Everything seemed like it would go smoothly for attending Anthrocon this year. I booked a hotel room. I found some roomies to share the hotel room and costs. I got time off for the convention weekend with enough buffer for me to prepare beforehand and decompress afterwards before returning to work. The only snag was a rideshare. I prefer riding with others because I dislike driving distances alone. Maybe it’s undiagnosed ADHD or something but my mind gets bored and stressed and fidgety. Music doesn’t help, audiobooks don’t help. I don’t mind taking a turn doing the driving, as long as there’s a passenger to talk to and help pass the time. This year, Crafty offered me a spot in his car. He and Lukon were ridesharing and had a spot for one more.

Monday was my only day of work. I wanted Tuesday to clear my head of mundane stress and worries from my human life and get into the furry mindset. Pack, prep, buy some soda and snacks for the trip. An easy relaxing day. So I stayed up late and woke up on Tuesday around 1p. I yawned, grabbed a coke and checked Telegram. Oh, a message from Crafty. He’s at Lukon’s place, about an hour out and wanted to confirm my address. Silly dog, I send him holiday cards, he should have my address…wait. They’re where?

I thought we were leaving Wednesday! He said he wanted two days for travel. I thought he meant Wednesday and Thursday! I rush to get my duffel bags packed with clothes, toiletries, my tail, hat with ears and other furry accessories. No time to pick up sodas or snacks, but I am ready by the time Crafty pulls up in his car and U-Haul trailer filled with fursuit items he’s hoping to sell in the Dealer’s Den. I admit this was my fault. I should have confirmed our departure plans much sooner. When I had a moment I checked the rideshare chat he created on Telegram, backscrolled and saw an earlier mention of leaving Tuesday. No one to blame but myself for this.

The ride was for the most part uneventful, which is a good thing. No breakdowns or emergencies. Crafty drove and I tried to pass the time by taking pictures to post with bad puns to Twitter or Telegram. Wednesday we stopped at a gas station to refuel and buy snacks. I see a guy walk in that I swear looks like fellow Mainefur Eclipse. And it was! He was also en route to Anthrocon and happened to stop at the same station. And he had a gift for me. He saw my comments online about not having a chance to grab some Moxie before leaving Maine and gifted me a can from his supply.

Thursday we arrive in Pittsburgh around early afternoon. I’m dropped off at the Westin and check-in. I’d packed in a hurry and rather sloppily and I finally had a chance to sort through everything and organize it for the weekend. As I’m getting ready Kimmerz arrives. She’s a fellow New England fur I’d known for a long time but hadn’t seen in years. Her being a roommate was rather fortuitous. By chance I happened upon a Twitter post she made looking for roomshare and had a spare space for her. After getting myself ready with ears and tail I headed over to the convention.
After getting my badge I check in with my department, let them know I’d arrived and can help if needed.
This would be my second year working as ConStaff, curiously enough in the ConStore/Artist Alley department. Registration would seem to be an obvious place to put me, but I was sent to the ConStore in 2018 to help hand out shirts and the department head ShadowWolf snagged me. I do enjoy the department and my colleagues are pretty cool.
Anthrocon has a t-shirt with that year’s theme for sale in the ConStore and one of the perks of Sponsor levels is to get a free one. ShadowWolf had a great idea to expedite things and set up a t-shirt pickup right outside the Registration Room exit for Thursday and had me help out there for a bit. So I spent some hours trading vouchers for shirts, and in some cases the hat we added as a perk. After we closed I went to PizzaParma. I didn’t want to risk missing out on the dogfoodbowl special again. I got some pizza, this year’s bowl and went back to the hotel. I ran into Fiddle, a lemur I’d met at Furcationland and was also working Security for AC. We chatted for a little bit and I went back to my room to drop off the bowl and wash the pizza grease from my hands. I got to re-meet Acratin, the other roommate, who’d I’d briefly met at prior ACs.

The rest of the night was wandering the DLCC and checking the views from the roof. There was some haze from the smoke of the Canadian wildfires across the border. Enough to obscure the sky but not enough to fully block the moon. After midnight the roof was closed and I wandered to the Security department to say hi to Fiddle and ended up hanging there for a few hours, meeting members of that team and chatting until the DLCC was closed around 2:30. I run into Fiddle again in the Westin and we chat until about 6a.

Friday I wake up around noon. I don’t have any scheduled shifts so I wander a bit, take some photos and start browsing the Dealer’s Den. The ConStore needed some help, and I was close so I go over to lend a hand for a bit before leaving to attend some panels on my list.

