Yep, as the title says, I haven't completely disappeared of FA. If anything I've mostly just been messing around on Twitter and Telegram. Don't want to spam FA with all those inflatable pictures after all.

Life has been interesting this past 8 months. Worked as a botanist 8 states away and am now back home again waiting to go back for another field season. So much work to be done with all that and a lot of patience to work towards that elusive permanent job. Been enjoying the time off though. Enough time to get back into running again, work on my smash bros. game, and perhaps do some reinforcing work on the squeaky herd. Anywho, hope all who end up reading this have been well!

Whelp, in four short days, my life has now been turned completely upside down. Long story short, is a retirement has led to me finally getting a biology job. It's been darn near three years since I first started trying to apply my education to something and for it to finally pay off makes me so happy. I'm going to be studying fungi, bryophytes, lichens, and some other plant types as well as a seasonal botany technician. It's temp work sure, but I'm hoping the connections and such I make will be invaluable to securing more permanent employment. The biggest change is that I'm going to move 2200 miles away from my home here in Arkansas to a small town just east of Portland Oregon. This prospect scares the living crap out of me but it's going to be an enormous adventure. I get excited just thinking about studying bio things in the pacific northwest. There's so much beautiful land up there, not to mention plenty of squeak friendly folks in the area. In short, I'm both scared and excited all at the same time. *takes a super deep breath* Things are about to get interesting.

As I mentioned, I attended Furry Weekend Atlanta over this most recent weekend. All I can say is that everything was totally worth it and I had a blast!

Going into this weekend I was nervous as all get out. I was traveling around four states away by myself to meet some folks I had never met in person before. All this was a bit of a scary prospect. I was stressed as all get out upon arrival with getting my squeaks and such up to my room but after that, my fears quickly evaporated.

I got in rather late on Friday given I had forgotten about the time change so I had missed everyone heading out to dinner. I ended up messaging  ryusyro who then brought  wildmark,  rascalov, and Insama Lion. For the first time in my life, I was actually able to talk with other squeak lovers about all sorts of squeak stuff in person. We preceded to get a few of my squeaky critters out and I learned firsthand the joys of having an electric pump. For those that don't know, up until this point, I inflated all my toys by a hand pump lol. It was so wonderful having Zen, Leopold, and Arwen up at the same time.

After that we headed back to Syro's room and hung out there for a bit before Syro and Wildmark decided to do some fursuiting at the rave. Rascalov and I ended up following Wildmark around for fursuit shenanigans and I finally got back to my room lateish and crashed.

Saturday brought all manner of fun. Before I go on, I should mention that the hotel was amazing. It helped make things truly feel like an escape from my every day life. Anyway, I got up around 10 ish and then met up with Syro, Rasc, and the others for lunch. We went across the street to the Peach Tree Center and had lunch in their food court. Afterwards, I learned that  kiyothehusky and Tiger Nick had set up an inflatable panel of sorts. Of course, I brought all I could up and we had a grand ol time. This marked Barge's first ever appearance in front of other furs/squeak lovers. All the new IW toys were super nice and that big shark was super fun to sandwich people between lol. It was so wonderful to be able to actually share my animals with other folks. Oh yeah, I also got to meet  ceralor for the first time. That night, we at at a burger joint called Metro and it was delicious. We kinda did our own thing that night. Rasc came over to my room and we set up his two wuffies as I had plenty of space. It was amazing meeting those two and I'm thankful for the opportunity. We also learned that a king size bed fits a Zenith for snuggles. More rave stuff that night and I learned that Kio was a DJ. It was cool getting to listen to his set that night. https://www.mixcloud.com/kainu/live-at-fwa2016/ Here's the link to his set if anyone is curious.

Come Sunday, I was starting to get exhausted as heck. We ate over at the PT center again and then just kind of chilled most of the afternoon as we were originally going to do some squeaking but it got delayed. This went on till dinnertime where we realized all the shops were closed but managed to secure some food anyway. After this we returned to the hotel and went up to the squeak panel room. There were a good 10 fursuiters waiting for us there. I got Zen, Barge, and a couple of other critters out and we had an absolute blast. Lots of inflating, deflating, bouncing, and a whole bunch of cute fursuit picture taking. After this we meandered around the con space taking fursuit pictures with Wildmark and Syro. Oh yeah, I almost forgot that we also helped out the BlueButterfly folks with taking down their booth that afternoon. After all was said in done I went back up to my room to prepare for the long Monday that was ahead of me.

Monday was a stress fest. Anyone around me could likely feel the stress emanating from my body. I should have thought ahead to be honest and done this stuff the previous night. All the bell hops were occupied for hours so I had to pester Rasc to help me get my stuff down the 7 flights of stairs. After that all hell ensued with the valet as I was unaware the drop off and pick up locations were completely different. I ended up having to drive to the front, park, and get a bunch of squeaks in the back of my car. Finally it all worked out and I got away to head to Vortex, the traditional post con meetup for everyone. We had a great meal but then we all had to say our goodbyes. The drive home was long and I got hit in the face with PCD the first hour but I ended up eventually getting through it.

