Last month one of my dearest and oldest friends in the fandom,  Milgrove, passed away from a heart attack. I had been just thinking of giving him a call on my next night free when I got the news.

The saddest part is that only this year his dream of moving out of his old home and in with his mate  Anupar was finally achieved. My last words to him were of encouragement that he'd finally done it and was on a grand new adventure, one he'd worked so hard to make possible. It breaks my heart to know his adventure lasted only a few months.

Anupar is suffering from a glut of bills in the wake of Milgrove's passing and needs help. For the sake of my dear friend and those he left behind, see if you can offer a little help: https://www.gofundme.com/f/in-memor.....pd+share-sheet

Dominus vobiscum

Merry Christmas!

Santa stopped by our house, ate the Christmas cookie and drank the chocolate milk I helped my daughter prepare, and left many new presents and stocking stuffers for us to enjoy when everyone wakes up in a couple of hours. I'm waiting for the coffee to percolate now, grateful for another Christmas Day.

Last night my daughter was one of the shepherds in the children's choir mini pageant at our Church and she did a great job both singing and in announcing one of the hymns. Our priest gave a homily referencing both The Grinch and Charlie Brown Christmas, and reminded me of something I had completely forgotten. When Linus retells the Christmas story from the Gospel of Luke, when he relates the words of the angel, "Be Not Afraid", he drops his security blanket.

I have had many things to be afraid of in the last year and a half. It is good to be reminded once again not to be afraid to do God's work. Today that means being the best Dad in the world. Tomorrow it means that and more.

For now I hope each and everyone one of you Watching me can have a blessed Christmas with family and friends. Be not afraid to reach out and love those around you, and especially those you wish could be close but time and circumstance have taken far away. I know I'll be calling my family who I cannot see this day; I miss my brothers and my parents dearly this time of year though each of us now has our own families and our own traditions springing up.

Today I'll enjoy my daughter's delight with each new present, and I'm sure I'll be putting a bunch of toys together with her today. We'll listen to Christmas music of all sorts, we'll do our part to remember the Birth of Our Savior, Jesus, on that cold winter night on the other side of the world, in that stable, dusty and brown. And we'll love each other with all we have and hopefully not get too disappointed when that hoped for trinket fails to appear under the tree.

I leave you with one of my favorite songs often heard this time of year. God Bless us, everyone!



Dominus vobiscum

Been crazy busy these last few weeks with real life stuff. Most nights I've been dealing with that and/or have been too exhausted to do anything online. There's several folks I owe notes or replies or what not on here. You have not been forgotten and I should have some time over the next few nights to get back to you (hopefully).

Dominus vobiscum

Before writing this journal to celebrate my 43rd birthday, I read through the birthday journals I've posted now for a few years...

37: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/5036489/
38: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/6092268/
39: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/7018568/
40: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/7796928/
41: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/8402940/
42: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/8867733/

Like so many of my other regular journals, they tend to get longer and longer, so sorry about that. I do want to point out the journal for 41 because what I had to say there and what I had to celebrate is still true and it was a good reminder especially at this time.

I laugh a little at journal 42 because I was contemplating a bear fursona that I could never settle and my daughter surprised me with my new Zebra fursona out of the blue. One of these days I'll figure out bear, but for now I like having hooves and stripes!

This last year was probably one of the most challenging years of my life. From multiple home and car repairs to hospital visits to vet visits, I'm currently down over 16,000 dollars from where I was last year, most of that in new debt, and nearly half of that came in just the last two months. But as I said in journal 42, "This too shall pass." and "one thing I still have to learn is a wisdom that comes only from the breadth of time, patience, faith, and hope." It's been very trying this year, but I'm still here.

I thought I was having heart trouble the last two months, but it turns out my heart is in excellent health. I had a stress test where they got my heart up to about 180 before checking it out with a sonogram; the doctor boasted to his intern, "This is what a healthy heart looks like!" So that's fantastic news! The chest pains I'm experiencing from time to time may just be Tietze syndrome ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tietze_syndrome ) which is not serious and should be treatable with ibuprofen or aspirin. I don't have a confirmed diagnosis just yet, but we'll keep an eye on it.

I have managed to do some more reading in the last year, reading "Alternate Routes" by Tim Powers, as well as an anthology of short stories by Tim Powers entitled "Down and Out in Purgatory", "The Heart of What Was Lost" by Tad Williams, "The Iron Chamber of Memory" by John C. Wright, and "The Eighth Arrow: Odysseus in the Underworld" by J. Augustine Wetta. I'm currently reading a collection of Sci Fi short stories by Poul Anderson who is always excellent. I enthusiastically recommend all of these works. None are furry, but mythological creatures show up in almost all of them.

Writing has not gone so well. I've managed two stories in the last year. Here's hoping I can do better this next year.

My daughter is now in first grade and it is a joy to see her starting to read some of her books on her own now. Her favorite is "Marvin K. Mooney Will You Please Go Now!" I need to get a picture done of us in a Dr. Suess setting. She's been coloring some of the sketches I've gotten (printouts, not the original) and in time I'll post some more. She wants to get a fursuit too, but doesn't really have any furry form she wants to be. The other day she asked me to have her drawn as a raccoon, no a red panda, no a bear, no a... you get the idea. She's now a Yellow Belt in Karate and is almost ready to start doing competitions with gymnastics, and seems to be very smart with her school work, so we're very pleased. She still wants me to play with her most of all and I try to give her as much as I can.

Life is wonderful and full of so many blessings. No matter the challenges and disappointments. Life is worth it every single day. I am so grateful for every day I have been given and thank God for every blessing He's bestowed on me. I hope I can do a little bit better by Him, my family, and my friends this coming year.

Dominus vobiscum

A little late, but here we go!

Anthrocon began for me Tuesday when my first guest arrived,  Rimme. He arrived during my first therapist session and Angie was thrilled to see him again as he enjoys playing at her level and can do so for longer than I can anymore. It had been two years since either of us had seen him so it was very good to host him again. We didn't do a whole lot else other than catching up a little before bed though; the real zaniness began the next day.

Wednesday, Rimme, Angie and I drove out to the airport to pick up  LurkingWolf. He arrived about 12:30 or so, and we only had to wait about ten minutes after arriving before he reached the terminal. We stopped for food at Cracker Barrel on the way back; it was Rimme's first time and so I was delighted to introduce him to the place; love all the crazy amount of great food they serve. We got back to the house and mostly hung out chatting and playing a bit with my daughter. Angie had gymnastic that evening after dinner, so once they were gone, we got to talking about movies and when I learned neither had seen 'Fire and Ice' we started watching. We got about half way through when my next guests arrived,  Killer.Narwhal and  Sasha_Driften. Narwhal wanted to make chili for us the next day so he got started preparing that in his crock pot. We mostly just chatted until Angie got back, and after I put her to bed we spent time chatting again. I don't recall how late it was, but  WolfFriend showed up last after a very long day's drive. We called it a night at some point after that.

Thursday most folks slept in a decent amount. Angie and I were up well before the others and she wasn't too happy I wouldn't let her go downstairs and wake everybody up. But eventually folks did get up and we shared breakfast and just relaxed for a while before it was time to head down to the convention center. Angie wanted to come of course, but this was not her day.

We made it with ease and stood in line for an hour to get our badges. I had a really nice conversation with the Dad of a teenage furry daughter who was there at AC for the first time. Very adventurous guy, loved caving but couldn't do it anymore. I remember thinking and hoping that my heart would be good enough to do the kind of adventurous stuff I enjoy at his age.

