# Furthe'More 2014: They like me! They really like me!

Author: star dragon
Tags: 2014, Furthemore, Staff, baltimore, convention

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!

Super-late con journal is super late like always. Man, this will really disappoint the six people who actually read these.
Okay, so... the convention that I did. That was like, a thing that
happened, and I was there. It's been awhile, but I'm talking about it
now because this week has been a murder-gauntlet of stuff I have to do.
Hell, there are things that I should be doing right at this very moment
instead of talking about this furry con, but I've put school first all
week. It's time to reminisce about the Spring Break that I spent working
even harder than I do at school. Wait... what? I got something wrong
there. Let's review.
I made a much-needed trip home to briefly visit and drop off junk I didn't need and pick up some things I did
need but forgot. This was my first time collegeing so I didn't have the
best idea what the optimal equipment loadout was. The heat was out in
my bedroom, but it wasn't that awfully cold outside so I decided that
I'd tough it out for a few days rather than suffer through the process
of trying to fix it. The whole time I was there the news networks were
plastered with dire predictions of the coming tide of winter's fury.
Given my travel plans they were at least a little bit disquieting, but I
didn't dwell on them too much. The media loves to blow such things out
of proportion. Like all news stories, the weather just isn't interesting
unless it's trying to kill you. I thought that their predictions were
ludicrous, as it had been mid-fifties all week. I barely needed a
jacket. 
 
Well, perhaps I should've had a bit more faith in the local networks
because on Wednesday we totally got suckerpunched by a vicious,
apocalyptic thunderblizzard. We got 16" total accumulation that day,
with winds gusting up to 45MPH. It was that wind that really made life
difficult right then. The snow would blow right back out into the roads
every time we pushed it out of the way, giving bare pavement a very
short half-life as the day went on. We hunkered down for the day, along
with a large portion of the rest of the state, and did our best to
weather the storm. Naturally the wind was quite effectively tearing
through the walls of the old homestead, to the point where I could light
a candle and watch the flame dance excitedly from all the icy chill
that was sneaking in all over the place. My room became thoroughly
inhospitable and I took refuge on the couch that night. 
The morning brought only moderate improvements to the road conditions,
so I left a bit later than I had planned. Of course my planned departure
time had been "whenever I wake up" so it's not like I disrupted a
delicately crafted timetable or anything. I just wanted to be plenty
early to help with setup at the con. In any case, things settled down a
bit as the morning went on and conditions eventually got to the point
where it seemed like not such a bad idea to head out. Of course
naturally I had to stop in to say goodbye to my grandmother before I
headed 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
gotten stuck and I'd be in an even worse predicament than before. So I
braved the nearly knee-deep snow in the driveway in just my sneakers. I
hadn't brought my boots back from college with me because the forecast
back then didn't contain "ridiculous frozen donkey-punch" yet. The
things I do for family... and cookies. She always bakes a batch of
cookies right before I leave. Totally worth having wet feet for most of
the trip.
 
The roads were actually just a bit worse
than I thought they'd be. School was closed again, and I've found that
school being in session is a big factor that lights a fire under our
snowplow drivers. So with no threat of a busload of children careening
into a ditch to motivate them, the town's snowmovers were slacking a
bit. Still, it was a bit late to turn back, and it really wasn't all
that dangerous to drive. The aggressive cold snap that accompanied
Snowtorious B.I.G. meant that it was too cold for the roads to be icy.
"Too cold for ice" is a tough concept for folks from temperate regions
to wrap their heat-addled brains around, so I'll break it down a bit.
Basically, the snow has to melt before it can refreeze as ice, so the
biggest ice dangers happen when the temperature is close to freezing.
When it plunges into the mid-teens and stays there, the snow stays in
its innocuous, fluffy white form, painting the land in delightful,
radiant white and hardly trying to kill anyone at all. As long as I kept
my speed under control I was fine. Had this been a universal affair it
would've lengthened the trip considerably, but it would appear that the
storm's vengeful wrath was extremely focused on one area in particular,
as it was only an hour or so before I drove out of its fallout zone. By
the time I got to Baltimore there was hardly any snow on the ground at
all, even in lawns and areas that I assume they don't plow unless
Maryland is much weirder than I thought.
 
