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Still Need A Room For FWA? Does Your Life Lack Kitties?
Posted 12 years agoWell have I got the deal of a lifetime for YOU! :D
Putting out feelers for 2 roommates for FWA. A couple of friends I've asked are noncommittal at this point, and I'd like to see if there is any interest. Would obviously prefer people I at least know a little bit, but am open to hearing from you in any case!
It's for a room in the Double-Tree (right across the street from the Westin, main hotel). Thursday-Sunday, check out Monday. Non-smoking, there is a balcony, you may or may not have bedspace, depending (on what our third resident thinks of you. ;3) So far it's me,
katalina and 
ianmj91 for definite. No parties (do that in the main hotel), but drinking and hanging out is fine.
Price, if we get 2 people, will be probably $94 a person for the whole weekend. Could POSSIBLY add 3 people, but don't want to overdo it too much. All of us are very friendly, easy to get along with, and fun to hang out with, but we like our down time (in between parties!) 2 fursuiters, room for more (balcony space for more stuff if necessary!)
Is anybody interested? Let me know! :)
-JT
Putting out feelers for 2 roommates for FWA. A couple of friends I've asked are noncommittal at this point, and I'd like to see if there is any interest. Would obviously prefer people I at least know a little bit, but am open to hearing from you in any case!
It's for a room in the Double-Tree (right across the street from the Westin, main hotel). Thursday-Sunday, check out Monday. Non-smoking, there is a balcony, you may or may not have bedspace, depending (on what our third resident thinks of you. ;3) So far it's me,
katalina and 
ianmj91 for definite. No parties (do that in the main hotel), but drinking and hanging out is fine.Price, if we get 2 people, will be probably $94 a person for the whole weekend. Could POSSIBLY add 3 people, but don't want to overdo it too much. All of us are very friendly, easy to get along with, and fun to hang out with, but we like our down time (in between parties!) 2 fursuiters, room for more (balcony space for more stuff if necessary!)
Is anybody interested? Let me know! :)
-JT
FWA Room GET!
Posted 12 years agoShort journal. :3
I got my FWA hotel room! I'll be in the Double-Tree across the street. It was much cheaper than the main hotel, and the whole Elevator Con thing killed it for me last year.
I will be performing again this year and waiting for 45 minutes with an amp and a cart of drums, then having to take a service elevator because a non-packed-full elevator never came was more than irritating and greatly affected my opinion of that year's con. I have yet to determine if walking a block to the main hotel (in suit at least a few times) is a preferable alternative, but I'm gonna find out.
It will be awesome to see everyone again! I'll try not to get too caught up in practicing for our band's performance that I forget to do random suiting and hanging with people. ;)
Hoping this year will be fun to the max! ^^
-JT
I got my FWA hotel room! I'll be in the Double-Tree across the street. It was much cheaper than the main hotel, and the whole Elevator Con thing killed it for me last year.
I will be performing again this year and waiting for 45 minutes with an amp and a cart of drums, then having to take a service elevator because a non-packed-full elevator never came was more than irritating and greatly affected my opinion of that year's con. I have yet to determine if walking a block to the main hotel (in suit at least a few times) is a preferable alternative, but I'm gonna find out.
It will be awesome to see everyone again! I'll try not to get too caught up in practicing for our band's performance that I forget to do random suiting and hanging with people. ;)
Hoping this year will be fun to the max! ^^
-JT
Holy Crap Snow in the South! And it's Not Very Nice. :(
Posted 12 years agoIt's very rare for it to snow where I am, near Charlotte, NC, but I always expect it to snow at least once every winter. Last year it snowed twice, just enough to cover the ground and the trees and look wintery. Both times I drove around no problem, once while working as a cab driver, and once to go out to eat with my mate. Again, I never had any problems with sliding on the road or anything, and I enjoyed seeing the snow and playing in it (although my mate and I almost got arrested for it, but that's another story).
But this time, oh nooooo, THIS TIME it was a completely different feel.
Ok, so you've got Armageddon happening in Atlanta, and snow in places snow should just not be (LA, South Florida, Hawaii, IRAN). This Winter Storm Leon came through and really fucked some shit up.
Now luckily, I didn't get stranded on the highway in Atlanta and forced to leave my car in the road and seek shelter at a CVS (which I saw happen on the news) or end up stranded at a school (which also happened). However, I did just BARELY make it home last night, since apparently the tires on my cab are so shitty it can't even grip an inch of road on a level surface.
I tried going up a slight incline a couple of streets before my house. I get about 20 feet up the "hill" before the tires spin out and now I'm sliding backwards back down the hill with my brakes on. Fortunately, no one was behind me and I settled at the bottom of the hill just out of the intersection. Also fortunately, a passing motorist (who was kind enough to help people, yet doing so with profit in mind, so...) came by and hooked up my cab to his tow-line, and after almost witnessing a pile up from other cars, he towed me up the hill. I gave him $15 cause that's almost all I had in my work wallet (so I couldn't work AND I spent money getting home. Nice) and he went back down to help (take advantage of) more people. I went on down the road, but of course since I live on a dirt road I got stuck AGAIN. My tires simply couldn't grip anything at all, and I just sat there spinning out at the base of a hill. After another guy (who was a neighbor) try to poach me for $40 to get towed up one hill I had had enough and was ready to leave the car on the side of the road. Eventually a different (less greedy) neighbor showed up and was able to tow me up the last hill, then I was able to cruise the rest of the way down the dirt/snow road to my house. THANK GOD I GOT HOME WITHOUT CRASHING.
However, this morning, I had two runs to do. One was a school pickup that was coming all the way from Charlotte, but since school was cancelled so was the run (I actually switched that run with another driver, but his run got cancelled Monday. No doubt he feels a bit of revenge from me losing the run too). I also had a run to the airport by a regular customer, and that was at 11 am. Surely the roads would be ok to drive on now, right?
Well... they were, for every other driver and motorist (the office reported no complaints of ice related traffic or road woes. Other drivers were all working just fine. Even the airport was running smoothly, and they shut down for almost anything). Me, however, I still couldn't get my shitty cab to even move more than a couple feet in my snow-covered driveway before spinning out hopelessly. Meanwhile, I'm watching 2 or 3 neighbors back out of their driveways with little crappy sedans and stuff and just skitter on down the road without a problem, so it wasn't really the fault of the road. I just have a really shitty vehicle with shitty tires.
So I'm stranded at home. I want to work, but I can't get the cab out and I'm too scared of having another instance like yesterday. I have an airport run in the morning but since it won't get above freezing today, I'm worried I will be in the same predicament tomorrow. I'm now LOSING MONEY because I can't get out there, and I learned that the boss doesn't even have AAA with his insurance, so it's not getting towed to the office. If I have to I'll walk to my Mom's house and have her drive me to get another cab tomorrow.
It's sad, I used to love getting snow. It's so beautiful and my yard is like a little wonderland of snowy goodness. Yet I can't enjoy it due to what's happened, and it can't be gone soon enough. Hopefully I will be able to get my stupid cab out of my driveway tomorrow so I can PAY RENT SOON.
#bitch #whine #complain
On a positive note, I'll be doing art today, so maybe I'll finish that commission on time. If I do, I can consider today more or less successful I guess.
Yeah, sorry snow, but you're a dick. :P
-JT
But this time, oh nooooo, THIS TIME it was a completely different feel.
Ok, so you've got Armageddon happening in Atlanta, and snow in places snow should just not be (LA, South Florida, Hawaii, IRAN). This Winter Storm Leon came through and really fucked some shit up.
Now luckily, I didn't get stranded on the highway in Atlanta and forced to leave my car in the road and seek shelter at a CVS (which I saw happen on the news) or end up stranded at a school (which also happened). However, I did just BARELY make it home last night, since apparently the tires on my cab are so shitty it can't even grip an inch of road on a level surface.
I tried going up a slight incline a couple of streets before my house. I get about 20 feet up the "hill" before the tires spin out and now I'm sliding backwards back down the hill with my brakes on. Fortunately, no one was behind me and I settled at the bottom of the hill just out of the intersection. Also fortunately, a passing motorist (who was kind enough to help people, yet doing so with profit in mind, so...) came by and hooked up my cab to his tow-line, and after almost witnessing a pile up from other cars, he towed me up the hill. I gave him $15 cause that's almost all I had in my work wallet (so I couldn't work AND I spent money getting home. Nice) and he went back down to help (take advantage of) more people. I went on down the road, but of course since I live on a dirt road I got stuck AGAIN. My tires simply couldn't grip anything at all, and I just sat there spinning out at the base of a hill. After another guy (who was a neighbor) try to poach me for $40 to get towed up one hill I had had enough and was ready to leave the car on the side of the road. Eventually a different (less greedy) neighbor showed up and was able to tow me up the last hill, then I was able to cruise the rest of the way down the dirt/snow road to my house. THANK GOD I GOT HOME WITHOUT CRASHING.
However, this morning, I had two runs to do. One was a school pickup that was coming all the way from Charlotte, but since school was cancelled so was the run (I actually switched that run with another driver, but his run got cancelled Monday. No doubt he feels a bit of revenge from me losing the run too). I also had a run to the airport by a regular customer, and that was at 11 am. Surely the roads would be ok to drive on now, right?
Well... they were, for every other driver and motorist (the office reported no complaints of ice related traffic or road woes. Other drivers were all working just fine. Even the airport was running smoothly, and they shut down for almost anything). Me, however, I still couldn't get my shitty cab to even move more than a couple feet in my snow-covered driveway before spinning out hopelessly. Meanwhile, I'm watching 2 or 3 neighbors back out of their driveways with little crappy sedans and stuff and just skitter on down the road without a problem, so it wasn't really the fault of the road. I just have a really shitty vehicle with shitty tires.
So I'm stranded at home. I want to work, but I can't get the cab out and I'm too scared of having another instance like yesterday. I have an airport run in the morning but since it won't get above freezing today, I'm worried I will be in the same predicament tomorrow. I'm now LOSING MONEY because I can't get out there, and I learned that the boss doesn't even have AAA with his insurance, so it's not getting towed to the office. If I have to I'll walk to my Mom's house and have her drive me to get another cab tomorrow.
It's sad, I used to love getting snow. It's so beautiful and my yard is like a little wonderland of snowy goodness. Yet I can't enjoy it due to what's happened, and it can't be gone soon enough. Hopefully I will be able to get my stupid cab out of my driveway tomorrow so I can PAY RENT SOON.
#bitch #whine #complain
On a positive note, I'll be doing art today, so maybe I'll finish that commission on time. If I do, I can consider today more or less successful I guess.
Yeah, sorry snow, but you're a dick. :P
-JT
So you want to see COMICS eh? (Need your opinion)
Posted 12 years agoWell, first I want to thank you guys for voting in my poll! your input is very much appeciated! ^__^
Judging by the poll, it appears most people really want to see more comics from me. And the ones who commented mentioned Fletcher Apts as a comic they'd like to see continue.
I do want to tell you that it felt good hearing that you guys like the comic and want to see more. It's very encouraging! I would like to give you what you want...
Problem right now is there's a lot currently standing in the way of that. But that's not to say that I can't clear the plate a bit and make restarting the comic a higher priority. I really would like to produce more stuff for you guys to enjoy, and by the looks of it, you'd enjoy more comics!
I do want to run a question by you guys though...
I... Don't like bringing up the subject, and I had a long passage written about my feelings on it (good and bad), but... Well let me just say it.
Would you begrudge me if I set up the comic, upon relaunch, with a donation goal (something smallish. $50?) that I'd need to reach before releasing the next comic?
I've always done the comic for free and I hate (loathe) the idea of "selling out" and making it about money. But for one, it wouldn't be about the money. I'd still do the comic the same exact way I used to, and on my terms... The only thing different being I would HAVE to produce a comic ASAP instead of sitting on my ass and putting it off.
And it would NOT be a pay comic. You wouldn't have to pay to read it. But if readers pitch in $5 here and there, it allows me to make a little more free time from my job (which I make my own hours and have to work a ton of hours to make any profit) in order to draw the comic.
I didn't have to do this in college, but then again I had a lot more free time in college. And maybe getting a little compensation for my efforts may help me be able to dedicate more time to drawing it, which will be giving you guys what you want, IE: MORE COMICS!
Am I wrong for thinking about it like this? Is it being selfish or greedy or "selling out" to ask for a bit of a "tip" for my work? I mean, artists here do it all the time, and the reason they are producing so much art is they've managed to make it a business, whereas I have been on a "When I Get Around To It" schedule since forever. Plus, so much of my time is spent having to work to make money for bills and everything. All the freebies and hobbies and stuff gets pushed to the side.
I just think this would help get the comic off the ground again and help it build a bit of consistency, that's all. It's still not "about the money". I won't owe anyone anything specifically, and I'm not going to change style or add unnecessary fan service or draw things how anyone else wants them. I'm still going to write and draw it My Way. The only thing I'll be obligated to do is make more comics!
Now please realize I can't do this for a while, possibly a long time. I have other obligations that I must get through (namely my commission list I outlined in another journal). But I can start planning this now, at least. And unlike the commissions that I'm taking forever on (sorry...) I won't be just collecting a bunch of payments and making a giant mountain of work to overcome. Every donation is voluntary, and once you've reached the goal, STOP DONATING until I make the next comic (unless you want to give out of the goodness of your heart). The donations for the next comic wouldn't start until I've finished and updated the one I owe. So more motivation for me to finish, plus I'm going by a one-at-a-time basis, so no insurmountable mountain of owed art (never again...)
Does... That sound like something that is feasible down the line? And again, would you begrudge this method? Would it be greedy, or unfair, or wrong? It's a really sensitive topic to me, but I think I can do it in a way that benefits everyone. I don't want to hold comics hostage, I just want to create a situation where I have incentive (that's a good word) to create more comics faster.
Yes, donation incentive system. That's what I would call this. Incentive to create more comics. And that's what you want, right?
Please offer feedback on this idea. Let me know if it's a cheap tactic that rips you off or if you think it's a fair way to get something out of my art while giving me incentive to continue updating.
And most importantly, would it be worth it to you?
Maybe then I can create a gameplan and get the ball rolling on a relaunch... After I take care of all the other stuff first. ;)
Thanks again! Your input is valuable! ^^
-JT
Judging by the poll, it appears most people really want to see more comics from me. And the ones who commented mentioned Fletcher Apts as a comic they'd like to see continue.
I do want to tell you that it felt good hearing that you guys like the comic and want to see more. It's very encouraging! I would like to give you what you want...
Problem right now is there's a lot currently standing in the way of that. But that's not to say that I can't clear the plate a bit and make restarting the comic a higher priority. I really would like to produce more stuff for you guys to enjoy, and by the looks of it, you'd enjoy more comics!
I do want to run a question by you guys though...
I... Don't like bringing up the subject, and I had a long passage written about my feelings on it (good and bad), but... Well let me just say it.
Would you begrudge me if I set up the comic, upon relaunch, with a donation goal (something smallish. $50?) that I'd need to reach before releasing the next comic?
I've always done the comic for free and I hate (loathe) the idea of "selling out" and making it about money. But for one, it wouldn't be about the money. I'd still do the comic the same exact way I used to, and on my terms... The only thing different being I would HAVE to produce a comic ASAP instead of sitting on my ass and putting it off.
And it would NOT be a pay comic. You wouldn't have to pay to read it. But if readers pitch in $5 here and there, it allows me to make a little more free time from my job (which I make my own hours and have to work a ton of hours to make any profit) in order to draw the comic.
I didn't have to do this in college, but then again I had a lot more free time in college. And maybe getting a little compensation for my efforts may help me be able to dedicate more time to drawing it, which will be giving you guys what you want, IE: MORE COMICS!
Am I wrong for thinking about it like this? Is it being selfish or greedy or "selling out" to ask for a bit of a "tip" for my work? I mean, artists here do it all the time, and the reason they are producing so much art is they've managed to make it a business, whereas I have been on a "When I Get Around To It" schedule since forever. Plus, so much of my time is spent having to work to make money for bills and everything. All the freebies and hobbies and stuff gets pushed to the side.
I just think this would help get the comic off the ground again and help it build a bit of consistency, that's all. It's still not "about the money". I won't owe anyone anything specifically, and I'm not going to change style or add unnecessary fan service or draw things how anyone else wants them. I'm still going to write and draw it My Way. The only thing I'll be obligated to do is make more comics!
Now please realize I can't do this for a while, possibly a long time. I have other obligations that I must get through (namely my commission list I outlined in another journal). But I can start planning this now, at least. And unlike the commissions that I'm taking forever on (sorry...) I won't be just collecting a bunch of payments and making a giant mountain of work to overcome. Every donation is voluntary, and once you've reached the goal, STOP DONATING until I make the next comic (unless you want to give out of the goodness of your heart). The donations for the next comic wouldn't start until I've finished and updated the one I owe. So more motivation for me to finish, plus I'm going by a one-at-a-time basis, so no insurmountable mountain of owed art (never again...)
Does... That sound like something that is feasible down the line? And again, would you begrudge this method? Would it be greedy, or unfair, or wrong? It's a really sensitive topic to me, but I think I can do it in a way that benefits everyone. I don't want to hold comics hostage, I just want to create a situation where I have incentive (that's a good word) to create more comics faster.
Yes, donation incentive system. That's what I would call this. Incentive to create more comics. And that's what you want, right?
Please offer feedback on this idea. Let me know if it's a cheap tactic that rips you off or if you think it's a fair way to get something out of my art while giving me incentive to continue updating.
And most importantly, would it be worth it to you?
Maybe then I can create a gameplan and get the ball rolling on a relaunch... After I take care of all the other stuff first. ;)
Thanks again! Your input is valuable! ^^
-JT
POLL: What Do You Want To See More Of From Me?
Posted 12 years agoThis is an actual poll because I'm very curious as to what my followers are most looking forward to seeing from me this year!
Vote below!
http://flisti.com/64155
Then, if you care to, explain your choice in the comments section! Is there one thing in particular you really want to see more of? (Like if you chose Music but only care about FPRM original songs) Do you want to see whatever I come up with equally?
You can vote for multiple choices if you feel like it! Try not to just vote all of them though. I'm trying to see a ranking in interest develop.
I'm going to try to produce a lot more this year than the last few years, but maybe enough votes may sway my focus to or from a certain area. :)
Also, don't consider current commissions in this poll. Those are priority and are getting done no matter what. And don't consider future commissions, cuz I'm not taking them. :P
So, what did you pick and why? And is there anything you'd like to know more about? I may even reveal previously disclosed information if prodded enough. ;)
Thanks for voting! I will try my best to please EVERYONE! ^__^
[EDIT]NEW OPTION! I don't think I can edit the poll, but another option would be live streaming (art) webcam (Fuzzcast, fursuit) and any live streaming option. Just mention it in comments if you would have chosen that in the poll!
-JT
Vote below!
http://flisti.com/64155
Then, if you care to, explain your choice in the comments section! Is there one thing in particular you really want to see more of? (Like if you chose Music but only care about FPRM original songs) Do you want to see whatever I come up with equally?
You can vote for multiple choices if you feel like it! Try not to just vote all of them though. I'm trying to see a ranking in interest develop.
I'm going to try to produce a lot more this year than the last few years, but maybe enough votes may sway my focus to or from a certain area. :)
Also, don't consider current commissions in this poll. Those are priority and are getting done no matter what. And don't consider future commissions, cuz I'm not taking them. :P
So, what did you pick and why? And is there anything you'd like to know more about? I may even reveal previously disclosed information if prodded enough. ;)
Thanks for voting! I will try my best to please EVERYONE! ^__^
[EDIT]NEW OPTION! I don't think I can edit the poll, but another option would be live streaming (art) webcam (Fuzzcast, fursuit) and any live streaming option. Just mention it in comments if you would have chosen that in the poll!
-JT
DON'T READ THIS!
Posted 12 years agoOk... how many of you read it. :P
NAUGHTY! NO TREAT! *finger waggle*
Wanted to get that long-ass journal off my front page. It be bendin' mah page all up, yo!
But if you wanna get to it, my journal of 2014 resolutions, commission progress, artistic endeavors, band stuff and other shit...
http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/5426371/
Also, totally updated my profile pic. I'm almost sad to put it in scraps (wanted a new ID).
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/12541322/
Broccoli.
-JT
NAUGHTY! NO TREAT! *finger waggle*
Wanted to get that long-ass journal off my front page. It be bendin' mah page all up, yo!
But if you wanna get to it, my journal of 2014 resolutions, commission progress, artistic endeavors, band stuff and other shit...
http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/5426371/
Also, totally updated my profile pic. I'm almost sad to put it in scraps (wanted a new ID).
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/12541322/
Broccoli.
-JT
2014: A Year Of Stuff To Come (Need 48 hour days plz)
Posted 12 years agoOk, new year, new stuff!
Or is it more of the same old stuff?
Well, it's a little of both. Sadly, I didn't do very well on my resolutions last year (hell, I didn't even get around to making a journal for them... a feat which I damn near repeated again) so many of those resolutions from last year are the same this year.
Basically, there's a shit-ton of stuff I'd like to do to contribute to the fandom again, like I used to. Before full time jobs, and numerous moves, and life being crazy, and having no free time, I happily drew art and comics and updated my FA and kept up with all that. That was one of the things that gave me joy in the fandom, and sadly, I've been unable to do that for a few years.
So this year, THINGS WILL BE DIFFERENT! (or exactly the same, one or the other).
Art:
COMMISSIONS! Not new ones... old ones. Yes, those same old commissions I've had forever. I don't know why people commission me because I really suck at doing them. My habits are pretty damn unprofessional actually. This is what happens when, regrettably, art is not your full time job and source of income (extra motivation).
Anyways, completing commissions as follows: If I miss a date, I will give one more completion date that I consider reasonable depending on circumstances. If I miss that, well... if you notify me and you are interested in a refund, I will give you a two week plan, in which I either drop everything and finish your commission in two weeks or just bite the bullet and issue a refund. No more excuses.
Keep in mind the reason these take forever is I don't have much for free time. My job is demanding and other things come up. Plus I am just not a very good professional artist. I used to be, but now that I have so much more to juggle, I've just been unable or unwilling to make the time. Plus I've always been extremely SLOOOW and meticulous, and a horrible procrastinator and judge of time. This is my attempt to change that. Any patience you still deem fit to display with me is extremely highly appreciated.
It's also possible I may get ahead of schedule. Extremely unlikely, but possible. These dates are not written in stone but serve as a strong guideline for myself so I can have a realistic goal to shoot for. If I can get them done sooner, I will. And as always, I will NEVER sacrifice quality for quick return unless it is specified beforehand.
steviemaxwell - to be completed by Jan 31 - completed Feb 27
thepitifulwriter - to be completed by Feb 14
rainwhisker - to be completed by Mar 1
[FWA and preparing for my performance]
tazel 
tobu 
hixbi.fox 
callsignwolf (flail icons) - to be completed by Mar 30
wyattkelly - to be completed by April 21
Defiant - to be completed by May 30
callsignwolf - to be completed June 15
[AC most likely]
christaphorac - to be completed July 15
[IFC?]
slyknuxdragon - to be completed Aug 31
FLOATING COMMISSIONS (No set due date. Before end of 2014 would be glorious.)
redfoxthebountyhunter
buckhopper
canius
kasekine
christaphorac (payment pending)
That's all the commissions I have left to do. As usual, there will be other stuff interspersed with this. Some FBA stuff. Some personal art (maybe). Band stuff. Other projects. Play time. Time with mate/family/friends. And lots and lots of work. But if I'm able to keep to this schedule, and I complete all my commissions before year's end (and I don't take on any more) then that will be one HUGE success!
Music
If I can manage it around my commissions obligations, 2014 will be the year I really focus on my music and making progress with my band(s). There will of course be the standard couple of shows this year (FWA is one. IFC is most likely the other but we'll see.) But mainly, I want to RECORD. I want to WRITE. I want there to be tons of VIDEOS and PICTURES. I want people to actually want to follow the band, not just because they saw us once or their friends are in it, but because we actually put out GOOD MUSIC and we do so CONSISTENTLY. All my other projects burn out quickly or never get off the ground due to other obligations. I don't want that to be the case with this.
So in 2014, there will be a DELIBERATE, CONCENTRATED FOCUS on CREATING AND RECORDING NEW MUSIC.
It's far too easy for me to sit there and be like "Uhh, well, I don't feel inspired." Inspiration isn't just going to sneak up behind me and smack me on the back of the head. Sometimes I have to help it along. Listen to some inspiring music. Pick up the guitar and pick. Think of music and write it down, or record snippits. I have a ton of half-thought-out soundbites of songs as voice memos on my phone. Time to do something with that. Focus is the key, and actually seeing the process through from start to finish. As more progress is made, the passion will increase, and the product will become better. I don't have to aim for the stars with my very first song, but I have to aim for something. And this year I intend to do that.
These dates aren't specific, but here's a general guideline of what I want to happen, music-wise.
FURRY PUNK ROCK MASSACRE
- Hardcore Punk Cover Double EP release. 2 EPs, 8 min each.
- 10 song EP/LP, our other best punk covers to date (not included on the hardcore album). 28 min.
- 3 song cover EP (to go alongside another planned project). Just 5 min. For the lols.
- 2 Original music EPs (aiming for 5 songs each)
- Full Original Debut album (containing best songs from EPs, plus new songs. 12-14 songs total)
shows: FWA (2 songs), IFC (TBD)
[SECRET BAND #2]
- 1 cover song (for practice. individual upload. not included on any official release)
- Original music EP (about 5-6 songs)
- Full Original Debut album (10-12 songs)
shows: None (this project is focused on making music first before performing)
Yes, I have another band. Barely can operate one band, but yet I have two (go figure). The other band will create a different type of music than the first, but whereas FPRM was born to perform at cons (thus all the covers) the second band will focus purely on creating original music (which actually, I have already written more music for this band than FPRM. It just comes to me easier). I'm very excited about both projects, and they are longterm projects so don't expect all of this stuff this year (but hopefully expect some of it).
Why so many cover EPs you ask? Well, part of it is to help get the ball rolling on this recording thing. Facing facts, I am a ways away from fully completing an original song for recording, and we as a band are a ways away from having the necessary tools and skills to produce a clean sounding product. So the covers serve to give us motivation to start recording with what we've got, practice recording and mixing something that sounds decent, and to put something out there that gives people a taste of the band as well as a physical catalog of what the band has done so far, which is... covers!
This won't be completely chronological either. While we're getting a cover EP ready, I will be composing songs. We will collaborate on the songs and learn them, so that maybe next time we play a show, you might see us play an original or two! But I just want to put out SOMETHING for people to listen to, even if it's not original stuff. Then, when we're ready, there will be original music uploaded, recorded, and eventually, for sale. (cover EPs, if we sell them at all, will probably be really stinkin' cheap. It's not our stuff, so it's meant really as more of a novelty, not to make a bunch of money from other band's work).
Given all our busy schedules, and a current lack of necessary equipment, I'd say that for 2014 it is fair to expect at least 1 original FPRM EP (maybe both) written but not recorded, and maybe the first 2 cover EPs recorded if we can get that going. The Secret Band EP, I'm pretty sure, will be written but not recorded as well. There will be SOMETHING to upload online at some point this year, at least as teasers.
There will also be some more band related art (eventually), and pictures and videos to upload. There will be a concentrated effort to get this off the ground. Yes, we've done some stuff, played some shows, and put the name out there for people to have "heard of us". But this year, it's time to break through and give people a reason to follow us.
2014 will be the Year of the Rock.
Videos
Can you believe I have hours of fursuit video footage from as far back as 2009 that I haven't edited yet?
Wait... you can? This doesn't surprise you? Oh. :(
Well, yes, I do have a ton of videos to do. Fursuit videos for my own self, and also band related videos and music videos.
I'm making it a goal this year to completely edit and upload 1 video per month, or 12 total. At the very least... Maybe they will all be small videos, or videos with mostly raw footage requiring very little editing. Or maybe I will get ambitious and take on one of my full editing projects. Some will be band related (IFC footage, music video from our first show), some may be music related but more of an individual effort (me playing and singing a cover in suit at my house).
But there definitely needs to be more videos uploaded.
Comics
Here's an iffy one.
I have a bunch of ideas for comics that I would like to do. However, comics seem to take more time than practically everything else I do. I should know, I used to spend 40-50 hours a week (in college) making ONE comic strip in a week. Then it fell to one every other week. Then one whenever I felt like it. Then... uhh...
