I was so hoping that Mexico could make it into the quarterfinals for the first time since 1986. And then disaster struck!

So I'm wondering if there's anyone out there who might be interested in exchanging a few fighting commissions. If you're lucky, I might even let you win a few times- if you're lucky.

http://www.furaffinity.net/view/13545411/

Anybody think they can take down my boxing wolf fursona? I'd be willing to take on all comers.

Then again, how on Earth would we determine a winner without drawing two different endings of the fight?

Well, go ahead and ask. I'll give my honest answer as long as I don't have to throw another human being under the bus.

I have just submitted a few applications to local businesses and restaurants. I'm hoping to get an interview and if that goes well, I'll be getting up each morning to wash up and get dressed in black slacks a button-up shirt at a bakery or I'll be taking orders. Wish me luck on this!

There are many many beautiful countries in the world to visit but it helps to know what is and is not appropriate to do before going there. Local customs vary from place to place so you should know what NOT to do to avoid offending locals.

In Italy: Avoid the Devil Horns

Yes, we all love that gesture of making a fist and extending the pointer and pinky. This represents to the world that we love our men in spandex with long hair and guitars. Or that in Austin, it means you like the University of Texas football team. Except in Italy where it is a crude representation of the female genitals and tells to all the world that you love sex and aren't subtle about it. A husband might see this and think "That signore over there thinks my wife is unfaithful. I'll show him a thing or two".

In Greece: Don't Wave Your Hands

We know it means goodbye everywhere else but in Greece, there was a custom of the moutza whereby prisoners would have things shoved into their faces as they were led by in procession. And often these things were what the Greeks had on hand, and often these things were the product of their digestive systems. So when you wave to an Athenian, you're telling him to consume something cylindrical like a stuffed grape leaf only considerably less pleasant.

In Nigeria: Don't Wink

You may think you're being seductive or cute but in Nigeria, the use of a wink tells everyone else to leave the room. One wonders how many visiting English teachers have unknowingly given their students a free pass into the hallways while trying to cry something out of their eyes.

In Brazil: A-OK is Never Ok

Don't make the hand gesture with your pointer and thumb making a circle and the other fingers flaring out. That very well means " Look! I have formed an image with my hands of an anus and that is what I think of you." They also speak Portugese, not Spanish and find it highly offensive to be addressed in Spanish, though you might some colorful curse words if you address them in Spanish.

In Mexico: Akimbo is a No-no

Putting your hands on hips indicates frustration and exhaustion everywhere else but in Mexico it means that you're willing to fight anyone else you come across, which is not a very good idea, especially when in a bar.

In China: Watch out. No, Seriously Keep Your Watch Out.

The Chinese view clocks as a symbol of mortality, what with the hours counting down to the inevitable. So what you think might be a gold or platinum timepiece is really just telling your Beijing recipient "You're gonna die soon, mmmkay?"

In Japan: A Smile is Not Always Happy

This one goes back to the days of the samurai and later to Japan's role as an Axis nation. When the parents, wives, and brothers heard of the death of their beloved, they often thought that it would be dishonorable for the spirit of the deceased to see them crying after such a patriotic and beautiful death. Thus, people in Japan smiled after receiving bad news- and this very much remains the case to this day.

In Australia: Don't Mention the History of the Continent as Penal Colony

Most Australians came to the Lucky Country of their own accord. And if you don't want to get beaten up or have Dannii Minogue release another crappy song, please don't mention the history of Australia as penal colony. They really are a polite and happy people.

This was one of the best weekends I've ever had, all things considered. First, I went to the Main Street Arts Festival in Fort Worth and tried some expensive but yummy culinary arts there. (German Sausage Sandwich and Margarita Coconut and Lime Smoothie = TAG TEAM OF AWESOME) Then, I went back home to Victory Park and watched the Stars clinch a playoff spot for the first time in six years, buying up the last nosebleed seat they had available. There was literal dancing in the streets after the Stars clinched their playoff spot.

The next day, I bought a one-day pass to the GIJoeCon and learned the other half of the answer (It's red lasers and blue lasers) and had a watching party as the Mavericks clinched their own playoff spot in a thrilling rally against Phoenix.

Then, after a beautiful choral presentation on Palm Sunday at Trinity Bible Church, I saw my Furry friends in Arlington. And now I'm here at my parents' house enjoying some old songs I listened to growing up as a kid.