We discovered that poor Rimme left his wallet at my house so he couldn't pick up his badge just yet. We weren't terribly interested in any of the activities at the con for that day, so after getting something to eat and wandering for a little bit and ending up at the pier for a good while (and running into a few friends like  Salvestro,  Lukaryo,  Soba,  Sodalite,  Tiptoe,  SandySchreiber, and a few others I cannot remember now) we decided to head back to my house. We spent the rest of the day relaxing, chatting, playing this or that, and enjoyed eating Narwhal's chili. Narwhal even showed Angie how to paint miniatures and she did two and made them look pretty good, especially for her first time trying. He gave me a pair of Rat miniatures that are supposed to be my Metamor Keep character; got them on my desk right now.

We did hit the sack early for a con because Friday was going to be an early day as always for Anthrocon.

Friday we were up early and in line for the Dealer's Den by eight o'clock. There was some confusion among the security staff where the attendee line would be, but we finally got settled in. We played a couple of games of Betrayal and some others I don't recall now while waiting for the Dealer's Den to open. Rimme was able to get his badge during this time at least and he had almost no wait.

There was some confusion about who was in line toward the opening and a bunch of folks who were not waiting with us were able to get in first. This made me a little anxious which did not help my health, but once the doors opened I was able to get in line and secure a sketch commission from my usual gang of  DarkNatasha,  Michele_light and  Caribou. I was also delighted to find  CZGoldEdition there and snagged a sketch slot from her too.

I then got into suit for my Rodents panel. It was the largest room I'd ever had and perhaps the best attendance I'd ever had too. Because of the size of the room and the heat I took my head off for most of the panel. It went well with lots of good discussions; mostly media featuring rodents and not too many stories about owning pet rodents this time, but everyone enjoyed themselves and that's the most important part.

I was pretty low on energy so I didn't suit for very long, mostly just long enough to get back to the Dealer's Den and get changed. After spending an hour or so wandering the dealer's den I headed off to the Hoofer's panel with Fulminar. I definitely had a lot of fun there, and I helped the panel organizer figure out how to get the group photo to work. It was mostly group table discussions and I met a few cool hoofers, including  BlueStreak98, and it was good to chat as a Zebra for a while. I had hoped to show off a new Zebra badge from  CatMonkShiro but it wasn't quite ready yet; I was happy to wear my certified Zebra badge and the 'I'm a Stripey Zebra' badge I picked up which were both quite neat.

Afterwards I went up to the Game room and played Rabbit Island with my friends and then I think we did a few rounds of Forbidden Desert (winning both times). I had bought Jimmy Johns for lunch and snagged a double sandwich so I had the second sandwich for dinner, saving me a trip out to get food. I had thought to stay for a round of Werewolf, but the game tends to make me really anxious and that's the last thing I needed then so after doing a few more games with my friends we headed back home.

Saturday we took it easy in the morning, sleeping in and so forth. We got to the convention center a little after ten o'clock. I checked on my sketches and moved my book around some. I think I was finally able to pick up mny new Zebra badge from Shiro; very cool and happy to show it off. We went to Jimmy Johns for lunch again and I bought two sandwiches once again. I started to feel really beat down then, wasn't sure if it was just the heat or if my heart was part of the problem, but because of it I decided that I was not going to do the fursuit parade this year. Instead we went to the Game Room so I could just sit down for a while. We did a few games of Betrayal there and that proved to be a lot of fun. I even ended up helping run a game or two of Rabbit Island.

At some point I started to feel better and went back to the Dealer's Den to check on sketches, browse, and chat with artist friends. I then went to the Scalies panel and had a blast. It started with some group discussion and some motivating questions which seemed to work okay. It then ended up another mostly small table discussions which was cool. I got to meet some nice scalies and had a really good chat with one in particular. Sadly our social media presences were not lined up, but at least it was good to meet another fan of Star Fox Adventures and somebody who understands what tolerance and diversity actually mean.

I then returned to the game room and after playing a few more games with my friends we headed back home. It was pretty late and we stopped at Sheetz on the way back so my friends could get something to eat. Two miles from my house we hit a pothole and one of the manifolds in my exhaust system snapped which was quite scary, but we made it home safe and sound; the repair bill ended up being almost a thousand dollars, gah!!

Sunday I brought my daughter to Anthrocon again. We went to Epiphany with the Catholic Furs for Mass in the morning and then we spent the day wandering around. My daughter tried to wear my old rat tail, but it was too long for her and she got tired of carrying it around in five minutes. I ended up buying a pink and purple wolf tail for her to wear; she is going to need better belts before she tries this again because the belt she did have was barely holding together. Still, she loved it and naturally went around hugging all the fursuiters she could and trying to get any who would to play with her. I am WolfFriend followed along pretty much all day, and I'm grateful for WolfFriend backing me up there.

I was able to pick up all of my sketches that day, and I also bought a cute little children's book called "Hello Officer Voof" for my daughter while there. Another fur offered to buy her some silly badges from  Flinters which I let him do after he checked with me first. Flinters saw my badges and was so intrigued by a Rat and a Zebra that he did me a free sketch combining both into one shape -- sadly I cannot seem to scan the thing and get it to show up; probably have to just take a picture of it to share it.

Angie didn't find too many folks who would play with her like she did in previous years; there was one dog fur who played a bit with her by bouncing the tennis ball he kept in his mouth back and forth. Otherwise it was a ton of walking as Angie wanted to explore around to find all the suiters. Lots of pictures of her hugging various suiters and showing off her tail. Once again she managed to get on film by Kibawolf; no idea if she made his Anthrocon video this year yet or not, but it would not surprise me if she does (still waiting for it to come out).

We said goodbye to Sasha and Narwhal that afternoon as they wanted to get back that night.

Once the Dealer's Den closed we made our way back to the cars and headed for home. We had hoped to order Chinese take out for dinner but the place was closed so we all headed off to a Thai Sushi place nearby and enjoyed dinner there. Angie's legs were hurting really badly but she seemed to walk around okay, which is how I knew it was just her legs getting stiff on the car ride home after walking so much so I told her to just keep moving around a bit to loosen them up and she was fine.

After we all returned to my house we just relaxed, showed off the various cool stuff we got, while Angie played with Rimme. I don't remember when we went to bed that night, but everyone was tired after a fun Anthrocon. Monday morning Angie was worried she wouldn't get any playtime with my friends, but she did get a little bit before they all headed off by about 9. I honestly don't even remember what else I did that day, but Tuesday it was back to work. And later that day I got the word everyone made it home safe and sound.

I'll get the pictures I scanned shared soon. Thank you to all for a great and fun Anthrocon! Here's hoping next year I'll be in much better shape and actually be able to do some suiting again!

Dominus vobiscum

Had a great time visiting my folks with my daughter this last week. We went to a few places I hadn't seen since I was a kid which was really interesting and fun. The Zoo there has changed so much, I only recognized two things while there and even my Dad was blown away by how much had changed. My daughter had a lot of fun, but the heat and humidity made it hard to spend time outside; the mosquitoes were way worse there too and she's now got so many bug bites, ouch! I did not get to writing my Anthrocon report yet, but I hope I'll do so this week.

In bad news, insurance won't cover the cost of repairs on my car because they said it was wear and tear and would have happened anyway; at least the original estimate was accurate so that's something. Also, my wife is going to need to get her truck serviced soon, it's really having some trouble going uphill and starting uphill is a slog. No idea what that will run, but at least, in the good news department, we own it outright now (paid it off right before we left). Also, my wife just landed another deal; as long as everything goes okay with underwriting and the appraisal, she'll bring in her third commission for the year.

More and more my heart trouble seems to be stress/anxiety related. I only had one incident during my trip and it was entirely panic induced (ironically occurred while watching Iron Man 3). Otherwise I'm feeling probably the best I've felt since this all started back at the beginning of June.

