Closing Ceremonies. We'd missed opening ceremonies because they were inexplicably early on Friday, like 10 am or something, and there was no fursuit parade, so this was the first big everyone-at-the-convention activity we were at. This is where I finally got to know anything particular about the charity --- Wolf Creek Habitat, for the second(?) year in a row --- and that the 2,525 attendees raised a total of like $35,000. We were wrapped up enough in our own problems to have missed them, wherever they were.
With the convention officially closed we had a couple hours of unscheduled time and spent some of it in Hospitality --- ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bunnyhugger finally got some alcohol from the free bar; I missed it altogether --- and somewhere around here we picked up the rumor that depending on just when the Renaissance Center renovations start, if they start next year, then Motor City Furry Con might be forced out into some other venue, if one fits.
bunnyhugger used the time to take her daily half-hour walk. I went back to the video game room where they were once again playing Wreck-It Ralph on an overhead projector. They were always playing that or Tron Ares I think because it didn't look like what I kind of remember from Tron Legacy. I finally got some time in on Quick And Crash, the target-shooting game with a fun exploding mug as the final target, and I managed one time even to shoot the mug. I wasn't doing very well. I also stunned bunnyhugger by playing the Crazy Taxi video game --- how often do I play arcade games? --- because it was right by the pinball and it had looked like a lot of fun. It is pretty fun, yeah, have to say.
And the pinball games? Surfers was still working, doing better than it had last year, although the flippers were sorely weakened by three days of heavy use. I'm not sure it was still possible to make the candycane shot that's the real points mine. Bow And Arrow was still going strong, though, apparently unfazed by all its attention. bunnyhugger and I got a last couple games in just before the close of the gaming room, with bunnyhugger once again putting up just over 100,000 points. She was eerily consistent on the game all weekend. I was more erratic at it, but the final game, after two bad balls, discovered just what happens if you max out the bonus, which you can collect mid-ball with the right shot: you can light an extra ball, and that let me get to enough points to collect another extra ball, so I ended up coming achingly close to properly rolling the game.
bunnyhugger got into her Cerberus kigurumi --- while she'd had some time fursuiting Saturday it was just too much to bring the suit from the car to the Headless Lounge and back again --- and got appreciative congratulations for having chosen to wear a neat three-headed outfit. And we went to the Dead Dog Dance, taking in the last hours of a convention that wasn't really our thing. The DJ brought the songs to a stop at 10:00 and then rolled out one more song to close things out that I couldn't tell from what came before. And then the guy in charge of the AV came out and did two or possibly more songs before bringing the Dead Dog Dance, and the last event of the convention, to an end. They did not play the ChipTunes version of Toto's ``Africa'' that had finished Closing Ceremonies.
We did a last check of lost-and-found and careful examination of the path back to my car --- and to the next floor up in the parking garage, where we'd parked for a few minutes before discovering the pedestrian-overpass-level was free --- without finding bunnyhugger's hat. Can not recommend losing precious gifts from family members, would not do again.
Our full day at Six Flags America got interrupted by rain, most of which I didn't photograph. We just waited stuff out in the food court. But ...
It really was raining, though, as you can see from the raindrops coming out of the trees.
The steampunk-themed midway with a fresh coat of water. Not bad, is it?
Here's Steamwinder, the ride we most wanted to get on in Steamtown besides the roller coaster. So, each of the big levers rotates, with the seats staying horizontal, and all four of the levers is in time so they always just miss the others, but keep looking like they are on the brink of contact. Meanwhile the whole base rotates around a vertical axis. It's a much more intense and fun and delightful ride than we expected.
This is just the sign for Roar, which doesn't put the A in a separate color the way the logo posters in the station do.
Did you know they had character meet-and-greets? Neither did we until it was too late.
Here's that picture of a white polka-dotted chef alligator mascot that you were asking about.
Trivia: An Ottoman Financial calendar, or Marti calendar, was in use in Islamic border countries (like Turkey) from 1676. These years began on 1 March, and had a 29-day February in Julian leap years. Source: Mapping Time: The Calendar and its History, EG Richards.
Currently Reading: Lost Popeye Zine, Volume 85: Dragon or Overgrown Lizard?, Ralph Stein, Bill Zaboly. Editor Stephanie Noelle.
