Convention Report: EAST 12 (2024)

It’s time for another convention report. I’ve been going to the EAST convention since EAST 7 (except EAST 10, which was canceled due to COVID. Apparently that number was altogether skipped as a consequence). This years topic was “The 90’s and beyond”. Being born in 1989, the theme appealed to me (kinda).

Monday, Aug 12 (Day -1): Rerouting / Traveling via…

The previous years I’ve been going by car, i.e. my own. This year, I planned to go by train, but alas: Deutsche Bahn did some construction work on this track, so I had to change plans. Furr Shadowwolf was kind and offered me to go with him, so I went to him the day before Early Arrival - via train. Which was delayed by about 30 minutes. DB really makes it hard to love them. Anyway, I enjoyed his hospitality, and had some nice dinner.

Tuesday, Aug 13 (Day 0): Early Arrival

Somewhat later than planned, but still before midday, the journey started. No major events, but it was quite warm, the car (which also was on the motor car show) didn’t have an AC - really like back in the 90s :3. This brought back some memories from my childhood. (Insert some old man ranting “Children these days don’t know how good they have it” here ;) ). With no major events, the destination Suhl was reached somewhat after noon (I think).

What’s different, this year I didn’t reside in the main hotel (Ringberg) but in the overflow (City Hotel), completely voluntarily. It was clear to me the moment I heard EAST 12 was gonna be in August. Ringberg doesn’t have (regular) AC’ed rooms, and since sleep is very important to me, I decided for the “cooler” option. Thankfully, the organization was able to secure a shuttle service between city hotel and Ringberg, which made things a lot easier. After having lunch, roaming in the lobby for a bit and registering, I went down (with the regular bus), and first got myself a nice iced chocolate.

Then I continued to check-in the hotel, unpack and have a well-deserved nap. I don’t have any further notes for that day, I think I went back up again for a few hours.

I was member of the conops team again, but I scheduled my shifts in the evening this year. It kinda happened “automatically” since there were little other shifts left the when I had time to take a look in the planning tool. I didn’t miss anything, so it was alright with me.

Wednesday, Aug 14 (Day 1)

“Why not do my own panel”, was a vague idea I already had a few weeks prior to the convention. I was kinda hesitant, and also caught in my “everyday routine and job”. On-site panel registrations are possible, so I went and registered a “tinkering furs meetup” the day before. I was kinda surprised that still quite some furs showed up, even on such “short notice”. The idea was that other furries could present their projects. I scheduled around 90 minutes, which was barely enough time. I guess that’s not enough for next year if I properly register this event. Anyways.

We basically had

• a working dial-operated telephone (connected to an old Siemens or Nokia mobile phone, the impulses were converted to inputs to the phone’s keypads). You could make calls and also receive calls with it.
• A very interesting cooling device for making “liquid air”, basically. To roughly quote the maker, “because it’s possible”. The talk about this device actually covered quite some time of the event. I mean, it’s not every day you see something like this.
• LED balls/cubes. Built using these popular WSxxxx LEDs, to either display certain patterns, or even react to noises in the surroundings. There were various variants. If I remember correctly the “structures” themselves were 3D-printed.

Earlier, I was also in the games room, where a fellow furry brought a remodeled slot machine. Yay. Very cool. Also, I met Karpour and Henrieke there.

Then there was of course the opening. I remembered wearing ear plugs this year, and thus could enjoy the show very much, with a very nice light show. In the evening, we had another nice light show in the sky, made by nature. Played a round of Uno with some furs, and then I went back to my hotel with the Shuttle.

Thursday, Aug 15 (Day 2)

I shared a ride with Nox to the Ringberg, who also took me back in the evening, and then my quest to hug fursuiters and shoot selfies with them began (a “tradition” that I started at GLC, where it was part of a scavenger hunt). I also went to the games room again, only to find there was an actual Windows 95 (?) PC with Moorhuhn running on it. Awesome. I remember I played the “Winter Edition” as a child. I also briefly went to a balloon panel where I helped inflating balloons, and finally learned how to properly tie them by hand. Took some time, and I’m not sure if my fingers will remember the movements for very long. Luckily, these days there are small machines that help you inflate balloons, otherwise I would’ve been out of breath pretty quickly.

Dinner was spent with some other furs, one of them went to my tinkering panel, talking about their jobs and the technical challenges they solve, which was pretty darn interesting.

Reflecting that day, it briefly occurred to me whether I should start tinkering with GameBoys (as if I didn’t already have enough half-started projects…), and that I need to calm down more (working my conops shift), not to get too… overzealous?

Friday, Aug 16 (Day 3)

I had a very bad night, probably both because I ate french fries late and I forgot to take my meds. I didn’t need much of a breakfast, still forced something down. Sadly, I missed the Kaiserschmarrn that way. (But they had it again on Monday!). Even if I didn’t eat much, I had a nice talk with Elenir and Shippo.

Back at the Ringberg, I played a round of “Exploding Kittens”, I think we were seven or eight furs playing together? That took quite some time, but was funny. There was also a behind-the-scenes tour by the stage team (which was kinda mind-blowing, when you think of the money, time and energy that goes into it). I have some photos I took for myself, but as I’m not sure what I can show. This was also the day of the dance competition which took place in the evening. The winner was ToxicFox with a very impressive and energetic dance.

Saturday, Aug 17 (Day 4)

Breakfast I spent with entirely different folks again (I’m getting better at this… socializing… thing. I hope. ;) ). Back in the Ringberg, the queue for the Dealers Den was finally short enough (actually non-existing) for me to get in. The other days I just took a look at the queue and immediately noped. I kinda fell in love with a brown cheetah partial fursuit by Sasa creations, which led to an episode of me “losing” my backpack somewhat later, luckily I just left it somewhere where it still was when I looked.

I think I didn’t have lunch that day, and have a complete black hole in my memory what I did during noon/early afternoon. Then, there was already the fursuit parade with lots of locals (non-furries) showing up. And… well, then there was already the closing.

Sunday, Aug 18 (Day 5)

That was a weird day, it kinda had a sad mood to it, the weather at the Ringberg didn’t really help (it was foggy and rainy), a lot less people wandering around in the lobby, made me a little “moody” actually. I regretted not bringing a jacket at this point - I didn’t need one the other days. I went down to the cellars the closing party for a bit where I spent some time talking to JackHusky I know from back-in-the-days when I was still living in Saxony. Got to shoot a selfie with “Bruce” (omg, suit crush incoming) as well. I said goodbye to the people I still met around and know, and was surprised at how many I should’ve said goodbye to but didn’t see anymore.

Monday, Aug 19 (Day 6): Goodbye

Since I packed the evening before, it was a calm day.

I enjoyed another excellent breakfast at the City Hotel, in the company of Nox, said goodbye, checked out and then waited in the lobby in the company of Elenir. We chatted for a bit until Delta arrived, whom I had asked for a ride. The journey home went by quite fast. And then I was suddenly at home in my usual environment.

The effects of the con still lasted for the rest of the week (I worked again from Wednesday), but already the week after (“previous week” from now, when I start writing these lines) it was “back to the normal daily routine”. Meh. It’s quite a shift from having dozens of other kind people around me all the time to going back to my rural live.

It kinda occurred to me that I should probably switch jobs at some point in the future. Though what to, I haven’t got the slightest idea. It feels, I dunno, kinda draining/unfulfilling(?). But that’s for me to sort out… sometime.