lauragarabedian just made an art book, and it'll be debuting at Further Confusion TOMORROW!

Even if you're not going to FC, you should check it out and get one. No, srsly!

All the deets are here:
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/12490680/

It's got 3 weeks left, and needs a lot more backing!

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects.....ajestic-3d-mmo
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects.....ajestic-3d-mmo
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects.....ajestic-3d-mmo

Now that the holidays are over, why not kick in some spare change?

Hey folks!

So, I've got to pack up and ship my costume to FC by the end of the week (I'm still hesitant to trust the airlines with it, and really not sure what container is the best to use, despite this helpful thread).

Question is, do I bring the dragon (ex2, ex3, ex4, ex5), or do I bring the roo (ex2, ex3)?

The roo will be more expensive to ship, as it'll require a much larger box. But if I always choose the dragon, then Rooth'roo will only ever be shown at local Denver cons.

Thus my first-world dilemma.

Thoughts?

https://youtu.be/Iwh5yOMmyFM

Per resolution #3 in the previous journal, I'm attempting to be more inclusive in my commissions this year. That means involving others as cameos in my commissions, but also reaching out for ideas from you, my viewers!

To this end, I made a form where you can submit ideas involving one or more of my characters, and one or more of yours. Periodically I'll go to this list and pull something I like. So if you want a chance to get some art with my characters, go fill out the form! No guarantees, but it couldn't hurt to try. :)

THE FORM
THE FORM
THE FORM

(0) See Godzilla 2014
Method: Yes, this deserves its own resolution. Go away.

(1) Discard more 'stuff' than I bring into the house.
Method: When I acquire a new thing. discard 2 or more things of that type. For instance, if I were to buy two shirts, I should get rid of 4 articles of clothing. If I were to buy a Light Saber -- which is both a display piece and a costume prop -- I should get rid of two display things or costume props. Timeframe: 14 days after receipt of anything, or 45 days in the case of an item that can be sold.
Exceptions: Does not apply to things that cannot be discarded. Does not apply to things that are not purchased (e.g., stuff in the mail, gifts, things crafted using stuff around the house).
Notes: 1/31: Bought a lightsaber as a costume prop. Will be selling two costumes.
2/21: Still selling Renamon. O_O; Thought she'd sell easier. Someone suggested if I sew her up and stuff her she'd sell better. :/
10/21: Renamon sold. Giant Wile E Coyote statue sold. Will sell fox costume closer to Christmas.
10/21: Some other things brought in over the past 8 months that need things ejected:
*) bluetooth JBL glowy speaker
*) new laptop
*) movies/discs
*) Skylanders stuff

(2) Refi the house
Method: Get quotes from Lending Tree and bank. Math. Decide. Execute. Remember to pull some equity to redo the kitchen.
Notes: 1/31: Rates are rising. Gummint slowing cash infusions. NOW IS THE TIME
2/21: Mortgage rates are rising, Fed still isn't raising prime -- waiting for unemployment to be <6.5%. I have time. But not much. Should raise monthly payment meanwhile.
10/21: Mortgage rates at all-time low. Good time to refi. Other financial obligations settled - should get good score.

(3) More inclusive, diverse, and complete commissions
Method: Inclusiveness -- For each commission I get which involves more than one of my characters, get a separate commission that involves my character and someone elses. Use this form to track interest in such.
Diverse subject matter -- branch out. Not everything is coffee and/or macro. POSSIBLY loosen mature restriction.
Complete -- fewer outstanding commissions, fewer commissions. Fewer sketches, more finished works.
Tasks:
a) get 100% caught up on commission postings, on Weasyl & FA
2/21: 53 more posts to make. O_O;
10/21: 83 more posts to make. WHAT!?
10/21: Long commission hiatus made this harder to achieve, but analysis should show that I'm doing okay. Could stand a few more friendly commissions

(4) Be more charitable
Method: Give more time, or more money, or both.
Tasks:
a) DONE! Volunteer at/for AC
b) DONE! -- RAAM 2014 (JANUARY) OMG THAT'S TODAY
c) CPR
d) More art for others (1 2


