Feral! Ah what can I say to do it justice..... CAN I GET A HELL YEAH??? XD It was an awsome first time at Feral! and the camp totally exceeded my expectations.Below I have included pictures and a con-report that I put together. Enjoy :D
Alright, this was the highlight of the trip for me. During our time up at the camp, a fox came to visit and walked around among the camp allowing us hyperactive furs to take pictures and watch it. Below are some pictures that I took of the fox. They haven't been cleaned up, so it may be hard to see. But some are blurry, please forgive the poorness of the pictures. But some you can see it well. Enjoy :D
Friday, August 26, 2005
What sits on any furs mind when a big thing like Feral! is just around the corner... especially when they have to work. Got through a couple hours of work before finaly heading home, throwing my stuff in the car, and heading to pick up another before heading to Hamilton. Made it to Hamilton to find out that someone we are supposed to pick up is still sleeping!!! Lazy :P Oh well, picked him up a bit later. Hung out for a bit playing Halo 2 XD and just messing around in general. The 4 of us spent the night in Hamilton and planning on heading up to the mall the next morning. Did you know, that when staying up late at night and trying to get into deep theological discussions does not work that well? Just try it some time XD.
Saturday, August 27, 2005
This day was nuts. Fun... but nuts. The four of us woke up and got ready, throwing everything in a van and driving up to the mall for about 12. I am sure for anyone who was counting on the website telling you were to meet, it was wrong. Or at least I didn't see the correct info. But then again I'm a fox, don't blame me :P We ended up sitting infront of the Rainforest Cafe before finally seeing others gathering at The Bay. Oh well, we all make mistakes sometimes. Not a huge deal. This had to be one of the funnest things I did that day. Get out the tail and collar, put it on, and start walking around the mall. If you can, walk infront of all the kids you can see. I had one girl point and ask her mom, "Mom, why is he wearing a tail?" The mom's response, "....." What I love about kids is their innocence. They can look at someone wearing a tail, ears, and collar and think that is cool and funny. While parents on the other hand will take it wierd. Oh well, NEVER BE NORMAL!!! Walking around drawing attention to yourself for 3 hours is a lot of fun. One of the last things that happend in the mall before getting on the bus, was walking into the Sony store with Roo and being told that they don't allow tails in the store XD. Alright, first thing I learn about Roo... never mess with furry or he'll teach you something about it. He told the rep that talked to us to not discriminate against furry's. Roo, HAT'S OFF TO YOU!!! I wouldn't have had the guts to do something like that. He started talking about what it was, and what we were doing. It was great. Roo, you are my hero. Bus came, fur's made their way to the bus, packed it, got on... and waited. Ohhh yes.... the wait. I don't remember how long we waited, but when they said only 10 minutes.. it was more like 30 XD Got on the road and stopped half way up for food and food... and drinks... and bathroom. That can be lots of fun when you invade Tim Hortons with about 70 fur's XD Rest of the trip I spent sleeping, oh man, tiredness took over. But when we got to the camp, I can't believe the way the drivers took that road. Winding dirt road with hills, going about 60 KMH. Yeah, JACK RULES!! Food we got a bit late for the Arowhon staff. But as soon as we got there for us. Got through the orientation and to our cabins in a half decent amount of time, though it began to rain as we moved our stuff. I don't know if having your own plumbing in your cabin is roughing it ;P Got a decent group of fur's in my cabin so I couldn't complain, though the time of bed was late of course.
Sunday, August 28, 2005
On the first day, fur's awoke, had breakfast, then did all that their little furry hearts could content. Let's see, I woke up, went to have breakfast, not too bad considering it was camp food. For all of you who have grown up going to camps and stuff... you know what I am talking about ;) The staff did a great job cooking. Anyways, had breakfast and headed out to get ready for the Ears and Tail workshop. I realy wanted to make some ears, and maybe a tail if time permitted (it did!). Scuzzy did a great job with the workshop and I made my ears...... in..... 3.5 hours XD. The workshop was only for 2. Oh well, they turned out very good if I may say so myself. After getting the ears done, Predator and Pray came around and we all got together for it. Now I have never been to Feral! before and I must say, this game, beats any previous game I have ever played before. Trying to run around and survive without being caught is a ton-o-fun. If only I had thought some things through I was so close to surviving, but for 1..... 1 PUNCH HOLE!!! I must play that game again. Now throw a bunch of sweating furs in a situation of chosing to swim, or sit around in sweat. The water was great XD Dinner was very well done again and I could not complain. Even though it was the first day, I love this camp very much. Now take a tired fur, and show him a bed, because he's tired XD.
