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FCN roomspace needed
Posted 12 years agoI am planning to attend Furry Connection North in April, but have not yet made any rooming arrangements and need to get something pinned down. I'm okay with any gender or orientation. I plan to arrive Thursday, stay four nights, leave Monday. Main hotel preferred but not an absolute requirement
I would prefer a room that asks everyone to follow a few basic rules I would have if I were in charge of the room. These include:
6-2-1 rule.
Quiet when others are asleep; no parties.
No underage drinking or illegal drugs. Alcohol OK responsibly and in moderation.
Respect each other, and each others' stuff. Be careful who you invite into the room.
No more than 4 people in the room
If you have a room at FCN and are in need of roommates, please note me back!
I would prefer a room that asks everyone to follow a few basic rules I would have if I were in charge of the room. These include:
6-2-1 rule.
Quiet when others are asleep; no parties.
No underage drinking or illegal drugs. Alcohol OK responsibly and in moderation.
Respect each other, and each others' stuff. Be careful who you invite into the room.
No more than 4 people in the room
If you have a room at FCN and are in need of roommates, please note me back!
Musings - aging
Posted 13 years agoI often worry about getting older, about the fact that it's inevitable and unavoidable, and that someday I will no longer be among the living.
Currently I am 53 years old, and one of the most frequent questions on my mind is how many more years I'll live. My father died at age 50, and I considered it a victory of sorts the day I woke up a day older than he had been the day he died (in many respects I'll never as good a person as my dad was but in this one regard I want to do a lot better) (and yes, I did the math and figured out the exact day - I'm geek enough to do that). Having said that, I seem to have some of the same health issues that probably were main contributors to his death at a relatively young age.
I worked out some time ago that it would be better to have a target age in mind that I'd like to live to than something vague like "as long as I can". And a couple of different things led me to 78 as a good target age. First, again considering my father's death, while it would be improbable for me to live twice that long, I decided that on the day I'm the same age he was at his death, I would like to live as much longer from that day as it had been since he died, and that would put me a couple of months shy of my 78th birthday. Second, I thought about the first time I felt old. I was 39 at the time, and had access to an actuarial table that gave me the statistical average remaining life expectancy. When I looked up the numbers that applied to me, it said I had 37 point something years to go; meaning that there was a better than even chance I was more than halfway through my life. In order to beat those odds, to have had at least half my life still ahead of me on that occasion, I would need to reach the age of 78.
So that's how I've come to think of 78 as my target age, and now I'm trying to convince myself that even that's not necessarily the age I'm going to die, but maybe the age when I'm allowed to think I'm old and I'm probably going to die before long. For now, however, that's still 25 years away. And when I think about how many things I could still do, how many places I could still visit, how many stories I could write, how many conventions I could attend, 25 years is a lot of time to fit in most of those activities.
But it's little enough that it's better to think in terms of trying to fit in as many of them as I can, rather than thinking I have plenty of time for them. And to those of you half my age or less, my advice to you is think the same way of the time you have in your life.
Currently I am 53 years old, and one of the most frequent questions on my mind is how many more years I'll live. My father died at age 50, and I considered it a victory of sorts the day I woke up a day older than he had been the day he died (in many respects I'll never as good a person as my dad was but in this one regard I want to do a lot better) (and yes, I did the math and figured out the exact day - I'm geek enough to do that). Having said that, I seem to have some of the same health issues that probably were main contributors to his death at a relatively young age.
I worked out some time ago that it would be better to have a target age in mind that I'd like to live to than something vague like "as long as I can". And a couple of different things led me to 78 as a good target age. First, again considering my father's death, while it would be improbable for me to live twice that long, I decided that on the day I'm the same age he was at his death, I would like to live as much longer from that day as it had been since he died, and that would put me a couple of months shy of my 78th birthday. Second, I thought about the first time I felt old. I was 39 at the time, and had access to an actuarial table that gave me the statistical average remaining life expectancy. When I looked up the numbers that applied to me, it said I had 37 point something years to go; meaning that there was a better than even chance I was more than halfway through my life. In order to beat those odds, to have had at least half my life still ahead of me on that occasion, I would need to reach the age of 78.
So that's how I've come to think of 78 as my target age, and now I'm trying to convince myself that even that's not necessarily the age I'm going to die, but maybe the age when I'm allowed to think I'm old and I'm probably going to die before long. For now, however, that's still 25 years away. And when I think about how many things I could still do, how many places I could still visit, how many stories I could write, how many conventions I could attend, 25 years is a lot of time to fit in most of those activities.
But it's little enough that it's better to think in terms of trying to fit in as many of them as I can, rather than thinking I have plenty of time for them. And to those of you half my age or less, my advice to you is think the same way of the time you have in your life.
Comment meme sheepage
Posted 13 years agoI've replied and received replies to this from two others, so I will return the favor...
Comment on this journal and I'll...
1. Tell you something I learned about by looking at your FA page for 13 seconds
2. Tell you a color you remind me of
3. Tell you my first memory of you
4. Ask you a question
5. Tell you something I like about you
6. Give you a nickname
7. Tell you the object that is to the left of me
8. Dare you to do this yourself in your journal!
Comment on this journal and I'll...
1. Tell you something I learned about by looking at your FA page for 13 seconds
2. Tell you a color you remind me of
3. Tell you my first memory of you
4. Ask you a question
5. Tell you something I like about you
6. Give you a nickname
7. Tell you the object that is to the left of me
8. Dare you to do this yourself in your journal!
Weasyl?
Posted 13 years agoIs there anyone here with a Weasyl account that could send me an invite?
Conventions and contrasts
Posted 13 years agoI made it to two furry conventions this summer. Comparing the experience I had at each of them is quite a study in contrasts.
Anthrocon was big. Really big. It was jaw-dropping the first time I saw the dealers room and how big it was. There were plenty of panels and events I wanted to attend, enough that I had to make some tough choices and ended up missing some I would like to have seen. So many places you could be at once, so spread out, there could be something going on at one end of the venue and you'd be pretty far removed from it if you were at the far end, or at one of the hotels other than the main one.
Mephit Fur Meet was much smaller. Familiar, comfortable, not too many panels. I still didn't make it to all the ones I wanted to attend, but that was more on account of my responsibilities being a staff member than anything to do with scheduling. The convention hotel is small enough that no matter where you want to get to, you're never far from it.
Both had numerous instances of meeting up with people. At Mephit it was almost entirely people I already knew from prior cons (though one of my roomies was a long-time online friend whom I was meeting in person for the first time). Anthrocon had a lot more of "I finally get to meet you at last". AC certainly included plenty of encounters with people I knew, and a few opportunities to get better acquainted with others, even some I'd met just about at random.
Perhaps the biggest contrast was in those moments when I was wandering the halls, among the crowds, by myself, trying to figure out what to do with myself. I'm an introvert, an Aspie, somewhat of a social misfit, and old enough to be dismissed out of hand by a lot of younger furs. At AC, there were moments when I felt like I was looking over a sea of faces and feeling lost, out of place because I don't know anybody. As much fun as I had at AC, it wore me out and by Sunday evening when I was having one of those moments, I felt ready to get out of there, to escape from the crowd. At Mephit, it was almost a total opposite. At least half the people there were, if not people I knew, at least people I sort of knew just because I'd seen them around enough. Plenty of familiar faces, plenty of people I could sit with and get involved in a conversation with. Like family. "Welcome home" isn't just a saying, it's how they do things at MFM.
