Well, I normally make sure whenever I post something like this that I have a backup journal on hand to immediately post up just to keep something happier on the front page of my journal

Sadly I don't want to do that here and I apologise that the contents within aren't very pleasant

But it's kind of important that I share this and it's a journal that I've kind of had to get myself able to post this one

I've been a lot less present here online on FA or any of my other haunts of late, that fact is pretty plain and obvious by now that I'm just not here like I used to be

I've become a lot more withdrawn and prone to spending time just not doing anything, lacking the will or motivation to even perform menial stuff like replying to my inboxes or messages from friends

I've asked patience and you guys have been wonderful with your never ending support and well wishes, never asking questions about what is going on or why this had happened

And while I've spoken to only a handful of other people about this, I've kept this fairly quiet

But part of the advice I've been given is that I'm being hurtful to myself or that trying to suppress this is only making me worse

So, I've worked up enough nerve and want to tell you what happened to me and where we currently are

This is nothing physically wrong with me, and for the most, me and Jeri are okay, no one's dying or anything

But, several months ago, I was doxxed - earlier thought the term was catfished thanks to MTV but since corrected on this one - by someone who knew me online and had managed to find a way to track me down

And sadly this person did not take well to my immediate panic or distrust of someone who had stalked me so effectively

Thing was the person also brought a knife with them

And while I froze up, Jeri went right into them and they fought

She managed to subdue them, but she was cut up in the process and needed stitches, and still is showing signs of this today

The police got him and he's currently being processed through the justice meat grinder, which is another story

Just ever since, I've looked at my online presence, with no idea how this person tracked me down and only knowing it's because I was online that I had attracted them

It's well known that I keep cards tight to my chest and people often wonder about if they'll ever see more of me, pictures, my voice, where I live, just more of who I am than I'm willing to share online

And there is a lot I don't share or feel comfortable sharing that I'm sure many people feel similar at least to some degree?

But some people certainly don't let that stop their imagination, I've spoken with friends who actively joke they have big walls plastered with clues and string trying to find out more about me or my family, and I have to wonder if the air of mystery I've created had only attracted more unhealthy obsessions like this person who showed up in our drive waiting for us

I don't know what to do with that, the solution doesn't sound like just dumping my life story because it would only dredge up far worse for me to go into everything there

But, I can't think of where to go from here, I'm feeling less and less willing to communicate online because I keep wondering where the next stalker or killer shows up with a smile on their face or a knife in their hand when I answer it and that Jeri won't be there to protect me, that I can't protect myself

I'm going through therapy and I'm clinically depressed officially, with people very concerned over me right now, even where we had to convince some folks that my latest injuries haven't been self inflicted to avoid me being given further precautions

Its a long road here, but I guess every road starts somewhere and I hope that being more open with what happened and sharing this info will help you guys understand, and maybe whilst shocking you somewhat, at least will show I'm physically okay? At least it's not the not-knowing here that's at play

I just want to try and be me again and I'm going to do my best to get back to who I was, I wanna say thank you again to everyone for all your patience and everything you've extended in friendship and how much it's meant right now

I'm not sure how long this is going to take, maybe I'll never be the same, but I'll certainly try

Jeri's doing fine, almost scarily so for what happened to her, but I need to be strong for her as well as myself

I'm still here, still hanging on

And I'm not taking some asshat with a weapon as grounds to lay down and give up, not yet, not without a fight

I'm not sure how much more I want to talk on this right now, but, maybe another day, for now, this is step one

Welp, the hiatus is still kind of ongoing

I am trying to introduce myself more and more back online, much thanks go to some friends who kept checking in on me every now and again, it was nice to have someone here and be able to touch base at least so I wasn't entirely left out of the loop

I'm not gonna ever be as active online as I ever was I don't think any more, and I'm kinda coming to terms on that, but gonna try and work on what I can do and hope I can maybe learn to better balance and manage my time mayhap so I can still enjoy some online time

Sorry to say that my reason for being offline isn't something I wanna talk about yet, particularly because I'm not sure it's my story to tell

I did have one story to tell, planned on a pic for it, but ended up that one didn't work out as you can see

Usually so full of gusto for these story updates about how I obtain my latest injuries, eesh, we'll see how this journal turns out or how quick I end up falling into ramble territory, lol

I ended up getting out of bed one morning y'see? And, well, I'd realised that I'd overslept through my alarm, panicked and leapt right out, and put my footcast right down on top of my laptop, sending me spread eagled and sideways into a wall

Cracking my laptop and cracking me too, lol, so, yeah, that was about two weeks ago now

Aaaaaaand I'm now in a pretty massive cast, think I showed an example of it like an age ago on here =o

http://www.furaffinity.net/view/9497362/

Yeeeeeup, whole leg and a bit of the rest of me is like 55% plaster now, lol

Still, I'm being taken care of and I'm intact, enough at least, Jeri has a good eye on me and making sure I don't get into any mischief

Sadly however, while I came through okay, the same could not be said for my laptop that I'd so carelessly left on the floor the night before <_<;

Between me standing on it and the resultantly inadvertant dropkick I gave it into the wall, the thing kind of suffered a penultimate blue screen of death, lol

Luckily, Jeri's the kind of person who backs up our stuff, so, didn't lose anything important and after retrieving stuff, I did that big massive upload the other night just to kind of help me file things away =x

I'm sad to report however that replacing the laptop took up all my savings wiped ^^;; Not sure which bill was worse, the medical bill or the computer

Soooooo, in the spirit of the Flanders', this year's gonna have to be an imaginary Xmas this year, kids!

...orrrrr early Xmas maybe, consider this my xmas present and such? >> Iunno, my laptop was kind of in need of an update I think

Gonna tie this up here before ramble territory, I don't wanna let this go further, so, I'll indulge two things to tack onto the end here

One?

Hasbro is hosting it's first ever Hascon this year, a convention that combines all of their properties, Transformers, MLP, Magic... and as part of that, they're releasing a ton of items that are a mash up of their various properties, including Magic =D

https://www.mtggoldfish.com/article.....romos-revealed

Magic AND Transformers, two of my fave things ever combined? <<

I need to find someone I can sell my kidney to for that Grimlock, or maybe my good leg?

Seriously, it looks a fun card and 've been hunting for a Naya commander, one to work my Werewolves as a Commander for them, and Ulrich just doesn't cut it~

I need to find someone who's buying this already >>



Aaaaaaaand second thing, a comic recommend I guess, if anyone hasn't seen it already, a comic called Moonstruck, in a world full of fantasy creatures, a girl is trying to lead a semi-normal life with her would-be girlfriend and deals with the everyday stresses of living in a world filled with the super weird =B

It's super queer friendly, super-cute and super-fun, so, Jazz's recommended list, whoo~

https://www.bleedingcool.com/2017/0.....s-shae-beagle/

Welp, lessee if you guys need to wait another five months for me to load a journal, huh, lol?

Hope for new art soon!

Not even sure what fit for a title and I think this is currently the best one I can think

Things currently aren't that great over here, and for once I don't feel like barfing up regurgitated blehs from my side, so, I just wanted to let folk know I am still alive and such, but, its been a month since I last posted on here or did much of anything on here or any other website really

I'm not sure how long this is going to take to ride out, and I don't want folks who've had to wait for me to wait any longer

So, I'm going to have to do the unthinkable here, anyone who's still on my list for DfDs?

 Vosur  NathanCowan I can't honestly give any of you guys timelines when I can finish your art you asked for, so, if and when I can find a way to complete your art, I'll do it for free, because at this point we're sitting around half a year for art and I'm so thoroughly dissatisfied that it's only adding to troubles right now

I'd prefer to give you guys your money back and not leave you worrying about it as much as I am as well, so, please let me know if you wish the money you gave back by note, I don't appear much on just now, but certainly I'll make it a point if I see you guys to get back to you quickly

Everyone else, I don't want this to drag on, and this is not a leaving the Internet forever thing, just, Jasmine needing longer than normal to bounce back, I have Jeri, mom and dad, Rascal and Mana and all of you thinking of me, and that's plenty of support there, which I'll always appreciate

But for this next step, it's one I need to make by myself

I'll do my best if you guys keep up yours, deal?

Love you guys, take care <3

Yeeeeeeesh *Looks at Inbox* I need to get back to this somewhat

So, yeah, Holidays are past, right? And now after the general malaise of the festive season into normality, I think I took too much animal incentive into hitting the snooze button and just continued to lull around in some post-hibernative state

And I just reread that paragraph and I think the metaphor got away from me a little, yeah

But, back to the grindstone, I'm back at work, arm and all, and it's taking a little adjusting after a good week or two off with Jeri and the family, so, apologies for not showing much face here online, but I am still around and hopefully will not need to ask for mountain teams to find me when I start going through my inbox and e-mails and notes, so, if you've tried reaching me and haven't heard back, sorry about that, I am indeed still alive, so, no rescue team currently needed

Although maybe keep them on hold, lol, I have no idea and I'm typing this while I have a breathing moment

Where to pick up I guess?

Well, the Xmas decorations are down for one, and I can't lie that I felt a little sad to see them come down so early in our household - although maybe that's to the relief of the rest of my family that there's less objects for me to trip over? - that we had only really put the decorations up just before Jeri and I left for our little sort-of-getaway and then only a week after the big day they were already gone on January 3rd

Usually my mom is a stickler on this on traditional sort of stuff, 12-days-before-12-days-after, apparently she slid the date for me and Jeri so we could get to put the tree up and all before we left, so it's nice to hear that and a little warm and fuzzy to know mom thinks of small stuff like that, might ask if she wants to go somewhere to lunch now that I think back to that

Still, I look at the other houses across the way who set up their decorations like at the start of December and still see a few lights strung up even when I left for work yesterday

I'd like to enjoy the atmosphere a little longer, or maybe that's just me wishing for more time away from the work life and with my ladywife

Oh well, I can at least happily say that no further mischief has been encountered either on my part or Managan's part, and although I've been a little drained from work the last week, I am happy to report she's thoroughly settled in and began prowling more and more around the house

Yesterday was new comic book day, I slumped on the sofa and began downloading all of the most recent offerings to start seeing what superhero shenanigans had begun this week when I felt a light flump and looked over my iPad to see fuzzbutt turning into a comfy circle just below my stomach

You know, I'd be a little more heartened that she's warming up to us if I wasn't so sure she was just trying to get closer to my tablet, since she's been perpetually sleeping and sitting on it like 9-out-of-10 times I go looking for it, she's turned into a supersized locator device anytime I shout Jeri if she's seen my tablet, we can usually just ask who last saw Mana anywhere, lol

(And thus this line of my journal lead to the bonus journal uploaded before this one~)

As a whole Winter's starting to show some breaks in all the bad weather and maybe, just maybe me and 2017 can get off to a good first footing somewhere, although the only casualty so far has been my 3DS XL when it sat on a windowsill charging and then Mana got curious and nudged it, and smashed one of the hinges

It works, but kind of doesn't XP So I guess I'll have to wait until Birthday to try and replace that, maybe I'll just downgrade to a 2DS, I keep losing these DSes to their stupid hinges when I keep falling or they keep falling, although it means I lose out on the bigger screen I think x_X

Besides work it really has been quite quiet, we didn't really do much beside a big family dinner for New Years and Xmas day and such, after our getaway, me and Jeri just really wanted some peace and quiet, so we just got a whole bundle of movies and shows in one big playlist and set the fireplace to soak up some Xmas spirit courtesy of Charlie Brown, MLP, the Muppets, Arthur Christmas and so on so forth

Memo to self, is there a way to narrow down which is the 'best' Christmas Carol story? I think me and Jeri watched like 4 different versions by the end of our marathon together

Although I'm happy enough just to be happy with this year when it came to Doctor Who's Xmas special, I was sadly wanting from last years one, but this year's Superhero lampooning 'The Return of Doctor Mysterio' was plenty of fun to catch up on

One surprise I will say was I checked out a two part half hour CG cartoon called 'Revolting Rhymes'

Each year the BBC in the UK does a special cartoon based on a set of kids books in time for Xmas, this year they chose Roald Dahl's reworks of popular fairy tales and my WORD it was adorable and frustrating like all hell, lol

Not only did it have a main narrator/character as an anthro wolf with the smooooothest tones I ever did hear, but it took Snow White and Red Riding Hood and... well...

http://kheldara.tumblr.com/post/155.....le-lesbians-in

I did not expect Surprise-Lesbians in my Fairy Tales, but goshdarnit, YES.

