I intend to post a lengthy journal entry on my recent trip to the States, but until I do, I would like to thank all the people who made it possible. There were people who donated generously which enabled me to pay for my flights to and from Australia, and other expenses. There were people who helped me achieve goals for Anthrocon. And of course there were some very good friends who played host to me along the way. I literally could not have done it all without you, and I am extremely grateful.

Hugs and nuzzles to you all! =^_^=

After several weeks of going to the dentist and getting extractions, fillings, a crown, and fittings, I finally got a new denture on Friday, and I can bite and chew again at last. I celebrated by eating the chewiest and crunchiest things that I could find. It was wonderful. I am still getting used to the dang thing, and I'll be paying off the dentist bills for quite a while, but in the end it will be worth it. Gone is a persistent ache in the jaw, and tooth sensitivity, and I have at last an intact smile. Just in time for Anthrocon too. See my smiling face there!

My main website is down once again, and as usual I don't know why. However, I do have a back-up site at http://www.chakat.com which has all the important stories and art. My long-term plans are to rebuild the website, getting rid of the old stuff and sprucing things up, and then promoting the back-up site as the new main site.

Incidentally, if you're wondering why I didn't have the chakat.com domain as my main website in the first place, someone was cyber-squatting on it when I was setting up my website. Eventually the domain lapsed and I grabbed it when I found out.

I have been abusing my body somewhat lately. For starters, a couple of weeks ago I had my remaining upper teeth extracted. Seven of them in one sitting! They were broken and mostly not worth repairing, and it was a better strategy to replace my partial denture with a full upper one than to try to save them. However, that means that I have been unable to chew properly since then. My partial denture no longer has anything to hang onto and is more a liability while eating than a help. Except for the two that were extracted due to the toothaches a while back, my bottom teeth are salvageable, although it looks like I am going to have to have a root canal and crown done on one of them. My wallet is whimpering already, and I'm only halfway through the treatment plan. However, by the time I come over for Anthrocon, I should have everything fixed and be able to eat properly again for the first time in months.

The second abuse of my body was far more serious - I almost broke my neck. My fault, of course. I was leaning too far back in my desk chair while watching a video, and a wheel collapsed. I went flying backwards and struck my skull on the side board of my bed just slightly above the neck. Just a little lower and I could very well have been crippled or killed. I fell heavily on one side, digging into the armrest, leaving me with a very large bruise mark on that side. I came through a little dazed and sore, but otherwise okay. My old chair had metal legs holding the wheels, while this newer chair only has plastic and can't take the strain. Lesson learned.

I'm usually pretty bad at promoting myself, but I reckon that I have a decent chance of winning the 2012 Ursa Major Award in the Best Novel category for "Flight of the Star Phoenix". So with the voting due to close in a bit over two weeks, I'm asking that if anyone has read the story, liked it, and has not voted as yet, please consider it for your choice on the ballot. Every vote helps!

To log in and view the nominees, go to http://www.ursamajorawards.org/Voting.htm
Of course I hope that you take the time to vote in the other categories as well!

Gave my 120th blood donation today.

Also dropped my phone today and cracked its screen. *sigh*

So I did. I committed myself to some travel dates for Anthrocon. I know I already missed out on the very cheapest tickets, and I had to make a decision before I missed out on others. Even so, I had to put my departure from Australia one day earlier from Saturday to Friday in order to save $662. I will probably lose a day's pay because of that, but I more than make up for it in the price difference. It's going to be a tad awkward arriving on Friday instead of the weekend, but I'll get around that.

In the meantime, I now have to pay off the cost of the flights. I have already received some financial assistance, for which I am deeply grateful, but I still have quite a bit to go, and I haven't even touched the interstate flights yet. Fortunately I can put those off for a while yet. For now, I am committed to arrive in the States on Friday June 28 and leaving again on Thursday July 11.

Greeting purrs!

Tomorrow I go back to work after four weeks of holiday, most of which was unplanned. You would think that with the factory shut down and not having to go to work, I would get a lot more done on my website, but between doing stuff with my parents while they are down here for their summer vacation, working on chores for the house and the new block of land that my brother bought, and a few other incidental things like getting eight hours sleep for a change, I have had far less time to work on website stuff than I thought. Of course I did indulge in other activities than pandering to the website, but nevertheless...

