Hello FurAffinity,

I just wanted to give y’all a heads up that I’m going on vacation Saturday and will be away for a week. I’m not sure if I’ll have access to the internet during that time, but I may be more scarce than usual. Before I go, I’ll leave you with a story I wrote over the past couple days in an effort to break through my recent bout of writer’s block. I have more material in the works, but I’ve lacked the drive to finish anything lately. Maybe a week at the beach will help. We’ll see.

And, as a bonus:

Ten Things

1. I still live at home with my parents.
2. I don’t like spaghetti. I find it inefficient.
3. I had six wisdom teeth removed in a single operation. When I woke up from anesthesia, my first word was in a fictional language. My mouth was full of cotton, so it didn’t really matter.
4. People always tell me I speak with an unusual accent. I’ve even been told that by an Australian and by people whose first language isn’t English.
5. I’ve never had a broken bone.
6. I went to Catholic school from first through eighth grade.
7. I cannot wink with my left eye.
8. I dislike profanity and hyperbole.
9. I will carry around an empty aluminum can until I can find a recycling bin rather than throw it in the trash.
10. 9 3-1-14 18-5-1-4 20-8-9-19 23-9-20-8-15-21-20 14-5-5-4-9-14-7 1 11-5-25.

Decimally yours,
11-9-14-20-15

Hello FurAffinity,

Where have I been all week? Let me tell you about the exciting life of an industrial hygiene technician.

Monday, July 4
Holiday; no work

Tuesday, July 5
6 AM – 2 PM: Project at a school in Dumfries, VA
Go home, sleep, eat
11 PM – 2 AM: Project at a building in downtown DC
Drive to Dumfries
11 hours

Wednesday, July 6
3:30 AM – 2 PM: Project at a school in Dumfries, VA
Go home, shower, sleep, eat
8 PM to 2:30 AM: Project at a different building in downtown DC
Drive to Dumfries
At about this point I had no idea what day it was
17 hours

Thursday, July 7
3:30 AM – 2 PM: Project at a school in Dumfries, VA
At about this point I had passed through tired into the wakefulness on the other side
Go home, sleep, eat
8 PM – 6:30 AM: Project at the second building in downtown DC
21 hours

Friday, July 8
Go home, shower, post this, sleep
Fortunately, they do not need me in Dumfries today

Total: 49 hours in 4 days

This is what happens when we unexpectedly find ourselves a man down in the middle of our busiest season. I have to laugh, because otherwise I’d cry.

I will be spending this weekend sleeping, attempting to reset my internal clock, and not answering the phone when my boss calls.

Industriously yours,
Kinto



Footnote: Dumfries is 30 miles from downtown DC

Hello FurAffinity,

There's less than a week until Pittsburgh is smothered by fur. This is the fourth year I'll be there, and I am so stoked about it that I just used the word 'stoked'.

I always hit the highlights, naturally: Uncle Kage's Story Hour, 2's Rant, the nightly technodanceparties, etc. Nevertheless, every year I get the feeling that there's a lot more going on than what's in the official program. In three years I suspect I've only scritched the surface of what AC has to offer. Last year was the first time I set foot in the Zoo, for example. So what sort of things am I missing out on? What should I definitely not miss? And where would I go to find out about them?

I would appreciate any advice you might have for maximizing my con experience.

I will see all you crazy cats and kittens (and puppies and ponies and assorted scalies) there.
-Kinto

Meme pilfered from  SEGY

• Where will you be?
The last place you look for me.

• Where are you staying?
The Westin. I plan to arrive Thursday and leave late Sunday; the exact timing depends on what my work schedule ends up being.

• Who will you be with?
I’m rooming with  Canius and three other people. Other than that, I am unattached.

• Do you do free art?
Yes, but almost never by request.

• Do you do trades?
I haven’t in the past.

• Do you do commissions?
No.

• Do you have prints/CDs?
Nein.

• Do you do badges?
Nyet.

• Will you have art in the Art Show? General or Adult sections?
Nix.

• What is your gender?
XY

• How old are you?
XXIV

• Are you taken? Are you looking for a 'mate'?
Perpetually single. And straight. Not actively looking. If you are female and interested please hit me over the head; I don’t do subtlety.

• Can I touch you?
It’s a possibility.

• Can I touch your friends?
Yes. Do it. No matter how much they protest, I demand that you touch my friends.

• Can I talk about/do drugs in front of you?
That would make me feel awkward.

• Can I invite you out for food/fun/etc?
By all means.

• Can I come with you for food/fun/etc?
I’d be delighted.

• Can I talk to you?
My conversational skills rank between poor and abysmal, but if you talk to me I will make an effort to be engaging.

• How can I find you?
I am 5’5” with a square head, glasses, and a goatee. I’ll be wearing this tail: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/5858066

• Can I buy you drinks?
If you must. I don’t drink alcohol, though. I like Shirley Temples but wish they had a manlier name.

