I work hard. Sometimes I complain about it. But I keep working hard.

There's a part of me - a tiny voice inside me - that tells me that I CAN'T. It tells me that I'm a joke and a failure. It looks at what other people are doing and compares me to them and says, "All these people are so far ahead of you. What is the point to trying?"

Now of course, I don't REALLY have a voice in my head. It's not like a, "Timmy hears voices and they tell him to do things", type of deal. It's self doubt. I don't have a huge opinion of myself. I still think of myself as shy and awkward and wishing I could just talk to some of the people I know. Really, just sit down and have a heart to heart with them. I wish I could contact them over instant messenger and talk to them. But I don't. Sometimes that insecure part of me has it's way. Some people assume that it's because I'm too "high up" to associate with them, or that I think to highly of myself and don't think highly enough of them. But that's not true. Quite the opposite. If you are reading this, there is a very high chance that I hold you in very high regard. Higher than I hold myself. And so I don't reach out because I'm afraid of making an ass of myself and then you'll think even less of me.

Unfortunately when it comes to what I have just written, that tiny voice sometimes isn't so tiny. I put on a hat and I do work for this fandom. Sometimes that hat reads, "President of MNFurs". Sometimes that hat reads, "Hotel Liaison for Furry Migration". I hide behind those hats. I'm good at what I do for this fandom, and I do A LOT. I put in at least 20 hours of work per week bettering this fandom and the local community. I mean, I look at some of the events I help put together and the people having fun and making friends and laughing, and I tear up. Seeing people happy and knowing I helped in some way is just such a wonderful feeling. But for all that, as great as it feels to help plan and organize things that so many people love and enjoy, I just end up feeling more isolated.

I want to continue to be a better person. I want to get to know a lot of people better and to open up more often and not be stoic about things.

I need a hand. I need to find a new balance.

www.furrymigration.org

Reason 1: Learn the proper use for the phrases “Yah” and “You betcha”
(There are none!)

Reason 2: It's in downtown Minneapolis, which is like all the good things about Pittsburgh without it being Pittsburgh (no offense Pittsburgh)

Reason 3: The Hyatt Regency Minneapolis has a competition with the Hyatt O'Hare (MWFF's hotel) and they are determined to school them.

Reason 4: Food – Hibachi, British / Scottish pubs, and Family Style Italian all within a few blocks. Hundreds more options within a 15 minute walk or free bus ride.

Reason 5: A lot of awesome people will be there and you should be there too!

From Minnesota? Post your own journal telling your 5 Reasons people should attend Furry Migration.

www.furrymigration.org

http://m.startribune.com/variety/306002911.html

As the President of  mnfurs I couldn't be happier or prouder of our membership. You guys did an outstanding job represented the local group and the fandom as a whole. For everyone who interviewed and talked to the media - that took guts and you should all be very proud of yourselves. Whether you were directly quoted or not, the reporters connected with you and together you helped them paint a picture of what furry is really about. The people.

If you somehow missed the news,  mnfurs is now an official 501(c3) non profit corporation. All the awesome things that that means can be found here: https://www.mnfurs.org/MNFurs_Talk/.....-organization/

But there is one thing that cannot be found there, and that's something very close to my heart. About ten years ago I did one of the best things ever in fursuit - I fursuited at the Saint Paul Children's Hospital. I was passionate and talked to the staff and basically it was a one time thing. They couldn't let me keep doing it because I was an individual and they were concerned about security. But now that MNFurs is a federally recognized educational nonprofit, we have the backing of a reputable organization. I want to get back into doing hospital work - and I want as many of my fellow furs as possible to join me. Because I assure you, I have never found an equal to brightening someone's day who truly needs it.

Let's do something amazing!

You know, I remember when I was between the age of 16 and 23. It's not even that long ago. Back then, I had some romantic notions of what furry was all about and the feeling of family that this fandom created. I was certain that, you know, furries were somehow better than everyone else. That they were more caring and had more empathy than others outside of the fandom. We were special. We were better than everyone else. Years later, I've grown out of this phase and I truly feel saddened by some of the things I did - I felt so strongly that furries were better and more caring, that I ONLY cared for my furry family, and anyone not it in, I used and disrespected. And I disrespected everyone not in the fandom in the worst way possible: Apathy - the exact opposite of the "empathy" that myself and others I knew were toting. You don't get to stand up and say, "furries are better than everyone" if you mistreat those not in the furry fandom. I wish I knew that back then, but I wasn't ready to figure it out.

