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A quick heads up
Posted 7 years agoFA is just terrible for keeping up with so for the most part I don't check much here anymore for content or notes. If you're trying to catch me, best to do it via some other resource as I likely won't catch it here. :P
TFF soon!
Posted 7 years agoJust a quick shout out that I will be attending TFF in Dallas this coming week. It's my first time spending time in Dallas for anything more than a layover, which goes without saying that this will be my first TFF experience too.
I'm bringing the deer and the weasel for sure. Luxray or dobie are maybes for this trip. Pony is staying home because I'm tired of lugging the gear through the airports.
I'm hoping to catch a Dallas Stars game while I'm out there too. Friday against Pittsburgh or Sunday against Vancouver are the options on the table there.
I arrive Thursday and leave Monday.
See some of you there I guess!
I'm bringing the deer and the weasel for sure. Luxray or dobie are maybes for this trip. Pony is staying home because I'm tired of lugging the gear through the airports.
I'm hoping to catch a Dallas Stars game while I'm out there too. Friday against Pittsburgh or Sunday against Vancouver are the options on the table there.
I arrive Thursday and leave Monday.
See some of you there I guess!
Quick update about Oz
Posted 8 years agoOz has issued the refund we agreed to about the incomplete Squeak Latex order.
I consider the matter closed and I'll leave him be. That's all I want at this point. We each go our separate ways and never cross paths again is fine by me.
I know there's no shortage of folks that want to jump all over every chance to bury him. I can't stop folks that want to but y'all need better hobbies if you're going out of your way to try and corner him for the sake of playing the white knight. I had a dog in this fight, now I don't and so I'm out of it.
Thanks
I consider the matter closed and I'll leave him be. That's all I want at this point. We each go our separate ways and never cross paths again is fine by me.
I know there's no shortage of folks that want to jump all over every chance to bury him. I can't stop folks that want to but y'all need better hobbies if you're going out of your way to try and corner him for the sake of playing the white knight. I had a dog in this fight, now I don't and so I'm out of it.
Thanks
Yesterday~
Posted 8 years agoI'm going to preface this by saying y'all are amazing. I told one little story and I got a bunch of atta boys and pats on the back. Hell I even heard back from Brokken when we haven't spoken pretty much at all for years (not that we're not friends, we just live far apart and rarely cross paths).
Now then, with regards to yesterday's story, I want to establish an analogy. If you don't like your neighbor, you have every right to stay in your yard and call them whatever you feel like, post notes by your door, tell them their mother was a hamster and father smelt of elderberries, whatever. Once you jump the fence and confront them in their yard or do things anywhere else than your yard, you've escalated things to a new level. This is where we're at. I'm not on the hunt to chase someone down or bury them or whatever. I'm here, sitting on my porch, enjoying a beer and watching critters walk past my fence while I bitch about things. Yay America!
What I posted was a simple story. It was refuted by the targeted party, and supported by the other person in the know. It drew an immediate defensive response that ran through a huge list of things and completely ignored the point of the story. So what could I hope to gain from dredging up a 10+ year old argument? Nothing actually. I just found it cathartic to share. I've been carrying the burden of knowing all this year after year. Brok is a quiet guy and lets this stuff go. I do the same usually and saw nothing but hurt coming out of it if I ever shared the story, so it didn't seem particularly productive to get it out there.
From the responses I'm seeing, some of you are oddly okay with character theft some 10 years after the fact because he's been doing it so long that it's clearly his. While in that respect I'll agree the character has been established long enough it might as well be his character, it misses the point that it could've been avoided entirely by not buying or trading for the suit and then keeping the name and art on top of that. How hard is it to change the name and a tuft of hair and get new art, seriously?
Now to the crux (yay cruxes!) of today's big question from the group. Why post this now then? - frustration mostly
As some of you know I've been a frequent customer with Squeak Latex having spent over 5K with Oz in around a year's time. He delivered just fine on the first three suits which were the roo, the tiger and the lion. At some point his infamous journal about getting ripped off to the tune of 10K in orders popped up and left me and several others high and dry. Months went by without any quantifiable updates on progress. Never short of excuses and "my supplier doesn't tell me anything" lines we have been asked to endure while he sorts out his life. If we push too hard he deflects or turtles behind the usual woe is me rant that you see on his side at the moment.
About a month ago, at the end of a year and a half of waiting I finally took delivery of my pink bunny. He tweeted a joyous tweet about the bunny as if celebrating it as a part of his stock available for sale. I made a vaguely critical retweet expressing that it was one of three suits still due to me. Almost immediately I receive a ridiculously long message via Telegram that I'm being a downer and not helping him at all. At no point did I demand a delivery schedule or harass him constantly about any of the suits. He eventually weaves his way around to telling me that I've hurt him and he doesn't want to deal with me anymore so he's forcing me to take a refund. I told him I'd happily wait for the suits but got dropped stone cold at the refund for being an "aggressive customer".
I lit into him with a response that was extremely vitriolic, so much so to the point I slept on it overnight before working up the determination to send it. The note was meant as final response not looking for one coming back. I said I would stay in my yard and scream about him and he could stay in his yard and scream about me. Instead he fired back with another woe is me response, called me a variety of bad things and tried to guilt trip me for the failures he perpetuates. Telling me at the time he was in debt over 40K Australian (not my problem bud - also how the heck did he tack on another 20K in debt on that in the last month?!)
In that time I've seen him sell an inflatable suit, travel out of the country (fine that one I can grant him given family), and continue to post under the Squeak Label with a brand that is financially dead. Even the latest post says to watch out because they'll have ready made stuff to sell eventually. Really? He can't get his backlog orders completed with any reliability but there's time to get 'ready made' stuff brought in from the same supplier to sell? All the while I've not seen that refund. If you're going to force me to take a refund and then get defensive when I get pissed because you haven't delivered on that? Tough shit. Grow up. Don't make bad choices (see Duke story) and not expect consequences for it.
This morning his husband messaged me to ask to cool things down and talk it out. At the same time I'm reading through a journal that, while not naming names, clearly calls out one evil person who is "bipolar" and alone in life because of being such a horrible person. I know he's meaning that for me, particularly because he called me bipolar in one of his ranty responses a couple of months ago. So while one side is trying to engage me calmly the other is out there being the same old shit. That's why we're getting another of these today to explain things instead of retreading this in private.
As to the last subject regarding my apparent 'handicap'. It's stunning that I've managed to do well enough to buy a house & a condo, sell those both at a loss and get back into another house. Keep a couple of my Mustangs while adding that fantastic new Focus RS. Remain a stalwart figure in the design firm I work at pulling in good money and helping design highway bridges (oh lordy we all gonna die - crazy man is designing bridges!) using that Associate of Arts degree I earned. On the subject of living alone, it's a choice. I work my ass off at my job and like having a place to myself at the end of the day. I'm not entirely closed off to sharing it with the right someone but it's just never been a priority.
Don't point fingers calling me bipolar and then tell me you're ready to go hang yourself. Fuck off Oz.
Now then, with regards to yesterday's story, I want to establish an analogy. If you don't like your neighbor, you have every right to stay in your yard and call them whatever you feel like, post notes by your door, tell them their mother was a hamster and father smelt of elderberries, whatever. Once you jump the fence and confront them in their yard or do things anywhere else than your yard, you've escalated things to a new level. This is where we're at. I'm not on the hunt to chase someone down or bury them or whatever. I'm here, sitting on my porch, enjoying a beer and watching critters walk past my fence while I bitch about things. Yay America!
What I posted was a simple story. It was refuted by the targeted party, and supported by the other person in the know. It drew an immediate defensive response that ran through a huge list of things and completely ignored the point of the story. So what could I hope to gain from dredging up a 10+ year old argument? Nothing actually. I just found it cathartic to share. I've been carrying the burden of knowing all this year after year. Brok is a quiet guy and lets this stuff go. I do the same usually and saw nothing but hurt coming out of it if I ever shared the story, so it didn't seem particularly productive to get it out there.
From the responses I'm seeing, some of you are oddly okay with character theft some 10 years after the fact because he's been doing it so long that it's clearly his. While in that respect I'll agree the character has been established long enough it might as well be his character, it misses the point that it could've been avoided entirely by not buying or trading for the suit and then keeping the name and art on top of that. How hard is it to change the name and a tuft of hair and get new art, seriously?
Now to the crux (yay cruxes!) of today's big question from the group. Why post this now then? - frustration mostly
As some of you know I've been a frequent customer with Squeak Latex having spent over 5K with Oz in around a year's time. He delivered just fine on the first three suits which were the roo, the tiger and the lion. At some point his infamous journal about getting ripped off to the tune of 10K in orders popped up and left me and several others high and dry. Months went by without any quantifiable updates on progress. Never short of excuses and "my supplier doesn't tell me anything" lines we have been asked to endure while he sorts out his life. If we push too hard he deflects or turtles behind the usual woe is me rant that you see on his side at the moment.
