#cfz18

So, this weekend I've been at ConFuzzled. It's my first actual furry con - though I have been to BUCK (2013/2014) and GalaCon (2014), mostly as a volunteer.

Here are some lessons I've learned, particularly because a friend is thinking about going next year.

It seems obvious, but don't get hit by a car a month before the con! Conventions are exhausting enough without being on crutches, and with fursuits around in particular, I was pretty worried that I'd end up tripping someone or that they'd end up tripping me.

Stay at the con hotel. It might be more expensive, there might be some more drunk people roaming the halls at any hours, but I do feel like I've missed something on those long walks back to the Premier Inn (I absolutely refuse to pay for taxis for this distance). I also wouldn't have made the catastrophic mistakes I made on day one that way, or missed out on the sponsor goodies, or had to run away tonight due to a severe weather warning on the amount of rain/thunder/lightning coming down*. I also made the mistake of not booking an extra day off. (Both BUCK and GalaCon were hosted at dedicated events venues rather than a hotel with a lot of events space - so there was no "con hotel", just a hotel that happened to be closer - same con ticket regardless)

Make specific plans to meet up with someone. I haven't been to meets, I'm not (or wasn't) in local Discord or Telegram groups, so for someone as introverted as I am IRL, you can end up in this special kind of hell with hundreds of like-minded people around you but little ability to talk to any of them. In the registration queue on Saturday, my social anxiety hit near [MBMBAM 400] (http://www.maximumfun.org/my-brother-my-brother-and-me/mbmbam-400-escape-margaritaville-red-carpet-extravaganza) levels, and that's not a comparison I make lightly. What calmed me down was actually seeing a name I recognized from Twitter (as someone who follows them, not a friend) in the first event on Saturday (which for me was the vore meet and greet). Sunday was calmer to start with due to starting it with the meditation panel.

If you are that way inclined, you absolutely will get fursuit envy and think about making a poor financial decision. I basically took a photo of all the dragons in the fursuit parade and am tempted to look up the makers of some of my favourites.

Badges - it's interesting, I would definitely make sure you have at least one so people know who your character is at short range, but they aren't that useful in terms of long distance identification. You either need some sort of relatively unique fursuit part for that, or someone needs to invent an augemented reality overlay that shows you everyone's name. (Also, if you're making a badge based on an old game console cart, check you have some way of securing it with the rest - the MD cart I made ended up in my bag since it was safer there)

You need more money than you think. Start saving early. I never got highly into the merch side at the pony cons I was at, but bought a fair few things here. Also, it's great that more vendors can now accept contactless card payments, but check your bank's restrictions on Apple Pay, because right now I think mine has locked my account and that probably won't clear until Tuesday. (Also, if you aren't staying at the con hotel, pay for the hotel room when you book it rather than when you check in - because it looks like past me thought "oh, it's future me's problem" and never factored it properly into YNAB)

Will I be back next year? Probably! It's a lot to spend for a few days of social anxiety, but it's still a nice atmosphere that you can only really find at furry cons. (And I am absolutely thinking about getting a partial)

It's taken me a while to get this video edited together, mostly due to fitting in editing around moving house and other life stuff.

Another fun ConFuzzled came and went, bit of a shorter video this time around but I still took the time to film a few moments here and there. I had a lot of fun this year, I almost want to say that it's been the best ConFuzzled so far for me.

Music: Adventure Meme by Kevin Macleod Inspired by Kevin Macleod http://incompetech.com 

Friends Like These by Note https://twitter.com/NoteWuff

Werewolf Boyfriend by Flux https://soundcloud.com/fluxiled/werewolf-boyfriend

As this year's theme is video game related, I went all out on the whole Sonic style with this piece. Featuring Rusti