All in all, this con was one of the wildest, most wonderful adventures I've gone on since I graduated from college two years ago. If any of you guys I mentioned read this, just know that this was one of the most wonderful times I've ever had.

Now that I've got this under my belt, I'm considering heading to MFF if I can swing it and can secure the time off. There are so many more furs and squeak lovers that I'd love to meet.

Whelp, looks like I'm finally attending my first con. I'm heading to Furry Weekend Atlanta here in a few weeks. I've gotten registered and have managed to get a hotel room within the convention hotel. There will be plenty of squeaks there, I can assure you guys. I'm not sure who is gonna come just yet As thing stand right now, I'm going to have a room to myself so plenty of space for some squeaky shenanigans. Dragons, deer, and horses oh my. I hope to see some of you guys out there!

Seems I haven't done a new journal here in a few months. Things are going quite well as of right now.

First and foremost, I'm late on in the process of having a squeaky equine of my own made through Puffy. He'll be a thing come early to mid summer depending on how long it takes Jets to get things started. I can't wait to finally make the big reveal as I think he's super lovable. Waiting is going to be painful on this one as I can't even begin to describe how excited I am about it.

Life itself has been coming along quite well as of late. Just working and gaming mainly with the occasional run thrown in. I have been accepted into the grad program I was working towards so I've been working at getting grad assistanships and such for next semester. Outside of that, I've been doing research on horseback riding schools in my area. I can afford a few hours of lessons a week so that'll be something to look forward to on the weekends. I'm always excited to try new things so that should be fun. Will give me some alternative exercise from running to boot.

In short, I'm probably the most content with things I've been in years. Not to say I don't have random freak out about the future but things have been looking up a lot more than down since the start of the year. Good stuff I'd say.

As a brief continuation of my last journal, if I"m not in school, I'll have the funds and time for some special projects. As anyone who chats with me knows, I love squeak horses. I love them a great deal and might be borderline obsessed. Since there aren't any available (non pinch seamed) creatures out there that I can track down or have one offed, I'm considering just having one of my own made. I'll admit to not knowing a thing about squeak design nor do I possess artistic skill but I'm still eager to make something like this happen. Only time will tell if it actually happens but I'm willing to try :).

As a little bonus, a few other nice things might happen if I'm not in school. One, I might take a few horseback riding lessons nearby as I don't just like squeaky ones. The other is I'd actually have vacation time come next summer. This means a con or other get together could be in the cards if I play things right. Anyhow, thanks for reading/listening to my ramblings and I hope all is well with you guys.

Panzer

This journal is going to be a bit more serious than my usual ramblings and might even be a tiny bit of venting. Though life has not been bad at all, I've been feeling increasingly sad as of late. It mainly has to do with stuff not related to the fandom or squeaks or any of that. You see, most of my struggle in life has to do with finally getting a career started. It's been over two years since I graduated with my bachelors in biology and it's been hell ever since trying to find decent paying work or any work at all for that matter. It hurts me inside knowing all those years of hard work and busting my tail simply didn't lead to much. It's not something I show outwardly all the time but it's one of those gremlins that eats away at me and occasionally "wins". What probably spurred this most recent bout on is the realization that when I do get accepted into the two grad schools I applied to, I'm still not going to be able to go simply due to not being able to afford it. I just can't justify getting that much in debt right now, especially after how well my bachelor's worked out. That said, there is still hope in the form of grad assistanships but that will have to wait till next fall. That will give me time to prepare financially and get things in order. Like I said, I know none of this is terrible as there are far worse things happening out there, but my frustrations have just been boiling over in the form of a rather melancholy/cynical mood as of late. Now not to be a complete downer, there is going to be a second journal directly after this one that should be a bit more upbeat and squeaky. If I'm not in school, that means I'll be able to pull off a few shenanigans before I hit the grind stone next fall.

*squeaks*

Hello all! Things have been progressing quite a bit since I last did a journal. I'll more or less be finished with grad school application within the week so that will finally be done with. I don't know what will come of it though. I'm sure I'll get accepted, it's just I'm more concerned with not getting freakishly in debt trying to get a Master's degree. It's a bit of a catch 22 though given the degree will likely be necessary to even get entry level stuff as a biologist. I'm mainly doing this to see what kinds of grants and GA's are available and to get into contact with professors and such. At worst, I just continue at my current job, which is actually not a bad deal as I like my current employer.

Given I've been dealing with this, running, and general "being an adult", I apologize if I haven't been around much for those I chat with semi regularly. Between work and trying to get all that sort of stuff done, I've been a bit drained of energy for social stuff. A social butterfly I am not (though I do think I should do more social stuff).

