A few years back, I had a chance to play the early pre-production version of Rabbit Island, a board game a few friends of mine were designing. The designer described it as something like the best parts of Settlers of Catan crossed with Monopoly, with a cute furry bunny theme. Even in it's very early state, it was amazing to play, one of the best board games I've had the chance to enjoy, and it's only gotten better since then. This is seriously a new classic board game material, a new gateway game that could honestly rival well known AAA games.

After a few years of development, they've finally got their game up on Kickstarter. Unfortunately it has everything going for it except marketing and media...so I want to do my part to help with that! I really, really want to see this game succeed. It deserves it...and I want to get to play it. Please, take a look, at https://www.kickstarter.com/project.....?ref=user_menu

Take a look at the game, and the reviews. If you're interested, please, back it, share it, support it, help get the word out. There are great people, with a great game. Let's make this happen!

Where are you staying?
The Westin

What day are you getting there?
Wednesday morning, if all goes according to plan!

How are you traveling?
 Psydraggy and I will be heading out the Friday before, driving up into Canada and around through Ohio to hit Canada's Wonderland, King's Island, and Cedar Point, before making our way to Pittsburgh.

Who will you be rooming with?
 Psydraggy  PhoenixAsh  HunterEvergreen, Fluff, and Estobahn (two rooms!)

How is the best way to find you?
Text me, YM me, Skype me, or check my Twitter.

Are there any panels you might be attending?
I...haven't even looked at the panel schedule yet. Certainly will be at the Furoticon tournaments though!

What do you look like?
Somewhat more nondescript than my fursona. 5'10", brown hair that's probably going to be a little too long by time I get to the con, glasses, relatively lightly built...If you know me, you'll recognize me. If not...well, then look for the badge!

Will you be suiting?
I definitely will! Sarai hasn't come out to play in too long!

Do you do free art?
Art? Me? It better be free, if I'm doing it.

Do you do trades?
Really, no art here.

Do you do badges?
...no, no art here.

What is your gender?
I suspect this is really asking -sex- and not gender, in which case, male. Otherwise, complicated.

How tall are you?
5'10"

Can I talk to you?
Please do!

Can I touch you?
I suppose so?

Can I visit your room?
Sure, but hands off the rum.

Can I buy you drinks?
If you want a friend for life.

Can I give you stuff?
...why would you? But...sure?

Can I hug or snuggle with you?
Do I know you and have you showered?

Are you nice?
I try...?

How long are you going?
Wednesday-Monday for the con. Friday-Tuesday for the whole vacation.

Do you have an artist table?
You no get this good. No art. No. No art here.

Will you be going to parties?
Will I be invited?

Will you be performing?
Only impromptu fooling around in suit.

If I see you, how should I get your attention?
I have a name, it works well for this sort of thing. Raishi works much better than my "real" name. "Foxie" doesn't work well at a fur con, trust me.

Where will you be most of the time during the day?
Er...Pittsburgh!

What/where will you be eating?
Ohgods here we go. Tonic, Tenpenny, Sharp Edge, Bill's, Crystal, Primanti bros, Pizza Parma...food and Pittsburgh are just a wonderful combination...

Can I come with you for food/fun/etc?
Sure!

Can I take your picture?
If you really want to, I suppose.

What's your goal(s) for the con this year?
Fun, Fur, Food? Maybe not in that order when it comes to Pittsburgh. Really, I am going to gain twenty pounds this year... Oh, and Furoticon, of course.

Studio Ghibli just announced their closure.
http://oh-totoro.com/post/937008034.....-toshio-suzuki

*whimpers*

 Tabbiewolf has a great idea; a laminated book of pinups of sexy furs with their favorite cocktails! $40 gets you and your drink on a page and a copy of the book.

Sound fun? Take a look here http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/5979978/

Lots of boys in that list...any lovely ladies or herms want to help balance things out? ;)

I picked up a 5-pack of Trackmania 2 Stadium keys in the steam sale. So who wants one? <3

...and the animated series too!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HndBiSyOrK4

Long wait but...so happy!

...xxxXXXTRANSMISSION INCOMING
TIMESTAMP - 2423-2-25
SOURCE - CLASS B STATION COORDS 241123.42, 13121.14, 581232.12
SENDER - CONSTRUCT LIFEFORM 'YuTu'

...Monolith Interstellar Docking Installation recycling and repurposing 87.4% complete. Dance floor 92% complete, bar 87% complete. Virtual arcade 50% complete. Gaming tables 80%. Biodome 23%. Estimated time to completion 3 days. First shuttles arriving at Club MIDI ETA 3/1 1700 standard. YuTu and staff are nearly ready to entertain our first guests!

