Further Confusion 2019


Our awesome room sign, by Greg.
After having the time of my life at my first Further Confusion the previous year, I was very excited for round two, held from January 17th-21st, 2019. My friends Jovian, Greg, Proggy and I went in on a Marriott hotel room together, and I began work on a new fursuit, Cash the shepherd. The plan was to loan my suit Rio to Jovian so we could suit together. Unfortunately, shortly before the con, my worst furry con fear struck - I came down with a cold that prevented me from completing my new suit, and guaranteed that I would be enduring lingering symptoms for the whole weekend.

Feeling tired, and armed with a bottle of immune support gummies, I headed out for my bus journey that Thursday morning - but tragically missed my connecting bus to SeaTac Airport, forcing me to drop $44 on a Lyft. While this certainly started the con weekend on a bad note, I felt it was a good sign when I noticed my driver's "THRIVE1" vanity plate. And so, I arrived safely and on time, meeting up with Jovian at the airport. We debated waiting until Greg's arrival to go through security, but eventually hunger won out and we went ahead without them.

I ended up selecting Subway for my airport meal, figuring that the cup of chicken noodle soup on the side would be helpful for my mild remaining cold symptoms. We met up with Greg at our gate. It was their birthday! There were numerous other furries on our flight, and at least one came up to wish them a happy birthday. They made friends with a little kid sitting near us, and it was so damn cute to watch them interact. Greg is so good with kids!


Welcome Furries
The three of us survived our flight without incident and picked up our stuff at baggage claim. One of my favorite moments of the furry con experience is watching action packers clearly containing fursuits make their way onto the baggage carousel at the airport. Really reminds you you're in for a good weekend.

Meanwhile, in Portland, Proggy had missed the boarding cutoff for his flight by one minute while purchasing bottled water. What a blockhead! Our original plan had been to wait for about an hour at SJC until his flight came in, but he would now be arriving late, so we opted to head to the con center without him to chill and look at fursuits.

Eventually Proggy arrived in one piece, we were all able to get settled in the hotel room, and then it was time for a Safeway trip. Before heading out, we hung up the amazing room sign Greg had made for us, using iridescent fish stickers to affix it to our door. When we made it to the store, we all got a kick out of the "WELCOME FURRIES" signage posted in the windows. Thanks Safeway. Food and liquor was purchased for the weekend, including some birthday cheesecake for Greg. Other con attendees were milling about the store and I was excited to run into Jelli! But tonight was not the night for socializing - after buying all our grub, I was ready to get in bed and sleep off any lingering effects of the cold.


Jovian, as Rio, takes a seat in the lobby.
While still not at optimal energy levels, on Friday, I was ready for the party to start. Heading to the convention center, we ran into Knox, who told us of his plans to DJ a disco set at a nearby Vietnamese restaurant on Saturday night. When he mentioned still needing a poster for the event, Jovian and I happily volunteered to collab on one. We then took a stroll through the Dealer’s Den. I gave Unagi some drawings I'd made for him on the plane as an apology for taking so long on a commission he got from me, and he kindly gave Jov and I a piece of paper to use for our poster collab. I made my most notable purchase of the weekend, a Houndoom dakimakura (later given the name Sex Houndoom) with art by Ifus. We also ran into Atty, who I had a fursuit photoshoot scheduled with that weekend - it was great to be able to meet for the first time and discuss the shoot a bit.

Later, Jovian decided to suit up in Rio and take him for a spin around the con center with Proggy and I. It was fun to see my own fursuit in action this time, instead of being the person inside it! This year's FC had a carnival theme, and there were carnival games set up in the main con space outside the Dealer’s Den. I bought some game tickets for Jov and watched as he tried (and failed) to win. He then enjoyed interacting with some other fursuiters, terrorizing normies outside the con center, and chasing Proggy around while he rode a Lime scooter.

Afterwards, Jov and I managed to finish the poster collab, and handed it off to Knox at that night's Adventureruum party, which I successfully suited at despite being a bit mucus-y.


The photoshoot in progress.
The next day was my fursuit photoshoot with Atmus. My original, pre-sickness plan had been for both Jov and I to be in the shoot wearing both my suits, but since I hadn't been able to complete Cash, we were down to just Rio. Being in imperfect health and feeling exhausted from the night of partying, I decided to have Jov be the model, since I just wasn't up for fursuiting yet. We met up with Atty by the astroturf and he took some amazing photos of Rio dressed up in his Adidas gear and accompanied by his leashed hyena plush. I'd loved Atty's work for so long and it was a dream come true to have one of my suits photographed by him.