Notes, messages, and the like I owe people will be handled over the next few days as we get back into our normal groove.

Dominus vobiscum

I will be spending the next week visiting my family with my daughter. I'm hoping it will be a good and relaxing time. I know I need it.

Anthrocon went good for the most part. I hope to write up a full report while I'm with my folks; this week has been too hectic. The con itself was a lot of fun and I had a good time and my daughter had a blast on Sunday. I am definitely not up to my usual stuff as I only suited for my Rodent's panel and spent parade time playing board games with friends, but I still managed a fun time. The only bad news was that on the way back Saturday we hit a nasty pot hole and it damaged my car; something called the left manifold broke in the exhaust system and it'll cost about a thousand dollars to fix; called the insurance and have a rental my wife can use while we're on the trip (more comfortable taking a car I am familiar with on a trip so I'm borrowing hers), and hopefully they'll cover most of the cost of repair. I'll find out next week once the appraiser has had a chance to look at it.

Health-wise, some of my symptoms hit me again yesterday but they mostly went away while I was physically active and mind was elsewhere, which makes me wonder how much my own nervous tension is causing my troubles. Had two sessions with a therapist and I'm sure in time that's going to help. The relaxation techniques she provided look promising if I can keep myself practicing them.

Still need prayers to fight off the sense of dread all of this gives me and the depression not being well leaves me with. I have great days mind you; Anthrocon and being with friends and especially watching my daughter have fun there kept me very positive. I need to do more like that.

Dominus vobiscum

So Anthrocon starts tomorrow. I will be there and will do as much as I can.

Still no clear idea what's going on with me. I met my cardiologist yesterday and the news is mostly good. The heart monitor showed good activity and nothing unusual so there's little chance of a heart attack. We did a CT scan of my chest area looking for blood clots in the lungs but they are clear. The only bad news is that we still don't have any good firm idea of what's going on. I'll be getting a stress test soon to try and learn more.

As for fursuiting at AC, I'm going to bring mine and certainly suit for my Rodent's panel. Whether I march in the parade or not... I'll decide that day.

See many of you soon!

Dominus vobiscum

I've had the heart monitor on now for 9 days; I get it off next Tuesday. Last weekend I almost felt like normal again (Fri - Tue) and didn't have anything other than twinges of anxiety here and there. Wednesday I felt my face go flush again, but I muscled through. Thursday I was okay. Yesterday I had another bout of tachycardia that kept me from getting to sleep. It lasted about as long as my first one and has subsided now. Today I just feel exhausted, but am otherwise okay.

My next doctor's visit is two days before Anthrocon. Both my first visit with the cardiologist and with a therapist are that day (one in the morning the other in the evening). I'm still planning to go to Anthrocon, but depending on how I feel my schedule might be more abbreviated than normal. I'm going to play it by ear for that and for fursuiting. I'll give it a try and see what happens.

This sucks but I'm getting through it day by day and sometimes hour by hour.

Dominus vobiscum

EDIT: On Thursday evening, I did an hour long Karate class with my daughter in honor of Father's Day. I signed up for it before all this started. It was good and worked me hard, but man it probably wasn't the best idea! Still, Angie and I had a lot of fun with it.

I had my visit with my Endocrinologist today and all of my hormone levels look good. In fact, everything looks good and the only obvious candidate for my woes is my crazy stress levels that have been building and building since September of last year when our skylight needed replacing. My anxiety got so bad I've been worried about some non-existent things I was sure were just about to happen that thankfully have not. So I'll be looking into ways to deal with this more productively; I had another anxiety attack today but at least this time I knew what it was and fought through it.

It has me a bit depressed at the moment, but I'm trying to keep upbeat knowing that millions have gone through this before me and have thrived.

Plus, it got me thinking about this old movie which cheered me up some!



Dominus vobiscum

Back to the hospital today when I started getting some chest and upper arm pain. Turned out to be nothing, more likely a panic attack than an actual cardio event. My vitals look good and the second round of tests all looked good too. To be safe, I've got a heart monitor for the next two weeks and will be seeing a cardiologist in July.

I feel better now and I think I'm managing my own stress better about it. I'll be able to return to work tomorrow too which is good.

Thank you everyone for your thoughts and prayers. Now to face... the bill.

Dominus vobiscum

Nothing new about my heart. It still seems a little fast and I'm now sporting a headache which is probably caused by caffeine withdrawal (no coffee these last two days per doctor's orders). I'm trying to relax and rest a good bit. Took today off work and will likely, even if I do go in tomorrow, only go in for a few hours.

I have not heard back from either my PCP or my endocrinologist. The latter has all my files and is supposed to get back to me today; earliest appointment I could get with her was Thursday. I couldn't even get an appointment with my PCP this week and even if they did manage to squeeze me in, the one doctor said they'd probably just refer me to my endocrinologist. Thanks guys, at least you're honest.

Thank you everyone for your words, thoughts, and prayers right now. No idea yet how this is all going to turn out, but at least the tachycardia has not come back like it did on Saturday, and other than the headache, and some occasional sweatiness (which could either be from the fast heart or the thyroid medication) I've had no other symptoms.

Dominus vobiscum

I had to call 911 for the first time today. My heart was racing for over two hours (I estimated my pulse between 100 and 120). The EMT clocked it at about 130 at one point. My wife drove me to the hospital while my daughter was picked up by my Mother-in-Law. They ran a ton of tests which showed that my heart was fine just fast. It might be a side effect from my thyroid medication (it was the only test that showed anything unusual). I will be following up with my doctor and endocrinologist in the next two days. In the meantime I just need to have plenty of fluids and get some rest and relaxation. My heart rate is back down, though still a little faster than I'd like. No chest pains or the like, and if I have any I'll be making a second 911 call.

Thoughts and prayers are appreciated!

Dominus vobiscum

Yesterday I took my daughter to go see the Pikachu Detective movie. I have never before in my life watched any Pokemon cartoons or movies. Despite this I have absorbed a good bit of Pokemon lore. Both of my brothers got into Pokemon while I was at college and so I got a lot from them. And of course in the furry fandom it is hard to miss how much Pokemon has influenced so many. I have read a couple comics involving Pokemon and some TF in the past as well because TF is how I found the furry fandom in the first place; this one here is one I'm currently enjoying about a kid who gets turned into a Charmander ( http://charcole.kyrio.net/ ).

All of that said, I can definitely say the awesome looking trailers for this did do the movie justice and it is definitely fun and worth seeing. My daughter enjoyed it and we kept saying "Pika pika!" to each other on the way home. She wants me to get her a Pokemon book and some trading cards like one of her classmates showed her.

My daughter finishes up Kindergarten this week. Blows the mind sometimes. She's doing very well in school and now wants to read books on her own. My sister bought her a couple of mangas that she likes to 'read' though a lot of the words she's not quite ready for. I'm not reading this one to her, but I do help her with words when she spells them out for me. Good for her to practice.

Car repairs were completed last Friday; they had to fix leaks in my AC system. Cost me more than my monthly mortgage payment. They put another round of dye into the system so I'm supposed to bring it back first week of June so they can check it for additional leaks. If they find any then they'll need to probably do another thousand dollar plus repair job on it. I cannot afford another round so I'm really hoping and praying they fixed it all.

Tomorrow I'll find out how much the repairs to my attic stairs will be. Hopefully it will be relatively inexpensive, but we'll see. Once these are done, and assuming my car is actually fixed, then all the known unknowns will be dealt with. I just really hope my wife's realty job snags her some more clients and sales very soon because we desperately need them to get back to where we were financially just two months ago let alone a year ago before I had to buy the new car, the new sky-light, the new furnace, etc... It's been a rough year for repairs for us. The only saving grace is that we've been pretty frugal and responsible with our money up to this point and so we've been able to absorb these blows, but it's getting harder and harder each time.

