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DenFur ’21 Review!

Wuffles Leave a comment

Hello fuzzbutts!

I had a few days to stew and relax since DenFur. I wanted to think over some of the things that happened, what was offered, the con space, all that good stuff. So now it’s time to run through it.

The Hotel:

The convention took place at the downtown Sheraton in Denver, CO. It was about 40 minutes away from the airport. The rooms were comfortably sized since I had a single king bed and friends had double-queen bedrooms. The room could have benefitted from a dresser to organize things rather than a single drawer in the room. Still, they provided water, coffee, and all the standards for a hotel. The bathroom was lovely but used a sliding door without any lock. So if you want privacy from your roommates, it might be a thing. The hotel did have a pool on the 5th floor and the view was alright from my spot on the 6th floor. That being said, the hotel is in the downtown area and Denver seems to be suffering from a rather significant homeless problem in the area even around the hotel. The hotel has no food with room service but the street level did have 2 great restaurants and bars which were reasonably priced, especially given the fact it was in a hotel.

The Con Size:

I wasn’t sure what to expect with this convention. This is one of the first furry conventions since the end of the COVID lockdowns so I felt furries might still be staying away or might be stir crazy to get out and see old friends (like me). Also I never heard of DenFur being an especially large con and only chose to go because I had friends going as well. The con attendance was a bit under 2700 furries so it was pretty darn big. The convention floor was just below the lobby and had plenty of space. There were numerous panel rooms and the nightly dances had plenty of space for everyone to have fun.

The Con Setup:

So, being one of the first furry cons since the pandemic, the management at DenFur took extra care. Despite the county stating that masks were only required indoors if unvaccinated, the con required attendants to wear masks in the con space. If you were in the hotel, you didn’t have to. On top of the masks, DenFur required all attendees to verify their vaccination status through official channels like the state registries or by having the actual cards with you. There was a very unfortunate trade-off by requiring this extra layer of verification, however. The registration lines were absolutely horrendous! I arrived the night before the con and got into line at 8PM and didn’t get my registration until 11PM. It was even worse for those who showed up on Friday, the first day of the con. Posts on Twitter revealed complaints of people waiting anywhere from 4.5-6.5 hours in the single registration line! I assume some of this is due to people reaching the front of the line and not having the correct paperwork but when I had gotten to the front, I had everything immediately ready. I’ll err a little generously and say it only took 2 minutes once I reached the volunteer at the front desk. With five desks open, that’s 5 people every 2 minutes if everything is smooth. With 2700 people in total, that’s 540 minutes or a total of 9 hours IF EVERYONE HAS EVERYTHING IN ORDER. I could easily see a single attendee taking longer than 10 minutes if they didn’t have the proper record (i.e. copies or pictures of it were not allowed). If any other conventions are going to be performing these screenings, I hope they learn from the errors made here as there was plenty of talk about people missing panels on the first day because they couldn’t get through registration.

The Con Stuff:

They did provide free printed face masks which was a really nice touch. I did notice the con space did seem to be colder than the rest of the hotel and that made it much easier to fursuit around and have fun! I’m already not much of furry who goes to panels but the selection that was being offered didn’t really interest me at all. Every night, it was nice to try out the variety of DJs playing sets in the dance hall. The main con space is an open area which has an artist alley. The tables in the alley were mostly open and it didn’t seem terribly convenient. I would have preferred tighter spacing for the artist alley but I understand why they spaced them out. The dealer’s den wasn’t particularly huge but it did have a lot of vendors. If you’re interested in the 18+ area, it was only 3 tables in a small room so it took all of 2 minutes to browse the wares.

Overall:

I enjoyed DenFur. Tons of fursuits and quality time with friends in a lovely hotel. It was nice to get out and about and the convention space was great for a convention of this size. That being said, I would be singing a different tune if I had waited until Friday to get my registration because 6 hours in line is absolutely insane. If it wasn’t for that, I think a lot more furries would have much more positive things to say about the convention but I saw plenty who ended up spending the entire first day grumbling and irritated. I’m hopeful the screening next year will be lighter so I’m willing to be more forgiving and assume this was a one-time thing. I’m leaning toward going again next year!

Intermittent Fasting to Productivity

Wuffles Leave a comment

Hello fuzzbutts!

Hope you’re doing well! I had an extremely busy and difficult week. Next month doesn’t look like it’ll be any better. When this happens, it becomes easy to want to retreat. You do your work, have a hard time, and go home to put on your potato fursuit and binge some Netflix. Who wants to be productive when you’ve been running ragged? You can push yourself to be productive for a bit but it’s easy to burn out too. So how do you maintain productivity and avoid the burn-out blues?

You’ve heard of intermittent fasting, right? There’s different ways but it’s essentially changing your diet so you’re fasting at some point. It may involve skipping a meal every day. Sometimes you eat normal one day and then you do a 24-hour fast. There’s several methods. I’ll leave the rest of the research up to you as far as any health benefits (it’s interesting). What does this have to do with productivity? Maybe you’ve already guessed.

If there’s something specific you do that isn’t productive, it’s good to take a break from it. Likewise, if you’re so productive you’re leaving a fiery trail behind you, it’s ok to slow yourself down and take a break. Maybe you need a compromise on both.

For me, it tends to be video games. I come home, pop on a chat with friends, and play some games either to stream to them or to play with them. Then I lay my head down and don’t feel so great about how I spent my time. Sometimes I come home, spend a bunch of time working on something and when it’s time for bed, I still feel wound up like I can’t relax. When I catch myself feeling these ways, it’s time to figure out what to do. If I find I’m spending too much time playing, I’ll stop myself from gaming. That doesn’t mean I force myself to work on goals. If I stop gaming, maybe I’ll write a blog post or clean my kitchen or handle some other business that’s been in my brain. Likewise, if my brain is running on empty, I’ll hold off drawing or an online course. Either way, the important thing is moderation and keeping some control over your behavior and brain.

Is there something you do that you spend way too much time on and avoid your goals? Try just saying “tomorrow I won’t touch X” and avoid doing that thing. Finding yourself burning out? Before you do, say “tomorrow I won’t do Y” and give yourself a break. Take a little of the routine out of your life and try doing something new or at least avoid the usual things. If you always binge some Netflix when you take a break, do something else like read something fun or just chill out with friends.

Good luck, 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!