CREATIVE, Eduardo Soliz, FURRY, fursuit, Nine to Five Lives, Podcasting, PODCASTS, RANDOMIZER9.COM, Super-Short Storytime, WORDS, WORK, Writing

Super-Short Storytime: “The Best Job in The World”

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Welcome to Super-Short Storytime, Dear Listeners! I am Eduardo Soliz, the author and narrator of the splendidly short story that you are about to hear.

My unhappiness towards my nine-to-five (and my willingness to share it) has gotten to the point where it has become a character trait over the years. But I’m not here to tell how you about much I hate my job. Instead, let me tell you a story about a guy that does enjoy his work. This work-related writing is called: “The Best Job In The World“

A middle-aged man wearing black slacks and a white button-down shirt stood in front of a row of vending machines. He wore an identification card that bore the logo of the Prehistoric World theme park and “Bernard Olson, Accounting” in bold letters underneath that. Bernard idly jingled some change in his right hand while he looked from one machine to the next, carefully considering his options.

“Hey buddy, could you give me a hand, here?” A man’s voice said to his right. Bernard turned to answer and quickly jumped back upon seeing a six and a half foot tall mountain lion standing next to him. His shock quickly turned to relief when he realized that it was a person wearing a costume.

“Oh! You frightened me. ” Bernard said. Bernard hummed to himself as he looked for an identification card on his costumed coworker, who wore a T-shirt with the name “Pappy Puma” on it. Bernard was fairly certain that wasn’t his real name.

After a moment, the mountain lion noticed his confusion and said: “Oh! Sorry about that. I’m Jay.”

“My name is Bernard,” Bernard said quietly. He gingerly shook the large paw that Jay offered.

Jay continued: “If you could help me out, that would be awesome, Bernard. My usual helper is in the infirmary. She’s new to the area and hasn’t gotten used to our wonderful Texas summers yet.”

Bernard nervously looked around to see if there was anyone else nearby that could help in his place.

“Come on, man. I ain’t gonna bite you.” Jay pleaded.

Bernard sighed. “Okay. What do you need me to do?” He asked.

“Help me get this head off. Go around me and unzip the zipper that’s at the back of my neck.” Jay said. He dropped to one knee so that Bernard could more easily reach it.

“Okay.” Bernard said. He walked over behind Jay, and looked at the back of his head. He saw a seam running down the back and followed it to its end, where he saw a zipper’s metal tab sticking out. He grabbed the zipper and slowly pulled it up. Before Bernard had the zipper opened completely, Jay reached up and pulled the mask forward to remove it.

“Whew. That’s better.” Jay said, relieved. Bernard walked around to face him and stared for a moment. Jay was wearing a tight-fitting hood on his head made out of some synthetic material. Only his face, which was red from the heat, was exposed. Jay took the head off and carefully placed it on the floor next to his gym bag.

“What’s that thing on your head?” Bernard asked, motioning at his head with his hands.

Jay looked at him for a moment before realizing what he was referring to. “Oh, the hood? It’s to keep sweat from getting into my eyes and stuff. I’m wearing underclothes made out of the same material, but it can only do so much, you know?”

Bernard nodded in acknowledgement.

“Could you help me get one of these paws off?” Jay asked. “They’re held on by some snaps that are underneath the seam. I could use my teeth, but the folks in the costume department wouldn’t appreciate that.” He extended his right arm towards Bernard, who removed the paw and examined it. Meanwhile, Jay used his now-free hand to remove the other paw and set it on top of his costume’s head.

Bernard peered inside of the paw and quickly drew his face back when he noticed the moisture and the smell coming from it. “Goodness, that’s a lot of sweat.” He observed.

“Yup. Such is the price of fame.” Jay quipped. He was hunched over his gym bag searching inside for something.

“It looks like you have a difficult job, having to wear this all day.” Bernard pondered. “I don’t think that I could do it.” He bent over and carefully placed the costume hand atop of the other one.

“The positives ultimately outweigh the negatives, my friend.” Jay said. He pulled a wallet out of the gym bag, opened it, took out a few bills, then dropped it back into the bag. He stood up, walked over to one of the vending machines and bought a sports drink.

“What positives?” Bernard asked. “You walk around outside in that heavy suit all day, get pushed, kicked and well, abused by children, and I can’t imagine that you get paid very well. No offense intended.”

“None taken.” Jay replied before taking a swig of his drink. “And yeah, all of what you said is true. Those are the negatives. So let me give you some positives: It’s fun to interact with the kids. As far as they’re concerned, I really am a big cat. I get to snarl and meow and purr and be silly and goofy. Sure, some of them will push and kick and shove and cry, but they always walk away happy, and that makes me happy, too.

