For someone who checks this site minimum once a week you'd think I'd be a lot better about updating my journal or uploading my commissions I've gotten here.

Life just sometimes feels astonishingly busy even when it's really not. But let's see...what's happened since November 2021....got two raises at work, have an absurd amount of freedom and flexibility to my work schedule. Thinking of putting in a few hours this weekend for a half day later in the week as spouse is going out of town for a concert.

Trying to not use much money this month (thankfully my trip to Blackpool to do a bit of journo type activities at the darts was paid last month) as I'm working from the US next month while house/cat sitting for my parents how are going to be on their way from Tahiti to Auckland shortly. They're on a bit of a circuitous route to Australia to save money flight wise so that they can go say their permanent goodbyes to a friend who has terminal cancer so I"m glad between my SiL who lives just down the road from them and me we can watch their house while they go say a proper goodbye.

Husband and I are doing fabulous. This summer has been a lot hotter a lot earlier than usually but the air conditioner I bought with part of my bonus last year continues to pay off. Insane to me that we've been together for 11 years now and married for almost 8.5.

Between work, travels (went to Amsterdam for the first time and I am in love) and just enjoying time with our old beloved tortie cat things are good. I mean work is a bit of a shit show but thats just the nature of the field I'm in.

Oh and I'm an aunt again. For those keeping track at home we have one teen goth niece courtesy of husband's sister and a 9 month old niece courtesy of my brother and his wife. I will use this as an excuse to keep watching Bluey without shame.

Hope ya'll are doing well.

Hey guys...my friend is still trying to rehome some of his adopts and he has 7 left that are all only $10.00. If you buy one now, you can get one free. He also has 3 adopts he designed that are $6.00 but they are exempt from BOGO.

Would be awesome if he was done to just one adopt left so that the bills were covered.

Also will do a giveaway for the remaining adopt I have soon. It will be free to enter as before so keep an eye out and if work can slow down a bit I have a huge art haul to spam ya'll with.

But for now go get cheap adopts and help  canispetros

So for the big reveal...

Only  X3N1TH wanted peppermint bear so peppermint bear is yours!

There were two people interested in blue music dragon so we put both names in a hat with heads and tails in a hat and chose who got what and flipped a coin (last coin in the house...pandemic innit?)

Blue music dragon belongs to  The-Gamer-Groundhog

Congrats both.

 cesula as the only other person to enter would you like the alien or hyena?

Thanks again for entering people and spreading the word. It really has been helpful and I have seen more of  canispetros adopts going which is very helpful for him.

Send me your emails and I'll send you the artworks directly.

This was fun. Glad I was able to send a bit of help to a friend.

Hey Guys....the name for the free adopts will go into a hat tomorrow and be drawn accordingly.

The only way that any of them will remain open is if they are not all claimed. At present we have one name for Peppermint bear and two for the blue music dragon. No love for the alien hybrid or the hyena.


If you want in with a chance to win entirely free adopts please see this journal:

https://www.furaffinity.net/journal/10013853/

It's a simple follow and boost journal process to enter. Easy peasy.

Thanks to those who have already entered or even gone to look at my friends adopts that he is selling to help make ends meet. Ya'll are good people.

Howdy. How has it been over a year again?!

I am so bad at this. Anyways I do have a lot of fresh art of my characters to post but for now I want to do a completely free give away in the hopes that I can get my friend a bit of help.

Anyways my friend  CanisPetros is having tough times so to try and make ends meet he is selling some of the adopts he bought but never used for the same price he bought them for and he has a lot of cute things because he has fabulous taste in characters.

Seriously the most expensive one is only $20 and most are $10 so affordable as all get out.

Anyways...I have bought four adopts from him and will post them here as a free giveaway. All you have to do to enter is follow his page, cast your eyes on the adopts he has for sale and see if you want any (if not, no dramas) and just signal boost his journal so that we can get as many eyes on things as possible. That's it. Show me you did a journal linking to his page (doesn't have to be long) and followed and you are in for a chance to win.

To be clear: you do not have to buy an adopt to be in, just buy one if you think it's something cute and there is a lot there.

Anyways I will be posting links here to the four characters I am giving away so make sure to tell me which one you want to be in with a chance to win and good luck. Hope ya'll like what you see and we are able to help him out.

