Well, my Chibi Beach commissions are now closed. Perhaps I'll open the project up next year, we'll have to wait and see.

Hey, so... the past few days have seen FA be down quite a lot... so... if you're wondering where else to find me, well... there's 3 sites you can check out:

First is DeviantART (although I avoid posting NSFW things there any more):
https://www.deviantart.com/ryan-silverfox

Next is Weasyl (I post pretty much everything there):
https://www.weasyl.com/~ryansilverfox

Finally, I also have a Twitter account (Everything goes there and I've posted a few odd things there I haven't posted anywhere else):
https://twitter.com/SilverfoxRyan

So, I just wanted to remind people that yes, I do have commissions open now. First time I've ever done commissions online, so if ya got some cash lying about and like what I do, please take a look at the commission sheet I uploaded last week (click the link below)
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/30458206/

For the time being (and while I think of better ways to do it), just send me a note if you're interested.

Take care, all!

So, since the Tumblrpocolypse is coming, I decided to make a Twitter (as most people are migrating there).
https://twitter.com/SilverfoxRyan

So.. this probably won't effect most people here... but if it does, read below...

I've been on FA for a long time... almost 12 years (wow... holy sh-- really?) and the list of people I was... well, over 1,500 people. But, I had not done too much housework on that list. So, I was doing some random afk stuff in a video game and decided to clean out many of the people I watched that were either dead accounts or hadn't posted in a long time (like, over a year). I also unwatched a couple of artists who my tastes have... changed from... either my own opinions or the artist in question changed their content in some way that I didn't care for.

If you are one of those people who I unwatched and are somehow upset by this, please do not be. I definitely do not look down my nose at any of you. You all do great work and I hope you all continue to do so. If you are somehow upset (or think I unwatched you by accident), you can totally voice your concerns and I'll look them over. I might have accidentally unwatched someone I didn't mean to (there's a couple I re-watched immediately when I caught the mistake).

Anyways, just wanted to mention it to people... thought it'd be fair if anyone wanted to know.

So, after I got my stent removed from the surgery, everything seems to be pretty good. Just have to schedule a follow-up appointment and that seems to be it.

I'll probably have some art up sometime soon.

Hey, all!

So, ya... last journal I posted I said I was going into some minor surgery, which I did on Friday. I won't go into detail, but it was non-invasive and I'm currently in the middle of trying to recover. For the most part, things have been pretty uninteresting - vegging out in front of my laptop watching random YouTube crap or occasionally playing games in between bouts of nausea. Yes, for some reason, when I feel nauseous from everything that's been going on, my desire to do, well, anything seems to completely disappear. It kind of sucks, but I'm getting through it.

Thanks to those who've wished me a swift recovery. I've got one more minor step to go through (having a stint removed) on Thursday, but I'm sure I'll be feeling a lot better soon. Kind of sucks as well that I'm pretty much housebound during birthdays of two of my loved ones, but I am sure they understand.

Anyways, I'll try to update things when I'm feeling better. Dunno if I'll have anything to upload before then or not, but we'll have to see.

Take care for now!

Hey, all!

So, I know my uploads are pretty scattershot, but in a week or so, I'll be taking a week off for recovery. I'll be going to the hospital on Friday (27th) to get a kidney stone removed that has been bothering me for, oh... a year (give or take). I'm going to a pre-OP appointment tomorrow, then 1 week from then, I'll be getting the procedure done. After that, the doc says I'll need a week to recover and that I'll feel pretty crappy, so I don't expect I'll be very active online, but you never know.

I'll try and upload a thing or two beforehand, but yeah... if you're wondering where I'll be, pretty much on the couch/bed recovering from some fun stuffs.

Take care, all!

Hey!

So, I've been thinking about doing a little project as an experiment. I know I've never opened up any commissions online, but I thought I'd like to try my hand at something a little... simple to test the waters. Before I do (and before I reveal exactly what I was thinking), I thought I'd ask those few who watch me... or anyone else who stumbles across this journal... would that be something you'd be down for?

Simply put, I'm thinking of doing a somewhat simple YCH (not an auction) and want to know who'd be interested in it.

Please leave your comments below and I'll use that to gauge what I do coming up.

Hey, all! So, a friend of mine has fallen into some hard times... low on the cashy money and all that and to help him out, a friend of mine has opened commissions with the proceeds going to help him out until he can get back on his feet.

Here is a link to the commission page:
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/20262627/

If anyone knows  Androo, they know he's a great guy... very friendly and generous. So, now it'd be a great time to give back.

Help if you can ^-^

Greetings, everyone!

So... once again, it's been a long time since I've done a journal entry... and probably, it'll be a while until I do another, but whatevz XD

I just wanted to let everyone know that, if you're going to Anthrocon 2016, I'll be attending the Artist's Alley on Saturday. I did try and sign up for Friday as well, but I didn't get so lucky as to get a slot... so I might at least try to get a stand-by seat and attempt to weasel my way in XP

Congrats to my friends Sierra Ashura and Krowsy for both getting tables all weekend long! Check out their galleries if you haven't already, or just say hi if you guys are attending the con and walk about in the AA.