About a month ago, at the end of a year and a half of waiting I finally took delivery of my pink bunny. He tweeted a joyous tweet about the bunny as if celebrating it as a part of his stock available for sale. I made a vaguely critical retweet expressing that it was one of three suits still due to me. Almost immediately I receive a ridiculously long message via Telegram that I'm being a downer and not helping him at all. At no point did I demand a delivery schedule or harass him constantly about any of the suits. He eventually weaves his way around to telling me that I've hurt him and he doesn't want to deal with me anymore so he's forcing me to take a refund. I told him I'd happily wait for the suits but got dropped stone cold at the refund for being an "aggressive customer".
I lit into him with a response that was extremely vitriolic, so much so to the point I slept on it overnight before working up the determination to send it. The note was meant as final response not looking for one coming back. I said I would stay in my yard and scream about him and he could stay in his yard and scream about me. Instead he fired back with another woe is me response, called me a variety of bad things and tried to guilt trip me for the failures he perpetuates. Telling me at the time he was in debt over 40K Australian (not my problem bud - also how the heck did he tack on another 20K in debt on that in the last month?!)
In that time I've seen him sell an inflatable suit, travel out of the country (fine that one I can grant him given family), and continue to post under the Squeak Label with a brand that is financially dead. Even the latest post says to watch out because they'll have ready made stuff to sell eventually. Really? He can't get his backlog orders completed with any reliability but there's time to get 'ready made' stuff brought in from the same supplier to sell? All the while I've not seen that refund. If you're going to force me to take a refund and then get defensive when I get pissed because you haven't delivered on that? Tough shit. Grow up. Don't make bad choices (see Duke story) and not expect consequences for it.
This morning his husband messaged me to ask to cool things down and talk it out. At the same time I'm reading through a journal that, while not naming names, clearly calls out one evil person who is "bipolar" and alone in life because of being such a horrible person. I know he's meaning that for me, particularly because he called me bipolar in one of his ranty responses a couple of months ago. So while one side is trying to engage me calmly the other is out there being the same old shit. That's why we're getting another of these today to explain things instead of retreading this in private.
As to the last subject regarding my apparent 'handicap'. It's stunning that I've managed to do well enough to buy a house & a condo, sell those both at a loss and get back into another house. Keep a couple of my Mustangs while adding that fantastic new Focus RS. Remain a stalwart figure in the design firm I work at pulling in good money and helping design highway bridges (oh lordy we all gonna die - crazy man is designing bridges!) using that Associate of Arts degree I earned. On the subject of living alone, it's a choice. I work my ass off at my job and like having a place to myself at the end of the day. I'm not entirely closed off to sharing it with the right someone but it's just never been a priority.
Don't point fingers calling me bipolar and then tell me you're ready to go hang yourself. Fuck off Oz.
Dancing around friendship - a short storytime.
Posted 8 years agoHello all! I've wanted to get this off my mind/chest for some time but I've been reluctant to share as it involves friends of mine and I'm simply a 3rd party witness to things through the story. Anyway here we go.
So many of you know Duke the Dancing Dog, and most of you know that's not the first version of the suit due to age, wear and tear, etc. I'm not sure how many of you know that the original Duke v1.0 was made and worn by Brokken T Wolf. Some of that's been lost to the winds of time along with Brokken being a bit of an obscure name these days versus 15 years ago.
Now I've always known Brokken to be one to retire his suits/ characters rather than sell them off unless it's a very special circumstance. In the case of Duke I know he was starting to show his age some and the subject of retirement was looming closer. Fursuit makers were still a rarity around 04 so anyone getting their hands on Duke would have a premium bit of goods.
It was around this time period I was still young and just getting started into the fandom. I'd met up with the FL furs and they seemed like really cool people so I made the effort to try and visit once a year at least. I could afford the time and the airfare to do it so I visited the Orlando area furs a handful of times inside of a few years, usually staying with Kuddlepup & Wildwolf at the house they were sharing at the time.
Wild was always kind of excitable about fursuit things and being a very good builder at the time when there were so few he knew Brokken well. At some point while I was staying on one of these visits I recall him telling me that he was getting Duke from Brokken. I was surprised to hear it, but he said it was conditional. The idea was that he could only have Duke if the character remained retired. The suit itself was supposed to be stuffed and turned into a giant plushie. Neither party wanted it mentioned because frankly, we're all adults and things were going to be happening with that plush. That was the last I heard of it and assumed that's how things ended.
Move forward some time and suddenly Duke is in Australia with Oz Roo. I figured it was odd, but that Brokken must've approved this or done the sale directly or whatever and I never had a second thought about it. - that is until Midwest FurFest 2 years ago.
I was having dinner with Brokken at the bar in the Hyatt with friends, and we'd all been drinking some. We saw Duke strut by and Brokken's face looked pained. I heard him say something to the effect of "that suit's supposed to be retired..." before he went back to eating and drinking. In that moment I could see it was hurting him to see his character still being made use of without his approval (apparently). I'm just guessing at this point, but knowing Oz as I do, I'm sure he talked to Wild and worked out some sort of backhand exchange for the suit. Whether Oz knew about the whole giant plush thing or not I can't say. Whether Brokken has asked him to stop and been rebuffed I can't say either.
Having my own personal experiences with Oz turn sour over business, I'm just kind of tired of ignoring the signs. I wanted to put this story out there so that maybe it'll serve as warning to some of you that just because he puts on a suit and wiggles around in it doesn't make him a good person. He's a very good actor and puts on a hell of a show. I'm warning you. Trust him at your own risk. The more trust you extend him, the more you'll burn for it if it gets in the way of whatever he needs in order to try and stay up on his mountain.
Leaving comments off because this is an opinion piece/story and I'm not looking for this to be some rally point to hate on the dude.
So many of you know Duke the Dancing Dog, and most of you know that's not the first version of the suit due to age, wear and tear, etc. I'm not sure how many of you know that the original Duke v1.0 was made and worn by Brokken T Wolf. Some of that's been lost to the winds of time along with Brokken being a bit of an obscure name these days versus 15 years ago.
Now I've always known Brokken to be one to retire his suits/ characters rather than sell them off unless it's a very special circumstance. In the case of Duke I know he was starting to show his age some and the subject of retirement was looming closer. Fursuit makers were still a rarity around 04 so anyone getting their hands on Duke would have a premium bit of goods.
It was around this time period I was still young and just getting started into the fandom. I'd met up with the FL furs and they seemed like really cool people so I made the effort to try and visit once a year at least. I could afford the time and the airfare to do it so I visited the Orlando area furs a handful of times inside of a few years, usually staying with Kuddlepup & Wildwolf at the house they were sharing at the time.
Wild was always kind of excitable about fursuit things and being a very good builder at the time when there were so few he knew Brokken well. At some point while I was staying on one of these visits I recall him telling me that he was getting Duke from Brokken. I was surprised to hear it, but he said it was conditional. The idea was that he could only have Duke if the character remained retired. The suit itself was supposed to be stuffed and turned into a giant plushie. Neither party wanted it mentioned because frankly, we're all adults and things were going to be happening with that plush. That was the last I heard of it and assumed that's how things ended.
Move forward some time and suddenly Duke is in Australia with Oz Roo. I figured it was odd, but that Brokken must've approved this or done the sale directly or whatever and I never had a second thought about it. - that is until Midwest FurFest 2 years ago.
I was having dinner with Brokken at the bar in the Hyatt with friends, and we'd all been drinking some. We saw Duke strut by and Brokken's face looked pained. I heard him say something to the effect of "that suit's supposed to be retired..." before he went back to eating and drinking. In that moment I could see it was hurting him to see his character still being made use of without his approval (apparently). I'm just guessing at this point, but knowing Oz as I do, I'm sure he talked to Wild and worked out some sort of backhand exchange for the suit. Whether Oz knew about the whole giant plush thing or not I can't say. Whether Brokken has asked him to stop and been rebuffed I can't say either.
Having my own personal experiences with Oz turn sour over business, I'm just kind of tired of ignoring the signs. I wanted to put this story out there so that maybe it'll serve as warning to some of you that just because he puts on a suit and wiggles around in it doesn't make him a good person. He's a very good actor and puts on a hell of a show. I'm warning you. Trust him at your own risk. The more trust you extend him, the more you'll burn for it if it gets in the way of whatever he needs in order to try and stay up on his mountain.
Leaving comments off because this is an opinion piece/story and I'm not looking for this to be some rally point to hate on the dude.
Spring into updates!
Posted 8 years agoBeen a while since I did one of these since Twitter is kind of where stuff ends up now on the day to day.
My winter project was to renovate my spare bedroom, including scraping popcorn ceilings. I had enough down time at work that I made great progress on that and finished early. Since there's been plenty of rain to keep me indoors I jumped into renovating the big bedroom as well. I'm close to finishing that, at which point I'll have both bedrooms refinished and a spare bed as a guest room set up.