And where do the other conventions I've been to fit in this scheme? Midwest Furfest is about halfway between. Much bigger than Mephit but smaller than Anthrocon. Lots of things to do, enough to force one to make choices at times. Having been there several years as well as to other events in the region, I know quite a few more people than I did at AC, so the "lost in a crowd" feeling isn't much of an issue. Furry Connection North is between Midwest and Mephit in terms of size, or at least it was when I attended in 2011. Not as many familiar faces as at Mephit or Midwest, but close enough regionally to attract a lot of the same familiar faces I knew from other conventions.
I'll close with two observations. First, maybe it's different for the more extroverted types who can strike up a conversation with anybody, but for introverts like me, developing that level of familiarity that makes you feel like a member of the crowd instead of lost in it requires repeat attendance. Second, different conventions of different sizes each have their own character and provide different kinds of experiences. Don't believe for a minute that one is like any other, and if you're focused on going to only one convention every year, you don't know what you're missing by not trying some of the others.
Anthrocon was big. Really big. It was jaw-dropping the first time I saw the dealers room and how big it was. There were plenty of panels and events I wanted to attend, enough that I had to make some tough choices and ended up missing some I would like to have seen. So many places you could be at once, so spread out, there could be something going on at one end of the venue and you'd be pretty far removed from it if you were at the far end, or at one of the hotels other than the main one.
Mephit Fur Meet was much smaller. Familiar, comfortable, not too many panels. I still didn't make it to all the ones I wanted to attend, but that was more on account of my responsibilities being a staff member than anything to do with scheduling. The convention hotel is small enough that no matter where you want to get to, you're never far from it.
Both had numerous instances of meeting up with people. At Mephit it was almost entirely people I already knew from prior cons (though one of my roomies was a long-time online friend whom I was meeting in person for the first time). Anthrocon had a lot more of "I finally get to meet you at last". AC certainly included plenty of encounters with people I knew, and a few opportunities to get better acquainted with others, even some I'd met just about at random.
Perhaps the biggest contrast was in those moments when I was wandering the halls, among the crowds, by myself, trying to figure out what to do with myself. I'm an introvert, an Aspie, somewhat of a social misfit, and old enough to be dismissed out of hand by a lot of younger furs. At AC, there were moments when I felt like I was looking over a sea of faces and feeling lost, out of place because I don't know anybody. As much fun as I had at AC, it wore me out and by Sunday evening when I was having one of those moments, I felt ready to get out of there, to escape from the crowd. At Mephit, it was almost a total opposite. At least half the people there were, if not people I knew, at least people I sort of knew just because I'd seen them around enough. Plenty of familiar faces, plenty of people I could sit with and get involved in a conversation with. Like family. "Welcome home" isn't just a saying, it's how they do things at MFM.
And where do the other conventions I've been to fit in this scheme? Midwest Furfest is about halfway between. Much bigger than Mephit but smaller than Anthrocon. Lots of things to do, enough to force one to make choices at times. Having been there several years as well as to other events in the region, I know quite a few more people than I did at AC, so the "lost in a crowd" feeling isn't much of an issue. Furry Connection North is between Midwest and Mephit in terms of size, or at least it was when I attended in 2011. Not as many familiar faces as at Mephit or Midwest, but close enough regionally to attract a lot of the same familiar faces I knew from other conventions.
I'll close with two observations. First, maybe it's different for the more extroverted types who can strike up a conversation with anybody, but for introverts like me, developing that level of familiarity that makes you feel like a member of the crowd instead of lost in it requires repeat attendance. Second, different conventions of different sizes each have their own character and provide different kinds of experiences. Don't believe for a minute that one is like any other, and if you're focused on going to only one convention every year, you don't know what you're missing by not trying some of the others.
Published again
Posted 13 years agoI've had a second conbook story published, this one in the Mephit Fur Meet 16 conbook.
With two to my credit now, one thing I've learned is that hardly anyone reads conbook stories. I have yet to receive a fully unsolicited comment on either of the two.
With two to my credit now, one thing I've learned is that hardly anyone reads conbook stories. I have yet to receive a fully unsolicited comment on either of the two.
Iron Cats
Posted 13 years agoImagine if you will: Two cats wearing aprons, bearing cooking utensils, facing off against one another on Iron Chef. And the secret ingredient is... red dots!
Colorado Springs
Posted 13 years agoFor ten years I lived in Colorado Springs or in nearby Woodland Park. I was married at the time and some of those years were when the marriage was the best. I have many treasured memories of my children spending some of their young childhood years growing up in that area.
Now it breaks my heart to see news reports of fires in that area. Flying W Ranch, a restaurant/entertainment facility of sorts which we visited a couple of times, has been destroyed. The main fire is centered around Waldo Canyon, which I've hiked in. Also under threat are Garden of the Gods which I visited many times, the Barr Trail, Gold Camp Road. Not to mention the towns of Manitou Springs, Cascade, Chipita Park, Green Mountain Falls, and several of the neighborhood on the west side of Colorado Springs along the Rampart Range. We had friends who lived in these places (I have no idea if they still do or not). Woodland Park, where we lived for a year, isn't under immediate threat but isn't far away. To all who read this, send your thoughts and wishes to those in that area, and to the firefighters doing their best to keep the flames at bay. And if any who read this are in that area, my prayers are with you.
Now it breaks my heart to see news reports of fires in that area. Flying W Ranch, a restaurant/entertainment facility of sorts which we visited a couple of times, has been destroyed. The main fire is centered around Waldo Canyon, which I've hiked in. Also under threat are Garden of the Gods which I visited many times, the Barr Trail, Gold Camp Road. Not to mention the towns of Manitou Springs, Cascade, Chipita Park, Green Mountain Falls, and several of the neighborhood on the west side of Colorado Springs along the Rampart Range. We had friends who lived in these places (I have no idea if they still do or not). Woodland Park, where we lived for a year, isn't under immediate threat but isn't far away. To all who read this, send your thoughts and wishes to those in that area, and to the firefighters doing their best to keep the flames at bay. And if any who read this are in that area, my prayers are with you.
AC Day 3
Posted 13 years agoFunny how after about three days of convention, one starts to burn out on convention stuff, although given the number of events I would like to have attended but missed because they were in conflict with one another, it seems more like it would need to be a week. If my money lasted that long.
Today was more wandering, saying hi to people, and so forth. I attended a panel on the history of the fandom, and afterwards went out to lunch with
greenreaper and Dronon (who had led the panel). During lunch we encountered a few groups on some sort of scavenger hunt, and one of the items they had to find was furries; we got accosted by two such groups.
My second art show winning was this picture by
michele_light. I collected both of my pieces, paid for them carefully, and will have to be packing them carefully for the trip home.
Final attendance was 5,179, the convention charity received $20,500, and there were 1,044 participants in the fursuit parade.
After a shower and getting myself rest of the way packed, it's off to hang out for a bit more before I have to catch a train back to Chicago at basically midnight.