(5) Have more free time
Method: Don't use distractions to avoid a project. Use projects to avoid distractions. Multi-task better: be productive during idle stream watching, for instance.
Notes: 1/31 No project progress? Dude...
2/21: Repaired Rooth'roo suit
10/21: ... do work projects count? O.o

(6) Improve Health
Method: Get a new specialist. Get a checkup. Get some tests done. Lower cholesterol. Love deeper. Live longer. Hire a trainer at 24-hr Fitness, try to get back to weight & strength metrics as in March 2012
Notes: 1/31 Worked out ~6 times Jan. Home for 25 days. That's 1:4. Needs to be better.
2/21: ~1:4 for February, too
10/21: fail.

(7) Engineer something, and craft something
Method: Build something that helps with one of the other resolutions. Put Raspberry Pi and Arduino to work. Consider portable time-lapse dolly. Consider light-sync craziness for Halloween or Winter Solstice party. Craft something from scratch, even if it's just a pair of animal slippers.
Notes: 1/31 ... and?
2/21: Won a Teensy 3.0 from  hacker-maker-furs via this raffle. Could turn it into a lighting controller for costume accessories. Or a digital badge display (monochrome, small screen, but doable)
10/21: Fail; although plans are afoot to rebuild my late step-father's observatory on a friend's property. This has great engineering potential, not just for the mere act of constructing such a thing, but also for potential improvements (motorized dome that can also track with the sky, motorized sliding door, interior lighting, other electrical work). This will probably have to wait for warmer weather and a time when said friend can get back on a normal work schedule to help.

(8) Ask someone out
Method: Ask someone out
Notes: 1/31 ... and?
2/21 ...
10/21 ... had a near-miss at RMFC, and another at NDK, but it didn't happen. Need to join some sort of dating site, I guess. Some I know have had luck with OK Cupid?

(9) Begin prep for Rooth Anthology
Method: Write. A lot. Solicit contributors. Organize permission slips. Establish basic design. Solicit input.
Notes: 1/31 ... need an idea recorder. Had several this month, wrote none down
2/21 ... I think about this every day when I wake up. Need to create an outline and start putting ideas to paper
10/21 .... I did go with roomie to a copyright panel given to local artists earlier this year. Got some very interesting information, and a legal contact. Neat! But otherwise, no writing done. No progress.

(10) Take more pictures.
Method: Use time-lapse dolly from #7 if available. More people pictures & memory. Create a photo book by Xmas for giveaway. Take at least 2014 pictures (HDR counts as one).
Notes: Took 171 in Jan
2/21 ... 12 Ice Castles pics, no tripod (crummy weather, long drive, soaked in the beauty instead)
10/21 ... 2157 + 412 = 2569 total pictures this year. Some fluff, some HDR, but net definitely over 2014. Now to make a photo book.

(11) Remember these resolutions all year
Method: At least bi-weekly, at most semi-weekly, check these resolutions for progress. Report status where applicable.
Last checked: 1/31
2/21
10/21 I got a new phone, and my reminders stopped showing up. >.>

So last night at the NDK NYE ball (edit: a masquerade ball), I apparently terrified someone. I didn't do anything terrifying, I was just dancing on the dance floor very carefully, which probably looks pretty silly and pathetic, but it was crowded.

Some guy behind me taps me on the shoulder and shouts something over the music. I only pick up every third word, but I basically get the idea that he really likes my costume, "but...". So I ask/shout, "I'm not exactly sure what you're asking"

"Oh! I was going to ask if you could move to another part of the floor, but it doesn't matter, looks like we're moving instead". So they moved off. Mind you, I had been standing there dancing for 20 minutes. This guy just arrived, and he wanted ME to move. O_O;

It seems someone with him was terrified of my Rooth'ragon costume. Yes, that one. In that suit. With that look. TERRIFIED. So terrified, they couldn't look at me and had to run away.