Dominus vobiscum

If folks like the art I get, or just like me, I'm happy to receive shinies and G-Rated suggestions.

Could use em too, man repair bills are hitting me hard.

Good luck to everyone trying this out too!

Dominus vobiscum

So I'm halfway between FE and Anthrocon. Still alive here and all that. Angie is almost done with Kindergarten and we're looking forward to a bunch of fun stuff over the Summer. She just tried on one of my old tails. Goodness! And she wants to write music just like Daddy too. I'll be letting her do a bit more after I post this.

My wife is basically fully recovered from the Flu and complications that followed. She was basically sick with something for two months which has really sucked. And now Angie has an ear infection, but we caught it quickly so she should be fine.

Life is kicking me hard in the repairs department. We had to replace our furnace last Winter right before a huge cold snap and now we're in the middle of buying a new Dishwasher and having a contractor out to repair the ladder to our attic. All of my Summer stuff is trapped up in there right now except for the shorts I keep for wearing with my fursuit. And now I find that the SUV I bought last year has a leak in the AC system which is going to cost me $1,000 to repair. It's not a safety issue, so I'm going to let it slide for a few weeks. I do have the money to pay for this, but it does mean that I'm not going to be able to do anything else I haven't already budgeted for until my wife is able to bring in a few more sales (she's got a second one coming up next month which means she's managed two more than last year at this point, but she doesn't have any good leads after this one yet).

I'm not really asking for money or anything, I just want folks to know I'm not going to be able to do a whole lot for the rest of the year. I've a few things already promised and I will keep those promises, but I'm not making any new ones until we can get out from under a few of these bills.

Dominus vobiscum

Thursday

I got up at 4 AM Thursday morning, showered, checked email and FA messages one last time, and then took my coffee in a travel mug, packed my SUV, and started off for Furnal Equinox about 5:45. This year I was only picking up  Fulminar (my usual driving companion and dear friend  Salvestro could not make FE this year due to work) so I had a long drive on the interstates ahead of me. I love that my new car has cruise control so the drive was actually quite pleasant. I listened to music, said my Rosary, and just enjoyed the morning, sipping my coffee, sucking on cough drops, and the like. I made my usual stop at the last rest area in NY before I get to Buffalo, grabbed some breakfast from McDonald's, filled the gas tank, and then drove the rest of the way to the border.

I got to the border about 9:45 and was surprised to see a half-dozen cars in each open lane. It took about fifteen minutes to get up to the border guard, and to my delight he only asked a few questions before letting me through. Woohoo! I gave Fulminar a call to let him know I'd be at his place by eleven and proceeded on the QEW to Hamilton. I arrived basically when I predicted and after a brief chat with his Mom we packed his stuff into my SUV and headed into Toronto. We chatted and caught each other up on how we were doing and what had been happening lately in our lives. I sucked another cough drop (I bought a fresh bag for the trip).

We ran into some heavy traffic going into Toronto, but not so bad that it delayed us more than a half hour. We were at the hotel a little after 12:30 and were able to get checked-in immediately. Heck, our bags almost beat us to our room. This was a huge difference from last year when it took a couple hours just to get a room because they'd overbooked everything. And this time we did get the room we paid for. We got our stuff sorted in the room which had a city view in the north tower with two Queen beds; we could see the lake off the to right too; not much floor space, but it would do. We decided to go hang in the lobby to see if we could find any of our friends so we could invite them to the Old Spaghetti Factory that night.

One weird thing that happened was that the TV was on in the room and we searched in vain for a remote or a button to turn the thing off. In the end we asked one of the housekeeping staff to help and she promised to find a remote for us. By the time we got back to our room later that afternoon the TV was off and a remote lay there on the dresser.

We found a place to hang out in the lobby where we could easily see the front doors. We chatted for a bit as we waited until we saw our good friends  CatMonkShiro,  Nyomi, and  Dan_Raccoon and some of their friends come in. I waved them over and after we all shared hugs and some basic chit-chat, I mentioned the dinner tonight and repeated the invitation I sent them over FA notes, but they had to decline since the only time they would have for Dealer's Set up was that night. We also saw the lovely artist ladies  hbruton,  SandySchreiber, and  Xenotropos and invited them but the story was the same. Ah well.

Since we struck out at inviting friends to join us for dinner, we headed on down to the corner market store across the street so I could buy some flavored creamer for my morning coffee like I did last year. Only this time I struck out again as they didn't have any of the dairy flavored creamers this year. I opted instead to buy some Frappacinos (sp?) and an Aero Bar. We then headed back to the room and after getting our groceries put away, Fulminar showed me a fan-made twenty minute documentary preview for a Star Trek movie about a war between the Federation and the Klingon Empire. I was blown away by how well done it was and really wish they could make a movie out of it; I'd definitely see it. I don't recall the name, but I'm sure Fulminar or others who know what I'm talking about can remind me.

The whole time I was doing this I was trading text messages with our other roomies,  Cobalt_K and his non-furry friend Greg, and a young fur coming to his first furry convention  ApplejacK47. Cobalt was running a little behind but would definitely be there in time for dinner. Applejack was exploring the city for the day but would also be there soon. Fulminar and I decided to wait for them to arrive while we waited in the line to pick up our pre-registrations. And that's exactly what happened too. While we were in line, Cobalt showed up (Greg stayed down in the lobby with their stuff) and I handed him two room keys so they could get their stuff sorted. Applejack showed up just a little bit later and he hung out with us until the registration line started moving. Fulminar and I picked up our Supersponsor perks which included a Furnal Equinox backpack, penant, graduation cap, cup, and some bonus dollars for the con store, as well as VIP lanyard and badge.

We then returned to the room and caught up with Cobalt and met his friend Greg. Greg had once been a Brony and was curious to see what went on at a furry convention. I do hope we left a good impression on him. Applejack joined us in the room just a bit later and we discussed his particular situation. He was still underage and could only spend the one night with us, but would have to head back to his home the other nights. He also had to head out and make one more stop before he could join us for dinner. With introductions out of the way, we let Applejack head off to do his chore, while the rest of us chilled a bit longer.

When it came time for dinner, we squeezed into a cab -- Fulminar in front with Greg, myself, and Cobalt all snug tight in the back. They had our table ready right away and it was all the way in the back so we got to walk past all of the different variety of crazy places one could sit. If you've never been to the Olde Spaghetti Factory you should definitely give it a try, even if just to admire the crazy amounts of stained glass and other oddities there. We arrived a bit early, and Applejack arrived a little late, but we all did assemble and had some fantastic food. I decided to Factory size my entire meal and managed to eat all but a portion of my pasta. The tiramasu I had for dessert was so soft and melted in my mouth. I took my leftovers back to the room.

While Applejack headed off to his bus, I took Cobalt and Greg and got their names added to the room so they could get their keys reset if they demagnetized -- we had a problem with this in previous years but it never happened this year. We did a quick sweep of the new con space in the hotel including the game room where we chatted some with the first con chair and a good friend  Pakesh; he was running the game room that year and I would chat with him several times there; often he'd regale us with some crazy con story from years past (and some not so past). Great guy.

We ended up back in the room and Cobalt broke out the game "Betrayal at the House on the Hill". This game is becoming a running tradition for us. We managed to explore the upper floor and the roof quite a bit before the haunt was revealed; nobody had gone to the basement by the time the haunt was revealed -- heck, nobody found the coal chute into the basement in any of the games we played, quite weird! Our first haunt had me as the traitor; I was an evil fairy who stole the heroes voices and now hunted them down to kill them. I rolled some crazy unbelievable attacks on both of them and it was over. After we got the games put away we chatted a little bit more before heading to bed.