The downtime burned up all of my vacation time which means the whole UK / Confuzzled trip is off the table. I've already used the airfare to help cover my Megaplex flight, so at least that trip should still be on. I've got a room reserved with two beds, so I'll be looking for roomies at some point. The UK trip probably could've been salvaged but the person I was most interested in seeing there isn't interested in seeing me, so there wasn't much point in saving it. I could've flipped the airfare for TFF, but I need to give my budget a break for now with all the renovation costs dragging me down.
Next con for me should be BLFC. I do not have a room set up for that yet so I'll be looking.
Also we're about a month and a half out from a pretty big B-day for me, so I may move up one of my big parties to double up as a birthday bash celebration of the spring. If I push it back to the weekend after the big day, it'll fall in line with a huge local car show date. I don't think I want to juggle hosting a party and taking the 66 over to a show the next day though since the parties tend to run preeeeetty late. ;)
My winter project was to renovate my spare bedroom, including scraping popcorn ceilings. I had enough down time at work that I made great progress on that and finished early. Since there's been plenty of rain to keep me indoors I jumped into renovating the big bedroom as well. I'm close to finishing that, at which point I'll have both bedrooms refinished and a spare bed as a guest room set up.
The downtime burned up all of my vacation time which means the whole UK / Confuzzled trip is off the table. I've already used the airfare to help cover my Megaplex flight, so at least that trip should still be on. I've got a room reserved with two beds, so I'll be looking for roomies at some point. The UK trip probably could've been salvaged but the person I was most interested in seeing there isn't interested in seeing me, so there wasn't much point in saving it. I could've flipped the airfare for TFF, but I need to give my budget a break for now with all the renovation costs dragging me down.
Next con for me should be BLFC. I do not have a room set up for that yet so I'll be looking.
Also we're about a month and a half out from a pretty big B-day for me, so I may move up one of my big parties to double up as a birthday bash celebration of the spring. If I push it back to the weekend after the big day, it'll fall in line with a huge local car show date. I don't think I want to juggle hosting a party and taking the 66 over to a show the next day though since the parties tend to run preeeeetty late. ;)
MFF 2016 Time!
Posted 9 years agoWhere are you staying?
- Main Hotel
When are you arriving and how long are you staying?
- Wednesday - Monday
Who will you be rooming with?
- some guy
Are you taken?
- Not really, but said roomie has a strong inside track if he wants it. ;P
How old are you?
- Thirty.fucking.ninnnne (Don't ruin the last MFF of my 30s!)
What is your gender?
- Male
How tall are you?
- 6'
Where will you be most of the time during the con?
- On the hunt for booze, wearing rubber or fuzzy things and likely trapped in some rendition of said rubber or fuzzy things.
Can I talk to you?
- You wouldn't be the first to try, and you wouldn't be the first to be ignored or brushed off for being creepy either. Don't be creepy. *nod*
Can I touch, hug, or snuggle you?
- Previous answer. Contrary to popular believe I will not fold you in half the wrong way right away, that's something you gotta earn by being creepy. Don't be creepy *nod*
Are you nice?
- Yessssss, more so after some (lots of) beers.
Will you be fursuiting?
- Very much, and rubber suiting, clopping around sometimes...
Where will you be most of the time during the day/s?
- Wandering, being trapped in or on something, or clinging to certain folks.
What is the best way to find you?
- follow the CLOP CLOP CLOP CLOP and rubber/leather/Vivishine smell.
If I see you, how should I get your attention?
- A hi and normal greeting work. Normal meaning not creepy. Don't be creepy *nod*
Are there any panels you might be attending?
- Find me something pokemon related and maybe luxray will show up!
Will you be going to parties?
- Fuck.Yes.
Will you be performing?
- Depends on your definition of "performing" *eyebrow waggles*
What/where will you be eating?
- Food. The various places where it hides indoors and NOT OUT IN THE COLD! Also Giordono's <3
Can I come with you for food/fun/etc?
- Maaaaybe
Can I visit your room?
- As long as you know where it is from me or someone that told you and was clear to~
Can I buy you drinks?
- That'd be a first!
Can I give you stuff?
- Plush things like stuffing!
Can I take your picture?
- In suit sure. Out of suit, well that's kind of a challenge since I tend to try to be difficult about those.
What are your goals for the con this year?
- Make Wolfpaw happy, have fun, drink, make Wolfpaw happy, try to not cry until after I've said my goodbyes to someone. >.>
Also I'm going to sneak in some news here. I bought airfare to the UK, so yes the plan is to attend Confuzzled in 2017!
- Main Hotel
When are you arriving and how long are you staying?
- Wednesday - Monday
Who will you be rooming with?
- some guy
Are you taken?
- Not really, but said roomie has a strong inside track if he wants it. ;P
How old are you?
- Thirty.fucking.ninnnne (Don't ruin the last MFF of my 30s!)
What is your gender?
- Male
How tall are you?
- 6'
Where will you be most of the time during the con?
- On the hunt for booze, wearing rubber or fuzzy things and likely trapped in some rendition of said rubber or fuzzy things.
Can I talk to you?
- You wouldn't be the first to try, and you wouldn't be the first to be ignored or brushed off for being creepy either. Don't be creepy. *nod*
Can I touch, hug, or snuggle you?
- Previous answer. Contrary to popular believe I will not fold you in half the wrong way right away, that's something you gotta earn by being creepy. Don't be creepy *nod*
Are you nice?
- Yessssss, more so after some (lots of) beers.
Will you be fursuiting?
- Very much, and rubber suiting, clopping around sometimes...
Where will you be most of the time during the day/s?
- Wandering, being trapped in or on something, or clinging to certain folks.
What is the best way to find you?
- follow the CLOP CLOP CLOP CLOP and rubber/leather/Vivishine smell.
If I see you, how should I get your attention?
- A hi and normal greeting work. Normal meaning not creepy. Don't be creepy *nod*
Are there any panels you might be attending?
- Find me something pokemon related and maybe luxray will show up!
Will you be going to parties?
- Fuck.Yes.
Will you be performing?
- Depends on your definition of "performing" *eyebrow waggles*
What/where will you be eating?
- Food. The various places where it hides indoors and NOT OUT IN THE COLD! Also Giordono's <3
Can I come with you for food/fun/etc?
- Maaaaybe
Can I visit your room?
- As long as you know where it is from me or someone that told you and was clear to~
Can I buy you drinks?
- That'd be a first!
Can I give you stuff?
- Plush things like stuffing!
Can I take your picture?
- In suit sure. Out of suit, well that's kind of a challenge since I tend to try to be difficult about those.
What are your goals for the con this year?
- Make Wolfpaw happy, have fun, drink, make Wolfpaw happy, try to not cry until after I've said my goodbyes to someone. >.>
Also I'm going to sneak in some news here. I bought airfare to the UK, so yes the plan is to attend Confuzzled in 2017!
Nothing broken.. yet
Posted 9 years agoPersonal odometer rolls over again, and so begins the yearlong march towards the inevitable 40 and technical furry death qualification!
Quick Con updates:
BLFC - Room reserved, registration in place. Shall be there. Shall be rubbery and fuzzy and probably drunk from time to time. All good there.
Megaplex - Room reserved, airfare is purchased and set, still gotta reg but I'll be there for that one. Got a roomie lined up too.
MFF - I sacrificed a chicken suit to the dark pony and was rewarded with an actual room in the Hyatt.
Now I should bed cause I'm an old fox and I get a free grand slam in the morning from Denny's. Go me. :D
Quick Con updates:
BLFC - Room reserved, registration in place. Shall be there. Shall be rubbery and fuzzy and probably drunk from time to time. All good there.
Megaplex - Room reserved, airfare is purchased and set, still gotta reg but I'll be there for that one. Got a roomie lined up too.
MFF - I sacrificed a chicken suit to the dark pony and was rewarded with an actual room in the Hyatt.
Now I should bed cause I'm an old fox and I get a free grand slam in the morning from Denny's. Go me. :D
Another night in Zootopia?
Posted 9 years agoSurviving 2016
Posted 9 years agoHoly hell this year has come out swinging...
The condo should be a done issue at this point. I signed docs today and cut a check for close to $4K to make it all go away. I hope the new owners enjoy it because it's not my problem anymore!
Between the $1K plumbing issues in December, the condo $4K 'go away' payment, getting a $1K supplemental tax notice last week, and about to be hit with insurance renewals/car registrations/new tires for the Fiesta, 2016 has sucked balls financially so far. In addition to that about two weeks ago someone broke into my house while I was at work. They stole my laptop, camera, camcorder, and high school class ring. So toss in another $500 in security system installation and monitoring to the rest of that mess.
I think the bleeding has stopped for now at least so I'm still holding my reservations for BLFC and Megaplex, as those should still fall in line with my healthier condo free budget. Work is staying crazy busy so I've got a good chunk of vacation time still in reserve at least as well.
With the condo sold, mom has moved into the house here. I have zero privacy anymore, so don't expect shiny things for a good long while as long as she's dragging her feet about moving into another place.
