For the first time in 9 years I actually managed to recover my password for this ol' beast of a site! Just sorry it came after Neer passed. I didn't have too many interactions with him ever but I'm grateful for his contributions to this community.

So I'm just rooting through here to try and find some old commissions but unfortunately no luck. Back to looking through old email.

Not sure when I'll be back on next. I'm sort of more "furry adjacent" nowadays. Pretty sure it'll be somewhere within 1 day to 9 years!

I'm not digging this IMVU stuff. I think I'm going to be outta here in pretty short order.

No real loss to anyone. I'm not an artist and I can be found babbling easily enough other places.

I'll try to formulate some sort of exit strategy this weekend and post what/where I'm going for anyone interested.

Be groovy to each other!

Holy spit! Next week I'll be rolling over the Sunol grade in my trusty Con-jalopy for what will be my EIGHTH(!) Further Confusion in a row! That means I've been hanging out with you freakos for EIGHT...FUCKING...YEARS!!!!

Maybe I should have paid better attention in career and life counseling in high school?

Anywho, what's done is done. I will once again be roaming the streets of my birthplace dressed as a talking bear. If only my mother could see me now, she'd be so proud! When I'm done terrorizing the Silicon Valley hipsters and Asian businessmen, I'll be doing a lot of drinking, eating in fine and not-so-fine establishments, hitting up some con panels, buying and appreciating art, maybe taking in a Sharks game, playing Ingress, losing at poker. You know, the finest things in life!

I'll be at the Fairmont this year. Sort of a fond homecoming for me in that my finest FC memories were from this hotel. It may not quite be the same now that it's overflow bunking, but it's still a damn fine establishment and only steps away from the action. Getting in Thursday afternoon and leaving Monday noonish. No roomies this time. I have too many old man type issues to force someone to endure bunking in a room with me. Won't be antisocial though so I'll be out and about quite a bit.

Both bears will be present. Last year neither of them saw the outside of their transport devices. I'm pretty sure that'll be different this time around. Of course now that I'm in the overflow, FC's old nemesis The Rain is supposed to return. I don't melt though so I'll be ok.

Guess that's it. Now I just need to power through the next 4 work days and it'll be time for da fuzz! See y'all there!

OMG! Less than a week away from the latest in a long line of furry madcap happenings! Here's what to expect from your 2014 closeout model bear:

1) Arriving Thursday afternoon, unless United decides to delay, slice, dice, or puree my flight.
2) Leaving Sunday night unless (see above in reverse).
3)  dieselrottie is going to fly up and be my keeper for the weekend. Please pray for him.
4) Staying at the O'Hare Hyatt thingy place. Hear it's kinda nice.
5) After careful consideration, Hunt will be the one making the trip. Wanted to take Bjorn along too, but lugging 2 critters to the airport at stupid o'clock in the morning just doesn't sound like a lot of fun.
6) What am I going to do? Probably some or a lot of the following:
a) Fursuit
b) Eat
c) Drink - finding that delicate balance between caffeine, alcohol and water.
d) Poker! I understand there's some folks that play the game there?
e) Panels! I actually plan to partake in a few this year.
f) Ingress! DrGrafeldr/Enlightened/LV 6/AM01-CHARLIE-13. Don't know what any of that means? Come to the Ingress panel to find out!
g) Explore as much as weather and transport will permit. Want to try to hit a Second City performance while there if anyone's interested?
h) Most important of all, meet new people, spend quality time with good friends and generally have a great time!

I'm looking forward to this trip. My first ever to Chicago and first ever visit to a cold weather city in winter. If you see me just stop me quickly with a "Hey Bjorn". Always like meeting new folks!

Quick down-n-dirty about Eurofurence 20:

1) Yes, I will be there. This will be my very first Eurofurence -- be gentle!
2) Staying at the Estrel (theoretically -- had to book through a third party to get in and it's prepaid so we'll see what happens.)
3) Arriving by Snowpiercer high speed train to some station in what used to be East Berlin. I'm hoping to live my own personal spy movie as I disembark and catch a cab to the hotel.
4) Arriving late and leaving early. This means I'll be there Thursday and will be leaving Sunday. Why? See down below.
5) Hunt will be trekking across Germany with me and will be partaking in what could possibly be the largest collection of polar bear suiters in one place at one time -- bring your cameras to record this moment in epic history!
6) I'm all about the eats and drinks. If you've got some cool place to share with me or want to tag along while I make like Tony Bourdain, you're more than welcome.
7) I'm traveling with my spousal equivalent. She's used to me being a weirdo and hanging around other weirdos and she's even taken in some of a con before (Confuzzled last year). However, furry isn't her scene. She is however very much into animal charities so I expect she'll be participating/get involved in any panels involving the bat folks this year.
8) God damn! I'm going to have fun at this thing, aren't I?

To better outline what's happening, this con is going to be part of my two week get-outta-our-shithole-jobs vacation we're striving to take each year to preserve our sanity. We'll be starting the trip out in Munich and exploring the Bavarian countryside as well. After EF, we'll be traveling to Tina's grandmother's hometown in Western Germany. From there we head north to visit the town she was an exchange student in. We'll be wrapping the trip up by traveling to Denmark which is where we will end this adventure.

