At the last moment I found out I could go so I went, I think I forgot to post a journal mentioning that here on DA, sorry guys. I like just found out I could go at the last moment so I had to rush my tails out the door!

Ok this is just a journal of me going to Anthro Con ’07 and hopefully having a lot of fun and not boring you folks to death. Hope you all enjoy…

Thursday:
I awoke around seven in the morning and waited impatiently for the mail to arrive it usually arrives around noon but hey today it got here around 1 or 1:30 and I checked it eagerly and found my PayPal check had finally come in! Well I had just posted a journal saying I wasn’t going to AC and now I had the check in my hand. Well no guts no glory right? So I started packing things as fast as I could and went out to try and get the check cashed. Problem is I don’t have a bank account so this became a bit of a problem. I ran through about three places before finally going to Walmart (a reliable friend of my Sister’s had said Walmart wouldn’t do it…he was wrong) and boom I had my cash. $303 bucks and a pocket full of change.

-$30.00 (spent on gas)
-$2.00 (spent on energy drink)

So I drove to Virginia trying to call Kjatar on my cell phone to tell him I was coming after all, I couldn’t get him to pick up his phone. I called Quillia so she would know I was going to be there as well. I was on the round roughtly 8 hours 15 minutes give or take, it rained in buckets for almost an hour straight then cleared up and then rained again while I was on the road. I saw at least 12 cops with someone pulled over between South Carolina and Virginia (luckily I was not one of them!) but I managed to make it to Kjatar’s place with surprising ease…I didn’t get lost, didn’t get in trouble…it all went pretty smooth. Well except for getting lost in the apartment complex and having the security SUV follow me around the block a few times.

Well I got in around 11:30pm and Kjatar and his friend were still wide awake, just making dinner actually. I declined eating since being in the car and having two energy drinks in a day makes my stomach upset (but keeps me wired for the whole day). We all talked for a while, I showed off my art work (they seemed to really like it) and I looked at Kjatar’s friend’s work he’s really good, blows me out of the water! I watched as they played a video game (Guitaro man?) for a little while, it was around 4 am by the time we finally went to bed. I could barely sleep because I was so excited!

Total spent during the day:
-$60.00 Gas (x2)
-$7.00 Drinks
~$60.00 Put away
For return trip





Friday:
Well we woke up around 9am and headed off about an hour later. We stopped at Mc D’s and they got something to eat, I passed on the offer for any food because I wasn’t really hungry and I didn’t really want to have a full tummy while doing a long drive in the heat. We stopped over at kinko and I printed/laminated my badge and Kjatar’s badge and well we had our first accident. I took out my knife and used it to cut a slot in Kjatar’s badge to fit the clip through and then I cut mine and well…I slipped. I managed to cut through the plastic, hit my middle finger on the left hand and cut myself pretty good. It wasn’t very deep but it was kind of long and it started bleeding really badly! I rushed to the bathroom, blood running down my hand by the time I got there to press some paper towels to my wound. I got some band-aids from 7/11 and with a little bandage I was good! Well I started feeling a little light headed after we were driving, the roof on the car was down and the heat was beating down on me while the wind tossed my hair in every direction. We arrived in the city, got to our hotel, some huge very fancy looking one with a really nice lobby, incredibly stuffy elevators and pretty unremarkable rooms/halls. Well we finally got to AC (its about three blocks from the hotel) when we got there it was around 4pm so we went straight to the registration area and got all signed up and stuff (no line because it was so late). Well I spent the whole day wandering around, Kjatar and Kay ran off elsewhere and I just wanted to explore the whole place. I ran into a few furs I knew from FA and SL and it was a blast! I went through the artist alley and saw a few people. Strider, Sue, Gwar, Gideon, Ken, Pengi, and lots more! Sadly the alley was closing so I had to leave before I could really fan girl on all of them. I did get to meet 2 the ranting gryphon! I went to his table and he wasn’t there, instead JR one of his friends was there. JR did a puppet show that I hear is fun, well me and him talked for a little while and he was really nice and he even said I could walk with him to go meet up with 2 so I could meet him. Boy 2 is tall! Well I was almost jogging to keep up with him as he rushed off with his gang to get some food and get ready for his show. Well I said hello to 2 and told him what a fan I was then snapped a photo (he said he didn’t mind but he couldn’t stop since he was already late) well I forgot to put the flash on so I don’t think the shot came right so sadly I think I missed my chance because that was the last photo on that camera and I don’t know what happen to my other cameras…. *sniffle sniffle* well I didn’t get too upset about that. I met up with Quilla and we went out to a bar, I got totally shit faced (<^-^> I had two shots of wild turkey, two apple martinis and a glass of some fruity tomato drink that tasted strongly of vodka that Quilla couldn’t take more then two drinks of. And she called me a light weight. Well ok normally I am a light weight and I get buzzed after only a little sip of wild turkey but I went all out. I was drunk and I knew it so Kjatar and Kay took me back to the motel. I don’t remember what exactly happen and my butt hurt the next day…nah I’m kidding. I passed out feeling pretty sick but I’m good now!


