So, just to pass the time, I was going through the people I'm following here on FA. I have a startling number of those infinity symbols in my "following" list. It was while looking at one deceased fur's account that I noticed a comment from another deceased fur left some years later.

I turned forty in June. That's ancient by furry standards. I think back to when I started this journey in the infancy of the internet. I can't imagine my life without this fandom and the people I've met along the way. I'm grateful to you all, and I hope there won't be many more infinity symbols in my near future.

Well, my is car now stuck in a snowdrift higher than it's bumper and I had to wade through four blocks of knee deep snow to get back home.

Guess I'm not going into work today. >.>

At least I didn't make it any farther before getting stuck. :P

Omnom. Omnomnom.


nom.


That is all.

Merry Christmas, Happy belated Solstice, A Festivus for the Rest of us and all celebrations in between. I love all you guys. Whenever I'm having a bad day I can check in on my Fuzzy little friends and smile. I appreciate you all.

Happy 2019 everyone!

Hope my American followers have a very happy day tomorrow! Actually, I hope all my followers have a great day!

I'll be enjoying a day off of work (although not out of the kitchen XD) with my family. My Father, Brother and Sister in law will be joining me for a lovely feast. I'm making turkey, mashed potatoes with sour cream, chives and parsley, homemade gravy and biscuits. My brother will be bringing his legendary cranberry sauce with red wine and orange zest, some collard greens and an apple pie baked with apples from the tree in his yard. It promises to be a good time.

How are the rest of you celebrating (if at all)?

Hope everyone's holidays are off to a good start!

Okay, not really, but the first snow of the year is hitting tonight. Strange since it was warm and sunny all day today. One of the oddities of living up in the mountains is you never know what the weather's going to do. I've seen snow September through June and I've seen summer weather in February. The Rockies do strange things to clouds.

Hi everyone

I know not all of my followers are babyfurs, but for those of you who are: We have a little community on Mastadon. Emphasis on "little". A good day sees 3-4 posts.

I'd love to see the community grow.  friskywoods is there. So is  friar if you know them. There are a number of other great cubs to hang out with too. Check us out! https://crinklefur.club/about

I just realized it's been over a month since I updated my journal. So much for keeping on top of that.

Not much has been going on lately. I've been working a lot, which is better than the alternative. My dad's been a bit sick the last week. I took him to the new VA (veteran's) hospital they finished building this summer. It's a gorgeous, modern facility and so much less depressing than the old one.

Speaking of summer, it just won't go away around here. It's still hot as heck and dry as a bone. I know that may be rubbing it in for the folks on the Atlantic side of the country, but I wouldn't mind taking a little of that wind and rain off your hands (a very little).

That's about it from me. I'm just plugging along as usual. Hope life is going well for all of you!

Poco

Things have been a bit hectic lately! But it's in a good way this time. The restaurant I cook for is on the cusp of opening up a second location and that means we've all been very busy. My boss signed the paperwork and picked up the keys about 2 weeks ago and has been remodeling the place ever since. I've been training their new manager and cook on how to prepare our menu properly and everyone's been trying to decide who's going where.

I'll be staying at the original location as the main cook. My co-cook (we never really had a kitchen manager/supervisor as there was only the two of us) and my boss, the owner of both places, will be heading out to open this location up.

I'm pretty relieved that I'm not moving to the new location, since one of the HUGE perks of this job is it's a 15 minute commute from home. ^.^ I really hope we succeed, though, because it'd be a nice resume boost to be able to say I helped design the menu at a successful local chain.

Fingers, toes and claws crossed my fuzzy friends!

As always, feel free to share your life updates below. ~Poco

My mother died about a year ago. I love the hell out of my dad, and he and I live together now. I keep him fed, because he never learned to cook, and our house is affordable because he served in the Airborne infantry in Vietnam and the US government still helps it's retired soldiers (who lived) with the essentials of life.

I suffer from insomnia. It's not at all uncommon for me to wake up at 2 or 3 in the morning and be completely unable to get back to sleep. This isn't a terrible burden, i know. It's what you would call a "first world problem". I go to my job in a dinner restaurant exhausted and power through my shift. I get home at 10:30 at night and hope for four solid hours of sleep and life goes on, right?

