*i edited this journal slightly. Check on the bottom for details*

I was originally going to give yall a day by day report of what I did, but I decided to give you a summery of what really happened and my thoughts and impressions, as I didnt have the time or energy to keep running to the computer, not to mention the internet here is shity.

I will warn you that this a deep mood departure from my last journal where I was very impressed and positive with it on my first day. Little did I know however, that it was just the thin layer of the sweet sugarcoat of what was to come; to be a bland doughnut with only occasional sweet spots. Anthrocon was cool and had its moments and I did indeed enjoy myself to some extent, there was nothing special about this large gathering... oh yeah its very long as well.

First lets start off with...

The good

A lot of the events were enjoyable, informative and humor as well. I especially enjoyed Uncle Kage's performance with the opening and closing ceremonies and his yearly story hour where Im sure everyone knows. Hes a funny man and very hard working with his oveersees at Anthrocon. A special kuddios to him. Other events, mostly held by fans, such as teaching you to make a fursuit or to improve on your drawing was interesting and helpful to beginners. Then there were others that were just there to have good fun, like a game show based on the $25,000 pyramid, or events focusing on a certain a theme like foxes where it encourages discussions. My most favorite was the nightly dance which had all the countless beats of Techno, house, and rave. Combined with the incredible stunning special effects of laser lights and smoke, you cant help but get on out there and shake your groove thing. To add to the perfection, the DJs were all talented and well selected. The only problem is theres so many events going on, many of them at the same time, its hard to decide which ones to attend to.

Another thing I liked was the dealers den and artits alley. Never have I seen so many talented people come together in one roof selling everything from prints, originals, plush's, fur tails, comics, badges, commissions and more, both for everyone and adults only. Theres so much good stuff its hard to buy with a limited budget. If your looking for any furry or scale related things, your find everything right there. It almost scares me even that there's a lot of more of these folk wanting tables but the area was very limited. BTW in case you dont know the difference, Dealers den is more for professional artists who make a living on these things, and often have a larger space for displaying there wares but the price for renting is rather pricey, hence why its mostly professionals. Artists alley, on the other hand, is cheaper, but is out of the way from the most of the con, thus is less frequented. Space is also limited as well. As you might have guessed, these are for amateur artists who are on a tight budget, just starting out, or draw just for fun and dont expect to make a profit.

Perhaps what I really liked is the Guest Of Honor, Floyd Norman. An excellent choice for the Guest Of honor, or Guest of O.K. as he prefers to be called. Floyd is a animator and occasionally a writer that worked on many Disney films, from Sleeping Beauty, to the Jungle Book, and countless others even on some other non-Disney related stuff such as Garfield and Friends. I got a rare opportunity to meet him on the way to the convention and chatted with him a bit. It was nothing special aside from a typical daily chit chat. I did get his autograph and picture though which was sweet. But he was very patient and informative on the questions he was asked on one event where we got to ask him questions about his work. Billaint man. And BTW, I did learn a number of interesting tales about Disney, including Walt Disney himself, where Floyd once worked under.

One more thing: The many fursuits I saw were cute and most of them friendly.

By now, I bet your thinking "what could possbily be so bad about AC?". Well even the most seemingly prefect thing has at least one fault. So here comes...

The bad

The rest of AC though is just... well bleh. The biggest is the social scene. Maybe this is just me and I know those well see this will disagree with me. Ive been told many times that many people at AC are friendly and very out going. Its not even that hard to make friends even... so I was told. Needless to say, thats a bit of a underestimate. To start off my roommates have abanded me many times before as if I was a piece of crap. whaaaa? They seem very nice and apologize for it but what were they thinking? They didn't know a lot of furs to begin with. So ok, Ill just make new friends. Someones bound to regonize me... Nope. Only 2 or 3 at most. I even sat in the corner for a couple hours and not one person came to me. Is it something Im doing wrong? Ok so Ill need to make the first move. I got up to many furs and made small talk to them. Will they recognize me later and keep their word?... wrong. As before, only two or three of them actually came back to speak to me and say "hows it going?" Its like no one gives a crap about you unless your a fantastic artist or stand out like a bright color, something Im not really... speaking of which.

Do I really want to know these people? On the surface (the online world) a lot of furs and fur fans seem to be nice and well mannered. Well if you thought the kids in high school dressed crazy and liked to do nothing but party, AC just takes it to a whole new level. I have never seen so many people before that are badly dressed and covered in piercings in tattoos. Guys often dressed up in baggy clothes and shirts, a number of them are obscene. And a good number of them have piercings and tattoos. Ive also seen a number of guys dressed up in clothing of the opposite sex. Surprisingly, the girls seem to be more well fitted. Thats not to say though I see a number of them put on a lot of make up and skimpy clothes, looking like prostitutes. And hear I am dressed in a collared shirt and regular style jeans. Im not saying EVERYONE at AC dresses like that nor Im I implying that everyone at AC is the 18-25 crowd. And I especially know one shouldnt judge a book by its cover as I have learned But... I just feel out of place. Even then, I would be embarrassed because I often hear a number of them speaking of comics, furrys and animie I never even heard of, let alone catch up on before. Oh yeah... a lot of them appear to drink heavily, smoke, and even on some cases, do drugs and party till the sun comes up. I do drink and even do a fling here and there, and, I admit, can be sex crazed. But Im not entirely like that. Ive got enough problems as it is. I know some of you will call me a party pooper, but its just the way I am. Again, I feel out of place and something im not always comfortable with.

Despite of all this, I did get to meet some interesting people and see a few of my online friends, so its not at all a loss.

And on a minor note, most of the staff seems to not know what is exactly is going or where everything else.

And what wouldnt be complete without...

The ugly

Congratulations if you managed to reach this far! Most people dont bother to read everything. Your prize: you get to know a big secret from me.

<insert dramatic sound here>

Well Im sure most of may know this but if you didnt... I have mate who is *[name removed]... or he was my mate. During the con, he decided to dump me in favor for someone else. Despite that I have given him a lot of love, attention and even helped him financially, he decided to go out for someone else who actually drew and claimed he even got rid of his "demon" by saying the same stuff I did to him. What the? Why Joe? why?? Well he broke my heart at a worst possible time and now im spending most of the con alone. I am a single dragon again with no love. Way to go Joe. If your reading this, you might as well kicked me in the stomach. Well I wont make the same mistake again. You can go screw that silver wolf guy all night for all I care. While we can still remain friends, it will take long awhile for this wound to heal, especially if it goes untreated.

Well thats that. AC can be best described like Brussels spots covered in sweet glaze. All the events, shops and furs, try to distract you from that bland taste but doesnt work... a lot. Theres nothing too special about this event despite all the hype. I think all I gained from this trip is the bragging rights to say I went to AC 08. And as far as next year goes... well that still remains to be seen. Im looking to a "probably not" thing unless I know a whole bunch of my friends going, or if theres a event that has to be pretty damn good.

Sorry if this was long but I really wanted to make my point across. I leave to go back home tomorrow and Ill catch up on the rest of the messages Tuesday.

NOTE: Countarty to what i might sound like, the trip was NOT a total bummer. I did enjoy myself on several occasions. I just wish it could have been better. And after all, its not everyday you get to meet your online friends.

EDIT: I was told that one of you guys is sending hate comments to my ex-mate. While what he did is something thats... not exactly nice he does not deserve THAT kind of crap. I ask whoever it is to stop it. To prevent any further incidents, and that he personally requested it, i removed his name from this journal entry and I refuse to say who it is.