Saturday:
Ok…not feeling too hot. Ugh my head hurts, it feels like its in a vice. Ok well my head is killing me but there are fun things to do at the convention early so I got up and showered and headed out. I felt terrible! I had to stop in the hall way and curl up against he wall because I felt so crappy from drinking so much (I am never doing that again!) well I couldn’t move and I missed the event I was going to get to but that’s ok I managed to meet a DJ who was buying a soda from the machine near where I was resting and we talked for about twenty minutes or so and he helped me up when I was feeling better. What really amazes me during this whole convention is: how nice everyone is, how approachable and friendly the artists are and what kind of folks are here at the convention! There were guys walking by that looked like they were bikers, gang members, scientists and everything else! Some big buy in a tank top, lots of tattoos and a beard stood talking with an older man in a nice turtle neck about furry artists. In fact a guy who looked like he was from a rap video was nice enough to ask me if I was ok when I looked a little ill and even helped me to a seat and asked if I wanted some water (he was just walking by and he saw me and helped me out). I love how nice everyone is and I tried my best to be just as friendly with others, sharing my pocket schedule with furs who didn’t have theirs and giving directions to the few places I did know. I spent most of today ‘fan girling’ on artists telling them how much I liked their work and how much I appreciated them posting work for anyone to look at when they could easily just be on pay sites or something. I meet a few artists (this whole day was a bit fuzzy) I commissioned an artist that did the cover art for a furry fantasy novel (book one of three I think) and I’m excited to get into it. I meet Gwar, Max Blackrabbit, Pmoss, Ken Sample, the Club Stripes team and a bunch more! I went to the ‘zoo’ (a large room set aside for furs to gather and hang out) here a lot of the artists who didn’t have tables were working and stuff. I was scared a little because everyone else’s work was so much better then mine. Well I set up my laptop and my sketch book and tried to get some commissions for some extra cash. I was reading “Associate Student Body” the yearbook (I just bought it) and enjoying the story a lot, if you havn’t read this already you should! Well one fur came up and said he would like a commission, I was afraid he was going to request ‘I want a vixen getting mounted by a horse’ or something. I was surprised when he asked for a picture of his two headed dragon character re-enacting the scene from “Lady and the Tramp” with the dinner. Well the body is a herm, one head is male and the other is female…me and Kjatar were joking and laughing about what that would be like. Can you imagine puberty with two heads of different genders?! Well I did the pic and I was pretty happy with it and the furry that paid me seemed pleased (not blown away but happy) and I was glad to have a little extra cash. A mouse fursuiter came up to me and after trying to steal my copy of “Associate Student Body” (I corrected him simply saying ‘you should know never to try and steal from a kitsune…’ and winked at him) he asked me to draw him, so yeah I went ahead not like I had anything better to do. He was a brown mouse in a robe like the characters from “Red Wall” (very very good book series!) and I was happy to draw him, his name was Steel the warrior. I got a scritch behind the ear, a pet on the head and a hug for my efforts and I was happy he liked it. Well I bought two books, a CD of art and picked up a bunch of free pins.

