Som in addition to the "furry ads" we have, FA now features ad banners. This was a totally expected step after FA was sold. Not saying it should not happen or that it is "wrong of xxx to do this" or whatever, just simply noting the "nothing will change" is incorrect.

Please note, this is a personal decition; I have not been mobbed or in any way forced to make it. Also note,
I hold no grudges or bad feelings to people that choose not to leave FA. The notion that people are forced
off FA is one I have not seen anything of. I have, however, seen a load of furs mocking those that decide to
leave FA.

Please don't. For whatver reason someone choose to leave, it is their reason. You do not need a convicted
rapist on staff to leave. You may simply feel uncomfortable with one thing or another that has been done.

My reasons are several. I, for one, am fed up with a 90's looking layout and severe downtimes. We live in 2014,
with web sites that have advanced functionality that would GREATLY benefit a site like FA, yet, the site is so
outdated, it's not even funny.

Secondly, I have a close friend whom I have so much respect for, more than most any in the fandom. She was
stalked, also on FA. The way the FA staff dealt with this was just awful. For me, this is not a rumour. This
is directly from the source.

And no, I have no evidence that the new staff member is a rapist. What we have seen, however, is again how staff
has reacted to it. How someone is ridiculed, how it, no matter true or not, has become a joke, laughed at, etc.
This is behaviour I expcect the staff of a site like FA NOT to have. FA staff has access to private locked
messages, etc. I expect such a staff to show a LOT more professionalism than they have on such a case.

Again, I am not going to hold it against anyone who does not share my view. This is my personal feeling. I am
friends with, and will continue being friends with several furs who have their profiles active on FA.

Just do not comment to this post saying "Oh but you don't have any proofs!". Because, really, I am not saying
the guy should be sent to jail. I am just leaving FA.

I am on Weasyl, https://www.weasyl.com/~sayh

Thanks,
Duck

After bummer loosing Nordic Fuzz Con AND Confuzzled this year, I thought it would be nice to have at least some cheer up time.

Tickets are booked for Malta, arrive 3'rd of August, come back 10th. Will be a welcomed break *squeee!*. Malta was film location for some GoT stuff, so we are sorta heading to Kings Landing... Will be somewhat cool *OvO*

I have been there twice before, but this will be a new country for Swandog :)

Hvem vil komme og feire innflytting til vår nye leilighet den 6 juli?

Det blir "tradisjonelt" vaffeltreff, men i nye lokaler. De som vil komme kan ta toget til Dal, som går fra Drammen -> Oslo -> Lillestrøm -> Dal... Eller kjøre bil... Leiligheten er under 1km fra togstasjonen, men jeg kan sikkert plukke opp furs der uansett... :P

Forhåpentligvis har vi klart å pakke ut vaffeljernet innen den tid.

Saw Cloud Atlas. Film2Home had a 1kr deal on renting it online, so that was a great deal for getting a movie we have really wanted to see, and was so looking forward to.

As it is, I am glad it costed 1kr. This way, I am not left with the feeling of having wasted too much money.

The movie leaves me with enough impression of the story to feel that the book may be a really good book. A movie, however, need to stand on it's on feet, and the "oh, you would have loved the movie if you had read the book" phrase just annoys me.

The movie is very segmented, and I get a feeling that this is done for the sole purpose of making the movie appear deeper and more complex than it really is. And I feel they fail miserably at doing so. Hollywood more or less proves, again, that they are not capable of making a movie of this type.

The attempt makes me think of the rather unknown movie MrNobody. The only difference being that MrNobody succeed where Cloud Atlas failed. Throwing in a lot of "semi-religious meaning-of-life philosophy" does not save the movie, or give it enough dept to make it a movie worth watching.

This could have been a great movie, but again Hollywood, you did not deliver.

So... We were going to be arriving at Confuzzled in about 2 hours... We were both REALLY looking forward to Confuzzled. Apparently, we didn't make it there. To everyone we were gonna meet there, we are so sorry we could not make it.

