That was confusing. Came back home to an offline a message left by someone who I thought was a friend asking that I stop following them online. The timestamp that this occurred was in the middle of the workday then proceeds to block me so it's not like I can reply or anything. Uh ok.

Here's a can of gasoline and lighter, there's the bridge of 3-4+ years. Help yourself.

I feel slightly betrayed, as I have made a respectable effort to help and mentor them over those years.

See picture : http://www.furaffinity.net/view/12336783/

Cause all the cool birds are flocking there, I made a Weasyl account a while back. Here it is if you want to reach me on there outside of FA for some reason. :)

https://www.weasyl.com/profile/kithrak

I'm on a 2014 furry and general #convention preparation warpath tonight!

Further Confusion 2014: CONFIRMED: Registered as patron, confirmed hotel, will be driving up.
- Want to do a skit for variety show. If you want to collaborate, please message me!

Vancoufur 2014: UNDECIDED: Give me a reason to go and I may consider.

Biggest Little Furry Convention 2014: PENDING: Trying to recover password for account to register, booked hotel room, bought Southwest plane tickets.
- Want to do a skit for variety show. If you want to collaborate, please message me!

CaliFur 2014: CONFIRMED: Registered, booked hotel room, will be driving.
- Need to decide if I want to run the Video Game Industry 101 panel again this year. Anyone want to co-host the panel with me?
- Need to decide if I want to run additional panels. Open for ideas.

Electronic Entertainment Expo 2014: PENDING: Waiting for pre-registration/credential verification, no hotel room planned(unless someone wants to split), will be driving.

Anime Expo 2014: UNDECIDED: Give me a reason to go and I may consider.

Rainfurrest 2014: PENDING: Ticket sales unavailable yet, booked hotel room, too far out to purchase plane tickets(pending airfare sales).

Back from the Fall Fur-B-Q 2013. Had a ton of fun suiting for 5 hours. The weather was favorable in the 60s, not bad for suiting.

Kai the bottomless well of energy wins for suiting the longest. I think she suited before I got there and was still suiting even after I got out of suit and helped lostwolf123 take their fursuit tent down. Still, birdie wins second place for suiting the longest.

And now, I need to give Corvin a birdbath. I don't mind washing him but the work involved to get him to drain with catchpans everywhere....ugh.

Birdie and Corvin will be there this Saturday. Here's to hoping the weather won't be too crazy hot!

http://www.furaffinity.net/view/11817400/

Birdie will be at BlizzCon 2013. Give me a meep if you want to hang out or meet up there. ^__^

This is my first time at Rainfurrest and consider it one of the big 3 furry conventions (FurtherConfusion, AnthroCon being the other two) and it’s my first convention with a suit!

Initial impressions
Registration was well run, had a good experience picking up my badge. They treat their patrons and sponsors well (I had patron) with properly administrating the perks from the get-go vs. the headscratching I got from Further Confusion.
We practically booked out the entire hotel, which was really cool and it was kind of weird to have part of the convention in the hallways of the hotel. I wonder if the people with rooms on the first floor minded the noise and traffic.

Fursuit Lounge – well run!
It was one of the better run fursuit lounges I’ve seen. The coolers were perpetually stocked with ice cold Gatorade and water and lots of fans was able to keep up with the number of suiters cooling off during all but the heaviest periods of activity during the fursuit parade and Saturday night dance.
The head tree had some sanitizing thingie-mabob for the air and addressed my concerns with people getting sick and spreading infections via the head tree which was a nice touch.

Fursuiting experience – weather’s great!
While this was my first con, I’ve suited twice at the local Prancing Skiltaire furmeet twice before. The cooler Seattle weather was wonderful! I was able to stand in the covered walkway linking the hotel to the convention space and stay out for extended periods of time greeting people as they went by.

ElevatorCon - =(
The space was nice but I have a gripe with the two low capacity elevators; more or less the only way to get up for suiters and they broke down constantly from the load. This made getting to and back more painful than it needed to be.

Fursuit experience – Think I have potential.
I seem to have a decent amount of stamina. I was able to suit for a great deal of the convention without destroying myself which was a relief. One of the best compliments I got was “You’re everywhere.” Adding the tie was a great idea and helped add some secondary motion to the character. People started calling me ‘business bird’ instead of Mordecai, and I like it! Might adopt that as Corvin’s nickname.

The downside with suiting so much was that I had zero time left for art. In the past I usually go find a group of people drawing and offer to draw in their sketchbooks or draw simple badges for fun. Was a little sad to see art get edged out that way.