The only frustration is later on in it, it gets a little more vague with their relationship and if they got together or not... blah, sour plums there, but still, goddamnit, yes, that was pick of the Winter for me and viewing methinks

Oh! Outside of TV screens and computers, presents! Including a new tablet for me and a new console for Jeri, our new cat of course, we did fairly well, alongside a good amount of clothes and some cash that we ended up squandering mostly on household items, lol, it feels like the joy of the presents themselves gets a little less long each year and I spend more time on worrying if people are going to be happy with the presents I got them >_>

And for the most? I hit the mark I think between baubles and things, Jeri in particular seemed happy, but I'm going to stop before innuendo and such on what she got, lol

To be honest, I'm sad to say, and almost kind of ashamed between Jeri, Cats, Fire places, TV and warm tea that that really is most of my Xmas there in a handbasket >_> I feel like we should have maybe done more together, or maybe it's one of those just enjoying the mundane sort of things?

Anyhow, we're past Xmas and such, so, onwards and upwards

Shame about my arm cast though, I really did choose it for the festive season, but the slightly-duller-now green and reds are a little out of place now, lol

Maybe with the pre-release of Aether Revolt coming this weekend I can psyche out my opponent, vandalise the cast in all kinds of Green-Red slogans and make them think I'm playing colors I'm not? >> Or am? Who knows what I'll pull, lol

I think I'm going to call this journal here, I've got notes and such to reply to, e-mails and things to sort out, and I've spent way too much time between these TWO journals now, lol

So, the bottom line is, Winter Holidays are over, we made it through Winter mostly intact and happy as is, and besides some incompatibility between my bodyclock and work again, things are baout back on track, so more activity will resume here once more =B

Hopefully including more art! One thing I did do this New Year was say that my resolution is to use my Tablet from the LAST Xmas beforehand more, I'm sorely out of practise with it and need to learn how to properly use it again, and not just use it, improve with is XP

Whether or not that one holds the test of time we'll see, I'll settle happy just to be able to finish these last pictures for folks on the list of DfDs =B

WARNING: This is just entirely me dumping a spew of comic book stuff, real update is the one after this for general stuff, just, this one got a little too big and I decided to split the journal up XP


I did say I'd do a comic journal, so, I guess maybe now's as good as anywhere to mumble some comic-y things

Cash Grab Civil War 2 is over at least in Marvel, and sad enough it did go out with a whimper instead of a bang, don't know if I want to go into much detail for spoiler's sake, but I will say that it really didn't deserve the moniker for terms of scale and setup, a lot of the time it felt like I was reading Superhero Teatime Debates as characters were at each others throats one issue, then the next still talking amicably to one another and just switching back and forth

Luckily on the Marvel front, there were always comics that sat on the fringe and never had to get tangled, like Squirrel Girl, celebrating her 25th anniversary issue, even if she did nothing for like the first decade or so of it, lol

I really am happy at how Doreen Green has been lifted up and really became one of the recognisable Marvel faces, so much so she's still even a front face for Avengers comics USAvengers, which just feels like Team America World Police with all the overblown Americano and macho-ness without the swearing and puppet sex scenes replaced with more OTT patriot-ness and such

https://news.marvel.com/wp-content/.....6a39fcd850.jpg

Seriously, take a peek there

Squirrel Girls' comics have been plenty happy to serve up feel good weird and wackiness each month, even if I'm still forever frustrated at the baited will-they-won't-they of whether or not Doreen and her roommate Nancy are a thing now, especially with one page in particular of her big anniversary issue

It's weird to think that 25 years ago this joke character could spawn up to a position where actresses are vying to play her, she gets to be in Marvel's first live action teen-friendly Netflix show (alongside Ms Marvel? Double yay!) , has her own solo title, merchandise (although I'd truthfully love more~) and her own spin off books?

Yeah, her first OGN came out and I kept putting off the comic journal because, reasons? So I never got the time to talk about 'Squirrel Girl Beats Up the Marvel Universe' much, but I'll be brief when I say that it amped up everything the comics had and tried to be more than just 4-comics-pasted-together and for the most succeeded as Doreen faced her own weirdly-not-fully-evil-but-still-kinda-bad clone for domination of the Marvel universe

It had hilarity, a lot of fantasy fight answers and a surprisingly sharp and engrossing ending that really did make the book sit well with me, and I hope we'll see her get new Original Graphic Novels on the back of it

http://seanmonster.tumblr.com/post/.....at-some-panels

And while nothing new's been announced on that front, it turns out that Doreen's also got enough attention for her own Young Adults book that I am going to buy on the grounds of being a Squirrel Girl fan and still considering myself a Young Adult at heart =p "Squirrel Meets World", wait for the February review!

Now if only I could do something with all these Doreen x Nancy fanfics I'm hoarding...

Oh! One last Squirrel Girl note, it turns out her old team she used to hang with, "The Great Lakes Avengers" finally broke out with their own little mini-series that's going on just now, it's been nothing massive, but worth a giggle or two, along with the first 'FURRY' Superhero character!

Yeah, 'Good Boy' is a girl who turns into a massive blue werewolf, has a room filled with anime stuff and is an artist frequently drawing her fursona, it's maybe nothing to shout home about considering tone, but still, what the hell? Welcome to the roster Good Boy!

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CyhcDOjUQAQGZAP.jpg
http://www.readcomics.tv/images/man.....s-2016/3/6.jpg

So away from Marvel and the other 'big' comics, it's been back and forth, I've kind of cooled sadly on a lot of Pony comics recently, and sadly Jem has taken a bit of a dive in my books since Sophie Campbell left its art duties and no one else has really recaptured her work

Still, I was pleasantly surprised by its spinoff comic for the misfits, art being even better than the main comic and the Misfits themselves feel like the way more engrossing characters than Jem and the other main characters

Goddamnit, I'm already putting it as more enjoyable than the main book, were the Misfits always telling the truth when they said their songs were better too?

Also read Goldie Vance that a friend bought me as a present, it's plenty cute, a younger ages book kind of Nancy Drew style young girl detective. Only if Nancy Drew was a gearhead in a queer relation with her crush girlfriend

I wonder what made her decide to put that book in front of me, lol, it's cute and I'd recommend it for younger readers, but sadly I don't know if I'll pick it up fully, even if it does boast Patsy Walker aka Hellcat's artist

And Transformers!

Yup, they're back, fresh off the rebranding, Lost Light picked up straight after MTMTE, although I feel a little conflicted, it literally picks up right after MTMTE left off, but I went in expecting a first issue like MTMTE's first one that was just glorious

Don't get me wrong, I liked the first issue, but I don't know if it had quite the same spark that had it going, maybe it was just the new art that through me a loop, or maybe I'm waiting and wanting for more, Roberts' writing does that a lot as I expectantly wait for two. more. weeks. to get that darn piece of paper in my hands

Why do they have to be so addicting sometimes?

And then there's the last one on the pile, the Flintstones

This book is just plain weird, I've spoken to one or two folks but haven't really spread it far since I haven't been online enough to talk to more people about it

DC's Flintstones book is either the most single depressing comic I have ever read, or the most heartfelt and emotive, it's like a weird mid-season Bojack Horseman as we go yay back to the good old Bedrock Quarry

https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--a0eATnHP--/c_scale,f_auto,fl_progressive,q_80,w_800/xyoiil8qvrd44krwqcgp.png

So, first thing to say, is the art is given a very real and gritty feel - much like the rest of the comics - this isn't much in the way of any cartoony exaggeration or such to lighten the mood, everything's very straight faced and squared jaw

Maybe in reflection of the 1960's Flintstones this isn't unusual, the original cartoon was catered originally towards adults with the setting parodying a lot of 1960's family life with constant new gadgets, etc, etc

In its place, the book here settles for a lot of satire around matters - yes, before you ask, there is a Flintstones joke about vaping too, first issue even - but it's all so downdriven, even the jokes have some fairly dark deliveries

So yeah, it's pretty darn stone faced unsurprising I guess, but the characters are all very much driven for different reasons, like you have Wilma as a housewife who wants to break out of her role and is trying to pursue artistry

http://d3mfoxizwrqdu.cloudfront.net.....s_reboot_6.jpg
http://d3mfoxizwrqdu.cloudfront.net.....s_reboot_7.jpg

Topics like gay marriage, religion, consumerism, the lives of war vets and suicidal thoughts are all things the comic approaches and I have to say it all feels so bleak reading it, but it has a heart somewhere in there and it can come across nicely when it does, I feel constantly strange reading it and the back and forth as it tugs at the heart strings

But maybe that's just a sign it's doing the right job?

Who knows- OHLORD I just remembered that even Fred's catchphrase now has a depressing undertone! Just forget what you read here, you don't need to read this, don't go down the rabbit hole like I did! <_<

*Cough*

Well, with a year ahead as Marvel has *already* launched into Inhumans v X-Men as a big event-thing, Guardians 2, a new Thor movie, Wonderwoman and much more, I guess there's plenty to look forward to on the super hero front

For me?

I'm just damn well looking forward to Alopex getting back into TMNT and Squirrel Girl getting a new outfit!

Well, I wasn't sure when/how/what to say on this one since I'd had a good run there for a bit, but sadly, I must report that I have not escaped the last death throes of 2016 as it tries to claw its hold onto all of us one last time into the new year ^^;

Yup, new incident to report and a new cast to go alongside it

Just after Xmas I went and landed myself in some trouble, after Mana went and got outside we had to go find her, she's gotten a little more adventurous of late

So, no, lol, before you say it, this is not a story that ended with me climbing a tree and falling out

Nope, no climbing whatsoever, at least on my part, instead Mana had tried to play Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, just swapping hot for cold-and-covered-in-snow on our neighbors aviary shed-thing

And while Jeri's trying to see if she can get the darn girl, I'm trying to cajole her with treats

The next part even I'm not sure what happened, whether Jeri spooked the poor cat, whether her weight shifted it, or just some inevitable force decided it was my time and Mana leaps off the roof and I get a face full of snow

So, long story short?

Our habit of removing all possible snow to avoid any chance of slip related injury conversely ended with me landing with no cushion

Left arms currently out of commission, stuck with the full thing in a big cheery red and green cast, decided at least I'd finish the year on a festive note, lol?

And I guess all's well that I got most of the holidays past without injury, for like one of the first Xmas I can remember in ages that went by without a cast on, so yeah, could have been worse

I'm more unhappy with the bruised butt and bruised ego I think, lol

Xmas itself? I'll give proper journal after, lol, along with the comic journal I promised too XP

As for the title?

As a friend tells me, Guten Rutsch is the German for Happy New Year, but it LITERALLY means... Well, you guys can google, lol, the relation to myself should be obvious XD

I'll see you guys after the bells, but, until then, take care and I hope you all have less eventful holiday happenings!

Holly bolly jolly holidays all!

