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I Been Shot! 126th Journal
Posted 4 years agoThey shot me... with my first does of the vaccine of vid of co. I finally got an appointment and did the deed. I tried before by signing up on the state's "official" website several weeks ago but got nothing, no call, no text, no email, just nothing (the site ran by the same "make everything horrible" politicians that ran the power grid to the ground, so go figure). I registered my mom back then too and she got nothing as well. She is in the age risk group and I have a medical condition that should have have gave us priority. Instead we got absolutely no response. And I work full time too which makes it harder to call around to get something. There are stories of people being put on hold for hours.
A co-worker told me that the medical clinics at a mall had excess vaccines at the end of the day due to people not showing up. He said a doctor told him that the best times are after 7:20PM on Fridays and Saturdays as usually 2% of no-shows. So I gave that a try after work last Friday (the previous week had a holiday). But no luck after waiting for over an hour as all doses was taken. What a bummer.
For my mother, she met the age requirement to get a no-appointment shot at the Alamodome. So I took her there the following day. It was crazy. We waited for over an hour in the long lines in the parking lot. They had us parked in rows with the columns drive one by one to a different lot. Here we got forms to fill out (should have done that in the first lot as we sat there in our car). Then it was creeping up the lines while filling out the forms. That took awhile but she finally got her shot.
As for me, a different co-worker told me about a website that does the searching for you. It is at https://www.teamherdimmunity.org/ if you want to try it out. I think it is for TeXaS only though. They was able to get me an appointment but it was literally on the other side of town. I was willing to go but my brother found that HEB website does appointments a day or two ahead so there is a chance of openings if one keep checking. None of being booked for weeks on end. So I gave that a try and was able to get something the next day.
I had to be quick as the time slots was being snatched up by the second. I found a store that is kinda on my way to work that had a spot in the morning. So I did that and canceled the far away one.
The shot itself was quick, barely felt the prick. It was less painful than the usual flu shot. My upper arm had a sore spot later in the day that I only can feel if I move my arm around. It largely went away a day or so later. I can only feel it if I touched the site of injection to prevent the infection.
I was happy to get any of the varieties of vaxies out there. I happen to ended up with Pfizer. I do believe that is one that gives you a set of wings. I already have my dragon wings so no bonus for me. I would rather getting the one that grows an extra set of arms as I could see it being more useful than the one that produces a third eye. Oh well, at least I finally got the vax tax so I could relax to the max.
Now I wait for the second does in a few weeks. I wanted the vax not only to be safe but to be ready for when furcon season starts back up. There is a new con in Houston this year in August and I want to go. I know some people there but the room they are getting are full. I am on the lookout for roomies as I don't want to get a room by myself. If someone is interested, let me know. I'll make another post later about it once I see if it is feasible for me to go and such.
But the craziness doesn't end. A few weeks ago, a couple of firefighters came down out street and told us we had to evacuate. A house down the block had a suspicious package on the lawn. The person living there had a know history with the local law enforcement. Let's just say he was "well known" with them. So he could have pissed someone off and planted a "present" for him.
We left and a lot of the folks ended up going to a nearby Dairy Queen restaurant. I haven't been there in years. After waiting due to all the people that went there at the same time, I finally got my food. It was, um, quite terrible I must say. The unsweet tea tasted bad and the fries was bland especially without giving me any ketchup. The burger was ok at best, a little dry but serviceable. The dryness was worse since the tea as nasty and no ketchup to break up the fries. As a side note is I got a burger meal at a Sonic restaurant a few weeks later and had a much better experience. Not only the burger better but the tater tots was not dry and came with packets of ketchup. But they did burn my on the "unsweet" tea as gave me the sweetened kind. Ugh, I only got some small sips out of it just to wet my lips while I chomped on the burger. I stopped drinking sodas many moons ago and the super sweet drinks are just nasty after my taste buds recovered. Same thing with salty food as I cut back on those as well.
We did get to return after a few hours after the bomb squad did their thing. It turns out that the package was a shipment of some sort Nutrisystem diet supplement or something. Supposedly one of the local news station truck came out but I didn't see a story published. One of the neighbors said a video about the incident was posted on YouTube but I couldn't find that either.
But wait, it gets even crazier. I am sure some of you (those who manage to read this far) hear the news of the "Big Freeze" back in February. Here in TeXaS, the snowstorm knocked power out for a huge part of the state's population for days on end. Our side of the street had no power for three days. Normally an inconvenience but with the temps dipped in the single digits Fahrenheit (-13ish Celsius), it was tough. Some people had it worse, a week or more of no power. But since no fun. The snow was nice since it is super rare to get any these days, but without power, we couldn't really enjoyed it. It even snowed twice in one week, something unheard of in these parts. Crazy.
Then the lack of water came on top of that. Some people lost all water. We was lucky here as just the pressure dropped and didn't completely stop. I saved water in pots before beforepaw just in case when the power cut off, so I didn't have to boil it. I do have a gas stove so I could if needed along with the ability to cook food. So there is that though I had to get stuff out of the panty as I didn't want to open the refrigerator door with no power. The problem was I could not find a manual can opener. So I had to used this can punch thing to cut many holes on the top of a can that left los of sharp edges. I could have sworn I had a proper can opener. Oh yeah, I took it to work to open soup cans for lunches. I used to eat a bunch of those for a while there. Well, despite how bad it was, it could have been worse I supposed. So people had no power, no water, and no food.
Hopefully they will fix the power grid but I feel it'll won't happen anytime soon until the current state politician's regime finally lose their jobs as they are the main reason we are in this mess to begin with. But the political climate have been slowing changing so maybe this will speed up that trend.
The only other thing to say of this year, we had our first virus fatality at my workplace. One of co-worker went to his brother's funeral during the holidays (who died of the virus) and caught it there. They took him off the ventilator like a month after. A little bit of a rant here but wear your mask.
Even though we have a mandatory mask policy at work, he was part of a certain group that aligned themselves with a certain poltical party that tend have a big percentage of the anti-maskers in it (as well as anti-maskers among other things but I digress). That group even put a "This area is mask free" in their corner of the building. I avoided going there as you can imagine. I even saw them walking down the hallways without the mandatory mask on more than one occasion. I hope it was worth it. The only person to perish out of 500ish employees we have worldwide (we even have a china plant that we sent over 40,000 mask too during their peak) just happen to be from that one particular group. So sad. He was a nice guy and all that. It didn't have to happen. Totally preventable. We did have some close calls but that was our first death. Hopefully there will be no more though I still see that group often without there mask. I shake my head every time I see that.
Well, I hate to end on a down note, but "it is what it is". The future does look better however. If I don't make it to that new Houston con, I certainly be at this year's ACFI. I can't miss that. And next year's TFF should be a go too but we'll get that when we get to that. The second half of 2021 is where everything should be picking back up, so I am looking forward to that.
There was supposed to be a new con in Austin back in January but you can guess that didn't happen due to certain circumstances. But if they manage it next Year, that would make it four furcons in TeXaS, a huge jump in just a few years. Four cons in drivable distance a year would be awesome indeed. 2022 could be shaping to be a standout year... if nothing else goes wrong.
I just heard that the Alamodome is now allow no-appointment vaccinations for those 16 and over at 2PM to 5PM from Monday to Saturday. Getting shot should be much easier now.
A co-worker told me that the medical clinics at a mall had excess vaccines at the end of the day due to people not showing up. He said a doctor told him that the best times are after 7:20PM on Fridays and Saturdays as usually 2% of no-shows. So I gave that a try after work last Friday (the previous week had a holiday). But no luck after waiting for over an hour as all doses was taken. What a bummer.
For my mother, she met the age requirement to get a no-appointment shot at the Alamodome. So I took her there the following day. It was crazy. We waited for over an hour in the long lines in the parking lot. They had us parked in rows with the columns drive one by one to a different lot. Here we got forms to fill out (should have done that in the first lot as we sat there in our car). Then it was creeping up the lines while filling out the forms. That took awhile but she finally got her shot.
As for me, a different co-worker told me about a website that does the searching for you. It is at https://www.teamherdimmunity.org/ if you want to try it out. I think it is for TeXaS only though. They was able to get me an appointment but it was literally on the other side of town. I was willing to go but my brother found that HEB website does appointments a day or two ahead so there is a chance of openings if one keep checking. None of being booked for weeks on end. So I gave that a try and was able to get something the next day.
I had to be quick as the time slots was being snatched up by the second. I found a store that is kinda on my way to work that had a spot in the morning. So I did that and canceled the far away one.
The shot itself was quick, barely felt the prick. It was less painful than the usual flu shot. My upper arm had a sore spot later in the day that I only can feel if I move my arm around. It largely went away a day or so later. I can only feel it if I touched the site of injection to prevent the infection.
I was happy to get any of the varieties of vaxies out there. I happen to ended up with Pfizer. I do believe that is one that gives you a set of wings. I already have my dragon wings so no bonus for me. I would rather getting the one that grows an extra set of arms as I could see it being more useful than the one that produces a third eye. Oh well, at least I finally got the vax tax so I could relax to the max.
Now I wait for the second does in a few weeks. I wanted the vax not only to be safe but to be ready for when furcon season starts back up. There is a new con in Houston this year in August and I want to go. I know some people there but the room they are getting are full. I am on the lookout for roomies as I don't want to get a room by myself. If someone is interested, let me know. I'll make another post later about it once I see if it is feasible for me to go and such.
But the craziness doesn't end. A few weeks ago, a couple of firefighters came down out street and told us we had to evacuate. A house down the block had a suspicious package on the lawn. The person living there had a know history with the local law enforcement. Let's just say he was "well known" with them. So he could have pissed someone off and planted a "present" for him.
We left and a lot of the folks ended up going to a nearby Dairy Queen restaurant. I haven't been there in years. After waiting due to all the people that went there at the same time, I finally got my food. It was, um, quite terrible I must say. The unsweet tea tasted bad and the fries was bland especially without giving me any ketchup. The burger was ok at best, a little dry but serviceable. The dryness was worse since the tea as nasty and no ketchup to break up the fries. As a side note is I got a burger meal at a Sonic restaurant a few weeks later and had a much better experience. Not only the burger better but the tater tots was not dry and came with packets of ketchup. But they did burn my on the "unsweet" tea as gave me the sweetened kind. Ugh, I only got some small sips out of it just to wet my lips while I chomped on the burger. I stopped drinking sodas many moons ago and the super sweet drinks are just nasty after my taste buds recovered. Same thing with salty food as I cut back on those as well.
We did get to return after a few hours after the bomb squad did their thing. It turns out that the package was a shipment of some sort Nutrisystem diet supplement or something. Supposedly one of the local news station truck came out but I didn't see a story published. One of the neighbors said a video about the incident was posted on YouTube but I couldn't find that either.
But wait, it gets even crazier. I am sure some of you (those who manage to read this far) hear the news of the "Big Freeze" back in February. Here in TeXaS, the snowstorm knocked power out for a huge part of the state's population for days on end. Our side of the street had no power for three days. Normally an inconvenience but with the temps dipped in the single digits Fahrenheit (-13ish Celsius), it was tough. Some people had it worse, a week or more of no power. But since no fun. The snow was nice since it is super rare to get any these days, but without power, we couldn't really enjoyed it. It even snowed twice in one week, something unheard of in these parts. Crazy.
Then the lack of water came on top of that. Some people lost all water. We was lucky here as just the pressure dropped and didn't completely stop. I saved water in pots before beforepaw just in case when the power cut off, so I didn't have to boil it. I do have a gas stove so I could if needed along with the ability to cook food. So there is that though I had to get stuff out of the panty as I didn't want to open the refrigerator door with no power. The problem was I could not find a manual can opener. So I had to used this can punch thing to cut many holes on the top of a can that left los of sharp edges. I could have sworn I had a proper can opener. Oh yeah, I took it to work to open soup cans for lunches. I used to eat a bunch of those for a while there. Well, despite how bad it was, it could have been worse I supposed. So people had no power, no water, and no food.
Hopefully they will fix the power grid but I feel it'll won't happen anytime soon until the current state politician's regime finally lose their jobs as they are the main reason we are in this mess to begin with. But the political climate have been slowing changing so maybe this will speed up that trend.
The only other thing to say of this year, we had our first virus fatality at my workplace. One of co-worker went to his brother's funeral during the holidays (who died of the virus) and caught it there. They took him off the ventilator like a month after. A little bit of a rant here but wear your mask.
Even though we have a mandatory mask policy at work, he was part of a certain group that aligned themselves with a certain poltical party that tend have a big percentage of the anti-maskers in it (as well as anti-maskers among other things but I digress). That group even put a "This area is mask free" in their corner of the building. I avoided going there as you can imagine. I even saw them walking down the hallways without the mandatory mask on more than one occasion. I hope it was worth it. The only person to perish out of 500ish employees we have worldwide (we even have a china plant that we sent over 40,000 mask too during their peak) just happen to be from that one particular group. So sad. He was a nice guy and all that. It didn't have to happen. Totally preventable. We did have some close calls but that was our first death. Hopefully there will be no more though I still see that group often without there mask. I shake my head every time I see that.
Well, I hate to end on a down note, but "it is what it is". The future does look better however. If I don't make it to that new Houston con, I certainly be at this year's ACFI. I can't miss that. And next year's TFF should be a go too but we'll get that when we get to that. The second half of 2021 is where everything should be picking back up, so I am looking forward to that.
There was supposed to be a new con in Austin back in January but you can guess that didn't happen due to certain circumstances. But if they manage it next Year, that would make it four furcons in TeXaS, a huge jump in just a few years. Four cons in drivable distance a year would be awesome indeed. 2022 could be shaping to be a standout year... if nothing else goes wrong.
I just heard that the Alamodome is now allow no-appointment vaccinations for those 16 and over at 2PM to 5PM from Monday to Saturday. Getting shot should be much easier now.
Dawn of a New Age 125th Journal
Posted 5 years agoWoke up today to some good news. Got to breath in some freash air with nice and cool weather we are having today. It's been crazy though. We had a record hot summer (seems to happen almost every year). A record one day drop in temps, a record low, more up and downs with another record level high, and then another record level low after a few more temperature bounces. Just all over the place. More energy in the system means more extremes.
The fall is traditionally my favorite time of the year. The nicer weather combined with the Holloween atmosphere I just love, though this year Halloween was pretty much canceled. As expected, no one came trick-or-treating at the door this year. Plus ACFI would have been held during that weekend... on a full moon too. That would have been wild. Oh what might have been.
However, I tried to make the best of it. I did dress up as a ninja and gave out chocolates at work on Friday the day before Halloween. Distributed over 200 pieces of various chocolate candies. I was planning to bring back my plague doctor costume from a couple of years back but decided it was a little too soon due to the circumstances we are living in at the moment. But I might bring it back next year.
I picked a ninja since it was a simple costume to make. I didn't feel like making anything too complicated. Just needed a few items to make a convincing ninja. I already had a plastic sword but ended up buying a plastic set with included nunchucks and a pair of smaller knifes. I painted the blades with silver spray paint as I did not like how the plain grey plastic looked. The paint made it much better. I'll post pics of the whole getup later.
On the health front. I have voided getting the sickness so far. But I been feel very tired, especially the weekends, where I sleep well pass noon. Talked to my doctor about it. The blood test didn't show anything but the sleep study indictated I have a mild form of sleep apnea. I got prescribed a CPAP machine.
I opted for the nose mask with the plastic bar support going up the nose bridge so it should stay on better. Still not all that comfy. I have it just over a week now and still trying to get used to it. My issue is that I have to put it on tight to seal it against air leaks. The machine gets loud if there are leaks. Even without the leaks, I can hear my own breaths, keeping me awake. Once I finally does off, I don't notice it. Hopefully it'll get better.
At least my mouth doesn't get dry like a person at work. He had to use a mask that covers the mouth as well as his nose. He loves his system. Told me it made a huge difference. It seems a few people at work are using CPAP machines. A lot more common than I though. My brother even had one many many years ago. He had an operation so he doesn't use one anymore. I don't know if I need to go that far. We'll see.
Speaking of work. I am making more and more 3D prints at home. The ones at work tends to be busy or under maintenance. SO I been using my machine. Don't worry, I got them to pay for the filaments. In fact, they provided the ESD safe stuff for some fixtures I designed and printed. That anti-static stuff is expensive but the cost of the parts ended up much cheaper than getting it machined. The prints took over 10 hours to print but I was able to do it overnight and then at work. So I got about two prints a day. Made a dozen of the parts for use on testers in production. Barely got that dozen as the extrusion nozzle started to clog a lot toward the end of the spool. I had to print the missing top parts of the aborted parts and epoxied them on so I didn't waste them. Not the prettiest things but it work well enough to save the misprints. I ran out of just as the last part was printed, cutting off like a millimeter on the top. The part was still functional, just looked a little stunted. If one didn't see the other ones, probably would have never noticed it. But yeah, I am having fun with my 3D printer. I have plans... big plans for it.
The fall is traditionally my favorite time of the year. The nicer weather combined with the Holloween atmosphere I just love, though this year Halloween was pretty much canceled. As expected, no one came trick-or-treating at the door this year. Plus ACFI would have been held during that weekend... on a full moon too. That would have been wild. Oh what might have been.
However, I tried to make the best of it. I did dress up as a ninja and gave out chocolates at work on Friday the day before Halloween. Distributed over 200 pieces of various chocolate candies. I was planning to bring back my plague doctor costume from a couple of years back but decided it was a little too soon due to the circumstances we are living in at the moment. But I might bring it back next year.
I picked a ninja since it was a simple costume to make. I didn't feel like making anything too complicated. Just needed a few items to make a convincing ninja. I already had a plastic sword but ended up buying a plastic set with included nunchucks and a pair of smaller knifes. I painted the blades with silver spray paint as I did not like how the plain grey plastic looked. The paint made it much better. I'll post pics of the whole getup later.
On the health front. I have voided getting the sickness so far. But I been feel very tired, especially the weekends, where I sleep well pass noon. Talked to my doctor about it. The blood test didn't show anything but the sleep study indictated I have a mild form of sleep apnea. I got prescribed a CPAP machine.
I opted for the nose mask with the plastic bar support going up the nose bridge so it should stay on better. Still not all that comfy. I have it just over a week now and still trying to get used to it. My issue is that I have to put it on tight to seal it against air leaks. The machine gets loud if there are leaks. Even without the leaks, I can hear my own breaths, keeping me awake. Once I finally does off, I don't notice it. Hopefully it'll get better.