You know what most people make at their jobs, Bernard? Money. That’s it. Nothing else. Do we need it? Of course we do, that’s the world we live in. But there’s nothing really unique about money. A smart man once sang that ‘money talks, but it don’t sing and dance and it don’t walk.’ Money isn’t special. It’s as common as the dirt on the ground. Just because other folks have more doesn’t make it any less true.

But the smile on a child’s face, the laughter of parents and grandparents as they take a picture, even the dumb giggling coming out of a bunch of nutty college kids. Those things are special. Those are the things that people remember. Sure, lots of other people might make more money than I do, but I make memories. I have the best job in the world because my job is to make people happy.”

“Wow. I never thought of it like that.” Bernard said, surprised. His tone became sad as he continued: “It certainly sounds more enjoyable than my job. I just sit at a desk all day and crunch numbers.”

“Yeah, but your job is important, too, Bernard. If you don’t crunch all those numbers, we don’t get paid, right?” Jay said with a smile. “Sorry for rambling like that, Bernard. I guess I’ll head over to the locker room and get out of this suit.”

“Oh, so your day is over?” Bernard asked.

“Without a handler, it is.” Jay explained. “The costume head severely limits my vision, so I have to have a handler nearby to help me get around, keep an eye out for kids and to make sure that we don’t stay outside for too long, but unless Angela gets out of the infirmary soon, I’m done for the day.”

“Now that’s unfortunate.” Bernard said. He checked his watch. “There are still several hours until the park closes.”

“Well, them’s the breaks.” Jay mused. He started to gather his things together. “It’s been good talking to you, man. Thanks for the assist.”

“Wait a second. What if I was your handler?” Bernard asked.

“Huh. I’d appreciate the assist, but won’t you get in trouble?” asked Jay.

“It’ll be okay. Besides, I can always make more money tomorrow.” Bernard said.

“That’s the spirit! Come on, Bernie, let’s go make some memories!” Jay exclaimed. With smiles on their faces and springs in their steps, the pair headed off to ‘work.’

THE END.

It may be cliche to say that “money isn’t everything,‘ Dear Listeners, but that doesn’t make it any less true for some folks. Personally, I would love to have a job where I make something besides money, but for now, money will have to do. This has been Super-Short Storytime! If you’d like me to tell your story, send an email to edsoliz@gmail.com

Thank you for listening! Be Good, Take Care, and God Bless.

FURRY, HOUSE, RANDOMIZER9.COM

All Furries’ Eve

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!

Con Talk, CONS, FURRY, Furry 101, How to Publish an E-Book, PANELS, Podcasting, PODCASTS, SAN JAPAN, Videogames

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…

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?
Time to retire my 2009 iMac from recording duties, it derped out on me when recording the pre-game podcast and ate some audio >.<
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’
Holy cats, did we get salty during the pre-game podcast.
I’ll be wearing my smartwatch for the first time since I got laid off because I HAVE IMPORTANT ANIME CON THINGS TO DO.
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.
PROTIP: You can read the Chili’s lunch special menu through the window if you want to be weird
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
It says something that I can get 12 Streetpasses in my hotel room on Thursday night
I finally remembered my Nintendo 3DS this time!
As I get the presentation together for the third panel, I’m really looking forward to putting it on!
Seems folks are taking a bit longer than usual to get set up, either that or were just really early
I asked for a bigger panel room and I got it…boy, did I get it 0_0
THURSDAY NIGHT-530pm No Japanese arcade machines set up. WolfBoy: “WORST CON EVAR!”
1000pm Initial D cabinet set up. WolfBoy: “BEST CON EVAR!”
Idiots asking “Is San Japan not happening because of Hurricane Harvey or gas shortages?” should be charged double for their badges.
Concerning: Nobody was watching the entrances Thursday night
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.
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?
FRIDAY-First the signs weren’t big enough, and now they aren’t spelled right. This is why Dave is already grey, people!
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
Dear Guidebook: If I only have one event downloaded PLEASE OPEN THE FREAKING EVENT WHEN I LAUNCH THE APP, K?
Also: TOO MANY SCHEDULE FILTER OPTIONS
Artist friends: Don’t just say “I’m in artist alley, find me.” There are over 100 artists. I NEED DETAILS!
Sure, WolfBoy, it’s only 90 degrees outside and you’re wearing a partial fursuit with a dark business suit LETS GO
Always adorable to see little girls taking pictures with Wonder Woman cosplayers
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.
Got inadvertently put to work in Registration directing traffic for ten minutes. JUST WHEN I THOUGHT I WAS OUT THEY PULL ME BACK IN
Almost lost my badge before Furry 101, yipes!
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.
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?
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 >.<
Just as well, I don’t like presenting while standing over people on a stage.
We had 150-200 people at the panel, I guess that justifies the biggest room at the con. 😛
Annoying thing: People that use Q&A time to make dumb jokes. Get a life.
#58 Batteries not required!
REALLY annoying thing: People that try to answer questions during the Q&A part of my panel. GET YOUR OWN PANEL
The A/V guy was very complimentary after Furry 101, though. Thanks man!
The only time I get a ton of steps is at cons and after 20,000 today, my dogs were barking.
By ‘dogs’ I mean feet, not like actual dogs or furry costumed dogs.
SATURDAY-When you’re up at 6am on Saturday morning, you’re up, what can I say
If you aren’t willing to make your own waffle at the hotel breakfast, YOU DON’T WANT IT BAD ENOUGH.
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.
Weirdest thing I’ve heard so far: “Dad, doesn’t she have nice boobs?”
There seem to be quite a few empty tables even in the Dealer’s room; an effect of Harvey, perhaps?
The number of people donating blood is pretty awesome
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.
To be fair, they’re a major sponsor and I’m just a guy with a microphone, an attitude, and weird friends.
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
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.
“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.
That said, the few people that did hang around had really good questions!
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.
Heard an ambulance and thought ‘Oh boy, it’s a party now,’ but it didn’t stop at the con
SUNDAY-Other artist booths : Out to lunch Friend’s booth: Out Fursuiting
#19 Someone needs to be fyred
To the people playing Bee Gees and Michael Jackson on their Bluetooth speakers: THANK YOU FOR PLAYING GOOD MUSIC
That said, can we just ban those damn things from cons already?
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!
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
Old hotness: Mind-reading robot cat ears
New hotness: Ballcaps with words
Thing to remember for next year: Fursuit straws!
I think I’m finally over being weirded out by crossplay…mostly.
Funniest question of the weekend: “Are you a Mawg?”
E-book panel went awesomely; lots of people with good questions and I had JUST enough handouts!
Two out of three good panels ain’t bad!
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.
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
AFTER- Might be time to retire my digital camera, too many ‘ghost spots’ >.<
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!