---

We are happy to officially announce Club MIDI, SL's newest furry club and community! Soft opening Saturday, March 1st, 5PM SLT, with a full weekly schedule beginning in the coming weeks! We're happy to offer you everything you've grown to expect from the hottest clubs on SL - the best DJs and hottest music, the friendliest hosts and lovliest dancers, exciting contests and big prizes - but we're not stopping there! We're determined to build a community that goes beyond just the dance floor! We'll be teasing a bit more in the days leading up to opening our doors, so if you're interested, join the Club MIDI Stars group on Second Life! - secondlife:///app/group/51e97f56-527b-b9af-9341-82790aceb447/about

---

So this is the followup to Flour Flourteen! Kaori unfortunately could not keep F14 open due to RL circumstances, but we had something going there, and I don't plan to let it all die out. My co-owner, staff, and I will be doing our best to live up to everything Floor Fourteen had to offer, and to add a few new things all our own, too! ;)

Thanks to the Humble Weekly Sale, I have an extra key for The Binding of Isaac + Wrath of the Lamb DLC now. Anyone that can use it?

2552-1762-1817

Add away, and let me know yours!

If anyone's looking for a really amazing commission at a ridiculously good price,  ~FionaFortuneCookie~ (She's done three of the last four pieces of art in my gallery!) has slots open for two-character commissions with full background at $45 each. She's incredibly talented, great and easy to work with, works very quickly, and I know she's looking to get her name out a bit, so go get art from her while she's still relatively unknown and inexpensive! =P

So many people around here insist they aren't furry. "Just here for the art" or "just here to DO art" or "just here for the people." Okay, that's fine!

But, I'm genuinely curious, then. What do you think actually makes someone a furry?

Staying at:
Westin!

How are you traveling?
Driving down

What day are you getting there?
Getting to Pittsburgh Wednesday

Who are you rooming with?
 Nekokaori  Psydraggy  hunterevergreen  Phoenixash

Who will you be with?
See above! And anyone else I meet there.

Where will you be? How is the best way to find you?
All over the place. And probably at Tonic, often >.>

Are there any panels you might be attending?
I haven't looked at the schedule much, but I'll definitely be at dances, at 2 and Kage's shows, at the Furoticon tournaments, and in the Fursuit parade!

What do you look like?
5'9" ish, medium brown hair that's too short now (*grrrrs at hairdresser*), glasses, will almost certainly have my gray fox tail. Assuming I'm not in 'suit, of course.

What is your gender?
male in RL, no doubt to much disappointment (hey, I don't like it much either...)

How old are you?
30

How tall are you?
5'9"

Can I talk to you?
Please do!

Can I hug and/or snuggle you?
Definitely, if you know me. Probably even if you don't, but ask first!

Are you nice?
I try!

Are you fursuiting?
Yes! Will be 'suiting as Sarai - look for a black dire wolf/panther with white markings, red-tipped black hair (and ears that looks more like a bear's than a wolf's...will fix that someday)

If I see you, how should I get your attention?
Er...talk to me?

Can I ask ya to dance with me during the dances?
Sure, if you really hate yourself =P It won't end well though.

Can I buy you drinks?
You most certainly can, and I will love you for it.

Can I take your picture?
Sure, especially if I'm 'suiting.

What/where will you be eating?
Tonic. Hanlon's. Tonic. Fernando's. Tonic. Pizza Parma. Also Tonic. Probably some Tonic, too.

What's your goal(s) for the con this year?
Be more outgoing, meet new people, bring home new art, win Furo tournaments =P

So before I start going on about how I'm going to be posting more here now...yes, I've done it all before! I think about 25% of my journal posts here are about how I'm going to start making journal posts. I'm actually pretty annoyed with myself for constantly doing that, and never making anything of it, but...Well, it's -different- now. =P

Actually, though, a lot is different now, or at least it's going to be. I've been doing a lot of thinking and planning and trying to figure things out now. I settled in to my routine and all for too long, I've done too much waiting for things to get better, and not enough making things change. And I think that's done, now.