Today was more wandering, saying hi to people, and so forth. I attended a panel on the history of the fandom, and afterwards went out to lunch with
greenreaper and Dronon (who had led the panel). During lunch we encountered a few groups on some sort of scavenger hunt, and one of the items they had to find was furries; we got accosted by two such groups.My second art show winning was this picture by
michele_light. I collected both of my pieces, paid for them carefully, and will have to be packing them carefully for the trip home.Final attendance was 5,179, the convention charity received $20,500, and there were 1,044 participants in the fursuit parade.
After a shower and getting myself rest of the way packed, it's off to hang out for a bit more before I have to catch a train back to Chicago at basically midnight.
AC Day 2
Posted 13 years agoToday was more of a stroll-around, don't-go-to-as-many-panels kind of day. I attempted to attend the greymuzzle breakfast but somehow missed the boat on getting seated and ended up by myself. Spent more time in the Dealer's Den, Artist's Alley, and Art Show.
The fursuit parade was awesome, and it had an official headcount of 1044 fursuits, easily breaking last year's record and marking the first time a fursuit parade anywhere has broken a thousand. Attended a music panel, a feline panel, and later hooked up with
chris_foxx and 
hunterbahamut. Had an enjoyable conversation with 
wesha. Won a picture from the mature section of the art show - this one by 
silentravyn.
Caught one more writing panel, which was okay, but the most enjoyable part was afterward when I got caught up in a conversation with
rechan and a couple of others.
Too tired to keep going. Will shower and go to bed shortly.
The fursuit parade was awesome, and it had an official headcount of 1044 fursuits, easily breaking last year's record and marking the first time a fursuit parade anywhere has broken a thousand. Attended a music panel, a feline panel, and later hooked up with
chris_foxx and 
hunterbahamut. Had an enjoyable conversation with 
wesha. Won a picture from the mature section of the art show - this one by 
silentravyn.Caught one more writing panel, which was okay, but the most enjoyable part was afterward when I got caught up in a conversation with
rechan and a couple of others.Too tired to keep going. Will shower and go to bed shortly.
AC Day 1
Posted 13 years agoGot up about 8:15. Trekked over to the main convention venue.
Went to multiple writing panels, most of which were hosted by the same people, including Ashe, Ianus,
sparf, rechan, and M.C.A. Hogarth (I'm likely forgetting a couple).
Wandered the Dealer's Den, Artists Alley, and Art Show. The place is huge!, much bigger than at any other convention I've been to. Along with a number of familiar faces, I got to meet and say hi to some I'd never met before, among which were
goldfur, 
hollyann, 
tabbiewolf, and chris_foxx. I'll definitely be spending more time wandering these parts of the con.
Only two others showed up for the Brew Furs meet and Greet,
blackcow and 
anthrocoon, but we had a most enjoyable time talking beer, furry cons, and a variety of other subjects. Spent a few minutes chatting with 
railrunner, and later went to see 
2_gryphon.
I'll be headed back shortly to pick up one more writing panel before I call it a night. So many fun things have happened already, and it's only Friday!
Went to multiple writing panels, most of which were hosted by the same people, including Ashe, Ianus,
sparf, rechan, and M.C.A. Hogarth (I'm likely forgetting a couple).Wandered the Dealer's Den, Artists Alley, and Art Show. The place is huge!, much bigger than at any other convention I've been to. Along with a number of familiar faces, I got to meet and say hi to some I'd never met before, among which were
goldfur, 
hollyann, 
tabbiewolf, and chris_foxx. I'll definitely be spending more time wandering these parts of the con.Only two others showed up for the Brew Furs meet and Greet,
blackcow and 
anthrocoon, but we had a most enjoyable time talking beer, furry cons, and a variety of other subjects. Spent a few minutes chatting with 
railrunner, and later went to see 
2_gryphon.I'll be headed back shortly to pick up one more writing panel before I call it a night. So many fun things have happened already, and it's only Friday!
AC Day 0
Posted 13 years agoI call it Day 0 since the con doesn't officially open until tomorrow...
The trip out on Amtrak was long - 2.5 hours from Normal to Chicago, 4.5 hour layover in Chicago, 9.5 hours from Chicago to Pittsburgh. I slept on and off during the latter part of the trip, getting maybe 5 hours sleep total. As this got me into Chicago at 4:30am and I had no hotel room until check in, I wasn't the most awake today.
My first time at Anthrocon. My first time in Pittsburgh. I had to check out Furnando's, after all the publicity it's gotten. The dining guide said it opened at 7am but when I got there found out it wasn't until 7:30. While waiting I started talking with
lancerblade. Fernando himself saw me waiting outside and allowed me to wait inside. The breakfast burrito was excellent, the coffee was much needed, and while eating it we were joined by 
lionkingcmsl, who graciously offered to stow my main suitcase in his room.
A lot of wandering, sitting, watching fursuiters, getting familiar with the David Lawrence Convention Center layout, got registered, took the furry survey... Shortly before dinner I ran into
cmdrkitsune and we chatted for a bit. For dinner had a gyros at Lesvos Gyros across the street, which was very good. While eating it, I got into a conversation with 
silkpaws, who happened to be sitting in the next seat.
Later met up with two of my three roommates,
kitsukyo and 
mcwerewolf, and hadn't met the third, 
zafuyu, until the three of them returned as I was typing this.
Ready for day 1...
The trip out on Amtrak was long - 2.5 hours from Normal to Chicago, 4.5 hour layover in Chicago, 9.5 hours from Chicago to Pittsburgh. I slept on and off during the latter part of the trip, getting maybe 5 hours sleep total. As this got me into Chicago at 4:30am and I had no hotel room until check in, I wasn't the most awake today.
My first time at Anthrocon. My first time in Pittsburgh. I had to check out Furnando's, after all the publicity it's gotten. The dining guide said it opened at 7am but when I got there found out it wasn't until 7:30. While waiting I started talking with
lancerblade. Fernando himself saw me waiting outside and allowed me to wait inside. The breakfast burrito was excellent, the coffee was much needed, and while eating it we were joined by 
lionkingcmsl, who graciously offered to stow my main suitcase in his room.A lot of wandering, sitting, watching fursuiters, getting familiar with the David Lawrence Convention Center layout, got registered, took the furry survey... Shortly before dinner I ran into
cmdrkitsune and we chatted for a bit. For dinner had a gyros at Lesvos Gyros across the street, which was very good. While eating it, I got into a conversation with 
silkpaws, who happened to be sitting in the next seat.Later met up with two of my three roommates,
kitsukyo and 
mcwerewolf, and hadn't met the third, 
zafuyu, until the three of them returned as I was typing this.Ready for day 1...
RIP Dick Clark
Posted 13 years agoAnother fixture from the entertainment industry who has always been there has passed away. Dick Clark has died at the age of 82.
While I was never particularly crazy about the format of American Bandstand, I do appreciate it's role in bringing rock and roll into the mainstream of American consciousness. He embraced the Motown sound and black musicians in general, playing a part in opening up avenues for people of all races to score big in the music industry. And who can forget his face and voice in countless other endeavors, such as New Years Eve at Times Square.
Mr. Clark, you will be missed.
