I lay here in bed reflecting on a very good friend who lays on death’s door. Like another friend, many years ago, he has been struck down by an aneurysm. Inoperable, we only wait for the end to come swiftly.

I’d reconnected with him almost 2 years ago, getting together to play AD&D to help another friend who was battling cancer. Sadly, we lost him as well just over a year ago. Our group is getting smaller and older and it scares me who might be next.

Friends, give your dear ones a hug and cherish your time with them. Life can be fleeting, so enjoy every minute of it, to do less is to waste what time we have left.

Hard to believe it’s T-5 days before I head down to Pittsburgh for AC. Many thanks again go out to my friend  MatthiasRat for putting me up/ up with me for another year. Looking forward to seeing you all again soon.

It’s my 58th birthday today and it was supposed to be enjoyable. Sadly a friend of mine passed away this afternoon. He’d been suffering from bowel cancer the last few years and I’d only reconnected with him after another good friend arranged an AD&D so he could play with his friends and forget about his illness. We’d played for over 2 years and it was only in the last 2 months, we could all see the cancer was winning. Only 3 days ago we managed to FaceTime the game so he could join in from his hospice room. He managed only about 2-3 hrs before it was too much for him, but you could tell that he appreciated it.

I’ll miss my good friend Tony, the dwarven warrior. The game won’t be the same without it and you’ll be greatly missed.

Well vacation starts today and on Tuesday I begin my trek down to Pittsburgh to AC. Hopefully I won’t have a repeat of last year’s nightmare. Many thanks go out to  MatthiasRat for opening his home to me, allowing me to stay with him for the con.

Of course no vacation is complete without a visit to the dentist on Monday. I had my choice between 2 fillings or having a tooth pulled and thought I’d go with the fillings instead. Gives me something to look forward to when I get home I guess.

Just purchased my bus tickets to/from Pittsburgh for AC. It was a hard fought struggle, but at least that’s out of the way. Now I just have register for the con and everything is done.

Well, I’m gonna atempt the trip down to AC again this year. As usual I’ll be staying with a friend outside the city, as I usually do and make the daily commute in/out daily. Sadly I have to take the middle bus from Buffalo as the first bus leaves, just as the Toronto bus arrives.

I’m very much looking forward to seeing friends again, after the fiasco last year. Gonna buy my tickets tomorrow and register for AC and get that out of the way.

See you all soon folks.

Happy New Year to all my friends, followers and watchers. May this be a better year for all.

Many thanks go out to  jimsupreme who managed to hook me up with a great deal on a lot of old back issues. I highly recommend him to anyone looking for out of print/obscure comics. he managed to find me: ZU #1, Tales of the Fehnnik #1, Boudoir #1, Tales of Beatrix Farmer, Havoc #2, Xanadu Across Diamond Seas #1 & 2, Xanadu #3 of 5, Xanadu Color Special #1 and Best of Furrlough #1.

Gonna have a fun time tonight.

Also curious how many people recognize any of these titles?

Well so much for an easy trip south. Bus is almost an hour late, and my connection leaves just under 90 min. And apparently the wait to get across the border is 2.5 hrs long. Best case scenario is a miracle happens and everything is fine. Likely scenario is I’m forced to take a later bus and won’t get there until tomorrow morning. Worst case is I have to miss AC entirely and will have to spend 36hrs+ on buses and in stations.

I’m hoping for #1, expecting #2 and dreading #3.

Well, just under 2hrs and I start my trek south to AC. I’ll only be there for the Saturday and then I’ll be heading south to Florida for 10 days to stay with my friend Phil. This is the trip I was supposed to have taken in January, before everything went to hell. Hopefully the trip will be an easy one.

Many thanks to  MattRat for putting me up for Friday night. I’m looking forward to seeing my friends there.

Nothing like being woken up at 6am with someone banging on your window. Problem is, I'm on the second floor.
Turns out it was a yellow finch seeing his reflection in the glass and decided to fight him. Interesting way to start the day.

Many thanks to  jimsupreme for grabbing me issues 1&2 of Vicky Wyman’s Xanadu. Books are in such beautiful shape for having come out in 1988. I think I already have them, but it never hurts to have extra.

Well, as the title says, after 2 years of daily working with the public daily, I think the big “C” bug finally got me. I’m not eligible for a test, but I’ve had many of its symptoms. Right now, I’ve just got a sore throat, stuffed head and aches but I do think I’m on the mend. Been off work for a week, but they give us 10 Covid days paid, so I’m good that way.

On a worse note, my mother fell yesterday and split her head open. I was there within a minute and we called an ambulance for her. She’s presently in the hospital with a black and I can imagine a few stitches, but hopefully she’ll be home in a few days.

On a better note, the province is raising some attendance levels so hopefully Furnal Equinox will be a go. I’m really hoping we’ll be in a better place next month.

Update: she is apparently suffering with a brain bleed, but it doesn’t sound serious. As a result they will be keeping her for observation for a bit. She also tested positive, so we do in fact have/had Covid.