Since this is primarily a couples vacation, I honestly began planning it with the thought we'd bypass EF completely. I want to make this trip something we both enjoy at the same time. While I would have been sad to miss out on the opportunity to attend the con and meet folks I've always wanted to meet, the explorer bear in me would have been perfectly happy to visit other parts of a country I've never been to. A compromise was reached when I was able to secure a hotel room that we'd attend the heart of the con (Thursday-Sunday) but I'd bypass the beginning and leave a bit before it's over. The last part's no big deal for me (I usually avoid PCD by bypassing dead-dog time anyway), the first part's a challenge because I really want to see several things in Berlin and wanted to give myself time to do that outside con time. As it stands now, I think I'm going to either be bogged down with con-things or will have to bypass things I really want to do in order to see sights. Essentially, this could end up being a bit like Confuzzled was last year -- by day a tourist, by night drinking con bear. Hoping to find a happy midpoint somewhere in there, but we'll see.

Hope to see a number of you there and I'm looking forward to meeting all-new, all-different folks as well. This is going to be special! :)

My FA page has become pretty bleak over the past year or two. Barely any new submissions and the only journals you see out of me nowadays are "I'm going to Con (fill in the blank)".

Well, hang tight kids, cause this journal entry will be no different.

I get to receive my consolation prize for not attending Elliotts Spring Gathering or Confuzzled this year when I pull my SR99 bug splattered rental car into one of the many fine and plentiful parking spaces of the Irvine Marriott for Califur/KROQ/WeenieRoast/CrochetGatheringFest2014. It's a pretty damn fine prize though, considering I get to see old friends, meet new folks, hang out in the mild coastal weather and make a general nuisance out of myself for an entire weekend. Really could do worse now couldn't I?

I will be staying at the Marriott Thursday through Sunday, unless I take a wrong turn and end up on Catalina Island or Area 51. Both bearskis will be coming down with and hopefully not trashing my hotel room. Of course, I will be armed with beer. Might even bring along a blender with me...or maybe a bounce house?

If you're in the neighborhood next weekend, stop by and say hey. You'll probably find me in the pool floating face down. Just throw a life preserver to me and I'll get out and we'll have drinks.

Well, not really of course. I figured it would be appropriate to quote Mr. Cash considering I'll begin my Thursday next week driving past the institute made famous by this song, then later proceeding up to Reno, NV for Biggest Little Furcon.

Give it a listen younguns: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDktBZzQIiU

Now as some of you may recall, last year I was mother-in-law'd out of the fledgling con, although I did make it up for a very quick, but entertaining Day 0. I left for work early the next day then proceeded to see my Twitter timeline blow up with nothing but raves and drools about how awesome an experience it was for the following 3 days.

Not this time bub!

Arrival time is looking good at about 8 pm Thursday night. Weather permitting (and it shouldn't be a problem) I'll head up right after work and drive straight thru to the GSR. Departure date will either be late Sunday afternoon or ass-crack-o-dawn Monday morning, driving right back to work.

Who's coming with me? Drive-a-con means both Bjorn and Hunt will be making the trip. Since there was 0 suiting for moi at FC this year, odds are you'll see one of them milling about shortly after I arrive. Feel free to come say hi or get mauled by a bear -- your pick!

"So Bjorn - What are your plans for the con?" -- Cons are sort of a freeform experience for me nowadays. I certainly want to take advantage of the mild Reno weather and suit a fair bit. My overriding priority though will be to make the most of any social opportunity I can, even if it's at the expense of a con event or suiting op. If free I do want to hit up a few of the gaming panels and maybe the blackjack tournament. I'd love to get some good craps advice from GOH  kijani_lion at his table game panel. I want to try to get together with the poker crew for some homebrew games or drag their asses into one of the many fine poker tournaments in town. Think there's also a hockeyfurs panel happening, so I'm sure they'll want to hear from a representative of the soon-to-be President's Cup winner San Jose Sharks fanbase. :) Other than that I want myself and my friends to eat and drink like kings for the weekend. This will be accomplished.

"Gosh Bjorn! You're so cool! Can I hang out with you?" (asked absolutely no one ever!) Well, if for some reason you've been huffing and you find yourself asking this question, just come on up and say "hi" to me. I am sort of shy when first meeting people, but you'll quickly find I get more and more talkative to the point you'll be fleeing in terror. Seriously, I love meeting folks. Only thing I ask is please respect any request I might make for privacy. I promise if for some reason I ask that I will be as polite as I can.

"Just what is it that you do here?" -- Best question of the day Poindexter! Actually, on the Furry Creative Spectrum™ I'm probably at either a 1 or 0 out of 10. I can't draw to save my life. I allegedly write, but haven't put pen to paper in quite awhile, even virtually. I'm a D-class suiter. Play no musical instruments nor do I sing. I dance sort of like a funky mix of vintage David Lee Roth and Rainman. In short, it'll be a cold day in Hell before I'm asked to GoH one of these bad boys. What I do like to do though is have as much fun as I can and make sure the folks I'm with are doing the same. I figure that gives me at least a few Furry Karma Points.

