NordicFuzzCon - Ragnarök
Feb. 25th, 2024 11:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lupestripeIt feels weird not to be wearing pink wings on my back, having spent most of the last four days doing just that. While packing for NordicFuzzCon on Wednesday, I had a sudden realisation of just how much pink stuff I own. Of course, I ended up packing a lot of it, with me spending quite a bit of time dressed as a unicorn or in fursuit, with the aforementioned pink wings also becoming part of my fursuiting attire. I've started to experiment more with make-up and while I couldn't wear as many skirts as I would have liked - accommodating off-site meant I was limited in what I could easily bring to the main hotel - I still managed to develop a look. I got quite a few heartening comments about my style, even from shopkeepers out and about in Malmo (including the lovely pizza lady on Thursday evening), and so I have come home with renewed confidence. This is what living should be about, not the day to day drudgery of my terrible job. I've started applying for others and I really hope I can kick that soon.
Wolfie has been feeling ill this week and I have returned and started to feel peaky too. Unfortunately, he couldn't make the con as he had decided to go to Anthro New England in Boston last month with his VR friends instead. This was definitely the right call for him and although I had a wonderful time at NordicFuzzCon, there were occasions when I missed him. The most acute was on the opening night, when folk-metal band Grimner were playing. I have been going to conventions for nearly 17 years and never once did I believe that they would ever put on an actual band. Fitting in with the Ragnarök theme, they were given the stage, although oddly it was shortly after midnight rather than the original time of 19:30 on the Thursday. This was better for me though, what with my Thursday being manically busy with panels and events, so I was delighted after regularly checking on the line that was forming that Grimner were playing at a new time. I was only skeptical as it was down as 00:00 in the calendar for Thursday, which I suspected meant someone had forgotten to fill in the time. As it turned out, it was no mistake and the gig had been moved. I went with Toddler Kitten, with whom I spent a lot of the con, and after downing our over-priced beers as we weren't allowed to take them in, we had a wonderful hour just rocking out. Sadly, I was five pints in at this point and so a little drunk, while after the gig I also got chatting to the band, who were replete in full make-up. They really seemed to enjoy it too and the vibe was incredible. I only wished that Wolfie was here to see them as I know he would have found them fantastic. It was also interesting to see the EF Chairman really enjoying Grimner too, I hope this will see more metal music at Eurofurence as it has been something lacking for a while. I think this weekend has proven again that diversity in music is so important.
The other main time I missed Wolfie was at the NSFW dance on Friday. I never go to the XO Boat Party as the capacity is limited, which often means waiting outside in the cold while wearing gear for an excessive amount of time. While there were two boats this year - Tin Tin as well as the traditional Blabaten - the canopy connecting the two had blown down in the wind on Thursday evening. This meant there was no private walkway between the two, meaning we needed to cover up whenever we went from boat to boat. This was a right chew on, particularly for a few of the parties I was helping to run, but more on that later. We did have to queue to get into the NSFW dance at the main stage on the Friday, but the main issue was the lack of stickers for phones. These were needed to obscure cameras and thus delayed entrance for many people. Once through, I got into my pup slink gear and harness before heading inside, but another busy day at the con meant I had little energy to see the event through. I went with Toddler Kitten again, as well as Blacksnip, and I remember last year having a lot of fun. There was certainly an hour with music I could tolerate, but not this year. Indeed, the whole rave scene leaves me feeling quite cold and watching people grinding up against each other just made me miss Wolfie. I did chat to a couple of people in there, but after an hour and a half, I realised I'd have more fun down in the bar just chatting, which is why I left quite early. For me, if I am wearing gear, I like to combine it with actual kink play so I'll have to accept that this sort of thing is not for me. It was great to see so many different body shapes and sizes on display though, which will hopefully help my own derisory levels of self-confidence.