Anyways, not really anything to announce other than this... so, have a great day, everyone and I'll see you next time ^_~

1. You started to play videogames at the age of...?
About 5 or 6... first TV was 19 inches and black & white. Oldschool FTW =p

2. First game you ever played?
Super Mario Bros. 2

3. First console you owned?
NES

4. Consoles you own/owned?
NES, SNES, Game Boy (normal and colour), GBA (normal and SP), Gamecube, Wii, DS, PS2, PS3, PS4

5. Your favorite genre(s)?
Action/Adventure, Platformer, Action RPG, RPG Shooter

6. Favorite game character(s)?
Megaman

7. Which element(s) in games is/are most important for you (story, graphic etc.)?
Story and Gameplay mostly.

8. You don't care about ...?
Sports games.

9. Prefer PC or Console?
I've been a console gamer most of my life, but I don't have any problem with PC games... PC gamers calling themselves the "master race" is an annoyance of mine. Here's a tip - the last group of people who talked about the "master race" had half the world come together to kick their asses. Might want to save the delusions of grandure there...

10. Your current 3 Fav games?
-Megaman series
-Souls series (including Demon's Souls and Bloodborne)
-Borderlands series
-Phantasy Star Online
-Legend of Zelda series

11. 3 Games you didn't like...
Quest 64, Earthworm Jim 3D, Star Fox Adventures (well... I liked it until the borderline insulting ending that reeked of Rare selling out to Microsoft and becoming a joke of it's former self).

12. One game that's totally overrated in your opinion?
Halo. Always Halo. When gamers give death threats to companies for not giving every game in the franchise a perfect 10... when Halo 2's launch is advertised as "the biggest event in gaming" and the game franchise is pretty much used as a pacifier to keep the fanboys from realizing that Microsoft has next to no good exclusives for their system or interest in making anything new or interesting for their consoles, you know it's overrated.

13. Ever played an online game, if yes which one(s)?
Maple Story and a little bit of Mabinogi.

14. What do you think about ...Tomb Raider?
A decent Playstation IP that sold out to Microsoft... just another victim of the great green Borg cube.

15. ...Tetris?
Pretty good at it, but not tournament level. Can reach lv 10 pretty reliably.

16. ...Sonic?
As a Nintendo kid, I never played much of the classic Sonic series. Adventure 2 was my first game in the franchise and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I've steered clear of the truely "bad" Sonic games, but I certainly have a much more open view of the games. Colors and Generations were great games that showed the franchise still has promise. Sonic Boom screwed that up... but if one thing has ruined Sonic more than anything else, it's the fanbase, who cannot be pleased with anything if it's not Sonic and Knuckles 2. The Sonic fanbase has become self-destructive and very little can be done until they collectively grow up... which likely won't happen. Conversely, Sega needs to pull their heads out of their asses, not just because of Sonic, but for other games in their library. They've completely fucked over North American gamers who have waited over 3 years for their version of Phantasy Star Online 2, then decided to make a PS4 port, but only for Japan. Sega's very quickly going the route of Konami, to be honest... and that's a bad thing.

17. ...Spyro?
Never played it much (never had a PSOne), never got into it. My girlfriend loves it, though.

18. ...The Sims?
Meh. Don't see why it's not a Facebook game by now.

19. ...Legend of Zelda?
Never played a bad one... though never tried Skyward Sword yet... still want to. The Zelda franchise has been a staple series for me that just has not steered me wrong. Also, Link's Awakening is probably one of the most heart-wrenching in the series, but so many people forget how good it really was.

20. ... Assassin's Creed?
Played 'em up until 3... kind of fell out of love with the series. I think a new IP that goes back to the free-form Assassinations of the 1st game and steers clear of combat for more stealth target kills would be a great idea.

21. GAME OVER!!!
Don't know. Never seen one. Hahaha... just kidding. No, seriously... it's nice to have a real "failure point" in a video game, rather than infinite lives, refillable health and no way to truely lose. Not every game works with that system, but it's nice to still see those 8 letters from time to time.

22. Game(s) you'd love to see?
A D&D-like game using the Wii U in where the person with the tablet controller is the game master and everyone else uses the Wii motes and TV. The GM can either generate use pre-made campaigns, make their own and upload/download ones created by other players to try.

Also, a new friggin' Megaman game... oh, and for Sega to bring out PSO2 to North America already! >=/

23. Game(s) you're waiting for at the moment?
Dark Souls 3, Mighty No. 9, Red Ash, Bloodstained

24. Tag some gamers here, if you want to.
Anyone who wants to try this is welcome!

If you've got some pocket change and looking for an awesome artist to do you some artwork, then look no further!

 Derranged has opened commissions a little bit ago and she's really hoping there's some people out there who'd love her yummy-yum brand of artwork. The journal with her info is right here:
http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/6744627/

Go check her out! I'm super cereal here! She'll make you an awesome commish, trust me!

A little while back, I did a gender swap of Megaman in his power suit from Megaman 6 for Andrew Dickman's Megaman Gender Swap Collab.

Well, the collab is complete and here's a video showcasing it all!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzRNpnWBSKs

If you wait until about 6:58, you'll see my entry tip off the Megaman 6 section (just before "Mrs. X")... kind of proud to be the opening rep of that list.

If you want to see the collab credits, either go check the link on Youtube or the credits of my pic on DA here:
http://ryan-silverfox.deviantart.co.....Suit-441642766

Hey, everyone!

A lot of people made that big exodus to Weasyl and, though I'm not going anywhere, I decided to make a Weasyl account to keep in touch with those who left (and because I heard it's pretty good).

https://www.weasyl.com/~ryansilverfox

Cya there (and here... and on DA... =p)

Okay, looks like FA's back online after what seemed like forever.

Cool.

If anyone, for some reason, needed to find me elsewhere, I have a DA account under the same name.

And... well, here's hoping that, now that the site's "fixed", we can see the staff working on all those updates they said we'd get but never got around to.