The characters for the giveaway are:

Peppermint Bear (comes with one NSFW art piece): https://www.furaffinity.net/view/44110629/
Light blue/green hyena: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/44110666/
Alien Hybrid: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/44110700/
Blue Music Dragon: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/44110734/

Deadline is this Sunday the 17th at 6:30pm or 18:30 BST so 5 hours ahead of the east coast of the USA for reference.

Sorry for the huge upload of pieces. I have more to go but some I'm struggling to recall exactly who did the art and if I can't point back to the original artist the piece has to stay with me.

I will keep digging for the sake of the two I can't recall but there are a few more to be uploaded today.

Since my last journal in 2017 (oh god how does this keep happening) I found a job, was en route to redundancy after a year and a half but managed to get hired elsewhere in the company in a job I truly adore that paid more than my old job.

Apparently I'm too good at my job because my entire team was furloughed to save the business cash but I was one of three people in my department kept on to try and keep things going until everything returned to normal. Subsequently, I have been spending a ton of time working from home.

Husband is still ok. Cat is still ok (a lot older than we realised but oh well). Our apartment is still lovely and peaceful.

Only personal downside is my visa is in limbo until they can reopen the biometrics offices. This is the last visa I need before citizenship so I need them to get a bit of a move on or my nerves may shred themselves completely.

Hope you're all taking care of yourselves whatever that looks like for you. It's icky and scary times (being a US immigrant in the UK is a huge struggle in this) with this pandemic and herds of political nonsense from the prime minister here and the president back home. Insane to me to think that I was doing proper darts journalism at a major tournament at the beginning of the year and now here I am on over two months inside. Strange strange.

Anyways, I'm still here and commenting on things. I'm just woefully bad at updating my journal and the art I have received. My apologies for that.

So I'm still behind in posting all the artwork I've bought over the last few years. Seriously seriously behind. But I've posted my new characters today and I will try to get the remaining 9 pieces up sometime soon.

Hope everyone is well. Our cat says mew. :)

I have realized in all the switching country, getting married, buying a flat and moving that I haven't posted a lot of the art I've received over the past few years. I'm trying to fix this. Right now there are 12 more pieces beyond the 6 I uploaded tonight to put up raging from very tame to adult.


Hope you like seeing all of my characters again and some for the first few times :)

Name: Rhymes with Banana :P
Nickname: Lady, Bunny, Woodchuck
Location: London, UK
Age: 31
Height: 5’9"
Zodiac sign: Aries/ Rat
Pets: A chihuahua mix back in the states
Favorite thing about yourself: I’m a total weirdo geek and this pleases me.
Worst habit: Talking nonstop when I get nervous.
Fun fact: I do burlesque :)

Identity, Sexuality & Personality

Gender identity: Female
Sexual preference: Male
Romantic preference: Male
"Kinsey Scale”: 1
Relationship status: Married to the most fabulous British gent ever
Myers/Briggs type: INFJ
Hogwarts house: Tests say slytherin…heart says ravenclaw.

Routine

"Early Bird" or "Night Owl": Night Owl
First thought in the morning: Argh. Why can’t we keep sleeping? (husband’s alarm is set for stupid o’clock)
Last thought before falling asleep at night: Lately it’s been how much I love my husband.

School/Work

Do you work or are you a student: Unemployed but looking currently
What do you do well: I learn really quickly whether in school or on the job
Where do you see yourself in 5 years: Hopefully with my husband, owning a cat, working a job I enjoy and in our own living space that we don’t have to share.

Habits (Do you…?)

Drink: Maybe one to two alcoholic drinks per year really. Not a huge booze fan.
Smoke: Nooooooooo
Do Drugs: Nothing illegal and nothing for getting high. All meds are prescribed and taken for their purposes.
Exercise: Rarely to never…I need to work on that
Have a go-to comfort food: Greek salad or Wendy’s back in the states…here in the UK a full english breakfast
Have a nervous habit: Leg twitching…so much leg twitching. Drives my husband crackers.

What is your favorite…?