While I was never particularly crazy about the format of American Bandstand, I do appreciate it's role in bringing rock and roll into the mainstream of American consciousness. He embraced the Motown sound and black musicians in general, playing a part in opening up avenues for people of all races to score big in the music industry. And who can forget his face and voice in countless other endeavors, such as New Years Eve at Times Square.
Mr. Clark, you will be missed.
Am I a good lover?
Posted 13 years agoThere are other variations of that same question, such as "Am I good in bed?" And it is a question that is nearly impossible to get a straight answer to. Okay, you might get an honest answer if it's from a partner in a long-term relationship, but outside of that, 99 times out of a hundred, people are going to say "yes". Maybe it's true, maybe not. Very few people will tell you you're a lousy lover unless they're trying to say something hurtful, in which case it could just as likely be false for the opposite reason.
So here's a different idea. Virtually no one is such a phenomenally talented lover that they couldn't possibly do any better. And virtually no one is such a lousy lover that you can't possibly point to something they did right. So if we ever have an occasion to be lovers, don't tell me if I'm a good lover. That way I won't have to wonder if you're telling the truth, and you won't have to lie to me if I'm not. Instead, tell me something about it I did well and something about it I should try to improve upon. I'll gladly do the same for you. We can repeat as many times as we're comfortable with. That way we both get our egos stroked while learning something in the process.
If you agree with the above, feel free to repost it to your own journal.
So here's a different idea. Virtually no one is such a phenomenally talented lover that they couldn't possibly do any better. And virtually no one is such a lousy lover that you can't possibly point to something they did right. So if we ever have an occasion to be lovers, don't tell me if I'm a good lover. That way I won't have to wonder if you're telling the truth, and you won't have to lie to me if I'm not. Instead, tell me something about it I did well and something about it I should try to improve upon. I'll gladly do the same for you. We can repeat as many times as we're comfortable with. That way we both get our egos stroked while learning something in the process.
If you agree with the above, feel free to repost it to your own journal.
Convention plans
Posted 13 years agoIt takes about five listens to an album to properly get to know and appreciate the music on it, and my music library has grown much to large for me to have that kind of familiarity with all the music I have. But now and then while listening to a randomly-generated playlist it'll present me with a tune that catches my ear, and I'll load the album onto my mp3 player and give it a listen-through. One such recent album was a 1985 collaboration between Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason and 10cc guitarist Rick Fenn entitled "Profiles". This album is awesome, and I'll be giving it a few more plays. The music isn't much like either Pink Floyd or 10cc; only two of the tracks have any vocals, and the musical style is somewhere between instrumental rock and jazz fusion.
Anyhow, on to the main point of my post. Convention plans for 2012...
FCN: I've known since about December that I probably wouldn't be able to attend FCN this year due to some classes I would be taking at work, but it wasn't until two days ago that I received positive confirmation that I would be enrolled in the classes. So no FCN for me this year.
AC: I wanted to attend at least one other convention between MFF 2011 and MFM 2012. The aforementioned classes knocked a few others out of contention, and once all factors were taken into consideration, the one that arose as the best candidate was none other than Anthrocon, so I'm making plans to attend. It will be my first time attending AC. Current plan is to travel by Amtrak, which would have me arriving about 5am Friday and departing about midnight Sunday night. I still need to work out rooming arrangements. If anyone has a hotel room reserved and has space for me Friday and Saturday nights, please give me a shout back.
MFM: I have a room reserved. No confirmed roommates, though I've extended an invitation to one other person who may or may not be able to attend. Otherwise, looking for 1-3 others to roomshare with. Give me a shout if interested.
MFF: No more specific plans at this time other than that I'm planning to attend.
Anyhow, on to the main point of my post. Convention plans for 2012...
FCN: I've known since about December that I probably wouldn't be able to attend FCN this year due to some classes I would be taking at work, but it wasn't until two days ago that I received positive confirmation that I would be enrolled in the classes. So no FCN for me this year.
AC: I wanted to attend at least one other convention between MFF 2011 and MFM 2012. The aforementioned classes knocked a few others out of contention, and once all factors were taken into consideration, the one that arose as the best candidate was none other than Anthrocon, so I'm making plans to attend. It will be my first time attending AC. Current plan is to travel by Amtrak, which would have me arriving about 5am Friday and departing about midnight Sunday night. I still need to work out rooming arrangements. If anyone has a hotel room reserved and has space for me Friday and Saturday nights, please give me a shout back.
MFM: I have a room reserved. No confirmed roommates, though I've extended an invitation to one other person who may or may not be able to attend. Otherwise, looking for 1-3 others to roomshare with. Give me a shout if interested.
MFF: No more specific plans at this time other than that I'm planning to attend.
A bit of nostalgia
Posted 13 years agoYesterday while playing an album of oldies by various artists, one of the songs that came on was "Downtown" by Petula Clark. This song is interesting on a couple of different levels.
First, it describes a time and place that, for most of us, doesn't exist anymore. How many people live in a place where "downtown" is a place you go to for excitement and to get away from it all? The song was a hit in 1965, before shopping malls really took off and most cities and towns still had a downtown where you could do most of your shopping and get a lot of your entertainment. While this is true in a lot of larger cities, in a lot of smaller ones it is no more, the downtown having fallen into disrepair while all of the action moved out to the malls on the outskirts.
Second, on a personal level, sometime in 1985 or 1986 I purchased a copy of the Billboard Book of Top 40 hits. One of the fun exercises I did with that book was to try to think of the earliest song I could remember hearing while it was a hit. Over a period of several days I recalled several from my childhood, and looked them all up. The earliest turned out to be this one, "Downtown". It charted in January 1965 and reached #1 where it spent 2 weeks. I was 5 years old at the time.
It's interesting to think that having a book like that would be necessary to do that fun exercise. In 1986 you had to buy a book or go look it up at a library if you wanted questions like that answered. Now anyone who wants to find out can just look it up on the Internet. Another way times have changed.
First, it describes a time and place that, for most of us, doesn't exist anymore. How many people live in a place where "downtown" is a place you go to for excitement and to get away from it all? The song was a hit in 1965, before shopping malls really took off and most cities and towns still had a downtown where you could do most of your shopping and get a lot of your entertainment. While this is true in a lot of larger cities, in a lot of smaller ones it is no more, the downtown having fallen into disrepair while all of the action moved out to the malls on the outskirts.
Second, on a personal level, sometime in 1985 or 1986 I purchased a copy of the Billboard Book of Top 40 hits. One of the fun exercises I did with that book was to try to think of the earliest song I could remember hearing while it was a hit. Over a period of several days I recalled several from my childhood, and looked them all up. The earliest turned out to be this one, "Downtown". It charted in January 1965 and reached #1 where it spent 2 weeks. I was 5 years old at the time.
It's interesting to think that having a book like that would be necessary to do that fun exercise. In 1986 you had to buy a book or go look it up at a library if you wanted questions like that answered. Now anyone who wants to find out can just look it up on the Internet. Another way times have changed.
Uncomfortable Quiz
Posted 13 years agoStolen from 
ksharra
What color are your underwear/panties?
White.
Do they have a design?
No.
Girls, what color is your bra?
N/A.
Is there a design?
N/A.
What color are your socks?
White.
Is there a design on them?
Just a logo. Nothing to speak of.
Are you a virgin?
Of course not. I was married for 20 years.
Happy that way?
