Theme: Spirits of the Zen Garden
Location: Clarion Hotel Malmö Live
My dad picked up Henrieke and me at 5:00 to go to the airport. We of course had way too little sleep. At the gate, there were a bunch of furries already, one of them being Kai. A bit later, Tabbie and Spikie arrived. I sat right behind Kai on the plane. At the baggage pickup, we also met Nico. Since Tabbie, Spikie and Nico went to spend a night in Copenhagen, we went straight to the train station and took the train to Malmö. We almost missed out stop, oops! We were really hungry so we had some sandwiches from the supermarket, then we walked to the hotel. Luckily our room was ready, so we went there, unpacked a bit and took a 2 hour nap.
I ordered some snacks, groceries and drinks on Wolt, an app similar to DoorDash. They delivered it within 30 minutes and we now had a stocked fridge (which cost me 160 SEK to get unlocked, boo). Henrieke took a shower, I went to the charity office with the materials and tools I brought, to see how things were going. I met Isaac and Kirino there and handed out bananas, since I accidentally ordered 2 bunches of bananas, rather than 2 bananas. I had a bit of a headache, so I had a Red Bull. Chiros was also in the staff lounge, and I chatted with him and Ludra about EAST a bit. Then I went to reg, which was in the process of being set up. I met Ethan and Shorty there. I chatted with Ethan and Chiros about Japan and the Pub Quiz a bit.
I picked up some stuff back at the charity office and talked to Pinky, who was still not doing fine from her car accident. It was nice catching up a bit! Kirino, Sigge, me and some other charity staffers went to a panel room downstairs to check for the cut wood, which Lightfox prepared for the con. No sawing outside in the cold like last year, yay! Sadly due to a misunderstanding all the tools we ordered weren't going to be there until tomorrow, which was a problem as setup was tonight. We scrambled together tools from 3 different departments, including a drill from logistic in the loading dock, a toolbox from LuckyTiger and drill bits from another department. I got started drilling holes and screwing together the frame, which took a while as there was only one drill. Eventually we set up the frame, and thankfully the tent I made in Vienna a few days back fit perfectly. Sigge, Sleepy and Dertai helped a lot too! I tried to reg when taking a break during setup, but Verdonia told us we were too late. Henrieke and Paco showed up and brought me some food during the build. Paco had just arrived, so he went to our room with Henrieke, having some of our cereal and then going to bed. I worked on the booth until about 22:00. Byt that point the lobby was bustling with activity. There were loads of people, lots of suiters and a Drum and Bass party going on. On a monday!?
I ran into Sonny and Dracky in the lobby, then went to the room to have some cereal for dinner. Procy and Ethan came by and we chatted a bit. They left at midnight because Ethan had a work meet early tomorrow. I spent some time doing stuff on my computer, then we went to bed.
We got up at 9:30, Henrieke already went to breakfast a bit earlier. Paco, Henrieke and I had breakfast together.
Outside the breakfast buffet, we ran into Jazzy and Trax. Then we tried to get our badges at registration, but the line was way too long. I went to do the last few things at the charity booth setup. Luckily the previously lost vinyl banner was found, so I mounted it along with some lightbulbs with Dertai, Sigge and Sleepy.
Then I went to the room to work on some commission pre-orders. At 13:00 Julian, a person helping out with some balloons for the charity booth decoration, pinged me to tell me he was there, so I went down and we attached the balloons to the booth, giving it an even more festive appearance. I did have to make a "No Helium" sign, as security apparently had received multiple complaints about alleged helium balloons, while we did not actually use helium at all, they were mounted on sticks instead. Goddy dropped by the booth to say hi as he had just arrived. I went back to the room at 14:15 to have some ramen for lunch. I bought "mild" ramen, but it turned out it was from Korea, so it was just at my spiciness tolerance. I worked a bit more on commissions, then went to Luno's room. He was nice enough to lend me his glue gun to quickly fix some of the foam that makes up the inside of baseball's wings. Then I packed up the suit and went to Paco's room. Paco, Henrieke and I then walked to the city hall together, about a 10 minute walk from the hotel.
We were welcomed and dumped out things in the basement, then joined everyone else upstairs for a speech by the mayor of Malmö. The Covahr and Alpha did a little concert. Then we did a group photo, too bad I wasn't suiting then! I met Almita and we talked a bit. I also met LilNoodles, Luxen, Pinky, JDPuppy, Dante and Trax' mom. Baseball also showed up, with the big wings, and started harassing people.