Anyways, yes, I do intend to get my comic up again. I will have to make a buffer before that happens, and I will have to dedicate A LOT of time to it. I'm not sure I'll have the time. I'll have to see how it goes. Ideally, I will have it relaunch at the beginning of the year. What "the" year is is quite up for debate. It could be 2014, it could be 2015, it could be 2025. I never said it had to be a specific year. ;) But I do hope to make some more scripts at least, and maybe, slowly, start drawing comics for it, even if I don't upload them yet.
There is also a character Tumblr I want to make. This will be an Adult tumblr containing art, pics, comics, interviews and stories involving some new characters I've created. I won't give away too many details yet, because it's a ways from happening (like seemingly everything). But it's been something I've been thinking about and planning since last year... it actually was a 2013 resolution that never got realized. Plus, I need some drawing and anatomy practice first. But if I can get back to drawing every day in the cab, I can get this started towards the end of the year.
The last comic project I want to do... and actually, this may come to fruition before the others... is a backstory of my FBA character, Wendy Brown. I thought of a whole backstory one day, and it's quite complex and engaging. It's basically her whole childhood, her family, her various struggles and tragedies, personal life, pursuing basketball, and just how she came to be how she is. I'm excited to do this story because given what I've come up with so far, it stands alone very well as an interesting comic project. There actually aren't a lot of FBA elements to it - this is her story about how she got there. It's intended to be a standalone comic project that runs for about a year, maybe about 100 or so strips. It will be black and white, as I don't want to get really wrapped up in the art. I want to tell the story. But I want it to be effective, so I will have to determine where to draw the line on art detail/quality. But the story is the most important part. This one, I think, will launch near the end of the year, and I intend to start working on the comics sometime soon and keep them as a buffer. Maybe the story will begin during the offseason. Maybe it will begin at the start of next season (October). I'm not sure. But I do know this is a story I believe is worth telling, and worth telling in graphic form.
Other shit
Here's a list of other shit I'd like to try and do this year.
Workout more - This is EVERYONE'S resolution. Doesn't mean it ever gets done. But seriously, I have a gym membership and I haven't used it in like 6 months. Time to dust off those machines and start doing something, maybe 2 or 3 times a week. Plus it won't kill me to do crunches and push ups at home like I used to. I've got like 15 lbs I want to lose and I'm tired of feeling insecure about my stupid, miniscule weight gain and decreasing muscle mass. I'll be making a schedule soon. Hope I can get enough sleep so I will be able to stick to it. Speaking of...
Improve my sleeping habits - I have shit for a sleep schedule. No, you don't understand. It really really sucks... Not in that it's all over the place (like was a common problem before this job), but it's that I don't get enough. Even right now, it's after 3 am and I have to work tomorrow. If it were not the weekend, I'd be starting work at 5 or 6 am because I have to pick someone up then, yet I still go to bed at 2 am or later. I need to get more than 2 hours of sleep in a day, especially if I want to try and have the energy to get anything in my agenda done. Not enough sleep = no fucking way I'm going to the gym, or drawing anything, or writing music. I'm just going to be sitting around wondering when I can go to bed and wasting time brainlessly checking twitter. Plus, I'm almost 30 years old and I'm gonna have to start thinking about my health. My breathing and chest feel weird when I don't get enough sleep and I'm getting by on energy drinks and forcing myself to stay awake. That's not good. I want to get at least 6 hours of sleep a day, so I will have to start making myself get to bed earlier (unless of course Kat needs a ride from work at midnight, but that will hopefully be the only exception).
Play more basketball - Ahhh basketball... I miss just being out on the court, running around all carefree. Shooting and jumping and having a good time while getting exercise. I feel like my body is turning to mush, sitting in a cab all day, not getting enough sleep, not eating well, not exercising... I have to get back to enjoying being active again! My stamina is shit, my vertical jump (something I was proud of) is going downhill, and my basketball skills are declining. I had wanted to be that basketball playing tiger, the one with the ball and jersey at cons who could cross you over. Now I don't bring the ball because what's the point if I don't ever practice anymore? I gotta find some time, at least once a week or maybe more, especially when it starts getting warmer. Job be damned, I will just have to be sweaty and bring an extra change of clothes or something. When it's slow, instead of going home or fooling on the internet, go to the gym or shoot some hoops. It used to be fun, and it's time to get the fun back.
Sing more - Yep, I should start singing more in the car. I have an FM transmitter and an iPhone with Spotify. No excuse to not sing whenever I don't have someone in the car. I kinda need to be better at that anyways if I'm going to be in a band.
Get better at guitar - Lately I have only been playing guitar when I have an FPRM show planned in the next 2 months. I very rarely play for pleasure anymore, and that's because I just don't freakin' have time. But I need to get my chops up. I need to play through some of those songs I worked so hard to learn so I don't forget them. Having a focus on music will make me play more, but I could also stand to just learn some songs for the hell of it. Try to learn some scales or some new techniques. Try to get better, not just be forever adequate. My performances and my songwriting will be better for it if I can get the passion back and get back to practicing and playing because it's fun, not just because I don't want to be embarrassed on stage.
Practice drawing more - There was a summer, summer of 2005, where I was a camp counselor and we had no internet. Or if we did, it was slower than your grandma riding a snail underwater. Also, I was a drawing instructor that year at camp. As a result, with a bunch of my downtime, I sketched. I sketched for fun. I worked on my style. I drew comics and characters and drew some pictures for the kids. And after that summer I had improved so much. My webcomic went from eye-burny to hey-not-bad! I honestly don't think my art would be considered however good it is without that summer dedicated to improvement. And I want to get back to that, especially since I have artistic goals in mind. I need to work on anatomy, speed, and cleaning up/tightening up my style. That will probably help my other pursuits because I will be able to accomplish more in less time when I know what the fuck I'm doing and not spending hours with references and constantly erasing. Plus, I mean, I really just need to do more art. There was a time that art was what I was known for in the fandom. Now I bet most people I've met in the last 4 years don't even know I do art. Hopefully I can dedicate a little bit of time to sketching each day and trying to improve. Maybe even watch some Livestreams of better artists and pick up tricks. I need to learn and practice.
Bills and Money - Uhh... yeah. My pursuit of money and making a living is why I don't have more time for other stuff. Something's got to give. Maybe I should develop a more precise work schedule and stick to it, while making sure I have enough sleep and something artistic at my disposal so I can be creative and productive during my downtime. I do have to make more money, especially if I want to afford cons and pay down my debt. A goal of mine is to pay off some of my credit cards and add more money to my savings account. Other than that, I'm avoiding making specific goals for money. Life is about more than money, and I have let my job command my life and my time for a long time. I gotta do what I gotta do, but a year spent doing nothing but working and then lamenting about not doing any of my hobbies or passions is a year that could have gone a whole lot better.
Cons - Don't have a specific goal here. About 4 cons is my usual. FWA. AC. Maybe IFC? Hopefully the new con in Connecticut that's replacing FurFright. Maybe even MFF in Dec. Who knows? I do know that cons really drain my finances and then I have to spent a week or two catching up, and that is sucktastic. I'll have to be choosy about which cons I do so I don't screw myself, my money, and my schedule over.
Journals - Not a big goal, but I kinda want to make at least one journal a month. Either talking about what I did, or my progress with art, or just whatever. I kinda drop off the face of the furry world for long periods of time, so checking in here and there wouldn't be such a bad idea.
Social - Social stuff is my leading cause of wasting time. And I don't even talk on messengers anymore! I mean Twitter and shit, and constantly having to be up to date on what everyone's talking about. A better use of that time would be to actually talk to my friends one on one on Skype or something. I feel like I'm not very connected to anyone, even my good friends. I think a good conversation while I'm doing art or something of that nature every once in a while wouldn't kill me. Gotta get in better touch with my besties, and maybe even build some stronger bonds with people I like that I don't know very well.
Family - Of course I can't forget about my wonderful fiancé, my mom, sister, dad and all of them. I mustn't let all this stuff push them away. I will certainly spend plenty of quality time with Kat, and I'd like to even do more stuff together, like go have a picnic, or go on a small trip or to the park or something. My hunny is very important to me. ^^
Website - I kinda want to make a website for myself that collects all my various activities and goals and keeps them in one place. Not like I expect people to frequent it, but it could have an update when I upload art, or a comic, or a video. It's not that high on the priority list though.
Car - Gotta do something about a car. My car is pretty much ready to ride into the sunset. I need to sell it and maybe start saving for a new one. I currently just drive the cab around as my main car, but it would be nice to be able to drive further than Charlotte every once in a while without having to rent a car all the time. Though I dunno, as long as I drive the cab that's no car payments and free insurance, so it's a weird situation. But I at least need to upload mine and pocket whatever money I can before it rusts into the ground and becomes worthless.
Fursuit Making - I actually want to start to learn how to make fursuits. I have absolutely no experience though, so any tools and guides that I can find would be a big help. I realize that it's not going to take off until I make it my primary focus other than my job, but I gotta start somewhere. Maybe one day it can BE my job. If I can make decent enough money making fursuits that I can sustain a living, travel when I want, and still have some time to do other pursuits like art and music, then I will be living the dream. Speaking of which...
Wedding Plans - Yeah, I have a wedding to plan. It probably won't be until 2015, but I need to not wait until then to start thinking about it.
Is that it? That's all I have to do? Ha, that should be a cinch! May even get it all done with a few months to spare. Then I can play video games for 4 months straight. ;)
Nahhh, in reality, this is a LOT of shit to do... but if I find that I'm sitting around doing nothing, I could be doing something better. It's about building better habits, and I have to get over this "waste time online" and "procrastinate because I'm lazy" habit. I have fun hobbies, so it shouldn't be like pulling teeth to get me to start on one. Anyways, I hope I am more successful this year than last, and hopefully I will be able to accomplish something I'm proud of, and maybe you guys can enjoy it too. ^^
Here's to a hopefully productive and good-fortune-filled 2014! :)
-JT
Or is it more of the same old stuff?
Well, it's a little of both. Sadly, I didn't do very well on my resolutions last year (hell, I didn't even get around to making a journal for them... a feat which I damn near repeated again) so many of those resolutions from last year are the same this year.
Basically, there's a shit-ton of stuff I'd like to do to contribute to the fandom again, like I used to. Before full time jobs, and numerous moves, and life being crazy, and having no free time, I happily drew art and comics and updated my FA and kept up with all that. That was one of the things that gave me joy in the fandom, and sadly, I've been unable to do that for a few years.
So this year, THINGS WILL BE DIFFERENT! (or exactly the same, one or the other).
Art:
COMMISSIONS! Not new ones... old ones. Yes, those same old commissions I've had forever. I don't know why people commission me because I really suck at doing them. My habits are pretty damn unprofessional actually. This is what happens when, regrettably, art is not your full time job and source of income (extra motivation).
Anyways, completing commissions as follows: If I miss a date, I will give one more completion date that I consider reasonable depending on circumstances. If I miss that, well... if you notify me and you are interested in a refund, I will give you a two week plan, in which I either drop everything and finish your commission in two weeks or just bite the bullet and issue a refund. No more excuses.
Keep in mind the reason these take forever is I don't have much for free time. My job is demanding and other things come up. Plus I am just not a very good professional artist. I used to be, but now that I have so much more to juggle, I've just been unable or unwilling to make the time. Plus I've always been extremely SLOOOW and meticulous, and a horrible procrastinator and judge of time. This is my attempt to change that. Any patience you still deem fit to display with me is extremely highly appreciated.
It's also possible I may get ahead of schedule. Extremely unlikely, but possible. These dates are not written in stone but serve as a strong guideline for myself so I can have a realistic goal to shoot for. If I can get them done sooner, I will. And as always, I will NEVER sacrifice quality for quick return unless it is specified beforehand.
steviemaxwell - 
thepitifulwriter - to be completed by Feb 14
rainwhisker - to be completed by Mar 1[FWA and preparing for my performance]
tazel 
tobu 
hixbi.fox 
callsignwolf (flail icons) - to be completed by Mar 30
wyattkelly - to be completed by April 21
Defiant - to be completed by May 30 callsignwolf - to be completed June 15[AC most likely]
christaphorac - to be completed July 15[IFC?]
slyknuxdragon - to be completed Aug 31FLOATING COMMISSIONS (No set due date. Before end of 2014 would be glorious.)
redfoxthebountyhunter
buckhopper
canius
kasekine christaphorac (payment pending)That's all the commissions I have left to do. As usual, there will be other stuff interspersed with this. Some FBA stuff. Some personal art (maybe). Band stuff. Other projects. Play time. Time with mate/family/friends. And lots and lots of work. But if I'm able to keep to this schedule, and I complete all my commissions before year's end (and I don't take on any more) then that will be one HUGE success!
Music
If I can manage it around my commissions obligations, 2014 will be the year I really focus on my music and making progress with my band(s). There will of course be the standard couple of shows this year (FWA is one. IFC is most likely the other but we'll see.) But mainly, I want to RECORD. I want to WRITE. I want there to be tons of VIDEOS and PICTURES. I want people to actually want to follow the band, not just because they saw us once or their friends are in it, but because we actually put out GOOD MUSIC and we do so CONSISTENTLY. All my other projects burn out quickly or never get off the ground due to other obligations. I don't want that to be the case with this.
So in 2014, there will be a DELIBERATE, CONCENTRATED FOCUS on CREATING AND RECORDING NEW MUSIC.
It's far too easy for me to sit there and be like "Uhh, well, I don't feel inspired." Inspiration isn't just going to sneak up behind me and smack me on the back of the head. Sometimes I have to help it along. Listen to some inspiring music. Pick up the guitar and pick. Think of music and write it down, or record snippits. I have a ton of half-thought-out soundbites of songs as voice memos on my phone. Time to do something with that. Focus is the key, and actually seeing the process through from start to finish. As more progress is made, the passion will increase, and the product will become better. I don't have to aim for the stars with my very first song, but I have to aim for something. And this year I intend to do that.
These dates aren't specific, but here's a general guideline of what I want to happen, music-wise.
FURRY PUNK ROCK MASSACRE
- Hardcore Punk Cover Double EP release. 2 EPs, 8 min each.
- 10 song EP/LP, our other best punk covers to date (not included on the hardcore album). 28 min.
- 3 song cover EP (to go alongside another planned project). Just 5 min. For the lols.
- 2 Original music EPs (aiming for 5 songs each)
- Full Original Debut album (containing best songs from EPs, plus new songs. 12-14 songs total)
shows: FWA (2 songs), IFC (TBD)
[SECRET BAND #2]
- 1 cover song (for practice. individual upload. not included on any official release)
- Original music EP (about 5-6 songs)
- Full Original Debut album (10-12 songs)
shows: None (this project is focused on making music first before performing)
Yes, I have another band. Barely can operate one band, but yet I have two (go figure). The other band will create a different type of music than the first, but whereas FPRM was born to perform at cons (thus all the covers) the second band will focus purely on creating original music (which actually, I have already written more music for this band than FPRM. It just comes to me easier). I'm very excited about both projects, and they are longterm projects so don't expect all of this stuff this year (but hopefully expect some of it).
Why so many cover EPs you ask? Well, part of it is to help get the ball rolling on this recording thing. Facing facts, I am a ways away from fully completing an original song for recording, and we as a band are a ways away from having the necessary tools and skills to produce a clean sounding product. So the covers serve to give us motivation to start recording with what we've got, practice recording and mixing something that sounds decent, and to put something out there that gives people a taste of the band as well as a physical catalog of what the band has done so far, which is... covers!
This won't be completely chronological either. While we're getting a cover EP ready, I will be composing songs. We will collaborate on the songs and learn them, so that maybe next time we play a show, you might see us play an original or two! But I just want to put out SOMETHING for people to listen to, even if it's not original stuff. Then, when we're ready, there will be original music uploaded, recorded, and eventually, for sale. (cover EPs, if we sell them at all, will probably be really stinkin' cheap. It's not our stuff, so it's meant really as more of a novelty, not to make a bunch of money from other band's work).
Given all our busy schedules, and a current lack of necessary equipment, I'd say that for 2014 it is fair to expect at least 1 original FPRM EP (maybe both) written but not recorded, and maybe the first 2 cover EPs recorded if we can get that going. The Secret Band EP, I'm pretty sure, will be written but not recorded as well. There will be SOMETHING to upload online at some point this year, at least as teasers.
There will also be some more band related art (eventually), and pictures and videos to upload. There will be a concentrated effort to get this off the ground. Yes, we've done some stuff, played some shows, and put the name out there for people to have "heard of us". But this year, it's time to break through and give people a reason to follow us.
2014 will be the Year of the Rock.
Videos
Can you believe I have hours of fursuit video footage from as far back as 2009 that I haven't edited yet?
Wait... you can? This doesn't surprise you? Oh. :(
Well, yes, I do have a ton of videos to do. Fursuit videos for my own self, and also band related videos and music videos.
I'm making it a goal this year to completely edit and upload 1 video per month, or 12 total. At the very least... Maybe they will all be small videos, or videos with mostly raw footage requiring very little editing. Or maybe I will get ambitious and take on one of my full editing projects. Some will be band related (IFC footage, music video from our first show), some may be music related but more of an individual effort (me playing and singing a cover in suit at my house).
But there definitely needs to be more videos uploaded.
Comics
Here's an iffy one.
I have a bunch of ideas for comics that I would like to do. However, comics seem to take more time than practically everything else I do. I should know, I used to spend 40-50 hours a week (in college) making ONE comic strip in a week. Then it fell to one every other week. Then one whenever I felt like it. Then... uhh...
Anyways, yes, I do intend to get my comic up again. I will have to make a buffer before that happens, and I will have to dedicate A LOT of time to it. I'm not sure I'll have the time. I'll have to see how it goes. Ideally, I will have it relaunch at the beginning of the year. What "the" year is is quite up for debate. It could be 2014, it could be 2015, it could be 2025. I never said it had to be a specific year. ;) But I do hope to make some more scripts at least, and maybe, slowly, start drawing comics for it, even if I don't upload them yet.
There is also a character Tumblr I want to make. This will be an Adult tumblr containing art, pics, comics, interviews and stories involving some new characters I've created. I won't give away too many details yet, because it's a ways from happening (like seemingly everything). But it's been something I've been thinking about and planning since last year... it actually was a 2013 resolution that never got realized. Plus, I need some drawing and anatomy practice first. But if I can get back to drawing every day in the cab, I can get this started towards the end of the year.
The last comic project I want to do... and actually, this may come to fruition before the others... is a backstory of my FBA character, Wendy Brown. I thought of a whole backstory one day, and it's quite complex and engaging. It's basically her whole childhood, her family, her various struggles and tragedies, personal life, pursuing basketball, and just how she came to be how she is. I'm excited to do this story because given what I've come up with so far, it stands alone very well as an interesting comic project. There actually aren't a lot of FBA elements to it - this is her story about how she got there. It's intended to be a standalone comic project that runs for about a year, maybe about 100 or so strips. It will be black and white, as I don't want to get really wrapped up in the art. I want to tell the story. But I want it to be effective, so I will have to determine where to draw the line on art detail/quality. But the story is the most important part. This one, I think, will launch near the end of the year, and I intend to start working on the comics sometime soon and keep them as a buffer. Maybe the story will begin during the offseason. Maybe it will begin at the start of next season (October). I'm not sure. But I do know this is a story I believe is worth telling, and worth telling in graphic form.
Other shit
Here's a list of other shit I'd like to try and do this year.
Workout more - This is EVERYONE'S resolution. Doesn't mean it ever gets done. But seriously, I have a gym membership and I haven't used it in like 6 months. Time to dust off those machines and start doing something, maybe 2 or 3 times a week. Plus it won't kill me to do crunches and push ups at home like I used to. I've got like 15 lbs I want to lose and I'm tired of feeling insecure about my stupid, miniscule weight gain and decreasing muscle mass. I'll be making a schedule soon. Hope I can get enough sleep so I will be able to stick to it. Speaking of...
Improve my sleeping habits - I have shit for a sleep schedule. No, you don't understand. It really really sucks... Not in that it's all over the place (like was a common problem before this job), but it's that I don't get enough. Even right now, it's after 3 am and I have to work tomorrow. If it were not the weekend, I'd be starting work at 5 or 6 am because I have to pick someone up then, yet I still go to bed at 2 am or later. I need to get more than 2 hours of sleep in a day, especially if I want to try and have the energy to get anything in my agenda done. Not enough sleep = no fucking way I'm going to the gym, or drawing anything, or writing music. I'm just going to be sitting around wondering when I can go to bed and wasting time brainlessly checking twitter. Plus, I'm almost 30 years old and I'm gonna have to start thinking about my health. My breathing and chest feel weird when I don't get enough sleep and I'm getting by on energy drinks and forcing myself to stay awake. That's not good. I want to get at least 6 hours of sleep a day, so I will have to start making myself get to bed earlier (unless of course Kat needs a ride from work at midnight, but that will hopefully be the only exception).
Play more basketball - Ahhh basketball... I miss just being out on the court, running around all carefree. Shooting and jumping and having a good time while getting exercise. I feel like my body is turning to mush, sitting in a cab all day, not getting enough sleep, not eating well, not exercising... I have to get back to enjoying being active again! My stamina is shit, my vertical jump (something I was proud of) is going downhill, and my basketball skills are declining. I had wanted to be that basketball playing tiger, the one with the ball and jersey at cons who could cross you over. Now I don't bring the ball because what's the point if I don't ever practice anymore? I gotta find some time, at least once a week or maybe more, especially when it starts getting warmer. Job be damned, I will just have to be sweaty and bring an extra change of clothes or something. When it's slow, instead of going home or fooling on the internet, go to the gym or shoot some hoops. It used to be fun, and it's time to get the fun back.
Sing more - Yep, I should start singing more in the car. I have an FM transmitter and an iPhone with Spotify. No excuse to not sing whenever I don't have someone in the car. I kinda need to be better at that anyways if I'm going to be in a band.
Get better at guitar - Lately I have only been playing guitar when I have an FPRM show planned in the next 2 months. I very rarely play for pleasure anymore, and that's because I just don't freakin' have time. But I need to get my chops up. I need to play through some of those songs I worked so hard to learn so I don't forget them. Having a focus on music will make me play more, but I could also stand to just learn some songs for the hell of it. Try to learn some scales or some new techniques. Try to get better, not just be forever adequate. My performances and my songwriting will be better for it if I can get the passion back and get back to practicing and playing because it's fun, not just because I don't want to be embarrassed on stage.
Practice drawing more - There was a summer, summer of 2005, where I was a camp counselor and we had no internet. Or if we did, it was slower than your grandma riding a snail underwater. Also, I was a drawing instructor that year at camp. As a result, with a bunch of my downtime, I sketched. I sketched for fun. I worked on my style. I drew comics and characters and drew some pictures for the kids. And after that summer I had improved so much. My webcomic went from eye-burny to hey-not-bad! I honestly don't think my art would be considered however good it is without that summer dedicated to improvement. And I want to get back to that, especially since I have artistic goals in mind. I need to work on anatomy, speed, and cleaning up/tightening up my style. That will probably help my other pursuits because I will be able to accomplish more in less time when I know what the fuck I'm doing and not spending hours with references and constantly erasing. Plus, I mean, I really just need to do more art. There was a time that art was what I was known for in the fandom. Now I bet most people I've met in the last 4 years don't even know I do art. Hopefully I can dedicate a little bit of time to sketching each day and trying to improve. Maybe even watch some Livestreams of better artists and pick up tricks. I need to learn and practice.
Bills and Money - Uhh... yeah. My pursuit of money and making a living is why I don't have more time for other stuff. Something's got to give. Maybe I should develop a more precise work schedule and stick to it, while making sure I have enough sleep and something artistic at my disposal so I can be creative and productive during my downtime. I do have to make more money, especially if I want to afford cons and pay down my debt. A goal of mine is to pay off some of my credit cards and add more money to my savings account. Other than that, I'm avoiding making specific goals for money. Life is about more than money, and I have let my job command my life and my time for a long time. I gotta do what I gotta do, but a year spent doing nothing but working and then lamenting about not doing any of my hobbies or passions is a year that could have gone a whole lot better.
Cons - Don't have a specific goal here. About 4 cons is my usual. FWA. AC. Maybe IFC? Hopefully the new con in Connecticut that's replacing FurFright. Maybe even MFF in Dec. Who knows? I do know that cons really drain my finances and then I have to spent a week or two catching up, and that is sucktastic. I'll have to be choosy about which cons I do so I don't screw myself, my money, and my schedule over.
Journals - Not a big goal, but I kinda want to make at least one journal a month. Either talking about what I did, or my progress with art, or just whatever. I kinda drop off the face of the furry world for long periods of time, so checking in here and there wouldn't be such a bad idea.
Social - Social stuff is my leading cause of wasting time. And I don't even talk on messengers anymore! I mean Twitter and shit, and constantly having to be up to date on what everyone's talking about. A better use of that time would be to actually talk to my friends one on one on Skype or something. I feel like I'm not very connected to anyone, even my good friends. I think a good conversation while I'm doing art or something of that nature every once in a while wouldn't kill me. Gotta get in better touch with my besties, and maybe even build some stronger bonds with people I like that I don't know very well.
Family - Of course I can't forget about my wonderful fiancé, my mom, sister, dad and all of them. I mustn't let all this stuff push them away. I will certainly spend plenty of quality time with Kat, and I'd like to even do more stuff together, like go have a picnic, or go on a small trip or to the park or something. My hunny is very important to me. ^^
Website - I kinda want to make a website for myself that collects all my various activities and goals and keeps them in one place. Not like I expect people to frequent it, but it could have an update when I upload art, or a comic, or a video. It's not that high on the priority list though.
Car - Gotta do something about a car. My car is pretty much ready to ride into the sunset. I need to sell it and maybe start saving for a new one. I currently just drive the cab around as my main car, but it would be nice to be able to drive further than Charlotte every once in a while without having to rent a car all the time. Though I dunno, as long as I drive the cab that's no car payments and free insurance, so it's a weird situation. But I at least need to upload mine and pocket whatever money I can before it rusts into the ground and becomes worthless.
Fursuit Making - I actually want to start to learn how to make fursuits. I have absolutely no experience though, so any tools and guides that I can find would be a big help. I realize that it's not going to take off until I make it my primary focus other than my job, but I gotta start somewhere. Maybe one day it can BE my job. If I can make decent enough money making fursuits that I can sustain a living, travel when I want, and still have some time to do other pursuits like art and music, then I will be living the dream. Speaking of which...
Wedding Plans - Yeah, I have a wedding to plan. It probably won't be until 2015, but I need to not wait until then to start thinking about it.
Is that it? That's all I have to do? Ha, that should be a cinch! May even get it all done with a few months to spare. Then I can play video games for 4 months straight. ;)
Nahhh, in reality, this is a LOT of shit to do... but if I find that I'm sitting around doing nothing, I could be doing something better. It's about building better habits, and I have to get over this "waste time online" and "procrastinate because I'm lazy" habit. I have fun hobbies, so it shouldn't be like pulling teeth to get me to start on one. Anyways, I hope I am more successful this year than last, and hopefully I will be able to accomplish something I'm proud of, and maybe you guys can enjoy it too. ^^
Here's to a hopefully productive and good-fortune-filled 2014! :)
-JT
2013: A Year Of Stuff (Part 1 of 2) [LONG-ASS READ]
Posted 12 years agoSo 2013 has come and gone (like a bad stomach virus), and like every year before it, a bunch of stuff happened. (don't you just love how I paint a picture with my writing? Happy trees muthafucka! ^^)
There was some good stuff. There was some bad stuff. No year is perfect, of course. And I think, overall, I had a pretty good 2013. Some big benchmarks happened this year, and unlike last year (and the year before) nothing and no one close to me died! That's a positive! :D
Also, having gone back and read my 2012 review, that year actually sucked rather copious amounts of donkey scrote, so I'd say 2013 was a VAST improvement. ;)
So anyways, before I get lost in some series of hopeless digression, let me jump into it!
A REVIEW OF 2013!
Hmm, should I go month to month, or pros and cons? Hmm... I'll try a little of both. Though it's kinda difficult to remember what happened in January... eh, I'm just gonna go for it. I'll put a "pros/cons" segment under the "month-to-month" segment (for you lazy readers!)
2013 YEAR IN REVIEW
January
So.... January... January 2013... Uhhhh....
Well, I was still living with Mom aaaaand her husband had still just passed away in December, and she was in the process of filing bankruptcy, wondering where her living income was going to come from, and grieving.
I don't think January was very good.
However, the worst part (right before he died) was finally over, and that was a burden off all our backs. I still had a job that carried over from last year (hooray!) though at that time it wasn't very lucrative... thus, living with Mom still. Don't really remember anything else that was specific. Not a lot of furry stuff, thanks to job. Worked ass off. Reattached ass sometime in February.