The next major Saturday event was the Vietnamese food disco party we had been awaiting, at 6 PM that evening. The restaurant, Dakao, was only a short walk from the con center. I ordered a banh mi and a bubble tea. The turnout was good, Knox's set was great, and there was dancing and merriment aplenty. I think the staff appreciated the extra business.

But the night wasn't over yet - the highlight of the weekend's Adventureruum parties was to be held that night: BUMBLEDOME, inspired by the iconic Thunderdome gabber parties of the 90s. I had been excited as hell since the theme was first announced. Jovian suited up as Rio again, accessorized with a neon 90s windbreaker around his waist, and a night of drunken revelry followed. The music and decor in the Adventureruum did not disappoint. We also checked out the nearby cuddle party, and there were good vibes all around. At some point, Jov lost one of Rio's paws, making this the second occasion Rio had a paw go missing at a con! LOL.


The inflatable of my dreams: Sharpclaw.
My memory of what took place during the day on Sunday isn't especially clear, but a highlight was visiting the inflatables panel and falling in love with a bedroom-eyed husky inflatable on display there. I would later find out it was part of a new line of dog inflatables being produced by Phenod Toy, and I did later end up placing a preorder for one of my own that fall. Jovian also found Rio's lost paw, and he was once again whole.

It began to rain pretty hard that day, and by the time Proggy and I set out to get dinner (which ended up being somewhat disappointing), we were trying to avoid drowning in the massive lakes of rainwater forming in the streets. Somehow we made it back to the hotel, where I suited up, Jov put on a stunning all-black outfit, and we grabbed our matching Janja plushes accessorized with the classic "invisible dog" leash & harness gag gifts we had ordered off eBay. This clever trick enabled us to take our hyenas on a walk through the con, with the thick wire inside the leashes keeping them stiff and thus creating the illusion that the plush toys were walking ahead of us and pulling on the leash. I'm sure everybody who saw was fooled...


Janja and Janja on the prowl.
Later we headed to the traditional Sunday night Adventureruum party, Witchset. That night just so happened to be the super blood wolf moon, so a full moon ritual was scheduled for 12:12 AM. This involved a gaggle of partygoers cramming together in a hotel courtyard and a red string being passed around the crowd so that everyone was holding onto it and thus connected. The host performed a tarot reading which spoke to the number of queer & marginalized people in furry, the trauma experienced by many of them, and the need to depend upon one another to make it through difficult times and create a better world. There was definitely a strong sense of togetherness and community in that courtyard, heightened by our inebriated states. The drama of furry Twitter felt far away, and I was feeling a strong appreciation for the value of real-life, in-person furry events. Many in the crowd began spirited chants of "I'M GAY!" and "MOON IS GAY!" as I looked up at the super blood wolf moon and saw, to my complete amazement, a prominent rainbow ring had materialized around it - the elusive lunar rainbow. When someone pointed this out, the crowd absolutely lost their shit, the "MOON IS GAY!" chant becoming deafening. Everyone was invited to cut off their piece of the red string that had held us together, to keep as a souvenir.

On Monday, Greg, Jovian and I were all on the same flight once again, which wasn't set to leave until a bit before 6 PM. Before checkout, I took a break in my packing to locate the hotel's guest microwave and warm up a container of mashed potatoes. Our final con hurrah before heading to the airport was a picnic on the astroturf, where we ate all our leftover grub from the hotel room.


I can explain, officer.
We took a Lyft to the airport and went through security, where Greg's suitcase was pulled aside and opened up for additional screening. The sight of the TSA agent looking over the open bag with fursuit paws sticking out was fantastic. Luckily Greg was not arrested for possession of paws and we were able to continue on and enjoy some airport food.

Once on the plane, our flight ended up getting delayed. I recall sitting there for what felt like ages in absolute exhaustion and misery. Some girls who had clearly been attending the volleyball tournament famously hosted at the same venue as FC each year gossiped nearby, while a mom continuously walked up and down the aisle comforting her crying baby, accidentally bumping my arm each time she passed. Our fatigue and the incessant noise ensured we were all feeling like complete garbage. But eventually our flight did take off, and we arrived in SeaTac around 9 PM, begrudgingly parting ways to resume our normal lives after another great year at FC.





Some of the photos by Atmus.




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