I do not think furries are better than everyone else. I think furries are everyone else. There is no distinction. I used to do a lot of guerrilla fursuiting when I was in my late teens and early twenties. I look back and I can admit why I did it - I was looking to stand out. I was looking to be unique and to share that uniqueness. But there were two things I was not aware of that now I am. 1 - Everyone in their late teens and early twenties feels this way whether furry or not. And 2 - Just because you randomly show up in a magical fairy tale fursuit does not mean you are providing those around you with a whimsical, fun time that they will recount around the dinner table with their family. When I was 21 I got thrown out of a mall for having more followers than the Easter Bunny. How unfair I thought at the time that I was escorted out of the mall by two security guards. I was just doing what I loved - fursuiting and performing. But I was thrown out for a very good reason - liability. A mall is a business and that business had no idea who I was, and if I did anything wrong, hurt anyone (not that I would), the mall would be liable. I person in costume is there - the assumption by any people present is that I must be a mall employee. So let's talk about another place I've been escorted out of: Best Buy. I was costuming there but people weren't really happy to see me - they were scared because the perception was that I must be up to something. I didn't see that at the time. The point of these stories is that fursuiting is about perception. Fursuiting is AMAZING and CAN indeed be used for fun and whimsy and to brighten others day, but if you don't take the time to really think it through, you might be doing more damage than good. Just randomly showing up at a private business in fursuit is disrespectful to the business. You are putting a lot of stress on them, and you may be negatively affecting that business. That said, there are a lot of opportunities for fursuiters wanting to help business owners - whether that's offering your services to celebrate a grand opening, helping with a fundraiser, or helping out a charity, there's plenty of opportunities to fursuit where everyone knows why you are there and appreciates you for what you are doing. Fursuiting for a cause is one of the best things you can do.

Being considerate to those around us is about more than unintentionally freaking them out while guerrilla fursuiting. It means you have to care about people. Ask people how their day is going. Smile at them and thank them. Be considerate of their space and their property. And think about where they are coming from. Be understanding of their troubles and when you see something going on, help.

When I was 16 I used to watch a lot of anime. I really liked the show, Trigun, and after all these years, there is one thing the main character, Vash the Stampede, said that has never left me:

I think I'd like to do something nice for someone
I think it's good when you smile at someone and they smile in return
Voluntary love encourages people to create a sense of friendliness
Love that is unconditional gives us respect as people

After all these years, it's never stopped being relevant.

Well, I'm still alive! That's always good news I suppose! :P

I can't really complain about anything. When not at my day job there's plenty of stuff to do for  mnfurs and for  furrymigration. I'm not going to go over everything here but if you are local feel free to poke me about it and I'll fill you in with everything going on.

Otherwise, still making costumes. I made a Sith costume and now I'm back to working on a new Jedi costume. I felt that I could improve on the first one I made.

Last piece of news,  alkora and I got a 3d printer. I didn't see the appeal but now that it's calibrated and up and running I can see a lot of costuming possibilities especially involving fabrication.

That's all for now. Thanks for reading!

I was re-elected to the  mnfurs board of directors. I am once again President of the group. We would have given the Presidency to  kurst who would make a very excellent President, however he's got his paws stuck in the cookie jar that is Treasurer and unfortunately I'm not sure how we are ever getting those paws away from it.

I'm still working on my Sith costume and hopefully it is a couple weeks away from being completed.

I got a new game - Elite: Dangerous. It's a space sim which I began playing because I'm hyped for Star Citizen but that's still months away. The downside is that Elite is an evil game that sucks too much of my time.

I switched to Weasyl for my art gallery.
https://www.weasyl.com/~aerak

That's about it for updates. I have way too much caffeine in me right now. Time to jump up and down a few hundred times, run a marathon, and then go for all you can eat sushi. Because SUSHI! XD

So the dust has settled and it seems like all is quiet and going back to normal.