NordicFuzzCon always has a diverse range of theming and this year was no exception. Due to this, and the fact that most people are spread out in hotels across the city, it was largely a room party, kink and sex-free con for me. The latter is hardly surprising - I'd love to have more sexual encounters but don't have the confidence to instigate them - while kink is a nice to have. I did a couple of things, but nothing too major, largely because my time was spent elsewhere. A good chunk of it was at the Maid Cafe, an annual highlight and something I never get tired of doing. As Wednesday was the day I arrived, I had already been drinking by the time the 20:30 training started, meaning I rocked up a little worse for wear. The training was less extensive than last year, but I think I did raise a couple of constructive points. Interestingly, the cafe was in a different location this year, the taquiera bar, providing the Mexican tequila and Japanese maid combination that everyone was crying out for. I made this joke a few times during the cafe itself. I did two shifts - a double on the Thursday and a single on the Friday - with the former probably being my favourite. My friends Vulo, Procyon, Blacksnip and Fiasco all came to visit and get served by me, while it was a great way to meet many new furs as well as some members of the general public during Friday's Open House session. One couple insisted I did the whole service in German once they saw the flag on my name badge, an apt torture for which I think I did well. My German isn't great and it was hard dealing with them in one language and the other table in English, but they seemed satisfied and left happy. Whether people want a cutesy maid or not is hard to say - I tend to alter my performance depending on who my guests are. For a group from Manchester, I was basically swearing like a docker, a far less demure maid than perhaps they were expecting. I made them laugh though and I really like performing, with this being an easy way for me to overcome my shyness. Furthermore, I get to wear a cute dress and be bossed about for a few hours, so what isn't there to like? The service itself was far more efficient this year, although the space itself was trickier to navigate, with far more objects to trip over (chairs, coat racks, hat stands and the like). The rail divide between the carpeted and non-carpeted areas was particularly tricky, while the dimmed lighting which was below my head height above the tables made things hard to see too. I probably preferred it in the other place, but with more tables, it meant more people got the opportunity to be a maid and that was good to see. We only got two tables each this year too, rather than four, and while I understood the reason for this, it did feel at times we were pestering customers a little too much as we needed to interact. Four tables was the right balance for me.
Changing had to take place in the rather cramped fursuit lounge, which wasn't a huge problem, although leaving valuables was an issue. While in the Maid Cafe, they were kept behind the Manager's Desk, but on the Thursday I forgot to collect them after my shift and was left running around after Charis. I did manage to locate him though. On the Friday, I swapped out my final shift as I wanted to go and see the Whsprs concert over in Valhalla, the new second venue which was once a warehouse. Fortunately, Fiasco agreed to come with me as well as look after my wallet and phone. The problem was that the concert started half an hour after my maid shift ended and I needed to get to the venue, which was a ten-minute walk away. Consequently, there was no time to get changed out of suit, what with my hotel being ten minutes in the other direction. Having forgotten my hyena bag back in the hotel room, I needed someone's help and fortunately the cat was there. As I say, if I wanted to see the Whspers gig, I had to do it in fursuit. Fiasco and I walked over to Valhalla, getting a few cheerful beeps from car horns along the way, and I had only really missed the opening song. Whsprs had just released a new album, and he played quite a few songs from it including my favourite 'Snow In Sweden'. It was an acoustic set, which also controversially included Wonderwall, while there was a really good camaraderie and vibe about the 45-minute show. Kalynx was there, as were a couple of my fellow maids from the cafe, who had largely done what I had done. I even met a fursuiter with the exact same glittery pink fur as me, but he couldn't tell me where he got it from as his suit had been donated to him. Anyway, after the gig, I probably should have gone and met Whsprs, but I was enthralled in taking photos as Fiasco had his professional camera with him. We got some in front of the LED wall, which my wings touched, threatening to break it, while I also got a few on a ride-on scooter thing in the shape of a dog. The highlight was the unicorn bouncy castle though, on which I had a jolly good bounce.
No rest for the wicked though as the rock and metal DJ set was next. I think Dasprid did this, like he did at Furvester, but it was hard to see as it was so dark and I was still in fursuit. The set followed a similar pattern, with perhaps a little too much older school metal for my taste, but Rammstein and System of a Down both played and so I furiously and enthusiastically threw myself into things. Alas, six hours of solid fursuiting with no break did start to take their toll, not least because I had only eaten one 7-Eleven hot dog all day. My food consumption was chronically poor and it made me realise how Wolfie is very much my sensible voice, making me eat and take care of myself in a way that my enthusiasm often negates of me when I am on my own. After the rock and metal gig, I met up with Blacksnip at his hotel and we headed over to Max Burger, which he got to try for the first time. I had the Classic '68 Burger which had far too many pickles for my liking, but the fries were crispy and the garlic and pesto sauce novel. Blacksnip wanted a strawberry sundae too, so we had one of those as well before heading back to the main hotel to enjoy the aforementioned NSFW dance.