• Can I buy you food?
Only if I can buy you food in return.

• Can I give you money?
Sure, knock your socks off.

Hello FurAffinity,

For the fourth year in a row, I will be at Anthrocon. For the second year in a row, I will be flying solo. The group of people I traveled with the first two years have once again elected not to go. None of them are furries; I don’t think they know I am a furry.

So.

I need a place to sleep and perform personal hygiene while I am in Pittsburgh. I plan to arrive on Thursday and leave Sunday. The nearer the convention center the better, but beggars can’t be choosers. I am completely willing to pay for my share of a room.

I do not drink alcohol (caffeine is a different story). I do not smoke. I do not do drugs (except the ones I have prescriptions for). I have an air mattress and can sleep on the floor if need be. I am a very quiet person and if you don’t want to know I’m there, you won’t.

If you have space available, or if you know someone who does, and wouldn’t mind sharing space with an ass, please contact me, either in the comments here or via private message.

If you are in the Washington, DC, area, I might also be interested in discussing carpooling.

Thank you!
Kinto

I received a wonderful surprise yesterday.  Brzask wanted to draw some gift art for a random watcher, and somehow that ended up being me. Check out this amazing picture she drew of Kinto - http://www.furaffinity.net/view/5759142

I had no idea I was such a stud.

Be sure to check out the rest of her gallery as well. She's a very talented artist and I don't think I can thank her enough for this completely unexpected surprise.

I love wearing a tail. I get a real kick out of walking around the Pittsburgh for a weekend every summer and feeling it swaying around behind me. However, right now the only tail I have is a tiger tail. My fursona is not a tiger, so you can see why this is a problem. Up until now, I’ve been content to wear a tiger tail because I’d rather wear an incorrect tail than no tail at all.

Now that I have a steady income and am in the process of getting a PayPal account, I want to rectify this error and get a proper ass tail before Anthrocon this summer. Observe the majesty: http://www.biolib.cz/IMG/GAL/6490.jpg

What I have in mind is two-tone, dark brown on top with lighter brown underside and a tuft of dark brown hair at the end. The whole thing should be about three feet long.

Do you all have any suggestions for artists who could produce a tail to my specifications? Cost isn’t too big an issue, just so long as it’s not extravagantly expensive.

Thank you!

So on the episode that aired last night there was a character named Jeff Kinto. I won't spoil it, but let's just say he wasn't one of the good guys.

The only possible conclusion is that I have a stalker in Hollywood. :|



I'm kidding of course. I just made the name up, but Kinto is not nearly as unique a name as I might have hoped. I already knew about the Japanese poet, the Ugandan prime minister, the Georgian folk dance, and the Milwaukee-based Latin hip-hop group, but today I discovered that Kinto is also the name of various companies in China, Japan, Ukraine, Canada, and my favorite: http://www.optic-gambetta.com/uploa.....o_index_1_.jpg (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy fans may find this funnier than others).




P.S. My last journal didn't garner as many questions as I'd hoped. It's open indefinitely if you want to ask some more: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/2205799/

Stolen from  Mab because I like the idea.

1) Make a list of fifteen characters first, and keep it to yourself for the moment. (That way you’re not leading the questions asked to fit the characters.)

2) Ask people to post questions in the comments.

For example:

‘One, Nine and Fifteen move in together. Is this a really bad idea?’
‘Under what circumstances might Five and Seven fall in love?’
‘Which character on the list would you most want on your side in a zombie invasion?’

So now it's up to you. You ask your questions right here and I'll answer them in a reply. Fire away!


Most of the characters on my list have appeared in one or more stories that I have posted, but a few of them haven’t and exist mainly inside my head. They might appear in stories someday. There is also one human on the list.

Everyone has their own story to tell about the disaster commute of January 26, 2011, a day when a perfect confluence of winter weather and traffic brought the greater Washington, DC, area to a standstill. There are tales of 13-hour odysseys, of abandoned cars and abandoned hopes, followed by perilous treks on foot through the heavy snow to whatever shelter could be found. The epic jam on the George Washington Parkway is the stuff of local legend. My own personal purgatory was Waxpool Road in Loudoun County.

I was working at a job in Ashburn. The job had already been one fiasco after another, with miscommunication, unexpected obstacles, and enough frustrations to choke a horse. On Wednesday we were scheduled to start at 6 AM. When I woke up at home at 4, I was mildly surprised to already see snow on the ground - the last I had heard before going to bed was that it wasn't supposed to start snowing until later in the day. On my way out to Ashburn, I saw my first disabled vehicle of the day - an Audi turned sideways across Route 28 - but I made it to the job without incident. My coworker wasn't quite as lucky; he slid on an icy hill and smashed his taillight against a guardrail. During the day the snow turned to rain, the rain turned to sleet, and the sleet turned back to snow. By 5 PM, it was clear that the job was not going to be finished that day and the weather was not going to improve. The decision was made to call it a day.