I did get a few updates done, the most obvious being the continual growth of the "Building Chakona" section which I split into two pages due to getting too big for one. the way Seth is going with the illustrations, that could easily end up being three pages in the not-too-distant future.

http://www.chakatsden.com/chakat/St.....ngChakona.html
http://www.chakatsden.com/chakat/St.....gChakona2.html

I've also added some stories. Firstly, I have posted the first four chapters of Gildedtongue's Story: Book III. I've also added a few illustrations that were available.

The other stories were by Admiral Q. Please note that other than some vital fixes, I have not edited or proofread those stories. There's simply too much for me fix, and I am not going to rewrite them.

http://www.chakatsden.com/chakat/FT-index.html

I have the beginnings of another story of my own, but that probably won't be available for a while yet.

Next, a more personal matter: my finances. Many of you know how tight things have been for me, and I had been making some good progress. Of course that's like saying that I'm glad that I'm in a Category 4 hurricane instead of a Category 5! However, this enforced vacation was completely unanticipated, and therefore also completely unprepared for. I simply did not have the annual leave available to cover even half of it. That left a massive hole in my budget which has pretty much wiped out my gains over the past year. What this means is that unless I get financial assistance, getting to Anthrocon this year is looking pretty shaky. Worse yet, because it is in July which is the high season for air travel, the flights between Australia and the United States is *at least* 60% costlier.

A couple of friends have been urging me for months to ask for help. Frankly I have been putting it off in the vain hope of things improving, or for me to get some sort of windfall. Naturally, that hasn't happened. I'm also more than a little bit embarrassed to ask. Nobody that I know is rich, and times are tough for most people. Three or four of my very best friends are currently unemployed, so it makes it even harder for me to ask for help to get to a convention when they may not be able to afford it at all. Nevertheless, I have books to sell, and people whom I only get to see once a year, and if you think I'm worth the effort to get me there, I would sincerely appreciate it.

That's it for now, I think. I better hit the sack as I have to get up again in five hours and see if I still have much of a job to go to.

Tail high!
Goldfur

People have been remarking about the terrible bushfires that Australia has been experiencing, and wondering if I've been affected. So far the worst have been in New South Wales, although my state certainly has not been spared. Nothing has come even close to where I live as yet, unlike a couple of years ago. The Summer fire season has barely begun though, so who knows what will happen? All I can say is that I'm safe so far, and I'm not too likely to be affected unless one of those damned firebugs starts something locally.

I'll try to keep this as succinct as I can. =^_^=

MiDFur 2012 ran from Tuesday 4th to Saturday 8th of December, making it five full days of convention. However, as part of the staff, it started a lot sooner for me. As director of Exhibitions, I was in charge of the Dealers Den, the Art Show, and the Charity Auction. Thankfully, for the latter two, I had lieutenants this year - Durin for the art show, and Kashim for the charity auction. I sure needed them, because this year's con has grown so much more than last years. Anyone who has had a hand in running a con knows that a lot of preparation goes into it long before the event, so I was pretty much prepared on the Monday when I loaded up my car with all the equipment that I needed. I arrived at the venue around ten and met up with a number of others who had already arrived. Much time was spent unloading the equipment and helping with other preparations before I rendezvoused with the other heads of department and special guests to go check out the new venue for the next convention - the Melbourne Exhibition & Convention Centre. After that, it was a trip to Jenner's place for a barbecue dinner specially prepared by Nonna Bunny. Very enjoyable!

The real work began the next day after breakfast at the Arrow's cafeteria. The art show panels had to be assembled and we had to set up to accept the art to hang. This turned out to be more work than anticipated because we got far more than estimated. We were running out of space and the show wasn't even open yet! I had to attend a panel on the History of the Fandom, with Jenner and Steve Gallacci as my fellow panelists. It was the only panel that I attended due to the work we were doing, but after dinner we got to attend the spectacular opening ceremonies.

Wednesday was the first day for the Dealers Den, and that did not get off to a good start. When I arrived at the room where it was being held, not only weren't the tables set up, but also the previous day's stuff had not been put away. Instead of getting organised, I had to help the sole staff member clear up and set up the tables before the dealers started arriving. A couple of other people came along to help out and sped things up, but I was still putting tablecloths on the tables when the first dealers started arriving. Naturally I had not had the time to unpack any of my stuff as yet, so I had to try to do it at the same time. Temporarily lost track of the "Exhibitor" tags in the chaos, but eventually things started coming together, and we opened to the public only a few minutes behind schedule. Meanwhile, Durin was already starting to worry about how to make more room on the display boards to fit the incoming art. I had some pretty good sales of my books that day before I had to got to a Furry Hall of Fame panel. That was followed by a lavish feast at the Super Sponsor Dinner, and the evening's entertainment consisted of the recording of Anthrax's comedy DVD, and viewing of the the videos - Bitter Lake and Kaze: Ghost Warrior.

