{"sf1_id":685462,"sf2_id":null,"title":"Furthe'More 2014: They like me! They really like me!","author":"star dragon","words":8163,"posted_at":"2014-03-28T01:22:00.000Z","tags":["2014","Furthemore","Staff","baltimore","convention"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/685462-furthe-more-2014-they-like-me-they-really-like-me","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/view/685462","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=685462\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip. It started off in Baltimore, a con you mustn't skip!","content":"Super-late con journal is super late like always. Man, this will really disappoint the six people who actually read these.\nOkay, so... the convention that I did. That was like, a thing that\nhappened, and I was there. It's been awhile, but I'm talking about it\nnow because this week has been a murder-gauntlet of stuff I have to do.\nHell, there are things that I should be doing right at this very moment\ninstead of talking about this furry con, but I've put school first all\nweek. It's time to reminisce about the Spring Break that I spent working\neven harder than I do at school. Wait... what? I got something wrong\nthere. Let's review.\nI made a much-needed trip home to briefly visit and drop off junk I didn't need and pick up some things I did\nneed but forgot. This was my first time collegeing so I didn't have the\nbest idea what the optimal equipment loadout was. The heat was out in\nmy bedroom, but it wasn't that awfully cold outside so I decided that\nI'd tough it out for a few days rather than suffer through the process\nof trying to fix it. The whole time I was there the news networks were\nplastered with dire predictions of the coming tide of winter's fury.\nGiven my travel plans they were at least a little bit disquieting, but I\ndidn't dwell on them too much. The media loves to blow such things out\nof proportion. Like all news stories, the weather just isn't interesting\nunless it's trying to kill you. I thought that their predictions were\nludicrous, as it had been mid-fifties all week. I barely needed a\njacket. \n \nWell, perhaps I should've had a bit more faith in the local networks\nbecause on Wednesday we totally got suckerpunched by a vicious,\napocalyptic thunderblizzard. We got 16\" total accumulation that day,\nwith winds gusting up to 45MPH. It was that wind that really made life\ndifficult right then. The snow would blow right back out into the roads\nevery time we pushed it out of the way, giving bare pavement a very\nshort half-life as the day went on. We hunkered down for the day, along\nwith a large portion of the rest of the state, and did our best to\nweather the storm. Naturally the wind was quite effectively tearing\nthrough the walls of the old homestead, to the point where I could light\na candle and watch the flame dance excitedly from all the icy chill\nthat was sneaking in all over the place. My room became thoroughly\ninhospitable and I took refuge on the couch that night. \nThe morning brought only moderate improvements to the road conditions,\nso I left a bit later than I had planned. Of course my planned departure\ntime had been \"whenever I wake up\" so it's not like I disrupted a\ndelicately crafted timetable or anything. I just wanted to be plenty\nearly to help with setup at the con. In any case, things settled down a\nbit as the morning went on and conditions eventually got to the point\nwhere it seemed like not such a bad idea to head out. Of course\nnaturally I had to stop in to say goodbye to my grandmother before I\nheaded out, before her driveway was plowed. Technically I could've driven in, but that wasn't even a risk of getting my car stuck. My car would have absolutely\ngotten stuck and I'd be in an even worse predicament than before. So I\nbraved the nearly knee-deep snow in the driveway in just my sneakers. I\nhadn't brought my boots back from college with me because the forecast\nback then didn't contain \"ridiculous frozen donkey-punch\" yet. The\nthings I do for family... and cookies. She always bakes a batch of\ncookies right before I leave. Totally worth having wet feet for most of\nthe trip.\n \nThe roads were actually just a bit worse\nthan I thought they'd be. School was closed again, and I've found that\nschool being in session is a big factor that lights a fire under our\nsnowplow drivers. So with no threat of a busload of children careening\ninto a ditch to motivate them, the town's snowmovers were slacking a\nbit. Still, it was a bit late to turn back, and it really wasn't all\nthat dangerous to drive. The aggressive cold snap that accompanied\nSnowtorious B.I.G. meant that it was too cold for the roads to be icy.\n\"Too cold for ice\" is a tough concept for folks from temperate regions\nto wrap their heat-addled brains around, so I'll break it down a bit.\nBasically, the snow has to melt before it can refreeze as ice, so the\nbiggest ice dangers happen when the temperature is close to freezing.\nWhen it plunges into the mid-teens and stays there, the snow stays in\nits innocuous, fluffy white form, painting the land in delightful,\nradiant white and hardly trying to kill anyone at all. As long as I kept\nmy speed under control I was fine. Had this been a universal affair it\nwould've lengthened the trip considerably, but it would appear that the\nstorm's vengeful wrath was extremely focused on one area in particular,\nas it was only an hour or so before I drove out of its fallout zone. By\nthe time I got to Baltimore there was hardly any snow on the ground at\nall, even in lawns and areas that I assume they don't plow unless\nMaryland is much weirder than I thought.