I miss my mother. Like me, she stayed awake most nights. I'd wake up at 3am and she'd be watching tv and drinking a glass of brandy. We'd watch an old movie, or a BBC show (Are you Being Served was mom and my favorite). My Chow Chow Beauty would sit with us. Mom and Beauty died within months of each other. Now when I wake up in the middle of the night I'm alone. Again, it's not the end of the world. I power through my day and pay my bills and love the hell out of my 70 year old father, who's probably suffering worse than I am with the death of his wife of four decades. It's just hard.

Sorry my journal is such a downer. I promised I'd update more often than I have been. Hopefully the next one will be better. I love you all,my silly fuzzy friends!! *mouse hugs*

I promise I'm okay!

Hi everyone!

Just updating because I promised to be more sociable. Not much is new around La casa de Poco. I'm still cooking for a living. I'm still taking care of my retired father. He's been having a few health issues, but nothing you wouldn't expect for a man of almost 70 years. It's been hot, but that's not really news since, from what I can tell, it's been unusually hot just about everywhere lately.

I guess everything's pretty boring for me. I'm okay with that XD. Liven up my day and tell me what you've been up to lately!

I turned [redacted] years old today! That's right, I was born back in 19**. What a great year, that was!

To celebrate I worked! Then I had chicken wings for dinner. Birthdays seem to get less exciting as you get older. :P

Hope everyone's doing wonderfully!!

So this month marks my 20th anniversary in the Furry Fandom. It was the summer of 1998 and I was looking at websites about Don Bluth movies when I stumbled across a Secret of NIMHweb ring. (remember web rings kids? I bet some of you don't)

The ring connected to a site called Thorn Valley where people were posting art and stories about the NIMH universe. I went to the forums and people were roleplaying with OCs. My damnation was pretty much sealed at that point. XD

Fun Fact: I originally made Poco as a female character. Those of you who knew me in the early days on Fox Tails Times or Centauri's page may remember I used Cynthia Brisby as my icon before getting any character art done. He became male when my hometown got it's own con to avoid confusion.

Anyway, it's been a wild ride. I'm an actual greymuzzle now. The first grey hairs began appearing in my sideburns and beard in the last year or so. Only in furry is late thirties considered old, but I guess I'll own it. XD

On a side note: sorry I've been AWOL so much recently. I've been having a tough time the last couple of years. There was a prolonged illness that included a couple hospital stays, my mother passed away and I had a very necessary job change. But things have smoothed out now and I'm trying to be more social again. I've been hanging out on Twitter alot (@pocomouse if you want to chat) and I'm making a Telegram account too. Hope to see more of everyone!

It's been so cold for so long I stepped outside today and felt warm only to realize it's actually just below freezing! Hope everyone's bundling up in this extended cold snap. *warm hugs*

http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/saved-b.....bing-1.2884386

Operation Childhood Disillusionment is a success.

Hope everyone's had a good year! May 2015 treat you all well. Lots of mousie love from your pal, Poco.

Hello all!

I've been on FA for just over seven years now and today I decided to do an experiment. I went through all the accounts I've been following and deleted anyone who hasn't updated their journal or submissions for over a year (which, funnily enough, would've included me), had blocked access, or had specifically said the account was abandoned.

Before doing this I was following 257 accounts. Afterwards I had just 192. That's right, a quarter of the people I was following are now inactive.

I'm kind of sad at how many people drop out of our lives without us noticing. A surprising number of these accounts hadn't been touched in 3+ years. One was even listed as "deceased". I didn't have the heart to unfollow that one. :P

For anyone who's interested I'm doing well. I'm working as a manager for a local chain of healthy eating restaurants here in Denver. I'm paying down some debt and saving money because I've been yearning to move back to the North Pacific; either Washington, Oregon or British Colombia. I miss it, both the climate and the people.

Other than that I don't have much to say. Hope everyone's doing okay!

