Heeeeeeeey, it's been a while, eh?

First off, I'm well aware I have no FE2019 photos uploaded to yet. Please bear with me as I ended up taking quite a crap-ton of pics at the con this year and therefore had a lot of best-of-the-best photos to touch up. And even though all the touching-up is completed, I still have to write up description after description for all of them. God help me. lol I know that it's very daunting, and the progress is glacier-slow. But the thing is I love writing up fun/silly descriptions for such photos, and I don't want to just throw everything online with no context or "backstory." lol Rest assured that I'm still working on them all as fast as I can, and they will get done when they get done ASAP. On top of that, some photos you'll find on my FA, some you'll find on my Twitter, and some you'll find on both at once! So keep an eye out!

Secondly, I'm well aware that I haven't sat down and put up a post-FE2019 journal yet. That is so unlike me. Believe me. Lots have been happening (which I will explain in a moment or so), and I haven't been able to sit down and really focus on writing anything down knowing that I have all the photos to work on and still have to deal with some important life stuff at Grandma's house here in Innisfil. For that matter, by time I do have anything posted, you'll likely grow bored of missing FE2019 and want to move past that on, but please hold out a little longer. I'm doing my best to sharing so much that had happened at the con as soon as possible.

And more importantly - and this is deeply personal for me - I've come to apologize profusely for my lack of vocal activity as far as my own artwork and comments/journals and such. Suffice to say... these last few months have fucked me over in ways you cannot imagine. Mentally and emotionally. While I've been deemed physically all right and healthy, my mind refuses to let up on playing tricks on me or forcing me to repeat truths and hindsights over and over again to me. At the risk of being too personal with my life and what's been affecting me as of late, I'm gonna try and sum up (almost) everything to the best of my abilities... In a separate journal entry (or would it be safer to just Note you with my woes to spare any public venting and as long as you're super-trustworthy?). As deeply personal and painful as it is, though, I'll explain what had transpired to make me feel such torment - leaving out (almost all) actual names to protect any innocents in the process and thereafter refer to them by singular letters - to the point where I've more or less gone deadly silent on FA (and even on other platforms and IM's).

Right now, though, I don't wanna suck the fun out of a yearly FA summary journal that you always enjoy so much. lol

Now then! Six years on FA! Jeez, have I really been on here that long? Amazing how much time flies when you're having fun!

First off, if you're some of the few watchers that are new to my page or were already watching me to begin with, thank you so very much for taking time out to chill with me and enjoy my slow but fun growth as a furry artist, depictions of my characters by other artists, exceedingly-long journal ramblings about anything and everything in my life, and all other sorts of stuff! Feel free to hit me up with a shout or a Note! Plus thank you for checking me out on Twitter! I try my best to post as often as I can, but it's hard sometimes! lol And thank you for wanting to shoot the breeze with me or build up on our already awesome friendship via Instant Messengers! Or if you haven't done so yet and would like to, you can find me on Telegram, Skype, and even Discord a bit! And though I still have yet to gain profound notoriety like other artists/fursonalities pageviews-wise, numbers cannot compare to how wonderful you are to me! I'm happy to brighten your day even if it's just with a simple hug, joke, or whatever else!

It still sucks, sadly, that my happiness in the furry world doesn't exactly change how things are with us up in Innisfil (and with me regarding personal matters). Grandma's getting much worse now to the point where she's on palliative care, and Mom's aching all over helping Grandma. It sucks for Mom being a full-time caregiver 15 hours a day with no pay; very stressful what she puts up with from Grandma alone. And even with my help, it's still pretty trying and stressful for her. But I do whatever I can to bring Mom's spirits up, even if it's through so much as helping around the house; I'm glad to be Mom's source of sanity. lol

But when I haven't been helping Mom, I've been constantly watching YouTube, playing online games (though that hasn't been the case since last August), chatting with friends way late into the night, or trying to improve with my furry artwork (even though that, too, has ground to a halt since essentially last June due to stress [among other things like tablet driver issues])! Still got a ways to go with improvement, but it's always cool learning new things even if little bits at a time (still wish I could be faster, though, lol)! Either way, though, since FE2019 has passed, touching-up photos and writing descriptions for nearly all 180 of them has been way too tedious and daunting to get done quickly. Good luck, me. lol

Still haven't gotten back into exercising as much as I did that other year yet unfortunately. But given our life circumstances up here, none of us have the luxury to do anything anymore other than tend to Grandma as she slowly dies. I really wanna get back into exercising again and bulk up. I hate having all that progress go to shit.