At least my mouth doesn't get dry like a person at work. He had to use a mask that covers the mouth as well as his nose. He loves his system. Told me it made a huge difference. It seems a few people at work are using CPAP machines. A lot more common than I though. My brother even had one many many years ago. He had an operation so he doesn't use one anymore. I don't know if I need to go that far. We'll see.
Speaking of work. I am making more and more 3D prints at home. The ones at work tends to be busy or under maintenance. SO I been using my machine. Don't worry, I got them to pay for the filaments. In fact, they provided the ESD safe stuff for some fixtures I designed and printed. That anti-static stuff is expensive but the cost of the parts ended up much cheaper than getting it machined. The prints took over 10 hours to print but I was able to do it overnight and then at work. So I got about two prints a day. Made a dozen of the parts for use on testers in production. Barely got that dozen as the extrusion nozzle started to clog a lot toward the end of the spool. I had to print the missing top parts of the aborted parts and epoxied them on so I didn't waste them. Not the prettiest things but it work well enough to save the misprints. I ran out of just as the last part was printed, cutting off like a millimeter on the top. The part was still functional, just looked a little stunted. If one didn't see the other ones, probably would have never noticed it. But yeah, I am having fun with my 3D printer. I have plans... big plans for it.
It finally happened, 2020 is canceled. 124th Journal
Posted 5 years agoIt finally happened, 2020 is canceled. 124th Journal
I pretty much expected it but hoped it wouldn't happen, but Alamo City Furry Invasion con (ACFI) is not to happen this year. Those damn idiotic humans that refuse to wear their mask now make us furries not be able to our furry mask. Here in the US, we can't even get though our first wave much less prepare for the second. It is maddening how many humans ignore the simple rules to get over the hump like other countries. Thinks to listen to slogans like "Mask it or casket", "Wearing a mask is not to hard to ask", and one I came up with, "Six feet apart or six feet under. Don't make that final blunder". Gah, there are people that want everyone get back to work (so that they can rake in more bucks) but all they end up doing is stretching out the pandemic ever longer and longer.
And I was so looking forward of going to ACFI. I missed TFF 2020 due to BS reasons at work and was quite pissed off about it. I also was hoping to finally attend the local fur meets this year. But things got crazy and all I had to look forward to this year was ACFI.
There is a new furcon just north in Austin coming in January although it is 18+ only. Not sure how that will pan out if it happens, but if things don't improved by then, it might not even happen at all. TFF 2021 just might be deep enough in the year to make it. Hopefully a new administration in the country will take over and lead the nation (on many topics) and do some actual positive change instead of making a mess. That'll be great... real great.
I still going to work on my fursuit. I planned to debut the new improvements this year. I hope not to lose motivation like I have a bad habit of doing. I fixed my jaw and just need to add the 3D printed fangs I made. That would pretty much complete my head (version 1.5). I could move on to my tail and paws next, then to the rest of the bodysuit if I ever get to that. That last part will be the hardest and might take a good while.
I pretty much expected it but hoped it wouldn't happen, but Alamo City Furry Invasion con (ACFI) is not to happen this year. Those damn idiotic humans that refuse to wear their mask now make us furries not be able to our furry mask. Here in the US, we can't even get though our first wave much less prepare for the second. It is maddening how many humans ignore the simple rules to get over the hump like other countries. Thinks to listen to slogans like "Mask it or casket", "Wearing a mask is not to hard to ask", and one I came up with, "Six feet apart or six feet under. Don't make that final blunder". Gah, there are people that want everyone get back to work (so that they can rake in more bucks) but all they end up doing is stretching out the pandemic ever longer and longer.
And I was so looking forward of going to ACFI. I missed TFF 2020 due to BS reasons at work and was quite pissed off about it. I also was hoping to finally attend the local fur meets this year. But things got crazy and all I had to look forward to this year was ACFI.
There is a new furcon just north in Austin coming in January although it is 18+ only. Not sure how that will pan out if it happens, but if things don't improved by then, it might not even happen at all. TFF 2021 just might be deep enough in the year to make it. Hopefully a new administration in the country will take over and lead the nation (on many topics) and do some actual positive change instead of making a mess. That'll be great... real great.
I still going to work on my fursuit. I planned to debut the new improvements this year. I hope not to lose motivation like I have a bad habit of doing. I fixed my jaw and just need to add the 3D printed fangs I made. That would pretty much complete my head (version 1.5). I could move on to my tail and paws next, then to the rest of the bodysuit if I ever get to that. That last part will be the hardest and might take a good while.
123rd Journal. It's a No Go :(
Posted 5 years agoDue to a variety of factors, I am not going to be able to go to this year's Texas Furry Fiesta. I am quite bummed about it as you can imagine. I was looking so forward to it and hyped up to reveal the changes I did to my suit as well as my new awesome badge but alas, RL got in the way. As a result, my work on my fursuit pretty much ground to a halt, hence the lack of updates of late. But I do want to get at least progress on it in the coming weeks anyway, especially once things calm down... if it ever does.
Back last year when they announced the con day for this year, I had a sinking feeling it would be an issue. My fears turned out to be correct as it is a bad time for me. I would have prefer it to be deeper in march. I heard they alternate dates between the years so next year would hopefully be doable.
Maybe I'll finally attend the local fur meets to make up missing TFF. I been wanting to go for awhile but been too busy/lazy. I am looking at sometime when spring swings by. Hopefully things will better and I have those design changes done. And there is ACFI in lare October. Since that is my local con, nothing will stop me from attending that no matter what short of a nuclear blast or something big like that. But the waiting... ugh.
Back last year when they announced the con day for this year, I had a sinking feeling it would be an issue. My fears turned out to be correct as it is a bad time for me. I would have prefer it to be deeper in march. I heard they alternate dates between the years so next year would hopefully be doable.
Maybe I'll finally attend the local fur meets to make up missing TFF. I been wanting to go for awhile but been too busy/lazy. I am looking at sometime when spring swings by. Hopefully things will better and I have those design changes done. And there is ACFI in lare October. Since that is my local con, nothing will stop me from attending that no matter what short of a nuclear blast or something big like that. But the waiting... ugh.
122nd Journal. 2019 ACFI Adventure in Cyberland!
Posted 6 years agoThis year's ACFI came and went... way too fast. But fun nevertheless. This journal is going to be long so I'll start off with links to videos and Photos by others on the net of me in my dragonsuit.
Videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4F5lEljiqeQ
I showed up twice in Sherbert's ACFI video (a third time if count one of my horns briefly popping up in the background. see if you can spot it - hint: it happened before the others). The first time I was full visible though in the background occured at the 57 sec mark. The second was time was when I had my picture taken with Sherbert at 2:19. That photo is in my gallery by the way.
I felt like being silly (more than usual) at the time and not only wore my extra long tongue, but tied it in a knot. Yeah, I was tongue tied, what can I say (no pun intended, heh).
I was originally hoping to at least catch a glimpse of myself somewhere in the video but it certainly made my day when I saw I was shown so prominently in there.
I also got shown in some fursuit parade videos too though those went by quick do to the nature of such events. I almost missed the parade but more about that later. Here are the links at the time of my appearances that I could find;
https://youtu.be/98vLs6vtGqc?t=825 Inside the Dealer's Den
https://youtu.be/GxiHXtBO1Rc?t=728 Right outside the Dealer's Den.
https://youtu.be/P_rLoV4tcTM?t=733 The side corridor.
This is my second time participating in a fursuit parade (1st was at TFF with version 0.8) and first time with my horns, tongue, fangs, and with those big hindpaws of mine. Not used to walking in those things as you can see. '..' I consider this my version 1.0 as it is technically complete but I am planning to change the eyes, horns and fangs to better ones as I rushed these.
Photos:
These are some nice ones that are so much better than what little I manage to take with my crappy phone camera
https://i.imgur.com/uUf3MvQ.jpg taken in the main ballroom on Friday with my bone (not telling who that was) and with the "normal" size tongue.
https://i.imgur.com/o7eTgvp.jpg side view showing my viciousness... ok ok, maybe not but you can't call me cute.
https://i.imgur.com/rDbnwfC.jpg during the fursuit parade while leaving the main area with my attempt at a cyber solder costume. I wanted to add a lot more to it especially a bunch of LEDs but you know me, I ran out of time. Still I got a few good comments on it. One guy called me the combat derg.
If anyone knows of more videos or photos of me on the interwebs, let me know in the comments... that is if anyone actually read my stuff. -..-
Swag:
I didn't buy too many items this year. I did manage an at-con mini-badge (again, see my gallery). I also commissioned a take-home badge that looks awesome from the pics the artist sent. I plan on wearing it at TFF 2020. Other stuff includes some stickers, lanyard, and a couple of pins. Oh, I bought the scrolling teal color LED badge thing too.
Story mode:
I got there Thursday evening after work and it was an adventure for sure. Not only I had to fight rush hour traffic to get to downtown, parking was a pain. I tried the lot closest to the hotel but it a way too small sign was on the pay machine that stated that only monthly parking was available at the moment. I only saw that after I parked. What a waste of time. I couldn't find anything else that was not blocks away. I didn't want to park too far as I had my luggage that included my fursuit and cyber solder costume. I finally bit the bullet and parked in the Hotel's parking garage, resigning myself to pay the $27 a day fee. It turned out to be a good thing though in the end. As I found out later, The furcon made a deal to have an discount of $15 off for con goers . Not as good as TFF as the $25 a day fee was reduced to just $5. But the ACFI deal got even better as the arm guard broke and the hotel just waive all fee all together. So the parking turned out to be free. Probably won't get the same deal next year but I take what I can get.
So I arrived a little later than I planned. I wasn't aware that there is a tunnel that goes between the parking garage to the hotel itself, I strapped most of my luggage to the two rolling ones and pushed/pulled them toward the front door. I had to cross the street twice with the boxes falling off a couple of times. I should have used more straps. The I had to go over a curb. No fun in that. Then through the front door. It wasn't automatic nor one of those revolving ones so I wasn't looking forward to wrestle that while trying to keep my luggage from falling off again. luckily some people was leaving and held the door open for me. But it was still a little bit of a struggle as I had go over the doorsteps. Next time I know to take the parking garage elevator all the way down instead of getting off at street level and take the long but much more smooth tunnel.
After all that, I entered the lobby and spied my roommates eating dinner and talking at the hotel's restaurant, which is located toward the back to the left. That is when I took that pic of Quillcy in my gallery. He did several posed for me as well as a table near us that had people attending a fighter ace convention. ACFI had to share some of the space with them along with some Air Force event later on. I sure those attendees never thought they would mingle among the likes of furries, heh. But I did overhear a conversation the next day where a person stated that they never met such a friendly group of people as furs. Felt a little proud about our fandom in general.
I did partake in something to eat before retiring to the room, which had the same number of a rather famous web site. 0..0 I have to say the room was somewhat smaller that the one at TFF but not bad at all. I was better than the previous ACFI hotel that was built in the '60s. The whole hotel larger too with more con space. Next year ACFI will have the run of the hotel so it should be a bit more open. Some areas felt a little tight here and ther though not as bad as the prior year's hotel. The con started with just over 700 attendees, grown to 1000 but the second. This year it was 1300, so it would have been a nightmare in the old place indeed. I feel like the Wyndham would last a year or two before moving to an even large place at the pace we are growing.
I recall there wasn't a whole lot to do on Thursday night aside pre-reg and the dances. I think a few vendors was setting up in the Artist Alley. I am sure I did some suiting as I was itching to wear it and try out my new accessories I made. I did reserved the cyber solder getup for the fursuit parade as it was a bit cumbersome to wear.
Friday arrived and we planned on breakfast in the VIP lounge. I registered at a sponsor as I did in the years before so I had access to it. But the con wasn't able to set up the hotplates for pancakes, eggs and the like due to some hotel policies. I guess no one checked beforehand. So all they had was cold stuff like cereal. So to the hotel's restaurant we headed off to. They had a buffet going. It wasn't as fancy as TFF's, but then again, it was a large hotel. The food certainly a lot better than the cold stuff.
After we had our fill, we went to the open ceremonies. I have to tell you it was hilarious. I hope someone recorded and posted it on the net somewhere. This year theme was cyber punk and they did a skit featuring a member from "Chymera Corp" sitting among the guests of honor, interviewing them while hinting at some experiments being made. Someone about the some vague stuff in the terms of agreement that they are not liable for any mutations, being subjects of experiments, and the like. By the way, I got most of my photo opportunities with the GoH here.
I did wish the theme was carried out more aside from the openning and closing ceremonies as well as the various signs posted throughout the con space. Could have been so much more. But I an ranting a bit here.
Speaking of missed opportunity on the theme, the dances was a buzzkill... literally. Instead of some kick-ass '80s cyberpunk, it was full of that lets have some decent beats for a moment, completely stop it, and then made a bunch of random buzz sounds. Hard for me to my crazy dance thing to that. It was better than the mess at TFF though. At least I didn't take a nap during the rave like I did up in Dallas. But I digress.
There was a set were the DJ was playing off "old fashion" cassette tape (Gods, I feel old as I remember when these were new). Unfortunately I arrived late there and when I did, someone broke their ankle just prior and it cut a bit short. The people that took over did that buzzing thing. Ugh. I did made the best of it and tried my best to go wild... enough for one of my detachable horns to go flying. And it was affixed with strong magnets too. I plan making a few mods to make it even stronger.
I guess I'll go into the fursuit parade here. I almost missed it as I mentioned earlier as we woke up a little later than usual and ate breakfast. I got into costume before one of my roommates as it took a while to get into his. I noticed the time was getting short and left them to finish up getting dressed and rushed down the stairs (faster than the elevators) and made it into the staging area (main ballroom) after they already got started. I did miss the fursuit photo and that made me sad but made it into the parade toward endish. After looking back at the videos other posted, I noticed there was quite a few gaps in the parade. Plus the route was a bit weird and winding. I was hoping we would go along the San Antonio Riverwalk but it all took place inside. Maybe next year.
Anyhoot, I was still getting used to walking in my dragon hindpaws and did that duckwalk thing. I did got better, especially when I wasn't thinking about it. I do have to tell you that going up and down the stairs in those things took some doing and I did sssslip once and landed on my knee. Wasn't the best feeling in the would but not too bad. I did end up paying for it after the con as I was sore for a few days. At the con I felt fine enough, the soreness was way in the background back then. Oh, one of the 4 elevators went down and an escalator on Saturday night. At least the later was working again by the next day. My usual method was to take the escalator to the 3rd floor and then the stairs to the 6th to get to my room and vise versa to get back down to avoid the dreaded "elevator con". Much quicker when it got really busy.
What am I forgetting? Oh, the panels. Some on Friday and then Saturday with one on Sunday that I attended. The following are the panels I went that I could remember. They might not be in order as I am too lazy to go back and look up the schedules.
Ah, the famous Uncle Kage story hour. That man is full of all kinds of stories and tells them at a lot of cons that he attends. There are plenty of videos on YouTube on them. At ACFI, one of the stories he told was one I happen to see a video of before. It was about the time he took a job at not so great (very bad actually) company before the actual job offer that he wanted became available and how he had to deal with it. Another story he told new to me. It was about that time he worked at a facility that deals with donated human tissue (body parts). Most people don't know this but he is an real scientist. He ended up working in the medical research field and dealt with the sourcing and providing the donated materials to various researchers. I am not going into too much detail but lets say that someone previously had arrange certain body parts by size in one of the walk-in freezers that Kage called the Zylophone and how it had became "limp" due to negligence by an outside monitoring company. He had others but those where the two I caught as I didn't attend the whole hour. I don't recall if I arrived late or had to leave early. I think it was the later but not sure.
Let's see, there was Sherbert's VR chat panel. Due to issues with the computer, it ran very late. Apparently they tried to set up the software on the con chair's personal computer just before the event and it didn't go well. All kinds of driver and software issues ensued if you can imagine. By the time it was sorted out, our group had to leave and thus missed the the actual VR chat stuff. Oh well, that how it goes. Pro-tip: install all the software and test out your computer well in advance is probably a good thing, just a wee bit anyway. >..>
Another panel I went was a furmaking one. It was focus on what materials to use. I did learn a few stuff despite the presenter being his first time doing it and was a bit nervous. I thought it was the one run by Spark Can Do but that was on Sunday, which I did attended.
I went to the dragon panel of course. Unlike TFF, which was adult only, the ACFI dragon panel is open to all ages. I like it better since it was more of a meetup of dragon or friends of dragons without going over the deep end. Don't get me wrong, I "love" adult content. It is just that I wanted to make friends and the like.
I had some free time after than panel and ventured into the main ballroom where I heard some music. I think it was the drag queen dance or something. I then wandered off to the Artist Alley and Dealer's Den before finding something interesting. I decided to check out the real life horror stories panel. Now that one featured the presenter telling a story from his book with the audience telling their stories after he was finished. I had a semi-ok one that I was going to tell if no one else spoke up but there was plenty of true stories with the last one partially spooky. I don't remember the details but it went something like this, the person telling the story heard someone calling for help outside the farmhouse she visited/lived in with the grandparents was away. She looked out the window and saw this hideous creature with a deformed face trying to get inside. She ran into the kitchen to grab a knife and hid all the while the creature clawed at the doors and windows of the house for hours until it finally drifted away. The presenter as well as a few others in the room told her it sounded exactly like, I trying to remember the name, the something face ripper or the like. That was one spooky moment all right. I guess you had to be there... or someone who is better at telling this anyway. *shrugs*
The last panel was on Sunday before the closing ceremonies. That was the one ran by Sparky along with Livewire. One of my roomies also helped out. All three gave good and varied information on their methods on fursuit making. Good to know (hehe, that is Sparky's motto).
Right after that was the closing ceremony. I hope someone posted a fully video of it as it was wild. The charity auction helped bring the total to just over $4000, doubling last year amount. The large banner went for a big chunk of change, something like a $1000 IIRC. Uncle kage even chipped in the final $250 or so to round out the number. The Guests of Honor agreed to get a cream pie thrown to their faces after certain amount was achieved. Uncle Kage and Sherbert were safe as it donations didn't go high enough, but things were difference for Sparky and Livewire. they both agreed to get their pies in fursuit. You can kinda see it in the video Sherbert posted. Sparky's went even further as she was slated to be hit with several pies. She got hit on the side of her face and a few people shouted to turn the other cheek. So she did... but by turning around and showed her other cheek all right, a cheeky moment for sure. Everyone had a good laugh. The whole thing was fun. Too bad it signaled the official end of the con aside the dead dog dance. At least it went out with a blast... of pie.
