Category / FURRY

by EduardoSoliz

A “Real” Book

My first paper book: “Fuzzy Words: The Con Fluff Collection,” is now available for purchase on Amazon!

It has always been my goal to create a paper book.  Thewriting problem with doing so is that my short stories are so short that I had to accumulate a pretty good number of them (27 in all) in order to have a book of reasonable length printed.

Naturally, I encountered a bit of a learning curve in publishing something physical.  In the digital world, there is no concern about margins and fonts and all of that stuff, because the screen that your book is going to be read on may be of any size and the reader can adjust the text font and text size to their liking.  In the print world, you have bleeds and gutters and covers and inches and all sorts of things that need to be done the right way.

Things have certainly changed for the better:  Way back when, if you wanted to print a paper book on your own, you had to go through a vanity publisher, which meant paying to have a few hundred (or thousand!) copies printed.  This meant that you took a big risk of being stuck with boxes of books that nobody wanted to buy.  Thanks to modern print-on-demand technology, paperbacks can be printed as they’re ordered, so just like in the e-book world, your cost of entry is nearly zero, save for the purchase of proof copies.

I gave both CreateSpace and NookPress a try, and ended up going with CreateSpace because of their expanded distribution options.  Also their books seemed to be of higher quality and they offered a better discount to authors purchasing their own copies.

A funny thing happened as I showed friends my print proofs; I repeatedly got this ‘so you’re a real writer now’ vibe (and a comment or two) from them.  Never mind that I’ve published quite a few digital ones.  Oh well, what can you do?

In any event, now that I’ve finished my first one, I can’t wait to do another!

by EduardoSoliz

54 Things I Noticed During Furry Invasion 2017

NOTE: While looking through my drafts, I found this list.  I have no idea why I didn’t post it back then.  Better late than never, I guess!

If a guy wearing bear ears took your picture, it might be here!

San Antonio’s first furry convention, Alamo City Furry Invasion, took place this past weekend.  Many locals (including myself) were excited to have a furry convention in our hometown and I noticed a few things during the furry fun:

  1. IMG_0342

    MINE!

    BEFORE-Sorry guys, but ‘Alamo City Furry Invasion’ as a name is too long, I’ve just been calling it ‘Furry Invasion.’

  2. RealmsCon also happened over the same weekend, so I have another reason to not go there.
  3. Thing we forgot to mention on the pre-game podcast: Parking around the con itself is going to be ‘fun’ especially for those of us not getting a hotel room.
  4. There was some confusion about the availability of a projector. We were told to reserve the one projector they had, which was odd considering I checked a box that said ‘I need a projector’ when submitting my panel.
  5. I made arrangements to have one just in case.
  6. Day before the con and we don’t have an online map :/
  7. There have been a few complaints beforehand about the potential parking costs, oh well.
  8. Took a walk around the hotel Thursday afternoon and it was plenty warm, which doesn’t bode well for our fursuiters.
  9. Surprised they aren’t doing a ‘print out your email’ thing for pre-registrations, hope that doesn’t slow down registration.
  10. FRIDAY-Pleasant surprise: Free parking for hotel guests while it was available. I fed the meter.
  11. I had to make jokes about “Don’t let your meter expire or Judy Hopps will pay you a visit!”
  12. I see the hotel and Barry Manilow’s ‘Copacabana’ pops in my head.
  13. As always, the guy with the Bluetooth speaker has to have crappy taste in music.  I swear it’s a physical law at this point.
  14. Got into the reg line at 3:38 and waited for 45 minutes, pbbt
  15. The ‘WE’RE SORRY’ guy in the reg line finally got on my nerves and I had to open a can of manager on him.
  16. Fire alarm lights go off at 541 on Friday, oh boy.
  17. Little Kid: “Pokémon!” Dad: “I don’t think those are Pokémon…”
  18. Just a little sadface over not getting a personalized dog tag…does that make me weird?
  19. The comic book was a lame substitute, and it’s not good to see staff members with tags :/
  20. No furry Westerns for movie night?  Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron? An American Tail: Fivel Goes West?
  21. If I’d have realized there were going to be so many people there  on Friday, I would have shaved!
  22. SATURDAY-Up bright and early so I can shave (see above) and get a parking spot (see #3)
  23. There were plenty of parking spots with meters around the hotel and even some $1-$2 parking a block away.
  24. You still have to feed the meter on Saturday? LAME
  25. Downloadable PDF format for the schedule would have been nice
  26. Oh wait, the online schedule is different than the printed one, uh-oh.
  27. That is, assuming you can read it, looks like they used they used 4-point font.
  28. Nice job of giving credit where credit is due at opening ceremonies
  29. For fuzzing sake, can we keep fetish gear out of furcons already?
  30. IMG_0158