Yes.
What is your favorite sex position?
Something different from last time. I like variety. But if I had to pick just one, it would be female-on-top.
What is your sexuality/sexual orientation/What the fuck do you consider yourself?
Straight.
Do you look at hentai?
Not really. Been known to on rare occasions
Real porn?
Now and then.
Do you read smutty/porn stories?
Yes, when I can find good ones. Most of them are crap.
Do you read/watch/look at gay porn/hentai/stories?
Sometimes, but not because they're gay. When I do it's because it's good in other ways such as plot and character development.
Who was your first kiss with?
A girl I dated in high school.
Are they of the opposite sex?
Yes.
Have you ever kissed or had sex with someone of the same sex?
Never had sex with another male. If totally non-romantic non-sexual kisses shared with family members don't count, I've never kissed one either.
Is there any one of your friends that you would ever consider having sex with?
Yes.
What would you do if you walked in on your partner having sex?
Hard to answer since I don't have a partner.
Do you have any piercings other than your ears?
No, not even the ears.
If so, where?
N/A
Do you have any tattoos?
No.
If so, where?
N/A
Have you ever been pregnant/got a girl pregnant?
My ex-wife and I have three children together. Need I say more?
Ever done any illegal drugs?
Yes.
If so, which ones?
In college I did marijuana when it was offered to me. None since then.
Have you ever cheated on someone?
No. My ex-wife would disagree. I can elaborate if anyone is interested.
Ever been cheated on?
No. As far as I know my ex never cheated on me, and I haven't been in any other relationships that would afford the opportunity.
Have you ever been called a whore/slut?
If bullying and juvenile name-calling don't count, then no.
Do you own any sex toys?
Not yet.
Have you ever had a sexual fantasy involving a relative?
Not really, although I have female cousins who are attractive enough that I'd be lying if I said the thought never crossed my mind.
Have you ever masturbated?
There's a saying that 92% of men admit to having masturbated, and the other 8% are liars. Good enough?
Have you ever taken a naked picture of yourself?
Once.
Have you ever taken a naked picture of someone else?
No.
Are you on any form of birth control (the pill, the patch, etc)?
I got fixed soon after the third child was born.
Have you ever written/drawn smut/porn?
Yes. (Don't bother checking my gallery. It's under a different identity.)
Do you swear in front of your parents?
My father is deceased. As for my mother, not when I'm talking to her directly, but I don't avoid it when I'm talking with other family members in her presence.
Do they care?
If my father were still alive he'd probably be in the fray with the rest of us. My mother enjoys fun/quality time with family and is not easily bothered by swearing.
Are you uncomfortable yet?
No. Lately I've become less uncomfortable about such things.
Are you taking this quiz of your own free will?
Is this a stupid question?
ksharraWhat color are your underwear/panties?
White.
Do they have a design?
No.
Girls, what color is your bra?
N/A.
Is there a design?
N/A.
What color are your socks?
White.
Is there a design on them?
Just a logo. Nothing to speak of.
Are you a virgin?
Of course not. I was married for 20 years.
Happy that way?
Yes.
What is your favorite sex position?
Something different from last time. I like variety. But if I had to pick just one, it would be female-on-top.
What is your sexuality/sexual orientation/What the fuck do you consider yourself?
Straight.
Do you look at hentai?
Not really. Been known to on rare occasions
Real porn?
Now and then.
Do you read smutty/porn stories?
Yes, when I can find good ones. Most of them are crap.
Do you read/watch/look at gay porn/hentai/stories?
Sometimes, but not because they're gay. When I do it's because it's good in other ways such as plot and character development.
Who was your first kiss with?
A girl I dated in high school.
Are they of the opposite sex?
Yes.
Have you ever kissed or had sex with someone of the same sex?
Never had sex with another male. If totally non-romantic non-sexual kisses shared with family members don't count, I've never kissed one either.
Is there any one of your friends that you would ever consider having sex with?
Yes.
What would you do if you walked in on your partner having sex?
Hard to answer since I don't have a partner.
Do you have any piercings other than your ears?
No, not even the ears.
If so, where?
N/A
Do you have any tattoos?
No.
If so, where?
N/A
Have you ever been pregnant/got a girl pregnant?
My ex-wife and I have three children together. Need I say more?
Ever done any illegal drugs?
Yes.
If so, which ones?
In college I did marijuana when it was offered to me. None since then.
Have you ever cheated on someone?
No. My ex-wife would disagree. I can elaborate if anyone is interested.
Ever been cheated on?
No. As far as I know my ex never cheated on me, and I haven't been in any other relationships that would afford the opportunity.
Have you ever been called a whore/slut?
If bullying and juvenile name-calling don't count, then no.
Do you own any sex toys?
Not yet.
Have you ever had a sexual fantasy involving a relative?
Not really, although I have female cousins who are attractive enough that I'd be lying if I said the thought never crossed my mind.
Have you ever masturbated?
There's a saying that 92% of men admit to having masturbated, and the other 8% are liars. Good enough?
Have you ever taken a naked picture of yourself?
Once.
Have you ever taken a naked picture of someone else?
No.
Are you on any form of birth control (the pill, the patch, etc)?
I got fixed soon after the third child was born.
Have you ever written/drawn smut/porn?
Yes. (Don't bother checking my gallery. It's under a different identity.)
Do you swear in front of your parents?
My father is deceased. As for my mother, not when I'm talking to her directly, but I don't avoid it when I'm talking with other family members in her presence.
Do they care?
If my father were still alive he'd probably be in the fray with the rest of us. My mother enjoys fun/quality time with family and is not easily bothered by swearing.
Are you uncomfortable yet?
No. Lately I've become less uncomfortable about such things.
Are you taking this quiz of your own free will?
Is this a stupid question?
CILFCO meet
Posted 13 years agoMy experience attending the 
cilfco meet this past Friday, the second ever for this local community group, was mixed. First, I’m an introvert and an Aspie, so where many others are energized by social interaction, I often tend to find it exhausting. It didn’t help that I was coming off the end of a week of OO/Java training at work, training which while it gave me quite a sense of accomplishment also left me feeling mentally tired, and less able to cope with social situations. On top of that I was (and still am) recovering from a cold which had left me feeling more drained and out of sorts than usual. It also didn’t help that probably just about everyone else in attendance except 
HavenWhiteWolf and his wife were less than half my age.
There was some confusion about the scheduling of the back room at Denny’s, and we ended up sharing the room with a kid’s birthday party. Soon after the other party showed we spread the word among our group to keep the noise level down so as to be good neighbors to the other group, but one table of our group in particular seemed incapable of lowering the volume level, and we can only hope the birthday group wasn’t too upset with us. There was a moment when I thought it might be nice if any of the fursuiters in our group could provide a few minutes entertainment to the birthday group, but it wasn’t practical, as no one was in suit at Denny’s and there wasn’t really anyplace to change into one.
Noise wasn't an issue at the bowling alley, but it had a couple of quirks of its own. The lanes were set for league scoring (i.e. alternating left and right on a pair of lanes), which we had requested, and it became evident that some of the bowlers found this confusing. For future reference, anyone who prefers it can ask the front desk to switch a lane to open scoring (i.e. all bowling on a single lane). It was also evident that a lot of the bowlers in our group – most of them, it seemed like – are not familiar with basic lane courtesy. This is something that it would be good for anyone who bowls to learn and apply, whether you’re bowling with furries or bowling in general.