They announced next year's theme of Fire and Furry. Kinda an extension of the cyberpunk theme, it has a Mad Max vibe to it instead of Blade Runner. I hope they fully utilized it. I plan on reusing a good portion of my costume, amping it up a bit. I like those themes better than TFF, which is going to be Kaiji Attack! Basically Japanese for gaint monsters. I dunno, just not really feeling it but I'll try my best. I have a couple of ideas but I'll go into that at a later time.
I stuck around a little longer after closing but things where winding down. Despite for me never want it to end, all good things come to ends as they say. I would love to smack them for that but it is what it is. Beside I have to go back to work on Monday. I knew I should have taken that day off to, at least to recover a little. Going back to to the real world sucks. I did talked to a few people at the last minute and then I packed up and headed off for home, bringing along some swag and memories. Here's to next year.
I hope I didn't miss anything but probably did. Oh well, it is (too) long enough anyway.
Ok, who actually made it to the end of that monstrous saga? Raise your hand. No one? Awwwwww. Oh well, at least I have something on it for my chronicles for future generations... or at least I like to think so. One can dream, can I? OK ok, I'm done. Peace out.
Videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4F5lEljiqeQ
I showed up twice in Sherbert's ACFI video (a third time if count one of my horns briefly popping up in the background. see if you can spot it - hint: it happened before the others). The first time I was full visible though in the background occured at the 57 sec mark. The second was time was when I had my picture taken with Sherbert at 2:19. That photo is in my gallery by the way.
I felt like being silly (more than usual) at the time and not only wore my extra long tongue, but tied it in a knot. Yeah, I was tongue tied, what can I say (no pun intended, heh).
I was originally hoping to at least catch a glimpse of myself somewhere in the video but it certainly made my day when I saw I was shown so prominently in there.
I also got shown in some fursuit parade videos too though those went by quick do to the nature of such events. I almost missed the parade but more about that later. Here are the links at the time of my appearances that I could find;
https://youtu.be/98vLs6vtGqc?t=825 Inside the Dealer's Den
https://youtu.be/GxiHXtBO1Rc?t=728 Right outside the Dealer's Den.
https://youtu.be/P_rLoV4tcTM?t=733 The side corridor.
This is my second time participating in a fursuit parade (1st was at TFF with version 0.8) and first time with my horns, tongue, fangs, and with those big hindpaws of mine. Not used to walking in those things as you can see. '..' I consider this my version 1.0 as it is technically complete but I am planning to change the eyes, horns and fangs to better ones as I rushed these.
Photos:
These are some nice ones that are so much better than what little I manage to take with my crappy phone camera
https://i.imgur.com/uUf3MvQ.jpg taken in the main ballroom on Friday with my bone (not telling who that was) and with the "normal" size tongue.
https://i.imgur.com/o7eTgvp.jpg side view showing my viciousness... ok ok, maybe not but you can't call me cute.
https://i.imgur.com/rDbnwfC.jpg during the fursuit parade while leaving the main area with my attempt at a cyber solder costume. I wanted to add a lot more to it especially a bunch of LEDs but you know me, I ran out of time. Still I got a few good comments on it. One guy called me the combat derg.
If anyone knows of more videos or photos of me on the interwebs, let me know in the comments... that is if anyone actually read my stuff. -..-
Swag:
I didn't buy too many items this year. I did manage an at-con mini-badge (again, see my gallery). I also commissioned a take-home badge that looks awesome from the pics the artist sent. I plan on wearing it at TFF 2020. Other stuff includes some stickers, lanyard, and a couple of pins. Oh, I bought the scrolling teal color LED badge thing too.
Story mode:
I got there Thursday evening after work and it was an adventure for sure. Not only I had to fight rush hour traffic to get to downtown, parking was a pain. I tried the lot closest to the hotel but it a way too small sign was on the pay machine that stated that only monthly parking was available at the moment. I only saw that after I parked. What a waste of time. I couldn't find anything else that was not blocks away. I didn't want to park too far as I had my luggage that included my fursuit and cyber solder costume. I finally bit the bullet and parked in the Hotel's parking garage, resigning myself to pay the $27 a day fee. It turned out to be a good thing though in the end. As I found out later, The furcon made a deal to have an discount of $15 off for con goers . Not as good as TFF as the $25 a day fee was reduced to just $5. But the ACFI deal got even better as the arm guard broke and the hotel just waive all fee all together. So the parking turned out to be free. Probably won't get the same deal next year but I take what I can get.
So I arrived a little later than I planned. I wasn't aware that there is a tunnel that goes between the parking garage to the hotel itself, I strapped most of my luggage to the two rolling ones and pushed/pulled them toward the front door. I had to cross the street twice with the boxes falling off a couple of times. I should have used more straps. The I had to go over a curb. No fun in that. Then through the front door. It wasn't automatic nor one of those revolving ones so I wasn't looking forward to wrestle that while trying to keep my luggage from falling off again. luckily some people was leaving and held the door open for me. But it was still a little bit of a struggle as I had go over the doorsteps. Next time I know to take the parking garage elevator all the way down instead of getting off at street level and take the long but much more smooth tunnel.
After all that, I entered the lobby and spied my roommates eating dinner and talking at the hotel's restaurant, which is located toward the back to the left. That is when I took that pic of Quillcy in my gallery. He did several posed for me as well as a table near us that had people attending a fighter ace convention. ACFI had to share some of the space with them along with some Air Force event later on. I sure those attendees never thought they would mingle among the likes of furries, heh. But I did overhear a conversation the next day where a person stated that they never met such a friendly group of people as furs. Felt a little proud about our fandom in general.
I did partake in something to eat before retiring to the room, which had the same number of a rather famous web site. 0..0 I have to say the room was somewhat smaller that the one at TFF but not bad at all. I was better than the previous ACFI hotel that was built in the '60s. The whole hotel larger too with more con space. Next year ACFI will have the run of the hotel so it should be a bit more open. Some areas felt a little tight here and ther though not as bad as the prior year's hotel. The con started with just over 700 attendees, grown to 1000 but the second. This year it was 1300, so it would have been a nightmare in the old place indeed. I feel like the Wyndham would last a year or two before moving to an even large place at the pace we are growing.
I recall there wasn't a whole lot to do on Thursday night aside pre-reg and the dances. I think a few vendors was setting up in the Artist Alley. I am sure I did some suiting as I was itching to wear it and try out my new accessories I made. I did reserved the cyber solder getup for the fursuit parade as it was a bit cumbersome to wear.
Friday arrived and we planned on breakfast in the VIP lounge. I registered at a sponsor as I did in the years before so I had access to it. But the con wasn't able to set up the hotplates for pancakes, eggs and the like due to some hotel policies. I guess no one checked beforehand. So all they had was cold stuff like cereal. So to the hotel's restaurant we headed off to. They had a buffet going. It wasn't as fancy as TFF's, but then again, it was a large hotel. The food certainly a lot better than the cold stuff.
After we had our fill, we went to the open ceremonies. I have to tell you it was hilarious. I hope someone recorded and posted it on the net somewhere. This year theme was cyber punk and they did a skit featuring a member from "Chymera Corp" sitting among the guests of honor, interviewing them while hinting at some experiments being made. Someone about the some vague stuff in the terms of agreement that they are not liable for any mutations, being subjects of experiments, and the like. By the way, I got most of my photo opportunities with the GoH here.
I did wish the theme was carried out more aside from the openning and closing ceremonies as well as the various signs posted throughout the con space. Could have been so much more. But I an ranting a bit here.
Speaking of missed opportunity on the theme, the dances was a buzzkill... literally. Instead of some kick-ass '80s cyberpunk, it was full of that lets have some decent beats for a moment, completely stop it, and then made a bunch of random buzz sounds. Hard for me to my crazy dance thing to that. It was better than the mess at TFF though. At least I didn't take a nap during the rave like I did up in Dallas. But I digress.
There was a set were the DJ was playing off "old fashion" cassette tape (Gods, I feel old as I remember when these were new). Unfortunately I arrived late there and when I did, someone broke their ankle just prior and it cut a bit short. The people that took over did that buzzing thing. Ugh. I did made the best of it and tried my best to go wild... enough for one of my detachable horns to go flying. And it was affixed with strong magnets too. I plan making a few mods to make it even stronger.
I guess I'll go into the fursuit parade here. I almost missed it as I mentioned earlier as we woke up a little later than usual and ate breakfast. I got into costume before one of my roommates as it took a while to get into his. I noticed the time was getting short and left them to finish up getting dressed and rushed down the stairs (faster than the elevators) and made it into the staging area (main ballroom) after they already got started. I did miss the fursuit photo and that made me sad but made it into the parade toward endish. After looking back at the videos other posted, I noticed there was quite a few gaps in the parade. Plus the route was a bit weird and winding. I was hoping we would go along the San Antonio Riverwalk but it all took place inside. Maybe next year.
Anyhoot, I was still getting used to walking in my dragon hindpaws and did that duckwalk thing. I did got better, especially when I wasn't thinking about it. I do have to tell you that going up and down the stairs in those things took some doing and I did sssslip once and landed on my knee. Wasn't the best feeling in the would but not too bad. I did end up paying for it after the con as I was sore for a few days. At the con I felt fine enough, the soreness was way in the background back then. Oh, one of the 4 elevators went down and an escalator on Saturday night. At least the later was working again by the next day. My usual method was to take the escalator to the 3rd floor and then the stairs to the 6th to get to my room and vise versa to get back down to avoid the dreaded "elevator con". Much quicker when it got really busy.
What am I forgetting? Oh, the panels. Some on Friday and then Saturday with one on Sunday that I attended. The following are the panels I went that I could remember. They might not be in order as I am too lazy to go back and look up the schedules.
Ah, the famous Uncle Kage story hour. That man is full of all kinds of stories and tells them at a lot of cons that he attends. There are plenty of videos on YouTube on them. At ACFI, one of the stories he told was one I happen to see a video of before. It was about the time he took a job at not so great (very bad actually) company before the actual job offer that he wanted became available and how he had to deal with it. Another story he told new to me. It was about that time he worked at a facility that deals with donated human tissue (body parts). Most people don't know this but he is an real scientist. He ended up working in the medical research field and dealt with the sourcing and providing the donated materials to various researchers. I am not going into too much detail but lets say that someone previously had arrange certain body parts by size in one of the walk-in freezers that Kage called the Zylophone and how it had became "limp" due to negligence by an outside monitoring company. He had others but those where the two I caught as I didn't attend the whole hour. I don't recall if I arrived late or had to leave early. I think it was the later but not sure.
Let's see, there was Sherbert's VR chat panel. Due to issues with the computer, it ran very late. Apparently they tried to set up the software on the con chair's personal computer just before the event and it didn't go well. All kinds of driver and software issues ensued if you can imagine. By the time it was sorted out, our group had to leave and thus missed the the actual VR chat stuff. Oh well, that how it goes. Pro-tip: install all the software and test out your computer well in advance is probably a good thing, just a wee bit anyway. >..>
Another panel I went was a furmaking one. It was focus on what materials to use. I did learn a few stuff despite the presenter being his first time doing it and was a bit nervous. I thought it was the one run by Spark Can Do but that was on Sunday, which I did attended.
I went to the dragon panel of course. Unlike TFF, which was adult only, the ACFI dragon panel is open to all ages. I like it better since it was more of a meetup of dragon or friends of dragons without going over the deep end. Don't get me wrong, I "love" adult content. It is just that I wanted to make friends and the like.
I had some free time after than panel and ventured into the main ballroom where I heard some music. I think it was the drag queen dance or something. I then wandered off to the Artist Alley and Dealer's Den before finding something interesting. I decided to check out the real life horror stories panel. Now that one featured the presenter telling a story from his book with the audience telling their stories after he was finished. I had a semi-ok one that I was going to tell if no one else spoke up but there was plenty of true stories with the last one partially spooky. I don't remember the details but it went something like this, the person telling the story heard someone calling for help outside the farmhouse she visited/lived in with the grandparents was away. She looked out the window and saw this hideous creature with a deformed face trying to get inside. She ran into the kitchen to grab a knife and hid all the while the creature clawed at the doors and windows of the house for hours until it finally drifted away. The presenter as well as a few others in the room told her it sounded exactly like, I trying to remember the name, the something face ripper or the like. That was one spooky moment all right. I guess you had to be there... or someone who is better at telling this anyway. *shrugs*
The last panel was on Sunday before the closing ceremonies. That was the one ran by Sparky along with Livewire. One of my roomies also helped out. All three gave good and varied information on their methods on fursuit making. Good to know (hehe, that is Sparky's motto).
Right after that was the closing ceremony. I hope someone posted a fully video of it as it was wild. The charity auction helped bring the total to just over $4000, doubling last year amount. The large banner went for a big chunk of change, something like a $1000 IIRC. Uncle kage even chipped in the final $250 or so to round out the number. The Guests of Honor agreed to get a cream pie thrown to their faces after certain amount was achieved. Uncle Kage and Sherbert were safe as it donations didn't go high enough, but things were difference for Sparky and Livewire. they both agreed to get their pies in fursuit. You can kinda see it in the video Sherbert posted. Sparky's went even further as she was slated to be hit with several pies. She got hit on the side of her face and a few people shouted to turn the other cheek. So she did... but by turning around and showed her other cheek all right, a cheeky moment for sure. Everyone had a good laugh. The whole thing was fun. Too bad it signaled the official end of the con aside the dead dog dance. At least it went out with a blast... of pie.
They announced next year's theme of Fire and Furry. Kinda an extension of the cyberpunk theme, it has a Mad Max vibe to it instead of Blade Runner. I hope they fully utilized it. I plan on reusing a good portion of my costume, amping it up a bit. I like those themes better than TFF, which is going to be Kaiji Attack! Basically Japanese for gaint monsters. I dunno, just not really feeling it but I'll try my best. I have a couple of ideas but I'll go into that at a later time.
I stuck around a little longer after closing but things where winding down. Despite for me never want it to end, all good things come to ends as they say. I would love to smack them for that but it is what it is. Beside I have to go back to work on Monday. I knew I should have taken that day off to, at least to recover a little. Going back to to the real world sucks. I did talked to a few people at the last minute and then I packed up and headed off for home, bringing along some swag and memories. Here's to next year.
I hope I didn't miss anything but probably did. Oh well, it is (too) long enough anyway.
Ok, who actually made it to the end of that monstrous saga? Raise your hand. No one? Awwwwww. Oh well, at least I have something on it for my chronicles for future generations... or at least I like to think so. One can dream, can I? OK ok, I'm done. Peace out.
121st Journal. It's over 1000! Watching the Watchers
Posted 6 years agoWell well, I finally gone over the hump, reaching over a thousand watchers a few months ago. A small milestone but what the hey. My count tend to bounce up and down a lot but it seemed to stabilized just over that number. So hopefully it won't dip too low.
I been waiting to hit over 1000 for like a decade. I was well on my way of achieving that way back when I did some 3D stuff but my output took a bad turn and the number of new watchers stalled. Not only that, I loss plenty of them, particularly after I post something. A very high percentage it seems.
So I thought I would have been so happy the hit it but I didn't feel so excited about it like I originally believe. I think the wait just was too long, especially since I been so close for years. I been hovering for such a long time.
Still pleased about it, just not sure if I go much higher from here on out. I been meaning to do more artwork and even restart the 3D stuff but life been so busy, especially at work. Every time I think I can catch a break, BOOM! something happens. I used to have tons of free time but now I'll have to work my projects in somehow.
I have tons of plans but the time plus the lack of motivation really put a hamper on things. Maybe the fursuit project I am in the middle of will get the creative jucies flowing again.
I been waiting to hit over 1000 for like a decade. I was well on my way of achieving that way back when I did some 3D stuff but my output took a bad turn and the number of new watchers stalled. Not only that, I loss plenty of them, particularly after I post something. A very high percentage it seems.
So I thought I would have been so happy the hit it but I didn't feel so excited about it like I originally believe. I think the wait just was too long, especially since I been so close for years. I been hovering for such a long time.
Still pleased about it, just not sure if I go much higher from here on out. I been meaning to do more artwork and even restart the 3D stuff but life been so busy, especially at work. Every time I think I can catch a break, BOOM! something happens. I used to have tons of free time but now I'll have to work my projects in somehow.
I have tons of plans but the time plus the lack of motivation really put a hamper on things. Maybe the fursuit project I am in the middle of will get the creative jucies flowing again.
120th Journal. Back from TFF
Posted 6 years agoI'm back from TFF! Anyone miss me? No? awwwww. well, I'm back like it or not. And wow, my wings are tired.
I kinda/sorta finished my dragon-head just enough to be presentable. I even went in the fursuit parade. Here is a video I found with me in it right at https://youtu.be/2Qfl0-LI_2Y?t=474 . Yeah yeah, I wasn't very animated at that point. I was still getting used to wearing the thing. Plus I didn't want to smash anyone with that viking shield I made for a Halloween costume years ago.
The whole con was definitely fun and I enjoyed myself. Am like most people, I didn't get a whole lot of sleep. Working long nights on my dragon-head in the few weeks prior didn't help matters. But still I didn't want it to end. But it ended anyway. Oh well.
Got there on Thursday and a good number of people was there too. No panels but some activity was open. I even slapped on my fursuit head and went to the rave for my first time. The music was so-so but I was so excited that I went wild anyway. Those long ears of mine went flapping like crazy as I jumped up and down like a mad-dragon. I was also shaking my head side to side and up and down to the beat. I wouldn't call it dancing but it was something to behold for sure. Went on a few hours until the rave shut down.
Oddly enough, only the front of my upper thighs ached. My neck, arms, and back was just fine. I thought I would be very sore all over after whipping around like that. Just the thighs hurt especially when I sit or got up from a chair or the like. That slowly went away as the con progressed despite going to the rave on Friday and Saturday. But those two was worse in terms of the quality of the music. On the second night, I got to bored of it that I took a seat toward the back and too a nap. And Saturday was the same with like 80% of the furs just standing around.