I need a reference for Crafty Coyote to help me design a mascot for Desert_Knights.

http://www.furaffinity.net/view/3103076/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QV7lGmgFovM

Happy Saint Patrick's Day. Sinn Fein!

No, but it will be seven weeks until the five-year anniversary of my induction into FurAffinity and on that day I will be in Oklahoma with my Furry friends, God willing. But I figure this is close enough to start marking my five-year anniversary because I've always been the one to jump the gun. In 2009, I had been watching the Furballs with a desire to be on their massive site for years. I had just attended Furry Fiesta I and wanted to join in the fun. I set up my FA site and began uploading art in April 2009, a process that will probably continue until my dying day. Hundreds of conbadges and more than a dozen conventions later, I have had more than my fair share of negatives- friends I've fallen out with, drama I should never have started, even a tournament I probably never should have entered. I've said and done things I know I shouldn't have done. And yet each of the bumps and bruises I took have made me a stronger and more mature person and I am still standing.

And it would be unfair to look at the negatives without talking about the positives, as well. I have consummated dozens of business deals through this site, gained a few friends totally worth the courage of asking, talked a friend out of committing suicide, gotten my fursuit head through this site, and even made an ethnic transition that only someone with balls the size of grapefruits could possibly do. In five short years, I have gone from a largely disinterested outsider to a full citizen in the fandom. For those who have been with me since day one or had the fortune (or misfortune, I can't tell which) of running into me these past five years, thanks for being there or I'm sorry for what I did or maybe a mixture of both. On April 25, I will celebrate five years on FA by being in a place with no Internet access at all, 200 miles away from home in the wilds of Oklahoma, just because I think my friendship with the Furries is worth that much. This fandom changed me, and without FurAffinity, none of this would have ever happened. Now, I don't have cake but I'll have Rush sing me out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcFGrWjOX0E

Most annoying thing in the world. It's like zits have formed in your eyelids and they are causing all kinds of inflammation and I have it. I've tried cutting onions just to induce crying so that the infection might be drained but it's not working at all. And, of course, the natural sleep crust buildup will only make things worse.

Winter is upon us so here is a list of my favorite video game music representing some of the ice worlds we have come to explore and love.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiGfjOLF_j0- Winters (1995, Earthbound)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPuBAjOLVAM- Ice Cavern (1998, Ocarina of Time)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6nm.....NA9uI-Snowhead (2000, Majora's Mask)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzROIaEItjQ- Snow Level (2000, Kirby: Crystal Shards)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgAtWoPfBgQ- Phendrana Drifts (2002, Metroid Prime)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKotEx8TWZc- SNowpeak Ruins (2007, Twilight Princess)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRGKhw8GazM- Arcterra#1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoBWRAx-S1c- Arcterra #2 (2008, Metroid Prime: Hunters)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_cUEVqqI-c- Ice Land (2010, Kirby: Squeak Squad)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdNXpudo7P8- Snowbelle City (2013, Pokemon X and Y)

Got any you'd like to share with us, or just discuss the selection of wintry music.

February 1st is my birthday, and while I'm not expecting any gifts this year, it would really be nice. Oftentimes, I've let the date just slip by unappreciated but this year, I want people to know I'm turning 26. My "presents" would be that the people who I spent money for commissions- and they know who they are- would stand and deliver.

It was an absolute blast, even if it wasn't a full-weekend convention. The people at Lewisville's Kol Ami Congregation did a great job putting together a nerd convention on a lovely afternoon- even if they couldn't do anything con-related on Friday-Saturday (Shabbat) I'll be uploading some stuff I got from some of the local artists, many of whom were members of the Reformed congregation.

"Man plans. God laughs."- Yiddish proverb.

If you want to see me, possibly in fursuit, here's a listing of conventions I plan to attend, all in Dallas, unless otherwise posted.

Feb 21-24 ConDFW
March 1-2 Dallas Comic Pop Expo
March 13-15 Allcon
March 28-30 Brony-Fest
TBA in April- Wild Nights, Wilburton, Oklahoma
Project A-Kon- June 6-8
Condition:Furry- August 1-3, London, Ontario, Canada
AnimeFest- August 15-18

It's been over four years since I started posting my first artworks on FurAffinity. The time has come after years of frustrating delays that I will start uploading my stuff to Inkbunny and Weasyl- the last week's extended downtime was a sign that it might be time for people to migrate. I really want to start over on a new site.