Physical quality (in yourself): I am tall :)
In Others: Glasses…I like glasses
Mental/emotional quality (in yourself): I can overcome many horrible things. Maybe not with grace but I have the strength to stick it out.
Food: Greek salad, pasta, breaded chicken patties
Drink: Chai tea, rooibos tea
Animal: Fox
Colors: Blue, Black, Purple, Green, Silver
Artist/Band/Group: lately Michael Buble, Seth Macfarlane and kinda the big band style sounds
TV shows: We Bare Bears, Steven Universe, Gravity Falls, Family Guy, The Simpsons, American Dad, Bob’s Burgers
Video game: Hmmm…I like hidden object games and brain puzzles.
Actor/Actress: So very many but forced to choose I’m going Martin Short/ Tina Fey
Blogger: Jenna Marbles. I love her dogs.
Movie: This is impossible to choose as there are so many so favorite movie of this year thus far is Inside Out.

The wedding was bloody amazing. My strong not easily swayed by anything husband cried three times in the service he was just so happy and we had an excellent mix of food, friends and dancing at our reception.

My sister in law planned a surprise for us. We arrived at our reception to find it was suddenly Doctor Who themed. Cut out wise there was Sly McCoy, Peter Davison, Tom (of course), K-9, a Zygon, a dalek, a cut out of the War Doctor with Matt Smith and David Tennant and a TARDIS. The 5 tables were labeled with the head table being the Doctor, one table called Exterminate, one called the TARDIS, one called Dalek and one called Cyberman. Everyones favors had a wee little box with a TARDIS key and when we went to leave for the night after our final dance they played the doctor who theme as we left.

Oh and she made center pieces with peacock feathers to represent the beauty of nature, spiral silver grass to represent wibbly wobbly timey wimey, little planets hanging off the grass to represent space and tiny TARDIS' hang on the grass as well.

It was so good that two of our friends have even blogged about it but one is a bit NSFW (the blog in general the entry is rather tame) and the other is on a fetish site where she maintains her blog.

I've been told by almost everyone there that it was the most fun they have had in ages and I was lucky enough to not only have my parents in from Australia but also my brother, best convention buddy and two dear dear friends all in from the US.

All the wedding stuff is now over and I could sleep for a month but my best convention friend is staying til Monday so I'm still showing her around. Harry Potter tour is on the docket for this afternoon. But yeah as I approach my birthday next Wednesday I enter the new year as a happily married woman.

So I've been in the UK a month...

Saw a few friends at an event in Birmingham which was a nice full on welcome to the UK because until then I had been hanging out around the house trying to adjust after severe jet lag so seeing my friends perked me up and got me on a bit more normal schedule.

Had an awesome Christmas with my soon to be in laws. Fiance's niece and his parent's dog adore me so everyone else has accepted me with open arms.

Fell horridly ill the day after Christmas and I am still fighting the last bit of it. Poor fiancee caught it a week after I did and even had to miss a day of work when he nearly passed out after his shower. Luckily he is getting better slowly but surely as well.

Went to the British museum on Monday and saw their amazing exhibit on the Gothic Imagination which was just fantastic and I went with my friend/SO's best (wo)man.

The month has definitely had it's ups and downs and I miss my dog terribly but I'm doing well so yay!

My fiancé visa came this morning. I'm moving to the UK in December and marrying the love of my life in March. *squeeeeee*

I have a ton of art that i haven't updated in the past few years. I have another fox character as well as the woodchuck and bunny I have just showcased.

Really if I were to upload it all it would take ages. Maybe I'll get working on it more when I get back from Australia.

It's about time I uploaded a few things though. My 30th birthday is this Tuesday and I'm trying to manage my time a bit better so I can display the lovely art I have bought and maintain the sites I have had for ages. Maybe I'll even update my dA at some point.

But yes...I still live.

Gosh it's been a year since I updated this journal and I have art to post too but I am way behind in things for this site. I can barely keep up with my specialty blog.

Here's a quick run down since last September-

In December I got engaged to my boyfriend. There is no wedding date yet as we both had difficulty on the job front this year but once we get back on track with our savings the plans will continue. We have been attending to some of the smaller details as we go though.

Also in December I got a job as a telephone banking specialist for a large US bank. I was promoted after 2 months to supervisor but unfortunately our contract wasn't renewed in April and over 70 people were laid off. Me included.

