS on purpose this time) to attendance for next year, then I would sign up to sponsor a filk session. It could probably fit into the formal schedule for Friday afternoon or evening, or Sunday afternoon as an official function. Saturdays are usually booked pretty solid. It could also be done as an unofficial function, either set for Thursday night when the early arrivals are already around, or any other time by posting announcements a day or so ahead of the schedule. If we assumed the turnout would only be 6 to 10 people, it could be done as a room party I suppose.

I can serve in a support role for a filk session, and even contribute by doing a song or two, but I'm just not sufficiently current with folk or popular music to carry the thing off by myself. :)

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Yes indeed. I'm glad to see you had time off from staff responsibilities to enjoy the con as well. :)

[cabcat.livejournal.com]

Pictures pictures pictures!!

[cabcat.livejournal.com]

You were on staff?

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Not from me. I don't carry a camera around. It's just one more thing I don't need to be keeping track of. However, there are already hundreds of photos being posted. Check out midwest_furfest for the links.

Re: One track mind...

[duncandahusky.livejournal.com]

Filk is something that seems to be under-represented at furry cons, and is in fact seems a bit alien to your average furry fan. From what I understand, the performances that Tom Smith gave at Anthrocon earlier this year were unfortunately rather lightly attended, but perhaps that could be improved with more publicity and a "hook" to link it with furry interests.