We stayed until the end of the event. I had lots of little breads with shrimps, which were tasty. The "cheese pie" which looked exactly like a cheesecake, except with strong savory cheese, was very much not my vibe. Baseball, Paco and Henrieke walked back and ran into PonyFox, Cheetah and Loewi.
They also met Goddy in the lobby. Henrieke and Paco went to the room, Baseball still flapped around in the lobby for a bit.
I took a shower after that and rested a bit. Then we went to the drawing corner. I finished the commissions I had to do there. Chiros showed up for a bit, then left to go suiting.
Duco showed up and we chatted about cons 15 years ago, Titash, Timduru, fursuiting, pride parades, etc. In fact I don't think I ever talked this long with Duco, it was nice to catch up! Chiros dropped by again, this time much more wingy! Eventually Paco, Koidel and Vael showed up. We had a proper art jam. Paco made some great art on the paper tablecloth. Chiros flapped by another time. We went to the room at 2:00.
We went to breakfast at 9:40 and sat together with Kalallit at first. He looked really tired and had to leave soon after. Paco, Vael, Koidel and Procy joined us.
We left at 10:45 and went to the charity booth in the lobby. I said hi to Raddic, who had just arrived. He roomed with Goddy. I said hi to Cubitus at the booth.
Henrieke stayed downstairs, I went to the room to steam because of allergies. Henrieke came up too. A bit later both of us went down again. We met Almita, Sapphire, Louve and a friend of theirs in the lobby. We went to the drawing corner with Almita and Louve. I traded with Almita. Her husband also dropped by.
Yookie and Yuta also came to say hi. We went downstairs to meet Zahzu and Muse, then joined them to their room for a bit.
We went to reg later, luckily there was no line. I ran into Shorty there.
There was a memorial wall again where people could put little messages or art of passed away friends. I put little drawings I made there of Cookie, Sysable, Tzup and Marko T Rat.
We had some dinner at the restaurant with Zahzu and Muse, it was nice to be away from the noise for a bit.
Zahzu, Muse, Henrieke and I went to the room and watched the opening ceremony together.
Over the course of the ceremony, Procyon, Paco, Satti, Koidel, Vael and another friend of Koidel joined as well. After the opening ceremony I steamed again because of allergy, then went downstairs with Slycat and Henrieke to join the Pub Quiz, organized by KalaallitAmaroq. Our team was me, Henrieke, Paco, Koidel, Chiros and Slycat.
We unfortunately sat very close to the very loud speaker, luckily I had earplugs in my backpack. We did reasonably well but had no hopes of getting first place. In anticipation, we named our team "And in third place...", because it would be funny if we actually made third place.
Our plan worked, and Kalaallit struggled while announcing the third place, leading to a very funny moment. We got some candy which we split up, then headed out to go to our room. We met Raddic and Kai on the way. Tabbie and Nico were chilling on the couches in the lobby. We took the stairs to go to our room as the elevator situation was hopeless. We ran into Thabo, and Henrieke gave him a drawing she made back at Dutch Comic Con. Sadly one member of the charity team was dealing with a stalker, so Thabo was very stressed dealing with that situation. We went to bed at 1:40.
Today we planned to be in the Artist Alley, so we got up at 8:50 and went to breakfast. Paco and Koidel joined as well. We went to stand in line at 9:30, a few people were already there. Akko, Jonathan, Balt, Holiday and another artist from Mexico also joined our group. We all managed to get tables next to each other once the Artist alley opened. Henrieke sold stickers and patches and I offered commissions. It didn't take long to fill my slots.
Zahzu, Muse, Kvikk, Neop, Yookie and other friends dropped by while I was drawing. We stayed until 14:30, then packed up our things and brought them to our room. We had some instant ramen for lunch and got the news that Valhalla is at capacity and no one would be let in anymore.
I tried my luck anyway and took the bus to Valhalla. I met Almita at the entrance and we both went inside. At the panel, I met Tifou and Akemi, chatted a bit with Alby and Yookey and hung out with Paco, Smokey and Trax. I took 2 on-the-spot commissions and stayed until 18:30. On the way out, I met Louve and Sapphire. Since I missed the bus, I walked back. It was really cold.
I met up with Henrieke, Zahzu and Muse and we walked to Max Burger. Chiros and Dice joined as well. We had some decent burgers and were delighted to see that they had Impossible Burger on the menu, first time I saw that in the EU.
Back at the hotel, I went to the room to dump our jackets, then I joined Henrieke ant others in the drawing corner. MakiBox and MrLemur were there. I sat with Paco and we scribbled stuff together. Yookie also joined, and I did a trade with Dexi. Kuma and Garrodor also came by to chat a bit.