I really want to do more dancing and try doing skits/get into the variety shows. If anyone wants to work with a bluejay that's a very fast learner, give me a meep!

People I’ve met
Disclaimer: If I left you out it wasn’t because I don’t like you, but I wasn’t able to remember everyone cause I met so many awesome people. Also, some of you have names that don't match up with your FA names, making it hard for me to find you. :O

 sokitwopaw  orzel  kazulgfox  frosteefox  reweth  moonshadowsuiting  raket  theparrotenthusiast  cball  sepiaa  wolfpuptk  zantal
 triggerhappysquirrel  dolph  gyrhawk  keianza  kawaburd  redclawtheotter  futcion  raptorred

Borderline overdid the suiting last night. Woke up in the middle of the night with really sore arms locked in a mummy cross position and I realized that if I didn't stretch them out they'd ache locked in that position all day.

So I stretched out and planked my bed like a boss. Woke up mildly sore in all four limbs but am otherwise ok cause I remained stretched out.

Took this from  sokitwopaw who took it from  tabbystorm.

Rainfurrest is going to be really soon. It's going to be my first Rainfurrest and first time with a suit at a convention! Very excited.

Arrival and Departure:
Arrive Thursday afternoon, leaving Monday evening.

Staying at:
Hilton (main hotel)

Mode of Transportation:
Airplane (alas, I cannot fly myself).

Room Share:
With  theparrotenthusiast

Major Plans at the Con:
1- I plan on suiting and going to the dances.
2- Meet ALL TEH BIRDS!

Who will I be with:
No plans in particular. I plan to hang out with people organically.

Fursuit(s):
Corvin, the adventerous blue jay will be there.

Attending Parties:
I haven't been invited to any. So if anyone wants to invite me...

How best to find me:
In-Suit: I'm a 6'3" tall bluejay, going to be hard to miss.
Out-of-suit: Look for the red-birdie Kithrak badge.

Stage Performance:
No plans at this time. Need to work out Corvin's performance some more.

Drink:
Yes! But only when I'm not suiting. If I'm suiting, water!

Smoke:
No, and if you do please don't be offended if birdie sneaks away. Smoke makes me :|

Hugs:
Sure! Please don't surprise me with em (poor visibility) if I'm in suit though.

Talk:
Birdie can't stop talking. *Squaaawk!* :V

Art:
I can do art just fine. Can't make any promises that I'll be out of suit/in a shape to do much art though.

What is your gender?
Male.

How old are you?
32

Can I touch you?
Yes, but please ask first.

Can I buy you lots of drinks?
I want to drink, but I want to suit and don't want to drink while doing that...decisions decisions...

Can I give you lots of money?
Only in cash, and unmarked non-sequential bills.

Can I hug or snuggle with you?
Sure.

How tall are you?
6"0"

You look pissed off out of suit can I come up to you?
Go ahead. I've been told I look intense when I'm merely lost in thought.

Are you nice?
Birdie can be nice. Birdie also has a sharp beak and talons if needed.

Are you cliquey?
Nope. I'm well aware of my experiences being left out as a fledgling so I do my best to avoid doing that.

Can I stalk you?
If in the course of stalking me you damage my suit, I will gladly fill out the police report explaining what led to your repeated accidental falling onto the ground with your face.

Do you like parties?
I <3 parties! (Because I never get invited.)

If I see you, how should I get your attention?
In-suit: Call out Corvin. I will ignore you if you call me Mordecai. >:|
Out-of-suit: Kithrak or bird works

Are you fursuiting?
Yes! ^__^

Can I ask you to dance with me during the dances?
Sure. If I can see what the heck I'm doing while in suit. Visibility is already so-so, should be interesting in the dark.

Can I buy breakfast, lunch, or dinner sometime?
Assuming I haven't made any plans with another person, sure. Keep in mind I'm going to the GoH dinner Saturday night.

Can I take a picture of you?
Only when I'm in suit. I'm camera shy out of suit.

Would you like to get a commission done of you?
Maybe, but I like to draw my own stuff a bit too much (and it's cheaper.)

Want to take a photo of me too if I'm suiting?
Chances are, I'd probably be in suit myself and won't be able to take many pictures.

I finally decided to do something about the 4470+ submissions sitting in my FA notification box. Here are some fun facts.