At this point I enjoy work as the only place I can find any semblance of peace, otherwise I'm hiding in the garage working on upgrading the front end/brakes on the 89GT Mustang finally.
The condo should be a done issue at this point. I signed docs today and cut a check for close to $4K to make it all go away. I hope the new owners enjoy it because it's not my problem anymore!
Between the $1K plumbing issues in December, the condo $4K 'go away' payment, getting a $1K supplemental tax notice last week, and about to be hit with insurance renewals/car registrations/new tires for the Fiesta, 2016 has sucked balls financially so far. In addition to that about two weeks ago someone broke into my house while I was at work. They stole my laptop, camera, camcorder, and high school class ring. So toss in another $500 in security system installation and monitoring to the rest of that mess.
I think the bleeding has stopped for now at least so I'm still holding my reservations for BLFC and Megaplex, as those should still fall in line with my healthier condo free budget. Work is staying crazy busy so I've got a good chunk of vacation time still in reserve at least as well.
With the condo sold, mom has moved into the house here. I have zero privacy anymore, so don't expect shiny things for a good long while as long as she's dragging her feet about moving into another place.
At this point I enjoy work as the only place I can find any semblance of peace, otherwise I'm hiding in the garage working on upgrading the front end/brakes on the 89GT Mustang finally.
Progressive 2016
Posted 9 years agoThis feels weird. I've actually finished with my fursuit project before FC. That never happens. I'm supposed to be sewing in the room like a 20 year old fursuit newb! :D
That being said I should be hitting the Hilton sometime Thursday evening. Probably cutting out from work at noon to try and slip in right before the main part of the commute breaks loose in the bay area. Rooming with
Diadexxus and leaving Sunday evening as I can't really justify hanging around till Monday.
The appraisal came back on the condo. The good news is they appraiser said it was worth what I'm asking, so the full price offer is good. The downside is the buyers overburdened the offer by increasing it to try and free up cash that they supposedly don't have. So now we're stuck at the point of them either coming up with the additional funds (since the loan will only fund up to the appraised value) or we work out something where I eat part of the cost. I was already going to be paying out of pocket to close this deal, this will effectively double that pay out. I'll take a sizable hit for it but I'd be rid of the burden of the condo which means $10,000+/yr of mortgage payments and HOA fees that I'm not paying anymore.
Other downside to all that is mom is going to be moving in for a while until "we" figure out where she's going.
I soooo need to go chill and get drunk at a con for a while.
That being said I should be hitting the Hilton sometime Thursday evening. Probably cutting out from work at noon to try and slip in right before the main part of the commute breaks loose in the bay area. Rooming with
Diadexxus and leaving Sunday evening as I can't really justify hanging around till Monday.The appraisal came back on the condo. The good news is they appraiser said it was worth what I'm asking, so the full price offer is good. The downside is the buyers overburdened the offer by increasing it to try and free up cash that they supposedly don't have. So now we're stuck at the point of them either coming up with the additional funds (since the loan will only fund up to the appraised value) or we work out something where I eat part of the cost. I was already going to be paying out of pocket to close this deal, this will effectively double that pay out. I'll take a sizable hit for it but I'd be rid of the burden of the condo which means $10,000+/yr of mortgage payments and HOA fees that I'm not paying anymore.
Other downside to all that is mom is going to be moving in for a while until "we" figure out where she's going.
I soooo need to go chill and get drunk at a con for a while.
Breaking in 2016
Posted 9 years agoUpdate on the condo first. Tomorrow the appraisal is being done. Depending on what that figure comes in at, the deal may fall through. If it appraises for less than the buyer offered, they will have to make up the difference out of pocket as their loan will only cover the appraised amount. I'm not sure they're capable of doing that so they'll have the option to back out of the deal at that point with no penalties. If they clear that contingency then it's back on me to do a couple of inspections and move forward with the process. Close of escrow is set as the 29th so we're still some time away from having the deal closed.
FC! I am registered for the con. If I make it down there for the con it'll be Friday/Sat leaving Sunday for me as I just can't really afford the time right now between work deadlines and the condo. I don't have room space lined up either, so if something doesn't happen there I'll be staying home regardless.
BLFC - Not registered for the con yet (that'll happen eventually) but I do have a room reserved. Single King room with no roomies thus far. That one is set to run from Thurs to Monday. If you can stand shiny rubbery things in the room then you can talk about rooming with. ;)
Megaplex - It's an every other year con for me usually and this is the on year so I snagged a room, again single King for Thursday through Monday. Given it's FL in the summer I don't think there will be as much squeak to worry about in the room for that one if anyone is interested.
Cons on the radar still with nothing set: Frolicon in Atlanta (It's a fet con, not a furry con) and MFF.
I'll hit my 5 year anniversary with the company in July at which time my vacation accrual kicks up. If the condo is off my back freeing up budget and I'm picking up vacation time faster, I might actually start to get to enjoy these trips more despite having the house in tow.
Take care folks!
FC! I am registered for the con. If I make it down there for the con it'll be Friday/Sat leaving Sunday for me as I just can't really afford the time right now between work deadlines and the condo. I don't have room space lined up either, so if something doesn't happen there I'll be staying home regardless.
BLFC - Not registered for the con yet (that'll happen eventually) but I do have a room reserved. Single King room with no roomies thus far. That one is set to run from Thurs to Monday. If you can stand shiny rubbery things in the room then you can talk about rooming with. ;)
Megaplex - It's an every other year con for me usually and this is the on year so I snagged a room, again single King for Thursday through Monday. Given it's FL in the summer I don't think there will be as much squeak to worry about in the room for that one if anyone is interested.
Cons on the radar still with nothing set: Frolicon in Atlanta (It's a fet con, not a furry con) and MFF.
I'll hit my 5 year anniversary with the company in July at which time my vacation accrual kicks up. If the condo is off my back freeing up budget and I'm picking up vacation time faster, I might actually start to get to enjoy these trips more despite having the house in tow.
Take care folks!
MFF 2016 and where do we go from here?
Posted 10 years agoFirst off. Registered for Further Confusion next month. Worst case I ought to be able to escape at least for the weekend of the con. I do not have a room lined up so I'm in need of crash space. A bed works best cause I'm old and my back may very much just quit on me if I try floor space (although I do have airbed and sleeping bag).
Secondly while I was at MFF an offer came in on the condo. It was quite low and the buyer was asking for a lot of things from me. I've made a stiff counter back so we'll see if they want to actually play or if the offer is just junk. Even with the counter offer I'll be paying considerable costs out of pocket to sell the place, but it'll wipe the debt off my back. That'll displace mom though who then will have to find another place to live. Somehow I see that turning into her forcing her way into living in my house (at the very least temporarily) or doing some other stupid decision like buying a place and continuing to be a burden on my time and budget, because that's what she does.
As for the actual con itself:
I arrived Thursday, met up with
Tryst right away in the Hilton and had a beer (that's an important start to any con) and later caught up with 
Wolfpawz The rest of the day was kind of a blur of mostly standing around in the Hyatt lobby and getting recognized by folks, reconnecting and getting sooooo many compliments on the weight loss. It was really encouraging to hear it was so noticeable given how hard I've worked for it. I think poor Wolfpaw was getting a bit tired of hearing it over and over from folks. :)
Friday was the hockeyfurs skate/game. It went really well as the skill level was way up this year and physically I felt much better about it. Last year when we tried it I legitimately felt like I was going to have a heart attack. It was a call to action of sorts and what help spur my workout routine through the year. Archer Wolf stopped by and helped with rubber gear, hence the pony and pup pics I've been posting. I followed that up with more general con milling/drinking and later partying with Ipequey and Pacer where the puffy lion joined some of the non-animated squeak toys in the room. There's some good pictures from that. I've yet to see any of them though so cough em up if you got em. Overall I think I spent about 6 hours in rubbery goodness that day.
Saturday was watching the fursuit parade, more milling about. I heard plenty about a gear party that night but no details and nothing really about who to talk to. Basically it became such a difficult tease that I figured I'd get rubbery without need of the party.
Suit-a-dile was having a plush photo shoot so Tryst used me as temporary filling for his plush while he took his mega Lucario over. I have to say being a plush is... awesome. I think I'm in trouble hanging out with Tryst and Wolfpawz and plush things! I brought the pony over to the Hyatt that night in a bag ended up at Ip & Pacer's room again and fell down a well of liquid courage while chatting with lots of folks. Ended up having such a rockin time that I got waaaay too drunk to pony. Somehow I dragged my butt back to the room to pass out proper despite the single hallways being dual hallways by that time.
