Aaaage of Antariuuuuuus!

References to the musical “Hair” aside, I’m back!

(There will be a TL;DNR summary at the bottom) =p


How to sum up the last 8 or so months? Hmmm.

Well, since my last journal, my ex had a really hard time with my revelation; she broke down big time. I tried to convince her that everything was okay, that I wasn’t that great a catch, but we all know that is a big lie.

I had spent several months trying like hell to ‘try and be bi’ to keep my family unit together. It was a miserable time as you would expect, and completely without success. It kept me away from all things furry, of course, as I tried to avoid anything but my family. Eventually she came to terms with it, which was just as well, because I sucked at living a lie.

The week before Midfur (Australia’s furry con, for those of you who don’t know it), she made the decision that the divorce was back on. It was rather a prick of a week, and that was one of the last straws on this dragon’s back. Midfur attendees that took note would have seen Ant have a few beers during the con – the first time in a good 6 or 7 years. If you missed it, sorry – not likely to happen again.

Right after I got back from Midfur, I ended up in hospital again with my back. My netbook’s hard drive had died while I was away, so the only net access I had was my aging smartphone. I got back on MSN and had some great chats during that period. Especially with one particular fur (you know who you are!)

What sucked the most was probably the net withdrawals I was getting. During that week before Midfur, some total wankstain had dug up the phone cables that fed over 1,000 houses in my half of the city, and it took a week to get fixed – by which time I was gone! So I guess the smartphone proved useful during the next week after all, even if I now have the desire to run it over in my car.

Quick rant from the hospital stay: While I would feel sorry for someone with a colostomy bag, since it is something outside of their control, what sort of fucktard that is sharing a hospital room with someone, always waits until the other person is eating to go into the bathroom (near said person’s bed) to empty the fucking thing – spilling most of it on the floor in the process too! I can tell you, I didn’t have much of an appetite that week!


Then came the 3 bushfires. There was 1 while I was in the hospital, started by some twonk with a flare. No houses were ever in danger, but a pregnant horse was killed. The youth was arrested, but likely won’t receive the punishment he deserves.

The second one in the week leading up to Christmas was a doozy – and one that I SMSed and Imed many furs about at first. We lost all power, as usual, so I walked outside my front door and noticed flames I estimated to be 10-storeys tall (later confirmed), covering the hills at the edge of the town. The firefront was a good 5km long at that point.

Our eldest (I raised him since he was 4, and whilst he’s not technically my stepson anymore, I’m the only father he’s ever known – so I still consider him a son!) was actually visiting a friend’s farm at first, and the flames had blocked that road, so we were unable to get to him. Flashbacks of the Lincoln National Park/Tulka fires came to mind, as that was the area he was at.

My folks’ house was in the danger zone, and they grabbed their cats and fled to a nearby town when they got orders to evacuate. We were pretty worried about them at the time, because rumours and misinformation was going crazy. There are 2 roads leaving the city (plus a tiny one that goes out to a peninsula, where our eldest was, but that’s a completely dead end) and people were saying that all roads were closed due to flames.

We knew we’d have to make a dash for our Eldest and GTFO, and so I realised just how stupid it was not to fill my car up with fuel... It was on the red bar, and it was –so- much fun trying to fill it up when all of the service stations were out of power! Eventually I found one that had a backup generator, so filled up and headed back to the house.

That’s when the wind shifted and the fire started racing directly towards the town. The thick black smoke was everywhere and you visibility was next-to-nothing. Fortunately, it meant that the small road leading out to Tulka was now open, so we quickly dashed off to pick up our eldest.

Once we got back, it was clear that it wasn’t going to be pleasant to stay. It was 46 Deg Celsius (115F), with no power and smoke so thick that people were having trouble breathing. Our eldest is asthmatic, which made it worse.

So we grabbed the bunny and the bird and Got TFO. I sent a quick message to the people I’d been IMing, letting them know we were going to get out while we could – and did.

The rest of that day sucked pretty hard. There was no mobile (cell) service in the nearby towns, so I had no way of letting anyone know that we’d gotten out okay and were safe. And considering there were reports on the net that the whole town was gone, I’m pretty sure you can guess how many anxious text messages were waiting for me on my mobile the next day when we got back to town.