CONS, FURRY, FURRY FIESTA, Uncategorized

80 Things I Noticed During Texas Furry Fiesta 2017

Another year, another Texas Furry Fiesta. As much as I like San Japan, TFF is my favorite convention bar none. Sadly, this is the last year in the Dallas InterContinental, but it went out with a bang!

If a guy with bear ears took your picutre, check it out on my Facebook or Flickr!

BEFORE-I wanted to start this list two weeks before the show, but that would have been a bit much. Two days it is, then.
#75 Fur-tobombed!
I put more effort into picking T-shirts for conventions than I do into dressing for my job
The same goes for shaving: I’ll regularly have a 5 o’clock shadow at work but usually shave whenever I’m going to be with friends.
Had to resist the urge to put “Skills: Striking fear into the hearts of men” on my volunteer application.
Should have mentioned my ‘command voice,’ though.
Seeing Facebook keep going ‘REMEMBER ALL THE FUN YOU WERE HAVING 2/3/4 YEARS AGO’ these last few weeks has been maddening
Went over last year’s list that I apparently DID start two weeks prior, guess I’m getting more patient as I get older.
Planning on using my point-and-shoot for pictures instead of my iPhone, too many dark pictures last year.
Still using my iPad mini to record the parade, though, just need free up lots of memory beforehand!
Sing just came out on video, I wonder if there will be anyone cosplaying? (there wasn’t that I could tell anyway)
Bluetooth speakers at cons SUCK. I have bad taste in music too, but I keep it to myself.
Lucky for me Riverdale is not showing this week. I don’t mind waiting for the next Powerless, BUT I MUST KNOW WHO KILLED JASON BLOSSOM
THURSDAY-Passenger: You better be ready to go at 9. Me at 930 on Thursday: Still waiting for him
I pity people that have been to Whataburger without having a Breakfast on a Bun. THAT’S NO WAY TO LIVE
Siri turned my friend’s last name into ‘Command’ so that is his last name now
Took a shortcut down some caliche roads to bypass a big accident on I-35 North.
Yeah maybe I shouldn’t have washed he car yesterday
Made it past the accident okay, though!
Not liking Braums is a crime, apparently
Thursday and the hotel parking lot is already full, oh boy
Friend as we’re going to the room: “This hallway smells like B.O.”
#25: Come here often?
Funny that I’m going to spend part of my vacation working (as a volunteer) yet I don’t mind
Volunteering: Started off helping unload some stuff, kinda wish I’d showed up earlier to help more.
Furst World Problem: Being swatted by someone’s tail.
Volunteering: It was fun helping at Kempi’s, I am going to totally miss the Disco Dungeon!
Weird moment (for me, anyway) “Didn’t that guy have the prettiest eyes?” “Sorry, but I’m straight.”
I ended up splitting a room in a single instead of a double, we used a pillow as the ‘border.’
FRIDAY-Surprised at how unorganized the volunteering seems to be early on, (it got better)
Idea (that may not work): E-mail verified volunteers blanks of the tracking sheets.
Volunteering: Spent a couple hours in the con suite playing barkeep at the snack bar some more in the morning
Mary Mouse is just too busy, I need my Certified badge!
The panelist didn’t show up to the first panel I went to…I have yet to miss one of mine…just sayin’
These guys really need to purchase a legit scheduling app. The ‘purchase’ part means it likely won’t happen, though
Kept getting asked: “Are you doing a panel?” I think it’s safe to say me doing panels is a thing now.
My apologies to my friends when I don’t recognize them in or out of fursuit: I have enough trouble remembering people that only have ONE name and face!
Decided to belt out Be Prepared at Kempi’s during karaoke and loved it. I kicked into my vocal ‘fifth gear’ that I very seldom use.
Ten buck special at Boston Market = good eatin’ Going to miss all the close places to eat next year
Finally figured out to hold my camera by its sides when showing pictures to fursuiters so it doesn’t flip back to camera mode when I’m showing them pictures
Probably just need to invest in a new camera already.
#31: I’m also certifiable!
SATURDAY – I want to go to panels but keep bailing on them to have fun with friends!
Or getting double-booked and leaving a panel early to go to another one
If you’re asking for questions fifteen minutes into your panel, you might need more material, but it worked out.
Having an intro written to start your panel isn’t a Bad Thing per se, but it depends on the type of panel
Lobby ATM machine barfed on me multiple times throughout he weekend, argh
Fursuit parade seemed to go quicker this year
Someone swatted me with their tail! How wude!
Love to upload the video while I’m here, but the 3.1 GB file ain’t uploading over hotel wifi anytime soon, maybe overnight.
I’m learning that sitting is weird when you have a tail, even if it is just a nub!
The pictures from my point and shoot are coming out so much better than the ones from my iPhone last year
Note to self: Get fursuiter pictures when you have the chance, because that StarFox suiter was way cool, but I missed him!
I was working, though /shrug
Volunteering: Checking for badges gets a little weird when people have them on their waist/belt
Okay, so I’m a prude.
Bought a voodoo-themed print and now I have the Dr. Facliler song from ‘The Princess and the Frog’ in my head
SUNDAY-Left my laptop on all night to upload the Fursuit parade video and it worked!
Likely have to retire my iPad mini after this year, 16GB just ain’t enough!
It’s always funny being functional at 8AM while the party animals slowly lurch to life
Walked away from my backpack by accident Guess I need coffee!
Woofle House to the rescue!
Not trying very hard to sell anything in Artist’s Alley, which is good because I didn’t *le sigh*
#60: Take my books, please!
I swear I am the only seller in Artist Alley that is standing up.
To be fair, they’re all drawing
And sold more than me 😛
I gave away three books, so there’s that.
New rule: No more using my iPad as an attention grabber, people just watch the videos and block the table
You’re welcome for the name, Kawaii-pool!
Why are there two kinds of Steak N’ Shakes? The ones where you get seated SUCK sometimes.
Elevator conversation:
Me: “You draw the fluffiest furries I’ve ever seen!”
Tirrell: “That’s how they’re supposed to look.”
Me: “Right, but nobody draws them like that.”
None of the pictures I took during Closing Ceremonies came out. Insert joke about Path here.
When someone brings bubble wrap for pick-up to the art show you know they buy a lot of art 0_0
Got plenty of exercise helping tear down the Art show, and earned enough time for a free registration next year!
I had originally planned to stay till Monday, but I have too much adulting to do, so I hit I-35 at 10PM
It was hard for me to leave ‘early’ though MUST PHOTOGRAPH ALL THE FURSUITERS
If you are a fursuiter and I didn’t take your picture, I AM SO SORRY
My friends and I got ‘furtobombed’ by Zig-Zag at the end!
Didn’t run into any of the storms on the drive home but saw lots of scary lightning!
Had a scary moment on a patch of flooded construction, too
Finally got home at 3AM,. I’m tired, but the good kind of tired
Another great show, and I even helped (a little)!

And one late one:

80. At least we only have 11 months to wait until TFF 2018!

ANIME, Apple, CONS, Eduardo Soliz, FURRY, SAN JAPAN

64 Things I Noticed During San Japan 8-Bit

#10: Where am I, now?

Another year, another San Japan! I presented two panels and took lots of cosplayer pictures!