Let's see, I think that might be enough for now. Don't think you need my blood type or credit references, so I guess I'll leave it at this and hopefully see a lot of you in Reno next week. :)

Contrary to the slightly negative-sounding title, I really did have a great time at the ol' hometown con. I'm not going to recap the con, but I'll just touch on a few things about it that were things of note:

Had a wonderful roomie in  dieselrottie! Thanks for breaking out of the polar vortex and joining us for some fun in the sun for a bit! Hope to have you again!

The convention itself was interesting. I actually attended two panels, which is about 1 to 2 more than I typically visit. Attended the rescue animal panel on Saturday and and  8footrabbit's suit reference panel on Sunday. Both enjoyable and informative! Really need to make some room in future con plans for, you know, actual con stuff! Didn't march in or even watch the fursuit parade, which I'll touch on later. Also kicked myself for missing the jazz quartet on Friday. Unfortunately I couldn't get back in time from a pre-arranged outing from the con. Hope they're back next year.

Most of the weekend was spent in the company of good friends. Whether it was taking a side trip to Winchester Mystery House with Diesel, going out to dinner with a rotating cast of dozens, playing late night Cards Against Humanity and Poker, or spending the NFC Championship game in my room with several folks and beer. All-in-all a great time.

This was the third year that I spent at the Marriott main hotel, and honestly, this will be the final year. In spite of elevator controls implemented by Flare, it still is too much of an arduous task to get from room to con space. I would even say it's a bit more difficult than doing the same at the Westin for Anthrocon. At least there you know when the heaviest traffic will be. Sometimes the elevators gunked up at the most random times during the con. Stairs were at least an option for me being on the 7th floor, but even that option becomes daunting if fursuiting or carrying objects. Next year I'm going to give myself a bit of space and bunk down either at the Hilton, the St. Claire or even the Fairmont south tower.

This was the third con I've been to since I've been a fursuiter that I didn't suit at. First one was Califur 2012 (food poisoning), Confuzzled 2013 (overflow hotel miles away didn't make it practical), and this one. Number of reasons for it. Mostly because I was too busy socializing much of my normal fursuiting time. The elevator lines at the hotel also made going out undesirable the other part of the time. Finally I found I was getting really tired early in the evening and I didn't really want to push myself by forcing a suiting outing. Don't think it's a trend or anything, more of a matter of circumstance. I have some regret about it though because I spent a lot of prep time on both bears getting them ready and now they're both back in winter storage until March. If similar circumstances come up in the future, I'll probably elect to take each for a stroll somehow, someway in the future.

Next up for me is Biggest Little FurCon in March. Poker! 24 hr eating and drinking! fuzzballs! What more could I ask for?

Next Thursday night, right after what I'm sure will be an intellectually stimulating day at work, I will be hopping in my SUV piled high with fur and booze and weaving my way to San Jose for my seventh Further Confusion.

Once more (and probably for the last time) I'll be at the Marriott, getting in sometime around 8:30 pm. Once there, I'll be sharing a wonderful luxurious weekend with my friends the furries, the volleyball players, their parents, and the new kids on the block, the potheads! Freak show? Bah!

I'm hoping I can secure parking in the garage before the vollyballers set up their coffee and sweat-scented Hooverville in there. If successful, I'll snag my badge, offload all the goodies and see what kind of trouble I can get into that late in the evening.

If you'll be at the con, feel free to stop me and say "hey". I'll either be the disheveled old fat dude wandering about, the disheveled old brown bear wandering about or the disheveled old polar bear wandering about. You have many options!

See ya there!

Dunno why any American is bothering to read FA journals today but if you are Happy Thanksgiving to you!

Just a quick PSA about my twitter bjorn_grafeldr. Currently I have my account in protected status. This is more to do with information security than anything else. I tend to open it shortly before and after I attend a large social gathering, like a con. What my Twitter is NOT is an AfterDark account. I don't have issues with any who have those, but I typically check my tweets a lot in work and other polite social settings. Now since Twitter has decided to autopreview images, it really becomes a problem when "OMG PRONZ!" pops up while I'm at work.

I say this all because I received a few follow requests from some AD accounts and I've decided to take a quick survey here to see how I should respond. I'm all about meeting new folks so I'm loathe to flat deny follow requests, but if you're AD is all about the murry purry 24x7 then it's not going to be productive for either of us. On the flip side, I know some folks dub their accounts "AD" for reasons similar to mine - they want to control access to information. These are the folks I don't necessarily want to shut out.

To resolve this, I'd like to take a quick poll:

1) Should I deny these follow requests and place a link to this journal in my Twitter profile?

2) Should I accept these and sort of place them "on probation" - ready to jettison if stuff gets too raw? By "raw" I mean NSFW images and open sexual roleplay, not normal innuendo, harmless flirtation, etc.

Thanks for your help guys! Now go back to stuffing yourselves! :)

Bit of a late trip report on FurFright, but also haven't actually been at a computer for non-working purposes since my return.

