Category Convention Posts

Off at DenFur!

Wuffles Leave a comment

Hello fuzzbutts!

Having a great time right now at DenFur. Fancy hotel and meeting with lots of friends I haven’t seen since the lockdown!

There’s a good chance, if you’re new here, that you found one of my business cards to this site! I update occasionally with productivity and lifestyle tips that help me and I hope will also help you! Feel free to say hi if you spot me suiting around.

I tell you, this con and just getting away from the usual daily grind has me motivated to do more again. I’ll have to come up with a plan and some ideas and I’ll be sure to share them here with you!

Have fun fuzzbutts!

Dealing with the Post-Convention Depression

Wuffles Leave a comment

Hi fuzzbutts!

You’ve had your fun at the convention. Met friends you haven’t seen in ages and made new friends! You had a care-free fun time the entire convention and then you’re on the plane or in the car to head back to real life. The high of the con starts dipping down and you get home again with a desperate need to do laundry and put everything away. However, by now your mood has dropped into the deafening void and the various chores to accomplish look impossible and you lost pretty much all your motivation.

I know I went through this. I was willing to let my fursuit air out after a long weekend of use and just took way too long to get around to actually washing it. Dirty laundry sat in the washing machine way too long and I just flopped on the bed or at my computer and found it tough to get anything done. So I did a bit of inner exploration, realized I was depressed after the convention, and then decided to figure out how I can address this since I know it affects many convention goers.

One of the first things I realized was a sense of loneliness since most my friends had moved away. While I usually enjoy alone time, even I experience the lows that come with missing friends. So the first thing I did was start reaching out to those friends. I made new friends at the convention too and we shared our contact info and social media and I started talking to them too. They were all pretty darn chatty too so it was very helpful to keep in contact with them to combat the PCD.

Another thing I realized is my mood was down because I was just exhausted. At the con, you’re riding high and you’re having so much fun that it’s hard to pay attention to what your body is telling you. Starving yourself because you don’t want to eat without your friends but they’re taking too long. Then, when you do eat, you’re eating quick food or junk food. Sleeping late because there’s so much going on. Drinking and having fun like a crazy person. Then we’re surprised that so many people leave a convention with con crud (the almost immediate cold/illness you get as you’re leaving a con or immediately after a con). Being physically tired/weaker will lower your mood and contribute to the post-con depression.

So if you’re set on not taking care of yourself at the convention and want to party hard, the best way to recover after the convention is to just rest and start eating better immediately. You’ve put yourself through a lot and need to take the appropriate rest and eat something that will put your body back to normal, if not even healthier food than normal. Your body will recover and then you’ll just feel better there too.

So the gist of dealing with post-con depression is to put yourself out there and reach out to friends in a way that’s enjoyable. Don’t go telling them you’re so miserable and sad. Just be social and chatty. Also, eat something to help your body and take the appropriate rest. You’ll feel better way faster and your mood will improve to drive away the post-con blues. Then you can get back to being productive!

Good luck fuzzbutts!

The Furry Image

Wuffles Leave a comment

Hello fuzzbutts!

Stuff keeps making the rounds on Twitter lately so I wanted to take some time to talk about the image of furries.

It’s no secret that people outside the fandom look in on furries and see cringe. I see it too! Furries see it enough that we’re supposedly one of the hardest groups for the media to reach now. A friend of mine who spoke to the media regarding a criminal case in SoCal told me the journalist said furries are harder to get a hold of than violent gang members. Whatever the press hears about is usually negative so they report the negative and the cycle continues.

So a few things to improve the furry image.

Less cringe

First up is being less cringe-y in general. Be more social and encounter more people. Reserve yourself a bit when out in public. Recognize that people will think you’re odd right off the bat but acting insane around people will give them a negative impression. The whole “Who cares what they think?” attitude is pretty big in this fandom but at the same time they’ll complain the media is what makes us look bad. So realize that the meetups and cons aren’t as much of a bubble as you think and that your actions contribute to the outside world’s view of furries as a whole.

Engage

The media! Don’t answer anything weird (asking about zippers on fursuits) but if it’s a decent question then answer it reasonably. Considering things like CSI or MTV portrayed us like some kind of sex cult, it’s not unreasonable to think the media might be genuinely curious if that’s true. Then again, they can’t report that if you don’t actually suggest that! Remember that anyone you talk to is considering you a representative of the fandom so behave in a way that shows the rest of us in the best light. Not just the person you’re speaking to but if it’s on video, you’ll be the representative to anyone who sees the video!

Ostracize

What? Yeah. There’s too many reports lately of certain furries being very involved in the fandom who turn out they have a criminal record or engage in the worst kinds of activities. Don’t want people to think actual animals are a sexual fetish? Banish any furries who engage in it! Good grief! This is the biggest thing in the fandom that bothers me. We’re so concerned about our image but too many will rush to the defense of a popular (or even unpopular) furry who engages in something so heinous! Same with those who engage with those who are below the age of consent! Eeek! Why are they allowed to run around in our circles?! It’s not a massive fandom like comic-con where tends of thousands of people show up at once. Yet they still are allowed to show up to cons and even be volunteers for activities at the cons. No! Stop that! *Baps with newspaper*

So these are just a few things I’ve had rolling around in my head lately as I see Twitter continue to explode on some of the drama lately. If improving the fandom and the image of the fandom is one of your ongoing goals, this should help a bunch!

Good luck and stay safe, fuzzbutts!

Fursuiting Tips!

Wuffles 1 Comment

Hello!

So, following up on all the con fun I had over the weekend, I wanted to present a few things I learned as I ran around in my fursuit to maximize fun!