I loaded up my 1998 Honda Civic, cranked the defroster up to high, put the shifter in Low, and set out for my home in Falls Church, 25 miles to the east. At first, things were going smoothly. The roads were snow-covered but passable, and I was in no hurry. A Hummer H2 rumbled past in the opposite direction on Ashburn Road, somehow contriving to look cocky in the treacherous weather. I made it to Farmwell Road without incident. Farmwell was effectively reduced to one lane in the eastbound direction, but what little traffic there was was flowing and the road soon opened up again into it's normal two lane configuration. As I began to catch up to other cars, the pace slowed. At one intersection, we were again squeezed to one lane by a fender bender in the right lane. I saw a Nissan Altima spin out in the westbound lanes. Eastbound traffic got slower. And slower. And slower. By the time Farmwell changed into Waxpool, traffic was stopped.

The snow continued to fall. The wind was out of the north, driving the wet, heavy fluff against the driver's side of my eastbound Honda. The defroster kept the windshield and the front side window clear, but the rear side window quickly became obscured. Behind me, the snow was accumulating faster than my rear window defroster could melt it. I had a spare sandwich leftover from lunch; I ate it. I called home a little before 6 to let my parents know I was going to be late.

By 7, I had crept through maybe one more intersection; I have no idea which one - all the signs were obscured by snow. I had made it as far as the bridge over Broad Run. Several times I shifted into park just so I could take my foot off the brake pedal and flex my leg joints. A couple times I got out to clear the snow off my windows and mirrors, but it was a losing battle. I called home again; my dad suggested it might be a good idea to try and find a hotel to spend the night. Unfortunately, the only hotel I had seen in the past couple hours was on the left, and I was trapped in the right lane. This was not the time to try and change lanes, as a ridge of slush and snow had built up between the lanes. Time and traffic crept forward at an achingly slow rate. I wrote down the time and odometer reading on a sticky note.

By 8, the odometer had crept forward two tenths of a mile. I watched a Nissan 350Z make forward progress through an intersection - sideways. I got a call from the supervisor at the Ashburn job; he had decided that working out there on Thursday would not be feasible.

I had stopped watching the clock by the time I finally got within sight of the onramp from Waxpool onto southbound Route 28. I could see flashing lights - orange and blue - on the ramp. A pair of people trudged by on foot, carrying a red gas can. A number of cars were struggling up the hill on Waxpool just past the ramp, many of them getting stuck halfway. A driver in a Mercedes-Benz M-Class SUV tried to make a U-turn from the left lane onto westbound Waxpool; he high-centered on the snow-covered concrete median and got stuck. A driver in a BMW 3-Series who had been trying to get on the southbound ramp thought better of it; a couple drivers got out of their cars to give him a push so he could change lanes. I had given up all hope of making it to Falls Church.

Traffic began to flow again; whatever was blocking the ramp must have been cleared. The ramp was a slalom course around disabled and abandoned vehicles - left around the Ford Mustang, right around the Nissan Stanza, and so on, including a tow truck trying to retrieve a GMC Envoy that was twenty feet off the side of the road.

Traffic was heavy on 28, but at least appeared to be moving - except for the cars abandoned on either shoulder. I began to think I might be able to make it to the Dulles Toll Road, which I had heard was mostly clear. In the distance, I could see a hotel towering over the next exit, at Sterling Boulevard. In the nearer distance, I could see only a string of red brakelights. The offramp looked clear, so I made a break for it and scrambled up the ramp. At the top, a bright green Peapod delivery van was stuck in the snow to the left. A couple people were pushing a Mitsubishi 3000GT up the hill. Sterling Boulevard was wonderfully clear of traffic and I began hunting for a hotel. I stopped at a Comfort Inn, a Hampton Inn, and Best Western, but none had any vacancies. The clerk at the Best Western told me all the hotels in the area were full. Between commuters with the same idea as me and cancelled flights at Dulles Airport, I wasn't terribly surprised.

I checked my map and realized I wasn't too far from my office in Herndon. I made my way from the Best Western down a lumpy, slushy back road to Old Ox Road (Route 606). Traffic on eastbound Old Ox was heavy and slow, but not nearly as bad as Waxpool. I could see westbound was not as lucky; a pair of evergreens had fallen across the road and completely blocked it and a Dodge Ram was trying to pull them out of the way. On eastbound I saw a Ford F-150 stuck in the snow off to the right; it took me a moment to realize it was facing the wrong way. Right before the intersection with the Herndon Parkway, a Honda Prelude was struggling uphill - sideways.

The Herndon Parkway was even clearer than Sterling Boulevard, though still snow-covered. I began to get confident, perhaps even cocky. When the turn to get to my office came, I didn't slow down nearly as much as I should have, especially since the entrance to the office park hadn't been properly plowed. I didn't so much turn as slide. The wheel locked up and I thought I was going to jump the curb. Fortunately I stopped in time and with extra caution I wheeled my way into the parking lot. Much to my Civic's credit, this was the only time during the whole adventure when it faltered. The time was just after 10 PM. It had taken me five hours to drive from Ashburn to Herndon, a distance of 10 miles.