Also, I'll just be sitting up in a nice, high place in preparation to watch "FA Exodus 2013 part 20".



OH! Almost forgot...

I have a bunch of images scanned and am working on them. A whole batch of new ref sheets (as the old ones suuuuuuck), a holiday pic and a little thing I said I might do in a conversation with a certain... feathery friend... ^_~

Hopefully, I'll get most of it done by the end of the year.

It's been a while since I've updated this thing and, what the heck? My birthday might as well be as good an excuse as any to do so, amirite?

So, yeah... August 12th has rolled around again as it always does and for me, it's been 31 times. Yep, I'm 31... if you want to know what it's like to be 31, it's pretty much like any other day for me. I don't really tend to make a big production out of my own birthday... I'm pretty laid-back with it all. I do appreciate well-wishes from friends and loved ones, of course, but I really don't care about the whole big celebratory party and stuff. Actually, I've never really liked the song honestly... I never really have. Even when it's someone else's birthday... kind of odd of me, I know.

Unfortunately, many of my friends are busy in one way, shape or form today (we're all adults with jobs or whatever). Lucky for me, I work nights and have today and tomorrow off. I'm planning on seeing some of my friends tomorrow for a little celebratory dinner (nothing big of course), but it'll be nice to see them. Other than that, I'll be spending my two days off with my girlfriend, since she's pretty much the only other person who's available (not that I mind <3). We'll just be enjoying each other's company and going places for fun.

I bought "The Last of Us" a while back and decided not to play it until after my birthday (kind of a self-gift). Since I'll be out and about the next couple of days, I'll probably start playing on Wednesday or something. I'm going to be beginning a 9-day work week on Wednesday, so I'll have some time before shifts to plug away at it.

A couple of days ago, I got to see Sharknado on television. Oh man was that movie funny to laugh at. It was just SO stupid! XD

Hm... other than that, nothing I really need to report. I suppose to anyone who'd want to know, our family DID have a scare a few months back. My father had a heart attack which caused everyone some worry... but ultimately, he came out of it almost better than he went in. Apparently, when the paramedics came to get him, they gave him some medicine to stabilize his heart or something and that medicine literally blew out the blockage that caused the heart attack! He was stuck at home for a month to recouperate (ironicly he didn't have to it seems) and now he's out and about like it never happened.

Anyways, that's about it. Catch you all later!

Snagged it from  Fivel

1. A selection of television programs you do not care for.
Honestly, I don't watch much TV at all... the types of shows I just don't care for are mainly reality TV shows... just so... meh.

2. A selection of musical artists you do not care for.
Not so much artists, but genres... I don't care for country, "pop" or rap.

3. A selection of celebrities you couldn't care less about.
Any, to be honest. Some are fun to see, but their personal lives? Who cares?

4. A hobby you “don’t get”.
Uh... honestly, a hobby's a hobby... I get the idea of any of 'em.

5. A habit you find disgusting.
Smoking in general.

6. Something in school you really liked doing that everyone else bitched over.
Pottery and printmaking were things I rather enjoyed that other people didn't seem to.

7. Your favorite household chore.
Making the bed... especially since I'm not anal about it and can do it in one quick move.

8. Popular video games that make you go “meh”.
Halo... so unbelievably overrated.

9. PC or MAC?
Either, really. I've used both and seen pros and cons for each.

10. A sport you don’t like, for whatever reason.
Sports in general. I have no interest in sports. I guess the one I'd like the least is "American football", just because of the stupidity of the confusion of naming between this and "soccer" (European football)... when in all reality, "soccer" has the right to call itself genuine "football", since the game is almost entirely done with a person's FOOT connecting with a BALL. "American football" rarely uses a foot and the "ball" is egg-shaped. I heard a joke once calling it "hand egg" once and I honestly think that's the better name for it.

11. A sport you really like, for whatever reason.
I don't... not really...

12. Television programs you love but have gotten shit for liking.
I suppose Deadliest Warrior, just for how unscientific the testing really is...

13. Musical artists you love but have gotten shit for liking.
Well, my girlfriend tends to think the music I like (mainly classic rock) is kind of lame (she's into hardcore, industrial and so-on), but other than that, not really.

14. A hobby you have/find interesting that other people bother you over/make fun of.
I once played an MMORPG called "Maple Story" when I was in college. Some bro-tards made fun of me for it (and went on playing their Haloz, screaming and carrying on in the computer lab).

15. A habit you have that other people bug you over.
Popping my joints (my mom HATES it XD)

16. Something in school you hating doing and it felt like everyone else loved.
Gym... but not because of the activity... all of my high school gym classes were ALWAYS in the mornings. Baseball sucked for this, since the ball diamond at my high school faced the morning sun, making it pretty much blinding for anyone at bat.

17. The household chore that makes you want to shoot your own face off.
Anything involving toilets... I have VERY bad memories from cleaning a public washroom once...

18. A selection of video games that you enjoy that perhaps you really shouldn't.
I like some of the 3D Castlevania games (IE: Castlevania 64) despite their poor reviews. Oh, I also like many of the Sonic 3D games (Adventure 1&2, Heroes and Generations), though a lot of fanboys piss all over 'em.

19. A celebrity crush that maybe even you don’t understand.
Nobody. Again, I don't really care much for celebrities.

20. Free rant on whatever grinds your gears at the moment.
Not so much a rant... but... why is the average person so moronicly self-involved that they can't see anyone else around them? If you don't think that way, try working customer service for a good period of time... you'll understand what I mean.

Hey, everyone!

Man, it's been a while since I did a journal... figure I'd do an update just for fun.

