The Rat's Nest

jagafeh invited me to play test a new card game he is working on. That was the first play test so it is early days yet and still needs some work, but I did enjoy it and I hope to see it come to fruition as a fully-fledged game. I will let you guys know when you can get it in the shops. Won't be for a while yet.

The point of the game is to run a blog and accumulate followers. It reminded me guiltily of how remiss I have been in updating this blog. If it is of any consolation to you remaining LJers, FaceBook hardly fares better (although they did get a Christmas Rat photo which I confess it didn't occur to me to share on LJ--LJers still celebrate Christmas too, right?), but Twitter, which I once despised, gets the bulk of my attention. Twitter however is at best a micro-blogging site, badly unsuited to this sort of long(ish) post where once can take some time out for quiet introspection. (I am in fact in need of some quiet introspection, for reasons I will not at this time go into here or elsewhere. I will blog about it when the time is right, if it ever is.) I've been away from LJ for so long that they have changed the user interface on me. It will take me a bit of time to get used to the changes, but I think it is heading in the right direction (though I note with dismay that it still can't suggest an LJ friend when I tag them). It still needs work to be as slick and interactive as FaceBook, but I still consider LJ "home" when it comes to blogging. Somehow FaceBook does not lend itself to thoughtful (I hope) posts like this one. I will however cross-post this to FB, so I look forward to being proven wrong.

Anyway, I think this is enough metablogging for now, let us abandon navel-gazing and instead get to the meat: A very belated MFF report. This will basically be a (censored) transcription of a description of my MFF experience given to a fellow rat.

I got there Friday afternoon, though it sounds like I should have gone there on Thursday. By then I was getting a bit worried because spottacus (with whom I was rooming) never replied to texts or phone calls. I first texted him on Thursday evening. At the airport in desperation I called Rukario. Unbeknownst to me, Rukario was also rooming with Spotti so when I got there he loaned me his key so I could offload my fursuits and freshen up, thus earning my eternal gratitude. (I should point out I was immensely grateful to Spotti for putting me up (and putting up with me) so this shouldn't be taken as a criticism of him. When I visited him at his home he was a delightful and attentive host but at a con he goes into "con mode" which doesn't leave much room for indigent rats, and I remain very fond of him.)

I met colifox in fursuit and hung out with him a bit. Got to chat with tzup briefly. He said we should hang out but cons don't work out that way. He will be at MiDFur anyway. Then I went up to Kellogg's room and we had a nice talk and caught up since I hadn't seen him for five years. Rukario and I later went up to our room where we finally caught Spotti. We all went out and had dinner. Sadly he had a loud friend with him who really got on my nerves (conspiracy theorists tend to do that to me--call it a character flaw).

Saturday morning I had breakfast with Kellogg. Saturday was the fursuit parade too? It's all a blur I'm afraid. I met Rodent (another rat) after the parade and we swapped mobile numbers via FA. Also found Seanc (an Irish goat) and Dyandod (a new rat I discovered there!). I had a lovely dinner with Rodent and friends. Rukario hosted a fursuit party. I started fading around 2 and Rukario and I slept in the fold out bed downstairs. I wasn't exactly getting full nights in Denver either, and the older I get I find the less tolerance I have to sleep deprivation. I think Saturday is also the day Rattus got his first public outing at this con. He didn't seem to have much name recognition at MFF but his lab coat was popular. Good for finding furries too. It was in Rattus that Scooter Squirrel gave me a Dermouse. I was deeply touched by the gesture. <3

A mouse I was really looking forward to seeing there was Dario Mouse. Unfortunately, I never got a chance to be photographed in fursuit with his fursuit, which is much the photo I would have preferred sharing with you, but this of me in my human suit with Dario will have to suffice.

( Me and Dario... )

JBadger and I didn't get much quality time on Saturday as he was so busy. He did score me an invite to Tzup's birthday party but I ended up never attending.

Sunday I realised I needs to be more focused with my time management. Spotti and I scrambled to go see the Pawpet show (as it was called, but not a patch on what the Europeans do). He empowered me to go out in my kigurumi, for which I'm grateful. I got to collect a gift savant_da_rat left with a friend in the dealer's den. It was a big Roland Rat poster! I loved Roland as a child and he probably helped me become a rat. Sunday I was reduced to allotting time to furries, with of course con time trying to foul things up. I saw Toni (the Producer of A Tail of Identity) in Ziggy and we had a nice talk while she took portrait shots. Dyandod was staying in our room for a few hours because his closed down and he wanted to continue fursuiting. As thanks, he left us lots of leftover food. He's a nice rat, and I was pleased to have the opportunity to play on the inversion of a negative rat stereotype.

After midnight I went out in Ziggy to check out the dead dog dance but it had wrapped up. I wandered about a bit and found JBadger and bought him up to our room to chat.

Monday was a dismal experience, as the last day always is. Sad goodbyes and depressed furries. Toni came to the room to shoot me packing up and although Skov and Rukario were sceptical at first they soon warmed to her and opened up. It was all just chatting though; no video or note-taking, but she did take their contact details. Big brownie points to Skov for patiently helping me back Ziggy without the benefit of my space-saver bag. I then took the shuttle to the airport and with great heaviness of heart (though obviously looking forward to seeing Ristin again) I set off back to Australia.

So the only scheduled event I attended was the (desultory) Pawpet show. A shame because I always love the furry talent shows.

Although I had misgivings heading into the con, I had a great time once I was there and met many friends and had a lot of fun. I was scared I would be lonely there because it didn't seem to me that a lot of my friends were attending, but I managed to fill my time, with thoughtful help from Rizzo. I hope I will be able to go again this year, but that will depend on me finding a job.

TL;DR version: Jagafeh is making a card game; it will be a lot of fun when it is finished. LJ is still my favourite blog. MFF was great fun.