I called home to let my parents know where I would be spending the night. I bought a bottle of water from the vending machine in the atrium, took off my work boots, and, using my jacket as a pillow, curled up on the floor under my desk to get some sleep.

On Thursday, I was the first one at the office, eating Pop-Tarts from the atrium vending machine. At 11:30 I got a call that the client at the Ashburn job really wanted it finished and they had found another crew to get it done. The original supervisor wasn't answering his phone; I eventually learned it had taken him 12 hours to get home, at which time he had promptly gone to sleep. With clear roads, I made the trip from Herndon to Ashburn in less than half an hour.

When the job was finally finished at 10:30 PM on Thursday, the Mustang was still stuck off the ramp from Waxpool to Route 28.

Hello FurAffinity,

Do you like music? Do you like games? Do you like both in combination? If you answered yes to any of those you should totally come to the ninth annual Music and Gaming Festival: 4 Days of Non-Stop Games and Concerts, aka MAGFest 9, January 13-16 in Alexandria, VA. It's within spitting distance of Washington, DC, and is guaranteed to be plague-of-locusts-free. There are video games, arcade games, board games, more video games, card games, reindeer games, role-playing games, and video games, plus lots of music and lots of awesome people. Some of them are even furries. The Dorsai Irregulars provide security; they're the same folks who keep the city of Pittsburgh safe from the furry scourge every Summer. There are bands, vendors, and B-, C-, and even D-list celebrity guests: Jon St. John, Wes Johnson, and other people who may or may not have 'John' in their name!

And me. I'll also be there, occasionally staffing the tabletop gaming room. You should be there too. We can play Settlers of Catan. I’m not even into video games all that much and I still manage to have a great time every year.

I'm probably not the best person to be talking about this, so if I've at least piqued your interest go check it out at http://magfest.org/

Festively yours,
Kinto


P.S. In unrelated news, I was hoping to begin moving my gallery over to Inkbunny about two weeks ago, but around that time my computer started having bouts of amnesia and generally going insane. I have everything safe on a flash drive and on my parents' computer but it has delayed my move a little bit. I was going to try and upload some this weekend but Inkbunny is down for major maintenance. Best laid plans and all that.

*I wrote most of this a few days ago and then hesitated to post it. It’s a lot of rambling, but the short version is that I’m unhappy about the new AUP and afraid some of my stories will have to be removed. I’ve created an Inkbunny account and will likely begin uploading my existing stories there soon.*

Hello FurAffinity,

I had a nice Thanksgiving with my family down in the Outer Banks. I celebrated my 24th birthday on Friday. I had no Internet access for four days. It was nice and relaxing.

And then I came home. And logged onto FA. And saw the new AUP and the explanation. And my heart sank.

”FA does not permit content containing minors involved in sexual situations. This applies to humans (Loli, Shota) or otherwise human-like characters (i.e. Cub) who are, without question, under the general legal age (18). Images or stories where the character is of questionable or indeterminable age will be up to the discretion of the administration.”

Cub porn is not my kink; usually it doesn’t do a whole lot for me. However, considering the sort of things I do like I know I’m in no place to judge. It’s not hurting anyone and there is no sound logical reason to ban it. I didn’t think a ban of this sort would ever happen on FA.

The wrongness and the unfairness of the situation are just sickening. I understand that this was a decision forced by financial necessity, but the end result is the same. All day Monday my mind was preoccupied. It was hard to concentrate. I didn’t know what to do, and honestly I’m not yet sure that I do.

I am concerned that many of my own stories may be in danger. With no offense meant to any dragons who may be reading, a draconian interpretation of the new rules would be very bad for my gallery. I’ve always assumed “cub” referred to prepubescent furs; therefore I’ve never considered myself a cub artist. I usually prefer characters that are young but sexually mature or maturing. The new AUP outlaws any characters in “sexual situations” who are under the arbitrary age of 18, regardless of sexual maturity. I almost never state the ages of my characters, preferring to leave that open for interpretation, but there are some characters of mine who are certainly not 18 years old. Depending on how broadly “without question” and “sexual situations” are defined, their stories may be forcibly evicted from FA (Rhetorical: Why would snuff be acceptable but sex wouldn’t?).

I’ve heard good things about Inkbunny, but I don’t want to have to leave FA. I barely have time for FA anymore, and I don’t want to have another website to get addicted to. I like it here, but I don’t know if I’m welcome any longer.

