Feral con report
Aug. 26th, 2002 11:27 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gizaI spent August 21st to 25th at Feral. (www.campferal.org) It rocked.
Wednesday:
Got up at 3:45 AM so that Kagemushi and I could catch our flight out of Philly. See, Kage was their Special Guest, and I was a Feral staff member, so I was his staff escort. ;-) Anyway, we got into Toronto just after 9, and met Pardus who dropped us off at the Yorkdale Shopping Centre. We spent a few hours hanging out, waiting for furs to arrive. Along the way I met Dyne, who had just made the decision to come a few days prior, and Hippy Fox, who lives nearby in Coatesville and flew out of Philly earlier that morning! I finally got to meet![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
cnipur in real life after knowing him online for a few years. At one point, I dropped by the arcade to watch him and Adelor play some DDR. I remember also bumping to halex at some point, he and I played some catchup on things which went on since last year.
Finally, the bus left and we were underway to Feral. The busride to Kinark was fairly uneventful. We tried something new this year and set up a registration table in the basement of the dining hall processed people as they came in, along with checking ID. It worked out pretty well.
After dinner, we did "the great assigning" and went off to our cabins. From there, I remember chatting with my cabin mates a bit, making a few cellphone calls (seeing that I was the only staff member with cellphone coverage up there :-) trying to help out our DJs who got stranded in Buffalo, and other fun things. I finally passed out after midnight.
Thursday:
The first full day of Feral, I got up, had breakfast, then headed over to the ears/tails workshop which I was an instructor for this year. I helped some furs start on making tails and ears, and began constructing a set of ears forphildafeline.
After lunch, I played some "greased watermellon football". This consisted of lubing up a watermellon with vaseline, and sticking it up Fuzzy Bunny's... er, I mean tossing it in the deep end of the swimming area and having two teams fight over it. My team lost 7 to 0. Probably had something to do with Fuzzy sneaking up on me at one point and rubbing a bunch of vaseline in my hair! Took 3 showers and some laundry detergent to get all that crap off of me!
Friday:
Instructed the sewing workshop again in the morning, and in the afternoon I headed down to the waterfront with Marlos and paddled around in a canoe for awhile. It was fun, as I hadn't spent any time in a canoe since my Boy Scout days many years ago.
In the afternoon, there was a Predator/Prey game, but I decided not to attend since my foot was still recovering and I couldn't run very well. So, I ended up back in the sewing workshop and finished up the ears that I made for Phil. I hope you'll like them, Phil!
In the evening, we had the art show. I helped Miami sell stuff at the Feral table and did our t-shirts ever sell out quickly. Chris McKinley must have a Rogue-sized hard on right about now. ;-) Seriously, the demand was so high that we may end up having to do a second run of the shirts. Capitalism is cool.
Later that night, we had Uncle Kage's story hour. He recounted tales of being at Eurofurence the previous week, and about his trip to France several months ago. Since he speaks French pretty well, he said a lot of things in French, that the Canadian furries, most of whom have some French background, all understood. Fairly amusing.
Saturday:
Heh, this was more of the same, which was a good thing for me. I instructed the sewing workshop in the morning (starting work on a new pair of tiger ears for myself) since Deuce was busy SLEEPING for the whole morning. Damn cats! Er, wait a minute. Anyway...
The afternoon came around, and I decided to give kayaking a try for the first time. It was lots of fun, just like canoing except faster and a little more prone to tipping. But, I managed to go around the lake and not tip my craft, which was good. As I came back into the dock, a Kinark staffer was leading a small group out in Kayaks to head up the lake to the swamp that fed it, so I hooked up with them. We got to check out the swamp and see some local aquatic wildlife up close.