In February my fiancé confronted some less than legal behavior at his job of three years so they gave him 3 months pay and sent him on his way. Through careful budgeting he was able to keep his expenses down and when I was laid off in April we made plans for me to come visit in May.

Once again we had an amazing three weeks really strengthening our bond. We even went to his hometown so I could meet a ton of his friends and his parents (who love me...score!). We both seperated renewed in the import of our job hunts so we could get to our future together as fast as possible.

In July my grandmother was having some drama and I wasn't getting called for work so I went to Minnesota to help her out. While I was there my fiancé took a contract job. He had hoped to only take a permanent role but they pay on the contract role was significantly higher and would allow him to gain experience that was lacking from his previous role. He is still there and they have told him that as long as they have the contract and budget, he will remain on their role as he is doing a great job.

When I returned from Minnesota I took my cousin's kids with me so they could get away from their parent's divorce. We had a great week during there visit but after all that family I needed a vacation so I went to Baltimore for Otakon and a visit with my friend Meghan for two weeks.

Now that I'm back home I am actually getting calls for interviews which is good and hopefully I will find something nice that pays well. In fact I have an interview in a few hours.

Oh and my parents are moving to Australia in a few months so I am serving as a caretaker for their pets and house while they are away. Yay no rent!

I am so bad at updating this. Sorry!

Well the rest of my 4 months in Europe went extremely well and during my last 10 days in London I met a wonderful guy named Jamie who I had a lot in common with from our mutual bad health to our love of British scifi. We had what I figured was a brief fling and I went home knowing I would miss him but glad I was involved in such a nice thing.

Over the next 3 months I was busy working at Ikasucon, attending Otakon, visiting family and being a guest at Konsplosion but I still talked with Jamie. He said he had fallen in love with me and I didn't believe him until one of his closest friends added me on one of our social networking sites. He was serious! My god! It was simultaneously awesome and terrifying at the same time. I hadn't dated anyone in 9 years and had given up on finding someone which was fine because I am a very independent person.

So I talked to my parents and they recommended I fly out and stay with Jamie for a bit to see how we managed when we were in the same space for a while. Jamie was ecstatic and cancelled half his vacation to Birmingham so he could meet me at the airport.

We had the best three weeks even though he threw out his back and was out of commission for a week. We went to museums, visited friends, nerded out and just had an amazing time. On my last night we decided to start saving up for a fiance visa for me to move over to the UK. I've been home for about two weeks now and I am looking for work.

I miss him so much especially this past weekend when he had a miserable time with some people in town. It make take a while to save up but we are going to try. I hope things work out and I am optimistic that they will but my logical portion of my brain made me create a backup plan so the backup plan is to move to Dallas where I can be with my friends and burlesque troupe.

How have you all been?

I'm 28! How on earth did that happen? XD

Since September I've done a million things including going to Texas and making my burlesque and modeling debut and starting a four month trip in Europe.

In fact I"m in Florence, Italy as I type this.

My 27th year was pretty awesome and I only hope 28 follows suit!

And it hasn't even been several months XD

My convention in Columbus went really well and I got to spend a bit of time with my friend Sonny which was awesomesauce.

Then as posted I went to Tampa for surgery and that went really well as well.

Then in what can only be described as me not knowing my limits by now I went to Madison, Wisconsin for Geekkon to see I Fight Dragons perform, hang out with Sonny and meet Autumn and Trevor two of my facebook friends.

Twas an awesome weekend, the only exception being that Sonny, Trevor and I were going to do dinner and drinks on Saturday night but due to some complications I only got 4 hours of sleep on Friday. I woke up from a nap and tried to get the energy for dinner and thought I was good by the time Sonny and Trevor called. But when I went to stand up to brush my hair I nearly collapsed. Went to bed at 8pm that night.

Did have a lovely weekend in spite of myself though. I Fight Dragons were awesome and oh so smexy. It was super ace to see my friends and have a bit of time to hang out.

And now I should be home for awhile with nothing exciting planned until late October. Oh well. It was a totally kicking summer over all.