Friday

Friday morning began with snacking on some snack bars and before heading down toward the convention space with Fulminar. I stopped to pick up my panelist perks and while in line there I met up with  Seadog_driftwood who shared with me some music I look forward to reviewing, and then  DaiCymru who regaled me with the tale of his travels to and from FE last year and this. Once I finally got my panelist sticker and my extra con store dollars, Fulminar and I headed over to the main ballroom (Frontenac, I believe) for opening ceremonies. As Supersponsors we had early access to Opening Ceremonies and so we got in a half-hour early. While there waiting for things to get started I chatted with  Mad_Ferret who sat next to me. Also a little chatting with CatMonkShiro and Nyomi once they arrived, as they were our GoHs for the year and had reserved seating right up front.

I confess I don't recall much out of Opening Ceremonies; they mentioned the Guests of Honor and the local Charity they were supporting. It was a Cat Rescue Shelter who needed an extra ten thousand dollars to finish building an expansion for their facility so they could rescue more cats, bring them back to health, and give them a fun room to explore and play in. I am not a cat person, but I was moved and planned to give something at some point during the con.

Once opening ceremonies wrapped up Fulminar and I made our way to the line for the Dealer's Den. Again, that wonderful early access as supersponsors allowed us to get in early. I headed straight for CatMonkShiro and then Nyomi to secure sketches from each of them. I also picked up my copy of the graduation YCH scroll that Nyomi did with  o-kemono (which you can see here: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/30788562/ ); I normally don't go for that level of cute, but this is in celebration of Furnal Equinox X by one of my good friends, so of course I had to get in on it.

I spent some time after that wandering the Dealer's Den, bumping into various friends and chatting them up left and right. Lots of fun to catch up with everyone, pretty much all of whom I had last seen at either Furnal Equinox or Anthrocon in 2018. One of my first conversations was with  ManuKoa and  Scani right around Nyomi's table. It seems they were both a little disappointed that the panel scheduling was so packed, the avian panel was at the same time as Scani's FE retrospective panel so the gryphon was going to have to miss out on his birds! I had a similar panel conflict that would keep me from attending the main transformation panel this year which was disappointing but that's how it goes. Better luck next year!

I made sure to stop in and check on  SpiderDragon who was working on our Roomies sketch again this year. In preparation for it she made me a separate sketch of my new Zebra fursona and it looks fantastic. (That's right, Zebra Fursona, I'm now a Zebra as well as a Rat and Triceratops; my daughter gets the credit for it!) I spent some time catching up with SpiderDragon who is a great friend, and while there,  Dragoniade showed up in his awesome Bear costume that I fawned over so much last year. We hugged and chatted for a bit at her table, and then, we both came to the rescue when her shelving collapsed. Dragoniade reacted first, grabbing the shelving pieces at the top and then I moved in to support him along with another fur who I didn't know. As we steadied everything, SpiderDragon recovered her fallen art while we put the pieces back together one by one. In the end we fixed it up together; a little bit of extra excitement for the morning.

I then bumped into  Lukaryo and a friend of his whose name escapes me now. We had a nice conversation, but the thing I most recall was that he mentioned the deadline for panel submission for AC was today! I hadn't submitted my Rodents! panel for AC yet! ARGH! What was I going to do!!!! I resolved to ask if I could borrow an iPad from one of my roomies that evening since the browser on mine just crashes if I try to do anything anymore.

Afterward I continued to browse. I stopped by  BushyCat's table and admired her really neat clear violin which she played a few notes on, as well as picked up a wolf carving/painting for my friend  WolfFriend who could not make FE this year. We chatted briefly but she kept getting customers so I pushed on. My browsing continued mostly uninterrupted at that point until I got to Heather, Sandy, and Xenotropos. I showed off pictures of Angie and caught up with all of them to varying degrees. I assured them that I would get sketches from them tomorrow once I got my book back; all of them were quite eager to see it and help me get it a few more pages close to being done.

I circled around to the final aisle of the Dealer's Den -- it was twice as big as the last FE -- and was startled when I saw an artist I had not expected to find at Furnal Equinox,  SilentRavyn. I usually saw her at Anthrocon and many moons ago I got a Badge and Sketch commission from her. Her art is really nice and so I decided to get a Badge commission from her of my new Zebra fursona. She remembered me too and apart from business we caught up a bit on both our lives. I look forward to seeing her again at AC and I hope she's able to make it to more FEs in the future.

It took a lot longer to go through the Dealer's Den than I expected. By the time I was done I didn't have a ton of time before my Rodents! panel. So I went back to my room to relax for a little bit. Fulminar was there and I asked him to check the AC website to confirm the panel submission deadline. It took him a few minutes to find it, but yup, today was the last day. I asked him if I could use his iPad later tonight and he said sure. With that secure, we chatted about how many pages we had left in our sketchbooks, and I spent a little time re-reading the "So you've become a Taur" informational comic by  Cervelet that he brought. Hilarious stuff.

I also did a little reading from Cobalt's comic book UTC ( read it here: http://www.catomix.com/utc/archive ). He'd given me book one a previous FE and now he gave me book 2. I enjoyed reading these at his website back in the day, and it was great to see it and read it again now.

I got suited up for my Rodents! panel, and found my way down there about a half-hour early. The room was off in the far corner of the hotel, furthest from the main convention space, but we Rodents are used to that sort of treatment.

Waiting for me there was  Alganbord who has become a regular attendee of my panel. To my delight he even had a laptop with him. I asked him if I could borrow it long enough to submit my panel and the good Mouse said yes. I got my panel submitted in time and breathed a big rat sigh of relief. Alganbord is a good friend. He told me about a VR game he had where the main character is a mouse exploring through a forest. When I think of VR I immediately thought that meant you saw the game through the mouse's eyes, but that's not quite how it worked out. I didn't have time to try it just then but I assured him I definitely wanted to do so at some point that weekend.

The Rodents! panel started on time and we had about 12 -- 20 people show up total. We had five fursuiters including Alganbord, Lukaryo and  PrincessGustopher and at the end of the panel we had a group photo as usual. We also had one fur who brought her service rat with her and showed the cute little fellow off. I was in my rat suit petting a real rat. It's as adorable as it sounds.

The panel was the usual mix of introductions followed by everyone bringing up some favorite bit of Rodent media out there. Everyone really enjoys hearing about all of the different movies, comics, TV shows, games, books, and the like which feature Rodents as the heroes. I always wonder if I should try to force us to ponder certain topics, but letting the panel flow organically like this seems to make everyone happy because they can all contribute more easily this way. So while I might introduce some other ways we can talk about Rodents, such as ideas about what life as an anthro Rodent would be like (big or small), it seems best to me to just let everybody take it whereever it goes.

After the panel I tried to wander around a little bit while in suit, but I was still struggling with my cough and so decided it was best to take it off only a few minutes in. After getting the suit stowed away, I believe I went back down to the game area and chatted with Pakesh about what games there were, but I didn't have time to try any just then. About seven I and my friends gathered for the Transformation Dinner organized by  CheasyDino. This time we were going to eat at Jack Astor's. I hadn't been there in quite some time so was really looking forward to it. Again we took a cab, with Greg, myself, and Cobalt squeezed in the back. Because of that we arrived well before everyone else and so dropped by the three-story Michael's across the street. I admired some of the colored pencils they had there, before wandering around with Fulminar. We met up on the top floor with Cobalt and at one point found a Golden Girl's activity book; I always hated that show as a kid, but it did get us talking about Betty White and all the hilarious roles she's been in since (who could forget her performance in Lake Placid).