I am back from a not-quite fortnight of showing my wife all the love she damn deserves, so we spent a good bit of time away for our Anniversary

I'm not sure how much to share as really we only go on these annual trips for time to be quiet and get rid of everything else, just time together with the two of us - and Rascal I guess, lol, but she's getting older and quieter herself - and really I suppose the big news is that somehow I made it home, with two days left till Xmas now, with no injury to myself

I DID have my present of tickets to go see Cats, so we went out to a fancy dinner and everything and went afterwards to see the musical that I as a furry should rightfully have probably seen like years ago

Aaaaaaaand I should probably mention that I have never watched Cats, like, at all

So, when it started? I was damn clueless, Angelical Cats? Whuh? The choreography was wonderful and the sets were great for production values, so, I just kind of enjoyed the spectacle even though I had no idea what was going on

LUCKILY I purchased a Program and read up on it sneakily during the break to get the whole poem thing, and realised it isn't actually a linear sort of story

So, managed to avoid some embarrassment with Jeri at least and discussed it afterwards with her, important thing was she was really into it

And speaking of cats?

Now that we have returned, just this week we have made it official, we are now cat-dog people =B

Adopted ourselves a rescue cat, a 9 month old short fur who had been sent to the pound by an owner after being attacked

Luckily rescue picked her up and got her back to health, only thing she really has noticeable is that she's missing an eye, so we're calling her Managan, Mana for short~

She's still a little reserved, hiding behind furniture and such, but she is investigating us more, and Rascal was given time for an intro previous that we've got them both alright, I've seen Managan snuggled up beside Rascal, so all is well there at least, lol

Don't know how far to take this journal before it gets too long or not, I do have stuff I wanna say about comics, but I think I'll save that for another day and another journal

Importantly, I do wanna say something about art, I DO have items that I have completed... But I didn't want to upload them previously because I wanted to wait and have more art considering how long it's been since any art up here

Well, long story short, only two pieces complete so far annnnnd not much chance of any Xmas art by this point I don't think, but, will try to see what I can get together before good ole Xmas day >>

That aside?

Will also try and put up another journal or two shortly to catch up with everyone and all

Aaaaand will try and make myself not break anything and see if I can enjoy the first Winter Holidays in forever where I've NOT been casted straight through Thanksgiving and Xmas!

Alright!

Time for a new journal! No filler like last week to remove the political dear-me-and-doldrum, hopefully this one should read a little better.

So yes, Trump is still going to be President, nothing's changed there, but at least my Editor's happy about having a headline producing president again - for whateve reasons he wants - and the Late Night Colbert show has certainly shown how to put a brave face on for a Trump America

I do want to say thanks to everyone who posted in that journal, that got pretty dark that week, most I'll say is I'm going to consider the last two weeks a wash, nothing's gotten done, things piled up... fresh new slate, and hoping now to just get back to things that matter

Like you guys, for starters, think I'd forget... Ze List?

 Vosur
 Vosur
 Kritterfox
 NathanCowan
 NathanCowan
 NathanCowan
 NathanCowan
 NathanCowan
 NathanCowan
 NathanCowan
 NathanCowan

Yeeeeeep, need to get back to this, it's been a busy few weeks, but I've not got any excuse now not to try and get back to the drawing board, especially since, good news? The casts are off!

Just happened last weekend, I'm now castless, arms and legs free, not exactly doing cartwheels anytime soon, and still have a knee/wrist support and a crutch while I go through the normal Physio rigmarole

I did get to enjoy a blissful day off yesterday with Jeri though, we just played video games for a whole day together, lol, from like waking up near lunch time and then throughout the day afterwards, switching between consoles and laptops alternately between meals and chores, lol

It was nice just to have a day for us to do some connecting, and also got a mixture of props and disapproval from my wife playing Bioshock again after what feels like forever, I wanted to nab all the achievements that she'd failed to get, so realised I could load the game from an earlier save point before she'd killed Sander Cohen and continued to find the last few nuggets of info

Theeeeeeen I glanced at the achievements on GameFAQs, 'Beat Game on Hardest Difficulty', and 'Beat Game on Hard Without Vita Chambers' (No Respawning)

Well, I'd just played near half the game, so I shrug and decide to check out JUST how bad this could go for me, when I go to new game, I see a New Game+ option, reload and start with everything you already own?

Survival mode is pretty damn harsh and it doesn't lie on 'every bullet counts', even with a loadout of weapons/plasmids from the end game it becomes a real slogfest, although I got definite brownie points from Jeri for not missing any Big Daddy fights to save all the Little Sisters, it took a lot of getting inventive to make it the whole run

But finally, it was all worth it, Fontaine is defeated, the Little Sisters are saved, Rapture is-

Wait, where's the other achievement?

Why do I only have one?

Jeri's the one who cottons on first, I beat the game on Survival, but even though it's harder difficulty than the no respawn setting, the game doesn't register it

So, she comes up with the bright idea to load the game back up, going into the boss fight one more time, then changes the difficulty setting to 'Hard'

Ouila! One dead Fontaine later and we have all that hard work rewarded!

Game Day aside - but not the one the last journal talked about, lol - I guess we're cracking on as well, short term as well as long term

You know, holidays, Thanksgiving, Xmas around the corner, gathering up presents and scraping whatever we managed out of the budgets...

But, more kind of long term, and maybe one reason I've been not so great when I spend much time on it, is that we finally converted the spare room again, the one we'd hoped to use for adopting, it's gone now, all painted over, furniture gone, swapped for workout equipment and such

Good news I guess for my physio that I can use the new room to work on exercising again, but, still, it's pretty much our nail in the coffin after everything fell apart, and its nice that we can move on, get that cat we've been talking about, but by damned if it still does sting some

Still, keep moving forward I guess, it doesn't do any good looking back here, a new years coming and hopefully it'll be better than the most recent one

Tickets have arrived for Jeri's Anniversary gift, feels weird when I realise that I got these for Cats around the same time we're looking at getting a cat, lol, I'm probably going to be banned from naming the cat after one of the characters or something

Then again, most of my suggestions will be characters from stuff

I feel like I want to shout out loud about Squirrel Girl this month, but I think I do that every month, just can't believe I've read a story that ended satisfyingly using Galileo's Cube-Square Law as a way to win a fight in a comic book universe

Maybe that's another nerd rant for another day, lol, along with stuff like getting my first Transformers in what feels like forever in the form of Mindwipe and Wolfwire(Weirdwolf) adding to my list of Decepticon Headmast- sorry, 'TITANMASTER' figures =P

Seriously, between them, Scorponok and such, I think my collection is trying to recreate the G1 season finale

Now I just need a Misfire/Aimless figure that lets me love the IDW AND G1 characters unilaterally, lol, well, at least I can read some Misfire in this month's Transformers comic before the brand new series all come out~

I'll close this here before this just devolves into my shopping list of what I've got and still to get, lol, things are going well, on my feet, literally and figuratively and going to see if I can get some traction again

See you all next time!

Before any jokes? No, lol, I'm not switching to Canadian Highlander after yesterday, even if I DO have a deck I'm working on for that front...

Full disclosure? This is entirely here just to lift my other Journal off the front page, I'm feeling a little better in place than I was earlier, and I want to take this moment just to say thanks to everyone who chimed in, I'm going to take my time in replying to everyone, but, I just wanted to lift that prior journal off the front page and I didn't want to delete it, since that would mean removing all of your comments and I'd like to take time to reply to everyone who did one by one with the time you deserve.