First off, gaming... hoo-boy! Last time I left a journal, it was about the PS3 download hack n slash Legasista (so fun, go get it!), but since then, when I have had the chance to, I've been gaming my arse off.

First off, I picked up Borderlands 2 when it came out and also got my hands on the Season Pass for the DLC. I'll say it right now... that game is awesome... especially the writing. Anthony Birch (from "Hey Ash, Whatcha Playin'?" fame) is the head writer on the project (even got Ashley Birch to voice one of the more infamous characters, Tiny Tina) and he is absolutely brilliant. Handsome Jack is the best villian I think I've ever had the fun to meet. Highly charismatic, but incredibly warped, he's just a joy to listen to... and later in the game, really makes you hate him. Also, the 2 DLC campaigns were fun as well. Captain Scarlet's Pirate Booty had it's moments (and hey, you get to fight pirates, so why not?), but I REALLY had a kick with Mr. Torgue's Campaign of Carnage... mainly due to Mr. Torgue himself. Mr. Torgue is pretty much what would happen if you took Hulk Hogan, Macho Man Randy Savage and The Ultimate Warrior, mixed them up into one being and then filled him with a six pack of Red Bull and a few bottles of booze. He is loud, swears a lot (which is auto-censored by a device implanted in him), loves violence (especially explosions) and my god, is he entertaining! So much fun from that guy!

During my playthrough of Borderlands 2, however, also came the "Artorias of the Abyss" DLC for Dark Souls (my favourite game of last year). I made a whole new character to explore the new area and MAN, is it ever hard! The first boss you fight (literally after walking into the first area) was a ball-buster for sure! After that, it was certainly challenging, but I got the hang of it and eventually got through it. Unfortunately, there had been a graphical bug in the DLC in where some of the special effects wouldn't appear, so I had to put the game on hiatus until it was patched before finishing it off. I did everything in the DLC properly, including leaving a boss in the normal game alive before meeting their NPC in the DLC in order to get an altered boss cut scene (which was pretty sad... but worth it).

Recently, I also picked up Street Fighter X Megaman as it was free from Capcom (though mostly made by a fan) for the Blue Bomber's 25th anniversary (at least Capcom showed SOME love to Megaman... I really did not have much faith). It definitely is a great crossover (though it does have a few small issues) that borrows elements from both sides. Primarily, it's a Megaman game, however the bosses are all Street Fighter characters (and their stages are themed on the characters, including 8-bit music of their theme songs). The bosses are all from Street Fighter 2, 3, 4 and Alpha and the game has a lot of great nods (including an easter egg that lets you replace the game's music with Guile's theme... since it goes with everything, you know). Definitely a treat (and if you haven't gotten it yet, what's wrong with you? IT'S F-R-E-E!)

Also, when I'm stuck at work (which is very quiet), I also bring my laptop to watch DVDs. Since I don't have an internet connection, I download a few ROMs and play some classic NES games. I've even got to try some classics I've never played before like Blaster Master (which is awesome).


Outside of gaming, I've been doodling a bit (nothing great, mind you). I have a picture I've finished (mostly) that I will be uploading for Christmas (so stay tuned) and I am planning on re-working all my character sheets (as I know I can do better now...), though that project is slow-going.

Tomorrow, my friends an I are doing a little party for early-Christmas and gag "end of the world" celebrations. I'm looking forward to the fun. Do I believe we're all gonna die? Hahahahaha... who would?

Anyways, that's all from me for the moment. Perhaps I'll give y'all a new journal in the new year!

Hey, everyone!

So, I kinna wanna bury that last journal and also say something kinna happy with life... and by that, I mean a game a friend showed me late last week that has gotten me hooked. I think it's a downloadable PS3-exclusive, but if you can find it elsewhere, definitely pick it up.

The main reason I think it's a PS3-exclusive, is because it's made by Nippon Ichi Studios, creators of the Disgaea series (which is also... mainly exclusive to the PS3)... but I can't be sure.

Anyways, the game is called Legasista and it's a top-down action RPG similar in many ways to the oldschool (NES/SNES/GB/GBA) Legend of Zelda series. The game is pretty heavily anime-influenced (and has no English voice-over, but there is text to make things easier), so if anyone here is against listening to Japanes VOs (especially cutesy girls), then this is just a warning.

Much of this game is pretty awesome for a somewhat simple title. The graphics are pretty crisp, clean, possibly hand-drawn spritework, which looks very good even on HD televisions. The graphical style is anime-esque with bright, vibrant colours that, honestly, are a pleasure to look at. One thing that will get you, however, is the style of the sprites. How can I put it...? They're kinna like Rayman in the way that they have heads, bodies, hands and feet... but no arms or legs. They are also pretty chibi-ized with the head being pretty much 50% of the total mass of the character. Honestly, you get used to this pretty quickly, especially considering how they use this style for one of the main draws of this game... character creation.

And yes, the character creation in Legasista is, for lack of a better word, AWESOME! Once you unlock the creator (the game eases you in to each of it's features, character creation coming in a bit later), you'll have a bunch of templates to work from (including main characters from Disgaea re-done in this style), but there's more... TONS more! Not only does this game have an in-depth character editor (which is very similar to a ghetto MS Paint), but you can actually export the image as a .png, put it on your computer, edit it in Photoshop (or whatever) and then import it back to the game!

That's right... you can literally DRAW your character ANY. WAY. YOU. WANT!!!

That was a major selling point for me and, if you're into customization of characters, you'd love it too.