Just read that Betty White died at 99, less than 3 weeks before her 100th birthday. 2021 couldn’t even let us have that to celebrate. Now I need to go watch some ‘Best of Betty White on Golden Girls’ now. She will be missed.

Well, ever though I’ve already been here for 2 days already, the con officially started today. We’re already down two elevators, but the con seemed to be running smoothly otherwise. All my sketchbooks are out and I’ve already spoken to  hbruton about a very large and $$$ commission that will be ready around FE. Sunday I’ll be visiting the Canadian War Museum and am really looking forward to it.

Back near the end of August, we found out that our landlord was selling the house and we would have to leave after after 8 years here. With a Oct 31 exit date, things were beginning to get desperate and to say we were getting stressed out would be an understatement. Thankfully, with 12 days to go, we just heasrd that we have secured a new hme. I cannot begin to to express the relief, knowing that we won't be homeless. Now begins the fun of arranging the move by the end of the month.

Just got back from my second shot. Got Pfizer this time and have already contacted work about getting tomorrow off, with regards to any side-effects. I was ready to go into work, but my boss told me to stay home instead. That’s the one thing I like about him, he’s easy going and a pleasure to deal with regard scheduling.

Wish me luck that I won’t be too sick tomorrow.

Decided I needed a little break, so I decided to spend the weekend in Niagara Falls again. I went with a much cheaper place this time and while it’s no Ritz, it’ll do it’s job as a place to lay down my head. Gonna visit so more tourist traps and maybe try to see the falls at night. I’m just hoping that the rain they are calling for, doesn’t appear.

Just booked my registration for Canfurence, in November, in Ottawa. I’m badge 73 and with a 500 person cap, I don’t expect spaces to last long. Now all I need is a hotel room and transportation and I’m set. So if anyone reading this is going and has space, drop me a line.

Really looking forward to this as frankly other than family and coworkers, I’ve had next to no contact with anyone else and I need that badly.

Just got my first shot appointment booked for next Saturday, that way if I have a reaction, I've got a day to get over it.

Good riddance to bad rubbish. Here's hoping sanity will now return.

I'd planned on suiting at work today, but sadly got sidelined after I broke my toe on Tuesday. I'd highly recommend that you give your bedroom door the right of way when exiting it. It's been extremely painful and after yesterday, I decided that I needed to stay off it as much as possible. Another reason I didn't go is taht I wouldn't have been able to hand out candy around the store to the customers. I regret that I've now lost the last chance to do some suiting this year. I'm looking forward to the various cons next year, but am concerned which ones I'll be able to make.

Well, another solar rotation successfully complete. Other than some banking and groceries, I'll just be sitting at home. What an exciting day.

Been awhile since I've posted anything, so just wanted to let people know I'm fine.

I had last week booked off for FE, which got cancelled, so I spent much of the week doing shopping and sitting at home watching too many World of Tanks/Ships videos. I also play Ingress, and finally managed to make lvl 10 while doing my food runs. Luckily we're fairly well stocked up, so I shouldn't have to go out as often anymore.

I work in a grocery store, so I'm considered essential, so it was back to work this week. The frantic hoarding has calmed down, but I still see the odd people still at it. Like the woman with 24 packs of frozen vegetables or the man with 15 stalks of celery. We're also starting to see people shopping for others who are in quarantine, which is nice to see in such troubled times.

Now I work in a cooler and/or freezer for about half the day, so it tends to limit my contact with other people. It does give me a case of the sniffles from the constant temperature changes, which people give me dirty looks for. Now I haven't run into really obnoxious people, but I know the front end has. I really wish that people would calm down and realize that it's not our fault we are out of something and that we don't know when it will be back in stock. Our warehouse/vendors are sending us what they can, but shortages right now of some things are a fact of life. Don't take it out on us, we can only work so fast and listening to you bitch about why we don't have something only slows us down.

Now my only real concern is my mother. We live with her and although she doesn't go out, my sister and I do, so it's a real concern for us, if one of us comes into contact with the virus. She also has nurses come in every few days, so that is worrisome as well.

But in the end, we can only do our best and know that in time, this too shall pass. I'm hoping as the warmer weather comes it will begin to wind down, but I think it's still gonna be a problem for a wile yet. As for the future, I'm hoping to maybe make Canfurence or possibly AC if our dollar rebounds, but only time will tell.

Anyways to all my friends and followers, stay healthy and safe and be good to one another.

Ciao

Hard to believe that FE only about 2 months away. I registered again as a super sponsor and see that they add a luncheon again. Hopefully it will be better than the disgrace they offered up last year.

We’ll be staying at the con hotel again and I look forward to seeing so many of my friends again as well as doing some more fursuiting and asi say every year, I’m hoping to take in some of the panels.

I’m also hoping this year to make Canfurence later on in the year as I’ve never been. I haven’t been to Ottawa I many years and wouldn’t mind spending an extra day or so there, but we’ll just have to wait and see.