BEFORE THE SHOW-Went to a bronycon to practice ‘Furry 101’ for San Japan and now I’m going to do a ‘live podcast’ there. YOU OWE ME HENKIN
Bought a 30-pack of Vitamin-C fizzy-drink packets for this and future cons, be interesting to see how long they last
Looking forward to using my iPad mini during my panels, no more lugging around my laptop!
Thing I hope to not see but probably will: people scalping Maid Café tickets.
So there’s a ‘blue moon’ Friday night when I’m doing a panel with WolfBoy. GREAAAT
I spend more time worrying about what I’m going to wear to a convention than to my job
100+ plus forecast means no black shirts, thank you
Decided to lend my driveway to some friends for the weekend…who didn’t park in the driveway /facepalm
Sorry, 7-11, but Valero has God’s Coke Machine
Nice giant maps, just missing a “You are here” sticker
Did AA get smaller? (answer: no)
Did the Dealers room get…taller? (answer: mmmaybe)
I’m getting a little bit of that ‘where’s the anime’ vibe from some of the vendors in the Dealers room
Looks like the Grand Hyatt has become the ‘No Fun Zone’
Got my ears fixed all professional-like, yay!
S. David Ramirez’s cut in half business cards = GENIUS
FRIDAY -Friend: “I don’t like waking up early on my day off.” You wanted a ride, so deal with it, Frumpasarus Rex
I bought him donuts so all was forgiven
Stupid Windows Phone Guidebook app being derpy. Need to get an iPhone
I keep wanting to go in the wrong way of the Dealers Den >.<
Taco Bell at the Rivercenter Mall? REALLY?
Room 002? I thought it was 202 WHARRGARBL
These artist displays are getting to the point where you have to struggle to find the ARTIST now.
Dave gave me a panel that no one would show up to so he could hide for an hour.
That’s okay because DAVE-SENPAI NOTICED ME
You know it was a long day when your electronics start to give out, iPad and phone both ran out of juice.
Hit over 10,000 steps today according to my 3DS, think that’s the highest I’ve ever done in a day.
Which means I need to get more exercise >.<
Internets on my Cricket/AT&T phone are flaky as all heck, might need to get a new provider when I decide to pull the trigger on that iPhone.
SATURDAY-Got up at oh dark thirty to get a parking spot >.<
I can’t help but notice the little things that are wrong with some of the retro-styled merch
Yay for wide aisles!
Popular cosplay: Steven Universe
Two BayMaxes got quite a bit of attention
One does not simply talk to a table-top player mid game. Fist-bump and move on.
Person in car at crosswalk: “What is this?” Me: “Comic Con” I FAILED YOU DAVE-SENPAI
AA was blocked off for a while, Fire Marshals, maybe??
Perhaps they should have ran the line INTO the convention center instead of the atrium. Fursuiter friends were not happy
Yay for Stephanie and her full panel room!
Picked up an ocarina on a whim. *insert drummer joke here*
If the maid café ain’t all its cracked up to be, I want a refund…from Chris
‘Perfect spot’ right in the sunlight THANKS CHRIS
Going to add the Pokémon theme to my list of songs anime nerds sing on command
Maid café was a nice change of pace, a pleasant way to spend an hour in what is often a overwhelmingly manic event
Unlimited samples of Coke? DON’T MIND IF I DO
Dear mock combat people: Please figure out how big your arena is going to be ahead of time instead of telling people to move back multiple times
Between the wristband policy and lack of chill spaces, I’m thinking the Hyatt doesn’t like San Japan attendees
SUNDAY-Forgot to take my C this morning, hope I don’t regret it.
No selfies for me, dumb cheap no front camera-having phone XP
I see San Japan charges the ‘fat tax’ for larger shirt sizes
Screaming JUST DO IT has become a thing. Greaaat
I’d rather yell OHHHHH with Mordecai and Rigby
I’m starting to think Bluetooth speakers are one of mankind’s worst inventions. I DEMAND A BAN.
Unless breakdancing is involved, then we’re cool.
Full house for Furry 101, w00t
#55 Full house!
I’ll get a Lightning->VGA adapter because ‘cons don’t have the latest equipment’ I come in and see a projector with an HDMI cable CRAP
Found a cable but iPad no likey YOU HAD ONE JOB, iPad!
Ended up using the silly thing as a clock. A FUZZING CLOCK
Thank God AJ showed up with his laptop
Joel did a bang-up job as my co-presenter, added some humor to the proceedings
Guess I’ll always be the Dean Martin to someone else’s Jerry Lewis
The half-hour length of my presentation used to bother me, but it leaves time for questions and pictures!
Hit the road after the panel, another great time!
It’s Cyborg 009, guys! Whole world of difference!

Books, Con Fluff 1, CONS, Eduardo Soliz, FURRY, FURRY FIESTA, MUSIC, ORIGINAL-GAMER.COM, RANDOM REVIEW, RANDOM STOPS, Video, WHATS GOING ON, WHISKEY-TANGO-FOXTROT

92 Things I Noticed at Texas Furry Fiesta 2015

Don’t spill the Chemical X!