*pours out a Dr Pepper for Hiroshi Yamauchi*

http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2013/.....yamauchi-dies/

So many fond childhood memories courtesy of this man...

I guess I shouldn't spend 22 days away from FA ever again.

What I'm saying is it took a few minutes to sort through the 1100 submissions you busy little critters loaded my inbox with during my absence. XD

Thanks for all the great art.

It's been forever since I've posted anything.

How old were you when...?

Fell in love? Six or seven, believe it or not.

Lost your virginity? 20

Lost someone close to you? Never. I've been very lucky.

Consumed alcohol? Really young. Like, five. Yeah, I know.

Received a kiss? From someone other than a relative, I assume? Probably 10 to 12.

Went to the hospital? 22. I had cancer in my early 20s.

Had a broken heart? 17. The girl I was dating cheated on me.

Lost a pet? 24

Got arrested? Never. I easily could have several times though.

Broke a bone? Never. Another lucky thing.

Got a job? 15

Got a boyfriend or girlfriend? 16

Went to a concert? 15

Met someone famous? Never

Got in a car wreck? As a passenger? 19 As a driver? 21

Dyed your hair? Never permanently. I've used washable dye several times starting at about 10.

Flew on an airplane? 5

Went to another state? Six months, roughly. I moved a lot growing up.

Got a tattoo? Never

Had a piercing? Never and I don't really want one.

Smoked pot? 19

Smoked a cigarette? I started when I was 15. I stopped when I got cancer at 22.

Went to Disney Land or World? 5

Had A Long term relationship? Never, believe it or not. My longest was about four months.

Dated somebody of another race? 16. She was a Lebanese girl.

Passed out from drinking? 21. Just a few weeks in, actually.

Were dumped? 17

It's been a long time since I've said hello! Sorry about that. I've been pretty busy these past few months.

I finished my year long program in network security back in February. Then in April I left my job at the wine shop I've been working at for the past two years to begin cooking for a healthy eating restaurant. It turned out to be a great move, because a few weeks ago I was promoted to head of catering and am now making nearly twice what I was at the wine shop!

I still plan to continue my education, but I'm postponing it until I settle into my new job. In the meantime the extra money I'm making will help me pay down some of my debt.

In other news, this summer marks my 13th year in the furry fandom. It was the summer of 1999 that I discovered this odd little enclave while browsing Don Bluth webpages. Poco was created shortly thereafter. Fun fact: Poco was originally a female character based off of Cynthia Brisby from The Secret of NIMH. He became male when I first started meeting my fellow furs in person.

Anyway, enough rambling. I hope everyone's doing well and avoiding the heat. Happy end of summer!

I've been getting messages and tweets asking if I'm alright, so I thought I'd go ahead and post a rare journal.

As some of you know, I live in Aurora, CO where there was a horrible shooting last night. The theatre where it happened is about 10 minutes from my house. I was woken up in the middle of the night by sirens since there's a fire department a few blocks south of me and Aurora Hospital is a few blocks to the north. At the time I had no idea what was going on.

Anyway, aside from being a little tired and freaked out I'm none the worse for wear. I was sleeping since my new job requires me to get up at 5:30 in the morning. I have to say it's been a long summer in Colorado what with the heatwave, drought, fires and now this. I'm looking forward to fall.

Hope everyone's doing well!

Hope everyfur is having a wonderful winter! Sorry I'm not around more.

We had local and state elections today, so I headed down to my polling location before work. My city is electing a new mayor and there were two issues I really wanted to vote on: one increasing school funding ( important because Colorado is near the bottom of the nation on funding it's public schools) and one preserving open space from oil and real estate development.

I was startled to find that I was the only one there. Granted it was mid-day on a weekday, but I thought there'd be some other voters around. I commented on the lack of people to the election worker and she told me that it had been like that all day.

I guess I just don't understand why people don't vote. It seems so important to me, especially right now. If you're someone who abstains from voting, why don't you want to? I'm not asking to start an argument and I won't attack you. I'm genuinely curious.

I just heard about the earthquake out East. I haven't heard any reports of major damage yet (of course it just happened so...) so I'm hoping all is well out there.