Overall, I felt somewhat able to connect with Haven and to a lesser extent with
captian_dammit91 and 
auroraborealia. A couple of others I was acquainted with arrived later at the bowling alley, but by that time I was feeling too tired to interact much. If anyone felt overlooked or snubbed by me, I apologize. My mind wasn’t all there and my mood wasn’t the best for handling minor annoyances that I would normally be able to take in stride. I left a few minutes after finishing the final game, and might have left sooner if I hadn’t paid in advance for three games. Where I might normally have been better able to enjoy the company of some of my fellow furries, I was feeling overwhelmed and ready to get home.
cilfco meet this past Friday, the second ever for this local community group, was mixed. First, I’m an introvert and an Aspie, so where many others are energized by social interaction, I often tend to find it exhausting. It didn’t help that I was coming off the end of a week of OO/Java training at work, training which while it gave me quite a sense of accomplishment also left me feeling mentally tired, and less able to cope with social situations. On top of that I was (and still am) recovering from a cold which had left me feeling more drained and out of sorts than usual. It also didn’t help that probably just about everyone else in attendance except 
HavenWhiteWolf and his wife were less than half my age.There was some confusion about the scheduling of the back room at Denny’s, and we ended up sharing the room with a kid’s birthday party. Soon after the other party showed we spread the word among our group to keep the noise level down so as to be good neighbors to the other group, but one table of our group in particular seemed incapable of lowering the volume level, and we can only hope the birthday group wasn’t too upset with us. There was a moment when I thought it might be nice if any of the fursuiters in our group could provide a few minutes entertainment to the birthday group, but it wasn’t practical, as no one was in suit at Denny’s and there wasn’t really anyplace to change into one.
Noise wasn't an issue at the bowling alley, but it had a couple of quirks of its own. The lanes were set for league scoring (i.e. alternating left and right on a pair of lanes), which we had requested, and it became evident that some of the bowlers found this confusing. For future reference, anyone who prefers it can ask the front desk to switch a lane to open scoring (i.e. all bowling on a single lane). It was also evident that a lot of the bowlers in our group – most of them, it seemed like – are not familiar with basic lane courtesy. This is something that it would be good for anyone who bowls to learn and apply, whether you’re bowling with furries or bowling in general.
Overall, I felt somewhat able to connect with Haven and to a lesser extent with
captian_dammit91 and 
auroraborealia. A couple of others I was acquainted with arrived later at the bowling alley, but by that time I was feeling too tired to interact much. If anyone felt overlooked or snubbed by me, I apologize. My mind wasn’t all there and my mood wasn’t the best for handling minor annoyances that I would normally be able to take in stride. I left a few minutes after finishing the final game, and might have left sooner if I hadn’t paid in advance for three games. Where I might normally have been better able to enjoy the company of some of my fellow furries, I was feeling overwhelmed and ready to get home. Reminiscing
Posted 14 years agoSometimes I miss the person my wife was when our marriage was good, of falling asleep and waking up next to her.
I don't miss the person she had become by the time we divorced.
I don't miss the person she had become by the time we divorced.
On Location - What a long, strange trip it's been!
Posted 14 years agoI've moved all the individual chapters of "On Location" to the scraps folder. The complete story version will remain in my gallery.
What a long, strange trip it's been!
I started out writing "On Location" somewhere in July/August 2003 with much enthusiasm. It was a time when "Sabrina Online the Story", "Zig Zag the Story", "From the Wings", and "A Fox's Tale" were all being updated regularly, and numerous other SabrinaVerse stories were being proposed and developed. I had visions of it making a big enough impression on the community that others would want to write stories of their own that treated mine as canonical and use some of the original characters it introduced. My thinking at the time was that I'd keep at it on a regular basis and put out a chapter every 2-4 weeks and get the whole story done and posted within about a year. And I got off to a decent start - the prologue and first two chapters were posted within a month and the third chapter a couple of months later.
Then I hit the long dry spell. It would be a year and nine months before I got chapter 4 out. I was still married at the time, and this was happening around the time my marriage was falling apart, in addition to various other issues and events. Indeed, one problem my then-wife had was that she didn't like my interest in furry. We shared a single family computer at the time, and one day after I left for work following one of our discussions on this particular conflict, she took it upon herself to delete some of the mail folders where I kept my furry-related correspondence, including one where I had saved all the emails related to "On Location", which included ideas, suggestions, and other backstory information others had sent to me.
Once that dry spell ended, I got chapters out at sporadic intervals, ranging from 5 to 13 months, over the next five and a half years, and was up to chapter 12 in early 2011. I was not happy with the pace of the writing, and I saw various forum threads bemoaning the fact that it's hard for a reader to reacquaint himself with the plot of a story when the time interval between chapters is too long. Some expressed the fear that this would become yet another work that would end up being abandoned incomplete, as is all too common on the internet and has happened to a couple of other SabrinaVerse stories. I was determined not to let that happen to "On Location". For one thing, I never lost interest in the story - I still often ran through ideas and plotlines in my head during some of my spare moments. For another, it helped that I had a definite endpoint for the story in mind (some of the other stories seem to be ongoing serials). I made various attempts to get more consistent about writing the story regularly, most of which proved to be false starts, and after a while I was feeling really down about my (in)ability to write material at a reasonable pace. It was when I took a writing sabbatical in September/October 2011 that I finally succeeded.
The biggest problem I'd run into over the previous years was that I'd lost my momentum, and each time I came back to it to write another chapter I had to reacquaint myself with where I was, where I was headed, what I was thinking, what I had already covered and what I needed to cover in the next chapter. It's difficult to keep that sort of thing in your head over a long period of time. While I was still able to write the main scenes properly, some of the underlying themes and threads I'd hoped to convey got lost, as those can be the more difficult parts to sustain and recover when you're only pulling out the story once every few months to write another chapter. I don't recommend it, and I shall never write that way again. It works much better when you keep at the story and stay with it. There were also things I wished I could change in earlier chapters but didn't like the idea of retconning stuff I'd already posted if I could work around it. For that reason I shall most likely in the future stick with writing out a story fully, at least an early draft of it, before posting any parts of it.
Now, about the story. It's a story about Clarence and Wanda. Cindy's in the picture too, or at least never far from it, but mostly Clarence and Wanda. I liked the encounters they'd had in Sabrina Online the Story, even though they seemed to be sporadic with Clarence mostly avoiding Wanda, a situation that could perhaps continue indefinitely. Thus I became fascinated with the notion of throwing them together where they're bound to see each other quite a bit, enough to go well beyond the occasional awkward encounter at Double Z Studios. It would essentially force them to work out where they really stood with one another, and in the end move beyond that to understand themselves and each other better in the process. And it was from this notion that "On Location" came about.