Texas’ only furcon, Furry Fiesta, took place last weekend from Feb 20-22 and I had a ball. So, without fur-ther ado:

PRE-TRIP/THURSDAY: Never been on a 4-day trip that didn’t involve a tent before, time to upgrade my luggage.
Nothing like that ‘did I forget to pack anything’ feeling, luckily there’s a Wally Martinez (Wal-Mart) near the hotel.
Weight on Thursday morning: 267 Hope I don’t spend half the event pulling up my pants like at PAX South.
Then again, that wouldn’t be so terrible 😉
Thing I almost forgot #1-Nintendo 3DS, Thanks, Oscar!
Thing I almost forgot #2-Cologne. Insert joke about ‘no female furries’ here
Thing I almost forgot #3- Apparently my insurance card expired last October. Oops!
Thing I did forget #1: Ballcap for my Soos cosplay. Doh!
Didn’t drink caffeine in purpose on the way up, finally had to succumb and stop at the Czech Stop for a soda.
And some kolaches. Mmm, good!
New duffel bag has wheels…I feel so WHITE rolling it around.
I was recognized by someone in the reg line and couldn’t figure out who it was until I heard his furry name.
Felt honored to call Nuka “Doctor” for the first time. Congrats!
Room is on the 9th floor. Well, I did say I needed exercise XP
Full-color conbook! Is niiiice!
A friend said the conbook was in color last year but I didn’t care because I didn’t have a story in it
Yay, a fridge in the room…already stocked with overpriced items…BOO
Karma FTL: Joked about the first guy in reg line being their guinea pig, then I ended up being the guinea pig when I upgraded to Super Sponsor.
Prediction: Lots of angel dragons this year.
Private joke: Wolfboy was denied chocolate chip waffles at Waffle House, dude just has bad luck with chocolate.
Waffle House was great! Now I have another place to stop at when I’m in Austin.
Bad timing though, we bought a total of 15 people there and there were only 2 workers.
They did an admirable job, though!
FRIDAY: Had to get the genuine Waffle House experience the next morning after we swamped them on Thursday night.
Bought a clip-on tie for a cosplay thinking it would be quicker, but it’s more trouble than a real one >.<
Cap or ears with cosplay? Ears, of course. Ignore #8
It says something when Wally Martinez runs out of bags!
Dafuzz is up with no trash cans on the first floor of the hotel?
The magic is routinely being broken here. I has a sad.
Feel funny hanging my ears on my rear view mirror like they’re fuzzy dice or something.
Semi-retired my ears until I figure out a better way to wear them.
“I’m sleepy” “Drink some coffee” “I don’t drink coffee” “There’s no better time to start!”
Took a quick peek in the adult section of the art auction, funny how the quality of the art dropped a little.
The Corral sends to be much improved this year.
I gave away paper copies of one of my books to a few folks and it felt good, I hope the recipients enjoy them.
Had to abandon my lanyard because my badge was blocking my shirt…oh no, I’ve become one of THOSE cosplayers
Two researchers at the con means two surveys to do. I haven’t had this much homework to do since college!
Obligatory work-related item: Saw a tech-sounding name on a building and the first thought that popped in my head was “Are they hiring?”
Got bumped in the head by a fursuiter at the Bucktown Tiger performance but it was okay, he was padded.
I kinda want to knee people that carry speakers playing music in the nards.
Learned some photography stuff from a ‘fur-tographer’ 😀
#41
Heard someone use the phrase “home grown country boy.” Is there any other kind?
What is a fursuiter without a fursuit at a furry con? Very very sad. Dude got better, though.
Thing I could have gone the rest of my life without seeing: Tingle-styled zentai suit. MY EYES
Elevator-con didn’t happen for me, there were a few waits, but they were reasonable. Kudos!