After dinner, I finished up the ears I was working on and did cleanup of the sewing area with the help of Silverfang, who was also a sewing instructor. After I was done, I got together with Marlos and he helped me paint myself up for the rave. I spent an hour or two dancing around (or trying to, at least), and we returned to the main area of the camp and crashed. (after removing my paint, of course)
Sunday:
Got up around 8:30, packed my stuff up, and got some breakfast. Workshop stuff was packed up, then we took the cube van to where the cabins were and loaded up peoples' luggage. The bus was a bit late this year so we went straight back to Toronto without stopping on the way there. Oh well. Made it back to Yorkdale and some furs had to RUN to get to their flights on time. Kagemushi and I got some food, said our goodbyes to the furs that were left, and caught the bus to the airport.
We arrived at the airport and after spending 20 minutes waiting for a shuttle, 30-40 minutes at check-in, and 20 minutes in customs, we finally found ourselves with 2 hours to kill before our flight, and needed something to pass the time. Seeing that we had a bunch of Canadian money left, we spent it in the best way possible: on food and drink. Quite a bit of drinkage, too. Nothing dulls the roar of engines in a turboprop like lots of alcohol.
That reminds me, just as we were about to get into the plane the nice security lady pulled Kage aside and proceeded to do a random search of him and his carry on. They made him take off his shoes and checked them, too. Heh huh huh, that was cool. :-)
We made it back in Philly around 10 PM and discovered a HUGE line of people waiting for the shuttle to the long term parking lot. Fun. We spoke to the taxi people, and they said that this is apparently a regular thing. I think I'll have to complain to PHL and our airline and see if they'll do anything about that little problem... We ended up walking a quarter mile to the parking lot and getting the car from there.
I made it home around midnight, checked my mail, chatted with Phil, and went to bed. Whee.
Misc:
Hmm... what else is there to say? I got quite a few bug bites up there, and am still using some Benadryl on them. But that's my own fault for not bringing up bug spray. However, I learned that catnip spray makes for a good insect repellant as well. Yum. :-)
Overall, this con was a MUCH better experience for me than the past Anthrocon was. I got to hang out with some old friends, make some new ones, and generally relax and enjoy myself. It was almost like a vacation for me!
If you're reading this and you haven't come to Feral, do it next year! It's great to get out into the wildness, away from computers and the net for awhile. If you are inclined, you can take some of their workshops, or just do camp activities like swimming or archery. It's a great way to relax from the stress of life and running Anthrocon. ;-)
Wednesday:
Got up at 3:45 AM so that Kagemushi and I could catch our flight out of Philly. See, Kage was their Special Guest, and I was a Feral staff member, so I was his staff escort. ;-) Anyway, we got into Toronto just after 9, and met Pardus who dropped us off at the Yorkdale Shopping Centre. We spent a few hours hanging out, waiting for furs to arrive. Along the way I met Dyne, who had just made the decision to come a few days prior, and Hippy Fox, who lives nearby in Coatesville and flew out of Philly earlier that morning! I finally got to meet
cnipur in real life after knowing him online for a few years. At one point, I dropped by the arcade to watch him and Adelor play some DDR. I remember also bumping to halex at some point, he and I played some catchup on things which went on since last year.Finally, the bus left and we were underway to Feral. The busride to Kinark was fairly uneventful. We tried something new this year and set up a registration table in the basement of the dining hall processed people as they came in, along with checking ID. It worked out pretty well.
After dinner, we did "the great assigning" and went off to our cabins. From there, I remember chatting with my cabin mates a bit, making a few cellphone calls (seeing that I was the only staff member with cellphone coverage up there :-) trying to help out our DJs who got stranded in Buffalo, and other fun things. I finally passed out after midnight.
Thursday:
The first full day of Feral, I got up, had breakfast, then headed over to the ears/tails workshop which I was an instructor for this year. I helped some furs start on making tails and ears, and began constructing a set of ears for
phildafeline.After lunch, I played some "greased watermellon football". This consisted of lubing up a watermellon with vaseline, and sticking it up Fuzzy Bunny's... er, I mean tossing it in the deep end of the swimming area and having two teams fight over it. My team lost 7 to 0. Probably had something to do with Fuzzy sneaking up on me at one point and rubbing a bunch of vaseline in my hair! Took 3 showers and some laundry detergent to get all that crap off of me!
