we had a little last-minute brunch today... nothing to do with the super bowl (although for the first time in my life I actually cared who won - and THEY DID!) but just a pleasant afternoon with friends, food & drink and music. we even got in a little hot tubbing.

now relaxing in my jammies. all is well. :-)

Tags: awesome, frenz, jammies, living well is the best revenge, party
Current Location: Zephy jammies
I'm feeling: pleased
I'm hearing: SOMAFM - Groove Salad

we Bunnies have been *very* industrious the past 2 days - we pulled ALL of the fabric out from our overstuffed storage room, reorganized all the inventory bins, and sorted, inventoried and replaced the fabric in an organized fashion with the most used things easy to get at. whew! I feel like I've been schlepping fabric around all day for two days! (imagine that.)

so now we're all organized, and we know what we've got too! (six separate short partial rolls of white fleece... for one thing.) part of the reason for this is that doing production style sewing you need to be sure it's all the *same* - have you ever seen a cheap garment with, say, one sleeve that seems to be the same fabric but the color is a bit off, rendering the entire garment worthless? yeah, you want to avoid that. any time something doesn't come out at the end of the process, with all the work in it, it's so frustrating. but doing one-offs or smaller batches of stuff we can use up these fabrics without having that bite us in the butt, and the bigger quantities can still be used in production.

so now the plan is to use up some of this stuff, and come out with some new items for the playa/campout season. I'm excited! we have some great fabrics, some cool and unusual specialty furs, and we're going to be able to offer some really great stuff made from them soon, without having to purchase new fabrics to do it. WIN!

I also discovered a few things that were purchased for personal projects which never happened due to focussing constantly on work or else being so tired of working that more sewing just didn't sound like any fun at all - and now I'm inspired anew to get going on them.

AND we have some cool new tuff up our sleeves to prototype soon! wheee!

ok now I am gonna sit down and have a nice cold beer. I've earned it!

Tags: awesome, bizzy, bunnywarez, sewing, yay
I'm feeling: tired (but happy)

well ok, actually we've meant it *every* time. ;-) I'm trying to write about this while I still remember the details... it's tough, because I'm still rather wiped out from the whole experience. it was GOOD, though!

what can I say, FC just keeps on getting better every year. this was our seventh time attending, and the first time for FC at the Fairmont. while there were certainly some "Failmont" moments, overall I'd say they pulled it off well. all the hotel staff I met were super friendly and welcoming in all our interactions - as was con staff, but of course I expected that. being used to interacting with the friendly folks at the Doubletree, it was lovely to see this aspect carried over into the new hotel.

we arrived on Thursday. we'd planned on a leisurely afternoon arrival, but when we started loading the bunnyvan we quickly realized that there was *no way* we could get everything there in one load. O Noes!!! what could we do, but make two trips? so we reloaded the van to sort for stuff for the hotel room, drove down, loaded in, then turned around and did it again, loading into the Dealers' Den this time. *finally* it was time to jump into some jammies, relax and greet friends! YAY!

we've been coming to FC for a long time, and it's really great to know so many people now. the con culture is very friendly and welcoming of new folks, but there is really nothing like actually knowing people. as a matter of fact, interacting with friends and meeting awesome new people was my absolute favorite part of the con this year.

oh! and I got to fangirl Reuben Avila! I've been wanting to do that ever since we bought a sculpture (in the FC art show) which he created - during my "Fur East" theme year. it's Ninja Kitty Practical Jokes and it is awesome. next time you're over, ask me to show it to you!

so yes, the seeing peeps was the best. we ran into several of our very favorites on the first night, and received an invitation to a lovely little soiree up in some friends' room. we tried not to stay up too late, since we had to work (including setting up our booth) early the next morning, but it's always tough to go to bed at FC.