After the total bummer of missing NordicFuzzCon this year due to me getting sick the day before we were going to travel there, Confuzzled would be one of the highlights to make up for it. Short story as to why; Swandog has a residency permit in her passport that needs to be renewed every second year. She has a permanent residency, but the stamp in the passport has to be put in every 2nd year. We have renewed this several times, it involves going to the police station, and getting a new stamp. Well, that is how it was. But not anymore. When we found that Swan's stamp had expired, we went to the police station to get a new one. "Sorry", they said, "we do not put these stamps in passports anymore. You now have to get a residency card. They take a week to make, and you can only start the process on mondays."... So, what generally takes a quick visit to the police station was now replaced by a process that woud have had to be started monday last week, for us to get it in time. I had heard nothing about this change, and we were, of course, too late. Without this card, Swandog can not re-enter Norway.

So well... We are both REALLY down over this right now... Swan will probably be not doing much FA-journal reading etc until this is over, since it is a bit too painful to get reminded of what we missed.

*squeek*

Duck out

I am doing the NFC Meme! This may be the last thing I do on FA. I have headed over to Weasyl, and due to the treatment of a friend here, I am not sure I will stick around here. Anyway, here goes

Where are you staying?
- We have a room at the con hotel

Means of transportation?
- Me and Swandog are driiiiiiiiving from Gardermoen, Norway to the con

Sharing a room with:
- With Swandog! (who else)

Gender:
- Griffin

Relationship Status:
- Occupied

How old are you?
- I am in the graymuzzle group, lets leave it at that...

How tall are you?
- 180 cm

Where will you be most of the time during the day?
- Trying to hunt down and catch up with old friends

Who will you be with?
- I sure hope to spend some time with the GoHs... We were really good friends. And of course, with other friends, both new and from the "way back in the EF#2 days"

Do you do free art?
- Yes! I do! I will draw your character for free! You may regard it as "abstract character art..."

Do you do trades?
- *nodnodnod!* Anyone wanting to do art trades, just let me know. Again, I am sure my art cant be worse than what hangs in Tate Modern.

Do you do commissions?
- No, that would not be moral

Can I touch you?
- If you know me, you already know the answer to that. If you dont, then no.

Can I talk to you?
- Sure OvO

Can I buy you lots of drinks?
- Nope...

Do you smoke?
- NOPE!

Can I give you lots of money?
- No, then I would feel horrible

Do you have a fursuit?
- Yes, Jasper and Panduck will be there!

Can I hug or snuggle you?
- Hugs yes. Snuggles reserved for friends

Are you nice?
- Most times

Can I buy you food and/or eat meals with you?
- *OvO* Who are you???

Can I give you presents?
- No, presents can be given to me at CabinCon, when my birthday is OvO

Can I hang with you in your room?
- Depends on who you are OvO

Can I dance with you at the dances?
- If I am in costume..

Stage or public performance?
- Sure whatever...

Can I invite you to parties?
- *OvO*

Personality Type:
- Birdbrained

Will you get anything commissioned?
- Nope...

How can I get your attention?
- Squeek!

Panels?
- I am going to anything with the GoHs, and probably anything musical too...

Stolen from Wolftale OvO

This year maked the year where I decided to break a more than 10 year long pause from music making. I had grown rather unhappy with not being able to get much progress and, well, not being able to make much I was happy with.

The way back was not all to easy. I had tried a few times, stumbled quite a bit, and just given up.

"Love Song" was not a new melody, it had been in my head for years, so I decided to use that to get back into practice. Getting the virtual instruments (specially the east west collection) made a big difference, not having to connect all sorta equipment together. Love Song came out ok, I think. I was, however, very happy with how Wind Soul came out. It shows how much the instrument quality means, I would never have been able to write this with my old equipment, how ever good it may have been 10 years ago.

Winters Repose was unlike anything I have ever done, working with putting music to words, and working with a singer. It added a new dimension to music making, and I definitely want to do that again!

Meeting Fox Amoore at Confuzzled, and realizing that music in the furry fandom is a lot more appreciated now than it was back then, gave me inspiration to try again. But it would not have been too fun to continue if it was not for all the sweet comment that I have gotten. Winters Repose now has 90 faves. While this is not much compared to some big artists, it is a lot more than I had hoped for *OvO*

So, thanks again to everyone who has cheered me up and supported me! It means so much!

*humblequacks*
Panduck

All you have to do is "like" this page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Nord.....923048?fref=ts

Its a non profit organisation, I liked it some months back, and its not going to flood your feed with ads. You may get some insane cuteness though, as they shared things like pictures of their red panda cubs.