Instead, I'm posting this story up that I actually uploaded on the Magic Reddit about a month ago, I never put it up here as I thought it was too long winded, but, what the hey? We'll see if anyone finds it interesting or not as a distraction.

~~~~~~~

A quick primer on this, Game Day is an event celebrated every new set of Magic the Gathering released, a month after a set's launch, each store will hold a tournament, with prizes supplied by Wizards themselves, challenging everyone to build new decks from the latest cards and awarding everyone promotional cards for participating, and then, following a Swiss style event of several game rounds, the store's players are given their standings to find the Top 8, who each win a rare promotional card, then finally fight it out in an elimination event, culminating in the winning player claiming a Champion Playmat with exclusive art from Wizards

IE: This


These events are generally seen as being semi-casual, there's no real cash prize, but the mats and rare cards are sought after enough that people will make good effort to win

I spent a good amount of time trying to build a new home brewed deck but failed, so I fell back on a deck I'd made for fun back in the previous set and decided to amp it up a little, blue-white spirits

For any non-MTG people who are reading this, as a way to imagine the deck, each of the five colors of Magic have different characteristics and abilities, as well as strengths and weaknesses, but most decks are made of a combination of these colors as an attempt to find synergies between the colors as well as cover their weaknesses

As far as a way to imagine my deck, looking for a way to describe it rather than technical information, imagine the kind of fighting style you might see on a kung-fu monk in a movie, a deck that focuses on being swift and precise, evading or redirecting attacks, catching blows just before they could hit me, even offering up moves that leave me open just to catch my opponent's weak spot and drive home a decisive blow, that's what this deck wants to do in a very broad sense

So, that said...


I'd made a version of the deck built around Authority of the Consuls but in the end went for Thalia, Heretical Cathar as a better body and replacement for Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit's slot in the deck



I also went back and forth on Thraben Inspector or Mausoleum Wanderer as the one drop slot after confirming I'd managed to get the last Smuggler's Copter I needed, but finally decided on Wanderers as better synergy and good against some Blue-Red Control decks that had been showing up lately

With some help and also talking with fellow Spirits fan Ish, I finally decided on a list and sideboard

Although it sadly did not get off to any good performance, being placed against a Green-Red Pummeler deck - a deck built around Pummeler, which can double its own attack using energy you build up as a resource, but there's actually no limit how many times you can activate this ability, so if you have enough energy you could say, use it four times in a row, this may not sound much, but if you give the Pummeler a boost to its attack power with a pump spell it can become a one-shot kill when the attack power is multiplied several times - and things immediately showed a downward turn on the back of a Larger Than Life'd Voltaic Brawler swing on turn 3 into an Uncaged Fury and Built to Smash on same Brawler turn 4

I tried to sideboard against it, but even when I left mana open and tried to remove his creatures or even tap them down, he just had me with Blossoming Defence to negate all my effects on his creatures

A simultaneous swing from Larger Than Life Brawler AND Pummeler quickly demolished me with a 2-0 loss within 10 minutes of the round

I definitely had a lot of time on my hands to think about the game, so I just made up my mind not to let it get me down and talked with anyone who was finished games to ask how people were doing

Round two came up against a Red-White vehicles deck - a deck built around small creatures that aggressively pile up on you, using removal spells to clear the way and then mow you down with a set of powerful vehicles they can fit into - I had a fairly good match up, but sadly fumbled the ball I think, mulliganed to 5 cards when a 6 card hand previous would have done as a risky take, flooded out and just couldn't fix it, so went to Game two and managed to use my Nebelgasts to keep his vehicles from driving away and getting to a game three

But Game Three he curves out and his Veteran Motorists just helps push through the last damage alongside a Hasty Fleetwheel gave me another loss

So, not feeling as great, I just try to keep chin up, it's a small pool, so if I do my best and get good tie breakers, I reckon I can at least try and get into the Top 8, then proceed to spend the next ten minutes trying to think of the best possible outcome where 2 and 2 could make it to the top 8 and where the cut off lies

Round three starts and my heart sinks as I meet a store employee with a Red-White pre-packaged Chandra
deck who's only there to fill the last spot in the tournament, he's also on 2 losses, so, no surprise and it feels like I've hit rock bottom in standings, but I try to put that out of mind and just enjoy the day, we talk idly while we play just about the types of decks and stuff, I pick up the win easy here and it's not really a memorable game sadly, I know it's one win, but still not a great sign of things to come

Final round of Swiss and it's another Red-White Vehicles deck, so at this point I've gotten pretty good at knowing when to side in here and what plays to make, luckily for the first time all day my own Smuggler's Copters are showing up and I'm able to outrace him in the sky to clinch a second win

Still 2-2 though, and I grimace and hold my breath before finally they announce the final standings, 6 names later, I realise I'm not one of the names called out and have just managed to land 8th for a Top 8 sitting! Just!

Then I remember the fact the pairings are drawn mean that I'm facing the Top seated player and will now be playing second in each game hereafter due to rankings, and feel like it'll be a repeat of my last Game Day attempt where I got knocked out of the quarters finals in elimination

Still, my opponent arrives over to me with a Green-White Legends home brew, stuffed full with some of the strongest cards in the game right now, Gisela, Thalia, Lancers, Avacyn, Asylum, Sigarda, Sovereign, sadly he gets far too much going in the Sky in game one, and I look at my hand, think carefully and decide to take the loss rather than reveal what cards I have, since none of my Copters or Always Watching have been shown off that I can probably avoid him siding in Fragmentize during substitutions

We head to next game and I go in with full spectral force as Copter comes out turn two and begins getting some good beats in, before three Spell Quellers in a row help me seal game two, but I recognise now he has a lot more non-creatures than I thought and side in Negates for our final game

I go down to six but I'm thankful my mulligans have been fairly solid so far, going in again for a turn two Copter, which certainly makes all the more difference, before getting into Thalia, where suddenly he gets aggressive to try and get rid of Thalia, having me take out a couple of his Snares, Declaration and other threats, but I'm holding the board well and pushing through damage a bit at a time, until finally he lets loose a Skysovereign on the board and I sacrifice a Selfless Spirit to keep Thalia alive

He has one more move to play, and with a celebratory roar pulls a sixth land off the top to cast a Quarantine Field
for Thalia and my other creature, right into my Negate

The salt's there, with him losing to a Negate and me able to just push the last damage through, but, we settle up anyway, he feels the sting of blue-says-no plays, but I don't think there's any permanent feelings hurt at least

I grant him he forced me into a corner I had to fight out of and let him see just how many cards I'd had to side for him, in not one game but both to adjust strategies, we also joked back and forth throughout the game who was the bigger Nissa fan and who 'Wanted it more' when it came to the Champion Mat, with him playing Nissa Sleeves, Nissa the Planeswalker and of course Oath of Nissa
all in the deck

After having clawing my way through to the top 4, my next opponent sat down, one of the players who had been spectating and immediately stated he wasn't looking forward to the match, so, tried to laugh with him and said about seeing what the cards had in store for us

Turned out what they had in store was a turn 3 Gideon for him on the back of an Oath of Nissa, three lands and a Deathcap Cultivator, quite a curve, he was playing an Abzan Oath Superfriends deck, making me sacrifice and then gaining zombies off every walker he played, getting increased loyalty and the flexibility of his mana definitely made an interesting match, we really did end up grounding it out, but having to focus my fliers on his walkers definitely hurt and ended up with him ultimating a Gideon, spewing out 3/3 zombies and knight allies that I just couldn't push back against, giving him game one

Second game, I got a bit of a better idea what I was fighting here, it went back and forth a lot in this match, focusing on earlier removal with Declarations and holding up mana for Negate so that I could use my flash spirits in his turn instead and then ground through the final damage by having double Nebelgast triggers letting my troops go up and over his to tie us at one a piece

Final game, sad to say I became 'that' blue player and denying all of his plays, he mulled to 6 and didn't seem happy with it, third game in a row he plays turn one Oath of Nissa and he hits a Sorin, and comments about his bad hand how long it'll take to play it, I just play in my spirits conservatively and Rattlechains chips away bit by bit, Spell Queller hitting a Gideon and Negating the Sorin I knew was coming, by the time he finally resolved a second Sorin, I had a second Rattlechains save my Spell Queller from Sorin's minus and then had the team swing for the win

The game had some drama in its final minutes, while we've been playing and grinding, turns out the other finalist has already been decided, and wouldn't you know it? It's the Green-Red Pumeller deck from my very first game

So just as I'm about to deliver the final blow, the guy pleas me on conceding, since he points out that the Pumeller deck is a bad match up for me, but one he thinks he'll have a shot at instead

I actually do consider it for a moment, but, I think back to the previous player and simply say that after agreeing with a fellow Nissa fan to give it my all, all I can do is try, and that I have to at least give it a shot, before flinging the last damage to send me through to the final

So here we are, final game, me facing off against the player who trounced me so readily in game one, after having squeaked into the top 8, having had to go on the backfoot for every game since, I'm finally here to play for the Mat, all laid out by the side of us on the table and everything, we shuffle up and I have to take a mull to five to try and get a hand that can interact with turn 1 plays, I manage to get one and then push back, initially taking a beatdown off of his Voltaic Brawler, but stabilising, until I get to see the top end of his deck and his Verdurous Gearhulks
start showing up, until finally he swings and with me on 3 life my spirits sadly can't soak up enough of that damage to keep me alive, so on we go to game 2

People are already shaking their heads that it's over, and I go into the tank, all my Gideons and all my Reflector Mages are far too slow so out they're sided, I pull out a Westvale Abbey
since I've just lowered my top curve and in the end substitute in 11 different cards as we head into game two

This time it's different, he mulls to 6 and I keep 7, turn 1 Maelstrom into turn 2 Rattlechains and turn 3 Always Watching, I've learnt the problem I had from the previous match targeting his creatures when I should be instead targeting his instants and sorceries, keeping up mana each time I can to hold him back, Dispel
takes out his Uncaged Fury on a Voltaic and keeps me alive from what would have been a lethal blow, before I play a no-Value Queller in his end step just so on mine I'm swinging for lethal damage he didn't even spot

I actually surprise folks when they realise we're onto game 3, and in the background one of the employees asks for requests for music for the final match as he's already cleaning things now it's getting late

"Any end game boss music!" shouts the Pumeller player

"[[Hopes and Dreams, from Undertale!]]" I chip in, getting a confirmation as the teeny symphonic begins to blast out

We go for our final hands, we both mull to 6 - I can't take a 5 land hander with nothing but 3 drops to play - but I can't take a one land hand either, even on the draw with a scry it feels too risky

Go to five, another one land hander, but I've got the copter and other two drops, I can't go to four, and my opponent is debating on his six, and after I confirm I'm keeping five, he goes to five as well

His turn one is pretty good though for a five, Aether Hub into Attune with the Aether for a Forest, while I luck sack my way into a Port Town for a land and play it turn one

His turn, he plays the forest then a second Attune for a Mountain, I'm lucky nothing came down, but know he's holding enough lands for basically most of his threats now

Smuggler Copter is what I'm relying on helping me fix my draws, down it goes, and then off my opponent goes with a muttered curse word and plays Attune to the Aether number three, now I know something's up as he plays a land and passes without any creatures still, and the land he's just played is different from the land he just showed me from the previous search, suggesting he's flooded out with nothing but lands and no spells he can play

Out goes Selfless Spirit, and sensing blood in the water, I attack, and start clawing in, turn four and he's still playing land-go, it's in the face of everyone watching his hand that this has went horribly wrong his side, but while I feel sorry for him and that people who were excited to see the final match, I have to be ruthless here, pouring in my spirits one after the other

He gets a Bristling Hydra out, but I'm still at 20 life, so I just concentrate on the fact he's at less than half now as I keep swinging in and making sure to leave my mana up, with Rattlechains all my Spirits have flash anyhow

My opponent decides to throw caution to the wind as he declares 'activate the Hydra three times', and turns it sideways as I'm already saying I have a response, and he groans, saying out loud that he knew he should have layered the abilities one after another, but I consider the Stasis Snare in hand, he could just find a way to activate the hexproof again, but I also consider its Regular Rules Enforcement Level, and if asked, he could just say he would have layered it anyway, shake my head and say no blocks