When I first began studying this fandom, before even openly participating, I read up on most of the major convention gatherings. FurFright always stood out to me because of all the positive feedback it continued to garner in each forum I went to. I knew early on I'd want to make that a destination when the time came to get out in the open.

I had initially made plans to visit this con in 2009, but had to back off them due to my mom's health. I finally got my opening in 2010. Not only was it my first convention as a fursuiter, it was also the first time I got to actually visit a number of east-coast friends and acquaintances I had made online in the years prior. I pretty much fell in love with that con with that first visit. I realized since I'm based on the other coast that visiting it each year would be a challenge, but somehow I've found myself trekking out there three of the last four years.

Given the distance and the uncertainty of time-off availability, I can't promise a return visit next year, at least not yet. However it is now firmly burned in on my radar so I will be back for 2014 assuming the time is available. This is also a con I'd feel ok to have Tina tag along with me. It's not a non-stop fetish parade or a continual contest of who is the bestest furry of them all. It's a gathering of friends run by a core of folks who work their asses off to make sure the environment is enjoyable and positive. In my experience, only Confuzzled in the UK has come close to this type of environment.

Things I'm already missing:

1) BarWars - This goes without saying! Ever since it was founded as a forgotten round of drinks between myself, Skippy and Silvermane, this has developed a life of it's own. The small gathering has now grown to a rotating who's who of thirsty con attendees. The force of BarWars was in fact so great that it kept me out of suit on Saturday as I spent the first half of the day shaking off the aftereffects of Round One. Wouldn't change a thing though. Great time spent with great folks! Next year, swing on by the con bar. Come for the drinks and stay for the Kanic show! :)

2) Hockey - I haven't held a hockey stick in my paws for at least 10 years. This was apparent on Friday as I brought Bjorn down to the ballroom to play in Belic's Diabolical Floor Hockey Tournament of Doom!

Unsurprisingly I was held off the score sheet as I vacillated between employing a cherry-picking style of offense or using my size to lean into the other team's top players. Still, I had a not entirely pathetic shot on net in the shootout, I didn't get injured (yay!) and I had a great time. I'll be back for this, fo'sho! I had so much fun even though I was on the losing side, I won't even complain about the handicap that my team (Team Fullsuit) faced against Team Guys-With-Masks. ;)

3) Team Trivia - I knew I'd need to be at a table with smart folk for this one. Luckily I happened onto a table that had Skippy, Kittrel and Wag! at it! We did actually end up winning the thing, despite JD Puppy's table trying to confuse Belic by claiming victory! Note to myself: next year load up on more useless, non-Doctor Who trivia before playing!

4) Poker - This was a hard decision for me since I had to sacrifice the masquerade to play. Tourney was well-run and moved well for self-dealing tables. Unfortunately I played like poo-poo and ended up as the bubble boy (last out before the final table). Still, any game of cards beats even the best days of work so I had a good time overall.

5) Helping out - I'm notorious for not wanting to give up any enjoyment time to help out con operations. I blame past bad volunteering experiences and laziness for this. FurFright however is a con that I'll make an exception for. Indeed, I left the con feeling like I didn't help out enough. This just may drive me to volunteering even more next year and maybe even to seek out a staff assignment. These guys just have the ability to make me want to help. I pitched in to wrangle fuzzies out the door for the parade on Saturday, helped out in headless for a bit and carted a few things out of the ballroom after the Dead Dog on Sunday. My goal next year is to get scheduled for some work prior to the con so I know I'll be in place to pitch in when needed.

6) All those crazy furry peoples! - Reunited with some old friends, spent some time with recently acquired ones and met brand new folks! Special shout-outs go to Wag!, Skippy, Kittrel, Chen, Raz, Nemmy, WolfPaws, Border, Kar, Silvermane, Ours, Fidney and all the other folks I'm forgetting. Also glad to have finally met Tibor, our awesome goalie in hockey and who was once the focus of a fursuit crush on Fur Affinity of mine. Really awesome guy I got to hang out with a bit at the con's end. Hoping we can hang out some more next year. :)

All in all, it was a great time start to finish. I noticed on social media there was a lot of hype for the upcoming Midwest FurFest, but little attention was paid to FurFright which was happening right then. Too bad. I think if a few of these folks gave this con a try they'd be as hooked as I am!

To the excitement and amusement of absolutely no one, here are ze plans for that con thingy happening next week:

Late arrival, flying in Friday afternoon. Will collect all my goodies, check into the old-folks wing of the hotel, trek up to 7-11 for beer, then settle in for good old-fashioned Northwest-style furry entertainment!

Leaving Sunday sometime around 4 or 5'ish (I think my flight leaves around 7). Wanna get in some last-minute suiting and/or swimming (both?) and of course hang out with all the awesome folks that I'll regret not leaving enough time for.

Odd thing this con. After this year I'll have been to 5 conventions in total, same as last year. Last year it felt like I went to too many. This year it doesn't seem anywhere near enough. I had to dive out of BLFC before it started for reasons I outlined earlier and I spent more time in England being a tourist than I actually spent at Confuzzled. What this all boils down to is I haven't been a bear since FC earlier this year, short of some goofing off time with my dog. This will change, rest assured!

