FC 2009: The Tikki Ticker Tape

And with that my going to FC for a consecutive year was over in a flash.  (Actually, the last few weeks seem to have gone over in a flash).  It was a very, very fun weekend, with lots of goodness sprinkled throughout.  I just went with the flow and the water was sweet indeed.

Ok, long long long winded writing ahead!

I wasn’t really sure at all what to expect from this year’s FC, which could be surprising given that last year was my first  year back after a long hiatus.  In many ways I almost had to watch and stop myself from comparing it to last year continually, lest it become some sort of contest of seeing whether it was going great or not.

On the night before the con I whipped out the poster from last year for my Tai Chi gathering/practice, made some Hawaii-like edits to the design and the artwork itself (flower-print Taoist robes, anyone?), printed them on Friday and nary a few hours later they were going up on the walls at the con.   When Saturday rolled around I had already several people waiting (!) for me in the lobby.  All told over the course of the hour I led the Sun Tai Chi set three times and Shaolin #6 twice, plus taught Wu Bu Quan once to a shifting group of people that totaled probably eight or so all counted.  That was just awesome, and I had a tonne of fun teaching and talking to people in between sets. We tested different poses to demonstrate some basic body linking, I showed off an application or two in response to some questions, and just generally had a good time.  For Sunday it was just me this year – I’m thinking that 10am on the Sunday of the Con may well just be a bit too early.  Ok, probably obvious, that… next year I’ll put the Sunday gathering a bit later.  The Sunday was still a nice practice, and one person stopped me on one of the pushes, ran up, put a little plus h in one of my paws, jumped back, took a photo, then came up to retrieve the plush.  So cute.

Oh, wait, let me take a step back – so yeah, the new costume I made, basically Kannik v2.0.  During the con last year I began to see all sorts of deficiencies in the v1.0 head, and I really started to notice just how deformed it actually was.  I tried a bit of ‘upgrading’ but quickly determined that would go nowhere, so a new head was in order.  I spent some time looking at the old masks, other masks, a good tonne of time looking at lynx faces, and with the help of some conversations with Smackjackal re-imagined and re-crafted a new head that I am very happy to say actually looks like a cat head this year.  I also found some very nice fur at Mendel’s this year that after some trimming and some colouring  (spray bottle misting of thinned ink and paint then quickly blow dried and combed to keep it soft and not matted) gave a pretty grey such that Kannik finally had his winter coat of fur (just in time for the summer-themed con – amusing).  It was much more complex this year and there was much new techniques I tried and invented.  And some things that didn’t turn out as great as I’d like, such as the ears (though they were mostly copies of last year’s ears – something about the biggerness of the head and the longer fur, I think).

Overall though I’m quite chuffed with how the mask turned out.  I’m more drawn to the ‘realistic’ end of the spectrum, and while I know this one doesn’t come close to some of the other masks I’ve seen (there are some _very_ nice real-like masks) it does the trick.  And from other’s comments this year (ie, I actually got some, hee) it was received well enough.    New paws and arms (to allow for the grey fur and the short-sleeved Hawaiian shirt) rounded out the package  (and let me tell you, just that little bit more fur made the suit quite a bit warmer, wow).

The parade was as fun as last year (I kept having to dodge the tail of the suit in front of me who was, very deliberately though with a very well practiced air of accidentalness to it, baffing everyone left, right and center with it).

Big event this year for me was once again the Furry Night Live show on Sunday night.  Our skit had been kept a secret kept for the whole year:  chopsticks and rice bowl vs bench set.  I was armed with the bench, Reveille was armed with the bowl and chopsticks.  We made this set up entirely ourselves, just coming from our kung fu knowledge (including the Hung Gar bench set) to craft the routine.  This year we made full use of our 4 minutes of stage time, and rounded it out to a fuller story with a great dose of humour.  We recruited Smackjackal to play one of the roles and Farrel managed the sound effects and background music real time for us as we did our set.  It was a skit in the full sense of the word.

Our act was near the start of the show as it was last year (woo!)  so we suited up and got ready, then up into the lights we went.  Things went a little awry (oh I have so much greater appreciation for those regularly in live events)  and… we rolled with it.  Totally rolled with it.  I can’t even remember having much thought about it, just spur of the moment immediate action to make it work, and it worked.  I could say it didn’t come off quite as well as I would have liked either in power, speed or smoothness, and truth be told, other than those who knew the set (which was only four of us) or who have the eye for martial arts I doubt anyone noticed anything amiss.  (Though I think I rushed some of the non-fu parts – didn’t miss anything, but it looked weird to me on the replays)  We got it all in there.  We got applause.  And… we didn’t win or place in the voting.  Which did surprise me a bit;  I have been wanting to do a Rice Bowl/Chopstick vs Bench set for many years now and just did it out of my passion for kung fu and to do fun stuff with Rev and the fur-dom, but I really thought we had a good chance of at least placing somewhere in the top 3.

I remained acrobatic during the curtain call and subsequent group dancing.  The rest of the night I received many comments and high-fives and etc on our skit, so voting notwithstanding it did impress a lot of people.  And thanks to Tugrik’s awesome generosity, here’s the vid already available to see online!

http://vimeo.com/2987588 (thanks a tonne Tug! You rock!)

After the show Rev and I snuck downstairs to perform the Shaolin Dragon Movements Straight Sword set (given he was wearing Zi, a dragon, it fit…).  We then proceeded to try to do the Hung Gar Moi Fa and Gung Gee sets and in our tiredness laughed and stumbled our way through them.  Alas given the time and where we were few people got to catch us doing the sets (and getting treated to quizzical looks between each other) – next year I’d like to find a place/time that we can do the set(s) with more people where we don’t hit them with the swords.

Rounding out the con was the FNL cast party, which was great fun, we watched the performance on TV (being broadcast in the hotel) and I got to see the other acts, we cheered each other’s acts, and just chilled and talked a plenty.  One thing that was really great was the atmosphere of the FNL performers backstage and at the cast party – there was much cheering for each other’s acts and support and just great camaraderie.  It was really refreshing and made the evening that much more fun.

And that was the con!  It’s still a bit odd for me in some ways, given that I still hardly know anyone there except the few I know locally or those I knew back in 2002.  Yet I had a good time and I did manage to catch up with a bunch of people, had great dinner with people(s), and etc.  I also did meet a few new people this year, and I think I may give it a whirl to meet a few more people before next years con.

And for next year we already yhave a good chunk of our skit already simmering… in a flash of brilliance in just some random conversation Smackjackal and I were having that began to feed upon itself we started to think it up.  It was was cranked up even to higher revolutions of creativity as we wrapped Rev into it.  Muahahhahaha, it will be epic!  I’ll also be remaking the gloves and arms next year (they need adjustment to work better) and maybe I’ll try to expand it to a fuller suit – so long as the head holds up construction wise I’m cool with how it is for now (though who knows, I may see some ‘flaws’ in it to adjust by then).

Thanks to all whom I met, who participated in my Tai Chi gathering, who made the FNL turn out well, whom I hung out with, who provided encouraging words and praise, and everyone else too… great weekend.