\n \nIt would seem that my concern for the timetable was poorly founded, as\neven arriving at mid-afternoon I managed to get there earlier than\nanyone with that coveted \"Knows what the fuck is going on\" demographic.\nStill, I found a good group to hang out with in the Dealer's Den and\nmanaged to get my bearings there. About the time that they broke for\nlunch I got the message that one of my roommates had arrived, so I went\nout to meet him. If they accomplish nothing else practical, fursuits are\ncertainly quite useful in providing identifying marks for finding\nsomeone you've never met in a crowded hotel lobby. Let's see six foot,\nstocky build... dressed as a raccoon. Okay, I can probably find this guy. When I met DiezelRaccoon,\nhe had just gotten suited up, so he was keen to hang out a bit. That\nwas fine by me, so we socialized for awhile. He's part of the school of\nthought that you should never talk in suit, so I can't say we got to\nknow each other much. Though I did learn that he's a dirty cheater in\nthat respect. Whenever there was information that he needed to get to\nsomeone, he would text it to me so that I could tell them. A breach of\netiquette to be sure, but hey, it keeps the magic alive.\n \nBy the time I got moved into the room, the much-anticipated\nWTF-is-happening-knowers had begun to set up shop in Con-Ops, so I got\nto meet the people whom I was to be working with/for. Number one on the\nlist was Kiba Youkai, who was in charge of volunteer coordination, and also everything.\nSince the fortuitous timing of Spring Break had left me with ample time\non the front end, I had made the decision to volunteer at the con this\nyear. Doing work at a con had always been unthinkable before then. Back\nwhen I was in the Navy I had to fight three gorgons just to earn the\ntime off to attend the con, be damned if I was going to spend some of that hard-won leisure time doing more work. It all seemed to come together this time, though. \nFurthe'More was certainly the right con for it. I always come back from\nAnthroCon on my hands and knees from going full-throttle for 5+ days and\nthere's never a moment to spare during any of it. That's the only con\nI'd ever been to more than once, so I really didn't have many attractive\nopportunities to help out. I certainly didn't want to be staff. I'd\nhate having responsibilities and obligations levied on top of me,\nkeeping me from the fun stuff. I really did want to help out though.\nEven though I could barely spare the day and a half that I spent\nattending Fur the'More last year from my tight schedule, I still managed\nto have a wonderful time within those confines. I was very impressed\nwith how smoothly the con went and how well everything was run,\nparticularly being in its inaugural year. The con is a lot slower-paced,\nso I actually could count on a bit of downtime that I might offer up\nfor the greater good. Volunteering is really nice like that. You're not\nobligated to anything, you just offer up whatever time you can spare and\ndon't have much to do during anyway, and they're happy for whatever\ntime you can give. It seemed like a great setup to me, and a good way to\nget my feet wet with this sort of thing. So I went for it.\n \nMy first task was getting everything together in registration. I'd\nalways heard about the badge machines being temperamental, but they\nworked flawlessly. If anything it was the iPads that we were using as\nPoint-of-Sale terminals that gave us a lot of grief. Anyways, I for a\nlong time I was part of the assembly line that was loading badges, maps,\nschedules, coupons and whatever other swag was associated with any\ngiven attendee's registration into the convelopes that everyone gets\nwhen they register. It's one of those tasks that's rocky the first few\ndozen times, but the next 300 go quite smoothly. It would've gone a lot\nmore smoothly if I hadn't gotten stuck with the schedules. I never\nwould've guessed it, but getting a full size sheet of paper into a\nmanila envelope is the most arduous, bafflingly difficult task in\nhistory. I obviously didn't want it to get all bent and wrinkled up, but\nthere was just no way that paper was going in there smoothly,\nespecially with a badge and a few other knicknacks already in there. We\nshould have started with the schedules, but we'd gotten the 'I Love\nLucy' style conveyor belt setup all put together already, so it was too\nlate to change things. I was forever saddled with the task of gingerly\nslipping in paper after paper and feeling a little more stupid after\neach attempt. I just had to push through it with dogged persistence and-\nHAH! I'm just kidding I pushed it off on someone else as soon as\nsomebody new showed up. That really was a valid solution though. I gave\nthem just the schedule out of my selection of convelope-stuffing items I\nwas responsible for. With an entire person devoted to just that one\nSisyphean frustration exercise, the workflow smoothed out nicely and we\ngot everything together okay. \n \nI spent the rest of that evening as a line-wrangler for the\nnewly-established pre-registration desk. Not a super glamorous task.\nYou're basically telling people to stay out of the way repeatedly and\ngiving the same set of information to everyone\nwho comes by there. It can be fun if you make it fun though. It's a lot\nof facetime with a lot of different people, so you can change it up a\nlittle to keep it from wearing on you. Phrase the statement differently\nevery time you say it. \"Radiant crystal dragon Jesus-level sponsor-types\non the left here, subservient, milling peons on the right!