Can't wait to see the NW local folks, my semi-local peeps, the trio of British imports who'll be shipped to the con, a SoCal doggie and all the others who'll most likely make trip a ton of fun!

Nothing against the Big Dance at all, just taking a break from it all this year.

Thought I'd lay out my personal +'s and -'s about the con still:

Pluses

1) It's very much a town show. It seems like the entire city gets into the act, coming down for hours of furry watching, crashing parties, etc. It's really a unique sight!

2) Urban location means great chow & watering hole spots

3) I have several friends local to the area, so it's always a great opportunity to hang with them.

4) Beautiful convention center located in a very beautiful city!

Minuses

1) Far away!

2) Expensive to get to

3) An exhausting event (concrete floors, lots of hiking, elevator lines, everything's spread out).

4) The knowledge that it's so big, you just know you're missing something in all the madness.

---

Having said all that, I will be back next year. The con should blend much better with my work schedule then, so it's pretty sure to happen.

If you are going, have nothing but the best of time while there! If it's your first time, take it all in and appreciate it -- nothing quite like it anywhere else! :)

Time to knock out a quick trippy about the UK's largest furcon now that I'm back on semi-stable internet and am not rushing around like a crazed maniac.

As I mentioned before, the convention was an add-on and incentive for me to book a full-out vacation to the United Kingdom, something I've wanted to do for awhile, but have always lacked the time to do. My spouse and I arrived 4 days into our trip and got our badges and greeted a few folks before heading to the overflow hotel in Leicester, about 15 minutes away. We dropped back by later that evening for dinner and some more conversing before heading back to the hotel for sleep.

My attendance at the con didn't quite go as planned. The con was far enough away from the overflow hotel that getting back and forth proved to be tough. I didn't want to drive since drinking was always an option there. The shuttle bus was a nice service, but it's two flights a day just wasn't enough to accommodate my schedule. My original plan was to spend some time with Tina most mornings and hit up the con in the afternoon and evenings, with Saturday staying all day. That plan hit snags since I was unfamiliar with the roads and areas around Leicestershire. That alone added more time away than I had planned. Since driving around there was proving to be a team effort between Tina and I, I was reluctant to leave her alone to explore the sights while I was gone. This meant I frequently didn't arrive to the con until after 7 pm most nights.

This was also the first con I didn't suit at since my food poisoning-shortened Califur adventure last year. My plan was to leave my suit at the con hotel so I could flip in and out when needed. That proved to be too hard to coordinate in the end. Additionally I was there fo such limited time that I wanted to make the most of it socializing. I was perfectly OK with this, especially since some of my favorite con memories have come from the times before I began suiting. I do realize that disappointed some though and for those folks I'm sorry.

The time I did spend at the convention was nothing short of fantastic! My contention even before the con has always been that European furs "get this" whole thing a bit more than American furs do. What "this" is is hard to quantify, but I belive it means structuring your con so that there is a greater sense of community. At most American cons, it seems to be a large group of furs appear on the scene, then split into their own seperate groups and scenes for the entire weekend. This one was more inclusive, getting pretty much everyone together and targeting socializing as the main con activity. That takes quite a talent and so far there's only a certain con in Connecticut that I think comes close to pulling that sort of dynamic off. This is something the organizers should take great pride in.

This was also a great introductory convention for Tina. It wasn't her cup of tea and she felt awkward just hanging around with me, but she did enjoy what she saw. I took her into the art show (yes, even THAT area of the art show!) and she was really impressed with some of the pieces on display. She expressed interest in maybe taking up suit building and she certainly has the tailoring talent to make that work if she pursues it. I introduced her to a few artists whose works she had some prior exposure to and she was happy for that, although she felt a bit intimidated. End result is you may see her attend part of a few cons with me going forward, almost certainly FC and she'll probably fly up for a day of Rainfurrest later this year.

Am I going to be back? I do feel like I need a Confuzzled do-over due to my overall lack of attendance so I am looking to target the con next year in Birmingham. I don't think I can do another overarching two week trip, but I can maybe plan a 10 day early arrival/late departure thing without the extensive sidetrips. This'll depend on what I can get time off wise for next year. It is my fondest wish I can make this happen, so stay tuned!

Now I'm back home and reflecting on all the great details of my trip. Missing all the new folks I met at the con and some of the old ones I was reunited with. Hope to see you all again soon. :)

Almost 50 years ago, the Beatles first appeared on a television report in America on the Huntley-Brinkley Report, launching their invasion of the States.

Almost 50 years ago, the greatest sci-fi/fantasy show of my generation, Doctor Who, aired its first episode in the UK.

Now it's my turn to return the favor!

In about a week, I'll be jetting outta here to spend two weeks in Great Britain. This'll be my first time out of country in a place not called Mexico or Canada. It'll be my first time off continent outside of Hawai'i. At 47 years of age, this is way, way overdue.