    Wheee!

    Stop popping your heads and breaking the magic, people!

  31. They definitely dropped the ball on the schedule. What is most surprising to me is either the staff didn’t notice or they chose to not do anything about it. No bueno.
  32. How to handle major screw-ups: 1-Apologize. 2-Take no more than two sentences to say what went wrong. 3-Tell us how YOU ARE GOING TO FIX IT.
  33. I mention the previous item because I heard the same ‘printer guy screwed up the schedule’ story way too many fuzzing times.  WE DON’T CARE WHAT WENT WRONG JUST FIX IT.
  34. Regardless, I got by with a little (okay, a lot) of help from my friends for Furry 101.
  35. A bunch of quiet people attended Furry 101, there were no questions for me at the end!
  36. Some parents were there too, and were very complimentary after the fact.
  37. OMG all the Amber Alerts
  38. Seems I forgot to turn off the Amber Alerts on my new phone, too. DERP
  39. Guillermo’s Italian restaurant near the hotel was delicious.
  40. Had to do karaoke to finally get Copacabana out of my head.
  41. Forgot about the 20-bar instrumental break in the middle, should have found a dance partner.
  42. Going to be hard to not wear my Dallas Cowboys jersey on Sunday.  GET IT? COWBOYS? 😀
  43. I wasn’t even aware of the food trucks, need to work on communication, there.  Maybe a bulletin board?
  44. Bedbugs, tire slashing and threats? It’s a party now.
  45. I won’t lie, my eyes got a little misty when one guy did ‘Free Fallin’ during karaoke.  God Bless Tom Petty.
  46. SUNDAY-To the person who glomped another fursuiter: YOU SUCK
  47. Apparently fursuiters weren’t happy with the fursuit lounge closing at night.  Even by my cranky middle-aged standards, 10 o’clock is WAY too early.
  48. Another furry watching football? SAY IT AIN’T SO!
  49. If you’re still telling Tony Romo jokes now, stop talking about football. Just. Stop.
  50. Had my panel cancelled on Sunday because I was feeling way
    IMG_0393

    48. Unpossible!

    oo hungry that afternoon…and they scheduled it opposite closing ceremonies.

  51. 737 attendees, wow!
  52. IMO attendance would have been higher but for RealmsCon being the same weekend in Corpus Christi and some folks in Houston are likely still recovering from the hurricane.
  53. I should probably get a room next year so I’m not dragging my tail home in the middle of the night.
  54. Overall, it was good but y’all really need to fix that scheduling, guys!
by EduardoSoliz

Adventures in Self-Publishing : Cover Stories

rotscover

It’ll do

I am not a visual person by any stretch of the imagination.

When I was in college studying computer science back in the 90’s, people would occasionally ask me if I could make websites for them.  The conversation would go something like this:

Person: “Can you make a website for me?”
Me: “Yeah, I can code one, but it’s going to look like a computer guy made it.”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s going to look terrible.”
So yeah, I didn’t make any websites.