There are things about the story I'd do differently if I could do it over again. They say that in a story, everything should be there for a reason and to help advance the story. I had started out with each chapter being one day of the story, and as I soon discovered, one of the drawbacks of that approach was that I needed enough material for each day to produce a decent length chapter. On one or two occasions I had to invent scenes that probably weren't really needed in order to fill out a chapter to a decent length (no, I'm not going to say which ones; if you can't tell then I must have done something right). I'd gotten into the habit of including a "breakfast chat" in each chapter, intended to better acquaint the reader with some of the supporting characters, and some of those became slice-of-life material that served little other purpose. There were a number of places where I provided considerable detail on the story within the story, meaning "The Wild Southern Rose", in the belief that readers would find this worthy of inclusion. What's presented is not the whole story - there are plenty of bits filmed on sets back at Double Z Studios, and which are not detailed in "On Location" (often because they're being filmed someplace other than where Clarence is) - but I wanted to give readers a general idea of the overall story arc, at least if they have some ability to mentally rearrange scenes being filmed out of sequence. Much of this isn't strictly necessary to tell the narrative of what happens with Clarence, Wanda, and the other crew. I've never really gotten any feedback one way or the other on whether these bits made the story more enjoyable.
I'm happy with how well some of the original characters were developed, including Vernon Procyon, Nathan Fenicus, Nancy David, Martin Lupina, and Jennifer Ironne. Also Gypsy Coyote, who is actually James Bruner's character. With others I'm less satisfied and feel I could have done better job, such as Miranda Civet, Clint Aardwulf, and Aaron the Bobcat. Initially I presumed that there were about six to twelve additional cast crew than were ever introduced in the story - for example, Rose's father undoubtedly makes appearances in "Wild Southern Rose" but I neglected to include him in any scene in "On Location" (including a couple where he almost certainly should have been present). There would also be more handyman/support crew types like Clarence and Vernon. Early on I had intended to give names and personalities to more of these players, but what ended up happening was that I'd fall back on the same ones I'd used before - I'd have Vern working with Clarence instead of one of these faceless other guys. One could argue that that makes sense from a management perspective - if the two of them work together well, keep giving them the same crew assignments. I could have explored some of these characters better if I'd kept up writing more regularly and consistently. Remember what I said about having reacquaint myself with the story after months away from it? These are the kinds of threads and deeper layers that get lost when the writing is as sporadic as it was for so long.
I had also hoped to include more of the clique, but after a couple of appearances in early chapters there just didn't seem to be any reason to include them in the story. For a while in the middle chapters it was even an effort to keep Cindy in the picture, though later in the story she re-emerged as a more prominent character. Sabrina was a pleasure to include. She didn't need to appear often but when she did it was always a natural fit. I had information from Cateagle on some other events going on with Lee and Debbye that I had intended to at least include brief references to, but I lost track of that information (it may have been in the notes that were deleted). Josh Fox appears in the Prologue but by the time I wrote the later chapters, his player/author hadn't been seen on any of the forums in a long time and appears to have abandoned any interest in SabrinaVerse or the community.
So it's done at last, and according to Microsoft Word, the final full version weighs in at about 82,600 words (counting the front matter only once); that's enough to make my longest written work to date, though it only beats out my previous longest work by a couple thousand words. It almost certainly has flaws that a more serious writing critic would trounce on, even some of the same sort of things I'd bring up if I were asked to critique a similar work. I had more than enough stumbles and delays getting this story produced; nevertheless it is one I am proud of, and am happy to have put out there for all who enjoy the world of Sabrina and Zig Zag.
What a long, strange trip it's been!
I started out writing "On Location" somewhere in July/August 2003 with much enthusiasm. It was a time when "Sabrina Online the Story", "Zig Zag the Story", "From the Wings", and "A Fox's Tale" were all being updated regularly, and numerous other SabrinaVerse stories were being proposed and developed. I had visions of it making a big enough impression on the community that others would want to write stories of their own that treated mine as canonical and use some of the original characters it introduced. My thinking at the time was that I'd keep at it on a regular basis and put out a chapter every 2-4 weeks and get the whole story done and posted within about a year. And I got off to a decent start - the prologue and first two chapters were posted within a month and the third chapter a couple of months later.
Then I hit the long dry spell. It would be a year and nine months before I got chapter 4 out. I was still married at the time, and this was happening around the time my marriage was falling apart, in addition to various other issues and events. Indeed, one problem my then-wife had was that she didn't like my interest in furry. We shared a single family computer at the time, and one day after I left for work following one of our discussions on this particular conflict, she took it upon herself to delete some of the mail folders where I kept my furry-related correspondence, including one where I had saved all the emails related to "On Location", which included ideas, suggestions, and other backstory information others had sent to me.
Once that dry spell ended, I got chapters out at sporadic intervals, ranging from 5 to 13 months, over the next five and a half years, and was up to chapter 12 in early 2011. I was not happy with the pace of the writing, and I saw various forum threads bemoaning the fact that it's hard for a reader to reacquaint himself with the plot of a story when the time interval between chapters is too long. Some expressed the fear that this would become yet another work that would end up being abandoned incomplete, as is all too common on the internet and has happened to a couple of other SabrinaVerse stories. I was determined not to let that happen to "On Location". For one thing, I never lost interest in the story - I still often ran through ideas and plotlines in my head during some of my spare moments. For another, it helped that I had a definite endpoint for the story in mind (some of the other stories seem to be ongoing serials). I made various attempts to get more consistent about writing the story regularly, most of which proved to be false starts, and after a while I was feeling really down about my (in)ability to write material at a reasonable pace. It was when I took a writing sabbatical in September/October 2011 that I finally succeeded.
The biggest problem I'd run into over the previous years was that I'd lost my momentum, and each time I came back to it to write another chapter I had to reacquaint myself with where I was, where I was headed, what I was thinking, what I had already covered and what I needed to cover in the next chapter. It's difficult to keep that sort of thing in your head over a long period of time. While I was still able to write the main scenes properly, some of the underlying themes and threads I'd hoped to convey got lost, as those can be the more difficult parts to sustain and recover when you're only pulling out the story once every few months to write another chapter. I don't recommend it, and I shall never write that way again. It works much better when you keep at the story and stay with it. There were also things I wished I could change in earlier chapters but didn't like the idea of retconning stuff I'd already posted if I could work around it. For that reason I shall most likely in the future stick with writing out a story fully, at least an early draft of it, before posting any parts of it.
Now, about the story. It's a story about Clarence and Wanda. Cindy's in the picture too, or at least never far from it, but mostly Clarence and Wanda. I liked the encounters they'd had in Sabrina Online the Story, even though they seemed to be sporadic with Clarence mostly avoiding Wanda, a situation that could perhaps continue indefinitely. Thus I became fascinated with the notion of throwing them together where they're bound to see each other quite a bit, enough to go well beyond the occasional awkward encounter at Double Z Studios. It would essentially force them to work out where they really stood with one another, and in the end move beyond that to understand themselves and each other better in the process. And it was from this notion that "On Location" came about.