There'll be sights to see, things to do, places to visit, history to be discovered -- all great things in life! Although I have only a smidgen of English blood in me (mostly Italian, Portugese and Polish), there's certainly a connection to this country gained by years of absorption of its pop culture. Now I don't expect to see John Cleese doing a silly walk down the street or a cat-suited Diana Rigg judo-flipping neer-do-wells when I land in London, but I'm quite sure there'll be many cool things to see or do my first few days there.

Oh yeah, I'll also be at a furry convention while I'm there. Silly me for forgetting that!

No real convention meme this time. I'll just touch on a few bits here:

I'll be staying at the overflow hotel, the Hilton Leicester. Arrival Thursday afternoon. Departure Monday morning.

Suits? Will be bringing my brown Bjorn with me. Too much other stuff to cart around for two weeks to take Hunt along.

Confuzzled will be an interesting experience for me. This will be the first time I've ever attempted a con in the middle of a vacation with my significant other. This will also be the first time she's ever attended a con, so -- umm -- be normal, ok? ;)

I'm expecting to hit up as much of the convention as I can, but I also have to allow for potential boredom or non-interest on Tina's part. There's going to be time I'll be spending with her away from the con, but I expect to still be able to participate in the majority.

After the con, we'll be heading north towards Scotland for the remainder of the week. That Saturday we'll fly back to London, then depart home the next day. Tons and tons of stuff I'm looking forward to seeing and many, many people I look forward to meeting!

This is going to be epic!

See you all on the 27th! :)

I'm sparing y'all the meme this time. Ain't I sweet?

Still can't really go to my backyard con here due to reasons I outlined earlier. However, I will be present at the GSR on Day 0 of the event (Thursday). I'll be heading up there shortly after work and should be there no later than 3 pm. No suit this time. Will be just a quick hit visit with early arrivals, hopefully some good eats and drink and possibly a wee bit of gaming. Bedtime will have to happen at some sort of reasonable hour since I'll be driving back to Roseville early in the AM for work.

Not the way I envisioned doing this when I first started planning for this con, but hey -- some con is better than no con!

If you're coming in Thursday and want to hang out, need a lift from the airport, etc. feel free to hit me up!

This'll be easy:

I was going to go -- now I'm not. This would have been my first FWA.

Nothing bad or tragic. In fact the reason I'm not going to be there is to allow for enough vacation time for a certain con a bit further away towards the end of May. My goal though is to hit FWA hard next year, because it's on that List of Things To Do of mine.

The con will not be bearless (or beerless, but you knew that already!). I hereby will my vacated hotel room to one  diesel_rottie, so be sure to go out and give him a hard time for me ok?

I know of a multitude of others who will be there as well. Sounds like the groundwork is in place for a great time in Peachieville! Take lots of photos and share the love around will ya? (Just don't share it too much!)

I put two and two together today after getting some news from my spouse and realized to my horror that I may have to put my plans to attend Biggest Little FurCon in the dumpster this year. The reasons for this may be the most bizarre thing I could ever possible imagine.

In short, this is the reason:

http://nationalangorarabbitbreeders.....tionalshow.htm

My "mother-in-law" is a rabbit breeder, specifically a breeder of Copper Satins. She lives near Los Angeles and very rarely travels outside of the southland for shows any more. This time, she's considering making this trip. She may travel up with my "father-in-law" or she may hitch a ride with a fellow breeder from Lake Elsinore. If she decides to go to this show, I'll have to skip it.

It's not just that I don't want to out myself as a furry to my in-laws, although they are probably the people I'd least like to reveal that fact to. The big problem is they would most likely request their daughter to meet them up at the show to help out. If she goes, someone will have to stay at home to take care of our animals here. That someone would obviously be me. If for some reason I went to the con and Tina stayed behind, it would not only be awkward when I inevitably bump into them, but also it would be hard to explain why I made the trip to act like a fool and party like a college student while their daughter had to stay behind. Not a position I'd like to put myself in.

I don't see any way to work around this problem. I can't Duncan the Dog or Yappy Fox my way through the con by staying in suit throughout the entire event in an effort to avoid them. That'd be silly and I'd miss out on a lot of what will make this con very special. Bottom line, if they go I stay.

Hopefully I'll know more as the con gets closer. Strange things happen and certainly nothing I can think of is stranger than these circumstances!

Weasyl seems to be a very neat gallery that should function at least as well as FA does. I'm looking forward to seeing some great stuff there.

Having said that, I'm not setting up an account there -- at least not yet.

From the way it's built it seems to be more a storinghouse for artists. As I'm not an artist, it just doesn't make sense for me to have a presence there right now. If it starts becoming a social hub and expands its reach, I may re-evaluate sometime down the road.

I respect the artists that are leaving FA for Weasyl, given the problems they had here. I'll most likely begin to do a lot of bookmarking of pages there to keep abreast of their work.

Home from FC! Own bed and pillow, here I come!

Con daily routine didn't seem to vary much from the prior year, but it was a lot more satisfactory! As usual, I was trying to judge the time I'd leave on the con's last day. Ended up being pretty much the same as the year prior -- 4 pm. It did give me some time to get some last minute suiting in and say goodby to the hangers-on in the lobby. :)

Some cool stuff!

