Yeah I usually do one of these ont he trip back home but uh, I didn't. Mostly cuz the longest layover to myself in Phoenix was sitting on the rock hard floor near a pillar since the seats were mostly full up by fellow passengers. Anyway think this is going to be mostly highlights

Thursday

Got up bright and early. See normally I'd take a local flight to wherever but unfortunately United graciously decided to cut commercial service to my nearby airport so now if I want to travel anywhere it's a couple hours to Ontario or LA either via a rental or family since my truck wouldn't survive on the highway. We got in with plenty of time and I realize I could've gotten a ticket through Southwest airlines straight from Ontario to San Jose. Oops! Luckily the flight I got through US Airways wasn't that far off in price with a brief layover in Phoenix. Since Thursday and Mondays are always travel days for me I don't mind eating up a bit of time, plus I got to check out the Phoenix airport!

It's long.

Grabbed lunch at a pizza place. bit expensive at 17$ for a personal pizza and fountain drink but it was actually pretty tasty. My flights were pretty uneventful and quick so I made it into San Jose in the early afternoon. Met up with my roomie for the con Rikoshi who was just awesome :)

We hit up Johnny Rockets as noms sounded good. And they were <3 An ok philly chicken sandwich with a glorious pile of chili cheese fries and an oreo malt. I was quite happy albeit pretty full by the end XD

Saw Chainscoyote in the lobby and a few other folks as more and more filtered in. I think I crashed up to the room a bit cuz I was a -tad- full >> then went back down and saw people and waded into the pre-reg line before we went to Tanq, the bar in the Marriott for some drinks and hanging out. I tried a... black cherry fizz? I think. it tasted a bit like an Izzy drink (for that that've had those) with alcohol. Saw the Furplanet folks and eventually retired to bed.

Friday

Rikky had to help the fur planet guys unload and set up their table so I was on my own for breakfast. Just nabbed a simple flat bread breakfast sandwich from Subway while killing time til the Dealer's Den opened. Went and saw the Radiocomix folk and got a copy of the new Genus Male (thanks again Elin!) Went and dropped my sketchbook off with Cooner. Think I mostly wandered and said hi to folks. Went to lunch with folks to Baja Fresh. Believe I went back to the Den to hit up K-9 for a commission. Wandered more? Dropped my backpack off up at the room cuz I really wanted that interested in toting my bag around all con like I usually do and I was pretty satisfied I nabbed the artists I wanted, plus there wasn't a -ton- I wanted to buy this con.

Dinner came and I went with Rikoshi and folks to this really neat little bar modeled after old prohibition era speak easies called Single Barrel, which is just around the corner from the hotel. We got there early and were first in line. It's pretty neat, you go down in the basement and its very atmospheric and they have quite the drink list and very experienced bartenders. I had a 'junior' based off my preferences I was asked (though next time I'll ask for not being able to taste the alcohol XD) Then got a Savoy Truffle and by halfway through that decided I was quite nice and toasted so abstained from any more drinks (plus I don't normally spend a ton on drinks).

Then the group went to Original Gravity, this killer sausage and beer place down the street from the Fairmont. They had a huuuuuuge selection of both sausages and beer. I got a garlichoke sausage with candied jalapenos. Was magical <3 Garlic & artichoke pork sausage, absolutely delicious and served on a nice hard roll, the jalapenos were sweet then the heat blossomed after a bite or two. I declined more drinks so got a blood orange soda that cut the heat from the jalapenos perfectly. It was delicious. I was also only halfway sober by then too :D

I think we killed more time. At some point I met up with Segremores and agroantirrhopus and other friends and then I followed Rikoshi up to the Adult Writing Panel (though that may have been Saturday? I forget exactly) which was a lot of fun with NotTube, Whyteyote, and Kyell taking folks questions and discussing adult fur fiction.

I checked out the dance I think and.. don't remember the rest of the night. At some point Rikoshi and I crashed and Remy and Agro came in at 5:30 that following morning to crash the floor.

Saturday

We originally planned to go to Psychodonuts for breakfast but the roommates had partied a little too hard so we put it off for Sunday. By the time we got going it was nearly 11 anyway so I put off breakfast and waited for lunch. Got my sketchbook from Cooner which turned out [u]fab[/u] and had k-9 keep my book to do another pic. Killed a lil more time and ended up going to Gordon Biersch with Rikoshi, Sorin, Rocky, and Wu Wei. Had an absolutely drop dead delicious gruyere grilled cheese with bacon and avocado mayo and garlic fries on the side. Also sampled some of Rikoshi's lobster mac and cheese, quite tasty.

Saw GTSkunkrat in passing and apparently surprised him I was there! A lot of the afternoon was taken up chilling in the room as I had a headache that wouldn't go away without just plain laying down. At this point Remy and Agro showed up too to take off since they were feeling similar though much much worse. I finally came down close to the Den closing and got together with Rikoshi again to hang out and wander a bit, we went to Tanq and found they had some furry themed cocktails for the con we hadn't seen on Thursday. They were a bit cheaper and plenty tasty, I had a cosmic panda :D We hooked up with the usual food gang again and went to Pizz'a Chicago this time, which was a smidge closer than I remember it XD

We had garlic cheese bread (delish!) with some stuffed mushrooms too and a killer deep dish pizza with meat and olives and mushrooms. We all left quite content. Then it was up to Sorin's room to hang out a bit. They showed me Vectron then we played Room Party from Sofa Wolf with the Base Expansion and the Furry expansion included.