Finally, to end on a squeaky note, a new equine addition will be coming in here in about two weeks time. I'm really looking forward to this one as he's quite a cutie pie .

Best wishes to all,

Panzer

Figured I should do an update as the last one was exactly one month ago. I did end up taking the GRE again but didn't really score all that much higher, despite the extra studying. That math portion was still as annoying as ever. Not hard but I'm not really one for doing math at a rate of 1 minute 30 seconds a problem. In whatever case, it should have raised up enough to where it shouldn't be a problem anymore. I'm not applying anywhere prestigious so my high undergrad gpa from a well respected school and strong references should outshine any test score (especially one that almost has no bearing on grad school performance). Now it's time to put int hat applications and see what comes of it. I'm certain I'll get in but I'm more concerned with GA positions and such.

Outside of that nonsense, life is coming right along. It's been a bit more grindy lately. Nothing bad or anything, just my energy levels have been a bit lower. It's kinda hard to get out and do stuff when you are half a sleep most of the time. I think it might be some subconscious stress about getting a career started or getting back to school. Just one of those things that eats at ya a bit over time. I'm sure the energy will come back once I make some headway with that stuff.

Running's had it's highs and lows as of late. I had things moving along for a good month or so but the hot Arkansas summer kicked in, making it very difficult to train safely. Even when I was in ridiculous shape, there wasn't much I could do about near 100 degree weather with high humidity. That and I stopped a bit for GRE prep. This week, we've had a bit of a reprieve from the heat so I've taken the opportunity to get the ball rolling again. A few 4 milers and maybe a good 6 or 8 miler coming up. Just gotta get consistent again. My current goal is to get to where I can do my old college long runs. These were typically around 10 to 12 miles or so. I might incorporate some speed training in as well once I get that Aerobic base back.

On the squeak side of things I've added both Leopold (G&G leopard), Spyro, and Maxwell (my donkey). I'm still getting used to Leopold's super heavy vinyl but I do love the big guy. Riding him is great fun and he's the first big toy I can lounge on without worry (Zen has his seams to watch out for). That and he's adorable as all heck . Maxwell is certainly a big cutie. He's got thinner vinyl than most lifelikes though he does have more pinch seams (legs, mane, and head). He's a good size for riding too as he's a bit smaller than the other 72 inch equines. This also makes him a good snuggle. Spyro is spyro XD. Outside of new squeaks, I've been cuddling the heck out of Fiora and Zen. They're my go to snuggles as I love their adorable features.

Gaming wise I've been doing a couple of different things. I completed the rare Panzer Dragoon Saga a couple of weeks back and loved the atmosphere, music, and world (even if living there would be a horrible idea lol). More recently I've been going old school with pokemon Heartgold (ok, a remake of an old school game) and super mario bros 3. In fact, my apartment mate spectated the super mario bros 3 playthrough and made fun of every death XD. Finally, I've been really polishing my Smash Wii U skills. Nothing amazing but I have a pretty competent Charizard I'd say. I've certainly put a good deal of time into learning the ins and outs of his moveset. That nuetral air, super armor rock smash, and offstage game XD!

Last but not least, I'd like to thank everyone for helping me reach the milestone of 500 faves. It's always nice knowing people like one's work, even if it is just squeak photography XD. Anyhow, I hope everyone is doing well. *huggles all the watchers*

Panzer

*huff huff huff* Boy, even with a decent air pump, inflating Zen is quite a task. And that's with only having to inflate him semi firm in a sitting pose. His full capacity is quite a bit higher for his standing poses XD. My arms are a bit sore but he's back to his usual spot in my room.

Zen's not the only dragon that needs to wake up, Panzer has to as well Gotta shake off that apathy and get things done here for a week or two. I finally signed up to take the graduate record exam a second time to patch up that low math score I got originally (it's not hard, I'm just not good at answering math problems in 30 seconds). The lit/reading comprehension stuff is pretty easy so not many problems there. After 4 years as a bio student, one would think I could get the main points out of scientific literature by now XD. Following this I need to finally follow through and get everything together for grad school applications. Yep, I might be signing my soul away for a Master's degree come next spring or fall.

Ouside of potential academic advancement, I've been working on waking up my athleticism again. For those that don't know, I ran cross country/track a good 6 years competitively. I was only a mid to upper range Division 3 athlete but it still felt good being in ridiculous shape by most standards. I've been trying to recapture that a bit as of late by restarting my training some. It's been a bit shaky as of late due to the Arkansas summer heat but I've been able to do some shorter runs. I suspect when it starts cooling off later, I'll start being able to do those long runs I've been wanting to do again for a long while.

Anyway, I hope everyone is doing well and getting their stuff done XD. Now if you guys will excuse me, a certain dragon is stirring a bit more and is demanding some attention. *runs off to attend to the cute squeak dragon before he gets cranky*.

