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The year 2023 in review...
2 years ago
General
I can't believe how fast 2023 went! They say the years go by faster as you get older, and it definitely seems that way to me, especially now that I'm 35 years old *shivers a bit*. But while some thing stayed the same this year, there were also a few achievements I went through and a few other pleasant surprises. Since the COVID-19 pandemic has been over for a while (but nowadays it's not so bad anymore, with the vaccines being updated every year and me getting a COVID booster every autumn alongside my flu shot), it's nice that life has practically returned to normal, even though I usually never leave home without a mask in my pocket, just in case. And now it's time to look back at how this year went...
JANUARY
A rough start for Looney Tunes fans like me, when HBO Max purges the 1951-2004 Looney Tunes cartoon shorts, and initially lies that it was just a "maintenance check" before it's revealed it was a tax write-off due to the service's streaming rights expiring.
I go to Anthro New England 2023, the first one held at the Westin Boston Seaport District hotel, and the first con where I also go as my private toon detective foxsona Sam Valentino (though of course I also bring Zak Wolf!) I even finally meet my good friend SquirrellyJ in person.
FEBRUARY
Not much out of the ordinary happens.
MARCH
I take my first "spring break" from my computer tech job, taking a week off in the middle of the month to recharge so I don't burn myself out, and I return to work refreshed.
APRIL
I attend Anime Boston 2023 as Sam Valentino.
MAY
The Brockton Rox season opens again, with me as K-O the Kangaroo.
I celebrate the 90th anniversary of Disney's Oscar-winning "Three Little Pigs" cartoon with a new fursuit head I made of the Big Bad Wolf! He looks so much better than the old one.
JUNE
I have Sam Valentino celebrate the 35th anniversary of "Who Framed Roger Rabbit"!
Campanelli Stadium gets a new scoreboard and Jumbotron screen as part of their renovations and upgrades!
JULY
I develop another new fursona of sorts; more details on him later in this post.
AUGUST
I go to Fan Expo Boston 2023 as Sam Valentino, accompanied by my friend coming to visit from North Carolina!
The Brockton Rox season ends on a high note with one of my furry friends coming to the game, and they manage to win with a tie-breaker!
I take a week-long vacation from my workplace, using the time to get my car's oil checked and a new inspection sticker, having owned it under my name for a whole year by that point!
SEPTEMBER
I celebrate the 40th anniversary of "Inspector Gadget," and the 30th anniversaries of "Animaniacs" and "Rocko's Modern Life!"
My parents go on a cruise to Alaska with a couple of their friends, leaving me and my brother in charge of the house for ten days. We do an exceedingly well job in minding the house and caring for our dog, giving us a taste of what it'll be like for when we eventually move out of our parents' house.
OCTOBER
I take my first solo road trip to Furpocalypse 2023, my first out-of-state furry convention! It goes very well, as expected.
Among returning home, I spend Halloween as Sam Valentino, going to work in suit and then giving out candy to the trick-or-treaters as the private toon detective fox.
NOVEMBER
I turn 35 years old.
I celebrate the 50th anniversary of Disney's furry classic, "Robin Hood," the movie that spawned my popular YTP "Disney Buys Out Hanna-Barbera" (that turned ten years old this year!)
DECEMBER
Another non-traditional Christmas, but I give lots of presents to my family!
And that pretty much sums it up. This year I also made what ended up becoming a new viral Simpsons mashup video of sorts...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDxdIU4AK3I
What I did was I took this scene from Season 12's "HOMR" where Our Favorite Family goes to an animation festival and Bart watches a generic anime parody he calls "Japanimation," and edited it so Bart's dialogue is in his original English, but the anime parody's audio is from the Japanese dub, with subtitles added so it looks like Bart's watching an English sub rather than an English dub. The Japanese voices combined with Alf Clausen's stereotypical "1990s anime" music go together surprisingly well, and I like how the Japanese dub actors even had their lines match up with the characters' lip movements, as if they were in on the joke. (The original English version had the lip movements intentionally not match up with their dialogue, which is common in American anime parodies.)
Six months after uploading it, the video has now had over a million views! Have I created a new Simpsons meme?!
Also, since 2024 is to be the Year of the Dragon, and it just so happens the Dragon is my Zodiac animal, I came up with my own dragon 'sona: Dawson Dragon! Since his mask is pretty old, it's kind of a placeholder, until I can eventually come up with a new head for him (maybe custom-order a silicone dragon mask from Smitzen in the same colors). Since this costume does take a bit more effort to put on and take off, and the robe doesn't have any pockets, I don't plan to wear him to many conventions, but I WILL be bringing him to Anthro New England 2024 in three weeks for a bit of walking around, especially since I know a few other fellow dragons that will be there. Hope I will be able to fit him in with the rest of my luggage!
A big achievement this year was when me and my brother minded the house when our parents went on that cruise. We ended up putting off the apartment hunting because of that, knowing we would need to house-sit for our parents anyway. I'm still not certain if 2024 will be the year we finally move out, but my brother is still looking, and I may be able to help him out.
Another big step was my going to Furpocalypse in Stamford, Connecticut two months ago. It's still in New England, but still out of state (a 3 1/2 hour drive), and it was an overall fun experience! I'm definitely planning to go back to Furpoc next year! (Rumors are afloat that Furpocalypse is looking to move to a new hotel for next year.) This means I will now have four regular cons to go to, with one for each season: Anthro New England in winter, Anime Boston in spring, Fan Expo Boston in summer, and Furpocalypse in autumn. I already know that Fan Expo Boston 2024 is going to be in June, because the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center will be undergoing an expansion and renovation project, and so they will be temporarily housing the con at the Hynes Convention Center, the current home of Anime Boston, so at least it's still a familiar location.