So this personality test thing is making the rounds on here and I thought I would actually join in. If you haven't seen my last journal...you should read it. Find out what I have been up to recently. Anyways...on with the personality pattern.

Unflappable

You are not a slave to your emotions. It takes a lot to upset or unnerve you. That's why you're a good person to have around in a crisis.
You don't let it all hang out, which means that those around you often don't know the pressures you're under or what you're going through. You're not the kind of person people run from in a crisis.

Aesthetic

You appreciate art, beauty, and design; you know that they are not superficial but absolutely crucial to living the good life. You have good taste, and you're proud of it. Those with a high score on the "aesthetic" trait are often employed in literary or artistic professions, enjoy domestic activities — doing things around the house — and are enthusiastic about the arts, reading, and travel.
You don't think it's pretentious to be moved by art and beauty. You're not one of those who believe it doesn't matter what something looks like as long as it does its job.

Sympathetic

You have a knack for knowing what's going on in the hearts and minds of those around you, without their having to tell you explicitly. People tend to turn to you with their problems because they know you care, and that you will likely offer good advice and a helping hand.
You do not feel that people with sad stories are just looking for attention, or have brought their problems upon themselves.

Original

You are constantly coming up with new ideas. For you, the world as it exists is just a jumping-off place; what's going on inside your mind is often more interesting than what's going on outside.
You don't feel that the road to success is to be a realist and stick to the program; you never stop yourself from coming up with new ideas or telling the world what you're thinking about.

Calm

You rarely become irritated, generally accept people as they are, take things as they come, and feel relaxed in most situations.
You do not let a minor annoyance escalate to a confrontation. You don't regularly snap at those around you or fly off the handle with little provocation.

Introspective

You like your own company; you're a very interesting person. Tracking your own mental processes, knowing what you're thinking and why you do what you do, is important to you. Often, what's going on in your mind is more compelling than what's going on outside. For the most part, those with a high score on the "introspective" trait enjoy reading, taking long walks, learning new things, and other solitary activities.
You are not someone who is constantly looking to be among a group of friends; you never feel bored when you are by yourself.

Creative

You are good at solving problems, coming up with original ideas, and seeing connections between things, connections that most other people miss. People with a high score on the "creative" trait often are employed in such fields as finance and scientific research, and enjoy avant garde and classical music as well as literary fiction and scholarly non-fiction.
You do not shun abstractions and concepts in favor of the concrete and tangible.

Intellectual

You are thoughtful, rational, and comfortable in the world of ideas. People find you interesting to talk to. You're the living embodiment of the saying "You learn something new every day." In general, those with a high score on the "intellectual" trait are employed in such fields as teaching and research, and are enthusiastic about reading, foreign films, and classical music.
You do not avoid abstract conversation, experimenting with new ideas, or studying new things. It bores you to stick to the straight and narrow of what you already know.

Upbeat

You enjoy being around others and others enjoy being around you. You have a "live and let live" attitude; because you know that no one's perfect, you are forgiving and happy to give the benefit of the doubt.
You don't feel the need to be controversial or express contrary opinions all the time. You see no reason to go around rubbing people the wrong way.

Prudent

You look before you leap, think before you act, consider what you're about to say before you open your mouth to speak; that's why you rarely have to eat your words.
You usually don't get excited easily or blurt out the first thing that comes to mind without considering the consequences.

Holy Potatoes has this summer been crazy!

When I got back from the UK (that slight chance to see a taping of QI worked out and I met Stephen Fry *squeeeeeel*) I had about a week at home before I left for Minnesota to see family. Then when I got back from Minnesota I was home for about two weeks before heading to Baltimore to present at a convention(with a short side jaunt to NYC to see "How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" with Daniel Radcliffe). I've been home from Baltimore for a hair under a week now and I'll be leaving again a week from today to go to a convention I am presenting at in Columbus and when I get home from that convention it will be 12 hours or so before I head to Tampa for a bajillion doctors appointments and surgery.


See...crazy! The UK was simply the most amazing trip ever and I really fell in love with Scotland as a whole as well as London. I do hope they can get the rioting under control before it all goes straight to heck though.

How's everyone's summer thus far? Anything exciting that I may have missed?

Oh and I finally finished my thesis. Just waiting for my degree to come in the mail now :D

as she's going to be in the United Kingdom!