Total submissions cleared: 4470+
Oldest submission: August 1, 2012
Favorites added: 33

It was cool to notice trends from the artists I've been watching while browsing all the submissions from the last 12 months. Notably, how easy it was to pick out certain artists based on their style/distinctive eyes and in some cases a feeling of sameness in poses.

So I can now say all submissions have been cleared, WOOT!

Finally gave Corvin his first serious outing this last Saturday, Aug 10th at the Prancing Skiltaire furmeet. Feedback for the suit from the furmeet attendees have been overwhelmingly positive on the look and the suit's fine craftsmanship. While cooling off with several other suiters the suit ventilated well, compared to the standard closed suit which didn't let any air through but, that still fared better than to padded digi-grade suit where the foam padding acted as heated insulation.

I made it a point to ignore people that called me Mordecai from Regular Show. >__>

The foot talon looks amazing, unfortunately the tips were prone to dragging a bit on the floor so they showed some wear. I'm thinking of getting a high heat glue gun and dabbing a dollop of it to act as a shield and take on some of the wear to prevent them from degrading.

Keep the PS photos coming and thanks for taking and sharing them. Studying the photos has helped me come up with ideas for improving Corvin's performance in the future.

* Is it weird that I find myself posing so much or that I vaguely feel like a video game character? o.o

* Still need advice on a disinfectant spray to use and where I can buy a high heat glue gun.

And in record breaking time, Corvin came into existence. The maker  sokitwopaw did great work. I'd post pictures but unfortunately I forgot that I have trouble taking photos of myself even when I'm not in suit, so taking them while I'm in suit...well, I didn't think that far ahead. Visibility and ventilation in the head is great and the body suit fits!

Now I'm prowling around for an Action Packer to give Corvin a hard-shell home.

Going to send the lower leggings back to get refitted due to a late adjustment on how the suit was fitted together. By next Saturday I hope everything will be back and fully ready for the Prancing Skiltaire!

Corvin Suit pics by the suit maker: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/11214012
Corvin character sheet by me: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/10964596/

For those interested in video game design here's info for the next IGDA Orange County July chapter meeting. While this event is open to all, I do advise leaving overtly furry items like badges, ears and tail at home. It's not that kind of a meetup.

-WHAT:
Feargus Urquhart is going to talk about the nuts and bolts of running a game studio.

-WHERE:
Obsidian Entertainment
8105 Irvine Center Drive, Suite 200
Irvine, Ca 92618

-WHEN:
Tuesday, July 23rd, 7:00 P.M.

-About the presenter:
Feargus Urquhart is the CEO/CFO of Obsidian Entertainment with over 20 years game development experience. He first rose to fame as the President of Black Isle Studios, where he oversaw the development of several revolutionary titles, including Icewind Dale, Fallout 1 and 2, and Planescape: Torment. Later he would help co-found Obsidan Entertainment where he has continued to release several iconic RPGs, including Fallout: New Vegas, Neverwinter Nights 2, and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2. Feargus Urquhart is currently working on South Park: The Stick of Truth and Obsidian's fan-funded Kickstarter, Project Eternity.

I'm reposting this here because I see my friends use this word way too often and hope this helps them.

Introspection is good, and while doing so you should find yourself regretting on the things you did or did not do. You made your decisions based on the information you had at the time in good faith. If it was a bad decision you wouldn't have made it in the first place. So everything you did in the past, was based on what you thought was best.

If you find yourself doing things you 'regretted' as stupid or sub-optimal decisions; I have good news and bad news.

The bad news is regret or no, you can't change the past so there is no point in 'regretting'. But, the good news is knowing what you know now; you can change what you do in the future going forward.

Reflect on the past, use it to guide your actions and decisions into the future.

Happy July 4th! *wingflails all over the place in celebration*

It's not entirely fair to calculate it that way, but I occasionally like to do this as a rough ballpark guesstimation of how much I've spent on my art projects.

Hours spent on project * my hourly wage == unofficial cost

This blue jay project I've been working on off-and-on over the past several weeks would have cost over $275 dollars. o.o



This metric also helps me gauge how much to 'spend' on my giftart. Gift art is not actually 'free' but there's an opportunity cost associated with it. And when I'm spending my vacation/free hours doing it, that's time I could have spent on something else; but I choose to spend it on making something for that person instead. ^__^

Anyone else feel this way? You don't actually pay for a drawing but instead, are paying for the artist's time to work on what you had requested.

I like being cryptic.