SATURDAY: “I’m gonna dress as Professor Utonium” “Will you have three girls?” “No, but this is a con, they’ll be around” “Yeah but they won’t be girls” /facepaw
When doing a panel, make it more about the topic, and less about you.
Hell, at least have an outline. The last time I went to a panel that was that bad it was held by teenagers.
Heard a bird cawing outside, not sure if actual bird or attendee
It says something when I sneeze in the hotel room and someone walking in the hall says “Bless you”
New thing I’m not sure about: Someone had a friend do a badge of their ‘fruitsona.’
Two people have referred to me as Uncle Kage. Not sure it’s complimentary
After my camera battery conked out last year, I used my iPad mini to record the fursuit parade.
…in landscape. I didn’t want to be THAT guy again.
Got to portray a not-very-nice executive during the voice over panel. That was easy.
Nothing like that NOOOO moment when you realize your 3DS wifi has been off for the last few hours >.<
Next time I think I’ll try a room at the hotel next door because reasons.
Parking Idea: Paint one side of the parking barriers red so people know not to park next to them.
Parking Idea #2: Take the back way through the overflow parking onto Quorum, much faster to get to Belt Line Road or the shopping center across the freeway
Got fur-tobombed while getting my picture taken with a friend, lol
Thing I forgot #2: Small ice chest to store/chill drinks
Wore a lab coat for a costume on Saturday (see above) and kinda liked it, especially the pockets!
SUNDAY: Still no bags at Wal-Mart? Get it together, people!
Awesome idea: Use cardboard priority mail envelopes from USPS for prints to keep them fresh and un-bent
Boston Market’s 3-person meal could have easily fed 4 but SO GOOOD
Whispered “I don’t read Gold Digger” to the Antarctic Press guy because Fred Perry was right there.
I did buy (and enjoyed) two of his other comics and Furry Tales, though!
Eyeball con: Some wag went around sticking googly eyes onto random things and apparently having pupils on fursuits is not cool anymore.
I was right about the angel dragons, but the ‘no pupils for fursuits’ thing is a mite weird.
Van Morrison’s “Moondance” got stuck in my head after hearing it during the jazz performance Saturday night
That’s not a bad thing, BUT I DON’T KNOW THE WORDS >.<
Whenever I see musicians play live, it makes me miss being in a band *sigh*
Had an impromptu “Be Prepared” singing session in the car and realized I’d forgotten most of the words
From Sunday afternoon afterwards the con was pretty cool, seemed like most of the hyperactive kids had left.
MONDAY / POST-TRIP: Woke up Monday to see a layer of snow outside…CRAP
Okay, ice. I’ve spent 99.999% of my life south of San Antonio and know not of such things 😛
Got some neat “furries in the ice” pictures though!
You don’t know which shoes are good for ice until you actualy have ICE
Well at least I wasn’t wearing sandals.
#79
For being a small con, I didn’t see some folks on some days. Odd.
Found a phone, how do we find the owner? Fursuit picture on the home screen of course!
Drive home had a few harrowing moments at the start, but once we left Dallas things were fine.
Still fuzzing cold, though; the Excelsior (my CR-V) still had ice on it when I got home.
Took over 200 pictures during the con, holy cats!
Bye bye, backpack, hello super-sponsor messenger bag.
Not looking forward to seeing how many FA notifications I have pending.
Or work emails for that matter.
Aww #1: No calendar this year.
Aww #2: Didn’t get to wear my “Do not feed the bears” shirt.
Realization upon cleaning out backpack: I have way too many chargers and cables
Weight on Tuesday morning: 268…so why are my pants so bleeping baggy?
Saw a Krystal cosplayer and thought: “Hey, a place where Krystal CAN enjoy her sandwich!“