Too slow with no energy. I heard other people were complaining too and that someone picked the not so great DJs in the limited slots. A bit of a bummer that I didn't even bother going to the Sunday one. But the concert they had just before the closing ceremonies kicked ass. I didn't know a live band was playing but a roomie I was handling wanted to go to the closing ceremonies a little early. The concert was winding down but we went in anyway they had so much energy, a hell of a lot more than the limpy DJs. Sadly we only caught the last three songs but they was better than the three days of raves I attended. In fact, some of the fursuiters jumped into the center aisle and danced for the last couple of songs. I caught the bug and slapped on my dragon-head so I could join the dancers in front of the stage for their rendition of "Zombie" by the Cranberries. Well, my weird version of "dancing" but damn, that was fun. Even the intermission music playing while the band was breaking down the stage for the closing cermonies was better than the rave. Oh well, enough complaining.
I did attend a few panels. I'll go into them more if there is any interest (like that is likely). Got to go the super sponsorship dinner at a place called Medieval Times. Some of you might know what that place does but I had no clue. I thought it was just a standard restaurant. Turned out to a themed show with a meal. I guess it fits with this years TFF theme of table-top role-playing in a way, things like D-n-D and such.
The waiting took way too long but once we got in the arena area, the show itself was entertaining enough. You could tell the acting in a few places but they got the audience to participate with yelling for the knights that represent the color of each section people was seated. I was in the blue section so cheered for the blue knight. They had a story line going where the blue knight was winning to jouse but he turned out to be a bit of a jerk to the queen and lost out to the red knight.
I heard the furries filled half the place. I was one of very few that brought my furhead. The only other people that brought his happened to be one of my roommates. A lot of furs did wear their tails and a few with ears as well. I bet the normies are a bit confused on that.
I had a staff that I used alone with a black robe with me. I placed the dragon-head on it most of the time and carried it like that. I did wore it from time to time. I enjoyed when kids saw me and says things like "look daddy! A dragon". That was fun. I wished more furries wore their head but oh well, that how it goes.
The meal was interesting. There was no utensils and we had to eat with your han... paws. A half a chicken, corn on the cob, and a big wedge of seasoned potatoes was served with a slice of lemon cake to round out the meal while the show in the oval arena was going, consisting of horses and knights with the queen presiding over a tournament.
That was on Friday. Went to the so-called rave after that and called it a knight.
Went on a few more panels including a couple of "interesting" ones. Thought Dragon Den was a meetup of dragons. A "wee bit" more than that it turned out. Yikes!
Of course there was Elevator Con too. The wait at times got pretty bad. At least we had a room in the main hotel. I imagine dragons... I mean I imagine being in one of the overflow hotels would have sucked, especially for a fursuiter. Speaking of overflow, the final count of attendees was over 4800, a 25% growth over last year. I think TFF is the 5th largest furcon. I hope ACFI gets to be big like that as that is my local con and stomping grounds.
Oh, on that stomping ground idea, the next year theme for TFF is Kaijū Attack. Basically giant monsters vs cities and such. If I go, I'll have to come up with something though being a dragon, it shouldn't be too hard.
I could go on and on but no one is probably reading any of this so I am going to stop it here. Plus I am a bit tired.
I kinda/sorta finished my dragon-head just enough to be presentable. I even went in the fursuit parade. Here is a video I found with me in it right at https://youtu.be/2Qfl0-LI_2Y?t=474 . Yeah yeah, I wasn't very animated at that point. I was still getting used to wearing the thing. Plus I didn't want to smash anyone with that viking shield I made for a Halloween costume years ago.
The whole con was definitely fun and I enjoyed myself. Am like most people, I didn't get a whole lot of sleep. Working long nights on my dragon-head in the few weeks prior didn't help matters. But still I didn't want it to end. But it ended anyway. Oh well.
Got there on Thursday and a good number of people was there too. No panels but some activity was open. I even slapped on my fursuit head and went to the rave for my first time. The music was so-so but I was so excited that I went wild anyway. Those long ears of mine went flapping like crazy as I jumped up and down like a mad-dragon. I was also shaking my head side to side and up and down to the beat. I wouldn't call it dancing but it was something to behold for sure. Went on a few hours until the rave shut down.
Oddly enough, only the front of my upper thighs ached. My neck, arms, and back was just fine. I thought I would be very sore all over after whipping around like that. Just the thighs hurt especially when I sit or got up from a chair or the like. That slowly went away as the con progressed despite going to the rave on Friday and Saturday. But those two was worse in terms of the quality of the music. On the second night, I got to bored of it that I took a seat toward the back and too a nap. And Saturday was the same with like 80% of the furs just standing around.
Too slow with no energy. I heard other people were complaining too and that someone picked the not so great DJs in the limited slots. A bit of a bummer that I didn't even bother going to the Sunday one. But the concert they had just before the closing ceremonies kicked ass. I didn't know a live band was playing but a roomie I was handling wanted to go to the closing ceremonies a little early. The concert was winding down but we went in anyway they had so much energy, a hell of a lot more than the limpy DJs. Sadly we only caught the last three songs but they was better than the three days of raves I attended. In fact, some of the fursuiters jumped into the center aisle and danced for the last couple of songs. I caught the bug and slapped on my dragon-head so I could join the dancers in front of the stage for their rendition of "Zombie" by the Cranberries. Well, my weird version of "dancing" but damn, that was fun. Even the intermission music playing while the band was breaking down the stage for the closing cermonies was better than the rave. Oh well, enough complaining.
I did attend a few panels. I'll go into them more if there is any interest (like that is likely). Got to go the super sponsorship dinner at a place called Medieval Times. Some of you might know what that place does but I had no clue. I thought it was just a standard restaurant. Turned out to a themed show with a meal. I guess it fits with this years TFF theme of table-top role-playing in a way, things like D-n-D and such.
The waiting took way too long but once we got in the arena area, the show itself was entertaining enough. You could tell the acting in a few places but they got the audience to participate with yelling for the knights that represent the color of each section people was seated. I was in the blue section so cheered for the blue knight. They had a story line going where the blue knight was winning to jouse but he turned out to be a bit of a jerk to the queen and lost out to the red knight.
I heard the furries filled half the place. I was one of very few that brought my furhead. The only other people that brought his happened to be one of my roommates. A lot of furs did wear their tails and a few with ears as well. I bet the normies are a bit confused on that.
I had a staff that I used alone with a black robe with me. I placed the dragon-head on it most of the time and carried it like that. I did wore it from time to time. I enjoyed when kids saw me and says things like "look daddy! A dragon". That was fun. I wished more furries wore their head but oh well, that how it goes.
The meal was interesting. There was no utensils and we had to eat with your han... paws. A half a chicken, corn on the cob, and a big wedge of seasoned potatoes was served with a slice of lemon cake to round out the meal while the show in the oval arena was going, consisting of horses and knights with the queen presiding over a tournament.
That was on Friday. Went to the so-called rave after that and called it a knight.
Went on a few more panels including a couple of "interesting" ones. Thought Dragon Den was a meetup of dragons. A "wee bit" more than that it turned out. Yikes!
Of course there was Elevator Con too. The wait at times got pretty bad. At least we had a room in the main hotel. I imagine dragons... I mean I imagine being in one of the overflow hotels would have sucked, especially for a fursuiter. Speaking of overflow, the final count of attendees was over 4800, a 25% growth over last year. I think TFF is the 5th largest furcon. I hope ACFI gets to be big like that as that is my local con and stomping grounds.
Oh, on that stomping ground idea, the next year theme for TFF is Kaijū Attack. Basically giant monsters vs cities and such. If I go, I'll have to come up with something though being a dragon, it shouldn't be too hard.
I could go on and on but no one is probably reading any of this so I am going to stop it here. Plus I am a bit tired.
Halloween Special, 119th Journal
Posted 7 years agoYep, another journal on my Halloween experience. Though this time, I almost didn't go in costume. I been quite busy all year and the Halloween sprint pretty much nonexistent especially at work. The people that was really into it in the years past are no longer around. Only one person really decorated her cubical area and that was in a not too traveled part of the building. I did eventually put up some decorations but nothing like a few years ago. I also reside in a not too traveled area by the way.
I had the idea of going as a plague doctor for most of the year, mainly for the relative ease it would be made compared on the other ideas I had or had done in the years past. I didn't want to recycle yet another costume so making a mask, simple black robe and a hat wasn't going to take too long I figured.
Even then, I had my reservations. I expressed my concern at work on one person told me the he didn't believe me, that I always dress up on Hallow's Eve. I decided then and there to go ahead with my idea. So I did it, made that plague doctor in a couple of weekends. I was going to sew up that black robe but found a Grim Reaper costume for cheap and modified that. I cut off the extensions sown on the bottom of the arms. I used one of the extra piece to cover over my face so that my eyes didn't show through the lens of the mask as well as my chin area. It was just thin enough for me to see enough while being dark enough to observe my face.
The mask itself took the most time to make. I started with a cheap beak style masquerade mask made of plastic and build out from that, cutting and hot gluing til I got the shape I wanted. Quite happy how it turned out in the end despite the short time working on it.
The only thing I didn't modify was the hat. I didn't have enough time I thought so I left it alone. Could have been a lot better making it more appropriate for the costume. It needed a larger, flatter brim and the center part reshaped with the top being slightly larger than the base. Plus a more leathery look than the velvet it was made from.
I posted a series of photos on the costume and mask with some descriptions on how I made them in my gallery. It starts at http://www.furaffinity.net/view/29260451/ and goes from there. I'll post more if someone request it though I doubt anyone would much less read this saga.
Anyway, I am glad I went through with it. I ended up have fun at work by simply walking around and giving out bubonic... I mean chocolate candy. I had a bog of 170 of them and gave almost all of it out. I even through in some plastic spiders, scorpions, centipedes and the like in the candy bucket I carried around. One person accidently pull out a spider and she jump back with a yelling "ahhhh, spider!". That was hilarious I must say.
Another person ask it was all right to take a scorpion. One of the rare times I talked, I told her that you not supposed to eat the scorpion, the scorpion supposed to eat you. She gave that "ewww" look, heh. But I remained mostly silent, shaking the candy bucket while holding it out to vict... people. I even sneaked up behind some people and gave them a good fright. Fun stuff.
Yeah, I am glad that I choose to celebrate Halloween. I just wish more people get involved into it. In years past when we fist got into the new place, we got like 30 people dressing up. The sad thing is that we a lot more people employed here this year but maybe a handful got into the spirit. I would like to see it get up to like the old days. A few years ago, we even had employees bringing their kids over to the office to go trick-n-treating. That was a blast. I had my improved pirate costume that time and even though I somehow didn't win the costume contest, the kids thought I had the best outfit, especially with the display I had in my area.
I had pirate themed music (mostly from the Pirates of the Caribbean) playing, spooky skeleton, and bunch of scary stuff. I even had the bottom section of Santa Claus sticking out from under a box and telling the kids Christmas was canceled due to Santa having an accident while pointing to the box with his legs poking out from it.
Maybe next year I can pump up the spirit. I'll give it a try.
I had the idea of going as a plague doctor for most of the year, mainly for the relative ease it would be made compared on the other ideas I had or had done in the years past. I didn't want to recycle yet another costume so making a mask, simple black robe and a hat wasn't going to take too long I figured.
Even then, I had my reservations. I expressed my concern at work on one person told me the he didn't believe me, that I always dress up on Hallow's Eve. I decided then and there to go ahead with my idea. So I did it, made that plague doctor in a couple of weekends. I was going to sew up that black robe but found a Grim Reaper costume for cheap and modified that. I cut off the extensions sown on the bottom of the arms. I used one of the extra piece to cover over my face so that my eyes didn't show through the lens of the mask as well as my chin area. It was just thin enough for me to see enough while being dark enough to observe my face.
The mask itself took the most time to make. I started with a cheap beak style masquerade mask made of plastic and build out from that, cutting and hot gluing til I got the shape I wanted. Quite happy how it turned out in the end despite the short time working on it.
The only thing I didn't modify was the hat. I didn't have enough time I thought so I left it alone. Could have been a lot better making it more appropriate for the costume. It needed a larger, flatter brim and the center part reshaped with the top being slightly larger than the base. Plus a more leathery look than the velvet it was made from.
I posted a series of photos on the costume and mask with some descriptions on how I made them in my gallery. It starts at http://www.furaffinity.net/view/29260451/ and goes from there. I'll post more if someone request it though I doubt anyone would much less read this saga.
Anyway, I am glad I went through with it. I ended up have fun at work by simply walking around and giving out bubonic... I mean chocolate candy. I had a bog of 170 of them and gave almost all of it out. I even through in some plastic spiders, scorpions, centipedes and the like in the candy bucket I carried around. One person accidently pull out a spider and she jump back with a yelling "ahhhh, spider!". That was hilarious I must say.
Another person ask it was all right to take a scorpion. One of the rare times I talked, I told her that you not supposed to eat the scorpion, the scorpion supposed to eat you. She gave that "ewww" look, heh. But I remained mostly silent, shaking the candy bucket while holding it out to vict... people. I even sneaked up behind some people and gave them a good fright. Fun stuff.
Yeah, I am glad that I choose to celebrate Halloween. I just wish more people get involved into it. In years past when we fist got into the new place, we got like 30 people dressing up. The sad thing is that we a lot more people employed here this year but maybe a handful got into the spirit. I would like to see it get up to like the old days. A few years ago, we even had employees bringing their kids over to the office to go trick-n-treating. That was a blast. I had my improved pirate costume that time and even though I somehow didn't win the costume contest, the kids thought I had the best outfit, especially with the display I had in my area.
I had pirate themed music (mostly from the Pirates of the Caribbean) playing, spooky skeleton, and bunch of scary stuff. I even had the bottom section of Santa Claus sticking out from under a box and telling the kids Christmas was canceled due to Santa having an accident while pointing to the box with his legs poking out from it.
Maybe next year I can pump up the spirit. I'll give it a try.
I Went to a Con and Batted 1000. 118th Journal
Posted 7 years agoYikes! I haven't made a journal in almost a year. Tons of stuff happened during that duration, some good, some bad. It'll be too long to get into all of that (plus being boring as hell I'm sure). But I'll hit on some highlights.
Well, I finally hit that magical 1000 FA watchers (yay, Go me!) while attending Alamo City Furry Invasion convention. I was on my way of hitting that ten years ago but, um, things happen. Damn RL and all that. How long it stays there I don't know as my watch count tends to go up and down as it oh so slowly creeps upward. If it wasn't for people being scared away, I would have done it ages ago. Oh well, at least I managed that count at least once.
Speaking of a thousand, ACFI went over that in attendance this year. Not bad an increase from the low 700s of their inaugural event last year, which is also my first furry con.
They held it at the same hotel on the upper part of the Riverwalk in San Antonio, just some extra space this year due to opening the ballroom next door. A lot more artists too in the larger dealer room. The overall area of the artist alley out in the lobby area actually
shrunk this year but the tables were half sized so a little bit more vendors ended up being squeezed in that space.
Unlike last year, I didn't end up buying a lot especially all those badges. I spent almost 10 hours of volunteering at the con so I only purchased just two art commissions, a leather badge and an portrait from an artist that I got a badge last year. I'll post pics... eventually.
As for the volunteering, I mostly did door guard duty checking to see if people had their con badges before entering various panels through out the day. I also did double duty a couple of times making sure no more than 4 people enter the elevators as issues with them cropped up. Originally the count was set to 6 due to same kind of issues last year but even that limit was too much at times with riders getting stuck and whatnot. Not fun when the registration area was moved to the 3rd floor to make room in the expanded dealer room. The hotel was built in 1962 though I hope the elevators got replaced or upgraded sometime since then. Still quite old regardless.
I did get some swag for the volunteer work, a couple of badges for the earned hours plus a box of random goodies that we took turns selecting items. Too bad there wasn't any dragon related items as I would have snagged that up even if I had to bite someone. Got a couple plushies and a Space Invader coin bank though.
The rest of the con went well enough I guess. Despite the volunteering, I was able to attend more panels than the previous year. Omnoms Crazy Story Hour was so packed that people were turned away. It was a blast. The stories were... well... asked not to be recorded. Ok, they was not that bad but still +18, quite hilarious indeed.
No dragon nor local furs meet and greet panels this year. They had those last year but I either missed it due to the times being changed or the schedule being wrong resulting from a mixup. First con jitters I guess. Even though those panels were missing, things ran a bit smoother this year after getting that year under their belt.
One of the panels I managed to visit is the grey muzzle meetup for those over 30 (Yeah, I'm an ancient dragon). Got to talked to several furries that been in the fandom for a long time as well as somewhat joined in their later on in life. Met an interesting fursuiter there. Ok, story time (as if this isn't long enough). I was out in the hallway earlier when a fursuit in an awesome wolf suit was having problems with his sound player. I would howl and growl repeatedly and the his handler could not shut it off. It was a bit comically as it kept going off (well, I found it funny anyway). They finally just turned the volume all the way down.
The guy running the panel was that actual fursuiter. Toward the end, I went up to him and offer to help him with the issue since I am an eletrical engineer with a degree and all that. So I took a look and sure enough, it was a broken wire on the board with the switches. I find that a lot when I investigated issues at work. The wires are soldered directly onto the circuit board, something I don't like doing myself especially if the application has a lot of movement where that wires gets flexed... like in a fursuit.
Thankfully he had a repair kit with various tools including a soldering iron. I did a quick repair though it wasn't my best work since I didn't have the time nor the parts I needed to do something a bit more permanent. I do plan on making a better circuit board with connectors so that it not only last longer, but easily replaced if a problem do arise. I also got pretty good at designing circuits at work over the centuries that I offered to make a new board. Another issue he had is the switches themselves where on the small size and hard to press though the fur on his wrist. I am going to use bigger ones that a button cap can be installed is need be to make an even bigger area to press down upon.
He offered to pay but I love designing stuff so I refused any compensation though he did bought me lunch after I did that "quick" repair. We even talked about adding more features like giving it the ability to be remotely activation. I went through several ideas but I won't bore you with the details. Plus I'll just on and on and type up a thousand lines of stuff or something (this journal is long enough as it is).
Anyway, back to the con proper. It was overall quite successful. A decent amount of growth this year with the future looking up. The charity action wasn't canceled this year and we raised a lot more money than last time, which is nice. Next year theme will be cyberpunk. Since I am into electronics and technology if you can't tell, I am looking forward to bring back my old cyborgish suit I make from scrapped parts from work many years ago. Of course I am going to improve upon it. I feel excited to do that as I get to flex the skills I learned since way back then. Going to be interesting for sure.