Thursday was another example of being furiously busy and stupidly not eating. It was for this reason that I burned over 6,000 calories on that day alone (actually 6,007, with 5,294 on the Friday). I was on the Crinkleorgs committee for running the Littles events and this year we had three instead of just one. Thursday was the Dealers' Playpen at 14:20 and the Meet & Greet at 20:30, the first being on the boat and the second being at Valhalla. With me needing to be at the Clarion for the Maid Cafe between 15:30 and 19:00, and with my hotel being ten minutes' walk away, I was split across four venues that day and running around a lot. I did help set up the Dealers' Playpen, which basically saw me moving a load of tables and chairs out of the way, while I did the teardown for the Meet & Greet. In the middle, I did my Maid's Cafe shift. All of this meant that I hadn't really eaten by the time it got to 21:00 and as the Crinklz Colouring Books were too waxy, we needed to get some felt tip pens from the local convenience store. I had seen some in Coop at the train station when I had to get nail scissors earlier in the week, so I went out with one of the littles, who insisted I should also eat something. We grabbed a slice at the pizza place in the main concourse, this being the only place open, and it was here that the nice lady said she liked my pink wings, unicorn and make-up look. The pizza was basically one quarter of a huge pie and it was very good. It was also great to chat a little more one-to-one before we headed back to the meet and greet. This event, as did the Dealers' Playpen, went very well but I did lament my inability to help with all of these two events due to my other commitments.
The compensation was the Saturday, our main boat party, for which I was available all day. I met up with Toddler Kitten for coffee at 7-Eleven, having grabbed my hot dog earlier from Pressbyran. Unfortunately, this was a different outlet to my usual, where I had started to form a strong relationship with the bearded Swede behind the counter. He was very interested in what I was doing on each day I ordered a hot dog from him, as breakfast at my hotel ended at 09:30 which was far too earlier for my going to bed around 05:00 activities (certainly on a weekday anyway). As we were walking to the boats, we spied the Fursuit Parade, which was going around Stortorget, with the police having closed most of the streets. I really wanted to do this, what with Saturday being a wonderfully sunny winter's day, but alas my Littles commitments meant it wasn't possible this time. It did look like an awful lot of fun though. As the boats were a bring your own booze affair and, wanting to be professional, I decided on two cans of Red Bull Blueberry as they were on offer. I then got on the two boats and again helped with set-up, moving the tables out of the way so we could create a dance floor on Blabaten, while on Tin Tin we created a scribbles area and hung some artwork banners on the side of the vessel. The majority of the committee wanted to be on Tin Tin so I stayed in the louder boat with the dancers, keeping an eye on things and ensuring no-one was violating the no camera phones policy. At the same time, Toddler Kitten was leading the way by cutting some fantastic shapes on the dance floor. After the previous night's debacle, we resorted to just sticking masking tape over the camera lenses. Anyway, halfway in, I was offered a hefty glass from a box of red wine and so I was helping to organise the event having had just one hot dog, two cans of Red Bull and some wine. No wonder my backside hasn't been particularly pleased with me. Still, it was great seeing all of the littles and one of them commented that I had lost weight, which was flattering. With tear down taking half an hour, we were out of the boat bang on time, and I was then free to enjoy the rest of the evening. This essentially involved going to a wonderful Thai place with Vulo, Procyon and Blacksnip, before final drinks in the bar. It was usual for us to stay up to 3am, when the last bar closed, before Toddler Kitten and I walked back together as our hotels were on the same street. In the Thai place, I even showed the Thai lady who was serving us the website for Thai Tales, to prove there is a community in Thailand too.