It would seem that my concern for the timetable was poorly founded, as
even arriving at mid-afternoon I managed to get there earlier than
anyone with that coveted "Knows what the fuck is going on" demographic.
Still, I found a good group to hang out with in the Dealer's Den and
managed to get my bearings there. About the time that they broke for
lunch I got the message that one of my roommates had arrived, so I went
out to meet him. If they accomplish nothing else practical, fursuits are
certainly quite useful in providing identifying marks for finding
someone you've never met in a crowded hotel lobby. Let's see six foot,
stocky build... dressed as a raccoon. Okay, I can probably find this guy. When I met DiezelRaccoon,
he had just gotten suited up, so he was keen to hang out a bit. That
was fine by me, so we socialized for awhile. He's part of the school of
thought that you should never talk in suit, so I can't say we got to
know each other much. Though I did learn that he's a dirty cheater in
that respect. Whenever there was information that he needed to get to
someone, he would text it to me so that I could tell them. A breach of
etiquette to be sure, but hey, it keeps the magic alive.
 
By the time I got moved into the room, the much-anticipated
WTF-is-happening-knowers had begun to set up shop in Con-Ops, so I got
to meet the people whom I was to be working with/for. Number one on the
list was Kiba Youkai, who was in charge of volunteer coordination, and also everything.
Since the fortuitous timing of Spring Break had left me with ample time
on the front end, I had made the decision to volunteer at the con this
year. Doing work at a con had always been unthinkable before then. Back
when I was in the Navy I had to fight three gorgons just to earn the
time 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. 
Furthe'More was certainly the right con for it. I always come back from
AnthroCon on my hands and knees from going full-throttle for 5+ days and
there's never a moment to spare during any of it. That's the only con
I'd ever been to more than once, so I really didn't have many attractive
opportunities to help out. I certainly didn't want to be staff. I'd
hate having responsibilities and obligations levied on top of me,
keeping me from the fun stuff. I really did want to help out though.
Even though I could barely spare the day and a half that I spent
attending Fur the'More last year from my tight schedule, I still managed
to have a wonderful time within those confines. I was very impressed
with how smoothly the con went and how well everything was run,
particularly being in its inaugural year. The con is a lot slower-paced,
so I actually could count on a bit of downtime that I might offer up
for the greater good. Volunteering is really nice like that. You're not
obligated to anything, you just offer up whatever time you can spare and
don't have much to do during anyway, and they're happy for whatever
time you can give. It seemed like a great setup to me, and a good way to
get my feet wet with this sort of thing. So I went for it.
 
My first task was getting everything together in registration. I'd
always heard about the badge machines being temperamental, but they
worked flawlessly. If anything it was the iPads that we were using as
Point-of-Sale terminals that gave us a lot of grief. Anyways, I for a
long time I was part of the assembly line that was loading badges, maps,
schedules, coupons and whatever other swag was associated with any
given attendee's registration into the convelopes that everyone gets
when they register. It's one of those tasks that's rocky the first few
dozen times, but the next 300 go quite smoothly. It would've gone a lot
more smoothly if I hadn't gotten stuck with the schedules. I never
would've guessed it, but getting a full size sheet of paper into a
manila envelope is the most arduous, bafflingly difficult task in
history. I obviously didn't want it to get all bent and wrinkled up, but
there was just no way that paper was going in there smoothly,
especially with a badge and a few other knicknacks already in there. We
should have started with the schedules, but we'd gotten the 'I Love
Lucy' style conveyor belt setup all put together already, so it was too
late to change things. I was forever saddled with the task of gingerly
slipping in paper after paper and feeling a little more stupid after
each attempt. I just had to push through it with dogged persistence and-
HAH! I'm just kidding I pushed it off on someone else as soon as
somebody new showed up. That really was a valid solution though. I gave
them just the schedule out of my selection of convelope-stuffing items I
was responsible for. With an entire person devoted to just that one
Sisyphean frustration exercise, the workflow smoothed out nicely and we
got everything together okay. 
 