Thursday morning I met Uncle Kage in the hotel lobby, and we went off in search of an alternative place to have breakfast. I was very surprised to discover that Melbourne Central's food court does not cater to the breakfast crowd, aside from a couple of coffee shops and McDonalds. We walked further and found a cafeteria further down Swanston Street. The Dingo Discovery event was being held that morning, which of course I could not attend, but I did get to meet one before I had to go to the Dealers Den. I even got a face-lick from him! Not much to say about this day, but I did get the opportunity to get my sketch books out to get a few drawings done.

Friday saw a lot of people making their last moment purchases. The numbers in the den ebbed and flowed with the events being held elsewhere. The big success though was the art show. For the first time, we had made provision for a voice auction, and there was actually a number of people hanging around at the close to defend their bids. Five pieces eventually went to voice auction which was held later that evening in the Dealers Den after it was packed down.

Saturday was spent packing down the art show. This was complicated by people collecting their art at random times, and artists picking up their unsold works and the money they had earned on the sold items. Meanwhile I was preparing for the Charity Auction. Kashim had done a Powerpoint of all the items, and I made sure that everything was in order before the event. Then it was a matter of taking it all out to the stage in the main hall and ensuring that everything ran smoothly. We ended up with a record amount and, together with the other fund-raising efforts, raised over 13 thousand dollars for the Dingo Discovery Centre. The closing ceremony was held after dinner, and featured a fantastic performance by Laserman. To facilitate this, we had fogging machines, but to use them, we had to arrange to have the smoke detectors shut off. Unfortunately the venue failed to turn them all off, and when the fog made it into adjacent rooms, it set off the fire alarm, and we had to be evacuated from the the hotel. Our closing events were very much disrupted, but at least we had footpathcon to remember! The last of the pack-down was completed and equipment transferred to my car once again. I was ready to collapse, but instead I had a shower and change of clothes, and went back to have a drink with staff and special guests. It was a good way to end the con and the day.

I had a brief sleep-in on Sunday morning. Hung about a while to see if I could help others pack up before Neelix (my hotel roomie) and I went to Minotaur Books to look for books and comics. Then I drove him home before I headed back to my place. I unpacked the car while I still had the energy, and then basically relaxed for the rest of the day. I had a bit of homework to do get the art show report done, but I did that the next day. All up, this convention was a great success for both organisers and attendees, and I am already looking forward to the next! Check out Egyptian Nights.

Hey everyone! Cybercat is holding a contest! Check out her Deviantart ( http://lady-cybercat.deviantart.com ) or Furaffinity page ( http://www.furaffinity.net/user/cybercat/ ) and +follow her, repost this to your journal or blog and get access to a brand new piece of exclusive art!

It's easy to enter. Just repost this message and picture on your journal or blog and then +note her on Deviantart or Furaffinity and she'll send you the Exclusive Secret Mystery Art !

Please visit her journal on DA or FA if you aren't sure of the codes to use to repost!

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m.....h0m1o1_500.jpg

Just received my shipment of "Flight of the Star Phoenix" books. I had them delivered to my workplace so that there would not be any problems with nobody being available at home to take delivery. That's one less worry. Now I just have to hope that my second order of other books to fill out my stock will arrive some time next week. Then I will be all set for MiDFur.

Woohoo! It's official!

"Flight of the Star Phoenix" is now officially ready to order. I thought that I had it ready a few days back, but had to make a few changes. However, it's as good as it gets now, so if you want to order a copy, go to the CreateSpace e-store:

https://www.createspace.com/4050886

Yes, it will be available on Amazon in a few days. I'll announce the link once I know it's there.

Well, I am officially registered as an Anthrocon dealer. Now to figure out how to afford to get there!

*sigh* Photoshop 7 does not work and play nice with Windows 7. Desperately need to update, but can't afford it of course. Several of my programs that worked perfectly under XP just don't work as well, or at all. Had to go back to XP to convert the DOC file for my new book into a PDF for printing purposes. And don't get me started on the drivers for my old Wacom tablet! Sheesh!