I pose a question to you all, but first, some history.

Furry got it's start in underground comics of the 60s and 70s. My friend Flip suggests the true start of the furry aesthetic was in a comic from the late 70s called Vootie. Furry animals were being used to discuss human topics that were taboo at the time. Well, over the decades furry grew - it grew from hundreds to thousands of fans. The fandom didn't have corporations to provide content unlike, for example, anime, so the fandom created it's own content. You have hundreds of artists of all kinds in a symbiotic relationship with the fans. And we built. Furry publishing companies popped up, publishing comics, and stories from furry artists. Websites like Furnation, created and run by furries came about to provide web hosting for furry. Furaffinity was created by a furry and run by furries (the success of which seems to be under wide debate) for use by the furry fandom. In this video, Jeffrey Eddy (co owner of Sofawolf) describes furry as "our own thing. A homespun creation based on a single criteria"
http://blogs.citypages.com/dressing.....furry_mask.php

Now, for the first time in our history, our community is not in our hands. Furaffinity, it could be argued, is a flagship brand of furry, and now the biggest furry website on the internet (in the history of the internet) is in the hands of a corporation - Not in the hands of the fandom.

So now I pose the question to you all, and even if you don't respond to my journal, I want to you to think about this - Is it a good thing? Do you, personally, want Furry in the hands of a corporation? Will there be an impact and what do you believe that might be?

So for me, YES, I have effectively left Fur Affinity. Not because I fear art theft, and not because I dislike IMVU (but you NEED better furry avatars!), but because at this time I disagree with a corporation, for the first time in furry history, having the keys to the car.

We cannot change what has been done, but we can protest this decision by leaving and switching to a different furry controlled community website.

Hi everyone!

Thanks for stopping by! So... below is some reading essentials for everyone on FA who posts, well, anything.

http://www.imvu.com/shop/web_search.....446&page=8
http://es.imvu.com/shop/product.php.....ts_id=16211166
http://www.imvu.com/catalog/web_inf.....rms_of_service

Let it be known that I do not assume malice from IMVU, however, looking at their history and the what appears to be widespread copyright issues going on by many individuals who make up their user base, I cannot risk my artwork or photography. If the issues are handled, over time I will return my artwork to this site. Contrary to any imagined belief, I until recently quite liked it here and have found many of the staff to be friendly and helpful.

For anyone who wishes to still follow my costume making endeavors, please visit me here:
https://www.weasyl.com/~aerak

I have concerns over this acquisition and in the end I'm not going to assume malice but instead will side on the course of ignorance. Hindsight is 20/20. There have been some questionable choices, and for all those white knights claiming "blah blah, whining furries", I have to laugh. There will always be critics and "whiners" but when you have hundreds or thousands of them, it becomes a public relations issue. It's not the fault of the users: it's a fault of the organizations.

So... leaving FA. I'm not going anywhere.

Having a presence online is all about marketing one's self and one's interests. The fact is, my web presence is not exclusive to FA, so the idea of leaving is kind of silly for me personally. As soon as I'm done writing this I'm going to be "leaving" FA and playing Elite: Dangerous XD

There seems to be a lot of sources saying that IMVU has stolen intellectual property in the past and a fear that it will be done on FA. This as far as I'm concerned is heresay and I'm only working on facts that I know. Truthfully, if I was more passionate about this I'd make it my mission to go and find out, but I just don't have the time. If the rumors were true, it wouldn't really have an impact on me. I'm mostly involved with costuming at this point and if IMVU were to "steal" my pictures and post them elsewhere it can only serve to further advertise my work. This is a much different case, of course, to artists and writers. If you are an artist or a writer, I urge you to further seek out the truth on your own.

Otherwise I'm reminded of something I have learned as a board member of MNFurs: Never assume malice. It's the biggest flaw we can make. One of those, "leads to the darkside" sort of things. We are just going to have to wait for this thing to play out. And the fact is, if things go south with furaffinity, this place is not a monopoly. We can go elsewhere. And that should be the biggest motivator of all for those in control of this website. As all service based companies go: either they provide a good service or they go out of business. Unless you are Comcast.