There are things about the story I'd do differently if I could do it over again. They say that in a story, everything should be there for a reason and to help advance the story. I had started out with each chapter being one day of the story, and as I soon discovered, one of the drawbacks of that approach was that I needed enough material for each day to produce a decent length chapter. On one or two occasions I had to invent scenes that probably weren't really needed in order to fill out a chapter to a decent length (no, I'm not going to say which ones; if you can't tell then I must have done something right). I'd gotten into the habit of including a "breakfast chat" in each chapter, intended to better acquaint the reader with some of the supporting characters, and some of those became slice-of-life material that served little other purpose. There were a number of places where I provided considerable detail on the story within the story, meaning "The Wild Southern Rose", in the belief that readers would find this worthy of inclusion. What's presented is not the whole story - there are plenty of bits filmed on sets back at Double Z Studios, and which are not detailed in "On Location" (often because they're being filmed someplace other than where Clarence is) - but I wanted to give readers a general idea of the overall story arc, at least if they have some ability to mentally rearrange scenes being filmed out of sequence. Much of this isn't strictly necessary to tell the narrative of what happens with Clarence, Wanda, and the other crew. I've never really gotten any feedback one way or the other on whether these bits made the story more enjoyable.
I'm happy with how well some of the original characters were developed, including Vernon Procyon, Nathan Fenicus, Nancy David, Martin Lupina, and Jennifer Ironne. Also Gypsy Coyote, who is actually James Bruner's character. With others I'm less satisfied and feel I could have done better job, such as Miranda Civet, Clint Aardwulf, and Aaron the Bobcat. Initially I presumed that there were about six to twelve additional cast crew than were ever introduced in the story - for example, Rose's father undoubtedly makes appearances in "Wild Southern Rose" but I neglected to include him in any scene in "On Location" (including a couple where he almost certainly should have been present). There would also be more handyman/support crew types like Clarence and Vernon. Early on I had intended to give names and personalities to more of these players, but what ended up happening was that I'd fall back on the same ones I'd used before - I'd have Vern working with Clarence instead of one of these faceless other guys. One could argue that that makes sense from a management perspective - if the two of them work together well, keep giving them the same crew assignments. I could have explored some of these characters better if I'd kept up writing more regularly and consistently. Remember what I said about having reacquaint myself with the story after months away from it? These are the kinds of threads and deeper layers that get lost when the writing is as sporadic as it was for so long.
I had also hoped to include more of the clique, but after a couple of appearances in early chapters there just didn't seem to be any reason to include them in the story. For a while in the middle chapters it was even an effort to keep Cindy in the picture, though later in the story she re-emerged as a more prominent character. Sabrina was a pleasure to include. She didn't need to appear often but when she did it was always a natural fit. I had information from Cateagle on some other events going on with Lee and Debbye that I had intended to at least include brief references to, but I lost track of that information (it may have been in the notes that were deleted). Josh Fox appears in the Prologue but by the time I wrote the later chapters, his player/author hadn't been seen on any of the forums in a long time and appears to have abandoned any interest in SabrinaVerse or the community.
So it's done at last, and according to Microsoft Word, the final full version weighs in at about 82,600 words (counting the front matter only once); that's enough to make my longest written work to date, though it only beats out my previous longest work by a couple thousand words. It almost certainly has flaws that a more serious writing critic would trounce on, even some of the same sort of things I'd bring up if I were asked to critique a similar work. I had more than enough stumbles and delays getting this story produced; nevertheless it is one I am proud of, and am happy to have put out there for all who enjoy the world of Sabrina and Zig Zag.
10 Simple Things I've never done (meme)
Posted 14 years agoNabbed from 
nbowa...
1. Been skiing.
2. Seen the movie Avatar.
3. Traveled outside the lower 48 states of the US.
4. Seen a wet T-shirt contest.
5. Tasted absinthe.
6. Gambled in Las Vegas.
7. Birdied a hole at golf.
8. Put in an 80-hour work week.
9. Had oral surgery.
10. Been on a date arranged by someone else.
Let's see what your lists are like.
nbowa...1. Been skiing.
2. Seen the movie Avatar.
3. Traveled outside the lower 48 states of the US.
4. Seen a wet T-shirt contest.
5. Tasted absinthe.
6. Gambled in Las Vegas.
7. Birdied a hole at golf.
8. Put in an 80-hour work week.
9. Had oral surgery.
10. Been on a date arranged by someone else.
Let's see what your lists are like.
What cons will I be at in the coming year?
Posted 14 years agoTo answer the subject question, my two "every year if at all possible" cons, MFM and MFF, are both still in the cards, especially considering I'm now on registration staff for both of them. Unless money becomes a more serious issue, I'd like to take in at least one convention between now and MFM next fall.
I had considered FCN a likely possibility, as I attended last year and found it to be highly enjoyable, but now my attendance is looking doubtful. I'll be taking a series of classes at work that will take up most of my time from January through April. This is a very promising opportunity work-wise, but one of the consequences is that I probably will have to pass on FCN, or anything else I might have considered during that time period. FC remains on my radar for "one of these years" but is out for this year.
That basically leaves May through August. IFC, the second-closest furry con to me, is the same weekend as Great Taste of the Midwest beer fest in Madison that I like to attend with my brother and other family members every year, so unless we don't attend that for whatever reason, IFC is off the table. AC, the biggest of all, appears to be the most likely for me this year. Morphicon is another remote possibility, at least if I know far enough ahead of time that I will be unable to attend AC.
And there you have it, mwalimu's 2012 forecast for furry con attendance.
I had considered FCN a likely possibility, as I attended last year and found it to be highly enjoyable, but now my attendance is looking doubtful. I'll be taking a series of classes at work that will take up most of my time from January through April. This is a very promising opportunity work-wise, but one of the consequences is that I probably will have to pass on FCN, or anything else I might have considered during that time period. FC remains on my radar for "one of these years" but is out for this year.
That basically leaves May through August. IFC, the second-closest furry con to me, is the same weekend as Great Taste of the Midwest beer fest in Madison that I like to attend with my brother and other family members every year, so unless we don't attend that for whatever reason, IFC is off the table. AC, the biggest of all, appears to be the most likely for me this year. Morphicon is another remote possibility, at least if I know far enough ahead of time that I will be unable to attend AC.
And there you have it, mwalimu's 2012 forecast for furry con attendance.
Cuddling
Posted 14 years agoWhen it comes to cuddling, I have a sort of dilemma.
First, I love the whole closeness aspect of it, being close to someone else, the comfort of being able to touch another, share their space, the warmth if I'm cold at all. Just being that close to another is satisfying in a way that's hard to describe. But then I get into a couple of problems with it. I start to overheat, to perspire more than I like, plus I get restless if I'm in the same position for very long and need to stretch, shift, rearrange myself from time to time.
Does anyone else have this problem? What do you do about it?
First, I love the whole closeness aspect of it, being close to someone else, the comfort of being able to touch another, share their space, the warmth if I'm cold at all. Just being that close to another is satisfying in a way that's hard to describe. But then I get into a couple of problems with it. I start to overheat, to perspire more than I like, plus I get restless if I'm in the same position for very long and need to stretch, shift, rearrange myself from time to time.
Does anyone else have this problem? What do you do about it?
Nearing the end of On Location
Posted 14 years agoThe last full chapter of On Location went up on The Raccoon's Bookshelf last night. I'm still working on an Epilogue that will go up in probably two weeks. The server where my personal webpage is located has been down for a few days so I haven't been able to post it there yet, but it will go there too once the site comes back up. I've also converted all of the chapters completed to date into .rtf format and will be posting those one per day here on Fur Affinity.
Woo hoo, I'm published!
Posted 14 years agoMy story submission is in the MFF conbook!