For every like they get, about $20 (up from $4) is donated to Nordens Ark, one of the most amazing zoo's in the world. This is a Zoo focusing on the animals, where their animals are not just to be on "display", but to be a part of preservation programmes.

Liking the page will give a donation to their work, without costing you anything. What animals do they work with? Red pandas, Snow Leopards, Amur Tigers, Amur leopards, Peregrine Falcons, maned wolfs and Przewalski’s wild horses are examples.

So, press a "like" that makes a difference. The number of "likes" are counted dec 12th, so be quick, and spread the word!

Tidlig beskjed så poter (vinger, etc) får tid til å sette av dato i kalender.

Veitvet bowling var veldig vennlige mot oss, og ser ingen poeng i å prøve å ha det noe annet sted. Fordelene er: Rett ved T-bane og Buss, gode parkeringsmuligheter, STORE garderober til å skifte i, og en betjening som syntes det var kjempehyggelig å ha oss der. At det er Norges største bowlingsenter, er ikke så dumt det heller.

Kjempegøy forrige gang, håper MANGE har lyst til å komme igjen!!!

One week in Paris, been itching to get started on a new tune.

Been playing around for 2 days, and finally found the melody for new tune... I had ideas for what I should start when I got back, but it seems to have ended up on "something completely different". I just am not at the point yet where I am able to get everything in my head out. I just have to note down what comes as I play until I get better.

Do hope it will come out nice though.

*nervous squeek*

Etter forrige session med "death by waffle" håper vi snuter, nebb osv har lyst på mer.

Det blir vaffler, munchkin, flux, osv.

Sted: 15 mins busstur unna Gardermoen. Tid: 15'ish. Kan plukke opp floffer på flyplassen.

Vaffler & tilbehør (det er komplisert..) står vi for, ta med litt snacks & brus.

12 furs at cabincon today! Sad that you could not stand longer, montaina, but it was great seeing you again!

Today we took our fursuits and drove from my family cabin up the Jotunheimsveien, and stopped at at a restaurant there. Swandoggie asked if it was ok if we put on costumes there and took some pictures with the scenery and restaurant before we ate there. "Sure", the woman said, not thinking more about it. They had a HUGE handicap toilet where we changed.

Then, when me and Dax came out of the restroom, the woman who had said we could suit there went from a "not caring" face to a "OH MY GOSH WHAT IS THAT???" face. Eyes wide, she yelled for her mom to come down and bring the camera. Not long after, the chef came out with camera, they took pics of us, with us etc.

We got some really lovely photos with a very nice hotel in the background, and other scenic pictures. Back into the restaurant again to change, several more guest there that time. Everybody out with camera, loads of pics taken.

This was so much fun! Definitely going back there next year!

Since a couple of furs have had to cancel going to CabinCon, we have a couple of slots open.

The "con" (cabin-meet) is in a cabin near Vinstra, easily reachable by train / bus from Oslo and Trondheim. Starts Thursday THIS WEEK and lasts until Sunday.

Some furs arrive friday, thats ok too :)

There will be games, fursuits and a traditional trip to a restaurant in the mountains. Cost is 100kr pr day + restaurant dinner. This is to cover food expences. Mexican dinner friday, BBQ sunday (restaurant saturday).

This also is birthdayparty for Taran and Sayh, so there will be cake, and that is not a lie.

Going to Confuzzled made me realize a couple of things

1) Even though I am still active in the fandom, I have lost touch with such a large part of it.
2) I should never have stopped playing and writing music. Honestly, it's been 12 years since I wrote music! Something that has meant so much to me.

I feel I have lost touch with so much both with music and with furry. I want to get back in touch again. Listing to Fox Amoore was very inspiring. It is nice to see that some furry musicians are actually taken seriously enough to be guest of honor at a con. For so long, even really good furry musicians were mostly invisible behind all the furry artists. It is good to see someone really manage to break that.

I have all my music making equipment set up, but it may take a while before something new comes, as I want to put out things with a lot more quality than I did before, and since I am not very good at playing instruments, it takes forever to tweak and edit the melody until I am happy with it.

But, it makes me happy, so I want to! I will put up some of my old work in the mean time. Hope some of you will enjoy it!

~ Duck