Given that I’m self-aware of my lack of design sense, I don’t know what possessed me to make my own book covers when I started self-publishing short story collections.  It comes even more perplexing considering that I knew artists that could do quality artwork.  Ego may have had something to do with it; the notion of doing everything on my own.  Maybe I didn’t want to pay for art at the time.  Whatever the reason, I figured some text on a solid color background would be good enough.  I did three covers like that, and it honestly only worked for The Rules of Tech Support.

cf1cover

A picture! Yay!

I like to think I made the most of my limited skills with my Nine to Five Lives ‘clock face,’ but that may have been too clever for its own good considering its low sales (it’s free now!).

At that point I figured it was time to get some actual artwork done.  My friend Damon Cone provided some artwork for Con Fluff 1, which I used to make a faux ‘con badge.’  I thought about making similar ones as promotional items for the book.  That never happened, but it remains an interesting idea for future use.  The character on the cover is me, which seems a little conceited, but at the same time, why the heck not?

cf2cover

SO PRETTY

I commissioned an artist friend who goes by Padunk for Con Fluff 2 and she knocked it out of the park.  She was also kind enough to put the title text on the artwork, which made it look really nice.  Future volumes have also featured artwork, and with the exception of The Rules of Tech Support, most of my collections featuring my early awful covers have been put off-sale, though you can still see them here.

While I have been happy with all of the artwork (Faeries, Fantasies, and Furries is another favorite) there are a few that need a do-over:  As the first book in the series, I don’t want to pull Seven Super-Short Sci-Fi Stories, but it does need a facelift.  Funny Animals, Funny People kind-of works, but I have a better concept in mind I’d like to see for it.  I took the easy way out with Fuzzy Words by plastering a picture into the middle of a (wait for it) solid colored background.

I’ve since commissioned new cover art for the printed version of Fuzzy Words from an artist named TinyBunner.  After spending the day arguing with CreateSpace I think everything is ready to go for printed copies.  I’m very excited at the prospect of having an actual printed book, but that’s a post for another day.

by EduardoSoliz

All Furries’ Eve

furryween

I’m the guy taking the picture

Halloween has been a non-holiday for me ever since I took my last trick-or-treating sojourn as a kid many years ago. I didn’t have many friends in my teen and college years to be invited to parties or to engage in trickery.  Upon moving out, I discovered that exactly zero kids come seeking treats at your door when you live in an apartment.  Except for handing out candy at my parent’s house a few random times, the only thing Halloween meant to me was that Mary Jane peanut butter kisses were available.  Hey, at least it’s not candy corn.

When I purchased a house a few years ago, I figured that I was going to spend my future Halloween nights handing out candy to excited trick-or-treaters.  As fate would have it, that never happened.

At least, it never happened at my house.

You see, I had joined the furry community a year before buying the house and as a result, made some new friends.  One friend that lived nearby also owned a home, and he had spent the previous Halloween handing out candy while wearing his fursuit.  (“Fursuit” is the term for the animal costumes that some furries wear)  When the next Halloween rolled around, he invited a few friends and myself to come over and hand out candy.

I don’t own a fursuit myself.  They can run in the few thousands of dollars so I like to joke that I have a mortgage and a car payment instead.  My lack of costume made me the ‘handler,’ a person that helps out fursuiters by making sure they don’t trip over things or bump into kids.  Since fursuit heads severely limit vision, a handler’s job is essentially to keep fursuiters from accidentally hurting themselves or others.  In addition, my job was to take pictures and occasionally run into the house for more candy and bottled water to keep our three fursuiters hydrated.

The fursuits were a smash!  After the trick-or-treaters got candy from each one of them, their parents often wanted to take pictures of their costumed children (and sometimes themselves) with the fuzzy people.  It wasn’t unusual to have a large group of people congregated in front of the house: Trick-or-treaters collecting candy, parents taking pictures, fursuiters being silly and everybody having a great time together.  We stayed outside until our supply of candy was gone.  Despite being pretty bushed from all the running around I had done that evening, it was easily the most fun Halloween night I’d had in years.