ANIME, CONS, FIRST STORM MANGA, FURRY, JUST SAYING, ORIGINAL-GAMER.COM, RANDOM STOPS, RANDOMIZER9.COM, SAN JAPAN, TECH SUPPORT, WORK

24 Things I Noticed While Helping at San Japan 6

My home for San Japan 6

I have attended every single San Japan. I went to the first out of curiosity and found myself helping out with tables for First Storm Manga and original-gamer.com for the next four. As FSM is no more and I have resigned my post from original-gamer.com, I found myself with nothing to do at San Japan Sinister Six. I suppose I could have gone as an attendee and enjoyed myself, but instead I decided to help out the fine folks of RegIT with processing the 11,000+ attendees.

You either have fun or work at a convention, and I worked at this one…a LOT
That said, the people I worked with were very cool.
It was neat to experience how much work goes on behind the scenes in registration.
Think about it: about 20 people had to process over 11,000. That’s pretty nuts.
There were a few glitches, but the overwhelming majority of people were very understanding. Nerds is good people.
I was right about the customers being cooler at San Japan, there were only had a handful of genuine jerkasses to deal with.
Goof-up #1-Not having good sneakers. I put gel insoles inside my casual shoes, which hepled, but my dogs were barking by the evenings.
Holy cats, some of those cosplayers…Good Lord, I thought blood was going to shoot out of my nose!
I’m old enough to have fathered a teenager, so I guess that makes me a dirty old man now.
A friend guessed my age and was off by a decade, so I guess I’m not doing that bad.
If you are going to give something to someone at a con , be sure you have it on you AT ALL TIMES. Sorry, friend of mine…can I mail you that t-shirt?
Cardboard, if applied correctly, can be pretty awesome, as demonstrated by Tall Cardboard Robot Guy.
I found myself shifting into my ‘announcer voice’ on occasion, that hasn’t happened in awhile.
I don’t think I’ve ever done that at my regular job…which probably says something.
Goof-up #2-Not taking Monday off from work. It would have been nice to do more stuff after the show, but I had to be at work on Monday and do laundry. Stupid responsibilities!
I wore my Wreck-It Ralph cloth pin and got lots of compliments, which makes me feel bad that I don’t remember the name of the artist who MADE it. Sorry!
The artists I know seemed to be happier this year and the layout appeared to be MUCH improved this time
That is, the few times I was able to get away and see stuff…see #1
Goof-up #3-Not by me, but for those who would ask me where things were…I AM SORRY BUT I HAVE BEEN HERE THE WHOLE TIME. AND I DON’T KNOW WHERE ANYTHING IS 😦
I think the highlight of the whole thing was when my furiends showed up on Saturday to say hi. The fuzzies gave me the warm fuzzies.
Which is more than I can say for the jerkass who texted me ‘Are you even here?” despite knowing very well where I was the whole time. YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE.
Goof-up #4-Not getting a picture of the gal dressed up as the Ancient Aliens guy…she even had a sign that said ‘ALIENS,’ too!
I seem to be doing a lot of apologizing in this list. Sorry about that!
Now that I can scratch ‘volunteered at a convention’ off my bucket list, I simply have no choice but to have fun at next year’s San Japan Samurai Seven…maybe!