As the title says, I’m in the market to buy one of the Topcat blue rocking horses if I can find one. I’m aware that quite a few were made so I figured I’d ask around a bit as there might be a few just laying around in someone’s closet somewhere. I’d prefer undamaged but I wouldn’t mind a fixer upper either, so long as the damage isn’t too crazy. If not, I guess it’ll be time to either go bug Mr. Topcat a little or begin the wait on Ebay *enters epic sniping crouch*. Thank you guys and gals for any information.

As an aside, I'd love to see that design in an IW run but that's just me XD.

Panzer

Just for fun, I'm gonna go through the names I have for my inflatable friends along with a little back story on each.

Synch the sinclair dino: Yep, this is just a simple shortening of sinclair for my first ever squeaky. He's a good 20 something years old now.

Iggy the intex gecko: A tiny bit leaky and his entire head being stiffened due to plasticizer loss, he was my first ever addition to my collection.

Fang the intex medieval dragon: I spent a good few months looking for this guy. His name comes from the little fangs that accompany his grumpy expression.

Chance the jets tiggy: I felt horrible as Chance had neck issues the first night I had him so I felt like I needed a second "Chance" to care for him. He's all right now (though I'm working on finding a slow leak somewhere on him currently).

Chip the Jets Reindeer: This name just popped into my head while looking at him one night. Now he's my "Chippy Buck", as I like to call him. He was my first big inflatable.

Lucky the lifeway pony: He's a cute little fellah and I felt lucky at the time to get one.

Barge the hero pouncer: Yes, that is his official name XD. I don't tend to rename squeaky characters like this. He was my first custom.

Aura the intex penguin: I was going for Aurora but decided to shorten it for whatever reason. A play off of the aurora borealis and aurora australias one would see to the far north and south.

Tusk the intex walrus: Obvious name is obvious.

Fiora the G&G Palomino: It took a bit of thinking but I decided to name her after one of the female protagonists from Xenoblade Chronicles. I tend to shorten it to Fifi when I'm speaking affectionately to her.

Silver Arrow the G&G Revers Palomino: Based on her special coloration. Her silver legs and tail make her one of the most unique creatures in my collection.

Chopper the jets realistic jets reindeer: For those familiar with the anime/manga One Piece, Chopper is a reindeer human hybrid doctor that can transform between a cute anthro form and his animal form (and a freaky monstrosity form too if pushed too far). On a side note, it took me forever to realize that Luffy's powers fall in line with some of my squeaky interests.

Zen the Zenith Dragon: Completely unoriginal but it works for me. I considered many other names but I just kept shortening his name. I love my *insert baby talk* Zen Zen.

Teeter the poolmaster rocking horse: This was actually a name suggestion from a FA user who saw his picture.

Zeke the jets 72 inch zeeb: I had to go for a Z based name for him.

I do have a fair number of named squeakies but I also have some I've been a bit lazy with the naming so here's a list of my yet to be named friends: standards intex orca, intex lil whale, intex realistic dolphin, intex magic dragon, intex horse, IW horse (I really need to get a name for him soon), and a Pepperidge Farm Turkey.

Well, that sums up all the names I have for my squeakies. For those that feel inclined to do so, feel free to share some of the names you have for your squeaky friends.

I was about to go running the other day and I had to wait for things to cool off so I was running at twilight. Getting a bit darker outside, I joked that if I died on this run, that she would have to take care of my squeaks and give them some love. I said that if she didn't, I would haunt her until she did. She immediately replies without hesitation and in a ghostly voice "oohooohoooohooo hump my dragons ooohooooohoooohooo". I don't even know where she got such a ridiculous notion.

Figured I would do an update since I hadn't in a good while. I've settled in to my new job and it blows Walmart clear out of the water. Essentially what I do is break concrete cylinders, beams, and cubes in order to test their strength. When construction is occurring, the concrete mix used has to meet certain strength standards so I test them to see if they meet these standards. The best part though is how laid back everything is. For one, other than a bit of cleaning, busywork is non existent. If you get your work done, you can read, hang out, or do whatever, so long as you are available to get stuff done if it comes up. This comes into play for me a lot due to waiting for cylinders made at job sites to get brought in. The only downside is the commute as I get to drive 40 minutes to work in the morning and around an hour coming home due to Little Rock bumper to bumper traffic.

While I'm happy with work for the most part, I still can't help but think I can do more. I'm going to see if I can't get a GA with a professor so I can get a master's degree paid for. I think it's doable but I might need to go back and retake the GRE again but we'll see about all this. Heck, I might like my new job enough to stay a while but only time will tell.