I could blabber on further but I probably lost everyone long ago. If anyone made it all the way here, let me know with a comment or two. I feel like no one ever reads this stuff. Well. maybe one or two people anyway.
At any rate, I hope to write more journals than just once a year. 0.0 Oh by the way, I plan on doing something for hitting that 1k watchers. Probably going to take awhile knowing me.
Well, I finally hit that magical 1000 FA watchers (yay, Go me!) while attending Alamo City Furry Invasion convention. I was on my way of hitting that ten years ago but, um, things happen. Damn RL and all that. How long it stays there I don't know as my watch count tends to go up and down as it oh so slowly creeps upward. If it wasn't for people being scared away, I would have done it ages ago. Oh well, at least I managed that count at least once.
Speaking of a thousand, ACFI went over that in attendance this year. Not bad an increase from the low 700s of their inaugural event last year, which is also my first furry con.
They held it at the same hotel on the upper part of the Riverwalk in San Antonio, just some extra space this year due to opening the ballroom next door. A lot more artists too in the larger dealer room. The overall area of the artist alley out in the lobby area actually
shrunk this year but the tables were half sized so a little bit more vendors ended up being squeezed in that space.
Unlike last year, I didn't end up buying a lot especially all those badges. I spent almost 10 hours of volunteering at the con so I only purchased just two art commissions, a leather badge and an portrait from an artist that I got a badge last year. I'll post pics... eventually.
As for the volunteering, I mostly did door guard duty checking to see if people had their con badges before entering various panels through out the day. I also did double duty a couple of times making sure no more than 4 people enter the elevators as issues with them cropped up. Originally the count was set to 6 due to same kind of issues last year but even that limit was too much at times with riders getting stuck and whatnot. Not fun when the registration area was moved to the 3rd floor to make room in the expanded dealer room. The hotel was built in 1962 though I hope the elevators got replaced or upgraded sometime since then. Still quite old regardless.
I did get some swag for the volunteer work, a couple of badges for the earned hours plus a box of random goodies that we took turns selecting items. Too bad there wasn't any dragon related items as I would have snagged that up even if I had to bite someone. Got a couple plushies and a Space Invader coin bank though.
The rest of the con went well enough I guess. Despite the volunteering, I was able to attend more panels than the previous year. Omnoms Crazy Story Hour was so packed that people were turned away. It was a blast. The stories were... well... asked not to be recorded. Ok, they was not that bad but still +18, quite hilarious indeed.
No dragon nor local furs meet and greet panels this year. They had those last year but I either missed it due to the times being changed or the schedule being wrong resulting from a mixup. First con jitters I guess. Even though those panels were missing, things ran a bit smoother this year after getting that year under their belt.
One of the panels I managed to visit is the grey muzzle meetup for those over 30 (Yeah, I'm an ancient dragon). Got to talked to several furries that been in the fandom for a long time as well as somewhat joined in their later on in life. Met an interesting fursuiter there. Ok, story time (as if this isn't long enough). I was out in the hallway earlier when a fursuit in an awesome wolf suit was having problems with his sound player. I would howl and growl repeatedly and the his handler could not shut it off. It was a bit comically as it kept going off (well, I found it funny anyway). They finally just turned the volume all the way down.
The guy running the panel was that actual fursuiter. Toward the end, I went up to him and offer to help him with the issue since I am an eletrical engineer with a degree and all that. So I took a look and sure enough, it was a broken wire on the board with the switches. I find that a lot when I investigated issues at work. The wires are soldered directly onto the circuit board, something I don't like doing myself especially if the application has a lot of movement where that wires gets flexed... like in a fursuit.
Thankfully he had a repair kit with various tools including a soldering iron. I did a quick repair though it wasn't my best work since I didn't have the time nor the parts I needed to do something a bit more permanent. I do plan on making a better circuit board with connectors so that it not only last longer, but easily replaced if a problem do arise. I also got pretty good at designing circuits at work over the centuries that I offered to make a new board. Another issue he had is the switches themselves where on the small size and hard to press though the fur on his wrist. I am going to use bigger ones that a button cap can be installed is need be to make an even bigger area to press down upon.
He offered to pay but I love designing stuff so I refused any compensation though he did bought me lunch after I did that "quick" repair. We even talked about adding more features like giving it the ability to be remotely activation. I went through several ideas but I won't bore you with the details. Plus I'll just on and on and type up a thousand lines of stuff or something (this journal is long enough as it is).
Anyway, back to the con proper. It was overall quite successful. A decent amount of growth this year with the future looking up. The charity action wasn't canceled this year and we raised a lot more money than last time, which is nice. Next year theme will be cyberpunk. Since I am into electronics and technology if you can't tell, I am looking forward to bring back my old cyborgish suit I make from scrapped parts from work many years ago. Of course I am going to improve upon it. I feel excited to do that as I get to flex the skills I learned since way back then. Going to be interesting for sure.
I could blabber on further but I probably lost everyone long ago. If anyone made it all the way here, let me know with a comment or two. I feel like no one ever reads this stuff. Well. maybe one or two people anyway.
At any rate, I hope to write more journals than just once a year. 0.0 Oh by the way, I plan on doing something for hitting that 1k watchers. Probably going to take awhile knowing me.
Success! Finally 117th Journal
Posted 8 years agoWell, Halloween season is usually my favorite time of year. I love to dress up for Hallows Eve (kinda sorta a fursuit substitute come to think about it). I also like to make my getups by paw. And those parts I end up buy, I try to modify in some way to make it unique. I'm not the type who buys a complete outfit, no fun in that. I guess that is the engineer in me.
But this year had been much of a downer with being busy both at work and home. Beside, I didn't win anything during the Halloween costume contest at work despite putting tons of work on my pirate gear and with lots of people saying I should have won something. Really put a clamp on my spirits. I almost said the hell with it and do nothing but had the nagging feeling at least I should try.
I knew I wouldn't have time to come up with something complicated so I thought about doing something quick like a Plague Doctor, which is basically a black cloak and mask with a beak-like front. I gave it some thought and figured even that would take too much of my time as I want to make the both the cloak and mask myself. So i nixed that and decided to rewear my viking setup but do more to it as I originally planned as I was running out of time as my usual and just got the basics done back in 2013 when I first wore it.
I hoped I would get it much further along to my vision. I started by painted the dragon/serpent symbol inspired by the first How to Train Your Dragon movie and it turned out exactly like the way I wanted it way back then. Another change was to add a pair of horns on my helmet even though that wasn't exactly historically accurate. People pretty much expected vikings to have horns on their helmets that I had to tell them what I was wearing. So I slapped that on to make it scream more of a viking than anything else. Plus it looks cool.
That got me rolling so I bought some faux wolf fur and used some of it one my cape/cloak thing, something I didn't even attempt in 2013. I took a gray felt blanket and reshaped it with some some hot glue. BTW, a hot glue gun is your friend... learn it, live it, love it. Then I glued the fake fur along the top. While I didn't finish everything I planned to do to the thing, it came out not half bad. Really sets off the look methinks, almost Game of Thrones like in a way.
I wore khaki pants the first go around but that would do this time so I looked as some pictures online for ideas and pick the more baggy, medieval style to use. I got some reddish-brown ovesized pants from a thrift store and use that as the basis of my design. I sewed the lower part of the legs to taper it some as well as rear and crotch area so it wouldn't hang so low. Then I folded the leg part over the bottom cuff to make it a bit poofy. Then I glued together the wolf fur along the top of a sheet of white short-cut fake fur. I wrapped that around my shins with some straps to hold it in place. I really wanted to use leather or leather-like straps but all I had was some gray bands so it had to do. It actually good enough in the end.
The shirt I largely left unchanged but couldn't find the original under-shirt to I had to substitute that. Close enough anyway. I also wore my usual work shoes as most people would know the difference and I had no time left anyway. I used the same homemade wooden sword as before too. Forgot the toy axe I had but it didn't look all that vikingish anyway. Overall, I achieved the overall effect I envisioned despite the flaws.
Now come the success part. I finally won one of the categories at the contest at work, the most creative costume. Got a $50 gift card out of it. But it was more about winning it than the money as I probably spent more total on all the parts I used. There wasn't that big of a turnout for the contest though last year was the same, which make it sting more for losing. But finally I got one lifted up my spirit at least some. I don't care if I win again in the future, I'll go on making my own costumes and see what happens. Most of the people like my stuff anyway so at least I won unofficially. However it is nice to officially recognized.
I'll post some pics in the coming days or so. Maybe some progress pics too. Maybe some of you (if anyone still left reading this far) could find it useful or something. I do feel working on these projects will aid me in eventually making my own dragon fursuit. A long way to go on that but with having a local furcon (see last journal) now gives me more of an itch to build one.
But this year had been much of a downer with being busy both at work and home. Beside, I didn't win anything during the Halloween costume contest at work despite putting tons of work on my pirate gear and with lots of people saying I should have won something. Really put a clamp on my spirits. I almost said the hell with it and do nothing but had the nagging feeling at least I should try.
I knew I wouldn't have time to come up with something complicated so I thought about doing something quick like a Plague Doctor, which is basically a black cloak and mask with a beak-like front. I gave it some thought and figured even that would take too much of my time as I want to make the both the cloak and mask myself. So i nixed that and decided to rewear my viking setup but do more to it as I originally planned as I was running out of time as my usual and just got the basics done back in 2013 when I first wore it.
I hoped I would get it much further along to my vision. I started by painted the dragon/serpent symbol inspired by the first How to Train Your Dragon movie and it turned out exactly like the way I wanted it way back then. Another change was to add a pair of horns on my helmet even though that wasn't exactly historically accurate. People pretty much expected vikings to have horns on their helmets that I had to tell them what I was wearing. So I slapped that on to make it scream more of a viking than anything else. Plus it looks cool.
That got me rolling so I bought some faux wolf fur and used some of it one my cape/cloak thing, something I didn't even attempt in 2013. I took a gray felt blanket and reshaped it with some some hot glue. BTW, a hot glue gun is your friend... learn it, live it, love it. Then I glued the fake fur along the top. While I didn't finish everything I planned to do to the thing, it came out not half bad. Really sets off the look methinks, almost Game of Thrones like in a way.
I wore khaki pants the first go around but that would do this time so I looked as some pictures online for ideas and pick the more baggy, medieval style to use. I got some reddish-brown ovesized pants from a thrift store and use that as the basis of my design. I sewed the lower part of the legs to taper it some as well as rear and crotch area so it wouldn't hang so low. Then I folded the leg part over the bottom cuff to make it a bit poofy. Then I glued together the wolf fur along the top of a sheet of white short-cut fake fur. I wrapped that around my shins with some straps to hold it in place. I really wanted to use leather or leather-like straps but all I had was some gray bands so it had to do. It actually good enough in the end.
The shirt I largely left unchanged but couldn't find the original under-shirt to I had to substitute that. Close enough anyway. I also wore my usual work shoes as most people would know the difference and I had no time left anyway. I used the same homemade wooden sword as before too. Forgot the toy axe I had but it didn't look all that vikingish anyway. Overall, I achieved the overall effect I envisioned despite the flaws.
Now come the success part. I finally won one of the categories at the contest at work, the most creative costume. Got a $50 gift card out of it. But it was more about winning it than the money as I probably spent more total on all the parts I used. There wasn't that big of a turnout for the contest though last year was the same, which make it sting more for losing. But finally I got one lifted up my spirit at least some. I don't care if I win again in the future, I'll go on making my own costumes and see what happens. Most of the people like my stuff anyway so at least I won unofficially. However it is nice to officially recognized.
I'll post some pics in the coming days or so. Maybe some progress pics too. Maybe some of you (if anyone still left reading this far) could find it useful or something. I do feel working on these projects will aid me in eventually making my own dragon fursuit. A long way to go on that but with having a local furcon (see last journal) now gives me more of an itch to build one.
Yay! Got home from my first fur con and my wings are tired.
Posted 8 years ago116th Journal
So, I just attended in my first furry convention. Not only that but it was the first furry con in San Antonio (I live in the area), Alamo City Furry Invasion. How was it you might ask (or maybe not)? It was certainly worth going, had fun and all that. I ended up commissioning a total of six character badges plus I bought a bunch of other swag. I went a bit overboard in the end but being so new to the thing I had to stock up. I'll post the badges and stuff in the coming centuries... I mean days.
Yay! Got home from my first fun con and my wings are tired.
So, I just attended in my first furry convention. Not only that but it was the first furry con in San Antonio (I live in the area), Alamo City Furry Invasion. How was it you might ask (or maybe not)? It was certainly worth going, had fun and all that. I ended up commissioning a total of six character badges plus I bought a bunch of other swag. I went a bit overboard in the end but being so new to the thing I had to stock up. I'll post the badges and stuff in the coming centuries... I mean days.
I recognized a few suiters from YouTube. There was the local Ace the squirrel, whom I first heard about the con from a video of his. He was dressed as his other character Care while someone else wore Ace. I got a couple of photos but didn't get to talk to him (got in like two words) as the main floor was quite chaotic and he moved on.
Another sighting was Telephone, which was easy as she was one of the guest of honor so that was bound to happen. Saw a bit of Candy, another YouTuber as well. Hoped to see a few others but that is all I knew about previously on the net. Maybe next time more will come.
The biggest issues with the con I could tell is the panel schedules that got a bit screwy with errors printed in the con book (and online) as well as last minute cancellations and location movements. Plus signage where few and far between. I attribute that to newbie jitters and the con chair did acknowledged the missteps and promise next year they will be addressed and be better, so that is a good thing. Hopefully those plans will come into fruition.
Yeah, I missed the fursuit parade. I got distracted talking to one of artist to do one of the badge commissions I got. And due to the messed up schedules, I missed a few of the panels I wanted to attend. And speaking of panels, there wasn't all that many to begin with anyway. Then again, the the number of attendees ultimately reached well above the original goal of 200 people. In fact, it nearly broke the record for a first-year fur con, just missed it by 11. The final tally was something like 729 off the top of my head. Oh so close but that how it goes.
I did barely made it to the opening and closing ceremonies (the later has a interesting or not so interesting story that I'll reveal at a later time). Those events went well enough. They had a theme based skits that will be on-going for the future as well donation drives for a local animal charity. I also did manage to hit the dance completion but too bad as had to leave after just 4 out of the 19 contestants did their routine.
I really wanted to participate Artistry 101 panel but a big chunk of it overlapped with the closing ceremonies, which I though the later was more unique out of the two. I am surprised that Artistry 101 didn't got moved to a different time spot and locale like a couple of others. Oh, I also missed the local meetup Saturday as that got moved to 7 pm, which is weird as I would venture to guess most locals wouldn't need a hotel room and thus be home later in the day like me. Also the room it was originally slated for remained empty so it could have stayed there and just add a second meetup at that later time. It would have been fun to hang out with the locals and all that jazz.
One panel I didn't think I'll be interested in was Mummy Furs on Sunday, where suiters got decked in toilet paper to mimic ancient mummies of all things. I got sucked in while chatting with a fellow attendee just outside the open doors. It seemed like a blast I took so many pictures of the event with my ultra-crappy smartphone camera. Hopefully they came out all right and not blurry. I say a good 20+ suiters got the conversion including Candy. Most of them roamed around like mummies was fun to watch as well, spooking people and such. I wound up bandaging the last person as things were "wrapping" up.
Most of the time I spend perusing the dealer and artist tables, buying a bit too much stuff. But hey, I'm a dragon and dragons tend to hoard stuff as the stereotype goes. I even got a pre-made "Certified Hoarder" badge from Misty Mouse along with the "dragon", "insane" and "look into my eyes" ones she offered, all of which qualified me to receive the "Certified Certified" badge to go along with the others.
One think the need more is lanyards, as one one kind was offered. With something specific to the first year con was made available, something memorable to the event than the general animal prints. Hell, custom embroidered ones would have been awesome. One vendor said he makes custom leather ones but he didn't bring them to the con for some reason. Maybe he was one of the last minute replacements as a few people canceled their tables. I'm sure the ones there made some bank as the seller/buyer ratio was in their favor.
One more thing about the place was the lack of food options. Sure there was a snack bar type area and a buffet that only open for breakfast and Saturday lunch. Not many close by restaurants in that section of the River Walk. A few food carts helped a little but. The con did manage to get a food truck to serve just outside late in the day but I wasn't there to get that. So I ended up with a con attend... I mean a sandwich the first day and a hot dog with chips the second. The thing is though, I didn't noticed I was hungry until my stomach was growling a storm. So loud that people ran away from me before I came get to... um, some snacks, yeah.
Damn, this is getting long. Why do I ramble so long? oh well, at least it was an update and a good one despite the problems. I defiantly want to attend next year to what could shape up to a smoother experience with the first time done and over with.
PS, to anyone still here (who am I kidding, I can hear the crickets), I am happy to finally get a local fur con. There was an attempt many years ago that was going to be named Furry Fiesta. This is not the same as the one now held in more north part of Texas, but here in SA with tons of parties, events and parades been held for a long time. I was sad that fell through. Somehow that name got reused elsewhere since SA is known for Fiesta Holiday, a major celebration that lasts over a week here. I feel that name fits SA better. At least Alamo City is pretty much synonymous with San Antonio.
Anyhoot, I'm out. Just give me some comments. I lack those hard and I never know if people actually read my musings as there is no view counter. I feel like I am talking into a dark void and it has been over a year since my last journal. Give me some sugar.
I recognized a few suiters from YouTube. There was the local Ace the squirrel, whom I first heard about the con from a video of his. He was dressed as his other character Care while someone else wore Ace. I got a couple of photos but didn't get to talk to him (got in like two words) as the main floor was quite chaotic and he moved on.
Another sighting was Telephone, which was easy as she was one of the guest of honor so that was bound to happen. Saw a bit of Candy, another YouTuber as well. Hoped to see a few others but that is all I knew about previously on the net. Maybe next time more will come.
The biggest issues with the con I could tell is the panel schedules that got a bit screwy with errors printed in the con book (and online) as well as last minute cancellations and location movements. Plus signage where few and far between. I attribute that to newbie jitters and the con chair did acknowledged the missteps and promise next year they will be addressed and be better, so that is a good thing. Hopefully those plans will come into fruition.