A little over two weeks ago I eluded to a change that was occurring. I mentioned that I was no longer going to be doing Let's Plays and that I was leaving it for an old passion - costume making. And that's all I said about it. I didn't want to elaborate until I knew for sure this would work - until I knew without a shadow of a doubt that this was a path I wanted to walk. Now that one of my outfits is completely done and looks hopefully somewhat badass, let's talk about it.

I had an idea in my head. So many furries in this fandom specialize in fursuit making, but not many focus on costuming. I have worn non furry costumes many times over the years - many while wearing my fursuit at the same time - a few purchased from costume stores but many actually rented from theatrical institutes. And with these costumes I noticed something very frustrating - THEY WERE COSTUMES - that is to say, they were all poorly made, using cheap fabrics, and were not finalized pieces that you could put on film. So I set out with an idea to make costumes that were more than that - they were true outfits. No cutting corners, no using cheap fabric. I wanted to create things where someone could walk onto a set of a movie and be camera ready. And for each costume I created, I wanted to put together a mock movie poster.

So that was my crazy vision, and why I didn't post more on the subject originally.

For my first costume, I chose a Jedi Councilor. This class of Jedi spend their days talking to people - solving disputes and well... basically being a diplomat. They don't see much combat so I had to take that into account when designing the look and choosing fabrics. While working on design, I knew I wanted to do a photoshoot so I not only had to work on a costume, but I had to work on myself. I decided to grow a beard, knowing that from costume conception to the finalized version it would take around 4 weeks and around 80 hours when I had the time. I figured that would give me time for a decent amount of facial growth. So I began growing a beard which I had never done before. Let it not be said I don't go to great lengths to get in character.

I also had another factor to consider - fursuit making gave me lots of experience with hand sewing, but I had zero experience with using a sewing machine. And of course, I had no experience working with any fabric other than faux fur. So my goal was fairly grand and overly enthusiastic for the skill level I was sitting at, but I decided to do my best and just go for it.

Below is the final product of my labor.

http://www.furaffinity.net/view/16015125/

I mentioned I'd not be skimping on fabric. This costume head to toe consists of just under $300 in materials. About $400 if you include combat boots.

From here I'm working on a Sith costume, followed by a few more Jedi's and then moving onto Tron - because I'm in love with Jeff Bridge's light up robe and overall costume from the movie. I want to make lots of Star Wars costumes since that is my second passion, but overall no costume will be off limits. I'd like to crank out at least 1 costume per month. So yeah... we will see where it goes.

It's going to be an interesting ride! If you are interested in following my endeavors and seeing work in progress pictures, please follow me on this new twitter I created specifically for my costume making.

https://twitter.com/JediMasterAerak

I don't usually reblog things from others but this tumblr post by Dakota Wuffsky is so good I just have to.

http://dakotawuffsky.tumblr.com/pos.....e-furry-fandom

One big lesson that I learned in this fandom is to do things you. Whatever your interests are, whatever your hobbies are, whatever keeps you here in this strange little fandom filled with amazing people, do it for you.

Yes, I realize that this sounds incredibly selfish, but let me explain.

If you want to make a thing, make a thing! If you want to dance, dance! If you want to draw, draw! If you want to build fursuits, build fursuits! If you want to write a book, write a book! If you want to just run around at conventions as a fluffy critter, do it!

Do it for your passion. Do it for your interests!

If people toss money at you for it, awesome! If not, there’s no need to guilt them over it. Really. There isn’t. If you start threatening that you won’t make something or do something anymore because you don’t have a certain amount of money flowing in because of it, then I think you might want to reevaluate why you are doing it in the first place.*

Don’t do something for watches/faves/retweets/popularity/followers.
Don’t do something for numbers.

You’re most likely not going to find happiness that way.

There’s ALWAYS going to be someone more popular than you are. There is always going to be someone more talented than you.

That’s okay!

That’s life!

You can only strive to be the very best YOU!

Now you can do a couple of things with this information. You can either accept it, give a big shrug, appreciate your friends and fans that do love you and admire your creativity, and use that as your drive

or

You can complain about how you’re not popular enough and put a lot of wasted energy into seething jealousy. How dare so-and-so be better than me, how dare so-and-so draw better than me, why are you giving so-and-so your money and not me, how dare so-and-so dance better than me, this contest is rigged, this site is rigged, this community hates me, screw this convention, screw that convention, I’m leaving.

That’s not the way to go about it. It’s exhausting, it fills you with negativity, and you’re going to end up hating the fandom pretty quickly.

It is possible to break out of that cycle, though.

Jealousy and envy, while toxic, can end up being a tool to your advantage. Once you realize you’re envious of someone else (by the fact that you’re admiring something they have or do that you do not), you can use that to work on strengthening your weaknesses. If someone draws better than you, see what you can do to improve your drawing. If someone dances better than you, maybe see how you can improve. If someone performs better than you, maybe see if you can chat with them and see if they’ll be willing to give you some tips.

Change your perspective! It’s not easy, but it’s absolutely worth it.

Just don’t let the small things in life get you down. Don’t do things for numbers. Do it for the joy you bring out in others.

DO WHAT MAKES YOU HAPPY.

I will make a lengthy journal in time, as soon as my current project is complete. For now, know that I walk away from Let's Plays for an even bigger passion - costume making. Thank you to those who watched and supported me. Please follow my twitter for in progress pictures of the new projects I'm tackling.

https://twitter.com/Free_Hugs_Wolf

Thanks!

LLAP

Let's Play Videos! http://www.youtube.com/user/aerak
New Videos Every Tuesday and Friday at 6:00pm CST
Subscribe! http://www.youtube.com/subscription.....add_user=aerak

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Hey everyone,

In one week I'm going to post a Ask Me Anything to my Youtube channel. Please post any questions for me here so I can answer them next week!

Thanks!

Let's Play Videos! http://www.youtube.com/user/aerak
New Videos Every Tuesday and Friday at 6:00pm CST
Subscribe! http://www.youtube.com/subscription.....add_user=aerak

---

Thanks to the people who have recently subscribed to my youtube channel. It's really given me the emotional boost I needed! Thank you!

Granite responded to my last journal and reminded me that it's about having fun. I have a lot of fun making these videos. I just want to make sure others have as much fun watching them as I do making them.

I have decided I'm going to try to engage my audience a little more, as well as pimp some awesome people. I have two LPs locked in for this week. Tomorrow evening I'm publishing Part 2 of The Evil Within. Then I'm back on Friday with Part 3. Tuesday of next week I will be posting a Jedi inspired video pimping www.ultrasabers.com. I'll be giving an up close presentation/review of the light sabers I own and show what they can do against a Sith lord when your life is on the line! Then a week from Friday I will be posting not only a Let's Play but also a VLOG where I will tackle an ask me anything and will put forward some questions for my viewers.

I'm going to keep believing. Never give up! Never Surrender!

Is it just me, or does the image quality on this site keep getting worse and worse?

I understand converting uploads to lower quality jpegs saves on disk space, but an art site with crappy looking artwork kind of defeats the purpose of uploading the artwork in the first place.

With the image quality so low, what the heck are we paying for?...

...

Oh right XD

Let's Play Videos! http://www.youtube.com/user/aerak
New Videos Every Tuesday and Friday at 6:00pm CST

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Let's Play News
Well, lets see. First off, I tried playing Five Nights at Freddy's on Monday... and pussied out. I was suppose to release Night 3 yesterday, but this game takes a lot out of me. It's really stressful to play. This isn't the end, but I need a small break before getting back into it.

On to more positive things!

I beat Amnesia: The Dark Descent! I'm so happy to finally be done with it.

I purchased a studio microphone - a Shure SM7B. The Blue Snowball was a great microphone, but my voice changes in volume too much during my lets plays, and I get a whole bunch of audio popping and cracking. Alkora and I already have a Shure SM7B that we use for animation and voice overs, so I already knew this mic's capabilities. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B9DKJ-b.....-Fcm.jpg:large

Tonight I began recording my next Let's Play series: The Evil Within. I am super excited to post part 1 this Friday!
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B9DOYdF.....SejY.jpg:large


Star Wars Stuff
As you guys probably saw, I got my latest Light Saber. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B8e8PJ9.....JdUl.jpg:large
Alkora and I are working on a custom jedi outfit - robe, inner tunic, outer tunic, pants, belt and boots. I'm looking to make something pretty high quality. So we will see how it goes!

Hey everyone,

It's me Aerak! Thank you for giving my journal a look. Lots of exciting things have been going on in the past week and I'm going to chat about it.

MNFurs Board Retreat
The annual  mnfurs board retreat was last weekend! This board retreat is a time for us to lock ourselves away, review how our budget and various programs are doing, and make changes where necessary. This year our convention hotel, the Hyatt Regency Minneapolis, was our host, and they blew us away with... well... see for yourselves!

http://t.co/RqDYDft3ju – A view of Minneapolis as seen from our hotel room window!

http://t.co/7EAWLAo9lD – A plate full of doggie shaped sugar cookies snuck into each of our rooms with chocolate genache and sweet peanut butter.

http://t.co/eKo4F3IGog – The note accompanying each of our trays of cookies

http://t.co/Z5LVsIC7x5 – A breakfast buffet with delectable goodies!

http://t.co/cFcV8WwIov – A convention chairman appreciation cell!

But the most important part of course is that the hotel gave us a GIANT board room that was in our newly renovated convention space and on Saturday we spent a full eight hours locked in it and slaving away at the issues! Issues we discussed ranged from future furmeet ideas, to volunteer hours (and tracking) review, to future events. Be excited! And if you guys have anything you want to see, let me know!

Furry Migration Promotional Video!
After 30+ hours of work, ranging from planning, to shooting, and finally to editing the video is finally done! Much thanks to  alkora,  larus,  mmmatches, and  yarrick. We are awaiting the final approval of our con chairman and then we are passing it off to our publications department and with any luck, you guys will all see it very soon!

Saint Paul Winter Carnival Parade
This year for the parade we had a new guest whom some of you there probably met. The Star Tribune (our local Minneapolis newspaper) is running a story on us and their staff photographer, Aaron - https://twitter.com/LavinskyStrib – shadowed us and captured all of the magic. The story is now in the editing phase and acquiring photos was the final piece of the puzzle. I unfortunately couldn't be a part of the parade this year, but I showed up at the staging area to wish everyone well. I am really proud of everyone who was a part of our parade troupe this year. You guys exemplified the best qualities of our fandom, and you had a blast doing it! Thank you all so much!

http://www.furaffinity.net/view/15571454/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/15571384/

Elections!
 mnfurs yearly election is coming up soon! Every year we have one - it keeps the board of directors from stagnating and brings new ideas and new perspectives! This is an odd year, which means that 3 people are on the chopping block! Myself, Kurst, and Ridayah, and all three of us will be running for re-election. And we have a newcomer who's stepped into the ring. Devon who runs Furry Migration's Dealers Room is running for a board position. For more information on these elections, please send me a note or visit www.mnfurs.org - which you should be doing anyway because now we have a shiny new chat software that is mobile compliant!

That's all for now. Thank you for reading and stay fuzzy!

Let's Play Videos! http://www.youtube.com/user/aerak
New Videos Every Tuesday and Friday at 6:00pm CST

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Hello everybody!

I'm really excited to say that our new video processing rig is up and running, thanks to some help from  alkora. This machine is a beast which is powered by an Intel i7 4.0Ghz processor and Nvidea 970 GTX. It's got multiple hard drives, the main one being a 3 TB drive which will contain all my finished videos. The old video editing machine we were using was actually meant to be a file server and only had an i5 and took several hours to chew through and render a half hour video. Not to mention any edits we made, such as adding annotations took about 30 seconds to render a preview, slowing down the process even more. The new machine chews through rendering a half hour video in about 45 minutes, and previews of edits are shown in real time.

With this stability, I'm able to more reliably stick to a schedule when releasing my Let's Plays. I'm happy to say, from this point forward we will be putting out 30 minute videos every Tuesday and Friday at 6:00pm CST. But that's not all. I will also be putting out shorter 15 minute videos during the weekends (exact time TBD). The idea is that my half hour videos will be the “Main Game”, which for now is Amnesia: The Dark Descent. I will also be doing a “Side Game”. So here's our line-up!

Current Main Game:
Amnesia: The Dark Descent

Current Side Game:
Five Nights at Freddy's

Once these games are complete we move to:

Next Main Game:
The Evil Within

Next Side Game:
Five Nights at Freddy's 2


I'm looking forward to the weeks to come! I'm sure it will be great, it will be fun, and as always, it will be scary as hell! I'll see you guys in the next video TOMORROW! Goodbye!

Let's Play Videos! http://www.youtube.com/user/aerak
New Videos Every Tuesday and Friday!

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Hey guys! So what's new? I hope everyone is having an amazing start to 2015. Up here in Minnesota we are freezing our asses off, but we're used to it this time of year. On an upside, icy death is around every corner. And with that threat of turning into an ice cube, I feel an excitement in the air!

Convention news!
We are about one week away from posting the very first look at our convention hotel! Of course, before we could be your hosts for the video, Ringer ( mmmatches) and I had to find it. If you have been following my twitter feed, you will have noticed that we have been lost for TWO WEEKS in downtown Minneapolis! https://twitter.com/Free_Hugs_Wolf/.....502592/photo/1

Where could this new hotel be we wondered. Well, we finally found it! And it's like no other, and we are both looking forward to showing you all the ins and outs and what is in store!

Let's Play!
We are coming up on episode 13 now and many of you guys are following me already! I just gotta say, THANK YOU! Seriously, you guys don't know how much I appreciate the support. My videos have been getting anywhere from 60 to 100 views and I'm totally amped up to see how far we can take this!  alkora,  flyingfire,  foxamoore,  justinjade and  stunter101 have all been a huge help to me and I don't know where I would be without them. Alkora and I are getting ready to upgrade our video production computer later this week. At the moment, it takes about 4 hours of work to put out a finalized 30 minute Let's Play and we are hoping to be able to cut that time in half! I mentioned episode 13 and this is the best yet! The people I have previewed it to have laughed their asses off, and I've been able to patent a new cry of terror I call the Xena Warrior Princess Death Scream! Those who have heard it can tell you it's no joke! (except it is!) If you haven't done so yet, I'd really super appreciate if you could subscribe to my channel and help to support me! http://www.youtube.com/subscription.....add_user=aerak

MNFurs Board Retreat
The  mnfurs board retreat is this coming weekend! This is a weekend where we lock ourselves away in our new convention hotel and work our butts off! It's a time to crunch the numbers from last year, review how things are going, and plan out the following year! I both look forward to it and dread it! Speaking of, if you live in Minnesota (or somewhere reasonably nearby) and want to voice anything (concerns, gift requests, questions about the universe, what have you), please head over to www.mnfurs.org and under the About menu, click contact us! And if there is anything convention related on your mind, feel free to poke us about that too!

Wrap up
That's all I've got for now! It's going to be an exciting year!

Not subscribed to my lets plays? Click this link! http://www.youtube.com/subscription.....add_user=aerak

Just finished recording part 12 of my Lets Play series on Amnesia. I get the feeling that I'm close to finishing the game. It's been a crazy ride. I look back on my first videos and I can't believe how far I've come in such a short time. If you watch my most recent episodes, it looks like I've been doing this for years.

The next game I will be let's playing is The Evil Within. I'm really excited for it. If you want to join me on my adventures, please use the link above to follow me!

Hey guys!

Things are going well with my Let's Play Channel. My boyfriend,  alkora has signed on as permanent editor. It's a good arrangement. He watches my videos, edits out the slow points, and adds hilarious annotations to my commentary. Starting with my newest video, all my uploads are going to have an outro.  foxamoore was awesome enough to put together some music I could use. Dare I say, things are starting to look professional like I know what I'm doing. I've only been doing this for a little over a month and it's been an awesome ride so far.

Below is the newest video we shot. I was recommended by someone with youtube to do an interview video explaining why I'm doing what I'm doing. Check it out below! And if you are wanting to see the outro, skip to 5:00 in.

https://www.youtube.com/user/Aerak



Like what you see on my channel? Subscribel! http://www.youtube.com/subscription.....add_user=aerak

Hey guys,

So 2014 was... a year. It wasn't -all- bad, and it certainly wasn't -all- good, but overall it was a year of figuring things out. Things I did this past year:

-Brought the company I work for back from the brink of destruction
-Helped organize and run a Star Wars themed furry picnic (and consequently learned how to sword fight)
-Was the lead for the Hotel Department at Furry Migration (is so proud!) JOIN THE MIGRATION HERE ---> http://www.furrymigration.org/
-Spent 2 months finding a replacement hotel for Furry Migration and working out a contract which is worth about $100,000 in business for the hotel we chose.
-Tried an open relationship
-Gave doing Let's Plays a shot and figured out I really like doing them.
-Began shooting the promotional video for Furry Migration 2015

In the end, 2014 was a year of figuring out what worked and what didn't. It was a year of figuring out how to manage my time and how to manage my stress levels.


Resolutions for 2015

-Be a leader
I'm President of  mnfurs but not many people know it. For that matter, not many people understand why we have a board of directors and nonprofit status. I'm going to be more up front about who I am, who "we" are, and I'm going to be more visible so if there is a problem people know where to find me.

-Be proactive
So much of my stress from last year was caused by not tackling problems the moment they came in. Over the last month I took care of things as soon as I could, and in the end that resulted in WAY less stress for me.

-Be productive
After tackling my responsibilities, I need to work on my own pursuits. Whether that's making fursuits with Alkora or doing Let's Plays, I need to DO. I lot of this year was putting out a fire at work followed by sitting on my ass and "relaxing". I can't do that this year.

-Market myself
I'm making a commitment to do Let's Plays (PIMPING MYSELF: FOLLOW ME HERE ---> https://www.youtube.com/user/aerak)
As I said, I'm making a huge commitment but I need a foundation to inspire me to stick to it. My goal by the end of this year is to have 500 followers on Youtube. It's a crazy goal, but I believe in crazy goals. I wouldn't have gotten as far as I have in my life without having something to shoot for. Whether for Let's Plays or other endeavors, I need to get serious about promoting myself and my interests. I need support structures, people who give a damn, or I'm going to go down in flames.


Those are the resolutions. As a reminder, you can also follow me at https://twitter.com/Free_Hugs_Wolf

If you took the time to read this, I really do appreciate it. Thank you!

My name is Aerak and I am terrified of horror games.
That line is at the start of every one of my Let's Plays! And it's true! I hate scary games. I want to love them, but usually I just don't have the will. Over the years I have attempted to play dozens of them and can't count on one hand the number I've actually been able to finish. A while ago some friends and I were watching gameplay of Silent Hill PT. I fell off my chair and curled up into a fetal position. They laughed their asses off at me!

Around this same time a friend of mine,  justinjade ran a panel on Let's Playing at Furry Migration. I was really inspired. I thought to myself, my greatest weakness as a gamer can be my strength. I'll play scary games!

So what happened?
I started doing lets plays - 20 minutes each. I decided to start small. Just a headset microphone. After three videos and a lot of learning concerning technique (my first two videos are especially rough), I upped my game with a microphone upgrade (expensive table top mic w/ pop filter). In the next two or three episodes I will be upgrading again - custom music provided by my mate and an amazing furry musician and webcam so you can see my reactions during the game. It's a building process. Start small and slowly improve and see where it goes. You know the crazy thing? I actually have fun now being scared shitless. Being scared during my recordings sucks, but I stick with it because I enjoy hearing how much fun people have watching me.

What do I want out of this? How can you help?
I want to entertain, pure and simple. I am not looking for fame here. All the same, any artist needs an audience and I hope to find one. I have a few people watching me, but for the most part my follower base watches me for fursuit videos, and well, this isn't their cup of tea. I need some followers who really enjoy what I'm trying to do and will be there to help support me. If there is anyone you know who might enjoy my LPs, please pass them along! I would really appreciate all your help to make this channel as awesome as possible! In return, I promise to not give up. To complete every scary game I come across, and to keep scaring myself sh**less for your amusement! I am asking for your help. I can't do it without you guys!

If you want to jump straight in with some highlights, I suggest Parts 4 or 6!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQT8D_vpDNY Part 4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_KNwLxFIJ8 Part 6

https://www.youtube.com/user/aerak