I spent the rest of that evening as a line-wrangler for the
newly-established pre-registration desk. Not a super glamorous task.
You're basically telling people to stay out of the way repeatedly and
giving the same set of information to everyone
who comes by there. It can be fun if you make it fun though. It's a lot
of facetime with a lot of different people, so you can change it up a
little to keep it from wearing on you. Phrase the statement differently
every time you say it. "Radiant crystal dragon Jesus-level sponsor-types
on the left here, subservient, milling peons on the right!" Or get a
little creative with the right-of-way enforcement. "I'm going to start
walking back and forth in a straight line in the middle of the hallway
here. If I collide with you, that means you need to step back and leave
some room for people to walk through here." And just in general make
light of it so that waiting in line isn't such a slog. "Yes, right now
the sponsor-and-other-highly-enviable-people-of-means pre-registration
line is actually longer than the drooling
proletariat line. Personally I blame: [global warming, sunspots, the
inherent flaws of capitalism, nuclear proliferation, ninjas, Dick
Cheney, continental drift, quantum entanglement, that little Linux
penguin, etc.]". (Oh yes, little penguin, I'm onto you.) 
 
And then one of my big volunteer benefits kicked in. I had a dinner
engagement to get to, so I said "Okay, I've gotta go." and then I left.
It was just that easy! I knew that I'd be coming back to work some more,
because it really did make the time go fast, and it felt great to be
involved in making the con come alive. At dinner, Diezel and I got to
explain to our waitress just what in God's name was going on at this
hotel all of a sudden. I suppose that's a benefit of looking like a
normal person most of the time. I'm still pretty approachable when
people need questions answered. That sort of thing used to bother me,
but I've lately realized that it's actually kind of nice to be a part of
furry PR. Dr. Conway preaches often that you ought not have any reason
to be embarrassed about your connection to the fandom, and every year I
realize more and more how right he is. You're talking about something
that you're enthusiastic about, something that you love doing and
something that enriches your life by your involvement in it. Is it not
completely natural that you'd be excited to share this with other
people? Indeed so. And with that, I took to what I knew would be my only
chance at a full night's sleep with great enthusiasm. We packed the
room tight, as per tradition, so this was the only night that I was
guaranteed my own bed. Be damned if I wasn't going to capitalize on that.
 
Friday morning I was back at registration, as that place obviously gets
hit pretty hard the first day out. It was a lot more badge and convelope
juggling, but more on a case-by-case basis, so you actually had time to
think once in awhile. I found it was important to pay attention during
those spots when you didn't have something to do right that second. If
you kept your eyes and ears open, you could learn every part of the
process pretty well just through osmosis, so you could step in for
someone that had to run off for something or other. Which was
inevitable, really. It happened all the time. Everyone stays pretty busy
around there. Once again we got the process ironed out pretty quickly
and got the badges flying like pros. It was a good time, actually. One
of the reasons that I'd been reluctant to accept the gig in registration
was that I've always been a technical sort. I was never very good with
customer service positions, in fact I've tried to avoid them where I
can. It went alright though, despite all that. I think it's just because
furries are an inordinately friendly demographic.
 
I took a break to watch the opening ceremonies, and then I was back to
doing whatever was needed. Perhaps I asked for it by saying "wherever
you need me", but I did get bounced around a lot after that. Apparently
security has a great deal of use for pawns that they can pick up and
place wherever they are needed at the time. Dealers' Den, Artist's
Alley, the panel room hallway downstairs, the all needed someone there
to check badges, keep hallways clear (sigh), keep people from getting
lost and sundry items like that. Downstairs we had to keep people away
from the part of the building that had been rented out by another outfit
for the weekend. It was a meeting of The International Order of the Rainbow for Girls.
I wish I was making that up but I'd come up with something far less
absurd if that was a fiction of mine. Apparently they were some kind of
religious masonic order that had a youth outreach program, so you know,
really not the best place for furries to be wandering into. 
In any case, I got to do a whole bunch of standing around in various
places watching the convention go on around me. I often made light of
the task by referring to it as "animal control". It certainly wasn't all
bad. I met PearlyFox
while doing that and we really hit it off, hanging out a lot as the con
went on. I got to field a lot of questions in that security role, and
that was a nice introduction to the kind of groupthink that goes on in
the staff. No one knows everything, but everybody knows who to ask
about whatever subject, so information moves quite freely. I also made a
rather disquieting realization during all that idle time. "Giving out
information and directions, guarding access to certain areas, standing
in one place all day talking to people that pass by, enforcing the
rules, only being interacted with when the attendees need something...
dear God, I'm an NPC!"
 