NordicFuzzCon is undoubtedly the best con in Europe, maybe even the world. At over 3,700 attendees, it is clear it is popular, while it changes every year with unique theming and events. Next year it's Spirits of the Zen Garden, a far cry from this year's Ragnarök theme. While I prefer single hotel conventions, with more numbers, it is evident that the NordicFuzzCon set-up is the future, but with most people's hotels within a ten-minute walk, it was never a huge issue (unless it was raining - indeed Blacksnip and I got caught in a heavy shower when coming back from my hotel on Saturday evening, necessitating us popping into Brewdog for a swift one). They brewed their own beer for this year, in association with local craft brewery Hyllie, while things like the blip machine (which I was asked to record for, but I sadly didn't have a good enough microphone) were unique. I'll admit I didn't realise as a member of SOUP that I had to sign a waiver before starting, nor did I realise there was a sticker system in place for generating rewards the more you helped out, but at least I did get what was owed to me. The presence of the Furscience people demonstrates the pull this con now has (I particularly liked their Wheel of Fortune thing where I won a Pikachu for following them on Twitter). I am helping them with their surveys, as well as their request to find a Japanese member of the furry community who could help them with further research. It was great visiting them at their stand, while I was a little disappointed I couldn't go and see their panels due to event clashes. Indeed. NordicFuzzCon has so much going on, that it's impossible to do everything, and I know that next year will be different again. It is such a refreshing con that I always keep going back, although next year I am tempted to try and join STEW and get a little more structure in my working patterns. We shall see. There were so many clashes though so I missed cool things like the Rock and Metal Meet & Greet, along with the Craft Beer Tasting which, even though it lasted six hours, I couldn't tear myself away from my Thursday commitments. I also didn't get to the Dealers' Den, with the queue being too long at the only times I was able to go. Still, at 120 SEK for the Hyllie beer and around 95-99 SEK for the fizzy, I think my credit card suffered enough.
I was amazed how many people I knew and recognised at this con - it felt like ConFuzzled 2022 all over again. I met so many cool people too, while I know Blacksnip also enjoyed his first trip to Sweden. As with anything, I didn't get chance to see everyone, and I didn't spend enough time with some people, but hopefully next year. One good place to meet furs was the fursuit lounge, where I met the likes of Fiber Kitty for the first time in a decade. This was also a good place to collect codes for the Fursuit catching game, although I only got 17, 467 fewer than the actual winner (my favourite fursuiter was definitely the sloth who adopted the slow gait of the animal). From meeting Kamsirius and Kalynx over a beer at BER Airport on Wednesday morning to finishing the trip over a beer and cheeseboard in CPH Airport today, it has been an incredible life-affirming and positive trip. I wish I had gone on Tuesday rather than Wednesday though, as most people seemed to arrive much earlier in the week. However, I need to conserve holiday days for other cons. It’ll also be interesting to find out how the Dead Dog Day went – this is usually the weakest at NordicFuzzCon as it’s on the cramped boats, but this year the taqueria is hosting something too. Now it's back to the drudgery, and I may be coming down with something, but this has given me the motivation to make the changes to my life that I need. Plus it has been great seeing Wolfie again, even if he is feeling under the weather too. We watched Elemental on Tuesday evening before I left and enjoyed it, plus we are away together next week too. Then of course there are two cons in May, so still much to look forward to.
Wolfie has been feeling ill this week and I have returned and started to feel peaky too. Unfortunately, he couldn't make the con as he had decided to go to Anthro New England in Boston last month with his VR friends instead. This was definitely the right call for him and although I had a wonderful time at NordicFuzzCon, there were occasions when I missed him. The most acute was on the opening night, when folk-metal band Grimner were playing. I have been going to conventions for nearly 17 years and never once did I believe that they would ever put on an actual band. Fitting in with the Ragnarök theme, they were given the stage, although oddly it was shortly after midnight rather than the original time of 19:30 on the Thursday. This was better for me though, what with my Thursday being manically busy with panels and events, so I was delighted after regularly checking on the line that was forming that Grimner were playing at a new time. I was only skeptical as it was down as 00:00 in the calendar for Thursday, which I suspected meant someone had forgotten to fill in the time. As it turned out, it was no mistake and the gig had been moved. I went with Toddler Kitten, with whom I spent a lot of the con, and after downing our over-priced beers as we weren't allowed to take them in, we had a wonderful hour just rocking out. Sadly, I was five pints in at this point and so a little drunk, while after the gig I also got chatting to the band, who were replete in full make-up. They really seemed to enjoy it too and the vibe was incredible. I only wished that Wolfie was here to see them as I know he would have found them fantastic. It was also interesting to see the EF Chairman really enjoying Grimner too, I hope this will see more metal music at Eurofurence as it has been something lacking for a while. I think this weekend has proven again that diversity in music is so important.