I did a little art project this year, to play with the culture a bit... I made buttons that said "I Lost My Head at Further Confusion 2010" to give away to the fursuiters... the catch was, you had to *earn* it (by taking off your head somewhere other than the Headless Lounge).

this is a huge taboo, BTW! very few of the old school 'suiters would ever be caught dead with their heads off, but many of the newer generation apparently have a different outlook, and I found quite a few 'suiters out in the halls with their heads tucked under their arms during the nights. people also heard about the buttons and actually came by the booth to take their heads off for us to get one! I didn't require that you parade through the lobby or anything, but even back in a corner is totally taboo, at least to the old-school folks. it's interesting to see how the paradigm has shifted

overall, most folks thought this was pretty funny (even the ones who refused). although I'm sure some might actually disapprove, no one hassled me about it. it led to some really fascinating conversations! it also led to me learning who some of my favorite costumes actually belonged to - and I was pretty surprised by a few of the folks who did take me up on it!

several did say they would *only* do it at FC - we're all "us" here, after all. one fellow who was cooling off outside the ballroom quickly tried to pull his head back on when he saw me coming up to him, then laughed when he realized I actually wanted to give him a prize for "ruining the magic". from my perspective, the project itself was pretty magical, and like I said it created some fun and unique interactions which I will always appreciate. I tried to remember to thank everyone for playing my silly little game.

really I just think the 'suiters are the coolest (even though I totally admit I am messing with them a bit, but in a friendly way) and it created opportunities for some absolutely fascinating conversations - especially taking about what I was doing, why I was doing it and why they do what they do, with some of the old-school folks. as we were loading out of the hotel, I pinned a few last buttons to luggage on the hotel carts with fursuit heads on top of them. I did come home with some buttons, but I have to say my project was a success.

I also handed out buttons reading "My parents think I'm at band camp" (which Jovino designed with a cool "FC 10" background) which made a great segue into talking about our panel, "Venturing Out of the Den" which is all about how to talk about being a furry with people outside the furry subculture (who may have only ever heard of furries through that dumb CSI episode or the tradge Vanity Fair article). the panel went quite well this year and I'm pretty sure we're on for next year as well.

I DJ'd on Friday night and it went really well. there is nothing in the world like looking out over the decks and seeing fursuiters dancing. last year, they did a conga line during my set (Jovino got one the year before that) and this year, I got them all to scream, and to do the arm motions to YMCA (which, I know, normally I wouldn't even *play* it, but they specifically wanted the well known disco and I figured it'd be super awesome to see everyone doing the arms in their fursuits... little did I suspect that they would scream when I played it, heh). I got shouts a couple of other times too, but YMCA was the big winner. go figure.

here's a shot someone snapped of Zephy (my awesome new pink zebra jammies):

http://www.furaffinity.net/full/3320727/

and yes, I did get an official FC fursuit badge for Zephy. Jovino also commissioned me a Zephy badge, and didn't give much instruction to the artist, who drew me all sexxeh in a bikini top. it was pretty weird to see my character (which is based on jammies, and which I kinda tend to see as a little girl) rendered like that. ok, so I'm a "little girl" who drinks beer, whatever. ;-) she did a great job on it and I do plan to get it laminated! it was definitely a head trip, but it was really funny.

party floor goings-on were awesome. (well, they seem to shut it down earlier every year, which sucks, but the parties themselves were fun.) I had very little unstructured time due to various obligations and some surprise stuff that came up that needed dealing with - all good, fortunately! but the con did fly by even faster this year.

also, I seem to be putting out some sort of gay male attracting pheromone these days. not sure what's up with that. it's very odd! (NOT complaining though, I <3 my gay boys and always will.) but seriously, WTF gay guys?!?! :-D

so anyway, we finally got back here on Tuesday. we decided to stay an extra day because it took two loads to load out (despite jammies doing well, they are just BIG) and we were WAY too beat to do it all by noon on Monday. this turned out to be a good call, as we got in a bit of extra "us time" before having to jump back in to work, inventory, filling orders etc. also, several of the best conversations I had were on Monday night (Sunday night was awesome too). I met some great folks and I am stoked for next year!

in conclusion, I freakin' <3 FC! I would not miss it for the world. it's especially awesome to really feel like we're *part* of it instead of just visiting or checking out a scene we don't belong to.

YAY!!!