On the squeak side of things, holy heck have I ever fallen in love with my big dragon friend. He's only been deflated twice so far. Once to be transported for fully inflated pictures, the other so I could fit 6 horses in my room. Other than that, he has his spot beside my bed and gets hugs and whatnot every day. What I will say though as he's made me into a paranoid draggy. Every time I give him a ride, I'm always a bit nervous he'll get a leak. On my smaller toys, it's not as big of a deal since I can usually find and fix them easily enough. Not so much on a big single chamber dragon. While he gets most of my room, my bed has room enough for another of my bigger toys usually. My palos both have their spot and are often snuggled as I sleep. My jets reindeer has also had some cuddle time as of late.

Finally, I've got to say I've been insanely lucky on the squeak side of things this past year. I started my collection about a year ago with an intex gecko and it's grown at a pace that I never would have believed. I was laying with my Fiora the other night and realized that "holy hell, I'm laying with a G&G horse with a PP dragon beside me", this actually happened. Hehe I also would have never thought I'd be taking my squeaks out in public with such frequency (or at all for that matter). I guess it's the difference a year in the squeak community makes I suppose.

I hope everything has been coming along for everyone else and I hope you guys have a good one!

Despite a bit of roughness at work and in my own psyche these past couple of days, I have some wonderful news. A. Obvious thing is obvious, my big draggy arrived safely and is in my arms for the first time. B. I've finally escaped Walmart. I've gotten a lab tech job in Little Rock where I stress test concrete slabs and cylinders. I'll be getting all sorts of certifications in doing so and the pay (not to mention the benefits and paid vacation) are much better. Eventually, I'll also be trained in soil analysis so there's gonna be lots to learn in the coming year. I'm just so happy to have some work that I can sink my teeth into.

Well, as if this week couldn't get any better what with getting a Zenith and all, it did. For the first time since I graduated, I'm interviewing for a position within the ballpark of my field. If I get it, I'll be a lab technician for a material testing company in Little Rock (roughly 30 miles away). This is the first time an employer other than Walmart has even acknowledged my existence. Now I've just got to nail that interview. So if all goes to plan, I'll have a new job and three new squeaky friends by the end of next week.

I can't believe this actually happened. I now have (or will be receiving rather) my very first Puffypaws toy, a Zenith Dragon. This particular toy has special meaning to me as I fell in love with it all those years ago when I first stumbled across its entry on inflathemall one day. It was my introduction to the wide world of customs at the time (prompty after seeing the G&G draggy 5 seconds before). Ever since then, it had been a dream of mine to either get the Zenith, or a similar western style dragon. In short, this is a squeaky dream come true for me as I've been trying to get myself in a good position to get one for a number of years now. On a side note, it's been a hell of a year as for the right squeaks falling into place. This makes Barge, my palo twins, and now my big Zen Zen.

I'm gonna have a hell of a time fitting him in my apartment room but I'm gonna make sure he has some space because I want to see him on a daily basis. I'm also quite keen on taking care of the big guy since I know that the Zeniths are somewhat fragile, even if I am only 130 pounds. I've cared for the pinch seamed G&G palos before though so there shouldn't be too many problems, I hope, given he is lapped that I can at least sit on him with minimal worries. More bouncy play can come when I figure out if this particular specimen has good construction quality (they vary quite a bit I hear).

Finally, like all my squeaks I'm going to come up with a good name for my big dream dragon. In my head, I've been having the name Igneel come up quite a few times. He's the fire dragon that raised Natsu in the anime Fairy Tail. I might even go for a pernese dragon name too. I like Ruth and Ramoth as well (even if Ramoth was a golden queen). Hehe I could even go for a video game name and go with Tengri or Lagi. In whatever case, I hope I can find a good fitting name as this guy is super special in my eyes .

Raaaaaawwwwwwwrrrrrrrrr goes the content squeak dragon!

Whelp, I've turned my room into a squeak hospital of sorts. Seems like everyone decided to start getting small leaks at the same time. Oh well, for those interested in this sort of thing, this is what I've been doing.

My reverse pal is having her usual problems on her neck currently. My old repair wasn't quite good enough and started leaking a little bit. After having the same patch leak issue with Fiora, I've redone both their repairs. I tried a new method and it seems to have worked much better. Before, I simply coated the area with glue and applied a patch. Now, I take a small triangle shaped cardboard piece and see if it'll fit into the hole. Next I put glue on the cardboard piece and insert it into the hole area, applying glue to both sides in the process. I can then apply more glue over the top and apply a patch meaning there'll be a connection between the two sides of vinyl AND a patch over the top.

I've also done some repairs on my jets reindeer and vbs pony. They had similar problems in that they had a small leak near an area where air flowed in to another area. In the pony's case, the mane and in the reindeer's case, the tail. Both have been dealt with with just a simple glue and patch method.

I've also done a few small scale repairs on my intex medieval dragon and jets tiggy. The draggy, of course, had problems in the throat area but they've all been easy fixes. My tiggy got a split on the negative curve on his nose. Attempt #1 didn't work but here's to attempt #2. I might try the new method I mentioned above for his repair work.

