Anthrocon '99: Looking back on my first con

[giza]

This past weekend was the birthday of my country, the United States of America. It was also significant for me since 5 years ago on July 4th weekend was when I attended Anthrocon '99, my first furry convention. It's been awhile, but I still have some pretty vivid memories about the event. Things like:

• It was the first trip I took outside of Allentown by myself. It's kinda sad, that I was 22 years old and had not yet gone on a trip by myself, but this con rectified that. What's even more amusing is that I originally decided not to go, because I thought that Valley Forge was on the other side of the state. It wasn't until tgeller knocked some sense into me that I realized Valley Forge was just an hour away and decided to attend.

• Staying up Friday night and Saturday night through Sunday morning. About 53 hours in total that I stayed up. I ended up watching the Internet room for Tigerwolf during the night, and was way too hyped up to sleep during the day.

• Attending the panel that justincheetah held on facepainting. That was my first foray into it, and I met some furs that way. I met awolf there, too.

• Discovering that some parties went on into Sunday night, and since Monday was the 4th and I didn't have to work, staying an extra day through Monday.

• Some of the first furry stories I read were those written by Watts Martin. Well, I got quite a surprise when I was standing in the elevator at some point, and saw that he was standing next to me. I think I said something along the lines of, "Holycrapyou'reWattsMartin!", and then jibbered like a fanboy. I'm pretty sure that the rest of the folks in the elevator wished me dead. :-)

• I spent most of Saturday walking around barepawed, after noticing another fur doing it. It was interesting how dirty my feet got from walking that day, and how big the blisters were on my big toes. After popping and bandaging the blisters, I wore my shoes the rest of the con. :-)

• I remember after the masquerade, Torrle was walking around with his really big jaws, and I volunteered to climb in and let him close them down on me. I'm sure that folks took pictures of that little stunt, but I never did get to see them.

Altogether, AC '99 was an amazing experience for me, and it convinced me to go to further furry conventions. I sure have had a lot more fun in my life thanks to furry cons and the people I've met through them, too.

Now I find myself doing some last minute preparation for AC 2004, helping to organize that same convention, and hoping that for people who attend this as their first con, that they have as much fun as I did 5 years ago. It sure is kinda funny how these things work out.