I Went To A Furry Event And Had A Crumb Of Fun
Saturday, June 22nd 2025
Went to a furmeet last weekend solo. Had a great time! I kind of felt out of place since I only really interact with the furry community at large like twice a year for those meetups, which I know doesn't make me a fraud and I'm comfortable being furry-adjacent, but the brain is a tricky thing. I guess it's always a culture shock meeting people who feel a strong identity aspect to the fandom while I'm just piddling around for the costuming aspect! Heck, I tried making a Fursona and it just didn't appeal to me, so here I am pondering my place in a community I'm just tangentially dabbling into. Nevertheless, I always enjoy a good excuse to pull a costume out.
Standing around in a park and waiting for a group photo before everyone goes back to chatting and catching up with friends... I can see the appeal, but it just isn’t for me. It’s probably why cons work so well for me; it's the perfect setting to take some time to chat with strangers... and then some time to explore, go to a panel, show off my costume in the main hall. Even the smaller events I’ve attended recently had a little something that were fun distractions, and naturally created a social aspect around it (The local Neopets’ 25th Birthday Bash, with its Prize Wheel on the main stage and cute decorated space, comes to mind.) Not a lot to do at the park outside of "gathering and chatting", especially if I'm just content sitting around and people watching. (I DID enjoy talking to new people, though! Just a gentle self-realisation there's a mismatch with how I see "my furriness" vs a lot of people there.)
Life’s a little strange right now; I’ve put costume-making on the backburner for a bit, between the USA tariffs absolutely murdering my material sourcing, renovations taking over every nook and cranny of my house, and just generally being more interested in focusing on health-related lifestyle changes instead of craft craft craft. It’s the first summer in more than a decade where I’m not crafting anything! But instead of itching to get back to it... I’m content riding the wave. Considering it’s been such a part of my identity, it’s a bit strange to be so attached to something that I’m currently living fine without. I’m looking forward to re-wearing the current costume catalog, which wasn't really common when I was so focused on the next project! I didn’t realize how much I was chasing the next milestone with costume-making. It’s been a general trend this year (heck, my purchases have slowed to a crawl and it’s nice to look forward to the odd merch item again), and I didn’t expect it to have such a positive impact on my mental health. It’s great!
I guess the main takeaway is that I got to go outside after being trapped for a month in my house overseeing those renovations, though, and that was good.
Oh, and I think I confirmed my suspicion that I don't actually like wearing handpaws, like, at all, so it's good to know Holon's wonky handpaws weren't a fluke. The suit survived the event just fine however, and the large maw allowed me to push my whole face out for a quick look or breath of fresh air without pulling everything off, which helped make it a comfortable suiting experience despite the hot weather.