By the time we got back to Jack Astor's most of the group was already seated. I ended up across from two furs whose names have since escaped me, with Greg on my left and Cobalt across from him. I had the Fish n Chips (Lent and all) and it was delicious! We ended up talking some politics in between more enjoyable furry stuff. Sadly there was very little in the way of transformation. We'll have to police ourselves better next year!

On our return to the hotel we decided to play another round of Betrayal. This time Cobalt was the traitor and we had to find scrolls with the letters to the secret name of the bad guy. Greg took a wrong turn and got killed by Cobalt, but I managed to stay far enough away to decipher all of the letters and figure out his name. When Cobalt found me, I said the name and won the game. Not long after that we went to bed. A full and fun day for all!

Saturday

My cough was finally starting to get better by Saturday. Thursday I'd taken ten cough drops, Friday I only took four, and Saturday I'd only need one when I went to bed. While it still seemed to be there on Friday, I could tell it was getting better now. I was able to talk without hacking every few minutes and I wasn't spitting up mucus anymore. It felt great!

Fulminar and I went down to the Dealer's Den when it opened at Ten and I made sure to pick up my con shirt first before the con store line became insane, and then I went to pick up my sketchbook. I was overwhelmed with delight when I saw what both Shiro and Nyomi drew for me, and I'm sure you will too when I get to posting it. My badge wasn't quite ready from Nyomi so I decided to wander about chatting with friends in the Dealer's Den for a bit. I didn't have anything to do that morning until the Fursuit Fandango at 3, so I wanted to have a quiet morning. I did stop by Heather, Sandy, and Xeno's tables to drop off my sketch book for each of them to dazzle the pages.

About Noon I started to feel really tired and while I continued to chat for a bit longer with friends, including  Soba who had only been able to arrive that morning, I was definitely feeling really worn down. By 1 o'clock I was back in my room just trying to relax. Fulminar had picked up the book "Mighty Tiny" which featured anthro mouse and rat characters in a Victorian / Steampunk setting and I resolved to buy a copy myself because I was enjoying it so much. Not long after Cobalt and Greg returned to the room so Cobalt could put his prosthetic goat costume on. While he was working on that, I decided to just take a nap. I told Greg to wake me at 2, which would give me a half-hour. It went fast, apparently I really zonked out.

The nap did help a ton though, and after eating some of the jerky Fulminar bought for the room, and drinking some soda and eating a snack bar, I felt good enough to get into my suit and head to the Fursuit Fandango. Fulminar arrived while I was snacking so he could get into suit too. I was still a little woozy so I waited for Fulminar to finish suiting up before heading back down to be safe.

While waiting outside Frontenac for the Fandango to begin Dan Raccoon found us and we chatted for a bit. I also saw  1gagaga1 (also known as Knaw) in his suit and made sure to give him a hug and greeting; sadly that's about the only time we had to chat this year; hopefully we'll connect better next FE.

A few minutes before they let us into Frontenac Fulminar had to excuse himself to take care of something. Dan and I waited there for him for a few minutes while one of the volunteers handed out fursuit badges. We then checked the headless lounge because it looked like that's where Fulminar went but he wasn't there. We then checked inside Frontenac all over, back out in the hall, the lounge, and then back in Frontenac to find a place to be in the picture. We never did find Fulminar, despite the fact he was apparently on the opposite side of the room the whole time.

During the picture I started to feel great again and decided to stick around for the small group photos. They started with fursuits by color, but didn't have Brown as a color! They then did location and I got in the American fur photo shoot. After that was fursuit maker and I was in the home-made photo (not that I made my own, but it was the closest that fit). The next round was a species round that wasn't me, so I wandered around. I chatted with Dragoniade a bit, and also met up with  Leo.The.Ninja.Lion and we got some pictures in suit together. Cobalt arrived in his costume about then and it looked fantastic! Quite realistic and well-done (and when he used the hooves which he bought that day he was crazy tall and impressive).

I got into the Rodents and Raccoons picture with Alganbord, EikoFinal (who was very sorry he missed my Rodents panel) and Dan and then knew it was time to call it quits. I headed back to the room, got out of suit, commiserated with Fulminar about how we got separated, and then ran back down to the Dealer's Den to check on the status of my badge. My Zebra badge from SilentRavyn was done so I thanked her profusely then clipped it on in a prominent place to show of my striped equinity, then popped on over to pick up that Mighty Tiny book. SpiderDragon called out to me to give me the Roomies sketch which was done and I gushed over that too before begging their pardon since I had to rush all the way back to the other side of the hotel to get to the Guest of Honor Dinner.

The dinner this year was a total disaster unfortunately. They had one salad option, one dressing option, one meal option, and gobs of dessert options. The salad and dressing were good and I wish I'd gone back for more of it. The main meal was a ravioli that they just tossed whatever veggies they had lying around into it (or so it seemed). I found it very unappetizing and just didn't eat any of it. I did have two cups of coffee which was good, and a little bit of dessert, but that was all. Also, the room was the same room I had my Rodents panel in, and it was too small for us. By the time I got there, there was no more room at the table Fulminar had picked out for us, so I sat off by myself at the only empty table (the small table at the front for speakers). ManuKoa, MadFerret, and a few others did join me a few minutes later and we had a good conversation about the fun we were having at the con and about the horrible meal.

I met up with Fulminar in the Game room and I suggested we try something out. We ended up playing Raccoon Tycoon, a resource building game with awesome Victorian era furry art done by non-furries. Quite realistic looking so it was right up my alley artwise. The game play was pretty straightforward though definitely it required some strategic thinking. With just two players it was pretty easy to see who was winning though; I had more railroads than Fulminar and that sealed the deal for me.

After returning the game, a few minutes later, another pair of furries wanted to give it a try. I asked if I could join them. While they read the rules I set up all the pieces and card decks. This time I was sure I was getting creamed. I bluffed my way into buying a railroad I didn't need at way too high a cost and spent the remainder of the game with way less money or resources than either of the other furs. To my surprise I still eked out a win because I had the most towns and that netted me an extra six victory points (I ended up winning by three or four points). While the others had more money to buy stuff, the money by itself didn't contribute that many victory points. Good game and amazing art. Hard to believe it wasn't made by furries.

Fulminar and I crashed back in our room at that point and even after Cobalt and Greg returned, it took Cobalt quite a long time to get out of his prosthetic costume. I was zonked by the time he finished, so no more games that night. Before I went to bed I took my one and only cough drop for the day!

Sunday

I got up about 6:30 so I could get dressed in my nice suit and head to Mass at St. Michael's. I waited for Lukaryo down in the lobby, and together we headed on over. St. Michael's is the Archbishop of Toronto's seat so it's a spectacular Cathedral with amazing art everywhere you look. The 8:00 AM Mass was decently attended for an early morning Mass, and the congregation knew the Latin Mass parts which always delights me. Lukaryo stayed for Confessions afterward while I returned to the hotel. A good healthy twenty minute walk in the cold, but it was refreshing.

Once I returned to the room and changed back into my normal con clothes, I headed do to the FE ten year retrospective panel hosted by Scani. It was awesome to see so many of the folks who have poured their heart and soul into FE over the last decade there to remember how it all came about. Pakesh was there of course, as was BlindSight and Shane who I hadn't seen in a few years, Arc who I've known since my days helping run Technicon the decade prior, Heather who was our first guest of honor, Shiro and Nyomi our current guests of honor, and lots of familiar faces who've been coming as long as I have.

They also had a selection of the shirts and a huge selection of the buttons, room keys, and so forth that have been such delightful conswag from the beginning. I oogled that at first while they got the projector set up; the projector had a nice slide show of pictures from FE's past. Scani did talk a little bit about his involvement and memories, but mostly just acted as an MC. He first let BlindSight and Pakesh regale us with how they ended up being the first con chairs, and then one by one brought others up to tell their own stories. I volunteered not long after he opened it up to the floor and I talked a little bit about how I came to attend FE (everyone before me was either staff or a guest).