We managed to stay in a hotel – a miracle considering it was right before Christmas – that my folks were also staying at. While each of us had pets with us, the manager looked the other way, as they knew why we were there. (We were also fortunate that there was an extra bed so that my ex and I could still sleep separately, though that meant that we finally had to tell my folks that the divorce was back on, since they were in denial over the whole ‘coming-out’ thing.)

We got back the next day and saw the devastation and near misses of different homes that were in the path of the fire. Many houses were completely gone, and then you’d suddenly have one where everything that was around it was burned, but the house itself was untouched. One of our friends house had homes either side burned, but it skipped theirs. Freaky stuff.

Then a while later we learned what caused the fire; Some idiot, well known for doing the wrong thing (and suspected of sheep rustling), decided to turn some stumps he had been burning. Fire ban season had been in effect for 2 months, it was 46C and had been declared a day of “Catastrophic Fire Danger,” and this idiot turns burning stumps! Embers were caught by the wind, set the dry grass on fire in a neighbouring area and away it went. That arsehole lost nothing, btw.

Incidentally, that particular fire has had 4 or more flare-ups to date, including one in the last fortnight.


My divorce has had some ups and downs, but ultimately is going pretty smoothly. We’re still living in the same house, and for the most part we’re friends. We even are using the same lawyer to file our divorce papers, something which had the lawyer amazed. “You don’t act like people getting a divorce!” he said, his eyebrows raised. We weren’t fighting over anything; property, custody, none of it!

I advised how I was gay and that seemed to satisfy him. On the way out, he shook my paw and said “I’m glad there’s not too many divorces like this one! Otherwise there’d be no money in family law!”

Papers were filed with the courts last week, so within 2 months, everything should be done and over with. My ex has already found herself a new boyfriend, and I am pleased that she is moving on!

(Not as bad as it sounds, btw. We’d been very strained since 2008 and our understandably limited amount of intimacy had been non-existent from that point!)

The bad part about it, and it came as no surprise to me, is that she wants to move back to the US to be with her family and boyfriend. This, of course, means that I will be losing my hatchling. It was pretty hard to come to terms with, but I’d been preparing for it for months when I could see the writing on the wall. Ultimately I think he will have a better life with his mother than I can provide, so that was that.


My coming out has also been quite interesting. I’ve talked before how this is a homophobic town with a friend of mine being gang-bashed and all.

Well, another fun aspect is that a small-minded, I mean, small-town church near here likes to do big mail drops to ‘celebrate’ when someone from a prominent family comes out of the closet. You know the stuff; It’s evil. Fags will go to Hell etc. Well, fortunately for me, my family is one of the more prominent ones of the region, being one of the original farming families. So “Yay for me,” I got myself a maildrop!

But it gets better! Within days, someone sets off a flare/rocket at my lounge room window (They wouldn’t have known that I currently sleep in there) at 3am. Fortunately it bounced off, flew across the street, hit a fence and exploded. I’ve got the feeling that it was supposed to set the curtains etc on fire, which pisses me off no-end, since we have innocent children here!

So, pretty much as soon as we get the house done up and sell it, we’re both moving out of this idyllic-looking town!


The biggest surprise though, was when this big silver was struck with Cupid’s arrow himself!

Having been through hell over the last nearly 13 years, I’d vowed that I wouldn’t entertain being in any sort of relationship and was quite content to have fun and be friends with everyone.

But, laid plans (no pun intended) being what they are, it was not to be. A kitteh that I’ve spoken to a fair bit over the last couple of years, and that I thought was a great friend, ended up finding the chink in my scales.

As such, next year I’m going to be moving to Melbourne! (Sorry to the SA Furs) With nothing to really tie me to this town, my hatchling moving overseas (where I cannot follow), my smitten heart belongs over there now.


So there you have it. The biggest bits of news for the last few months. Lots of stuff and a long rambling, sorry.

The good news is I’m back and will post regularly now, so no more long winded rundowns! =3


TL;DNR summary:
RL got in the way. Divorce is not back on tracks.
My ex is moving to the US and taking hatchling
Bushfires suck.
I’ve fallen for a kitteh.
I’m moving to Melbourne next year.
I’m back! >=3