It was a very odd but satisfying convention, and not just because (once again) it's the last time for a con at the DoubleTree.

(note: if I don't drop your name, it doesn't mean I love you, it means I was forgetful or drunk, or I don't love you.)

K and I moved in on Wednesday night. We really like this plan. He had a bunch of stuff to do on Thursday, and we knew the hotel would be filled with our friends on Thursday. We weren't surprised to find it was filled with our friends already. Moving in Wednesday was particularly good because we found out (well, confirmed) that super_jayhawk and dustykat's Margaritaville party was going to be Thursday, and we were helping with the bar.

Thursday I worked, but things ran quickly so I bailed early-ish. K ran to the hairstylist, the spray-tan gal and to the storage locker to pick up tiki decorations. We got back in time to get stuff in to the Margaritaville room and do a fair amount of decorating. After dinner and clean-up, we finished much of the decor and SuperJay opened the party. It was a blast. Margaritas, strawberry daiquiris and pina coladas all around. We ran until 1:00 (FC implemented a policy where alcohol service had to stop at 1:00 for open parties) and then closed the doors and turned it into a private party until just before 3:00am. There was a "care bear" party next door too, but it was kind of scary (like clowns, but more insidious).

Friday we slept late. K had his spintronics panel, and I shot pictures of it. I spent a fair amount of time at the con shooting pictures and figuring out the new camera. I spent some time hanging out with johnnyeponymous and bast_kitten in the Creators' LoungeFriday night parties were great, but kind of routine for a Bay Area con. We had a few folks back to the room and stayed up talking until around 5:00am.

Saturday we slept late. No panels. No responsibility. Well, almost no responsibilty. K had to go to "Furry Night Live" rehearsal around noon to work with scruff_e_coyote and cabby8 to work on the number they were doing together. I watched the Fursuit parade (over 500 suits!) We shopped in the dealers' room. We checked out the art show. We went to the masquerade. It was pretty much excellent. The show started on time and ran quickly. I wish kitelessd would introduce the bits as "entries" rather than "acts" but that's a tiny nit-pick. Then we went to parties. We had a few folks back to the room and stayed up talking until around 5:00am.

Sunday we slept late. Pretty much responsibilty-free until K had to go to Furry Night Live call at 5:00pm. A little more time in the dealers' room. I had dinner with johno, met up with chriso and we got in line for Furry Night Live. FNL started late (lighting issues, I hear), and was preceded by a hula troupe. They were very good traditional hula dancers, but they weren't right for the crowd (myself included). Showy hula would have been more appropriate. They were kind of hypnotic (in the "you're getting very sleepy" sense). The gourd spanking dance was pretty much the lowlight. Once FNL started, though, everything changed. The acts were varied and good (although, in many cases, not the blow-out over-the-top acts of the last two years). Competition acts ended with a brilliant parody of "Popular" from Wicked. K's number (well, more scruff_e_coyote's number) was David Seville's "Witchdoctor" with K as the Witch Doctor. Pics are up in my flickr.

FNL may not have started on time, but it ran solidly and ended on time. It was followed by the FNL cast party. We watched the show 3 more times. That sounds like a kind of sad thing, but it's different going to a video party where the folks there are the folks in the show. It's one of the only good video parties anywhere (well, along with eric_in_elevatr). We stayed up until around 4:00am talking.

Monday was move-out for the Margaritaville/FNL party room. K helped more with clean-up than I did. We also schlepped most of our stuff home, in a surprisingly efficient manner. Apparently we weren't the only efficient folks; the con move-out was done early too. There was a "Fursuit Parade Take 2" with maybe 3-dozen suiters, the last one at the DTree. We had dinner with super_jayhawk at Spencer's (very good, actually, in spite of rumors we heard of a drop in quality) before the Dead Dog party. The Dead Dog dance got going nice and early, and everybody was there. We offered scruff_e_coyote and tkcoyote use of our room so TK could change into suit for the dance. I sat down in the lobby and chatted with terraluna_bat, a photographer whose name I've forgotten and a few other people. We got to sleep a little after midnight (early, I know), and got out of the hotel on Tuesday morning.

All in all, a great con, and a great last hurrah at the DoubleTree. It was weird having so few responsibilities, but nice. We strenghthened some connections and made some new ones. I think I'm liking this "not constantly pimping our project out" mode.

Next year FC moves to the Fur-mont San Jose, and has a "California Gold Rush" theme. It's going to be an interesting change, but one that I hope offers many new opportunities and few new challenges.