Day one was kind of light on events, so I was actually glad for all the
different things I had occupying my time. Still, I took my dinner break
because I, like so many congoers, can let things like eating and
sleeping get away from me if I don't keep track of them properly. I got
to eat with Hengstolf The Solf
and catch up with him some. I hadn't seen him since I left Virginia, so
it was nice to get caught up a little on the goings-on with my old
furry group. It was a relatively quiet evening after that, and I thought
that I'd take some time off by attending a panel. And by "taking time
off" I actually mean "working at that panel" because apparently once I
get rolling on this volunteer stuff I just can't be stopped. There was a
writing panel about the use of dark and difficult topics like death,
childhood trauma, abuse and racism in fiction. Because of that content
it had an age restriction and thus there was a fair deal of tapdancing
to do to make it all legal. I couldn't even check IDs myself. We had to
have a centralized authority do it and issue wristbands like a
nightclub. Maryland apparently has some rather draconian restrictions on
such things. In any case, I was in a good position to help out, because
I was planning to attend the panel anyway, so I could just sit close to
the door while I was there. That way I could sucker-punch any underage
kids that were trying to get in. Or maybe that wasn't the right way to
handle that... In any case, age restrictions got enforced like nobody's
business.
 
That was a really great panel. Tough topics like that can really bring a
lot of meaning to a story, and can also be disastrous if mishandled.
They don't get talked about enough though because of their tendency to
offend or make people uncomfortable. Making a panel specifically for
topics like that was a brilliant idea. It was great because they framed
it very clearly as a safe place for open discussion. The ground rules
were clear that no one would be criticized for what topics that they
brought up. If you didn't want to talk or hear about what was being
discussed, you were free to leave. It was really a very liberating
environment, and the group just ran with it. 
As the panel wore on into the night, it actually became a lot less about
the writing and it just became a group of people talking about the issues.
It was almost inevitable, really. It's one thing to talk about how to
make your werebears relatable characters, but when you talk about big
REAL issues like abusive relationships, religious persecution, and
institutionalized racism, you're going to stir up some strong opinions.
What I didn't count on was that exploring those different opinions and
perspectives 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. 
 
And in a twist so off-the-wall I wish I could've written a better one if
I tried, the night ended with all of us laughing hysterically about
racism. I won't go into details because I'm not in my safety bubble
anymore, but it was an extremely cathartic experience. And really,
that's how things like this get fought. There is a certain comic
absurdity to the way race relations are handled, even by people who mean
well, and it's not going to change until people stop being afraid to
talk about the subject. It'll never get any better until someone is
willing to call bullshit on the things that are wrong with the world.
For a little while that night, I was in a place where I, as a white man,
could use the N-word without bursting into flames. That's the kind of
thing that makes me passionate about writing, because if I could ever
get these kinds of ideas down onto paper in a way that resonates with
other people, I could change the world.
I had meant to throw on a borrowed fursuit and march in the parade, but I
wasn't feeling up to it after the night I'd had. My novice status
really shows through when I'm fursuiting, and I wear down easily. It was
actually very nice fursuiting weather, so I might've managed it, but
I'm happy I went with the safer option. I still wanted to see
the parade of course, so volunteering to supervise it was a natural
choice. I was very impressed with the turnout. Corralling them all at
the end of the parade for the photo was a hell of a job, and we had to
move them around a bit to find an area big enough to get them all in the
shot. After that there were some good events going on, so I took a long
break from all the volunteer work to go to a writing panel, fursuit
charades and the dance competition.
 
The highlight of the dance-off was a comely young German Shepherd named "Halla"
that absolutely lit up the floor with her evocative bellydancing
routine. It was so amazing to hear such a drastically different style of
music and see a very unconventional style of dancing amidst all the
techno, dub-step and modern stuff. The judges apparently favored her
originality too, as she won first place. After that I managed to meet up
with a few of my old Virginia friends and we all went out to "whatever
place isn't choked with a massive line", which ended up being Chipotle.
Even that place was packed and we ended up eating outside. It had been a
warm evening, and I was the only one wary enough of the capricious
March weather to wear a coat. I felt foolish for bringing it, for about
20 minutes until the sun went down and it became the best idea ever had
by anyone. 
After I got back to the con it was animal control again for awhile. In
the evening things quiet down a bit, so that stint wasn't nearly as
interesting. The benefit was though, that they opened the Sponsor Lounge
up for volunteers during that time. So I got to take a shot at all the
fancy grub to be had in there. They said that they had Miller Light on
tap, so I figured I'd have a beer. After asking for "a beer" a pitcher
was deposited on the table in front of me without further comment. Free
of charge. Yeah, I liked their style in the Sponsor Lounge. It took me a
fair amount of time to get through all that free food and beer. Did I
mention that "free" is my favorite flavor? But I found some interesting
people to talk to while I was making my way through that challenge, so
that was all good. The people who buy higher membership levels to
support the con are a very good group, and it's nice to hang out with
them once in awhile. They're just as passionate about helping out the
con as the volunteers, they just express it in different ways.
 