\" Or get a\nlittle creative with the right-of-way enforcement. \"I'm going to start\nwalking back and forth in a straight line in the middle of the hallway\nhere. If I collide with you, that means you need to step back and leave\nsome room for people to walk through here.\" And just in general make\nlight of it so that waiting in line isn't such a slog. \"Yes, right now\nthe sponsor-and-other-highly-enviable-people-of-means pre-registration\nline is actually longer than the drooling\nproletariat line. Personally I blame: [global warming, sunspots, the\ninherent flaws of capitalism, nuclear proliferation, ninjas, Dick\nCheney, continental drift, quantum entanglement, that little Linux\npenguin, etc.]\". (Oh yes, little penguin, I'm onto you.) \n \nAnd then one of my big volunteer benefits kicked in. I had a dinner\nengagement to get to, so I said \"Okay, I've gotta go.\" and then I left.\nIt was just that easy! I knew that I'd be coming back to work some more,\nbecause it really did make the time go fast, and it felt great to be\ninvolved in making the con come alive. At dinner, Diezel and I got to\nexplain to our waitress just what in God's name was going on at this\nhotel all of a sudden. I suppose that's a benefit of looking like a\nnormal person most of the time. I'm still pretty approachable when\npeople need questions answered. That sort of thing used to bother me,\nbut I've lately realized that it's actually kind of nice to be a part of\nfurry PR. Dr. Conway preaches often that you ought not have any reason\nto be embarrassed about your connection to the fandom, and every year I\nrealize more and more how right he is. You're talking about something\nthat you're enthusiastic about, something that you love doing and\nsomething that enriches your life by your involvement in it. Is it not\ncompletely natural that you'd be excited to share this with other\npeople? Indeed so. And with that, I took to what I knew would be my only\nchance at a full night's sleep with great enthusiasm. We packed the\nroom tight, as per tradition, so this was the only night that I was\nguaranteed my own bed. Be damned if I wasn't going to capitalize on that.\n \nFriday morning I was back at registration, as that place obviously gets\nhit pretty hard the first day out. It was a lot more badge and convelope\njuggling, but more on a case-by-case basis, so you actually had time to\nthink once in awhile. I found it was important to pay attention during\nthose spots when you didn't have something to do right that second. If\nyou kept your eyes and ears open, you could learn every part of the\nprocess pretty well just through osmosis, so you could step in for\nsomeone that had to run off for something or other. Which was\ninevitable, really. It happened all the time. Everyone stays pretty busy\naround there. Once again we got the process ironed out pretty quickly\nand got the badges flying like pros. It was a good time, actually. One\nof the reasons that I'd been reluctant to accept the gig in registration\nwas that I've always been a technical sort. I was never very good with\ncustomer service positions, in fact I've tried to avoid them where I\ncan. It went alright though, despite all that. I think it's just because\nfurries are an inordinately friendly demographic.\n \nI took a break to watch the opening ceremonies, and then I was back to\ndoing whatever was needed. Perhaps I asked for it by saying \"wherever\nyou need me\", but I did get bounced around a lot after that. Apparently\nsecurity has a great deal of use for pawns that they can pick up and\nplace wherever they are needed at the time. Dealers' Den, Artist's\nAlley, the panel room hallway downstairs, the all needed someone there\nto check badges, keep hallways clear (sigh), keep people from getting\nlost and sundry items like that. Downstairs we had to keep people away\nfrom the part of the building that had been rented out by another outfit\nfor the weekend. It was a meeting of The International Order of the Rainbow for Girls.\nI wish I was making that up but I'd come up with something far less\nabsurd if that was a fiction of mine. Apparently they were some kind of\nreligious masonic order that had a youth outreach program, so you know,\nreally not the best place for furries to be wandering into. \nIn any case, I got to do a whole bunch of standing around in various\nplaces watching the convention go on around me. I often made light of\nthe task by referring to it as \"animal control\". It certainly wasn't all\nbad. I met PearlyFox\nwhile doing that and we really hit it off, hanging out a lot as the con\nwent on. I got to field a lot of questions in that security role, and\nthat was a nice introduction to the kind of groupthink that goes on in\nthe staff. No one knows everything, but everybody knows who to ask\nabout whatever subject, so information moves quite freely. I also made a\nrather disquieting realization during all that idle time. \"Giving out\ninformation and directions, guarding access to certain areas, standing\nin one place all day talking to people that pass by, enforcing the\nrules, only being interacted with when the attendees need something...\ndear God, I'm an NPC!\"\n \nDay one was kind of light on events, so I was actually glad for all the\ndifferent things I had occupying my time. Still, I took my dinner break\nbecause I, like so many congoers, can let things like eating and\nsleeping get away from me if I don't keep track of them properly. I got\nto eat with Hengstolf The Solf\nand catch up with him some. I hadn't seen him since I left Virginia, so\nit was nice to get caught up a little on the goings-on with my old\nfurry group. It was a relatively quiet evening after that, and I thought\nthat I'd take some time off by attending a panel. And by \"taking time\noff\" I actually mean \"working at that panel\" because apparently once I\nget rolling on this volunteer stuff I just can't be stopped. There was a\nwriting panel about the use of dark and difficult topics like death,\nchildhood trauma, abuse and racism in fiction. Because of that content\nit had an age restriction and thus there was a fair deal of tapdancing\nto do to make it all legal. I couldn't even check IDs myself. We had to\nhave a centralized authority do it and issue wristbands like a\nnightclub. Maryland apparently has some rather draconian restrictions on\nsuch things. In any case, I was in a good position to help out, because\nI was planning to attend the panel anyway, so I could just sit close to\nthe door while I was there. That way I could sucker-punch any underage\nkids that were trying to get in. Or maybe that wasn't the right way to\nhandle that... In any case, age restrictions got enforced like nobody's\nbusiness.\n \nThat was a really great panel. Tough topics like that can really bring a\nlot of meaning to a story, and can also be disastrous if mishandled.\nThey don't get talked about enough though because of their tendency to\noffend or make people uncomfortable. Making a panel specifically for\ntopics like that was a brilliant idea. It was great because they framed\nit very clearly as a safe place for open discussion. The ground rules\nwere clear that no one would be criticized for what topics that they\nbrought up. If you didn't want to talk or hear about what was being\ndiscussed, you were free to leave. It was really a very liberating\nenvironment, and the group just ran with it. \nAs the panel wore on into the night, it actually became a lot less about\nthe writing and it just became a group of people talking about the issues.\nIt was almost inevitable, really. It's one thing to talk about how to\nmake your werebears relatable characters, but when you talk about big\nREAL issues like abusive relationships, religious persecution, and\ninstitutionalized racism, you're going to stir up some strong opinions.\nWhat I didn't count on was that exploring those different opinions and\nperspectives would be utterly fascinating. We weren't just fiddling around with our characters in a little fantasy world, we had real people, telling stories of their actual lives that pertained to the topic, and a lot of those stories were really quite compelling. \n \nAnd in a twist so off-the-wall I wish I could've written a better one if\nI tried, the night ended with all of us laughing hysterically about\nracism. I won't go into details because I'm not in my safety bubble\nanymore, but it was an extremely cathartic experience. And really,\nthat's how things like this get fought. There is a certain comic\nabsurdity to the way race relations are handled, even by people who mean\nwell, and it's not going to change until people stop being afraid to\ntalk about the subject. It'll never get any better until someone is\nwilling to call bullshit on the things that are wrong with the world.\nFor a little while that night, I was in a place where I, as a white man,\ncould use the N-word without bursting into flames. That's the kind of\nthing that makes me passionate about writing, because if I could ever\nget these kinds of ideas down onto paper in a way that resonates with\nother people, I could change the world.\nI had meant to throw on a borrowed fursuit and march in the parade, but I\nwasn't feeling up to it after the night I'd had. My novice status\nreally shows through when I'm fursuiting, and I wear down easily. It was\nactually very nice fursuiting weather, so I might've managed it, but\nI'm happy I went with the safer option. I still wanted to see\nthe parade of course, so volunteering to supervise it was a natural\nchoice. I was very impressed with the turnout. Corralling them all at\nthe end of the parade for the photo was a hell of a job, and we had to\nmove them around a bit to find an area big enough to get them all in the\nshot. After that there were some good events going on, so I took a long\nbreak from all the volunteer work to go to a writing panel, fursuit\ncharades and the dance competition.\n \nThe highlight of the dance-off was a comely young German Shepherd named \"Halla\"\nthat absolutely lit up the floor with her evocative bellydancing\nroutine. It was so amazing to hear such a drastically different style of\nmusic and see a very unconventional style of dancing amidst all the\ntechno, dub-step and modern stuff. The judges apparently favored her\noriginality too, as she won first place. After that I managed to meet up\nwith a few of my old Virginia friends and we all went out to \"whatever\nplace isn't choked with a massive line\", which ended up being Chipotle.\nEven that place was packed and we ended up eating outside. It had been a\nwarm evening, and I was the only one wary enough of the capricious\nMarch weather to wear a coat. I felt foolish for bringing it, for about\n20 minutes until the sun went down and it became the best idea ever had\nby anyone. \nAfter I got back to the con it was animal control again for awhile. In\nthe evening things quiet down a bit, so that stint wasn't nearly as\ninteresting. The benefit was though, that they opened the Sponsor Lounge\nup for volunteers during that time. So I got to take a shot at all the\nfancy grub to be had in there. They said that they had Miller Light on\ntap, so I figured I'd have a beer. After asking for \"a beer\" a pitcher\nwas deposited on the table in front of me without further comment. Free\nof charge. Yeah, I liked their style in the Sponsor Lounge. It took me a\nfair amount of time to get through all that free food and beer. Did I\nmention that \"free\" is my favorite flavor? But I found some interesting\npeople to talk to while I was making my way through that challenge, so\nthat was all good. The people who buy higher membership levels to\nsupport the con are a very good group, and it's nice to hang out with\nthem once in awhile. They're just as passionate about helping out the\ncon as the volunteers, they just express it in different ways.\n \nAfter that it was time for a sexy writing panel. Since the topics were\nracy and inappropriate, I was there as a bouncer again. Fine by me. It\nlets me charge time spent talking about how to describe furries bumping\nuglies as volunteer hours. I met RadFox\nthere and got a chance to talk to him. He has a brightly colored\nfursuit with glowy green accents and radiation trifoils and the whole\ndeal, so I'd always wanted to ask him if that was just a gimmick or if\nhe was really involved with nuclear power. It turns out that he actually\ndoes work at a nuclear power plant. Brunswick I think. So that gave us\nsomething to talk about besides writing smut, which is an admittedly fun\nsubject. He thought that I was nuts for going to college when I had\nplenty enough work experience to get a job right off the block. I'd\nheard before that experience outweighs degrees when you're trying to get\nan operator job. I'm going to stick to my guns though. I'm sure that\n\"both\" also has a lot of pull as far as landing a job is concerned, and\nfree college is a tough offer to turn down. \n \nThere was another even later, even sexier\nwriting panel, but I elected not to work that one. I really wanted to\nget to sleep for one, but I had also been invited (and subsequently\nbegged shamelessly) to attend the dance by PearlyFox,\nso I allowed a little time for it. We actually had a pretty good time. I\nflopped around like an idiot about as I'd expected to, but it was fun,\nwhich I hadn't predicted. I burnt myself out pretty fast, but I was\nstill very glad that I gave it a try. The big disadvantage was that\ndespite my very firm knowledge that I was exhausted and quite\nsleep-deprived, I was way too jazzed from\nthe dance to go to bed. Seeing as it was half-past tomorrow I went to\nthe only game in town, the deviant writing panel from whence I had\ndeparted the hour before. We talked long into the wee hours of the\nmorning and a good time was had by all.\nAfter a much quieter night, I embarked on the con's final day. I knew\nthat this day was going to be cut short, as I had a long drive ahead of\nme, and despite the temperate weather, there was much snow and stormy\nunpleasantness in the forecast. I wasn't going to mess around this time.\nThe last time it was 50 degrees out and they said we were about to get\nspin-kicked by a Yeti that totally happened.\nI wasn't about to take that risk, especially with class on Monday.\nSunday was super-stacked with writing panels, and the last one ended at\n3:00, so I began to make preparations to be underway by then. My host at\nthe hotel room was easily in his 18th hour of nursing a crippling\nhangover, but I managed to get him lucid enough to say my goodbyes and\npay my share of the room cost. \n \nOf particular interest that day was the Writing Technologies and\nformatting panel. I learned a lot of useful tricks there that I'll be\nsure to put to good use. Having taken only very sparse formal\ninstruction in writing, there are a lot of gaps in my knowledge of the\ntechnical and practical ends of the process. I took careful notes, and\nI'm certain they will be of substantial benefit to me should I ever\nscare up the time to do some serious writing again. I was a bit worried\nabout The Gneech's\nwriting panel, as I'd gone to meet him at his Dealer's table the day\nprior and he reacted with complete bafflement when I mentioned it. \"I\nhave a panel? Oh... I have a few calls to make, I think.\" It must have\nall gotten sorted out in the end, as he was indeed in attendance and had\nlots of very interesting things to say. Creating villains is a pivotal\nand very nuanced process. Tremendously interesting to talk about.\nUnfortunately, it was also the last thing I had a chance to talk about.\nI'd met a number of really great people on the Furthe'More staff, and so\nI wanted to give proper goodbyes to at the very least the ones I had\nworked closely with. I was thinking that this would be a quick affair,\nso ultimately I suppose I'm glad that I budgeted in a good amount of\ntime into my departure schedule. Very soon after it got around that I\nwas departing though, I got snagged. Kit Drago\nwanted to speak with me, I was told. I'd actually never met the\nConvention Chairman face to face, nor did I plan to, really. The big\ncheese has stuff to do and I'm happy to stay out of his way. I know that\nvolunteers work in the background and I was okay with that. I was\nthinking that he just wanted to rectify the fact that we'd never even\nshook hands before I took off. When we finally did meet, he handed me,\nof all things, a con badge. Ah, a custom con badge. Nice keepsake,\nthat's pretty thoughtful. Of course, keepsakes seldom have inflammatory\nphrases like \"Staff Inductee\" printed on them. ... What? No seriously what am I looking at right now?