The other main time I missed Wolfie was at the NSFW dance on Friday. I never go to the XO Boat Party as the capacity is limited, which often means waiting outside in the cold while wearing gear for an excessive amount of time. While there were two boats this year - Tin Tin as well as the traditional Blabaten - the canopy connecting the two had blown down in the wind on Thursday evening. This meant there was no private walkway between the two, meaning we needed to cover up whenever we went from boat to boat. This was a right chew on, particularly for a few of the parties I was helping to run, but more on that later. We did have to queue to get into the NSFW dance at the main stage on the Friday, but the main issue was the lack of stickers for phones. These were needed to obscure cameras and thus delayed entrance for many people. Once through, I got into my pup slink gear and harness before heading inside, but another busy day at the con meant I had little energy to see the event through. I went with Toddler Kitten again, as well as Blacksnip, and I remember last year having a lot of fun. There was certainly an hour with music I could tolerate, but not this year. Indeed, the whole rave scene leaves me feeling quite cold and watching people grinding up against each other just made me miss Wolfie. I did chat to a couple of people in there, but after an hour and a half, I realised I'd have more fun down in the bar just chatting, which is why I left quite early. For me, if I am wearing gear, I like to combine it with actual kink play so I'll have to accept that this sort of thing is not for me. It was great to see so many different body shapes and sizes on display though, which will hopefully help my own derisory levels of self-confidence.
NordicFuzzCon always has a diverse range of theming and this year was no exception. Due to this, and the fact that most people are spread out in hotels across the city, it was largely a room party, kink and sex-free con for me. The latter is hardly surprising - I'd love to have more sexual encounters but don't have the confidence to instigate them - while kink is a nice to have. I did a couple of things, but nothing too major, largely because my time was spent elsewhere. A good chunk of it was at the Maid Cafe, an annual highlight and something I never get tired of doing. As Wednesday was the day I arrived, I had already been drinking by the time the 20:30 training started, meaning I rocked up a little worse for wear. The training was less extensive than last year, but I think I did raise a couple of constructive points. Interestingly, the cafe was in a different location this year, the taquiera bar, providing the Mexican tequila and Japanese maid combination that everyone was crying out for. I made this joke a few times during the cafe itself. I did two shifts - a double on the Thursday and a single on the Friday - with the former probably being my favourite. My friends Vulo, Procyon, Blacksnip and Fiasco all came to visit and get served by me, while it was a great way to meet many new furs as well as some members of the general public during Friday's Open House session. One couple insisted I did the whole service in German once they saw the flag on my name badge, an apt torture for which I think I did well. My German isn't great and it was hard dealing with them in one language and the other table in English, but they seemed satisfied and left happy. Whether people want a cutesy maid or not is hard to say - I tend to alter my performance depending on who my guests are. For a group from Manchester, I was basically swearing like a docker, a far less demure maid than perhaps they were expecting. I made them laugh though and I really like performing, with this being an easy way for me to overcome my shyness. Furthermore, I get to wear a cute dress and be bossed about for a few hours, so what isn't there to like? The service itself was far more efficient this year, although the space itself was trickier to navigate, with far more objects to trip over (chairs, coat racks, hat stands and the like). The rail divide between the carpeted and non-carpeted areas was particularly tricky, while the dimmed lighting which was below my head height above the tables made things hard to see too. I probably preferred it in the other place, but with more tables, it meant more people got the opportunity to be a maid and that was good to see. We only got two tables each this year too, rather than four, and while I understood the reason for this, it did feel at times we were pestering customers a little too much as we needed to interact. Four tables was the right balance for me.
Changing had to take place in the rather cramped fursuit lounge, which wasn't a huge problem, although leaving valuables was an issue. While in the Maid Cafe, they were kept behind the Manager's Desk, but on the Thursday I forgot to collect them after my shift and was left running around after Charis. I did manage to locate him though. On the Friday, I swapped out my final shift as I wanted to go and see the Whsprs concert over in Valhalla, the new second venue which was once a warehouse. Fortunately, Fiasco agreed to come with me as well as look after my wallet and phone. The problem was that the concert started half an hour after my maid shift ended and I needed to get to the venue, which was a ten-minute walk away. Consequently, there was no time to get changed out of suit, what with my hotel being ten minutes in the other direction. Having forgotten my hyena bag back in the hotel room, I needed someone's help and fortunately the cat was there. As I say, if I wanted to see the Whspers gig, I had to do it in fursuit. Fiasco and I walked over to Valhalla, getting a few cheerful beeps from car horns along the way, and I had only really missed the opening song. Whsprs had just released a new album, and he played quite a few songs from it including my favourite 'Snow In Sweden'. It was an acoustic set, which also controversially included Wonderwall, while there was a really good camaraderie and vibe about the 45-minute show. Kalynx was there, as were a couple of my fellow maids from the cafe, who had largely done what I had done. I even met a fursuiter with the exact same glittery pink fur as me, but he couldn't tell me where he got it from as his suit had been donated to him. Anyway, after the gig, I probably should have gone and met Whsprs, but I was enthralled in taking photos as Fiasco had his professional camera with him. We got some in front of the LED wall, which my wings touched, threatening to break it, while I also got a few on a ride-on scooter thing in the shape of a dog. The highlight was the unicorn bouncy castle though, on which I had a jolly good bounce.