I was thinking about my dilemma the other night in the shower, and something occurred to me. There are three main stances on cub porn: those who are against it, those who support it, and those who are ambivalent. Those who are ambivalent are unaffected by the new AUP and will stay. Many of those who support cub porn will leave. Those who are opposed to cub porn will stay. And this was my thought: I don’t want to stay if the sort of people who joined Cub Protest and Intolerant Furs get to not only stay but also claim a victory, regardless of whether they actually influenced the decision or not. They say they don’t want to be associated with a website that allows cub porn; I say I don’t want to be associated with them.

There’s more. Sunday night after I saw the new AUP, I had a dream. Many of the details have escaped me, but there was a person who identified himself as Alfador. I’ve never met Alfador in real life, so my subconscious made him look like a guy I knew in high school. Through some series of events, I ended up on a leash being led by Alfador. I went along with it; in my dream I was having fun. I very rarely have dreams that I can remember when I wake up and I don’t tend to assign any meaning to them, but maybe my subconscious really is trying to tell me something. I know Alfador is pretty much leaving FA for Inkbunny. Perhaps I should follow.

I have created an account at Inkbunny at http://inkbunny.net/KintoMythostian . I haven’t done anything with it yet, but I plan to in the near future. I will likely upload my existing stories in chronological order over the span of a couple weeks.

That said, I’m not ready to quit FA cold turkey; there are too many great artists and great people still here. In the future I will probably upload new submissions to both sites (I’m still writing, just not as prolifically). If the submission contains material that will violate the FA AUP, it will only be uploaded to Inkbunny.

I’m normally a very passive person. It’s not like me to speak out or get involved in controversy. However, I feel like I need to take a stand on this. I didn’t think that cub porn was my kink, but apparently that includes anything under the age of 18 so maybe I thought wrong. Even if I wasn’t directly affected by this, I would still be opposed to the new AUP. I’m watched by fewer than 50 people, so my opinion will probably go unnoticed in the grand scheme of things, but I didn’t want to stay silent.

Thank you for reading this far,
Kinto

P.S. There are snacks and horny, willing 17-year-old vixens in the back. Enjoy them while you still can.

Life is awesome because...
- My job has gotten me into some very interesting places

- I have been part of a team doing a survey of manholes and confined spaces at the Pentagon. Basically, we wander around the Pentagon grounds popping open manholes. It's pretty cool.

- No, seriously; manholes are awesome. Storm sewers, sanitary sewers, high voltage electric vaults, steam tunnels… you never know exactly what’s under the next lid until you open it. One lid might be a 4’x4’x4’ box and the one right next to it might be a brick-lined shaft 20 feet deep. It’s like a box of chocolates… if chocolates had anoxic environments, stagnant water, and cockroaches.

- On one occasion, we MacGuyver'd open a stubborn manhole using a bicycle lock, two pry bars, a car jack, a pair of two-by-fours, a Chevrolet van, and copious amounts of WD-40.

- Many manholes at the Pentagon have locks. On one occasion the two other team members struggled with a lock for five minutes; I tried it and got it open on the first try.

- I have a Pentagon ID badge; I get a kick out of strolling through a security checkpoint and just flashing a badge while other people are waiting in line.

- I've had lunch in the Pentagon cafeteria, been in the central courtyard, and walked in a steam tunnel under the Pentagon.

- I have seen the sunrise... while standing on the roof of the Capitol building in DC. There is currently a group of contractors painting the exterior of the Capitol dome, and my company has been hired to do the air monitoring.

- To get to the roof of the Capitol, we use the same elevator that the Speaker of the House uses.

- My job at the Capitol consists of arriving at 7 in the morning, setting up the air pumps for my samples, and then taking them down when the day's work is done. In between I have nothing to do other than regularly check to make sure the pumps are (a) still running and (b) not on fire.

- I have been inside the Capitol dome and seen The Apotheosis of Washington up close.

- The view from the top of the dome is absolutely the best view in the city.

- On one occasion, I was on a railingless ledge on the outside of the dome with a harness. I did not look down.

- There is actually money in my bank account now.


Life sucks because...
- I had to shave off my goatee.

- Looking into a microscope for extended periods of time makes my back and my eyes hurt. After one of my training courses, I would close my eyes and see afterimages of asbestos fibers.

- Earlier this month, I was awake for more than 24 hours, culminating in a late night/early morning drive to Maryland where I was in danger of falling asleep at the wheel. I arrived at my destination, delivered the samples, and promptly fell asleep in my car in the parking lot.

- I am not much of a morning person; I do not like getting up at 5 AM.

- Scheduling is rather chaotic and often at short notice. Last week, my boss did not tell me until Wednesday that I was working Saturday and Sunday, and then he told me Thursday that he needed me to work on Friday as well.

- I have just worked 8 days in a row.

- Since I started my job, I have been having a string of automotive bad luck. My first day on the job, my Cougar broke down on the way home in the middle of an intersection and required a tow. Some weeks later, I rear-ended a guy while driving my mom's Honda Civic. A couple weeks ago, my Cougar's power steering pump died a violent death in the office parking lot. Just this past weekend in DC some punk broke into my Cougar by smashing the driver's side window with a chunk of concrete; they stole the toolkit I kept on the backseat but fortunately they left my 8-tracks.