I should mention that dialogue scenes are not done with the basic sprites (though your custom characters aren't in them anyways) and are instead hand-drawn anime stills with some simple animation on them (these stills are pretty detailed too...).

Another good thing I have to mention is this game's music. It's really good all across the board! It really fits the action and gets you pumped for dungeon crawling! Still, even if you don't like it, the game unlocks the ability early on to play music from your PS3 instead of the game music. Always a good feature in games on the PS3 ^-^

So, as I mentioned before, this game is indeed a dungeon crawler. Your job is to go through various dungeon floors of an area, solving basic puzzles and killing various baddies. The game does make this tricky with it's variety of systems (one of which being breakable equipment in place of full health bars). I'd try to talk about it all, but it's actually kinna complicated to simply explain it. Playing the game yourself, however, makes it pretty easy to figue out.

Anyways, Legasista is a fantastic game and anyone who owns a PS3 should download this one. It's about $30 but I think it's well worth the price. Certainly one of those games you can pick up and play or dive into for a long haul.

*sigh* hey, friends and fans...

...well... I'm going to start by saying right off the bat that I'm sorry to have to do this rant... but to be all honest, I need to vent steam pretty bad at the moment. Expect swearing, expect cruel things to say, but this is a pretty serious IRL problem that occurred to me just an hour ago and I'm still boiling over it.

So, allow me to explain a little history before I begin (some ranting may happen as well)...

Back when I was a teenager, one of the jobs I used to fund my going to college was a cashier at a grocery store. It wasn't a great job, but it did what it needed (until I quit due to having shifts cut back too much that I couldn't afford working there). It was a bit hectic at times, but I attempted to remain as professional as possible and just slog through it (though I do have some funny stories from working there).

However, one fateful day really created a shit-storm that, like I mentioned in my past journal, has returned to haunt me to this very day (which is the source of this rant).

The day began with me waking up pretty darn sick (which is rare for me). I was dizzy and nausious and attempted to call in sick from work. For some reason, I was not allowed (you'd think working as a cashier at a grocery store, they would do it automaticly, but no) and so I had to go to work in the state I was in and still handle customers while not puking on their shoes. One of the customers I had to serve was a woman who worked in the small wine kiosk the grocery store had. She was quite a nice person and I'd often have rather nice conversations when we both were working. That day, however, like I said, I was very dizzy and trying not to throw up, so I wasn't particularily talkative (though I still tried to remain friendly and professional).

Apparently, however, I was misinterpreted. I learned soon after that the "wine lady" thought I was upset with her or something and was trying to be rude. She was actually upset to the point of tears from what I was told. How was I informed of this? Did I find her like this in the kiosk? Did a supervisor or the manager come and attempt to settle things?

Nope! What had happened is that one of my co-workers from the deli (or possibly the bakery, I can't remember) went to go chat with her (them being friends it seems), found her and talked about what had happened. Upon finding out, she proceeded to storm over to my register and cause a scene in front of everyone, including customers, co-workers and my supervisors. She was loud, angry and crude with her long-winded tyrade and as quick as she waddled over, she waddled off (yes, I'm going there... and yes, she is a lumbering mass of loud-mouthed fat... and, once you keep reading, you'll see why I'm not speaking kindly of her). Once she had left to her actual section, the supervisor walked up behind me and expressed her absolute disgust for the scene she had witnessed, also coming over to make sure I was okay. I, on the other hand, was still a bit stunned and very confused. Sufficed to say, feeling ill was the last thing on my mind.

I should add that very shortly after, I went and apologized to the wine lady.

Not long after all of this had happened (maybe a week), the lumbering bitch-demon came back to me. Did she apologize? Of course not! No, she had something else to complain about... fortunately, she did this when I wasn't lined up with customers and she miraculously managed to remember her indoor voice. What was she complaining about now? Well, simply put, she was calling me a snitch for some reason. As it turns out, the supervisor who had witnessed her scene had put in an official report, since well... let's face it, she made the entire store look bad and acted like the manager when she didn't even work in the same department as me. So, yeah... she got in trouble and, of course, in her pissy, immature mind (trust me on this, you'll see what I mean), I was at fault. Immature is probably an understatement for her, because essentially, she would not let this go... because she would basicly insult me (using snitch, tattletale and other comments leading to the point) pretty much every chance she had. Now, I don't know if she was caught doing this or if her past action was just too much, but I do remember that she was fired within about a month or two after being "talked to".

Now, you'd THINK this would be the end of it... but no... because she was now a customer at the grocery store... so, believe it or not, she actually continued to give me off-handed insults every time she could, but now she wasn't being held back by having the job. So, yeah... I was still being harrassed by this loud-mouthed cunt! Not only that, she was shit-talking to other employees about me! So, after attempting to remain professional and being pushed to my limit, I went to the assistant manager and told her what had been happening and that I would not deal with her again. The assistant manager agreed and the next time she saw that bitch, she was given this warning:

"Say anything negative against him again, and you will no longer be allowed in this store." So, yeah... she was basicly told "shut up or be banned" and that pretty much was the end of it...

...or so I thought.

Fast forward to present day... over TEN YEARS (no, I'm not joking... all of that happened nearly 12 years ago!) roughly 1 or 2 months ago. I am currently working overnight at a gas station (long story, not going to explain) that has a very simple safety policy. The policy is that we do not allow anyone into our building from 11pm to 6am under any circumstances (all transactions must be done through a pay window... more like a box). So, it's about 5:30 in the morning and a taxi pulls up. The driver gets out and, lo and behold... it's our un-friendly neighbourhood bitch-roll! Of course, it'd been almost 12 years (and we had a much nicer co-worker at that grocery store that sorta looked like her that I always confused the two), so I didn't entirely recognize her right away. Still, she came over to use the washroom (which was inside) and, of course, I apologized and told her that I couldn't let her in. So, she left and I went back to minding my own business.