Hmm... oh yeah! I just went through some of my old FA journals (I seriously need to put more day to day or week to week stuff in journal form. How else am I supposed to remember what I did a year ago?) I realized that at this time last year, the fundraiser to help fix katalina's smile was underway! ^^
My gosh, that was such a wonderful gift! For 15 years, Kat had dealt with a jagged, decomposing, crumbling, painful set of teeth due to them being weakened from experimental dental products when she was a young guinea pig owned by the state. Now, she has a radiant smile! FINALLY! And it's thanks to you guys who donated generously that it was able to happen. One year later, we're still awestruck by the amazingness of the furry fandom. ^__^
Also, along with the amazingness of the furry fandom, I discovered the nasty side as well, as due to a bitter feud, mistakes and misunderstanding, I was formally kicked out of the FBA (Furry Basketball Association, which was an integral part of my furry life) at the end of January, losing all my characters to the league in the process (DON'T WORRY, THERE IS A HAPPY ENDING). This was a huge hole in my heart up until recently, but it taught me a lot of important values and lessons which I think helped me become a better person, or at least more understanding of my actions and their consequences. I was pretty sure that was it for me and the FBA then, but as things turned out - and thankfully so - that was not the case.
Also almost got arrested for playing in the snow at night. --> http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/4245353/
February
Only one thing I'm sure of that happened, and that's my birthday. I had to ask Kat what we did. She reminded me that my sister and nieces came over. They gave me a wonderful gift of cake in a cup, just add water (which is still sitting on top of my fridge), and a cookie cake that was far too pumped with sugar for any of us to eat more than 2 bites of. We also played a board game. o__o
But more importantly, it was this month (the 1st, I believe) that Kat had all the teeth forcefully ripped from her head (owies...) but they were replaced with the GLORIOUS SMILE she now possesses! http://www.furaffinity.net/view/9829958/ Once again, kitties thank you! ^__^
On a less feel-good note (but still important), this was the month that my taxi job switched over from calling-drivers-on-phones-with-a-run-every-2-hours-or-so to adding a dispatch box (computer) in cab that allowed us to see what runs there were and in what zone, and allowed us to give our personal number to passengers so we could actually have regular customers. We moved to a weekly lease instead of paying a percentage, which I was skeptical of at first because I had never earned enough in 60 hours a week to justify paying what we had to pay daily to make a weekly lease work. However, it's actually worked out pretty well, and while it was slow to start, I did start making more money eventually. I'd say this was a very big positive.
Oh, and I also saw Flogging Molly (5th time?). Hell to the Yeah. Always a privilege when they come to town. ^^
March
Biggest thing that stands out about March? FWA! It was a very special and awesome time indeed. ^^
Well... it was... actually, um... ok, well I had fun. And my band played a (if I can toot my own horn for one sec) really kickass show at the talent show, a rendition of a Dropkick Murphys favorite you may remember. http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/4451222/ (hey look, video that was NOT deleted in a fucking shitfit! ...*ahem* Sorry... You'll get it later. >,>)
That was easily the highlight of my con. It honestly wasn't the best overall con due to the stupid hotel layout (another year of it, yay Elevator Con) but because I saw good friends and played a good show, it was worthwhile. Oh, and
cajunkitty helped a great deal in getting me and Kat there (as opposed to me paying my company out of pocket to not work), so mad props to him. ^^
I also got to see Dropkick Murphys like a week before the con! They played Worker's Song, so you know I was paying attention to how they played it live so I could get some pointers for the FWA show. One small problem... they played that song and that song only, ACOUSTIC! Thanks guys! I DID get to jump up on stage at the end of the show and got a (very blurry) picture with Ken Casey (bassist/vocalist) while they played their encore, so that was very memorable!
By the end of March, I was very high on Furry Punk Rock Massacre due to the performance, and I was eager to keep it going and do more for the band (social media, FA, promos and such). And the job was plugging along just fine. Yay for money!
April
I can't believe I almost forgot about my trip to Galveston! Thanks random past-dated FA journal! :D
Yes, April. April was a 'feels' month. All the feels...
So I took a flight to Galveston, TX (my hometown... and to be technically correct, the flight was to Houston and I drove a rental down to Galveston). I saw my Dad for the first time since 2011. I hung out with high school friends and played basketball with them (man, those were the days. Sucks we've become kinda distant now, but everyone’s so damn busy. Oh well, that's life). Swam in the Gulf of Mexico like old times (I miss the beach. ;___;) and generally had a great time catching up with people. It was over all too soon. But I've had a little bit more contact with those guys since then thanks to my fantasy basketball league with them (a yearly thing).
It was also at this time (and I've never mentioned this before) that I decided, without a doubt, that this was the year I wanted to marry Angel ( katalina) my mate of over 5 years.
I was sitting on my Dad's back porch, being incredibly nostalgic, as usual. And, the reason I was in Galveston (I guess that’s kind of important to mention) was because another childhood friend was getting married. After attending the wedding and seeing all of my old friends together at the same time (for probably the first time since we graduated college, and quite possibly the last time all at once), I came to the conclusion that... life really is short. There are people that are important in life that we just kinda think will always be there... and one day, those people might not be around.
I have wanted to spend my life with Kata'lina since we got together over 5 years ago, but our living situation was strenuous to put it lightly. Money, residence, jobs (or lack of jobs), and making DAMN SURE that this decision was not one I was taking lightly. It had to feel absolutely right. And after seeing my friend get married, spending those moments with them, with my dad, with family, thinking of moments past, present and future, and knowing that I had a steady job and Kat had just gotten her beautiful smile... what the hell was I waiting for? Nothing but the right moment. And I knew exactly when that moment would be, and I knew, right then, that moment was what I did truly, undoubtedly want. Before anything stupid and regrettable happened that made me wish I'd done it sooner. No more putting it off.
It was time.
So I called my Mom on the phone and I told her this. Through tears, she exclaimed how happy she was, how PROUD she was, and that she knew too, in her heart, that Angel was the woman for me. It felt right.
I dedicated a date to the proposal (which of course you know how that happened) then went on about life. The preparation would come, about a month before the proposal (of course, why do ANYTHING early, silly tiger). But it was this time, in Galveston, at my childhood home, that the decision was made.
Oh, and I got my first iPhone (5). ^^ (Wow, talk about a story climax. :P)
May
I AM NOT SURE WHAT IN THE FUCK HAPPENED IN MAY.
*reads through old FA journals*
Ok, so all I know is I lost my wallet, canceled my cards, someone FOUND my wallet at the airport and turned it in, and I had to go through dozens of phone calls and phone tag to get my wallet back. But I got it back. (I need to write more FA journals, seriously).
Oh, and this was the first May in 3 years (3 FUCKING YEARS) that my job did not end.
2010 was 3 day/week freelance that had dried up (end of month), and I moved from Hilton Head, SC to NC (Mom's house) so I couldn't do that job anymore.
2011 (May 3rd) was my ill-fated California experiment, where I wasn't fast/skilled/trendy/emotionless-robot enough for the merciless tides of deadlines and expectations in the hotbed of American Entertainment (LA). Moved back East to NC (Mom's house, again) in June.
2012 was the termination (SWEET BLESSING OF RAPTURE) from the law firm job (May 7th). Moved from Savannah, GA to NC (Mom's house) in June (see a pattern here?)
2013 there was A SCARE. I forgot what I did, but I think it had to do with me having a pickup, and I had double-booked and was late/couldn't pick up that passenger, and they cancelled. Again, I'm not sure exactly what it was, but I got an ominous phone call from the dispatcher telling me the boss wanted to see me in his office before the end of the day. O,o
Oh fuck... -____- The curse of May continues...
Needless to say I was not fired, he just wanted to give me updated registration papers. But oh did I shit some bricks for about an hour and a half. Goddamn.
Fuck you, curse of May.
OH, also, I just remembered, I got new paws (handpaws and footpaws) from
mischiefmakers and I LOVE them! Next I will get the full arm and leg sleeves! After that, I will get a new head (from somebody, not sure who yet). Then WALLAH! NEW FURSUIT! ^__^ EEEEE!!!
June
The most special thing about June was that on June 7th, Kitty and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary (or Kittyversary as we like to call it. ^__^)
Kat did something very special for me, actually. Yes I usually do something special for her, but money was pretty tight and I had been SO BUSY with work. But what she did was so perfect, I didn't need to do anything this time. ^^
She got us matching Claddagh rings. Now as the link I gave just now explains, a Claddagh ring is a traditional Irish ring meant to indicate one's promise of loyalty, love and friendship to another. Although it can indicate a different relationship status altogether (single and looking, engaged, married) depending on how it is worn, it is generally meant as a token of commitment to another person... an engagement ring without the engagement, if you will. ;)
She got us each a Claddagh ring and wrote out a beautiful verse (translated in Celtic Gaelic) and put it on a cool looking scroll. http://www.furaffinity.net/view/10750056/ She presented it to me in our little office room, where we shared a moment on the floor (not a dirty moment... Mom was home. ^^)
It was truly beautiful of her... I still cherish my ring, though I wear it on my necklace because I don't really like wearing rings (wedding ring? I'll get used to it. :P)
Other than that, the first (and only) Fuzzcast of Season 3 happened (can one episode be called a season?) Mom went out for the weekend, so Kat and I had some fun streaming Fuzzcast in yet another new location (whenever our shitty wireless internet signal allowed for it).
I really need to upload those old episodes, actually. And yes, Fuzzcast will happen again, eventually. We do have our own place and can stream it whenever, but having two jobs with two completely different schedules makes it tough. I may have to do one on my own, eventually, though it probably won't be as entertaining. :P More kitties make it better! ^_^
July
At the beginning of this month (well, more like the end of June), Kat and I were flipping through some webpages looking at houses in the area, since we didn't want to live with my Mom forever (as fun as my Mom is). Without really even trying to find a place, we found one listing that looked promising. It was a trailer (hm... not to keen on trailers mostly, given what I've seen) but it was cheap, and only a mile or so away. So we looked at the listing and HOLY SHIT! O,O
The inside, while trailerish (if that is an adequate adjective) was GORGEOUS! The kitchen was done up really modern with beautiful mirrored cabinets! It had a SPA TUB in a bathroom (and a second bathroom!) It had a DECK out back (which looks LOVELY in the sunny weather, a tree sits right next to it and its leaves give it shade! ^^) It was a little small (only a single wide) but hell, Kat and I have lived in a 450 sq ft 1 room studio apartment in CA without any real problems so that was no biggie. ;)
Only down side was the road to get there is the most jank-ass, ratchet-as-fuck dirt road you've ever seen.
Like a single bulldozer drove through a forest, knocked some shit out of the way and said "Here you go".
Like if this road were a person, it would be a 60 year old hooker with ass-herpes.
The road sucks balls.
But the place and the price were great, so I figured I'd get used to the road (and have... mostly. ^^)
I had saved up a decent sized chunk of cash in my bank account by that time and it was as good a time as any to go for it. So we went ahead and applied! And we GOT IT! ^___^
We moved in July 15th (or earlier... I think the 11th is when we actually moved most or our stuff). It made a very nice birthday present for Kat (July 17th birthday). WE GOT DA HOUSE!!!
Of course before all that wonderfulness, there was Anthrocon! And of course that was a big debacle because I wasn't sure I'd have enough money to put the deposit and first month's rent on the house AND go to AC AND afford missing work (which included JULY 4TH BECAUSE FUCK-GEEZ ANTHROCON AND YOUR TIMING). After some hearty soul-searching, number crunching, crying into some spreadsheets and gazing in a manner most forlorn out my window, I came to the conclusion we could afford to go (ok, and I had rented a car which I could not get my money back on).
Unfortunately, due to my waffling, we arrived on Friday at like 2am. And by Friday I mean Saturday. Because it was 2 am.
However, we made the best of it, and it was a kick-ass time! Over WAY too soon, but what did we expect? Crammed as much as we could in those 2 days and made it count! :D
Plus, when we got back... HOUSE! ^^
August
Ok, the length of these summaries are getting out of control. I have #kablyfe to do tonight afterall. XD
[POST EDIT: yeah... didn’t happen. #fail #unnecessaryhashtag]
Two things stood out in August... well, 3. IndyFurCon, my Mom's birthday, and Kat getting a job!
IFC - I had NEVER arrived for a con on a Tuesday before... and well, I wasn't about to start! :D
warrn arrived at my house, uh... Monday night I think. We were supposed to leave for Indiana on Tuesday, but I still had to pack, and then I kinda had to sleep, and well, before you knew it, it was Wednesday morning. But we finally had the car loaded and left early Wednesday, arriving in Indy Wednesday afternoon, just in time to go to band rehearsal.
I'm not going to rewrite the con report (for the love of God, BAD TIGGIE! YOU ALREADY WROTE THAT HERE! -> http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/5002190/ ) but the band played its first ever FULL HOUR SHOW! That was pretty exciting! It went ok, could have gone better. But a lot of people enjoyed it a lot. (of course the videos are now gone due to assfuckery and backstabbery, but I might be getting some from another source... fingers crossed!)
After that bit of epicness (and getting chewed out by the boss for taking a full week off for the con X,x) I settled into normalcy, except with added financial issues (that's a long time to not get paid... and a lot of money to spend on a trip).
Plus, did I mention I had gotten a traffic ticket RIGHT BEFORE THE CON? Just like I got a traffic ticket RIGHT BEFORE ANTHROCON. Also I got one RIGHT BEFORE RIOT FEST. AND BEFORE FURFRIGHT. Well geez, I drive like 70 hours every single week, so odds are against me. That and the police do not like me traveling to activities out of state (and they're out for blood anyways).
[FOR THE RECORD - paid the AC one, IFC one dismissed, currently dealing with the others and for the love of God do NOT pick this section out of my journal and nitpick me on it or I will hide your comment SOFAST.]
Anyways... digression aside (curse my stream of consciousness mind X,x) Mom's birthday party was cool. Just a simple get-together at my sister's place. Niece made a really awesome cake that looked like a garden with oreo crumbles for dirt and edible sugar-grass. ^^
Then at the end of the month, KAT GOT A JOB! Ironically, it was at the same hospital that killed my stepfather. Hmmmmmm..... Well, a job is a job. (Yay money!) And that meant a lot because now I'm not the only one paying all the bills and groceries and such! Yay Kitty! :D
Also I think this is when I got season tickets for the Charlotte Bobcats, which is something I've always wanted! (season tickets... not really for the Bobcats... but hey, it's basketball! And it was cheap! :P)
September
Main thing that happened in September, other than lots of working, was Riot Fest.
I flew to Chicago, met a regular cab customer at the O'Hare airport as he was flying out to Charlotte (weird, huh?), hung with
evan (first time in a long time. Was nice. :3), slept in an airport terminal (a ‘friend’ ditched on the hotel), saw steviemaxwell, saw a shitton of great bands (Blink 182, FLAG, Lawrence Arms, Bad Religion, Screeching Weasel, Andrew WK, Misfits, Rancid), missed just as many good ones (Pennywise, TSOL, X, Suicidal Tendencies, Against Me, Lillingtons), slept in a rental car, then flew back. Twas a grand ol' time. :3
Next year, if I can go, I'm getting tickets much cheaper (aka SOONER than last minute).
Show review is here -> http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/5105378/
October
This was the month. The best month. Or at least the end of the month.
As you may know, I proposed to katalina at FurFright 2013 (which turned out to be the last thing that happened at ANY FurFright, period).
(con review -> http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/5212294/ )
(proposal video -> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SO6u.....ature=youtu.be )
All the preparing was done this month, other than telling Belic I was going to be proposing at Closing Ceremonies.
Video was made last second (which made us late) to play along with a song, which I changed the lyrics of to be about her. And sang it. And she had NO. CLUE. AT. ALL. ^_____^
FurFright... the place we first met IRL, back in 2007. The place I truly, deeply, fell in love and knew she was the one I wanted to be with. The place where our storybook romance became a reality.
And... what did she say?
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/12102928/
Nothing else really mattered in October. I got what I truly wanted. And it was delivered just the way I planned. ^__^
Love you hunny! ^___^
(of course they announced FurFright was shutting their doors, literally like a month later. T__T Just glad I did this when I did. There would be no second chance.)
November
Uhhh.... Um....
Honestly, I got nothing.
Oh, my Mom went on a trip to Texas to see her brothers as a sort of final family reunion (they are all in advanced age and live all over the US, so meeting all together again is unlikely). During that time, I took her cat, or rather, our cat (from my childhood, the last of the Mohicans) into my house as MY cat. After a little scare with her refusing to eat and me having to take her to the vet ($133 for blood work), it came back that she has kidney issues. Well no duh, she's like 15 years old. But my mom was able to get her to eat and nursed her back to health (as healthy as she can be anyways). She's now happily content, in my bedroom and master bathroom.
And she likes to perch on our bodies while Kat and I sleep. Tiny little ball of fluff sleeping on my chest. :3
December
Aaaaand the dousy. :P
Very BIG things happened this month. Of course it would be the last month of the year, so 2013 felt it fitting to go out with a bang.
A bridge was burnt, another one rebuilt.
I had mentioned in the paragraph for January that I had been banned from the FBA. This banning was a result of a tiff I had with the FBA commissioner/creator buckhopper.
The long short of it (and this is the LAST time I rehash this, as I'm glad it's finally over...) was I had unintentionally, yet nonetheless deeply, insulted B-Hop in an email about taurs playing in the league. My wording was severe, my message poorly delivered, and instead of making a strong persuasive argument, I ended up deeply hurting one of my best friends.
As a result, I not only lost a friend, but my involvement in the FBA was hanging by a string. Also, at the time, the FBA owned the rights to all FBA characters and designs. My punishment, in exchange for remaining in the FBA, was that my characters became owned by the league. I was not able to make decisions for them or develop them, but I could still manage a team.
(by the way, I'm only telling you guys this because we've settled our differences and things are ok again. This is just an explanation as to how that happened.)
The email actually happened last year, around May. However, it wasn't until January 2013 when I got banned, due to speaking up against the commissioner again and causing more undue drama. This also brought to light a few things I had been previously unaware of.
Namely, the manner in which I was acting was not befitting the spirit of the FBA. I was acting selfishly, speaking out when a move or decision did not benefit me, and was seemingly opposed to any sort of change that happened, such as a species limit for the team or who made the All-Star game. Trivial, stupid stuff. Stuff that I should never have gotten my feathers ruffled over. It had been a while since Buck and I sat down in 2008/2009 and meticulously planned everything for the league, including teams, players, salaries, locations... at the time I managed a quarter of the teams in the league. And I was finding it difficult to relinquish control and to just let things... happen.
The goal wasn't to win, it was to write engaging stories. It wasn't a fantasy sports league, with teams to be managed competitively and money riding on the outcome. And it didn't always have to match what I thought the league should be like. I thought it needed to be realistic, to the point that moves and decisions reflected ones that may occur in the NBA. But the FBA is not the NBA, nor is it intended to be. Furthermore, all that stuff didn't really matter. Yet my emotional attachments and sharp reactions treated it like it really, really did.
It took being pushed away... being separated from the FBA, for me to look in, not as a manager or coach, but as a FAN, as an OUTSIDER, and see what it really was all about. I learned to accept change. I learned to enjoy how things played out, even if I didn't have control over it. I learned to not get upset over details.
I learned to chill. The hell. Out.
And I did see how difficult I was being. My actions were making it hard for others to enjoy the league as it was meant to be enjoyed. I just took things way too seriously, disrupted the fun of others, and I paid dearly.
Fast forward to about August... It had been half a year since I really paid much attention to the FBA (although I was still coloring the icons I sketched, in an effort to finish what I started, regardless of my standing in the league). B-Hop put a really nice comment on my IFC journal, which startled me, but it was a pleasant surprise. We engaged in a small back and forth here and there, as I did post a handful of comments on FBA posts, to which he would respond to me with decency. I took delight in the fact that my old friend was being friendly again. But we still weren't really anything more than just polite to one another.
But that was at least encouraging. I upped my efforts to complete FBA ICONS for the LEAGUE. I finished a good deal of them (as of this moment, only 1 unfinished sketch of mine is being used in the database, and I will have that done soon) and I also finished a few FBA pictures, one of KASA YALENCHKA and one of WENDY BROWN, both "my" characters, but I was never forbidden to draw art of them. I also DESIGNED A JERSEY for a new team (the relocated Galveston Sand Dollars) called the Hawaii Kahunas (that ultimately wasn't used, but some of the design elements inspired the final design).
Basically, despite being banned, out of 15 submissions in 2013, 9 of them were FBA related. I guess I just couldn't get around my passion for the FBA. :P
I did send B-Hop an email with my icon designs so he could upload them to the new FBA WIKI PAGE. I did not have access at the time (well, I did, but I forgot I signed up for it... plus the whole 'permission' thing). His responses were kind and appreciative. It further encouraged me to contribute my efforts to the project.
Then, in December (THE MONTH I'M SUPPOSED TO BE WRITING ABOUT DX) I get an email from B-Hop. He's changing his approach to managing the league. No longer is the FBA taking ownership of any characters or designs or logos or stories. The idea requiring legal ownership of them was scrapped, and the rights were (rightfully) returning back to the creators.
(The whole thing is explained in this Livestream, the "Mid-December General Meeting" -> http://livestre.am/4HRLh )
And when he made this decision, he gave me back all my characters. All my designs. All my logos. All my RIGHTS.
And he lifted the ban.
I was back in the league.
And I COULD NOT BE HAPPIER!
Over the last year and a half I was emotionally plagued with the consequences of my decisions, of my hurtful actions, of my selfish behavior. But I learned a great deal from my banishment. I didn't like it. I didn't agree with it at the time. But I know now, the break was good for me.
And now... all was made right! I saw the error of my ways, and so did he. He changed his policy, and I changed my attitude, outlook and approach to the FBA. And since then, I've created 4 (soon to be 5?) twitter accounts for FBA characters (ok, Wendy's already existed. ^///^), and I've cohosted an episode of FBA Courtside: LIVE!. Plus I've got some more things in store to help grow the league and make it even better! (That will be revealed in full later. :3)
Let it be known, I highly respect B-Hop for the decision he made. Not just because it resulted in me being let back in the league, but because it takes a big man to admit he was wrong. And the decision to give ownership of everyone's contributions back to their creators was the right thing to do.
It was not about me, but about a separate issue entirely that caused him to come to this decision. Still, he took responsibility for his actions, he saw the shaky direction that the FBA was headed, and he decided to change all that. He gave up on a grand idea he was pursuing with the league (making it a video game, which explained all the legal stuff), because he saw that it would take away from those who it mattered to most... the contributors. And he gave up a good bit of control so that it wouldn't happen again. That, right there, was a very admirable thing for him to do.
But the end result was that I got my characters back. I got my friend back. I got the FBA back. And one of my biggests regrets and sources of remorse in my life was finally, FINALLY rectified. :)
And I learned my lesson. From now on, I will only be constructive and thoughtful in my actions in the FBA, never negative or disruptive. There's an FBA Committee in place now for purposes of checks and balances, to make sure the commissioner never abuses his power. I'll let it be THEIR job to call him out if they feel they have to. For me, I will just enjoy being creative, being positive...
...and being back. :3
BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE!
[OMG, ARE YOU SERIOUS?!]
[YES I AM. DID YOU FORGET THIS JOURNAL IS A REVIEW OF 2013 AND NOT AN FBA JOURNAL?]
[WELL YES... I FORGOT BECAUSE YOU BLABBED FOR LIKE 7 HOURS ABOUT-]
[OK I GET IT... ENOUGH. BACK TO THE JOURNAL]
[FINALLY]
[*MOCKING VOICE* FINELLEH...]
*ahem*...
Yes, December... Um... so...
Well, before I get into the other thing, let me mention that there was a VERY NICE SURPRISE in the middle of the month!
toraie 
defeatdown and 
ryokufox came up from Savannah to visit Kat and me at our Christmas furmeet! Surprised the hell out of Kat... of course I already knew about it. XD
It was delightful to see them again. Haven't seen Roo and Tora since FWA, and haven't seen Ryoku since moving from Savannah. We played fursuit games outside (tried to... the ground was kinda muddy and getting a lot of fursuiters to do one thing was like... well... herding cats :P) exchanged gifts, and then hung out late into the night. I got Rum Chata as a gift (MMMMMMM... CINNAMON TOAST RUM) and a buncha other cool things! Then the next day we went to Kat's Patch (no, not a patch belonging to katalina, an awesome yummy local BBQ place!) and had lunch before they left back to Savannah. It t'was nice. ^^
Oh, and I saw NOFX on Dec 7th. They are one of my absolute favorite bands. Also, they were awesome. ^^ (They played THE DECLINE, which they only play ONCE per city EVER! I've seen it twice now, the other time in Atlanta in 2007). Though Fat Mike wouldn't sign my shirt or take a picture (booo) but it's ok, I still lubs ya. :P
(are you seeing what happens when I don't write FA journals? INFO'SPLOSION! XD)
And now... the bad news.
(Yes this all happened in December... what a month. And I haven't even gotten to freakin' Christmas yet)
[WARNING - NEGATIVE RANTING AHEAD. NO NAMES MENTIONED. MY OPINION ONLY. OTHER OPINIONS MAY VARY. YADDA YADDA YADDA. VOTE NADER.]
A former good friend of mine (who... I guess I won't mention... it's just... not worth it... plus this is not a call out journal... you want backstory, go check out my tweets from late Dec 21 through Dec 22) decided, ALL OF A SUDDEN, that my bandmates and myself and everyone in our circle of friends never appreciated him, never showed consideration to him, didn't care about his health or well-being, and took him for granted.
So he freaked out and deleted the videos from the band's IFC show. Because he was frustrated with them.
Then, because I had the AUDACITY to get ANGRY about that, he smashed his $2000 Les Paul Gibson guitar across his soundboard (destroying both), tweeted malicious things aimed at myself, my fiancé and our friends who did nothing to him, then took sadistic joy in deleting every one of the videos he had backed up on his other hard drive, all the while rubbing it in our faces.
And we had done NOTHING to him. EVER.
This all came as a shock because just 30 minutes prior, we were waxing poetic and shooting shit on Twitter. Then... he just... snapped. Unprovoked and without reason, other than he was growing frustrated at the video of our IFC performance (which I guess didn't meet his standards or whatever).
Then, in a flash, he tweeted it was gone.
The rest only came out in a note to one of the other bandmates, after they noted him about how surprised and hurt they were, and that they didn't know why he did what he did. None of us knew. He never communicated with us about any of that. If he did, maybe we could have helped sort it out, but...
My band never asked for his help. We never expected support, or financial help with putting on shows, or hotel rooms, or helping film us, or any of that. We let him know this and HE STILL OFFERED THAT TO US. And it was offered in such a way that left little to no room for refusal.
But we always told him, countless times, "You didn't have to do this", and "We appreciate the help greatly".
We showed concern when he had health related issues, even stopping short of starting a fundraiser for him when his studio was destroyed in a fire (his pride never allowed him to accept gifts, in fact he would get angry about it).
He was extremely stubborn and prideful, but he had shown he was generous as well. He donated time and money to charity, countless times.
Yet his generosity came with a cost. A cost we weren't aware of.
When we dared get upset that he deleted the videos (after REFUSING to send me the videos of my own performance for months), he just snapped.
He tweeted about smashing his guitar and how good it felt.
He unfollowed me, the band, my mate, my bandmates and the friends in our circle (who had done nothing at all), deleted his twitter account after all the ranting, burning it all because "he always did better alone", to go hide in the shadows and then resurrect himself as someone else under some other identity later.
And he claimed we cared more about the videos than we did about him....
Bullshit.
He is something who needs psychological help. We did see signs before all this. But there really wasn't much we could do. He snapped, I presume, under the pressures of his own expectations... under the expectations HE set for US, which WE were unaware of. He was no more than an avid fan of the band, but maybe he fancied himself more. Maybe he EXPECTED more... and he didn't receive that (whatever that was). He's always been an enigma, and difficult to understand. You couldn't figure out his motives. You didn't know why he did what he did. He just did it. Let the dominoes fall as they may.
Yet it's not the videos I'm truly upset over (ok, I'm upset, but I'll get over it), I'm mostly upset with how he did all this, then blamed ME and the others for it. All of this was our fault. WE didn't appreciate him. WE were selfish. Yet he did the most selfish thing I think he could’ve done. He took months and months of hard work, hundreds of dollars and countless hours, and flushed it down the toilet without a hint of consideration for anyone other than himself. And he LAVISHED in it all...
That is what tells me that he needs help. Unfortunately, I am not able to provide that help. I'm not sure, honestly, that I would want to at this point. He wouldn't accept it anyways.
In the end, he is out of my life. I don't suspect I will see him at cons. If I do... I said I would want to punch him, but honestly, I would just turn and walk away.
