Thursday morning, I woke up feeling fine, energetic in fact despite having a day cold the day before. I stalled as long as I could because arriving too early means all my things have to bake until check-in time at 3. I managed to not leave until noon. XD When I arrived, I was surprised to see the hotel busy with furs. For a moment, I thought maybe I had waited too long. I met Ian T. Lop (aka Takieda) and started chatting. I saw someone talk to the front desk, so I had to check check-in time just to be sure, and much to my surprise my room was ready. This next part was pretty funny to me; normally it takes me 15 minutes to move everything into the room. This year it took about an hour and a half, not because I had that much stuff but because Ian talked with me the whole time. I enjoyed the company, but in that frame of mind of trying to unpack, I can't completely say that I made good reciprocal conversation (sorry Ian). I go down to get a second load and find the con-in-a-box has arrived. I felt both guilty and panicked because I wanted to help, but was afraid of my cold coming back from exhaustion and I was already “behind” on unpacking my own stuff, but the two of us did help Blue Healer run his cookies up to his room. Blue Healer must have been feeling cold that day because he was wearing the longest shorts I've ever seen him wear. :3
Maki, Jade, Snow, and Hazardous came in, and I cared down a year worth of purchases I had been holding for Maki and Ian with me to their room where we chatted for a good while.
At some point during this insanity, Daren, my room mate arrived, and I managed to tell Ian that we are going to Indian at 3. The look on his face can only be described as “food lust”. So I immediately went from the panicked state of car-unloading to the panicked state of herding cats. In front of the door, we picked up one unexpected person, and off we went. Ten minutes north, and suddenly I am panicked again, because I have been to this restaurant a few times and it has always been a buffet. It turns out that is only for the weekends, so the furs that I promised wouldn't have to worry about figuring out the menu suddenly have a lot of work in front of them and I feel I'm the one to blame. However, with the help of Maki Hooves who has some Indian heritage, Ian, and maybe a third, the uninitiated figure out what they can eat, and everybody is happy. I order chicken saagwalla (chicken, spinach, and cheese). When they ask me how spicy I want it, I reply with my favorite response to this question, “Spicy enough to eat through the plate.” I love Indian spices, because unlike hot wings, they are flavorful and don't assault my eyes when I try to eat them. However, they just about honored my request, because when the food arrived, I took a bite of that chicken and the back of my eyes, like my optical nerves, were set on fire. Maki said it wasn't hot enough, but all the sniffling at the table proved that no one was really disappointed. I had some left over which I took back to the hotel.
When we got back, the line for registration was nutty long. I was in the back talking with Leonato until Alexander Katz comes up with all the presence of a man on a man hunt points to me and says, “You, come h're.” So, that's the scariest way to be asked to work the computers in Reg, but apparently, it is one of the few things I do really well, so well in fact, that I had to slow down to let the line of furs who had regged and needed to pick up their bags, thin out. I love seeing the faces of all the furs energetic and ready to enjoy their con.
When I got out of Reg, Growl Tiger's Karaoke was in full swing. I can't sing confidently without a drink, so I looked through the book for a moment, then invited Sylkis back to the room for a quick drink (Pina Coladas) – you see, MFM doesn't allow drinking in the con space, so I give people a drink and then send them back to karaoke. Liquid courage inspires bolder performances, you see. I came back and announced that I was offering drinks before nailing Toes by Zac Brown Band. A sasquach and I think Blue Healer took me up on the offer. I came back, made everyone else look good by ruining Show Me the Way by Styx, and apologized profusely. After that, I had two more takers for the free drinks, Grey Soul and Mwalimu. Something about our conversation opened up Grey Soul to telling stories about the first MFM. Afraid I was too drunk to remember all the details, I asked if I could start recording the conversation for Furry History, He agreed and I listened. Funny thing was, I was so enthralled I lost track of time, so when a knocking came to my door I was confused. Turned out Karaoke ended while we were reminiscing, but oh well, I poured the new comer a drink and made plans to apologize to Growl Tiger later.
After that, I think I went down to the game room. Takieda (Ian in Werewolf mode) was playing a smaller game of Are You a Werewolf, and was still looking for players. I always lose at AYaW, so to get it over with quickly, I jokingly say, “Can we hurry up and play, so I can win, and get to bed?” I was passed the Vigilante Card, where I can only win if I am the last person alive AND be the person to kill the last werewolf… It's pretty much the “you are going to lose card”, but low and behold, I win. In round two, I gave the most epic “poop defense” I think the game has ever seen.
Friday Morning, I was a bit hung over because I forgot to drink some water before bed. Oh, that's how to prevent hang overs by the way, since they are mostly damage caused by dehydration of the body using available water to carry the alcohol out of the system. I suffered the hotel's breakfast, then carried a mountain of Build-a-Bears up to the Charity area. They were really impressed, and we had a comical time writing out “Poodle-ception!” for the poodle in a poodle skirt.
