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MFF thoughts two weeks later
14 years ago
General
Alright, so a good 2 weeks after MFF and I'm finally writing this up. The stress of school and research has made so much as logging on to facebook, much less FA, nearly impossible, but I feel as if I should write this up before every memory is lost.
MFF was, objectively, a success. Following the advice of a friend, I went with no expectations, and got a lot out of it. I met a bunch of people in the flesh who I've only known online, met some awesome new people, and got outside of my comfort zone. I met a few people who I'm sure I'll have flourishing friendships with over the interwebs.
So yes, MFF was great, and a very welcome short vacation just down the road from Milwaukee. But, at the risk of being negative, I got the impression that it could have worked out a bit better for me. It's been a year since I've come out, 6 months since I joined FA, and the 22 years of Catholic upbringing still resides deep in my psyche. The coping mechanisms I've used in the past which I'm admiteddly ashamed of, such as belittling people and avoiding situations where I'm around "people like me" apparently can't be removed by just a little exposure and immersion. I'm sure this will all change with time, but it's still viscerally strange for me to hang out with a group of gay guys, or god forbid, furries. I'll sometimes be paralyzed by my perceived gravity of a situation, ala "End of the Road". And this unfortunately happened to me more often than I'd like at MFF. Here's a thousand people in a building, who you share very unique mutual interests with, most of them interesting and fun. Go nuts. Yep, that whole concept kind of terrified me a bit. But then I'd occasionally find myself in a conversation about obscure fetishes or some incredibly talented artist who's only FA famous, yaknow, just furry convo. In short, the entire experience was a bit overwhelming. Didn't help that this was only a brief respite from my mundane yet stressful student life.
Probably my most positive response to MFF as a whole is my desire to try harder. I told people I thought MFF would make or break me, but it did neither. Getting involved in furry is possibly the best thing that's ever happened in my life, and after seeing the good in the fandom, I need to keep getting more involved. This means logging into FA more than once a week, working quite a bit harder at my drawing skills, making more connections and maybe even attending more cons.
Some notes:
-There are a LOT more woman in furry than I ever expected. I can no longer go around assuming everyone on FA's a dude.
-Furry stank is a thing. It can get pretty bad.
-Despite this, I really want a fursuit.
-Well, this list could go on for quite some time, but I intended for this to be a quick note. So I'll just finish this by sayi
MFF was, objectively, a success. Following the advice of a friend, I went with no expectations, and got a lot out of it. I met a bunch of people in the flesh who I've only known online, met some awesome new people, and got outside of my comfort zone. I met a few people who I'm sure I'll have flourishing friendships with over the interwebs.
So yes, MFF was great, and a very welcome short vacation just down the road from Milwaukee. But, at the risk of being negative, I got the impression that it could have worked out a bit better for me. It's been a year since I've come out, 6 months since I joined FA, and the 22 years of Catholic upbringing still resides deep in my psyche. The coping mechanisms I've used in the past which I'm admiteddly ashamed of, such as belittling people and avoiding situations where I'm around "people like me" apparently can't be removed by just a little exposure and immersion. I'm sure this will all change with time, but it's still viscerally strange for me to hang out with a group of gay guys, or god forbid, furries. I'll sometimes be paralyzed by my perceived gravity of a situation, ala "End of the Road". And this unfortunately happened to me more often than I'd like at MFF. Here's a thousand people in a building, who you share very unique mutual interests with, most of them interesting and fun. Go nuts. Yep, that whole concept kind of terrified me a bit. But then I'd occasionally find myself in a conversation about obscure fetishes or some incredibly talented artist who's only FA famous, yaknow, just furry convo. In short, the entire experience was a bit overwhelming. Didn't help that this was only a brief respite from my mundane yet stressful student life.
Probably my most positive response to MFF as a whole is my desire to try harder. I told people I thought MFF would make or break me, but it did neither. Getting involved in furry is possibly the best thing that's ever happened in my life, and after seeing the good in the fandom, I need to keep getting more involved. This means logging into FA more than once a week, working quite a bit harder at my drawing skills, making more connections and maybe even attending more cons.
Some notes:
-There are a LOT more woman in furry than I ever expected. I can no longer go around assuming everyone on FA's a dude.
-Furry stank is a thing. It can get pretty bad.
-Despite this, I really want a fursuit.
-Well, this list could go on for quite some time, but I intended for this to be a quick note. So I'll just finish this by sayi
marcothecat
~marcothecat
It was a pleasure to meet you, and I can relate to many of the qualms you had/have.
Pakrat
~pakrat
I also can definitely identify with several things you said... I was born Catholic as well, and early childhood Church/Society programming about sexuality and other things is very, very hard to break, even if you know it was wrong. Congratulations on going to your first con (MFF is a good one!), welcome to your Furry family, we're here for ya, please feel encouraged to more fully explore your interests, your talents, and who you are. :o) Hope you get a suit soon, it adds a second level of experience to a furry con.
actry
~actry
OP
Oh wow, this is over a year old now! I'd still have to agree with most of the stuff here. Growth is continuous, and maybe I'm a slow learner. As much as I'd like to be putting substantial time into drawing right now, grad school continues to suck the very soul from my body. I went back and MFF was great this year. It looks like the key is alcohol. And coming with a few friends, all very helpful. I may even make it down to FWA.