We gave it all away, too!

The tradition continued with seven fursuiters showing up the next year and more and more joining the fun with each successive Halloween.  Lucky for me, more handlers showed up, too!  One guy even bought an ice chest that we filled up with candy before getting to work.  There were a grand total of fourteen fursuiters last year, making the house a veritable bonanza for the trick-or-treaters in terms of the amount of candy and fun to be had.

I have yet to spend a single Halloween night at my own house.  Instead, I have furries to wrangle, candy bowls to refill, pictures to take, and memories to make!

by EduardoSoliz

67 Things I Noticed During San Japan X

#13 It’s YUUUGE!

The tenth San Japan came and went like a lion.  I had three panels to do and my compatriot WolfBoy had furry things to do.  As always, I noticed a few things…

  1. BEFORE-Okay San Japan people, I’ll do a third panel I’ve never done before and have to prepare in three days because you asked so nicely. Just spell my name right in the schedule this time, mmmkay?
  2. Time to retire my 2009 iMac from recording duties, it derped out on me when recording the pre-game podcast and ate some audio >.<
  3. I asked a friend if he was going to San Japan and he said he was more of an ‘indie rock’ guy versus ‘arena rock’ so I had to try to convince him that San Japan wasn’t just another ‘autograph-con’
  4. Holy cats, did we get salty during the pre-game podcast.
  5. I’ll be wearing my smartwatch for the first time since I got laid off because I HAVE IMPORTANT ANIME CON THINGS TO DO.
  6. I also won’t be wearing my rings. I’ve lost enough weight to where they’re starting to slip off my fingers now; a good problem to have.
  7. PROTIP: You can read the Chili’s lunch special menu through the window if you want to be weird
  8. Walking through the mall, WolfBoy and I decided to stop and take a seat…in front of the Victoria’s Secret. YEAH, NOT CREEPY AT ALL
  9. It says something that I can get 12 Streetpasses in my hotel room on Thursday night
  10. I finally remembered my Nintendo 3DS this time!
  11. As I get the presentation together for the third panel, I’m really looking forward to putting it on!
  12. Seems folks are taking a bit longer than usual to get set up, either that or were just really early
  13. I asked for a bigger panel room and I got it…boy, did I get it 0_0
  14. THURSDAY NIGHT-530pm No Japanese arcade machines set up. WolfBoy: “WORST CON EVAR!”
    1000pm Initial D cabinet set up. WolfBoy: “BEST CON EVAR!”
  15. Idiots asking “Is San Japan not happening because of Hurricane Harvey or gas shortages?” should be charged double for their badges.
  16. Concerning: Nobody was watching the entrances Thursday night
  17. Also concerning: The way too wide open aisles behind the artists with nothing to keep people from walking down them.  Hope there aren’t any thefts.
  18. At the risk of sounding like a shill, Verizon service has been pretty awesomesauce. A little slow at times, but ‘slow’ is better than ‘none.’

    #17 Maybe too much space, guys?

  19. FRIDAY-First the signs weren’t big enough, and now they aren’t spelled right. This is why Dave is already grey, people!
  20. Charger box things at the Henry B are almost a good idea, the flaw is that most folks can’t bear to be away from their phones
  21. Dear Guidebook: If I only have one event downloaded PLEASE OPEN THE FREAKING EVENT WHEN I LAUNCH THE APP, K?
  22. Also: TOO MANY SCHEDULE FILTER OPTIONS
  23. Artist friends: Don’t just say “I’m in artist alley, find me.” There are over 100 artists. I NEED DETAILS!
  24. Sure, WolfBoy, it’s only 90 degrees outside and you’re wearing a partial fursuit with a dark business suit LETS GO
  25. Always adorable to see little girls taking pictures with Wonder Woman cosplayers
  26. Not sure why, but they kicked up the difficulty on the Time Pilot game in the game room.  I spent longer than usual getting the high score.
  27. Got inadvertently put to work in Registration directing traffic for ten minutes. JUST WHEN I THOUGHT I WAS OUT THEY PULL ME BACK IN
  28. Almost lost my badge before Furry 101, yipes!
  29. As I saw people walk away from the convention center for dinner, I had a feeling attendance was going to be down for Furry 101.
  30. Dear former coworker: If I didn’t want to talk to you at work, what makes you think I’m going to want to talk to you outside of work?
  31. I apparently can’t give a panel if I can’t read my presentation, the rear projection screens at Furry 101 completely threw me off >.<
  32. Just as well, I don’t like presenting while standing over people on a stage.
  33. We had 150-200 people at the panel, I guess that justifies the biggest room at the con. 😛
  34. Annoying thing: People that use Q&A time to make dumb jokes.  Get a life.