No rest for the wicked though as the rock and metal DJ set was next. I think Dasprid did this, like he did at Furvester, but it was hard to see as it was so dark and I was still in fursuit. The set followed a similar pattern, with perhaps a little too much older school metal for my taste, but Rammstein and System of a Down both played and so I furiously and enthusiastically threw myself into things. Alas, six hours of solid fursuiting with no break did start to take their toll, not least because I had only eaten one 7-Eleven hot dog all day. My food consumption was chronically poor and it made me realise how Wolfie is very much my sensible voice, making me eat and take care of myself in a way that my enthusiasm often negates of me when I am on my own. After the rock and metal gig, I met up with Blacksnip at his hotel and we headed over to Max Burger, which he got to try for the first time. I had the Classic '68 Burger which had far too many pickles for my liking, but the fries were crispy and the garlic and pesto sauce novel. Blacksnip wanted a strawberry sundae too, so we had one of those as well before heading back to the main hotel to enjoy the aforementioned NSFW dance.
Thursday was another example of being furiously busy and stupidly not eating. It was for this reason that I burned over 6,000 calories on that day alone (actually 6,007, with 5,294 on the Friday). I was on the Crinkleorgs committee for running the Littles events and this year we had three instead of just one. Thursday was the Dealers' Playpen at 14:20 and the Meet & Greet at 20:30, the first being on the boat and the second being at Valhalla. With me needing to be at the Clarion for the Maid Cafe between 15:30 and 19:00, and with my hotel being ten minutes' walk away, I was split across four venues that day and running around a lot. I did help set up the Dealers' Playpen, which basically saw me moving a load of tables and chairs out of the way, while I did the teardown for the Meet & Greet. In the middle, I did my Maid's Cafe shift. All of this meant that I hadn't really eaten by the time it got to 21:00 and as the Crinklz Colouring Books were too waxy, we needed to get some felt tip pens from the local convenience store. I had seen some in Coop at the train station when I had to get nail scissors earlier in the week, so I went out with one of the littles, who insisted I should also eat something. We grabbed a slice at the pizza place in the main concourse, this being the only place open, and it was here that the nice lady said she liked my pink wings, unicorn and make-up look. The pizza was basically one quarter of a huge pie and it was very good. It was also great to chat a little more one-to-one before we headed back to the meet and greet. This event, as did the Dealers' Playpen, went very well but I did lament my inability to help with all of these two events due to my other commitments.
The compensation was the Saturday, our main boat party, for which I was available all day. I met up with Toddler Kitten for coffee at 7-Eleven, having grabbed my hot dog earlier from Pressbyran. Unfortunately, this was a different outlet to my usual, where I had started to form a strong relationship with the bearded Swede behind the counter. He was very interested in what I was doing on each day I ordered a hot dog from him, as breakfast at my hotel ended at 09:30 which was far too earlier for my going to bed around 05:00 activities (certainly on a weekday anyway). As we were walking to the boats, we spied the Fursuit Parade, which was going around Stortorget, with the police having closed most of the streets. I really wanted to do this, what with Saturday being a wonderfully sunny winter's day, but alas my Littles commitments meant it wasn't possible this time. It did look like an awful lot of fun though. As the boats were a bring your own booze affair and, wanting to be professional, I decided on two cans of Red Bull Blueberry as they were on offer. I then got on the two boats and again helped with set-up, moving the tables out of the way so we could create a dance floor on Blabaten, while on Tin Tin we created a scribbles area and hung some artwork banners on the side of the vessel. The majority of the committee wanted to be on Tin Tin so I stayed in the louder boat with the dancers, keeping an eye on things and ensuring no-one was violating the no camera phones policy. At the same time, Toddler Kitten was leading the way by cutting some fantastic shapes on the dance floor. After the previous night's debacle, we resorted to just sticking masking tape over the camera lenses. Anyway, halfway in, I was offered a hefty glass from a box of red wine and so I was helping to organise the event having had just one hot dog, two cans of Red Bull and some wine. No wonder my backside hasn't been particularly pleased with me. Still, it was great seeing all of the littles and one of them commented that I had lost weight, which was flattering. With tear down taking half an hour, we were out of the boat bang on time, and I was then free to enjoy the rest of the evening. This essentially involved going to a wonderful Thai place with Vulo, Procyon and Blacksnip, before final drinks in the bar. It was usual for us to stay up to 3am, when the last bar closed, before Toddler Kitten and I walked back together as our hotels were on the same street. In the Thai place, I even showed the Thai lady who was serving us the website for Thai Tales, to prove there is a community in Thailand too.