1) I got two amazing badges from  idess and  cooner. Both of these floored me, with Cooner's being just layers and layers of fun! He seemed to enjoy piecing that one together and I'm so glad he did!

2) I first noticed it at FurFright, but I really took it to the next level at FC. After one year, I'm finally getting used to my own skin when suiting as Hunt! I had him out for I'd have to say about 10 hours total between Friday and Monday, with my longest stint in him being about 2 hours. Much better than the 40 minute before popping the head limit when I first got him last FC! After trying some quick-fix mods to get more airflow in him, I finally figured out it was more an issue of making very sure everything was in the proper place when getting into him. Glad to now get him in for his proper workload because I luvs that polar!

3) Speaking of suiting, by far the most I've ever done at any con ever! Made up for the lack of taking Bjorn out at FurFright by getting him some sweat time roaming around Saturday and Sunday. Between both Bjorn and Hunt, I'd have to say the majority of my actual con time was spent suiting, which just simply felt great!

4) Friends: Where do I start? Great roomie  hysterium? BeerDawgs  teh and  dogbomb? Con Ops wunderkind and alum of the same high school I went to eons ago  americanfootlong?  jakebe,  wolfyisms, and other guests of my impromptu football viewing party on Sunday?  bigfootcat for once more opening his floating card room, helping the con tourney out and just simply being willing to hang out with the old bear? Way way too many people to thank!

The negative stuff? There's some, but nothing really devastating. I'll probably touch on this more later, but overall the FC staff kicked butt big time this year!

Sleep calls! Safe journeys to everyone still at the con! :)

Holiday decorations are all packed away. Relatives are back at their respective abodes and going about their normal lives. Really only one other major event coming up in the next 9 days that will require my attention before I can focus on FC. Since it is on deck though, I thought I'd torture y'all with the silly meme thing!

Further Confusion 2013

Arriving/Leaving?

Shooting for arriving around 11ish on Thursday, Jan 17. Leaving sometime on Monday, Jan 21. Exact time will be dependant on whether my class meets that day.

Staying at?

Marriott

Mode of transport:

Probably my 4runner. Doubt I can squeeze all my junk into the Honda.

Rooming with:

 hysterium

Hanging out with?

I dunno. I guess it depends who wants to hang out with me. I also appreciate having some time for myself to wander around and take things in. Don't be afraid to ask though!

Location? Best way to find me?

Cell phone if you have it. Prefer whatsapp contact vs text (don't have unlimited). Probably the best way to contact me is via twitter.

What do I look like?

Like a fat cat politician who arrived at the wrong hotel.

Gender:

male

Age:

47

Height:

5'11

Mated/relationship?

Yep

Can I talk to you?

Absolutely!

Can I hug you, snuggle you, etc.?

Hugs are ok, assuming all the basic hygene components are kept up.

Are you nice?

My psychiatrist thinks so.

Cliquey?

Nah. Don't think I ever have been.

Fursuiting?

Yep. These two hooligans:
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/4876942/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/7255499/


Can I try on your suit?

You're welcome to, but you'll probably end up swimming around inside them. :)

How can I get your attention?

It should be pretty easy. Just try not to sneak up on me while I'm in suit, k?

Do you take commissions?

Didn't get granted amazing artistic ability for Christmas, so no, I'm sorry.

Will you have an artist alley/dealers den table?

Nope.

Ok, no table, but are you planning on supporting your local starving artists in the dealers den?

Yep! I'm actually in the market for a few books and maybe some prints. Since I don't have to cram everything in a few pieces of checked in luggage this time, I plan to take advantage of it.

Can I draw in your sketchbook?

My sketchbook seems to always end up being the casualty when I'm last-minute packing for these things! I'll try to remember, but remind me, ok?

Can I ask you to dance?

If you see me at the dances without my camera, sure!

Can I buy you drinks?

Thought you'd never ask! I always look to get even though. :)

Do you attend parties?

Crowded ragers I might sneak in and out of quickly. More interested in chill get-togethers that have plenty of breathing room. My goal is to host one of these Thursday night. I've got plans for some great food and drink to be on hand. I'll probably send out alerts in the afternoon as to time and place the day of via Twitter, LJ, FA and carrier pidgeon for one person who shall remain nameless!

What is your goal(s) for the con?

As always, having plenty of quality face time with good friends. Not to feel rushed or pressured. Take some time for myself to take in and document what's happening for my own memories. Have a great time most of all. :)

I was going to go into a long, drippy retrospective about the five years I've spent in this nutty furry cult thing, but decided against it cause there really ain't all that much to it.

Just a few things I can think of that are different now versus when I hopped online and created my character 5 years ago:

Online vs. Live interaction:

I sort of ghosted the furry fandom for a few months before officially diving in. Pretty much started as an art aficionado (as many here did) and learned more and more about the ins and outs of the community. Before furry, I pretty much kept behind the scenes in any online interaction. Once I created the characters and pieced together the story I began to write about them, I jumped into communities such as this one and began to interact with people. It didn't take long to become overwhelmed by all the amazing creativity and brilliance this fandom has to offer at its best. Still, I preferred online vs. live interaction, with the sole exception being the first two cons I went to (FC 2008 & 2009).