Yep, we've heard that before too? Okay, then, I better start a little further back. So long story short, a seven year on-again off-again relationship/not-really-a-relationship-but-still-calling-it-that/not-calling-it-a-relationship-but-it-really is...you know, one of -those-...anyway...that's over now, I guess, all the ups and downs and good and bad and everything it led to...well, in the past now, for better or for worse. I don't know which yet.

Now, I'm not going to say it was wasted time, because it wasn't; there were a lot of great times and a lot of good came of it. But in the end, it does mean that a lot of things that I invested a lot of time in came to nothing, and I'm starting over now, a bit late in the game for some of what I want to do, so I have a lot of catching up to do, and fast. And that, of course, means I've done a lot of examining other things, related or not, that I need to do while I still can. The last decade or so was, I think, in a lot of ways a very good one for me, but I've ridden the track I was on as far as it goes, and I'm just not willing to sit where it's taken me.

Which is what leads to all this. Starting new in a lot of ways, making improvements in others. Taking my job more seriously, trying to focus more on advancing my career. Taking better care of myself, spending more time outside, getting more exercise. Getting involved in a wider variety of things instead of staying indoors playing games all the time. And, one of the more important things I need to work on, it's become clear that I need more people in my life, especially people that share more interests with me. Hence, the attempts at meeting some locals furs, here, and offline!

I've got a lot more in my head, too, of course. Right now, I'm really trying to decide just how much "starting over" I really need to do. For years I've toyed with the idea of moving to Pittsburgh; I've loved the city since the first time I saw it, it's always just kinda called to me. I've just been so hesitant to leave friends behind, and family, and my job...but maybe I need to do some of that. Maybe. I don't want to make a rash move and regret it, so for the time, being, I'm giving myself one more year here, to see what I can do with what I've got here. Next Spring, I'll take stock of what I have, and who, and I'll have some big decisions to make. Maybe a completely new start will be what I need, or maybe life around here will be very different by then. I can't pretend to know; life has a way of throwing curveballs.

But for now, expect to hear more from me here, and more of me, especially in person if you're a New England fur.

So...here's to the last ten years, to everyone and everything that made it special. Those of you still around...I'll still be here, mostly. I'm just going to be focusing on some different priorities, I think, and doing more of my own thing...maybe a few new things entirely.

And here's to the future. Maybe you'll be one of the unforgettable parts of it.

So, things've sorta been a bit of a mess lately for me, lots of things changing all at once, everything up in the air, too much chaos. Sometimes that's not really a bad thing though, sometime it's just a sign that it's time to start some things over. Meet new people, go new places, try new things! I know I've needed to do that for a while, but I get set in my ways, I suppose, and I tend to stick to a small group of friends instead of really getting out. I'm trying to do a bit more about that (Went up to MA for a furmeet last weekend, that turned out to be great, lots of fun people...Anthrocon will be even better, hopefully!).

Anyway, I'm gonna jump right to the point - see, I am trying new things! I'm very much looking to meet new furs, so I'm just putting up an open invitation - if you wanna chat at all, about anything or nothing at all, just IM me! My contact information's all down below, and I -always- at least have YM and AIM on on my phone. I might not be able to respond right away if I'm asleep or at work, but I'll get your message and get back as soon as I can. Ask anything you like, talk about me or yourself - I promise I'm not creepy, and I can carry on a conversation ;) I just want to get to know more of you - especially anyone else in southern new england.

Think I'm gonna start trying to use some other outlets too; I've never been a fan of facebook, and I've had a twitter but never once touched it (though apparently a spammer has been using it...oops...that's taken care of now!) but I had half a dozen people over the weekend ask me if I used twitter, so maybe I should give it a try.

Of course, I should probably put up a bit more about myself first, for anyone that doesn't know me at all, hmm? Work night now though, so I'll probably get to that tomorrow.

...was an incredible success, far beyond any of our expectations! Thank you to everyone who showed up and made it so special! It's only going to get better from here! See you next weekend for Spring Break on the Floor Fourteen Beach! <3

...and we already have a great crowd building, shaping up towards an amazing first night!

Come be part of it!

http://floorfourteen.net/

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondli.....oor%20Fourteen

Short, notice, I know, but...

March 1st, 5PM-11PM SLT, The Furpile's own Floor Fourteen will be hosting its formal Grand Opening event!

Floor Fourteen is Second Life's newest furry club, and we've got big plans to make it one of the best. Apart from some of the best dancers and DJs in SL, we're looking to make F14 a community beyond just the club events, with in- and out-of-club events, competitions, and even gaming. We know Second Life has no shortage of clubs already, but most of our staff have worked at several already; we know what works and what doesn't, and we're looking to bring the best of all we've experienced together into one club, with none of the drama.