Yeah, I missed the fursuit parade. I got distracted talking to one of artist to do one of the badge commissions I got. And due to the messed up schedules, I missed a few of the panels I wanted to attend. And speaking of panels, there wasn't all that many to begin with anyway. Then again, the the number of attendees ultimately reached well above the original goal of 200 people. In fact, it nearly broke the record for a first-year fur con, just missed it by 11. The final tally was something like 729 off the top of my head. Oh so close but that how it goes.
I did barely made it to the opening and closing ceremonies (the later has a interesting or not so interesting story that I'll reveal at a later time). Those events went well enough. They had a theme based skits that will be on-going for the future as well donation drives for a local animal charity. I also did manage to hit the dance completion but too bad as had to leave after just 4 out of the 19 contestants did their routine.
I really wanted to participate Artistry 101 panel but a big chunk of it overlapped with the closing ceremonies, which I though the later was more unique out of the two. I am surprised that Artistry 101 didn't got moved to a different time spot and locale like a couple of others. Oh, I also missed the local meetup Saturday as that got moved to 7 pm, which is weird as I would venture to guess most locals wouldn't need a hotel room and thus be home later in the day like me. Also the room it was originally slated for remained empty so it could have stayed there and just add a second meetup at that later time. It would have been fun to hang out with the locals and all that jazz.
One panel I didn't think I'll be interested in was Mummy Furs on Sunday, where suiters got decked in toilet paper to mimic ancient mummies of all things. I got sucked in while chatting with a fellow attendee just outside the open doors. It seemed like a blast I took so many pictures of the event with my ultra-crappy smartphone camera. Hopefully they came out all right and not blurry. I say a good 20+ suiters got the conversion including Candy. Most of them roamed around like mummies was fun to watch as well, spooking people and such. I wound up bandaging the last person as things were "wrapping" up.
Most of the time I spend perusing the dealer and artist tables, buying a bit too much stuff. But hey, I'm a dragon and dragons tend to hoard stuff as the stereotype goes. I even got a pre-made "Certified Hoarder" badge from Misty Mouse along with the "dragon", "insane" and "look into my eyes" ones she offered, all of which qualified me to receive the "Certified Certified" badge to go along with the others.
One think the need more is lanyards, as one one kind was offered. With something specific to the first year con was made available, something memorable to the event than the general animal prints. Hell, custom embroidered ones would have been awesome. One vendor said he makes custom leather ones but he didn't bring them to the con for some reason. Maybe he was one of the last minute replacements as a few people canceled their tables. I'm sure the ones there made some bank as the seller/buyer ratio was in their favor.
One more thing about the place was the lack of food options. Sure there was a snack bar type area and a buffet that only open for breakfast and Saturday lunch. Not many close by restaurants in that section of the River Walk. A few food carts helped a little but. The con did manage to get a food truck to serve just outside late in the day but I wasn't there to get that. So I ended up with a con attend... I mean a sandwich the first day and a hot dog with chips the second. The thing is though, I didn't noticed I was hungry until my stomach was growling a storm. So loud that people ran away from me before I came get to... um, some snacks, yeah.
Damn, this is getting long. Why do I ramble so long? oh well, at least it was an update and a good one despite the problems. I defiantly want to attend next year to what could shape up to a smoother experience with the first time done and over with.
PS, to anyone still here (who am I kidding, I can hear the crickets), I am happy to finally get a local fur con. There was an attempt many years ago that was going to be named Furry Fiesta. This is not the same as the one now held in more north part of Texas, but here in SA with tons of parties, events and parades been held for a long time. I was sad that fell through. Somehow that name got reused elsewhere since SA is known for Fiesta Holiday, a major celebration that lasts over a week here. I feel that name fits SA better. At least Alamo City is pretty much synonymous with San Antonio.
One last think. please give me some comments. I lack those hardcore and I never know if people actually read my musings as there is no view counter. I feel like I am talking into a dark void and it has been over a year since I last wrote, which is sad. Give me some sugar.
So, I just attended in my first furry convention. Not only that but it was the first furry con in San Antonio (I live in the area), Alamo City Furry Invasion. How was it you might ask (or maybe not)? It was certainly worth going, had fun and all that. I ended up commissioning a total of six character badges plus I bought a bunch of other swag. I went a bit overboard in the end but being so new to the thing I had to stock up. I'll post the badges and stuff in the coming centuries... I mean days.
Yay! Got home from my first fun con and my wings are tired.
So, I just attended in my first furry convention. Not only that but it was the first furry con in San Antonio (I live in the area), Alamo City Furry Invasion. How was it you might ask (or maybe not)? It was certainly worth going, had fun and all that. I ended up commissioning a total of six character badges plus I bought a bunch of other swag. I went a bit overboard in the end but being so new to the thing I had to stock up. I'll post the badges and stuff in the coming centuries... I mean days.
I recognized a few suiters from YouTube. There was the local Ace the squirrel, whom I first heard about the con from a video of his. He was dressed as his other character Care while someone else wore Ace. I got a couple of photos but didn't get to talk to him (got in like two words) as the main floor was quite chaotic and he moved on.
Another sighting was Telephone, which was easy as she was one of the guest of honor so that was bound to happen. Saw a bit of Candy, another YouTuber as well. Hoped to see a few others but that is all I knew about previously on the net. Maybe next time more will come.
The biggest issues with the con I could tell is the panel schedules that got a bit screwy with errors printed in the con book (and online) as well as last minute cancellations and location movements. Plus signage where few and far between. I attribute that to newbie jitters and the con chair did acknowledged the missteps and promise next year they will be addressed and be better, so that is a good thing. Hopefully those plans will come into fruition.
Yeah, I missed the fursuit parade. I got distracted talking to one of artist to do one of the badge commissions I got. And due to the messed up schedules, I missed a few of the panels I wanted to attend. And speaking of panels, there wasn't all that many to begin with anyway. Then again, the the number of attendees ultimately reached well above the original goal of 200 people. In fact, it nearly broke the record for a first-year fur con, just missed it by 11. The final tally was something like 729 off the top of my head. Oh so close but that how it goes.
I did barely made it to the opening and closing ceremonies (the later has a interesting or not so interesting story that I'll reveal at a later time). Those events went well enough. They had a theme based skits that will be on-going for the future as well donation drives for a local animal charity. I also did manage to hit the dance completion but too bad as had to leave after just 4 out of the 19 contestants did their routine.
I really wanted to participate Artistry 101 panel but a big chunk of it overlapped with the closing ceremonies, which I though the later was more unique out of the two. I am surprised that Artistry 101 didn't got moved to a different time spot and locale like a couple of others. Oh, I also missed the local meetup Saturday as that got moved to 7 pm, which is weird as I would venture to guess most locals wouldn't need a hotel room and thus be home later in the day like me. Also the room it was originally slated for remained empty so it could have stayed there and just add a second meetup at that later time. It would have been fun to hang out with the locals and all that jazz.
One panel I didn't think I'll be interested in was Mummy Furs on Sunday, where suiters got decked in toilet paper to mimic ancient mummies of all things. I got sucked in while chatting with a fellow attendee just outside the open doors. It seemed like a blast I took so many pictures of the event with my ultra-crappy smartphone camera. Hopefully they came out all right and not blurry. I say a good 20+ suiters got the conversion including Candy. Most of them roamed around like mummies was fun to watch as well, spooking people and such. I wound up bandaging the last person as things were "wrapping" up.
Most of the time I spend perusing the dealer and artist tables, buying a bit too much stuff. But hey, I'm a dragon and dragons tend to hoard stuff as the stereotype goes. I even got a pre-made "Certified Hoarder" badge from Misty Mouse along with the "dragon", "insane" and "look into my eyes" ones she offered, all of which qualified me to receive the "Certified Certified" badge to go along with the others.
One think the need more is lanyards, as one one kind was offered. With something specific to the first year con was made available, something memorable to the event than the general animal prints. Hell, custom embroidered ones would have been awesome. One vendor said he makes custom leather ones but he didn't bring them to the con for some reason. Maybe he was one of the last minute replacements as a few people canceled their tables. I'm sure the ones there made some bank as the seller/buyer ratio was in their favor.
One more thing about the place was the lack of food options. Sure there was a snack bar type area and a buffet that only open for breakfast and Saturday lunch. Not many close by restaurants in that section of the River Walk. A few food carts helped a little but. The con did manage to get a food truck to serve just outside late in the day but I wasn't there to get that. So I ended up with a con attend... I mean a sandwich the first day and a hot dog with chips the second. The thing is though, I didn't noticed I was hungry until my stomach was growling a storm. So loud that people ran away from me before I came get to... um, some snacks, yeah.
Damn, this is getting long. Why do I ramble so long? oh well, at least it was an update and a good one despite the problems. I defiantly want to attend next year to what could shape up to a smoother experience with the first time done and over with.
PS, to anyone still here (who am I kidding, I can hear the crickets), I am happy to finally get a local fur con. There was an attempt many years ago that was going to be named Furry Fiesta. This is not the same as the one now held in more north part of Texas, but here in SA with tons of parties, events and parades been held for a long time. I was sad that fell through. Somehow that name got reused elsewhere since SA is known for Fiesta Holiday, a major celebration that lasts over a week here. I feel that name fits SA better. At least Alamo City is pretty much synonymous with San Antonio.
Anyhoot, I'm out. Just give me some comments. I lack those hard and I never know if people actually read my musings as there is no view counter. I feel like I am talking into a dark void and it has been over a year since my last journal. Give me some sugar.
I recognized a few suiters from YouTube. There was the local Ace the squirrel, whom I first heard about the con from a video of his. He was dressed as his other character Care while someone else wore Ace. I got a couple of photos but didn't get to talk to him (got in like two words) as the main floor was quite chaotic and he moved on.
Another sighting was Telephone, which was easy as she was one of the guest of honor so that was bound to happen. Saw a bit of Candy, another YouTuber as well. Hoped to see a few others but that is all I knew about previously on the net. Maybe next time more will come.
The biggest issues with the con I could tell is the panel schedules that got a bit screwy with errors printed in the con book (and online) as well as last minute cancellations and location movements. Plus signage where few and far between. I attribute that to newbie jitters and the con chair did acknowledged the missteps and promise next year they will be addressed and be better, so that is a good thing. Hopefully those plans will come into fruition.
Yeah, I missed the fursuit parade. I got distracted talking to one of artist to do one of the badge commissions I got. And due to the messed up schedules, I missed a few of the panels I wanted to attend. And speaking of panels, there wasn't all that many to begin with anyway. Then again, the the number of attendees ultimately reached well above the original goal of 200 people. In fact, it nearly broke the record for a first-year fur con, just missed it by 11. The final tally was something like 729 off the top of my head. Oh so close but that how it goes.
I did barely made it to the opening and closing ceremonies (the later has a interesting or not so interesting story that I'll reveal at a later time). Those events went well enough. They had a theme based skits that will be on-going for the future as well donation drives for a local animal charity. I also did manage to hit the dance completion but too bad as had to leave after just 4 out of the 19 contestants did their routine.
I really wanted to participate Artistry 101 panel but a big chunk of it overlapped with the closing ceremonies, which I though the later was more unique out of the two. I am surprised that Artistry 101 didn't got moved to a different time spot and locale like a couple of others. Oh, I also missed the local meetup Saturday as that got moved to 7 pm, which is weird as I would venture to guess most locals wouldn't need a hotel room and thus be home later in the day like me. Also the room it was originally slated for remained empty so it could have stayed there and just add a second meetup at that later time. It would have been fun to hang out with the locals and all that jazz.
One panel I didn't think I'll be interested in was Mummy Furs on Sunday, where suiters got decked in toilet paper to mimic ancient mummies of all things. I got sucked in while chatting with a fellow attendee just outside the open doors. It seemed like a blast I took so many pictures of the event with my ultra-crappy smartphone camera. Hopefully they came out all right and not blurry. I say a good 20+ suiters got the conversion including Candy. Most of them roamed around like mummies was fun to watch as well, spooking people and such. I wound up bandaging the last person as things were "wrapping" up.
Most of the time I spend perusing the dealer and artist tables, buying a bit too much stuff. But hey, I'm a dragon and dragons tend to hoard stuff as the stereotype goes. I even got a pre-made "Certified Hoarder" badge from Misty Mouse along with the "dragon", "insane" and "look into my eyes" ones she offered, all of which qualified me to receive the "Certified Certified" badge to go along with the others.
One think the need more is lanyards, as one one kind was offered. With something specific to the first year con was made available, something memorable to the event than the general animal prints. Hell, custom embroidered ones would have been awesome. One vendor said he makes custom leather ones but he didn't bring them to the con for some reason. Maybe he was one of the last minute replacements as a few people canceled their tables. I'm sure the ones there made some bank as the seller/buyer ratio was in their favor.
One more thing about the place was the lack of food options. Sure there was a snack bar type area and a buffet that only open for breakfast and Saturday lunch. Not many close by restaurants in that section of the River Walk. A few food carts helped a little but. The con did manage to get a food truck to serve just outside late in the day but I wasn't there to get that. So I ended up with a con attend... I mean a sandwich the first day and a hot dog with chips the second. The thing is though, I didn't noticed I was hungry until my stomach was growling a storm. So loud that people ran away from me before I came get to... um, some snacks, yeah.
Damn, this is getting long. Why do I ramble so long? oh well, at least it was an update and a good one despite the problems. I defiantly want to attend next year to what could shape up to a smoother experience with the first time done and over with.
PS, to anyone still here (who am I kidding, I can hear the crickets), I am happy to finally get a local fur con. There was an attempt many years ago that was going to be named Furry Fiesta. This is not the same as the one now held in more north part of Texas, but here in SA with tons of parties, events and parades been held for a long time. I was sad that fell through. Somehow that name got reused elsewhere since SA is known for Fiesta Holiday, a major celebration that lasts over a week here. I feel that name fits SA better. At least Alamo City is pretty much synonymous with San Antonio.
One last think. please give me some comments. I lack those hardcore and I never know if people actually read my musings as there is no view counter. I feel like I am talking into a dark void and it has been over a year since I last wrote, which is sad. Give me some sugar.
Belated Update. 115th Journal
Posted 9 years ago One or two of you might have noticed, I haven't been all that active here for a long long while. Yeah, I been laying low. I wanted this year restart my stuff but already more than half of it few away and I haven't even touched any of my arts. I still hope to do something before the year end though..
I have more bad news. From my previous journals from last year, I reported that year a neighbor down the street passed away. Well, this year, my youngest brother stopped his dialysis treatment in June and expired a week after. He was in great pain after being involved in a fire back in February that claimed his wife. He suffered from several medical conditions and felt he did have long to live anyway.
To add to that, a long time friend of the family got a fast spreading form of cancer and she died just two days after my brother. There might be more coming in the months ahead as the grandma of my brother's ex-wife is sick and she is over 90 so that doesn't look good for her. And then there is my aunt that is in a nursing home that might not have long to go as well.
Despite the deaths and impending ones, I do have a tiny tibit of good news at work. I finally got the engineering project that I been itching to do for almost two years. I involves re-designing an internal use product to other engineers to use. I am really getting into it and hope it will lead to bigger, better things. Designing and building stuff is something I really wanted to do all my life and this is my opportunity to get into that aspect of the business.
I started off doing real time failure analysis and rework of products off the line for years but did some minor builds like testers and the like for years there. This is going to be the biggest project so I am excited about that. I guess better late than never.
I have more bad news. From my previous journals from last year, I reported that year a neighbor down the street passed away. Well, this year, my youngest brother stopped his dialysis treatment in June and expired a week after. He was in great pain after being involved in a fire back in February that claimed his wife. He suffered from several medical conditions and felt he did have long to live anyway.
To add to that, a long time friend of the family got a fast spreading form of cancer and she died just two days after my brother. There might be more coming in the months ahead as the grandma of my brother's ex-wife is sick and she is over 90 so that doesn't look good for her. And then there is my aunt that is in a nursing home that might not have long to go as well.
Despite the deaths and impending ones, I do have a tiny tibit of good news at work. I finally got the engineering project that I been itching to do for almost two years. I involves re-designing an internal use product to other engineers to use. I am really getting into it and hope it will lead to bigger, better things. Designing and building stuff is something I really wanted to do all my life and this is my opportunity to get into that aspect of the business.
I started off doing real time failure analysis and rework of products off the line for years but did some minor builds like testers and the like for years there. This is going to be the biggest project so I am excited about that. I guess better late than never.
Ugh, it's wet! 114th Journal.
Posted 10 years ago Even though the weather forecast called for only 10% chance of showers, it is raining right now. Started just after turning dark so no one got a chance to roam the streets and I wasn't able to hand out any candy at all. Oh well, I guess I have to eat them all. Well, some as I plan to bring most of it to work and pass them out there. The rest I'll save for another "rainy day."
Yeah, this Eve of Hallows season has been a bummer on many levels. Not much Halloween spirit at work this year and only a couple of people wore costumes (I was one of the very few out of almost 150 people at the plant). I guess it is fitting to have the rain-out.
Even if the rain stops, I don't think anyone going to venture out tonight. Hope we can make it up next year. This is usually my favorite time of the year but this year just been a downer.
Yeah, this Eve of Hallows season has been a bummer on many levels. Not much Halloween spirit at work this year and only a couple of people wore costumes (I was one of the very few out of almost 150 people at the plant). I guess it is fitting to have the rain-out.
Even if the rain stops, I don't think anyone going to venture out tonight. Hope we can make it up next year. This is usually my favorite time of the year but this year just been a downer.
Looks like it's a go! 113th Journal.
Posted 10 years ago Well, the sky it is bone dry. Seems the rain prediction is a little off. Still humid though with some leftover puddles from the previous days. This is TeXaS weather for you, keeps changing and very unpredictable. I literally seen it rain heavily one side of a highway and be completely dry on the other side of the median. I remember driving on a highway and saw a dark patch of clouds coming up. And when I drove under it, it was like someone dumped a bucket of water on the windshield but before I can turn on the wipers, it cleared right up again in less than a second. I also seen it rain without a cloud in the sky. Madness.
At any rate, Maybe I'll get to eat some treaters after all... I mean giving out the candy. Yeah, that what I meant. Whether that happens remains to be seen. (Heh, get it? Whether, weather? Not punny for you?) Even though I got a pumpkin this year, I still haven't carved it. I might just quickly paint a scary face or something on it. I also bought some Halloween signs and door placard that needs to be put up as well. I am not planning to use my biker outfit but I do have a mask and a fake ax that I can greet with at the door and scoop out the candy. And I don't have the cheap stuff, all chocolate based of the so called "fun sized" candy which is less "fun" than the full sized bars but I am not made of money so that'll have to do.