Or, more likely, if he goes out of his way to come up to me, and even... God forbid... apologize to me?
I would probably accept it. I don't have the heart to decline a real apology.
But I don't think I would associate with him again. He's too unstable. And I do worry about him. I don't think he would intentionally harm himself or someone else physically, but I was obviously wrong about him once before.
The videos? The ones he took are gone forever. Yet I MAY be able to obtain some from another source (who is much less insane). So there might be videos after all (of what quality I'm not sure, but I care little at this point).
The band? It's still going to continue. We never needed his help to start with, and other than the occasional discounted hotel room and splitting a deposit on a drum kit (and booze), he never really did anything of lasting value for the band itself (other than "projected" plans for funding, nagging about creating original music, and making us buttons... which he forced us to sell for charity).
The band will succeed, not in spite of him, but because his actions do not directly affect the trajectory of the band anyways. So we're missing videos from one show now... we'll make more. There will be many more! And more music! Even ORIGINAL music!
And, ironically, he wanted us to make original music so bad?
Well, I think he just gave us the perfect subject matter. ^^
Anyways, this is my perception of the events. I know there are a couple people reading this who still care about him, and are still friends with him. Those people know my feelings anyways, as I've explained it to them already. They agree it was fucked up what he did. Everyone I've talked to thinks it's bullshit what he did.
But, like those who consider themselves his friends still, I don't wish any ill will on him. I hope he gets his shit together. Yeah I'm pissed, and I'll be pissed for a while...
But if someone can forgive me for saying something so hurtful to them, a year later, and let me back into their project with open arms...
If someone can forgive me after multiple years, for unwittingly leading them on and breaking their heart (another story entirely)...
...then I'm positive that, in time, I can forgive him... if I ever hear from him again.
And if not?
I wish him well.
...
...
*AHEM*
YES SO CHRISTMAS! IT WAS A GREAT TIME FILLED WITH.... Ahh fuck it.
I had dinner at my sisters, we all played Hide and Seek and board games, everyone enjoyed their presents, I got Kat a Wii-U and some 3DS games (THANKS CREDIT CARDS!), some gift cards, a kitchen set, decorations and a couple of DVDs, and SHE got ME a couple of shirts, a couple of MLP things, 3DS game (which she has been playing ^^) a car mount for my phone, ice scraper (I NEEDED IT), ghost chili sauce (X,x), and the Ripley's Believe It Or Not 2014 book AND the Guinness World Records 2014 book! And probably something else!
And I had a slow week at work last week and a FUCKING CRAZY New Year's Eve because I worked cab and saw 68 RUNS ON THE SCREEN (that no one could get cuz it was so busy) and I almost got attacked by a MASSIVE HOARD OF ZOMBIES because I went to downtown Charlotte to pick someone up that I dropped off and EVERYONE NEEDED A CAB and they were storming my cab and beating on it and yelling TAXIII and begging and jumping in my way and trying to open my doors which I locked and I barely made it out alive and now I'm procrastinating working to write THIS journal....
*DEEP INHALE*
And THAT was December! :D
And THAT ........ was 2013.
^___^
IN SUMMARY: TL;DR (because I promised!)
PROS:
Kat got a new smile!
Kat got a new JOB!
We got a NEW HOUSE!
Kat and I got ENGAGED!
Got a higher income earning potential at work!
Went to FWA, AC, IFC, FurFright!
Went to Galveston and Riot Fest!
Saw many great bands!
Saw many NBA basketball games!
Held a job for THE WHOLE YEAR!
Played a couple of GREAT shows with FPRM!
Hung out with good family and friends!
Gained back a friend I thought I lost for good!
Got invited back into the FBA!
Claddagh rings from Kat!
Great Christmas! (Wii U!)
Did a Fuzzcast episode!
Got new fursuit paws!
Got iPhone 5!
General good health!
No terrible financial downfalls!
CONS: (no, not furry cons)
Losing a friend after he went batshit insane on everybody. ;__;
Losing all those IFC videos from our performance. >__<
FurFright ending forever. T__T
Getting kicked out of the FBA initially (BUT NOW I'M BACK!)
Losing the first friend initially (BUT NOW WE'RE COOL!)
Losing my wallet in May (GOT THAT BACK TOO!)
Didn't do much in the way of furry art or music. >,>
Didn't have a lot of free time to do that stuff anyways. <,<
Mom’s grieving period/financial stress. D:
Basketball games I went to were Bobcats games (First World Problems. XD)
My Mazda proclaimed pretty much unusable (Never mentioned it. basically happened in May 2012, but now I know for sure.)
Traffic tickets (sooo many speeding tickets. DX)
Almost got arrested for playing in snow (BUT DIDN'T!)
Thought I was getting fired (BUT DIDN'T)
Wasting a lot of time on my iPhone 5 (^///^)
A few small financial issues (Which I got over)
Scare with Smokey (my cat, who ended up being ok ^^)
Didn't play basketball much. :/
Didn't work out much either. X,x
Almost passed out at Blink 182 show getting crushed by crowd (Scary, but I was ok).
And......
THAT'S IT!
So all in all, 2013 was actually a pretty good year! The biggest negative to happen was the blowup right at the end of the year (and the ban at the beginning) but most of the things that happened turned out ok anyways! Who knows, maybe the last thing with the friend will be ok eventually too...
But I'd say holding down a job, Kat getting a job, us getting a HOUSE, GETTING ENGAGED, visiting my Hometown, getting a HUGE burden off my chest (the FBA thing), gaining back a good friend, and going to a bunch of awesome shows and cons would be considered a positive year. ^__^
Now what's in store for 2014?
Find out in the next exciting episode of JT TYPES TOO DAMN MUCH OMG MY EYES THEY BLEED TLDR TLDR TLDR TLDR TLDRRSTSSTSAS...... (aka Part 2 of this journal... when I write it).
Oh, and one more thing.
Happy New Year. ^___^
-JT
[This journal contains exactly 8,000 words, not counting these...
or these...
or this...
holy crap why won't it end....
T____T
ok I'm done. ^^]
There was some good stuff. There was some bad stuff. No year is perfect, of course. And I think, overall, I had a pretty good 2013. Some big benchmarks happened this year, and unlike last year (and the year before) nothing and no one close to me died! That's a positive! :D
Also, having gone back and read my 2012 review, that year actually sucked rather copious amounts of donkey scrote, so I'd say 2013 was a VAST improvement. ;)
So anyways, before I get lost in some series of hopeless digression, let me jump into it!
A REVIEW OF 2013!
Hmm, should I go month to month, or pros and cons? Hmm... I'll try a little of both. Though it's kinda difficult to remember what happened in January... eh, I'm just gonna go for it. I'll put a "pros/cons" segment under the "month-to-month" segment (for you lazy readers!)
2013 YEAR IN REVIEW
January
So.... January... January 2013... Uhhhh....
Well, I was still living with Mom aaaaand her husband had still just passed away in December, and she was in the process of filing bankruptcy, wondering where her living income was going to come from, and grieving.
I don't think January was very good.
However, the worst part (right before he died) was finally over, and that was a burden off all our backs. I still had a job that carried over from last year (hooray!) though at that time it wasn't very lucrative... thus, living with Mom still. Don't really remember anything else that was specific. Not a lot of furry stuff, thanks to job. Worked ass off. Reattached ass sometime in February.
Hmm... oh yeah! I just went through some of my old FA journals (I seriously need to put more day to day or week to week stuff in journal form. How else am I supposed to remember what I did a year ago?) I realized that at this time last year, the fundraiser to help fix
katalina's smile was underway! ^^My gosh, that was such a wonderful gift! For 15 years, Kat had dealt with a jagged, decomposing, crumbling, painful set of teeth due to them being weakened from experimental dental products when she was a young guinea pig owned by the state. Now, she has a radiant smile! FINALLY! And it's thanks to you guys who donated generously that it was able to happen. One year later, we're still awestruck by the amazingness of the furry fandom. ^__^
Also, along with the amazingness of the furry fandom, I discovered the nasty side as well, as due to a bitter feud, mistakes and misunderstanding, I was formally kicked out of the FBA (Furry Basketball Association, which was an integral part of my furry life) at the end of January, losing all my characters to the league in the process (DON'T WORRY, THERE IS A HAPPY ENDING). This was a huge hole in my heart up until recently, but it taught me a lot of important values and lessons which I think helped me become a better person, or at least more understanding of my actions and their consequences. I was pretty sure that was it for me and the FBA then, but as things turned out - and thankfully so - that was not the case.
Also almost got arrested for playing in the snow at night. --> http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/4245353/
February
Only one thing I'm sure of that happened, and that's my birthday. I had to ask Kat what we did. She reminded me that my sister and nieces came over. They gave me a wonderful gift of cake in a cup, just add water (which is still sitting on top of my fridge), and a cookie cake that was far too pumped with sugar for any of us to eat more than 2 bites of. We also played a board game. o__o
But more importantly, it was this month (the 1st, I believe) that Kat had all the teeth forcefully ripped from her head (owies...) but they were replaced with the GLORIOUS SMILE she now possesses! http://www.furaffinity.net/view/9829958/ Once again, kitties thank you! ^__^
On a less feel-good note (but still important), this was the month that my taxi job switched over from calling-drivers-on-phones-with-a-run-every-2-hours-or-so to adding a dispatch box (computer) in cab that allowed us to see what runs there were and in what zone, and allowed us to give our personal number to passengers so we could actually have regular customers. We moved to a weekly lease instead of paying a percentage, which I was skeptical of at first because I had never earned enough in 60 hours a week to justify paying what we had to pay daily to make a weekly lease work. However, it's actually worked out pretty well, and while it was slow to start, I did start making more money eventually. I'd say this was a very big positive.
Oh, and I also saw Flogging Molly (5th time?). Hell to the Yeah. Always a privilege when they come to town. ^^
March
Biggest thing that stands out about March? FWA! It was a very special and awesome time indeed. ^^
Well... it was... actually, um... ok, well I had fun. And my band played a (if I can toot my own horn for one sec) really kickass show at the talent show, a rendition of a Dropkick Murphys favorite you may remember. http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/4451222/ (hey look, video that was NOT deleted in a fucking shitfit! ...*ahem* Sorry... You'll get it later. >,>)
That was easily the highlight of my con. It honestly wasn't the best overall con due to the stupid hotel layout (another year of it, yay Elevator Con) but because I saw good friends and played a good show, it was worthwhile. Oh, and
cajunkitty helped a great deal in getting me and Kat there (as opposed to me paying my company out of pocket to not work), so mad props to him. ^^I also got to see Dropkick Murphys like a week before the con! They played Worker's Song, so you know I was paying attention to how they played it live so I could get some pointers for the FWA show. One small problem... they played that song and that song only, ACOUSTIC! Thanks guys! I DID get to jump up on stage at the end of the show and got a (very blurry) picture with Ken Casey (bassist/vocalist) while they played their encore, so that was very memorable!
By the end of March, I was very high on Furry Punk Rock Massacre due to the performance, and I was eager to keep it going and do more for the band (social media, FA, promos and such). And the job was plugging along just fine. Yay for money!
April
I can't believe I almost forgot about my trip to Galveston! Thanks random past-dated FA journal! :D
Yes, April. April was a 'feels' month. All the feels...
So I took a flight to Galveston, TX (my hometown... and to be technically correct, the flight was to Houston and I drove a rental down to Galveston). I saw my Dad for the first time since 2011. I hung out with high school friends and played basketball with them (man, those were the days. Sucks we've become kinda distant now, but everyone’s so damn busy. Oh well, that's life). Swam in the Gulf of Mexico like old times (I miss the beach. ;___;) and generally had a great time catching up with people. It was over all too soon. But I've had a little bit more contact with those guys since then thanks to my fantasy basketball league with them (a yearly thing).
It was also at this time (and I've never mentioned this before) that I decided, without a doubt, that this was the year I wanted to marry Angel (
katalina) my mate of over 5 years. I was sitting on my Dad's back porch, being incredibly nostalgic, as usual. And, the reason I was in Galveston (I guess that’s kind of important to mention) was because another childhood friend was getting married. After attending the wedding and seeing all of my old friends together at the same time (for probably the first time since we graduated college, and quite possibly the last time all at once), I came to the conclusion that... life really is short. There are people that are important in life that we just kinda think will always be there... and one day, those people might not be around.
I have wanted to spend my life with Kata'lina since we got together over 5 years ago, but our living situation was strenuous to put it lightly. Money, residence, jobs (or lack of jobs), and making DAMN SURE that this decision was not one I was taking lightly. It had to feel absolutely right. And after seeing my friend get married, spending those moments with them, with my dad, with family, thinking of moments past, present and future, and knowing that I had a steady job and Kat had just gotten her beautiful smile... what the hell was I waiting for? Nothing but the right moment. And I knew exactly when that moment would be, and I knew, right then, that moment was what I did truly, undoubtedly want. Before anything stupid and regrettable happened that made me wish I'd done it sooner. No more putting it off.
It was time.
So I called my Mom on the phone and I told her this. Through tears, she exclaimed how happy she was, how PROUD she was, and that she knew too, in her heart, that Angel was the woman for me. It felt right.
I dedicated a date to the proposal (which of course you know how that happened) then went on about life. The preparation would come, about a month before the proposal (of course, why do ANYTHING early, silly tiger). But it was this time, in Galveston, at my childhood home, that the decision was made.
Oh, and I got my first iPhone (5). ^^ (Wow, talk about a story climax. :P)
May
I AM NOT SURE WHAT IN THE FUCK HAPPENED IN MAY.
*reads through old FA journals*
Ok, so all I know is I lost my wallet, canceled my cards, someone FOUND my wallet at the airport and turned it in, and I had to go through dozens of phone calls and phone tag to get my wallet back. But I got it back. (I need to write more FA journals, seriously).
Oh, and this was the first May in 3 years (3 FUCKING YEARS) that my job did not end.
2010 was 3 day/week freelance that had dried up (end of month), and I moved from Hilton Head, SC to NC (Mom's house) so I couldn't do that job anymore.
2011 (May 3rd) was my ill-fated California experiment, where I wasn't fast/skilled/trendy/emotionless-robot enough for the merciless tides of deadlines and expectations in the hotbed of American Entertainment (LA). Moved back East to NC (Mom's house, again) in June.
2012 was the termination (SWEET BLESSING OF RAPTURE) from the law firm job (May 7th). Moved from Savannah, GA to NC (Mom's house) in June (see a pattern here?)
2013 there was A SCARE. I forgot what I did, but I think it had to do with me having a pickup, and I had double-booked and was late/couldn't pick up that passenger, and they cancelled. Again, I'm not sure exactly what it was, but I got an ominous phone call from the dispatcher telling me the boss wanted to see me in his office before the end of the day. O,o
Oh fuck... -____- The curse of May continues...
Needless to say I was not fired, he just wanted to give me updated registration papers. But oh did I shit some bricks for about an hour and a half. Goddamn.
Fuck you, curse of May.
OH, also, I just remembered, I got new paws (handpaws and footpaws) from
mischiefmakers and I LOVE them! Next I will get the full arm and leg sleeves! After that, I will get a new head (from somebody, not sure who yet). Then WALLAH! NEW FURSUIT! ^__^ EEEEE!!!June
The most special thing about June was that on June 7th, Kitty and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary (or Kittyversary as we like to call it. ^__^)
Kat did something very special for me, actually. Yes I usually do something special for her, but money was pretty tight and I had been SO BUSY with work. But what she did was so perfect, I didn't need to do anything this time. ^^
She got us matching Claddagh rings. Now as the link I gave just now explains, a Claddagh ring is a traditional Irish ring meant to indicate one's promise of loyalty, love and friendship to another. Although it can indicate a different relationship status altogether (single and looking, engaged, married) depending on how it is worn, it is generally meant as a token of commitment to another person... an engagement ring without the engagement, if you will. ;)
She got us each a Claddagh ring and wrote out a beautiful verse (translated in Celtic Gaelic) and put it on a cool looking scroll. http://www.furaffinity.net/view/10750056/ She presented it to me in our little office room, where we shared a moment on the floor (not a dirty moment... Mom was home. ^^)
It was truly beautiful of her... I still cherish my ring, though I wear it on my necklace because I don't really like wearing rings (wedding ring? I'll get used to it. :P)
Other than that, the first (and only) Fuzzcast of Season 3 happened (can one episode be called a season?) Mom went out for the weekend, so Kat and I had some fun streaming Fuzzcast in yet another new location (whenever our shitty wireless internet signal allowed for it).
I really need to upload those old episodes, actually. And yes, Fuzzcast will happen again, eventually. We do have our own place and can stream it whenever, but having two jobs with two completely different schedules makes it tough. I may have to do one on my own, eventually, though it probably won't be as entertaining. :P More kitties make it better! ^_^
July
At the beginning of this month (well, more like the end of June), Kat and I were flipping through some webpages looking at houses in the area, since we didn't want to live with my Mom forever (as fun as my Mom is). Without really even trying to find a place, we found one listing that looked promising. It was a trailer (hm... not to keen on trailers mostly, given what I've seen) but it was cheap, and only a mile or so away. So we looked at the listing and HOLY SHIT! O,O
The inside, while trailerish (if that is an adequate adjective) was GORGEOUS! The kitchen was done up really modern with beautiful mirrored cabinets! It had a SPA TUB in a bathroom (and a second bathroom!) It had a DECK out back (which looks LOVELY in the sunny weather, a tree sits right next to it and its leaves give it shade! ^^) It was a little small (only a single wide) but hell, Kat and I have lived in a 450 sq ft 1 room studio apartment in CA without any real problems so that was no biggie. ;)
Only down side was the road to get there is the most jank-ass, ratchet-as-fuck dirt road you've ever seen.
Like a single bulldozer drove through a forest, knocked some shit out of the way and said "Here you go".
Like if this road were a person, it would be a 60 year old hooker with ass-herpes.
The road sucks balls.
But the place and the price were great, so I figured I'd get used to the road (and have... mostly. ^^)
I had saved up a decent sized chunk of cash in my bank account by that time and it was as good a time as any to go for it. So we went ahead and applied! And we GOT IT! ^___^
We moved in July 15th (or earlier... I think the 11th is when we actually moved most or our stuff). It made a very nice birthday present for Kat (July 17th birthday). WE GOT DA HOUSE!!!
Of course before all that wonderfulness, there was Anthrocon! And of course that was a big debacle because I wasn't sure I'd have enough money to put the deposit and first month's rent on the house AND go to AC AND afford missing work (which included JULY 4TH BECAUSE FUCK-GEEZ ANTHROCON AND YOUR TIMING). After some hearty soul-searching, number crunching, crying into some spreadsheets and gazing in a manner most forlorn out my window, I came to the conclusion we could afford to go (ok, and I had rented a car which I could not get my money back on).
Unfortunately, due to my waffling, we arrived on Friday at like 2am. And by Friday I mean Saturday. Because it was 2 am.
However, we made the best of it, and it was a kick-ass time! Over WAY too soon, but what did we expect? Crammed as much as we could in those 2 days and made it count! :D
Plus, when we got back... HOUSE! ^^
August
Ok, the length of these summaries are getting out of control. I have #kablyfe to do tonight afterall. XD
[POST EDIT: yeah... didn’t happen. #fail #unnecessaryhashtag]
Two things stood out in August... well, 3. IndyFurCon, my Mom's birthday, and Kat getting a job!
IFC - I had NEVER arrived for a con on a Tuesday before... and well, I wasn't about to start! :D
warrn arrived at my house, uh... Monday night I think. We were supposed to leave for Indiana on Tuesday, but I still had to pack, and then I kinda had to sleep, and well, before you knew it, it was Wednesday morning. But we finally had the car loaded and left early Wednesday, arriving in Indy Wednesday afternoon, just in time to go to band rehearsal.I'm not going to rewrite the con report (for the love of God, BAD TIGGIE! YOU ALREADY WROTE THAT HERE! -> http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/5002190/ ) but the band played its first ever FULL HOUR SHOW! That was pretty exciting! It went ok, could have gone better. But a lot of people enjoyed it a lot. (of course the videos are now gone due to assfuckery and backstabbery, but I might be getting some from another source... fingers crossed!)
After that bit of epicness (and getting chewed out by the boss for taking a full week off for the con X,x) I settled into normalcy, except with added financial issues (that's a long time to not get paid... and a lot of money to spend on a trip).
Plus, did I mention I had gotten a traffic ticket RIGHT BEFORE THE CON? Just like I got a traffic ticket RIGHT BEFORE ANTHROCON. Also I got one RIGHT BEFORE RIOT FEST. AND BEFORE FURFRIGHT. Well geez, I drive like 70 hours every single week, so odds are against me. That and the police do not like me traveling to activities out of state (and they're out for blood anyways).
[FOR THE RECORD - paid the AC one, IFC one dismissed, currently dealing with the others and for the love of God do NOT pick this section out of my journal and nitpick me on it or I will hide your comment SOFAST.]
Anyways... digression aside (curse my stream of consciousness mind X,x) Mom's birthday party was cool. Just a simple get-together at my sister's place. Niece made a really awesome cake that looked like a garden with oreo crumbles for dirt and edible sugar-grass. ^^
Then at the end of the month, KAT GOT A JOB! Ironically, it was at the same hospital that killed my stepfather. Hmmmmmm..... Well, a job is a job. (Yay money!) And that meant a lot because now I'm not the only one paying all the bills and groceries and such! Yay Kitty! :D
Also I think this is when I got season tickets for the Charlotte Bobcats, which is something I've always wanted! (season tickets... not really for the Bobcats... but hey, it's basketball! And it was cheap! :P)
September
Main thing that happened in September, other than lots of working, was Riot Fest.
I flew to Chicago, met a regular cab customer at the O'Hare airport as he was flying out to Charlotte (weird, huh?), hung with
evan (first time in a long time. Was nice. :3), slept in an airport terminal (a ‘friend’ ditched on the hotel), saw steviemaxwell, saw a shitton of great bands (Blink 182, FLAG, Lawrence Arms, Bad Religion, Screeching Weasel, Andrew WK, Misfits, Rancid), missed just as many good ones (Pennywise, TSOL, X, Suicidal Tendencies, Against Me, Lillingtons), slept in a rental car, then flew back. Twas a grand ol' time. :3Next year, if I can go, I'm getting tickets much cheaper (aka SOONER than last minute).
Show review is here -> http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/5105378/
October
This was the month. The best month. Or at least the end of the month.
As you may know, I proposed to
katalina at FurFright 2013 (which turned out to be the last thing that happened at ANY FurFright, period).(con review -> http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/5212294/ )
(proposal video -> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SO6u.....ature=youtu.be )
All the preparing was done this month, other than telling Belic I was going to be proposing at Closing Ceremonies.
Video was made last second (which made us late) to play along with a song, which I changed the lyrics of to be about her. And sang it. And she had NO. CLUE. AT. ALL. ^_____^
FurFright... the place we first met IRL, back in 2007. The place I truly, deeply, fell in love and knew she was the one I wanted to be with. The place where our storybook romance became a reality.
And... what did she say?
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/12102928/
Nothing else really mattered in October. I got what I truly wanted. And it was delivered just the way I planned. ^__^
Love you hunny! ^___^
(of course they announced FurFright was shutting their doors, literally like a month later. T__T Just glad I did this when I did. There would be no second chance.)
November
Uhhh.... Um....
Honestly, I got nothing.
Oh, my Mom went on a trip to Texas to see her brothers as a sort of final family reunion (they are all in advanced age and live all over the US, so meeting all together again is unlikely). During that time, I took her cat, or rather, our cat (from my childhood, the last of the Mohicans) into my house as MY cat. After a little scare with her refusing to eat and me having to take her to the vet ($133 for blood work), it came back that she has kidney issues. Well no duh, she's like 15 years old. But my mom was able to get her to eat and nursed her back to health (as healthy as she can be anyways). She's now happily content, in my bedroom and master bathroom.
And she likes to perch on our bodies while Kat and I sleep. Tiny little ball of fluff sleeping on my chest. :3
December
Aaaaand the dousy. :P
Very BIG things happened this month. Of course it would be the last month of the year, so 2013 felt it fitting to go out with a bang.
A bridge was burnt, another one rebuilt.
I had mentioned in the paragraph for January that I had been banned from the FBA. This banning was a result of a tiff I had with the FBA commissioner/creator
buckhopper. The long short of it (and this is the LAST time I rehash this, as I'm glad it's finally over...) was I had unintentionally, yet nonetheless deeply, insulted B-Hop in an email about taurs playing in the league. My wording was severe, my message poorly delivered, and instead of making a strong persuasive argument, I ended up deeply hurting one of my best friends.
As a result, I not only lost a friend, but my involvement in the FBA was hanging by a string. Also, at the time, the FBA owned the rights to all FBA characters and designs. My punishment, in exchange for remaining in the FBA, was that my characters became owned by the league. I was not able to make decisions for them or develop them, but I could still manage a team.
(by the way, I'm only telling you guys this because we've settled our differences and things are ok again. This is just an explanation as to how that happened.)
The email actually happened last year, around May. However, it wasn't until January 2013 when I got banned, due to speaking up against the commissioner again and causing more undue drama. This also brought to light a few things I had been previously unaware of.
Namely, the manner in which I was acting was not befitting the spirit of the FBA. I was acting selfishly, speaking out when a move or decision did not benefit me, and was seemingly opposed to any sort of change that happened, such as a species limit for the team or who made the All-Star game. Trivial, stupid stuff. Stuff that I should never have gotten my feathers ruffled over. It had been a while since Buck and I sat down in 2008/2009 and meticulously planned everything for the league, including teams, players, salaries, locations... at the time I managed a quarter of the teams in the league. And I was finding it difficult to relinquish control and to just let things... happen.
The goal wasn't to win, it was to write engaging stories. It wasn't a fantasy sports league, with teams to be managed competitively and money riding on the outcome. And it didn't always have to match what I thought the league should be like. I thought it needed to be realistic, to the point that moves and decisions reflected ones that may occur in the NBA. But the FBA is not the NBA, nor is it intended to be. Furthermore, all that stuff didn't really matter. Yet my emotional attachments and sharp reactions treated it like it really, really did.
It took being pushed away... being separated from the FBA, for me to look in, not as a manager or coach, but as a FAN, as an OUTSIDER, and see what it really was all about. I learned to accept change. I learned to enjoy how things played out, even if I didn't have control over it. I learned to not get upset over details.
I learned to chill. The hell. Out.
And I did see how difficult I was being. My actions were making it hard for others to enjoy the league as it was meant to be enjoyed. I just took things way too seriously, disrupted the fun of others, and I paid dearly.
Fast forward to about August... It had been half a year since I really paid much attention to the FBA (although I was still coloring the icons I sketched, in an effort to finish what I started, regardless of my standing in the league). B-Hop put a really nice comment on my IFC journal, which startled me, but it was a pleasant surprise. We engaged in a small back and forth here and there, as I did post a handful of comments on FBA posts, to which he would respond to me with decency. I took delight in the fact that my old friend was being friendly again. But we still weren't really anything more than just polite to one another.
But that was at least encouraging. I upped my efforts to complete FBA ICONS for the LEAGUE. I finished a good deal of them (as of this moment, only 1 unfinished sketch of mine is being used in the database, and I will have that done soon) and I also finished a few FBA pictures, one of KASA YALENCHKA and one of WENDY BROWN, both "my" characters, but I was never forbidden to draw art of them. I also DESIGNED A JERSEY for a new team (the relocated Galveston Sand Dollars) called the Hawaii Kahunas (that ultimately wasn't used, but some of the design elements inspired the final design).
Basically, despite being banned, out of 15 submissions in 2013, 9 of them were FBA related. I guess I just couldn't get around my passion for the FBA. :P
I did send B-Hop an email with my icon designs so he could upload them to the new FBA WIKI PAGE. I did not have access at the time (well, I did, but I forgot I signed up for it... plus the whole 'permission' thing). His responses were kind and appreciative. It further encouraged me to contribute my efforts to the project.
Then, in December (THE MONTH I'M SUPPOSED TO BE WRITING ABOUT DX) I get an email from B-Hop. He's changing his approach to managing the league. No longer is the FBA taking ownership of any characters or designs or logos or stories. The idea requiring legal ownership of them was scrapped, and the rights were (rightfully) returning back to the creators.
(The whole thing is explained in this Livestream, the "Mid-December General Meeting" -> http://livestre.am/4HRLh )
And when he made this decision, he gave me back all my characters. All my designs. All my logos. All my RIGHTS.
And he lifted the ban.
I was back in the league.
And I COULD NOT BE HAPPIER!
