Scotiacon - Howl At High Noon
Feb. 10th, 2026 10:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lupestripeI am currently staying with my mother following Scotiacon, having travelled down from Glasgow to County Durham earlier today. We had initially planned to stop off at the Greggs pub in Newcastle, The Golden Flake, but we had five bags with us and we didn't fancy lugging them through the city centre. Add to this that we didn't know where we could store them and they were conveniently ensconced in the luggage racks and we decided to travel on to Darlington and skip the pub. We both got off here and headed to the cafe, noting that the building works that should have been done for the 200th anniversary of the railway last September still hadn't been done. Once in the cafe, we had a hot chocolate and some cheese and onion McCoy's while Wolfie booked his train back to Leeds and we listened to a bunch of four builders talking about their cocks.
Scotiacon this year was something of a mixed affair for me, but this wasn't really down to the con itself. We stayed at The Courtyard by Marriot, about five minutes' walk away, but unlike last year it was busy with loads of normies. The usual caravan event was taking place, but Strictly Come Dancing was on tour, while the Chinese Shen Yuen ballet was being performed in the Armadillo. In addition, a number of bands were playing in The Ovulation Arena, so there were loads of people about. This meant that wearing skirts and expressing oneself became much harder, while on Friday a number of people shouted abuse. Others just stared at me in disgust and by the time it got to Sunday, it really wore me down. What hasn't helped is my weight, which has triggered my body dymsorphia. Adding to this was the previous week's stay at my father's, which was quite boozy and rich in food, with the weather being so atrocious as to not be able to get out and walk anywhere near to the amount I'd like. Indeed, the weather in the UK since I arrived on 1 February has been as dismal as I've ever known, with thick cloying cloud and rain. This too made traversing between The Courtyard and The Crowne Plaza difficult.
Wolfie was meant to arrive on Friday morning, with the lack of direct flights between Berlin and Glasgow proving very restrictive. In the end, he didn't arrive until late on Saturday evening as Berlin Brandenburg Airport was closed due to black ice. What changed in the weather compared to the previous month of cold frigid conditions I don't know. In the end, he was close to not coming at all and had to take a £84 taxi from Edinburgh Airport to our hotel in Glasgow but at least he made the convention before ConOps had closed for the night at 10pm, meaning he could enjoy some drinks in the bar and catch-up with friends. I bought him some bog-standard chips just to tide him over. Him being away on Friday sort of helped though as I was asked to do a little more work for one of my clients ahead of the Super Bowl. After a heavy night on Munich Red Lager on the Thursday evening, I woke up to the worst hangover ever and a need to calculate the best way of maximising sleep. Alas, I had invited Blacksnip over for breakfast, thinking I had one spare due to Wolfie. Little did I realise or remember that breakfast wasn't included so I had invited the horse over for food that cost him £18.95. What made things worse was I had left my cards in my hyena bag in the room so he had to pay for us. I compensated with beer later in the day though. Friday then was a tough day, but after registration, I settled down to work and got done just before our Writers' Social. The neat selection of sweets wrapped in a blue bow was mighty handy.
It was a fundamentally social and drinking con, probably one of the drinkiest I'd ever known, which hasn't helped my weight issues. I am going to really have to slim down ahead of ConFuzzled I think as it's really hitting my confidence. What's not helping is the 'he' pronouns as I visit my parents. I haven't told them and I am not sure I can, but then I'm also not sure what the hell I want. This has really been burning up inside of me for the last six months and, what with my frustrating professional situation, it's manifesting itself as deep self-hatred. On Sunday, I struggled to get out of bed until 5pm and wouldn't have even done that had I not planned a beer tasting session, while on Monday I went for a ruminating walk through Govan on my own, as well as walking along the riverside and a dual carraigeway. The exercise did me good at least and friends saved both days, but I am far more mentally ill than even I realised and I need to do something to address this.