Monday, August 29, 2005
Monday was not too bad of a day. I headed down for breakfast, which again was very good, and enjoyed time talking with others around breakfast. Today I decided that I was going to be a bead scavenger. I ran around after breakfast doing activities left, right, and center, trying to do as many as possible... which was only about 5. But oh well, at least I got some more beads XD. Today was the second day for the Tail and Ears workshop and it was the day that we made our tails. I wanted to make a better tail for fancy occasions so I made one there :D It didn't turn out too badly. Another game we played that was fun, was LARP - Capture the flag. Give out swords, bags of squishy material you can throw, and some bandages, and you got a war on your hands. For those of you who don't know the rules, go to the feral website www.campferal.org and check out the rules. It was more just.. insane than an actual larp, but it was still a lot of fun. I wanted to go swimming afterwards, but the dinner bell rang right away :( I never did end up going swimming. Just had a shower instead. After my shower I caught up with Quentin and we decided to hang out and go for some star gazing. We saw a fox that had been reported to be wandering around the camp and that had to be a very cool point of the night.
WARNING
The next part of this day I do not know fully what happened due to a panic attack, triggured by I guess events that happend, but I will try to explain the best I can
I went with Quentin up to the Main Fire pit, up in the forest to do some stargazing. There was no one else there so it was perfect and dark. It didn't last long though, because we heard heavy crunching in the woods. We bolted out of there in fear that it might be a bear. Instead we headed down to the main lodge and went to the sailing docks, layed down there, and just watched the night sky. It was beautiful, there was a lightning storm going on in the distance, but above was just clear night. Quentin and I just lay there for a bit, talking about our lives and how we came to furry, then some about our faiths, and a little bit more about one another. Now this is where things become hazy and confused for me. It began to get cold and I began to shiver from the cold that was beginning to come around me. The dew that was forming didn't help any and a wind was picking up. Quentin saw this and he wrapped his arms around me to keep me warm. I appreciated the fact that he did that for me.... but it didn't really help. I was still shivering quite a bit. Soon my emotions were running wild and I began to breath harder. I sat up and looked around for a moment, this confused Quentin and he became concerned, asking me what is wrong. I sat there for a moment, shivering and unsure what to say. Soon, I replied with, "It's not you.. it's me.. it's okay" I got up and gathered my things and began to walk away. I was told later that I looked totally out of it and confused as to my orientation of where I was. Quentin came after me and stopped me on the trail, holding me for a moment and asking me what is going on and what was wrong. I held onto him tightly for a moment, not wanting to let go, but soon said, "It's my faith" After I said that I let go of him and began to stumble away again. The last thing I remember clearly of the whole ordeal is my mind suddenly saying, "... RUN!" So that is just what I did. I broke into an all out sprint down the path, just running, flashlight in hand, and just running. I remember almost running into some people, and tripping over some small trees, but that is about it. I found myself soon struggling for breath and collapsing on a trial that was in the forest on an incline. I remember some people around me and asking me things, but all that was going through my head and I learned later, being said, was "It's okay... I'm okay.. it's not him... it's me.... It's okay... It's not him... it'll be okay.... it's me...." and I kept saying those things. I don't remember much more, other than answering some questions vaguely, and then suddenly coming to my senses in a van. I was fine at that point. I just became totally back to my senses and that was it. No more worrying.. no more saying those same words.. I could tell from the look on people that I had scared them, and I don't really remember much of what happened. I went out and found Quentin later, he was upset and I could tell. I took him in my arms and just didn't let go of him for quite a while. We soon began to talk about it, but I didn't know exactly why this "panic attack" was trigured. The only thing I can think of is the fact that there was a lot of things going on in my life up to this point and that could have been part of the problem and reason for what happened. We were talking on the steps of the main hall, when we look and not a couple feet away there is the fox, sitting on the ground and scratching itself. It was amazing, being that close to an animal that I am and love so much. I got out my camera and took some pictures of it, being with Quentin at that moment and taking pictures of a fox was a good end to that night. It helped calm us both, though there were still some things going on and worry in us both. We said goodnight once the fox left, but I had a feeling this would come up later.