Lemme tell you: This game is fucking awesome. It's dead simple, extremely easy to learn, and is downright hilarious. The object of the game is to play cards for your own party to make it the most awesome party while playing cards that detract from the awesomeness of the other players parties. Anyone that has gone to a convention will get a ton of the references and jokes and you develop some priceless stories. For example, one of my first plays was bringing a Dealer's Assistant with Double D's to my party, which in turn attracted an underage drinker. Or Wu Wei who invited the 'Fringe Fur' (you know, those guys that say "i have a gallery and a fur suit but I'm not -really- a furry) who grew progressively furrier as he ended up equipped with dragon wings, rabbit ears, and a muzzle, whom I nearly had Accidentally Vored. And it got whackier from there. Just play this game, you won't regret it and it can easily do small or big groups. only advice is that the smaller the play group the more play space you'll want as its easy to get HUGE parties when you have the base set + expansion.

Rikoshi took off to deliver something in the other hotel and I stayed in Sorin's for a lil bit before I wanted to pop up to the room and take a shower and check out the dance. Glad I did because I ended up running into Rrowdybeast whom I'd been looking for for a chunk of the con! Hung out with him a bit and ended up holding a sandwich someone gave him while he danced XD Saw some more folks randomly and decided to retire back up to the room for the night, followed soon after by Rikoshi.

Sunday

We woke up and got ready earlyish because we planned to meet Remy and Agro for breakfast at Psychodonuts. Totally worth it <3 I got the NY Cheesecake Donut and a Lemon Cooler. Both were great though the Lemon Cooler had enough powdered sugar on it I couldn't breathe without looking like a coke fiend. We walked back and killed a little time before the Den opened and I happened to run into K-9 just as it opened and got my sketchbook back. Was very happy with it <3 Killed a bit more time. Rikoshi wanted to catch the football game and grab a lil to eat so we headed to the Hilton. Ran into GT again and chatted him up a lil before going to the bar/restaurant and enjoyed a lovely penne pasta with veggies.

A chunk of the afternoon escapes me a bit. I shopped around in the dealer's den a few times running into folks here and there. As the evening wore on Rikoshi had to get ready to help the Fur Planet folks pack up, we went into Tanq to watch more of the game but I headed into the Dealer's Den to finish up last day purchases and deposit it into my room. Most everyone was indisposed or gone or otherwise occupied so I popped down and just got another sandwich from Subway. I dinked about in the room some more then came down to say g'bye to Remy and Agro who were taking off for the evening.

Then went -back- to the room because I'd forgotten my badge so I could attend the Unsheathed panel. Got in on that and it went pretty well, even got in a question so if you're ever curious what I sound like you can find me on there (whenever the podcast goes up) it was pretty funny with a fair amount of laughs and silliness between Kyell, NotTube and Kmhirosaki. I even got lucky and managed to sit next to this cute guy named Rylo Coyote. The panel took about an hour and by then it was getting late so I started to wander off so I could get in my goodbyes to everyone.

Amazingly enough I managed to randomly find nearly everyone I wanted to without having most of their contact info XD it was sad as always because I always hate goodbyes but I would rather give them than miss seeing folks one more time. Got a lil teary on the way back to the room but kept it together really well. Cleaned up the room and got everything packed enough so I could just get up and take off right away in the morning.

Monday

Not much to say. I woke up and took a very nice shower before finishing up the last second packing. Said goodbye to Rikoshi and got down to a taxi for the airport. The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful, I found a nice french cafe in phoenix that offered a reasonable little lunch for 14$ consisting of a tasty Turkey & Provolone sammich with a bag of chips, bottle of water and a yummy little mini lemon tart <3 Got into Ontario and my sister and her boyfriend picked me up. They hadn't eaten so we went and got TGI Fridays, where we lucked into Happy Hour and got half off appetizers so I got some buffalo chicken and pamersan steak fries <3 Plus the boyfriend ordered a quasadilla and potato skins which were too much for him to eat so we helped with the skins.

Few hours later we got back home and I unpacked and collapsed and got up again and went to work like usual and here I am!

All in all in was a fantastic con. I got to meet a lot of my friends, got to meet some very wonderful new people, had some jaw droppingly oralgasmic meals and was able to just let my hair down and relax and be 'me'. It's easily been one of the best cons I've had in a while and one I won't forget for a long, long time to come, if ever.

Folks I ran into by forgot the exact time or did it multiple times
Twile: FUZZY
Kipfox: >:O
Brokenwing: Poor squish got sick D:
Grisser: BUNNEH :D
Rifka: was great seeing you and bunny! :D
Pulsar: pleasure to meet you bird ^^

And Sorinfox, Rocky, Wu Wei and Nottube were all great food and/or drink companions :) Plus playing Room party was super fun! As for anyone else I forgot to mention, I'm sorry! It's been nearly 2 days since the con, details are foggy D:

Oh and a fair chunk of my downtime was spent playing on my 2DS. yes, they're fucking hideous but I'm surprised how nicely functional the things are, they handle really comfortable and the Mii mini-game stuff is pretty neat, I street tagged close to 300 folks over the course of the con (from a starting point of 0).

Also, Room party link, check this game out, seriously!
http://www.roompartygame.com/

So yeah, thanks to everyone that made this con a very memorable experience. Miss you all already and can't wait til we can do it all again!