For those in the Orange County area interested in getting into indie game development, there's going to be a meet up tomorrow, Tuesday night at Gaikai's HQ. They're nice enough to buy pizzas and stuff for everyone! RSVP at the meetup website.

For the sake of professionalism, if you're going please leave the ears and tails at home.

http://www.meetup.com/Behind-the-Co.....nts/123095232/

Birdie is attending and planning his trip for E3 2013!

Attending:
Tuesday June 11
Wednesday June 12

Party plans (tentative and subject to change):
Wednesday Night - WIGI Party

Anyone going there want to meet up or hang out?

http://www.e3expo.com/

Stayed from Friday morning - Monday morning.

Good:
* Registration - feels fine this year and the dealer's den had a good selection/range of products for sale.

* To-do - list of things I wanted to do and people I wanted to see at the Califur convention got accomplished.

* Game Industry 101 panel - Ran my first furcon panel this year for Game Industry 101. It was very well attended and I think it did well. Got lots of feedback on what I can do better (and will be incorporating); and will try to include others that are also interested in telling their stories in the future.


Bad:
* Screwed up avian-meet panel - The first and second panel (Avian meet and greet and My first furry convention) got screwed up. Keep in mind, the entire Califur con only has 2 panel rooms and both rooms told me "Sorry, Mario but the princess you're looking for is in the other panel room." And when I asked what panel is this room then? BOTH said they were the same My first furry convention panel. WAT? So no avian panel makes for an unhappy birdie.

* No air conditioning and projector - Everyone was melting while I presented my panel and because there wasn't a projector I had everyone huddled on my iPad's tiny screen. The next panel managed to obtain a projector (no one checked to see if I had what I needed >.>).

* Little air conditioning in hotel - This is hottest I remember the hotel being despite overall weather being cooler than usual. The lack of air conditioning in the hallways made me more meh than usual.

* No doodle/sticky note board - What happened to this wonderful place for furries to share doodles and post silly sketches where everyone can see it?

* No lobby - not the con's fault but it still hurt the atmosphere somewhat.

Ugly:
* Talkback panel - I attended the Q&A feedback panel/closing ceremonies briefly to see how they handled the criticism. The short of it is I love some on the senior staff and I know they work their butts off to organize and pull Califur off but... The answers heard were evasive at best (brush-off), and defensive at worst (you already lost if you resort to defensive answers).

For example the first question about registration being less efficient than it needed to be. The answer? Different conventions do things differently. Next question. Uh...did they just say that their version of registration is SUPPOSED to be less efficient than it needed to be?!

It got so bad I left the thing early because my communications/PR background was /BEAKDESKING HARD at how badly it was being handled. PLEASE let your PR/Marketing guy know they fell asleep at the wheel. Birdie is more than happy to offer his consulting services free of charge in the future. :|

* Losing hearts and minds - As the con was winding down that Sunday and saying goodbye to friends that were leaving, overall sentiment about the convention is negative and far less kind than the bad and ugly things I've mentioned above. I still thought the con did great but peer pressure made me feel mildly embarrassed to tell others that I thought the convention was ok. Not an issue in the short term since social inertia means people will continue to show up no matter how bad things get, but something's not right if those same people are bitching about how much they only show up almost solely because of their friends.

Conclusion:
Personally, I had a good time. But the convention itself took a beating PR wise this year.

I sincerely hope that what I heard was true about how the evasive/defensive answers in public were not really what the staff thinks and that they'll eventually quietly incorporate the feedback to make Califur 2014 a smoother experience.

P.S. No one on Twitter bought the "you should feel bad if you try to dispute our medical emergency explanation" for the fursuit parade starting early.

How to get in touch with me at con?
Twitter (@DerpyBird) or note me on FA if you want to hang out. A privileged few have my cell-phone and email for that. The key here is ADVANCED NOTICE. I will be distracted throughout the con and the more notice you give me, the more likely I will have time to respond.

Hotel?
Main hotel.

Arrival/Departure?
Arriving Friday morning/noon-ish. Leaving Monday morning.

Means of transportation?
Car

Sharing a room with?
There will be ~2 more people in the room and currently only know that I'm paying for my share of the room with Growly.

Relationship Status?
Single

How old are you?
32

How tall are you?
6'0"

Are you an Artist?
Look at my galley and make a guess. (Answer: Yes)

Who do you hang out with?
Unless I've made plans (see first question about contacting me if you want to hang out), I hang out with anyone that'll tolerate this birdie's company.

Hoping to really meet?
 orzel

Attending parties?
WTB invite to parties. Let me know if there are any!