Tuesday, August 29, 2005
Tuesday had to be one of the best days. I woke up and headed down to breakfast, had some more good food then went back to my cabin for a bit. I got all ready and headed out, going back down to the main lodge. Walking down the trail, there was Quentin, I could tell that he was still upset about what had happened the last night. I went to him and embraced him in a hug, not letting go for a bit and speaking softly. I told him that it was not his fault for what happened last night. I didn't want him to think that it was his fault. That was the last thing I wanted to do to him. I explained a bit about my life, which was probably a part of what had caused the panic attack. We both came to understanding about one another, and it really helped to talk to one another. We soon went out and just wandered around. We heard about a dodgeball game that was being planned and so we both headed for that, playing some dodgeball against one another. That was fun ;) But someone soon came and yelled out that there was another collar making workshop being held. I really wanted to attend one, so I headed to it. The collar I made was pretty good, just basic, though Bandit had some extra studs that I added to it soon after I was done. Not too bad that I now have ears, tail, and a collar, all for $15 dollars. Sweet deal there. Dinner was held outside that day with burgers and hotdogs, MMMMMM. Gotta love the beef. After dinner people made their way to the Theater where the cabin skits were held. My cabin did the story of the lighthouse. I have to give credit to Hunter for doing a great job of narrating the story. it went rather well, and judging by the applause at the end it was a success which was very good for what we thought it would be. The best part of the day though came later in the evening, after dinner. The MP3 party. A warning, I have never danced before and I was unsure if it would be alright and turn out alright if I did. I made it for a couple of decent songs to dance to and did okay at first, but then they started playing some punk songs. They are not good for dancing.. only really moshing and Im no good at that. So I cut outside to get some air and wait for some good dance songs. A lot of people. were hanging outside waiting for songs, the glowsticks broke out and got handed around. The party really got started when Miami came up and got everything going with a remix of Fox on the Run. That had to be one of the greatest songs I heard all night. It was amazing at how many people were on the dance floor at that point. I came on the floor at about 10:30. They had a lot of mixes played and a lot of them were amazing. The Happy Hardcore was probably one of the best mix's aside from Miami's. Now having never danced before, I got quite a few compliments on my dancing. For those of you who were there. I was the one, with the collar, and leash, dancing with the leash in different ways. That was one of the funnest moments I have ever had, dancing for 5 and a half hours straight without stopping for more than 3 minutes. The party finally ended around 3:30 and I was so sweaty and hot from the stuffiness of the room. I headed down to the showers after and used them before getting into bed around 4:15. that was the best day, by far.
Wednesday, August 30,2005
Gotta hate it when you wake up at 7:00 AM the next day after staying up so late the night before. But then again, you have to sacrifice something to have a good time the night before. Got up, caught the last part of breakfast before heading back to the cabin and packing up my stuff. This is always the worst, when you need to head home after a week of good times. Everyone was herded down to the Theater again where we put our bags and sat down to hear which clan came up with the most points to win over all. And of course, to no shock, my clan won, EARTH!!! W00T!!! Yeah, it was all good. We soon headed out to get the group photo taken. One Camera, ahahah. Two Camera, ahahah. Three Camera, ahahah. We had so many camera's, jeeze. And it ended up that mine never did work right, so I had to ask for someone to send me the photo. The buses arrived, and would you know it, JACK CAME BACK!!! He is an amazing driver. We loaded up the buses and headed out, sadly leaving the camp behind, but on our way to Weber's for some food :D When we arrived, I took one look at the line at Weber's and said... NO, must... go... to.... SUBWAY! So I headed out to Subway with Duece and a couple others. The lady's in Subway were amazing, I had on my ears and tail, and the lady serving me thought the ears were cute. She didn't see the tail at first so didn't quite understand the ears. After I went to get some chips and drinks, she saw the tail and was like, "That is so cute" She called to her co-worker who looked too and thought it was cool as well. I love it when people can look at something like that and think that it is cute or cool, and not wierd. Even if people think it is wierd, I love to be wierd. BRING ON THE CRITISISM!! Now I had a feeling when we left, that the time it would take would put us arriving at the mall around rush hour. And, what do you know, I was right. But Jack, being the awsome driver that he is, got us through rush hour to the mall at a very good time. We unloaded the bus, and it was a sad moment, saying goodbyes to the people that we met, hoping to talk to them online and meet them again. I caught a ride with Hunter, Lithe, and Rennir, to get my car. Hunter and I headed home from Hamilton still on the Feral! high, but slowly working on coming down from it, realizing that it was over until next year.
I enjoyed Feral! this past year as a first time event, that I am really looking forward to next year. Even if I can't go to another con other than Feral! it will definetly be Feral! next year.