# ESG 2011 shindig



## Profec (May 26, 2011)

I just got home from Florida yesterday morning and I have to say, the weekend at Elliott's Spring Gathering was a lot of fun.

I arrived at the hotel late-ish on Friday and just managed to catch a ride  to Gatorland (apparently there was a lot of drama about how last minute  the Gatorland thing was announced... I guess I just got lucky when I  arrived) and saw all those cute little alligators. The up close  encounters was fun, though I wish I could have held the snake at the  end, but my ride was leaving. :<

Got back to the hotel and spent some time in my room, nursing a bad  headache that came from nowhere, but I managed to drag myself out for  the ice cream party shindig that went down. I'm glad I went, but god _damn_  there was a lot. Felt a bit antisocial that night since I just wanted  to get back to my room and collapse. Florida's humidity just sucked me  dry... and not in a good way. XD

Woke up late on Saturday and nearly missed the panels. You'd think that  they would make it a little more clear what time the events are, or even  _where_ they were. The panel thingies were  all in the existing rooms, some movie-shoot was going on where the  dance floor was, but the door was closed so I didn't go inside. :<  Instead I went to Rob Paulson's voice acting panel (if you can call it a  panel, it was more like an interactive class for a part of it).  Watching the voice of some of my favorite cartoon characters just  naturally drift in and out of the voices was an amazing sight. XD Mr.  Paulson just seems like an all around amazing guy. I wish I had more of a  chance to talk with him. I just didn't want to fanboy him. 

After that I got to hear some guy from NASA talk... well, sorta. I guess  the con guys didn't think giving him a mic would be necessary, but he  was way soft spoken. Finally they pulled in a speaker and mic and then  from there on it was great. I think his name was Jay, he had some funny  bits. When he took questions from the audience, inevitably someone  wanted to show how smart they were and asked him some questions just so  he could respond to Jay's answer. I don't know why but those kind of  guys just grate my nerves. After that the TV show director that came up  with Mr. Paulson and the guys from Gearbox software (which made me  realize I missed the Gearbox session and made me go  "FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUU-") and answered a few questions. I was kinda  disappointed that they didn't really answer any of the audience's  questions for the rest of the talk. Ah well. Still amazing to see such  heavy hitters at a little con like this.

Saturday night was a karaoke party by the pool, but no one was singing  (myself included, I'm way shy and would totally get stage fright. X3),  but then Rob went on stage and sang The Country Song! I nearly pissed  myself I was so happy. XD

Had a late night that night and woke up late again on Sunday and managed  to get to Wet N Wild and like an idiot I didn't put on enough sun  screen so now my pasty ass is lobster red. DX Spent the next day in  traction as I didn't want to move. But now I'm back home and I'm  definitely glad I went. If I can swing it, I'm definitely going to try  to go again next year!


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## Gunmouth (May 31, 2011)

My weekend at Elliott's was a BLAST this year!

I traveled there with my woman, Kamicheetah, as well as my two local friends, Bonk and Scappo.  Since the event is in Orlando, we made the most of it, and arrived Wednesday so we could hit Epcot on Thursday.  Had a nice time watching the newly-reinstalled Captain EO show, and tried that Mission to Mars ride-- fun stuff!  Afterward, we went to a restaurant called Sanaa's over by Disney's Animal Kingdom and had some wonderfully kick ass food, courtesy of Bonk's friend, Cody.

Thursday night, Patto, Caltroplay, Canucklehead, and Tsampiko arrived, and we chilled out in the hot tub, which is something I normally never get to do.  We all then went  to IHOP and passed around a piece of paper, doodling random insanity on it (might upload later).  Later on that evening, I returned to the hot tub to hang with Meesh, Sirrus (bastek), and a few other friends, before retiring for the evening.  Overall, it was a ice precursor to the main events.