Zahzu and Muse left to try their luck to get into the night market, which was a 1.5h wait in the cold for some people. We went to bed at 1:40.
We got up at 9:00, Henrieke already went down to breakfast earlier, I went a bit later and ate with Paco and Koidel. Then I helped Henrieke set up her table for the Nerd Market, an independent event taking place in the convention hotel, with mostly people selling merch and video games, but also some artists.
Garrodor and Kuma dropped by to see Henrieke. I went upstairs, met Artec, and once the Nerd Market opened, I managed to snatch a Gameboy Pocket, Zelda DX and Ocarina of Time for a good price at one of the stands. I went to fetch some lunch, and on the way back I ran into Neo, who I haven't met for years and almost didn't recognize! He was drawing doodles for charity, so I commissioned him. I had lunch with Henrieke at her table, then went back to Neo to pick up my commission. Almita came by to pick up her sketch, and I stayed with Henrieke until 14:30.
Alby and Yookey told me that they were in the drawing corner, so I went there to join them.
Henrieke needed some sleeves, so I quickly went to the room to get her some, then I went back to the drawing corner and did a trade with Alby. After that, I went to the Artist Alley at 15:15. I got a CD charm from Konsti, then went to the room and got into suit.
Baseball went downstairs a bit and had some fun with kids and families who were there to check out the open day, where anyone who wants can visit the hotel and see what the fuzz is all about. It was very busy, which made suiting a bit challenging. Baseball also dropped by Henrieke's table.
At the kid's corner, Baseball had some fun with Jazzy and Trax and about 1000 plush rats from IKEA. Baseball also met Goddy and got a super cute photo taken with Aura!
Goddy went to see Game Changer, and Baseball dragged Aura and Duino to Henrieke's table. Back on the room, I took a quick shower and then helped Henrieke. Muse and Zahzu were also there. Selling in the Nerd Market didn't go super well, mostly because several Events, including the Furry Opera, overlapped with it, so many people never got to check it out.
We finished packing up and wanted to eat at the bistro but the music was way too loud. Goddy suggested the hotel restaurant, so we went there and sat at a table with Thabo, Duino, Aura, Mavi and 2 others. I had a burger, which was a bit less well done than I would have liked, but I survived. I agreed with Aura and Duino to go to the 90s dance together, which Koidel made me promise to go to. We went to the room after dinner and I got into suit while Henrieke showed them her work she did on Looney Tunes. Then Baseball, Aura and Duino went to the bus to Valhalla. The Bus broke down, as is tradition, so they had to wait for the next one. They all arrived in time for the dance. Paco, Smokey, Akko and Vael were also there. Yookie, Zahzu and Muse as well. Slycat took some photos.
The music was fantastic. Bitwolf played all the classics, including "We like to Party", "Blue", "Better off Alone", "What is Love", etc. It was a blast! Sadly the set ended way too soon. We all stayed a while in the small fursuit lounge and I had like 5 cups of water. I chatted with Paco about the hospital event he went to during the con. I also talked to Kipperfir a bit. Baseball took the bus back to the hotel with Smokey, Paco, Spikie, Aura and Duino. Aura and Duino joined us to our room and we chatted about clowns, physical comedy, video games, fursuit charades and Boes. They left at about 1:40, and we went to bed at 2:00.
We got up at 10:00 and I went to breakfast at 10:30. I worked a bit on commissions there.
Henrieke joined a bit later and we stayed until they threw us out. I went to check out the Artist Alley with Slycat and Tabbie. I chatted a bit with Zahzu, who had a table there today.
Henrieke went to the drawing corner to work on commissions. I joined her a bit later.
Alby and Yookey were there. Koidel also joined. I finished a commission for Greenfox. Alby and Yookey traded with me. I spent a while chatting and scribbling with people. Greenfox came by to pick up his commission. DMan also came to say hello. Henrieke went to see the Artist Alley, I went to the room to pick up some things for later and also went to the Artist Alley. Zahzu was still there, and Henrieke shared a table with Louve.
There was a free table across from Henrieke, so I sat down there and opened for commissions on a whim. I decided to skip going to the Dealers Den since it would have been too stressful to still make it there in time. Instead I drew 2 commissions. Yookue and Yuta also came by. We packed up at 18:00. Tabbie and Dude came by.
Zahzu, Muse and Henrieke checked out the Creative Expose, something akin to an art show. I ran into Neop, and also got approached by Emi Goat, a really good cartoon artist! Zahzu, Muse, Henrieke, Neop and I went to grab some pizza shortly after 19:00. Lucel also joined later.