NordicFuzzCon is undoubtedly the best con in Europe, maybe even the world. At over 3,700 attendees, it is clear it is popular, while it changes every year with unique theming and events. Next year it's Spirits of the Zen Garden, a far cry from this year's Ragnarök theme. While I prefer single hotel conventions, with more numbers, it is evident that the NordicFuzzCon set-up is the future, but with most people's hotels within a ten-minute walk, it was never a huge issue (unless it was raining - indeed Blacksnip and I got caught in a heavy shower when coming back from my hotel on Saturday evening, necessitating us popping into Brewdog for a swift one). They brewed their own beer for this year, in association with local craft brewery Hyllie, while things like the blip machine (which I was asked to record for, but I sadly didn't have a good enough microphone) were unique. I'll admit I didn't realise as a member of SOUP that I had to sign a waiver before starting, nor did I realise there was a sticker system in place for generating rewards the more you helped out, but at least I did get what was owed to me. The presence of the Furscience people demonstrates the pull this con now has (I particularly liked their Wheel of Fortune thing where I won a Pikachu for following them on Twitter). I am helping them with their surveys, as well as their request to find a Japanese member of the furry community who could help them with further research. It was great visiting them at their stand, while I was a little disappointed I couldn't go and see their panels due to event clashes. Indeed. NordicFuzzCon has so much going on, that it's impossible to do everything, and I know that next year will be different again. It is such a refreshing con that I always keep going back, although next year I am tempted to try and join STEW and get a little more structure in my working patterns. We shall see. There were so many clashes though so I missed cool things like the Rock and Metal Meet & Greet, along with the Craft Beer Tasting which, even though it lasted six hours, I couldn't tear myself away from my Thursday commitments. I also didn't get to the Dealers' Den, with the queue being too long at the only times I was able to go. Still, at 120 SEK for the Hyllie beer and around 95-99 SEK for the fizzy, I think my credit card suffered enough.
I was amazed how many people I knew and recognised at this con - it felt like ConFuzzled 2022 all over again. I met so many cool people too, while I know Blacksnip also enjoyed his first trip to Sweden. As with anything, I didn't get chance to see everyone, and I didn't spend enough time with some people, but hopefully next year. One good place to meet furs was the fursuit lounge, where I met the likes of Fiber Kitty for the first time in a decade. This was also a good place to collect codes for the Fursuit catching game, although I only got 17, 467 fewer than the actual winner (my favourite fursuiter was definitely the sloth who adopted the slow gait of the animal). From meeting Kamsirius and Kalynx over a beer at BER Airport on Wednesday morning to finishing the trip over a beer and cheeseboard in CPH Airport today, it has been an incredible life-affirming and positive trip. I wish I had gone on Tuesday rather than Wednesday though, as most people seemed to arrive much earlier in the week. However, I need to conserve holiday days for other cons. It’ll also be interesting to find out how the Dead Dog Day went – this is usually the weakest at NordicFuzzCon as it’s on the cramped boats, but this year the taqueria is hosting something too. Now it's back to the drudgery, and I may be coming down with something, but this has given me the motivation to make the changes to my life that I need. Plus it has been great seeing Wolfie again, even if he is feeling under the weather too. We watched Elemental on Tuesday evening before I left and enjoyed it, plus we are away together next week too. Then of course there are two cons in May, so still much to look forward to.