The roads and walkways are all iced over and it doesn't look like they'll be of much use for quite some time. I've had it with sleeping in, playing games, and not being able to even walk outside for fear of slipping and busting a hip. So in the interest of trying to become hopelessly bored, I will ask my watchers to ask me anything they want. Nothing, no matter how embarrassing is off limits. Boxers or briefs? I'll answer that and even tell you who makes my "interior clothing". What do you think of my fursona? I'll hear your answers about that. The tournament I took part in last year? Yes, I'm upset about what happened there, too, but we can discuss.

If you've ever wanted to talk to me about anything, now's your chance. Quite frankly, I'm desperate enough for attention, I'd even let slip a few facts about myself that are embarrassing. Don't miss this opportunity to hear me tell you things I may regret once the ice melts.

Where do I begin?

Well, I used a Master Ball to catch Xerneas before finding out that this was the easiest Legendary to capture.
Then, I found out it had the worst nature possible- Relaxed- for a Xerneas. I ended up putting the Pokemon through the wrong regiments given their natures and need to reset everything. I am tempted right now to just take a torch to everything and start from scratch to build a competitive team but I don't believe in wasting over 30 hours of work in building a deeply-flawed team, if the team is still salvageable. But that is a big "if". I've won 8 matches but it's taken me over 40 to get there, and I'm at the edge of my rope.

http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/5266668/

Now the story of a wealthy Furry who's going to give away everything and the one man who had no choice but to get it all together.

It's Krispup's $1111 Giveaway

For my team, based on what I saw in online matches, this is what I want.

A Gengar with Hypnosis, Mean Look, and Perish Song, because there's no better way to win at Pokemon than sleep, followed by not being able to leave, followed by ensured death.

A Venusaur with Sleep Powder because that would also work because Sleep is just a shorthand way of knocking out a Pokemon. Nintendo simply cannot do anything as unscrupulous players make the game un-fun by sleeper-holding opponents.

Blaziken- It just keeps appearing, like an annoying Internet meme. That Speed Boost it receives makes it a gamebreaker.

Any Pokemon with MInd Reader/ Lock On and a one-hit kill move. I need that.

Any Pokemon with game-extending Evasion moves. Because nothing's more annoying than having to play a waiting game with your friends,

I find it interesting that of the 650 Pokemon, a few very powerful ones are almost exclusively overused and have become cliches in the Pokemon world.

In a Triple Battle, one Pokemon on the extreme right cannot target a Pokemon on the extreme left. If the two are not adjacent to each other, none know all-encompassing moves, and the Trainers have no remaining Pokemon, you have the Poke-equivalent of the "Only Kings Remain" stalemate in chess.

Also, using Selfdestruct or any suicide move against a Pokemon that causes it to faint, and there are no Pokemon remaining on either side produces another stalemate. Are there any other Pokemon circumstances that can generate a stalemate, other than, of course, both fighters losing interest and mutually agreeing to quit.

I recently unveiled my friend code and this afternoon, I hope to get the wireless router so people can battle and trade with me. However, I have two 15-page essays for my graduate school classes in the next six weeks. I know that we will still be playing in mid-December and I swore I would play against other flesh-and-blood trainers but it may have to wait a while. I can fail at Pokemon and can succeed at my classes but it can't happen the other way around. Rest assured, we will be just as happy about this game in a month or so than we are right now and I will for Christmas, actually learn to play Pokemon competitively against my friends. But bear with me and be patient if I don't immediately respond to your offers of trades or battling. I don't want to lose my graduate degree because of a game.