At least I am handing out things I liked as a kid. Who the hell likes candy corn? That concoction was nasty. Stick to chocolates and I am happy a happy camper.
At any rate, Maybe I'll get to eat some treaters after all... I mean giving out the candy. Yeah, that what I meant. Whether that happens remains to be seen. (Heh, get it? Whether, weather? Not punny for you?) Even though I got a pumpkin this year, I still haven't carved it. I might just quickly paint a scary face or something on it. I also bought some Halloween signs and door placard that needs to be put up as well. I am not planning to use my biker outfit but I do have a mask and a fake ax that I can greet with at the door and scoop out the candy. And I don't have the cheap stuff, all chocolate based of the so called "fun sized" candy which is less "fun" than the full sized bars but I am not made of money so that'll have to do.
At least I am handing out things I liked as a kid. Who the hell likes candy corn? That concoction was nasty. Stick to chocolates and I am happy a happy camper.
Maybe Halloween is Canceled After All. 112th Journal.
Posted 10 years agoMaybe Halloween is Canceled After All. 112th Journal.
The forecast for Eve of Hallows calls for heavy showers around here. We don't get much trick-or-treaters anyway but the rain would kill any door to door activity. However, it could clear up by the time the evening rolls by so the night might be salvageable.
The workplace Halloween party already been cancel (supposed to happen last Thursday), so having a rain-out would suck. I guess I have to eat all those candy that I wouldn't have been able to give out.
Speaking of the workplace, wearing a costume was still encouraged despire the non-party but turnout was really sad. Our building have close to 150 workers and out of that, only one other person wore a costume aside from my biker outfit and I saw only one Friday. No Halloween spirit this season. I usually enjoy this part of the year but this one has been a low point so far. Hopefully I get a good turnout tomorrow but I wouldn't count on it judging by how it's going so far.
The forecast for Eve of Hallows calls for heavy showers around here. We don't get much trick-or-treaters anyway but the rain would kill any door to door activity. However, it could clear up by the time the evening rolls by so the night might be salvageable.
The workplace Halloween party already been cancel (supposed to happen last Thursday), so having a rain-out would suck. I guess I have to eat all those candy that I wouldn't have been able to give out.
Speaking of the workplace, wearing a costume was still encouraged despire the non-party but turnout was really sad. Our building have close to 150 workers and out of that, only one other person wore a costume aside from my biker outfit and I saw only one Friday. No Halloween spirit this season. I usually enjoy this part of the year but this one has been a low point so far. Hopefully I get a good turnout tomorrow but I wouldn't count on it judging by how it's going so far.
Halloween Been Canceled! 111th Journal
Posted 10 years ago Ok, Hallows' Eve not actually canceled, just the Halloween party/contest at work. Found out this morning. Bummer. And I just gathered the majority of the material I needed to make my costume too (an aluminized high-temp firesuit). Well, at least people are still encouraged to dress up though. I don't think it'll be as much fun but at least it's something.
The project I had in mind is going to be too fragile to wear all day so I hopped to put it on during the event. I plan to go with one of my backup ideas, the Wacko biker (inspired by the Waco shootout at Twin Peaks). No fake bullet wound to the head however, that could be a little too morbid for work taken account of what went down in Waco, TeXaS several month ago, a bit too close. If it was a private party, I'll go all out of course. But I'll keep it subtle... for the most part.
Should be too hard to do as I already made a faux leather vest for my Machete costume from last year. I'll take off the knives and add a biker patch on the patch. I won't be a real patch but something printed on paper with the image textured to look like a sewn patch. I already started on the logo.
Aside from the vest, there is not much accessories to go with. I'll probably get one of those choker chains to look like those that I sometimes see biker dudes hang from their wallets. Maybe a pair of leather-like finger-less gloves if I can find them. Perhaps a spiked leather wristband or something like that. Certainly a bunch of fake tattoos like a arm sleeve. If I can find some sort of biker helmet, I'll go with that too. A Twin-Peaks styled red plaid bandanna would be a good tie-in methinks.
The other idea I had is going as a '80s rocker complete with the poofed hair and the like. I don't think I'll go with that one, at least not this year. Something to keep on the back burner. I don't have the time to redo the cyborg costume I did several years ago so that one is out. I did thought about being a Mongol warrior but too late to start on that one as well.
I don't have any more biker ideas right now and I am running out of time (as usual). If any of you have any more suggestions, fire away. I won't bite... much. I could use more thoughts on this to pull it off and make it different enough than what I did last year as much as possible.
The project I had in mind is going to be too fragile to wear all day so I hopped to put it on during the event. I plan to go with one of my backup ideas, the Wacko biker (inspired by the Waco shootout at Twin Peaks). No fake bullet wound to the head however, that could be a little too morbid for work taken account of what went down in Waco, TeXaS several month ago, a bit too close. If it was a private party, I'll go all out of course. But I'll keep it subtle... for the most part.
Should be too hard to do as I already made a faux leather vest for my Machete costume from last year. I'll take off the knives and add a biker patch on the patch. I won't be a real patch but something printed on paper with the image textured to look like a sewn patch. I already started on the logo.
Aside from the vest, there is not much accessories to go with. I'll probably get one of those choker chains to look like those that I sometimes see biker dudes hang from their wallets. Maybe a pair of leather-like finger-less gloves if I can find them. Perhaps a spiked leather wristband or something like that. Certainly a bunch of fake tattoos like a arm sleeve. If I can find some sort of biker helmet, I'll go with that too. A Twin-Peaks styled red plaid bandanna would be a good tie-in methinks.
The other idea I had is going as a '80s rocker complete with the poofed hair and the like. I don't think I'll go with that one, at least not this year. Something to keep on the back burner. I don't have the time to redo the cyborg costume I did several years ago so that one is out. I did thought about being a Mongol warrior but too late to start on that one as well.
I don't have any more biker ideas right now and I am running out of time (as usual). If any of you have any more suggestions, fire away. I won't bite... much. I could use more thoughts on this to pull it off and make it different enough than what I did last year as much as possible.
Spooky Season Reason for 110th Journal
Posted 10 years agoAh, the spooky season is upon us, my traditional favorite time of the year. This year is sure seemed to rush by extra fast. I barely blinked and most of the year already vanished. I barely did anything I wanted to get accomplished by now and don't have much time left before the year's end. O.O
I haven't even started on my ween of hallo costume yet and time is running out. I have a couple of ideas but nothing really sticking out. One idea is to reuse the vest I made for last year (I need to post pics of that, been lazy. sorry). and turn it into a biker's vest and call myself the WACkO Biker. That might be a bit too morbid for the contest at work especially if I do that head-shot makeup. But I might be able to pull it off before the deadline (hehe, dead) since there is not that much to it.
I could redo that cyborg getup I did years ago but that would take some work to bring it up to date. There is lots I could do to improved it especially since I did really finished it to the point I wanted back them. Plus I have to find all the old pieces, which could be anywhere from here to mars and such. Some of it could have been sucked into that black hole, which would really make it a pain to retrieve. So that idea is probably out.
Aside from those two, I am drawing a blank. I'll look around and see if something pops in my brain. I just hope it is not too late... like usual.
Some of you guys might have noticed I did some art of late. Not much, just some tests of my newish tablet and playing with some different software. I tried out Krita and MyPaint among a few others. Krita does play nice with my new tablet, using the side shortcut buttons right off the bat. My previous choice GIMP would use the tablet ok (a slight lag but usable) but would freak out if I use the side buttons. As soon as I press one, it would go into super lag mode, taking like 10 seconds to react to the brush stroke, making it pretty much unusable. Fortunately, both GIMP and Krita shares a file format that doesn't lose any features like if I saved in PS, so I can switch between the two if need be.
A word about Krita. I is designed to be a pure paint program and have tons of brush settings and features. In fact, it have multiple brush engines. I does make it a bit hard to get into at first. I been experimenting with the myriad of brushes and their settings and getting somewhat used to it though there is a lot more to get my head around. I figured out just enough to be dangerous as my latest art adventure can attest to so watch out. There could be more in the hopefully near future (though don't hold your breath).
Speaking of new arts, I noticed the watersport versions of my drawings seems to gather the most eyes. I guess that is my audience for you, am I right. *hears crickets* Aw, where is everybody? Anyone? Oh well, moving on. I might be able to pop out a few more drawing before the year out. I be meaning to restart the 3D stuff for a few years now but that seems to get pushed back farther and farther back. Maybe next year. I have so many big plans, getting to them is the problem.
I haven't update my journal in a long time indeed. If anyone still reading have any questions, now is a good time to ask. Also, if you have a costume idea or een something to improve mine, fire me a comment. I have ust a few more weeks to get something at least passable.
I haven't even started on my ween of hallo costume yet and time is running out. I have a couple of ideas but nothing really sticking out. One idea is to reuse the vest I made for last year (I need to post pics of that, been lazy. sorry). and turn it into a biker's vest and call myself the WACkO Biker. That might be a bit too morbid for the contest at work especially if I do that head-shot makeup. But I might be able to pull it off before the deadline (hehe, dead) since there is not that much to it.
I could redo that cyborg getup I did years ago but that would take some work to bring it up to date. There is lots I could do to improved it especially since I did really finished it to the point I wanted back them. Plus I have to find all the old pieces, which could be anywhere from here to mars and such. Some of it could have been sucked into that black hole, which would really make it a pain to retrieve. So that idea is probably out.
Aside from those two, I am drawing a blank. I'll look around and see if something pops in my brain. I just hope it is not too late... like usual.
Some of you guys might have noticed I did some art of late. Not much, just some tests of my newish tablet and playing with some different software. I tried out Krita and MyPaint among a few others. Krita does play nice with my new tablet, using the side shortcut buttons right off the bat. My previous choice GIMP would use the tablet ok (a slight lag but usable) but would freak out if I use the side buttons. As soon as I press one, it would go into super lag mode, taking like 10 seconds to react to the brush stroke, making it pretty much unusable. Fortunately, both GIMP and Krita shares a file format that doesn't lose any features like if I saved in PS, so I can switch between the two if need be.
A word about Krita. I is designed to be a pure paint program and have tons of brush settings and features. In fact, it have multiple brush engines. I does make it a bit hard to get into at first. I been experimenting with the myriad of brushes and their settings and getting somewhat used to it though there is a lot more to get my head around. I figured out just enough to be dangerous as my latest art adventure can attest to so watch out. There could be more in the hopefully near future (though don't hold your breath).
Speaking of new arts, I noticed the watersport versions of my drawings seems to gather the most eyes. I guess that is my audience for you, am I right. *hears crickets* Aw, where is everybody? Anyone? Oh well, moving on. I might be able to pop out a few more drawing before the year out. I be meaning to restart the 3D stuff for a few years now but that seems to get pushed back farther and farther back. Maybe next year. I have so many big plans, getting to them is the problem.
I haven't update my journal in a long time indeed. If anyone still reading have any questions, now is a good time to ask. Also, if you have a costume idea or een something to improve mine, fire me a comment. I have ust a few more weeks to get something at least passable.
Sad News Update. 109th Journal
Posted 10 years ago It wasn't my uncle that passed away but a neighbor with the same first name down the street. Still a shock though he had health issues for a while. He lived next to another neighbor that died in his sleep several years ago.
Got Some Sad News Today. 108th Journal
Posted 10 years ago Found out today that my uncle from Iowa passed away during knee surgery a couple of days ago. Don't have any details but suspect he was placed under general anesthesia instead of a local like my mom for her total knee replacement at the beginning of the month. They numbed her from the waist down for the medical procedure that lasted less than a hour in the operating room.
She is recovering well though and progressing through rehab ahead of most. Her doctor is highly rated and has something like 96% success rate, so that is good. I always heard surgery should be held off as a last resort. She had pain in her left knee for a long time and been taking painkiller injections directly in her knee. Those lasted a few weeks at first but the duration got less and less til he last shot only was only effected a couple of days if that. Plus didn't get rid of all the pain when it did worked. We was looking into one of those special knee-braces as seen on TV but the specialist we saw didn't think it'll be effective in her case as she had bone on bone in her knee.
Finally got the operation and she should be off her walker in a few weeks and hopefully pain free for the first time in a long while.
I have other news but I don't feel like going into them due to my uncle passing. Kinda out of the blue, didn't even know he had knee problems. And supposedly knee operations are pretty routine these days. Again, I have no details so I have no idea what sort of complications he had.
She is recovering well though and progressing through rehab ahead of most. Her doctor is highly rated and has something like 96% success rate, so that is good. I always heard surgery should be held off as a last resort. She had pain in her left knee for a long time and been taking painkiller injections directly in her knee. Those lasted a few weeks at first but the duration got less and less til he last shot only was only effected a couple of days if that. Plus didn't get rid of all the pain when it did worked. We was looking into one of those special knee-braces as seen on TV but the specialist we saw didn't think it'll be effective in her case as she had bone on bone in her knee.
Finally got the operation and she should be off her walker in a few weeks and hopefully pain free for the first time in a long while.
I have other news but I don't feel like going into them due to my uncle passing. Kinda out of the blue, didn't even know he had knee problems. And supposedly knee operations are pretty routine these days. Again, I have no details so I have no idea what sort of complications he had.
Trek Wreck, 107th Journal
Posted 10 years ago Oh heck, my trek home ended in a wreck but don't fret, it wasn't that much pain in the neck. Yeah, a few weeks ago, an old lady turned in front of me at an intersection that resulted in quite a bother which left both cars in sad state of affairs. Nobody got injured but my '90 Mustang took the blunt of the hit on the front driver side fender, busting up the headlight and bending the radiator support, shoving it back and about a half an inch to the side. The other car's front bumper got sheared off in a shower of plastic parts flying everywhere. We ended up side to side. I don't think she even braked by the way she reved her engine during the hit. I assume her foot was still planted on the accelerator. The cops determined she was at fault as I have the green light and she didn't have the protective green on the turn. Luckily She has insurance so I was hoping they would take care of it.
The insurance adjuster gave an estimate for the damage and it was high enough to total the car. I really didn't want to lose it but the amount they paid out was way over what I expected (a good deal over the repair estimate too). I was afraid I was going to be short changed but pleasantly surprised.
The insurance company provided a rental but by the time I got the payout, I only had a few days left on it and getting the Mustang back on the road would take me time. I could slap it back together over the weekend but I decided to get a newer mode of transportation. I been looking at cars for sale on the net in the meantime and bit the bullet.
I went looking for something with more carrying capacity or at least the same as my Mustang, which has a hatchback, something like a mid-sized SUV or the like. But the prices for a newer model was a bit too high for my taste. The rental from the insurance company was a Ford Focus and it drove well enough with tight steering and good but a bit grabby brakes. The acceleration suck to high hell being a four-banger (I am so used to V8s) but it was adequate for going from point A to B with decent gas mileage. Ford makes a hatchback version (which I liked for the versatility) of it so I looked at those as well.
The prices on those are much closer to my comfort level so I 'focused' my search on them. So on Saturday, I went to a dealership that has a 2013 Gray Focus SE hatchback with 34k miles that pique my interest. It was across town though. Even though the website says it was still available, by the time I got there, it was gone. But they did have another gray hatchback but a 2014 SE model with 14k miles. The price was a little high but the lower miles and year newer made up for it. The CarFax came back stating that vehicle was involved in 2 minor accidents but didn't say what exactly happened and location of the damages. That worried me a bit so I felt it didn't hurt to investigate the lot some more.
They also had a 2012 SEL model with the digger 17" wheels, 4-wheel disk brakes along other upgrades. The problem with it was beaten to hell with over 65k miles. Too bad as it was a little cheaper than the 14k one. The salesman found a racy red model but I am not too hot on that color. He also had a white one with 10k miles. However, it was a rental and was in bad shape though not as bad as the SEL model. So I went back to the 14k and we went back and forth on the pricing. Got them to come down as much as I could. Based on the NADA rates, I did ok, not spectacular. I would have looked some more but time was short (didn't let the sales guy know that) and decided to buy that one.
So I am now a "proud" owner of a metallic gray 2014 Ford Focus SE hatchback with 14k miles. Well, not super proud but that is the newest vehicle I owned, almost new even. My brother used to work at a body shop and he looked to see how bad the damage it suffered. He found that it had been hit in the rear and had the rear bumper area worked on. The work seemed to be well done as he could only tell that anything had happened there is by the looks of one of the spot-welds and slight wrinkling of a sheet metal panel under the car. He felt it might had been a dealership repair as it was good work. The only other visible damage was the the front bumper toward the bottom. It appears the previous owner bumped into a into a post at low speed and pushed it in right on the edge. It was largely cosmetic though. Everything else was clean and it has the factory certification, meaning it has 7-year/100k mile warranty on the drivetrain. I also opted for the extra warranty that covers all mechanical and electrical problems over the same time/miles period with a $50 deductible. If I am going to spend that kind of money on this, might as well go all the way and cover everything.
So there you go, if you see a dragon driving down the street with his head sticking out of the sunroof of a Gray Focus, give a wave as it might be me. Anyway, I wonder who actually finished reading this long sordid tome of woe on the go. Anyone left? *Knocks on the screen.* No one? Humpf. Oh well. At least I wrote something, a rarity these days.
The insurance adjuster gave an estimate for the damage and it was high enough to total the car. I really didn't want to lose it but the amount they paid out was way over what I expected (a good deal over the repair estimate too). I was afraid I was going to be short changed but pleasantly surprised.
The insurance company provided a rental but by the time I got the payout, I only had a few days left on it and getting the Mustang back on the road would take me time. I could slap it back together over the weekend but I decided to get a newer mode of transportation. I been looking at cars for sale on the net in the meantime and bit the bullet.
I went looking for something with more carrying capacity or at least the same as my Mustang, which has a hatchback, something like a mid-sized SUV or the like. But the prices for a newer model was a bit too high for my taste. The rental from the insurance company was a Ford Focus and it drove well enough with tight steering and good but a bit grabby brakes. The acceleration suck to high hell being a four-banger (I am so used to V8s) but it was adequate for going from point A to B with decent gas mileage. Ford makes a hatchback version (which I liked for the versatility) of it so I looked at those as well.
