S.Y.W.G.W.E.K.Y.N.

Passwords are common and everyday things. And they have been so for quite some time now. But I remember when I got my first password. I was in college and it was assigned to me. It was the most difficult thing to remember in the world. I wrote it on a tiny piece of paper and kept it in my wallet – constantly referencing it when I sat down in front of a computer.

This may sound crazy, but could you also imagine a time when the internet wasn’t at your fingertips? Certainly, you’ve seen the recent BMW commercial with Katie Couric and Bryant Gumbel where they play a clip of a 1994 episode of The Today Show. In that clip, Katie and Bryant were dumbfounded and confused by this crazy thing called internet.

Here’s the full clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95-yZ-31j9A

That may seem crazy too. But it was a mind-boggling thing to start. The internet seemed so bizarre, so strange and its valued purpose was a total mystery.

As passwords became more common, news reports came out that suggested you create passwords that were easy for you to remember but hard for others to figure out.

This suggestion was my absolute favorite one: SYWGWEKYN
It’s an acronym.
.
.
.
.
.

Figured out what it means yet?

Sometimes You Wanna Go Where Everybody Knows Your Name

If the reference seems foreign, this likely means you never watched Nick at Nite reruns or probably remember Bill Clinton as the first president of your lifetime. LOL

That’s okay. Here’s an aid: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1irjgfMC3A

In my life, just as unrealistic as instantaneous worldwide communications (and for those who remember that dial-up noise, you’ll also remember how they weren’t exactly instantaneous) were the impossible possibilities of a great many things that harbored passion in fantasy but had little practical use in reality … just like the internet was initially viewed.

One of those things for me that seemed best left in fantasy was actually meeting other ABDLers.

You still with me? How crazy of a thought is that? After all, there are ways to connect with ABDLers everywhere. Aren’t there? Well … now there are.

I remember NELICon in 2011. It was another mind-boggling experience. An ABDL Convention? Whoever heard of such a crazy and impossible thing? But at the same time NELICon was diapering up, so was this other ABDL convention out in the Midwest – called CAPCon.

Five Years Later … CAPCon is bigger and better than it has ever been before. No one doubts it now. It sells out and brings people from all over the world to the Chicago area.

My fourth venture westward to this yearly tradition began on Wednesday, March 25th. Convening at a point in Pennsylvania, four vehicles loaded up with people, luggage, ball pit contraband and more – heading west as The Krinkle Express.

We would leave at 11pm, driving through the night and straight into the next day, arriving at CAPCon at noon that Thursday.

I remember getting out of the car and looking up at the enormous hotel the convention would be held in and walking through the facility I got out my phone – tweeting the thought that kept coursing through my mind: “Wow, #CAPCon. Nice hotel. #ABDL”.

But it was more than nice. It was unbelievable, just like the internet and ABDL Conventions.

That night, the caravan crew and all who had arrived that day had a pre-Con meal at a local restaurant with a rustic-look. The entire back section of the restaurant had been reserved for our group. And as I looked across that room at the probable-50 or so ABDLers who were there, I remember back to that acronym SYWGWEKYN (Sometimes You Wanna Go Where Everybody Knows Your Name). And I smiled at the fact that I could hardly remember anyone’s name. LOL But the faces hadn’t faded from familiarity, nor who they were, nor what they meant to me.

Luckily, there were some other folks who made the same admittance of remembering faces but not names. This made me feel a little better. That night, as Bud75 and I sat at the bar downstairs sharing a drink with a sweetheart I had met at FetFest years ago as well as a fine upstanding gent who was one of those familiar Con faces turned fast-friends, I fell back into the comfortableness that the CAPCon atmosphere always seemed to possess.

But CAPCon Eve was far from over. Even later that night, a fire alarm went off. GULP! Relax. The convention space wouldn’t open until Friday morning. So no one was dressed provocatively. And it was wonderful to see the attendees taking seriously the concern of maintaining vanilla appearances in the hotel common areas. I guess that really showed how much people loved this convention and how they didn’t ever want to see it end. I saw no pacifiers in people’s mouths as we stood outside during the fire alarm – nor did I see anything flaunted that would’ve been obvious in non-vanilla nature … from onesies to bonnets to furniture to stuffies to baby bottles.

But there was still one more really big event of that Eve for me. And I remember patiently waiting the arrival of a couple from Ohio who I had befriended at CAPCon 2012. She was the first ever Little Miss CAPCon and he was the second Little Mister CAPCon.

I was so fearful that they might not make it to the Con this year that I immediately embraced when we finally met that night. I really didn’t want to let them go.