I was personally invited by mwbard (AKA Morgan) that first year, who had also invited some of my other friends from the TSA including Fulminar. I had been staffing a con during that time slot (Technicon), but all of my friends who used to staff with me had moved on, and I confess I lost interest in it, so I decided to give FE a try. I roomed with Morgan and one other that first year and was blown away by how much fun I could have at a small con. I got to chat with the guests of honor, spent hours sharing life stories with Shiro while we hunkered down in a hotel hallway, and marveled at how small a dealer's den we had. Poor Morgan got a stomach bug during the first day of the con and spent most of the time in bed. We all caught the stomach bug in the days that followed. But a week after the con, Morgan had an anuerysm and died.

*bows head in silence*

I'll never forget him. That made my return to FE in 2011 necessary, and while it is no longer what brings me to FE, it's always a part of it, as he was a dear friend in those last few years.

I also talked about the silly little things I remember doing over the years to brighten the mood after that depressing story. But I ended with saying how FE has always felt to me like my con and I thanked the staff for all of their hard work, and let them know we who come back year after year deeply appreciate it. We are in your debt.

A bunch of others gave their retrospectives after me and I stayed for all of them. Once the panel was done I headed back toward the dealer's den but was intercepted by Faclan who had been to my Rodents! panel and wanted to know if I wore my glasses in my fursuit. I was happy to explain how the eyes of my fursuit are actual prescription lenses, but I doubt the trick will work again because they're really big pescription lenses!

I then returned to the Dealer's Den to pick up my sketchbook for the final time. I gushed over the art that Heather, Sandy, and Xeno did for me, thanked them profusely, showed them off to my friends nearby, and then continued to wander for just a bit more. I forget all who I chatted with in this time, but I recall at one point chatting with Lukaryo and three others near Shiro's table for quite some time. I kept thinking about going to try the Dark Bunny Sauces, but I never could quite make myself do so. Hopefully next year.

Since I had no plans until closing ceremonies, I decided to get into my suit one last time. Once I did so I returned to the Dealer's Den which is where most folks were so I could show off my suit. I got into a few pictures that way but mostly just walked around and chatted. I forget who it was now, but while I was on the exact opposite side of the dealer's room from Shiro's table, one of my friends mentioned to me how Shiro was having a really rough day, that his art piece in the auction never got a bid, and that somebody had dumped their trash on his table. I did my best to get to Shiro's side once I heard the news, but I kept getting stopped by various folks who wanted stuff.

I forget how long it took me, but I did make it to his table and he did look pretty rough. I gave him a hug and tried to do what I could for a few minutes, before Dan and some other of Shiro's friends also arrived. A different raccoon suiter whose name escapes me and I gave Shiro a big three-way hug that lasted a good minute or two and we got him to talk it out and we just stood nearby for a good fifteen minutes being there for him to make sure he was holding up. I know we cheered him up by doing so, and it still infuriates me that somebody would leave their trash on one of his art books.

Of course we did have to move away from crowding his table in the end, but we kept on chatting nearby while Shiro talked to one of the Security staff to make his report. It just proved to me how good most folks in the fandom can be. I think in a lot of ways in our day to day lives we are starved for friends, so we treat our furry friends ever better. I have a hard time thinking of anybody in my day to day life outside of my family I would have done that for so quickly.

A short while later, still indignant, I decided to go back to Shiro's table and I bought a cool werewolf TF sticker and his werewolf Transformed T-shirt as an extra way to give him some support. Great shirt and sticker too; wearing the shirt right now and it's cool and comfortable, my non-furry gaming group loved it. The sticker is at my desk at work and makes for a great little dose of TF when I need it.

And to show that my friends are awesome, Fulminar delivered to me a beautiful Zebra magnet made by Xenotropos which was a gift from her. Fantastic! I also have this at work now so I've another great reason to smile and whicker in delight. I carried all of these around in my fursuit paws since I'd left my backpack in the room to keep from sweating through my shirt. I managed it without any accidents and I'm pretty pleased with that.

I eventually made my way back to my room, got changed, organized my stuff, and then headed back down with Fulminar for closing ceremonies. We sat in the same place, I still took up two seats despite not having my tail on, due to the way folks were sitting next to me. Nobody complained so there ya go. MadFerret was next to me and we chatted a little about how the con went for each of us, but we didn't get to chat for long before the regular attendees came in and it get a little too noisy. Closing ceremonies had a few great moments, such as Shiro's art item going for $250 in the final auction and the craziness as they auctioned off a Don't Hug Cacti feline fursuit (it went for $2700 after BT got badgered into putting it on to demo it). This allowed us to give the charity (the place that helps cats) a check for over ten thousand which was enough funds for them to finish their extension. There were many tears of joy and gratitude and much cheering from us!

Eventually they announced the theme for next year, Retro Rewind, and then we all filed out to get our buttons. Being small, I squirmed to the front to grab one for each of my Roomies too. We proceeded directly to the hotel lobby to assemble for the Mandarin run. Soba took Fulminar and CaiCymru in his car, the rest of us made the walk to the next nearest subway station (one of the lines was closed that weekend). I split a day pass with Dragoniade and chatted with SeaDog about Museums along the way there. I didn't have the courage to stand between the trains to feel the weird turning, but Dragoniade did.

Soba and co naturally beat us there, but we all got our seats and once everyone had their drink order, we savaged the buffet. I ended up with three plates and some ice cream; not my best, but I was quite stuffed when it was done. Good friends and good conversation about the con and what we were going to be doing in the weeks and months ahead. Dan and Shiro both raised toasts to another successful convention and to our awesome guests of honor. I am still so delighted for them to get this honor; Nyomi and Shiro deserve it and every happiness!

The trip back to the hotel was uneventful and I can barely rememeber it. I do remember lots of parting hugs in the lobby just in case we didn't see each other again before we left. I then made my way to the game room to meet up with Alganbord for the promised VR game. He had it all set up and got me hooked in. The opening screen was of some fictional loft apartment overlooking a fictional city. Several times I went to the edge and peered over and my acrophobia kicked in and I had to get away from it. I know it wasn't real, but dang my fear response thought it was!

The game he had me play was about a little mouse trying to find out what happened to their teacher. You were exploring through this forest realm, overcoming obstacles such as thorns, water, big blocks too large to climb, and so forth. You don't see through the mouse's eyes, but control the mouse in the 3D environment. The environment was impressive too, at one point a huge buck I hadn't even noticed, lifted it's head and stared almost right at me. Talk about making me jump! Beautiful game and if I'd felt I had a lot more time, I'd have played a lot longer. Alganbord, thank you for wanting to share that with me. It was awesome! You are a great friend!

I went back up to the room for one last night of sleep. Everyone else was already there. Cobalt, Greg, and I played one more game of Betrayal, and this time I was the traitor again, controlling a huge number of marionettes. They were all subdued to start, but if the players didn't do certain things on their turn, I would roll dice to see how many woke up and moved to attack that hero. Otherwise on my turn the subdued ones would all head toward the front door and escape the house. The heroes needed to get them all out, but they were in a bad way to start because they were right near each other. The marionettes all started to glom together in the same room which means they utterly devastated the heroes. While they did get over half the marionettes out of the house, there were too many left for them to stop and so one after another they got whacked.

It was almost 2 AM when we packed it and said good night. In 25 hours I'd need to be getting up for work Tuesday morning. Goodness!