The Sunday night craft beer tasting was particularly good. There were about 10 of us and Ipequay kindly let us use his suite for the festivities. The last time I had seen him was MFF 2024, while Wolfie hadn't seen him since we had first met back at BLFC 2017. It was great chatting with whisky and beer brewer Rutan here, while it was fantastic having all of our friends around the table. Due to the presence of Rutan in particular, it became a whisky-tasting party later on, and I was surprised to discover I could drink all of the whiskies proffered. Sunday was also the first anniversary of our friend Entei-rah's death and it was good to be able to toast his memory. The drinks we had were all rather tasty, particularly the maple stout at the end. While I was expecting this to last maybe two hours tops, in the end, we kept going for five, even ordering three sub-standard pizzas with the runniest garlic sauce I had ever seen. The margharita was particularly unpopular, but we did all have a slice each of the three different toppings. We retired to the bar after this with more beer and socialising, until I could drink no more, such was my stomach feeling like razor blades slashing through it. While we drank, we kept up-to-date with the score in the Super Bowl and were delighted it was a pretty straightforward win for the Seattle Seahawks. I also enjoyed the far-right meltdown at having Spanish-speaker Bad Bunny host the half-time show. Due to the drinking, I couldn't really attend any of the other events I wanted to on the Sunday. I sadly missed Amethyst Mare's two writing panels that evening, as well as a rubber social, although I got the impression that one was full body cover and I didn't have my suit with me. I also need to get an animal one anyway.
Monday was Dead Dog Night and as seems to be tradition, we went to the Lebowski's burger restaurant in Finnieston. There were six of us there and we were cramped into a table that ideally was made for four. This was immediately after my lonesome walk and I was feeling somewhat fragile and prickly, but being around friends did perk me up. The burger was fine, although the pulled beef I could have done without, while the blue cheese and bacon dip was certainly divine. Alas, Patter didn't get his fries until most of us had finished our meal which was somewhat inconvenient. After this, I went to someone's room for some fun, catching up with them in the process, before ending the night back in the bar. Here I met up with Blacksnip and we ventured into the final 20 minutes of the Dead Dog Dance, for which you needed to queue. This was quite a new thing, but the con has grown so big now, that I guess it's inevitable for the popular events. After the queues of last year, they had also installed a virtual queueing system for the Dealers' Den, but this seemed to put loads of people out of action in case their number was called and they could join the real queue. It was a good idea, but a number of fetish plans were either delayed or cancelled because of it. As for me, I didn't even bother with the Dealer's Den as I was either being too busy or too morose. I suppose saving money is wise, but then it has also been a cheap con, as so many people kindly bought me drinks.
I ran two writing panels with Huskyteer at the con - the Writers' Social on the Friday and the Writing Historical Fiction one on the Saturday. The former took a different format to usual. Instead of congregating in one group around a large table, we were allocated a corridor with loads of smaller tables. This meant the conversations were siloed and Huskyteer and I had to bounce between them to ensure everyone was okay. Our liaison, Atlas Collie, was very professional and helpful, even pointing to the coffee machine that served an excellent hot chocolate. He was on hand on the Saturday when we were in the main event space of the Hilton. This served as the overflow hotel this year, with a convenient shuttle bus operating in between. I never took that, but wonder whether this would resolve the skirt wearing around normies issue I had. Anyway, we actually got microphones for this talk and once the balances were set, we discussed writing historical fiction and answered questions. The audience was of modest size, but engaged, and they asked some great questions, including why I write about gay persecution particularly from the 18th century. There is an answer to that coming on my website later in the week. I think Huskyteer and I work well together and it was great catching up with her and her friend Dai. On the Friday after our social, we ended up going for pizza together in the Radisson Red, which proved to be top value. For £14.95, I got myself a ham and roast potato pizza, which was nice enough but maybe had too many carbs. A dip, particularly a garlic one, would have been fantastic here. We also grabbed some haggis won tons - a fusion of Scotland and China no-one realised they needed. These were served with a nice red salsa dip. The two panels from Guest of Honour Todd Aldrington were also fascinating, even if it felt being shouted at from time to time, and I picked up some really useful tips and pointers. I hadn't really read his fiction before either, so I look forward to picking some of his stories up soon.