CONS, CREATIVE, FIRST STORM MANGA, Manga, MEZASU, ORIGINAL-GAMER.COM, PODCASTS, RANDOMIZER9.COM, STEAMPUNK, Writing

Twelve Mezasu mini-con 2 Observations

As Hannibal would say, “I love it when a plan comes together.” Our second Mezasu mini-con is over, and despite feeling really really tired, I’m feeling pretty good about how the whole thing went. Some things I noticed:

The old “can’t have fun when you work at a con” rule isn’t that big of a deal when you see everyone having a good time and have the opportunity to occasionally walk around and talk to people.
I guess it was easier to notice this because this was a smaller event, but serious cosplayers tend to travel in packs…I don’t think I’ve ever just seen just ONE wandering about.
The art auction was a huge bust, I think we need to do a better job of explaining how it works next time. 😦
I believe you should always give your all whether 3, 30 or 300 people show up to your gig, which is fortunate for the 3 people that showed up to my podcasting panel.
I am just not used to hearing my voice amplified; when making announcements or announcing raffle numbers over the PA speakers, I was worried about blowing out the speakers whenever I raised my voice.
From the “beware of what you wish for” department: we asked, prayed and begged for rain, got it…and a brief power outage.
Thanks to Madame Jaqueline’s Apothecary, I now know what a ‘bath bomb’ is and does. Freaky.
I bought an Android mascot figure in a “blind box,” from Bean Pot Toiz but I have yet to actually OPEN it to see which one is in there. The anticipation is eating at me yet I don’t want it to end!!
Considering how many times I was asked “How did you find this place?” I’m glad that we were able to make people aware of the nice facility and folks at Tripoint.
At the same time, how can one not notice a building the size of a grocery store with a YMCA and a coffee shop?
I forgot to pack cough drops and now my voice is a little hoarse. Hopefully it recovers by the time work starts on Monday.
I don’t want to go back to work on Monday…then again, do I ever?

AETHERFEST, ANIME, CONS, JUST SAYING, WHISKEY-TANGO-FOXTROT

Steam-Punks

UPDATE: Dress-up is not required, so come one and all!

When I first heard about the upcoming San Antonio Steampunk convention Ætherfest a few weeks ago, I was excited. I noticed that Steampunk had been gaining a larger and larger presence at anime conventions, and it was good to see that they were going to try their own thing. Having more geek conventions in San Antonio is also a Good Thing and I was looking forward to supporting these guys and learning more about what the whole Steampunk scene was about. Thus, I went to the Ætherfest webpage to read up on it. It featured the usual parade of guests, events, and dealers, and everything appeared to be business as usual until I got to the FAQ, which included this little tidbit of info at the bottom of the page:

Appropriately enough, this made me steamed

After reading that, I don’t feel like attending Ætherfest anymore. The paragraph above does not make me feel welcome as a guest. One of the points of a convention is to get folks that aren’t into your particular flavor of geekdom to see what it is all about in the hopes that they embrace it, or at least understand what its really about. Telling people that they might not be welcome because they aren’t dressed up is sending the wrong kind of message to your potential attendees. Yes, it does say: “we’ll try our best not to look peeved,” but that isn’t entirely reassuring. Indeed, the thought of spending a day being looked down upon by a bunch of self-important nerds in costumes and opera glasses is not my idea of a fun time.

If this message was intended to be delivered “in character” then okay, fine, I get the joke. That said, lots of other people will not, and when you’re starting a new convention, you don’t want to give people a reason not to attend. Admittedly, I’m probably making a mountain out of a molehill here, but I hope somebody sees the point I’m trying to make.

If Ætherfest is supposed to only be for hardcore Steampunk fans (steam-core? steam-elite?), then okay fine, do what you like. If, on the other hand, you are looking to get as many people to show up as possible and grow your fanbase, then this is not the way to do it.

Come on guys, we’re better than this!

UPDATE: Apparently some of the Aetherfest folks read the post. They agreed that their wording does come off as a tad ‘elitist’ but their intention was to poke fun at other cons where dress up is required, which is what I had guessed. They have posted the following disclaimer on their homepage and look forward to seeing everybody there for a jolly good time!

Well played, fellows!

Eduardo Soliz

IT Guy, short story author, podcaster, and furry!

Tag Archives: cosplay