  • Shower BEFORE and AFTER you fursuit! You’re going to sweat. If you shower before you suit up, you’ll sweat but be much less gross in your fursuit. If you take a cool shower before hand, you can cool yourself down a bit before getting all hot in your suit too! After you suit, clean yourself up and spray down your suit and hang it up to dry. This will help you maintain your suit and prevent it from getting icky during the con!
  • I splurged a while back and got the EZ Cool Vest to wear under my fursuit and over my underarmor. It definitely helped. I’d wander around in my suit and could feel the coolness of the gel packs and they chilled out pretty darn fast after tossing them into the hotel sink and dumping ice over them. I recommend getting something like that to keep yourself cool.
  • Hydrate like crazy. If you feel yourself cooling down pretty quick and then put on the fursuit to almost immediately overheat. Your body is having trouble regulating your body temp because you’re dehydrated! So drink a bit before suiting and then drink a lot after suiting.
  • Work your cardio before a con. Cardio exercise improves your stamina in suit so you can suit even longer! Your overall fitness will determine how well you do in fullsuit.
  • Want some photos taken of you? Find a high-traffic spot and stand around! If you’re wandering the con the entire time, people will often assume you’re too busy for them to want to stop you and ask. So find a nice spot and hang out, look cute, and wave to anyone who looks over at you. Another way is to do something fun to perform in front of everyone but, especially for high levels of activity, that might tucker you out. I got way more photos just hanging outside the AZFC dealer’s den than I did at any other point in the con!

So those are my quick notes on fursuiting and making the most of your hot adventure! Good luck, fuzzbutts!

AZFC Review!

Wuffles Leave a comment

Hi fuzzbutts!

So I got back from AZFC today and wanted to write a little review of Arizona FurCon!

First, the hotel! The Delta Marriott is a nice little hotel that is kept well-maintained overall. The rooms were inexpensive and had just about everything you’d want. My room had a queen bed, a couch, and a mini fridge. Room service was prompt and they did a great job keeping everything stocked (coffee and water bottles and towels). Never had any issues with the hotel staff. One thing I noticed is I could hear my neighbors through the door that connected both our rooms. My neighbors were well-behaved and slept at a reasonable hour during the con so it never affected me but I could see that being an issue. The room service was reasonably priced and the food was delicious.

The size of the con. I don’t have the numbers for the con but it was a physically small con. From leaving my hotel room, I picked up my badge and checked out the entire dealer’s den and found the panel rooms within ~20 minutes. The Art Show was about 12 pieces, most of which looked like they came from the same artist. Very small con. At first I thought it might just be locals showing up for the convention! I suited as much as I could manage and looks like most furries staggered their suiting times. There was a flood of fursuits at the parade but I only saw maybe a couple dozen or so of the same suits roaming around throughout the con.

The theme! The what? Aside from opening and closing ceremonies, didn’t really notice much of a theme at all (It was The Furbidden Temple). No posters on the walls or decor to suggest there was a theme. Theme is usually not something I pay attention to anyway unless it’s super good (BLFC’s future dystopia with Brometheus Bear).

Anyway, it’s the smallest con I’ve been to but I still had fun. If you’re meeting or going with friends to it, you’ll have a great time hanging out in a low-pressure situation compared to huge cons where you’re trying to catch up with a ton of people. If you’re flying solo like I was, the fun of a con is entirely up to you and how much you participate. I was out there in suit every day and browsed the dealers den and chatted it up with anyone I could. Overall, it was pretty small and pretty darn fun!

So that’s my impression of this convention. It’s a small con that’s pretty darn fun and, for the time we were there, the weather was absolutely beautiful so it’s a great time for the con to be held in AZ. It’s a bit smaller than I would prefer so I probably won’t do it next year unless I have friends to go/room with.

I did finish my Convention checklist and added a few items to the list that would have been nice to bring. I’ll be added it to my page soon. EDIT: Done! It’s now a permanent link on the left side of the page!

Talk to you soon, furry friends!

Off to AZFC!

Wuffles Leave a comment

Good morning Fuzzbutts!

Today I’m off to AZFC to enjoy some furry fun at a con I’ve never been to! Flying solo this time so I hope to meet plenty of you there and have fun!

I guess before I go, I want to tack in a little tip:

CHECKLISTS!

I don’t know why I was never adamant about it before after all the cons I’ve been to but this time I’m running around this morning and trying to figure out what I need to bring. So, when preparing for a convention, be sure to list all the things you want to bring in advance. Right now I’m using LadyRain’s Convention Packing List as a last-second thing but I think I’ll come up with my own list that feels a little more specific to what I like to take to cons. Once it’s done, I’ll put it up on here so more fuzzbutts can hopefully find use out of it!

I’ll be back Monday. Next post will either get back to productivity hacks or a review of AZFC. Have a great weekend and say hello if you see me there!

Monday Update: Home from BLFC!

Wuffles Leave a comment

Hello fuzzbutts!

Had another wonderful year at BLFC! I had a great time rooming with a friend and spending the con with all kinds of pals I haven’t seen in ages. Got to take my new fursuit out a bunch of times and got a ton of pictures. Also spent time relaxing and enjoying myself by the pool and wandering the casino.

Did not accomplish a whole lot during the con as far as my drawing goals but I did make progress in my relationship goals by spending so much time with friends and meeting so many new people and even getting to see a marriage proposal (she said yes!) and then witnessing a marriage at the con! Just too many feels for this adorable wusky. I recommend BLFC to any furries looking for a fun con to attend!