Over the last year and a half I was emotionally plagued with the consequences of my decisions, of my hurtful actions, of my selfish behavior. But I learned a great deal from my banishment. I didn't like it. I didn't agree with it at the time. But I know now, the break was good for me.
And now... all was made right! I saw the error of my ways, and so did he. He changed his policy, and I changed my attitude, outlook and approach to the FBA. And since then, I've created 4 (soon to be 5?) twitter accounts for FBA characters (ok, Wendy's already existed. ^///^), and I've cohosted an episode of FBA Courtside: LIVE!. Plus I've got some more things in store to help grow the league and make it even better! (That will be revealed in full later. :3)
Let it be known, I highly respect B-Hop for the decision he made. Not just because it resulted in me being let back in the league, but because it takes a big man to admit he was wrong. And the decision to give ownership of everyone's contributions back to their creators was the right thing to do.
It was not about me, but about a separate issue entirely that caused him to come to this decision. Still, he took responsibility for his actions, he saw the shaky direction that the FBA was headed, and he decided to change all that. He gave up on a grand idea he was pursuing with the league (making it a video game, which explained all the legal stuff), because he saw that it would take away from those who it mattered to most... the contributors. And he gave up a good bit of control so that it wouldn't happen again. That, right there, was a very admirable thing for him to do.
But the end result was that I got my characters back. I got my friend back. I got the FBA back. And one of my biggests regrets and sources of remorse in my life was finally, FINALLY rectified. :)
And I learned my lesson. From now on, I will only be constructive and thoughtful in my actions in the FBA, never negative or disruptive. There's an FBA Committee in place now for purposes of checks and balances, to make sure the commissioner never abuses his power. I'll let it be THEIR job to call him out if they feel they have to. For me, I will just enjoy being creative, being positive...
...and being back. :3
BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE!
[OMG, ARE YOU SERIOUS?!]
[YES I AM. DID YOU FORGET THIS JOURNAL IS A REVIEW OF 2013 AND NOT AN FBA JOURNAL?]
[WELL YES... I FORGOT BECAUSE YOU BLABBED FOR LIKE 7 HOURS ABOUT-]
[OK I GET IT... ENOUGH. BACK TO THE JOURNAL]
[FINALLY]
[*MOCKING VOICE* FINELLEH...]
*ahem*...
Yes, December... Um... so...
Well, before I get into the other thing, let me mention that there was a VERY NICE SURPRISE in the middle of the month!
toraie 
defeatdown and 
ryokufox came up from Savannah to visit Kat and me at our Christmas furmeet! Surprised the hell out of Kat... of course I already knew about it. XDIt was delightful to see them again. Haven't seen Roo and Tora since FWA, and haven't seen Ryoku since moving from Savannah. We played fursuit games outside (tried to... the ground was kinda muddy and getting a lot of fursuiters to do one thing was like... well... herding cats :P) exchanged gifts, and then hung out late into the night. I got Rum Chata as a gift (MMMMMMM... CINNAMON TOAST RUM) and a buncha other cool things! Then the next day we went to Kat's Patch (no, not a patch belonging to
katalina, an awesome yummy local BBQ place!) and had lunch before they left back to Savannah. It t'was nice. ^^Oh, and I saw NOFX on Dec 7th. They are one of my absolute favorite bands. Also, they were awesome. ^^ (They played THE DECLINE, which they only play ONCE per city EVER! I've seen it twice now, the other time in Atlanta in 2007). Though Fat Mike wouldn't sign my shirt or take a picture (booo) but it's ok, I still lubs ya. :P
(are you seeing what happens when I don't write FA journals? INFO'SPLOSION! XD)
And now... the bad news.
(Yes this all happened in December... what a month. And I haven't even gotten to freakin' Christmas yet)
[WARNING - NEGATIVE RANTING AHEAD. NO NAMES MENTIONED. MY OPINION ONLY. OTHER OPINIONS MAY VARY. YADDA YADDA YADDA. VOTE NADER.]
A former good friend of mine (who... I guess I won't mention... it's just... not worth it... plus this is not a call out journal... you want backstory, go check out my tweets from late Dec 21 through Dec 22) decided, ALL OF A SUDDEN, that my bandmates and myself and everyone in our circle of friends never appreciated him, never showed consideration to him, didn't care about his health or well-being, and took him for granted.
So he freaked out and deleted the videos from the band's IFC show. Because he was frustrated with them.
Then, because I had the AUDACITY to get ANGRY about that, he smashed his $2000 Les Paul Gibson guitar across his soundboard (destroying both), tweeted malicious things aimed at myself, my fiancé and our friends who did nothing to him, then took sadistic joy in deleting every one of the videos he had backed up on his other hard drive, all the while rubbing it in our faces.
And we had done NOTHING to him. EVER.
This all came as a shock because just 30 minutes prior, we were waxing poetic and shooting shit on Twitter. Then... he just... snapped. Unprovoked and without reason, other than he was growing frustrated at the video of our IFC performance (which I guess didn't meet his standards or whatever).
Then, in a flash, he tweeted it was gone.
The rest only came out in a note to one of the other bandmates, after they noted him about how surprised and hurt they were, and that they didn't know why he did what he did. None of us knew. He never communicated with us about any of that. If he did, maybe we could have helped sort it out, but...
My band never asked for his help. We never expected support, or financial help with putting on shows, or hotel rooms, or helping film us, or any of that. We let him know this and HE STILL OFFERED THAT TO US. And it was offered in such a way that left little to no room for refusal.
But we always told him, countless times, "You didn't have to do this", and "We appreciate the help greatly".
We showed concern when he had health related issues, even stopping short of starting a fundraiser for him when his studio was destroyed in a fire (his pride never allowed him to accept gifts, in fact he would get angry about it).
He was extremely stubborn and prideful, but he had shown he was generous as well. He donated time and money to charity, countless times.
Yet his generosity came with a cost. A cost we weren't aware of.
When we dared get upset that he deleted the videos (after REFUSING to send me the videos of my own performance for months), he just snapped.
He tweeted about smashing his guitar and how good it felt.
He unfollowed me, the band, my mate, my bandmates and the friends in our circle (who had done nothing at all), deleted his twitter account after all the ranting, burning it all because "he always did better alone", to go hide in the shadows and then resurrect himself as someone else under some other identity later.
And he claimed we cared more about the videos than we did about him....
Bullshit.
He is something who needs psychological help. We did see signs before all this. But there really wasn't much we could do. He snapped, I presume, under the pressures of his own expectations... under the expectations HE set for US, which WE were unaware of. He was no more than an avid fan of the band, but maybe he fancied himself more. Maybe he EXPECTED more... and he didn't receive that (whatever that was). He's always been an enigma, and difficult to understand. You couldn't figure out his motives. You didn't know why he did what he did. He just did it. Let the dominoes fall as they may.
Yet it's not the videos I'm truly upset over (ok, I'm upset, but I'll get over it), I'm mostly upset with how he did all this, then blamed ME and the others for it. All of this was our fault. WE didn't appreciate him. WE were selfish. Yet he did the most selfish thing I think he could’ve done. He took months and months of hard work, hundreds of dollars and countless hours, and flushed it down the toilet without a hint of consideration for anyone other than himself. And he LAVISHED in it all...
That is what tells me that he needs help. Unfortunately, I am not able to provide that help. I'm not sure, honestly, that I would want to at this point. He wouldn't accept it anyways.
In the end, he is out of my life. I don't suspect I will see him at cons. If I do... I said I would want to punch him, but honestly, I would just turn and walk away.
Or, more likely, if he goes out of his way to come up to me, and even... God forbid... apologize to me?
I would probably accept it. I don't have the heart to decline a real apology.
But I don't think I would associate with him again. He's too unstable. And I do worry about him. I don't think he would intentionally harm himself or someone else physically, but I was obviously wrong about him once before.
The videos? The ones he took are gone forever. Yet I MAY be able to obtain some from another source (who is much less insane). So there might be videos after all (of what quality I'm not sure, but I care little at this point).
The band? It's still going to continue. We never needed his help to start with, and other than the occasional discounted hotel room and splitting a deposit on a drum kit (and booze), he never really did anything of lasting value for the band itself (other than "projected" plans for funding, nagging about creating original music, and making us buttons... which he forced us to sell for charity).
The band will succeed, not in spite of him, but because his actions do not directly affect the trajectory of the band anyways. So we're missing videos from one show now... we'll make more. There will be many more! And more music! Even ORIGINAL music!
And, ironically, he wanted us to make original music so bad?
Well, I think he just gave us the perfect subject matter. ^^
Anyways, this is my perception of the events. I know there are a couple people reading this who still care about him, and are still friends with him. Those people know my feelings anyways, as I've explained it to them already. They agree it was fucked up what he did. Everyone I've talked to thinks it's bullshit what he did.
But, like those who consider themselves his friends still, I don't wish any ill will on him. I hope he gets his shit together. Yeah I'm pissed, and I'll be pissed for a while...
But if someone can forgive me for saying something so hurtful to them, a year later, and let me back into their project with open arms...
If someone can forgive me after multiple years, for unwittingly leading them on and breaking their heart (another story entirely)...
...then I'm positive that, in time, I can forgive him... if I ever hear from him again.
And if not?
I wish him well.
...
...
*AHEM*
YES SO CHRISTMAS! IT WAS A GREAT TIME FILLED WITH.... Ahh fuck it.
I had dinner at my sisters, we all played Hide and Seek and board games, everyone enjoyed their presents, I got Kat a Wii-U and some 3DS games (THANKS CREDIT CARDS!), some gift cards, a kitchen set, decorations and a couple of DVDs, and SHE got ME a couple of shirts, a couple of MLP things, 3DS game (which she has been playing ^^) a car mount for my phone, ice scraper (I NEEDED IT), ghost chili sauce (X,x), and the Ripley's Believe It Or Not 2014 book AND the Guinness World Records 2014 book! And probably something else!
And I had a slow week at work last week and a FUCKING CRAZY New Year's Eve because I worked cab and saw 68 RUNS ON THE SCREEN (that no one could get cuz it was so busy) and I almost got attacked by a MASSIVE HOARD OF ZOMBIES because I went to downtown Charlotte to pick someone up that I dropped off and EVERYONE NEEDED A CAB and they were storming my cab and beating on it and yelling TAXIII and begging and jumping in my way and trying to open my doors which I locked and I barely made it out alive and now I'm procrastinating working to write THIS journal....
*DEEP INHALE*
And THAT was December! :D
And THAT ........ was 2013.
^___^
IN SUMMARY: TL;DR (because I promised!)
PROS:
Kat got a new smile!
Kat got a new JOB!
We got a NEW HOUSE!
Kat and I got ENGAGED!
Got a higher income earning potential at work!
Went to FWA, AC, IFC, FurFright!
Went to Galveston and Riot Fest!
Saw many great bands!
Saw many NBA basketball games!
Held a job for THE WHOLE YEAR!
Played a couple of GREAT shows with FPRM!
Hung out with good family and friends!
Gained back a friend I thought I lost for good!
Got invited back into the FBA!
Claddagh rings from Kat!
Great Christmas! (Wii U!)
Did a Fuzzcast episode!
Got new fursuit paws!
Got iPhone 5!
General good health!
No terrible financial downfalls!
CONS: (no, not furry cons)
Losing a friend after he went batshit insane on everybody. ;__;
Losing all those IFC videos from our performance. >__<
FurFright ending forever. T__T
Getting kicked out of the FBA initially (BUT NOW I'M BACK!)
Losing the first friend initially (BUT NOW WE'RE COOL!)
Losing my wallet in May (GOT THAT BACK TOO!)
Didn't do much in the way of furry art or music. >,>
Didn't have a lot of free time to do that stuff anyways. <,<
Mom’s grieving period/financial stress. D:
Basketball games I went to were Bobcats games (First World Problems. XD)
My Mazda proclaimed pretty much unusable (Never mentioned it. basically happened in May 2012, but now I know for sure.)
Traffic tickets (sooo many speeding tickets. DX)
Almost got arrested for playing in snow (BUT DIDN'T!)
Thought I was getting fired (BUT DIDN'T)
Wasting a lot of time on my iPhone 5 (^///^)
A few small financial issues (Which I got over)
Scare with Smokey (my cat, who ended up being ok ^^)
Didn't play basketball much. :/
Didn't work out much either. X,x
Almost passed out at Blink 182 show getting crushed by crowd (Scary, but I was ok).
And......
THAT'S IT!
So all in all, 2013 was actually a pretty good year! The biggest negative to happen was the blowup right at the end of the year (and the ban at the beginning) but most of the things that happened turned out ok anyways! Who knows, maybe the last thing with the friend will be ok eventually too...
But I'd say holding down a job, Kat getting a job, us getting a HOUSE, GETTING ENGAGED, visiting my Hometown, getting a HUGE burden off my chest (the FBA thing), gaining back a good friend, and going to a bunch of awesome shows and cons would be considered a positive year. ^__^
Now what's in store for 2014?
Find out in the next exciting episode of JT TYPES TOO DAMN MUCH OMG MY EYES THEY BLEED TLDR TLDR TLDR TLDR TLDRRSTSSTSAS...... (aka Part 2 of this journal... when I write it).
Oh, and one more thing.
Happy New Year. ^___^
-JT
[This journal contains exactly 8,000 words, not counting these...
or these...
or this...
holy crap why won't it end....
T____T
ok I'm done. ^^]
HAPPY NEWJSUFOFJDHGAKSIS!!!
Posted 12 years agoI have a lot more to say than just HAPPY NEW YEAR, but that will have to wait, since I'm working cab tonight (So busy. I'm gonna die).
So here's a brief message to say hope you all have fun tonight, happy naked venison (get it?) blah blah hooray!
More in depth 2013 review and 2014 schedule coming soon! :)
RAWR!
-JT
So here's a brief message to say hope you all have fun tonight, happy naked venison (get it?) blah blah hooray!
More in depth 2013 review and 2014 schedule coming soon! :)
RAWR!
-JT
FurFright Reincarnated... as Something Else Con!
Posted 12 years agoSo a little birdy (foxy) told me of the ongoing plans to resurrect FurFright for 2014! Only, it won't be officially called "FurFright"... it will be called... well... something else.
Yet the goal is to create the same sort of close-knit, laid back New England feel that FurFright gave out. It's going to be a Halloween themed con in October. It's probably going to be in CT (I'm hoping for the same hotel in Cromwell, which I've heard rumors that the papers have been signed for next year, but I'm not sure). And it will have almost all of the former FurFright staff behind it!
Follow
bios here for more info, or his twitter, bioswoof!
This is going to happen! And while it won't be the same as FurFright, I'm hoping it's a reasonable facsimile. ^^
I just really need a reason to go to New England during the beautiful fall months and hang out with all my wonderful friends in a cozy, open and inviting atmosphere. I'm hoping they can pull it off. :)
I'd kinda like to help, but I'm not sure what I can do, and I have very limited free time and really no experience managing much of anything prominent, but the least I can do is spread the message!
Good luck guys! I'm rooting for ya!
Viva la [insert new FurFright replacement con here]!!!! ^__^
EDIT - I'm now kinda campaigning the name "Wicked Fur Con" for the new name, since they were asking about it. "Wicked" ties into New England slang as well as the evil ghoulies of Halloween, so it'd be perfect! WICKED FUR CON 2014! WFC! YEAH! ^__^
Although "Something Else Con" does have a nice ring and would be an acceptable alternative. ;)
-JT
Yet the goal is to create the same sort of close-knit, laid back New England feel that FurFright gave out. It's going to be a Halloween themed con in October. It's probably going to be in CT (I'm hoping for the same hotel in Cromwell, which I've heard rumors that the papers have been signed for next year, but I'm not sure). And it will have almost all of the former FurFright staff behind it!
Follow
bios here for more info, or his twitter, bioswoof!This is going to happen! And while it won't be the same as FurFright, I'm hoping it's a reasonable facsimile. ^^
I just really need a reason to go to New England during the beautiful fall months and hang out with all my wonderful friends in a cozy, open and inviting atmosphere. I'm hoping they can pull it off. :)
I'd kinda like to help, but I'm not sure what I can do, and I have very limited free time and really no experience managing much of anything prominent, but the least I can do is spread the message!
Good luck guys! I'm rooting for ya!
Viva la [insert new FurFright replacement con here]!!!! ^__^
EDIT - I'm now kinda campaigning the name "Wicked Fur Con" for the new name, since they were asking about it. "Wicked" ties into New England slang as well as the evil ghoulies of Halloween, so it'd be perfect! WICKED FUR CON 2014! WFC! YEAH! ^__^
Although "Something Else Con" does have a nice ring and would be an acceptable alternative. ;)
-JT
No... Please No... [FurFright...]
Posted 12 years agohttp://www.furaffinity.net/journal/5306473/
I want to believe this is not true... please, it can't be true...
FurFright was obviously the most special con to me... I just proposed to my longtime girlfriend, whom I met at the con, AT the last Closing Ceremonies... and now it really is the last closing ceremonies... the last thing to happen at the con, period...
I've got confirmation from a very reliable source though... FurFright is no more.
........
This convention, it is no exaggeration to say, changed my life. I've grown here, met lifelong friends here, met my future wife here... it's the only convention I've ever felt was more than a convention, it was a gathering of family whom I cherish like my own. It's why I have been every year since 2007, and it was the only convention I would do anything to attend.
And now it's gone...
.........
Thank you, Belic, K'gra, and all the people who helped run this con. There will always be a very special place in my heart for this convention and for all of you. And I truly hope you find courage and strength to get you through whatever it is you are going through right now. Who knows, maybe you will feel like starting the con back up a couple of years from now, after this is all over...
But if not....
I'll always have the memories...
T___T
Sincerely,
JT
I want to believe this is not true... please, it can't be true...
FurFright was obviously the most special con to me... I just proposed to my longtime girlfriend, whom I met at the con, AT the last Closing Ceremonies... and now it really is the last closing ceremonies... the last thing to happen at the con, period...
I've got confirmation from a very reliable source though... FurFright is no more.
........
This convention, it is no exaggeration to say, changed my life. I've grown here, met lifelong friends here, met my future wife here... it's the only convention I've ever felt was more than a convention, it was a gathering of family whom I cherish like my own. It's why I have been every year since 2007, and it was the only convention I would do anything to attend.
And now it's gone...
.........
Thank you, Belic, K'gra, and all the people who helped run this con. There will always be a very special place in my heart for this convention and for all of you. And I truly hope you find courage and strength to get you through whatever it is you are going through right now. Who knows, maybe you will feel like starting the con back up a couple of years from now, after this is all over...
But if not....
I'll always have the memories...
T___T
Sincerely,
JT
FurFright. It Happened. It Was Short. And It Was Epic.
Posted 12 years agoSo here I am, writing a full con report (as I sometimes can't seem to stop myself from doing) about FurFright 2013, when I realize a few things.
1) The con was soooo freaking short (basically just Saturday and Sunday for me) so there wasn't much to say.
2) The con was defined by ONE MOMENT that will forever remain the most special con moment for as long as I go to cons.
3) Referencing the above 2 points, there's no need to regale you with insignificant details of a day by day walkthrough of what I did. Instead, I will give you a report that is more fitting to what the FurFright 2013 experience was like for me...
Here's how it went down, in Tiggie-Brain-Mode.
Thursday... gotta finish secret video for closing ceremonies... video take long... oh so long... render render render... impatient kitty... shit we're gonna be sooo late and i have to sleep and it's friday FUUCK... OK IM DONE! .... 1 hour nap... TIME FOR DRIVE... drive drive need to nap sooo tired... ZZZZZ... DRIVE MORE... 7 hours drive... drive drive drive... HI
HI ... drive drive drive... gotta eat... traffic... gonna be late for Kat's panels... fuck we missed them... fuck im in trouble. :( angry kitty... "I hope it's worth it."... >,>.... um ok we're here time for sleep... OH HI ZZZ.
Saturday... awake... sign up for masquerade... wait i need a conbadge... fuck masquerade is full now... OH WELL... dealers den... plushies... badges... art... YAY I SPENT MONEY... fursuit parade time! ... parade walk wave pictures yay... suit suit suit... room time... oh look chicken wings! NOM NOM.... wait it's 9pm already? ... drink drink drink suit go to party... PARTY IS NONE... downstairs OH HELLO RADIO PODCAST... BEEEELCH... go to zoo... HI! HI 
drink drink BEEEELCH... RAVE NOW... god this music is terrible... OH WELL... dance dance sweat suit suit hang outside go upstairs pass out hooray.
Sunday... TODAY IS THE DAY... dealers den get a couple more things... money gone... go upstairs... fursuit now TIME FOR FURSUIT GAMES... weeeeeeeeee yay musical chairs! ... damn i lost... HAHA I'M BACK... damn i lost again... BUT THE TEAM WON! ^__^ ... dinner time with friends! ... mmm chowdah and squids... time to get ready for closing ceremonies... shower shave preen got everything ready oh hi there's Kat HI KAT... wait wtf you mean robbed?! O,o fuck why now... oh wait just a misplaced receipt ok all is good i love you hunny time to go downstairs... audio check video check stage placement man hope this goes well... oh look Kat is here HI HUNNY i saved you a seat in the front row. ^^
Now it's presentation time... i have a mic... talk talk talk... make the crowd meow cuz dammit i can... video plays... its a sappy romantic tribute video to Kat and me... I TOLD YOU IT WOULD BE WORTH IT BECAUSE IT WAS ABOUT YOU ALL ALONG ^^... sing sing cry sing cry cry... crowd goes awww... Kat is like :D ... video is almost over... Kat is like :D ... I drop down to one knee... Kat is like :D then slowly goes to :o then 8O ....
Will you marry me?
CROWD SCREAMS KITTY SAYS "FUCK YEAH" AND WE ARE NOW ENGAGED!
WE ARE NOW ENGAGED!!!
ENGAGED!!!!!
HUGS HUGS TEARS CHEERS CONGRATS oh here is a picture I commissioned for you yesterday of our proposal today and you're wearing the EXACT SAME OUTFIT HOW BOUT THAT! ... sushi with
and the gang.... cloud 9 all night... after dinner exhausted... sleep... wake up chat with cajun... then more sleep... wake up it's monday HOLY SHIT IM ENGAGED... pack... Ted's Cheeseburgers with friends... leave way too late... drop off blue and teddy... sleep a bit... dunkin' donuts in MD... detour in DC aka ill-advised sightseeing with a sleeping kitty in car who wakes up pissed and panicked and my phone is dead but its ok i gave her a fruit cup and WE'RE FUCKING ENGAGED.... drive drive drive traffic drive drive drive ARE WE THERE YET drive drive energy drink drive HOME SLEEP NOW zzzzzz....
So that was my FurFright, a very special con indeed. ^^
For it is there that I met my sweet kitty face to face for the first time 6 years ago, and it is there that the promise to wed was officially made. I couldn't have had a more perfect place for the proposal to the most perfect kitty I've ever known. ^^
Sorry the video took so long to make and that it made you miss your panels... and sorry I was a derp and hung out in politicianland while you were locked in the car (for some reason) and not sleeping blissfully. And sorry for all the driving and that it took as long as the whole con did.
But it's ok, WE'RE FUCKING ENGAGED!!! ^____^
And finally, for you saps out there, here's the proposal video (complete with me bawling like a baby throughout and Kat being oblivious to the whole thing until it was almost over... at least she was surprised. ^^)
http://youtu.be/SO6uvYc1q5k
And some pictures taken by and... Kat (before I asked her on stage with me ^^).
http://www.flickr.com/photos/107283763@N02/
I love you katalina and I'm very proud to call you my fiancé... my mate, my lover until the end. :)
Thanks everyone for the congrats and to those who helped it happen. And to Belic and all the FurFright crew, thank you and keep doing what you do. Your hard work and tireless efforts help bring lovestruck kitties together. ^^
Can't wait til next year! I promise I'm getting there early this time. ;)
With love,
-JT
1) The con was soooo freaking short (basically just Saturday and Sunday for me) so there wasn't much to say.
2) The con was defined by ONE MOMENT that will forever remain the most special con moment for as long as I go to cons.
3) Referencing the above 2 points, there's no need to regale you with insignificant details of a day by day walkthrough of what I did. Instead, I will give you a report that is more fitting to what the FurFright 2013 experience was like for me...
Here's how it went down, in Tiggie-Brain-Mode.
Thursday... gotta finish secret video for closing ceremonies... video take long... oh so long... render render render... impatient kitty... shit we're gonna be sooo late and i have to sleep and it's friday FUUCK... OK IM DONE! .... 1 hour nap... TIME FOR DRIVE... drive drive need to nap sooo tired... ZZZZZ... DRIVE MORE... 7 hours drive... drive drive drive... HI
HI ... drive drive drive... gotta eat... traffic... gonna be late for Kat's panels... fuck we missed them... fuck im in trouble. :( angry kitty... "I hope it's worth it."... >,>.... um ok we're here time for sleep... OH HI ZZZ.Saturday... awake... sign up for masquerade... wait i need a conbadge... fuck masquerade is full now... OH WELL... dealers den... plushies... badges... art... YAY I SPENT MONEY... fursuit parade time! ... parade walk wave pictures yay... suit suit suit... room time... oh look chicken wings! NOM NOM.... wait it's 9pm already? ... drink drink drink suit go to party... PARTY IS NONE... downstairs OH HELLO RADIO PODCAST... BEEEELCH... go to zoo... HI
! HI 
drink drink BEEEELCH... RAVE NOW... god this music is terrible... OH WELL... dance dance sweat suit suit hang outside go upstairs pass out hooray.Sunday... TODAY IS THE DAY... dealers den get a couple more things... money gone... go upstairs... fursuit now TIME FOR FURSUIT GAMES... weeeeeeeeee yay musical chairs! ... damn i lost... HAHA I'M BACK... damn i lost again... BUT THE TEAM WON! ^__^ ... dinner time with friends! ... mmm chowdah and squids... time to get ready for closing ceremonies... shower shave preen got everything ready oh hi there's Kat HI KAT... wait wtf you mean robbed?! O,o fuck why now... oh wait just a misplaced receipt ok all is good i love you hunny time to go downstairs... audio check video check stage placement man hope this goes well... oh look Kat is here HI HUNNY i saved you a seat in the front row. ^^
Now it's presentation time... i have a mic... talk talk talk... make the crowd meow cuz dammit i can... video plays... its a sappy romantic tribute video to Kat and me... I TOLD YOU IT WOULD BE WORTH IT BECAUSE IT WAS ABOUT YOU ALL ALONG ^^... sing sing cry sing cry cry... crowd goes awww... Kat is like :D ... video is almost over... Kat is like :D ... I drop down to one knee... Kat is like :D then slowly goes to :o then 8O ....
Will you marry me?
CROWD SCREAMS KITTY SAYS "FUCK YEAH" AND WE ARE NOW ENGAGED!
WE ARE NOW ENGAGED!!!
ENGAGED!!!!!
HUGS HUGS TEARS CHEERS CONGRATS oh here is a picture I commissioned for you yesterday of our proposal today and you're wearing the EXACT SAME OUTFIT HOW BOUT THAT! ... sushi with
and the gang.... cloud 9 all night... after dinner exhausted... sleep... wake up chat with cajun... then more sleep... wake up it's monday HOLY SHIT IM ENGAGED... pack... Ted's Cheeseburgers with friends... leave way too late... drop off blue and teddy... sleep a bit... dunkin' donuts in MD... detour in DC aka ill-advised sightseeing with a sleeping kitty in car who wakes up pissed and panicked and my phone is dead but its ok i gave her a fruit cup and WE'RE FUCKING ENGAGED.... drive drive drive traffic drive drive drive ARE WE THERE YET drive drive energy drink drive HOME SLEEP NOW zzzzzz....So that was my FurFright, a very special con indeed. ^^
For it is there that I met my sweet kitty face to face for the first time 6 years ago, and it is there that the promise to wed was officially made. I couldn't have had a more perfect place for the proposal to the most perfect kitty I've ever known. ^^
Sorry the video took so long to make and that it made you miss your panels... and sorry I was a derp and hung out in politicianland while you were locked in the car (for some reason) and not sleeping blissfully. And sorry for all the driving and that it took as long as the whole con did.