After that it was time for a sexy writing panel. Since the topics were
racy and inappropriate, I was there as a bouncer again. Fine by me. It
lets me charge time spent talking about how to describe furries bumping
uglies as volunteer hours. I met RadFox
there and got a chance to talk to him. He has a brightly colored
fursuit with glowy green accents and radiation trifoils and the whole
deal, so I'd always wanted to ask him if that was just a gimmick or if
he was really involved with nuclear power. It turns out that he actually
does work at a nuclear power plant. Brunswick I think. So that gave us
something to talk about besides writing smut, which is an admittedly fun
subject. He thought that I was nuts for going to college when I had
plenty enough work experience to get a job right off the block. I'd
heard before that experience outweighs degrees when you're trying to get
an operator job. I'm going to stick to my guns though. I'm sure that
"both" also has a lot of pull as far as landing a job is concerned, and
free college is a tough offer to turn down. 
 
There was another even later, even sexier
writing panel, but I elected not to work that one. I really wanted to
get to sleep for one, but I had also been invited (and subsequently
begged shamelessly) to attend the dance by PearlyFox,
so I allowed a little time for it. We actually had a pretty good time. I
flopped around like an idiot about as I'd expected to, but it was fun,
which I hadn't predicted. I burnt myself out pretty fast, but I was
still very glad that I gave it a try. The big disadvantage was that
despite my very firm knowledge that I was exhausted and quite
sleep-deprived, I was way too jazzed from
the dance to go to bed. Seeing as it was half-past tomorrow I went to
the only game in town, the deviant writing panel from whence I had
departed the hour before. We talked long into the wee hours of the
morning and a good time was had by all.
After a much quieter night, I embarked on the con's final day. I knew
that this day was going to be cut short, as I had a long drive ahead of
me, and despite the temperate weather, there was much snow and stormy
unpleasantness in the forecast. I wasn't going to mess around this time.
The last time it was 50 degrees out and they said we were about to get
spin-kicked by a Yeti that totally happened.
I wasn't about to take that risk, especially with class on Monday.
Sunday was super-stacked with writing panels, and the last one ended at
3:00, so I began to make preparations to be underway by then. My host at
the hotel room was easily in his 18th hour of nursing a crippling
hangover, but I managed to get him lucid enough to say my goodbyes and
pay my share of the room cost. 
 
Of particular interest that day was the Writing Technologies and
formatting panel. I learned a lot of useful tricks there that I'll be
sure to put to good use. Having taken only very sparse formal
instruction in writing, there are a lot of gaps in my knowledge of the
technical and practical ends of the process. I took careful notes, and
I'm certain they will be of substantial benefit to me should I ever
scare up the time to do some serious writing again. I was a bit worried
about The Gneech's
writing panel, as I'd gone to meet him at his Dealer's table the day
prior and he reacted with complete bafflement when I mentioned it. "I
have a panel? Oh... I have a few calls to make, I think." It must have
all gotten sorted out in the end, as he was indeed in attendance and had
lots of very interesting things to say. Creating villains is a pivotal
and very nuanced process. Tremendously interesting to talk about.
Unfortunately, it was also the last thing I had a chance to talk about.
I'd met a number of really great people on the Furthe'More staff, and so
I wanted to give proper goodbyes to at the very least the ones I had
worked closely with. I was thinking that this would be a quick affair,
so ultimately I suppose I'm glad that I budgeted in a good amount of
time into my departure schedule. Very soon after it got around that I
was departing though, I got snagged. Kit Drago
wanted to speak with me, I was told. I'd actually never met the
Convention Chairman face to face, nor did I plan to, really. The big
cheese has stuff to do and I'm happy to stay out of his way. I know that
volunteers work in the background and I was okay with that. I was
thinking that he just wanted to rectify the fact that we'd never even
shook hands before I took off. When we finally did meet, he handed me,
of all things, a con badge. Ah, a custom con badge. Nice keepsake,
that's pretty thoughtful. Of course, keepsakes seldom have inflammatory
phrases like "Staff Inductee" printed on them. ... What? No seriously what am I looking at right now?
 
