This was, I feel, another good year. Of course there are regrets, missed opportunities, but I am looking to see them in another light.

My last day of work was the Friday of the week before. A few years ago I took extra time off before the con to travel North with Ben and see a full solar eclipse. It just became my default after that to have the entire week off. Enjoy some relaxing time before the convention, not rush on packing or prepping. And it's less PTO I gotta burn through at the end of the year.

The day or two before a vacation, as many of you have also experienced, is right when a minor problem comes up at work, or the boss wants to start a new project, or your user accounts all force you to change the password, which of course you will not remember on your return after the vacation. My Friday was some of this, and covertly printing off some flyers for my Therian Meet & Greet panel. Then clocking out and going to the gym where some good cardio resets the brain. By the end I was sore, but my mundane identity was packed away and I was shifted more into my furry/were side.

It actually snowed a little on Tuesday. I think the Weather Gods were taunting us. The forecast looked good for the upcoming weekend and I avoided any and all discussion of weather in chats and social media. I wasn't going to jinx anything.

Wednesday I casually drove up to Portland, picked up some soda and snacks, checked into the hotel, unpacked, picked up my pull list from the comic shop down the road, and spent the evening helping with pre-con prep. And after that it was all go.

For the first several years, Registration was in a room at the end of the hall on the second floor. This year we moved to first floor, right by the elevators. The hotel had renovated and what used to be the Port of Call lounge was now available convention space. I now had a larger, more accessible room that had columns and a bar top that made a great backdrop to the badge pickup tables and was useful for putting stuff on. The new location caused some minor problems for our IT department but we were up and ready to check people in Thursday night after only a small delay. That first night we had a line that ran all the way back to the Main Events entrance, but once we opened, we got them processed pretty quick and our setup was so good we didn't have lines the rest of the weekend. Yes, we had problems with the wifi, with the printers, with the scanners, but those were minor and easily resolved.

Even with a great team and the indispensable support of my assistant WolvenTerror, I was kept busy. I did find some time to get out and hit the Vendors' Hall and say hi to friends like Crafty and AirRaiser. I didn't spend much, I bought a comic from Chocopony and a wolfhead retractable lanyard from Fursewnastudios.

Saturday afternoon was a little rough. Last year, as many remember, it snowed. This year the weather was perfect. A great day for a fursuit parade, meet up at Monument Square and outdoor events across the street including live music and food trucks. I had planned to join in the fursuit parade and group photo, something I hadn't really done before. I knew Registration wouldn't be busy and had enough non-suiting Staff to cover those who did come in. And then I get word that Safety is understaffed for the outside events and needs as much help as possible. Whelp. I could have joined in the group photo and parade. I should have joined in the group photo and parade. I didn't join in the group photo and parade. So for a few hours it was me and one other Reg Staff, sitting there checking IDs and printing badges while everyone else was either parading, or working crowd control, outside in the warm, sunny Saturday weather. Soon enough a few folks came back so I slipped out to check out the fair and take pics with DeeDee, my chickadee puppet. The fair was amazing, I could feel the good vibes and energy from everyone. Folks having fun, enjoying food truck food. Pepper Coyote was singing a song about Reg Lines which gave me a double take.

Sunday afternoon was a bit hectic. My panel was scheduled right as Registration was closing and I was concerned about either waiting for hotel Staff to secure the room or having someone sit and babysit until I got back. Fortunately, IT came by to start taking down their equipment so I was only a little late to my panel. It went about as well as in past years. I answered questions sent to my survey and opened the floor for folks to talk about what was on their minds. It helped new folks make connections with the therian community so I considered it a success.

Then back to Registration for more packing up, then over to the ballroom for Closing Ceremonies. I got on stage to tell silly jokes and give our attendee numbers for the year (1,903). Then back to Registration for final packing up, helping other departments and spending the night relaxing.

Monday morning I got up for a good breakfast, helping move our stuff to the trucks and then storage unit. I'd get home late Monday night and wake up Tuesday to find we switched from early Spring to late Spring and the weather was WARM. I spent my last day of vacation unpacking and putting away my stuff and trying to make sense of the many notes I took.

I didn't attend any panels except my own. I didn't spend time in costume, spend any significant time in the game room or dances, didn't even know what room parties were going on, and barely got any time in the sauna. I was either busy or had sore feet from standing all day. Walking wasn't a problem, but years of sit down jobs meant my feet weren't used to standing in place for extended periods.

When registration closed for the day, or on my few forays outside the Lounge, I'd end up near the HelpDesk or something, chatting with other Staff and watching folks mingle. I did get to see a lot of friends, in passing, or finally meet someone from an online chat, in passing, or start a brief conversation with someone new. And on reflection I thought how much I enjoyed that. Just simple hanging out, chatting and being social. Something I don't get as much of in my mundane life. And sometimes an attendee might have a question I could answer and it's nice feeling useful.

While my con experience wasn't overall eventful, it was still full. And satisfying. And I will (fingers crossed) endeavor to spend more time at panels and the game room next year.