Tomorrow (or tonight depending on your time zone!), our head DJ and one of SL's most popular furry DJs, Hunter Audeburgh, will be taking the air from 5-8 SLT for his usual mix of styles and humor, and our own DJ Kooshball will be taking over from 8-11 SLT for three hours of dance and electronic music to keep everyone moving! We have our best dancers ready to grab your attention, including our lovely head dancer, PhoenixAsh Emerald...and of course our assistant head dancer, none other than myself (as my original SL main, Serra Karu!).

We've got the club, we've got the staff, we've got the plans and the events, now all we need is our fans! That means you. If you're on SL, or even interested in taking a look, come on down and check us out; we promise we can entertain you!

http://floorfourteen.net/

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondli.....oor%20Fourteen

If you know anyone else that's on SL, please pass this on! We're looking to have the biggest, busiest first night we can!


Flour Fourteen March Events Schedule!

March 1st 5PM-11PM SLT - Grand Opening Formal Ball

March 9th - Spring Break on the club Beach!

March 16th - St Patrick's Day Party

March 23rd - Anime night

March 29th - 90s Nostalgia night!

So, as with just about all cons, Furfright was awesome, but -far- too short; definitely felt the the shortest convention I've been to yet. Part of that is of course due to having to run home early to escape Sandy, but some is probably from fursuiting as well; it just takes up so much time and makes cons fly by! I spent a good bit of it in 'suit as Sarai this time; maybe not quite as much as I would have liked, but definitely the most I have at any con yet. I'm getting much more confident as a fursuiter; I'm definitely doing a lot more actual playing and performing instead of just walking around, and I gues it shows; I'm getting a lot of compliments now - even from the con chair!

This time I was lucky enough to be invited to join the DramaArmada and AsiaNeko for the Masquerade. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a bit nervous about it beforehand, but that disappeared the moment I was suited up and we started to rehearse it. It ended up being one of the high points of any con I've been at in the last near-decade, and we took second place overall! So, endless thanks to Kiffa, Sedge, and Asia for letting me be a part of that! If anyone has video of our performance, I'd absolutely love to see it.

Still in suit, I got the chance to do a photoshoot in fursuit with Nekokaori as Sherbert and PhoenixAsh as Lusty; I'll upload the pictures from that as soon as I have them!

Other than that, I spent a while wandering the halls with those two handing out candy and generally getting into the kinds of trouble Sarai loves to find ;) Such a fun character to "be" for a while...

I also got to spend some time in the game room; played a Pathfinder game there where all the dice seemed to be deliberately causing all the dramatic tension they could; ended up being a close fight at a few points, leading up to an epic finish. Great way to spend a few hours! Picked up a couple other games there as well; Kittens in a Blender (so wrong but so much fun) and Talisman + a couple of expansions, which I haven't gotten to really get into yet, lacking the time and players, but I'm very much looking forward to it.

Hmm, what else...I got in my required trip to O'Rourke's Diner for an amazing breakfast like always, went to the panel on Gender Benders in the fandom that Xiris ran, which kind of turned into a general LGBT rights discussion but ended up being quite enjoyable, caught con plague but seem to be beating it back fairly well, survived the 4AM fire alarm, got a couple beautiful badges done, and topped it all off with a trip to Lake Compounce's awesome Haunted Graveyard, before retreating home to weather out the storm in the hopeful-safety of my new apartment.

If anyone got pictures or video of me as Sarai (the black/white-striped Sabertooth panther/dire world with the red-tipped black hair, I was probably either handing out candy from a blue pumpkin bucket or in the Masquerade if you saw me!), I'd love to see them! I'll post my own here when I can.

Hmm...Maybe I should make a separate account for Sarai.

I've been trying to do more fitness stuff lately, without much luck staying with anything. Stationary exercises get boring too fast and I can't keep up with them if my workout partners aren't available. Biking seemed like a good idea, something I could stick with, but my old bike is a 15 year old cheap Wal-mart special. Incredibly heavy, poor brakes, impossible to maneuver...

So, I figured, as much as I need to stop spending so much money, a new one would be a pretty justifiable purchase; not just for fun if it's going to be a workout.

So, I did some research, headed for the bike shop...