After dinner I went to the Demoscene panel. I met Artec who joined me. Slycat was there too. They played demos on a big screen with a matching light show.
After looking at some demos, I looked for LatinVixen who apparently was at the con. I haven't met her in over a decade. I went up to Henrieke, then to the room to suit up as it was time for the inflatables panel. Baseball and Paco then took the bus to Valhalla and went to the inflatables panel. Sadly no Sea Dragons. Baseball had some fun fooling around with Paco. Smokey also joined. Baseball brought his own contribution to the panel, an inflatable baseball bat.
Aura and Duino were also there, and eventually Baseball ran into LatinVixen.
I cooled down in the fursuit lounge a couple of times. Before leaving, Baseball checked out the dance with Smokey. They played Barbie Girl, nice. There was also a cute pigeon, which turned out to be Kakurady, someone Zahzu knows.
Baseball took the bus back with Aura, Duino, Paco and Vael. He dropped by the drawing corner with Aura and Duino. Henrieke and Zahzu and some others were there. I got out of suit and joined the others, which was quite a big group at that point.
We art jammed until late at night, then went to bed.
We went to breakfast shortly before they closed today.
I went to the charity booth to remove the balloon holders, which someone lent us. Aura and Duino showed up. We did some blipping on the blip boxes, then they headed to the closing ceremony. I ran into Mutz and chatted with him about his YouTube videos a bit, then Henrieke and I went to the room to watch the closing ceremonies.
Procy and Ethan also joined us. Zahzu and Muse also came later, after dumping their luggage in our room, and also watched with us. The theme for next year will be crime noir. Not sure yet if I will be going. We went to the lobby, then Muse, Zahzu, MrLemur, MakiBox, Henrieke and I went to Saluhall, a food court across the street. It was extremely busy and we were lucky to get a table. We had some Ramen together, Yul also joined.
Ethan was sitting closeby, so I also got to hang out with him a bit.
I went back to the hotel for booth teardown. It went really fast. Henrieke brought some water. Once we were done, Muse and Zahzu came by and we went to check out the yard sale. There were some nice cut out character art works, but they were way too big. Then we went to the drawing corner.
I did a trade with MrLemur and chatted a bit with Alby. Hoop made me a tiny drawing of my civet barista character. I went with Aura and Duino to Max Burger to pick up some burgers, then we went to our room to eat there. Zahzu and Muse also joined. Ethan, Procy, Paco, Yul, Almita and her husband also came and we had ourselves a classic JackBox party.
We played some Split the Room. But everything changed when suddenly Mausie showed up.
Shorty and shirty friend also came by. Also Duino. We had a cheese party. Mausie was being absolutely adorable and Shorty played every version of the Cheese Party song imaginable. I traded with Balt. When Mausie left, we played some Blather Round and Doomination. Eventually it was just Paco, Koidel, Muse, Zahzu, Henrieke and me. I chatted with Paco and drew cute animals. Paco and Koidel went to bed at 2-ish. Zahzu still wanted to try on the wingy bat bodysuit.
Muse and Zahzu still stayed until 3:30 and we went to bed at 3:50, ouff.
We got up at 9:00 and had breakfast at 9:30 with Paco, Koidel, Procyon and Vael.
Back in our room, we frantically packed until 10:45, as is tradition. We were lucky and managed to stuff our luggage into an elevator, then I ran down the stairs to catch it. I ran into Goddy in the lobby, then we joined Paco, Koidel and Vael in a corner of the hotel and put all our luggage there. Duino and Aura also joined, and I spend about 1.5 hours talking with them about cartoons, performing, throwing pies and conventions. They're such swell guys, I wish we could hang out more. The last time I met Aura was at FWA 2011! And I never met Duino in real life before. Eventually we had to say good-bye and leave.
I said bye to Hawthorn on the way, then we walked to the station. The train was packed with furries. We checked out luggage at the airport, then sat at a Café with Paco, Koidel and Vael. It was nice to still squeeze in an art jam. Henrieke did a trade with Koidel. I started drawing a group pic on my reMarkable.
We went through security an hour before the flight, and met Goddy and lots of other furries at the gate.
The end.
While I had some reservations on going to NFC this year, mostly because of how insanely crowded this con is at this point, I'm glad I went. Mostly for seeing people I rarely see or never met before! It was fun as always to hang out with friends, and hanging out with Aura and Duino was an absolute highlight of the con for me!