Cliches:
-Yes, shooting at a padlock in real life will unlock a door and doing the same to a keypad will always open an electronic door.
-In a pre-industrial civilization, you can walk through a forest or unlit city on a moonless night.
-You know that if you gave your real-life computer a command it did not know how to operate, it would just stand there. But the best way to stop a sentient supercomputer is to confound it with a paradoxical "chicken or the egg" question, which will cause it to explode.
-The video game-derived belief that somehow physical strength and intelligence are locked in a zero-sum game. If you have plenty of muscles, you must be as smart as a box of rocks and about as mobile. Conversely, hyper-intelligent people lack the upper-body strength to actually jimmy a stubborn pickle jar open.
-Mysterious and ancient alien technology always takes the form of a single, gigantic object.
- If you need more power, you'll find it by trying harder.
-Good guys aren't allowed to fight without honor. If a bad guy drops his weapon, you don't shoot at him.
-All human action is determined by loners working outside the system.
- The conflict that determines the fate of the world always comes down to a gun/sword/fistfight between the hero and villain.
-Politics never matter.
-Attractive women can sometimes fall for a modest-looking man, but attractive men only want equally good-looking women.
-Major historical figures, presumably with very important duties, are never too busy to entertain time travelers and enter into long conversations with them.
- Omnipotent, immortal gods are always bored.
- Aliens have somehow understood and can convey complex messages through non-verbal communication, usually dance, whose movements never differ in terms of cultural meaning.
- You can't fool a dog and you can't kill one, either.
- Clones, even though they are sentient, enjoy being used as cannon fodder.
- Human insanity takes many forms but when an android goes crazy, he ends up becoming homicidal.
- You can override a security system with a simple verbal command.
- It's always a mad scientist who goes too far, rather than an enginneer or the head of a marketing department or even a board of supervisors.
- Turning evil gives you a huge ego boost while destroying whatever fashion sense and conversational skills you may have had.
-Laconic, mighty-hewed, scantily-clad barbarians can always decipher ancient texts. Plus, they can enter a village and not one person will take notice of them.
-Mutant telepaths have unparalleled methods to figure out how people around them will react, yet cannot conceal their abilities to read minds.
- You could make a film, book, or song with mind-control powers but the real problem begins when people start selling it retail.
- The world needs to be saved from horrible evil and yet our heroes are a group of amateurs with limited resources, no strength, and skills not meant for the situation. The rest of the world has a vested interest in what might happen but all they can do is support the heroes.
- Aliens who have never heard English before speak it with grave simplicity. At no point, will the language they speak resemble poorly-translated instruction booklets that come with Japanese video games or Chinese bicycles.
- A person who flips open a mystical tome and reads a few verses out loud will always unintentionally summon the ancient evil, rather than reading a copyright or the author's preface.
- Anyone whose dialogue ends with "he whined" or "she giggled coyly" is fair game to be killed. (This is actually a good cliche.)
-Future societies may be more advanced than our own, but they are morally poorer compared to us.
- In all-female worlds, the only significant issues are reproduction and sexuality. Any male who finds this amazonian wonderland is going to get quite the workout, because all the women are good for, in terms of plot, is waiting for a man to have sex with them.
- Bronze Age societies usually have kindly healers and medicine men whose practices are more effective than modern doctors.
-Any medical problem can be cured by the character's love interest shouting "You can't do this. I love you too much for you to die."
- And if you hit anyone over the head and steal their uniform, you can take their place in a complex ceremony without missing a beat. And no one really minds someone in their underwear walking around, pointing at you, and yelling "Impostor!"

So there you have it- my favorite cliches. if you like 'em, leave a comment or even give me a cliche you've come across in scifi or fanatsy I didn't address, please leave a comment.

Are these authors brain-damaged? In all of the thousands of hours it takes to write a book, do they not realize that they are using cliches so old that they literally first appeared in cuneiform versions from "The Epic of Gilgamesh"?

I never want to see another self-destruct system, especially one which is activated by a single button press located on the main control panel, or has an automated voice countdown on the PA.Those do not exist in real life. Authors unintentionally plagiarize from other books, all in an attempt to instill a sense of urgency and close in on an ill-conceived denouement. Spare me also the bomb specialist who can defuse even the most complex bomb, but can't remember which color wire to cut. Spare me the bizarre notion that the bad guy's laboratory is rigged to self-destruct.

Think: there you are, an evil super-genius on a stronghold far from society. One day, you notice that the entire facility is designed to go boom and that the self-destruct sequence is triggered remotely and no one, not even yourself, knows how to evacuate the building in a timely manner. You would not hesitate in disarming the thing. You would remove the demolition charges, or send one of your bomb-disarmament specialists to do it. Some of these fuses may be in inconvenient locations, but safety is a priority. There is no reason for unnecessary deaths, because some idiot didn't check the site blueprints before expanding your base.