Long story short, walked out with a Trek 3700 disc. Really good entry-level mountain bike, seems as good as I'm going to possibly get without breaking $500, and that's more than I can spend right now, and more than I'm willing to without knowing how much use I'll get out of it. I thought about going for a hybrid bike instead, but I really want to find some fun off-road trails, and most hybrids just aren't built for more than occasional light-duty off-roading. The 3700 might not be quite as fast or easy on-road, but it's nice to know I can take it anywhere.

So, took it out for a nice test ride today, and, wow...going from my cheap old bike to that, it's just an incredible difference. Had so much fun with it; road down to Roger Williams Park (terrifying - Cranston drivers just don't give a crap about bikers. I need to find better places to ride than main roads around here), and then on the rough trail around the lake there to see how it did off road. Was a good workout and a great time, I hope I can find time to get lots of use of this bike.

Only problem is, I don't trust this neighborhood, and the bike rack outside this apartment building doesn't look exactly incredibly secure...so the bike is in my tiny bedroom next to my bed right now. As if I have room for more Stuff in here. Hopefully, I'll be in a bigger, nicer apartment in a couple months though, and I should have room to even put it in the giant walk-in closet there if I need to.

What I wouldn't give for an actual garage, though...

Resignation turned in officially, no more hiding it, 15 days left, 10 work days...and I am out and moving on up to a new job! Better pay, better position, bigger company, newer technology, and a team to work with instead of handling everything on my own!

SO

EXCITED ^^

The last closed beta weekend for TERA is this weekend. They handed out extra invitation codes to anyone who's been playing the betas for a while. I have three left now; let me know if you want one!

-edit-

Gone, sorry!

...having a staffperson here at work randomly walk into my office, holding a cashbox and looking slightly panicked, and asking me if I can pick a lock.

I am not touching that one.

I have a big stack of discs and drives I need to destroy here. They have medical records and such on them, so we can't just throw them out; they have to be rendered permanently unreadable. So, time to tear them to bits, basically.

You'd think this would be a fun part of the job; stress relief.

I can't stand it.

I can only think of what could have been on them. What simple 0s and 1s can be these days.

I can't help but picture someone, someday, casually and ruthlessly destroying a drive that contained my SecondLife home, or the old club there where I made so many memories, met so many friends, and my mate. Perhaps an old "dream" from Furcadia, where I met some of the people that started to shape my life more than a decade ago. A simple record of a conversation, the first night I talked to someone who I'd fall in love with, or who would change who I became.

I can't help but think of the worlds that were, that existed for such a brief time and disappeared forever. I never even played Star Wars Galaxies, but I remember reading recently of a couple that met there, married there, and are married in real life now; I know how often this happens, I know a woman who met her husband on WoW. I wonder what they think when they remember the place they were first married, in that virtual land, and I think of how someone likely was tasked was destroying the drives, or at least wiping them, after the servers were shut down, and how an entire world disappeared.

I remember a game I used to play, parts of the world that were a home for me for a little while, and I remember watching a video, though I wasn't there, of the last minutes before it was shut down for good, of players disappearing one by one and then the final disconnect message.

These discs and drives are just complex groupings of tiny magnets, or a bit of metal substrate with microscopic pits carved into them. Even to a computer they're just 0s and 1s, electricity on or off.

But they're also, though processes and devices that most of our minds know are of course just science, certainly not magic at all, entire worlds and lives and memories; sometimes impossibly real, but so delicate and fleeting as well.

Someone carelessly tosses a box of them on my desk and tells me to get rid of them, and I can't help but wonder what they hold, what's lost with each one turned to scrap metal and plastic.

My Vita is waiting for me at Gamestop, along with Wipeout, Blazblue, and Hot Shots.

It's going to be a loooong work day.

Down the road from my apartment is a Pontiac Service auto shop.

When I first drove by it a few months back, shortly after moving in, I thought to myself, well, that's strangely specialized. Just Pontiacs? Nice to have a specialist, but how much business do they really get?

It took me about a month before of driving past it before I realized, wait, Pontiac doesn't even exist as a brand anymore. Aren't they pretty well doomed? Also, most Pontiacs had equivalents under other GM badges that were just about the same under the bodywork, why not service all of them?

It took a while more before I noticed that there were cars other than Pontiacs in the lot - well, of course they'd have to branch out, right? Maybe they should rename it though...

It took until today to realize that the shop is on the same damn road my apartment is - Pontiac Ave.


I'm not sure I've ever felt quite so stupid.