Tags: awesome, bunnywarez, costumes, fangirl, fc, frenz, furcon, furry, happeh, jovino, living well is the best revenge, omg furries, superloaf, win, yay, yiff, yum
Current Location: home sweet bunnydome
I'm feeling: pleased as punch
I'm hearing: rain on the roof and Jovino's tattoo machine

so, back (finally) from FC and I have to say this year was AMAZING!!

too tyord to blog about it now. it went well. I am exhausted and sore but happy. we had a fabulous dinner at La Pinata (complete with my favorite pink grapefruit margarita). now it's time to sit in my hot tub, then bed. more later!

I'm feeling: sleepy (but happy)

...when people ask you about being a furry?

If so, have we got the panel for you!

Venturing Out of the Den - talking about your furry fandom with non-furs

This workshop presents communication skills and tools to help you talk about being a furry in a way that demystifies, and shows our fandom in a positive light. We'll even tell you how to easily handle the dreaded "CSI Question"!

You'll gain confidence for talking with your friends, your mom, your coworkers, and even that cute person at the next desk. Why stay closeted and be miserable, when you could more fully express who you really are? The best way to find friends with similar interests is to be out and proud.

Panelists include an AAE Board member, and two people who own and run a year-round, full time, four year old furry business. We would love to talk with you!

This will take place on Sunday at 5pm in the California Room (although, please do check your pocket program for the latest 411).

• 02:03 haz a New Jammiez - in time for FC! they iz AWESOME!!!!!!!!! thank you, Jovino Bunneh. &lt;3 &lt;3 &lt;3! #

mwah!

(this posting automactically brought to you by LoudTwitter!)

• 02:03 is just thinking about popping into the hot tub. I'm SO grateful to have the option! thanks, Peter! #

mwah!

(this posting automactically brought to you by LoudTwitter!)

• 15:36 SOO want the new jammies we just completed! it'll be great to see 'em running around FC, but... how soon can we go into production?! #

mwah!

(this posting automactically brought to you by LoudTwitter!)

• 10:21 JEEZ. Is Mercury Retrograde now, or WHAT?! ACK. (Yes, I know it is, for two more days.) The bullshit, it burns! #
• 12:23 spinning LIVE on Theory Radio 12-2 PST! theoryradio.org - click "Listen" #

mwah!

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so much going on right now... and stinkin' mercury retrograde for two more days!

VERY excited about the Prop 8 trial. what I have read so far sounds really good. the marriage historian from Harvard had a lot to say about "traditional" marriage and how it has evolved over time.

and, Ted OLSON! (yes, the same Ted Olson who argued the Bush side of Bush vs Gore before the Supreme Court and served the Reagan and Bush administrations is representing the case FOR same sex marriage rights.) have you seen his article in Newsweek, explaining his views?

here's a quote:

Many of my fellow conservatives have an almost knee-jerk hostility toward gay marriage. This does not make sense, because same-sex unions promote the values conservatives prize. Marriage is one of the basic building blocks of our neighborhoods and our nation. At its best, it is a stable bond between two individuals who work to create a loving household and a social and economic partnership. We encourage couples to marry because the commitments they make to one another provide benefits not only to themselves but also to their families and communities. Marriage requires thinking beyond one's own needs. It transforms two individuals into a union based on shared aspirations, and in doing so establishes a formal investment in the well-being of society. The fact that individuals who happen to be gay want to share in this vital social institution is evidence that conservative ideals enjoy widespread acceptance. Conservatives should celebrate this, rather than lament it.

Legalizing same-sex marriage would also be a recognition of basic American principles, and would represent the culmination of our nation's commitment to equal rights. It is, some have said, the last major civil-rights milestone yet to be surpassed in our two-century struggle to attain the goals we set for this nation at its formation.

This bedrock American principle of equality is central to the political and legal convictions of Republicans, Democrats, liberals, and conservatives alike. The dream that became America began with the revolutionary concept expressed in the Declaration of Independence in words that are among the most noble and elegant ever written: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

good stuff! and from an unlikely source! I disagree that marriage in itself promotes specifically conservative values (and he goes on to say it is a more universal value in the next part) but I think he's making a point. glad he is on our side!