Actually, let's put an end to the self-destruct system unless there is a war going on and the facility may be overwhelmed by enemies, in which case creating a self-destruct system might actually make sense. If we've seen the employees have no expectation of ever having their facility overrun or the head honcho constantly laughs "I AM INVINCIBLE! BWA HA HA!", then there should be no self-destruct system. Period.

In fantasy works I have lost count of how many stories I had to reject about a self-actualizing quest for the Trinket of Doom, a party composed of one mage, rogue, elf, warrior, plucky girl, and missing heir, and a shipload of Germanic made-up words with more J, K, H, Y, F than in any standard English word. I subscribe to the theory of Alex Stewart about fantasy characters running through the land trying to collect plot coupons to redeem them for the denouement.

Spare me the fantasy worlds that ARE the Middle Ages, only they are frozen in time and are not currently changing into something else, like the Renaissance. Life should not be so simple. There's no way that there could possibly one law or set of moral standards that everyone is instantly familiar with, Explanations after the fact should never be an impenetrable tangle of politicians or priests, the overlapping interests of the court, a thicket of bad family relations, a very important alliance with a baron with a principality the size of a modern shopping mall, or someone's prerequisites in the wool trade. Important messages should not arrive quickly. Kings, barons, bishops, merchants, and peasants should not speak the same language, with no use of vernacular or slang whatsoever. Travel should be affected by border disputes and negligence over road maintenance. And people should consult a calendar before going to war.

I am irritated by worlds, where religion exists, but serves no purpose other than to recruit heavies. Religious and ethnic minorities are persecuted but there really is no theological reason for doing so and all these religions is come up with arbitrary rules that exist only because the plot needs them. A misuse of religion can be reduced: If a character is raised in a tribe with mystical practices, but then left the tribe to have a successful career in mainstream culture, there will be a climax where the character must use his mystical knowledge to avert catastrophe. He will forsake his book knowledge for mysticism because that's what minorities and their religious systems are for. If I were a Native American writer, I would write the story of an Italian police officer who solves crimes, not by deductive reasoning or intelligence, but by enlisting the spirit of Saint Anthony of Padua.

Spare me post-apocalyptic scenarios in which only after a generation the characters must speak of the lost world in semi-religious tones with the tellers no longer knowing what the stories mean, even if they lived through disaster and there are other survivors. Spare me the collapse of social order after the apocalypse which must instantly happen. Most people will still be guided by a moral compass and cooperate with each other. Even if rioting breaks out, it will be along pre-existing fault lines, not all against all. Real social chaos takes years to get going. Another reason to hate "thin veneer of civilization stories is because in real life, one of the biggest threats to the social contract in times of trouble are people who think they're free to what they want. Thieves believe everyone is a thief at heart. Stories that confirm this belief feeds into their desire to act like sociopaths. A certain amount of the population will loot when the opportunity presents itself. But more people respect the property rights of others- that's what we should teach young readers,

The real reason why I hate the collapse of social order stories is that the authors believe that social chaos is actually a good thing. There's a heavy dose of preaching about how everyone is free of obligations to law or responsibility to their fellow man. You can almost imagine as they were drawing up these scenarios they must have felt they were writing themselves a treat.

This may be up for debate but many of the cliches that annoy us are simply absences, points where consecutive generations of authors have just given future writers the chance to not think about something that ought to be there. For example, it is amazing the vast number of novels that show us immensely powerful and wealthy politicians, religious leaders, and corporate executives with no staff, who somehow know everything that goes on in their organizations, and can reconfigure the entire schedules in 24 hours or less.

In the genre of fantasy, it is also uncanny that, once the Dark Lord is defeated , his minions immediately acknowledge their defeat and commit mass suicide by throwing themselves down an oubliette or something.You will never a see a faction of bad guys rebelling, declaring themselves an autonomous and separate organization, and denying that the overlord's defeat is binding on them.

And then there's one thing no science fiction story has ever re-created- a proletarian uprising in a fantasy city based around Marxist principles. A series of science fiction novels where making planetfall is only possible after completing some forms and showing a passport. Or, most of all, that wonderful moment in Chushingura when the revolutionaries, meeting at their castle headquarters deciding whether or not to go to war with the central government actually look at how much of the paper currency they issued is still floating unredeemed.