Tomorrow night I fulfill one of my life long dreams and I fly to the UK. I will be there for 6 weeks and I'm going to check out London, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Portree, Lincoln, Leeds, Doncaster, Blackpool and Liverpool.

My internet access will be limited to evenings and I'll be in hostels for half the time so I will not want to pay for connectivity.

I'm so excited though...I'm going to see the Phantom of the Opera sequel, Much Ado About Nothing starring Catherine Tate and David Tennant, John Cleese's one man show and Jeremy Hardy's standup.

There's even a slight chance I might get to see a taping of Qi.


Hold down the fort fellow furries and I'll see you all again in June :D

I leave in less than 2 weeks for the UK (sooooo excited)! But someone who doesn't even realize what they are doing, is making me really sad so let me boil this down as a cautionary tale for people.

I had a friend pass away recently. It was very sudden and super tragic. She was active in mental health circles and would always listen to people when they were having a problem. One such person was X (real name withheld). X is still new to the forums where we all hang out and she is bipolar. She started talking to my friend (whom we'll call Jane...not her real name).

Jane listened to her troubles but X had a bad bad temper and was quite standoffish most of the time so Jane kept her at arms length and didn't really like her all that much. But she would never refuse someone the ability to talk out their issues.

So Jane passed and those who knew her best went into a deep mourning. We comforted one another on facebook and grieved largely in private but sent flowers, and messages to her family for her funeral. X however suddenly started telling everyone that she and Jane were best friends. This would not be harmless but all of a sudden X is going to attend the funeral but she has no money so she is going to sell her cell phone because she needs to be there for Jane (quick reminder, Jane didn't like X). So suddenly everyone who doesn't know any better is enchanted that this woman gave up part of her life to make the funeral.

Then despite her not having money to get to the funeral and making this big sacrifice she gets a tattoo of Jane's full name, date of birth and date of death (tattoos are expensive so wtf). And through all this I took her martyrdom with a grain of salt and figured it was kind of sad that she tattooed a name of a person on her body who didn't really care for her.

Well now X has contacted Jane's publishers (she was a writer) and asked them if they could publish a book of poetry in honor of Jane that X would compile and write. They are ecstatic at the idea because for all the know X was Jane's closest friend. They tell her that if she gets the book together then they can sell it and donate the money to a charity of X's choosing. Not Jane's favorite charities (which are widely known), not to her family to donate, not to a charity of Jane's sister/father or mother's choosing but to the charity of X's choosing.

The death happened a month ago and when I read this recently I got physically ill. I don't know what to do. there is no way she'd believe that Jane didn't like her plus her whole thing is mostly a "look at me, i'm grieving the most" type of show.

Watch out for those who would secretly revel in the death of your friends and loved ones.

My friend Fin is looking to commission a picture with his character and a few others and he is looking for possible volunteers. Check out his journal here

http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/2188226/




Beyond that I'm up to my eyes in edits but I should be completely finished with those by my birthday this Friday.

Well it's definitely time to update the old journal when people start asking where you are XD

My panel at Sugoicon went really well :D My AMV that I created for the panel is up on youtube so check it out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOH6lmHVUnA

After Sugoicon my mum and I went to NYC for two days and enjoyed the Addams Family Musical with Nathan Lane and Bebe Neuwirth (fantastic) and A Life in the Theater with Patrick Stewart and T.R. Knight (again fantastic). Then we took the bus to Philadelphia for two and a half days surrounding the DTRF Desmoid Tumor patient gathering and run. I met another Hanna(h) who had a desmoid but she is 10. It was just neat to meet other people who had desmoids and find out how much money was raised.

I had a relatively quite Christmas filled primarily with graphic novels that mum and I had picked up at Forbidden Planet in NYC. I got a nice chunk of change as well so that was nice. Can't go wrong with cash.

Then after Christmas I did a few more rounds of edits on my thesis and then enjoyed having the house to myself when my parents went to Brazil for two weeks. The day they came back, I left for Baltimore where my friend and I went to Katsucon again. I had a blast but totally drained my funds again. Most of the money went to sushi because oh my god I love sushi.

