Reading the new issue of Sparkle World at Heathrow Airport.
Foggy Chicago.
Airplane food!
Henrieke and I arrived on Thursday at about 21:00 after taking the hotel shuttle to the Doubletree. Right at the entrance we met Tani, BBF and Nightfox, said hello quickly and met up with Tahoe. The registration line was very short already luckily. I picked up my luggage and went to the room which was huge! Never saw such a big hotel room before. Unpacked a bit of my stuff and went to the lobby and met Emejn, Jill and Dingbat.
As I was hungry I went to Denny's with Latinvixen, Adam, Triggerfox and a few other people, but I was just way too tired to eat anything and really needed some sleep, so my dinner was a banana from the gas station and a Doubletree cookie.
I woke up at 6 and couldn't sleep anymore. Stupid jetlag :/
I waited for Jill to wake up and went to have breakfast with her. The breakfast buffet was just AWESOME! Everything was so gooood and after eating only stupid plane-food for a day it was nice to eat something good again. I met Goldenrod and Kipper in the lobby and went to Starbucks with them, Henrieke and Hawthorn joined too.
It was awesome finally meeting them in person and doing artjam! Starbucks in the U.S. lacks couches though.. Henrieke and me also got to meet C_Eagle in the afternoon which was awesome, he's such a funny guy =D
Star Trek cosplayers in the lobby.
I already forgot what I did all day, but in the evening I had dinner with Whiteyfawks, Lacy and other people. The BBF Dance in the evening was totally awesome, but I was just way too tired to actually dance.
Woke up at 7.... But at least that gave me time to finish my fursuit. Met Jeff Pidgeon finally and got to talk with him for a bit, both Henrieke and I got awesome sketches :)
For those who didn't know, he was Guest of Honor and is a Pixar Storyboard Artist. Also met Brian Reynolds in the Dealers Den, he's just awesome!! Because we were bored at some point, we just called C_Eagle again and looked through Disney comics :P
In the evening the "mustelid party" started in our room, it was very nice! Hung out a bit there and then went to Chuck-E-Cheese with Vinci, Soundhound, Talutie, Henrieke and 2 others.
It was a bit creepy but totally fun, especially with those people. The car was a bit packed but I didn't mind having 4 girls on/next to me on the backseat. Went back to the mustelid party and met some couple that apparently wasn't furry, they totally enjoyed the party though and are probably furries by now. Anyway, I was excited about finally trying out my fursuit, so I went to the fursuit lounge where I met Firr. He's a totally awesome guy and helped me a lot with suit-stuff and gave me tips for performing :)
It was a lot of fun suiting, and suddenly it was 3:00.. we thought it was midnight or something, time passes by quickly.. I sadly missed a lot of the mustelid party.. :/
Had breakfast with Jill and Emejn and went to Jeff Pidgeon's panel about storyboard drawing with Henrieke after that.
The view from the Doubletree.
The lobby of the Doubletree.
There were only about 10 people, but the panel was very interesting. I knew some of the stuff from books, but hearing it from someone who really has a lot of experience is much more interesting. :)
Afterwards we gathered around Jeff Pidgeon's table in the Dealers Den where Goldenrod, Kipper and Dingoroo joined and made a happy beaver art jam.
Also there was some booth selling "Character Animation Crash Course" by Eric Goldberg. I already got it for Christmas, but these had original sketches and autographs by Eric himself in it, OMG!!! I bought one of course. In the lobby there were a lot of fursuiters, I especially enjoyed the performance by the two otters.
Nice otter and angry otter.
In the evening Brian Reynolds, Henrieke and I had dinner in a really nice restaurant. Thanks again for hanging out!
Henrieke and me were drawing while Kiswara jammed on his flute.
The rest of the day was pretty much hanging out in the lounge and saying good-bye to people.. In the evening there was the dead-dog party, where I used my suit for one last time. Due to extremely awesome music I even danced a bit in suit, which was - as expected - exhausting. I got to meet Vin Weasel, Rakhan and Yagfox and had a lot of fun. Went to bed at about 2 and got up at 4 again with Henrieke.
Tyler, posing with his Australia flag outside the dead dog party.
This pretty much concludes my con report. After it we went to Orlando for 2 weeks of fun.
Appendix
Now, to some personal stuff. I met a lot of people the whole time I've been to the U.S., many of them totally amazing.
In random order:
Herbie - You're the reason I actually came to the U.S.! Thanks for your invitation again, you really made us enjoy our time there. You're such an amazing person and I can't say how much I'm impressed by your way of living and working. I wish you good luck with all your projects!
SophieCabra - Thanks for everything, I enjoyed hanging out with you so much and I hope we'll meet again soon! You are an amazing artist, and even though it's hard sometimes, just keep up and your time will come :)
RaspberryRoo - Thanks for hanging out and getting us into seaworld! It was awesome!
Tahoe - Thanks so much for everything you did for me before FC! As usual it was great hanging out with you, even though too short! You're an awesome friend :)
Kuddlepup - You were a great host and you did more for us than I could write in one entry! You're an amazing person!! Thanks for giving us an impression of american lifestyle, I loved it!
Simba - You're so fun to hang out with!! Thanks for everything, I enjoyed every minute we spent with you! :D
Eaglebeagle - Without even really knowing us you helped us out so much!! Thanks again, I really enjoyed that day!!
Poink - It was great meeting the genious between poink and hugh! You're one amazing puppeteer!
Liesl - You're just awesome :D
Yappyfox - Thanks for giving us a great time and having us in your house 2 times! You're so awesome!
Chorca - Thanks for hanging out so often! You're totally fun and awesome!! =D
Emejn - Thanks for having me in your room, you enabled me to go to FC! Wish we could've talked more!
Jill - You're as awesome as expected! Sorry for being less active than usual, but I'll make sure to drop by in NYC sometime :)
Steve FoX - great meeting you, we had a lot of fun!
Dukefawks - That was unexpected! You're a totally awesome guy, thanks for the ride again too! Hope to see you again at EF!
Hawthorn - Great meeting you again, far from home! thanks again for helping me with my suit, also thanks to you it's finished now!
Yagfox anD Rakhan - only very short, but awesome meeting you! see you at EF!
Dingbat - You have such a happy aura, it was great meeting you even though I can't remember much since I was half-asleep from jetlag when we met :P
Latinvixen - Well, it was short but still thanks for inviting me to Dennies. Wish we could've met up in Orlando, but we'll still meet at EF! Great Otter performance!
Triggerfox - You're totally fun! also great otter performance!