\n \nTradition was to call out this sort of news by surprise during the\nclosing ceremonies and drag the victim/recipient up on stage to be\npublicly presented with their accolade with no prior notice. Apparently\nI'd put pressure on them by leaving early. I will certainly say that I\nwas no less surprised than I would've been had the scenario gone as\nintended. I'm a writer by trade, if you hadn't noticed, so it's actually\nquite rare for me to be at a loss for words. Despite the lack of a\nlarge audience, this was undoubtedly such an occasion. This was my first\ntime volunteering, and I'd never really given any thought to or\nbothered to learn about what goes into running a convention. I had\nexpected to suck at this. Maybe work my way up to \"competent\" through\ntrial and error by the end, and come out of it having found a good use\nfor my downtime if nothing else. I didn't expect to be a great\nvolunteer, and certainly not the BEST volunteer, as my new certificate\nstates. I couldn't believe all this recognition I was getting all of a\nsudden. I was banking on cashing in my hours for a free t-shirt and\nhitting the road. I had a wonderful time working at this con. As such I\nwould've been perfectly happy just taking my leave at the end. To hear\nthat though, to be told \"We really appreciate what you've done, and we\nwant you to be a part of this convention.\" That's really something else.\n\n \nI had to go back around and say several more, truly proper farewells\nafter that. Seeing as we'd never met, I'm guessing Kit didn't make this\ndecision on his own, and that I had the people that I worked with/for to\nthank for this amazing new honor, and opportunity. It was so amazing to\nhear it in ConOps when it was starting to get around that I was top\nvolunteer. They needed to record what department I was with for the\naward, and that actually sparked a debate. \n\"I think we had him listed under marketplace.\"\n\"Well, he was with ops most of the time.\"\n\"Yeah but he spent like a whole day doing registration.\"\n\"No, he was with security.\"\n\"Wrong. He's programming. In fact, he's mine specifically, in programming. I'm contracting him out as my private code enforcement officer.\"Everyone wanted me. I never could've imagined that something like that would happen. \nIt was heartwrenching then, both that I had to leave, and that the\nfuture is so uncertain. I only came down this time because Furthe'More\nlined up perfectly with Spring Break. The date is changing next year, so\nI may not be able to spare all the time that I did next time around.\nHad the convention fallen on a normal weekend I probably wouldn't have\ngone. Of course, my new appointment changes things. I'll be back next\nyear. No doubt. Even if just the weekend really is all I can spare.\nHere's hoping the calendar gods still have some mercy left in them\nthough.\n \nThe fates conspiring to keep me from leaving the con yet again, after I\nhad finished all that, who should come by to visit my room but Glennjam!\nI'd spotted him earlier but I didn't have time right then to chat. I\nwas just thinking what a bummer it was that I never got to talk to him\nwhen he showed up. Keep in mind that this was entirely coincidence. He\nwas visiting someone else who was staying in that room, but it was still\na lovely opportunity to fanboy all over someone who does/commissions a\nlot of really great art. When I told him that I was a huge fan of his he\nwas like \"Wut? Nuuu U lie!\" and I was like \"Nu is not lies! Serrus fan R\nseriuse.\" \nWe got to talk for awhile about the contact we'd had on FA previously. I\nwas delighted to hear that he'd read some of my stories. In the part\nwhere I'd expected to be saying a hasty goodbye, Glenn said \"You know Bluedude\nis here too. Would you like to meet him?\" O.O Yes! ALL of the yes. So\nGlenn took me right to him and made me regret even more that I was out\nof time and had to go. Bluedude was a great guy and it was fantastic to\nmeet him. He, like so many people, had heard of me before but didn't\nrecognize my username because I have a stupid, counterintuitive\nusername. Once we got that worked out though he was very nice to talk\nto. It's always great to meet up with someone of common interests.\nHopefully I'll be able to pick them out of a crowd now and we can meet\nat another convention and spend some more significant amount of time\ntogether.\n \nSo, after a lengthy and... profoundly moving delay, I was on the road.\nThe feared snow never materialized, but I'd come to find out that was\nbecause I'd outrun it. Baltimore actually did get hit pretty hard that\nnight. One thing I'd failed to account for was the price difference\nbetween cutting through mid-Pennsylvania and driving up the coast. The\nroute coming from home is out west quite a fair bit, but driving up to\nTroy is pretty much a straight shot north, sending me through some very\ndensely populated, and extremely greedy areas. Troy to home cost me\nnothing because it was a weekend. Home to Baltimore cost me nothing\nbecause Pennsylvania is chill as fuck. Baltimore to Troy cost me $27.70.\nAnd you bet your ass I kept track! My disbelief wouldn't let me do\nanything else. Thanks for visiting Maryland. That'll be four dollars!