    #58 Batteries not required!

  35. REALLY annoying thing: People that try to answer questions during the Q&A part of my panel. GET YOUR OWN PANEL
  36. The A/V guy was very complimentary after Furry 101, though.  Thanks man!
  37. The only time I get a ton of steps is at cons and after 20,000 today, my dogs were barking.
  38. By ‘dogs’ I mean feet, not like actual dogs or furry costumed dogs.
  39. SATURDAY-When you’re up at 6am on Saturday morning, you’re up, what can I say
  40. If you aren’t willing to make your own waffle at the hotel breakfast, YOU DON’T WANT IT BAD ENOUGH.
  41. There is another event happening at the Henry B, which answers the question of why there was a higher-than usual number of older Mexican women around downtown San Antonio in the morning.
  42. Weirdest thing I’ve heard so far: “Dad, doesn’t she have nice boobs?”
  43. There seem to be quite a few empty tables even in the Dealer’s room; an effect of Harvey, perhaps?
  44. The number of people donating blood is pretty awesome
  45. Peeked in on the panel that took my spot from the beta schedule and they had just as many people as I had the night before…maybe less.
  46. To be fair, they’re a major sponsor and I’m just a guy with a microphone, an attitude, and weird friends.
  47. I kinda want a Steven Universe T-shirt (think I got a little resemblance to Steven there) but I kinda don’t want to pay thirt bucks for one
  48. To the harpy working A/V before my audio panel: If you don’t want attitude thrown back at you, don’t fire first. I’ve done tech support too, but I treated my people and customers with respect until they gave me a reason not to.
  49. “Really Basic Auido Recording” was easily the worst panel I’ve done in a while; next time I’ll just say no…or hold another ‘hide Dave for an hour podcast’ panel.
  50. That said, the few people that did hang around had really good questions!
  51. Bad idea: Dragging a boom mic (and it’s heavy base) to the panel.  I think I’ll use a Rock Band mic next time to make a point.
  52. Heard an ambulance and thought ‘Oh boy, it’s a party now,’ but it didn’t stop at the con
  53. SUNDAY-Other artist booths : Out to lunch  Friend’s booth: Out Fursuiting

    IMG_2360

    #19 Someone needs to be fyred

  54. To the people playing Bee Gees and Michael Jackson on their Bluetooth speakers: THANK YOU FOR PLAYING GOOD MUSIC
  55. That said, can we just ban those damn things from cons already?
  56. Had to defend my honor by retaking the top spot on the Time Pilot game (see #26).  I doubled the score that had topped mine.  BEAT THAT, AAA!
  57. Parking lot guy: “Twenty bucks”
    Me: “Pass”
    “Ten bucks!”
    “Pass.”
    I parked at the city lot across from the Hyatt for $11 so NEENER NEENER PARKING LOT GUY
  58. Old hotness: Mind-reading robot cat ears
    New hotness: Ballcaps with words
  59. Thing to remember for next year: Fursuit straws!
  60. I think I’m finally over being weirded out by crossplay…mostly.
  61. Funniest question of the weekend: “Are you a Mawg?”
  62. E-book panel went awesomely; lots of people with good questions and I had JUST enough handouts!
  63. Two out of three good panels ain’t bad!
  64. Highly disappointed in the other ‘How to publish books’ panel; I spent 25 minutes hearing the guest blab on about herself and walked out.  I think I had a bigger audience, too.
  65. I’m going to be that old guy (because I am) and mention that too many products and displays in Artist Alley/Dealer Room had swear words on them.  There seemed to be less nudity than in years past, though
  66. AFTER- Might be time to retire my digital camera, too many ‘ghost spots’ >.<
  67. Step count: Thursday 19627, Friday 20797, Saturday 23268, Sunday 14284  I swear cons are the only place I get a lot of exercise, I should go to more!
by EduardoSoliz

