Synopsis of my weekend

["User"]

As some of you know (since I posted about it) I attended my first full furry convention which was Midwest FurFest out in Chicago, which is the 3rd largest furry con in the world currently. It was quite an...interesting experience to put it lightly but being there with some other online friends made it much more fun than it would have been without.

The weekend as a whole though was pretty "meh", it was very interesting because I've never done something like this before but since most furry panels/events/activities I had no real interest in (probably because I'm a fringe furry compared to some of these more "hardcore" guys) I'm not sure if I will be attending another con in the future. There were times when I pretty much had nothing to do or nothing interesting was going on IMO.

Rather then type a big detailed analysis on the con as a whole I think it's more prudent to just summarize the event and post some tips and tricks for cons in genera.

Hotel was very high end but as a result food and other snacks etc were overly priced and unless you had a car it was different to just walk anywhere for cheaper food given the location the Hyatt Regency O-hare is in.  I had more then my fair share of "weird" encounters with the fursuiters - most of which were acting pretty playful and some of their acts (like going on all 4's and begging at a table for free hotel food) made me laugh considerably.    Most of the furries in attendance did fit some common stereotypes, like being socially awkward, unattractive, poor hygiene, mainly non-straight sexual orientations etc.  I tried my best to maintain a high level of social charisma.  I'm very good in person at striking up and maintaining intelligent conversations but a lot of it seemed to just go over some furries heads. Some of them though were pretty cool individuals and it's people like that that I wished represented the public face of the fandom more.

My room was supplied with many types of alcohol brought by some other furry.  We had about 10 almost full bottles of stuff ranging from Piña colada mix to some 100 proof brandy that tasted like very hard root beer and smelled like vanilla extract I didn't get drunk that entire weekend but sitting in front of Crash McCloud's laptop at a very nice desk with 9 different bottles of booze beside you ready for sipping...that's the definition of being "cool" at a fur con I'd think. 

All in all I had a pretty decent time but I know it could have been better if I was more interested in some of the events there.

Some tips though for those first time con goers. 

1.  Wait until you're 18.  I mean...even if you can technically get into the con and do most things without having to be 18+ you don't want to run the "risk" of someone pulling a salesman pitch and try and made you buy adult artwork or Furitocon trading cars (adult furry card game that gets pretty disturbing).  These two things happened to me so I started to be a trolling smart-ass of sorts when it came to the furry porn cards lol. 

2.  The con has a whole had a "weirder" element then I expected.  Mainly because I think that most fringe or softcore furries aren't willing to shell out cash and attend a con quite some distance from them.  While the con floor is typically rated PG things can and DO happen out in public.  Be prepared.

3.  Room with people in your hotel room that you can trust completely (ex. close friends).  I've heard of people getting kicked out of their hotel room randomly or not fulling paying up for their share of the hotel price etc.  Case in point, there are a lot of people who WILL rip you off and try to come up with some BS excuse.

That's all for now, any questions ask away!

P.S.  During this entire con I've received a LOT of reported posts and even some members linking me to quite a few drama filled topics.  *Sigh* I guess I'll have to read most of them in full.  I further wish we could all get along and baseless accusations without decisive evidence would stop.

[Asper Sarnoff]

That's some interesting and usefull tips User. I might end up paying a visit to a con myself should I ever be in the vicinity of one.

P.S.  During this entire con I've received a LOT of reported posts and even some members linking me to quite a few drama filled topics.  *Sigh* I guess I'll have to read most of them in full.  I further wish we could all get along and baseless accusations without decisive evidence would stop.

Second that. It'd be nice to go away knowing with almost absolute certanity that trouble wouldn't arise in one's abscence.