FRIDAY, we drove my car to Gatorland, with Meesh and Bonk ad-libbing insanity the entire trip, driving Scappo and Kami up the walls.  Although the choice of Gatorland over go-karts this year was somewhat sudden, I found it to be a welcome change this year.  We got to go into a room full of birds and feed them by hand as they perched all over us, and we even got to pet and hold some of the crazy reptiles they had there.  I only wish I had brought a working camera, because the albino gators were awesome, and the baby gators were ridiculously cute.  The end show was also funny and entertaining, and proved to be a pleasant finale to this land of reptiles.  I only wish the zipline was fully operational... that woulda been fun 

That night, we met up with Faint (Scech) and Spearfrost, went to some Chinese buffet, and stuffed ourselves.  After that, I did some errands at Target, and stopped by the liquor store for some refreshments.  I gotto try some authentic Bermudian rum (thanks Scappo), and then go to Tigerpaw's room for his evening birthday party.  There were lots of people there-- some of whom I knew personally-- but Tiger unfortunately did not show up until we had gone.


SATURDAY morning was a working period for me.  I sat at my table and took on a few commissions, chatting it up with a few people as I went along.  They had that huuuuge Cintiq tablet set up again, but I never got a chance to use it.  Ran into Atomicstoney and her boyfriend, and we also got to see Likeshine, Kayla-Na, Tigsie, and Yuchidayena.  

Around 4pm, Bonk wanted to go see the NASA guy speak.  It was very fascinating to hear what he had to say, and it was cool to hear him answer questions-- even the stupid ones!  After the NASA guy was done, the other three guests got up and answered a few questions, which was nice for me, since I missed the panels for the first three guests.  

On SUNDAY, everyone headed to the Wet & Wild wate park.  I ended up riding a lot of the slides with Meesh as we tossed jokes back and forth in line for each ride.  As usual, the cookout was awesome, and we pigged out.  It was only made better once the park closed for everyone but US, and the wait time for each slide simply disappeared.  

All-in-all, my third year at Elliott's was awesome as all getout, and I had a really kick ass time!  Always good to see old and new faces there, hang out, and have a good time.  A really awesome break from the stress of your usual furry weekend get-together.  I most DEFINTELY will be going next year, in hopes of meeting new people and making new memories.


--GuNMouTH


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## Darkwolf (May 31, 2011)

It was great seeing you again. I had an amazing time again as well. This was my 3rd ESG and it just keeps getting better and better every year.

First off the arcade was kick ass this year, so many fun games. Took me back to my younger years while I was playing games like Elvira Pinball and Pole Position. The lights and music really made the room fun. Not as bland as the other years.

Sadly I did not make it to Gatorland but some of my friends did and they all said it was a blast. I spent a lot of time suiting so I did not hit up any of the events. But I did make time for the ice cream social. Was so tempted to give King Elliott a dab of whipped cream on the nose.

The last day was fun, got up early and hit up the pancake breakfast. Always some good eats at that. Then it was time to head to Wet and Wild for some sun and fun. Beat myself up on just about every ride. Then ate at the big pavilion on the lake that was reserved just for us. After that I jumped on lazy river for about an hour... Did the black hole a few times then hit the wave pool till 7pm hit. It was nice having the place to ourselves for 2 hours. I really love that.

So all in all I have to say this was another amazing Elliotts Event. I look forward to the next!
See you all soon *wuffyhugs*


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## Kayla (Jun 1, 2011)

:B


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## moriko (Jun 4, 2011)

This was actually my first furry con thingy, and I can say it was pretty  fun. Kind of wish I made the previous years cause I would have loved to  see fursuiters on go karts. XD  Gatorland was fun though. The giant  turtles were interesting, the gators were cool, but it was soooo hot.  Most of the event I just kind of ran around a lot, though I did get to  meet one of the two gearbox developers as well as attend the panel for  it. Was really nice how they got all the people involved helping teach  them tips on game development. I also got to stop by a rather large  party Saturday night though I was a bit quiet :x The water park was a  blast though! Was so much better when the park was closed and we had no  lines! I definitely want to go again next year, though I'm interested in  other cons nearby. I'll try to be more social next time. :3 Waiting on  some art I'm finally getting around to. Took me a while to think of what  I saw myself as for a character.


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