44 Things I Noticed at Furry Siesta 2017

#10-BECAUSE FURRIES

Furry Siesta is a summer event held by the happy shiny fuzzy people that host Furry Fiesta; it offers an opportunity for furry fun in the middle of the insanely hot Texas summer.  I have always wanted to go but kept missing the opportunity until this year.

  1. This isn’t a con, but I’m going to blab about it anyway.
  2. This will be my last nerd thing before my forced vacation layoff on the 18th.
  3. Pre-game podcast turned into Furry Crossfire, one for, one against, and me in the middle.
  4. Since this is the summer and it’s hot as balls, it’s a lot easier to pack for than Furry Fiesta.
  5. Going to hit up The National Videogame Museum in Frisco, they’re supposed to have an 80’s arcade, looking forward to seeing how authentic it is.
  6. Nearly forgot to post my Fursuit Friday picture on Twitter, luckily my passengers were running late.
  7. Of course they showed up just after I typed that.
  8. Drive up wasn’t bad, typical downtown Dallas traffic notwithstanding.
  9. The National Videogame Museum is awesome! They have loads of cool stuff to look at, the arcade is legit, and they even have their own tokens!  I kept one and got a T-shirt.
  10. Left a high score on their Mappy machine BECAUSE FURRIES.
  11. Some guy at Hooters left their H3 window open in the rain and didn’t realize it until WAY too late despite the waitresses asking if it was his vehicle.  D’oh!
  12. Holy cats, getting around the DFW Airport was bonkers.
  13. We’re sharing the hotel with a Freemasons gathering, this should be fun.
  14. I love it when my hotel room has a refrigerator, time for a trip to the store for soda!
  15. Printed out my preregistration only to discover that it wasn’t necessary. PLANET KILLERS!
  16. Furry Siesta is exactly what it says on the tin: A furmeet in a big hotel room.
  17. The Hyatt Regency DFW seems to be embracing the fun.
  18. Maybe not too much, though, there is no signage to be found in the lobby.
  19. No mention of Siesta on the schedule boards, either, so disregard #17 after all.
  20. There were dog bowls put under the water coolers spigots as spill guards.  What I want to know is: Did they already have dog bowls and why?
  21. Megaplex was also taking place the same weekend, leading some folks to refer to Siesta as: “I can’t afford to go to Megaplex”-con.
  22. Put all relevant info on the website, guys. I know updating it is a pain, but not everyone uses social media or has access to it during your event.
  23. Portable Bluetooth speakers, how I hate you. I have bad taste in music too, but I keep it to myself.
  24. Overall, it was a pleasant place to hang out, though a few more tables might have been nice.
  25. It also got a little warm in there but not terribly so as I’ve been told happened in years past.
  26. Note to self: When on the road and you have to choose between “North” and “South” ALWAYS PICK NORTH.
  27. Dear friends that use the word ‘ghetto’ to describe locations you think are unpleasant: I have now been to a truly ‘ghetto’ place and y’all need to calm the fluff down.
  28. Wow this hotel is nice, think I’ll plug my lappy into the TV so I can watch a mov…Oh. It doesn’t have a HDMI port. >.<
  29. I forgot my HDMI cable so it’s just as well.