Tradition was to call out this sort of news by surprise during the
closing ceremonies and drag the victim/recipient up on stage to be
publicly presented with their accolade with no prior notice. Apparently
I'd put pressure on them by leaving early. I will certainly say that I
was no less surprised than I would've been had the scenario gone as
intended. I'm a writer by trade, if you hadn't noticed, so it's actually
quite rare for me to be at a loss for words. Despite the lack of a
large audience, this was undoubtedly such an occasion. This was my first
time volunteering, and I'd never really given any thought to or
bothered to learn about what goes into running a convention. I had
expected to suck at this. Maybe work my way up to "competent" through
trial and error by the end, and come out of it having found a good use
for my downtime if nothing else. I didn't expect to be a great
volunteer, and certainly not the BEST volunteer, as my new certificate
states. I couldn't believe all this recognition I was getting all of a
sudden. I was banking on cashing in my hours for a free t-shirt and
hitting the road. I had a wonderful time working at this con. As such I
would've been perfectly happy just taking my leave at the end. To hear
that though, to be told "We really appreciate what you've done, and we
want you to be a part of this convention." That's really something else.

 
I had to go back around and say several more, truly proper farewells
after that. Seeing as we'd never met, I'm guessing Kit didn't make this
decision on his own, and that I had the people that I worked with/for to
thank for this amazing new honor, and opportunity. It was so amazing to
hear it in ConOps when it was starting to get around that I was top
volunteer. They needed to record what department I was with for the
award, and that actually sparked a debate. 
"I think we had him listed under marketplace."
"Well, he was with ops most of the time."
"Yeah but he spent like a whole day doing registration."
"No, he was with security."
"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. 
It was heartwrenching then, both that I had to leave, and that the
future is so uncertain. I only came down this time because Furthe'More
lined up perfectly with Spring Break. The date is changing next year, so
I may not be able to spare all the time that I did next time around.
Had the convention fallen on a normal weekend I probably wouldn't have
gone. Of course, my new appointment changes things. I'll be back next
year. No doubt. Even if just the weekend really is all I can spare.
Here's hoping the calendar gods still have some mercy left in them
though.
 
The fates conspiring to keep me from leaving the con yet again, after I
had finished all that, who should come by to visit my room but Glennjam!
I'd spotted him earlier but I didn't have time right then to chat. I
was just thinking what a bummer it was that I never got to talk to him
when he showed up. Keep in mind that this was entirely coincidence. He
was visiting someone else who was staying in that room, but it was still
a lovely opportunity to fanboy all over someone who does/commissions a
lot of really great art. When I told him that I was a huge fan of his he
was like "Wut? Nuuu U lie!" and I was like "Nu is not lies! Serrus fan R
seriuse." 
We got to talk for awhile about the contact we'd had on FA previously. I
was delighted to hear that he'd read some of my stories. In the part
where I'd expected to be saying a hasty goodbye, Glenn said "You know Bluedude
is here too. Would you like to meet him?" O.O Yes! ALL of the yes. So
Glenn took me right to him and made me regret even more that I was out
of time and had to go. Bluedude was a great guy and it was fantastic to
meet him. He, like so many people, had heard of me before but didn't
recognize my username because I have a stupid, counterintuitive
username. Once we got that worked out though he was very nice to talk
to. It's always great to meet up with someone of common interests.
Hopefully I'll be able to pick them out of a crowd now and we can meet
at another convention and spend some more significant amount of time
together.
 