Jumping forward to today, I think it's safe to say I much prefer live interaction. I now have several cons under my belt and more planned for the future. For this FC coming up, I'm planning to host a gathering that I hope to see many of you at. For this stage in my life where I spend very little of my time actually being "furry", I treasure the moments when I can cut loose a bit and enjoy a gathering of my friends as opposed to firing up a chat client and rp'ing the night away.

Writing:

That's pretty much stalled out at the moment. There really just isn't much time to work on it and I've sort of reached a point in the story I began 5 years ago where I've sort of wrote myself into a corner which will be hard to get out of. I've sort of substituted that with fursuiting and some video work for any so-called "contribution" to this fandom. It's possible I may pick the pen up again one day and finish, but right now it's not happening.

Online Communities:

As you can see, I haven't been overly active here for awhile. Other areas I used to haunt have gone by the wayside as well, such as IRC. I still stubbornly cling to my LJ and try to post something of semi-significance to it once in awhile, but not nearly like I used to. I'm pretty active on Twitter, but I'd say 80% of it is of non-furry significance. I don't necessarily mind cutting back on cyber contact a bit, but I still long for something like a lively LJ with thriving communities like there used to be. As far as art here? I do have a few commissions I'll likely post when I can get consent from the artists. I'll likely commission some other artwork down the road, but it's not on the forefront of my priority list.

The Future?

Eessh! Who knows? Right now I don't even have my con schedule down completely for next year. There may be a special trip in store in the new year that may have a furry component to it, but right now that's still up in the air. I just hope I can continue to meet and interact with more wonderful folks from this community and continue to forge stronger friendships. :)

See you all in the new year!

Travel to FurFright begins for me in less than 24 hours. I'll be doing that redeye, overnight, sleep-deprived thing on a flying aluminum tube shortly after work tomorrow. Should be a ton of fun!

Anywho, looking forward to catching up with all the eastie folks I rarely get to see, suiting whenever and wherever, filming, eating, drinking and making merry all throughout the weekend. If you'll be there, give me a holler here and let me know what's up and where the rum's at! :)
!

Some of the Rainfurrest con video I took. Nothing fancy, but I figured I'd share what I've got.

Fursuit parade:

https://vimeo.com/50903217

Saturday Dance:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nr6T.....RQMFX29t6OjC6A

That is all. Happy journal reading!

Rainfurrest is done for another year and I'm back home.

I thought I'd follow up on my prior journal to see how successful I was at those resolutions of mine. Roll the tape Johnny!

1) Seattle day trip - Grade: A - Friday morning I did what I said I would and boarded the train downtown. Fun morning doing all the touristy things, like Seattle Center and Pike Place. I've done all those before, but it's been a while. I enjoyed doing all this at my own pace, enjoying a coffee at the top of the Space Needle, hiking downtown, etc. Did all this within the tidy space of 4 hours, which left plenty of time for the con. It was so successful I'll probably plan a few additional side trips downtown next year.

2) Quitting/Cutting back on smoking - Grade: D - Not a complete failure because I bypassed a few smoking opportunities, but I was still outside more than I would have liked. I did bring electronic cigs along, but just never dug them out of my bag. I still want to work on this before something like FC rolls around where it will be a hassle getting up and down to the lobby.

3) Fursuiting - Grade: B - Suited every day at the con and was out and about in both suits for roughly the same amount of time. Spent more time in Hunt than I ever have and I'm starting to build up something of a durability in him. Bjorn was my parade representative and also roamed about on his own throughout the weekend.

4) Friends - Grade: B- - Didn't get to see everyone I wanted but still spent time with quite a few. My shoulder and arm were still hurting off and on from a problem I had earlier in the week so I didn't want to bog folks down with that. I also took myself out of a few social opportunities over the weekend because, well, I just wasn't feeling very social at the time. I think sometimes the pressure to surround yourself with people all the time at these things gets to be a bit too much. I allowed some "me" time and I got it. I'm also that much more refreshed for it.

5) Pool - Grade: A- - One of the better pools at any con venue and also probably some of the best weather. The pool, jacuzzi and firepit areas were some of the more happening spots at the con. Only one poolside con emergency happened while there, but thankfully no vandalization like there was the year before. I spent a few hours of 2 days down there.

6) Con Programming: Grade: C- - Attended no panels, no opening/closing ceremonies and only part of one of the dances -- and that was to shoot video. I did attend the GOH dinner, sharing dining space with Bart the Husky and the Con*Tact soap crew. Groggy Fox was gracious enough to share some of the fine cab he had brought with him with me, making this a true high-class affair!

7) Photography: Grade: B - Really gave my GoPro camera its first real test at this con. Passed with flying colors! Took some vid of the parade as I was marching in it. Also brought it out a bit later to the dance. That camera is truly remarkable! I'm still scraping the surface with it, but it's capable of doing so much! I think this will have a growing role in future cons I attend. :)

8) Having fun: Grade: A- - My shoulder was really the only thing that prevented me from completely having a fantastic time. The con was exactly the right medicine for me administered at the right time. I'm really looking forward to returning next year. :)