Going anywhere aside from the con?
Oh yes, planning to take a few on a trip to a certain iconic bronze statue.

Do you drink?
Yes, but only in a social setting, and if I don't plan on drawing. Apparently, I need my fine motor skills to draw, who knew?

Can I buy you a drink?
Sure. You keep my glass filled and I'll keep talking.

Can I give you food?
No, but if I'm hungry and you're not broke I may offer to go grab something to eat with you.

Are you attending any panels?
I'm running the Game Industry 101 panel on Saturday 5pm in the Newport Beach Room!
Attending: Friends of a Feather Bird Fan-Meet, Copics 101, Become your Fursona, 2nd Life Meet Up

Are you a Fursuiter and what Fursuits are you bringing?
Sadly, no. Looking to commission one if the maker's skill and style is a good fit.

Stage or public performance?
Nope. No plans to get THAT drunk.

How do I identify my self to you?
It's social protocol to introduce one's self... why is this question even here?

Rules of engagement (physical contact)?
Unless I know you really well, ask first. If I know you really well, sure go for it.

Can I talk to you?
Oh, you can talk. The real question is will I be listening? :P

How do I know if you're not looking to socialize (angry, busy or upset)?
Don't worry. Us birds have ways of letting you know.

Personality Type?
Introvert.

Are you nice?
Yes. But this bird has a sharp wit, beak, and talons to defend themselves if needed.

Can I look in your sketchbook?
Certainly. Ask first.

Can I draw in your sketchbook?
Ask first.

Can I take your picture?
Preferably, no.

What's your goal(s) for the con this year?
Chill out, meet fuzzies, and talk my beak off.

OMGERD, I got to try on a fursuit for the first time at Biggest Little Fur Con and it was amazing! I've had a great deal of time to think about what I'd do if I ever got a suit but this is the first time that I actually got to try one for reals for a few hours. Here are some observations I made as a bird that had never done this before.

Sight
Note: This is based on the fursuit I had the privilege of testing. Different fursuit heads may have better/worse visibility and this is a personal recollection for a bird that's trying it for the first time.

My brain went nuts at the blind spot that's created while wearing the head. Imagine if you temporarily gained a 2 inch blind spot directly in front of you but, your brain is still correctly compensating to create weird visuals that are logically inconsistent. Someone sitting on a couch suddenly disappears if you tilt your head one way, and reappears if you tilt it in another direction. My brain actually filled in the blank spot on the couch (blind spot) with the correct couch texture. Logically, I KNOW someone is sitting there but my eyes says otherwise.

The suit used mesh eyes. The effect is reduced visual fidelity, compounded with bird not wearing his glasses. A rough ballpark is I don't see shapes resolve into adults until ~300 yards, kids at ~200-150 yards. A friend with normal vision and had a similar mesh eye commented they can resolve people as shapes at least 25% further than me.

My conclusion was, having a fursuit head on effectively made me legally blind. Was fascinating to see my brain organically compensate for the greatly degraded visual performance. While the effect sounds terrifying, I did not mind it at all and was focused more on coming up with ways to work around it.

Watch me flail my arms around...cutely

Visual freakiness aside, I tested endurance, pacing, and general gesturing. For some reason I naturally found myself gesturing much much more, which should help.

* Found himself using hands to gesture a lot, and it did double duty as 'whiskers' to feel around the space in front of where I can't see to make sure there is clearance for my footpaws.

* Danced at about 60% and can feel myself heating up, easing up, and pacing to not overexert myself. I was able to go all out for short bursts but it drained me quickly. Would have been interesting to get feedback if it the performance looks any different.

* Learned that I was able to comfortably go ~45 minute stretches at a time before needing a break.

* Time flew by relatively quickly while suiting.

Conclusion

I need to get a suit. The character sheet for Tierce is ready once the makers that are a good fit for the style I have in mind are open for commissions.

What are your thoughts and comments?

I saw a number of friends and people I watch making accounts on Weasyl so I made an account too to see what the fuss was about.

It's 'different' is about all I can say about it. Runs even worse than FurAffinity, with a fraction of the people and a UI layout I'd rather do without. Not crazy about it, but if you happen to be on there, no reason to not follow me on there too. Maybe I'll post more stuff on Weasyl when more than 2 people follow me lol.

https://www.weasyl.com/profile/kithrak

Whoops, was working on a Valentine's day drawing and forgot about Lunar New Year. >_>