I sat in on The Importance of Plush, which covered some history and uses of plush as comfort and support. I checked out the Historical Furry comic room, which was a showcase of assorted anthro comics that people could read. I attended All About Audio Books, which covered different aspects of narrating books or for writers how to solicit someone to read one’s books. I like to think I have a good “professional” voice and had considered doing readings or narration as a side gig. NightEyes did selected readings from his new anthology, Gnoll Tales, that was pretty good. Afterwards I chatted with him and another member of the Furry Writer’s Guild (whose name escapes me).
Saturday was my first official shift and I worked the ConStore from 9 to noon, handing out t-shirts and selling official merchandise. I return to the Dealer’s Den for a few hours, decide I should get a snack and head out, only to see someone with a flag that has the therian theta-delta symbol. Totally cool and I must buy one. I don’t want to risk waiting and having it sell out so I go back in and find the booth. Pretty easy to spot as they had a ton of flags (which many attendees were wearing like a cape). The dealer, ChocolatePony, had a ton of therian swag I bought including a Shapeshifter passport, werewolf coins, lanyards, etc. I’m chatting with the guy, who I remembered as the person who sold Shapeshifter pills a while back, and invited him to join Crossroads. I make another attempt to leave and get snacks but run into Spangler and chat for a bit. I do eventually sate my hunger and figure while I’m in the area I’ll check out the Westin’s recreation department. Before the pandemic, an attendee who was staying at the Westin showed me the sauna, steam room and pool and I was eager to check them out this year. Except, the locker rooms were locked. I go to the lobby and find an employee who tells me they closed the pool and the sauna and steam room were only accessible when there was an attendant on duty. For liability reasons (translation: someone did something stupid and ruined it for the rest of us). Okay, I understand. Well, when is there an attendant on duty? The response was vague and non-committal. I got the impression the real answer was “sometime after the convention ends.” I’m a bit disappointed.
That night I hosted a room party and got to chill with some cool people.

Sunday morning started with another shift in the ConStore then I went to find one of the therian focus group panels. I wondered if it was one of the survey types, but was a group forum for people to discuss their species and gender dysphorias. On the way I came across a table from CentralOutreach offering STI testing. I was really glad to see them as I’d long thought furry conventions should have more testing to keep people safe and informed. Even though it has been a while, I got tested, just to be sure (and the results came back negative).

I returned to the ConStore for my second shift which lasted until the end of the convention at 4p and we packed everything up. I had some time to kill before evening plans and thought I’d check out Grandpa Joe’s Candy Shop. I’d seen their billboard near the convention and was curious what kind of selection they’d have. It was only a mile away and I enjoyed a nice stroll over in the afternoon sun. It wasn’t a bad shop, had a decent selection of assorted and unusual candies and a wall of glass bottle sodas, mostly root beer. There just wasn’t anything I couldn’t get in similar shops in Maine. I picked up some chips imported from Japan, including two cans of seaweed-flavored Pringles. Nothing else struck me as worth the effort to lug on the long trip back to Maine. Not that it’s a bad shop, again it wasn’t too different from what I had at home. To be fair, I didn’t try any of the chocolate. I had a bad experience transporting chocolate once. Ask me about Niagara Falls sometime.

The rest of the evening was mostly hanging out with other Staff in post-con chilling. I wish I’d volunteered long before now cause these are some cool people.

I got to bed late and woke up Monday to check out of the room and wait for Crafty and Lukon to pick me up.
On our way home we stopped at the Boyer outlet store where I bought a ton of Mallo Cups and other treats. We had dinner at a Denny’s where I finally got to use my AARP card for a decent discount. After another motel stay they got me home to Biddeford around noon on Tuesday. I spent Tuesday and Wednesday unpacking and decompressing and dealing with a tiny bit of con crud before going back to work on Thursday where I had 300+ emails to deal with.

Overall I had a great time. I didn’t get to attend all the panels I wanted. I didn’t buy a copy of NightEyes’s new book. Heck, I think I barely made it halfway through the Dealer’s Den despite how many times I tried to get over there. I didn’t get to use the hotel sauna. So many times I’d be trying to get somewhere and be waylaid by people I knew, or random attendees who saw the Staff badge and asked for help getting directions to a panel or event. Which, I’d do even if I weren’t Staff. I’m one of those people who, if I’m shopping and another customer needs help finding something, I’ll help them.

I did get to attend some pretty good panels. I did get to hit up some cool Dealer’s tables and buy some stuff (see my Swag pictures). I did get to hang out with some friends I only ever see at Anthrocon. I got a sketch by someone looking to practice their art skills. I explored more of the area around the convention that I’d never seen on prior visits.

And I’m thinking of what I’d like to do before next year. I want to redo the ears on my hat again. I want to add to my furry costume beyond the ears and hat. I want to see more of the city. I may see if I can work a second department. I might host a therian panel. I want to actually record some narration and see if I’m any good at it. And as always, I’d like to lose 40 pounds of bodyfat.