- I still have very little free time.

When we last left our hero, he was preparing to embark on his boldest adventure yet: Full-Time Employment! We rejoin our hero after his first week on the job…

Hello FurAffinity,

My job has been going pretty well so far, but there’s a lot to get used to – commuting sucks, projects get canceled at the last minute, my free time has suddenly disappeared, etc. I could go on, but you probably don’t want to hear about it. I don’t like going to the office at 8 AM and then hanging around my cubicle until 5, but once I’m trained I’ll hopefully be out in the field more and with different hours.

I feel kind of guilty about not having posted any stories in two months, but between writer’s block and suddenly working for a living I just haven’t been as creatively productive lately. The story I was hoping to finish for the “Beautiful Snuff” round of Killing-Time hasn’t yet come to fruition; I ran into block again and I’ve decided to step away from it for now to revisit at a later date. I have been writing a story during my lunch hours, but I have no idea when or if it’ll be finished. I’ve heard there’s more dead time out in the field when I may be able to write, but I think it’s a safe bet that I won’t be producing a story every two weeks like I did at my peak. I’m not ready to stop writing.

In conclusion, I’m not dead, just busy.

Vocationally yours,
Kinto

Hello FurAffinity,

I'm back from my vacation and in high spirits. Even the backlog in my submissions inbox, though daunting, is not a damper. The causes of my elation are twofold.

First, getting away from my computer for a week seems to have jump-started my creative drive. Armed with naught but a pencil and a pad of paper I made significant progress on scribing a narrative that I have been wrestling with for far too long. I hope to have it finished and ready to be posted by the end of the week, but no guarantees.

Second, I HAVE A JOB! The day before we left on our vacation, I had a job interview. On Thursday, August 12 - one year to the day after my college diploma was issued - the company sent me an e-mail offering me a job. Starting this coming Thursday I will be employed as an Industrial Hygiene Technician. It is not as glamorous as it sounds, but I'm still truly looking forward to it. I'd rather have a job that's interesting than one that's glamorous, and the job certainly sounded interesting when I was interviewing for it. The pay isn't spectacular, but it's more than I'm currently making (zero dollars, not counting occasional short-term landscaping or cat-sitting jobs for neighbors) and the company will be paying for my training and certification.

The only downside is that if I start working a full-time job, I will no longer be able to spend all day on the Internet as I have become accustomed to doing in the last year. I am going to have to completely re-budget how I spend my time, and unfortunately I may have to cut back on FA somewhat. Hopefully I’ll be able to hammer out a routine that still allows me to spend time doing the things I want to do as well as the things I have to do.

Gainfully employed,
Kinto

Hello FurAffinity,

I'm sorry I haven't posted much in the past couple months. I have been suffering from writer's block since around the time of Anthrocon and I'm not really sure what's causing it. Maybe it's because of the hot weather, or maybe I'm finally starting to get bored with being unemployed, or maybe it's because another website that I frequent has been busier than usual of late and has been requiring more of my time. Whatever the primary cause, I just haven't been able to channel my creative urges into the fabrication of narratives. I really hope this unproductiveness ends soon because I find it rather frustrating. The good news is that the prompt for the latest round of Killing-Time is one I suggested, so now I feel kind of obligated to produce something.

In other news, I will be going on vacation with my family in the Outer Banks of North Carolina soon. We'll be leaving August 12 and coming back on the 21st. During this period I will be largely without Internet access and will be slow to respond to comments and or notes. Hopefully I'll be able to find time to work on a story or two without the distraction of the Internet.

In other other news, I had a job interview on Saturday that I feel went rather well, and I have one with a different company scheduled on Wednesday. Things are starting to look up for me in that area.

Faithfully yours,
Kinto

Hello FurAffinity,

I’m back from Anthrocon. In fact, I’ve been back since Sunday night, but I figured I should say something to get my pre-Anthrocon journal off my front page. I had a great time, aside from some terrifying moments driving through a downpour on the way up Thursday.

This was the third time I’ve been to Anthrocon, and the first time I’ve traveled there by myself. Atraties, Stormslegacy, and Blitzava were great hosts and excellent roommates, even if I didn’t spend much time actually in the room aside from sleeping and showering. Instead I spent most of my time wandering around the convention center, most frequently hanging out in the main convention hall or the tabletop gaming room. In the evenings, I went to events like 2’s Rant and Uncle Kage’s Story Hour and had a blast at the nightly technodanceparties. Also, I got to hug an oryx.

I’m looking forward to next year, and hopefully in 2011 I’ll be able to find someone to drag along with me. Or to drag me along. Whichever comes first.