His face lights up, Built to Smash followed by Uncaged Fury he flings onto the table, right into my waiting Spell Queller to take out his Uncaged Fury card

Next turn, I swing, I win

And Nissa is now resting on my bedspread whilst I try to find a new protector for her

I can't help feeling I luck sacked it, that my final two matches I had both game threes end up with my opponent with unplayable cards for their first several turns while I ran away with perfect curves, that it wasn't the finale we all wanted and that to an extent I stole the win

Still, the win means a lot, I really wanted the Playmat and went at it, my plays weren't perfect, with some niggles here and there on triggers for the copter and targeting resolutions, but I definitely went as tight as I have been in a while in Standard format

If my only complaint is variance, then I can always look at it as having got all my bad draws out the first games, then my good luck in the finals, because really all it came down to on top decking with my opponent was I had better cards than him there and then


Still, although some feelings were understandably salty, no one walked away with hurt feelings, we all agreed we'd like to have seen a better match, but the mat goes home with me after a day that started in bad luck and saw me having to climb all the way back from the bottom

I think that's the most I can think to write just now, got two Fastlands, the mythic Demon and a foil Oviya among my prize packs but nothing else notable to shout home

I don't know if I'm proud of how it ended swinging in my favor, but I know I'm proud of myself taking the match and how well I played through the day, so I'll take that

Welp, let's see how big a journal this page fills, and congrats if you made it here to this point!

I'm terrified.

I've woken up, but I'm still begging to jolt awake in my bed and someone to tell me this is all a bad dream.

Donald Trump has won, by a landslide, and I don't fit in His America. My wife doesn't fit in His America.

I've never actively seen a President who has garnered so much hatred and spewed so much back at the face of the public, yet here we are. In a few months time, Donald Trump will be sworn in and I am terrified that he's going to deport my wife, or annul our marriage or pull us apart somehow in ways I cannot even begin to imagine.

I'm trying to rationalise thoughts, remembering eight years ago when people shouted from the rooftops Obama was going to destroy them or come and tear away their livelihoods.

The problem I have trying to separate facts from hyperbole is that it's all became a blur suddenly. Eight years ago Obama never said he would do any such thing, it all came from garnered fear and political slinging.

How much of my fears are equally pushed by the political systems grandicised push for publicity, and what has Donald Trump stood on stage and actually said?

I work in a print media and I don't think we even know any more which is which.

I don't think anyone does, and I've woken up to dozens upon dozens of other news makers lamenting that they have blood on their hands for stirring all of this together, for drawing up Trump as a celebrity and Clinton as a crook.

We don't even know what to be afraid of first and that is the worst part of these fears.

The question of course is where do we go from here?

Donald Trump will be President. That's fact now and this is the world we are about to live in.

I horrified myself earlier when I thought about this and actually hoped, sincerely hoped that something terrible would happen to him that prevented him from being sworn in.

As much as I hate the man, and everything he and his campaign has represented, he will be our President. I'm only 26, literally this is the first time since I became legally able to vote that a candidate I've voted for has lost, so I must apologise to anyone who has been through prior elections and already faced similar uncertainty as this.

It will be four years again before we can speak our minds once more, until then "A House Divided Cannot Stand."

No election before has ever felt this divisive indeed, and somewhere across the aisle we'll need to see hands extend, until then, we have to make an effort to be as active and as watchful as we can. The people may have chosen Trump, but the people also have their voice outside of an election, that if you see policy that is toxic or prejudiced to speak up.

You have neighbours who are Muslim, or neighbours who are LGBTQ+, neighbours who are Hispanic or Black or Disabled and the list goes on and on. No one knows what lies ahead for four years, but we all know each other, and we should all take care of each other until then.

What lies ahead is uncertain and challenging, but it's up to us to take a step and to do it together.

lrighty, lessee if I can cobble together a journal and keep you guys up to speed with what has been going on

So yeah, recovery is slow, although maybe not as slow as my art output these days, lol, although slow and steady is winning the race at least as I keep going and also have at least some ideas and basic sketches for the next pic or two on DfDs, although we'll see like the Silver/Jazz pic which of those survive the sketch phase to see realisation just now, lol

So, with work on the DfDs aside, how goes all else you ask?

For starters, the big question that got answered between Jeri and me was regarding our new houseguest to be, that we've both decided and confirmed we'll be getting ourselves a cat <3

At the moment we're reading up on info, but all goes well, we should be getting a cat sometime next month, when hopefully I'm a leg cast shorter and more mobile to catch up to the cat, and before Xmas so that the poor thing has some time to acclimatise with us before all the general anarchy that is the holidays, lol

So, fingers crossed all goes well, and hopefully we'll be responsible enough to avoid any major disasters, beyond that we have no preference yet whether it'll be an older cat or a kitten, but generally we'll be just going to the Rescue center and seeing if we 'click' or not with any of the felines there

It worked with Flower last time, right?

...Then again, when I think about it, maybe that's the reason my parents bought Rascal for me after Flower died rather than let me have a blank cheque inside the shelter again, lol, knowing me I'd have came out with a komodo dragon or something, so, maybe Jeri should be wary of me near there?

Guess that's another 'watch this space'

Watching onto new topic, Fall returns to TV land, and I'm rather saddened that ponies season 6 is going out on what feels like it's really been a flat season with only a few really fun episodes

I have fingers crossed for next year that this was the first year they had to work without a lot of the writing team's main hitters gone and that they'll have polished up for next year, certainly hope so in time for the movie!

Walking Dead, I feel somewhat indifferent too, even with the looming cliffhanger about to be resolved, I think there's a bit of malaise I've had with the show and not sure how I'll feel with whoever gets the chop this time

Westworld however has been a welcome surprise, I'd remembered the old movie as a kid who loved Sci-Fi and wasn't sure how they'd expand it to a full on show, especially if that show could survive to multiple seasons, but I'm fairly enthralled so far at the concept so far and how they've stretched out the originals look at hedonism and excess - albeit maybe a little heavyhanded in some areas - and stretched it out across a number of ideas on the human condition

Slow to start, but I don't mind slow-burning shows and I'll be very interested to see how it all ends

I'll keep things short, even with this recap, so let's hold it on TV there, I don't want to start talking about Member Berries just yet =o

Movies wise, yeesh, had to struggle a moment just to remember what I last saw, it feels like the last few months I haven't seen much in the way of really memorable movies, although good reason for that later, and Kubo is still really fresh in my memory as having been the last really good movie I watched at the theater, but yeah, last movie I saw was Storks

I was a little sad that WB wasn't able to follow up the Lego Movie as strongly with Storks, it was fun and a laugh, but it wasn't quite as enjoyable as hoped, but yes, lol, I damn well cried like a baby at the ending montage of parents and kids, especially just for the different couples seen, it was a nice lil moment

Then of course I had to laugh out loud when I got home and saw that some groups complained at the same end montage where for less than a second each the movie showed a married lesbian couple and then a married gay couple with their kids, literally a blink and you miss it moment

And finally, cards-wise? Well, you'll have to check out the prior Journal if you want an update there, lol


I suppose I'll elaborate some on the earlier thing I said about reasons for not having been movie going and such, that it is certainly an update on what I've been up to, that over the last month or so, I think people have been consciously around me trying to keep me busy

It's no lie that the last few months have been really rough, between everything that's happened between normal injury woes to adoption breakdowns and the Big Sister thing turning into the worst mistake since Bioshock 2 it's probably no short statement to say that for a while I was not a very fun person to be around

So, bit by bit I've kind of been trying to put pieces back together and get everything back in working order of myself piece by piece, people have been inviting me to games, get togethers, dinners, parties and all sorts

Don't know if I had much fun at some of Jeri's work parties, but that feels like a whole journal in itself and not much for me to share unless it's Jeri telling that story I think, suffice to say that things at her work have been somewhat terse and it's affecting morale somewhat

Still, icebergs aside the emotional sea has been calm of late and with Winter fast coming the ice is starting to at least get strong enough for us to walk on it again?

So, yay, update done, we'll see how long it takes to get to the next journal, lol

"Magic magic magic."

"Magic magic magic, magic magic?"

"Magic~"

Loading Ready Run did this one better, lol, for anyone wondering what the hell, check below up until 50 seconds
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWq6TUeAPjM&list=PL3rP64NRtmbjJFGumln1bvmYHaqhxYvlt&index=41

Yup, Magic is magic and for a lady who is short of funds, at least there are plenty of ways I can stretch my budget to enjoy this game I really, really enjoy far too much

This journal exists just to let me rant nerdily about what I've been up to with Magic since last I journalled properly and if that's not your thing, don't worry, glaze your eyes over to the next journal where I talk about non-Magic stuff, lol


Alrighty then, continuing on~

So yes, Kaladesh Pre-Release happened and of course I was there, I doubt you could stop me going to a pre-release unless I was in hospital bed bound in a body cast

(And even then they may have had to tie me down, lol)

And Kaladesh has been pretty damn awesome, besides an emphasis made on it being a more optimistic set, the design for it has been pretty great for the format, with folks managing to handle the new mechanics and such really quickly with very little incident and adapted to it well, which made for a really fun Pre-Release experience

Although I do have to say I had a rather biased opinion mayhap, I opened up my Pre-release kit with booster packs and found my promo was the most expensive card in the set (at the time!) Chandra, Torch of Defiance

http://www.magicspoiler.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Chandra-Torch-of-Defiance-Kaladesh-Spoiler.png

Then proceeded to open a Rashmi, Eternities Crafter in my pack...
http://www.magicspoiler.com/wp-cont.....es-Crafter.png

Followed by a coup de grace of opening a pack that not only contained a Verdurous Gearhulk
http://mythicspoiler.com/kld/cards/.....usgearhulk.jpg

But had a SECOND mythic with a foil Saheeli Rai peeking out behind him!
https://mythicspoiler.com/kld/cards.....aheelirai2.jpg

Two out of my other two boosters were on color rares I've completely forgotten and the other two rares were artifacts, so I ended up building a Temur good stuff deck, and yes, Saheeli Rai did INDEED use her ability on the same Gearhulk she came with which caused massive beatdowns, lol

I actually really fumbled the deck, but 3 and 1 was still pretty good, with no-one about to say I did not pull cards well, using the rest of my time to trade for the new fastlands so I could brew up some brand new decks

Since then I've been on and off with Magic as my budget will allow for purchases, I made sure to buy at least a new Bundle box to get some cards and get the Kaladesh Guidebook inside, and I made sure to be able to draft the first Friday of release to get the utterly beautiful promo version of Saheeli's Artistry

I've also been tinkering away with all these new tools and trying to come up with a new deck type that uses Sin Prodder from Shadows Over Innistrad alongside Combustible Gearhulk

http://gatherer.wizards.com/Handlers/Image.ashx?multiverseid=409936&type=card
http://www.toplevelpodcast.com/wp-c.....e-gearhulk.png

See, they're both cards that push your opponent to make tough choices about whether or not to give you cards, combine this with cards that are high mana cost, but have abilities that make them much cheaper to play, like Elder Deep-Fiend, Bedlam Reveller or even Emrakul, the Promised End and you can SEVERELY make your opponent tear out their hair whether or not to give you free cards or take damage instead

http://store.401games.ca/img/product/id=571296
http://store.401games.ca/img/product/id=572476
https://cdn1.mtggoldfish.com/images.....5BEMN%255D.jpg

*Attack on Titan music intensifies*

Okay, okay, Emrakul's less AoT, more eldritch cosmic horror, maybe a better fit for Kozilek or Ulamog, but they're gone now, so I'll get my yucks somehow XP

SADLY didn't manage to get the deck to hold together, still tinkering on it in my spare time whilst I try to build up an idea or two, but instead tomorrow I'll be heading to Kaladesh Game Day using my Blue-White Spirits deck that I'd built back before Kaldesh was released and just updated with a few new cards, so, fingers crossed there?

Magic's also been giving me a lot more than just the games themselves, beyond the new cards I can still sit down at any store with folks in Commander and just enjoy playing without needing to pay in and have fun, it'll be a while before I can complete my next pet project Commander, but I'm hoping it'll be fun, lol

Besides the gameplay itself, I've been severely enjoying the story and all of Kaladesh, Wizards has been doubling down on storytelling in Magic, for just the basic story itself, putting an emphasis on cards that make up the story itself in little story moments, to a massively improved story quality in the actual written story each week online