The only repair I'm concerned about is my VBS Pony's leg. The front right leg decided to get a leak at the attachment point to the main body. It's small but the logistics of getting something in that area airtight sounds a bit daunting.

Yep, it certainly feels like I've done way more repair work than I'm used to doing but it's worth it to keep my babies in good shape. It feels so good to get a toy air tight again. To be like "I told ya I'd get ya fixed" as I cuddle them afterwards is an amazing feeling.

Yoinked from Tico, who yoinked it from Dustin.

1: Do you try to stay away from walkthroughs? – Eh, it depends really but I do tend to avoid them.

2: Company you're always loyal to? – Nintendo, though I play stuff on just about every system.

3: Best game you've ever played? – Will a list do? Chrono Trigger, Xenoblade Chronicles, Super Mario Bros 3. Smash Bros. (series), Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island, Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door, LOZ (Series, both 2d and 3d), Pokemon (oh god I’m an addict of that series on both the casual and competitive levels) Panzer Dragoon (Series), Ace Combat 4: Shattered Skies, Ni No kuni, Donkey Kong Country (series), and the Sonic the Hedgehog series.

4: Worst game you've ever played? – I can’t recall any horrible experiences off the top of my head. Most of the stuff I’ve only heard about. *Cough* Sonic 06, the CDI Mario/Zelda games.

5: A popular series/game you just can't get into no matter how much you try? – Eh, I’m not a huge fan of shooters but that may just be from lack of playing most of them. I do enjoy me some Metroid Prime though.

6: A game that's changed you the most? – Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door. My first RPG and the first game I spent over 200 hours playing.

7: A game you'll never forget? - Chrono Trigger. Holy shit this was good stuff.

8: Best soundtrack? – No, not this question! Xenoblade Chronicles, ACE, Shimamora, and the others made so much good music for this game. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xweRl4LZlmo Walking onto the Bionis knee for the first time and realizing “Holy Fuck, I really am on the body of a dead titan” to this was a magical feeling. Chrono trigger. Yasunori Mitsuda struck gold with this one, and rightly so considering he passed out working so hard on it. Donkey Kong (Series). Two words: David Wise.

9: A game you turn your volume off every time you play it? – Hehe depends if there are other people in the room. If so, I tend to turn my JRPG’s down a bit due to the constant witty banter between characters. Alone, hell no I don’t turn the volume down!

10: A game you've completely given up on? – Probably one of the more recent 3d sonic games.

11: Hardest game you've played? – F Zero GX or the first couple of levels from the original kid icarus.

12: Shortest time you've beaten a game in? – Less than 40 minutes on the original sonic the hedgehog. I can beat the first world in under two minutes total.

13: A game you were the most excited for when it wasn't released yet? – Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword. The wait on this one was horrendous but worth it. It didn’t help that flying on the loftwing was one thing I always wanted to do in a game (or in real life haha).

14: A game you think would be cool if it had voice acting? – LOZ (lol jk, excuuuuuuse meeee princesss). Seriously, maybe some quality voice acting in Skies of Arcadia or some of my older RPG’s.

15: Which two games do you think would make an awesome crossover? - Metroid and mega man perhaps?

16: Character you've hated most? From what game? - Hey! Listen! Hey! Listen! Hey! Listen! lol jk jk. In truth, I hated Zanza and Metal Face in Xenoblade. I can't really discuss either without spoilerific stuff but I did really hate them. They were such good villains.

17: What game do you never tell people you play? – Hehe I played and beat Barbie Riding Club a loooooong time ago if that counts. *cogs begin to turn on my squeaky equine love*.

18: A game you wish your friends knew about? – The entire Panzer Dragoon franchise (lol all 4 games). Poor series got stranded on a failing system which caused them to end up in obscurity, despite being cool games. The games essentially play like Star Fox, except you are on a laser breathing dragon in a post apocalyptic world and enemies come from all 360 degrees around you. You whip the camera around using the shoulder buttons. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLHCAD_IZfU PS1 Era graphics but I still dig them.

19: Which game do you think deserves a revival? – I would say the Panzer series but they kinda got one in Crimson Dragon (even if it was a botched attempt more or less). I’d love to see a revival of Skies of Arcadia.

20: What was the first video game you ever played? – Despite being born several years after its release, the original Super Mario Bros.

21: How old were you when you first played a video game? - Like maybe 6 lol.

22: If you could immerse yourself in any game for one day, which game would it be? What would you do? – Ni No Kuni or Okami. Ni No Kuni for being a fricken playable studio ghibli film. The other world is amazing. I’d probably fly around on Tengri and take in the sights.

Okami would be hella amazing too. Becoming the sun god in the form of a white wolf where plants sprout out behind me when I ran would be magical. Plus I love the art style of this game so much.