So, after a lengthy and... profoundly moving delay, I was on the road.
The feared snow never materialized, but I'd come to find out that was
because I'd outrun it. Baltimore actually did get hit pretty hard that
night. One thing I'd failed to account for was the price difference
between cutting through mid-Pennsylvania and driving up the coast. The
route coming from home is out west quite a fair bit, but driving up to
Troy is pretty much a straight shot north, sending me through some very
densely populated, and extremely greedy areas. Troy to home cost me
nothing because it was a weekend. Home to Baltimore cost me nothing
because Pennsylvania is chill as fuck. Baltimore to Troy cost me $27.70.
And you bet your ass I kept track! My disbelief wouldn't let me do
anything else. Thanks for visiting Maryland. That'll be four dollars!
Welcome to Delaware, that'll be six dollars! Fucking psychotic. I spent
more on tolls than on fuel during that leg of the trip. And that's
including the tip I gave to the gas station attendant. And another
thing, gas station attendants. That was a thing that I encountered. On my drive. In America. Presumably not
inside a displaced time bubble. It was a heck of a thing. I didn't know
what to tip him. About the same as I tip my milkman or stagecoach
driver or other non-existent service professionals? I gave him three
dollars because that was all the $1 bills I had left by then. Not that
you'd know that looking at my passenger's seat by the time I crossed the
border into New York. I ended up with NINE of them because some cheeky
bastard gave me six ones instead of a five and a one. I also accrued
$1.20 in change. I started off ill-equipped to give exact change, and of
course ended with superhuman change-giving abilities. The toll to get
off the New York thruway was $6.65, and I was actually rather excited
about that. "Oh, it is so ON! I hope you need nine nickels because
you're getting ALL THE NICKELS!" 
 
I do decry New Jersey for their outrageous tolls and terrifying
anachronisms and too many other things to list, but on their roads they
have places. to. fucking. be. Sure traffic got heavy a few times, but
there was unanimous agreement that this was no reason not to continue
barreling along at breakneck speeds. Being 18 inches from the car in
front of you is just motivation to pay extra close attention. I was in
the right lane doing 75 and was getting just blown
by all the time. It was magnificent. I went 90 a couple times and it
really wasn't an imposition. It's a rather surreal feeling to be going
gratuitously fast and be just kind of matching traffic flow. 85 was just
barely fast enough to merit using the left lane, and even then I got
people backed up behind me after awhile. Now, if paying $35 a mile got
me the ability to drive like this everywhere I probably wouldn't
complain so much about paying tolls. Seeing as it doesn't, I'm going to
go back to complaining about tolls. 
Even given all the Fast and the Furious
shenanigans that were going on out on the open road, by FAR the most
dangerous thing I did in New Jersey was go through the tollbooths. These
places are equipped for volume, which is good, but it's a death trap if
you're not familiar with the system. I was in the left lane because
this was during one of my 'holy shit I can go as fast as I want' phases
and I saw in front of me twelve toll
lanes. The problem is that the small and vague labels that I had to get
close to in order to read were quite misleading. A dollar symbol isn't
cash. It actually means "coins only-exact change" something that I was
not equipped for yet. Could I have given $3.35 exactly to a person?
Probably. Did I have the couple dozen coins necessary for a basket
transaction? Absolutely not. The big issue was that the left-to right
sequence of the booths was EasyPass, EasyPass, Coin, Coin, Coin, Truck,
EasyPass, EasyPass, EasyPass, actual tollbooths. So I had eight lanes to
traverse in a very short period. The smart thing to do would be just
blow through one of the lanes in front of me and take the chance on the
license plate picture widget the have on those and getting mailed a
bill. Then take the whole thing as a learning experience. So naturally I
cut across several lanes perpendicularly and almost died because the
real tollbooths had a line built up in front of them so I couldn't pull
into those lanes immediately. You know, like the sensible adult that I'm
told I am.
 
So obviously by the time I made it back into New York I was thoroughly
sick of this whole toll business. I knew that New York rest stops
usually have EasyPasses for sale. I'd never traveled enough to merit
getting one before, but after this extended rolling disaster I figured
it would be worth it. I haven't put it to use yet, mainly because by the
time I had it in my hands I'd achieved small change critical mass and I
didn't need it. I'll get it going one of these days, though; the next
time I have some traveling to do. I hope they don't mind if you wait a
couple months before activating it. As much as I hate fiddling with
cash, I'm surprised it took me this long to finally get one. Mainly my
sticking point on the device is that they use it to track your car
without your knowledge or consent. I've mitigated that by leaving it in
my desk for the moment.
In any case, I survived that whole exchange, surprisingly enough, and
made it back to college a little after midnight. I was complete wreck in
Engineering Statics that morning at 8:00 AM, so I'm glad that I pushed
to leave when I did. Had I given into the temptation to stay for the
Closing Ceremonies I could've gotten tangled up in the snow, and I
would've gotten in at 3 or 4 AM instead. I managed a good score on my
Statics exam two days after my return, and I think a big part of that is
that I'd left myself with a mostly salvageable situation by managing my
time well. Being responsible is really boring, but sometimes it's nice
to get a reminder of why it's a good idea to turn down some
opportunities because they may not be the best thing for you in the long
run. I really do worry about how the timing of next year's con is going
to work out, but there's really nothing for it. It's a year away, and a
lot could change in that time. Really the only solution is to just wait
it out and figure something out when I get there.
 