For the next few hours, I did something naughty :3
Then there was Opening Ceremonies. I know it can be a bit boring, but if someone feels it's so boring that that person has to play on a phone and ignore the speaker, why would that person stay to watch it? Then there was the Pizza Feed, with pasta this year. That was really nice because the pizza was on that almost-hard-enough-to-crack-teeth level. I talked to lots of furs, mostly Ian proving that he knows a ton about computer hardware building as he talked about his latest project. My timing may be off, but at some point before 7p, I gave Wielder three puppets for the Puppet Take Over, and got invited to preform in it. I was feeling apprehensive about that mostly because he wanted to give me a copy of the music for the show, and my poor old tablet is very finicky. I wouldn't get around to getting those songs until the Fursuit Parade and didn't listen to them until minutes before the show, but that all happened later.
I went to wielder's moments for a while and heard a joke I must have forgotten from last time, because I busted up laughing. I hung out with Hiromi and Maki in a room party that looked like it had been going on since last Friday where I met Yena. I was still feeling the headache so I snagged a seltzer water.
Eventually my panel, Match Game '16, came up at 11:30, which is just way too late to start a game show. I think everyone had fun, we all experienced a Wielder Moment when two T-Rexes ran by. Contestants received plushies as prizes and panelists were invited to to a drink afterward for their participation. I only had too takers. They finished off my Pina Colada, and then there was sleep.
Saturday Morning was busy as all get out trying to be in three places at once at multiple times throughout the day. I woke up and ran to breakfast which I ate while sitting in the Gray Muzzle Meetup hosted by Gabriel and Snowy. Most people might think that a Gray Muzzle Meetup is boring, but actually it's great because I get to hear these amazing stories. There was an author there who mentioned that he had a book in the charity auction. I would have bid on it if it weren't for the fact that I missed it, but that is later. Immediately after the meetup was the Music panel in the same room and same hosts, so several people didn't even get up. I listened to Blue Healer play on a Rocky Mountain Dulcimer for three songs, then ran up to to the Guided Meditation. I missed too much there, so I ran back down, before deciding I really needed to take my morning shower.
The way I pull this off, by the way, is usually, to eat breakfast wearing my clothes from the night before, then come back, shower, change into fresh clothes, and continue the con. This ensures, I don't miss breakfast, which despite never being fine dining, is a scary thing to miss.
So, I run to make the Living With Adaptations panel, where Maki is describing her multi-million dollar experimental mechanical arm of which shi is only one of three civilians to have. Despite having seen hir wear hir arm for over three years at least, it was very surreal to see, for the first time, Maki take hir hand off of hir arm, and pass it around the room… Despite my brain running sanity checks to see if I was still asleep, what grabbed the most of my attention is best described in what I said next, “Wait a minute, this thing comes out like a headphone jack, and you still haven't been able to get them to make a video game controller attachment?”
The panel ended early, so we went down for the parade. I met Wielder and got the music for the Puppet Take Over, which surprised me because of how painless it was to transfer it to my tablet. Then I took up a spot in the Dealer's Den next to Maki for taking pics. After the parade went by, I did some shopping, managing to buy a small library of books – no, not comic books this time, books. Ran those up to the room, managing a moment in a Furpile before I got them all dropped off.
I stepped into Tavi's cub art panel for a moment. I don't draw enough to take much from that, but when someone challenged him and the other artist, Seaweed, to draw something derpy, I had to heckle what I thought the drawings looked like until Tavi's ended up looking like Toot from Kissyfur. He wasn't trying to draw Toot, but it turns out he loves that show too. I stepped out early to eat my left over Indian from Thursday. Like chili and hotwings, Indian spices get hotter as they sit around. You remember I ordered mine spicy enough to get through the table the first day, so after two days of sitting patiently in a fridge, that chicken was out to murder me. I remember after one bite I needed to go to the con suite to get a drink. Thankfully, they let me skip the line for hotdogs. It might have had something to do with my face being the wrong color, but I sat in there enjoying conversation until my phone told me it was Milk and Cookie time. I went up to catch the end of the Cub Art panel, but didn't hear or see anything because every last one of my senses was overwhelmed with ethereal flame.
When the Babyfur Milk and Cookies started, I gave Rama a D4 that I had been holding since October of last year, to be used in filling the role of the missing piece from The Lion King Board Game I gave him last MFM. I am so happy and rather impressed something that small, remained unlost and unforgotten for so long. There was a coloring competition of Tavi's art for the price of a Tavi badge. I suddenly turn into the artist on my absinthe bottle as I worked for nearly an hour on shading, color harmony, using color to add images that weren't already in the picture. It was the hardest I have ever worked on coloring something, but alas, I was beaten by someone who IS an artist and did the same thing I was doing only without all the suck, so having taken on the spirit of Van Goth and lost, I then had to cut off my own ear – no, just kidding. XD
I made a little bit of the SecondLife panel before having to leave and prove to Hiromi's group that the best BBQ in Memphis, is the Memphis BBQ Company. This was a bit annoying. I didn't want to leave the hotel, and I really didn't want to drive, but I was already tied into this, so away we went. I really really wanted to get back before the Fursuit games started. Due to everyone in the world who wasn't at MFM being at Memphis BBQ, that didn't happen, but the food was good. One person, just one, said that Marlow's still tasted better… I can't blame him for being honest, but grrr.