Sunday I didn't really have any plans so I over-indulged on Wolfpawz clinging time and spent most of the day following him around. He plushed up later for a plush pile party of sorts and I escorted and watched over the pile o plushes as they failed time and again to play the game that would get them unlocked because really... since when do plushes want to get unlocked?! It was during that time that the offer on the condo came in, shortly followed by mom calling (despite me telling her not to) and me having to tell her to sit on it till I got back. About that point I was ready to throw the phone out the window and sitting there staring at the plushes I was fighting back tears for a few reasons, but I did good and didn't break so it worked out. We finished out the evening having a tea party with
denimwizard Skoll and some others that showed up. I went back to the room to pack and left Wolfpawz to go be a pink bunny and enjoy deaddog time. I made a brief round through the Hyatt to say my goodbyes and then sleep.
Monday was breakfast with Tryst and Wolfpawz before hopping my flight out of there and heading back into the dark gaping maw of reality I faced today. Work was ... not fun.
I know I'm forgetting a ton of names here. It was a crazy busy con for me, despite not even bringing a fursuit this time. And no chlorine this time! That's totally a win right?
I'll have another post soonish here about some more actual thoughts from the con. Just too tired to get there right now. Hope everyone made it back home safe!
Secondly while I was at MFF an offer came in on the condo. It was quite low and the buyer was asking for a lot of things from me. I've made a stiff counter back so we'll see if they want to actually play or if the offer is just junk. Even with the counter offer I'll be paying considerable costs out of pocket to sell the place, but it'll wipe the debt off my back. That'll displace mom though who then will have to find another place to live. Somehow I see that turning into her forcing her way into living in my house (at the very least temporarily) or doing some other stupid decision like buying a place and continuing to be a burden on my time and budget, because that's what she does.
As for the actual con itself:
I arrived Thursday, met up with
Tryst right away in the Hilton and had a beer (that's an important start to any con) and later caught up with 
Wolfpawz The rest of the day was kind of a blur of mostly standing around in the Hyatt lobby and getting recognized by folks, reconnecting and getting sooooo many compliments on the weight loss. It was really encouraging to hear it was so noticeable given how hard I've worked for it. I think poor Wolfpaw was getting a bit tired of hearing it over and over from folks. :)Friday was the hockeyfurs skate/game. It went really well as the skill level was way up this year and physically I felt much better about it. Last year when we tried it I legitimately felt like I was going to have a heart attack. It was a call to action of sorts and what help spur my workout routine through the year. Archer Wolf stopped by and helped with rubber gear, hence the pony and pup pics I've been posting. I followed that up with more general con milling/drinking and later partying with Ipequey and Pacer where the puffy lion joined some of the non-animated squeak toys in the room. There's some good pictures from that. I've yet to see any of them though so cough em up if you got em. Overall I think I spent about 6 hours in rubbery goodness that day.
Saturday was watching the fursuit parade, more milling about. I heard plenty about a gear party that night but no details and nothing really about who to talk to. Basically it became such a difficult tease that I figured I'd get rubbery without need of the party.
Suit-a-dile was having a plush photo shoot so Tryst used me as temporary filling for his plush while he took his mega Lucario over. I have to say being a plush is... awesome. I think I'm in trouble hanging out with Tryst and Wolfpawz and plush things! I brought the pony over to the Hyatt that night in a bag ended up at Ip & Pacer's room again and fell down a well of liquid courage while chatting with lots of folks. Ended up having such a rockin time that I got waaaay too drunk to pony. Somehow I dragged my butt back to the room to pass out proper despite the single hallways being dual hallways by that time.Sunday I didn't really have any plans so I over-indulged on Wolfpawz clinging time and spent most of the day following him around. He plushed up later for a plush pile party of sorts and I escorted and watched over the pile o plushes as they failed time and again to play the game that would get them unlocked because really... since when do plushes want to get unlocked?! It was during that time that the offer on the condo came in, shortly followed by mom calling (despite me telling her not to) and me having to tell her to sit on it till I got back. About that point I was ready to throw the phone out the window and sitting there staring at the plushes I was fighting back tears for a few reasons, but I did good and didn't break so it worked out. We finished out the evening having a tea party with
denimwizard Skoll and some others that showed up. I went back to the room to pack and left Wolfpawz to go be a pink bunny and enjoy deaddog time. I made a brief round through the Hyatt to say my goodbyes and then sleep. Monday was breakfast with Tryst and Wolfpawz before hopping my flight out of there and heading back into the dark gaping maw of reality I faced today. Work was ... not fun.
I know I'm forgetting a ton of names here. It was a crazy busy con for me, despite not even bringing a fursuit this time. And no chlorine this time! That's totally a win right?
I'll have another post soonish here about some more actual thoughts from the con. Just too tired to get there right now. Hope everyone made it back home safe!
Almost there.
Posted 10 years agoMFF is right around the corner. Will be getting there Thursday and staying in the Hilton with wolfpawz and tryst unless by some miracle we snag a room in the Hyatt for the lot of us. I'm leaving Monday at a decent hour so it shouldn't be too rushed of an exit. Looking like I'm bringing my hockey gear for the hockey furs meet/game on Friday. With some creative packing I'll try to bring the roo, lion and most of the pony. With that much stuff it's unlikely I'm being fuzzy much for this con, but I'm okay with that. Y'all can just marvel at my weight loss when it's not under all that fur.
Other updates:
BLFC - I secured/reserved a room for BLFC. At the moment I have no roomies arranged for that. While I don't actually need roomies, it can be awful dull having a room just for myself.
FC - I haven't made any solid plans for the con. If I go it'll be most likely a short weekend stay like last year. FC is just too big these days and it doesn't feel like there's much for me there other than a few important folks. I don't have a room arranged for that, but if I go I'll have to find one that's squeak friendly so that pony/lion/roo can come out to play.
Work - It's a struggle to feel relevant anymore. I know they love the work I do, but they keep yanking projects around so much it feels like I'm never getting comfortable with anything. I get so tired of coming in every week wondering if there's enough there to keep me busy or if they're going to send me home. It feels like there's a gun to my head half the time and it sucks. The company is great and I've no reason to leave, I just feel like I'm slipping somewhere though versus expectations. Just burned out of too many miracles.
House - Hosted a Halloween party. I thought it was pretty damn epic. I love the highs of actually having a house for "me" but the lows are just such a weight to bear. Far too many visits from mom while she bitches about living in the condo and tries to take over my yard. Seriously she's up here almost every other fucking weekend. It's gotten old and telling her not to do it falls on deaf ears. For added fun the sewage line back flowed into the tub and shower last weekend leaving shit everywhere. After cleaning it up I didn't see any other symptoms until the other day when the tub stopped draining. I've got a plumber coming to sort it, and crossing my fingers that it's a simple fix. I do have a home warranty so it should be covered but I'm really hoping we're not digging up sewage line...
Condo - Been on the market about 3 months, we're only slightly ridiculously overpriced for the area. The listing looks terrible with almost no description and pictures because the agent mom thrust upon me is old and befuddled and sucks at his job. It feels like I'm never going to be rid of that place, and even if by some miracle it sells, mom is still being unrealistic about things and talking about buying another place and having me help sign off on a loan for it... I've told her to look out of state for cheaper things, but she ignores that too.
Fuck I need a beer...
wolfpawz and tryst unless by some miracle we snag a room in the Hyatt for the lot of us. I'm leaving Monday at a decent hour so it shouldn't be too rushed of an exit. Looking like I'm bringing my hockey gear for the hockey furs meet/game on Friday. With some creative packing I'll try to bring the roo, lion and most of the pony. With that much stuff it's unlikely I'm being fuzzy much for this con, but I'm okay with that. Y'all can just marvel at my weight loss when it's not under all that fur.Other updates:
BLFC - I secured/reserved a room for BLFC. At the moment I have no roomies arranged for that. While I don't actually need roomies, it can be awful dull having a room just for myself.
FC - I haven't made any solid plans for the con. If I go it'll be most likely a short weekend stay like last year. FC is just too big these days and it doesn't feel like there's much for me there other than a few important folks. I don't have a room arranged for that, but if I go I'll have to find one that's squeak friendly so that pony/lion/roo can come out to play.
Work - It's a struggle to feel relevant anymore. I know they love the work I do, but they keep yanking projects around so much it feels like I'm never getting comfortable with anything. I get so tired of coming in every week wondering if there's enough there to keep me busy or if they're going to send me home. It feels like there's a gun to my head half the time and it sucks. The company is great and I've no reason to leave, I just feel like I'm slipping somewhere though versus expectations. Just burned out of too many miracles.
House - Hosted a Halloween party. I thought it was pretty damn epic. I love the highs of actually having a house for "me" but the lows are just such a weight to bear. Far too many visits from mom while she bitches about living in the condo and tries to take over my yard. Seriously she's up here almost every other fucking weekend. It's gotten old and telling her not to do it falls on deaf ears. For added fun the sewage line back flowed into the tub and shower last weekend leaving shit everywhere. After cleaning it up I didn't see any other symptoms until the other day when the tub stopped draining. I've got a plumber coming to sort it, and crossing my fingers that it's a simple fix. I do have a home warranty so it should be covered but I'm really hoping we're not digging up sewage line...