After the countdown was over, and they released the balloons, everyone started stomping on them. It was like firecrackers indoors! Very cool. My friend Barry was with me, and he helped me spot some balloons on the ground, 'cause I had my stomping feet on and wanted to stomp one or two. I leaned over to get a good look to make sure I wasn't stomping on toes, and popped a couple of balloons. As I lifted my head back up, I turned to my left, and that guy from earlier was there, quickly escorting a girl out of the dance room. I suspect it was his girlfriend, but I'm not sure -- I think he wasn't old enough to have a daughter that tall, though to be fair, it was dark and I was wearing a mask. He might have had a small child with him and I just couldn't see her.

She. Was. Terrified.

I left the room soon thereafter, went up to the bar and took my head off. I looked around for the guy to make sure his girl was okay, but I didn't see him.

@_@;

Is Rooth really all that scary??

Happy New Year! Ok, for some of you it's well past midnight and into January 1st. For me, I've got 7 hours to go, and some of those may be spent at NDK's costume ball. If you're going, be on the lookout for Rooth!

I should be waxing nostalgic about the year just passed, but it's all such a blur, I'm not sure I could do it justice. I did get a fancy schmancy new deck that I'm THRILLED with, but fuck, it was expensive. I'm still paying for it. >.>

So, ask me some stuff if you feel the need. Same deal as last time: 5 questions, 5 answers. 1 question per person. Answers are truthful, but may not be complete, depending on the subject matter. >.>


GO! ^_^

Once in a while I get an email like this from NASA:
Time: Fri Dec 27 5:59 PM, Visible: 6 min, Max Height: 86 degrees, Appears: NW, Disappears: SE

This warns me when the International Space Station will fly overhead. It's quite visible in the evening sky, though it appears as bright star flying across the sky that appears, gets gradually brighter, then dimmer and then disappears.

This technology can be yours! Just go here, and sign up:
http://spotthestation.nasa.gov/

I'm 99.9% sure you have seen this before, but if you haven't, you MUST WATCH:

https://youtu.be/jofNR_WkoCE

I giggle a little every time I see it:

http://vimeo.com/81523326

At around 1711 GMT or so, if memory serves, the Earth will experience yet another Solstice. Winter up here in the northern hemisphere, when the north pole is pointed as far away from the sun as it'll get. We also are a couple of weeks away from perihelion, the point at which our planet is closest to the sun.

On top of all that: 43 years ago, at approximately Tea Time in the UK, I was born (though in New England, not England). My goodness, but I don't FEEL this old. Reportedly I don't even LOOK this old. Like, at a dinner table of twentysomethings at NDK this September, halfway through the meal the very good actors fellow congoers eating with me made some derisive comment about "people over 30", and I was like, "hey, I resemble that remark," and they were all, "Yeah, right." I had to pull my license out. So I'm guessing some of you are like, "WTF, you're 43?" despite it being posted on my profile page.

Yes, that's right all you furries, merchants, and tourists -- for about half of you, I'm the same age as your parents. Now, I'm hardly the oldest furry on the block. A few of you who follow me might well be old enough to be my parent. The beloved Uncle Kage only has me beat by several years, though he was calling himself Uncle before he hit 30 (I know, 'cause I was there in the lobby of CF6 back when he would tell his stories and dozen or two people would just randomly stop and listen for a while). This fandom now has 3 or even 4 generations in it. I make no pretense about being some old fart, or fandom dinosaur. But I'm up there, a sigma or two above average.

What does this mean? You peeps need to stop unaging! And I'm gonna take a minute to be shameless here, 'cause it came up over dinner the other night, plus I'm running out of time: This fandom is fast becoming too young for me to have any hope of finding romance among the ladies here. Not that it's the only reason I'm here, not by a long shot, but I've always been open to the idea. 'course, it doesn't help that I'm Captain Oblivious. You could slap me in the face with a wet fish and shout, "I really like you, dammit!", and I'd be all, "I don't remember there being rain in the forecast!" I'm notoriously bad at detecting hints of interest, partly because my mental furniture is made by the knockoff Mykea, but also because the handful of times I thought I was picking up on it, I was FLAT WRONG.