At this point in time, I'd love to deeply thank all the unbelievably amazing and super-talented artists I've encountered and befriended - both on FA and at conventions - who have drawn my characters. It's always a real thrill to see my characters in your awesome art style! I appreciate everything you've had time to draw for me, and I continue to look forward to more of your super special awesome artwork, whether I'm featured in it or not. I just wish I were rich and had PayPal (or something more safe and secure) to buy more commissions from you and not just have to wait till a convention and pay you in-person. I hope we continue to keep in touch and chat, too. Plus if I've written backstories on artwork you've given me - and if you've read them - I hope you've enjoyed reading them as much as I did writing them as the art styles and pictures somehow just bring out the creative writing side of me to life and make something out of it.

Once again, being on FA for yet another year has been wonderful. And having said that, I continue to learn and pick up on some social situations and lessons along the way. Now that another year of being on FA is in the books, let me see what I've learned...

1) People change, and they'll change in ways that'll hurt you far more than you can imagine. And depending how much you love them, it'll hurt big-time. And it hurts to still be friends with them knowing there's nothing you can do other than be a "great guy" or "family" to them.

2) Sometimes, you need to step back and compare how good of a friend you're being to someone you're already good friends with and how they're being that way for you. And if things tend to side one way heavily, something isn't right. And it's not fair for you to put in all the effort and feelings for someone who suddenly doesn't feel that way for you anymore, even more so if you're still friends with them.

3) Fans, new friends, and even admirers reveal themselves when you least expect them, and they'll make you feel real good about yourself if they love what you do (and especially if they have all the empathy in the world for you).

4) As once wrote, drawing hand-paws makes up 90% of the artist community struggle.

5) I still have a lot of images that still need backstories written and deserve to be written sooner! But writing short stories for any submission I post - be they photos or re-posts of requests/commissions - takes up a huge chunk of time. But almost all the time I do that, I feel I've done a good job with what I've written in those descriptions as evidenced by the wonderful comments and replies I receive. That said, I think that if something deserves a long backstory - but I have no time to write it at the moment - I should just write "BACKSTORY PENDING" or something and come back to it later. 'Course my only concern is if I end up forgetting it later, then what!? Once again, I sadly haven't put that into practice yet.

Once again, you have my undying gratitude for sticking with me, and I'll do my best to continue growing as a furry artist as well as bring other things to the table that you might enjoy seeing from me or reading from me.

Feedback and notes are always welcome. I'd love to have a chat on Skype (theincrediblekman), Telegram (@leonekozuki), or even Discord (Leo Nekozuki#4719)! And if you're ever in the mood for some gamin', ask me to a Sm4sh Bros. match or two on the WiiU (K-MANisAWESOME). Yes, I said WiiU; I sadly don't have a Nintendo Switch or a copy of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate yet. You can also play TF2 with me (Leo_The_Ninja_Lion), though that fucking scam tainted the whole experience for me (I hope I can ever afford to buy everything back from scratch again and fast). There's also Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links on my mobile phone that you can play me on (Duelist ID: 764-024-999). Go ahead and add me on my PS4, too (Leo_Nekozuki).

Hell, I wouldn't mind seeing any of my FA friends outside of FA; Innisfil can get pretty lonely, y'know!

Thanks for another fun-filled year on FA! Here's to a happy and (hopefully) healthy year - more importantly, a safe, successful, and non-stressful year - on FA as well (hopefully more successful than last year)!

Stay awesome,

Leo Nekozuki
Furry Fandom's Aspiring Ninja Lion

*****

C'mon, hurry, you're gonna be late for the minor statistics!

PROFILE STATS

By my calculations, as of today at 4:20pm (BLAZE IT!), I have 591 furries watching me (just about a 20% increase [if my math's correct] from last year's value of 493) while I'm watching 2300 of them (that's a 24% increase from last year's value of 1850). And of these furry watchers of mine, 's my 1^st watcher, 's my 100^th watcher, 's my 200^th watcher, 's my 300^th watcher, 's my 400^th watcher, and 's my 500^th watcher (I still haven't forgotten about making you a commemorative piece for that, dude!). I've had my profile page viewed over 21,000 times (roughly 5000 more since last year), and I have given nearly 8300 comments and still received roughly over 7000 comments each (quite the conversationalist I am, eh? ).

SUBMISSION STATS

In terms of the submissions I've posted, the most-viewed file I have is still my last "up-to-date" character concept of my fursona that I drew back in 2011 with 1400 views. The submission with the most favorites is now 's request drawing for me of Leona Mika bound underwater a la Aladdin (accompanied with my own short story) which is on 47 "Favorites" lists. And the title for the most commented-on submission still belongs to my initial coloured character concept of my fursona that I made back in 2010 which still has 34 comments (including my own comments).