LOZ Skyward Sword, flying around on a loftwing and living in skyloft.

23: Biggest disappointment you've had in gaming? – Learning the hard way about saving in old RPG’s. Being able to collect all the chaos emerald in sonic 3 & knuckles but only getting to the 4th world to the infamous barrel of doom *hangs head in shame*.

24: Casual, Hardcore, or in the middle? – I’m a gamer, I play a bit of everything. Those poorly done free to play games can go die in a hole though.

25: Be honest; have you ever used cheats (like ActionReplay or Gameshark)? – Never owned a gameshark XD. As for cheats, yep. Up down left right A start-Sonic the Hedgehog level select

26: Handheld or console? - Both

27: Has there ever been a moment that has made you cry? – Xenoblade Chronicles, the cut scene where Shulk and Reyn leave Colony 9. I could go into why but that’s heavy spoilers. Okami, when Amaterasu and Isuun have to part ways.

28: Which character's clothes do you wish you owned the most? – Dunban’s default clothes from Xenoblade. Samus’s power armor. Vyse’s Clothes from Skies of Arcadia (a swashbuckler be me).

29: Which is more important, gameplay or story? - A little of both is nice.

30: A game that hasn't been localized in your country that you think should be localized? – Shining Force III for the Saturn. Sega, being idiots only localized the first part of a three part game.

Well two weeks in to living in my new place and things are coming along fairly well I'd say. It's been a smooth transition for the most part. All of my squeaks are here and I've got plenty of space in my room to have several out at a time. The only part that's been grating on my nerves at all has been working in the garden center at Walmart here in town. I could rant for hours on how stupid things get but I'll shorten that and simply say it's a giant clusterfuck. I might have to do a compilation of all the stupid crap that's happened already at some point just to give folks a laugh one of these days.

I am still looking into getting a master's degree in biology so I can finally get my tuckus into doing something that is actually worthwhile. Currently my focus is on Colorado State over in Fort Collins, Colorado. I will say one thing and that is that grad school hunting is a massive pain in comparison to how college was. Everyone expects you to know exactly what field of research you want to go into, yet there's no way of really knowing until one actually does it. My main problem is I've never really had that one calling or whatever it is. I find ecology as a whole very interesting but I couldn't really pick just one aspect of it and say "that's it". If my Bachelor's was too broad, grad school stuff seems to be too specific. I'm attempting to get into contact with a few folks over there so they might be able to help me sort that out a bit (the head of the program happens to be from my original hometown and graduated from my former college).

One thing I have noticed living in this new place is I've been a bit more sensitive to stuff for some reason. Setbacks and whatnot have easily made me feel down as of recent. I guess I'm just getting really eager to finally make something of myself, especially considering it's been nearly two year's since I graduated.

Finally as to not end things on that whiny note, I've added a few more squeaky animals to my menagerie who will likely end up in my gallery at some point next week.

As I have mentioned in a past journal, I have an apartment in a nearby town. I haven't been able to live there yet but that's all about to change. The job transfer I've been pestering HR about for the past month or so finally was approved. I'm going to be working as a full time garden center employee. Hehe far cry from cart pusher that's for sure. Sure the pay isn't great but it beats having to push carts in 100 degree weather and in snow for less than everyone else makes inside the store. I'll be able to start living in the new place on March 7th. Oh yeah, on a side note, yay $9 an hour starting pay come April.

Another area I've begun to make some headway on is working towards getting accepted into graduate school for a master of science in biology. There's no doubt I can get in with little trouble but I'm more concerned with getting funding. For this I'm going to need to go bug professors over there about what they are studying so I can get into one of the labs. A Graduate Assistantship would more or less give me a free ride if I manage it. If not, I'll need to look into scholarship stuff and exactly how bad the tuition would be without. I'd probably just wait a year and try again at the GA to avoid massive debt if I didn't get it and couldn't find other funding.

Finally on the squeaky side of things, I have a wonderful new companion. He is another G&G Palomino but he is one o the special Reverse Palominos. He has the white leg paint on the upper part of his leg as opposed to the lower. The "white" paint is actually not the same either. It has a grey look to it the regular Palo does not have. Sadly, I won't be able to take pictures for a bit since he got a small neck seam tear the moment I rode him a little bit. It's a simple fix but repairs take time to do right. Expect some photos of him in the coming days when he is all better .

Looks like my toys have both been getting a few patches and doing an awful lot of "patching" me up as of late.

On the toy side, my poor Fiora got a small seam tear in her neck during today's photo shoot. I suspect some of the temperature change was to blame due to the sun being out. I noticed it while riding her belly shortly after so I need to thank my lucky stars a tiny pin hole leak was all it was (how it happened I'm not sure since she's almost always squishy). I'm gonna attempt a reinforcing job eventually but until then, Fiora will be a cuddle only toy as to not hurt her any farther.