I briefly mentioned about a month ago that I was really happy when it was revealed that Ajani was back, it's likely no surprise I'm a fan of Ajani, an albino anthro character who was rejected by the others of his pride but grew into a weathered and fierce warrior whose strength isn't his own strength as much as bringing out the strength in others

Sadly Magic shelved Ajani when they decided to go the new story route, for a couple of reasons, where they decided they wanted a Planeswalker that was pure White, and Ajani had been broadened into other colors, as well as that, Wizards had learned more about using diversity and decided Gideon was a better fit for a main character position

Alsooooo, the company was conscious that Ajani was more popular with 'certain fans', so yeah, furry fave, lol, but it turns out Ajani's also a big hit with kids apparently? So he's back!

His reveal in the cards wasn't big, but, his story version of it however...

There've been some highlights in the story so far, Yahenni's perspective from the newest race the Aetherborne, a mayfly like non-binary race that are born from the Aether like elementals and die in a very short lived life cycle

Oviya, an unassuming old lady who is actually one of the rebels leading members, whom she joined after her wife passed away and became an artificer, also apparently one of the fiercest board game enthusiasts you'll meet on Kaladesh and finally, one of Ajani's first allies on the plane

It's when Oviya gets captured in a trap that Ajani is brought into the story, and we learn what he's been up to whilst out of the spotlight and after the lamented death of other-fave-character Elspeth, bringing in elements of other older stories back into the fold and even returning to Kamigawa, a plane which is seeing more and more focus, mayhap with the hopes we will return some day soon =o

It was fairly damn emotional and awesome, I'd share, but I think it's pretty intensive on details from older Magic stories to get the most out of it

Instead, I will end this journal on a note I'd forgotten to use a good many times before when it came to sharing magic fiction, so, if you've never read Magic stories before, I'd recommend this as a good start, just a story that help solidify the ideas behind each color of mana and how they interact with each other and the world

Loran's Smile:
http://magic.wizards.com/en/article.....ile-2014-10-27

All this talk of story really makes me want to make some Magic writing again with things on Kaladesh~

Welp, that's it for this journal!

I hope, lol, didn't have enough time to write up a journal, but just after posting that journal, wanted folks to know I'm alive and not ignoring messages and such in inbox =o Will post something more up tomorrow likely here on the journal as well as reply to everyone when I have more time to do again!

Until then, placeholder!

Alrighty guys, I'm gonna keep this one short, because I'm afraid a long journal might make my brain boil over, lol

Things are going okay this side? Sadly, don't know if I have much of any content to give you as an update apart from I'm healing okay, and looking within the next month to at least lose my leg cast now, second time's a charm, right?

I've been a bit quiet because really, the only things I could think to journal about are general geekery, stuff like the Kaladesh Magic pre-release/release/gaming and so on, or other more mundane stuff

So maybe that's been one reason to be quiet on my side, but, really I don't want to, I've got more art to hang up in the Scraps from TF stuff that arrived later, but I didn't want to without any new art myself to add up here

So, I figured I should find a way to fill the gallery again one way or another...

With that said?

I'd like to open up the Doodles for Donations scheme again!

I'm keeping this shorter than last time, as I'm really just hoping I can use this as an excuse to put pencil to paper, AND if I'll admit it, to help me get a start towards my Xmas Shopping list that I really, really should have started by now >_>

So, yeah, DfD rules are as normal, 10 dollars donations, every 10 bucks you donate I'll doodle a character of your choice =B

Note me if you'd like to donate and we'll see how we do, first come, first serve and I'll edit this as things change!


Ze List:
-  Kritterfox
+10 SLOTS ALL FOR NATHAN!



And hopefully this'll help me get back into some creative mood, I may be down a hand, but my drawing hand's still plenty healthy!

Edit: Wowsers, thanks for helping out guys!

For those who replied before I could edit, sorry, but I am keeping folks names for a sub-list, see if I can still rattle out art afterwards!

Ze Sub-List:
- Vosur
- Hundertneun
- Rarysnowlion

Jasmine 5 Days Ago:
"Well, guess I better update folks on stuff."

Jasmine 4 Days Ago:
"...Oh yeah, meant to do that yesterday, but, feel so horrible, blegh."

Jasmine 3 Days Ago:
"...Jeri, please close the blinds and wake me up next week?"

Jasmine 2 Days Ago:
"..."

Jasmine Yesterday:
"Type something up or just don't bother getting out of bed!"

TODAY:

Yup, it takes effort to get these bigger posts going, especially when it's not so much fun news to share, so, not sure how long it'll take my brain to melt, will try and be as concise as I can be here I guess

Remember how I was going to be going back to the Hospital to get that cast off? Or at least downsized? Nope.

Still there, sadly the docs weren't happy with my healing, so I got set back and sent home with the same full leg cast

Then, to put a cherry on the top of the humble pie? I was trying to stick away a bunch of things up on the shelf, just comics, cards, the works you know? When suddenly I must have nudged something that was a bit precarious and suddenly, volumes 4 and 5 of the Usagi Yojimbo saga tip over and crack my offending hand on their way down to the floor

So, yeah, instead of decreasing my body mass of cast coverage, now I've increased it by my wrist, doctor says that it's lucky my whole arm's not in plaster with this one, so, take what we can get I guess

Been a little bit down about it, it'll definitely effect my enjoyment of Kaladesh and being able to handle my cards for one thing, not to mention just making everything super awkward that one hand's handling the crutch and the other's going to take some time to get work out of it

At least one thing about being stuck in the dumps so long let's me come back and take time on this, determined if I get one thing right there'll be no typos here like some of my other rushed entries right after losing an arm

I guess some good news to share?

While I may- actually, this isn't good news when I think about it? Okay, it is good news for me, but then not-so-good news for me when I stop and think about it

So, yes, Rascal's getting on in her years, so, me and Jeri have been looking at getting another pet here in the house, we've certainly got plenty room

And yes, lol, I am now the middle aged lady who can't have kids and is replacing them with pets, that is the appreciative (depreciative?) irony here

So, no ideas quite solidified yet, but, I've had a skunk and a dog so far, plus a dog I don't remember because I was too young? So, looking to buck a trend here, go for something new and considering maybe to go for a feline friend

Not much else of worth on the home front to share, unless you count Jeri having her own bad moods of late, I've been trying to console her and stand by her side on how much of an asshat her bosses have been of late with shift hours and demands they've been putting on an already thinned out set of medics, long as I can do that at least I'm donig something right being in her corner I guess

There is the nerd front too I guess, lol, where Steven Universe made me feel just so gosh darn happy that they basically spent an entire episode with a lady running after another lady to get her number, and, also pretty cool that you have prospective guy love too? Iunno, I hear a lot of folks in the LGBTQ+ who're unhappy that lesbians are the default for any gay relationship deemed suitable for TV, nice to see maybe some room for them too there

Meanwhile I'm just going to hug the crap out of new ships I shouldn't be thinking about, lol

Also damn happy to see Ajani back in Magic, I miss me my anthro characters there and hope that he's got a more permanent return in the storyline after all the fallout of Theros

I could go on a lil more on comic stuff, buuuut I think I'm in hibernation there until we hit December when Transformers hits the new Season of MTMTE, everything else - although welcome - is fairly filler just now =x

Welp, also started my Xmas list today, so, I grimace at my budget for the next few months, lol, I've got a fund that'll crack in December to help like 200 bucks there towards presents, but really besides that I think I've been lax in savings of late there <_< Ersh, Winter, you're coming too fast!

...

So, yup, Old lady cat lady trope and me complaining about seasons, geez I'm getting too old too quick <_<

Well, continuing the last question in my last journal, I guess it's good as any time to upload and kind of say where things stand right now, what with me having laid quite an emotional a-bomb last journal and all

I guess I've felt a lot better getting thing off my chest and connecting again with folks, and it doesn't hurt to do a little introspection here and there whilst going over things

I mean, I was even getting to the point where Magic was irritating me, and I'd gotten really petty for a while about other people getting better luck with pulling rare cards out of packs over me, which became just unpleasant, maybe just my bd run of luck with cards picked a poor time to mix with my other stresses

I'm happier to say some good news that next week I'm getting my check up and hopefully downgrading from a full leg cast to just below the knee? So, that'd be something good

As well as that, Magic-wise, Conspiracy was just released, and not only is it super fun, it's been really good for making really expensive cards cheaper and more accessible, so, yeah, maybe splurged a little here or there with payday money coming in, better hope nothing happens bad at the bank in the next week or so, lol, or I'd be in serious, serious trouble?

I also got a care package that I'm about to unload with you guys, no new art from me, but, figure I'm safe at least to share what I have with you guys, some of it I've been waiting a while to share as well, lol, but had to wait for some confirmations and such

Who knows when I'll get new art myself, but I'll see soon if I can come up with anything =O

Also, it's now end of August, so of course, I caught myself humming the Xmas Coca Cola theme, and realised that indeed stores are already starting to hawk holiday stuff at us, lol, it's like George RR Martin levels of read as we realise indeed that Winter Is Coming, and hoping to hell I have myself ready to budget myself through the next few months

Not much else I can think to add, apart from my own frustrations at comics once more that I wait for something to happen still in both Squirrel Girl and Turtles for me

So, yeah, been a while since we've spoke here, huh guys?

Yeah, lot's went on and I've been pretty darn quiet on here and honestly, I'm not sure what to say at this point as these hiatuses on my online life become longer and longer

I guess rush update?

Jeri's birthday was at the end of last month, like just a week less than a full month ago, lord does this make me feel even worse how long I've been avoiding being on here?

But, yeah, Jeri's birthday, we went and saw a local Wrestling match, WWE this was not, and I think the crew involved were a little too heavy into 'being extreme', but there were some laughs and one or two really good performers, sadly don't know who these guys were as it was one of those tribute groups who probably want to keep hush so they don't get sued, so all I can say is Pseudo-Undertaker was really into character and managed to handle most of Takers signature stuff, while a Pseudo-Matt Hardy (Is Matt Hardy well known enough to still be a 'classic' wrestler? I have no idea) pulled off an amazing set of acrobatics that I honestly had to check if it wasn't the original trying to relive glory days

Wish I could say something more about it, like, one of my crutches being used as a weapon by one of the wrestlers, lol, but no such luck, we went on home and I still have another present to give her depending on when that arrives soon

I managed to ditch the neck collar as well, so no more Cone of Shame, although I feel like creatively I missed a chance not to use that somewhere and maybe actually y'know, draw something for once

Leg's still laid up, I had a setback or two, but back to crutching like a pro and getting around alright, just got my groove back there I guess

And finally saw Finding Dory by the by! Movies of late I've not had much to shout home over here, I'm honestly trying to think now of what was the last really good movie I'd seen and kind of drawing blanks that I'll likely kick myself over later, but really, Zootopia and Civil War have sealed my year so far on fave movies

Dory doesn't even come close, but it was still an adorable movie and any doubt I'd had over whether or not they could have Dory take mainstage and not become a lame joke by third act was wiped out by the halfway mark

I did love it - and maybe digging too deep a little - especially at what seemed like a subtle message of positivity to kids and viewers who struggle with mental health about finding coping mechanisms and learning to live with a part of yourself as best you can, I won't spoil endings, but, I will say there's a quite muted tone at the end that just capped the movie perfectly and left me feeling pretty darn happy when I left

Too bad the feeling didn't last long, what I'd planned as a burst of inspiration just ended up with me crawling back home into bed afterward

I guess, maybe for a start I should say I've not been getting enough sleep, my biological clock is already whacked by graveyard shifts at the paper, but lately I - or at least Jeri - find I toss and turn, sometimes waking up having yanked all the sheets off the mattress and then end up can't get back to sleep without getting out of bed and sorting the sheet out as best I can, or Jeri'll get up for work and she shifts and it wakes me up and so on... TLDR? I've been getting 5-6 hours sleep at night and I just think I'm starting to run on fumes

Let's switch the emotional whiplash a second, just because I don't think I know where I'm going with this journal, but I'll keep at it... Comic-wise? Squirrel Girl is either really going to make me very happy or just burn me up by the end of whatever's going on?

You guys remember a while back a few months ago I got all giddy that I thought maybe Doreen and her roommate might be a couple now?

WELL.

In a three parter that all starts with Doreen realising that her crush has his own girlfriend and trying to find romance herself - several poor dates later - she accidentally winds up getting the idea in Mole Man's head that she's in love with him for just being a half-decent person to him

He takes all of the world's monuments in exchange for her to have a date with him, at which point Nancy storms in and tries to make him realise what the hell kind of stunt he's pulling, when Mole Man just comes out of left field with THIS doozy of a comment.