I wonder what life or furry achievments 2024 will bring? Doug Funnie once said change is a lot like the ocean; you can't stop or control it, but that doesn't mean you can't enjoy the ride!
JANUARY
A rough start for Looney Tunes fans like me, when HBO Max purges the 1951-2004 Looney Tunes cartoon shorts, and initially lies that it was just a "maintenance check" before it's revealed it was a tax write-off due to the service's streaming rights expiring.
I go to Anthro New England 2023, the first one held at the Westin Boston Seaport District hotel, and the first con where I also go as my private toon detective foxsona Sam Valentino (though of course I also bring Zak Wolf!) I even finally meet my good friend SquirrellyJ in person.
FEBRUARY
Not much out of the ordinary happens.
MARCH
I take my first "spring break" from my computer tech job, taking a week off in the middle of the month to recharge so I don't burn myself out, and I return to work refreshed.
APRIL
I attend Anime Boston 2023 as Sam Valentino.
MAY
The Brockton Rox season opens again, with me as K-O the Kangaroo.
I celebrate the 90th anniversary of Disney's Oscar-winning "Three Little Pigs" cartoon with a new fursuit head I made of the Big Bad Wolf! He looks so much better than the old one.
JUNE
I have Sam Valentino celebrate the 35th anniversary of "Who Framed Roger Rabbit"!
Campanelli Stadium gets a new scoreboard and Jumbotron screen as part of their renovations and upgrades!
JULY
I develop another new fursona of sorts; more details on him later in this post.
AUGUST
I go to Fan Expo Boston 2023 as Sam Valentino, accompanied by my friend coming to visit from North Carolina!
The Brockton Rox season ends on a high note with one of my furry friends coming to the game, and they manage to win with a tie-breaker!
I take a week-long vacation from my workplace, using the time to get my car's oil checked and a new inspection sticker, having owned it under my name for a whole year by that point!
SEPTEMBER
I celebrate the 40th anniversary of "Inspector Gadget," and the 30th anniversaries of "Animaniacs" and "Rocko's Modern Life!"
My parents go on a cruise to Alaska with a couple of their friends, leaving me and my brother in charge of the house for ten days. We do an exceedingly well job in minding the house and caring for our dog, giving us a taste of what it'll be like for when we eventually move out of our parents' house.
OCTOBER
I take my first solo road trip to Furpocalypse 2023, my first out-of-state furry convention! It goes very well, as expected.
Among returning home, I spend Halloween as Sam Valentino, going to work in suit and then giving out candy to the trick-or-treaters as the private toon detective fox.
NOVEMBER
I turn 35 years old.
I celebrate the 50th anniversary of Disney's furry classic, "Robin Hood," the movie that spawned my popular YTP "Disney Buys Out Hanna-Barbera" (that turned ten years old this year!)
DECEMBER
Another non-traditional Christmas, but I give lots of presents to my family!
And that pretty much sums it up. This year I also made what ended up becoming a new viral Simpsons mashup video of sorts...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDxdIU4AK3I
What I did was I took this scene from Season 12's "HOMR" where Our Favorite Family goes to an animation festival and Bart watches a generic anime parody he calls "Japanimation," and edited it so Bart's dialogue is in his original English, but the anime parody's audio is from the Japanese dub, with subtitles added so it looks like Bart's watching an English sub rather than an English dub. The Japanese voices combined with Alf Clausen's stereotypical "1990s anime" music go together surprisingly well, and I like how the Japanese dub actors even had their lines match up with the characters' lip movements, as if they were in on the joke. (The original English version had the lip movements intentionally not match up with their dialogue, which is common in American anime parodies.)
Six months after uploading it, the video has now had over a million views! Have I created a new Simpsons meme?!
Also, since 2024 is to be the Year of the Dragon, and it just so happens the Dragon is my Zodiac animal, I came up with my own dragon 'sona: Dawson Dragon! Since his mask is pretty old, it's kind of a placeholder, until I can eventually come up with a new head for him (maybe custom-order a silicone dragon mask from Smitzen in the same colors). Since this costume does take a bit more effort to put on and take off, and the robe doesn't have any pockets, I don't plan to wear him to many conventions, but I WILL be bringing him to Anthro New England 2024 in three weeks for a bit of walking around, especially since I know a few other fellow dragons that will be there. Hope I will be able to fit him in with the rest of my luggage!
A big achievement this year was when me and my brother minded the house when our parents went on that cruise. We ended up putting off the apartment hunting because of that, knowing we would need to house-sit for our parents anyway. I'm still not certain if 2024 will be the year we finally move out, but my brother is still looking, and I may be able to help him out.
Another big step was my going to Furpocalypse in Stamford, Connecticut two months ago. It's still in New England, but still out of state (a 3 1/2 hour drive), and it was an overall fun experience! I'm definitely planning to go back to Furpoc next year! (Rumors are afloat that Furpocalypse is looking to move to a new hotel for next year.) This means I will now have four regular cons to go to, with one for each season: Anthro New England in winter, Anime Boston in spring, Fan Expo Boston in summer, and Furpocalypse in autumn. I already know that Fan Expo Boston 2024 is going to be in June, because the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center will be undergoing an expansion and renovation project, and so they will be temporarily housing the con at the Hynes Convention Center, the current home of Anime Boston, so at least it's still a familiar location.
I wonder what life or furry achievments 2024 will bring? Doug Funnie once said change is a lot like the ocean; you can't stop or control it, but that doesn't mean you can't enjoy the ride!
Luiskoa
~luiskoa
Good bye 2023 Hello 2024
BlueEyedWolf
~blueeyedwolf
Boy, you did a lot this year !
