Yep, finally got it written
It is, as follows...

CON REPORT – Anthrocon 2006

Thursday, June 15: Though my plane doesn’t leave until tomorrow morning, the con report starts here because something happens that affects my entire convention weekend... the banks close.
Heh, yep, I spent all week making sure I had printed out everything I needed, making sure I have packed all I needed, and basically making sure that the trip will go off without a hitch. The only thing I didn’t do yet was withdraw spending money for the con. Unfortunately, the banks ended up closing before I realized it, and I was stuck with less than fifteen bucks in my wallet and a couple of assorted checks. I panicked and frantically tried to figure out how to get to my account, but unfortunately the only way was through the ATM and though I had a card... I forgot my PIN number so I had no way of accessing it. Thankfully, my brother managed to have his own and withdrew a decent amount of cash for me. It was only a third of what I had initially planned to bring (and less than I had EVER taken with me to a convention) but I was gladly taking anything I could get. Hopefully my checks could help carry me through for those that accepted them. I prayed that the con experience wouldn’t be ruined by a lack of cash and wearily headed to bed.


Friday, June 16: I got up early and headed to the airport to make my flight. I usually enjoy flying but the ride wasn’t too pleasant this time. Maybe it was just me worrying about my money issue, I dunno. Regardless, I made it to Pittsburgh and to the hotel shuttle with minimal hassle, which was good.
I met the crew I’d be rooming with in the lobby; Cyrus, Tef, and Deerock, all chatting with Cdr. Kitsune as they waited for me. We stopped by the hotel’s gift shop to grab some makeshift lunches and then headed to our room to drop off my luggage and get ready for the Dealers’ Room opening.
A quick walk to the convention center, and I realized just how HUGE this place is (the Convention Center, I mean). I didn’t really mind it being big, of course (lots of walking never phased me, heh). The opening ceremonies were going on at this time, so we waited in front of the Dealers’ Room doors. I also took the time to organize my art folder and write out a few things for commission info. Before long, the line began to form and I decided to get in place before it got too crowded. It wasn’t too long before the crowd coming in from the opening ceremonies approached and turned the line into one big... well, crowd.
Upon opening the doors, the stampede began and we all went our separate ways. I headed straight to where I normally went on opening for the first day: Shawntae’s table (yep, me big Extinctioners fan). Chatted a bit while picking up one of the new portfolios he had out, put my name on the commission list and checked through some of the comics he had laid out. After that... it was kind of a blur, I always tend to dart around randomly on Dealers’ Room floors after visiting the first table, but while walking around I did manage to meet: gNAW, Max Blackrabbit, Adam Fullerton (Pegasus 316) and his wife Gaby (Calico), Michele Light, Terrie Smith and her husband Glen, Xian Jaguar (for the first time, whee!), and Brian McPherson (he had my sketchbook from last year, and in it was a gorgeous sketch of our characters).
Despite my limited funds, I was glad to find that some of them did in fact accept checks (whew). Something tells me I might’ve accidentally given them something to remember me by, through that...
Well, events after that were rather uneventful. I did have plans on attending some panels, but I ended up forgetting the times and by the time I realized it, they were already over. Whoops.
That afternoon I pretty much stayed up in the room with the others as we talked among ourselves, ate pizza (hmm, found two really good pizza parlors about a block away) and watched movies. Had I remembered that 2’s Rant was also that night, I probably would’ve gone. Another whoops. Ah well, at least I managed to do pretty well in the social atmosphere that day, and I got a beautiful pic of my ‘roo girl, Terarra, inked.
A late-night walk out to the Kwik-E-Mart across the street from the hotel (yes, Kwik-E-Mart ), I saw just how neat the convention center looked at night with its blue lighting system. Also, it almost sounded like a warzone outside due to the fireworks going off at the nearby PNC Park. It was kinda neat, heh.