Two days later, around 6:30 or so, the cunt squeezed through our front door and proceeded to, you guessed it, lay a shit fit on me. Why? Because she assumed that I was "holding a 10-year-old grudge" (her words) and that was the only reason I wouldn't let her in. I attempted to explain that she was mistaken and that nobody is permitted inside until 6 as is policy, but she wouldn't have that. She claimed that our boss gave her permission to go into the building before 6 to use the washroom and I simply stated that I was not aware of this. I also attempted to point out that I didn't care about anything that had happened 10 years ago, but of course, when you're a loud-mouth, immature bitch who can't let something go, she didn't believe me.

Naturally, I talked to my boss about the situation (actually, I left a note recanting the conversation and asked if she was given permission) and, sure enough, she told me I was correct and no, she had not gotten any permission whatsoever. I had also learned that, between the time she bitched at me and the time I was able to speak with the manager directly over the incident, the fat cow had bitched to one of my co-workers about me (a guy who obviously knows me better).

Now, after all of that, I thought things had been sorted out and it was over... and you'd probably think that too... but considering the story so far, I'm sure we can all guess that is not the case... and you'd be right.

Fast forward to this morning at 6:15am, 45 minutes until my shift ended. I was tending to customers as usual and, who squeezed through the door (okay, yes... I am exagerating about her weight... but not by much) to pay for gas. I saw her before she opened the door and simply thought to myself "okay, she's just here for gas... just treat her like any other customer" and prepared to do so. Before I could even give my cheery "Hello~!" and with another customer just walking through the door, she began giving me a whole new bitch fit... why? Because I apparently made her wait outside in some kind of childish display of spite.

It took me a moment to get what she was saying... since I didn't even notice her until she was coming over to pay (after pumping gas), but it dawned on me pretty fast (as this actually happens at our pumps occasionally). Our systems are have a few... how can I put it... quirks. One such quirk is that, when you press one of the three large buttons to select the type of gas you want, it doesn't always send the signal inside requesting permission to start the pump (which we activate on our console). What must have happened is that she pressed the button for the gas, it didn't register, which made her wait and try again and when the signal finally tripped, I just activated it as it came up without a second thought. To me, it was just another request that I promptly activated, but to her? It was a petty act of spite... so, naturally... she had to come in and tell me about how stupid this grudge was (which I agree... but then again, I'M not the one who had been bringing up past discressions...) and that she would be complaining to my boss and my boss' boss about this. I tried to do what I had originally intended and remain polite and professional (though inside, I was already getting quite tired of listening to her bullshit), but she just said "Oh, NOW you're being nice..." pretty much implying that I was sucking up to not have her complain and get me fired.

So, she stormed out, leaving an inwardly seething me and a very confused customer, who, after a second, looked at me and said "What was that bitch's problem?", which I summarized to and he looked at me like as if that was the most ridiculous thing he'd ever heard (which, well... yeah... kinna have to agree). So, he left and now, without anyone around to hear or see me... I just shouted out a loud, long "GOD DAMMIT!"

Yeah - I had finally had all I was going to take from this 500 pound shit stain on the ass of existance this time and, knowing that my manager would be in within the hour, I waited (though continued to serve customers as if nothing happened). When the manager came in, I looked at her and began with "We have to talk.", explaining the situation and told her that one, I do not want to serve her again (it is within my rights to refuse sale to a customer if reason exists) and requested that this bitch not be allowed on the property anymore (if she was so hung up about the past, might as well punish her the same way). As my manager could tell, I was fed up, pretty much livid at this point and did try to calm me down. I did apologize for raising my voice a bit (when I'm angry, I do get a bit loud... and my voice is pretty strong as it is) and said that I was just mad and all. She told me that I should have simply remained calm and proffesional and such (to which I assured her that I had been), but not much was said beyond that. I think she just tends to be quiet when I begin getting irritated over something.

So, yeah... I came home and in trying to vent out some of this aggrivation, here I am. After all of this, I have considered how to put a permanent end to this blubbery bitch's blatherings and have honestly put thought into taking legal action from charging her with harrassment to slapping her with a restraining order... and I have NEVER had things like that cross my mind when having to deal with someone.

But for now... I'm going to try and de-stress... I'm so ticked off that I doubt I'll be able to get to sleep for a little while... I hope I will, though... FUCK, I got home from a fun time in Toronto with my friends the day before and this is the bullshit I have to put up with?!?

Well, congrats for reading this far... if you made it...

That's right... today I am 30. I'm coming off a night shift, so I haven't gone to bed yet, but yep... today is my 30th birthday.

How do I feel about it now that it is the big day? Honestly, no different than any other year before. I guess that, maybe it's because my family doesn't make a big deal about it or something, but it's just another day to me... just one I get a little attention over (and that's kinna fun).

Still, I get the unfortunate luck of my birthday marking the halfway point of a 7-day marathon of shift work. So far, though... it's gone pretty well...

...well, until my last shift... where I basicly ran into a bad memory from my past who decided to make my present a pain in the ass. Unfortunately, I won't be able to deal with that one today...

Ah well. Work's been somewhat mellow otherwise these past three days, which is pretty good for me. Tonight ought to be the same, so hopefully, I'll be able to take things easy (and not deal with ghosts trying to haunt me).