http://cdn.bleedingcool.net/wp-cont.....33-600x489.jpg

Nancy's eyes, dear me, what kind of emotion they show off in one panel is unbelievable, Nancy doesn't snap back with a 'what are you saying' or anything else, hell, she doesn't even joke about it later, there's something about this that's just left hanging now over everything and I'm kind of wondering if what I saw a while back might be actually sparking to life

Orrrrrrr if it's all wishful thinking, Mole Man needs to get out more and Nancy just didn't want to dignify it

Gahhhhh, I've tried to avoid this kind of shipping my whole life, but, damnit I would love to see this work out

So, yeah, between this and the feels-fest that's been More Than Meets the Eye hitting its big season 2 finale, damnit, do I ever learn?

http://www.furaffinity.net/view/10971130/

Oh, not to mention that IDW totally messed with Alopex with me, and I swear if they do mean things to her I'm totally going to write them an angry letter/e-mail/tweet/whatever is approrpiately used to inappropriately express anger these days XP

Tangent complete, and I guess time for some more whiplash, and back to the whole thing of what's really been bugging me of late I guess

If nothing else, I can now finally confirm an end to the shenanigans at the Big Brother/Sister program, mostly because I flaked out

Ever since Liz's new guardian complained to the folks at the program about my influence on Liz, I've been effectively shelved and told that I couldn't be assigned to help any more kids whilst I was under investigation, I guess I kind of left out the part over the last while how it ballooned, massively, how the lady went and raised a mob of like minded PTA people who were concerned about the program handing off kids from broken homes to molesters and deviants waiting to prey upon the precious kiddies brains

Gears spun and nothing was going anywhere, and finally I bit the bullet and decided that the only way to fix this was to leave, the program made it clear enough they weren't going to put time or effort into taking my corner, being more concerned about keeping this quiet, and certainly the lawyer folk involved definitely weren't going to speed anything up and the damage it was doing to the program, and the kids who needed the program just kind of started to hurt me more and more

So I signed out, and Liz's guardian released her whole machievalian grip on the mob pestering the program in exchange for a signature from me confirming I would make no attempt to contact Liz under any circumstances and a full restraining order, with a statement from the program that I had been let go and that they would continue to be vigilant with their choices of big brothers and sisters to ensure no situation like this would happen again

The good news is it got buried, like a lot of stories the program probably doesn't want on controversy like this, even my own paper didn't publish anything, although its hard to feel the silence around me there some days, makes me gladder when I get those graveyard shifts and I'm by myself at least

So, yeah, genie out of the bottle, I'm not on any register or anything, but it's definitely going to take a long, long time for people in this town to think I didn't do something horrible to Liz

But at the same time, the worst part? Is I think I really did do something horrible to Liz by not fighting this, that maybe she thinks I gave up on her or abandoned her, or that her Aunt's going to walk in all wicked Stepmother and rub the signature in her face that I'm never going to speak to her again

Or maybe it's when I ask myself over, where do I go next with this? And the only answer I have is that I really don't know where?


EDIT: Didn't mean to disable comments, so, sorry if that looked worrying, it says I can't enable them for like a day now @_@

Maybe for better, I don't wanna wallow here

In plaster

Yep, it takes me breaking something to get me back in front of the computer, about makes sense, huh?

So, yeah, I've still been flittering more and more offline, and sadly don't have much good news on that front to share, heck, even my homeland Scotland's got it bad right now with the whole Brexit thing going on over there

So, let's focus on the positives here, me and Jeri have been enjoying lots of time together? We all went to the town square together this week for the July 4th celebrations and they had like this en masse BBQ and fireworks and stuff and it was pretty great

Also, being off my feet means less workload at work, that I'll at least have some breathing room there?

Maybe it'll make me kick this gallery to put life back into it again, I've got a good backlog of pictures and art and stuff that folks have made for me that could be cool to attach stuff to?

Sins of the Wreckers is finally over, and sadly no patch on the original Last Stand of the Wreckers, so, at least I can let that rest easy now and return to wracking my emotions in a more positive way over More Than Meets the Eye and the events within there, lol

In fact, comic front-wise, outside of the cash in that is Civil War 2 in Marvel right about now, things have been going pretty great, Squirrel Girl has been awesome and so much so that I recently managed to get my hands on a Squirrel Girl funko to celebrate how cool she is

I did spend time looking at the box and lamenting it slightly, that basically she's part of this Girl Power collection of great Marvel Heroines, soooo, who else is in there? We've got Squirrel Girl herself, then She Hulk, Captain Marvel, Spider-Gwen, Spider-Gwen unmasked, Spider-Gwen... unhooded? Captain Marvel masked?

I'm a tiny bit let down that they went with the variations of the characters instead of using them for characters who really needed the recognition, I know Spider-Gwen is getting a HUGE shove from Marvel, but, y'know, it would have been awesome if we could have had Ms. Marvel - Kamala Khan is supposed to end up on the cartoon Avengers show sometime, right? - or, Moon Girl, or even Gamora, does she even have a Funko yet and she's like one of Marvel's most out of nowhere success stories for Guardians?

Ehhhh, ranty over, it's nice they have this at least and Doreen looks awesome in plastic form, she's a bobble head and even comes with a mini Bobble of her trusted squirrel sidekick Tippy Toe, lol, so it's fun just to have merchandise for her alongside her comic book series now

I don't think I need to share Magic related stuff at the moment, nothing massive has occurred of late to report, with Eldritch Moon on the rise, I'll be making sure I can get out to that at least, but I'm only saddened that my beloved werewolves aren't going to take front show there

https://youtu.be/NCbhisqd_co

At least plenty of Eldrazi and horror to be had, so we'll see how that goes in like two weeks time

Welp, need to make time to get creative but nothing coming right now, there's that weird restless feeling of wanting activity but not feeling able to rouse energy to do anything, and we just gave up Netflix, so can't even watch the Animaniacs there XP Welp! Time to go back through the box sets! How many hours is House on DVD again?

Hey all

Up front warning, this isn't going to be a happy journal and honestly? Has been a long time due to tell you what's been happening here

Also up front, I'm not injured, so, don't need to worry on that side, this isn't a normal accident update like that, although I've no doubt that a few of you probably guessed why that's why you've not heard from me in a bit, but I have been kind of purposefully been closing off from online and I'm sorry for that for a start, you kind of deserve at least an apology there

So, bit of background first?

I wanna quickly talk about Leslie, my Little Sister in the Big Sister program, I didn't feel it was right beforehand to talk about her much, and maybe now it still feels a little wrong to do so when she can't get a say, but I think you all probably guessed you don't end up on the Big Brother/Sister program without having some fairly unhappy background

Leslie's mother, Madeleine, had taken a stroke a few years ago and lost most of the control of the left side of her body, Leslie had ended up taking over a lot of responsibility helping her mom and taking over in the home, but, finally got accepted into out program and was basically subsidised a trained nurse who would watch over things in her home and help her mom out while she could go out a few hours each week and just be a kid, y'know?

I'd met Madeleine once or twice and only really gotten a few times to get to know her, telling her about Leslie's activities, how she was doing, and how she was happy that there were some opportunities her daughter had again after thinking she wouldn't get to enjoy a normal life outside of caring for her, she was quiet and a little reserved, but there was an energy under it that really still shone and she was happy

Three weeks ago, Leslie's mother was hit by a series of seizures and sadly didn't make it

She's an only child and her dad left her a while back, so, I tried to be there for her, and indeed, asked about question of guardianship

This had already been fixed, so, no, I didn't adopt Leslie, instead Leslie has an Aunt who's taking over custody of her

Sadly, she's also pulled Leslie from the program, and expressly given request for no contact between myself and her due to concerns

And due to those concerns, I have also been currently removed from the Big Sister program

Her Aunt felt that we were getting too close and was uncomfortable with the idea of Leslie being in any extended period with someone who was in a relationship with another woman

There's more, but, right now, I don't want to get into too much detail

And, really, all of this kind of hit me on multiple levels, between Leslie's mom dying, now losing Leslie herself and being suspended, its really thrown me for a loop

Becoming a big sister really was at its start about becoming experienced with the idea of raising and helping kids out and working towards adopting again, I knew when I started the position was never permanent when you say goodbye to a kid, but, really this feels like it ended so badly, in all the worst possible ways

I have good memories with Les, stuff I didn't get to share here before all this happened, seeing a Miyazaki movie, more Magic card stuff, but its all became a big blur, I mean just the other day someone was telling me how exciting it was now that its legal for married couples of any genders now to adopt across all 50 states, but I couldn't help thinking how my own chances are looking worse and worse

I've already been bumped back, I can't imagine how this now looks on any next application, even if it comes back clean

I'm kind of wallowing in this one and not sure where to go next, possibly looking at getting some time off work

But I'm still here, even if you guys might not see too much of me, I figured you deserved to know why the silence and the Offline time kind of solidified that for me, that if I said anything, it was now, before something else happens, because typing this up for a second time I'm not sure I'd have that in me

Miss you all and hope to see you sometime soon

Wheeeee~

Well all?

It's been a while again and I felt like sending you guys at least a shout out for events going on in the life of your favorite fox =B

BUT, before we go on? I think there is something I need to stop and say, and that's a big thanks to everyone who took the time to say a Happy Birthday wish, or even further, went an extra mile and got me something special as a present =D

I will not name names as a few of the folks wanted to keep it hushed, just know you have my thanks and that maybe over the next few days you'll see some pics appearing in the gallery's sketch section from folks who gave awesome art <3

Just know that it really, really means a lot to me and I couldn't be happier to have you guys here

I will admit - slight downer moment now in the journal - that a lot of issues have kind of gotten tougher, big one being money, I've lamented a lot on the fact this journal has most often now just been me lamping on about my Magic exploits, but weirdly and paradoxically, Magic seems to have become like my main outlet and most affordable

Effectively I've stopped buying individual packs and only show up now to use drafts to get new cards at a more affordable rate and to make sure I'm getting as much value out of packs rather than cracking wrappers to grab a rare card and toss the rest away, so, at least I'm finding a way to enjoy Magic and just spend on the prerelease events really (check the last journal if you want info from there!)

As far as regrets on money, I've had to drop a ton of the comics I followed monthly and use the Marvel Unlimited app I got gifted so I can follow them there when they get uploaded a couple months later - Secret Wars almost over, and goshdarn it, seeing America Chavez chatting with her girlfriend makes me all kinds of happy - but it does make me worry, a lot of the titles I really care about are like Squirrel Girl, they fall into this kind of unknown bracket where Marvel will publish really low issue sales, but because they're very much unorthodox titles, you'll find a lot of these comics with a predominantly female readership buys them digitally instead for varying reasons, so it's like an iceberg, you can't quite see the hidden majority or how well the comic's doing, so each month I do check up these figures on websites that publish them and gnaw my fingers a little, worrying now if I've dropped my subscription if that's going to be the straw that breaks the camels back

Yeah, the whole feeling of frugality really is hurting, you'd think that living with parents would help avoid financial strain, but sadly it's a lot of stuff happening with mom and dad now that's causing the extra pull on me and Jeri, so, now I'm even throwing extra hours at the paper and that's pretty exhausting

(Urgh, just remembering I ordered two commissions lately, I've really really cut back, but still feel like way guilty for doing that >_>)

But if nothing else, at least I'm not alone in the sacrifices, Jeri's been worked to the bone at the hospital and she's had to give up a couple of things, like cancelling her game subscriptions and such - she says it's okay as long as I'll be her Player 2, I told her I'd always be her Player 2~ - or I know one thing that's been killing her is socialising with her work team

We've pretty much been mooching off parties and such as a way of getting out to see people together, and I think a few people have began prodding her about why she hasn't hosted anything herself and it's been eating at her

SO, I did manage to at least get an idea and we're gonna host a BBQ, like, in two months time, so,plenty of time to shop/stock and at least mark ourselves on Jeri's social calender, I'm in charge of veggie dishes there =P