But it's ok, WE'RE FUCKING ENGAGED!!! ^____^
And finally, for you saps out there, here's the proposal video (complete with me bawling like a baby throughout and Kat being oblivious to the whole thing until it was almost over... at least she was surprised. ^^)
http://youtu.be/SO6uvYc1q5k
And some pictures taken by
and... Kat (before I asked her on stage with me ^^).http://www.flickr.com/photos/107283763@N02/
I love you
katalina and I'm very proud to call you my fiancé... my mate, my lover until the end. :)Thanks everyone for the congrats and to those who helped it happen. And to Belic and all the FurFright crew, thank you and keep doing what you do. Your hard work and tireless efforts help bring lovestruck kitties together. ^^
Can't wait til next year! I promise I'm getting there early this time. ;)
With love,
-JT
YARR! FURFRIGHT APPROACHETH! (meme)
Posted 12 years ago(don't ask me why I combined pirate speak with classical language cues. I know not. o__o)
In a few days I will be at FurFright! So here's a meme fo' yo' ASSES! And your faces. And whatever other parts of you enjoy memes (does anyone actually enjoy memes? >__>)
Anyways, MEEEEEEME!
Transportation type? The type of 4 wheeled vehicles that you rent. The kind that are road legal. And come insured hopefully.
Hotel you're staying at? The Cromwell Plaza or whatever the main hotel is!
Dates You'll be there? Getting there sometime between our planned arrival time of Thursday at midnightish (TECHNICALLY FRIDAY HURRR) and the end of the con. Leaving Monday morning or whenever hotel staff throws us out.
Rooming with? katalina cajunkitty bluehayze (I THINK... Blue is a last-minute-planning-mutha-fucka X_x)
Gender: Dickman!
Description: Puny human. Goes down easy and comes back with a vengeance. Sometimes tranforms into a smelly tiger for no reason. Beware tiger musk.
Fursuit(s)? UHYEH.
Relationship Status? Sole property of katalina Be respectful. Don't induce kitty rage, folks. ;3
Relationship Type? Closed.* *If you're an exception, you already know it.
Who you will be with a majority of the time? Hopefully katalina. Also bluehayze ianmj91 
morearty cajunkitty clemfox
Main purpose for attending? IT'S FURFRIGHT! What other reason do you need?! ;3
Do you have a table in the Dealer's Den? Not really... although Morearty and friends (including Kat) have a table which could be used for those purposes... but I don't see myself sitting there drawing anything. And I don't really have anything to sell, except maybe FPRM stickers.
Where you usually eat? I take suggestions every year, but I'd like to go back to Ted's Steamed Cheeseburgers and get clam chowdah at the hotel restaurant. Probably a lot of order out pizza too. Please no $25 sushi/hibachi! DX
Parties? - I don't go searching for them. They just kinda happen where I'm at. ;3
Fursuiting? - NO. I AM AN ACTUAL TIGER. >:U
Daily activities? - Running from one end of the hotel to the other with arms flailing over my head, over and over and over. I plan on attending a couple of fursuit building panels too! And fursuit games! And probably eating! Possibly drinking, sleeping, shitting. You know, the norm. All in the company of friends! Except for shitting (bullshitting, maybe...)
Nightly Activities? - Oh shit, I didn't know there'd be an additional part to "Daily activities" O,o Umm... Let's move drinking and 1/2 of eating/shitting to this section. Yeah, that looks good.
What time I usually go to bed and get up?- People plan this at a con?! :O Umm, I go to bed like after 3am most of the time. Will want to sleep in until noon but will get up earlier if forced (at gunpoint or similar).
Can I touch you? ......this is about the most awkward question that can be asked. >,> Let's see how the whole "social interaction" thing plays out and we'll take it from there. (I do give hugs readily though, so there's that).
Can I talk to you? No. I require verbal silence in my presence. You may speak to me in Afrikaan tongue clicks and that's it. No exceptions. Guttural bellows and belching may be acceptable if not aimed directly at me.
Are you nice? The nicest tiger.
Can I buy you lots of drinks/get you all the foods? - I severely doubt this will happen, but I do enjoy free stuff. As long as you're not trying to drug me (DON'T GET ANY IDEAS!)
Can I give you lots of money? People normally do. I just walk by and they open up their wallets and hand me cash as I stroll past without making eye contact. It's now a thing I do.
Can I stalk you? ......I take back my original statement about "Can I touch you" being the most awkward question.
Can I take your picture? Only if my skin has turned orange and fuzzy. Then you won't have a choice (random tigers appear in front of flashing cameras without notice).
Can I have your room number/visit your room? Weeeelllllll you seeeeee, it's not my place to be inviting people to a room that's not mine. Ask cajunkitty. Probably not though, unless extremely temporary.
Would you like/to/come visit mine? I LOVE STRANGERS' ROOMS...
Will you take commissions while at the con? I've got enough of these to do outside of the con. I don't need to make additional work for myself. Unless you pay in unopened iPads or something.
AND THAT'S THE END OF MEME...
See you at the con. ;3
-JT
In a few days I will be at FurFright! So here's a meme fo' yo' ASSES! And your faces. And whatever other parts of you enjoy memes (does anyone actually enjoy memes? >__>)
Anyways, MEEEEEEME!
Transportation type? The type of 4 wheeled vehicles that you rent. The kind that are road legal. And come insured hopefully.
Hotel you're staying at? The Cromwell Plaza or whatever the main hotel is!
Dates You'll be there? Getting there sometime between our planned arrival time of Thursday at midnightish (TECHNICALLY FRIDAY HURRR) and the end of the con. Leaving Monday morning or whenever hotel staff throws us out.
Rooming with?
katalina cajunkitty bluehayze (I THINK... Blue is a last-minute-planning-mutha-fucka X_x)Gender: Dickman!
Description: Puny human. Goes down easy and comes back with a vengeance. Sometimes tranforms into a smelly tiger for no reason. Beware tiger musk.
Fursuit(s)? UHYEH.
Relationship Status? Sole property of
katalina Be respectful. Don't induce kitty rage, folks. ;3Relationship Type? Closed.* *If you're an exception, you already know it.
Who you will be with a majority of the time? Hopefully
katalina. Also bluehayze ianmj91 
morearty cajunkitty clemfoxMain purpose for attending? IT'S FURFRIGHT! What other reason do you need?! ;3
Do you have a table in the Dealer's Den? Not really... although Morearty and friends (including Kat) have a table which could be used for those purposes... but I don't see myself sitting there drawing anything. And I don't really have anything to sell, except maybe FPRM stickers.
Where you usually eat? I take suggestions every year, but I'd like to go back to Ted's Steamed Cheeseburgers and get clam chowdah at the hotel restaurant. Probably a lot of order out pizza too. Please no $25 sushi/hibachi! DX
Parties? - I don't go searching for them. They just kinda happen where I'm at. ;3
Fursuiting? - NO. I AM AN ACTUAL TIGER. >:U
Daily activities? - Running from one end of the hotel to the other with arms flailing over my head, over and over and over. I plan on attending a couple of fursuit building panels too! And fursuit games! And probably eating! Possibly drinking, sleeping, shitting. You know, the norm. All in the company of friends! Except for shitting (bullshitting, maybe...)
Nightly Activities? - Oh shit, I didn't know there'd be an additional part to "Daily activities" O,o Umm... Let's move drinking and 1/2 of eating/shitting to this section. Yeah, that looks good.
What time I usually go to bed and get up?- People plan this at a con?! :O Umm, I go to bed like after 3am most of the time. Will want to sleep in until noon but will get up earlier if forced (at gunpoint or similar).
Can I touch you? ......this is about the most awkward question that can be asked. >,> Let's see how the whole "social interaction" thing plays out and we'll take it from there. (I do give hugs readily though, so there's that).
Can I talk to you? No. I require verbal silence in my presence. You may speak to me in Afrikaan tongue clicks and that's it. No exceptions. Guttural bellows and belching may be acceptable if not aimed directly at me.
Are you nice? The nicest tiger.
Can I buy you lots of drinks/get you all the foods? - I severely doubt this will happen, but I do enjoy free stuff. As long as you're not trying to drug me (DON'T GET ANY IDEAS!)
Can I give you lots of money? People normally do. I just walk by and they open up their wallets and hand me cash as I stroll past without making eye contact. It's now a thing I do.
Can I stalk you? ......I take back my original statement about "Can I touch you" being the most awkward question.
Can I take your picture? Only if my skin has turned orange and fuzzy. Then you won't have a choice (random tigers appear in front of flashing cameras without notice).
Can I have your room number/visit your room? Weeeelllllll you seeeeee, it's not my place to be inviting people to a room that's not mine. Ask
cajunkitty. Probably not though, unless extremely temporary.Would you like/to/come visit mine? I LOVE STRANGERS' ROOMS...
Will you take commissions while at the con? I've got enough of these to do outside of the con. I don't need to make additional work for myself. Unless you pay in unopened iPads or something.
AND THAT'S THE END OF MEME...
See you at the con. ;3
-JT
Update Part 2 (Closing Out 2013)
Posted 12 years agoPlans for the rest of 2013...
Other than working my tail off (leaving me about one day off a week, which normally is taken up with errands and being pooped from working so much), I've got a lot of plans involving some fun stuff. How much I'll get done remains to be seen, but there are plans at least...
First thing's first:
-Overdue Art Commissions
-FBA Icons
It doesn't need to be said, but I still have plenty of art commissions I have to finish. And I plan on finishing a chunk of it in 2013.
Realistically, I plan to finish the following...
-Pitiful Writer's commission
-Deviant Coyote's commission
-Stevie Maxwell's commission
-Rainwhisker's commission
-WyattKelly's commission
-All remaining animated flail icons (Tobu, Tazel, Hixbi, CallSignWolf)
That takes care of just over half of my owed list. And the sooner I can get this done, the better.
I'm also working on finishing up FBA player icons. These are free, but I've dedicated myself to finishing them. I've got about 22 more to go, and if I can get them done before this year ends, I will have a huge weight off my back creatively and can focus on other things.
I will be making a schedule that I intend to keep as far as these art projects go. Of course my schedule is very hectic do to the "work at anytime" availability I carry, but we'll see what I can do.
As well as these commissions, I have FurFright planning to do. After FurFright (and after these commissions and freebies) I have the other commissions (C-Cat [2x], Sly, CallSignWolf, B-Hop, Canius, Kasekine, Red Fox). Then I have music (writing for FPRM and another side project). Then I've got personal art ambitions (2 comics, tumblr, personal character art) and finally, fursuit videos (including FPRM vids from FurFright 2011 and IFC 2013).
That's a lot of stuff. :P
I really REALLY wish I could develop a way to make a living off of furry projects (2k a month at minimum) but alas, I am slow and not in the upper tier of artists who can charge an arm and/or a leg for their time (nor am I dependable enough at this point). One day though, maybe if I work really hard and develop a speed for art, a better understanding of anatomy and coloring, and really push myself to be productive during each waking spare minute I have...
I probably still can't do it. :P
But a tiger can dream. ^^
Anyway, that's what's on the list for me. I know it seems like I am not very active in the fandom, and that sucks because I really want to be. I need a job that doesn't destroy 70 hours a week of my time though for that to happen.
Next con I'm considering after FurFright is FWA 2014, so there will be a bit of a gap in traveling. I'm actually rather thankful for that. I wanna make as much headway into my queue of things as possible.
So yeah, there ya go. Schedule for da overworked tiggie. Let's see if I can make this happen.
-JT
Other than working my tail off (leaving me about one day off a week, which normally is taken up with errands and being pooped from working so much), I've got a lot of plans involving some fun stuff. How much I'll get done remains to be seen, but there are plans at least...
First thing's first:
-Overdue Art Commissions
-FBA Icons
It doesn't need to be said, but I still have plenty of art commissions I have to finish. And I plan on finishing a chunk of it in 2013.
Realistically, I plan to finish the following...
-Pitiful Writer's commission
-Deviant Coyote's commission
-Stevie Maxwell's commission
-Rainwhisker's commission
-WyattKelly's commission
-All remaining animated flail icons (Tobu, Tazel, Hixbi, CallSignWolf)
That takes care of just over half of my owed list. And the sooner I can get this done, the better.
I'm also working on finishing up FBA player icons. These are free, but I've dedicated myself to finishing them. I've got about 22 more to go, and if I can get them done before this year ends, I will have a huge weight off my back creatively and can focus on other things.
I will be making a schedule that I intend to keep as far as these art projects go. Of course my schedule is very hectic do to the "work at anytime" availability I carry, but we'll see what I can do.
As well as these commissions, I have FurFright planning to do. After FurFright (and after these commissions and freebies) I have the other commissions (C-Cat [2x], Sly, CallSignWolf, B-Hop, Canius, Kasekine, Red Fox). Then I have music (writing for FPRM and another side project). Then I've got personal art ambitions (2 comics, tumblr, personal character art) and finally, fursuit videos (including FPRM vids from FurFright 2011 and IFC 2013).
That's a lot of stuff. :P
I really REALLY wish I could develop a way to make a living off of furry projects (2k a month at minimum) but alas, I am slow and not in the upper tier of artists who can charge an arm and/or a leg for their time (nor am I dependable enough at this point). One day though, maybe if I work really hard and develop a speed for art, a better understanding of anatomy and coloring, and really push myself to be productive during each waking spare minute I have...
I probably still can't do it. :P
But a tiger can dream. ^^
Anyway, that's what's on the list for me. I know it seems like I am not very active in the fandom, and that sucks because I really want to be. I need a job that doesn't destroy 70 hours a week of my time though for that to happen.
Next con I'm considering after FurFright is FWA 2014, so there will be a bit of a gap in traveling. I'm actually rather thankful for that. I wanna make as much headway into my queue of things as possible.
So yeah, there ya go. Schedule for da overworked tiggie. Let's see if I can make this happen.
-JT
Typical Update Journal part 1 (RIOT FEST REVIEW)
Posted 12 years agoJust because the last journal is updated and I need to occasionally let people know I'm still alive. ;)
I'm right in that in-between period in the middle of my last event (Riot Fest) and my next one (FurFright). I was gonna write a big long journal detailing Riot Fest, but that's never been a good use of my time and time is something that is definitely of the essence to me now, so here's a "short" review.... aww fuck it, let it be its own journal. I can't do "short" reviews of anything, let's be honest...
I went by myself. Bawww. Doesn't mean I had a bad time, but still would have liked to have friends there.
I got to see evan and hang out with him for the first time in a long time. It was very wonderful for numerous reasons. It had just been too long. We got coffee and caught up a bit before the concert started.
I got on the wrong mode of transportation (bus instead of train) and had to scramble to figure out how to get to Humboldt Park. I made it, but missed The Flatliners. It could have been much worse. That was the only band I missed Friday.
Friday's band lineup. Saw Smoking Popes, Andrew W.K., Screeching Weasel, Bad Religion, GWAR, caught a bit of Atmosphere, Sublime With Rome, Joan Jett and Danzig.
Smoking Popes were good, if unengaging visually. They played my favorite song from them, "Not That Kind of Girlfriend" as well as some faves off the only album I have of them, including "Writing a Letter" and "Brand New Haircut".
Andrew W.K. was pretty awesome. I was up in front, got some great pictures. AWK is an amazing performer, and having his hot-ass wife up there in a skimpy outfit certainly didn't hurt. He played most all of my favorites from his first album (the only one I've listened to more than once). Also, his guitarist has the same amp head as me (Peavey 5150).
Screeching Weasel was the dark horse band of the fest. I may dare say they were my 1st or 2nd favorite act of the whole thing. They sounded great for not playing as a band in forever, and Ben Weasel (singer) was engaging during and in between songs. They played my favorite song "The Science of Myth" and many other great songs like "Hey Suburbia". I did have to duck out early so I didn't miss all of Bad Religion though (damn competing schedules).
Bad Religion was pretty good. I've seen them before, and they were on point as usual. The sound mixing of this band and really, all the bands was amazing. Vocals were crisp and clear, so were the guitars and drums. They played some stuff off their new record which kicked ass, as well as old favorites. I did get to get all that close to the band this time, but that's ok. I did get close enough near the end to grab a Bad Religion pick off the ground.
GWAR was something I've never seen before. They really went all out with performance in costume, which was truly awesome. It made me not feel too weird for only playing shows in animal costumes. XD The show was hilarious and epic (JUGGERNAUT ZOMBIE JESUS AND GIANT VEINY BLOOD SPEWING PENISES). I parked myself next to the big screen monitor, because this was much more like a tv show than a concert. I may go see them in Charlotte on Halloween.
Atmosphere - Not that into rap as a live performance. Overheard a couple of songs while walking to other bands. Sounded cool though.
Joan Jett and the Blackhearts - I decided to eat for the first time all day. A deep fried peanut butter and jelly sandwich which I later regretted (too much GREASE). Watched her as a way to pass some time while eating. Pretty nice witnessing a legend, even if I'm not familiar with her stuff. Can't be unfamiliar with "I Love Rock and Roll" though.
Sublime With Rome - They have new songs and they also play Sublime songs. I got to hear "What I Got" and "Santeria" so I was more than fulfilled.
Danzig - I was illogically depressed after deciding not to buy a Propagandhi vinyl then witnessing the very next person in line buy the last one (it's available online for $12 for fuck sake) so I was all down and shit when I walked to Glenn Danzig's stage. I knew Danzig did solo stuff so I was expecting that and wasn't that hyped. But then Doyle Wolfgang von Frankenstein, the original guitarist, walked out on stage and they started playing Misfits songs! Now I was excited! They played "Skulls" and "Last Caress" and other classic shit! It was awesome, though I was in the back. I tried to get a pick when the show was over, but they handed them out to everyone but me. *baww* Still awesome though.
Fall Out Boy was there but I really didn't give a shit. Heard their last song, "Saturday" was like "Hey I remember this song before they decided to suck." It wasn't even as good as I remembered when I heard it in college.
Legs and Feet killing me, I walked all the way back to the Blue Line station, took a train back to the airport, then attempted to sleep in an airport chair in the baggage claim, which didn't work too well. I was trying to save money on hotels and rental cars, but I eventually did end up relenting and getting a rental car, which I drove an hour and some to the house of steviemaxwell who graciously let me crash on his downstairs futon for 3 hours. Then I drove back around 1.
Saturday
I got there too late and missed TSOL, X, The Lillingtons, Radkey and Pennywise. FUCKING BAWWW... I couldn't find a goddamn parking spot where I wouldn't get towed from and didn't get into the show til 5 pm. The rental car turned out to be a bad idea, although it did allow me to leave my bag in the car and gave me somewhere to sleep after the show.
Saturday's band lineup (that I got to see...) DeVotchKa, FLAG, Lawrence Arms, Rancid, Taking Back Sunday, Blink 182
Man, so I really only saw 5 1/2 bands Saturday? (caught glimpses of Taking Back Sunday). That's depressing.
DeVotchKa was a 'killing time' band. There wasn't really anything to do before FLAG played, so I watched them. They were a really chill band. Had a tuba at times. Other times a big stand up bass played by a tiny chick barely as tall as the bass. They were satisfactory.
FLAG - Up there with the best performances of the night for me. They played a blistering Black Flag set, and watching original Black Flag members (including Keith fucking Morris) was unreal. I was in the middle of the pit and up as close to the front of the stage as I could get. The crowd was really pretty obnoxious. Mosh pits are one thing, and I expect some crowd surfers, but this urge to simply push people side to side as hard as you can is really stupid and made it difficult to enjoy the show, plus endless stream of crowd surfers landing on your head. I still really enjoyed the show though, and it was an experience I'm not sure I'll ever be able to fully replicate. Fucking Black FLAG man. Unreal.
Lawrence Arms was another of my favorite performances. The first few times I saw them, they opened for Lagwagon and another time for NOFX. Back then I wasn't really familiar with their stuff and they were just "the opening band". This is the first time I was fully familiar with their discography (they're one of my favorite bands now) and it was extremely awesome seeing them again. I was up in front of course, and knew the words to basically every song. They even played "Necrotism: Decanting the Insalubrious (Cyborg Midnight) Part 7", which is my favorite song from them and I thought a pretty obscure one. The pit was energetic but not overly annoying, and people were mostly polite. This was a super enjoyable show, even though I missed the first part because the stages are like 3 miles apart and I wasn't leaving FLAG early (I literally couldn't, I was wedged in there good).
Rancid was the best I've seen them in years. Well, I've only seen them one other time, at Warped Tour in 2004 I think, and that wasn't really a great show. They sounded very clear and on point, and I love Tim Armstrong's vocals. I couldn't get that close for this show, so I enjoyed it from afar. Kinda wished I went to their Charlotte show a few days prior, I would have gotten to be much closer to the stage.
Taking Back Sunday - It was either stay up near the stage for good positioning for Blink 182 (my favorite band) or go all the way across the park to see some of Taking Back Sunday. I like the band enough to decide to go all the way across the park to try and see some of them. Of course the crowd is huge and I can't get very close because I didn't want to be trapped when it was time to go see Blink (started immediately when TBS ended). I waited to hear some recognizable tunes, like "What's It Feel Like To Be A Ghost" and "Liar Liar", then I had to start the trek back. Sorry I didn't get to see more of them but that was the schedule's fault.
Blink 182. Finally, my favorite band. The band that made me do everything in my power to come to this show, even when I was certain I couldn't afford it. I somehow wedged myself in at the side of the stage and made my way near the front. That was probably a big mistake. Blink is just too big a band to be up in the front for, because the crowd is like a fucking car compactor. I was up front for 40 minutes of the show, but I swear I don't remember hearing more than "Feeling This" and "Up All Night", the two first songs they played. After that, it was a blur of crowd surfers crushing me, being crushed from all sides, being trampled, and having every bit of strength and energy squeezed out of me just trying to stay on my feet. When people fell down, nobody could help them up because the crowd couldn't make room for them and just kept falling on top of them, making a massive pile of human flesh. You couldn't escape the crowdsurfers because there were 10 at a time colliding with each other, and nobody was able to hold all of them up so they'd fall into another pile and get trampled. Mark (the bassist) even said at one point for everyone to chill and take a step back to allow people to get out of the crowd if they needed and catch their breath. That was my cue to get out, because I had been on the verge of passing out for the last 10 minutes and I couldn't find a way out of the crowd. I had zero strength to hold anyone or myself up anymore. Finally I got someone to lift me out of the crowd and I made it over the front gate, a staff member gave me a bottle of water (a lifesaver) and I stumbled out the side. Took 10 minutes to catch my breath and recover from the crushing. I enjoyed "Heart's All Gone", "Josie", "Carousel", and "Dammit" from in the back (so basically all my favorite songs from them...that they will play live). They also finally played something surprising with "Family Reunion" (a string of curse words that is a cult classic for every bigtime Blink fan). The band performed great, but I had seen them play all those singles a few times before, and even up close in a less obnoxious pit (in a seated arena where the pit was limited to like 200 people). The crowd pretty much ruined this performance for me, which is extremely disappointing. But... it happened.
After the show, I made my way out of the venue, walked all the way to my rental car, and decided I really wanted Chicago pizza. It was 12:00 and a place was 0.6 miles away and didn't close til 2 am. My biggest mistake though was trying to drive to get closer. My legs really didn't want to move and had no strength, so even a quarter mile closer would have sufficed. Of course even though it was kinda far from the venue, traffic was still horrible, and I drove around for an hour not being able to park. That was just stupid. I finally parked, but just as far away from the place as I started. Then when I got there, they said the kitchen closed at 1 am, even though the place closes at 2am. So I walked to the pizza place I passed on the way there. They had NY style pizza (no Chicago) and a shortage of slices, so I had to wait a while and still didn't get Chicago pizza. Whatever, it was food.
Slept in the car for like 2 hours. Didn't get mugged. Go me.
Had to miss all of Sunday because I had to go back to work. I had a $90 run scheduled and I couldn't pass that up. It's ok, I didn't miss anyone I really wanted to see other than Suicidal Tendencies and Against Me.
And so that was my trip to Chicago for Riot Fest 2013! Next time I know I can get tickets MUCH cheaper though. And hopefully someone to share a hotel with because sleeping in the airport and in a rental car is for the birds.
I didn't buy any merchandise the whole weekend. That is freakin' amazing. But then again, there wasn't much to really buy.
Favorite performances:
1) Lawrence Arms
2) FLAG
3) Screeching Weasel
4) Andrew W.K.
5) Misfits
6) GWAR
7) Blink 182
8) Bad Religion/Rancid/Smoking Popes
10) Taking Back Sunday
It was a lot to pay to see these bands, and I skimped like crazy, but if next year's lineup is just as good... we'll see.
I'm right in that in-between period in the middle of my last event (Riot Fest) and my next one (FurFright). I was gonna write a big long journal detailing Riot Fest, but that's never been a good use of my time and time is something that is definitely of the essence to me now, so here's a "short" review.... aww fuck it, let it be its own journal. I can't do "short" reviews of anything, let's be honest...
I went by myself. Bawww. Doesn't mean I had a bad time, but still would have liked to have friends there.
I got to see
evan and hang out with him for the first time in a long time. It was very wonderful for numerous reasons. It had just been too long. We got coffee and caught up a bit before the concert started.I got on the wrong mode of transportation (bus instead of train) and had to scramble to figure out how to get to Humboldt Park. I made it, but missed The Flatliners. It could have been much worse. That was the only band I missed Friday.
Friday's band lineup. Saw Smoking Popes, Andrew W.K., Screeching Weasel, Bad Religion, GWAR, caught a bit of Atmosphere, Sublime With Rome, Joan Jett and Danzig.
Smoking Popes were good, if unengaging visually. They played my favorite song from them, "Not That Kind of Girlfriend" as well as some faves off the only album I have of them, including "Writing a Letter" and "Brand New Haircut".
Andrew W.K. was pretty awesome. I was up in front, got some great pictures. AWK is an amazing performer, and having his hot-ass wife up there in a skimpy outfit certainly didn't hurt. He played most all of my favorites from his first album (the only one I've listened to more than once). Also, his guitarist has the same amp head as me (Peavey 5150).
Screeching Weasel was the dark horse band of the fest. I may dare say they were my 1st or 2nd favorite act of the whole thing. They sounded great for not playing as a band in forever, and Ben Weasel (singer) was engaging during and in between songs. They played my favorite song "The Science of Myth" and many other great songs like "Hey Suburbia". I did have to duck out early so I didn't miss all of Bad Religion though (damn competing schedules).
Bad Religion was pretty good. I've seen them before, and they were on point as usual. The sound mixing of this band and really, all the bands was amazing. Vocals were crisp and clear, so were the guitars and drums. They played some stuff off their new record which kicked ass, as well as old favorites. I did get to get all that close to the band this time, but that's ok. I did get close enough near the end to grab a Bad Religion pick off the ground.
GWAR was something I've never seen before. They really went all out with performance in costume, which was truly awesome. It made me not feel too weird for only playing shows in animal costumes. XD The show was hilarious and epic (JUGGERNAUT ZOMBIE JESUS AND GIANT VEINY BLOOD SPEWING PENISES). I parked myself next to the big screen monitor, because this was much more like a tv show than a concert. I may go see them in Charlotte on Halloween.
Atmosphere - Not that into rap as a live performance. Overheard a couple of songs while walking to other bands. Sounded cool though.
Joan Jett and the Blackhearts - I decided to eat for the first time all day. A deep fried peanut butter and jelly sandwich which I later regretted (too much GREASE). Watched her as a way to pass some time while eating. Pretty nice witnessing a legend, even if I'm not familiar with her stuff. Can't be unfamiliar with "I Love Rock and Roll" though.
Sublime With Rome - They have new songs and they also play Sublime songs. I got to hear "What I Got" and "Santeria" so I was more than fulfilled.
Danzig - I was illogically depressed after deciding not to buy a Propagandhi vinyl then witnessing the very next person in line buy the last one (it's available online for $12 for fuck sake) so I was all down and shit when I walked to Glenn Danzig's stage. I knew Danzig did solo stuff so I was expecting that and wasn't that hyped. But then Doyle Wolfgang von Frankenstein, the original guitarist, walked out on stage and they started playing Misfits songs! Now I was excited! They played "Skulls" and "Last Caress" and other classic shit! It was awesome, though I was in the back. I tried to get a pick when the show was over, but they handed them out to everyone but me. *baww* Still awesome though.
Fall Out Boy was there but I really didn't give a shit. Heard their last song, "Saturday" was like "Hey I remember this song before they decided to suck." It wasn't even as good as I remembered when I heard it in college.
Legs and Feet killing me, I walked all the way back to the Blue Line station, took a train back to the airport, then attempted to sleep in an airport chair in the baggage claim, which didn't work too well. I was trying to save money on hotels and rental cars, but I eventually did end up relenting and getting a rental car, which I drove an hour and some to the house of
steviemaxwell who graciously let me crash on his downstairs futon for 3 hours. Then I drove back around 1.Saturday
I got there too late and missed TSOL, X, The Lillingtons, Radkey and Pennywise. FUCKING BAWWW... I couldn't find a goddamn parking spot where I wouldn't get towed from and didn't get into the show til 5 pm. The rental car turned out to be a bad idea, although it did allow me to leave my bag in the car and gave me somewhere to sleep after the show.