Saturday, June 17: Woke up listening to Tef and Cyrus chatting, and finally decided to get up as well.
Tef and I both were planning on getting to the Dealers’ Den early in hopes of getting some commissions from very specific artists before they filled up, so we headed straight over. It was still pretty early, and there weren’t too many people milling about; just some Dealers coming in to set up their stations. We decided to go ahead and have a seat on the floor to wait everything out.
We kept our positions at the very front of the line all the way to opening (something I’ve never done before) and even got to witness some pre-opening entertainment in the form of various furs trying to bribe their way in (and failing, of course).
Shortly after getting our sketchbooks turned in for the afore-mentioned artists, I headed to Shawntae’s table and came across one of my net-friends, Verm. As it turned out, he asked me to be the first to draw in his brand new sketchbook. Heh, now THAT was a first for me I accepted the challenge, hoping that, for once, I could finish a pic for someone. Still having some time to kill, I continued roaming the Dealers’ Den, meeting Jen Seng (Spunky) and Eric Schwartz along the way. Then, I just remembered a special person that I meant to meet the day before but it completely slipped my mind – Indigo. After getting my bearings, I finally found her table and was quickly glomped upon arriving We chatted a bit, and she also mentioned a movie meet hosted by another fur I met last year, Sketch Dalmatian.
Right before I could figure out what to do next, I noticed something fluttering in my left eye. I figured it was a stray hair or something, until I realized that it was following every movement my eye made. Crap...
I headed back up to the room to check it out further, hoping that it was just something on my contact lens, but as it turned out, whatever it was, was INSIDE my eye (after the con I had my optometrist look at it; it turned out to be a vitreous floater – harmless, but annoying. I’ll explain later). While there in the room, I didn’t have much else to do for the moment and I needed something to take my mind off of that floater, so I decided to go ahead and do the sketch for Verm. Cyrus later came in and started playing video games. I finished the sketch and I think it turned out pretty good. I was also amazed that I actually finished it, heh.
I headed back to the Dealers’ Den and returned Verm’s book. I think he liked what I drew ^_^
After the Den closed, I decided to check out Sketch’s Christian Movie Night that Indigo mentioned to me. Tef went with me. We made our way up and met Sketch along with his roommates; neat to see another friend from last year’s convention. We traded a few jokes before starting up the movie, it was Apocalypse. While watching, I also sketched away and ended up completing about four drawings in less than an hour (or maybe it was around an hour and a half, not sure).
After the movie, Tef and I were starving, and decided to go searching for food. Unfortunately, every place we went to was closed by now. I was shocked that this was the case on a Saturday, but I guess it’s true what everyone said about this area being business-oriented. 9-5 solid. Well, there WAS the Fish Market restaurant open, but there was no way we’d be eating there (every single menu item listed was over fifteen bucks. NO way...). Finally, after hanging out with Cyrus outside in front of the hotel (even the Kwik-E-Mart was closed!) we decided to dine on snacks from the hotel’s gift shop. At least the prices there were reasonable.
We met Nauta in the lobby while waiting on an elevator.
Headed back to the room where Cyrus and Deerock were already through with activities for the night, searching for something to watch on TV. Nothing interesting on except a hockey game, so we settled for that.


Sunday, June 18: Floater was still there in the morning... ah well.
While waiting for the Dealers’ Den to open up, Deerock and I camped out near the door and struck up a conversation with Cdr. Kitsune, each of us showing off some of our commissions from past cons.
Speaking of commissions, I managed to pick ‘em all up before having to leave at noon (even got to browse what was still up in the Art Show, since I didn’t get to see everything the day before).
By then it was time for me to leave, so I headed back to the room and packed up to wait on the shuttle.

And that... was my con experience.

Overall, I DID have a great time, even with my lack of funds (neat, an answered prayer! ). Plus, by my calculations I only used half of what I would have originally withdrawn for the con, so that means I have more cash to spend towards a second convention this year. Hmm... which one to choose...