\nWelcome to Delaware, that'll be six dollars! Fucking psychotic. I spent\nmore on tolls than on fuel during that leg of the trip. And that's\nincluding the tip I gave to the gas station attendant. And another\nthing, gas station attendants. That was a thing that I encountered. On my drive. In America. Presumably not\ninside a displaced time bubble. It was a heck of a thing. I didn't know\nwhat to tip him. About the same as I tip my milkman or stagecoach\ndriver or other non-existent service professionals? I gave him three\ndollars because that was all the $1 bills I had left by then. Not that\nyou'd know that looking at my passenger's seat by the time I crossed the\nborder into New York. I ended up with NINE of them because some cheeky\nbastard gave me six ones instead of a five and a one. I also accrued\n$1.20 in change. I started off ill-equipped to give exact change, and of\ncourse ended with superhuman change-giving abilities. The toll to get\noff the New York thruway was $6.65, and I was actually rather excited\nabout that. \"Oh, it is so ON! I hope you need nine nickels because\nyou're getting ALL THE NICKELS!\" \n \nI do decry New Jersey for their outrageous tolls and terrifying\nanachronisms and too many other things to list, but on their roads they\nhave places. to. fucking. be. Sure traffic got heavy a few times, but\nthere was unanimous agreement that this was no reason not to continue\nbarreling along at breakneck speeds. Being 18 inches from the car in\nfront of you is just motivation to pay extra close attention. I was in\nthe right lane doing 75 and was getting just blown\nby all the time. It was magnificent. I went 90 a couple times and it\nreally wasn't an imposition. It's a rather surreal feeling to be going\ngratuitously fast and be just kind of matching traffic flow. 85 was just\nbarely fast enough to merit using the left lane, and even then I got\npeople backed up behind me after awhile. Now, if paying $35 a mile got\nme the ability to drive like this everywhere I probably wouldn't\ncomplain so much about paying tolls. Seeing as it doesn't, I'm going to\ngo back to complaining about tolls. \nEven given all the Fast and the Furious\nshenanigans that were going on out on the open road, by FAR the most\ndangerous thing I did in New Jersey was go through the tollbooths. These\nplaces are equipped for volume, which is good, but it's a death trap if\nyou're not familiar with the system. I was in the left lane because\nthis was during one of my 'holy shit I can go as fast as I want' phases\nand I saw in front of me twelve toll\nlanes. The problem is that the small and vague labels that I had to get\nclose to in order to read were quite misleading. A dollar symbol isn't\ncash. It actually means \"coins only-exact change\" something that I was\nnot equipped for yet. Could I have given $3.35 exactly to a person?\nProbably. Did I have the couple dozen coins necessary for a basket\ntransaction? Absolutely not. The big issue was that the left-to right\nsequence of the booths was EasyPass, EasyPass, Coin, Coin, Coin, Truck,\nEasyPass, EasyPass, EasyPass, actual tollbooths. So I had eight lanes to\ntraverse in a very short period. The smart thing to do would be just\nblow through one of the lanes in front of me and take the chance on the\nlicense plate picture widget the have on those and getting mailed a\nbill. Then take the whole thing as a learning experience. So naturally I\ncut across several lanes perpendicularly and almost died because the\nreal tollbooths had a line built up in front of them so I couldn't pull\ninto those lanes immediately. You know, like the sensible adult that I'm\ntold I am.\n \nSo obviously by the time I made it back into New York I was thoroughly\nsick of this whole toll business. I knew that New York rest stops\nusually have EasyPasses for sale. I'd never traveled enough to merit\ngetting one before, but after this extended rolling disaster I figured\nit would be worth it. I haven't put it to use yet, mainly because by the\ntime I had it in my hands I'd achieved small change critical mass and I\ndidn't need it. I'll get it going one of these days, though; the next\ntime I have some traveling to do. I hope they don't mind if you wait a\ncouple months before activating it. As much as I hate fiddling with\ncash, I'm surprised it took me this long to finally get one. Mainly my\nsticking point on the device is that they use it to track your car\nwithout your knowledge or consent. I've mitigated that by leaving it in\nmy desk for the moment.\nIn any case, I survived that whole exchange, surprisingly enough, and\nmade it back to college a little after midnight. I was complete wreck in\nEngineering Statics that morning at 8:00 AM, so I'm glad that I pushed\nto leave when I did. Had I given into the temptation to stay for the\nClosing Ceremonies I could've gotten tangled up in the snow, and I\nwould've gotten in at 3 or 4 AM instead. I managed a good score on my\nStatics exam two days after my return, and I think a big part of that is\nthat I'd left myself with a mostly salvageable situation by managing my\ntime well. Being responsible is really boring, but sometimes it's nice\nto get a reminder of why it's a good idea to turn down some\nopportunities because they may not be the best thing for you in the long\nrun. I really do worry about how the timing of next year's con is going\nto work out, but there's really nothing for it. It's a year away, and a\nlot could change in that time. Really the only solution is to just wait\nit out and figure something out when I get there.