Me and Les you can read a little on in the previous journal how we did at the comic book store, lol, but, she's happy and Summer's coming up, so good times for her and getting exams out of the way, apparently the Big Sisters program has a Summer retreat for the kids and a few adults volunteer, so my name's in the hat to at least help out some, although I'll be glad to say to Jeri that we can have some time together if I'm freed up from time I usually set aside for Les <3

Can't think of anything else to add just now, so we'll hold it here, lol, so I guess there you have it, that's about all I've got for you guys just now and we'll catch up some more later!

Yep!

It's a Magic report alright! Thought I'd split up the journal once more to have what was going on in the world of Magic and what's been going on in the world of Jasmine, lol

This weekend has been the Pre-Release of the return to the gothic horror of Innistrad, and my giddy aunt was it fun~

Every new set of Magic reflects different worlds and themes and mechanics into the game, say for instance Zendikarwhich was sadly a little underwhelming in its scope, but the game makers had purposefully toned down the power level of the game to prevent power creep

Playing with decks made on Zendikar meant a slower, more synergistic build where pieces had to fit like a puzzle

Innistrad? Oh, this is much more intuitive so far, with the horror feeling creeping upon you with the fear your opponent could swing the board and sweep you away at any time

Not to mention the tribal themes, Green/White has humans, Green/Red Werewolves, Red/Black Vampires, Blue/Black Zombies and White/Blue Spirits, all classic Innistrad with plenty of wiggle room within to have some fun with

I'd signed up to multiple events over the weekend, so I won't bore with the full recount, but I stuck fairly heavily to my guns on a theme, lol, with Naya [Green/Red/White] werewolves being a thing, basically abusing the overlap of the human/werewolf tribal

See, since all the werewolves are humans when they start out, they get the bonuses off the other human cards, it doesn't matter that they lose some of that when they transform since really, they just go berserk off the rails awesome anyway

I mean, here's an example, right?

Meet Breakneck Rider and his, errrr, better half?
http://crystal-cdn4.crystalcommerce.....JCIHy8JsQP.png


Yeah, werewolves are fun~


Also discovered, both at the hands of and by my own virtues, the power of Triskadekaphobia (No need to google, LITERALLY the fear of the number '13')
https://i.imgur.com/sH18HwJ.jpg


Feel free to count the objects in the art there by the by, lol

So yeah, it's been super fun and there are some powerful cards and such here that I don't think anyone will get bored of this for a while

I had a blast with folks there, but it was also fun to invite Les, my little sister hasn't entirely thrown herself into the deep end of Magic, but she's a big time puzzle solver, so she's been enjoying playing it in little spurts here and there, so, we joined one of the Two Headed Giant events where we made a team to take on the other folks who'd tagged up together


Ha, ha! The Dead Planeswalker Society lives again! It seemed to fit together pretty nicely, she got a fairly nasty little blue/black zombie number that gummed up the board with death touch creatures and walls of the undead, along with a couple ways to force damage through, while I stuck to my werewolf shenanigans and was happy to say that Les pulling an Arlinn Kord in her packs was pretty integral to me being able to become fairly intimidating, I have to marvel at the kid pulling Planeswalkers two events in a row, lol

http://www.manaleak.com/magic-the-g....._innistrad.jpg


We went 2 wins, 2 draws and a loss, but, we had fun anyhow, and when it came to splitting up the prize pool afterwards, I had to give her one thing for her generosity, saying she was happy just to keep the cards she had, even when I pointed out how popular Arlinn was right now, she still decided to give me it since she hadn't got me anything for my birthday

Newly acquired treasure in hand and thinking up brewing, sadly she had to leave, but I had one last event at night squeezed in and sat down with folks to enjoy ripping wrappers one last time, and who do I see staring back at me with the promo date stamped on her? Yup, a second Arlinn Kord, lol,so, yeah, werewolves, I think me and Innistrad are going to get along just fine~

So excuse me now while I go howl at the moon =D

Well, felt like it was only appropriate to give an after birthday journal here =D

So!

I am happy to say that a week later, I don't think an extra year has changed me just yet, lol? So! I spent the weekend with a pretty big flare, with my own party and everything, for some reason everyone wanted a piece of me, lol, starting with a big fancy dinner on the Saturday, folks decided I think that it would be easier for everyone if we had the party then so folks could avoid hangovers into Monday and all =B

Eh, what the heck, I don't drink, so, we went to this really cosy place, that had an awesome fireplace and everything, then, spent my actual birthday mostly playing Magic with friends who'd hosted a Commander tournament for us, with a bunch of Magic presents bestowed on me, like an awesome print of one of my favorite cards, from way back when I first joined Magic, Brimaz, King of Oreskos was a powerhouse that just happened to be an awesome cat dude too =D

http://fav.me/d72hw54

RANDOM TRIVIA: Apparently when they made Brimaz? They were just flat out calling him Leonidas *Ba-Dum-Tsh*


I also think I've hit the obsession level on Zootopia, first thing I bought with birthday funds was the Art of Zootopia book, and ended up seeing the movie again with Les, so happy to say she enjoyed the movie to boot, now I just need an excuse to see it all over again, lol


Most of my birthday money was sadly just redistributed into the house and things we kinda need, but, I'm happy to say I bought at leas something pretty big when I bought my entire Prerelease Weekend for the next Magic set, Shadows Over Innistrad

I think only my lack of posting has held me back from just completely gushing over this new set, the gothic horror world of Innistrad is a fan favorite in Magic, filled with the tropes of old horror movies, from zombies to vampires to one of my fave Magic tribes, the werewolves~

Oh wait, just remembered I already mentioned this last time, BUT, they did reveal the Werewolf Planeswalker character~

http://www.manaleak.com/magic-the-g....._innistrad.jpg


Good gosh, a whole weekend locked in a game shop, I just have to hope I pull well and have plenty fun there =B

Survived the birthday intact and feel like I should have more to add just now, but, can't think of anything, o I'll wrap this here for now and say all is well and I'll hold up as best I can~ More to come as this develops!

(Also, yay? Ponies back~)

Welp folks, a momentous occasion is upon us, it's rare and fleeting these moments that every once a year I can say...

That I'm castless! =B

What, what were you expecting?

Oh yeah, there IS the whole 26 thing, lol, passing the quarter century mark has been a big flagpost, but now I feel my 20's slipping away from me, oh dear XD

Still, I'm happy to return to the earlier point, yesterday saw me held up at the hospital for hours, but at least that saw me finally rewarded with the removal of my cast, and asides having to still hold onto the crutch for now, I'm happy to be hit with a bill of good health in time for my birthday next week =B

...Although admittedly, I think I'm starting to feel my age, lol, I'm not asking for anything, mostly I've just been crossing my fingers and hoping for money to help pay bills xD


....

That and Magic the Gathering paraphernalia of course

And to go along with the whole hour hopping forward thing today? Jeri surprised me and decided to take me to go see Zootopia a week earlier and joining this as a cast off day celebration!


I admit, damnit, I had my trepidations, but I'm happy to say after a slowish start it was a good movie that left me with some upbeat feelings by the end, plus, damnit, good furry movies are hard to find >>

Although I MAY sell you on Ernest and Celestine sometime, but that's another story, lol

But speaking OF stories, I've been damnably happy with Magic of late, you see we've now returned to the gothic horror plane of Innistrad...

https://youtu.be/GopkHUg2XCY

Which means my werewolf deck is about to get some new recruits, and last week, the story section updated with a tale of lesbian partner werewolf hunters who get saved by a kickass female middle-aged werewolf planeswalker WHO I NEED IN PAPER FORM LIKE YOU WOULDN'T BELIEVE

Also, this week just ratcheted up the creepy and horrible something awesome, so all this excitement is certainly setting up, since I missed Innistrad first time round, I'm jazzed for official spoiler season of the set to meet all these new werewolves and characters~

Now excuse me while I go listen to the damn song Gazelle sung for the tenth time...

Yup!

Got a lot of catching up to do here, been a fairly busy month, ever since I cleared myself of the infection I had to hit the ground running, or at least less hobbling

One chief worry has been money as we've chewed through a good bit of savings this month and we'd overspent some, can't say Jeri's alone in this one, I flung into some purchases as well I maybe should have held back on >>

Still casted, that was a bit of a bummer, went last week with hopes I'd get my leg cast yanked off, but got told I'd be stuck for another four weeks, didn't even get a smaller downgrade, soooo, still hopeful for it being off for my birthday anyhow

Besides some Magic related success in winning a big tournament, I'm happy to say that I'm happy to say things with Les have been great, my Lil Sis has been fairly busy with exam prep, so I've been lending a hand, helping her try and schedule more so there's less stress and she can enjoy more time for activities to destress and get to enjoy y'know, being a kid

There's been a kind of humble pie from it all I guess, I'm trying to teach more organisation and such while I'm still floundering about with my own tipsy turvy life, that I'd like to see about making some smarter choices and trying to see if I can manage some things better

Hell, even went to my bank to ask about me and Jeri opening a long term savings account that we'd both have to sign on to lift any money, put a restriction on either of us having the money to hand so we don't use it as a safety cushion, maybe build up some balance and see if we can go on a holiday a little further away than the hills XP

While I'm sad to say little creatively has been made, I'm trying to dig WAY into my backlog of works to try and ressurect something, soooo, we'll see how that front goes I guess, lol

Meanwhile me and Jeri been watching some cartoons, she found a massive collection online and, at first, I felt weirdly hesitant, you know, Internet Piracy, bad

Buuuut what the hell, my wife is watching cartoons, I am not leaving her alone in the couch when I can sit down next to her and watch Freakazoid and Scooby Doo and KISS Rock and Roll adventure (YES that is a thing. WHY is that a thing, I do not know, but it's ABSURDLY wonderful, lol)

Speaking of me and Jeri? We had our Valentines, and indeed discovered that Deadpool the Movie was surprisingly not the Valentine romance love fest that the trailers promised =0

XD But of course we enjoyed it as it was anyhow, got our dinner and a show and- Well, it went well, that's all I'll have to say, lol

And more recent note, yesterday went and picked up my comics and shared with Les since there was more Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, and, I think I nearly had a panic attack when I let her take a peek at Squirrel Girl...

And, maybe wishful thinking, but won't reveal plot when I say that Doreen and her roommate Nancy end up back home on their laptops and they're... Lying in bed together?

I think I'm leaping to points, but, they used to have separate beds, and now this is the new Marvel world, things have changed, we're still finding out new stuff that's different in this alternate reality, like Doreen not being a mutant anymore somehow

Stereotypical as it is, pointing out Nancy's new hair, together in bed... Has one of my favorite super heroines decided to get together with her best friend?

...Yeeeah, probably reading into this way too much, but still, shocked how quick my head jumped there >_>

Not sure where to wrap up after that rambling and drooling head fanon sooooo....

Just... Iunno, go watch Scooby Doo meets KISS, lol, tell me if you spot Jay and Silent Bob in it, I'm going to see what else me and Jeri can watch next that'll be even wackier than that XD

Welp!

Here we are, and I'm happy to say that after a week of coughing up the inner lining of my throat and such, that I'm now back and more or less getting to normal reality and such, or at least I'm back at work, and even having been bedbound for the week and useless, I still got Leslie coming round for our usual time together, I helped her out with her homework assignments, threw on some DVDs and also cracked open the NES that me and Jeri found in a garage sale for 5 bucks, lol

So, yeah, I also apologise for abrupt interruption of my health

Last week also did not go so well for Magic, lol, where in a hope to bolster my spirits, I got my entire Magic quota for Oath of the Gatewatch from its release date, Jeri swung past the store one morning before work and then got me my delivery

Although I've been avoiding buying packs, I do set myself up with a huge preorder to celebrate a set's release and start brewing various concoctions =D

So, one booster box, one fat pack (gotta get the set guide book, lol, not to mention the box and the sealed stuff!) and weirdly, later, two packs that ended up pack wars-ing, lol

Aaaaaaaaaaaand long story short?

My worst ever openings ^^;;; If I did a box opening vid or something like Tolarian does, I think I'd have struggled to get through it, in total, from all of those packs I wound up with only three mythic rare cards, and sadly no shiny expedition cards

I feel a little bleh recounting it, since it IS a game of chance and all, but it did kinda suck that half way through ripping wrappers I actually was starting to feel down, ended up running to the net to come up with ideas to help me go through it

Upside was at least, in the final pack I finally had my encounter with Kozilek:
http://media-dominaria.cursecdn.com.....657386509.jpeg

Butcher of Truth indeed

So at least it ended on a higher note, lol


Welp, Magic-wise, I may not have gained much luck, but at least, I did find a great get well present that arrived after a long round trip from  Manarat

Sooooo, care package there, with time to recover, I spent much of my time with sadly less than optimum efficiency, I confess I didn't manage much of anything, although, have a lil story I might try and see if I can make out anything of

I have tried to doodle with the tablet, but feel like I'm still out of practise there, I scribbled and scribbled but found nothing worth sharing sadly, see if I can rattle some more on that and see what we can come up with =B


Besides that, not much else I can think to holler other than things are getting back to track and we'll see just how quick we can find a rhythm here!