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Further Confusion 2018Well...it only took 10 years, but finally, it worked out. FC 2018 was held at the San Jose Convention Center, Jan. 11 - 15th. 
 I finished up my akita mutt fursuit, Rio, in time for the con, staying up late the night before to get the finishing touches done. It was the first time I'd made a fullsuit since I was a middle schooler. The next day, I headed up to Seattle by bus to stay with my friend Jovian for the evening, doing some last-minute handsewing on my suit in his bedroom. Then, we were up bright ‘n’ early for our Uber to the airport, where I enjoyed a morning meal of Ivar’s 3 piece fish & chips and McDonald’s sweet tea before we boarded our pleasantly empty flight. We drank vodka cran-apples and sketched together on the plane. San Jose bound, baby.
 After hitting the “Furry Found Footage” panel and getting pizza with Proggy, it was time for my first foray onto the Party Floor. Seeing the party floor for the first time was a surreal experience. So many people...the floors covered with saran wrap to protect the carpeting in the event of spills...a different party in each room, loud music and chatter assaulting you from every angle...it's honestly a miracle to me that any hotel would allow it, but thank God they do, cuz it kicks ass. We spent most of our time in the Adventureruum party, but the Klingon party was probably the scene that amazed me the most in my drunken stupor. A dark room with fake cauldrons of fire everywhere, Star Trek playing on the TV, Klingons manning the bar and yelling "YOU! WHAT DO YOU WANT!" at approaching partygoers, not far from a pleasant snack table with bowls of cheese balls and pretzels. I felt like utter shit the next morning and took a nap in the hotel room after a mediocre breakfast at Whispers Cafe. When I finally awoke I took a solo Uber trip to the nearby Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum. One of my hobbies is researching ancient Egyptian jackal gods, and I learned shortly before FC that this collection of Egyptian antiquities was only a short drive away from the con center. I had never had the chance to see Egyptian artifacts in person before, and I HAD to go. I had a great time in solitude, taking black & white film photos of every jackal-related object I saw there and then taking a brief walk through the museum's gardens before heading back to the con. Jov and I then went to the fursuit dance competition, which we found to be largely unmemorable.
 A staff member suddenly approached and handed us light-up fiber optic wands, fitting the con's "Furtastic Beasts" theme. We joyfully waved them at the passersby, and I tried holding mine in my muzzle until it tumbled down to the ground below and had to be tossed back up at me by a kind stranger with a good arm. Soon we saw our con roomie Proggy walking the hall below and excitedly began shouting down at him. He looked up joyfully, quickly surveyed the best path to meet us, then broke into a run and disappeared down the hall. He arrived on the second floor just in time to help some normie teens get a photo with us. Presumably they were attending the volleyball tournament that famously happens in the same venue as FC each year. The 3 of us did some wandering and people-watching before deciding it was time to get ready for the party floor. We got thoroughly drunk and our time in the Adventureruum is mostly a blur. My primary memory of the evening is very frequently going to the bathroom with Jovian, a feat that involves exiting the party floor and going through the stairwell to access the public restrooms in one of the main convention spaces. There was a lot of pissing and a lot of laughter. At one point when we returned from the bathroom, the party floor hallway was suddenly occupied by many plastic boxes full of tortilla chips and 2 crock-pots of nacho cheese, which felt like too much to comprehend at that point in my intoxication. After a full night of partying, our evening ended back at the hotel room with everyone making shart jokes before falling asleep to Kate Bush.
 It had been decided before the con that we'd be doing the 40/20 Challenge, and tonight was the night. For those unfamiliar it's where you eat 20 chicken mcnuggets and drink a 40 and whoever finishes first wins. Proggy, Jae and I went out to get burritos and then hit a convenience store that was weirdly devoid of items, where we found a great selection of malt liquor. The 40's were purchased and then it was back to the room, where Jov and I got into suit to meet Unagi at the inflatables panel. It was pretty crowded but we had fun playing around on the inflatables until Unagi had to go pack up his dealer's table, and Jov and I left to the astroturf. Jov de-suited when we returned to the room after awhile, but I decided to keep suiting, which was no small feat as it had been a long time since I'd fullsuited and I'd been worried about what my stamina would be like during the con. I continued to suit without dying of heat exhaustion as we made our way back outside and hung out with a big group of friends and acquaintances. A particularly joyful memory was when someone in a pup hood suddenly appeared and asked me for a picture together, and we had a spontaneous, joyful moment of barking and generally Pretending To Be Dogs at each other. Six of us returned to the hotel around 7:30 PM for the 40/20 Challenge. My Twitter friend Ty arrived at our room to hang out for the night. This was their first furry event and we were excited to have them aboard. 120 McNuggets were ordered via Jovian's UberEats app. I was pretty proud of my ability to speed-eat the nuggets, but the 40 is what got me and I failed the challenge miserably. Proggy was declared the winner with about 15 minutes on the clock. I got back in fursuit and Jovian and I showed Ty around the con space a bit. They got their first ever fursuit hug from a big dragon in the con center hallway. Then we headed up to the party floor to spend the rest of the night in the Adventureruum. Many of our friends were already there on the balcony when we arrived.
 As the night wore on, friends began to vanish into the chaos til it was pretty much just Ty and I left standing. We danced with the ArtKour fursuit Kimberly Sweet until the exhaustion and heat became too much and I had to excuse myself for the evening. We went back to the room, Ty headed out soon after, and I was unable to stay awake a moment more. As much as I wanted to wait up for our other con roomies and enjoy the last hours of the convention, I drifted off into dreamland... The next morning, we packed and cleaned thoroughly and left housekeeping a generous tip and a note. Jae brought us iced coffees and everyone was drained and exhausted. Parting ways with everyone was truly depressing after such a fun weekend. Jovian and I took an Uber to the airport together after having accidentally checked into our Southwest flight late, landing us in the last boarding group on an absolutely packed flight and sadly making us unable to sit together. In fact, I was the last one on the plane to get a seat, my only option being one next to a couple with a baby. And then, we were off, back to Washington...the PCD set in hard, and I dreamed of the con when I took a nap after arriving home from the airport. The weekend was a whirlwind of friends, parties, and malt liquor that changed my life.
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