Now I'm leaving Wednesday for surgery in Tampa. Nothing major, just outpatient. I'm really hoping my body doesn't end up with another infection from the reconstructive part of the surgery and I"m hoping my biopsies come back clean from the other part of the surgery. It won't be a fun time in Florida but at least it will be warmer.

I guess the only other major things that are going on are my little brother is having serious heart problems. His doctor thinks that he had a pulmonary embolism and may have another on the way plus he will be losing his health insurance in a few days so fantastic timing. *rolls eyes*. Also I have been making plans for some more international traveling. My mum and I are hoping to get to the UK in May and then she'll leave me behind and I'll stay through the bulk of June.

I'm also planing to wander around Europe for as long as I can when the new year comes around so I'm putting in the research hours to try to do it cheaply as I'm not wealthy by any stretch of the imagination and I don't have too much savings.

I hope everyone is well...if I have missed something major in your lives please tell me in the comments :D

Wow, I do not keep this journal updated at all. It's even more sparse than my blog and that only gets updated about once a month. Generally I update my twitter. Usually every day but definitely weekly at the very least. I'm DesmoidSurvivor on Twitter if you would like to add me over there.

Gosh four months...welllll....a lot has happened.

Finished my aggressive physical therapy without much progress on my lymphedema so they declared me stable which is good overall but wish it hadn't taken so long to figure out.

I went to my uncles funeral and while I was there I met 2 of the people I've been playing D&D with online for about a year now. They had just become engaged so we went to celebrate at Steak and Shake *noms*

My family went out to Minnesota as we do every year and for the first time we stayed solely at the cabin as my grandmother no longer lives at her house. We had a good time and my cousin was nice enough to let me come over to do laundry and grandma let me dash into her apartment for a proper shower. Our cabin doesn't have traditional plumbing (in fact nothing outside of a pump sink) so it was nice to not have to throw buckets of water on myself. Plus my cousin lives on his in-laws land and they have the most lovely pair of mastiffs so that was fun.

Then I went to Baltimore for nearly two weeks for Otakon. We had a hotel room this year which made a world of difference in how much con we could attend and I debuted my new cosplay as Blair from Soul Eater. An awesome outfit but the boots could be murder on my feet from time to time. I had so much fun I blew $400 that I didn't really have so after I put some of my meager savings into it it took me about two months to get to the point where I no longer owed anything. I got loads of amazing artwork though...definitely a success. And I also got some great photos at the National Zoo so that was also successful.

Then I went back to visit my grandmother for a week. My mum wanted me out of the house while my dad was in China and I had said I would visit her sometime on my own so I went. It was distressing to have to take care of a lot of things as my grandma is losing her memory and can be troublesome at times but she also spoiled me with lunch and dinner out almost every day and buying me whatever snacks I wanted. And I stayed in a separate apartment in her building so I did get a bit of time to put my feet up, watch tv and eat sushi.

Then I finally finished the rough draft of my thesis which came in at just over 85,000 words when it isn't formatted with footnotes and what not. Now I will edit and format until it's up to par and then I'll be done with my degree. Woot!

Then my parents went out of town for a month (they'll be back Monday) on a small tour of Europe (only hitting Berlin and Heidleberg, Germany; Switzerland (I forget which town), and Venice/Florence/Rome, Italy). During this month I have been relaxing, working on a wedding video, taking care of the dogs, hanging out with friends and generally being me. I have started taking some anti-depressants for my PTSD and those caused me to lose 11.5 lbs, leaving only 10.5 lbs until my target weight of being 145 again. Yay for side effects!

Recently I got notified that I would be a panelist at this year's Sugoicon so I am working on my panel all about Cyborgs, Cybernetics and Mechanical Men so yay.

Life for the time being is pretty good :D

Tokyo and Beijing were awesome and when I finally get a moment to blog about it properly I will either cross post here or link to my blog.

Basically the minute I got back I had to start intensive PT for my lymphedema which is ending this thursday but during that time my uncle passed away so we are going to his funeral this weekend. Add in the fact I had to go to Florida to get my CT scans and get set up for the next few surgeries I'll have next year and I've been a busy fox.

Hold tight people...I'm still here. Also, thanks to all the new watchers for watching me :D