Yours,
Kinto

Hello FurAffinity,

So the past two years that I’ve gone to Anthrocon, I’ve gone as a guest of my cousin and her friends. This year, however, none of them would make a firm commitment for attending, and they seem to have an astounding aversion to planning ahead. I attempted to organize an expeditionary force myself, but it has become increasingly clear that I am almost certainly going to end up traveling alone.

Anyway, on to the meme. I totally stole it from  ECMajor .

• Where are you staying?
When I thought I was going to be part of a group, I made reservations at a Motel 6 outside the city. However, since I will be probably traveling alone I have made arrangements to stay at the Westin. I will be sharing a room with  Blitzava  Atraties and  Stormslegacy . I am very grateful to them for being willing to share a room with a stranger.

• What day are you getting there?
Probably Thursday. When I thought I was going to be part of a group, I had been planning on leaving Friday since it would likely be more convenient for my guests. I’d rather get there Thursday if no one else is coming with me.

• Who will you be with?
Most of the time, I probably won’t really be with anyone. You're welcome to rectify this condition if you see me.

• What is your gender?
Male

• How old are you?
23

• Can I talk to you?
Sure. I’ll do my best to provide conversation, but I’m not very good at it.

• Can I touch you?
I'd appreciate it if you ask first, but the answer will probably be yes.

• Are you friendly?
I am horribly socially inept. I try to be friendly, but I don't always succeed.

• Can I hang out with you?
That would be awesome, although I'm fairly passive and it'd probably be more like me hanging out with you.

• Are you taken?
No.

• Will you take commissions?
I never do.

• How can I find you?
I don't know; I'm pretty anonymous looking. I'm also fully ambulatory and will be moving around from place to place. I will be wearing this badge: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/3235619/

• Can I buy you drinks?
I don’t drink alcohol. If you want to buy me a soda or something, I guess it’d be alright.

• Can I buy you food?
I'll pay for my own meals, but I would love to have someone to dine with. If I’m traveling alone, I'll probably end up eating by myself. Eating by myself sucks if I don't have a crossword puzzle or something to distract me.

Conventionally yours,
Kinto

Hello FurAffinity,

I’m back at home now after a week in the Outer Banks. Nothing much exciting to report; it was just a week at the beach with my cousin and about a dozen other acquaintances. I am moderately tanned, slightly burned, and mildly bruised.

It was a fun trip and I’m glad I got to go, but I think it was possibly too close temporally to my other vacation (I do still intend to get my travel journal and photos up at some point). I missed being able to check out FA regularly, and a week without Internet access only put me further behind just when I was starting to get caught up. It will take me several days to get back up to speed.

Vacations are nice, but there’s always something to be said for coming home.

Sandily yours,
Kinto

Hello FurAffinity,

International playboy Kinto here, just letting you all know that after a week at home I’ve grown weary of the domestic lifestyle and that I will be jetting off to the Riviera soon and will be gone for a few months. And by jetting off, I mean riding in the backseat of a Ford Explorer. And by the Riviera, I mean the Outer Banks in North Carolina. And by a few months, I mean one week.

So for the next week (June 4-11) I will be without regular Internet access and may be slow to respond to comments and notes. However, unlike my last vacation, this week I will be staying in a house filled with geeks and nerds, so I may be able to finagle some occasional Internet time for myself.

I also have good news and bad news about this past week. The bad news is that I wasn’t able to get completely caught up with my backlog of submissions while I was home, so I’m only going to fall further behind while I’m gone. The good news is that I exceeded my own expectations and actually completed a new story during my short intertrip period.

Littorally yours,
Kinto the beachbum

Dober dan FurAffinity,

I've returned to America from my weeklong vacation in Slovenia, although most of you probably didn't even notice my absence. We spent some time in Ljubljana, some time in Bled, and some time getting lost in the countryside looking for the village where my grandmother grew up. It was an amazing trip with lots of great sights and experiences, and I got to do some things and see some things that I've wanted to do and see for a long time. That said, it's definitely good to be back home; a week without access to the internet has left my inbox practically overflowing. The next few days will be devoted largely to getting caught up on everything. Hopefully I'll be fully caught up before I'm gone again on June 4.

I kept a daily journal of my travels on notepaper; I'm going to try and get that transcribed onto my computer sometime this week as well. It's pretty rough and certainly not my best writing, but I think I might post it as a submission in my scraps when I'm done getting it typed up. I also took a ton of pictures; I will almost certainly post a few of my best ones. If you’re at all interested in what I got up to while across the pond, be sure to keep an eye out for all that.

I had thought I might find some time to write some fiction while I was over there, but I ended up not doing any of that. It turned out to be kind of nice to just take a break from everything for a little while and recharge my batteries. Since I'm going to be gone the first week in June too, I probably won't have any new stories up until later in June. Have patience; I will get back to writing before too long.

Globetrottingly yours,
Kinto

Hello FurAffinity,

I still don’t have a job, but I seem to have a fairly busy summer in front of me for an unemployed guy. I just wanted to give you all a heads up about my plans for the next couple months. During the dates listed here, I will be mostly without internet and unable to respond to comments or notes.