The prices on those are much closer to my comfort level so I 'focused' my search on them. So on Saturday, I went to a dealership that has a 2013 Gray Focus SE hatchback with 34k miles that pique my interest. It was across town though. Even though the website says it was still available, by the time I got there, it was gone. But they did have another gray hatchback but a 2014 SE model with 14k miles. The price was a little high but the lower miles and year newer made up for it. The CarFax came back stating that vehicle was involved in 2 minor accidents but didn't say what exactly happened and location of the damages. That worried me a bit so I felt it didn't hurt to investigate the lot some more.
They also had a 2012 SEL model with the digger 17" wheels, 4-wheel disk brakes along other upgrades. The problem with it was beaten to hell with over 65k miles. Too bad as it was a little cheaper than the 14k one. The salesman found a racy red model but I am not too hot on that color. He also had a white one with 10k miles. However, it was a rental and was in bad shape though not as bad as the SEL model. So I went back to the 14k and we went back and forth on the pricing. Got them to come down as much as I could. Based on the NADA rates, I did ok, not spectacular. I would have looked some more but time was short (didn't let the sales guy know that) and decided to buy that one.
So I am now a "proud" owner of a metallic gray 2014 Ford Focus SE hatchback with 14k miles. Well, not super proud but that is the newest vehicle I owned, almost new even. My brother used to work at a body shop and he looked to see how bad the damage it suffered. He found that it had been hit in the rear and had the rear bumper area worked on. The work seemed to be well done as he could only tell that anything had happened there is by the looks of one of the spot-welds and slight wrinkling of a sheet metal panel under the car. He felt it might had been a dealership repair as it was good work. The only other visible damage was the the front bumper toward the bottom. It appears the previous owner bumped into a into a post at low speed and pushed it in right on the edge. It was largely cosmetic though. Everything else was clean and it has the factory certification, meaning it has 7-year/100k mile warranty on the drivetrain. I also opted for the extra warranty that covers all mechanical and electrical problems over the same time/miles period with a $50 deductible. If I am going to spend that kind of money on this, might as well go all the way and cover everything.
So there you go, if you see a dragon driving down the street with his head sticking out of the sunroof of a Gray Focus, give a wave as it might be me. Anyway, I wonder who actually finished reading this long sordid tome of woe on the go. Anyone left? *Knocks on the screen.* No one? Humpf. Oh well. At least I wrote something, a rarity these days.
Almost 30k Pageviews and Stuff. 106th Journal
Posted 11 years agoI been here just over 8 years and finally getting to that 30k views mark, just 7 more to go at this moment.. I haven't posted and art for ages so it's been slow. I been pondering doing a kiriban for the person capturing that page but I haven't even done those in the past. But what the hell, if someone takes a screenshot of the event, I might ad them to the list. Just don't expect a drawing to be done anytime soon. Maybe it'll prompt me to restart my arts or something. Who knows, I certainly don't. :-O
Halloween update. 105th Journal
Posted 11 years agoAnother Eve of Hallows came and went. This is usually my favorite time of year as the oppressive TeXaS heat starts to wane and the trifecta of festive holidays of Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas begins. But the last few years hasn't been all that festive due to some drama and circumstances that put a damper of things.
This year was no different though I did manage to dress up again (more on it later). The costume came out well enough despite being a rush job... again. Wore it at work. I didn't win at the office costume party but it was fun enough to be worth it. I was thinking of going something steampunkish next year but someone wore a steampunk outfit this year and I don't want to copy that even though his was store bought and I like to make mine. I'll have to come up with something else but have a whole year to plan. Probably end up rushing it too like all the others despite saying to myself that I'll finally finish early.
Oh well, we shall see.
I got home and got ready for whatever trick-n-treaters that would show up this year. Thinks started well enough as the first group of like six or so arrived just before it got dark. I jumped at the doorway with a yell and scared them good. Gave out a good fistful of sweets (and no, I didn't eat them. So little comes by these days that I stopped doing that). Things looked upbeat.
The second treater was just one person and her parent. The little girl wasn't impressed with my jump-growl though. I guess she was too focused on the candy. Oh well, can't scare them all. After that nothing.
It wasn't until a couple of hours later that I finally got another group. I still have big bowl of candy to get rid and thought no one else was coming by. A pretty sizable group too. One more group came by and that was it this year. All in all, I was able to dispense at least half the bowl, four bags worth of candy. Less people seems to go out trick-n-treating every year. Not like it used to be in the years past.
I remember going out treating when I was young. My younger brothers and I would bee out late in the night gathering candy. I recall one year going by ourselves three times until 2 in the morning, getting enough candy to last for months. And this was before we were 10 year olds. Yeah, those days are long gone and i don't think it'll ever come back.
This year was no different though I did manage to dress up again (more on it later). The costume came out well enough despite being a rush job... again. Wore it at work. I didn't win at the office costume party but it was fun enough to be worth it. I was thinking of going something steampunkish next year but someone wore a steampunk outfit this year and I don't want to copy that even though his was store bought and I like to make mine. I'll have to come up with something else but have a whole year to plan. Probably end up rushing it too like all the others despite saying to myself that I'll finally finish early.
Oh well, we shall see.
I got home and got ready for whatever trick-n-treaters that would show up this year. Thinks started well enough as the first group of like six or so arrived just before it got dark. I jumped at the doorway with a yell and scared them good. Gave out a good fistful of sweets (and no, I didn't eat them. So little comes by these days that I stopped doing that). Things looked upbeat.
The second treater was just one person and her parent. The little girl wasn't impressed with my jump-growl though. I guess she was too focused on the candy. Oh well, can't scare them all. After that nothing.
It wasn't until a couple of hours later that I finally got another group. I still have big bowl of candy to get rid and thought no one else was coming by. A pretty sizable group too. One more group came by and that was it this year. All in all, I was able to dispense at least half the bowl, four bags worth of candy. Less people seems to go out trick-n-treating every year. Not like it used to be in the years past.
I remember going out treating when I was young. My younger brothers and I would bee out late in the night gathering candy. I recall one year going by ourselves three times until 2 in the morning, getting enough candy to last for months. And this was before we were 10 year olds. Yeah, those days are long gone and i don't think it'll ever come back.
I'm not dead... I think. 104th journal
Posted 11 years agoIt's been almost exactly 2 years since my last update, not like anyone cares or something but still. Oh well, many factors kept creeping up on me throughout the years. I been meaning to restart my so-called arts several times but life has a way of getting in the way if you know what I mean.
Workplace situation is still better than when first moved to the new building, at least for me anyway. Production is busy and very hectic but the main problem for me is waiting on parts and stuff from others. So I get this hurry up and wait type thing. Very frustrating indeed. So while I wait to get the items I need to proceed my work, I keep myself busy with documenting the procedure to assemble more loadboxes I am making so that each engineer will get one eventually. Documentation is so tedious and boring, no wonder no one does it. Well, barely anyway. I can go into details but I probably already bored and lost the few remaining people of any reading this.
The "kitchen" house remodel is still dragging one though it is in the final stages, mostly cleanup and organizing the many centuries of jun... stuff accumulated in horde piles. Plus some finishing work like the crown molding over the kitchen cabinets and lights. Hopefully I get done soon but I been saying that for a long time already.
I also need to get a new microwave as that broken down just a few days ago. I planned to replace it anyway but I was hoping it would last until the Christmas season sales so I can get a good deal on a nice big stainless steel model. Going without one is such a big pain.
Those that didn't noticed, I made a viking costume last Ween of Hallo. As per usual, I ran out of time and had to slap it together at the last minute and missed a lot of stuff I wanted to do to it. Despite that, it turned out ok enough but my vision of the competed costume is so much better. I don't like buying premade outfits so I did most of it myself including the shield, sword and helmet. Aside from not paining the design of the shield, those components I thought looked good for being handmade. I also wanted to add horns (which is inaccurate though would make is more recognizable) but couldn't find any that looked nice and inexpensive and had no time to make a set. Those extra touches would taken taken it to the next level but oh well, that how it goes. I'll post pictures of it shortly (before the coming Ice Age, I swear).
This year I got inspired by the movie Ma... heh, I'll not going to name it yet. Lets see if someone can guess while I post the progress pics. Again I didn't get everything done like I wanted even though I started the process many months ago like the Viking I did last year. But I did manage to get enough that my co-workers pretty much know what I was going for in the company costume contest. I think the props helped.
As for that contest, a lot less people entered this year than the last, less than half would be my guess. The quality seems to be better methinks like the overall winner. He had a huge Minion character from the movie Despicable Me that was impressive, close to pro quality. Then again, he got someone to make it for him. Several others had homemade outfits too, mostly zombies. The only group entry was two caught armless zombies and a hunter holding the chain. An auto-win but still would have placed well.
In other news, I been sick. Some sort of stomach virus hit me bad. It lasted a whole week and I even spent two nights in the hospital as I couldn't stop throwing up even though my stomach emptied long ago. The constant urge to vomit was very painful. It happened every few seconds for hours at a time. Hard to sleep with that going. I finally broke done and went to the ER, my first time as a patient there. Brrrr, that place was cold, freezing until a nurse threw a hot blanket on me. They did a x-ray and cat scan but found nothing major like ulcers so I eventually got some painkillers that constant retching under control. I wore wore those anti-bloodcloging boot things and got a bunch of IV bags by the time I left to keep me hydrated.
Anyone still reading this? I could go on and on but I guess I'll stop here.
Workplace situation is still better than when first moved to the new building, at least for me anyway. Production is busy and very hectic but the main problem for me is waiting on parts and stuff from others. So I get this hurry up and wait type thing. Very frustrating indeed. So while I wait to get the items I need to proceed my work, I keep myself busy with documenting the procedure to assemble more loadboxes I am making so that each engineer will get one eventually. Documentation is so tedious and boring, no wonder no one does it. Well, barely anyway. I can go into details but I probably already bored and lost the few remaining people of any reading this.
The "kitchen" house remodel is still dragging one though it is in the final stages, mostly cleanup and organizing the many centuries of jun... stuff accumulated in horde piles. Plus some finishing work like the crown molding over the kitchen cabinets and lights. Hopefully I get done soon but I been saying that for a long time already.
I also need to get a new microwave as that broken down just a few days ago. I planned to replace it anyway but I was hoping it would last until the Christmas season sales so I can get a good deal on a nice big stainless steel model. Going without one is such a big pain.
Those that didn't noticed, I made a viking costume last Ween of Hallo. As per usual, I ran out of time and had to slap it together at the last minute and missed a lot of stuff I wanted to do to it. Despite that, it turned out ok enough but my vision of the competed costume is so much better. I don't like buying premade outfits so I did most of it myself including the shield, sword and helmet. Aside from not paining the design of the shield, those components I thought looked good for being handmade. I also wanted to add horns (which is inaccurate though would make is more recognizable) but couldn't find any that looked nice and inexpensive and had no time to make a set. Those extra touches would taken taken it to the next level but oh well, that how it goes. I'll post pictures of it shortly (before the coming Ice Age, I swear).
This year I got inspired by the movie Ma... heh, I'll not going to name it yet. Lets see if someone can guess while I post the progress pics. Again I didn't get everything done like I wanted even though I started the process many months ago like the Viking I did last year. But I did manage to get enough that my co-workers pretty much know what I was going for in the company costume contest. I think the props helped.
As for that contest, a lot less people entered this year than the last, less than half would be my guess. The quality seems to be better methinks like the overall winner. He had a huge Minion character from the movie Despicable Me that was impressive, close to pro quality. Then again, he got someone to make it for him. Several others had homemade outfits too, mostly zombies. The only group entry was two caught armless zombies and a hunter holding the chain. An auto-win but still would have placed well.
In other news, I been sick. Some sort of stomach virus hit me bad. It lasted a whole week and I even spent two nights in the hospital as I couldn't stop throwing up even though my stomach emptied long ago. The constant urge to vomit was very painful. It happened every few seconds for hours at a time. Hard to sleep with that going. I finally broke done and went to the ER, my first time as a patient there. Brrrr, that place was cold, freezing until a nurse threw a hot blanket on me. They did a x-ray and cat scan but found nothing major like ulcers so I eventually got some painkillers that constant retching under control. I wore wore those anti-bloodcloging boot things and got a bunch of IV bags by the time I left to keep me hydrated.
Anyone still reading this? I could go on and on but I guess I'll stop here.
Whoop! The sweet taste of success. 103rd journal.
Posted 13 years agoGot back from the Halloween party last night and guess what, I won the best male costume contest. Not bad as I was not 100% satisfied with my pirate outfit (I wanted to do so much more to it). That's right, this dragon dressed up like a pirate, arrrrrr!. Apparently I did a good enough of a job to beat out someone that came as Jigsaw, but just barely. He was quite creepy by not speaking for most of the night. At least I got sweet revenge for losing to Hellboy from the last party years ago.
The host expects more people, around 50 or so but about 30 eventually showed up. Still quite fun though. It has been several years since he held it last so it is nice to get back into it. What is weird is that the workplace is holding a raffle drawings for those wearing a costume come the 31st. Didn't expect that considering the current management (not a fun-loving bunch at all) but somehow that slipped through. Of course I plan to wear the pirate getup.
Seems not a lot of people going to do the same. I talked to a dozen co-workers and very few said they will participate. Even the party-goers hardly will dress-up. The morale at work is bad so I guess none not much of a celebratory spirit. I am not exactly a happy camper myself but want to break out of the monotony. Besides, it'll be fun to dress up something different and not get stares... well, not too many of them.
I might post some pics of the pirate gear later. Be forewarned and hide. Oh wait, you guys (the few that are left) does that already. >.>
As for those kiriban drawings, I barely done anything on those due to working on the costume and other stuff. I hope to kick-start those projects by next century... um, next weekend. I can't promise anything tough except a smack on the side of the head. *Dragon punch!* Oops, a bit too hard. *Mops up the exploded bits.*
The host expects more people, around 50 or so but about 30 eventually showed up. Still quite fun though. It has been several years since he held it last so it is nice to get back into it. What is weird is that the workplace is holding a raffle drawings for those wearing a costume come the 31st. Didn't expect that considering the current management (not a fun-loving bunch at all) but somehow that slipped through. Of course I plan to wear the pirate getup.
Seems not a lot of people going to do the same. I talked to a dozen co-workers and very few said they will participate. Even the party-goers hardly will dress-up. The morale at work is bad so I guess none not much of a celebratory spirit. I am not exactly a happy camper myself but want to break out of the monotony. Besides, it'll be fun to dress up something different and not get stares... well, not too many of them.
I might post some pics of the pirate gear later. Be forewarned and hide. Oh wait, you guys (the few that are left) does that already. >.>
As for those kiriban drawings, I barely done anything on those due to working on the costume and other stuff. I hope to kick-start those projects by next century... um, next weekend. I can't promise anything tough except a smack on the side of the head. *Dragon punch!* Oops, a bit too hard. *Mops up the exploded bits.*
Yah-har-fiddle-dee-dee. 102nd journal
Posted 13 years ago... being a pirate is all right to be!
Do what you want 'cause a pirate is free,
You are a pirate!
You might ask what madness brought that up that old meme (the original is from 2006). Well, I'll tell you why, I'm a crazy dragon. That too plus that the party is on this year! One of the cooler bosses at work had these Halloween parties but stopped doing them a few years ago. He is doing it again this year and I plan to attend. Can you imagine a dragon dressed up as a pirate? Going to be cool me hopes.
I already got a cool pirate hat (with beads and such but i want to add more to dress it up). I got most of the props like flintlock pistols and plastic sword. I need some sort of frilly type shirt and a vest. A long jacket would be awesome but I don't think I can find that. Well, at a cheap price anyway. I am trying to make most of the costume myself instead of getting a whole packaged kit. kinda takes away the creativity and the fun out of it methinks. Plus it'll be custom.
Back when I was a wee lad in the '70s, I (my mom mostly) made the costumes. I was an indian one year and I do vaguely remember being a pirate too all those years ago but can't recall the details. Oh well, I am a forgetful beast. Anyway, those were different times indeed. Us kids would go out by ourselves (we were like 8 or 9 back then) and keeping going back out after filling out bags with goodies, hitting as late as two o'clock in the morning. Yeah, people still had their lights on that late.
Can't do that these days. Times sure changed. And there are far less people out trick-n-treating. I guess most goes out to parties and such. A few years back, my brother's kids came over on Halloween and I got to wear the costume that I had for the last party, which was a couple of days prior. Might get to do that this year too, have to wait and see.
Oh by the way, here is a journal warning about the dangers of using flea-killing dog shampoo http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/3924091 . Check it out, could save your pet and a bunch of heartache later.
Yeah yeah, I am pumping out journals at a rate never before. *Shrugs* I guess I am in a writing mood, a rare event to either savor or run and hide from. It is a scary thing indeed.
Do what you want 'cause a pirate is free,
You are a pirate!
You might ask what madness brought that up that old meme (the original is from 2006). Well, I'll tell you why, I'm a crazy dragon. That too plus that the party is on this year! One of the cooler bosses at work had these Halloween parties but stopped doing them a few years ago. He is doing it again this year and I plan to attend. Can you imagine a dragon dressed up as a pirate? Going to be cool me hopes.
I already got a cool pirate hat (with beads and such but i want to add more to dress it up). I got most of the props like flintlock pistols and plastic sword. I need some sort of frilly type shirt and a vest. A long jacket would be awesome but I don't think I can find that. Well, at a cheap price anyway. I am trying to make most of the costume myself instead of getting a whole packaged kit. kinda takes away the creativity and the fun out of it methinks. Plus it'll be custom.
Back when I was a wee lad in the '70s, I (my mom mostly) made the costumes. I was an indian one year and I do vaguely remember being a pirate too all those years ago but can't recall the details. Oh well, I am a forgetful beast. Anyway, those were different times indeed. Us kids would go out by ourselves (we were like 8 or 9 back then) and keeping going back out after filling out bags with goodies, hitting as late as two o'clock in the morning. Yeah, people still had their lights on that late.
Can't do that these days. Times sure changed. And there are far less people out trick-n-treating. I guess most goes out to parties and such. A few years back, my brother's kids came over on Halloween and I got to wear the costume that I had for the last party, which was a couple of days prior. Might get to do that this year too, have to wait and see.
Oh by the way, here is a journal warning about the dangers of using flea-killing dog shampoo http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/3924091 . Check it out, could save your pet and a bunch of heartache later.
Yeah yeah, I am pumping out journals at a rate never before. *Shrugs* I guess I am in a writing mood, a rare event to either savor or run and hide from. It is a scary thing indeed.