Luckily, we get back and I haven't missed all the Fursuit games because it's a two hour panel, but something pulled me away from the games until they are over. For the life of me, I cannot remember what.
Around 9 O'clock, it is drinking hour, only problem is there is only one room party open, and I have heard that it is a Brony room party. Here is the problem with that: I am Quibble Pants. I believe Hasbro made that character after me and how particular I am about what is and isn't cannon in MLP, so for the sake of everyone I don't attend. Instead, I pack up my drinks in a rolling cooler and head back down stairs with a sign that reads, “Traveling Bar (Need Room Party)”. The only party that was going on was that one, so I made a minor scene of whining before making an announcement of where I was heading and off I went. The room was dead, despite the flashing LEDs. Shelby, aka Spike, had a much more impressive bar than I had and told me, he thought the party was dead, but five minutes after I came in, the crowd outside followed me. It turns out the room party, wasn't a Brony party, but Shelby was a big fan of MLP, and that is why that rumor got started. I explained again that the only reason I was avoiding the party was that I was too much of a fan of MLP to be around other fans. A chorus of The Scotsman and a while later, he said he wanted to close the party, I nodded and winked and worked my magic and within five minutes, I had convinced everyone in the room to head over to the kind people in room 130. I don't remember their names, but the man in the room was tall, slim, and had a tie around his Trilby. Around 1, 2, or 3, I find my way to bed.
Sunday Morning, I wake up a bit late, but still make breakfast and finally get around to listening to all the music needed for the Puppet Take Over just a few minutes before heading down to make the show. It turned out everyone else had about a month to practice. I recorded the show and watched it last night. I had lots of fun, and I'm hoping to be even more involved by next year.
After that I do nothing for too long, then take my box of goodies up to the Wabbit Tea Frolic where Phil turns to me and tells me in a panic that it takes half an hour to take down the tea, we have a one hour panel, and there is someone in the room after us… Being two rabbits feeding off of each other's panic, we rush what feels like a hundred people through this tea line. I run two cups down stairs to our friends in the Game Room who had to stay there, come back, and continue to panic as moments after serving the last person in the line, we start packing up this tea party at a break neck speed that I can only imagine looked like a show to the tea drinkers, finishing with only seven minutes until the next event starts… Which we spent in quiet and calm conversation.
I made the Masquerade, but only stayed for the first half. It makes me sad that the Masquerade is always that one event where the energy levels vary. There will always be a low energy performance right after a great performance, and that's not really fair for anyone, and I mean that for the performers too; I know it takes a lot of time, energy, and courage to get up there. So for any performers reading this, I admire your effort.
I checked the Dealer's Den one last time making sure I got everything I wanted. Then came back for Closing Ceremonies, again dealing with people too bored to not play with their phones trying to distract me by telling me about some random post on faceblock. So~ Closing ended, and panic number who's-counting started as everyone I had invited all weekend were supposed to be running directly to Osaka, the Japanese restaurant where I had made reservations a month in advance. We were a minute late, and being the busiest day of the year, I needed to run in to let them know we were still coming (they wouldn't answer the phone). We were supposed to wait outside, then Hazardous felt like he was cooking so we all went inside to the table, and of course everyone starts ordering and I am panicking thinking about all the furs who haven't arrived yet thinking that we had forgotten about them. I have to constantly check the door for the first 15 minutes to make sure we are all here. Then Hiromi starts offering our extra spots to any fur who comes in, including the group that I know has a reservation already. So while I'm passing into Hyper Tension Stage 2, I tell the waitresses that we are going to need every item to come out as it is prepared because with a group this big, we would be waiting all night if we waited for everyone's meals to come out at the same time. This of course, causes its own set of problems as the people in the middle of the table go without eating until after both ends have finished eating, but they got some interesting freebies along the way. Then I found out why – they had all ordered sushi only. A mistake on my part and on the waitress's part, caused me to order sushi that was utterly disgusting… Maki liked it, but never again for me. In the end, I was more satisfied than angry.
After dinner, I had a glass of Jager, and joined in the second round of Karaoke with a sad refrain of Jimmy Buffet's A Pirate Looks at Forty, which is how I was starting to feel with that cold showing signs of coming back. Then I played a very wild round of Cards Against Humanity featuring the base deck, the MLP deck, and a military deck along with Jim Groat. The game was great and I wanted to continue playing, but my nose wouldn't let me, so I had no choice but to head to bed early.
The next day, I did everything I could to prolong leaving. I ate, showered, packed the car, talked to everyone, but shortly after check out at 11, I didn't have the energy to pack the truck, so I had to go. I unpacked the car and slept for days in a fevered dream that was something like going out to eat while wearing VR goggles having the same dinner experience in SecondLife, then coming back to the con to play a frantic game of Are You a Tea Cup.
