first time for everything

We have a special FAQ page just for young furries. Many of the questions are Anthrocon-specific, but there's some pearls of wisdom in there that might help you.

Forgive me for sounding dense, but I'm not sure "how" you mean "telling people who" you are.

I can say, furries are wonderfully welcoming and friendly people in general (every group has its cranks, everyone may have a bad day, etc.). But if you want to help talking to a legal guardian, show them this site, show them the "What is "Furry"? page and other announcements. Let your guardian see the discussion boards (there are several about first time cons and being with family, etc.). You should be able to find a lot here to help.

--Mouse (Ish)

It's a white cat caught in a snow storm. Oh, no, it's a white cat caught in a hairstorm.

...Not one period in that whole sentence. Anyway, what would be your problem with just telling people? I was a little nervous myself when I first told my friends, but they accepted my well enough. I turned 16 in April too so I know how hard it must be. Liven up! Being different is great! If you more advice I'd be happy to help!

I have this fleeting memory of a very young furry fan from Aptos, responding to a scheduled meet on the SoCal Furry Meeting list, about a year ago - he was interested in attending our "Fur-B-Que", or something - he felt so distant and cut off from other Furry Fans (at least, I think he meant fans) - and I advised him (or her) of the fact that just over the hills, in the city of San Jose, there was a very large Furry Con called FURther CONfusion, and that there was a Bay Area Furs List, and that there were regularly scheduled events and meets, and even other, somewhat-fur-tolerant conventions in that area, such as SiliCON and BayCON.

I remember being thanked for that advice - but I have sometimes wondered what became of that young Aptos resident, and if he (or she) had attempted to meet up with the very large Furry Population such a short distance away?

Aptos, BTW, is a small community which sits on Monterey Bay, between Watsonville and Santa Cruz; there ARE furry fans in Santa Cruz, the University of California has a few attending. Aptos and adjacent Capitola are somewhat artsy, with a bohemian feel (for wealthy bohemians, anyway). Very much misty, with pines and cedars and cypress and a few coastal redwoods inland from the sea.

hrmmm - perhaps 'tis just coincidence.

Hi, my fur name is Nicodu, and I turned 16 in April. I just found out about this website through a very close friend, but I am a little nervous about telling people who I really am because I went my whole life trying to hide it. I don't want to be different, but I'm slowly coming out of my hole. [[OK, I can't translate the next part too well because I honestly don't know where you're going with the whole school sports thing. it seems to be very random and not part of the previous thought or the one after it.]] I guess what I'm trying to say is I don't know anything about who I am or if I'm the only one out there who feels this way. That's why I'm trying to tell my legal guardians so I can go to my first Con and get to know everything better.

Any advice?
^^
++ If there is anybody near Aptos, CA and would like to hang out sometime, just email me.

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There. That's what your message should probably look like.

Names of people, including fur names, are proper nouns and are ALWAYS capitalized, unless you're someone special like k. d. lang.

Periods are your friend. They break up one thought and prevent you from having a run-on, stream-of-consciousness, free-form jazz odyssey like the middle of your post. They really do let you know when to stop talking, so to speak.

Anybody, not any buddy.

Parenthesis are only used to expound on an idea that is not fully part of the main idea of the sentence, but is relevant to the paragraph at large. use them sparingly, if at all. Most people don't know how to use them, and so probably shouldn't. They aren't, specifically, required for anything that you could just put in another sentence, unless that sentence would be better suited to a new paragraph.

Most people won't know/care where Aptos High is, except probably to track it down now and admonish the English department for its deplorable standards. Far better would be for you to simply list your city and state, as even people in the same city might not know there is an Aptos high in that city, too. I didn't make a point of learning all the High Schools in the towns I lived in.

Fite isn't a word. You meant fit. Correcting a spelling error isn't a bad thing. Fit or Fight. No Fite. Thanx. (<- An accepted modification to the language, as of the next revision of the Merriam-Webster New Collegiate Dictionary, Unabridged. x = ks as a spell-optional homophone.)

I believe you mean gUardian, which has that U, capitalized to emphasize the proper spelling and placement of the letter you left out.

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Ok, now to your actual message...

No, you aren't the only one. There are thousands of us. Literally. There are also a good number of posers, fakers, and freaks who claim to be, but aren't. Be careful in your search for friends, because some of these people are dangerous, both to themselves and others, personally, physically, and/or professionally. I know, at 16, you aren't thinking about your professional life yet, but trust me when I say that things you do now will follow you later, and people will know/be watching. It is easy to get sucked into groups that make fun of other people because they're already marginalized, and joining in may make you think you're one of them. Not so. You're just fodder waiting to be exploited. It'll really hurt when they turn on you, and all they'll do is laugh at your misery.

Anyway, back into the sunshine. You're looking for other furs. Try Google. Furry.wikia.com is a good place to get to know something about the fandom prior to meeting people. It also has some furry organizations listed by state and/or a listing of furs who have chosen to associate themselves with the state they live in. That's a good place to find people.

Despite the fangs, most of us don't bite, unless you ask. You don't need to be shy. AC might be a bit far for a first Con (since it's in PA, and you're in CA and that's, like, all the way on the other side of the alphabet.... country...).