I'm also notoriously good at convincing myself that whatever girl I might have interest in is unavailable, or somehow out of my league. So ... if you're that one girl who thinks I was rebuffing your subtle signs of interest, just assume I'm the ignorant child I appear to be, and throw salmon at my face. It might work this time. If the interest is requited, I'll buy myself a nice sharp knife, and we can have home-made sushi together to christen our journey.

I've got 43 years behind me, and I really hope I can squeeze out another 43 before I'm done with living. I've done a heckofalot with the first half -- I've traveled the world, saved it once or twice (sorta), and I've given a lot of it back. I can imagine what amazing things I can do with the second half, especially since I don't have to spend two decades dragging my tail through school. :) I just need to find someone to share the journey -- it's tough to pilot this thing by myself.

'night y'all!

There's this thing they're making, called FaceRig, that enables your webcam to animate a 3D character in real time. Right now it's just the head, but they have aims for full head-to-toe motion and emotion capture onto a 3D avatar. Check out the demo video on their IndieGogo crowd-sourcing campaign:

http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/f.....erig/x/2286443

You KNOW if I had $5,000 to spare, I'd be getting a custom designed Rooth. In a heartbeat. I wonder how hard that would be to do in FaceRig Studio, hmm. Any 3DSMax or Maya artists out there wanna help me breathe life into Rooth once Studio comes out (May 2015)? :)

 bigdino is open for commissions! He's got a very toony style, and very low prices. Perfect for the Holidays! Go check it out:

http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/5337202/
http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/5337202/

He recently made a few pics for me, in sequence. :) It's a cool demonstration of Rooth's size-changing portals! I haven't posted them yet, but you can go check them out here:
Before | During | After

FA has this commission page thing now, intended to be used by artists to list their commission types and prices and such. The interface for setting it up is pretty decent. Certainly better than the submission interface, anyway. Almost has in-place editing even.

I decided to try it out for listing my characters and references:

http://www.furaffinity.net/commissions/rooth/

It's a URL I can memorize and type on a tablet or phone to point people at when giving them a choice of characters, versus "see the top of my FA profile rooth for my list of characters to choose from", which seems to confuse about 1 in 3 artists I send there. I've actually seen them in-stream click that link, go to my FA page and scroll past the profile, all the way to the bottom and say, "I don't know what you mean."

So I'm trying out this commission page thing as an alternative method, though I don't know if it perhaps violates some FA AUP or something, since I don't actually sell commissions.

Thoughts?

 digital-maesma has a deal on commissions right now. $90 for a full color pin-up, but only if you're gifting it to someone else! That's pretty cool. :) They can't require or encourage advertising, per the new rules, but I'm doing this to spread it around. I think their character art is fun, and I'd like to see more of it. ;)

And the best part - this art will be completed by 12/24. That's a rush!

Check it out:
http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/5308300/
http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/5308300/
http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/5308300/

 nayel-ie needs an emergency bank transfer, and is willing to "draw something EPIC" if you can help. :) I'd consider it, but it has to be a Canadian, or the transfer won't reach her in time.

Help her out:
http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/5305232/
http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/5305232/
http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/5305232/

She's also taking wing-its to be done this week, fast!
http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/5304978/

 lauragarabedian's stuff is on Redbubble and Society6, and they're both having Black Friday sales today.

All the deets are on Laura's journal: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/5302247/

Go check her stuff out! I've got her stickers on my laptop, and some of her mugs, they're great. >:^)

EDIT: PayPal has different policies in different countries. What follows regards the US policy
(note: in countries like Germany, the passing of the PayPal fee from seller to customer is permitted, so be careful of which country you are buying from before complaining about the fees).

In a recent thread elsewhere, I described to a friend how merchants cannot charge you extra for using a credit card. This was a rule imposed by the credit card companies, and by PayPal, under some federal regulation standard whatsis. PayPal used to reference this whatsis in their User Agreement, but now they just generally state that it's disallowed.