Condo - Been on the market about 3 months, we're only slightly ridiculously overpriced for the area. The listing looks terrible with almost no description and pictures because the agent mom thrust upon me is old and befuddled and sucks at his job. It feels like I'm never going to be rid of that place, and even if by some miracle it sells, mom is still being unrealistic about things and talking about buying another place and having me help sign off on a loan for it... I've told her to look out of state for cheaper things, but she ignores that too.
Fuck I need a beer...
Lucky tiger.
Posted 10 years agoAlright, first things first. I bought a new laptop and had fun using it to stream some tiger time this weekend. Polished up video from that will be in my dropbox for a while at https://www.dropbox.com/s/crdpujdmx.....erToy.wmv?dl=0
I also have joined Twitter. I won't be updating too much there but for the most part it'll be about squeaky related things like streaming and such. Look for Thoroughblade crosscheck4 over there.
Still a go for MFF. Work seems to be picking up enough that I wont have to burn up a bunch of vacation time to cover. Looking forward to getting to finally spend some time with wolfpawz Even if that time might be paw in paw as a rubber lion and rubber tiger. I don't know for sure yet what sort of costumes and or gear I'll be bringing this year as I have too much to choose from actually on that front.
Which leads me in this topic. Being "lucky". I get it folks. You like the things I have and you think I'm lucky to have them. I know most folks just say it because it's something to say, but it's getting annoying and really feels insulting to me. Yes I have -some- luck in things, but I feel like it discredits how hard I work and have sacrificed to be in the position to finally have fun things like the Mustangs or the rubber gear. I've taken my fair share of shots over the year, dealt with too many nightmares and sleepless nights worrying over decisions I've made and continue to make. It's not being lucky. It's covering my ass well enough that it seems lucky. Again, I'm not sitting here worrying over it as a personal attack or something, but just know that it gets pretty annoying hearing how "lucky" I am when I still live alone, still get mired in depression, and still take some pretty hard shots just like anybody else.
Be squeaky. That makes everything better.
I also have joined Twitter. I won't be updating too much there but for the most part it'll be about squeaky related things like streaming and such. Look for Thoroughblade crosscheck4 over there.
Still a go for MFF. Work seems to be picking up enough that I wont have to burn up a bunch of vacation time to cover. Looking forward to getting to finally spend some time with
wolfpawz Even if that time might be paw in paw as a rubber lion and rubber tiger. I don't know for sure yet what sort of costumes and or gear I'll be bringing this year as I have too much to choose from actually on that front.Which leads me in this topic. Being "lucky". I get it folks. You like the things I have and you think I'm lucky to have them. I know most folks just say it because it's something to say, but it's getting annoying and really feels insulting to me. Yes I have -some- luck in things, but I feel like it discredits how hard I work and have sacrificed to be in the position to finally have fun things like the Mustangs or the rubber gear. I've taken my fair share of shots over the year, dealt with too many nightmares and sleepless nights worrying over decisions I've made and continue to make. It's not being lucky. It's covering my ass well enough that it seems lucky. Again, I'm not sitting here worrying over it as a personal attack or something, but just know that it gets pretty annoying hearing how "lucky" I am when I still live alone, still get mired in depression, and still take some pretty hard shots just like anybody else.
Be squeaky. That makes everything better.
BOUGHT!
Posted 10 years agoAlright. Been a while since I posted post selling house. All that business is done and behind me. In turn I flipped what I cleared from that into a house here in town and have been living in my own house for the past couple of months. Mom gets to live in the condo now and enjoy the apartment style living that I was forced to endure while paying for the house she was in. That's made it all of about two months already before she started bitching about it and demanded I sell the condo so that she can get the hell out of there. Suffice to say the condo is on the market. I doubt I'll actually be able to sell it for what I need to get out of it, but at least she can't bitch about me not trying.
I also remedied/made up for selling the 65 Mustang a while back by picking up the pretty 66 GT Mustang I posted pics of earlier ( http://www.furaffinity.net/view/17620646/ ). The nice thing about having an actual house is I have garage space to keep and play with my toys like that! I'll be able to finish up the work on the 89 GT without having to worry about -anyone- bitching at me about it. Finally some peace to work...
Spent a week in Hawaii on the big island a couple of weeks ago with Diadexxus as per our agreement from the trip last year. Since she covered for most of the trip cost last time, I returned the favor this time. It was a pretty epic week. Lots of driving around the island and snorkeling. We had lunch at the rim of a volcano (as close as they'd let us get anyway), spent 3 days snorkeling and finally saw a sea turtle on the final day. We swam with the manta rays too since that was right by the Sheraton where we stayed. Pictures be here on photobucket ( http://s53.photobucket.com/user/Cro...../BigIsland2015 )
Finally we're under two months till MFF. I have my plane tickets and registration set up for that so I shall be there. The big question seems to be whether I'm bringing hockey gear again for the hockey furs scrimmage and what other sort of interesting gear I might be bringing. Keep in mind folks I've lost about 50-60lbs since the last time most of the east coast crowd has seen me last year, so things will look a little different this time around.
I also remedied/made up for selling the 65 Mustang a while back by picking up the pretty 66 GT Mustang I posted pics of earlier ( http://www.furaffinity.net/view/17620646/ ). The nice thing about having an actual house is I have garage space to keep and play with my toys like that! I'll be able to finish up the work on the 89 GT without having to worry about -anyone- bitching at me about it. Finally some peace to work...
Spent a week in Hawaii on the big island a couple of weeks ago with
Diadexxus as per our agreement from the trip last year. Since she covered for most of the trip cost last time, I returned the favor this time. It was a pretty epic week. Lots of driving around the island and snorkeling. We had lunch at the rim of a volcano (as close as they'd let us get anyway), spent 3 days snorkeling and finally saw a sea turtle on the final day. We swam with the manta rays too since that was right by the Sheraton where we stayed. Pictures be here on photobucket ( http://s53.photobucket.com/user/Cro...../BigIsland2015 )Finally we're under two months till MFF. I have my plane tickets and registration set up for that so I shall be there. The big question seems to be whether I'm bringing hockey gear again for the hockey furs scrimmage and what other sort of interesting gear I might be bringing. Keep in mind folks I've lost about 50-60lbs since the last time most of the east coast crowd has seen me last year, so things will look a little different this time around.
SOLD!
Posted 10 years agoAfter lots of back and forth we seem to have a deal. The seller got her own pest report inspection and quote for repairs which was significantly cheaper than the ones my guy came up with. Her guy missed damage on the roof that my guy caught, otherwise they both agreed on the termite and mold damage areas. Those will be fixed before close of escrow, so if there's more damage there than they thought, she'll be on the hook for that. I'm not sure where this puts my move in date at, but I should be in there before the end of the month at least.
In other news. No next con for me, instead it's actual vacation time. Planning to head to Hawaii again to make up my half of the agreed trip with Diadexxus from last year since. Since she treated on that trip, it's my turn on this one. Going to see the big island and the volcano and all that schtuffs! Should be a blast!
And finally, at least for now.... the house sale makes me a bouncy roo! https://www.dropbox.com/s/5fm7n7e5m.....ounce.wmv?dl=0
In other news. No next con for me, instead it's actual vacation time. Planning to head to Hawaii again to make up my half of the agreed trip with
Diadexxus from last year since. Since she treated on that trip, it's my turn on this one. Going to see the big island and the volcano and all that schtuffs! Should be a blast!And finally, at least for now.... the house sale makes me a bouncy roo! https://www.dropbox.com/s/5fm7n7e5m.....ounce.wmv?dl=0
Pony Pride
Posted 10 years agoSo someone was a pony at SF Pride yesterday. If you've been paying attention enough to my gallery I think you'll be able to pick a pony out at around the 6 hour 15 minute mark (just after the Yahoo group). Lots of pony footage it seems...
http://www.prideradio.com/features/.....une-27-28-883/
Crazy. Epic. Day. :D
http://www.prideradio.com/features/.....une-27-28-883/
Crazy. Epic. Day. :D
Homey update
Posted 10 years agoThe search is over! I know the corpse of the old house is barely even cold at this point, but I've found a place I like and agreed to their counter on it so I'll be moving into my house around the end of July if all goes well. Mom had no say in this one, hasn't even seen it, which is the way I want it. The payments will be less than what I had before since I'm not in a high fire zone anymore too. Dropping the rent I pay here and mom picking up HOA and utilities on the condo I can make it work easily carrying two mortgages again until we finally scrape the condo off me, whenever that turns out to be. Only thing left to make it through escrow is getting the inspections taken care of but I doubt they'll turn up anything that breaks this deal.
http://s53.photobucket.com/user/Cro.....ow/New%20House - Pics of the place from the listing, keep in mind that ain't my furniture there so it won't look quite like that when I'm there.
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Also... it's really, really weird when you stumble across a family member on a fetish site at random... fortunately he's not seen my profile there yet, so I know someone's sekkrits! Muahahahaha.
http://s53.photobucket.com/user/Cro.....ow/New%20House - Pics of the place from the listing, keep in mind that ain't my furniture there so it won't look quite like that when I'm there.