For those who have yet to spot Kacey's latest upload, she has posted the big Phoenix crew group picture which I commissioned months back.

http://www.furaffinity.net/view/9155245/

The first thing that you will notice is that not everybody is there. As much as I would have liked to have done so, I simply could not afford any more. In fact, to be honest, I broke the budget with this piece. However, it will be serving multiple purposes, so besides being an illustration, it of course will be cropped for the book cover, and I will be getting a poster-size version printed for promotional purposes. I hope you enjoy it!

Many of you will be aware of the MiDFur convention being held in Melbourne in the first week of December. I am the Exhibitions Coordinator, which means that I am in charge of the Dealers Den, Art Show, and Charity Auction. I have two people working under me who will take care of the latter two, while I focus on the Dealers Den, but it's kept me busy for months in preparation. Anyway, I will be taking that week off from work to do the job, but I reckoned I had enough vacation time accrued to allow for that and the Christmas holidays.

That is until we got a notice from the boss today announcing that due to the repressed commercial climate, the factory is going to close down from the Friday before Christmas, and not re-open until January 21. Four weeks! Deducting weekends and public holidays, that's 17 days off work. Add to that the 5 days I'm already taking off for MiDFur, and that's a total of 22 days of leave. Needless to say, I do not have even half of that accrued. I can't drop MiDFur at this late stage - I already have too much invested in it. So that leaves me staring at a huge gap in my income which I have no idea how I'm going to fill at this point.

Just lost all the work that I did in Photoshop today due to a program crash. Not once all day did I remember to hit save. I am reserving a special place in hell for the idiot programmers who could not design an autosave feature into the program, or at the very least, a programmable reminder to save at regular intervals.

So today I turned 55. Sometimes I wasn't sure I'd make it this far. Sometimes I wasn't sure if I wanted to make it this far. Not a whole lot in my life turned out the way that I hoped, and it looks like I will have a whole lot more of the same to come. Yay me.

But there have been the definite bright spots. The people whom I've met over the past years have helped keep me sane and given me some purpose. I've achieved something that most people never will. My creations may never set the world on fire, but they have touched a number of people, and they have shown their appreciation in many ways. I thank you all.

Tail high!

Updated the B&W Chakona drawings that Seth Triggs did for me with new coloured versions.

The Chakat Universe continues to grow with the "Building Chakona" project. Featuring the art and design of  sethtriggs and my characters and information, this page on my website will bring you the people and places of Chakona.

http://www.chakatsden.com/chakat/St.....ngChakona.html

I applied for a "PayPal Here" device, through which I should be able to process credit cards at last. It's been frustrating having to lose sales because of not being able to do that.

However, despite their documentation saying that there is an app both for iPhones and Androids, so far I cannot find the Android app.

And just to add to my joy, I have just discovered that a rolling reserve has been placed on my account. I am guessing that it's to cover charge-backs, but that means I don't have access to my money for 21 days! Trust Paypal to come up with a way of hanging onto the money for longer at your expense. I certainly hope that only applies to the credit card payments, and not the regular Paypal ones.

I just got home from watching "The Dark Knight Rises". My ears are still sore from the volume! Why does every action scene have to be accompanied by ear-shattering music? Worse still, they have these dramatic sections where the actors are saying something important. You know it must be important because there's very dramatic music drowning out whatever they're saying! Worst of all, the main villain has a mask on that muffles whatever he's saying, and I can't understand half of it, even without the dramatic music making it worse.

Admittedly part of the problem is with me. My hearing is very good, so I hear too much sometimes. Most of the problem though is that I've always had difficulty understanding speech in noisy situations. This tendency to drown everything in loud music just makes things worse for me.

Putting aside the sound problems for the moment, while some things stretched credulity a bit, overall the movie was entertaining. Couldn't beat the experience because there were all of three people at the Vmax session!

If you have read and liked my "Phoenix" stories, I have just uploaded my latest tale. This is not chapter six though. In fact it's more a prequel to those stories. Actually, it is chapter one of my novel, "Flight of the Phoenix". I have gone back to the beginning and I've basically rewritten "Crew Review" and vastly expanded it. There's more to come before I tweak the existing Phoenix stories to fit in better, but in the end it's intended to be a complete novel rather than the series of adventures it has been up until now. I won't be uploading it to Fur Affinity, so the only place that you can read it is on my website at http://www.chakatsden.com/chakat/FT-index.html Please enjoy, and if you do (or even if you don't), feel free to comment here.

I've scanned and posted the last of the pics that I got from Anthrocon 2012. I hope you enjoyed them all.

Now it's time to do some more work on my novel... right after I do a couple of mundane chores.