    #30-Ribbit!

  30. I need to stop trying to guess what species people are.  Luckily, the lizard frog was very understanding.
  31. Wrote down two story outlines on Saturday morning, so the trip is now TOTALLY WORTH IT.
  32. Found Maskimals at a local Wal-Mart and was disappointed to find they had no brown bear heads…at least not one I’d want to wear.
  33. Nothing says furries like seeing “Disney mixes” on the music schedule.
  34. Except for a few fuzzies on the dance floor, the party was over at 830…in the main room, anyway 😉
  35. It cost nearly $30 to fill up my CR-V for the trip home. 0_0
  36. The party came back to life later in the evening, though.
  37. Can you get PCD if isn’t really a con? Guess we’ll see.
  38. Sunday morning and the party’s over, not a single fuzzer to be found.
  39. Waiter at Waffle House sees my San Antonio Spurs hat, proceeds to say “I used to live there and I hate San Antonio.” Way to endear yourself to your customers.
  40. Given that he screwed up our (and other folks’) orders, didn’t ask if I wanted cream, didn’t refill my coffee, screwed up our checks, and pretty much sucked at his job, DFW can have him.
  41. If you are wearing a fursuit maker’s shirt be sure to have a prepared answer for the inevitable “what is that?” question.
  42. Stopped at the Buc-ee’s near Temple on the way down, and it was NUTS.
  43. Fursuit tails apparently make good travelling pillows.
  44. WE WENT TO YOUR THINGS DALLAS FURS, NOW YOU HAVE TO COME TO OURS!  That’s Alamo City Furry Invasion on October 6-8 at the El Tropicano Hotel in San Antonio!  See you there!
by EduardoSoliz

67 Things I Noticed Duing Wild Nights 2017

Wild Nights 2017 took place a few weekends ago, and I had a great time there with friends.  We also took a stop at the Choctaw Casino Resort – Durant on the way home.  Let it ride!

  1. DSC00512PREP/THURSDAY Taking a 14″ grill along, which is adding a layer of ‘fun’ to prepping for the trip
  2. Not having many Con Talk listeners means I’m not too worried about a resident of Wilburton, Oklahoma hearing me and WolfBoy talk noise about their town.
  3. Always have to make one last trip to the store!
  4. Good idea: Use Telegram to communicate. Bad idea: Virtually no cell service at convention.
  5. Leaving my rings at home.  Not wearing them only bothers me when I walk out of the restroom.
  6. Thing I left at home: condiments and tortillas >.<
  7. When they say chicken strip dinner at Braum’s, they ain’t joking!
  8. What’s with the pudding cup, though?
  9. Picked up tortillas and BBQ sauce at the Waxahachie HEB, crisis averted!
  10. We drove 400+ miles across Texas to eat at Pizza Hut in Oklahoma on Thursday night. 😀
  11. Gas lantern providing light.  AM/FM radio providing weather and entertainment. Hooray for old technology!
  12. Super-bright LED lanterns should come with deflectors.
  13. If you’re setting up a tent at 1AM with a super-bright LED lantern, you suck.
  14. FRIDAY I’m genuinely a little disappointed that I can get a cell signal out here, but that’s what airplane mode is for.
  15. It’s driving me nuts that I get notifications on my phone, but I can’t actually SEE the thing I’m being notified about.
  16. Glad to get snapshots of a few fursuiters…a shame my friend whose fursuit fan I fixed wasn’t one of them.
  17. The criteria for being a guest at a furcon now seems to be: Be somewhat popular!
  18. People playing Nintendo Switch in the mess hall…REALLY?
  19. Hearing hacking and coughing throughout the camp, glad we’re outside
  20. Electrical cords running into tents make me sad.
  21. McDonald’s for breakfast on Friday, we’re really roughing it!
  22. They seem to be a little behind in getting situated, no crafting/panel tents were set up until Friday afternoon.
  23. We went hiking and everybody stopped when cell service resumed.
  24. Nothing like BBQ hamburgers for lunch and dinner!
  25. Fancy people have to melt the chocolate and the marshmallow for fancy s’mores.
  26. Maybe too fancy: I don’t think graham crackers should have grill marks.
  27. WolfBoy does not care how much your beef jerky costs.
  28. Nothing like being overprepared for the storm Friday night.
  29. The campfire area was closed off on Friday night.  Aw.
  30. On the plus side: NO MIDNIGHT AWOO.