Saturday's band lineup (that I got to see...) DeVotchKa, FLAG, Lawrence Arms, Rancid, Taking Back Sunday, Blink 182
Man, so I really only saw 5 1/2 bands Saturday? (caught glimpses of Taking Back Sunday). That's depressing.
DeVotchKa was a 'killing time' band. There wasn't really anything to do before FLAG played, so I watched them. They were a really chill band. Had a tuba at times. Other times a big stand up bass played by a tiny chick barely as tall as the bass. They were satisfactory.
FLAG - Up there with the best performances of the night for me. They played a blistering Black Flag set, and watching original Black Flag members (including Keith fucking Morris) was unreal. I was in the middle of the pit and up as close to the front of the stage as I could get. The crowd was really pretty obnoxious. Mosh pits are one thing, and I expect some crowd surfers, but this urge to simply push people side to side as hard as you can is really stupid and made it difficult to enjoy the show, plus endless stream of crowd surfers landing on your head. I still really enjoyed the show though, and it was an experience I'm not sure I'll ever be able to fully replicate. Fucking Black FLAG man. Unreal.
Lawrence Arms was another of my favorite performances. The first few times I saw them, they opened for Lagwagon and another time for NOFX. Back then I wasn't really familiar with their stuff and they were just "the opening band". This is the first time I was fully familiar with their discography (they're one of my favorite bands now) and it was extremely awesome seeing them again. I was up in front of course, and knew the words to basically every song. They even played "Necrotism: Decanting the Insalubrious (Cyborg Midnight) Part 7", which is my favorite song from them and I thought a pretty obscure one. The pit was energetic but not overly annoying, and people were mostly polite. This was a super enjoyable show, even though I missed the first part because the stages are like 3 miles apart and I wasn't leaving FLAG early (I literally couldn't, I was wedged in there good).
Rancid was the best I've seen them in years. Well, I've only seen them one other time, at Warped Tour in 2004 I think, and that wasn't really a great show. They sounded very clear and on point, and I love Tim Armstrong's vocals. I couldn't get that close for this show, so I enjoyed it from afar. Kinda wished I went to their Charlotte show a few days prior, I would have gotten to be much closer to the stage.
Taking Back Sunday - It was either stay up near the stage for good positioning for Blink 182 (my favorite band) or go all the way across the park to see some of Taking Back Sunday. I like the band enough to decide to go all the way across the park to try and see some of them. Of course the crowd is huge and I can't get very close because I didn't want to be trapped when it was time to go see Blink (started immediately when TBS ended). I waited to hear some recognizable tunes, like "What's It Feel Like To Be A Ghost" and "Liar Liar", then I had to start the trek back. Sorry I didn't get to see more of them but that was the schedule's fault.
Blink 182. Finally, my favorite band. The band that made me do everything in my power to come to this show, even when I was certain I couldn't afford it. I somehow wedged myself in at the side of the stage and made my way near the front. That was probably a big mistake. Blink is just too big a band to be up in the front for, because the crowd is like a fucking car compactor. I was up front for 40 minutes of the show, but I swear I don't remember hearing more than "Feeling This" and "Up All Night", the two first songs they played. After that, it was a blur of crowd surfers crushing me, being crushed from all sides, being trampled, and having every bit of strength and energy squeezed out of me just trying to stay on my feet. When people fell down, nobody could help them up because the crowd couldn't make room for them and just kept falling on top of them, making a massive pile of human flesh. You couldn't escape the crowdsurfers because there were 10 at a time colliding with each other, and nobody was able to hold all of them up so they'd fall into another pile and get trampled. Mark (the bassist) even said at one point for everyone to chill and take a step back to allow people to get out of the crowd if they needed and catch their breath. That was my cue to get out, because I had been on the verge of passing out for the last 10 minutes and I couldn't find a way out of the crowd. I had zero strength to hold anyone or myself up anymore. Finally I got someone to lift me out of the crowd and I made it over the front gate, a staff member gave me a bottle of water (a lifesaver) and I stumbled out the side. Took 10 minutes to catch my breath and recover from the crushing. I enjoyed "Heart's All Gone", "Josie", "Carousel", and "Dammit" from in the back (so basically all my favorite songs from them...that they will play live). They also finally played something surprising with "Family Reunion" (a string of curse words that is a cult classic for every bigtime Blink fan). The band performed great, but I had seen them play all those singles a few times before, and even up close in a less obnoxious pit (in a seated arena where the pit was limited to like 200 people). The crowd pretty much ruined this performance for me, which is extremely disappointing. But... it happened.
After the show, I made my way out of the venue, walked all the way to my rental car, and decided I really wanted Chicago pizza. It was 12:00 and a place was 0.6 miles away and didn't close til 2 am. My biggest mistake though was trying to drive to get closer. My legs really didn't want to move and had no strength, so even a quarter mile closer would have sufficed. Of course even though it was kinda far from the venue, traffic was still horrible, and I drove around for an hour not being able to park. That was just stupid. I finally parked, but just as far away from the place as I started. Then when I got there, they said the kitchen closed at 1 am, even though the place closes at 2am. So I walked to the pizza place I passed on the way there. They had NY style pizza (no Chicago) and a shortage of slices, so I had to wait a while and still didn't get Chicago pizza. Whatever, it was food.
Slept in the car for like 2 hours. Didn't get mugged. Go me.
Had to miss all of Sunday because I had to go back to work. I had a $90 run scheduled and I couldn't pass that up. It's ok, I didn't miss anyone I really wanted to see other than Suicidal Tendencies and Against Me.
And so that was my trip to Chicago for Riot Fest 2013! Next time I know I can get tickets MUCH cheaper though. And hopefully someone to share a hotel with because sleeping in the airport and in a rental car is for the birds.
I didn't buy any merchandise the whole weekend. That is freakin' amazing. But then again, there wasn't much to really buy.
Favorite performances:
1) Lawrence Arms
2) FLAG
3) Screeching Weasel
4) Andrew W.K.
5) Misfits
6) GWAR
7) Blink 182
8) Bad Religion/Rancid/Smoking Popes
10) Taking Back Sunday
It was a lot to pay to see these bands, and I skimped like crazy, but if next year's lineup is just as good... we'll see.
Any Chicago Furs wanna hang this weekend? (Aka can I crash?)
Posted 12 years agoIF YOU'RE INTERESTED, EMAIL ME AT JTIGERCLAW@GMAIL.COM! FA SERVERS WILL BE DOWN TOMORROW!
Just when I finally get everything together so i can make it to Riot Fest in Chicago this weekend, the merciless tides of misfortune have swept poor morearty out of consideration for accompanying me. That sucks two-fold because:
A) Morearty can't go.
B) I no longer have a hotel room, ride or a place to stay.
I could have altered my plans about a week ago, but I just found out an hour ago that i will be without a hotel room. And now that I've bought my flight ticket there's no going back. I am going to be I'm Chicago Friday and Saturday (leaving early Sunday).
So the question becomes... Any furs in Chicago want to offer me crash space and/or a ride for Friday/Saturday night?
A bonus would be if you are into punk rock and/or live music festivals. Because if I get a day of warning (ie, I need to know TONIGHT or early tomorrow), I can get Morearty to next-day-mail his ticket (that he can't use) and you can come with me to the concert for FREE!
Here's the event website: http://www.RiotFest.org
Some bands on it: Blink 182, Fall Out Boy, Bad Religion, The Replacements, Taking Back Sunday, Lawrence Arms, Pennywise, (Black) Flag, Andrew W.K. And a lot more!
If this sounds enticing to you, let me know ASAP! If you just wanna hang with me for a little bit and you don't want to go to the concert, that'd be fine too! I mainly just need somewhere to stay for two nights, but I wanna make it worth it for whoever is kind enough to help me out. :)
Again, I need a ride and/or crash space in Chicago for Friday night and Saturday morning/night, as well as a ride to the airport Sat night or Sun morning. There may be a free ticket to Riot Fest in it for you if you act now!
Please note me EMAIL ME (SEE TOP OF PAGE) specifics if you're serious! I committed to go and I can't back out now!
Thanks for your time. ^^
-JT
Just when I finally get everything together so i can make it to Riot Fest in Chicago this weekend, the merciless tides of misfortune have swept poor
morearty out of consideration for accompanying me. That sucks two-fold because:A) Morearty can't go.
B) I no longer have a hotel room, ride or a place to stay.
I could have altered my plans about a week ago, but I just found out an hour ago that i will be without a hotel room. And now that I've bought my flight ticket there's no going back. I am going to be I'm Chicago Friday and Saturday (leaving early Sunday).
So the question becomes... Any furs in Chicago want to offer me crash space and/or a ride for Friday/Saturday night?
A bonus would be if you are into punk rock and/or live music festivals. Because if I get a day of warning (ie, I need to know TONIGHT or early tomorrow), I can get Morearty to next-day-mail his ticket (that he can't use) and you can come with me to the concert for FREE!
Here's the event website: http://www.RiotFest.org
Some bands on it: Blink 182, Fall Out Boy, Bad Religion, The Replacements, Taking Back Sunday, Lawrence Arms, Pennywise, (Black) Flag, Andrew W.K. And a lot more!
If this sounds enticing to you, let me know ASAP! If you just wanna hang with me for a little bit and you don't want to go to the concert, that'd be fine too! I mainly just need somewhere to stay for two nights, but I wanna make it worth it for whoever is kind enough to help me out. :)
Again, I need a ride and/or crash space in Chicago for Friday night and Saturday morning/night, as well as a ride to the airport Sat night or Sun morning. There may be a free ticket to Riot Fest in it for you if you act now!
Thanks for your time. ^^
-JT
The IFC's! OMG THE IFC's! [super late con report...]
Posted 12 years agoWARNING: IT'S A BOOK.
I should consider it appropriate that my post-IFC journal comes about 2 weeks after the con has already ended. I am, after all, a tiggie. And I run on tiggie time. Always. At the con (before the con, after the con) was no different. [DAMMIT JT, HURRY THE FUCK UP!] ;)
Anyways, this was probably the LONGEST con I've ever been a part of! (not just in sheer days spent up there, but the hanging out with people before and after the con). And that is by no means a bad thing! (My bank account begs to differ, but it was still worth it!)
I hung with so many awesome people, most of which I just met at the con! And due to the size of the con being on the small end, I got to run into the same people A LOT! This made it easier to actually make friends and not just acquaintances, plus bond with some friends I already had! And of course there was the band thing, which for all the preparation and hype, I'd say the show was a success. ^^
Here's a small rundown of what happened. Accuracy may not be 100%, but more or less close.
MONDAY 8/5 (yes, Monday)
THE BEGINNING.
warrn (bassist for FPRM at IFC) showed up at katalina and my new house! It was great having him over (and actually being able to host guests without worrying about disturbing my Mom). Sure the place was a mess and full of boxes that we hadn't had time to unpack yet, but at least it was our own place!I worked that day, then had to go to a birthday dinner for Mom (such timing, heh). Poor Warrn got to my house while Kat and I were at the dinner, so we left the door unlocked and he let himself in. When we did finally get home (with MOM, as she needed to pick something up, and she was my ride after I dropped off the cab at the office), we open the door to this --> http://pic.twitter.com/NJdAgQ7PB2
Good thing my Mom is cool with furries and has seen me in suit, knows about the show, all that. It was cool. ^^
We hung out a bit, Warrn and I practiced the FPRM set together (I had been DYING to do that!) and then bed. I had to get up stupid early in the morning for a rather stupid reason, so we couldn't stay up that long (I think I did anyways... 2 am or something... I dunno, I forget).
TUESDAY 8/6
THE TICKET.
The day we were supposed to leave. Though I had to get up at 8 am and get to Charlotte at 9 am fooooooor...... A court appearance so I could pay a speeding ticket!!! (as if my budget wasn't tight enough already...)
I got up alright... at like 8:45. It takes about 45 minutes to an hour to get to Charlotte from my house. SHIT.
Luckily, I called the court and they said there was another hearing at 1 pm and it didn't matter which one I showed up to. OK GOING BACK TO BED THEN THANKS.
Then I woke up again... at 12:30. FUCK.
Called the court AGAIN. I said I'd be 20 minutes late. They said that should be fine. I was 30 minutes late. I was more than fine. I didn't get my name called til like an hour and a half after that.
No "taking the stand" or talking to the judge. I was happy about that. What I was not happy about was that I had to pay $263... for a fucking speeding ticket. I remember years ago I got a speeding ticket at it cost about $120. Well this is Charlotte. Court costs. Blah blah blah. They did change it to Improper Equipment Use or whatever bullshit so I didn't get points on my license (which, since I drive a cab, I figured that was pretty important). I also had 20 days to pay so I'm like YEAH FUCK THIS I'LL PAY LATER, I HAVE A CON TO GO TO. Good thing too, as I would not have had enough money at the con if I paid the ticket. Just sent in the payment too. Ow my poor wallet. DX
So yeah... that wasn't part of the con, but it all played into the con "experience". Because when I finally got home, I still had to pack. XD
I packed. It took a while, as expected. We loaded the car. That took like 2 hours because we had to Tetris the fuck out of it (and somehow figure out how to fit
ianmj91 and his stuff in on the way back).By then it was like 10 pm. And frankly, I hadn't gotten to get much uninterrupted sleep in about a week, and was not feeling up to an 8 hour drive. We decided it would be fine to sleep a bit more then take off in the morning. After all, we only really had to be at the hotel by 3 pm so we could make our rehearsal at 4.
And that's pretty much what happened.
WEDNESDAY 8/7
THE DRIVE.
We took
warrn's woefully overloaded station wagon down my jank-ass road from hell (seriously, it's like a miniature mountain range in my dirt road, about a mile long. Pothole paradise) out at like... 6:30am or something. I drove up since Warrn already drove up from Florida and that was an 8 hour drive.I wouldn't be getting any speeding tickets this time. Not because I was scared to speed, but because Warrn is a stickler for going the speed limit at all times. Well I wasn't really in much of a position to argue (not my car, just got a speeding ticket) so I obliged. Though I will admit it went against every natural tendency in my body. I got warned quite often throughout the trip when I sped (maybe that's why his name is Warrn... I keed I keed. XD)
Went West through NC and the Smoky Mountains. Then Tennessee. Then Kentucky. Then Ohio. Then Indiana. Then Ohio AGAIN (somehow). Then back to Indiana. The whole time we listened to obscure ska and punk, some prog (Gentle Giant ftw) and of course, worked on harmony vocals to the songs in the FPRM set. Ate at Arby's about an hour away from Indy (Arby's became a theme of the con) and finally, around 3 pm, we were at the hotel.
Our friends and roomies,
ianmj91 (Teddy) and morearty were there to greet us. Absolutely NO OTHER FURRIES were to be seen anyways else in the hotel. Well of course not, it's Wednesday and it's a small con. We took our stuff up to the hotel room (a different room than the actual "band room" we were arranged to have Thur-Sun. More on that later) and had barely enough time to put stuff down before we (me, Warrn, Teddy) had to get to band practice.I had arranged with a recording/rehearsal studio in Indianapolis (about 4 miles from the hotel) with 5 separate 3.5 hour blocks of rehearsal time Wed-Fri (and we needed every bit of it). The studio was called Music Garage (http://www.mymusicgarage.com/) and the guy who runs it, Chris, is awesome! He even gave us one 3.5 hour block on Friday for FREE! And he has a kick-ass Marshall amp mini-fridge and a vending machine that has $1 beers. ^^ Here's a look at the practice space --> http://pic.twitter.com/So8bWzrfc9 (with a red panda wah).
Took a bit to set up, and we were kinda late anyways, but we started digging into the set list at 6 pm (supposed to start at 4). Because everyone had to learn 21 songs in about 2 months, and we all had other obligations (especially Teddy), I was the only one who knew all the songs. Warrn was almost there, he had about 4 to go. Teddy only knew about 8 out of 21. We had our work cut out for us.
Luckily, Teddy is a fucking bad-ass at drums and was able to get most of the songs down that night, in about 5 hours, having never heard most of them before. Propagandhi's "And We Thought Nation States Were A Bad Idea" was the 8th song, which we spent a lot of time on because it's pretty complicated. I sang all the songs aside from Sum 41's "The Hell Song" and Whole Wheat Bread's "Old Man Samson" (Warrn sang those). We wrote the songs on the whiteboard and checked them off when we played through them once. We renamed Western Addiction's "A Poor Recipe For Civic Cohesion" to "Paula Deen" because... well, they are interchangeable. ^^ I broke a guitar string (good god not again), and Teddy broke like 6 drumsticks (the carnage --> http://pic.twitter.com/kb7zQ471Ss ). It was a long hard day of practice, but I had been looking forward to it for a while and plus I hadn't practiced with a band since I lived in California in 2011, so I was having a blast! By the end of the night, we had played through about 17 of the songs once (but would everyone remember them tomorrow?)
We ended the night by going to Steak and Shake because they were the only thing nearby that was open and not named McDonald's. I had a tasty Blue Cheese Bacon burger or something similar plus way too salty fries (and I love salt).
Went to the hotel room and crashed. The craziest days (Thur and Fri) still lie ahead.
THURSDAY 8/8
THE SCRAMBLE.
Thursday was... rather stressful. XD
I discovered, rather out-of-nowhere (at about 11am), that we had to vacate the hotel room by noon. I didn’t know that this room was not going to be our main room that weekend and was in fact only a temporary room for Tues-Wed night. In fact, the whole room thing became a debacle entirely. I had thought the con staff took care of the reservation (since I was an invited performer at the con) but the front desk was still asking for a credit card with the full amount + $50 for a deposit. None of us had that. Luckily,
pandez swooped in wearing a Superman cape (ok, not literally, but that would have been sweet as fuck) and saved the day.We did take a trip to the music store so Teddy could buy more drumsticks (that was before the hotel room thing). We then found out that Morearty’s friend in Indy who owned a music shop - and who had agreed to lend us a drum kit for the weekend - completely fucked everything up by taking HIS drums to the music store without any sort of reservation on them for us... so they were rented out to another customer. Me and Morearty (who, like me, was dangerously short on funds) had to plop down $171 on a drum kit rental as an emergency Plan B, as well as a gargantuan deposit (thanks again, Pandez!)... at least we got our 2 extra stage monitors as a result... but still, that pretty much killed any extra funds I had for the con.
Then, band practice again. Another 7 hours. Another 1.5 hours late arrival. Teddy set up his NEW drums, and we got to it. We had to see if we all remembered the stuff we learned the day before. The answer (for Teddy, who just learned it all) was ‘more or less’. XD
Warrn then had to learn 2 Green Day songs - “Welcome To Paradise” and “Westbound Sign”, both tuned a half-step down (GODDAMMIT) - as well as “Stickin’ In My Eye” by NOFX. That took a little bit, but we eventually got it down. Then came the finale... “So Long, Farewell” by the Vandals... a complicated as fuck song that we had slotted for the show closer... that we DIDN’T HAVE TIME TO PLAY! ;__; I practiced the riffs for a month straight, and we didn’t play it. But that’s ok, more on that later.
TwitchDaWoof strolled into town around 8 or 9 and showed up at the practice at 10 with Morearty. We then banged through the first half of the set totally punk rock garage band style before we had to quit for the night. I think that practice session may have rocked even harder than the actual show! Guitars cranked, loud and noisy as fuck! I enjoyed every grueling second of it. ^^Steak n’ Shake happened afterwards... again. Mmm, red velvet cake milkshake...
After getting back, I probably should have gone to bed, but it was the only night possible for us to go down in suit and hand out flyers for the show. Warrn and I got in suit and went downstairs, where we handed out a total of maybe 3 flyers before getting invited to go upstairs and drink with the guys we handed out flyers to! XD
That’s where we met
k0mplex 
ryoxi 
~wesley~ 
keeatah and a few others! Awesome peeps, every single one of them! (if I forgot to include you here and we met Thursday in the room party, say something and I’ll include you! I did drink so I didn’t remember everyone. ^^)Went to bed at 5am... the night before our big show. It was so worth it. <3
FRIDAY 8/9
THE SHOW
So even though
furrypunkrockmassacre had a show at 10:30 pm that night, we still weren’t done practicing! We had barely touched “So Long Farewell”, and we hadn’t gotten the vocals down on most of the songs. So at 4:00 we were back in the rehearsal room. I honestly don’t remember what we did before 4. I think we got Arby’s and they didn’t give Warrn his sandwich so he had to go all the way back (they gave him another one free though so it’s all good!) Oh, we also probably suited some... unless that was Saturday. Wait no, we went around putting flyers and business cards everywhere, and I had to get my con badge! Yes, that’s right. ^^ And I almost forgot about the whole “No Fursuiting In The Lobby Before 6” rule that threatened to ruin the entire IFC experience for many and became the butt of many a joke on twitter. There was even a staged fursuiter protest at 6 (which I wasn’t a part of due to being at practice). It was pretty ridiculous, but I think the hotel staff pretty much had their hands tied by the other fucktard meeting going on (can’t determine if it was the sorority or the business meeting that forced the furries to remain sequestered on the 2nd floor for their convenience). The hotel staff, despite this, was still awesome to us and worked with the staff on an immediate solution. Their willingness to work with us pretty much saved the con in this hotel going forward as far as I can tell. :3
Anyways, we finished getting the songs down (as much as we were gonna anyways), I practiced with paws and the head on for the first time that weekend (it’s harder than playing normally... by FAR) and we had to stop a little bit early so we could load up and make it back on time to get ready for the show. But before we went, we put our sticker on the wall of fame! (far right, 4th one up --> http://pic.twitter.com/NHJGquv7ah )
We got a hotel cart, lugged all our shit up to the 2nd floor and waited for Uncle Kage to finish his story hour. Then we moved our stuff in, around 8:30, and started setting up. As predicted, it took longer than expected (even though we had 2 full hours to set up, suit up and sound check).
By 10:20 (and a couple Yuenglings later), we were mostly soundchecked, but still had to get guitars down and vocals fully set. Some ...overzealous staff member who will not be named... kept rushing us in a very stern and agitated manner, leading to some of the sound settings not being perfect (and the soundboard recording settings not being ideal). But at 10:30, ready or not, the fans (I guess they were fans) started to pour in.
Alright, fuck the intro and stage entrance we had planned, let’s just fucking DO IT!
We plowed right into Dead Kennedys’ “California Über Allies” and the crowd, amazingly, started going nuts! The mosh pit was excellent, people were having a good time, even
bucktowntiger was there dancing and moshing (and I don’t picture him a veteran of the punk rock scene. XD) It just really was perfect.We did bullshit and banter a lot on stage (to some people’s chagrin, I’m sure) but it seemed very natural and for the most part entertaining. I was actually worried I wouldn’t have anything to say, when in all actuality I was a motormouth. ^^
There were a few unwanted mishaps... my mic came out of my mouth at least 4 times and I had to go backstage to get it reattached... My belt came undone (as has become common at previous cons... I need a new belt) and I almost rocked my tail off (LIKE IN PRACTICE! --> http://pic.twitter.com/0yEiNNlWGH ). Also, I will never EVER again play a Green Day song at a show... Twitch’s guitar malfunctioned before the show (he played 2 songs on guitar) so my guitar that I had tuned and ready for the Green Day’s half-step down bullshit had to be used for Twitch’s part, and I had to tune mine down live to play GD... and tuned back again. Tuner was giving me problems because it tunes by vibrations, and there were A LOT of vibes going on in that room, so that was difficult and time consuming. But we got a lot of “DAMMIT, JT” quotes out of Warrn for that. XD
But even though we flubbed some parts of the songs and Twitch forgot some words (ok, a lot of words... “It’s punk rock, what do you want, perfection?” XD) we made it through all the songs, and the crowd ate it up! Seriously, the crowd fucking ROCKED! This is why I love furries and furry cons! I’ve played 8-10 shows with various bands at bars, clubs, schools, and NONE of them (save for 1) had a mosh pit that big, had every single person headbanging and getting into the music so much. I know furries aren’t the premiere demographic for punk rock, but everyone there seemed to have a great time, and all the compliments we received, and signing the set lists for charity, and everyone who congratulated us afterwards and told us they had a kick-ass time, it just meant so much! I’ve heard nary a bad word about our show, despite some of the flaws. Overall, not bad for learning 21 songs in 2 months and practicing as a band for 2.5 days right before the show. ^__^
We also ran like 30 minutes long because of all the bullshit (and bullshitting) but the IFC crew (and Firr in particular) was nice enough to let us keep playing, even though at the hour mark we still had like 6 songs to go. We finished up "Stickin' In My Eye", the 3rd to last song, and they came up and told us we had to stop. BUT WE HAD TO PLAY ONE MORE SONG... Luckily, it only took a second... literally! "ALL" by The Descendents is a one second song! After that, we put down our instruments and jumped off stage, believing the show to be over.
But it WASN'T over... Firr started a ONE MORE SONG chant... then the crowd joined in! And... that was so damn amazing to hear! We did NOT think we were going to get an encore request, and I was genuinely floored by the response! So we got back on stage, and got immediately off (with our wireless instruments. ^^) and played "Dammit" by Blink 182. The crowd went nuts, and the three of us not tied to a drum set played right in there amidst the chaos and cheering and singing and moshing (we actually moshed while playing a few of our songs)... it was probably the most amazing, wonderful concert experience I've ever been a part of (as the performing act). The furs that were there, their response made my night and probably my whole year. It was everything I was hoping it would be. ^___^ (we didn't get to play "So Long, Farewell", as I mentioned, but I was worried we might mess that one up anyways... and we literally could not have ended on a better note than playing the über-popular "Dammit" inside of a screaming throng of dancing furs. ;) )
I also gotta thank
pandez 
kristofur 
firr 
speed_wolfy all the stagehands and everyone else at the con who helped us get set up and got us to sound awesome! We absolutely could not have done it without you! :)A few little tidbits of Furry Punk Rock Massacre goodness.... more to come after the videos emerge! :)
pic.twitter.com/6Hs9NO4w7h (preshow)
pic.twitter.com/VpEgji50J3
twitpic.com/d7f0du
vine.co/v/hh6OFJg3rvY (VIDEO)
https://vine.co/v/hh6eQr5i0KF (more VIDEO... 3 seconds is still something!)
http://tiny.cc/tere2w (from the IFC Facebook page [1/5])
http://tiny.cc/jire2w
http://tiny.cc/1jre2w
http://tiny.cc/nlre2w
http://tiny.cc/gnre2w
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/11340512/
http://www.furaffinity.net/full/11351715/
After the show, I... think we went out suiting. Or was that Saturday? Man, I can’t fucking remember. Pretty sure I suited drank and partied in suit after the show... or perhaps I partied out of suit. Whatever, I partied dammit! We just played a FULL HOUR PUNK ROCK SHOW IN FURSUIT so you bet your sweet, voluptuous furry asses we partied! (well... I partied... I think Twitch fell asleep. XD)
SATURDAY 8/10
MORE SUITING
With the show out of the way, a lot of the rest of the con blended together honestly. I believe me and Warrn tried to wake up for the fursuit parade, but we were about 30 seconds late... that’s about how long the parade lasted. It started on time, and by the time we got downstairs, it was over.
But that was ok, it gave me and Warrn another chance to fursuit and be silly. ^__^ So we did, and pictures were taken!
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/11350057/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/11349410/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/11341853/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/11337521/ (nuuuu, don’t thwop me! ;__;)
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/11357897/
We got to give lots of hugs, pretend rock out (cuz our instruments weren’t plugged in), played with a little kid (who LOVED all the suiters!) and just had fun in general. ^^
Later on, we went to a pizza place (whose name I can’t remember) and had some AWESOME combo pizzas! (Jamaican Jerk pizza and a crazy Meat Loves pizza) and that night we did manage to catch Twitch on Match Game. That was pretty damn hilarious! ^^
http://pic.twitter.com/PKnrak4n9H
Also that day is when I met
Sasha_Tanaka ... and I think earlier I met 
and he used me and Warrn and armrests because he’s like 7 feet tall. ^__^http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e.....ps7e866966.jpg
After match game, I went upstairs, took some shots from Morearty’s rainbow cock shotglasses (that I gave him ^^) and was ready to go downstairs and fuck shit up (metaphorically). However, some shit happened on our floor... apparently some fur got drugged and tore a light fixture out of the wall in the hallway, then had to be restrained by security and taken to the hospital... I won’t say who out of respect for that person, but that was a bit scary that such a thing would happen at a con we’re at, much less our floor. :/
Anyways, the situation was handled nicely by con staff and security, and festivities continued! I went downstairs in suit and soon found my way to a weenie roast happening in the freaking parking lot! Someone brought a little grill down and made hotdogs for everyone! It was... fucking... AMAZING! <3
Ate a bunch of those and hung out with folks, in suit of course. ^^ Then we noticed a giant bus pull up to the hotel... it was the tour bus for muthafuckin’ STYX!!! Styx was at our hotel! Holy Damn! :O
Took some pictures, but didn’t see the guys that night... nope, that was Sunday. ^^
Oh, and I finally met
(AKA Telephone)... she’s fucking adorable. X3SUNDAY 8/11
“DICK FOREST”
I am not sure why, but these are the words that stood out the most about Sunday, even though it was only a very brief moment. X3
I didn’t wake up until like noon because we stayed out til about 6 am eating hot dogs and being drunk, sweaty balls of fluff. I wanted to go to fursuit games at 1 pm (which is a very reasonable time to wake up for) but because it takes me forever to get in suit and I was still pretty lethargic, I ended up skipping it and opting to eat leftover pizza in the room instead.