In 7 days, it'll be my birthday... when I turn the big 30.

Does it feel any different now than any other birthday? Mentally, a tiny bit... but otherwise, not really. The day will come and go and that'll be the end of it, really. I never make a big deal of these things.

The only thing that sucks for me is that from Thursday until (and including) my birthday on Sunday, I'll be working... and knowing how I'm normally scheduled, my birthday will mark the halfway point of a 7 day straight workathon.

At least I'll get plenty of exercise moving stock around that nobody else ever does... -_-'''

Hey, all!

So,  Derranged and I arrived safely from AC last night. I had a lot of unpacking and such to do, so I didn't have time to write this when I did... though now that I do, here's all that went down:

Thursday
We left Derr's, had a McDonald's breakfast and departed just after 6am. Unfortunately, this meant we'd also have to go past Toronto during rush hour. Joy. Still, we made pretty good time and got to Pittsburg in about 6 or so hours (once we got past Toronto, everything was pretty smooth sailing). Although I printed up instructions, a last-second "gift" of a GPS really made things easy. Never used one before, but was it ever handy. Also, really enjoyed taking long stretches of road, popping on cruise control and just coasting.

Anyways, upon getting to "the Pitt", we met  Androo at I.H.o.P. (I loves me mah pancakes) and then proceeded to the Westin (ooooh boy! >.<). It took a little time to get up to our room on the 23rd floor (plus we all needed to make 2 trips), but we made it, settled in and then went down and got our AC passes (since we all pre-reg'd).

Everything else was pretty much chilling out, doodling in the Zoo and saying hi to the odd person.


Friday
Time to try my hand at Artist's Alley... again... and fail... again. Yep, sat there for about 6-7 hours and sold one $10 sketch. Joy. Apparently, Saturday is indeed the best day to do things and I may give it another shot next year for just that day, but no idea. The layout of AC kinna made things more difficult too - since the Artist Alley and Art Show were both cut off from the Dealer's Room by a divider, not to mention the Dealer's Room being much larger than before, I feel not too many people went into AA as much. Also, as kinna cruel as it is to say, I also partially blame sitting next to Derr as another reason for my lack of success at the table. Every year, it's been the same thing - people walk up to her spot, look through her books, talk, then COMPLETELY ignore me and my spot. I even had someone literally say that Derr's stuff was better (then he grabbed a commission from her). Classy. Once again, AA ended up being a depressing waste of time, but I think this time was more bad luck than anything. Plans must be made if I am to go back there...

 Sierra, who was screwed from work, finally was able to join us at around 10pm that night... though we still crashed kinna early.


Saturday
Time to go about the Dealer's Room, Artist Alley and Art Show myself! I picked up a book from the Clubstripes table and met Miu, which was a pretty awesome experience. Otherwise, I didn't purchase too much else other than an LED finger light which was fun to goof around with. I later decided to get one for Derr, Droo and Sier. At the end of the day during the Dealer's Room, Droo and I stopped by  Ajin's booth and, after a little chatting, decided we'd pop back over Sunday morning to snag a couple last-minute commission slots, Droo a badge of his pony fan-char and me, an Artist Trading Card of Tira. Of course, I had forgotten to make new reference sheets of my characters before AC, so I decided to whip out the pencil, pens and markers in the Zoo to make one.

After the Dealer's Room closed, we went to the Zoo for most of the night. Droo got dragged off (which was unfortunately common for him this year). We sat, doodled and met some fun people... but eventually, Derr got a bit down and crashed early. We hung out for a bit longer (mainly to finish the ref sheet) and crashed early as well.


Sunday
Droo and I made it to Ajin's booth and grabbed our commission slots. I also stopped by :PurpleKecleon:'s booth a little later to get Derr a last-minute commission of a bunch of Mews. We headed back to join Derr in the Zoo, where she had a couple of commissions from Friday to finish up, then around 3pm, we went back to the Dealer's Room to check up on various commissions and do some last-minute shopping. Derr's Mew page was done and I snagged 2 more books from the Clubstripes table and checked up on Ajin's table. He was almost done with Droo's commission and I saw Tira's pencils and started getting a little excited. Unfortunately, he wouldn't be done by the end of the Dealer's Room, so he said he'd meet up with me in the Zoo.

So, I popped back over to the Zoo and gave Derr her Mew page (which cheered her up a lot). Sierra had to leave to go home early (again, work-related BS), so I went back up to the room to assist. She didn't have instructions to get home, so I lent her a copy I printed out (since my GPS pretty much made the sheet useless). We went back to the Zoo so Derr could say goodbye. The chatting and saying of goodbyes from Derr was almost as if Derr was not going to see Sier for months (in reality, she'll be seeing her tomorrow lol). Either way, we cut things as short as possible to take Sier to the car (Derr had to stay behind to guard Droo and my stuff) and see her off.

After that, we grabbed some hot dogs (and got a call from Kate who'd gotten lost due to a road being closed), then went back to the Zoo (brought Derr a hot dog too). After a bit  Bowrll and company arrived and dragged Droo off for some booze. We waited a surprisngly long time for them to get back (in which point, I saw Ajin who was off to grab some dinner - not done the commissions yet). I said I'd be waiting at this table (bad idea as I'll later explain).