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    #31: Storm’s a-brewin’

  31. SATURDAY Storm didn’t come until early today, but we were ready for it!
  32. There is a special place in hell for people that have a crowing rooster as their alarm…and abandon their phones
  33. We don’t care for quiche so it was off to Mickey D’s again.
  34. Are there really that many people wanting quiche and crepes for breakfast at a camping trip??
  35. PROTIP: If you haven’t figured this out already about Wild Nights: Bring food.
  36. I’d forgotten how polite small town grocery store people can be.  NO, I DON’T NEED HELP WITH…oh
  37. My hometown doesn’t even have a grocery store anymore, so yeah.
  38. I ran a stop light in town.  Sorry.
  39. “Your poncho is pink.” “It was red when it was folded up.”
  40. Not to be mean to the artists, but once the rain starts, maybe rearrange the tables so people can sit in the mess hall and eat
  41. Random conversation I could have done without: “What is your name?” “Eduardo Soliz.” *long pause* “WHY?” “You look like some Asian guy.”  HUH?
  42. Nothing says ‘oblivious to my surroundings’ quite like people blocking the whole sidewalk that is SURROUNDED BY MUD.  MOVE IT.
  43. LOL at the weather radio saying ‘Arkansaa.’
  44. Waiting in the bathroom for the storm to pass.
  45. About to storm like crazy but DAMMIT WE BOUGHT FAJITAS AND WE ARE GOING TO HAVE FAJITAS.
  46. And s’mores, of course
  47. “Okay, guys, here’s the plan to get in the car, we’re going to…” *BOOM* RUN LIKE CRAZY!
  48. What do you do when the camping con gets rained out? Sleep in a bunkhouse!
  49. SUNDAY Crap it’s cold. Crap it’s cold. Crap it’s cold.
  50. I know it annoyed some people, but the 90s car alarm repeatedly going off in the morning was hilarious to me.
  51. Note to self: Buy a cheap shower head for the small bathroom shower.
  52. And maybe some soap holders.
  53. I’m sure you’ve noticed by now that hardly any of this has to do with the con itself.
  54. PROTIP: Get your heads out of your phones or you might miss something cool like a truck doing a Dukes of Hazzard over a hill in the opposite lane.
  55. I think they meant to do that.
  56. The business that gave us the Fudge Cheese Butter sign appears to be no more, aww
  57. AFTERWARDS/CASINO Funny that ‘Try Everything’ comes on over the PA as we’re entering the casino.  THEY KNOW.
  58. I had to at least try the slots that had bears on them…no better luck, though.
  59. We had to eat ‘Krispy Krunchy Chicken’ after seeing the name. Tasty!

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    #61 Not-so-sore loser

  60. Parrot Beach Bar and Grill at the Choctaw Casino Resort was good, shame it’s going to become Just Another Mexican Restaurant in a month or so.
  61. No luck at the casino, guess it’s back to work on Tuesday.
  62. If you’re dropping money into the slots at 9AM you might need help.
  63. Yes, that includes me.
  64. I wonder which table at breakfast is ours…OH, it’s the one with the T-Rex hand puppet.
  65. When  you have a hand puppet on your table, some rando will inevitably ask why it is there.
  66. After the fact, I have a box of hot cocoa and two things of Jiffy Pop left. Stupid weather.
  67. While the con itself wasn’t much to speak of, we had a great time!