I suppose me patching her up will be just compensation for all the patching up my toys have done on me as of late. Sadly, I learned that a store transfer to my apartment's town will lead to me losing my full time status and there don't appear to be full time jobs within reach there currently (old not enough experience riff raff), even though the place is a bustling college town. Some of the frustration with that and still only being a cart wrangler nearly a year and half after graduating have been boiling over a bit as of late. Kinda one of those deals that comes up every so often. That's where my toys have come in. As sad as I've gotten, they've made me feel better. At my worst I just curled up in a ball around Fiora's neck with tears in my eyes and just cuddled there for an hour. There is something to be said of cuddling these animals as they ease that pain a great deal. Hopefully I'm not being too much of a downer here, I've just been on edge emotionally as of late with the stress of a transition and whatnot. I guess I'll just close by saying I hope you guys and gals have been having a bit better luck as of late .

Panzer

Just a little mini update on my big old girl. I found that I had some of the better "textured' intex patches so between that and the vinyl cement, Fiora's back to being the proud standing old girl I know her to be. For those other inflatable lovers, yeah I know, it wasn't bad, I'm just kinda protective and that was the first repair I've had to make on anything other than a pool toy. Gotta love those moments when affection overrides logic.

Lessons learned from this adventure

1. Keep squeaky friends secured in some form of totes rather than ever putting them on a shelf.

2. Attempt to think things through logically (I did but that bad, kicked in the gut, feeling persisted a while)

3. Textured intex patches make at least a decent substitute for vinyl strips when paired with vinyl cement
3A. I wouldn't have known how to get the vinyl strip on without accidentally gluing the inside of Fiora's leg to itself anyway

Whelp I have gotten all of the things moved over to my new place. It'll be quite nice once we get things straightened out a bit and I can actually live over here after a job transfer.

Sadly, the evening was rather tainted with my poor horse, Fiora, getting a small puncture on her front left leg. I had put my squeaky babies on the top shelf of my closet until I decided to show her off and as it turned out, there was a *insert expletive here* nail sticking out of the shelf that she snagged on when I slid her back out. I will say that it is very small but I feel horrible for not being more observant. I tend to promise my squeakies that I'll protect and care for them so something like this, even very small, bugs the heck out of me. She'll be fixed right up tomorrow when I go home tand can access myh repair supplies. I'm hoping some of my vinyl cement with a dual layered intex patch (one just stuck on, apply glue over the first, and then add the second patch on the HH66) will do the trick as I don't have any scrap vinyl laying around currently.

Other than that, things are likely to work out well from all this. I showed my apartment mate my collection and she absolutely loves them. I only brought Lucky, Fiora, and Barge bug she loves them already hehe. Gonna be a fun ride once I get things worked out.

Before I start off, for those that talk to me on a semi regular basis, you can probably skip most of this as I've probably discussed it at one time or another.

I'm nervous as hell about it but I'll be moving an hour away to live in an apartment with a friend of mine in Conway, Arkansas very soon. I still won't be completely independent from my family as my minimum wage employment insures that, but I think sharing an apartment with a friend of mine is going to be a big first step. She's already well acquainted with my squeaky side, being the first person I ever discussed it with, so I'll be able to keep whatever toys I want out. The only iffy portion, toy wise anyway, is she has two cats so I've got to keep my door shut at all times, lest any of my toys become a scratching post *cringes at the thought*. As stressful as the move and job transfer will be, I think it's gonna be worth it as I'll be able to socialize a lot more in Conway. Many of my friends from college are still there so my social life won't be nearly as dead as here in Heber.

On the squeaky side of things of late, I've bonded quite a bit with my Palomino, Fiora. I've always had a great amount of affection for equines so having her (with Lucky too) is wonderful. She's a good snuggle at night and fun to do a little light bouncing on when she's under-inflated. My only major concern is how tight her neck and throat always feel, regardless of inflation levels. Gonna have to get around to attempting an external reinforcing job at some point. All of my other creatures have made me quite happy as of late as well. Lucky and Chip are the perfect size for cuddles and I love the their respective vinyl feels so very much. Chip might even have my favorite vinyl to date. Barge is still the cuddle hog he's been since the day I got him so not much has changed there haha. On the repair side of things, that vinyl cement has worked wonders. This is the first time Chance has been fully airtight since I got him some five months ago (sad I know) and my little sinclair dino is the closest to airtight he's been since I've been attempting to repair him (those darn legs are a pain with all those negative curves).

Finally, for lack of a better place to discuss this, I'm not sure of thanking folks for faves and such. I can see being grateful for people liking one's art/pictures/stories, but I can also see it kinda getting annoying to have one's shout box filled with thank you shouts. That said, I do appreciate you guys liking whatever squeaky stuff I end up getting into so don't feel left out or anything if I'm hesitant to thank everyone. *squeaky huggles for all*!