Section 4.1 of PayPal's user agreement says:
4.1 Receiving Personal Payments. If you are selling goods or services, you may not ask the buyer to send you a Personal Payment for the purchase. If you do so, PayPal may remove your ability to accept Personal Payments.
And under #
4.5 No Surcharges. You agree that you will not impose a surcharge or any other fee for accepting PayPal as a payment method. You may charge a handling fee in connection with the sale of goods or services as long as the handling fee does not operate as a surcharge and is not higher than the handling fee you charge for non-PayPal transactions.

The rule is reiterated under section 8:
For Purchase Payments, the recipient of the payment will always pay the Fee.

Now, here's something interesting. PayPal's AUP hid under the umbrella of Credit Card regulation as the reason why they prohibit the forwarding of charges. But today I couldn't find any mention of that regulation in their rules. Then I found out fom this recent article it says:
Charging customers extra for credit card transactions became legal in January 2013 as a result of a federal court case that challenged Visa and MasterCard's right to forbid such surcharges.
So that's why PayPal no longer ties itself in with the Credit Card companies when it comes to forbidding surcharges. And that's true now, but some states have laws against it, so the national and international merchants have been slow to adopt this surcharge method. Visa's site covers it well:
Link updated 12/10/2015: https://usa.visa.com/support/consumer/surcharge-fees.html
Link updated 2/4/2017: https://usa.visa.com/support/consum.....a-rules.html#3
Here's a current list of the states (as indicated on Visa's site) where you still can't charge a surcharge for credit cards:
California
Colorado
Connecticut
Florida
Kansas
Maine
Massachusetts
New York
Oklahoma
Texas
Added 7/11/2014: Utah
Removed 12/10/2015: Utah

 kay-ra is open for commissions, looking for feral characters to draw.

http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/5289640/
http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/5289640/

She's drawn for me before, including a feral Rooth'roo, and a bad-ass Rooth'ragon, one of her rare anthros. She's improved quite a bit in the past couple of years -- see what she can do for you?

Colossal Kaiju Combat is a modular video game series related to the Kaiju Combat game that's already been backed and is in development. There's a lot of potential for this thing, but I think the coolest part is that a lot of the creatures are designed by players and fans, with help from the game design team and Matt Frank (awesome comic book artist for some Godzilla comics and other stuff).

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects.....-upgraded-ouya
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects.....-upgraded-ouya
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects.....-upgraded-ouya

They only have a few days left to get another $20k or so in backers. A good friend of mine is joining their developer team if they can get this off the ground, so I have extra vested interest in helping to spread the word.

This article has a screenshot from the Kaiju Combat game. My character, Dragon Lotus, is on the right!
http://www.scifijapan.com/articles/.....o-game-update/

Woot!

Also, it's on Steam Greenlight -- give it a "Yes I would buy this game" if you would. :)
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfil...../?id=189069844

Ever wanted a game where you can fly around as a dragon + rider, fighting other dragons?

Yeah, ok, there have been a few single-player games like that. But this one is an MMO! I'm not usually much of a fan of PvP, but add the 3D element and I get really interested really quick. I loved the Descent series for that reason, and the prospect of a DRAGON game like that makes me giddy!

Check out the Kickstarter
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects.....nthia?src=beta
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects.....nthia?src=beta
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects.....nthia?src=beta

They need your help to meet their goal! It may not happen, not much time is left, but it looks like backers are getting ALPHA keys to check out the game! People have already commented about their experience playing the alpha, so even if it's up all the time, perhaps we'll get early glimpses into the game.

http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/5266060/

 lost-paw is raffling off a character design. For free! As a sort of sensible counter to the $1111 raffle thing that people are gritching about (but I haven't seen, nor do I understand, other than people are suspicious).

So go! Check it out! At least take a look at the adorable Rasta-gryphon. =)

http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/5266060/

"I've caused a stir several times before by saying I'll quit, but this time I'm serious."

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/06/m.....ints.html?_r=0

A furry with a character named Kriptic Deschain commissioned a badge from lauragarabedian, and she's been unable to get in touch with him.

Does anyone know this guy, and can hook her up?

His dad is Lone Wolf King. Also out of contact.