There were a few events I had to bail on - Birdy's Wine and Cheese being one as the queues to get in were just too long. This was back at the overflow again and with the bitter wind and driving rain, the comfort of the Crowne Plaza often had great appeal. It was a great opportunity to see friends again though and I must have given out around one hundered of the business cards I had made. There are too many to mention but I enjoyed seeing Taneli and Procyon as I always do, along with Blacksnip, Patter and Doveux. Seeing Furble for the first time in a decade was a true delight, as was catching up with Ranfox who looked so adorable in his dresses and fursuit. Alas, I didn't get the opportunity to fursuit despite wanting to. This was partly because I couldn't pick up my new fursuit paws from Uno Raccoon until the Saturday evening, but mainly because the weather made getting into suit in The Courtyard prohibitive. I also struggled for time, so perhaps at NFC. The paws themselves look amazing though and I cannot wait to try them while I need to be a little more visible to counteract the appearances of 'fake Lupe'. The weather when the fire alarm went off wasn't great either, not least because it tripped just as I was going to go to the toilet. I was speaking to Furble and scranning some of Ipequay's Jollibee at the time, but fortunately, the false alarm was declared thus swiftly and I could go for my slash. It was a tough few minutes though.
There were a few other things I missed. Lunar Belle had a suite of events on that I couldn't really attend, while the Jet Lag: The Game panel was attractive but not at 10am. There were a couple of clashes too, but of course that cannot be helped. Drums and Roses was another highlight (I particularly enjoyed the green, blue and red styrofoam glowsticks that can best be described as landfill), albeit one when I was urging Wolfie to get to the venue as swiftly as he could so he could register, while 'Over The Hills' by Nightwish is always a poignant end to the con even if I can take or leave the cheese preceding it. I would have liked to have gone to the inflatable wearing panel but after my issues at Pawsome, I lacked the confidence to try again. I also should have attended more of the rock and metal sert from Alec DeLoup but that was at the time my stomach was in ribbons.
I am not sure whether I will attend next year yet, I think it may depend on the hotel situation. The con has gotten so big now that everyone is somewhat spread out, but the inability to dress in the way I want was a dampener. Wolfie suggested I pack a bag and take it across - which I could do - but then I fear forgetting it somewhere. It's something I am doing more often now and in 2024, I left my suitcase at the main stage area for ConFuzzled for over 24 hours. The queuing is also another major drawback, while the theme (Massive in the Metropolis) doesn't do too much for me. However, it was a great weekend with friends, albeit a boozy one, and with my father living nearby, it does make sense to come back again. I guess I'll see how the year pans out.
Scotiacon this year was something of a mixed affair for me, but this wasn't really down to the con itself. We stayed at The Courtyard by Marriot, about five minutes' walk away, but unlike last year it was busy with loads of normies. The usual caravan event was taking place, but Strictly Come Dancing was on tour, while the Chinese Shen Yuen ballet was being performed in the Armadillo. In addition, a number of bands were playing in The Ovulation Arena, so there were loads of people about. This meant that wearing skirts and expressing oneself became much harder, while on Friday a number of people shouted abuse. Others just stared at me in disgust and by the time it got to Sunday, it really wore me down. What hasn't helped is my weight, which has triggered my body dymsorphia. Adding to this was the previous week's stay at my father's, which was quite boozy and rich in food, with the weather being so atrocious as to not be able to get out and walk anywhere near to the amount I'd like. Indeed, the weather in the UK since I arrived on 1 February has been as dismal as I've ever known, with thick cloying cloud and rain. This too made traversing between The Courtyard and The Crowne Plaza difficult.
Wolfie was meant to arrive on Friday morning, with the lack of direct flights between Berlin and Glasgow proving very restrictive. In the end, he didn't arrive until late on Saturday evening as Berlin Brandenburg Airport was closed due to black ice. What changed in the weather compared to the previous month of cold frigid conditions I don't know. In the end, he was close to not coming at all and had to take a £84 taxi from Edinburgh Airport to our hotel in Glasgow but at least he made the convention before ConOps had closed for the night at 10pm, meaning he could enjoy some drinks in the bar and catch-up with friends. I bought him some bog-standard chips just to tide him over. Him being away on Friday sort of helped though as I was asked to do a little more work for one of my clients ahead of the Super Bowl. After a heavy night on Munich Red Lager on the Thursday evening, I woke up to the worst hangover ever and a need to calculate the best way of maximising sleep. Alas, I had invited Blacksnip over for breakfast, thinking I had one spare due to Wolfie. Little did I realise or remember that breakfast wasn't included so I had invited the horse over for food that cost him £18.95. What made things worse was I had left my cards in my hyena bag in the room so he had to pay for us. I compensated with beer later in the day though. Friday then was a tough day, but after registration, I settled down to work and got done just before our Writers' Social. The neat selection of sweets wrapped in a blue bow was mighty handy.