Being the eternal night owl, I began to walk around the hotel when the pre-con room parties ended, people went to bed and late night became early early morning. I marveled over how CAPCon had grown immensely in five years, overcoming numerous obstacles along the way to always wind up in even better shape than before.

The Con still hadn’t officially started, but I had already filled up the piece paper I always keep in my back left pocket for notes with memories galore. And when I finally went to bed myself, I realized that the acronym needn’t really be so long as it was. So I flipped that piece of paper over and wrote the greatest truth of all.

Sometimes You Wanna Go Where Everybody Knows You.

Friday –
Friday came soon enough and the con space opened – with a vendors’ room, a changing room, two classrooms and the biggest open space CAPCon had ever offered.

They certainly filled that open space too – with four tables that were mounded with coloring books, Little Philly’s Ball Pit, Legos on foam mats, an enormous play pen, high chairs, toys galore, a cuddling area, a clothing yard sale, a whole table of plastic pants, things to climb into, things to lay under, matchboxes, a twister area and the largest teddy bear I’ve ever seen – brought to CAPCon by the crew from Pittsburgh.

The con commenced and everyone interacted as if they had been lifelong friends. And as is not only usual at CAPCon but is the basis of its family feel, young-n-old mixed perfectly, all preferences and all shades.

Lunch that day took me to Burger King as several members of the Krinkle Express woofed down the fast-food delights in a hurry to get back to the convention space. Being as CAPCon is only one weekend a year, there’s a never a moment to waste. And there’s also never a moment when there’s nothing to do.

The afternoon was filled with classes: The Little Detectives Class – Even more amazing than it was last year, The Furry FanDom Class – Quite intriguing and a completely unexplored subject for me, The Shame Class – no, not a class about humiliation play but rather, one about how to deal with the feeling of shame and The Mommy-n-Me Class – Lively as can be and immensely popular.

There were ABDLers at this con from everywhere: including Sweden, Lithuania, Israel, New Zealand and The Philippines. And when we all came together, well … somethings were just simply meant to be. And it was obvious how right CAPCon was for all.

Dinner was at the Food Court of a nearby mall. A good dozen people made the trip. I bee-lined straight for the Chinese food and learned something I didn’t know about Panda Express. They don’t have Chicken with Broccoli. But with an alternate choice to satisfy the hunger, I woofed the meal down, enjoying the mixed company and welcoming to the weekend a very nurturing Mommy.

Then we raced back to the con space at the hotel again. LOL It seemed that this was the common occurrence all weekend long. When we absolutely had to leave the con space, we would … but only for as long as we needed to. There was something about that room that just kept drawing us back to it, again and again. From Bigs to Middles to Littles, there was an experience to be had and it just kept getting better.

The evening hosted several activities simultaneously – from a movie to a rock band session to a most adorable daycare room. Poking my head into daycare, I saw the happiest of littles painting and coloring and enjoying the maternal encounter. PLUS! Apparently wishing upon a star isn’t the only way for dreams to come true and for miracles to take place. While painting in daycare, one teary-eyed little girl waited patiently as her loving uncle went on a full-con search to find her missing bunny rabbit. And my, oh my, did her face light up when he walked into daycare with that stuffie in his hand.

CAPCon has also welcomed back a bit of the dark side of the force as both evenings hosted some dark age play in one of the classrooms. Being as I have a weak stomach, I kept my distance – trusting all were enjoying it. I’m not entirely sure what happened specifically, but I do remember seeing a pair of boat oars being taken into the dark age play room. And I do recall hearing the sounds of “stinging delivery”, so to speak, as they echoed off the classroom walls.

The con space closed for the night and I was lucky to host about 12 or 15 people in my room as I read a few tangled fairy tales. Hey, Goldilocks has needed to be diapered for a long time. That’s how I see it, anyway.

After that, the room parties kicked into high gear. Making the rounds to as many rooms as I could before I ran out of Guinness that night, I was happy to see the same mixtures of people – sitting around and enjoying their time in a place where everybody knew them.

As that first day wound down, it seemed that where everybody knows you had become where everybody knows you well.

Saturday –
I am absolutely certain that Saturday morning was wonderful. But I can’t recap any of it as I was searching for equilibrium and nibbling on grilled ham-n-cheese sandwiches. But I can tell you that the annual relationship class with its ever-deepening appeal in roundtable discussion proved to be worthwhile once more and the hypnosis class seemed well attended and intense.

But Saturdays at CAPCon are always the most unique of the three day span. They begin with the momentum created from Friday and they keep building all day long as some of the main events begin to take place.

And one of those main events was the immensely popular and immensely wild Nerf Gun War. But this year, the Nerf War proved to be the same as CAPCon was as a whole … in other words: bigger and better. The start of the war was delayed a short time to allow two afternoon classes to finish without having to compete with the noise that would ensue and consume the entire open space.