\n \nSo, final thoughts on Furthe'More 2014. A couple of the people that I\nwas with complained that the con was boring and didn't have anything\nfun. Sure it's a little quieter than most cons, but I think that's a\nnice change of pace. It's one of the things that lets me actually make\nit to the con and get everything that I do get out of it even on a tight\nschedule. I know that I'm going to come back from it still as a useful,\nfunctioning human being, so I can schedule around it a lot closer,\nrather than needing to leave time on the end for a hospital visit like I\nneed to with Anthrocon. \nI don't think that there's anything wrong\nwith Furthe'More. If you think it's too subdued, then maybe this con\njust isn't meant for you. Yeah, in an ideal world we'd be trying to\nattract as many people from as many demographics as possible, but\nreally, every con does have a target\naudience. This con's lacking in rampant binge drinking and crazy room\nparties is actually what makes it attractive to a lot of people. I like\nit because I go to cons to socialize and go to panels and events. I\ndidn't have any alcohol beyond the little bit that was offered to me on a\ncouple occasions (and a whole pitcher of beer\nbutitwasfreethatdoesn'tcount) and I had an awesome time. I loved\nattending FTM last year, I loved volunteering this year, and if I can\nfind a way to spare the time I think I'll take them up on their offer to\njoin the staff next year. \n \nYes, if your ideal con is getting sozzled and trashing a hotel room with\ninsane late night parties, FTM is the wrong place for you. There are\nplenty of people who like the fact that\nwe keep things under control, and the con is there to cater to them,\nbecause there are TONS of cons were you can just get shitfaced and\nbender the weekend away. I found that a lot of the complaints about the\ncon were along the lines of \"They wouldn't let me [irresponsible thing\nthey shouldn't have been doing anyway].\" But there were plenty of people\nwho really appreciated the fact that we could reign in everyone's\nbehavior and not have the place turn into Delta fraternity from Animal House. There was one person who absolutely loved this year's con to death for exactly that reason, and they phrased it very well. Here's an excerpt:The feel of the con is small and intimate,\nand the staff was so damn welcoming and kind! Never lose that! There are\nlots of big cons out there, and plenty of jerks, but not enough smaller\nones that are actually laid back and fun! No long lines, waiting for\nelevators, crowded hallways, etc. The hotel space was perfect for\nfinding friends and fursuiting, and you guys have a lot of really\nunique, entertaining events. Fur The More is definitely something\nspecial.\n \nYour EMT's and Security made me feel safe, and allowed me to have a\ngreat time. Please DO NOT listen to the people who say your staffing\nmeasures are 'too much'. Remember, the only people who feel\nuncomfortable around trained professionals and security are assholes who\nwant to break the rules. And those aren't people you want at your con.\nAnd last but not least, the Staff. You know, a con is only as good as\nthe people who make it happen. They're the heart of what they create. If\na con is run by an incompetent egomaniac, then it draws like-minded\nattendees and it has a really horrible \"feel\". When I was at Fur The\nMore I felt like I was among friends. Every person I met, from Staff to\nAttendee, was welcoming and friendly. That's why I love your con, and\nthat's why I'll be back.\nI guess what I'm saying is what some might call 'problems' are part of\nFurthe'More's mission statement. Maybe that means that some people are\njust not compatible with this con, and that's okay. We have a growing\naudience of great folks who are really put off by the \"non-stop\ndrug-fueled rave party\" theme that a lot of cons have. We just want to\nrelax a little, and if that's not your thing then you have plenty of\nother options. I guess what I'm saying is that some of the things people\ndislike about the con are not going to change. They're differences of\nopinion, not problems. But that's okay. There's a con out there for\neveryone. If you like big crowds, commerce and getting lots of swag, go\nto Anthrocon. If you like not remembering what you did half the con and\nspending the other half of it nursing a debilitating hangover, go to\nFurry Weekend Atlanta. If you like good entertainment and a variety of\nevents, go to Midwest Fur Fest. And if you like disappointment and\nbaffling, pervasive inefficiency, go to Rainfurrest. See? A con for\neveryone!\n \nOkay, onto the footnotes:\nI debuted my new labcoat at this con and it was a smash-hit. Dozens of people commented on it. I would've thought the patch would be too small to be noticed so readily, but just about everyone picked up on it. A squirrel who was walking by during the fursuit parade started squeaking the Portal theme as he passed. It was so popular that I wore it throughout the con. The sewing and logistics for the  new duds were done by ToraKiyoshi because he is a good friend who wants me to be happy.Having extra pockets was actually very useful as I scrambled around doing various things. Volunteering necessitates a certain measure of organization and time management, difficult things to maintain at a convention. So having only one thing to grab that has all the essentials in/attached to it was very useful. The labcoat became a big distinguishing feature that people readily identified me by. I think I might get a white collared shirt and a bow tie to go with it one of these days. SilverPalth confessed to me \"Every time you walk into ConOps I think that you're Uncle Kage.\" Which was quite flattering, to be honest. I had processed a Special Guest badge for the Good Doctor early on, so I was anticipating seeing him again this year, but I guess he couldn't make it.\n I'm not usually much for buying lots of swag at cons, but I came away with some this time. I gave the vendor the chewing out of her life for not having Applejack, but I still came away from her booth with this one because look at it. AHHH it's adorable!"}