Then, because we were too drunk to try it Saturday night, Warrn and I got suited up and took our guitars (which had been plastered with FPRM buttons and a sign that said “Buttons and Stickers for IFC charity”) downstairs to try and raise some money for the charity and promote the band. I strapped a tiny little guitar amp to my belt so I could be heard, and down we went, along with Morearty as our official handler/sticker-getter-outer/money-receiver.
I don’t know how many things we sold, but it was a fair amount. In the end, we ended up giving I think $60 to charity from what we had raised, plus a couple of FPRM packages with signed set lists, signed flyers, business cards, pins and stickers raised like another $30 (I think). Not too bad! ^__^
After a short break in the room, we went out in suit to the Closing Ceremonies! Wasn’t sure if they were going to mention the band or have us come take a bow or what, so had to be prepared. ;) They did mention us for a second, and we got some applause, so that was cool. ^^
Then we went downstairs to the front desk to settle our hotel room bill between the 5 of us. Of course 3 of us were in suit, so that made it interesting for the hotel staff, doing business with a bunch of giant talking animals with cash and debit cards. XD The ladies at the desk were super cool though, and they took a couple of pictures with us!
As we started heading back, who did we happen to run into but the stage manager and the keyboard tech for STYX just chillin’ in the lobby! Teddy had talked to them before on Saturday, so luckily it wasn’t just like walking up randomly in suit and talking to them for no reason. ^^
We all hung out and chatted for like 20 minutes, we talked about the band (STYX knows about FPRM now, and they have a business card XD) and eventually, the actual keyboard player for STYX came down, chatted a bit and took a picture with the band (and
too!) Also, the keyboardist gave some of us a STYX guitar pick! I didn’t get one, but Teddy got one for me from one of the guys Monday morning! ^^)https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BRbIOSoCAAAX1Ef.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e.....ps4c39e6d6.jpg
Also took a pic with
because, man... we COULD NOT have made this happen without his help! And because right after this, he took us ALL to Cheesecake Factory plus some of the AV staff and treated us to some damn good food!http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e.....ps8ec2bc56.jpg (all the win!)
At the Cheesecake factory, I had a giant-ass plate-bowl of GUMBO! It actually was a lot of damn gumbo, and pretty tasty!
http://pic.twitter.com/bj3FNmOYS3
Also, BIG ASS CHEESECAKE!!! http://instagram.com/p/c5WptNtE6A/#
#LOL
Sadly, upon leaving, we came across the remains of Combustible Hobo Joe. All that remained were these rachet-ass sandals. ;__; So to honor his memory, we posed next to them like gangstas. (it’s
and ) http://pic.twitter.com/a9a87i2cKpAnd so with bellies full of grub, we sauntered back to the hotel. I went upstairs and for a while, Morearty and I were taking cock-shots together (that is... shots from the cock shotglasses) #foreveralone
Later, much to my great pleasure, Pandez made good on his invitation and came up to our room to hang out some! We all smashed through a bottle of Rum-Chata, Frooty Loops rum, Baileys, Cap’n Morgan, multiple Yuenglings, and even choked down a couple of Guinness Extra Stouts (bleck!)... Ok, this happened throughout the weekend, not just Sunday, but still, we were DRUNK!
At some point,
wandered through our open door in suit and chilled with us, and emerged out of thin air and dropped THIS in my lap (oh sweet heaven... I’m STILL working on this at home O_O) --> http://pic.twitter.com/D8fVNyW9qZWe watched the “Girl That’s A Booty Hole?” video about 100 times ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aahPUCyS5Qo ) and then me and Warrn went to our buddy
’s room to continue partying.No play by play action here >,> But somehow pretty much everyone removed their shirts [including one girl PRAISE JEBUS! ( o Y o ) ] I got to feeling a little... sick, so I visited the little tiggie room and ... expelled my sickness. >//> I was fine, it didn’t feel bad, and it made my stomach feel a lot better immediately, but people started to gather around the door and were getting concerned.
When I finally came out, there were like 7 people standing there looking at me. And then, they decided to make me feel better the best way they knew how... by unzipping their flies and letting their wangs unravel out in front of me, one by one. o///o
#DICKFOREST #TMI
It didn’t really make me feel better physically, but I got a pretty good chuckle out of it. ^__^
Then, at like 4 am, we went back to our room, drunk and sleepy. Packing would not happen til morning.
MONDAY 8/12
THE TETRISING
Twitch left at like 9 am, so when I woke up, Teddy, Warrn and Morearty were up packing. I started packing, but I had to take my morning crap too (it’s a ritual) and the guys were impatient enough to pack most of my shit for me (and by pack I mean throw into totes and bags however they fit. XD)
Went and got a cart, got stuff downstairs, saw
one more time (congrats girl, you are the person I ran into the most throughout the whole con! ^^) and stood guard over our stuff for a bit while Warrn got the car around to the front.Then came THE TETRISING...
With much sweat and effort (and to the amusement of one hotel staff member in particular) we loaded up the station wagon in such a way as to use every single available inch of space... every space between items, between the stuff and the windows, doors, ceiling, space between the two front seats... EVERY SPACE. It took a good 2 hours of arranging. Though when we tried putting Teddy’s drum cart on the roof with roof, we couldn’t get it to stop sliding around. So we had to have it hovering over Teddy as he sat in the backseat.
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e.....ps4783a8db.jpg (red panda is displeased)
And Teddy drowning in stuff on the drive home! http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e.....ps3e826a0b.jpg
Well, after finally finishing packing of the car, the remaining band members (me, Teddy, Warrn) went inside and chilled in the lobby. We didn’t really want to hit rush hour traffic in Louisville, KY. :X
I ate my now 18 hour old cheesecake... well, some of it (that is some rich shit!) and a good chunk of my leftover gumbo. I had a debacle with the soda machine (three different ones) because I kept trying to get Sprite and Cherry Coke. When I pressed Sprite, I got Diet Coke, and Cherry Coke gave me regular Coke. One time I wanted Dasani, and THAT’S when it finally gave me my Sprite. :/ I changed out the offending beverages in the little shop behind the front desk.
We chilled with Voz and a dragon dude whose name escapes me at the big table in the lobby. It seemed like we were the last attendees at the con, and Voz and dragon dude were the last fursuiters left.
After being lazy and procrastinating as much as we could, we left the Sheraton in Indianapolis.
Drive home was... long. Not much of note happened, except for this --> http://pic.twitter.com/AG02AybSyr (a free me with my order! ^^)
And this --> http://instagram.com/p/c7vXd0tE7A/# (yay White Castle!)
Oh, and we got stopped at a random police checkpoint on a hick-ass backcountry road as soon as we hit my county. That’s how you know you’re in Iredell county. >,<
I did have to pick up my cab for work, and that was a hassle because ... it wasn’t there. I had to take another cab from the back. Oi...
Then, we crashed. Into the bed. With our bodies. And were immediately transported to Dreamland Center for the Zzzzz.
TUESDAY 8/13
IT CONTINUES?!
Well, yes... but I’ll be brief. ^__^
I got to enjoy the company of Teddy and Warrn for a bit longer, as they stayed at my house for one more whole day!
I also had to work... and ship Teddy’s happy drumming ass to a recording studio in Lincolnton, like an hour away each way. X__x
I also had to take Kat to work. And pick up food. And switch out my cab. And pick Teddy back up. And take someone to the airport. Did I mention I had 40 minutes of sleep before all this?
I had to pull over into a parking lot to sleep for 20 minutes on the way to get Teddy. I couldn’t get the food for dinner (everything was like 40 minutes away from each other thing). I had to come home and get out of the car before I plowed through the grill of another car, a stone wall, tree, elderly couple or some asshole on a bike.
But for dinner... Barbeque Brisket! NOMNOMNOM! ^__^
Teddy’s Greyhound left Charlotte at like 2 am. To my EXTREME GRATITUDE, Warrn took Teddy to the station at like 1 am so I could actually get something resembling sleep and go to work the next day.
THE REST OF THE WEEK
Yes, the social activity didn’t stop. It wasn’t part of the con, but it felt like an extension of it. :P
A couple days after Teddy and Warrn left,
bluehayze showed up at my door, swinging down for a visit from Tennessee on his way to Baltimore. It was great seeing my lion bro again. ^^That Sunday, we had a furmeet with like 12 people at our house, including Blue. HOLY GOD... katalina TheDiverseZabuza goddessofthedead dragoncores ryusyro kurotama_kei013 cracked58 magnificentmimzy gjdolphin christianwolf Blue and myself. (wow, 12 exactly, lol!)
We played keep-away frisbee, had MAC-N-CHEESE OF DEATH ( http://instagram.com/p/dKr_p0y1HL/# ), played New Super Mario Wii ( Cracked is a team killer XD) and CARDS AGAINST HUMANITY! And then I had to do another airport run.
Blue stayed over for about 2 or three days after the meet was over, and we chilled and played video games and watched YouTubePoops and PonyMusicVideos (while in an... enhanced state of mind... aka EVERYTHING-IS-SHINY-AND-AWESOME MODE... >,>)
And yes, I did go to work during the day throughout all this. Because by that point I was one poor, broke-ass tiggie. :C
And when Blue left... the weeklong extension of the awesomeness that was IFC was finally over!
Man... now THAT was a CON EXPERIENCE!!! ^___^
Will definitely consider again next year! Though this year, being so close after AC and having to pay for the band things in a few different ways, it left my bank account absolutely smashed to pieces. Hopefully, if I do it next year, I’ll have a bit more warning and be more prepared.
But yeah, that was my epic IFC experience! The band’s first full concert! And seeing tons of awesome friends and making new ones. ^^ YAY!
Lastly, if you haven’t done so (and you want to), go watch my band’s FA FURRY PUNK ROCK MASSACRE and their twitter (@FPRMband) and hell, YouTube too ( http://www.youtube.com/user/FPRMband ). We were so happy and honored to rock out for IndyFurCon! ^__^
And if you were there and you have pics or videos of the performance (or of any of us in general) please let me know! Send them over in a note, email (furrypunkrockmassacre@gmail.com) or if they aren’t ready, at least note me or comment and let me know you have some! :)
Thanks again, IFC, for the awesomeness! :3
*out of breath*
*thwump*
-JT
Lazerbeam Focus! (IFC COMETH!)
Posted 12 years agoIn about 2 full days, I will be on my way (with warrn) to INDY FUR CON! ZOMGGG!!! X,x
For the last 2 months I've been pretty focused on
furrypunkrockmassacre and getting prepared for our first full hour long concert at a con EVER! I haven't put this much time into a personal project (including advertising/marketing) since my comic was still going strong in about 2007.
I've admittedly been taking a little too much time off of work (I make my own hours), practicing guitar and putting a lot of time into planning and arranging for the set and advertising the band. I feel mostly confident, aside from the fact that playing in suit is much harder than out because of extremely limited vision, and the songs we'll be performing are some of the most difficult we've ever tried. But everyone's putting in work (when possible) and I have faith that it will turn out ok.
It better anyways! At least 3 HD cameras, full audio board, 2.5 days of rehearsal space purchased, countless hours of organizing and practice, money spent by myself on cards and stickers, plus money spent by the con on equipment, and all the hyping it up and the potential for future con performance invites hanging in the balance.... Yeah, it better be good! XD #nopressure
I can't help but talk about it because it's all I've been thinking about! 20 songs, 1 hour on stage (probably slightly more), and one stomach-curtling anxiety! XD Biggest question mark is just the sheer amount of material we have to remember. I should be ok despite working 50+ hours a week and moving into a new house, but the rest of the band has been so freakin' busy with their own obligations that ... it will certainly be a challenge. Just, don't boo us if we fuck up a few times. ;)
But anyways, yeah, it'll be fun! I'll be hanging with morearty, ianmj91, warrn, 
twitchdawoof for most of it, as well as (at some point hopefully), 
bucktowntiger, 
pandez and 
pamfer ... maybe 2 and Kage if I should be so lucky. ;3 (but probably not)
But yeah, it's a stressful good time, money worries and crunching for the biggest performance of my life so far.
Yep, #nopressure. ^^
And yes, after the performance, I'm either getting wasted out of celebration or depression, one or the other. XD
Who is planning on coming to the show? Friday night at 10:30! Fursuits! Loud Music! Bad Words!
Bring your muthafuckin' moshing boots! ^^
-JT
warrn) to INDY FUR CON! ZOMGGG!!! X,xFor the last 2 months I've been pretty focused on
furrypunkrockmassacre and getting prepared for our first full hour long concert at a con EVER! I haven't put this much time into a personal project (including advertising/marketing) since my comic was still going strong in about 2007.I've admittedly been taking a little too much time off of work (I make my own hours), practicing guitar and putting a lot of time into planning and arranging for the set and advertising the band. I feel mostly confident, aside from the fact that playing in suit is much harder than out because of extremely limited vision, and the songs we'll be performing are some of the most difficult we've ever tried. But everyone's putting in work (when possible) and I have faith that it will turn out ok.
It better anyways! At least 3 HD cameras, full audio board, 2.5 days of rehearsal space purchased, countless hours of organizing and practice, money spent by myself on cards and stickers, plus money spent by the con on equipment, and all the hyping it up and the potential for future con performance invites hanging in the balance.... Yeah, it better be good! XD #nopressure
I can't help but talk about it because it's all I've been thinking about! 20 songs, 1 hour on stage (probably slightly more), and one stomach-curtling anxiety! XD Biggest question mark is just the sheer amount of material we have to remember. I should be ok despite working 50+ hours a week and moving into a new house, but the rest of the band has been so freakin' busy with their own obligations that ... it will certainly be a challenge. Just, don't boo us if we fuck up a few times. ;)
But anyways, yeah, it'll be fun! I'll be hanging with
morearty, ianmj91, warrn, twitchdawoof for most of it, as well as (at some point hopefully), bucktowntiger, pandez and 
pamfer ... maybe 2 and Kage if I should be so lucky. ;3 (but probably not)But yeah, it's a stressful good time, money worries and crunching for the biggest performance of my life so far.
Yep, #nopressure. ^^
And yes, after the performance, I'm either getting wasted out of celebration or depression, one or the other. XD
Who is planning on coming to the show? Friday night at 10:30! Fursuits! Loud Music! Bad Words!
Bring your muthafuckin' moshing boots! ^^
-JT
I'M TIED AUUGHAFFFF... 10 MIN LEFT [LAST JOURNAL]
Posted 12 years agoHoly FUCK you guys! O,o
I haven't felt this hyped about the Fracas in a while! Probably since my very first time participating, back when my fursuit was brand new and I was dying to be known by SOMEBODY. This feels like that all over again...
Except I'm not desperate for attention this time (not as much anyways), only marveling at how AWESOME all of you are! My friends (and some who have never met me) who are voting for me, indicating that they enjoy my performance in suit, that I'm a fun guy, or maybe just that I have a cute suit and they know nothing about how I act in it... but all of it a positive response! :D
And that makes me feel super awesome, win or lose. Thank you all, even the ones who couldn't vote... Thank you. ^___^
If I somehow end up winning this round, maybe the next... I may have to pay it back in the form of a video. I'd really like to! We'll see. ;)
If you still want to vote, here is the link. If not, or if you can't, thanks for watching my videos, my FA account, and rooting for me. :')
http://fursuittourney.livejournal.com/168186.html
http://fursuittourney.livejournal.com/168186.html
http://fursuittourney.livejournal.com/168186.html
Mew mew mew! ^___^
-JT
[EDIT - I WAS ahead by one vote... but then Kenova got another vote to tie it at 66. And that's where it stayed... which is totally fine by me since we both move on. YAY! Thanks so much once again! ^___^]
I haven't felt this hyped about the Fracas in a while! Probably since my very first time participating, back when my fursuit was brand new and I was dying to be known by SOMEBODY. This feels like that all over again...
Except I'm not desperate for attention this time (not as much anyways), only marveling at how AWESOME all of you are! My friends (and some who have never met me) who are voting for me, indicating that they enjoy my performance in suit, that I'm a fun guy, or maybe just that I have a cute suit and they know nothing about how I act in it... but all of it a positive response! :D
And that makes me feel super awesome, win or lose. Thank you all, even the ones who couldn't vote... Thank you. ^___^
If I somehow end up winning this round, maybe the next... I may have to pay it back in the form of a video. I'd really like to! We'll see. ;)
If you still want to vote, here is the link. If not, or if you can't, thanks for watching my videos, my FA account, and rooting for me. :')
http://fursuittourney.livejournal.com/168186.html
http://fursuittourney.livejournal.com/168186.html
http://fursuittourney.livejournal.com/168186.html
Mew mew mew! ^___^
-JT
[EDIT - I WAS ahead by one vote... but then Kenova got another vote to tie it at 66. And that's where it stayed... which is totally fine by me since we both move on. YAY! Thanks so much once again! ^___^]
AUUUGH! WHAT? ONLY 3 [NOW ONE!!!] VOTES TO TIE?! O,o
Posted 12 years agoNot trying to be spammy here, but...
I AM 3 [no.... ONE SINGLE GODDAMN..] VOTE[S] AWAY FROM TYING IN THE FFFF! O,O
How did this happen?! It's still doable! :O
Only about an hour and a half left, so come on! 3 more votes to tie, 4 to win!
http://fursuittourney.livejournal.com/168186.html
http://fursuittourney.livejournal.com/168186.html
http://fursuittourney.livejournal.com/168186.html
If you guys pull this out for me, I'll... something... be happy! And.. some shit! :D
PLEEEEEASE? *cute tiggie eyes* ^____^
-JT
EDIT - HAVE SOME CUTENESS!!!
[DOUBLE EDIT - I AM TIED! HOLY FUCK! 1 MORE VOTE WINS IT!!!
MORE CUTE FOR YOU!!!]
I AM 3 [no.... ONE SINGLE GODDAMN..] VOTE[S] AWAY FROM TYING IN THE FFFF! O,O
How did this happen?! It's still doable! :O
Only about an hour and a half left, so come on! 3 more votes to tie, 4 to win!
http://fursuittourney.livejournal.com/168186.html
http://fursuittourney.livejournal.com/168186.html
http://fursuittourney.livejournal.com/168186.html
If you guys pull this out for me, I'll... something... be happy! And.. some shit! :D
PLEEEEEASE? *cute tiggie eyes* ^____^
-JT
EDIT - HAVE SOME CUTENESS!!!
[DOUBLE EDIT - I AM TIED! HOLY FUCK! 1 MORE VOTE WINS IT!!!
MORE CUTE FOR YOU!!!]
Last Ditch Effort [aka SURVIVOR MODE] Help me survive FFFF!
Posted 12 years agoYeah, I'm down 11 votes in the Fursuit Fracas Tourney right now. Yesterday I was only down 2. Not sure where the wave of votes came from, but maybe if I believe (always gotta believe!) I can create a wave of votes myself! :D
I need 12 of them. Probably more if Kenova Wolf gets a more votes.
It looks dire, but hey, stranger things have happened, right? ^___^
So please, take a second to go here and vote for a tiggie, one of only 2 kitty cats left in the Fracas!
http://fursuittourney.livejournal.com/168186.html
http://fursuittourney.livejournal.com/168186.html
http://fursuittourney.livejournal.com/168186.html
(And if I fall anyways, I am still grateful to anyone who has ever voted for me, and to every new person who sees my picture or video and didn't know me before. It's all in good fun and spreading cheer and good times! And I'm thankful for all of your support and friendship! ^^)
-JT
I need 12 of them. Probably more if Kenova Wolf gets a more votes.
It looks dire, but hey, stranger things have happened, right? ^___^
So please, take a second to go here and vote for a tiggie, one of only 2 kitty cats left in the Fracas!
http://fursuittourney.livejournal.com/168186.html
http://fursuittourney.livejournal.com/168186.html
http://fursuittourney.livejournal.com/168186.html
(And if I fall anyways, I am still grateful to anyone who has ever voted for me, and to every new person who sees my picture or video and didn't know me before. It's all in good fun and spreading cheer and good times! And I'm thankful for all of your support and friendship! ^^)
-JT
The AC that almost wasn't... then was, then wasn't, then was
Posted 12 years agoCall it Waffle-Con.
If any of you were unfortunate enough to be submitted to my twitter waffle-fest, you'd know that I had planned to go to AC for months, even preregistering and reserving my rental car, room, and all that... hell, I even picked up my rental car and was all packed and ready to go!
But a bad week at work but all that planning in jeopardy.
I had gotten ripped off by some drug dealer late late Wednesday night (I'd rather not go into detail) and he even kept me up all fucking night and morning running his ass around when I should have been sleeping so I would be rested for the 7 hour drive to Pittsburgh. That didn't happen, and instead of waking up at noon to start the drive I didn't go to bed til about 1 pm.
Then I was all upset because I didn't even break even for the week and I had just paid a crapload of money to start renting a new house. So the "I should be responsible and work" feeling was creeping in.
I took the cab back to the office that night like I was going to park it during my trip, but changed my mind and decided I wasn't going. There was just too much expense already accounted for and the wages lost would be too much.
Then Friday I started driving back to return my rental car and get a refund. Except they told me I couldn't get any refund for bringing it back early. Not a single cent. I'm stuck with a rental car for 4 days that I'm not gonna use.
So I had paid registration and couldn't get that back, paid for rental car and couldn't get that back. Room was all set up...
Why the hell wouldn't I go at this point?
It took crunching numbers for my wages vs. spending for the rest of the month to convince myself that yes, it was ok to go to AC. And so at around 5pm on Friday I started packing the car (in the rain) and by 7pm we were on our way.
Ever get the feeling I am too damn analytical? XD
Anyways, it was immediately proven to be a good decision that I went. I had a blast as expected, saw friends that I haven't seen in a while, and really enjoyed the time off. I fursuited, though not as much as I would have liked, got drunk once (woo! X3), played basketball (though not in fursuit as I would have liked) and hung out a lot. It was a lot of activity packed into a short period of time and it was over far too soon.
But even though I missed all of Friday, it was still worth it to go. And I spent like $75 for two people at the con (gas went on credit). I now can't believe I was even considering not going!
And to top that off, I may have to pay back the discount I got on my lease that I was supposed to get for bringing the cab in Thursday... because I didn't get a chance to bring it in before I left after I changed my mind at the last second and took the cab home.
Let that be a lesson to you... waffling tends to bring more stress than necessary (sorry!) so just stick with your original decision. ;)
Long story short, I went to AC and had a great time! And I could have had an additional day and a half of great time if I just stuck to my decision originally. But an abridged AC is better than no AC at all. ^__^
-JT
If any of you were unfortunate enough to be submitted to my twitter waffle-fest, you'd know that I had planned to go to AC for months, even preregistering and reserving my rental car, room, and all that... hell, I even picked up my rental car and was all packed and ready to go!
But a bad week at work but all that planning in jeopardy.
I had gotten ripped off by some drug dealer late late Wednesday night (I'd rather not go into detail) and he even kept me up all fucking night and morning running his ass around when I should have been sleeping so I would be rested for the 7 hour drive to Pittsburgh. That didn't happen, and instead of waking up at noon to start the drive I didn't go to bed til about 1 pm.
Then I was all upset because I didn't even break even for the week and I had just paid a crapload of money to start renting a new house. So the "I should be responsible and work" feeling was creeping in.
I took the cab back to the office that night like I was going to park it during my trip, but changed my mind and decided I wasn't going. There was just too much expense already accounted for and the wages lost would be too much.
Then Friday I started driving back to return my rental car and get a refund. Except they told me I couldn't get any refund for bringing it back early. Not a single cent. I'm stuck with a rental car for 4 days that I'm not gonna use.
So I had paid registration and couldn't get that back, paid for rental car and couldn't get that back. Room was all set up...
Why the hell wouldn't I go at this point?
It took crunching numbers for my wages vs. spending for the rest of the month to convince myself that yes, it was ok to go to AC. And so at around 5pm on Friday I started packing the car (in the rain) and by 7pm we were on our way.
Ever get the feeling I am too damn analytical? XD
Anyways, it was immediately proven to be a good decision that I went. I had a blast as expected, saw friends that I haven't seen in a while, and really enjoyed the time off. I fursuited, though not as much as I would have liked, got drunk once (woo! X3), played basketball (though not in fursuit as I would have liked) and hung out a lot. It was a lot of activity packed into a short period of time and it was over far too soon.
But even though I missed all of Friday, it was still worth it to go. And I spent like $75 for two people at the con (gas went on credit). I now can't believe I was even considering not going!
And to top that off, I may have to pay back the discount I got on my lease that I was supposed to get for bringing the cab in Thursday... because I didn't get a chance to bring it in before I left after I changed my mind at the last second and took the cab home.
Let that be a lesson to you... waffling tends to bring more stress than necessary (sorry
!) so just stick with your original decision. ;)Long story short, I went to AC and had a great time! And I could have had an additional day and a half of great time if I just stuck to my decision originally. But an abridged AC is better than no AC at all. ^__^
-JT
That Fracas Thing!
Posted 12 years agoI'm up again in the Fursuit Fracas Tournament thing, and I have a very very slim lead against 
atsu_fawx (who is awesome and whom I figured would be kicking my ass by now). And I don't like bothering people for votes unless there is a slim margin, soo... *botherbother* ^^
Voting ends tonight, so if any of you have a free minute, could you maybe pop over there and give me a vote? A few votes would make me a happy tiggie. ^^
http://fursuittourney.livejournal.com/166651.html
http://fursuittourney.livejournal.com/166651.html
http://fursuittourney.livejournal.com/166651.html
I guess they disallowed videos too, since no one there has any under their name. So here, have a video (maybe one you haven't seen before!)
Tiggie can't enjoy his sandwich!
Thankies! Remember, voting ends tonight (Saturday, 11:59pm)
AC journal coming after this!
Rawr! :3
-JT
atsu_fawx (who is awesome and whom I figured would be kicking my ass by now). And I don't like bothering people for votes unless there is a slim margin, soo... *botherbother* ^^Voting ends tonight, so if any of you have a free minute, could you maybe pop over there and give me a vote? A few votes would make me a happy tiggie. ^^
http://fursuittourney.livejournal.com/166651.html
http://fursuittourney.livejournal.com/166651.html
http://fursuittourney.livejournal.com/166651.html
I guess they disallowed videos too, since no one there has any under their name. So here, have a video (maybe one you haven't seen before!)
Tiggie can't enjoy his sandwich!
Thankies! Remember, voting ends tonight (Saturday, 11:59pm)
AC journal coming after this!
Rawr! :3
-JT
GOT IT!!!
Posted 12 years agoWE GOT THE HOUSE!!!
We'll be able to move in July 15 (on or before).
Happy Birthday katalina *smooch* ^___^
-JT
We'll be able to move in July 15 (on or before).
Happy Birthday
katalina *smooch* ^___^-JT
Hey You! Wanna Play Some Basketball? (at AC?)
Posted 12 years agoSo last year at AC, I gathered a small group of furries and we went and played some basketball at a park near the convention center! I wanna try doing that again! :D
Would anyone be interested in shooting some hoops with me at AC?
Moreso, would anyone want to do it IN FURSUIT? That would surely make for an entertaining video, but then again it may be too hot. Or maybe you don't want to scuff your paws, or whatever reason. But if there's some interest, I'll consider it (for the record, we played out of suit last year, and yes there were some people already there).
Also, you don't have to be good or have played for years to join us. It's all in fun. :3
Anyone game?
-JT
Would anyone be interested in shooting some hoops with me at AC?
Moreso, would anyone want to do it IN FURSUIT? That would surely make for an entertaining video, but then again it may be too hot. Or maybe you don't want to scuff your paws, or whatever reason. But if there's some interest, I'll consider it (for the record, we played out of suit last year, and yes there were some people already there).
Also, you don't have to be good or have played for years to join us. It's all in fun. :3
Anyone game?
-JT
