I've taken a day or two to think of how to summarize my Anthrocon experience briefly, and honestly... I'm stumped. I know, I'm a disaster- but AC was anything but!

Thursday: Things start out sort of bad when I lose sleep for the fifth night in a row, bringing my total number of unconscious hours for the week to about 15. My roomie, Steve (strange how easy his name is to remember) graciously and punctually got out of bed earlier than normal to drive me to the airport... where we got stuck in traffic. Tired and running out of time, I start to have a bad feeling about the trip, but even Northern Virginia traffic works out its kinks and we make it to the airport where I have enough time to make my flight.

My first flight takes me into JFK, where despite rain we make it on time and I make my connection with time to burn. We get off the ground a bit late due to the usual gridlock at that airport, but ultimately I made it to Pittsburgh in style, making it to the airport shuttle just in time. Unlike last year, I didn't run into a single furry until I got to the shuttle, but once I got there, the anxiety started melting away. I struck up a conversation in the shuttle and just like that, I left the real world behind me.

As soon as I got to the Westin, Aelius and TeflonCougar were there to greet me and we went out to town, walking around the block to search for a good place to have lunch. We settled on the Steel City Diner, a popular little joint just a block away from the hotel with generous helpings and low prices. I'd advise sticking to their breakfast items, though... their Gyros are a bit adventurous.

We spent some time in the commons, with Aelius introducing me to several of his friends. We had a good conversation into the night and I started drawing a picture of one of Aelius' characters, a hippie fennec Jodie, whom you will see soon once I take some time to color her.

Unfortunately, none of us were in good shape to party into the night. I have a feeling I missed out on a lot of festivities, but what I lost in fun I gained in blessed sleep.

Friday: After grabbing some breakfast we headed over to the Dealer's room and waited for it to open, where I finished and inked Jodie, giving me a confidence boost. When the doors opened I charged in at the head of the pack... and proceeded to squander my time immediately by wandering around aimlessly.

Well, not quite. I took advantage of our placement in line to get commissions from Spunky, Solidasp, and Pegasus316. I picked up a few comics and talked with a few of my favorite artists for a bit, then, finding myself hopelessly overloaded with swag, returned to the room for a bit. After a short hiatus I hooked up with the others and said hello to Juki, who I hadn't seen in about six years!

We returned to the dealer's room where I stopped by David Lillie's table and picked up "Dreamkeepers: Vol. 2", a series which I highly recommend if you love fantasy, adventure, really creative world design, and a snappy blend of adventure and humor. While you're leafing through this remarkable book keep an eye open for Topaz- yes, Topaz! To my stupendous surprise the man who had so awesomely drawn Topaz the previous year remembered the vixen fondly enough to throw her into his epic!

I also stopped at the Artist's Alley and met none other than Kay Fedewa. I picked up their first printed issue of the Blackblood Alliance and struck up a conversation. She was very nice and approachable and I'll definitely have to remember to get in touch with her.

Strangely, I didn't have the same urge to commission Max Blackrabbit and Shawntae again- perhaps cause I was looking for some new blood.

We left the dealer's den and artist's alley pretty satisfied with our loot and decided to go out for dinner at a Korean place down the road where a bunch of Aelius' friends and my roommates chatted mostly about cars. We got out just in time to run to Kage's story hour, an event I had never attended before and thoroughly enjoyed. Afterwards we somehow made our way to Moonie's room in the Omni Hotel, where I ran into Gabriel Fawkes again. He commissioned me in what would be my second Anthrocon illustration, which I still have to send him a finished and spiffy scan of.

Realizing that it was getting late, we retired to our room in the Westin, astonished that at 1 AM there was still a really long line in front of the elevators. On the way up to the eleventh floor Juki and I discussed what would ultimately become the Bloody Lung challenge, a 26-story endurance run to the top of the Westin Hotel. As tired as we were by the 11th floor, I had a few doubts that we could do it, but it heartened me that Juki, who must weigh 100 pounds less than me, was just as tired as I was.

After a bit of chatting and catching an episode of "Scrubs", we sacked out late.

To be continued...