Monday

I think I was up around 7:30. I packed all of my bags up and then laid back down on the bed to get just a little bit more rest first. Fulminar was also up and had his stuff packed not long after I did. Cobalt and Greg always slept in later than we did, so I did my best not to disturb them. But they were up early enough that I asked them if they wanted me to grab a cart for them too; Cobalt said no, he didn't want to hog them all which made sense.

I managed to snag a cart by hanging out near the valet parking and waiting until other furs finished packing their cars up. I recognized a few friends also up to check out and head home, but I didn't stop to say hi just then. Fulminar and I put our stuff on the cart, hugged Cobalt and Greg goodbye, and then head down. When we got to the lobby we bumped into Soba and DaiCymru again and while Fuminar chatted I took care of checkout. I made a goof up in that I forgot to put my own car on the room so when we went to the Valet parking I had to pay a little extra; but that's okay, since I accounted for it as part of the initial room budgeting anyway.

We saw several familiar faces during this time. I saw Alganbord at checkout and gave him a big hug. There was also Soba and DaiCymru I already mentioned. And we did see Heather and company one last time, and as I was driving off with Fulminar, Shiro flashed us a heart sign and I flashed a big thumb's up back.

The trip to Hamilton went smoothly. Fulminar made sure to play "Try Everything" from Zootopia again on the way, our little tradition since 2016 when Fulminar, Salvestro, WolfFriend, and myself went to see it the night before FE started. Ah, what wonderful memories! Fulminar and I chatted about all the fun we had, what we were going to be doing the rest of the year, and the like. I dropped him off at his house and spoke briefly with his Mom about the good time we had, then I was off for home.

I made it back into the US without trouble, and my drive was largely uninteresting. I listened to music and recalled all that had happened in my head so I could write this journal. I got home by 4 and gave my daughter a huge hug and spent the rest of the day playing with her. She missed her Daddy!

Well, this has gone long enough. The only thing I have to say is that it blows my mind that this was our tenth Furnal Equinox. It's been such a fantastic part of my life these last nine years, something I look forward to and enjoy every time. So many familiar faces and friends each year, some folks I miss even though we're both there, some I always mean to spend more time with but miss, and others I finally get that chance and it's great. You are all part of my Furnal Equinox family and it is a treasured time. I wish at times it could be longer but at the very least we can come back again next year. And I certainly plan on it!

I hope to see even more of my friends there next year!

Dominus vobiscum

I am back home safe and sound from Furnal Equinox. I made great time the whole way and had no issues. Now that I'm home and have put a couple things away and showed Angie what I bought, I'm going to spend some time playing with her. As she said, "She's super excited to have me home again!" She even made me a dessert this weekend! Ah, it's great to be home!

And it was a great con and so good to see so many of my dear friends! I will write up my FE Con Report and post stuff I got this week. I hope all of you were able to make it home safe and sound too!

Dominus vobiscum

So in a few minutes I'll be heading off for Furnal Equinox 10! It's hard to believe the con that I first went to on a lark back in 2010 has grown and made it to year ten! I've been to all of them and have had a great time every year. It's been a lot of fun watching the con grow and change, and while there are times I wish we could go back to some of what we had when we were smaller, I would rather continue to explore the new and exciting changes ahead. It's not just about reliving the past and cherishing our memories of what we'd done, though of course we have that. It's about making new memories together and sharing new times and that we will certainly achieve.

To all my friends on FA I hope you have a great weekend; I'll be off-line during the con so won't be able to chat until I get back Monday evening (and likely not much until I get sketches and my con report posted during the days that follow). And to all my friends who are going to Furnal Equinox too, I will see you very soon!

A brief "Ugh Update": we all still have coughs and so are sucking down those cough drops like crazy. My wife had a brief fever relapse the other day, but it cleared up in a few hours and she's feeling better apart from the persistent cough. My daughter is fine and thankfully never got anything worse than the cough. I feel fine too but man does this cough suck! Ah well, we shall get through it in time to enjoy a beautiful Spring!

Dominus vobiscum

Since my update a couple days ago I've managed to get back to 95% and back to work. Because I missed Mon/Tue my condensed work week was pretty intense so it's why you haven't otherwise heard from me. Today is going to be the day I get caught up on bills and everything else too. My wife's fever broke on Thursday but her recovery seems to be taking longer as she still felt really crappy yesterday. She was good enough to join us at our parish's Fish Fry last night to eat some Haluski so I'm hopeful she'll begin feeling better today.

Angie continues to prove resilient, only getting a mild cold and the cough. Hooves' crossed!

All I have left at this point is a persistent cough. Hopefully it will be gone by the time FE gets here.

I am super-excited to be attending Furnal Equinox for my tenth time next weekend. I'll be making final preparations over the next few days. So if I owe you a message or note, I will try to get it as soon as possible. I'm sorry I've not gotten back to you already, but life threw me some nasty curve balls.

Dominus vobiscum

First off, thanks to all who have offered prayers and thoughts for my family as we fight the flu. I am almost fully recovered from it now; my energy level is about 80% of normal and climbing; I still have a cough but that's it. Kim may have just come through the fever part as well. I figure another day of rest should get her back to where I was this morning. So far Angie has shown no signs of coming down with the flu so we're hopeful she's escaped it.

That said, we're behind on everything now since our week got shot. I won't be able to get to any snail mail stuff until Fri/Sat at this point, and the dishes are piling up.

And in one week's time I'll be heading up north for Furnal Equinox so I gotta get packing! Yikes!

Dominus tecum

It looks like the fever broke sometime this morning. Right now I'm completely exhausted, and my temperature is anywhere from normal to 99.5 so I'm not finished with this yet.

And now it looks like my wife is coming down with what I had, though she still seems to have energy to do stuff. Eating lunch helped some, and I've almost completely finished in one day a full thing of orange juice.

I hope a good night's sleep will give me the energy to get back to work tomorrow, even if I only go in for part of the day. Man I hate being sick.

Thank you everyone for your prayers.

Dominus vobiscum

Started out as a cough Saturday night. By Sunday mid-afternoon I was getting cold, and not long after that I definitely had a fever. I've been in bed almost constantly since then. Only up for a few minutes to make sure critical messages get sent. Got a headache, a fever that vacillates between 99.9 and 101.something, and I still have a couch, and my back is just sore in lots of different spots. Say some prayers if ya don't mind!

Dominus vobiscum

It's now twice in five months that I've gotten a nail or screw in one of my tires. This time I noticed it before the air got dangerously low at least; filled it back up while out to get groceries so it's inflated at the moment; I'll be taking it to my garage to get it patched or replaced very soon (before it can lose too much air).

I had my first car for twenty years and never once had a nail or a screw. I had several flats for sure, but no nails or screws. Twice in five months now and I've not even had the new car for a full year yet. I know it's not the car's fault, but good grief!

Dominus vobiscum

Merry Christmas everyone!

Santa is almost done (according to NORAD: https://www.noradsanta.org/) and Christmas morning is almost here in the States. In a short while my wife and daughter will be up and we'll begin unwrapping presents. I'll be making some bacon and eggs-in-a-frame for breakfast, and we've holiday sausage and cheese to snack on during the day, and some ham steaks and yams to cook for dinner. I'm sure most of the day will be spent cleaning up and putting toys together for my daughter and occasionally poking at anything I or my wife got. I'll try to spend some time in prayer with God from whom I've received all these blessings.

In a few days my daughter turns six; she is so super excited about it because she's getting a birthday party at her favorite place to go play. I cannot believe she will be turning six years old!

I hope each and every one of you can spend time with those you love this Christmas Season and to keep it well throughout the year as Ebeneezer Scrooge learned. God bless each and every one of you! Thank you for sharing even this little bit with me!

Dominus vobiscum