1. May 20-28 - On these dates I will be on vacation in Slovenia with my dad and my sister. I've never been before and I'm really looking forward to it. I plan on keeping some kind of travel diary, and I might even post it as a journal or a submission.

2. June 4-11 - On these dates I will be on vacation in the Outer Banks of North Carolina with my cousin, her husband, and a bunch of other people.

3. June 24-27 - Hopefully, I will be attending Anthrocon in Pittsburgh on all or some of these dates. I don't yet know for sure if I'm going, or what dates I will be there.

4. August 14-21 - On these dates I will be on vacation in the Outer Banks of North Carolina with my family.

In the rest of my time, I will keep up my job search and at some point this summer I will hopefully get called for a job interview or two. If I'm really lucky, I'll even be hired.

Yours,
Kinto

Or, "All the cool kids are doing it"

Hello FurAffinity,

Seized by a flash of boredom and curiosity, I have gone and created a Formspring account for myself. If there’s anything you would like to know about me but have been afraid to ask, now’s your chance to query me anonymously. My page may be found at:

http://www.formspring.me/KintoM

Or, if you don't want to be anonymous, you can ask me right here in the comments to this journal. Either way, I'll respond to them.

Questionably yours,
Kinto

Hello FurAffinity,

As you may recall, in my last journal I announced I was raffling off the chance for one of your characters to appear in one of my stories to celebrate my approaching 100th pageview. Well, I logged on in time to see my counter at 1000 at 1:30 AM Eastern Standard Time on March 14, and that means it's time for to make good on my promise.

But first, while I have your attention, I'd like to thank you all for watching and looking and reading, and giving me a creative outlet where I can express my own perverted thoughts and desires. I have a lot of them, but I don't dare share them with people who know me only from real life. As a writer on FA, it's probably guaranteed that I'll never get as much attention as an artist, but I'm okay with that. All I need to know is that at least someone out there is aware of my work and might even like it. Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to read my stories! I really do appreciate it.

At the time of my 1000th pageview I had 32 submissions with a total of 3554 views and 49 favorites. My most viewed work was "Naughty Girls go to Hell" with 498 views, and it is also my most favorited work with 11 favorites. The runner-up, "Five Little Vixens," had 487 views and 5 favorites. My most commented work was my most recent, "Technical Difficulties" with 25 comments.

And now on to the reason why you're here - the raffle! There were six entries submitted on the last journal, and each one of you has been assigned a numerical value as follows:

Vanyelstargazer - 1
Alfador - 2
YoUrSeLf1990 - 3
ECMajor - 4
Cboy - 5
Criticalmaus - 6

I have gone to the random integer generator at https://www.random.org/integers/ and told it to give me 18 integers between 1 and 6. The number that comes up most often will be the winner. Drum roll, please...

3 2 1
3 1 3
3 1 1
1 1 5
2 3 2
2 3 3

So that's six 1s, four 2s, seven 3s, zero 4s, one 5, and zero 6s.

The winner is... YOURSELF1990! Congratulations! *confetti*

A private message will be coming your way soon so we can hammer out the details.

Celebrationally yours,
Kinto

Hello FurAffinity,

My page is slowly but surely approaching the 1000 views milestone. A lot of artists give away art to mark this momentous event, and I’d like to do something similar.

However, I’m a writer and not a visual artist. I don’t work by commission and I’m not in the habit of taking requests, so I can’t offer free art of your character. Instead, what I’ll do is offer a spot in an upcoming story for one of your characters.

That’s right, I am raffling off the chance for one of your characters (male, female, or other) to appear in one of my stories. Depending on the character and the subject of the story, it could be anything from a cameo to a starring role. The winner will be permitted to offer suggestions for the story’s subject matter and the role of their character, whether as victim, killer, predator, prey, or something else. It doesn’t even have to be a snuff story, if that’s what the winner would like. The winner will also have the chance to review the story before I post it, if they so desire.

DISCLAIMER: The exact extent of the role will ultimately be at my discretion. Length of the story will be at my discretion. Posting date of the story will be at my discretion. I reserve the right to refuse any proposed material, including (but not limited to): Male-on-male sex, cockvore, unbirth. I have nothing against these, but they’re not my thing and I don’t think I’d be comfortable writing them.

If you’re still interested after all those disclaimers, you can enter by leaving a response to this journal. Entries will close when my page hits 1000 views, and each entry will then be assigned a numerical value. The winner will be determined by the random integer generator at https://www.random.org . The winner will be announced in a journal on my page and contacted by private message.

Millennially yours,
Kinto

P.S. Thanks go to  Necromuncher for the raffle idea, which was also totally stolen by  Yourself1990 first.

EDIT: 1000 views achieved 1:30 AM (Eastern Daylight Time), March 14! Entries are now closed, and the winner will be announced soon.