It was a fundamentally social and drinking con, probably one of the drinkiest I'd ever known, which hasn't helped my weight issues. I am going to really have to slim down ahead of ConFuzzled I think as it's really hitting my confidence. What's not helping is the 'he' pronouns as I visit my parents. I haven't told them and I am not sure I can, but then I'm also not sure what the hell I want. This has really been burning up inside of me for the last six months and, what with my frustrating professional situation, it's manifesting itself as deep self-hatred. On Sunday, I struggled to get out of bed until 5pm and wouldn't have even done that had I not planned a beer tasting session, while on Monday I went for a ruminating walk through Govan on my own, as well as walking along the riverside and a dual carraigeway. The exercise did me good at least and friends saved both days, but I am far more mentally ill than even I realised and I need to do something to address this.
The Sunday night craft beer tasting was particularly good. There were about 10 of us and Ipequay kindly let us use his suite for the festivities. The last time I had seen him was MFF 2024, while Wolfie hadn't seen him since we had first met back at BLFC 2017. It was great chatting with whisky and beer brewer Rutan here, while it was fantastic having all of our friends around the table. Due to the presence of Rutan in particular, it became a whisky-tasting party later on, and I was surprised to discover I could drink all of the whiskies proffered. Sunday was also the first anniversary of our friend Entei-rah's death and it was good to be able to toast his memory. The drinks we had were all rather tasty, particularly the maple stout at the end. While I was expecting this to last maybe two hours tops, in the end, we kept going for five, even ordering three sub-standard pizzas with the runniest garlic sauce I had ever seen. The margharita was particularly unpopular, but we did all have a slice each of the three different toppings. We retired to the bar after this with more beer and socialising, until I could drink no more, such was my stomach feeling like razor blades slashing through it. While we drank, we kept up-to-date with the score in the Super Bowl and were delighted it was a pretty straightforward win for the Seattle Seahawks. I also enjoyed the far-right meltdown at having Spanish-speaker Bad Bunny host the half-time show. Due to the drinking, I couldn't really attend any of the other events I wanted to on the Sunday. I sadly missed Amethyst Mare's two writing panels that evening, as well as a rubber social, although I got the impression that one was full body cover and I didn't have my suit with me. I also need to get an animal one anyway.
Monday was Dead Dog Night and as seems to be tradition, we went to the Lebowski's burger restaurant in Finnieston. There were six of us there and we were cramped into a table that ideally was made for four. This was immediately after my lonesome walk and I was feeling somewhat fragile and prickly, but being around friends did perk me up. The burger was fine, although the pulled beef I could have done without, while the blue cheese and bacon dip was certainly divine. Alas, Patter didn't get his fries until most of us had finished our meal which was somewhat inconvenient. After this, I went to someone's room for some fun, catching up with them in the process, before ending the night back in the bar. Here I met up with Blacksnip and we ventured into the final 20 minutes of the Dead Dog Dance, for which you needed to queue. This was quite a new thing, but the con has grown so big now, that I guess it's inevitable for the popular events. After the queues of last year, they had also installed a virtual queueing system for the Dealers' Den, but this seemed to put loads of people out of action in case their number was called and they could join the real queue. It was a good idea, but a number of fetish plans were either delayed or cancelled because of it. As for me, I didn't even bother with the Dealer's Den as I was either being too busy or too morose. I suppose saving money is wise, but then it has also been a cheap con, as so many people kindly bought me drinks.