Friday:
Instructed the sewing workshop again in the morning, and in the afternoon I headed down to the waterfront with Marlos and paddled around in a canoe for awhile. It was fun, as I hadn't spent any time in a canoe since my Boy Scout days many years ago.
In the afternoon, there was a Predator/Prey game, but I decided not to attend since my foot was still recovering and I couldn't run very well. So, I ended up back in the sewing workshop and finished up the ears that I made for Phil. I hope you'll like them, Phil!
In the evening, we had the art show. I helped Miami sell stuff at the Feral table and did our t-shirts ever sell out quickly. Chris McKinley must have a Rogue-sized hard on right about now. ;-) Seriously, the demand was so high that we may end up having to do a second run of the shirts. Capitalism is cool.
Later that night, we had Uncle Kage's story hour. He recounted tales of being at Eurofurence the previous week, and about his trip to France several months ago. Since he speaks French pretty well, he said a lot of things in French, that the Canadian furries, most of whom have some French background, all understood. Fairly amusing.
Saturday:
Heh, this was more of the same, which was a good thing for me. I instructed the sewing workshop in the morning (starting work on a new pair of tiger ears for myself) since Deuce was busy SLEEPING for the whole morning. Damn cats! Er, wait a minute. Anyway...
The afternoon came around, and I decided to give kayaking a try for the first time. It was lots of fun, just like canoing except faster and a little more prone to tipping. But, I managed to go around the lake and not tip my craft, which was good. As I came back into the dock, a Kinark staffer was leading a small group out in Kayaks to head up the lake to the swamp that fed it, so I hooked up with them. We got to check out the swamp and see some local aquatic wildlife up close.
After dinner, I finished up the ears I was working on and did cleanup of the sewing area with the help of Silverfang, who was also a sewing instructor. After I was done, I got together with Marlos and he helped me paint myself up for the rave. I spent an hour or two dancing around (or trying to, at least), and we returned to the main area of the camp and crashed. (after removing my paint, of course)
Sunday:
Got up around 8:30, packed my stuff up, and got some breakfast. Workshop stuff was packed up, then we took the cube van to where the cabins were and loaded up peoples' luggage. The bus was a bit late this year so we went straight back to Toronto without stopping on the way there. Oh well. Made it back to Yorkdale and some furs had to RUN to get to their flights on time. Kagemushi and I got some food, said our goodbyes to the furs that were left, and caught the bus to the airport.
We arrived at the airport and after spending 20 minutes waiting for a shuttle, 30-40 minutes at check-in, and 20 minutes in customs, we finally found ourselves with 2 hours to kill before our flight, and needed something to pass the time. Seeing that we had a bunch of Canadian money left, we spent it in the best way possible: on food and drink. Quite a bit of drinkage, too. Nothing dulls the roar of engines in a turboprop like lots of alcohol.
That reminds me, just as we were about to get into the plane the nice security lady pulled Kage aside and proceeded to do a random search of him and his carry on. They made him take off his shoes and checked them, too. Heh huh huh, that was cool. :-)
We made it back in Philly around 10 PM and discovered a HUGE line of people waiting for the shuttle to the long term parking lot. Fun. We spoke to the taxi people, and they said that this is apparently a regular thing. I think I'll have to complain to PHL and our airline and see if they'll do anything about that little problem... We ended up walking a quarter mile to the parking lot and getting the car from there.
I made it home around midnight, checked my mail, chatted with Phil, and went to bed. Whee.
Misc:
Hmm... what else is there to say? I got quite a few bug bites up there, and am still using some Benadryl on them. But that's my own fault for not bringing up bug spray. However, I learned that catnip spray makes for a good insect repellant as well. Yum. :-)
Overall, this con was a MUCH better experience for me than the past Anthrocon was. I got to hang out with some old friends, make some new ones, and generally relax and enjoy myself. It was almost like a vacation for me!
If you're reading this and you haven't come to Feral, do it next year! It's great to get out into the wildness, away from computers and the net for awhile. If you are inclined, you can take some of their workshops, or just do camp activities like swimming or archery. It's a great way to relax from the stress of life and running Anthrocon. ;-)