So, final thoughts on Furthe'More 2014. A couple of the people that I
was with complained that the con was boring and didn't have anything
fun. Sure it's a little quieter than most cons, but I think that's a
nice change of pace. It's one of the things that lets me actually make
it to the con and get everything that I do get out of it even on a tight
schedule. I know that I'm going to come back from it still as a useful,
functioning human being, so I can schedule around it a lot closer,
rather than needing to leave time on the end for a hospital visit like I
need to with Anthrocon. 
I don't think that there's anything wrong
with Furthe'More. If you think it's too subdued, then maybe this con
just isn't meant for you. Yeah, in an ideal world we'd be trying to
attract as many people from as many demographics as possible, but
really, every con does have a target
audience. This con's lacking in rampant binge drinking and crazy room
parties is actually what makes it attractive to a lot of people. I like
it because I go to cons to socialize and go to panels and events. I
didn't have any alcohol beyond the little bit that was offered to me on a
couple occasions (and a whole pitcher of beer
butitwasfreethatdoesn'tcount) and I had an awesome time. I loved
attending FTM last year, I loved volunteering this year, and if I can
find a way to spare the time I think I'll take them up on their offer to
join the staff next year. 
 
Yes, if your ideal con is getting sozzled and trashing a hotel room with
insane late night parties, FTM is the wrong place for you. There are
plenty of people who like the fact that
we keep things under control, and the con is there to cater to them,
because there are TONS of cons were you can just get shitfaced and
bender the weekend away. I found that a lot of the complaints about the
con were along the lines of "They wouldn't let me [irresponsible thing
they shouldn't have been doing anyway]." But there were plenty of people
who really appreciated the fact that we could reign in everyone's
behavior 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,
and the staff was so damn welcoming and kind! Never lose that! There are
lots of big cons out there, and plenty of jerks, but not enough smaller
ones that are actually laid back and fun! No long lines, waiting for
elevators, crowded hallways, etc. The hotel space was perfect for
finding friends and fursuiting, and you guys have a lot of really
unique, entertaining events. Fur The More is definitely something
special.
 
Your EMT's and Security made me feel safe, and allowed me to have a
great time. Please DO NOT listen to the people who say your staffing
measures are 'too much'. Remember, the only people who feel
uncomfortable around trained professionals and security are assholes who
want to break the rules. And those aren't people you want at your con.
And last but not least, the Staff. You know, a con is only as good as
the people who make it happen. They're the heart of what they create. If
a con is run by an incompetent egomaniac, then it draws like-minded
attendees and it has a really horrible "feel". When I was at Fur The
More I felt like I was among friends. Every person I met, from Staff to
Attendee, was welcoming and friendly. That's why I love your con, and
that's why I'll be back.
I guess what I'm saying is what some might call 'problems' are part of
Furthe'More's mission statement. Maybe that means that some people are
just not compatible with this con, and that's okay. We have a growing
audience of great folks who are really put off by the "non-stop
drug-fueled rave party" theme that a lot of cons have. We just want to
relax a little, and if that's not your thing then you have plenty of
other options. I guess what I'm saying is that some of the things people
dislike about the con are not going to change. They're differences of
opinion, not problems. But that's okay. There's a con out there for
everyone. If you like big crowds, commerce and getting lots of swag, go
to Anthrocon. If you like not remembering what you did half the con and
spending the other half of it nursing a debilitating hangover, go to
Furry Weekend Atlanta. If you like good entertainment and a variety of
events, go to Midwest Fur Fest. And if you like disappointment and
baffling, pervasive inefficiency, go to Rainfurrest. See? A con for
everyone!
 
Okay, onto the footnotes:
I 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.
 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!

Source: https://sofurry.com/view/685462