Sunday:
I got up nice and early (around 7am) and got in and out of the shower, got dressed and all that stuff. Kjatar and Kay were up and stirring by the time I was finished packing my stuff up and I was sitting on the bed as they finally got in the shower, and then packed their stuff. We checked out of the hotel and put everything away in Kjatar’s car then headed to the convention for the last time. I ran around a little bit drawing and looking around the artist alley and I found a few new artists I didn’t see yesterday (maybe because I was drunk) Taurin fox was there, I love his 3D work, he’s one of the reasons I wanted to get into 3D work! I meet Eric Swartz briefly (he’s a busy guy) and picked up my commission. I did talk to Taurin for a little while and told him how I saw some of his work early in my furry life and loved it and how great he was. He blushed a little and told me that means a lot and that he’s glad he inspired me. I showed him some of my work and he said I had a bright future ahead of me. I meet the Gneech (the guy that does Suburban Jungle and fan girled on him for awhile) I also talked with another artist there…um I can’t recall his name. He was really nice though! I chatted with the artist I commissioned to draw Eve and she said my work was good and I had talent, she also said how much fun Eve was to draw that she almost considered not charging me (I didn’t leave it to debate I insisted on paying). I showed her the pic I did “Just a tailor” and she said that was great! I blushed. Well I said goodbye and went out to the other areas, I decided to hug every fursuiter I could get my arms around since I had been too shy the other days to even ask and they were happy to hug me back and pose for photos. I got a photo during the fursuiters tug of war! I went to take a white wolf’s photo and he took the camera and handed it to a friend of his and pulled me close so I could be in the photo for once. I was so happy he did that. Well I ran around hugging and clinging to the fursuiters for awhile until it was time for the live recording of the 2 sense show. On my way I ran into Uncle Kage (a very famous furry!) and I enjoyed his show a few times during the con so I asked him if I could take a photo of him. I just asked “lease Mr. Kage may I take a photo of you? You don’t have to pose or stop walking or anything I can take it while your walking and stuff!” he laughed a little and stood there fixing his lab coat waiting for me to actually take the photo. I blushed a little and took the photo, he shook my hand and told me to enjoy myself. I smiled so side and thanked him before I went in about five minutes early and used my very last photo on 2. Well after the show I meet up with Kjatar and Kay and we decided to go to dinner, Kjatar took us out to a sushi bar! I haven’t had Sushi in forever! Well Kay knew more then we did so he did the ordering I handled the eating. On our way out we bumped into CigarSkunk and I showed him the picture I did for him (just some fan art) and we talked for a little while. He’s a really nice guy, he gave my friend Kay a smoke and a light and he was laughing it up just hanging out with us for a little while. Sadly Cigarskunk and his party were heading to dinner so a quick photo and we parted ways. We all got into Kjatar’s car and we were off, we are currently about half way to his place and its about 12:04am on Monday. I plan to stay at Kjatar’s place and get some sleep then get up early in the morning and head out around 7am….10am at the latest and head home. I’m going to miss my Monday class but I already told my teacher I probably would so no biggie there.

Items acquired:
$15 Rapter labs movie DVD
$10 Gideon art CD
$10 Commission of Eve
$10 Furry Fantasy book (signed)
Gift Kitsune pin
$1 Furry pride pin
$1 Paw print pin
Free Furry fantasy pin
Free “No artistic talent” pin
$1.50 “What the Yiff?” pin
Free Jade Claw (x2) pins
$1 “standing proud” pin
$40 Associate Student Pride year book
$5 Wind up vibrating bunny toy (for my kitten)
$10 Butterfly necklace (for my sister)
Priceless! A new respect for alcohol….

Well that was more or less my adventure to my very first AnthroCon! AC 07! I loved it!! I can’t wait for next year when I might get to go with Kjatar again and do this all again it was so much fun.

To EVERYONE who helped me get to AC, those who donated, those who donated money, those who gave moral support, those who helped me with a ride, those who recognized me at AC and said hello and to everyone who ever looks at my art work and enjoys it: THANK YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART!