Due to a variety of recent events, I've come to realize that the internet is EXTREMELY volatile and that portions of the net that seemed like they could last forever just might vanish at a moments notice. Long story short, I've started making a copy of the internet. Not sure how much I'll be able to fit on my hard drive, but here's hoping it's a good chunk...

You're one of the very few folks on FA who'll get to see this before we announce it on Equestria Daily. After about two weeks of work, I've put together a 80%-ish accurate map of Ponyville and its surrounding environs based strictly off of scenes in the episodes! Follow this link ( http://aurebesh.deviantart.com/gallery/31093498 ) and prepare to be at least slightly stunned. While this was created primarily for the "Thinking with Ponies" project, I'm sure that plenty of other folks will find this useful. Perhaps the MLP:MMO? Let me know what you think and/or if you've figured out where one of the many "Unknowns of the North" are supposed to go.

Remember that idea I had bouncing around? Well it's been delayed. Again... But for a good reason this time! I have somehow become the head of a Portal 2 modding team that is creating an unofficial direct sequel starring Chell. The theme/twist: MLP. That's right. Ponies!

Now before you make any comments on the concept, I want you to read this fanfic: http://www.equestriadaily.com/2011/.....ience-and.html . This is practically the script verbatim, although we'll be adding in some extra bits to cover the parts where we didn't see Chell and mixing up a few of the others so it flows better in terms of gameplay. Unfortunately, no pics or concept thingies to show just yet, but keep in mind that this story only hit the net last Tuesday! 3D ponies will be coming your way soon enough, and I can't wait to see what people think of the final fight with GLaDOS once we're done!

And if I can snag your attention for a moment, I want to assure you all that the "secret project" is still going to start soon enough. Shi's a third of the way done with the first installment and should be able to zoom through the rest of it pretty quickly. Assuming I can get hir to focus on drawing instead of modeling and coding... I can't help the coding side of things, y'know. That's all my job is! True, but I can still heckle you about it. :D In any case, Skyclimber and Peony signing out.

You're becoming more like your father. Sorry, wrong script. Anyways... School is ending for the semester, my latest huge art project is complete, and I'm considering what I should do next. I've got an idea or two bouncing around in my head (some bouncing harder than others... Right... *Rolls eyes* Your idea, you draw it. Shush, you'll give the concept away. More than you're doing right n*mff?*), but I'm open for commissions and trades again as well. Send me a missive if you're interested, and I'll see what I can do. But preferably something smallish? Or at least with less people than an orchestra *wink wink nudge nudge*? Keep in mind, the larger it is, the longer it takes.

This journal is a two-parter: one normal, one serious.

Part one:

I'm looking for good furry fiction. Novels, Short Stories, Serials, what-have-you's. I know that there's tons of amazing stories out there, but, unfortunately, the vast majority have copious amounts of adult content... If you know of any well written fiction that's either completely or mostly lacking in yiff, please send it my way. Violence and/or language levels aren't that big of a deal. This is partially for myself and partially because I'd like to have some stories to share if I'm introducing folks to the fandom that won't completely turn them off immediately. Feel free to ignore the latter qualifier though. I really just want some good reading material 'cause I've completely run out!

Some good examples:
No yiff - http://www.furaffinity.net/view/4301618/
Acceptible amounts of yiff (albeit with less NSFW pics...) - http://www.chakatsden.com/chakat/St...../Forest16.html
Way too flippin' much!!! (NSFW) - http://www.chakatsden.com/chakat/St...../Admchkt2.html

Part two:

I've been seriously considering making a drastic change in fursona off and on for a long while now, and a few events in the past month have helped me come extremely close to finalizing that decision. Currently, I'm a red fox - a basic, average joe kind of choice that I made on a whim when I first "officially" joined the fandom and a furry forum, when I didn't truly know the ins and outs of being furry. The thing is, it was my second choice. My first choice was a species that is simultaneously rare in the fandom and not socially acceptable outside the fandom - even more so than usual furriness. I wanted to be a Chakat.

At the time I was thinking of several requirements that don't exactly apply today: Having a "normal" critter before letting my parents know I was furry (bad idea...), what species would be easy enough to eventually genetically manipulate myself into (something that I really don't have to worry about until WAY down the road), personality traits generally associated with a critter that matched my own (both were good fits), and that this would be a permanent choice (...). Plus, I had to consider my sexual orientation. Chakats are hermaphrodites with a feminine bias in terms of appearance, and I'm a straight guy. At the time I was clueless about the stereotypical gayness of foxes, but that's another story. In any case, I figured that Chakats were so "weird" in comparison to the rest of the fandom that if I chose to be one I'd be shunned by the furry community in general. Heh. Yeah right. Compared to some of the random stuff I've seen on FA and around the furry fandom in general since then, Chakats are downright tame.

I think I was also trying to deny my actual sexual orientation. You see, I've recently admitted to myself that I'm mentally bi(curious), but real world straight(curious). I find cute guys just as attractive as cute girls. To be honest, I usually consider personality and interests of a person before I consider their physical appearance, so maybe that's part of the reason why. Plus, I've gained several gay friends in the fandom who've probably unintentionally influenced me. In any case, while I don't care about gender per se, I really want to have kids at some point in the future. That's probably the biggest driving factor in my choice of orientation and why I'm only bi in the mind. If someone ever builds a geneticiser or a malfunctioning teleporter that can change your form and I get to use it so that I can go hermaph (and hopefully chakat at the same time), that'll be the day that I actually become truly bi. Until then, I'll only be looking for a female lifemate, and that's not going to change.

Long story short, chakats and the stories written about them by their creator have always been an influence for me. They were how I accidentally learned about the concept of "furry". Their tales by various authors have touched my funny bone and made me cry (the latter being a very rare feat). Their loving and empathic personalities, as well as their goals in general match a good number of my own. Basically, I'm finally going chakat.

This is the chance for you to say a few words - either of encouragement or some strongly persuasive reasons why I shouldn't make the change. So speak now or forever hold your peace... because I've only got a few days left until they take the "FurMorphed Family Photo" and I want to make the switch before then. *grin* Tail high y'all!

P.S. For those of you who have no idea what the heck a Chakat is, here's more information than you ever wanted to know: http://www.chakatsden.com/chakat/Intro.html

Sorry Pabea.... I've completely missed my set deadline. Should have figured though. If I set a time that I think I'll finish by, I take twice as long, without fail.

I do have a bit of an excuse / exciting news. I've found enough people to form a team for the Disney Imaginations competition finally, and we're making massive headway. Here's hoping that we make it (and that Disney will implement our concept!)

One last request for everyone. I am having a horrible time finding one very specific reference pic. I need a top view picture of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra sitting in their seats with their instruments in hand. Or a detailed schematic of their seating arrangement. Either one. At the moment, I'm making due with a combination of a standing shot of the musicians (the first pic at http://www.dallassymphony.com/Press.....ss_Images.aspx), a top view of the Pilharmonia (http://www.mti.dmu.ac.uk/~ahugill/m.....l/seating.html) and a kid's flash diagram that's not too accurate (http://www.dsokids.com/visitthesymp.....t/default.aspx). I'm able to pick out some of the details by hand, but it would be a great help if I could find that one diagram that shows everything in one go. If you manage to find the DSO's seating chart, any chance you could post the link here? Thanks!

Also, in case I don't see some of you before the 25th, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to y'all!

Just to let y'all know, I'm livestreaming right now. Should be on until at least 11, possibly later. Going to attempt to draw a decent chunk of my half of a trade with Pabea, but will probably have to spread this out over two days.

The link: http://www.livestream.com/randomnesswithaurebesh

Update: This is going to take a lot longer than I expected... It'll be doable, but it's going to take a long time... Especially since I'm apparently very slow at this.

As you can tell, I'm not very excited about this. Not at all. :D

In any case, seeing as I'm about to suddenly have copious amounts of "free" time, figured I should let y'all know that anyone whom I've promised art to should hopefully be receiving their piece within the next week or so. Hopefully... First item on my list: Pabea's monochrome orchestra. I will finish it by the end of the week, or my name isn't Aurebesh Skyclimber! From there, who knows? If you think I may have forgotten something (or would like me to draw something), please send me a reminder.

I'm planning on holding a livestream session either Tuesday or Wednesday, so feel free to tune in. I'll post the link once I actually get things set up, so keep an eye on your feeds.

http://disney.go.com/disneycareers/.....ons/index.html

Disney ImagiNations is a yearly competition held by Disney to find future Imagineers. You get to design your own ride, hotel, restaurant, whatever you can think of, and submit it to the Disney Imagineers. Heck, you can even create your own theme park from scratch. I've been trying to enter for the past couple of years and I can never seem to put together a team... This year I have a couple of folks who are rather interested in competing and designing, but I have yet to find our fine arts major. That's when I realized that I know a lot of artsy folks, right here.

If anyone here is interested in becoming an Imagineer (or even just working for Disney), is majoring in one of the fine arts disciplines, and is a college Junior, Senior, Grad student, or just graduated, then please let me know ASAP! Especially if you're in the DFW area (since that's where I'm at), although it looks like you could be living anywhere.

Disney is one of the top art and animation companies in the world. This competition could net you an internship working for them. Even if we don't make it, this would a huge boon to your resume/portfolio. If you're interested in joining us, please let me know. Also, if you know someone who has been looking for an opportunity like this, please let your friend know that we are looking for them. Thank you!

EDIT: Forgot to mention, but Disney has some limitations on who can compete. Make sure to check this first. http://disney.go.com/disneycareers/.....uidelines.html

Journal meme's... They're extremely common, but can be oh so much fun. Feel free to reply if you feel like it.

Answer the following questions..

1. Your Name:
2. Age:
3. Single or Taken:
4. Favorite Film:
5. Favorite Song or Album:
6. Favorite Band/Artist:
7. Dirty or Clean:
8. Tattoos and/or Piercings:
9. Do we know each other outside of FA?
10. What's your philosophy on life?
11. Is the bottle half-full or half-empty?
12. Would you keep a secret from me if you thought it was in my best interest?
13. What is your favorite memory of us?
14. What is your favorite guilty pleasure?
15. Tell me one odd/interesting fact about you:
16. You can have three wishes (for yourself, so forget all the 'world peace etc' malarkey) - what are they?
17. Can we get together and make a cake?
18. Which country is your spiritual home?
19. What is your big weakness?
20. Do you think I'm a good person?
21. What was your best/favorite subject at school?
22. Describe your accent:
23. If you could change anything about me, would you?
24. What do you wear to sleep?
25. Trousers or skirts?
26. Cigarettes or alcohol?
27. If I only had one day to live, what would we do together?
28. Will you repost this so I can fill it out for you?

Don't you love school? You're able to learn a lot of stuff and a good bit of it is useful. Unfortunately, every professor has the exact same idea as to when the best date is for midterm and some of the big projects of the semester... Needless to say, my past couple weeks have been as hectic as all get out, and the busyness isn't truly over until Wednesday... I hope. In any case, as soon as I can get past one more midterm and some letters/homework/resume for various classes I'll be able to devote more time to my various projects.

By the way, there's one more project that I'm going to have to add to the list... I'm heading up a video game design/creation team. The current operating name is "Cubic Zirconium". It'll be a top down adventure game in the vein of classic Zelda games as well as Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga. Basic story: the world is a cube. In fact, it's a giant Rubik's cube with lots of people living on it. You happen to stumble upon a strange artifact one day: a stone Rubik's cube. After fiddling with it a bit and mixing everything up, the cube explodes. Pieces zoom off into the sunset never to be seen again. And then you realize that the planet's layout/environments are all mixed up... Guess who needs to find the missing pieces and fix the planet.

In any case, I'll get the art and stories I promised up soon. Also, Uber-Ju and Snowcat, remind me to get your badges done ASAP.

If you've read the "about me" part of my page, you probably noticed that I tend to pick up a zillion projects at once. This is probably because I tend to get burned out on something and switch to something(s) else for an indeterminable period of time before I'll come back to it. Now you know what happened to the promised update. Long story short, here's where I am on various projects.

Story of 5: Chapter 7 completed, edited, and ready for posting pending final approval and potentially some art within the next couple days. Not sure when I'll be able to write chapter 8. Might have to wait until Thanksgiving...

The Android Project: Progress was made. The extreme basics are in place. And I only got to test them this week for the first time... Currently, I'm running into issues with point sprites. I know it's a problem on my side of things, but I don't know what I'm doing wrong. Anyone with experience with creating point sprites on an Android who'd like to help out?

Animatronic Fursuit: Old ideas scrapped, new ideas put together that will work better. Working with other from FurMorphed on a suit that utilizes the Emotiv headset. In theory, your ears and tail should respond to your emotions, as well as being able to be directly controlled by your thoughts. ^^ The only issue: Emotiv's are prohibitively expensive and out of stock for the forseen future...

Mario Bros. Tabletop game: My current lead project. If you've played D&D 4e, you've got a general concept of where I'm going with this. There's a few major differences in play style, but a lot of the basics are borrowed from 4e. Most things are fully fleshed out in my head, but they still have to reach paper in many cases... Plus, I still need to create exact stats and abilities for everything. I'll start putting up species and class details once I get them fully fleshed out. You can expect Goombas, Koopas, and Humans sometime within the next week or two along with at least one class. Anyone with suggestions for moves, abilities, weapons, items, badges, and the like make sure to send them my way!

And that's where I'm at. Combine this with school, a search for a job, and being an officer in two separate clubs (the busiest one being vice prez of the Game Developers Club on my campus), and you can see why things might take a while to finish up.

See y'all around the net!

P.S. It's almost time for October Furth! While October fourth is officially World Animal Day, it's also the unofficial furry holiday!

What's a fur supposed to do on October Furth? That's easy. Do what you would normally do on an average day, but add in something furry. Tail or suit to work/school. Wear an animal themed shirt. Put out food for the local critters. Wear the Phipaw. Maybe even use this as an excuse for a furmeet. No matter what you do, make sure to get the word out so that everyone can have fun!

Today is July 25. From this point on, I'll be writing until I finish the next chapter of Story of 5. Y'all won't be able to read it for about a month, but I hope I'll finish the rough draft in the next 24-36 hours (weird, spontaneously unavoidable situations permitting). The reason why I'm in such a gosh-darn hurry to finish this one up (apart from being in an extremely creative mood right now) is that I have one month until school starts up again. One month with no classes, work, camps, or other things planned - other than the odd furmeet. I intend to use this month to its fullest to create something that will change the world... or at least the prototype / first step to this creation. Expect something to do with Augmented Reality for the Google Android. When/if I manage to pull this off, every empty patch of space lying around unused anywhere in the world will never be the same.... Time to get crackin'!!!

Testing. 1, 2, 3. Is this thing on? Assuming that I've figured out how to write a journal, here goes.

For those of you who've taken a look through my gallery, you've probably noticed that I mostly specialize in abstracted, pixel-ized, MSPaint art. I like the style, and I know that I can almost always get the picture looking the way I want it. Plus, you can make some pretty weird stuff in MSPaint. In any case, this Sunday I was working on a pic for a friend at a local furmeet. Yes, I was using my laptop in the park... in summer... in Texas. Yes, I did eventually get back out there throwing frisbees and foxtails. No, not the expensive, custom-made, costume ones, but the toy made by Klutz (http://www.klutz.com/toys/Foxtail-Sport). Long story short, I somehow went from "There's no possible way I'll ever do commissions." to "Anyone want their fursona abstracted?" within the space of an hour. So, if you're interested, send me a message and I'll see what I can do.

Commissions = Open (for now?)
Nothing smutty or violent.
Price: Probably $4
Subject Matter: Fursona badges, weird drawings, random landscapes
(Combinations of all of the above might be extra? Depends.)