But instead of being frustrated for having to wait, the would-be participants took the extra time and began to fortify their defenses – build barricades out of Legos and finding plastic bin covers to turn into shields. And by the time the war broke out, it was already evident that this Nerf Battle would reach galactic proportions. Nerf darts shot into the air with such a rapid-fire delivery that the right half of the open space had to be declared as a United Nations Peace Zone. And when people could no longer reload their guns without getting bombarded by foam darts, everyone just picked the darts up by the handfuls and started throwing them. Yes indeed, Nerf Gun World War 5 was a tremendous hit and I am certain that next year, it will be bigger and better still.

Saturday evening once again hosted the Little Miss and Little Mister CAPCon Pageant. This always winds up being the highlight of the entire weekend and there are many reasons why. It enables people to present one of their many talents. And in doing so, the participants show courage. They don’t just throw something together at the last minute, either. It was very clear that these people had devoted some serious time in preparation.

Sitting in the middle of the open space, I found myself clapping the whole time – at points, even standing to my feet to do so. Having spent 15 years now in a fairly steady capacity at a number of theaters, I can tell you that confidence in performing in front of people is an acquired attribute. And the contestants were all up to the challenge.

The talents were many and diverse, including but not limited to: making a Tinker Belle Balloon Animal in world-record time, Bavarian Yodeling, Poetry, Duets, a Schoolgirl Skit, Fancy Footwork Dancing, Twerking, Singing and Leaving It all on the stage, Guttural Ballads with emerging neck veins and passions consumed, Cartoon Movie Songs, Breakdancing from the Bay, a Demonstration of Cuddling Methods, Nursery Rhymes and some Lullaby Violin Music to wrap it all up.

The judges had an extremely difficult decision to make, and after deliberations, decided that a few runner-up honorable mentions were in order as well as the two traditional crownings. Without a doubt, this was the best CAPCon pageant I’ve seen in my 4 years of attendance.

And the biggest effect of the main events of CAPCon Saturday is the completion of bond that always begins on Thursday night. This year was no different and in fact, it was, by far, the closest I had ever seen the attendees drawn together. The hugs from one and all had meaning.

The remainder of the night in the con space was filled with another movie, more Rock Banding and general socializing. Activities still took place, but by that point, the real purpose was just simply to be together with one another in the time that remained.

Ah! But not so fast. There were still Saturday night after hours room parties to attend. While it was impossible to get to all the different parties, there were plenty of opportunities available. On that final night, I had the pleasure of being a part of an in-depth guitar jam in a room party I will never forget for the rest of my life.

I also got an opportunity to have a chat with that guy from New Zealand – an amazing human being with veracity, distinction and unpretentious charm. Being a night owl as always, I would venture down to the first floor several times to test the air quality outside and while doing so, I would engage in further conversations with brilliant minds.

When I finally went to bed that night, I first realized that just in my immediate surroundings I had a hotel room full of friends who were damn near family to me – not to mention CAPCon as a whole, an entire convention of people who grow closer and closer together every year.

Sunday offered another round of classes, if I’m not mistaken. But the focus for me, on that final day was to take in the whole experience, all at once – watching it intensify into an enormous entire-convention group hug. And as folks began to pack up their cars, no one said: “goodbye”. Instead, they were really saying: “We’ll see each other again”.

There was so much to do all weekend long that you had to choose from a constant and changing list of options. There was never a dull moment, never a mere second when you found yourself searching for something to make the event memorable for you. There were more ABDLers in that one location than I’ve ever seen.

But I’ve saved the best part about CAPCon for the very end: the people. “Caring” and “Loving” and “Genuine” are only starter words to describe them. It isn’t hard to love them like family and it isn’t hard to make them family. Whether individually or as a collective whole, it is the people of CAPCon who make the event something extraordinary every time.

They wear no masks, no facades. They put on no fronts. They are the same people in real life as they are online. This is what gives them merit, integrity and virtue. And because of this, you can meet them at CAPCon and then continue to get to know them through messages and their postings and their interactions on sites like FetLife until you next get to see them in real life again. They do not change who they … only what they are diapered in. 😉 They are always the same, while continuing to grow as people, as friends, as family.

CAPCon doesn’t bring the good out in people. The good is already there, on display within their voices, their smiles and their personalities.

They’re not perfect. And here’s the best part: they don’t try to be.

They come from many different walks of life, many different social backgrounds. They have varying ages, preferences, shades of darkness-n-purity, religions, races and cultures. But none of those things matter. They are all family. And CAPCon is their name.

Sometimes You Wanna Go Where Everybody Knows Your Name