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Also... it's really, really weird when you stumble across a family member on a fetish site at random... fortunately he's not seen my profile there yet, so I know someone's sekkrits! Muahahahaha.
MFF 15 and other updates
Posted 10 years agoApparently Alaska/American is having a crazy sale right now on flights from SFO to Chicago so I snagged my flight. Should be at MFF just before noon on Thursday and leaving Monday around noon. I just need to arrange room space still. For the moment I'm crossing my fingers hoping to snag a room cancellation like last year.
With the house sold I'm wasting no time getting back on the horse so to speak. I was culling through listings all during the closing process highlighting ones that interested me so I could get right to it. I spent the last couple of weeks going through the list checking off places and yesterday I found one that fits all my current needs and still has enough space that in the future I wouldn't hate having confined myself to it. Everything checks out so far, so I expect I'll be putting an offer in on it early this week!
With the house sold I'm wasting no time getting back on the horse so to speak. I was culling through listings all during the closing process highlighting ones that interested me so I could get right to it. I spent the last couple of weeks going through the list checking off places and yesterday I found one that fits all my current needs and still has enough space that in the future I wouldn't hate having confined myself to it. Everything checks out so far, so I expect I'll be putting an offer in on it early this week!
Gone!
Posted 10 years agoFirst I'm gonna pimp out Wolfpawz selling his plush berner Boston https://www.furbuy.com/auctions/1072703.html someone give him monies so that the critter will go to a new home. :)
Second, we closed escrow on the house Friday. We pulled all the furniture out and yesterday I got mom moved into the condo. So the deal is done and the house is off my back for the first time in 9 years. That's a $1,300/mo payment on a place I wasn't even living in, gone. Holy crap does it feel nice to not worry about that. It's also pretty surreal to see the deposit that comes in from selling a place since there was a good amount coming back after the loan was paid off. I could strut into the bank on Monday, cut them a check and pay off the condo loan too and then be debt free for the first time in my adult life. That's a pretty heady thing since I'd still own the condo and my cars are paid for so it's wouldn't be leaving me totally without resources either.
I could flip it the other way though and get a place locally to end my renting. The risks would still be the same as it was when I got that condo in that if I had to move to chase work I'd be stuck with two places left behind again. The difference being this time I wouldn't dare go for such a big loan against me and I doubt the market would crater again so badly as that I'd be upside down on a property again. I'll check out a few places here and think on things for a bit before I take the next big step... all of that assuming I even stay in Cali at this point as I can actually pull out and go somewhere else for a clean start and leave mom to pester my brother for whatever inane things she comes up with.
Too much to think about!
Also this means that yes I -could- go to AC or Megaplex if I'm so inclined. Just that at this late stage scrounging up room space for either might be a challenge.
Wolfpawz selling his plush berner Boston https://www.furbuy.com/auctions/1072703.html someone give him monies so that the critter will go to a new home. :)Second, we closed escrow on the house Friday. We pulled all the furniture out and yesterday I got mom moved into the condo. So the deal is done and the house is off my back for the first time in 9 years. That's a $1,300/mo payment on a place I wasn't even living in, gone. Holy crap does it feel nice to not worry about that. It's also pretty surreal to see the deposit that comes in from selling a place since there was a good amount coming back after the loan was paid off. I could strut into the bank on Monday, cut them a check and pay off the condo loan too and then be debt free for the first time in my adult life. That's a pretty heady thing since I'd still own the condo and my cars are paid for so it's wouldn't be leaving me totally without resources either.
I could flip it the other way though and get a place locally to end my renting. The risks would still be the same as it was when I got that condo in that if I had to move to chase work I'd be stuck with two places left behind again. The difference being this time I wouldn't dare go for such a big loan against me and I doubt the market would crater again so badly as that I'd be upside down on a property again. I'll check out a few places here and think on things for a bit before I take the next big step... all of that assuming I even stay in Cali at this point as I can actually pull out and go somewhere else for a clean start and leave mom to pester my brother for whatever inane things she comes up with.
Too much to think about!
Also this means that yes I -could- go to AC or Megaplex if I'm so inclined. Just that at this late stage scrounging up room space for either might be a challenge.
Con memories....
Posted 10 years agoWas thinking back on con things and reminded myself of that one FC when the fox showed up late for the games and maaaaaay have been planning to cheat...
http://archive.fursuit.me/view/Furs.....GoTryAgain.mpg
Those were the days. :)
http://archive.fursuit.me/view/Furs.....GoTryAgain.mpg
Those were the days. :)
Have escaped utopia, they didn't have cookies...
Posted 10 years agoBack from BLFC.
Was a good con for me, nice to hang out with folks and no really dead moments. A bit disappointed that things didn't get better coordinated about parties and the like leaving the pony mostly stuck in the closet all con. He did show up in room briefly though on Sunday for a couple of folks, which as an aside the new catsuit fits really well and gets rid of the wrinkles that have been showing (and annoying me) in most of the photos. I do have some video of that but y'all have to ask real nice for me to link you to where I hidz it for now.
I must admit I didn't really -get- the theme until I got to the con. Having seen how they used it, it was pretty F-ing brilliant. I think that was one of the better themes and certainly well integrated into the con space and movement. Blown away by the patron level swag again too. These guys continue to give out stuff that I'll actually make use of which is always a nice bonus when I look at the pile of trinkets/junk that I've gotten out of other cons. Next year's theme looks like it could be a blast too when tied in with what they did this year.
I managed to get around in suit a couple of times for each critter. It was a nice change over last year when it hurt quite a bit to be that active or that long in suit. Along those lines I was also blown away by how many folks noticed the weight loss and/or complimented me on it. I see it every day and pick on myself harder than an outside set of eyes ever will, but really it was so damn nice to hear that it was noticeable for the effort I've made in getting this far with it when folks that haven't seen me in close to a year can see it.
Aside from all that, I made it home and went straight to work and dove right back into the house mess. We're still working towards close of escrow. They've done one test and found some issues, but the buyer is okay with it. We've still got the septic and roof inspections. If something major with that comes up the buyer could pull out, but we have to assume it wont and get the stuff out of the house. The next couple of weeks are going to be hellish for me while mom plots -how- to do this move. She's already planned my entire weekend for the next two weeks, so there's that. Who knows, maybe I'll make it through this without snapping at her for driving me around the bend during the process...
Might do Califur next... or maybe even AC if the house sale looks like a done deal...
Was a good con for me, nice to hang out with folks and no really dead moments. A bit disappointed that things didn't get better coordinated about parties and the like leaving the pony mostly stuck in the closet all con. He did show up in room briefly though on Sunday for a couple of folks, which as an aside the new catsuit fits really well and gets rid of the wrinkles that have been showing (and annoying me) in most of the photos. I do have some video of that but y'all have to ask real nice for me to link you to where I hidz it for now.
I must admit I didn't really -get- the theme until I got to the con. Having seen how they used it, it was pretty F-ing brilliant. I think that was one of the better themes and certainly well integrated into the con space and movement. Blown away by the patron level swag again too. These guys continue to give out stuff that I'll actually make use of which is always a nice bonus when I look at the pile of trinkets/junk that I've gotten out of other cons. Next year's theme looks like it could be a blast too when tied in with what they did this year.
I managed to get around in suit a couple of times for each critter. It was a nice change over last year when it hurt quite a bit to be that active or that long in suit. Along those lines I was also blown away by how many folks noticed the weight loss and/or complimented me on it. I see it every day and pick on myself harder than an outside set of eyes ever will, but really it was so damn nice to hear that it was noticeable for the effort I've made in getting this far with it when folks that haven't seen me in close to a year can see it.
Aside from all that, I made it home and went straight to work and dove right back into the house mess. We're still working towards close of escrow. They've done one test and found some issues, but the buyer is okay with it. We've still got the septic and roof inspections. If something major with that comes up the buyer could pull out, but we have to assume it wont and get the stuff out of the house. The next couple of weeks are going to be hellish for me while mom plots -how- to do this move. She's already planned my entire weekend for the next two weeks, so there's that. Who knows, maybe I'll make it through this without snapping at her for driving me around the bend during the process...
Might do Califur next... or maybe even AC if the house sale looks like a done deal...
Get out of jail free card!
Posted 10 years agoSo in about two months we hit the nine year anniversary of me getting roped into buying a house. 9 years of paying for that house.... 9 years of spending maybe a weekend every few months in that house... Maybe 60-90 days total that I've spent in that house while mom was living a happy retired life on my dime in a house way too big for her to live in alone. But what the hell it was an "investment" for my future right?
So today a light at the end of the tunnel. We're in escrow... conditionally. The buyer's now have a period of time to have some inspections done and if they don't like what they find they can back out of the deal. If they accept the conditions we'll go into the closing phase. So in a little over a month I could have that nightmare of an empty payment out of my life for the first time in Nine. freaking. years.