I ran two writing panels with Huskyteer at the con - the Writers' Social on the Friday and the Writing Historical Fiction one on the Saturday. The former took a different format to usual. Instead of congregating in one group around a large table, we were allocated a corridor with loads of smaller tables. This meant the conversations were siloed and Huskyteer and I had to bounce between them to ensure everyone was okay. Our liaison, Atlas Collie, was very professional and helpful, even pointing to the coffee machine that served an excellent hot chocolate. He was on hand on the Saturday when we were in the main event space of the Hilton. This served as the overflow hotel this year, with a convenient shuttle bus operating in between. I never took that, but wonder whether this would resolve the skirt wearing around normies issue I had. Anyway, we actually got microphones for this talk and once the balances were set, we discussed writing historical fiction and answered questions. The audience was of modest size, but engaged, and they asked some great questions, including why I write about gay persecution particularly from the 18th century. There is an answer to that coming on my website later in the week. I think Huskyteer and I work well together and it was great catching up with her and her friend Dai. On the Friday after our social, we ended up going for pizza together in the Radisson Red, which proved to be top value. For £14.95, I got myself a ham and roast potato pizza, which was nice enough but maybe had too many carbs. A dip, particularly a garlic one, would have been fantastic here. We also grabbed some haggis won tons - a fusion of Scotland and China no-one realised they needed. These were served with a nice red salsa dip. The two panels from Guest of Honour Todd Aldrington were also fascinating, even if it felt being shouted at from time to time, and I picked up some really useful tips and pointers. I hadn't really read his fiction before either, so I look forward to picking some of his stories up soon.
There were a few events I had to bail on - Birdy's Wine and Cheese being one as the queues to get in were just too long. This was back at the overflow again and with the bitter wind and driving rain, the comfort of the Crowne Plaza often had great appeal. It was a great opportunity to see friends again though and I must have given out around one hundered of the business cards I had made. There are too many to mention but I enjoyed seeing Taneli and Procyon as I always do, along with Blacksnip, Patter and Doveux. Seeing Furble for the first time in a decade was a true delight, as was catching up with Ranfox who looked so adorable in his dresses and fursuit. Alas, I didn't get the opportunity to fursuit despite wanting to. This was partly because I couldn't pick up my new fursuit paws from Uno Raccoon until the Saturday evening, but mainly because the weather made getting into suit in The Courtyard prohibitive. I also struggled for time, so perhaps at NFC. The paws themselves look amazing though and I cannot wait to try them while I need to be a little more visible to counteract the appearances of 'fake Lupe'. The weather when the fire alarm went off wasn't great either, not least because it tripped just as I was going to go to the toilet. I was speaking to Furble and scranning some of Ipequay's Jollibee at the time, but fortunately, the false alarm was declared thus swiftly and I could go for my slash. It was a tough few minutes though.
There were a few other things I missed. Lunar Belle had a suite of events on that I couldn't really attend, while the Jet Lag: The Game panel was attractive but not at 10am. There were a couple of clashes too, but of course that cannot be helped. Drums and Roses was another highlight (I particularly enjoyed the green, blue and red styrofoam glowsticks that can best be described as landfill), albeit one when I was urging Wolfie to get to the venue as swiftly as he could so he could register, while 'Over The Hills' by Nightwish is always a poignant end to the con even if I can take or leave the cheese preceding it. I would have liked to have gone to the inflatable wearing panel but after my issues at Pawsome, I lacked the confidence to try again. I also should have attended more of the rock and metal sert from Alec DeLoup but that was at the time my stomach was in ribbons.
I am not sure whether I will attend next year yet, I think it may depend on the hotel situation. The con has gotten so big now that everyone is somewhat spread out, but the inability to dress in the way I want was a dampener. Wolfie suggested I pack a bag and take it across - which I could do - but then I fear forgetting it somewhere. It's something I am doing more often now and in 2024, I left my suitcase at the main stage area for ConFuzzled for over 24 hours. The queuing is also another major drawback, while the theme (Massive in the Metropolis) doesn't do too much for me. However, it was a great weekend with friends, albeit a boozy one, and with my father living nearby, it does make sense to come back again. I guess I'll see how the year pans out.
