I am a wolf who lives up in Maine. I'm not much of an artist in the traditional sense so my creative output is generally photographs, video and the occasional construction made of tiny magnetic buckyball spheres.

I am a bit of a humorist and may occasionally compose parody versions of the lyrics to known songs. I may be inclined to post them here and there with perhaps a vocal rendition. If anyone who can sing would like to record a version, let me know.

Like many, I also have accounts on FurAffnity: runningred, deviantArt: runningred and Youtube: RunningRedVideos.

I could write a traditional Convention Report for Furcationland 2024, detailing my activities and movements each day, but I fear that would be lackluster reading. The bulk of my time that weekend was spent in the Registration room, handing out Supersponsor souvenir bags and helping my Staff when they had questions on what counted as acceptable identification and such. Not really worth the re-telling.
The bulk of my time, but not all of it. I was able to slip away and visit the rest of the convention space, attend some panels and browse the tables in the Dealer’s Den.
So instead I’ll share what were some of the highlights of the con. Memories both heartwarming and amusing that I will treasure.

I bought a chickadee plush puppet at Treehouse Toys in the Old Port and used it in several photos around the convention. The black-capped chickadee is Maine’s state bird and chosen as the species for FCL’s mascot Scout.

I got to chat with one of the Directors of Eufuria, an upcoming furry con in Albany. We talked shop and bounced ideas off each other. I may not be able to attend this year but I do with them success.

Finally getting to meet Chrysmuu and CheshireKitsune in person. Unfortunately, it was only briefly as I was needed elsewhere, but will see them again before too long at a local meetup.

Going out at one in the morning to another hotel a few miles away for another Staffer who needed help with an incidentals charge. I was a little surprised when I got home to see my card used to pay for their entire stay. I wasn’t worried. I knew they’d pay me back and it meant more credit card reward points for me.

I wore my Emotional Support Shapeshifter lanyard and boy did I live up to that title. I’m happy to help my friends because that’s what friends do, but I was hitting compassion fatigue by the end of it.

I got to meet up with a lot of friends I don’t see that often. Getting to spend time with DJ Daddy Hawk again. Though I still haven’t met his wife, Hawkwoman.

The many small gifts I got from friends. I’m honestly touched that so many people do care about me.

I do need a disguise for visiting the Dealer’s Den. At times it was hard checking out vendors when people I knew stopped me to say hi.

I got to see Bushycat and get stoned. Well, meet her again, having previously bought items from her at Anthrocon in the early 00s. This time I bought a stone painted like an arctic fox. And getting her to participate in Dipper’s Pass the Parcel panel.

And that was a fun panel. As seen on an episode of Bluey, it’s like musical chairs. A prize is passed around a circle of people and when the music stops, whomever is holding it removes a layer of wrapping. The person who unwraps the last layer keeps the gift. Everyone had fun and I hope it becomes a regular panel.

The hotel Staff liked having us there. One employee wore a crow mask while working. I think if she wasn’t on the clock she’d have visited a few panels. Maybe next year.

I attended WolvenTerror’s Graymuzzle panel. I thought it was a productive discussion about where we older furs had come from and what we can do going forward.

I did Supersponsor this year which was worth it. Got to enjoy a nice dinner, a lovely brunch and the tote bag is simply adorable.

I took a lot of photos. A silly joke would occur to me and I’d just have to do a photo of it.

And just hanging out with folks, both attendees and regular staff.

Nico and KovutheHusky introduced me to Cheerwine. A cherry-flavored carbonated soda from North Carolina. I rather enjoyed it, even though I don’t normally like cherry flavor. If I say it tastes like someone put cough syrup in a Sodastream, it’s not a complaint but an observation. It tastes like the basis for a Flaming Homer. Of course I picked up a few bottles of it when I was at Cracker Barrel.

Sunday afternoon was somewhat hectic. Registration was only open till 3p that last day. Right before closing I’m helping a few people buying last minute day passes. One of them has a necklace with the theta-delta symbol used by the therian community. I have a sinking feeling and ask if she’s at the convention for anything in particular. The Therian Meet & Greet, she tells me. She drove over three hours to come to the convention for it. I’m both touched and surprised it happened again. I held a Therian Meet & Greet at PineFurCon 2019. My intent wasn’t to stand up as an expert and tell people about therianthropy. I just hated the ones I attended at Anthrocon in years past and wanted a better space for folks to make connections and share experiences. And a young lady said her only reason for coming to the convention, from two states away, was my panel.
So again, I underestimated what a draw something like this is. How important it was for people to make a connection and get some understanding of themselves.
Registration closes and my Staff and I do as much breakdown as we can before I head off to my panel. All the different Meet & Greets were held in the Zoo, which this year was located at a table in a corner of the Gaming room. The room was loud, all the table’s chairs were taken by gamers at other tables. I arrive and there’s already a small group of people there, mostly new faces I’d not seen before. I think it goes okay and I hope everyone who came learned something.
After that I had to dash off the the Ballroom. Closing Ceremonies was coming up soon. The Department Leads were offered the chance to say something and I wanted to thank my staff. I wrote down what I wanted to say on my phone’s notepad, including names of my Staff and the volunteers who helped in my room. I considered making a dumb Red joke but decided against it. I didn’t want to come across like I was hogging the spotlight. So I make my way to the Programming lead who was assembling the slideshow. And for my part he included “Red makes a joke.” Ye gods, am I that predictable?
Okay, I reinsert my joke and wait for the final event to begin.
I will admit I was very nervous waiting for my turn to get on stage. Like even more than the times a manager has asked to see me in their office. I’m not used to being on stage, in the spotlight. I can be goofy in public, sure. And if I flub a line it doesn’t matter. But this was important. I didn’t want to screw it up.
So I’m standing there, heart beating in my chest and constantly checking the notepad on my phone, afraid I was going to trip over my own tongue. And I didn’t remember what slides came before mine so I don’t know when I’m supposed to go on. Then they mention attendance, I go on and do my little bit. I think I did okay. Okay enough that I’d already thinking of jokes for next year’s Closing Ceremonies. Heh heh.

There were things I wish I’d done, people I wish I’d gotten to meet, panels I wish I’d gotten to attend. The weekend felt like it passed far too quickly. That’s life, though. And if there’s something I learned it’s you gotta spend more time remembering the fun you did have than regretting the fun you didn’t.

I loved Furcationland, I loved helping being on Staff. I love the awesome people I got to spend the weekend with and I look forward to returning next year.