So where do we go from here? Mom will have to move into the condo that I also have been carrying without living in. This will justify keeping it despite the fact I should've long ago walked away from that property. She'll bitch about it and complain because that's what she does, but this is just how it's going to be. She'll also be further away and wont have a reason to drop by unexpectedly and stay the night because she doesn't feel like "driving all the way up to the house" after her medical visits down south.
This almost feels like the precipice of freedom...
I could actually have her stop butting into my life for the most part (unlikely though because she just doesn't stop) and I could actually even be debt free as what I would clear from this deal could pay off the condo outright. So yeah, get out of jail free. It's a rare thing to get a chance to start over, and that's what this could be...
On the flip side of that I could turn it back around into a place where I can live that -isn't- a rented apartment. I've been living on the cheap in questionable apartments for years to pay for that damn house, selling off toys and giving up hobbies while that debt loomed over my head. While I've not been homeless, where I sleep has never felt like home all the same. For the first time I could actually pick a place and have it on my own terms (provided once again mom stays out of it). Lots of big decisions either way. Most of all I wonder if I'll finally be able to sleep a normal night of sleep without the nightmares of failure looming over me the first time I'm not living check to check.
I really don't know where to go from here... it's new territory thinking I might have a life of my own for once.
The timing works out nicely as shifting my diet to a more positive model and working out since the start of the year has me down to 220lbs now. That's 15 under the weight I carried all through high school some 20 years after... which is a pretty big shift. I intend to keep going with that as I'd like to get under 200 by the time MFF rolls around and play some hockey without looking like I'm gonna have a heart attack. ;)
Oh yeah, BLFC in a few days too. See some of you there. :)
So today a light at the end of the tunnel. We're in escrow... conditionally. The buyer's now have a period of time to have some inspections done and if they don't like what they find they can back out of the deal. If they accept the conditions we'll go into the closing phase. So in a little over a month I could have that nightmare of an empty payment out of my life for the first time in Nine. freaking. years.
So where do we go from here? Mom will have to move into the condo that I also have been carrying without living in. This will justify keeping it despite the fact I should've long ago walked away from that property. She'll bitch about it and complain because that's what she does, but this is just how it's going to be. She'll also be further away and wont have a reason to drop by unexpectedly and stay the night because she doesn't feel like "driving all the way up to the house" after her medical visits down south.
This almost feels like the precipice of freedom...
I could actually have her stop butting into my life for the most part (unlikely though because she just doesn't stop) and I could actually even be debt free as what I would clear from this deal could pay off the condo outright. So yeah, get out of jail free. It's a rare thing to get a chance to start over, and that's what this could be...
On the flip side of that I could turn it back around into a place where I can live that -isn't- a rented apartment. I've been living on the cheap in questionable apartments for years to pay for that damn house, selling off toys and giving up hobbies while that debt loomed over my head. While I've not been homeless, where I sleep has never felt like home all the same. For the first time I could actually pick a place and have it on my own terms (provided once again mom stays out of it). Lots of big decisions either way. Most of all I wonder if I'll finally be able to sleep a normal night of sleep without the nightmares of failure looming over me the first time I'm not living check to check.
I really don't know where to go from here... it's new territory thinking I might have a life of my own for once.
The timing works out nicely as shifting my diet to a more positive model and working out since the start of the year has me down to 220lbs now. That's 15 under the weight I carried all through high school some 20 years after... which is a pretty big shift. I intend to keep going with that as I'd like to get under 200 by the time MFF rolls around and play some hockey without looking like I'm gonna have a heart attack. ;)
Oh yeah, BLFC in a few days too. See some of you there. :)
Con thingy in Reno!
Posted 10 years agoBack from Frolicon in Atlanta as you can probably tell by the latest round of pics going up. Sorry folks, couldn't stick around for FWA. Rubber ponies are shifty like that.
While at the con someone looked at the house. My realtor tells me that they're very interested, but that hasn't translated to an offer yet. If the house sells, maybe I'll finally get a decent night of sleep without nightmares!
With that out of the way, I've registered/sponsored for BLFC next month. So without further ado...
Q: How are you traveling?
A: Fiesta superspeed travel over big snowy mountain volcano! (sounds more exciting that way)
Q: Where are you staying?
A: The main hotel (not that there are any other hotels anywhere close really)
Q: When will you be arriving and leaving?
A: Should be there Thursday and leaving Monday. That might chance as the date approaches depending on workload and how much time off I have...
Q: Who will you be rooming with?
A: Diadexxus (again)
Q: Where will you be most of the time during the day/s?
A: Con space mostly, maybe out tromping about in hooves too.
Q: What/where will you be eating?
A: All over the place. Bring lots of napkins!
Q: Will you be having a room party?
A: Nope, but definitely looking for pony and or shiny friendly ones. >.>
Q: Will you be drinking and/or getting drunk?
A: Hopefully!... but it's hard to hold bottles with hooves. Quick! Get me some tape!
PERSONAL STUFF:
Q: What is your gender?
A: Stallion
Q: How tall are you?
A: 6 hoof errr foot-ish
Q: If I approach you, will you chat with me?
A: Only from the front. Horses are easily spooked from behind and have heavy hooves.
Q: If I see you, how should I get your attention?
A: "Hey pony!" buttgrabs have been tried before, but again horse may buck!
Q: How many furry conventions have you attended?
A: Since the days when we had to make them out of construction paper.
Q: Do you own a fursuit?
A: Rubber is a fursuit right?
PERMISSIONS:
Q: Can I hug or snuggle with you?
A: Hugs are usually fiiiine, unless you're a Ducks fan. (looking at you Frosty)
Q: How can I find you?
A: Text mostly!
Q: Can I buy you drinks?
A: This has never happened! You'd be crazy to make it happen!
Q: Can I look/draw in your sketchbook?
A: If I remember to bring it, and if I remember to take it out!
Q: Can I take your picture?
A: Ponies like pictures. *nods and clops*
MISCELLANEOUS:
Q: Do you do do free art, trades, commissions, badges?
A: Nupe. I make pretty awesome bridges though!
Q: Do you have a table in the Artist Alley / Dealer's Den or a panel in the Art Show? If so, what are you selling?
A: Pffffft no.
Q: Do you plan to volunteer?
A: Only if it means pulling a cart and lots of apples.
Q: What's your goal for the con this year?
A: Clop around... and maybe go check out the nearby bridges I drew last year (although I'm not sure they broke ground on them yet).
While at the con someone looked at the house. My realtor tells me that they're very interested, but that hasn't translated to an offer yet. If the house sells, maybe I'll finally get a decent night of sleep without nightmares!
With that out of the way, I've registered/sponsored for BLFC next month. So without further ado...
Q: How are you traveling?
A: Fiesta superspeed travel over big snowy mountain volcano! (sounds more exciting that way)
Q: Where are you staying?
A: The main hotel (not that there are any other hotels anywhere close really)
Q: When will you be arriving and leaving?
A: Should be there Thursday and leaving Monday. That might chance as the date approaches depending on workload and how much time off I have...
Q: Who will you be rooming with?
A: Diadexxus (again)
Q: Where will you be most of the time during the day/s?
A: Con space mostly, maybe out tromping about in hooves too.
Q: What/where will you be eating?
A: All over the place. Bring lots of napkins!
Q: Will you be having a room party?
A: Nope, but definitely looking for pony and or shiny friendly ones. >.>
Q: Will you be drinking and/or getting drunk?
A: Hopefully!... but it's hard to hold bottles with hooves. Quick! Get me some tape!
PERSONAL STUFF:
Q: What is your gender?
A: Stallion
Q: How tall are you?
A: 6 hoof errr foot-ish
Q: If I approach you, will you chat with me?
A: Only from the front. Horses are easily spooked from behind and have heavy hooves.
Q: If I see you, how should I get your attention?
A: "Hey pony!" buttgrabs have been tried before, but again horse may buck!
Q: How many furry conventions have you attended?
A: Since the days when we had to make them out of construction paper.
Q: Do you own a fursuit?
A: Rubber is a fursuit right?
PERMISSIONS:
Q: Can I hug or snuggle with you?
A: Hugs are usually fiiiine, unless you're a Ducks fan. (looking at you Frosty)
Q: How can I find you?
A: Text mostly!
Q: Can I buy you drinks?
A: This has never happened! You'd be crazy to make it happen!
Q: Can I look/draw in your sketchbook?
A: If I remember to bring it, and if I remember to take it out!
Q: Can I take your picture?
A: Ponies like pictures. *nods and clops*
MISCELLANEOUS:
Q: Do you do do free art, trades, commissions, badges?
A: Nupe. I make pretty awesome bridges though!
Q: Do you have a table in the Artist Alley / Dealer's Den or a panel in the Art Show? If so, what are you selling?
A: Pffffft no.
Q: Do you plan to volunteer?
A: Only if it means pulling a cart and lots of apples.
Q: What's your goal for the con this year?
A: Clop around... and maybe go check out the nearby bridges I drew last year (although I'm not sure they broke ground on them yet).