Eventually, Droo and Bowrll (aka: Meats) came back and, after some grumbling here and there, we ordered some pizza. I was kind of stuck sitting where I was, since I said I'd wait for Ajin, so I whipped out my DS and played Phantasy Star Zero for about... 4 or so hours. It kinna sucked, since I was unable to really get away from where I was sitting (I said I'd wait), so I couldn't really join in on Derr and Bowrll's chatting (which really made Derr happy)... and after a while, I just simply grew tired... and a bit down... and a little impatient. Either way, I pointed it out to Droo between times jumping back and forth between our Zoo table and his fursuiting and we set out over to Ajin's table (turns out, he was back in the Zoo and didn't come commission hunting... oh well). He wasn't done with Droo's badge (since he wanted to ask a question about the background), but he was done with the Tira ATC. All of my negative feelings (and even some of my fatigue) pretty much disappeared when I saw it... yep, I really liked it ^-^'''

So, for the next few hours, I jumped in and joined in on the chatting and doodling with Derr, Droo, Bowrll and others. Some really silly things came out of it and all in all, it was a great time enjoyed by all. Droo was a bit drained from various things, so he left a bit early to crash and I followed suit shortly after, since I had to drive home the next day. Derr stayed behind since she was having such a good time.


Monday
We slept in... then had to deal with both packing, bringing our stuff to our cars (or rather to the front of the hotel where we could bring our cars around) and, of course, deal with what I like to call the "Hellevators" - the elevators from hell. Being in the Westin always sucks for elevators - not only is it crowded and slow-moving, but we have to deal with the Anthrocon staff monitoring the elevators (or, as I like to call them, the elevator Nazis). The first year we came to AC, we stayed at the Westin and I did not like them much then... but boy oh boy did I grow to detest these jackasses this year. I'll give them a special section at the bottom, since I'm ready to go off on a rant on them. Anyways, the Hellevators were especially bad - we had to wait a good 20 minutes every time we wanted to go down, since any other time, the elevators were full. The first time I went down was to grab a trolley for our luggage, so we only needed to make one trip - that failed. It was a varitable clusterfuck down there of people scrambling to grab trolleys. One was guarded by the hotel staff and the other (I never saw more than 2 at a time) and the one time I got my hands on one, some doucebag with a high-pitched chihuahua voice started giving me crap, because he was in some line and I just snagged it before he could. Either way, I wasn't up to dealing with him at the time, so I passed it off (which I regret, since it wasted a good hour and a half of time).

Anyways, we finally grabbed out stuff and we got out of there, heading back to I.H.o.P. for a much-deserved breakfast. After that, we had to go to Walmart to pick up a bunch of "groceries" - food items we can't get back up in Canada. Derr grabbed some tea mix her mum wanted, 6 boxes of Trix, a case of Yoo-hoo and 2 cases of a special flavour of Mountain Dew. I grabbed a 4 pack of Yoo-hoo to show my friends later this week and a drink for the road.

After that, we popped over to the gas station to fuel up for the ride home. Derr wanted something from the trunk, but when I tried to open it, the trunk had jammed somehow. After fuelling up and trying everything I could from the back to the front, I was finally able to get the trunk open, grab the thing and close it). What I didn't realize is that I had also hit the release for the hood of the car... so when we were following Droo to the interstate, I began noticing it wobbling dangerously. I pulled over to the shoulder and fixed it, having Derr let Droo know. After that, we hit the road and pretty much sailed home uneventfully (save for a few doucebag drivers). I dropped Derr and her things off, then went home to unpack myself.

And that's pretty much the jist of it... save for...


Elevator Nazis
Seriously... the AC elevator monitors aggrivated me to no end with their sleaziness and hypocrasy. Two cases come to mind in particular...

First off, these guys were monitoring all weekend how many people could get on an elevator at once. If there were too many, too bad. Normally, they would fill the elevators well enough. One time, however, although they had enough room for 3 people, they actually wouldn't let Droo on with the rest of us, shutting the door in his face. Why do I bring this up? Because earlier that day, I was on a completely packed elevator (pretty much at it's max limit), when one of the elevator Nazis (in fact, one of the two who were on the elevator that refused Droo to get on) shoved his way onto the overcrowded elevator! We BARELY had room for the prick and his cupcakes and, if the situation was reversed, he wouldn't have been aggressively against someone else shoving on... but it's okay, because he's AC staff. In other words, a self-entitled prick.

The second instance that really ticked me off was when myself and Sierra were standing in line for the elevator (since they monitor who goes up from the lobby). The wait was going to be roughly... 5-10 minutes... no biggie really. But then, two of the elevator Nazis began doing, what I consider to be extremely sleazy - they began going up and down the line telling people they could skip the line altogether (even past the fursuiters, who take priority due to the hot suits and poor vision) if they gave them money. Occasionally, they would say it was for charity, but they never directly said what the charity was (at one point it was hinted at, but not directly said). Either way, they were attempting to exploit an inconvenient situation (one that THEY were partly responsible for) from weary people simply wanting to get back to their rooms (which they paid for). I could simply not belive how under-handed they were.


Anyways, I'll end it there... all in all, Anthrocon had it's ups and downs, but it was still a good experience overall. I'm sure we'll all go back next year (though we've already planned NOT to stay at the Westin this time). There's a lot of people I'd like to see again... so yeah... let's see how things go next time. To all the people I met at AC, thanks for saying hi and perhaps we'll cross paths again next time!

Whelp, it's Thursday morning... final preparations for the 6 and a half hour drive to Pittsburg for Anthrocon 2012.

I have to admit, being the first time I've driven (and this is the longest time behind the wheel in 1 trip), I am a tad nervous. Fortunately, I have the driving instructions and the drive itself is (mostly) pretty straightforward.

Anyways,  derranged and I are just about ready to head off... so... cya at AC!

And to all who can't go, see ya when I get back!